The credit supply channel of monetary policy: evidence from a FAVAR model with sign restrictions

We test whether the credit channel of the monetary policy was present in the United States' economy from January 2001 to April 2016. To this end, we use a factor-augmented vector autoregression, and we impose sensible theoretical sign restrictions in our structural identification scheme. We use the expected substitution effect between bank commercial loans and commercial papers to identify the credit supply channel. We found that the credit channel appears to have operated in the US economy during the sample period. However, when we split the sample, we found that the credit channel did not operate after the subprime crisis (close to the Zero Lower Bound of the interest rate). This result is robust to changing the sign restriction horizons. It supports current views in the literature regarding the ineffectiveness of the credit channel as a means to foster real economic activity during crises episodes

Reproducibility of a Titanium Plasma Vacuum Spark Discharge

The results of an extensive operation of a Vacuum Spark plasma using Titanium electrodes in a 120 ns 150 kA discharge are presented. The hot spots are found to form with a regular spacing in a zippering Z-pinch plasma, which forms close to the cathode and extends to approximately two thirds of the anode separation over a period of a few ns. The axis of the discharge is well defined by an initial plasma from a Nd:YAG laser focussed onto the cathode electrode surface. The statistics of the formation of the hot spots are given for the life of one anode electrode. Between one and three hotspots form and the favored positions are at 1.5 and 3.0 mm from the cathode and the strongest emission, as observed in a filtered X-ray pinhole camera, comes from the hot spot closest to the cathode. The emission spectra resolved between 50 and 350 \AA shows a wide range of Ti ionization which allows the temperatures of the anode blow off plasma, the Z-pinch and the hot spot plasma to be distinguished. These results are compared with filtered PIN diode signals and filtered pinhole images.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Verification by tests of models proposed for synchronous machines, excitation control systems, water supply and turbines and its control systems for colbún and machicura power plants

In this paper several models proposed for Excitation Control Systems, Synchronous Machines, Prime Movers Control System and Turbines corresponding to the Hydraulic power plants of Colbún and Machicura are shown and verified. These power plants are located in the “Interconnected Central System” (SIC), Chile’s largest grid and are part of the Colbún subsystem. This grid subsystem also bears industrial load. It supplies energy to “El Teniente” -world’s largest copper mineand to several paper manufacturing plants. The models were used to study the Colbún subsystem under island operation when the SIC blacks out due to under-frequency conditions.Instituto de Investigaciones Tecnológicas para Redes y Equipos Eléctricos (IITREE

Electric field distribution in the cathode sheath of an electron beam glow discharge

We have measured the electric field distribution in the cathode sheath of an electron beam He glow discharge. Laser saturation spectroscopy was used to determine the quadratic Stark shift produced by the electric field. The experimental results are in good agreement with the calculations of a collisional model of the cathode sheath.This research was supported by the National Science Foundation under grant No. PHY-8508594 and the U.S. Air Force. JJR acknowledges the National Science Foundation for the support of a Presidential Young Investigator Award and an International Grant INT-8402914. MM was supported by a fellowship from the Universidad de Buenos Aires and Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas de la Republica Argentina

A methodology for structured ontology construction applied to intelligent transportation systems

The number of computers installed in urban and transport networks has grown tremendously in recent years, also the local processing capabilities and digital networking currently available. However, the heterogeneity of existing equipment in the field of ITS (Intelligent Transportation Systems) and the large volume of information they handle, greatly hinder the interoperability of the equipment and the design of cooperative applications between devices currently installed in urban networks. While the dynamic discovery of information, composition and invocation of services through intelligent agents are a potential solution to these problems, all these technologies require intelligent management of information flows. In particular, it is necessary to wean these information flows of the technologies used, enabling universal interoperability between computers, regardless of the context in which they are located. The main objective of this paper is to propose a systematic methodology to create ontologies, using methods such as a semantic clustering algorithms for retrieval and representation of information. Using the proposed methodology, an ontology will be developed in the ITS domain. This ontology will serve as the basis of semantic information to a SS (Semantic Service) that allows the connection of new equipment to an urban network. The SS uses the CORBA standard as distributed communication architecture

Reglas de política monetaria y fiscal en el Brasil: evidencia empírica de dominancia monetaria y dominancia fiscal

A partir de la hipótesis de que las reglas de política monetaria y fiscal en el Brasil pueden haber estado sujetas a diferentes regímenes, en este estudio se utiliza el modelo de Leeper (1991 y 2005) para establecer la cronología de las reglas de política en cuanto a su carácter activo o pasivo. Las reglas de política se estiman mediante el modelo de cambio de Markov, con una base de datos mensuales de noviembre de 2002 a diciembre de 2015, en que los regímenes se generan de manera endógena. Los resultados obtenidos permiten afirmar que hubo dominancia fiscal en 2010 y entre 2013 y 2014. La dominancia monetaria se produjo en gran parte de 2003 y en el período de 2005 a 2007. El modelo también trata de explicar por qué la tasa de inflación se mantuvo al alza en 2015, a pesar de que el Banco Central del Brasil puso en práctica una política monetaria activa

Fiscal and monetary policy rules in Brazil: empirical evidence of monetary and fiscal dominance

Based on the hypothesis that the rules of monetary and fiscal policy in Brazil may have been subject to different regimes, the present study applies the Leeper model (1991 and 2005) to identify the chronology of policy regimes in terms of their active and passive character. The policy rules are estimated using the Markov-switching model, with a monthly database from November 2002 to December 2015, in which the regimes are endogenously determined. The results obtained indicate that fiscal dominance occurred in 2010 and between 2013 and 2014, while monetary dominance marked much of 2003 and the period 2005–2007. The model also seeks to explain why the inflation rate continued to rise during 2015 even though Central Bank of Brazil took an active monetary policy stance that year

Effect of indirect Γ-L and Γ-X transfer on the carrier dynamics of InGaP/InAlP multiple quantum wells

Includes bibliographical references (page 104).Indirect Γ-L scattering within the well, and real space carrier transfer to the barrier X1c states are shown to significantly affect the carrier dynamics in In0.48Ga0.52P/In0.5Al0.5P multiple quantum wells. When carriers transfer to the indirect states occurs, the carrier dynamics is modified by the slow return of the carriers from the low mobility states to the well. As a result, the absorption recovery time increases by almost an order of magnitude. Carrier transfer to the indirect states also increases the carrier lifetime to values characteristic of indirect recombination.This work is supported by the National Science Foundation through Grant Nos. DMR 9321422, ECS-9502888, EEC-9015128, the Colorado Advanced Technology Institute, Grant No. 0594.75.0738, and by AFOSR contract F49620-93-1-0021

Fox : a un año de la alternancia

Reflexiones críticas desde diversas disciplinas de las ciencias sociales acerca del primer año de gobierno de Vicente Fox Quesada. Entre los rubros que se analizan están: la política cultural, el sector rural, los jóvenes, los derechos humanos, la cultura indígena y la seguridad pública.ITESO, A.C