Conference Summary: New Frontiers in Monetary Policy Design

Although the current inflation-targeting regime has served Canadians well, sound public policy demands the continuous exploration of possible improvements in the monetary policy framework. At the Bank of Canada's 2009 conference, distinguished scholars from academic institutions and monetary authorities around the world discussed two central questions regarding the design of monetary policy: (i) Would an inflation target lower than 2 per cent lead to better economic outcomes? And (ii) What are the costs and benefits of price-level targeting relative to inflation targeting? The conference agenda included work that shed new light on these two questions. Other work explored the causes of zero-bound episodes and the efficacy of potential policies.

Alta Sensibilidade de Processamento Sensorial, Mindfulness e Perdão Traço

O presente estudo visa verificar se os indivíduos altamente sensíveis evidenciam maiores níveis de mindfulness e perdão traço do que os indivíduos menos sensíveis. Participaram 1035 indivíduos com uma idade média de, aproximadamente, 29 anos. O instrumento de recolha de dados utilizado contém um questionário sociodemográfico, a Escala Highly Sensitive Person Scale – Aron (2001; Pereira et. al, 2017), a Escala MAAS (Brown, K., & Ryan, R., 2003; Gregório, S., & Pinto-Gouveia, J., 2013) relativa ao mindfulness ou consciência plena e a Escala Perdão-traço (Berry & Worthington, 2005). No capítulo I, faz-se uma apresentação geral do trabalho, no qual se insere em formato de artigo científico, a investigação realizada. Circunscrito no mesmo, pretendeu-se analisar e relacionar a Alta sensibilidade de processamento sensorial, mindfulness e perdão traço, e verificou-se que a Alta sensibilidade de processamento sensorial e perdão traço são preditores do mindfulness. Posteriormente, segue-se o capítulo 2 reservado à discussão geral e às referências bibliográficas. Por fim, surge o anexo I, onde são abordados os conceitos chave do tema em estudo, nomeadamente a alta sensibilidade de processamento sensorial, o mindfulness e o perdão traço.The present study aims to verify whether highly sensitive individuals evidence higher levels of mindfulness and forgiveness trait than less sensitive individuals. A total of 1040 individuals with a mean age of approximately 29 years participated. The data collection instrument used includes a sociodemographic questionnaire, the Highly Sensitive Person Scale - Aron Scale (2001; Pereira et al, 2017), the MAAS Scale (Brown, K., & Ryan, R., 2003; Gregorio, S., & Pinto- Gouveia, J., 2013) regarding mindfulness or full consciousness and the Forgiveness-Trait Scale (Berry & Worthington, 2005). In chapter I, a general presentation of the work, in which the research carried out is inserted in a scientific article format. Circumscribed in the same, it was intended to analyze and relate the high sensitivity of sensory processing, mindfulness and forgiveness trace, and it was found that the high sensitivity of sensory processing and forgiveness trace are predictors of mindfulness. Subsequently, it follows the chapter 2 reserved for the general discussion and the bibliographical references. Finally, it is shown the Annex I, which addresses the key concepts of the subject under study, namely the high sensitivity of sensory processing, mindfulness and forgiveness trait

Especificação de Hardware e Desenvolvimento de Software para Automa ̧c ̃ao de Sistema de Baias de Teste com Shuttle Cart

