The Euro Changeover and Price Adjustments in Italy

By estimating a staggered price model over the period 1980q1-2010q2, this paper documents that, after the euro changeover, Italian retailers have increased the number of price adjustments, which has translated into a higher inflation rate, with a detrimental effect on the competitiveness of the Italian economy.Euro changeover, staggered price adjustments, inflation

The Euro Changeover and Price Adjustments in Italy

By estimating a staggered price model over the period 1980q1-2010q2, this paper documents that, after the euro changeover, Italian retailers have increased the number of price adjustments, which has translated into a higher inflation rate, with a detrimental effect on the competitiveness of the Italian economyEuro changeover, staggered price adjustments, inflation

Partially Symmetric Variants of Comon's Problem Via Simultaneous Rank

A symmetric tensor may be regarded as a partially symmetric tensor in several different ways. These produce different notions of rank for the symmetric tensor which are related by chains of inequalities. By exploiting algebraic tools such as apolarity theory, we show how the study of the simultaneous symmetric rank of partial derivatives of the homogeneous polynomial associated to the symmetric tensor can be used to prove equalities among different partially symmetric ranks. This approach aims to understand to what extent the symmetries of a tensor affect its rank. We apply this to the special cases of binary forms, ternary and quaternary cubics, monomials, and elementary symmetric polynomials.Comment: 28 p

Reflexão sobre conceitos de produção modular e arquitetura

O artigo trata, primeiramente, da relação entre arquitetura, desenho industrial e produção seriada, considerada orientadora para os estudos iniciais da pesquisa Produção seriada e projeto arquitetônico: A escola secundária, desenvolvida com o apoio da Fapesp e do CNPq. Em seguida, são apresentadas idéias sobre matéria-prima, estrutura, rede modular, módulos e partido de projeto que, em seu conjunto, representam a reflexão inicial condutora da pesquisa. Concluímos, apontando para a necessidade de estudos sobre produção modular, versão mais recente da produção industrial, e de sua aplicação à arquitetura.The first part of the article discusses of the relation between architecture, industrial design, and industrial production. This relation bases the early development of the study called" Industrial production and architectonic design; the elementary school", which was developed with the support of the governmental agencies Fapesp and CNPq. It then presents ideas on raw materials, structures, modularity, and preliminary design that represent the initial concepts that led this research. It concludes by pointing out the need for studies of modularity, which is the most recent version of industrial production, and its application to architecture.El artículo trata, primeramente, de la relación entre arquitectura, diseño industrial y producción en serie, considerada como orientadora para los estudios iniciales de la investigación Producción en serie y proyecto arquitectónico: la escuela secundaria, desarrollada con el apoyo de la Fapesp y del CNPq. Luego son presentadas ideas sobre materia prima, estructura, red modular, módulos y partido de proyecto que, en su conjunto, representan la reflexión inicial conductora de la investigación. Concluyendo, señalamos la necesidad de estudios sobre producción modular, versión mas reciente de la producción industrial, y su aplicación en la arquitectura

Diez estudios con el objetivo de asimilar la técnica constructiva con madera laminada

O texto se refere a dez estudos preliminares visando compreender e assimilar a técnica de curvatura de folhas planas de madeira e conformá-las em estruturas espaciais. A descrição contempla a forma de construção de moldes para essas conformações. As experiências descritas são as primeiras executadas no início do estudo de um sistema estrutural para módulos habitáveis, tema de minha pesquisa Produção seriada e projeto arquitetônico: A escola secundária financiada pela Fapesp, CNPq e USP. Essas experiências acabaram conduzindo ao registro de dois pedidos de patentes no INPI, com os números P.I.0.106.476-2 e P.I. 0.106.807-5.El texto hace referencia a diez estudios preliminares con el objetivo de comprender y asimilar la técnica de curvar hojas planas de madera y conformarlas en estructuras espaciales. La descripción contempla la forma de construcción de moldes para esas estructuras. Las experiências presentadas son las primeras ejecutadas en el inicio del estudio de un sistema estructural para módulos habitables, tema de mi investigación"Producción en serie y proyecto arquitetónico:"La escuela secundaria", financiada por la Fapesp, CNPq y USP. Tales experiências llevaron al registro de dos Pedidos de Patentes junto al INPI, que recibieron los números P.I.0.106.476-2 y P.I. 0.106.807-5.The paper presents ten preliminary studies with the intent to understand and assimilate the bending technique of flat wood sheet and transform it in tridimensional structures. We also describe the construction of molds for this purpose. The presented studies are the first made in the begining of a research project for the structure of living modules, theme of my research: Modular production and architectural project: The secondary school suported by Fapesp, CNPq and USP. As a result of the studies we demanded two Patents under the number P.I. 0.106.476-2 and P.I. 0.106.807-5

An adolescent with an altered state of mind

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A young soccer player with sudden pain after kicking the ball

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The set of forms with bounded strength is not closed

The strength of a homogeneous polynomial (or form) is the smallest length of an additive decomposition expressing it whose summands are reducible forms. Using polynomial functors, we show that the set of forms with bounded strength is not always Zariski-closed. More specifically, if the ground field is algebraically closed, we prove that the set of quartics with strength $\leq3$ is not Zariski-closed for a large number of variables.Comment: 9 pages, removed condition on characteristi

The sooner the better: lives saved by the lockdown during the COVID-19 outbreak. The case of Italy

This paper estimates the effects of non-pharmaceutical interventions - mainly, the lockdown - on the COVID-19 mortality rate for the case of Italy, the first Western country to impose a national shelter-in-place order. We use a new estimator, the Augmented Synthetic Control Method (ASCM), that overcomes some limits of the standard Synthetic Control Method (SCM). The results are twofold. From a methodological point of view, the ASCM outperforms the SCM in that the latter cannot select a valid donor set, assigning all the weights to only one country (Spain) while placing zero weights to all the remaining. From an empirical point of view, we find strong evidence of the effectiveness of non-pharmaceutical interventions in avoiding losses of human lives in Italy: conservative estimates indicate that for each human life actually lost, in the absence of lockdown there would have been on average other 1.15, the policy saved in total 20,400 human lives.Comment: 34 pages, 6 figures, 3 table