Monetary and fiscal policies interactions in a monetary union with country-size asymmetry

Within a country-size asymmetric monetary union, idiosyncratic shocks and national fiscal stabilization policies cause asymmetric cross-border effects. These effects are a source of strategic interactions between noncoordinated fiscal and monetary policies: on the one hand, due to larger externalities imposed on the union, large countries face less incentives to develop free-riding fiscal policies; on the other hand, a larger strategic position vis-à-vis the central bank incentives the use of fiscal policy to, deliberately, influence monetary policy. Additionally, the existence of non-distortionary government financing may also shape policy interactions. As a result, optimal policy regimes may diverge not only across the union members, but also between the latter and the monetary union. In a two-country micro-founded New-Keynesian model for a monetary union, we consider two fiscal policy scenarios: (i) lump-sum taxes are raised to fully finance the government budget and (ii) lump-sum taxes do not ensure balanced budgets in each period; therefore, fiscal and monetary policies are expected to impinge on debt sustainability. For several degrees of country-size asymmetry, we compute optimal discretionary and dynamic non-cooperative policy games and compare their stabilization performance using a union-wide welfare measure. We also assess whether these outcomes could be improved, for the monetary union, through institutional policy arrangements. We find that, in the presence of government indebtedness, monetary policy optimally deviates from macroeconomic to debt stabilization. We also find that policy cooperation is always welfare increasing for the monetary union as a whole; however, indebted large countries may strongly oppose to this arrangement in favour of fiscal leadership. In this case, delegation of monetary policy to a conservative central bank proves to be fruitful to improve the union’s welfare.

Stabilization constraints from different-average public debt levels in a Monetary Union with country-size asymmetry

In the sequence of the recent financial and economic crisis, the recent public debt accumulation is expected to hamper considerably business cycle stabilization, by enlarging the budgetary consequences of the shocks. This paper analyses how the average level of public debt in a monetary union shapes optimal discretionary fiscal and monetary stabilization policies and affects stabilization welfare. We use a two-country micro-founded New-Keynesian model, where a benevolent central bank and the fiscal authorities play discretionary policy games under different union-average debt-constrained scenarios. We find that high debt levels shift monetary policy assignment from inflation to debt stabilization, making cooperation welfare superior to noncooperation. Moreover, when average debt is too high, welfare moves directly (inversely) with debt-to-output ratios for the union and the large country (small country) under cooperation. However, under non-cooperation, higher average debt levels benefit only the large country.

European information users: topics from a comparative analysis within the European Union

Purpose – The aim of this article is to present some results from research undertaken into the information behaviour of European Documentation Centre (EDC) users. It will reflect on the practices of a group of 234 users of 55 EDCs covering 21 Member States of the European Union (EU), used to access European information. Design/methodology/approach – In order to collect the data presented here, five questionnaires were sent to users in all the EDCs in Finland, Ireland, Hungary and Portugal. In the remaining EU countries, five questionnaires were sent to two EDCs chosen at random. The questionnaires were sent by post, following telephone contact with the EDC managers. Findings – Factors determining access to information on the European Union and the frequency of this access are identified. The information providers most commonly used to access European information and the information sources considered the most reliable by respondents will also be analysed. Another area of analysis concerns the factors cited by respondents as facilitating access to information on Europe or, conversely, making it more difficult to access. Parallel to this, the aspects of accessing information on EU that are valued most by users will also be assessed. Research limitations/implications – Questionnaires had to be used, as the intention was to cover a very extensive geographical area. However, in opting for closed questions, it is acknowledged that standard responses have been obtained with no scope for capturing the individual circumstances of each respondent, thus making a qualitative approach difficult. Practical implications – The results provide an overall picture of certain aspects of the information behaviour of EDC users. They may serve as a starting point for planning training sessions designed to develop the skills required to search, access, evaluate and apply European information within an academic context. From a broader perspective, they also constitute factors which the European Commission should take into consideration when formulating its information and communication policy. Originality/value – This is the first piece of academic research into the EDCs and their users, which aimed to cover all Members State of the EU.

