Predicting gross state product growth with the Chicago Fed's Midwest Economy Index

This article explains how the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Midwest Economy Index (MEI) can be used to produce quarterly estimates of the annual gross state product (GSP) growth of each state in the Seventh Federal Reserve District.Economic conditions - Federal Reserve District, 7th ; Federal Reserve District, 7th

Economic Outlook Symposium: summary of 2010 results and forecasts for 2011

According to participants in the Chicago Fed’s annual Economic Outlook Symposium, solid economic growth is forecasted for the nation in 2011, following a year with moderate growth; inflation is expected to edge higher in 2011; and the unemployment rate is predicted to remain elevated this year.Economic forecasting ; Economic conditions

Economy to keep cruising along in 2011 and 2012

According to participants in the Chicago Fed’s annual Automotive Outlook Symposium, solid economic growth is forecasted for the nation this year and in 2012. Inflation is expected to rise in 2011 and then ease in 2012, and the unemployment rate is anticipated to move lower but remain high by historical standards through the end of 2012. Light vehicle sales are forecasted to improve in 2011 and 2012.Inflation (Finance) ; Economic conditions - United States ; Automobile industry and trade

Skill Dierentiation and Income Disparity in a Decentralized Matching Model of North-South Trade

This paper develops a North-South trade model in which the South produces food and the North produces both food and a high-tech good. Food production is undertaken by unskilled workers while the high-tech product is made only by horizontally dierentiated skilled workers. Due to the possibility of a peer-group effect, we allow the unskilled workers in the North to be equally or more productive than in the South. Horizontal matching of skilled workers is generally imperfect and the skilled wages are determined by a symmetric Nash bargain. We characterize two dierent types of equilibrium: a closed-economy equilibrium without trade and a free trade equilibrium without labor mobility. We then extend the benchmark framework to consider the presence of transport costs. In all cases with trade, the equilibrium properties of goods pricing, the volume of trade and wage disparities are examined.skill heterogeneity and matching, north-south trade, wage inequality

Cosmogenic-neutron activation of TeO2 and implications for neutrinoless double- β decay experiments

Flux-averaged cross sections for cosmogenic-neutron activation of natural tellurium were measured using a neutron beam containing neutrons of kinetic energies up to ∼800 MeV and having an energy spectrum similar to that of cosmic-ray neutrons at sea level. Analysis of the radioisotopes produced reveals that Ag110m will be a dominant contributor to the cosmogenic-activation background in experiments searching for neutrinoless double-β decay of Te130, such as the Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) and the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory Plus (SNO+). An estimate of the cosmogenic-activation background in the CUORE experiment has been obtained using the results of this measurement and cross-section measurements of proton activation of tellurium. Additionally, the measured cross sections in this work are also compared with results from semiempirical cross-section calculations

Modified two-strand spinning (part III : yarn performance)

In this final part of the series, modified two-strand spun yarns are produced on a modified Sirospun system. The yarns are then evaluated against conventional Sirospun yarns.<br /

Expression of an atrial G-protein-activated potassium channel in Xenopus oocytes

Injection of rat atrial RNA into Xenopus oocytes resulted in the expression of a guanine nucleotide binding (G) protein-activated K+ channel. Current through the channel could be activated by acetylcholine or, if RNA encoding a neuronal 5HT1A receptor was coinjected with atrial RNA, by serotonin (5HT). A 5HT-evoked current (I5HT) was observed in oocytes injected with ventricle RNA fractions (of 2.5-5.5 kb) and 5HT1A receptor RNA. I5HT displayed strong inward rectification with very little conductance above the K+ equilibrium potential, was highly selective for K+ over Na+, and was blocked by 5-300 µM Ba2+. I5HT was suppressed by intracellular injection of the nonhydrolyzable analog of GDP, guanosine 5'-[ß-thio]diphosphate, but not by treatment with pertussis toxin (PTX), suggesting coupling of the receptor to the G-protein-activated K+ channel via a PTX-insensitive G protein, possibly endogenously present in the oocyte. Coexpression of the subunit of a PTX-sensitive G protein, Gi2, rendered I5HT sensitive to PTX inhibition. Native oocytes displayed a constitutively active inwardly rectifying K+ current with a lower sensitivity to Ba2+ block; expression of a similar current was also directed by atrial or ventricle RNA of 1.5-3 kb. Xenopus oocytes may be employed for cloning of the G-protein-activated K+ channel cDNA and for studying the coupling between this channel and G proteins