TCC(graduação) - Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. Centro Tecnológico. Engenharia de Controle e Automação.O projeto descrito no presente relatório é parte do desenvolvimento de um sistema de Shuttle Cart, junto à ControlMaster Automação, em uma das linhas de montagem de refrigeradores Whirlpool. Este sistema consiste na utilização de um carro de deslocamento capaz de transportar produtos até posições de teste, de forma a realizar testes obrigatórios e de longa dura ̧c ̃ao sem comprometer a capacidade de produção da linha de montagem. Os focos do projeto são a especificação dos componentes de hardware e o desenvolvimento do software de controle. S ̃ao apresentados os requisitos gerais, propostos pelo cliente, baseados em sistemas semelhantes já existentes, bem como em melhorias esperadas. Os requisitos funcionais são considerações e detalhes de funcionamento resultantes dos requisitos gerais. A especificação do hardware levou em conta o número de sinais de entrada e saída do sistema. Já a arquitetura de implementação proposta foi restrita pelos equipamentos desejados pelo cliente. O desenvolvimento do software partiu da análise dos componentes e subsistemas integrantes, sendo então realizada uma modelagem das estruturas de dados e das lógicas de controle de cada um. Finalmente, realizou-se a implementação do modelo obtido em Ladder Diagram. O sistema de baias de teste desenvolvido cumpre com os requisitos do cliente e está em funcionamento na linha de produção. O sucesso de implementação decorre em boa parte da qualidade das especificações de hardware e software de CLP desenvolvidos neste projeto.This project is part of a Shuttle Cart system development, together with ControlMaster Automa ̧c ̃ao, in one of the fridge assembly lines from Whirlpool company. This system consists of a car capable of transport products to test positions. As a result, multiple products can be tested in parallel without compromise the assembly line production ca- pacity. This project focus on hardware specification and software development. General requirements from the client, based on existing similar systems, are shown, as well as expected improvements. Functional requirements are details about how the final system must run following the general requirements. Hardware specifications took into account the input and output signals quantity. The proposed implemented architecture was res- tricted by the client’s desirable equipment. Software development started from component and compound subsystem analysis, then a data structure and control logic model for each one was accomplished. Finally, a implementation model has been obtained as Ladder Diagram. The implementation success justifies mainly because the great hardware and PLC software specifications quality in this project

N-body simulation of the Stephan's Quintet

The evolution of compact groups of galaxies may represent one of the few places in the nearby universe in which massive galaxies are being forged through a complex set of processes involving tidal interaction, ram-pressure stripping, and perhaps finally "dry-mergers" of galaxies stripped of their cool gas. Using collisionless N-body simulations, we propose a possible scenario for the formation of one of the best studied compact groups: Stephan's Quintet. We define a serial approach which allows us to consider the history of the group as sequence of galaxy-galaxy interactions seen as relatively separate events in time, but chained together in such a way as to provide a plausible scenario that ends in the current configuration of the galaxies. By covering a large set of parameters, we claim that it is very unlikely that both major tidal tails of the group have been created by the interaction between the main galaxy and a single intruder. We propose instead a scenario based on two satellites orbiting the main disk, plus the recent involvement of an additional interloper, coming from the background at high speed. This purely N-body study of the quintet will provide a parameter-space exploration of the basic dynamics of the group that can be used as a basis for a more sophisticated N-body/hydrodynamic study of the group that is necessary to explain the giant shock structure and other purely gaseous phenomena observed in both the cold, warm and hot gas in the group.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap

The three species monomer-monomer model in the reaction-controlled limit

We study the one dimensional three species monomer-monomer reaction model in the reaction controlled limit using mean-field theory and dynamic Monte Carlo simulations. The phase diagram consists of a reactive steady state bordered by three equivalent adsorbing phases where the surface is saturated with one monomer species. The transitions from the reactive phase are all continuous, while the transitions between adsorbing phases are first-order. Bicritical points occur where the reactive phase simultaneously meets two adsorbing phases. The transitions from the reactive to an adsorbing phase show directed percolation critical behaviour, while the universal behaviour at the bicritical points is in the even branching annihilating random walk class. The results are contrasted and compared to previous results for the adsorption-controlled limit of the same model.Comment: 12 pages using RevTeX, plus 4 postscript figures. Uses psfig.sty. accepted to Journal of Physics

Parents, children and the porous boundaries of the sexual family in law and popular culture

