Estimating Monthly GDP In A General Kalman Filter Framework: Evidence From Switzerland

In this paper, we estimate deseasonalized monthly series for Swiss Gross Domestic Product at constant prices of 1990 for the period 1980-1998. They are consistent with the quarterly figures estimated by the Federal Office for Economic Development and Labour and are obtained by including information contained in related series. We present a general approach using the Kalman Filter technique nesting a great variety of interpolation setups. We evaluate competing models and provide a time series that can be used by other researchers.Interpolation, Kalman filter, National accounting.

Monetary policy with forward-looking rules: The Swiss case

We estimate monetary policy rules in Switzerland for 1981-1997. In addition to an inflation gap, we find that forward-looking rules with output and exchange rate gaps nicely fit monetary aggregates as well as the call rate. We split the sample in 1990 when the Swiss National Bank replaced annual targets by medium-term targets for its official policy instrument, the monetary base. We find then that our rule best describes M0 and M1 before 1990 and only the call rate after 1990. Moreover, such small open economy rules are robust with respect to different central bank information sets

Alternative Indicator of Moneary Policy for a Small Open Economy

We analyze several identification frameworks based on operating procedures to measure monetary policy in a small open economy. We use a two-stage non-recursive VAR model to identify monetary shocks. We construct then various overall monetary policy indicators based on different residuals treatments and report them as weighted sums of monetary policy variables. Finally, our model is applied to the Swiss National Bank. Our main indicator reveals that the exchange rate was the dominant variable at the end of the seventies. During the eighties, aggregates had their golden age, while in the nineties, the call rate showed up as operating variable

Near-field microscopy with a scanning nitrogen-vacancy color center in a diamond nanocrystal: A brief review

We review our recent developments of near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM) that uses an active tip made of a single fluorescent nanodiamond (ND) grafted onto the apex of a substrate fiber tip. The ND hosting a limited number of nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers, such a tip is a scanning quantum source of light. The method for preparing the ND-based tips and their basic properties are summarized. Then we discuss theoretically the concept of spatial resolution that is achievable in this special NSOM configuration and find it to be only limited by the scan height over the imaged system, in contrast with the standard aperture-tip NSOM whose resolution depends critically on both the scan height and aperture diameter. Finally, we describe a scheme we have introduced recently for high-resolution imaging of nanoplasmonic structures with ND-based tips that is capable of approaching the ultimate resolution anticipated by theory.Comment: AD, AC, OM, MB and SH wish to dedicate this brief review article to their co-author and colleague Yannick Sonnefraud who passed away in September 2014. Yannick initiated this research in 200

Monetary policy with forward-looking rules: The Swiss case

We estimate monetary policy rules in Switzerland for 1981-1997. In addition to an inflation gap, we find that forward-looking rules with output and exchange rate gaps nicely fit monetary aggregates as well as the call rate. We split the sample in 1990 when the Swiss National Bank replaced annual targets by medium-term targets for its official policy instrument, the monetary base. We find then that our rule best describes M0 and M1 before 1990 and only the call rate after 1990. Moreover, such small open economy rules are robust with respect to diffenernt central bank information sets.Exchange rate, Monetary policy instrument, Output gap, Robustness, Rule, Switzerland.

Grafting fluorescent nanodiamonds onto optical tips

We recently (Optics Express 17, 19969 (2009)) introduced an all-optical method for grafting onto the apex of an optical tip a single 20 nm nanodiamond with single color-center occupancy and used the resulting single-photon tip in scanning near-field imaging at room temperature, thereby achieving a genuine scanning single-photon microscopy working in ambient conditions. A variant of this method is described that allows for attaching several nanodiamonds onto the tip apex, releasing them all at once and finally recapturing them one by one by the scanning tip. This underlines the flexibility and powerfulness of our method and its variant that could be used in applications where a fixed number of selected optically active nano-objects requires positioning, or repositioning, at well defined locations with nanometer accuracy.Comment: Minor stylistic changes since first submissio

Fluorescent oxide nanoparticles adapted to active tips for near-field optics

We present a new kind of fluorescent oxide nanoparticles with properties well suited to active-tip based near-field optics. These particles with an average diameter in the range 5-10 nm are produced by Low Energy Cluster Beam Deposition (LECBD) from a YAG:Ce3+ target. They are studied by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), classical photoluminescence, cathodoluminescence and near-field scanning optical microscopy (NSOM). Particles of extreme photo-stability as small as 10 nm in size are observed. These emitters are validated as building blocks of active NSOM tips by coating a standard optical tip with a 10 nm thick layer of YAG:Ce3+ particles directly in the LECBD reactor and by subsequently performing NSOM imaging of test surfaces.Comment: Changes made following Referee's comments; added references; one added figure. See story on this article at: http://nanotechweb.org/cws/article/tech/3606

Electron spin resonance of nitrogen-vacancy centers in optically trapped nanodiamonds

Using an optical tweezers apparatus, we demonstrate three-dimensional control of nanodiamonds in solution with simultaneous readout of ground-state electron-spin resonance (ESR) transitions in an ensemble of diamond nitrogen-vacancy (NV) color centers. Despite the motion and random orientation of NV centers suspended in the optical trap, we observe distinct peaks in the measured ESR spectra qualitatively similar to the same measurement in bulk. Accounting for the random dynamics, we model the ESR spectra observed in an externally applied magnetic field to enable d.c. magnetometry in solution. We estimate the d.c. magnetic field sensitivity based on variations in ESR line shapes to be ~50 microTesla/Hz^1/2. This technique may provide a pathway for spin-based magnetic, electric, and thermal sensing in fluidic environments and biophysical systems inaccessible to existing scanning probe techniques.Comment: 29 pages, 13 figures for manuscript and supporting informatio