Antibiotic Sensitivity of Staph. aureus

Undergraduate Experimental Basi

Pension Funding Decisions, Interest Rate Assumptions and Share Prices

This paper explores how unfunded pension obligations affect the market values of firms. Finns appear to choose the interest rate they use in discounting future benefit obligations so as to balance the tax advantages of a low rate against the more healthy looking annual reports a high rate allows. Investors seem to penetrate this ruse and value firms as if obligations were figured at a standard rate. The rate thus used seems to be much lower than current long term interest rates. Pension liabilities are therefore overemphasized by the market. There is also some evidence that pension assets are undervalued. This suggests that growth of the private pension system might increase savings by investors and firms.

Global deposition of total reactive nitrogen oxides from 1996 to 2014 constrained with satellite observations of NO2 columns

Reactive nitrogen oxides (NOy) are a major constituent of the nitrogen deposited from the atmosphere, but observational constraints on their deposition are limited by poor or nonexistent measurement coverage in many parts of the world. Here we apply NO2 observations from multiple satellite instruments (GOME, SCIAMACHY, and GOME-2) to constrain the global deposition of NOy over the last 2 decades. We accomplish this by producing top-down estimates of NOx emissions from inverse modeling of satellite NO2 columns over 1996–2014, and including these emissions in the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model to simulate chemistry, transport, and deposition of NOy. Our estimates of long-term mean wet nitrate (NO3−) deposition are highly consistent with available measurements in North America, Europe, and East Asia combined (r = 0.83, normalized mean bias  = −7%, N = 136). Likewise, our calculated trends in wet NO3− deposition are largely consistent with the measurements, with 129 of the 136 gridded model–data pairs sharing overlapping 95% confidence intervals. We find that global mean NOy deposition over 1996–2014 is 56.0TgNyr−1, with a minimum in 2006 of 50.5TgN and a maximum in 2012 of 60.8TgN. Regional trends are large, with opposing signs in different parts of the world. Over 1996 to 2014, NOy deposition decreased by up to 60% in eastern North America, doubled in regions of East Asia, and declined by 20% in parts of western Europe. About 40% of the global NOy deposition occurs over oceans, with deposition to the North Atlantic Ocean declining and deposition to the northwestern Pacific Ocean increasing. Using the residual between NOx emissions and NOy deposition over specific land regions, we investigate how NOx export via atmospheric transport has changed over the last 2 decades. Net export from the continental United States decreased substantially, from 2.9TgNyr−1 in 1996 to 1.5TgNyr−1 in 2014. Export from China more than tripled between 1996 and 2011 (from 1.0 to 3.5TgNyr−1), before a striking decline to 2.5TgNyr−1 by 2014. We find that declines in NOx export from some western European countries have counteracted increases in emissions from neighboring countries to the east. A sensitivity study indicates that simulated NOy deposition is robust to uncertainties in NH3 emissions with a few exceptions. Our novel long-term study provides timely context on the rapid redistribution of atmospheric nitrogen transport and subsequent deposition to ecosystems around the world.This work was supported by NSERC and Environment and Climate Change Canada. We acknowledge the free use of tropospheric NO2 column data from the GOME, SCIAMACHY, and GOME-2 sensors from www.temis.nl. We further acknowledge the NADP, CAPMoN, EMEP, and EANET regional monitoring networks as well as the World Data Centre for Precipitation Chemistry for access to wet deposition data. (NSERC; Environment and Climate Change Canada)https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/17/10071/2017/acp-17-10071-2017.pdfhttps://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/17/10071/2017/acp-17-10071-2017.pdfhttps://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/17/10071/2017/acp-17-10071-2017.pdfPublished versionPublished versio

Global deposition of total reactive nitrogen oxides from 1996 to 2014 constrained with satellite observations of NO2 columns

Reactive nitrogen oxides (NOy) are a major constituent of the nitrogen deposited from the atmosphere, but observational constraints on their deposition are limited by poor or nonexistent measurement coverage in many parts of the world. Here we apply NO2 observations from multiple satellite instruments (GOME, SCIAMACHY, and GOME-2) to constrain the global deposition of NOy over the last two decades. We accomplish this by producing top-down estimates of NOx emissions from inverse modeling of satellite NO2 columns over 1996–2014, and including these emissions in the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model to simulate chemistry, transport, and deposition of NOy. Our estimates of long-term mean wet nitrate (NO3−) deposition are highly consistent with available measurements in North America, Europe, and East Asia combined (r = 0.83, normalized mean bias = −7 %, N = 136). Likewise, our calculated trends in wet NO3− deposition are largely consistent with the measurements, with 129 of the 136 gridded model-data pairs sharing overlapping 95 % confidence intervals. We find that global mean NOy deposition over 1996–2014 is 56.0 Tg N yr−1, with a minimum in 2006 of 50.5 Tg N and a maximum in 2012 of 60.8 Tg N. Regional trends are large, with opposing signs in different parts of the world. Over 1996 to 2014, NOy deposition decreased by up to 60 % in eastern North America, doubled in regions of East Asia, and declined by 20 % in parts of Western Europe. About 40 % of the global NOy deposition occurs over oceans, with deposition to the North Atlantic Ocean declining and deposition to the northwestern Pacific Ocean increasing. Using the residual between NOx emissions and NOy deposition over specific land regions, we investigate how NOx export via atmospheric transport has changed over the last two decades. Net export from the continental United States decreased substantially, from 2.9 Tg N yr−1 in 1996 to 1.5 Tg N yr−1 in 2014. On the other hand, export from China more than tripled between 1996 and 2011 (from 1.0 Tg N yr−1 to 3.5 Tg N yr−1), before a striking decline to 2.5 Tg N yr−1 by 2014. We find that declines in NOx export from some Western European countries have counteracted increases in emissions from neighbouring countries to the east. A sensitivity study indicates that simulated NOy deposition is robust to uncertainties in NH3 emissions with a few exceptions. Our novel long-term study provides timely context on the rapid redistribution of atmospheric nitrogen transport and subsequent deposition to ecosystems around the world.https://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/acp-2016-1100/acp-2016-1100.pdfhttps://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/acp-2016-1100/acp-2016-1100.pdfhttps://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/acp-2016-1100/acp-2016-1100.pdfPublished versionPublished versio

