Decisiones de consumo: un ejemplo usando una solución dinámica "Cournot- Nash"

In recent years there have been numerous studies about the formation of the savings rate. However, little attention has been paid to the growing incorporation of women to the labour market on the concumption decision making of households. This decision making changes when both partners have utility functions which are combined inside the household. In this situation, duopolistic behaviours can take place and the final result -the stock of wealth or savings- will depend on the strategy, co-operative or not, followed by the participants. Our model has two basic features: the underlying stock of wealth changes as a result of the actions of both participants, and each participants takes in account of the other's actions. This strategic aspect is studied, for example, by using the concept of a Cournot- Nash equilibrium in which each partner's reaction depends on the stock of wealth and not on previous behaviour. This, the model is a discreet-time alogue of a differential game. The paper examines the dynamic and steady- state proporties of savings level that result from the participants' interactions.Durante los últimos años se ha prestado gran atención al estudio de la formación del nivel de ahorro. Sin embargo, hay un factor que no ha sido suficientemente elaborado: la repercusión de la creciente incorporación de la mano de obra femenina al mundo laboral sobre el nivel de decisiones de consumo o ahorro de las economías domésticas. Dicha toma tradicional de decisiones se ve alterada cuando los dos cónyuges tienen funciones de utilidad separadas que combinan dentro del "hogar". Esto puede dar lugar a situaciones duopolísticas en las que el resultado final -el nivel de riqueza o ahorro- dependerá de la estrategia -colusiva o no - seguida por los participantes. El modelo -un ejercicio simple en la línea comentada- presenta dos características básicas: el nivel de ahorros cambia como resultado de la acción de ambos cónyuges y cada uno de ellos toma en mente las acciones del otro. El aspecto estratégico se estudia usando el concepto de equilibrio Cournot-Nash en un contexto dinámico -la reacción de cada participante en el juego dependerá del nivel de ahorro (variable de estado) y no de comportamientos anteriores-. Así. el modelo es análogo a un juego diferencial en tiempo discreto. El artículo examina las propiedades dinámicas y steady state del nivel de ahorro que resultan de la interacción de los participantes

Nash Equilibrium and information transmission coding and decoding rules

The design of equilibrium protocols in sender-receiver games where communication is noisy occupies an important place in the Economic literature. This paper shows that the common way of constructing a noisy channel communication protocol in Information Theory does not necessarily lead to a Nash equilibrium. Given the decoding scheme, it may happen that, given some state, it is better for the sender to transmit a message that is different from that prescribed by the codebook. Similarly, when the sender uses the codebook as prescribed, the receiver may sometimes prefer to deviate from the decoding scheme when receiving a message.Noisy channel, Shannon's Theorem, sender-receiver games, Nash equilibrium

Pragmatic Languages with Universal Grammars

This paper shows the existence of an equilibrium pragmatic Language with a universal grammar as a coordination device under communication misunderstandings. Such a language plays a key role in achieving efficient outcomes in those Sender-Receiver games where there may exist noisy information transmission. The Language is pragmatic in the sense that the Receiver’ best response depends on the context, i.e, on the payoffs and on the initial probability distribution of the states of nature of the underlying game. The Language has a universal grammar because the coding rule does not depend on such specific parameters and can then be applied to any Sender-Receiver game with noisy communication.grammar, pragmatic language, prototypes, separating equilibria

Envelliment exitós a la Comunitat Valenciana

El present treball busca conèixer què entenen les persones majors valencianes per envellir amb èxit. Es mostren els resultats de la validació, per a una mostra espanyola d’un model d’envelliment amb èxit, en relació al context de la Comunitat Valenciana. Es va fer una investigació quantitativa amb 593 persones de 60 anys i més majors (X#=67.36 anys; S=5.839), alumnes tots de la Universitat dels Majors (UNIMAJORS) de la Universitat de València. La mostra (N=400) està formada per 208 (67.5) dones i 192 (32.4) homes. L’ajust empíric del model d’envelliment amb va ser satisfactori (χ2 (356)=956.526; p<.001). Els resultats mostren funcionament social va ser el predictor més fort del conjunt de factors de l’envelliment amb èxit amb .27, per a benestar i satisfacció amb la vida. L’espiritualitat sorgeix com un factor rellevant en l’envelliment exitós en relació a la cohesió de les altres variables predictores del model. S’aporten, per primera vegada, dades empíriques de la importància d’aquests factors, per a l’envelliment amb èxit amb persones del nostre context. Per fomentar el bon envelliment de manera significativa per a les persones majors i prendre, a més, mesures realistes enl’actual crisi econòmica, cal conèixer quins factors són els més importants per envellir bé

