Exchange Rate Regimes, Location, and Specialization

This paper investigates the effects of fixed versus flexible exchange rates on firms' location choices and on countries' specialization patterns. In a two-country, twodifferentiated-goods monetary model, uncertainty arises after wages are set and prices are optimally chosen. The paper shows that countries are more specialized under flexible than fixed rates, which indicates that the pattern of specialization is not uniquely defined by trade models but also depends on the exchange rate regime. The creation of a currency area endogenously increases the desirability of such an area by reducing the asymmetry of shocks across member countries. The results also shed light on the effects of exchange rate variability on trade. Copyright 2006, International Monetary Fund

Probing the presence of planets in transition discs' cavities via warps: the case of TW Hya

We are entering the era in which observations of protoplanetary discs properties can indirectly probe the presence of massive planets or low mass stellar companions interacting with the disc. In particular, the detection of warped discs can provide important clues to the properties of the star-disc system. In this paper we show how observations of warped discs can be used to infer the dynamical properties of the systems. We concentrate on circumbinary discs, where the mass of the secondary can be planetary. First, we provide some simple relations that link the amplitude of the warp in the linear regime to the parameters of the system. Secondly, we apply our method to the case of TW Hya, a transition disc for which a warp has been proposed based on spectroscopic observations. Assuming values for the disc and stellar parameters from observations, we conclude that, in order for a warp induced by a planetary companion to be detectable, the planet mass should be large ($M_{\rm p} \approx 10 - 14M_{\rm J}$) and the disc should be viscous ($\alpha \approx 0.15 - 0.25$). We also apply our model to LkCa 15 and T Cha, where a substellar companion has been detected within the central cavity of the transition discs.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Microbial valorization of C1 waste gases for 2,3-butanediol production: a single and a double stage approach

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Why Was Celebrating the Olympic Games So Important in Hellenic Culture?

About the Author Luca Ricci just graduated with Honors from the University of Adelaide (Australia). He has just started his Research Master of Art at the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands

Inventing Patron Saints: The Cult of St Fulk between Civic Reality and Historical Fiction

Seventeenth-century sources attest the cult of English pilgrims in southern Lazio. Focusing on the case of Fulk, I argue that the seventeenth-century tradition is supported neither by the literary accounts nor by topographical analyses. Instead, Fulk’s cult, based on Peter Deacon’s twelfth-century Vita Fulconis, was central in processes of civic formation. Changing religious attitudes in the twelfth/thirteenth century are linked with lay sainthood. An English pilgrim coming back from the Holy Land, through the sanctuary on Mount Gargano, brought great prestige to the urban centre vis-à-vis other urban centres, having visited and, thus, been a witness to some of the greatest places in Christendom

Anatomical Ex-Votos as a Reflection of "Religious Romanization"? Reappraising a Central Italian Practice

This article seeks to provide a new analysis for the phenomenon of anatomical votive offerings in Central Italy. Traditionally, these items’ distribution was examined in relation to Roman colonization. Simply put, the extension of Rome’s power into Central Italy and the consequent establishment of colonial settlements were thought to be the foundational causes behind the popularity of these votives. This paper debunks such a view, examining the evidence in light of production, distribution and consumption. By doing so, the failures and unsuitability of Romanocentric explanations will become apparent: namely, Rome’s centrality played a limited role at all three aforementioned levels. What the evidence highlights, instead, is a more dynamic interplay among various Central Italian settlements, further emphasizing the importance of localized decision-making. The final result is the formation of a Central Italian koine in which these localized strands took part