Extended linear-homothetic preferences and the Cournot-Bertrand profit differential

This paper introduces the �extended linear-homothetic� preferences to model consumer choice. Specifically, we extend Datta and Dixon�s (2000) �standard linear-homothetic� preferences by adding an additional term to the unit cost function. This term captures the relative importance of price interactions within sectors on the unit cost of utility. In an economy composed of a large number of sectors (K) with a suffciently large number of firms (n) in each, the �extended linear-homothetic� preferences yield (perceived) linear demands in own strategy and competitors� strategies - where goods are characterized as substitutes. Thus, the linearity and homotheticity properties of the preferences open the possibility to develop a tractable model of oligopoly in general equilibrium. An additional novelty introduced by the �extended linear-homothetic� preferences is the presence of a sectoral-specific price index in product demand. For n small, this implies that firms internalize the sectoral price effects of their individual pricing strategies. The latter, we argue, may provide us with a link between nonatomistic price and wage setters and the monetary authority.

Macroeconomic Effects of Oligopolistic Competition with Wage Bargaining

Modelling oligopoly in general equilibrium is about understanding the aggregate effects of the strategic behavior that nonatomistic agents may exhibit in their markets. Real-world economies appear to be characterized by (monopoly) power-endowed agents behaving strategically - namely, firms and unions. By abstracting from this behavior, we risk missing some important features of the macroeconomy. We develop a general equilibrium model of unionized oligopoly aimed at addressing this point. We evaluate the macroeconomic effects of supply-side shocks under alternative product and labor market structures. In addition, the micro foundations of the model capture an alternative channel for the development of strategic interactions among firms, unions and the monetary authority. This channel creates a transmission mechanism for real effects of monetary policy-related shocks, which we investigate. Finally, in the light of the predictions of the model, we discuss macroeconomic performance in Continental Europe over the 1990s.

Deterioration of willow seeds during storage

Willow (Salix spp.) seeds are able to tolerate desiccation, but differ from typical orthodox seeds in that they lose viability in a few days at room temperature, and in that the chloroplasts in embryo tissues do not dedifferentiate during maturation drying, thus retaining chlorophyll and maintaining intact their thylakoid membranes. In the present study, we investigated the damage generated in willow seeds during storage under appropriate conditions to exclude the eventual generation of reactive oxygen species by photooxidation. To this end, we measured different indicators of molecular damage, such as changes in the fatty acid profile, protein degradation, nuclease activities, and DNA damage, and evaluated normal germination and total germination in seeds stored for one, ten and sixteen years. We found: (i) a decrease in the fraction of unsaturated fatty acids; (ii) changes in the protein profile due to a decrease in protein solubility; (iii) activation of nucleases; and (iv) DNA fragmentation. Taken together, our findings identified programmed cell death as a key mechanism in seed deterioration during storage. We also found that, although the seeds maintained high percentages of total germination, the death program had already started in the seeds stored for ten years and was more advanced in those stored for sixteen years.Fil: Lopez Fernandez, Maria Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Moyano, Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Correa, María Daniela. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Departamento de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Vasile, Franco Emanuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Chaco Austral. Departamento de Industrias Alimentarias; ArgentinaFil: Burrieza, Hernán Pablo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; ArgentinaFil: Maldonado, Sara Beatriz. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Biodiversidad y Biología Experimental y Aplicada; Argentin

Spanish generation from Spanish Sign Language using a phrase-based translation system

This paper describes the development of a Spoken Spanish generator from Spanish Sign Language (LSE – Lengua de Signos Española) in a specific domain: the renewal of Identity Document and Driver’s license. The system is composed of three modules. The first one is an interface where a deaf person can specify a sign sequence in sign-writing. The second one is a language translator for converting the sign sequence into a word sequence. Finally, the last module is a text to speech converter. Also, the paper describes the generation of a parallel corpus for the system development composed of more than 4,000 Spanish sentences and their LSE translations in the application domain. The paper is focused on the translation module that uses a statistical strategy with a phrase-based translation model, and this paper analyses the effect of the alignment configuration used during the process of word based translation model generation. Finally, the best configuration gives a 3.90% mWER and a 0.9645 BLEU

RV POSEIDON Cruise Report POS420 COWACSS Biological observation and sampling of cold-water corals to investigate impacts on climate change

Trondheim – (Kristiansund) – Kiel 08. – (25.) – 30.09.201

Application of p-adic analysis to time series

Time series defined by a p-adic pseudo-differential equation is investigated using the expansion of the time series over p-adic wavelets. Quadratic correlation function is computed. This correlation function shows a degree--like behavior and is locally constant for some time periods. It is natural to apply this kind of models for the investigation of avalanche processes and punctuated equilibrium as well as fractal-like analysis of time series generated by measurement of pressure in oil wells.Comment: 18 page

Complete Polarization Control in Multimode Fibers with Polarization and Mode Coupling

Multimode optical fibers have seen increasing applications in communication, imaging, high-power lasers and amplifiers. However, inherent imperfections and environmental perturbations cause random polarization and mode mixing, making the output polarization states very different from the input one. This poses a serious issue for employing polarization sensitive techniques to control light-matter interactions or nonlinear optical processes at the distal end of a fiber probe. Here we demonstrate a complete control of polarization states for all output channels by only manipulating the spatial wavefront of a laser beam into the fiber. Arbitrary polarization states for individual output channels are generated by wavefront shaping without constraint on input polarizations. The strong coupling between spatial and polarization degrees of freedom in a multimode fiber enables full polarization control with spatial degrees of freedom alone, transforming a multimode fiber to a highly-efficient reconfigurable matrix of waveplates

Aplicación de una nariz electrónica tipo QCM para la medida de aromas emitidos por manzanas cv. Fuji conservadas con diferentes tecnologías

La nariz electrónica (NE) “Libra Nose” se basa en una matriz de 8 sensores del tipo Microbalanzas de Cristal de Cuarzo. Estudios previos muestran que es posible utilizar una NE para hacer un seguimiento de la evolución de la calidad de fruta sometida a diferentes periodos de almacenamiento. En este trabajo se muestra que al analizar la emisión aromática de frutos de manzana cv.Fuji, con NE y cromatografía de gases, es posible por una lado detectar con la NE diferencias significativas en el espacio de cabeza generado por manzanas sometidas a diferentes tiempos de almacenamiento y periodos de vida en estantería, y por otro lado establecer para los frutos almacenados en condiciones de frío normal y atmósfera controlada estándar, una correlación positiva entre la respuesta de los sensores de la NE y la emisión de uno de los compuestos predominantes en el aroma de la variedad Fuji, el acetato de hexilo

Sistema de traducción de lenguaje SMS a castellano

En este artículo se describe el proceso llevado a cabo para desarrollar un sistema de traducción de lenguaje SMS (Short Message Service) a castellano. En primer lugar, se genera una base de datos necesaria para desarrollar el sistema, formada por más de 11000 términos y expresiones en lenguaje SMS y sus traducciones al castellano, así como frases de ejemplo en lenguaje SMS para realizar una primera evaluación del sistema. La arquitectura completa está formada por un traductor automático estadístico basado en subfrases o secuencias de palabras y una serie de funciones implementadas para actuar sobre las frases en tiempo real. La evaluación de la arquitectura se realiza con las siguientes métricas: WER (tasa de error de palabras), BLEU (“BiLingual Evaluation Understudy”) y NIST. Como resultado final, se obtiene una tasa de error de palabra de 20,2% para el mejor experimento