The rise of goods-market competition and the fall of nominal wage contracting: endogenous wage contracting in a multisector economy

This paper shows how heterogeneity wage-setting and a link between nominal wage flexibility andg goods-market competition rise in a multisector economy that is affected by aggregate and sector-specific shocks. Aggregate volatility increases the variance of real contract wages, whereas sectoral volatility increase the relative variance of real Walrasian wages. Given this tradeoff, the prevalence of nominal wage contracting reflects both the relative volatility of aggregate versus sectoral disturbances and the overall degree of goods-market market competition. We find that these variables help explain the decline in unionization (a proxy for contracting in) the United States.Markets ; Wages

Effects of post-translational modifications catalysed by pollen transglutaminase on the functional properties of microtubules and actin filaments

TGases (transglutaminases) are a class of calcium-dependent enzymes that catalyse the interactions between acyl acceptor glutamyl residues and amine donors, potentially making crosslinks between proteins. To assess the activity of apple (Malus domestica) pollen TGase on the functional properties of actin and tubulin, TGase was prepared from apple pollen by hydrophobic interaction chromatography and assayed on actin and tubulin purified from the same cell type. The enzyme catalysed the incorporation of putrescine in the cytoskeleton monomers. When tested on actin filaments, pollen TGase induced the formation of high-molecular-mass aggregates of actin. Use of fluorescein– cadaverine showed that the labelled polyamine was incorporated into actin by pollen TGase, similar to with guinea pig liver TGase. The pollen TGase also reduced the enzyme activity and the binding of myosin to TGase-treated actin filaments. Polymerization of tubulin in the presence of pollen TGase also yielded the formation of high molecular mass aggregates. Furthermore, the pollen TGase also affected the binding of kinesin to microtubules and reduced the motility of microtubules along kinesincoated slides. These results indicate that the pollen tube TGase can control different properties of the pollen tube cytoskeleton (including the ability of actin and tubulin to assemble and their interaction with motor proteins) and consequently regulate the development of pollen tubes

Higgs + 2 jets via gluon fusion

Real emission corrections to gg -> H, which lead to H+2 jet events, are calculated at order alpha_s^4. Contributions include top-quark triangles, boxes and pentagon diagrams and are evaluated analytically for arbitrary top mass m_t. This new source of H+2 jet events is compared to the weak-boson fusion cross section for a range of Higgs boson masses. The heavy top-mass approximation appears to work well for intermediate Higgs-boson masses, provided that the transverse momenta of the final-state partons are smaller than the top-quark mass.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Biomass Energy Resources: Feedstock Quality and Bioenergy Sustainability

The fossil fuel society is facing environmental, socio-economic, and geopolitical issues [...

Kinematical Limits on Higgs Boson Production via Gluon Fusion in Association with Jets

In this paper, we analyze the high-energy limits for Higgs boson plus two jet production. We consider two high-energy limits, corresponding to two different kinematic regions: a) the Higgs boson is centrally located in rapidity between the two jets, and very far from either jet; b) the Higgs boson is close to one jet in rapidity, and both of these are very far from the other jet. In both cases the amplitudes factorize into impact factors or coefficient functions connected by gluons exchanged in the t channel. Accordingly, we compute the coefficient function for the production of a Higgs boson from two off-shell gluons, and the impact factors for the production of a Higgs boson in association with a gluon or a quark jet. We include the full top quark mass dependence and compare this with the result obtained in the large top-mass limit.Comment: 35 pages, 6 figure

Hydrogen Arrangements on Defective Quasi-Molecular BN Fragments

Considering the ever-increasing interest in metal-free materials, some potential chemical applications of quasi-molecular boron nitride (BN) derivatives were tested. Specifically, the behavior of BN fragments was analyzed when given defects, producing local electron density changes, were introduced by using topological engineering approaches. The inserted structural faults were Schottky-like divacancy (BN-d) defects, assembled in the fragment frame by the subtraction of one pair of B and N atoms or Stone-Wales (SW) defects. This study is aimed at highlighting the role of these important classes of defects in BN materials hypothesizing their future use in H-2-based processes, related to either (i) H-2 activation or (ii) H-2 production, from preadsorbed hydrogenated molecular species on BN sites. Here, it has been observed that BN species, embodying SW defects, are characterized by endothermic H-2 adsorption and fragmentation phenomena in order to guess their potential use in processes based on the transformation or production of hydrogen. On the contrary, in the presence of BN-d defects, and for reasons strictly related to local structural changes occurring along with the hydrogen rearrangements on the defective BN fragments, a possible use can be inferred. Precautions must be however taken to decrease the material rigidity that could actually decrease the ability of the BN fragment to flatten. This conversely seems to be a necessary requirement to have strong exothermic effects, following the rearrangements of the H-2 molecules

Empathes: A general code for nudged elastic band transition states search

An easy and flexible interface, Empathes (Extensible Minimum PATH EStimator), that allows to perform Nudged Elastic Band calculation for the determination of transition states is presented. The code is designed to be easily modified, in order to be associated with the user's preferred calculation software, even with those which implement composite approaches. In particular, the interfaces to Gaussian and Siesta programs are discussed in details, being the former only used for testing purpose, while the latter can be productively employed for transition states search with that commonly used density functional theory software for periodic calculations. Program summary: Program Title: Empathes CPC Library link to program files: https://doi.org/10.17632/v525mwf3cc.1 Developer's repository link: https://github.com/marberti/empathes Code Ocean capsule: https://codeocean.com/capsule/2394233 Licensing provisions: GPLv3 Programming language: Fortran 08 Nature of problem: The search for the structure of transition states through computational methods, essentially based on Density Functional Theory, is of overwhelming importance for the determination of the elementary steps forming a reaction mechanism. Allowing to develop basic knowledge, these investigations can be used to direct experimentalists towards a more efficient realization of chemical compounds synthetic processes. In cases where it is necessary to describe the reactive system through periodic calculations, which is very common in heterogeneous catalysis, this research must be done through the use of non-analytical methods. Solution method: In case of lacking of analytical procedures, the search for the transition states associated with the elementary stages that make up chemical reactions must take place through numerical methods. The Nudged Elastic Band (NEB) approach is, together with its variants, one of the most used for this purpose. In accordance with the NEB algorithm, a chain of geometric structures, generated by interpolating between the reactant and product geometries and joined by fictitious springs, is relaxed on the minimum energy path, allowing the association of the transition state to the maximum along this path. The NEB method involves the determination of molecular energies and forces acting on the nuclei of the system, which is generally carried out through a program for electronic structure calculation. The present code is a useful general interface