International Cooperation over Green Taxes: On the Impossibility of Achieving a Probability-One Gain

This paper concerns international coordination of environmental taxation.The main contribution of the paper is to provide a frame-work for dynamiccost benefit analysis of environmental tax reforms in a global economy withtransboundary environmental problems. We show that the welfare effects ofgreen tax reform in a multi-country economy may differ substantially fromearlier results associated with representative agent models, where thetransboundary aspect of the environmental problems is neglected.environmental taxation, global external effects.

Luxury Branding - A tale without a history

The thesis intends to investigate how a young actor in the luxury industry practices storytelling as a tool to legitimize high product prices. Since the luxury brand narrative is normally based on heritage, the thesis will scrutinize the luxury watch brand Hublot, a young successful actor, lacking heritage. The results are based on a narrative analysis of document sources treating brand ambassadors, sponsorships, promotional material and an official financial report. We can conclude that Hublot charges the brand with cultural capital by consistently communicating their craftsmanship, innovative designs and the factor ‘country of origin’. Through stories of ‘self-made’ brand ambassadors, widely known for their economic capital, they can attract an affluent class, relatively new to the world of culture and luxury, and thereby differentiate themselves from the more traditional brands on the market. By also balancing the need to communicate financial figures to attract investors, while also censoring the same numbers in official documents to remain exclusive and rare, they further cement their position on the market.Uppsatsen har som syfte att undersöka hur en ung aktör inom lyxindustrin använder sig av storytelling, historieberättande, som ett verktyg för att legitimera höga produktpriser. Eftersom lyxvarumärkets narrativ normalt sett grundar sig i traditioner och arv, kommer uppsatsen granska hur lyxklockvarumärket Hublot, en ung framgångsrik aktör utan tradition eller arv, slagit sig fram på marknaden. Resultaten är baserade på en narrativ analys av dokumentkällor som inbegriper varumärkesambassadörer, sponsoravtal, reklam och en årsrapport. Vi har fastslagit att Hublot laddar varumärket med kulturellt kapital genom att konsekvent kommunicera hantverket, innovativ design och ursprungslandet. Genom berättelser om ‘self-made ambassadors’, män som arbetat sig upp från botten till toppen (vida kända för sitt ekonomiska kapital), så kan Hublot attrahera en välbärgad social klass, relativt ny inom den normalt kulturellt laddade lyxsfären. Detta leder till en differentiering från mer traditionella varumärken på marknaden. Genom att balansera kommunikationen av finansiell framgång och censur av försäljningssiffror så bibehåller de bilden av exklusivitet och raritet och cementerar sin position på marknaden

International Cooperation over Green Taxes: On the Impossibility of Achieving a Probability-One Gain

This paper concerns international coordination of environmental taxation.The main contribution of the paper is to provide a frame-work for dynamiccost benefit analysis of environmental tax reforms in a global economy withtransboundary environmental problems. We show that the welfare effects ofgreen tax reform in a multi-country economy may differ substantially fromearlier results associated with representative agent models, where thetransboundary aspect of the environmental problems is neglected

Department of Pathology, Thomas Jefferson University, Identification of conserved gene expression features between murine mammary carcinoma models and human breast tumors.

BACKGROUND: Although numerous mouse models of breast carcinomas have been developed, we do not know the extent to which any faithfully represent clinically significant human phenotypes. To address this need, we characterized mammary tumor gene expression profiles from 13 different murine models using DNA microarrays and compared the resulting data to those from human breast tumors. RESULTS: Unsupervised hierarchical clustering analysis showed that six models (TgWAP-Myc, TgMMTV-Neu, TgMMTV-PyMT, TgWAP-Int3, TgWAP-Tag, and TgC3(1)-Tag) yielded tumors with distinctive and homogeneous expression patterns within each strain. However, in each of four other models (TgWAP-T121, TgMMTV-Wnt1, Brca1Co/Co;TgMMTV-Cre;p53+/- and DMBA-induced), tumors with a variety of histologies and expression profiles developed. In many models, similarities to human breast tumors were recognized, including proliferation and human breast tumor subtype signatures. Significantly, tumors of several models displayed characteristics of human basal-like breast tumors, including two models with induced Brca1 deficiencies. Tumors of other murine models shared features and trended towards significance of gene enrichment with human luminal tumors; however, these murine tumors lacked expression of estrogen receptor (ER) and ER-regulated genes. TgMMTV-Neu tumors did not have a significant gene overlap with the human HER2+/ER- subtype and were more similar to human luminal tumors. CONCLUSION: Many of the defining characteristics of human subtypes were conserved among the mouse models. Although no single mouse model recapitulated all the expression features of a given human subtype, these shared expression features provide a common framework for an improved integration of murine mammary tumor models with human breast tumors

