Market Power and Relative Price Adjustment: Evidence from the UK

Empirical studies of price transmission often suggest that imperfect pass-through may be due to market power exerted by food retailers. However, these econometric studies essentially lack any formal basis for tying the role of market power with data comprising of retail and producer prices only. We show that if market power has an effect on the farm-retail margin, this determines the specification of the cointegrating relationship. To emphasise the relevance of the tests, we focus on results relating the UK beef sector and show that market power is likely to have played a role in determining the retail-farm price margin.price adjustment, market power, Demand and Price Analysis, Q11, L13,

Theory of the cold collision frequency shift in 1S--2S spectroscopy of Bose-Einstein-condensed and non-condensed hydrogen

We show that a correct formulation of the cold collision frequency shift for two photon spectroscopy of Bose-condensed and cold non-Bose-condensed hydrogen is consistent with experimental data. Our treatment includes transport and inhomogeneity into the theory of a non-condensed gas, which causes substantial changes in the cold collision frequency shift for the ordinary thermal gas, as a result of the very high frequency (3.9kHz) of transverse trap mode. For the condensed gas, we find substantial corrections arise from the inclusion of quasiparticles, whose number is very large because of the very low frequency (10.2Hz) of the longitudinal trap mode. These two effects together account for the apparent absence of a "factor of two" between the two possibilities. Our treatment considers only the Doppler-free measurements, but could be extended to Doppler-sensitive measurements. For Bose-condensed hydrogen, we predict a characteristic "foot" extending into higher detunings than can arise from the condensate alone, as a result of a correct treatment of the statistics of thermal quasiparticles.Comment: 16 page J Phys B format plus 6 postscript figure

A service evaluation of parent adherence with dysphagia management therapy guidelines: Reports from family carers supporting children with complex needs in Greece

Purpose: Many children with complex needs exhibit eating, drinking and/or swallowing disorders (dysphagia). These children often have associated learning needs, and require assistance from carers for daily tasks such as eating and drinking. The aim of this study was to identify which strategies to manage dysphagia were challenging for family carers, and reasons for any non-adherence. Method: In this service evaluation researchers observed carers during mealtimes, and investigated carer opinions of strategies used to minimise the risks of dysphagia. Eight children with complex needs aged 3.4 - 7.5 years and their primary family caregiver participated. Results: Adherence with speech and language pathologists’ dysphagia recommendations overall was over 50% in all but one case. For specific strategies, the highest adherence was observed for diet modifications of foods (89%), communication during the mealtime (83%), amount of food to present (81%) and the pacing of fluids and foods (81%). Lower levels of adherence were identified in relation to postural management (58%), environmental changes (58%), utensils (56%) and preparatory strategies (49%). Conclusion: Adherence with use of strategies to support mealtimes was over 50% in all but one case. Findings suggest that support is essential in order to promote safe mealtimes, reduce family carers’ stress and increase knowledge, confidence and adherence in implementing dysphagia guidelines in the family home