The Single Monetary Policy and the Analytics of OCAs: what has the Euro area experience taught us?
The introduction of the euro posed unique challenges for monetary policy. Some observers took the view that a single monetary policy for all euro-area countries would not succeed because the euro area did not fulfil the pre-requisites of on Optimum Currency Area (OCA). In his lecture Mr Garganas will argue that the traditional way of thinking about OCAs overlooks the fact that the criteria used to judge optimality are, to some extent, endogenous. He will also argue, the experience of the euro a
The role of banks in a globalised economy: balancing innovation and stability
Banks are called upon to play a primary role, in cooperation with policymakers and regulators, in the quest for better levels of financial stability for the system as a whole. The real economy's needs must be central to the bank's characteristic function. Alessandro Profumo has been the Chief Executive Officer of UniCredit Group since it was founded in 1997; as of December 2005 he is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of HVB and as of July 2006 he is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Bank Aust
A Colonial Legacy in Miskito Turtle Knowledge (Nicaragua)
Over the past several decades the increasing prevalence of natural resource crises has led many ecologists to seek alternatives to Western resource use paradigms. Primary amongst these alternatives are systems guided by indigenous knowledge (IK). It is commonly presumed that these systems represent institutions uncorrupted by the exploitative hand of Western culture and state domination and therefore hold the key to rectifying the unsustainable behaviors of Western societies.
Red de Oportunidades: Conditional Cash Transfer Evidence from Panama
This paper estimates the impact of the conditional cash transfer program, Red de Oportunidades, on school enrollment, child labor, and preventive health services participation in Panama. The analysis relies on data from the Living Standards Measurement Survey of 2008. It uses a propensity score matching technique to identify the impact of the program in rural and indigenous areas of the country by replicating the selection criteria followed by the government to identify potential benefici
TALAT Lecture 2501: Fire Protection and Regulation
This lecture helps to understand the characteristics of fire, the conditions for its occurrence and development; it introduces definition and terms of fire resistance and protection. General engineering or physics background is assumed.
An optimization method of the facility location by genetic algorithm
In planning of community-facilities, it is important to decide the facility location to provide the effective service for residents. The behavior of residents using the facility and the evaluation methods of the location have been studied. But, finding the optimum location is very hard in actual planning because the volume of calculation depends on the number of feasible locating points of facilities. To conquer the difficulty of searching the optimum location, we propose an optimization method
Lecture 18 - 11/30/2010
Lecture 18
El Uso de Scaners y Ploteadores Tridimensionales en Talleres de Dise?o Iniciales (The Use of Three-d
The paper makes reference to the introduction of a new pedagogical strategy in the teaching of fundamental design in early design studios. The authors recognizes a relationship between the creative process and the media that supports the design process, and proposes the use of 3-dimensional scanners and plotters (rapid prototyping) for interfacing between the use of digital and analogue media. The paper suggests that in such learning environment the students will learn to design without the limi
The Faults of Fractional-Reserve Banking In a November 1, 2010, blog post titled "Could the World Go Back to the Gold Standard?," Martin Wolf, the Financial Times chief economics commentator, comes to the conclusion that "we cannot and will not go back to the gold standard."
Among a number of m
High tractive power wall-climbing robot
There are a lot of tasks in building construction and maintenance which demand either the carriage of heavy technological equipment along vertical and sloping surfaces and/or provision for force technological operations on such surfaces For example, surface cleaning or grinding by automatic equipment, the mounting of expansion bolts and anchors by drilling or by driving in. Additionally surface inspection by heavy measuring devices and the painting of big construction areas are difficult and exp
Experts 2010 I - Diversité des expertises en matière de Propriété Industrielle
Lors du troisième colloque de la Compagnie des Experts de Reims, Pierre GENDRAUD vous présente les différents types d'expertises et missions qu'il a été amené à réaliser en matière de propriété industrielle.
SCD Médecine.
Architecture and the Culture of Contingency
A culture is a set of behaviours, attitudes and values that are shared, sustained and transformed by an identifi able community. Currently, we are bound up in a culture of consumerism, and of terror; there are also retro cultures and utopian cultures. What?s happening now that?s interesting is that many, if not all of these diff erent tendencies, tastes and persuasions are being re-aligned, interconnected and hybridised by a vast global community of online users, who are transdisciplinary in the
Modeling architectural design objectives in physically based space planning
Physically based space planning is a means for automating the conceptual design process by applying the physics of motion to space plan elements. This methodology provides for a responsive design process, which allows a designer to easily make decisions whose consequences immediately propagate throughout the design. It combines the speed of automated design methods with the flexibility of manual design methods, while adding a highly interactive quality and a sense of collaboration with the desig
The Nagual Experiment
This paper refers to an experiment about the use of artificial life structures in order to simulate/evocate natural or artificial patterns. These patterns are the effect of the self-organisation of a population of individuals during their process of development and growth. Although the local dynamics and interactions have a chaotic (partially random) behaviour, the global dynamics of the population produces interesting and well structured patterns. The graphic images generated with these procedu
Exploraci?n de relaciones entre analog?as y bocetos durante la generaci?n de ideas en dise?o industr
An exploration on the analogy-based idea generation process in industrial design is reported. In particular we try to identify relationships between the sketching process and the analogy building in order to elicit requirements for a supporting software. We use concurrent think aloud protocols to obtain experimental data and an extension of a proved content oriented schema to analyze them. Statistical analysis on segments containing .analogical chains. found relations between analogical and desi
h-BN inclusion in a β-Si3N4 grain
The micrograph shows h-BN inclusion (precipitate) in a β-Si3N4 grain (within a silicon nitride particulate-reinforced silicon carbide composite). The occurrence of BN inclusions results from the introduction of colloidal BN into the hot isostatic pressing process. They are formed from B2O3 present as a thin surface film on the BN particles in the barrier layer. B2O3 will be molten during the pressing process and will diffuse rapidly into the powder compact and react with Si3N4 to form BN. Such
Automatic Procedures for Bio-Climatic Control
The experiences illustrated here are related to the new regulation of teaching architecture in Italy and these ones in particular have been concentrated on the technological aspects of teaching architecture. We can consider the evolution of the architect from the individual operator to the manager multi- disciplinary aspects of the building process ( building process manager) as a reality today. Information technology, specifically applied to bio-climatic architecture and environmental control,
Islamic Architecture and Digital Databases
Epigraphy in Islamic architecture represented an indispensable element in its conceptual design and structure. Our research investigates this unique role, which epigraphy played in Islamic architecture as a tool singularizing this architecture and the sensuality it inspires inside a building while bestowing on it its particular identity. This how SADEPIG came to being: it is a virtual database regrouping all the information about the monumental epigraphy which date from the Sa?dian period in Mor
Autonomous mechanisms in architectural design systems
The development of architectural design systems that describe fully the form, structure and behaviour of a design relies heavily on the incorporation of intelligence in the representations, analyses, transformations and transactions used by the computer. Traditionally such intelligence takes either of two forms. The first is a methodical framework that guides actions supported by the design system (usually in a top-down fashion). The second is local, intelligence mechanisms that resolve discrete
Al 88, Si 12 (wt%), eutectic alloy
This alloy is of the eutectic composition. From the melt a eutectic is formed between aluminium solid solution and virtually pure silicon. Slow solidification produces a very coarse microstructure. The eutectic comprises large plates of silicon in the aluminium matrix. This microstructure displays poor ductility due to the brittleness of large silicon plates. The microstructure is normally refined through either rapid solidification, which lets the silicon phase assume a fibrous form, or by a pr
