Post-EMS exchange risk trends: A comparative perspective between Euro, British Pound and Japanese Yen excess returns against US Dollar

This paper studies the exchange rate risk of Euro, Pound and Yen against US Dollar before and after the EMU. The key question is to analyse the impact of the Euro to exchange rate risks. The risk is measured by estimating risk price coefficient (RPC) from an excess return equation. A conditional heteroskedastic variance model with time-varying mean is estimated for this purpose. Recursive estimates are used to examine the evolution of the parameters and to find out time-varying risk premia. Results show that after a period of adaptation following the introduction of the Euro, the Euro/US Dollar RPC decreased.Exchange rate risk, GARCH-M, risk-price, times series, recursive estimation

Gas interchange between bubble and emulsion phases in a 2D fluidized bed as revealed by two-fluid model simulations

Using two-fluid model simulations, the present work aims at characterizing the interchange due to gas advection between the emulsion phase and bubbles in fully bubbling beds of Geldart group B particles that are fluidized with air. In the studied beds the bubbles are slow, which means that the advection transport of gas through the bubble boundary is the main mechanism of gas interchange. In an initial verification step, the pressure distribution and the gas interchange coefficient for isolated bubbles obtained in the two-fluid simulation are compared with the classical potential flow theory of fluidized beds, providing concordant results. In a second step, the work analyzes the gas interchange in fully bubbling beds and the effects of the superficial velocity, bed height, and particle diameter on the interchange coefficient and the crossflow ratio. The results indicate that both the interchange coefficient and the crossflow ratio in bubbling beds are about two times those predicted by the potential theory of isolated bubbles. A corrected model for the gas interchange is proposed based on the introduction of the gas throughflow into the classical potential flow theory. As a consequence, the gas interchange coefficient in the corrected model is a function of the superficial gas velocity instead of the minimum fluidization velocity.This work has been partially funded by the Spanish Government (Project DPI2009-10518) and the Autonomous Community of Madrid (Project S2009/ENE-1660).Publicad

Exergy recovery from solar heated particles to supercritical CO2

In this work, the technical feasibility of a fluidized and a fixed bed heat exchanger in a concentrating solar power (CSP) tower for heat recovery applications is analysed using Two-Fluid Model simulations. The heat recovery process analysed in this work corresponds to the discharge of sensible heat from solid particles. In the cases studied, the fluidizing agent of the bed is carbon dioxide (CO2) in supercritical conditions and the particles, which constitute the bed material, are sensible heat storage material. CO2 is gaining attention in its application as a working fluid in thermodynamic cycles for power generation, especially in transcritical and supercritical conditions due to its high density and excellent heat transfer characteristics. Currently, research is focused on exploring the CO2 capabilities when used in combination with CSP technologies, together with systems that allow the storage and recovery of the solar thermal energy. Fixed or fluidized beds work as a direct contact heat exchanger between the particles and the working fluid that percolates through the bed material. Several bed configurations are presented to derive the optimal configuration of the bed that enhances the efficiency from both the energetic and the exergetic points of view. The results indicate that a fixed bed heat exchanger produces a maximum increase of availability in the CO2 flow during longer times than a fluidized bed heat exchanger. Therefore, to maximise the exergy recovery from solar heated particles to supercritical CO2 a fixed bed heat exchanger is more suitable than a fluidized bed heat exchanger

Estimate of demand, applied innovation by type MEMS through BASS model

El avance en paralelo que han tenido la mecánica y la electrónica ha creado una nueva tecnología, conocida como de micro maquinado; lo que ha permitido hacer diseño y fabricación de estructuras eléctricas y mecánicas bajo el nombre de Sistemas microelectromecánicos. Esta tecnología de orden disruptivo tiene un potencial sobresaliente para ser empleada en los dispositivos electrónicos, que se incorporan en alguna parte de nuestro cuerpo. ¿Cómo determinar el grado de adopción de los MEMS, siendo esta la tecnología de tipo habilitadora (enabling technology) aplicada a un producto en el campo de la tecnología que se lleva puesta (wearable technology)? Este trabajo propone el uso del modelo de Bass como herramienta para definir el grado de difusión, con el cualpoder identificar la tendencia de adopción del reloj inteligente (smart watch) en distintos países del mundo y con ello una aproximación del tamaño de mercado, haciendo prospectiva en el rubro de los productos de consumo como uno de los sectores más promisorios en demanda futura, también es mostrado el efecto innovación versus imitación, siendo estos factores relevantes para la elaboración de estrategias de marketing y pronósticos de demanda en un nuevo producto.The advance in parallel that mechanics and electronics have gone through has created a new disruptive technology, known as micromachining; it has enhanced the design and manufacture of electrical and mechanical structures known under the name of Microelectromechanical Systems: MEMS. This disruptive technology has a significant potential to be applied on wearable electronics. How to determine the potential market of MEMS as an enabling technology applied to a product of wearable electronics? This paper proposes the use of the Bass model as a tool to define the degree of diffusion to identify the trend of adoption of the smart watch in different countries of the world and therefore the approach of market size, as a prospective study applied to consumer products, being these as the most promising use with future demand. It also shows the innovation vs. imitation effect, being these factors relevant to the development of marketing strategies and forecast demand of a new product

The Lipid Phenotype of Breast Cancer Cells Characterized by Raman Microspectroscopy: Towards a Stratification of Malignancy

Although molecular classification brings interesting insights into breast cancer taxonomy, its implementation in daily clinical care is questionable because of its expense and the information supplied in a single sample allocation is not sufficiently reliable. New approaches, based on a panel of small molecules derived from the global or targeted analysis of metabolic profiles of cells, have found a correlation between activation of de novo lipogenesis and poorer prognosis and shorter disease-free survival for many tumors. We hypothesized that the lipid content of breast cancer cells might be a useful indirect measure of a variety of functions coupled to breast cancer progression. Raman microspectroscopy was used to characterize metabolism of breast cancer cells with different degrees of malignancy. Raman spectra from MDA-MB-435, MDA-MB-468, MDA-MB-231, SKBR3, MCF7 and MCF10A cells were acquired with an InVia Raman microscope (Renishaw) with a backscattered configuration. We used Principal Component Analysis and Partial Least Squares Discriminant Analyses to assess the different profiling of the lipid composition of breast cancer cells. Characteristic bands related to lipid content were found at 3014, 2935, 2890 and 2845 cm 21, and related to lipid and protein content at 2940 cm(-1). A classificatory model was generated which segregated metastatic cells and non-metastatic cells without basal-like phenotype with a sensitivity of 90% and a specificity of 82.1%. Moreover, expression of SREBP-1c and ABCA1 genes validated the assignation of the lipid phenotype of breast cancer cells. Indeed, changes in fatty acid unsaturation were related with the epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition phenotype. Raman microspectroscopy is a promising technique for characterizing and classifying the malignant phenotype of breast cancer cells on the basis of their lipid profiling. The algorithm for the discrimination of metastatic ability is a first step towards stratifying breast cancer cells using this rapid and reagent-free tool