Empirical Models of Auctions

Many important economic questions arising in auctions can be answered only with knowledge of the underlying primitive distributions governing bidder demand and information. An active literature has developed aiming to estimate these primitives by exploiting restrictions from economic theory as part of the econometric model used to interpret auction data. We review some highlights of this recent literature, focusing on identification and empirical applications. We describe three insights that underlie much of the recent methodological progress in this area and discuss some of the ways these insights have been extended to richer models allowing more convincing empirical applications. We discuss several recent empirical studies using these methods to address a range of important economic questions.

Empirical Models of Auctions

Many important economic questions arising in auctions can be answered only with knowledge of the underlying primitive distributions governing bidder demand and information. An active literature has developed aiming to estimate these primitives by exploiting restrictions from economic theory as part of the econometric model used to interpret auction data. We review some highlights of this recent literature, focusing on identification and empirical applications. We describe three insights that underlie much of the recent methodological progress in this area and discuss some of the ways these insights have been extended to richer models allowing more convincing empirical applications. We discuss several recent empirical studies using these methods to address a range of important economic questions.Auctions, Identification, Estimation, Testing

Adrift on the Ocean: a study of K.S. Maniam’s displaced characters

This paper analyses two plays by Malaysian Indian author K.S. Maniam, examining his ideas about the necessity to rearticulate state-authored, essentialising notions of cultural and ethnic identity towards the creation of a more hybrid and inclusive identity which does not demand allegiance to a single, rigidly defined culture. Maniam’s main concerns in this context will be examined through a close analysis of his plays The Cord and The Sandpit: Womensis. My analysis of these two plays will be framed by the ideas articulated in Maniam’s 2001 paper “The New Diaspora”

Einstein on the beach: A study in temporality

This is an Author's Accepted Manuscript of an article published in Performance Research, 17(5), 34 - 40, 2012, copyright @ Taylor & Francis, available online at: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/13528165.2012.728438.In this paper I seek to examine and analyse the sense of duration induced by performances of Einstein on the Beach, and the entailed sense of time which its internal structure creates. I initially sketch out the stylistic context and artistic intentions of this work's creators, Glass and Wilson, and I briefly describe the process of its creation. Certain features of this process indicate how the work may be interpreted. Having cited the creators' thoughts on structure and temporality, I address directly aspects of Einstein's temporal effects, comparing it to works of similar lengths. I give the briefest synopsis of its staging and motifs. I then outline three kinds of devices which seem to inform our temporal sense of this work as spectators. In the final section I invoke two ideas which serve as analogies to help characterise this work's overall effect on us: Heidegger's notion of the ‘hermeneutic circle’ and, more speculatively, Nietzsche's ‘theory’ of Eternal Recurrence

Detection and characterisation of Complement protein activity in bovine milk by bactericidal sequestration assay

Susan Maye is in receipt of a Teagasc Walsh Fellowship. Financial support by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is gratefully acknowledged.Copyright © Proprietors of Journal of Dairy Research 2015 (Institute of Food Research and the Hannah Research Institute)peer-reviewedWhile the Complement protein system in human milk is well characterised, there is little information on its presence and activity in bovine milk. Complement forms part of the innate immune system, hence the importance of its contribution during milk ingestion to the overall defences of the neonate. A bactericidal sequestration assay, featuring a Complement sensitive strain, Escherichia coli 0111, originally used to characterise Complement activity in human milk was successfully applied to freshly drawn bovine milk samples, thus, providing an opportunity to compare Complement activities in both human and bovine milks. Although not identical in response, the levels of Complement activity in bovine milk were found to be closely comparable with that of human milk. Differential counts of Esch. coli 0111 after 2 h incubation were 6·20 and 6·06 log CFU/ml, for raw bovine and human milks, respectively – the lower value representing a stronger Complement response. Exposing bovine milk to a range of thermal treatments e.g. 42, 45, 65, 72, 85 or 95 °C for 10 min, progressively inhibited Complement activity by increasing temperature, thus confirming the heat labile nature of this immune protein system. Low level Complement activity was found, however, in 65 and 72 °C heat treated samples and in retailed pasteurised milk which highlights the outer limit to which high temperature, short time (HTST) industrial thermal processes should be applied if retention of activity is a priority. Concentration of Complement in the fat phase was evident following cream separation, and this was also reflected in the further loss of activity recorded in low fat variants of retailed pasteurised milk. Laboratory-based churning of the cream during simulated buttermaking generated an aqueous (buttermilk) phase with higher levels of Complement activity than the fat phase, thus pointing to a likely association with the milk fat globule membrane (MFGM) layer.Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marin

Review: Lexicography; Linguistic Theories; Text/Corpus Ling: Hanks (2013)

Review of Patrick Hanks (2013) Lexical Analysis: Norms and Exploitations (MIT Press

Reassessing the Canon: “fixed” phrases in general reference corpora

This paper sets forth the argument for revisiting fixed phrases in the light of the knowledge that their fixedness is not necessarily something to be taken for granted. It focuses on the location and analysis of variant forms in general reference corpora. Existing phraseological structures, including collocational frameworks, idiom schemas and semi-prepackaged phrases, are introduced by way of background before a procedure for retrieving non-canonical forms of fixed expressions in general reference corpora is presented. Some implications relating to the study of variant forms are presented, along with suggestions for future research directions

\u201cAlways avoid metaphors\u201d. The civil service style guide and public perceptions of non-literal language.

It seems as if phrasal vocabulary is more easily identifiable as metaphorical (by non-specialists) than apparently stand-alone lexical items. This study investigates this notion further, using a specially-collected corpus of all the civil servant policy documents published online in the year 201