Fiscal federalism: US history for architects of Europe's fiscal union

Ever since first the blueprints for monetary union in Europe were drawn up, the United States, considered as a collection of individual states or regions, has served as a benchmark for assessing its feasibility and evaluating alternative policy options. Starting with Robert Mundellâ??s seminal 1961 article on optimal currency areas, countless papers have explored the inner workings of US labour, product and capital markets, and of its public finances, in the hope of learning lessons for Europe. It could be argued that this US inspiration is mistaken. After all, it is not the only economic and monetary federation in the world. Other federations work on different principles â?? especially when it comes to public finances â?? and there is no guarantee that US arrangements are optimal â?? especially, again, regarding public finances. But we know the US better and we think we understand it better, so success or failure relative to the US test carries much more weight than with the Australian, Canadian, Indian or Swiss tests. For better or worse, the US remains our ultimate policy laboratory. This essay on US fiscal federalism by Randall Henning and Martin Kessler builds on the established tradition. But unlike many papers that take current US features as a given, they tell us what present arrangements governing responsibility over public debt gradually emerged from, and why. By bringing in the historical dimension and the trial-and-error process that took place over more than two centuries, they help us understand the logic behind alternative arrangements and why the current one has in the end prevailed. Their careful historical account yields several important lessons. It first recalls that the US system as we know it, with its combination of a large federal budget responsible for the bulk of public debt and limited thrifty state budgets subject to balanced budget rules, emerged gradually from a sequence of events; in fact the initial set-up, as designed and enforced by Alexander Hamilton, was almost exactly the opposite. Second, it makes clear that beyond economic principles, attitudes towards what was in the aftermath of independence called the â??assumptionâ?? of state debt were shaped by broader political considerations â?? not least the aim of building a genuine federal government. Third, it explains how after the US was firmly established as a federation, changing political conditions led to a reversal of the federal governmentâ??s stance and to the enforcement of a â??no bail-outâ?? principle. An intriguing feature of US history is therefore that the competences and features of federal government grew out of its assumption of state debt, and that the centre imposed a de-facto no bail-out regime only after having assumed essential powers. Another interesting observation by Henning and Kessler is that balanced budget rules were adopted spontaneously by states in response to financial stress and defaults, rather than as a disciplinary device mandated by the centre. Thus, there is still significant variability between states regarding the modus operandi and strictness of budget rules. The question remains if what matters is the strictness of the rule, or deeper political preferences at state level, of which the rule is only an expression. Finally, Henning and Kessler emphasise, a no less important lesson for Europe is that policy principles and institutions should be looked at as a system rather than in isolation. As the authors point out, it may seem obvious to recall that states in the US can abide by strict budget balance rules to the extent the federal government is responsible for stabilisation and the bail-out of insolvent banks, but this simple lesson is sometimes overlooked in European discussion. Jean Pisani-Ferry Director of Bruegel

Is tax policy hurting venture capital?

Venture capital ; Taxation

Equilibrium Wage Dispersion: An Example

Search models with posting and match-specific heterogeneity generate wage dispersion. Given K values for the match-specific variable, it is known that there are K reservation wages that could be posted, but generically never more than two actually are posted in equilibrium. What is unknown is when we get two wages, and which wages are actually posted. For an example with K = 3, we show equilibrium is unique; may have one wage or two; and when there are two, the equilibrium can display any combination of posted reservation wages, depending on parameters. We also show how wages, profits, and unemployment depend on productivitySearch equilibrium, wage posting, wage dispersion, labor theory

A Simple Volcano Potential with an Analytic, Zero-Energy, Ground State

We describe a simple volcano potential, which is supersymmetric and has an analytic, zero-energy, ground state. (The KK modes are also analytic.) It is an interior harmonic oscillator potential properly matched to an exterior angular momentum-like tail. Special cases are given to elucidate the physics, which may be intuitively useful in studies of higher-dimensional gravity.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure

Generalized search-theoretic models of monetary exchange

This paper extends the literature on search-theoretic models of money in several ways. It provides results for general bargaining parameters, whereas previous papers consider only special cases. It also presents one version of the model in which agents holding money cannot produce and another in which they can. The former has been used in essentially all the previous literature, although the latter seems more natural for some purposes and avoids several undesirable implications. Since very little is known about this version, the authors analyze it in detail.Monetary theory