The return of Keynes

Skidelsky’s last work « The Return of the Master” gives a new perspective to his previous studies about J.M. Keynes. In this new light, he studies the Keynesian theories, no longer in the historical context in which they were developed, but using them to explain and to try to find a solution to modern economy. This work almost represents a denunciation towards the new economic theory system that loses sight of the importance of the uncertainty, and overestimated the value of currency, and have not considered other values such as ethics and morals.the return of Keynes's Theory

From SHIW to IT-SILC: construction and representativeness of the new CAPP_DYN first-year population

This paper describes the construction of the initial population in CAPP_DYN and illustrates the degree of representativeness of the Italian population in 2006. While the previous version of the model was constructed using the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth, the current version is based on the new ISTAT Survey on Income and Living Conditions. The first part of the paper discusses the reasons that led us to this switch. It also provides full details on the operations carried out on the original dataset in order to obtain a sample that can be used as the first year population of the Dynamic Simulation Model. In the second part of the paper, the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the initial population sample are compared with information coming from other sources, such as administrative archives, national accounts and Labour Force Surveys. This exercise is crucial in assessing the capability of CAPP_DYN to represent the population's characteristics at the starting point.Dynamic micro-simulation, model validation, income distribution, pensions and social security

ATP mediates both activation and inhibition of K(ATP) channel activity via cAMP-dependent protein kinase in insulin-secreting cell lines.

The single-channel recording technique was employed to investigate the mechanism conferring ATP sensitivity to a metabolite-sensitive K channel in insulin-secreting cells. ATP stimulated channel activity in the 0-10 microM range, but depressed it at higher concentrations. In inside-out patches, addition of the cAMP-dependent protein kinase inhibitor (PKI) reduced channel activity, suggesting that the stimulatory effect of ATP occurs via cAMP-dependent protein kinase-mediated phosphorylation. Raising ATP between 10 and 500 microM in the presence of exogenous PKI progressively reduced the channel activity; it is proposed that this inactivation results from a reduction in kinase activity owing to an ATP-dependent binding of PKI or a protein with similar inhibitory properties to the kinase. A model describing the effects of ATP was developed, incorporating these two separate roles for the nucleotide. Assuming that the efficacy of ATP in controlling the channel activity depends upon the relative concentrations of inhibitor and catalytic subunit associated with the membrane, our model predicts that the channel sensitivity to ATP will vary when the ratio of these two modulators is altered. Based upon this, it is shown that the apparent discrepancy existing between the sensitivity of the channel to low ATP concentrations in the excised patch and the elevated intracellular level of ATP may be explained by postulating a change in the inhibitor/kinase ratio from 1:1 to 3:2 owing to the loss of protein kinase after patch excision. At a low concentration of ATP (10-20 microM), a nonhydrolyzable ATP analogue, AMP-PNP, enhanced the channel activity when present below 10 microM, whereas the analogue blocked the channel activity at higher concentrations. It is postulated that AMP-PNP inhibits the formation of the kinase-inhibitor complex in the former case, and prevents phosphate transfer in the latter. A similar mechanism would explain the interaction between ATP and ADP which is characterized by enhanced activity at low ADP concentrations and blocking at higher concentrations

From SHIW to IT-SILC: Construction and Representativeness of the New CAPP_DYN First-Year Population

This paper describes the construction of the initial population in CAPP_DYN and illustrates the degree of representativeness of the Italian population in 2006. While the previous version of the model was constructed using the Bank of Italy Survey on Household Income and Wealth, the current version is based on the new ISTAT Survey on Income and Living Conditions. The first part of the paper discusses the reasons that led us to this switch. It also provides full details on the operations carried out on the original dataset in order to obtain a sample that can be used as the first year population of the Dynamic Simulation Model. In the second part of the paper, the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of the initial population sample are compared with information coming from other sources, such as administrative archives, national accounts and Labour Force Surveys. This exercise is crucial in assessing the capability of CAPP_DYN to represent the population's characteristics at the starting pointDynamic micro-simulation; model validation; income distribution; pensions and social security

Estimation and Simulation of Earnings in IT-SILC

This paper describes income distribution among workers in Italy using both the cross-sectional and panel component of IT-SILC. We highlight advantages and drawbacks of different econometric approaches, comparing standard OLS estimates with those obtained from Random Effects and Poisson Maximum Likelihood and assessing whether the results are sensitive to the different specification. Finally, we present the procedure in use in simulating future earnings in CAPP_DYN, the dynamic population-based microsimulation model of the CAPPMicrosimulation; Earnings; Lifetime; Inequality; IT-SILC

Hedonic Pricing Evaluation on Agritourism Activity in Italy: Local Culture-based or Facility-based?