Advanced Ceramic Materials Sintered by Microwave Technology

Processing of ceramic materials has also a strong impact in the quality of the consolidated body, as it plays a key role in the resulting microstructure and, as a consequence, in its final properties. Advanced ceramic materials are commonly processed as powders and densified via a high-temperature process. Traditional processing techniques include hot isostatic pressing, mold casting, and sintering in conventional ovens. As ceramics require very high processing temperatures compared to metals and polymers, these processes tend to be very energy intensive and result in higher production costs to the manufacturers. Therefore, new technologies known as nonconventional sintering techniques, such as microwave technology, are being developed in order to reduce energy consumption, while maintaining or even improving the characteristics of the resulting ceramic material. This novel and innovative technology aims at helping industrial sectors lower their production costs and, at the same time, lessen their environmental impact. On the other hand, it is interesting and necessary to know and explore the basic principles of microwaves to advance in the development of materials that demand, every day more, the different industrial sectors. This chapter presents the most recent advances of two materials with a great industrial future: zirconia and lithium aluminosilicate

Trade liberalization in vertically related markets

This paper looks into the desirability of trade liberalization for manufacturers, retailers and consumers. The analysis compares the move from the autarky situation to either one of free trade that entails a change in the distribution system or not. We also examine whether the interests of manufacturers and retailers about the preferred distribution system coincide, provided trade opens. We find that market integration is beneficial to all agents only under certain conditions on the degree of market asymmetry and the degree of product differentiation. Interestingly, if integration entails a change in the distribution system, the conflict between manufacturers and retailers strengthens since only retailers prefer free trade when markets are not too asymmetric and when interbrand competition is sufficiently strong. Furthermore, consumers can be harmed by trade and, in a setting without exclusivities, one country may experience a welfare decrease. Finally, the analysis of the strategic choice concerning exclusivity clauses uncovers that retailers and manufacturers never agree about their preference for endogenous distribution systems.International competition, vertical relationships.

Delegated agency in multiproduct oligopolies with indivisible goods

This paper focuses on oligopolistic markets in which indivisible goods are sold by multiproduct firms to a continuum of homogeneous buyers, with measure normalized to one, who have preferences over bundles of products. Our analysis contributes to the literature on delegated agency games with direct externalities and complete information, extending the insights by Berheim and Whinston (1986, a , b) to markets with indivisibilities. By analyzing a kind of extended contract schedules - mixed bundling prices - that discriminate on exclusivity, the paper shows that efficient equilibria always exist in such settings. There may also exist inefficient equilibria in which the agent chooses a suboptimal bundle and no principal has a profitable deviation inducing the agent to buy the surplus-maximizing bundle because of a coordination problem among the pricipals. Inefficient equilibria can be ruled out by either assuming that all firms are pricing unsold bundles at the same profit margin as the bundle sold at equilibrium, or imposing the solution concept of subgame perfect strong equilibrium, which requires the absence of profitable deviations by any subset of principals and the agent. More specific results about the structure of equilibrium prices and payoffs for common agency outcomes are offered when the social surplus function is monotone and either submodular or supermodular.Multiproduct Price Competition, Delegated Agency Games, Mixed Bundling Prices, Subgame Perfect Nash Equilibrium, Strong Equilibrium

Care for pregnant illegal immigrants by the multidisciplinary out-of-hospital team

