A Microfounded Sectoral Model for Open Economies

Numerical simulations of the two-country sectoral model are provided for a relatively large number of structural shocks as domestic and foreign productivity shocks in final tradables and non-tradables, money demand shocks and a shock in the exchange rate. Such a model is well suited for monetary policy analysis at the international level and risk analysis.New Keynesian open economy model;tradable and non-tradable sectors;final and intermediate goods;log-linearization

In vivo non-invasive monitoring of optically resonant metal nanoparticles using multi-wavelength photoplethysmography

Nanotechnology has recently emerged as a powerful modality in many biomedical applications. In particular, several classes of nanoparticles have been employed as cancer therapy and imaging contrast agents. These particles can have architecture of varying complexity, depending on their specific application. These complex architectures are achieved by various chemical techniques usually performed in specific sequences to add complexity and functionality. One such class of nanoparticle, used in tumor treatment and as contrast agents in several optical imaging techniques, is the plasmon resonant metal nanoparticle. The most common metal used for these particles is gold because of its biocompatibility, lack of cellular toxicity, and simple surface chemistry. These particles have specific optical properties in the near infrared spectrum making them ideal for modern cancer therapy and optical imaging. Two examples of these particles are gold nanoshells and gold nanorods, both of which are highly absorptive and scattering at near infrared wavelengths. It is for this reason that they are often employed in photo thermal ablation of tumors using near infrared light. In this type of tumor treatment, the particles are injected intravenously and accumulate in the tumor. After accumulation, a near infrared laser is used to heat the particles and destroy the tumor. These gold nanoparticles must be modified with biocompatible stealthing compounds before they can be injected. This is because of the high efficiency of the body\u27s reticuloendotheial system, which will quickly eliminate materials foreign through cellular phagocytosis. Although techniques for quality control in manufacturing these nanoparticles are used to confirm proper surface modification, their in vivo behavior is very difficult to predict. It is for this reason that real time feedback in nanoparticle therapy is an urgent need and will greatly improve its efficacy. This dissertation reports the development of a non-invasive optical system capable of reporting the in vivo vascular concentration of these nanoparticles in near real time. The device, termed the pulse photometer, utilizes a technique similar to that used in pulse oximetry. This technique is photoplethysmography, which has many medical applications. One of these is determining the optical characteristics of pulsatile arterial blood, which are affected after the injection of these optically resonant particles. Several prototypes of this are presented in this dissertation. The culmination of this work is the prototype III pulse photometer capable of concurrent nanoparticle monitoring and oximetry. Final testing of this prototype revealed its ability to accurately determine the vascular optical density of gold nanorods compared to ex vivo spectrophotometry, a technique also verified in this dissertation, by statistical Bland-Altman analysis

Development of marketing of culture in the kurpie region

The aim of the research was to identify the operations in the field of promotion of culture, being carried out in the Kurpie region, and to determine the influence thereof on the development of the region. It may appear that culture does not play a major role in the development of a given area; however, such a conclusion is erroneous. Thanks to culture, people identify a specific territory, and the dissemination of products of culture makes the territory becoming recognizable, and not only to people interested in a product being strictly cultural but also to investors who may probably have not yet considered starting a business activity in e.g. the Kurpie region

Child as target audience of commercials

Commercials exert a strong influence on children. It results in yearning for advertised products. This phenomenon has also some disadvantages. Commercials influence children so strongly that they force adults to buy particular sweets, toys and other advertised products. The contents of television programs are usually received very literally by children. Children attach huge emotional importance to that fact. The reason for that is that they do not have as much experience and knowledge as adults. They know that commercials do not always reflect reality, but they usually desire to possess the advertised products

Territorial marketing as a tool for building cooperation of local authorities with investors

The aim of the study was to identify, analyze and evaluate the attitude of entrepreneurs towards cooperation and relations with the local government authorities. The study attempted to assess the instruments of territorial marketing in use and their impact on the investment. The study showed that entrepreneurs have mostly negative assessment of local authorities. Among marketing tools, only promotion and advertising activities have been noted in use in surveyed municipalities. Local authorities rest passive when communicating to business – initiative always belongs to entrepreneurs

Phosphine Functionalization of GaAs(111)A Surfaces

Phosphorus-functionalized GaAs surfaces have been prepared by exposure of Cl-terminated GaAs(111)A surfaces to triethylphosphine (PEt3) or trichlorophosphine (PCl3), or by the direct functionalization of the native-oxide terminated GaAs(111)A surface with PCl3. The presence of phosphorus on each functionalized surface was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. High-resolution, soft X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy was used to evaluate the As and Ga 3d regions of such surfaces. On PEt3 treated surfaces, the Ga 3d spectra exhibited a bulk Ga peak as well as peaks that were shifted to 0.35, 0.92 and 1.86 eV higher binding energy. These peaks were assigned to residual Cl-terminated Ga surface sites, surficial Ga2O and surficial Ga2O3, respectively. For PCl3-treated surfaces, the Ga 3d spectra displayed peaks ascribable to bulk Ga(As), Ga2O, and Ga2O3, as well as a peak shifted 0.30 eV to higher binding energy relative to the bulk signal. A peak corresponding to Ga(OH)3, observed on the Cl-terminated surface, was absent from all of the phosphine-functionalized surfaces. After reaction of the Cl-terminated GaAs(111)A surface with PCl3 or PEt3, the As 3d spectral region was free of As oxides and As0. Although native oxide-terminated GaAs surfaces were free of As oxides after reaction with PCl3, such surfaces contained detectable amounts of As0. Photoluminescence measurements indicted that phosphine-functionalized surfaces prepared from Cl-terminated GaAs(111)A surfaces had better electrical properties than the native-oxide capped GaAs(111)A surface, while the native-oxide covered surface treated with PCl3 showed no enhancement in PL intensity

General method for extracting the quantum efficiency of dispersive qubit readout in circuit QED

We present and demonstrate a general three-step method for extracting the quantum efficiency of dispersive qubit readout in circuit QED. We use active depletion of post-measurement photons and optimal integration weight functions on two quadratures to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio of the non-steady-state homodyne measurement. We derive analytically and demonstrate experimentally that the method robustly extracts the quantum efficiency for arbitrary readout conditions in the linear regime. We use the proven method to optimally bias a Josephson traveling-wave parametric amplifier and to quantify different noise contributions in the readout amplification chain.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure