Orthogonal polynomials of discrete variable and boundedness of Dirichlet kernel

For orthogonal polynomials defined by compact Jacobi matrix with exponential decay of the coefficients, precise properties of orthogonality measure is determined. This allows showing uniform boundedness of partial sums of orthogonal expansions with respect to $L^\infty$ norm, which generalize analogous results obtained for little $q$-Legendre, little $q$-Jacobi and little $q$-Laguerre polynomials, by the authors

Fine-tuning the Jurisprudence: The ECJ's Judicial Activism and Self-restraint

Legal and political science scholars omit an important variable in explaining compliance with ECJ rulings: the fine-tuning in the follow-up cases. This paper shows with the Kohll/Decker social policy jurisprudence that, first, the Court applied the principles of free movement of services and goods to the Luxembourg health care system in the initial rulings in this series of cases and thereby challenged the institutional configuration of national welfare states. Step by step the ECJ extended the legal principles to other Member States and to similar cases. At the same time, however, the Court exercised self-restraint by narrowing the principles and by thus limiting the impact of its decisions largely to the less costly ambulatory sector. This fine-tuning of the jurisprudence influenced implementation processes and ultimately facilitated Member State compliance.European Court of Justice; European Court of Justice; judicial review; social policy; Luxembourg; free movement; health policy; welfare state; political science

Cross-border purchases of health services : a case study on Austria and Hungary

This paper explores the structure of cross-border health purchasing between Austria and Hungary and determines the size of this phenomenon as well as the barriers to a further increase. Austrian patients may receive health care treatment in Hungary in three different ways. First, patients may receive benefits in the context of the European Community Regulations 1408/71 and 574/72 (Category I patients). Second, outside those regulatory structures, Austrian patients travel to Hungary to receive medical treatment, especially dental treatment, and then seek reimbursement from their Austrian insurance (Category II patients). Third, some patients receive medical treatment in Hungary outside both schemes (Category III patients). There are about 42,500 Category I patients per year; and 58,000 Category II patients world-wide per year. An unknown but supposedly greater number of patients travel to Hungary to receive mainly dental treatment and cosmetic surgery (Category III). Most health actors in both Austria and Hungary do not regard cross-border purchasing of health services as having cost-saving effects. They put forward major legal, institutional, political, and psychological barriers, which inhibit public and private Austrian providers, to facilitate trade in health care and which inhibit individual patients to realize cost savings through capitalizing on lower health care prices in Hungary. Therefore, for the time being, trade in health care and patient mobility between Austria and Hungary is a circumscribed phenomenon in terms of quantities, and it will most probably remain so in the near future.access to health care; adequate resources; aid; beds; cataract surgery; clinics; Community hospitals; Consumer Protection; cost effectiveness; costs of treatment; dental care; dental treatment; dentists; Diagnosis; discrimination; disease; doctor; doctors; domestic law; employment; entitlement; expenditures; families; financial resources; fundamental principles; general practitioner; Health Affairs; health care; health care centers; health care costs; health care coverage; health care facilities; health care institutions; health care insurance; health care law; health care provider; health care providers; health care sector; health care services; health care standards; health care system; health care systems; Health Care Systems in Transition; health expenditure; health facilities; health insurance; health insurance companies; health insurance funds; health insurance system; health insurers; Health Organization; health organizations; health policy; health providers; health sector; health service; Health Services; health system; health systems; Health Systems in Transition; Healthcare; hospital care; hospital financing; Hospital Operator; hospital sector; hospital treatment; hospitals; hygiene; income; insurance; insurance coverage; insurance systems; Integration; judicial proceedings; legal provisions; marketing; Medical Association; medical associations; medical benefits; medical care; medical facilities; medical science; medical services; medical treatment; medicine; Migration; National Health; National Health Insurance; National Health Insurance Fund; national health policy; nurses; patient; patient care; patient treatment; patients; physician; physicians; Policy ReseaRch; Primary Care; private health insurance; private health insurers; private hospitals; private households; private insurance; private insurer; private insurers; private sector; provision of health care; provision of services; public health; public health care; public health insurance; public hospitals; public sector; quality control; quality of health; quality of health care; rehabilitation; reimbursement rates; right to health care; social health insurance; social insurance; Social Policy; social security; social security schemes; social security systems; surgery; therapy; treatments; Use of Health Care Services; visits; workers