This paper focused on how and what diversified activities influence the price level of agritourism. A hypothesis that contrasts two directions was examined: facility-based and local culture-based activities. First, from the conceptual consideration, we defined that agritourism based on local cultural resources can internalize positive externalities, which are accompanied by local cultural resources, into income, unlike facility-based activity that has no connection with local cultural resources. Second, the results of estimations from the price determinant ordered logit model clarified that owning a swimming pool was the most common and influential factor in enhancing the price level while regional diversity was observed in terms of local cultural resource-based activities such as restaurants, world heritage sites and DOC wines. These findings indicate that hardware-based evolution is more effective in the short term than evolution based on software aspects. Nevertheless, this hardware-based evolution of agritourism is implicitly based on the assumption of continuously growing demand and sufficient financial capability for the fixed investment. When growth in demand becomes stagnant, facility installation can be a heavy burden on operators. Consequently, for the sustainable development of agritourism it will be necessary to harness locality to create a balance between facility-based services and local culture-based services.agritourism, local cultural heritage, hedonic pricing, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Labor and Human Capital,

Equation of motion approach to black-box quantization: taming the multi-mode Jaynes-Cummings model

An accurate modeling of a Josephson junction that is embedded in an arbitrary environment is of crucial importance for qubit design. We present a formalism to obtain a Lindblad master equation that describes the evolution of the system. As the qubit degrees of freedom oscillate with a well-defined frequency $\omega_q$, the environment only has to be modeled close to this frequency. Different from alternative approaches, we show that this goal can be achieved by modeling the environment with only few degrees of freedom. We treat the example of a transmon qubit coupled to a stripline resonator. We derive the parameters of a dissipative single-mode Jaynes-Cummings model starting from first principles. We show that the leading contribution of the off-resonant modes is a correlated decay process involving both the qubit and the resonator mode. In particular, our results show that the effect of the off-resonant modes in the multi-mode Jaynes-Cummings model is perturbative in $1/ \omega_q$.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

Multi-Qubit Joint Measurements in Circuit QED: Stochastic Master Equation Analysis

We derive a family of stochastic master equations describing homodyne measurement of multi-qubit diagonal observables in circuit quantum electrodynamics. In the regime where qubit decay can be neglected, our approach replaces the polaron-like transformation of previous work, which required a lengthy calculation for the physically interesting case of three qubits and two resonator modes. The technique introduced here makes this calculation straightforward and manifestly correct. Using this technique, we are able to show that registers larger than one qubit evolve under a non-Markovian master equation. We perform numerical simulations of the three-qubit, two-mode case from previous work, obtaining an average post-measurement state fidelity of $\sim 94\%$, limited by measurement-induced decoherence and dephasing.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures. Comments welcom

Risk Assessment of a Wind Turbine: A New FMECA-Based Tool With RPN Threshold Estimation

A wind turbine is a complex system used to convert the kinetic energy of the wind into electrical energy. During the turbine design phase, a risk assessment is mandatory to reduce the machine downtime and the Operation & Maintenance cost and to ensure service continuity. This paper proposes a procedure based on Failure Modes, Effects, and Criticality Analysis to take into account every possible criticality that could lead to a turbine shutdown. Currently, a standard procedure to be applied for evaluation of the risk priority number threshold is still not available. Trying to fill this need, this paper proposes a new approach for the Risk Priority Number (RPN) prioritization based on a statistical analysis and compares the proposed method with the only three quantitative prioritization techniques found in literature. The proposed procedure was applied to the electrical and electronic components included in a Spanish 2 MW on-shore wind turbine