Indexation, Inflation and Central Bank Independence

We provide a model which analyzes the effect on equilibrium inflation of different degrees of labor-market indexation. We show that time-inconsistency models cannot account fully for the stylized fact of policy-makers distaste for indexation clauses. In our model the Central Bank and the government interact, pressed by lobbying groups for redistribution through unexpected inflation. We find that inflation increased as indexation increases. The cornerstone of our model is that indexation changes the incentives of the various interest groups that press the government thereby changing the equilibrium inflation rate. A corollary of our model is that Central Bank independence is going to be successful only in societies with anti-inflationary preferences, reversing the traditional causality from independence to inflation

Energy Production, Decontamination, and Hydrogenation Reactions over Perovskite-Type Oxide Catalyst

Heterogeneous catalysis is an important tool in industrial processes because of the recoverability of the catalysts. Transition metal perovskites-type oxides, with the general formula ABO3, offer attractive alternative to noble metal catalysts due to their high activity, high thermal stability, and low cost. Moreover, their physicochemical properties can be tailored to create a family of catalysts by varying the compositions of A and B. Indeed, the partial substitution at the A- and/or B-site with another metal cation stabilizes unusual oxidation states of the B cation with the simultaneous formation of structural defects. In particular, lanthanum-based perovskites have been used extensively and can be grouped into: (i) perovskites with oxygen vacancies as catalysts for oxidation reactions and (ii) perovskites as precursors to prepare nanosized catalysts for hydrogenation reactions. This chapter focuses on the use of pure and doped lanthanum perovskites as active and selective heterogeneous catalysts for catalytic energy production reaction (DME combustion), decontamination reactions (methane, acetyl acetate, toluene, n-hexane, and soot combustion), and hydrogenation reactions (guaiacol, glycerol, and xylose hydrogenation)

Otimização nas operações de colheita florestal em manejos conduzidos por talhadia

Orientador: Prof. Dr. Julio Eduardo ArceTrabalho de Conclusão de Curso (Especialização) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Agrárias, Curso de Especialização MBA em Gestão FlorestalInclui referênciasResumo: A colheita florestal é uma operação que envolve diversos custos de equipamentos e mãode-obra e pode variar os procedimentos operacionais conforme a localização e topografia das áreas florestais. No entanto, em áreas em que o manejo da floresta após a colheita seja a talhadia, é necessário que ocorra um planejamento operacional da operação para não haver perdas e prejuízos no próximo ciclo de plantio. Em vista disso, o presente trabalho busca o auxílio em procedimentos operacionais de otimização da colheita a fim de minimizar a perda de produtividade e sobrevivência em plantios em segunda rotação.Abstract: Forest harvesting is an operation that involves several equipment and labor costs and may vary the operational procedures according to the location and topography of the forest areas. However, in areas where the forest management after harvesting is coppicing, it is necessary that an operational planning of the operation occurs in order to avoid losses and damages in the next planting cycle. In view of this, the present work seeks to help in harvesting optimization operational procedures in order to minimize productivity and survival losses in second rotation plantations

Extra-Anatomic Jump Graft from the Right Colic Vein: A Novel Technique to Manage Portal Vein Thrombosis in Liver Transplantation

In the context of cirrhosis, portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is present in 2.1% to 26% of patients. PVT is no longer considered an absolute contraindication for liver transplantation, and nowadays, surgical strategies depend on the extent of PVT. Complete PVT is associated with higher morbidity rates and poor prognosis, while comparable long-term outcomes can be achieved as long as physiological portal inflow is restored

Influence of the synthesis conditions on the incorporation of B and the acidity in B-MCM-41 materials

B-MCM-41 type nano-structured materials were prepared by direct hydrothermal synthesis. The time of hydrothermal treatment, the Si/B initial molar ratio and the nature of the hydroxide source in the synthesis process were analyzed. All the materials were characterized by XRD, N2 adsorption, TEM, SEM, ICP-OES, FT-IR and adsorption of pyridine coupled to FT-IR spectroscopy. The role of hydroxide source is essential to achieve the incorporation of boron in the mesoporous structure. The relationship between the Boron content in the synthesis gel, the degree of introduction of tetra-coordinated B into the framework, the formation of nest silanols and the relative density of the acidic sites have been discussed. We could corroborate that hydroxyl groups present in silanol nests are the direct responsible of the moderate Brønsted acidity of our materials. The enhancement in the density of acidic nest silanols was reached by increasing the B content in the mesoporous structure. Finally, the use of NH4OH, as hydroxide source, Si/B initial molar ratio of 10 and 20 and a hydrothermal treatment of 6 days resulted the optimum synthesis conditions to obtain the highest framework B incorporation and more abundant moderate Brønsted sites (silanol nests), thus improving the potential catalytic properties of these materials.Fil: Vaschetto, Eliana Gabriela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Química. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Córdoba. Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Pecchi Sanchez, Gina Angela. Universidad de Concepción; ChileFil: Casuscelli, Sandra Graciela. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Química. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Córdoba. Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Química; ArgentinaFil: Eimer, Griselda Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Córdoba. Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Química. Universidad Tecnológica Nacional. Facultad Regional Córdoba. Centro de Investigación y Tecnología Química; Argentin