This article focuses on a perceived ideological overlap between popular cultural and judicial treatments of sex and conjugality that contributes to a discursive construction of parenthood and parenting. The author perceives that in both legal and popular cultural texts, there is a sense in which notions of ‘natural’ childhood are discursively constituted as being put at risk by those who reproduce outside of dominant sexual norms, and that signs of normative sexuality (typically in the form of heterosexual coupling) may be treated as a sign of safety. These ideas are rooted in ancient associations between fertility, sexuality and femininity that can also be traced in the historical development of the English language. With the help of commentators such as Martha Fineman, the article situates parents and children within a discourse of family which prioritises conjugality, with consequences for the ways in which the internal and external boundaries of families are delineated

Hepatic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ and α-mRNA expression in HCV-infected adults is decreased by HIV co-infection and is also affected by ethnicity

OBJECTIVE: To determine peroxisome proliferator activated receptor α and γ mRNA expression in liver tissue of hepatitis C virus-infected patients with and without human immunodeficiency virus and its possible contribution to an acceleration of liver disease progression. METHODS: We measured peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α and γ mRNA expression by real-time polymerase chain reaction in liver tissues from 40 subjects infected only with hepatitis C virus, 36 subjects co-infected with hepatitis C virus and human immunodeficiency virus and 11 normal adults. RESULTS: Hepatic mRNA expression of both peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors was significantly lower in hepatitis C virus-infected subjects with and without human immunodeficiency virus co-infection compared to the controls. Non-black race was also identified as a predictor of lower peroxisome receptor α and γ mRNA expression. Compared to subjects infected only with hepatitis C virus, liver peroxisome receptor γ mRNA expression was significantly lower in hepatitis C virus/human immunodeficiency virus-co-infected subjects (0.0092 in hepatitis C virus/human immunodeficiency virus-co-infection vs. 0.0120 in hepatitis C virus-only; p=0.004). Hepatic peroxisome receptor α mRNA expression in the hepatitis C virus-infected patients was lower in the presence of human immunodeficiency virus co-infection in non-black subjects (0.0769 vs. 0.1061; p=0.02), whereas the levels did not vary based on human immunodeficiency virus status among black subjects. CONCLUSION: mRNA expression of both peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors is impaired in hepatitis C virus-infected liver and further reduced by human immunodeficiency virus co-infection, although the suppressive effects of the viruses are substantially mitigated in black patients

Coupling continuous CO2 electroreduction to formate with efficient Ni-based anodes

CO2 electroreduction to formic acid and formate has been focus of great research attention in the last years. Thus, considerable and relevant efforts have been accomplished in this field, mainly by operating with different types of catalysts and electrode configurations in the cathodic compartment. Still, Pt-based anodes, which are expensive and scarce, are typically the preferred materials to carry out the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline medium. However, it is crucial to search for new materials of lower prices, with high stability, and good performances able to be competitive with traditional Pt-based electrodes. Hence, we study hand-made NiO-based anodes for the continuous CO2 electroreduction for formate in a filter press reactor with a single pass of the reactants through the electrochemical reactor. The use of the NiO-based anodes enhances the results obtained in previous studies with DSA/O2 anodes, combining excellent values of Faradaic Efficiency for formate of 100 %, and energy consumptions values close to only 200 kWh·kmol-1. In addition, employing Sustainion® as a binder in the fabrication of the anode results in a significant improvement in the durability, maintaining similar performance in terms of key metrics.Authors fully acknowledge the financial support received from the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI) through the projects PID2019-108136RB-C31 and PID2020-112845RB-I00 (AEI/10.13039/501100011033). We are also grateful for the Bi carbon-supported nanoparticles prepared and provided by the group of Prof. V. Montiel and Dr. José Solla-Gullón from the Institute of Electrochemistry of the University of Alicante. Guillermo Díaz-Sainz would like to thank the Academic Planning and Teaching Staff Vice-chancellorship of University de Cantabria and the Young Chemical Researchers Group, belonging to the Royal Spanish Society of Chemistry (JIQ-RSEQ) for financial help to carry out the research stay at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto in which the present work was developed