Identification of conserved gene expression features between murine mammary carcinoma models and human breast tumors

Comparison of mammary tumor gene-expression profiles from thirteen murine models using microarrays and with that of human breast tumors showed that many of the defining characteristics of human subtypes were conserved among mouse models

Technology Transfers and the Clean Development Mechanism in a North-South General Equilibrium Model

This paper analyzes the potential welfare gains of introducing a technology transfer from Annex I to non-Annex I in order to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. Our analysis is based on a numerical general equilibrium model for a world economy comprising two regions, North (Annex I) and South (non-Annex I). As our model allows for labor mobility between the formal and informal sectors in the South, we are also able to capture additional aspects of how the transfer influences the Southern economy. In a cooperative equilibrium, a technology transfer from the North to the South is clearly desirable from the perspective of a global social planner, since the welfare gain for the South outweighs the welfare loss for the North. However, if the regions do not cooperate, then the incentives to introduce the technology transfer appear to be relatively weak from the perspective of the North; at least if we allow for Southern abatement in the pre-transfer Nash equilibrium. Finally, by adding the emission reductions associated with the Kyoto agreement to an otherwise uncontrolled market economy, the technology transfer leads to higher welfare in both regions

Svenskt offensivt agerande : En enfallstudie av den svenska insatsen i Afghanistan 2009–2012

This case-study examines the Swedish armed forces in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. The aim of this study is to explore how it comes that an organization that is promoting security and stabilizing operations in a post conflict setting in northern Afghanistan gaudily turns in to an aggressive fighting force. The analytic framework is based on Theo Farrells theory of military adaption as well as Lauren Wilcox’s theory of the role of gender as an explanation of military organisations offensive bias. The results show that the Swedish behaviour should be understood as a combination of adaption to demands form allied forces, a result of pollical will to achieve national political goals and a strong offensive bias

Svenskt offensivt agerande : En enfallstudie av den svenska insatsen i Afghanistan 2009–2012

This case-study examines the Swedish armed forces in Afghanistan between 2009 and 2012. The aim of this study is to explore how it comes that an organization that is promoting security and stabilizing operations in a post conflict setting in northern Afghanistan gaudily turns in to an aggressive fighting force. The analytic framework is based on Theo Farrells theory of military adaption as well as Lauren Wilcox’s theory of the role of gender as an explanation of military organisations offensive bias. The results show that the Swedish behaviour should be understood as a combination of adaption to demands form allied forces, a result of pollical will to achieve national political goals and a strong offensive bias

Deriving an extended one-band Hubbard model for cuprate superconductors

The so-called three-band Hubbard model is generally believed to be a good model for fermions on a CuO 2 lattice and to contain key features allowing to understand high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates. A simpler and more popular model is the one-band Hubbard model. In this thesis,an extended one-band Hubbard model is derived from the three-band model. First, some mathematical background is given, as well as an introduction to Hubbard-like models. Then, to derive the extended one-band Hubbard model, the CuO 2 lattice is divided into clusters of one Cu and two O sites, and a variant of the Feshbach method is used to replace each such cluster by a single lattice site. To nd a suitable one-band model, all Hamiltonian matrix elements are matched between the two models. Finally, dierent sets of three-band parameters are considered, and it is studied how this aects the parameters in the extended one-band Hubbard model

Deriving an extended one-band Hubbard model for cuprate superconductors

The so-called three-band Hubbard model is generally believed to be a good model for fermions on a CuO 2 lattice and to contain key features allowing to understand high-temperature superconductivity in the cuprates. A simpler and more popular model is the one-band Hubbard model. In this thesis,an extended one-band Hubbard model is derived from the three-band model. First, some mathematical background is given, as well as an introduction to Hubbard-like models. Then, to derive the extended one-band Hubbard model, the CuO 2 lattice is divided into clusters of one Cu and two O sites, and a variant of the Feshbach method is used to replace each such cluster by a single lattice site. To nd a suitable one-band model, all Hamiltonian matrix elements are matched between the two models. Finally, dierent sets of three-band parameters are considered, and it is studied how this aects the parameters in the extended one-band Hubbard model