Optimal Gaussian Entanglement Swapping

We consider entanglement swapping with general mixed two-mode Gaussian states and calculate the optimal gains for a broad class of such states including those states most relevant in communication scenarios. We show that for this class of states, entanglement swapping adds no additional mixedness, that is the ensemble average output state has the same purity as the input states. This implies that, by using intermediate entanglement swapping steps, it is, in principle, possible to distribute entangled two-mode Gaussian states of higher purity as compared to direct transmission. We then apply the general results on optimal Gaussian swapping to the problem of quantum communication over a lossy fiber and demonstrate that, contrary to negative conclusions in the literature, swapping-based schemes in fact often perform better than direct transmission for high input squeezing. However, an effective transmission analysis reveals that the hope for improved performance based on optimal Gaussian entanglement swapping is spurious since the swapping does not lead to an enhancement of the effective transmission. This implies that the same or better results can always be obtained using direct transmission in combination with, in general, less squeezing.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, minor corrections in version 2 with one reference added (ref.9

Herbivore Larval Development at Low Springtime Temperatures: The Importance of Short Periods of Heating in the Field

Temperature has been shown to play an important role in the life cycles of insects. Early season feeders in Palaearctic regions profit by the high nutritional quality of their host plants early in the year, but face the problem of having to develop at low average springtime temperatures. This study examines the influence of short periods of heating in the field on larval development and on mortality with the model system Galeruca tanaceti L. (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), an early season feeder, that hatches at low springtime temperatures. Field and laboratory experiments under different constant and variable temperature regimes were performed. While in the field, the average daily temperature was close to the lower developmental threshold of the species of 10.9°C; maximum temperatures of above 30°C were sometimes reached. Larvae developed significantly faster, and pupae were heavier, in the field and in an assay with short periods of heating than at the same average temperature under constant conditions in the laboratory. We conclude that larvae profit substantially from short periods of heating and temperature variation in the field and that intervals of high temperature enable insect survival and exploitation of nutrient-rich food resources at early times in the season

IT Investments under Earnings Pressure

Recent research has shown managers’ tendency to cut discretionary investments to meet short-term earnings targets. However, how these aspirational levels of performance and associated conflicts of interest between managers and shareholders influence information technology (IT) investments has hardly been examined. Drawing on behavioral agency theory, we analyze how earnings pressure – the pressure managers feel to meet or beat analysts’ consensus earnings forecast – influences IT investments. We find that earnings pressure is associated with a reduction in firms’ IT investment commitment, based on the frequency of sentences within 10-K filings emphasizing IT investment. This finding points towards a hitherto unconsidered influence of capital markets on IT investments in literature on IT investment determinants. Further, we plan to analyze if this reduction entails negative or positive stock market performance consequences. Understanding the performance consequences will allow us to lay the foundation towards effectively addressing this issue within corporate governance

With Heart and (No) Mind? How Recipients Negatively Infer Missing Information About Politicians and How This Affects the Assessment of the Speaker

Two fundamental dimensions underlie person perception: warmth and competence. We conducted three experiments to investigate how a positive or negative emphasis of only one of these dimensions (i.e., of only warmth or only competence) affects the perception of the other (complementary) dimension, and how voting intentions are influenced by these emphases. The results show that when a politician is described positively in only one of the two dimensions, people assess the complementary dimension more negatively. In addition, the negative emphasis of only one of the two dimensions also leads to a more negative assessment of the complementary dimension. Furthermore, we explore how these one-dimensional person descriptions affect the assessment of the speakers uttering them. Politicians who describe their opponents in negative terms are also evaluated negatively. On the contrary, politicians who judge others in positive terms are not necessarily evaluated positively

Optimal state estimation for cavity optomechanical systems

We demonstrate optimal state estimation for a cavity optomechanical system through Kalman filtering. By taking into account nontrivial experimental noise sources, such as colored laser noise and spurious mechanical modes, we implement a realistic state-space model. This allows us to obtain the conditional system state, i.e., conditioned on previous measurements, with minimal least-square estimation error. We apply this method for estimating the mechanical state, as well as optomechanical correlations both in the weak and strong coupling regime. The application of the Kalman filter is an important next step for achieving real-time optimal (classical and quantum) control of cavity optomechanical systems.Comment: replaced with published version, 5+12 page

Los glaciares cuaternarios de Sierra Nevada

Precede ao tít.: Junta para Ampliación de Estudios e Investigaciones Científica