The Evolving Role of Local Treatments for HCC in the Third Millennium

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents the fifth most common malignancy and the third cancer-related cause of death worldwide. The aim of this review was to clarify the role of local treatments for HCC, analyzing the indications and defining future perspectives

Central nesfatin-1-expressing neurons are sensitive to peripheral inflammatory stimulus

Recently, a novel factor with anorexigenic properties was identified and called nesfatin-1. This protein (82 aac) is not only expressed in peripheral organs but it is also found in neurons located in specific structures including the hypothalamus and the brainstem, two sites strongly involved in food intake regulation. Here, we studied whether some of the neurons that become activated following an injection of an anorectic dose of lipopolysaccharides (LPS) exhibit a nesfatin-1 phenotype. To this end, we used double immunohistochemistry to target the expression of the immediate-early gene c-fos and of nesfatin-1 on coronal frozen sections of the rat brain. The number of c-Fos+/nesfatin-1+ neurons was evaluated in the immunosensitive structures reported to contain nesfatin-1 neurons; i.e. paraventricular hypothalamic nucleus (PVN), supraoptic nucleus (SON), arcuate nucleus (ARC) and nucleus of the solitary tract (NTS). LPS strongly increased the number of c-Fos+/nesfatin-1+ neurons in the PVN, SON and NTS, and to a lesser extent in the ARC. Triple labeling showed that a portion of the nesfatin-1 neurons activated in response to LPS within the NTS are catecholaminergic since they co-express tyrosine hydroxylase (TH). Our data therefore indicate that a portion of nesfatin-1 neurons of both the hypothalamus and brainstem are sensitive to peripheral inflammatory signals, and provide the first clues suggesting that centrally released nesfatin-1 may contribute to the neural mechanisms leading to endotoxaemic anorexia

wall to wall spatial prediction of growing stock volume based on italian national forest inventory plots and remotely sensed data

Abstract Spatial predictions of forest variables are required for supporting modern national and sub-national forest planning strategies, especially in the framework of a climate change scenario. Nowadays methods for constructing wall-to-wall maps and calculating small-area estimates of forest parameters are becoming essential components of most advanced National Forest Inventory (NFI) programs. Such methods are based on the assumption of a relationship between the forest variables and predictor variables that are available for the entire forest area. Many commonly used predictors are based on data obtained from active or passive remote sensing technologies. Italy has almost 40% of its land area covered by forests. Because of the great diversity of Italian forests with respect to composition, structure and management and underlying climatic, morphological and soil conditions, a relevant question is whether methods successfully used in less complex temperate and boreal forests may be applied successfully at country level in Italy. For a study area of more than 48,657 km2 in central Italy of which 43% is covered by forest, the study presents the results of a test regarding wall-to-wall, spatially explicit estimation of forest growing stock volume (GSV) based on field measurement of 1350 plots during the last Italian NFI. For the same area, we used potential predictor variables that are available across the whole of Italy: cloud-free mosaics of multispectral optical satellite imagery (Landsat 5 TM), microwave sensor data (JAXA PALSAR), a canopy height model (CHM) from satellite LiDAR, and auxiliary variables from climate, temperature and precipitation maps, soil maps, and a digital terrain model. Two non-parametric (random forests and k-NN) and two parametric (multiple linear regression and geographically weighted regression) prediction methods were tested to produce wall-to-wall map of growing stock volume at 23-m resolution. Pixel level predictions were used to produce small-area, province-level model-assisted estimates. The performances of all the methods were compared in terms of percent root mean-square error using a leave-one-out procedure and an independent dataset was used for validation. Results were comparable to those available for other ecological regions using similar predictors, but random forests produced the most accurate results with a pixel level R2 = 0.69 and RMSE% = 37.2% against the independent validation dataset. Model-assisted estimates were more precise than the original design-based estimates provided by the NFI