In recent years there has been an increase in the immigrant population, especially among pregnant African women who generally arrive on our coastlines on pateras (a Spanish word used to describe a small boat used by immigrants to cross the Mediterranean). This impacts on the professionals who care for women during childbirth, and for this reason we need a wide range of knowledge to improve the care of this vulnerable group. OBJECTIVES: Develop an action protocol for the multidisciplinary out-of-hospital team for the comprehensive care of pregnant woman who arrive illegally on pateras. Comprehensively assess other actions relevant to this emergency through scientific publications in addition to childbirth care in a multicultural environment. METHOD: An exhaustive systematic bibliographical review of the last eight years was carried out, in Pubmed, in physical libraries, by way of recommendations of the WHO and protocols. Compilation of journals by SciELO, where there are references relating to Italy. RESULTS: They found an abundance of these boats in Andalusia. Extensive out-of-hospital medical deployment and expertise is required to offer quality care until their transfer to hospital. After the analysis we verified the need to develop a protocol for childbirth care, due to the fact that there are no basic care protocols in this environment. CONCLUSION: Given their sociocultural differences, there is a need to individualise the care. Therefore, it is very important to make the intervention team aware of the required tools and skills, in addition to expanding future research with relevant examples in Europe

La vigilancia de la gripe. Nuevas soluciones a un viejo problema

ResumenEl potencial pandémico de la gripe ha convertido a esta enfermedad en el objetivo preferente de los sistemas de vigilancia nacionales e internacionales. Los sistemas centinela, por sus características, permiten una integración de información virológica y epidemiológica de esta enfermedad de elevada incidencia, ayudando a detectar y caracterizar precozmente los virus de la gripe circulantes y evaluando su capacidad de propagación en la población.La creación en España, hace más de 10 años, de un sistema centinela, que cubre actualmente el 75% de la población nacional, supuso una forma diferente de abordar la vigilancia de la gripe humana, a través de la declaración individualizada de los casos de la enfermedad y la unión de datos clínicos, epidemiológicos y microbiológicos, y ha contribuido a una evaluación más correcta de la actividad de la gripe en el territorio español.A pesar de las limitaciones de este sistema centinela, derivadas fundamentalmente de los problemas de representatividad que todo sistema de vigilancia basado en muestras de población puede presentar, los datos que aporta se han revelado útiles para el seguimiento y el control de la gripe. La rapidez en la transmisión de la información es uno de los principales atributos del sistema, que posibilita su integración en las redes de vigilancia internacional de la enfermedad y ayuda a lograr una mejor oportunidad en la difusión de la información y formulación de recomendaciones.AbstractThe pandemic potential of influenza has made this disease the principal target of both national and international surveillance systems. The intrinsic characteristics of sentinel networks enable them to integrate epidemiological and virological information of a high incidence disease such as influenza, so helping in the early detection and characterization of the circulating influenza viruses and in evaluating their spread capacity in the population.A sentinel network, which covers 75% of the population, was created in Spain more than ten years ago. This provides a new approach to human influenza surveillance based on the individualized reporting of each case and the linkage of clinical, epidemiological and virological data. This system has contributed to a more accurate evaluation of influenza activity in Spain.In spite of the limitations of this sentinel system, which mainly derive from the lack of representativeness that any surveillance system based on population samples can encounter, it provides data which have proved useful for the follow-up and control of influenza. Rapid information transmission is one of the main advantages of the system, allowing its integration in the international disease surveillance networks and improving the timeliness of both information spread and formulation of recommendations

Designing Hydrocolloid-Based Oleogels With High Physical, Chemical, and Structural Stability

Numerous studies conducted have shown a direct relationship between the high consumption of saturated and trans-fats and the risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, and different cancers. Oleogels, with a suitable lipid profile of mono-, poly-unsaturated fatty acids, and similar functionality to traditional solid fat, can be a healthy alternative in food formulation. The aim of this study is to develop edible oleogels with a healthy and stable lipid profile, using the emulsion-template approach and hydrocolloids as oleogelators. Oleogels were developed from sunflower oil and sunflower oil with a high content of monounsaturated acids, using hydroxypropylmethylcellulose (HPMC) and xanthan gum (XG) as oleogelators. The influence of two drying conditions (60°C for 24 h and 80°C for 10 h 30 min) along with the composition of the oil on the structural, physical, and oxidative stability of oleogels were studied. All oleogels presented a stable network and high physical stability with oil losses 105 Pa related to solid gel-like behavior. Oleogels made with sunflower oil rich in monounsaturated fatty acids resulted in higher oxidative stability, with those developed at drying temperatures of 80°C for 10 h 30 min having a greater structural and physical stability.The authors would like to thank Universitat Politècnica de València by FPI-UPV 2017 grant and the project RTI2018-099738-B-C22 from the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacion y Universidades.Peer reviewe