Price Setting in France: new Evidence from Survey Data

This paper reports the results of a survey conducted by the Banque de France during winter 2003-2004 to investigate the price-setting behavior of French manufacturing companies. Prices are found to adjust infrequently; the median firm modifies its price only once a year. Price reviews are more frequent than price changes; the median firm reviews its price quarterly. Firms are found to follow either time-dependent, state-dependent or both pricing rules. Moreover, the chosen interval of price reviews depends on the probability that changes in the firms' environment occur. Coordination failure and nominal contracts (either written or implicit) are the most important sources of price stickiness, while pricing thresholds and physical menu costs appear to be totally unimportant. Asymmetries in price stickiness are found to be different for cost shocks compared to demand shocks: prices are more rigid downward than upward for cost shocks, while the reverse is true for demand shocks.Price rigidity ; Price-setting behaviour ; Inflation persistence ; Survey data

La formation des prix dans les industries françaises et dans la zone euro : résultats d’enquêtes spécifiques.

rigidité des prix, comportement de formation des prix, persistance de l’inflation, données d’enquêtes.

Welcome to MTI—A New Open Access Journal Dealing with Blue Sky Research and Future Trends in Multimodal Technologies and Interaction

In this era of massive use of computers and other computational devices (e.g., low-cost wearable sensors, smartphones, other smart devices, etc.), the nature of digital data is becoming more complex and heterogeneous

Contrasting farmers' perception of climate change and climatic data: How (in)consistency supports risk reduction and resilience?

Farmers’ adaptation to climate change is a two-step process that involves perceiving stressors and identifying impacts to respond to variability and changes through specific actions and strategies. Hence, successful adaptation depends on how well changing climate is perceived, either from a ‘bottom-up’ pathway –where farmers observe and identify changes through past experience–, or by using a ‘top-down’ pathway –where changes are identified through climate records. A gap between both pathways tends to be related to farmers’ misperception. For example, as life experiences influence perception, farmers who have been directly affected by extreme climatic events tend to report that the probability of such event happening again is relatively high. Furthermore, as perception is in part a subjective phenomenon, therefore, different farmers in the same locality might construct different perceptions of climate change impacts even though they experience the same weather patterns. Consequently, increased attention has been put on combining the ‘civic science’ of farmers’ perceptions with the ‘formal science’ from meteorological reports to identify the (in)consistency between perceived and observed data and how this affect farmers’ resilience when facing climate change impacts. This contribution provides a review comparing farmers’ perception and climate observations to address a twofold research question: 1) Which extreme events and compound risks are perceived by farmers in contrast with observed data? And 2) How do past experiences and social-learning influence farmers’ resilience and their adaptive capacity? We analyze a portfolio of 147 articles collected from Scopus library catalogue since 2000. The bibliometrics analysis was coupled with the systematic review to 103 articles selected from the original portfolio. Comparison between perceived and observed changes were focus on what was changing (onset, duration or cessation regarding temperature and rainfall patterns) and how it was changing (amount, frequency, intensity or inter-annual variability). Results will be useful for managers, developers, and policymakers of climate adaptation strategies to be more in tune with farmers’ understandings of when and how weather is changing. Furthermore, the review could generate recommendations for the design, formulation, and implementation of adaptation policies that are better tailored to farmers’ perception at local conditions, being more efficient and conducive to risk analysis when facing climate change

Purpose in corporate governance: the path towards a more sustainable world

In order to give a more realistic view of how ESG and sustainability are developed in organisations, this paper explores the development of purpose in corporate governance and the challenges faced. The theme is analysed at the intersection between stakeholder theory and business models in two dimensions: the capability of the market to align stakeholders’ interests (invisible hand) and the trade-offs between purpose and profit. The analysis conducted gave rise to four scenarios with a range of theoretical and practical implications focused on corporate governance

