Do daily retail gasoline prices adjust asymmetrically?

This paper analyzes adjustments in the Dutch retail gasoline prices. We estimate an error correction model on changes in the daily retail price for gasoline (taxes excluded) for the period 1996-2004 taking care of volatility clustering by estimating an EGARCH model. It turns out the volatility process is asymmetrical: an unexpected increase in the producer price has a larger effect on the variance of the producer price than an unexpected decrease. We do not find evidence for amount asymmetry, either for the long run or for the short run. However, there is a faster reaction to upward changes in spot prices than to downward changes in spot prices. This implies timing or pattern asymmetry. This asymmetry starts three days after the change in the spot price and lasts for four days.

Dynamics in the centre manifold around equilibrium points in periodically perturbed three-body problems

A new application of the parameterization method is pre- sented to compute invariant manifolds about the equilib- rium points of Periodically Perturbed Three-Body Problems ( PPTBP ). These techniques are applied to obtain high-order semi-numerical approximations of the center manifolds abo ut the points L 1 , 2 of the Sun-perturbed Earth-Moon Quasi- Bicicular Problem ( QBCP ), which is a particular case of PPTBP . The quality of these approximations is compared with results obtained using equivalents of previous normal form procedures. Then, the parameterization is used to ini- tialize the computation of Poincaré maps, which allow to get a qualitative description of the periodically-perturb ed dynamics near the equilibrium pointsPostprint (published version

The Recent Evolution of French Universities

International audienc

La gouvernance des universités françaises:pouvoir, évaluation et identité

Le présent rapport vise à donner un panorama des pratiques de gouvernance des universités françaises. Il est issu d’un premier traitement des données obtenues par la passation d’un questionnaire en ligne auprès de toutes les universités françaises (y compris les universités de technologies mais pas les grands établissements)"

The Impact of Recent Reforms on the Institutional Governance of French Universities

It is usual to identify France as a latecomer in New Public Management (NPM). As stressed by P. Bezes (2003 and 2009 ), while the souci de soi of the French state has always been present and the reform of the management of French public administration has been a recurrent objective during the Fifth Republic, it is only in the late 1990s and the beginning of the 2000s that the NPM doctrine really diffused into the French public system. The important transformations experienced by the higher education system until then (Musselin 2001[2004]) could therefore not be analysed as a consequence of NPM (Musselin and Paradeise 2009). The introduction of NPM methods and solutions in French administration, now in place for a decade, first reached universities in mid-2000 when the new budgetary process that was introduced into French public administration (the LOLF, Loi organique sur les lois de finances ) was also implemented in public higher education institutions. In order to negotiate their budget, they now have to set objectives and indicators that will then be used to measure the achievement of these objectives a year later, when they will write a report about the past year. Further major changes, which will be described below, were introduced after 2005. They not only brought in new instruments and devices to the management of French universities (more competitive processes, performance-based allocation of resources, empowerment of university leaders, etc.), but more broadly affected some of the principles on which the French university system was built and, in particular, the egalitarian principles that maintained a rather low differentiation among French academics and among French universities and the grades they delivered. The aim of this chapter is, therefore, primarily to describe the governance of French universities after the introduction of the recent reforms and answer the following questions: did these changes affect the governance of French universities or did they resist the transformations that aimed at strengthening the presidents, increasing project-based research and providing them with more autonomy and responsibility

La prise de décision stratégique dans les organisations publiques collégiales

Les universités sont en général considérées comme des organisations publiques collégiales. Elles se caractérisent par une action collective entre pairs et par des processus de décision ne pouvant se résumer à un processus hiérarchique. Le présent chapitre examine les différents modèles théoriques de prise de décisions dans les organisations collégiales (modèle collégial, modèle bureaucratique, modèle politique et modèle de la poubelle). Les modalités de cette prise décision sont illustrées par l’étude des répercussions des réformes récentes de la gouvernance des universités françaises sur leur processus de décision

Using physical barriers to prevent carrot fly (Psila rosae (Fabricius)) damage in domestic production

A field experiment was used to assess the effectiveness of different barriers in protecting garden‐scale carrot production from carrot fly (Psila rosae (Fabricius)) damage. Some of the vertical barriers tested were found to provide a useful method of protecting early season carrots from carrot fly in terms of the percentage of carrots free from damage but, under cumulative pest pressure of several generations of carrot fly, such barriers were found to provide insufficient protection. Gardeners should therefore completely cover their carrot crop to attain an acceptable level of control, and this was found to be especially important for carrots harvested later in the season. There were positive effects of some barrier types on yield which may be due, at least in part, to the protection given by the barriers to carrot seedlings

Exotic Grains in a Core from Cornwall, NY - Do They Have an Impact Source?

We have found seven discrete layers in a bog core from Cornwall, NY about 80 km away from the Atlantic Ocean. All but two layers contain material that is unlikely to be locally derived. In most cases, the material in the layers has been transported thousands of kilometers from its source area. Six out of the seven layers are difficult to explain except through impact processes. If all of these layers are derived from impacts that produced craters, the data imply a very high impact rate during late Holocene time. In addition, we have been able to associate two of the impact ejecta layers with dated tsunami events that span the Atlantic Ocean. If this discovery is validated by further research, it implies a much larger tsunami hazard in the Atlantic Ocean than previously reported

When and How to Negotiate

The National Institute for Dispute Resolution, in conjunction with the Harvard Program on Negotiation, has produced a manual entitled: New Approaches to Resolving Local Development Disputes. In addition to "when and how", the manual uses six cases to illustrate recent efforts at mediated negotiation, outlines a step-by-step guide to using mediated negotiation, and lists sources of support for use of the technique