Information variables for monetary policy in a small structural model of the euro area

This paper estimates a small New-Keynesian model with imperfect information and optimal discretionary policy using data for the euro area. The model is used to assess the usefulness of monetary aggregates and unit labour costs as information variables for monetary policy. The estimates reveal that the information content of the M3 monetary aggregate is limited. A more useful role emerges for the unit labour cost indicator, which contains information on potential output that helps to reduce the volatility of the output gap. Finally, the estimated weights for the objectives of monetary policy show that considerable importance is attributed to interest-rate smoothing, greater than to output gap stabilization. This finding indicates that the welfare gains of commitment may be smaller than suggested by typical parametrizations of New-Keynesian models.monetary policy, Kalman filter, inflation, output gap

Bertrand-Edgeworth competition in an almost symmetric oligopoly

We analyze a Bertrand-Edgeworth game in homogeneous product industry, under effcient rationing, constant marginal cost until full capacity utilization, and identical technology across firms. We solve for the equilibrium and establish its uniqueness for capacity configurations in the mixed strategy region of the capacity space such that the capacities of the largest and smallest firm are sufficiently close.Bertrand-Edgeworth competition; mixed strategy equilibrium; almost symmetric oligopoly; Mixed strategy equilibrium

Bertrand-Edgeworth games under oligopoly with a complete characterization for the triopoly

The paper extends the analysis of price competition among capacity-constrained sellers beyond the cases of duopoly and symmetric oligopoly. We first provide some general results for the oligopoly and then focus on the triopoly, providing a complete characterization of the mixed strategy equilibrium of the price game. The region of the capacity space where the equilibrium is mixed is partitioned according to the features of the mixed strategy equilibrium arising in each subregion. Then computing the mixed strategy equilibrium becomes a quite simple task. The analysis reveals features of the mixed strategy equilibrium which do not arise in the duopoly (some of them have also been discovered by Hirata (2008)).Bertrand-Edgeworth; Price game; Oligopoly; Triopoly; Mixed strategy equilibrium

High-throughput single nucleotide variant discovery in E14 mouse embryonic stem cells provides a new reference genome assembly

Mouse E14 embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are a well-characterized and widespread used ESC line, often employed for genome-wide studies involving next generation sequencing analysis. More than 2×10(9) sequences made on Illumina platform derived from the genome of E14 ESCs were used to build a database of about 2.7×10(6) single nucleotide variants (SNVs). The identified variants are enriched in intergenic regions, but several thousands reside in gene exons and regulatory regions, such as promoters, enhancers, splicing sites and untranslated regions of RNA, thus indicating high probability of an important functional impact on the molecular biology of these cells. We created a new E14 genome assembly reference that increases the number of mapped reads of about 5%. We performed a Reduced Representation Bisulfite Sequencing on E14 ESCs and we obtained an increase of about 120,000 called CpGs and avoided about 20,000 wrong CpG calls with respect to the mm9 genome reference

Bertrand-Edgeworth oligopoly: Characterization of mixed strategy equilibria when some firms are large and the others are small

This paper studies Bertrand–Edgeworth competition among firms producing a homogeneous commodity under efficient rationing and constant (and identical across firms) marginal cost until full capacity utilization isreached. Ourfocusis on a subset of the no pure-strategy equilibrium region of the capacity space in which, in a well-defined sense, some firms are large and the others are small. We characterize equilibria for such subset. For eachfirm,the payoffs are the same at any equilibriumand, for each type of firm, they are proportional to capacity. While there is a single profile of equilibrium distributions for the large firms, there is a continuum of equilibrium distributions for the small firms: what is uniquely determined, forthe latter, isthe capacity-weighted sum of their equilibrium distributions and hence the union of the supports of their equilibrium strategies

A multilevel finite element-multibody approach to design the suspension system for the road transportation of SSR1 cryomodule

Cryomodules (CM) represents edge-frontier assemblies in particle physics research field. The road transportation of CM is a critical phase during which the structures can be subjected to significant dynamic loads. It is therefore necessary to design a Transportation Tool (TT) equipped with an appropriate suspension system. This work describes the approach adopted for the design of the TT for the CM PIP-II SSR1 (Proton Improvement Plan-II – Single Spoke Resonators 1), which is firstly introduced in the CM research field. Initially a Finite Element (FE) model was developed, considering the main sub-assemblies of the CM. However, this model was not suitable for the design of the TT due to the high computational burden. For this reason the model was exported as a Modal Neutral File and imported into a MultiBody software (MB) where the remaining components were modeled as concentrated stiffnesses or rigid bodies. The MB model thus obtained has drastically reduced the calculation time, proving to be fundamental in the TT iterative design phase, which involves the use of Helical Isolators (HI) performing the function of mechanical filters. To validate the effectiveness of TT in reducing dynamic loads, a 3D acceleration profile measured during the transport of a similar cryomodule (Linear Coherent Light Source II, LCLS-II) was used. Furthermore, the results of the MB model were used to perform the structural verification of some critical components of the CM