A Large Brightness Enhancement of the QSO 0957+561 A Component

We report an increase of more than 0.2 mag in the optical brightness of the leading image (A) of the gravitational lens Q0957+561, detected during the 09/2000 -- 06/2001 monitoring campaign (2001 observing season). The brightening is similar to or even greater than the largest change ever detected during the 20 years of monitoring of this system. We discuss two different provisional explanations to this event: intrinsic source variability or microlensing (either short timescale microlensing or cessation of the historical microlensing). An exhaustive photometric monitoring of Q0957+561 is needed until summer of 2002 and during 2003 to discriminate between these possibilities.Comment: 13 pages including 3 figures and 1 table. Accepted for publication in ApJ Let

Preparation of pyrimidin-2-one derivatives via base-mediated decomposition of uracil-analogues Fischer carbene complex

A practical and efficient synthesis of pyrimidin-2-one derivatives from Fischer carbene complex uracil-analogues through base-mediated elimination reactions is described. The scope of the protocol has been explored with the preparation of a variety of pyrimidin-2-one derivatives by base mediated demetallation of N-1 and N-3 substituted uracil Fischer carbene

Optical studies of the X-ray transient XTE J2123-058 - II. Phase-resolved spectroscopy

We present time-resolved spectroscopy of the soft X-ray transient XTE J2123-058 in outburst. A useful spectral coverage of 3700-6700A was achieved spanning two orbits of the binary, with single epoch coverage extending to \~9000A. The optical spectrum approximates a steep blue power-law, consistent with emission on the Rayleigh-Jeans tail of a hot black body spectrum. The strongest spectral lines are HeII 4686A and CIII/NIII 4640A (Bowen blend) in emission. Their relative strengths suggest that XTE J2123-058 was formed in the Galactic plane, not in the halo. Other weak emission lines of HeII and CIV are present and Balmer lines show a complex structure, blended with HeII. HeII 4686A profiles show a complex multiple S-wave structure with the strongest component appearing at low velocities in the lower-left quadrant of a Doppler tomogram. H alpha shows transient absorption between phases 0.35-0.55. Both of these effects appear to be analogous to similar behaviour in SW Sex type cataclysmic variables. We therefore consider whether the spectral line behaviour of XTE J2123-058 can be explained by the same models invoked for those systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 12 pages, 12 postscript figure

Actualización del diagnóstico y tratamiento de la pancreatitis aguda canina

Acute pancreatitis is an inflammatory condition, its causes and pathophysiology are poorly understood. This review focuses on updating the diagnosis and treatment of the disease. In general, premature activation of pan- creatic enzymes leads to the onset of pancreatitis, while the inflammatory response promotes disease progression and systemic complications, it is associated with possible risk factors such as food indiscretions, racial predisposition, and use of certain drugs or concomitant diseases. It usually presents nonspecific clinical signs, so it is important to have an adequate clinical examination and the combination of complementary methods, with ultrasound and canine pancreatic lipase immuno reactivity test being the highly specific methods for the diagnosis of acute pancreatitis. The use of certain serum markers and high-technology equip- ment is very useful in the diagnosis and prognosis of the disease, but its use is variable due to its availability, costs, and the patient’s own conditions. The treatment is mainly based on adequate fluid therapy, proper pain management, antiemetics and nutritional management.La pancreatitis aguda es una condición inflamatoria cuyas causas y fisiopatología son poco conocidas. La presente revisión bibliográfica se enfoca en la actualización del diagnóstico y tratamiento de la enfermedad. En general, la activación prematura de las enzimas pancreáticas conduce al inicio de pancreatitis, mientras que la respuesta inflamatoria fomenta la progresión de la enfermedad y complicaciones sistémicas, asociándose a posibles factores de riesgo tales como anomalías alimentarias, predisposición racial, uso de ciertos fármacos o padecimiento de enfermedades concomitantes. Suele presentar signos clínicos inespecíficos, por lo cual es importante un adecuado examen clínico y la combinación de métodos complementarios, siendo la ecografía y el test de inmuno-reactividad de la lipasa pancreática canina, los métodos altamente específicos para el diagnóstico de pancreatitis aguda. El empleo de ciertos marcadores séricos y de equipos de alta tecnología son muy útiles en el diagnóstico y pronóstico de la enfermedad, pero su uso es variable debido a su disponibilidad, costos y condiciones propias del paciente. El tratamiento se basa principalmente en una apropiada fluidoterapia, control adecuado del dolor, antieméticos y manejo nutricional