Wage offers and on-the-job search

We study the wage-setting problem of an employer with private information about demand for its product when workers can engage in costly on-the-job search. Employers understand that low wage offers may convey bad news that induces workers to search. The unique perfect sequential equilibrium wage strategy is characterized by: (i) pooling by intermediate-revenue employers on a common wage that just deters search; (ii) discontinuously lower revealing offers by low-revenue employers for whom the benefit of deterring search fails to warrant the required high pooling wage; and (iii) high revealing offers by high-revenue employers seeking to deter aggressive raider

The curious effects of integrating bimetallic active centres within nanoporous architectures for acid-catalysed transformations

The resourceful combination of distinct Mg, Zn and Si active-sites within a single aluminophosphate framework, via simultaneous isomorphous substitution, has afforded unique bimetallic nanoporous heterogeneous catalysts. Unique site-specific interactions have been engineered, at the molecular level, to facilitate catalytic modifications and optimize product yield. By the dextrous incorporation of individual transition-metal active centres, we are able to intricately control the precise nature of the Brønsted acid sites, thereby influencing their catalytic behaviour for the industrially relevant acid-catalysed Beckmann rearrangement of cyclohexanone oxime and isopropylation of benzene

Exploring the role of intermediaries in smart grid developments

Smart grid pilot projects have been initiated in a number of locations across the UK. Innovations considered in these projects include various technologies such as smart meters and electrical energy storage devices, as well as novel institutional arrangements which form the basis of commercial Demand Side Response (DSR) initiatives. This paper reports research into DSR using multiple case studies from Low Carbon Network Fund projects in the UK. The role of Aggregator companies in DSR is reported, their role of a key intermediary analysed and conceptualised using the Accessibility, Mobility and Receptivity (AMR) framework

Searching for plasticity in dissociated cortical cultures on multi-electrode arrays

We attempted to induce functional plasticity in dense cultures of cortical cells using stimulation through extracellular electrodes embedded in the culture dish substrate (multi-electrode arrays, or MEAs). We looked for plasticity expressed in changes in spontaneous burst patterns, and in array-wide response patterns to electrical stimuli, following several induction protocols related to those used in the literature, as well as some novel ones. Experiments were performed with spontaneous culture-wide bursting suppressed by either distributed electrical stimulation or by elevated extracellular magnesium concentrations as well as with spontaneous bursting untreated. Changes concomitant with induction were no larger in magnitude than changes that occurred spontaneously, except in one novel protocol in which spontaneous bursts were quieted using distributed electrical stimulation

MAKING SUCCESSFUL PERMEABILITY MEASUREMENTS WITH ASPHALTIC CRUDE OILS

ABSTRACT Reservoirs with asphaltic oils are notorious for being difficult to evaluate with respect to reservoir properties. This is largely due to the flocculation of dispersed asphaltenes when the rock and fluids are brought to the surface. The flocculated asphaltenes deposit on the rock surface affecting the wettability and are suspended in the oil causing problems with flow measurements. Cleaning and aging procedures attempt to restore the rock surface back to reservoir conditions. However, unless all asphaltenes are removed, flocculated material will continue to form. Complete removal of the asphaltenes would alter the chemical and physical characteristics of the oil, creating questions about the applicability of the flow tests. This paper provides successful results from relative permeability tests using asphaltic oils. Attempts to measure oil permeabilities with dead crude oil have resulted in a continually decreasing permeability. However, once the crude oil was recombined to live oil, stable oil permeability was measured. The relative permeability tests with live oil were successfully run without the sample plugging problems typical of dead oil with flocculated asphaltenes. Results are shown for both sandstone and carbonate reservoirs

Formation of Monodispersed Cadmium Sulfide Particles by Aggregation of Nanosize Precursors

Monodispersed spherical cadmium sulfide particles were used as a model system in order to explain the size selection in the formation of colloids by aggregation of nanosize subunits. Several procedures of mixing the reactants were employed to precipitate these solids and follow the kinetics of particle growth. Efficient numerical simulation techniques for the model rate equations were developed to fit the experimental results. Our results have confirmed the recently proposed mechanism of two-stage growth by nucleation of nanosize crystalline primary particles and their subsequent aggregation into polycrystalline secondary colloids.Comment: 18 pages (with 6 figures) in PD

Cold-adapted reassortants of influenza A virus: Pathogenicity of A/Ann Arbor/6/60×A/Alaska/6/77 reassortant viruses In vivo and In vitro

Cold-adapted reassortants of A/Ann Arbor/6/60×A/Alaska/6/77 viruses made in MDCK cells have recently been assessed genotypically and for temperature-sensitive and cold-adapted phenotypes. These reassortants were used to infect ferrets and hamsters and to inoculate organ cultures of hamster tracheal rings, in order to assess their degree of virulence. Virulence in the three model systems corresponded quite well, and a correlation between loss of virulence and particular A/AA/6/60 genes present in the reassortants was noted. Two different reassortants containing either RNA 2 or RNA 5 (NA gene) alone from A/AA/6/60 showed little attenuation from the wild-type parent. A reassortant containing both RNA2 and the NA gene from A/AA/6/60 and all remaining wild-type genes showed some small decrease in virulence compared to the wild-type virus. However a reassortant containing these two A/AA/6/60 genes and RNA 3 as an additional gene from this parent, had a level of attenuation comparable to that of the cold-adapted virus.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/41693/1/705_2005_Article_BF01316727.pd