Staggered Wages and Output Dynamics under Disinflation.

We study the output costs of a reduction in monetary growth in a dynamic general equilibrium model with staggered wages. The money wage is fixed for two periods, and is chosen according to intertemporal optimization. Agents have labour market monopoly power. We show that the introduction of microfoundations helps to resolve the puzzle raised by directly postulated models, namely that disinflation in staggered pricing models causes a boom. In our model disinflation, whether unanticipated or anticipated, unambiguously causes a slump.WAGES ; INFLATION ; MONEY

Is Pulse-Dye Laser Therapy an Effective Treatment for Burn Scars?

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not pulse-dye laser therapy is an effective treatment for burn scars. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review of two randomized controlled trials and one case series study published in 1998, 2003, and 2012. DATA SOURCES: Two randomized controlled trials and one case series study published after 1997 were obtained using Medline and PubMed OUTCOMES MEASURED: Symptoms of pruritus, pain, and burning sensation measured for improvement by patient survey of pain scales and parent’s reports of complaints in pediatric patients with symptoms by way of pain scales and medication requests. Cosmetic appearance was measured by physician and patient evaluation, photograph of pre and post treatment burn scar evaluation by blinded non-medical evaluators, 3D topographic imaging, and the Vancouver Scar Scale. RESULTS: Bailey et al. (2012) and Alster et al. (1998) demonstrated improvement in a majority of the subjects’ burn scar cosmetic characteristics, while Alster also showed significant improvement in burn scar pruritus. Allison et al. (2003) showed an improvement in pruritus symptoms but not significant in cosmetic appearance as compared to the control. CONCLUSION: Evidence to support the efficacy of pulse-dye laser therapy as a treatment for the symptoms and cosmetic appearance of burn scars is inconclusive at this point in time due to the lack of a large subject population, standard of measurement, and a wide spectrum of subject age making it difficult to properly collect significant amounts of data to strongly support the efficacy of pulse-dye therapy in treating burn scars

Pulsar "Drifting"-Subpulse Polarization: No Evidence for Systematic Polarization-Angle Rotations

Polarization-angle density displays are given for pulsars B0809+74 and B2303+30, which exhibit no evidence of the systematic polarization-angle rotation within individual subpulses previously reported for these two stars. The ``drifting'' subpulses of both pulsars exhibit strikingly linear and circular polarization which appears to reflect the characteristics of two nearly orthogonally polarized emission ``modes''--along which the severe average-profile depolarization that is characteristic of their admixture at comparable overall intensities.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

The uncoupling limit of identical Hopf bifurcations with an application to perceptual bistability

We study the dynamics arising when two identical oscillators are coupled near a Hopf bifurcation where we assume a parameter $\epsilon$ uncouples the system at $\epsilon=0$. Using a normal form for $N=2$ identical systems undergoing Hopf bifurcation, we explore the dynamical properties. Matching the normal form coefficients to a coupled Wilson-Cowan oscillator network gives an understanding of different types of behaviour that arise in a model of perceptual bistability. Notably, we find bistability between in-phase and anti-phase solutions that demonstrates the feasibility for synchronisation to act as the mechanism by which periodic inputs can be segregated (rather than via strong inhibitory coupling, as in existing models). Using numerical continuation we confirm our theoretical analysis for small coupling strength and explore the bifurcation diagrams for large coupling strength, where the normal form approximation breaks down

Gravity gradient preliminary investigations on exhibit ''A'' Final report

Quartz microbalance gravity gradiometer performance test

Improved laboratory gradiometer can be a field survey instrument

Improvements made to quartz gradiometer minimize or eliminate disturbing effects from known error sources and permit sensitivity of + or - 1 times 10 to the minus 9th power/sec sq or better and measuring accuracy of + or - 5 times 10 to the minus 9th power/sec sq

The effect of induced estrus on conception rate in dairy cattle

During the first few weeks of a dairy cows\u27 lactation the milk production rises to a maximum then gradually declines as the lactation progresses. Lactations showing a slow decline are said to have higher persistency than lactations showing a rapid decline in production. Although lactations vary in persistency the production of all cows declines as the lactation progresses. This decline in production combined with the physiological necessity of a dry period makes it necessary for the cow to be bred at regular intervals thus re-establishing the high post-calving level of production. It can be shown that the calving interval which offers the most economic benefit is one which balances the loss of production during the dry periods with the gain in production due to the postcalving peak. Obviously cows with lactations of low persistence need a shorter calving interval than cows with lactation intervals of high persistence, but for the sake of convenience of management and standard-ization of records, a calving interval of twelve months is usually adopted. One of the problems facing the dairy farmer in his attempt to keep his cows to the most economical calving interval is getting the cows to conceive at the right time. For this reason any method of improving the conception rate would find great practical application. To maintain a twelve-month calving interval the cows must be bred as soon as possible after sixty days postpartum. It is entirely possible that the uterus is not in a suitable condition to provide optimum con-ditions for sustaining a pregnancy at this time. This experiment was designed to examine the possibility of improving the conception rate in dairy cattle by inducing an early postpartum estrus with hormone injections. The relationship between the rate of uterine involution and conception rate was also studied