"Macroeconomic stabilization in a heterogeneous monetary union: some insights into the effects of fiscal policy coordination"

This paper studies the effects the fiscal coordination can have in terms of macroeconomic stabilization in a monetary Union which is heterogeneous at the level of the mechanisms of monetary policy transmission. We will use a static Keynesian model in a closed monetary Union and will prove that the stabilization effectiveness depends mainly on the type and origin of the economic shocks affecting the Union members (demand or supply shocks, domestic or foreign shocks) and on the extent of the Union's structural heterogeneity. In the case of the demand shocks, the fiscal policy coordination proves to be an optimal shock absorber only for the countries to which these shocks are specific. In the case of the supply shocks, it can represent an efficient instrument of stabilization especially if the Union''s structural heterogeneity is weak.

A Review Study of Psychometric Functioning of a Picture Scale to Assess Joy in Childhood

The early emergence of emotional understanding by means of facial expressions allows the assessmentof basic emotions from young ages through pictures or photographs of human faces. Thisevaluation strategy allows children, with limited language to reveal feelings that neither investigatorsnor clinicians would be able to obtain verbally. The present work presents a non-verbal activityaimed at testing children?s joy. It is based on a visual analogue scale integrated by sevenpictures of infant facial expressions. This scale has the advantage of presenting an animated design,more friendly and appealing than simplified face scales. Its psychometric functioning, revisedfrom different studies, demonstrates that it is a reliable and valid alternative to analyze the experienceof joy in small children.Fil: Oros, Laura Beatriz. Universidad de la Cuenca del Plata. Secretaria de Politicas del Conocimiento. Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas (sede Posadas); Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Richaud, Maria Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Saavedra 15. Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigaciones en Psicología Matemática y Experimental Dr. Horacio J. A. Rimoldi; Argentin

On a Convexity Preserving Integral Operator

MSC 2010: 30C45, 30A20, 34C40In this paper we determine conditions an analytic function g needs to satisfy in order that the function Fgiven by (1) be convex

HOW DOES SECTOR CONCENTRATION EVOLVE AT COUNTRY AND REGION LEVELS? THE EUROPEAN CASE

This paper analyzes the evolution of the three main economic sectors – agriculture, industry and services – at the level of European countries and regions. We base our analysis on the Theil index constructed using European gross value added data for 23 EU countries and compare it to regional data for a ten-year period (from 1995 to 2004). Our results show that the most difficult challenges posed by the unequal concentration in the main sectors appear at the wider region not the country level. It will therefore be necessary to devise new regional policies that take into account these disparities.sectors analysis, spatial concentration, European regions, Theil index, integration

Entrapment of glucoamylase by sol-gel technique in PhTES/TEOS hybrid matrixes

Mesoporous silica particles were prepared by the sol-gel method from different alkoxysilane precursors and used as a host matrix for encapsulation of glucoamylase, an enzyme widely used in fermentative industry. The aim was to investigate the physico-chemical properties of the different silica powders and their effect on the enzyme kinetics. The encapsulated enzymes followed Michaelis-Menten kinetics. The Michaelis constant (KM) and the maximum rate of starch hydrolysis reaction (Vmax) were calculated according to the Michaelis-Menten and Lineweaver-Burke plots. The values of the Michaelis constant (KM) of the encapsulated enzymes were higher than those of the free enzyme. The temperature and pH infl uence on the activity of free and immobilized glucoamylase were also compared. The results of this study show that the enzymes immobilized in organic/inorganic hybrid silica matrixes (obtained by the sol-gel method), allowing the entrapped glucoamylase to retain its biological activity, are suitable for many different applications, (medicinal, clinical, analytical)

PRELIMINARY STUDY FOR USING VINYLTRIACETOXYSILANE AS PRECURSOR IN ENZYME IMMOBILIZATION BASED ON SOL-GEL METHOD

During the last years, sol-gel technology has become a well-established method for the preparation of catalytic active monoliths, bulk, particles and thin films. One reason for the increasing research activities in this field is the opportunity to obtain versatile hybrid materials by incorporation of different molecules, like dyes, enzymes, whole cells, chemicals and drugs. The aim of this research was to evaluate the suitability of vinyltriacetoxysilane (VTAS) as precursor in sol-gel enzyme immobilization and the physicochemical characterization of the final products (silica xerogels)

Performance of immobilized bacterial alpha-amylases in methyltriethoxsilane / tetraetoxysilane sol-gel matrices

The large number of studies related to the field of biomolecules encapsulation in sol-gel hosts clearly indicates that this approach can be considered as a powerful alternative to traditional encapsulation procedures involving biopolymer hosts. In this study, α-amylase was immobilized, by using the sol-gel technique, in silica particles obtained from hydrolysis and polycondensation of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and a mixture of methyltriethoxysilane (MTES) and tetraethoxysilane. The influence of the pH and temperature of free and immobilized α-amylase were compared. It was shown that the relative activities of immobilized enzymes are higher than those of free enzymes over broader pH and temperature ranges. The Michaelis constant and the maximum rate of starch hydrolysis reaction were calculated by fitting the experimental data to the Michaelis-Menten equation. It was found that KM and Vmax values of the immobilized enzyme were smaller than those of the free enzyme

Hypercubes, Peak Patterns and Universal Positive Epistasis

Genes and their interactions with one another crucially affect reproductive success, commonly referred to as fitness. Biallelic models have been used in the past as a mathematical framework to model and explain these interactions. One approach is to represent L biallelic loci as hypercubic graphs, known as L-cubes. On these $L$-cubes, vertices model genotypes and the edges connect the vertices that differ by a single locus value. Assigning fitness values to genotypes gives edges a direction towards higher fitness. Local optimal genotypes, called peaks, then have a higher fitness than all their direct neighbors. Recently, researchers have introduced the notion of peak patterns, referring to the set of peaks that are unique up to relabeling of vertices. However, a complete characterization of all possible peak patterns has not yet been performed for L => 4. This work concerns itself with an analysis for L=4 regarding peak patterns and all possible instances of sign and reciprocal sign epistasis, substantiating the importance of peak patterns. Additionally a lower bound proportional to $2^{2^{L-1}}$ is provided for the set containing all possible peak patterns for a given L. Informed by this, all peak patterns up to L=6 are computed and joined with a variant of Fishers Geometric Model having a one dimensional phenotype. Moreover peak patterns are used to calculate the maximal number of peaks for the staircase triangulation up to L=8