Shane Meadows’ country: analysis of the film this is England (2006)

This Is England is social realist film portraying racism and poverty in 1980s Britain through the eyes of Shaun, a 12 year old boy, who has lost his father in the Falklands war and as to come to terms with his own identity, the difficult transition from childhood to adolescence and the need to fit in a determined group/tribe/gang. The following article aims at analysing relevant aspects depicted from the film emphasizing the so much debated reality of life during 80s. In This is England Shane Meadows manages to rediscover his own self geography, by revisiting his adolescent years. It is a biographical film about the importance of peer pressure and the results of an excess of nationalism, at the same time it typifies some issues related to the 80s youth culture.

Adsorptive stripping voltammetric determination of venlafaxine in urine with a mercury film microelectrode

An adsorptive stripping voltammetric procedure for the determination of the antidepressant venlafaxine in urine using a mercury film microelectrode wasdeveloped. The method is based on controlled adsorptive accumulation of the drug at the potential of 1.00V (vs. Ag/AgCl) in the presence of 1.25 x10 -2 molL- 1 borate buffer (pH 8.7). Urine samples were analyzed directly after performing a ten-fold dilution with the supporting electrolyte but without other pretreatment. The limit of detection obtained for a 30 s collection time was 0.693x 10- 6 mol L -1. Recovery experimentsgave good results at the 10 -6 mol L- 1 level (bias less 5% were obtained).

Voltammetric determination of dialifos in soils with a mercury film ultramicroelectrode

An extraction-adsorptive stripping voltammetric procedure for the determination of the pesticide dialifos in soil samples using microwave-assisted solvent extraction and a mercury film ultramicroelectrode was developed. The method is based on the use of hexane-acetone solvent (1:1, v/v) and on controlled adsorptive accumulation of the insecticide at the potential of -0.10V (versus Ag/AgCl) in the presence of Britton-Robinson buffer (pH 2.0). Soil sample extracts were analyzed directly after drying and redissolution with the supporting electrolyte, but without other pretreatment. The limit of detection obtained for a 10sec collection time was 2.0x10-8 mol L-1. Recovery experiments for the global procedure, at the 0.100µgg-1 level, gave satisfactory average and standard deviation results for the two different soils tested.

Need for, demand for, and use of European Union information

The discussion and analysis of the diverse outreach activities in this article provide guidance and suggestions for academic librarians who are interested in outreach and community engagement of any scale and nature. Cases are draw from a wide spectrum and are particularly strong in the setting of large academic libraries, special collections and programming for multicultural populations. The aim of this study is to present the results of research carried out regarding the needs, demand and consumption of European Union information by users in European Documentation Centres (EDC). A quantitative methodology was chosen based on a questionnaire with 24 items. This questionnaire was distributed within the EDC of Salamanca, Spain, and the EDC of Porto, Portugal, during specific time intervals between 2010 and 2011. We examined the level of EU information that EDC users possess, and identified the factors that facilitate or hinder access to EU information, the topics most demanded, and the types of documents consulted. Analysis was made of the use that the consumer of European information makes of databases and their behaviour during the consultation. Although the sample used was not very significant owing to its small size, it is a faithful reflection of the scarce visits made to EDCs. This study can be of use to managers of EDCs, providing them with better knowledge of the information needs and demands of their users. Ultimately this should lead to improvements in the services offered. The study lies within a frame of research scarcely addressed in specialized scholarly literature: European Union information.

Admittance spectroscopy of Cu2ZnSnS4 based thin film solar cells

In this report, we propose an AC response equivalent circuit model to describe the admittance measurements of Cu2ZnSnS4 thin film solar cell grown by sulphurization of stacked metallic precursors. This circuit describes the contact resistances, the back contact, and the heterojunction with two trap levels. The study of the back contact resistance allowed the estimation of a back contact barrier of 246 meV. The analysis of the trap series with varying temperature revealed defect activation energies of 45 meV and 113 meV. The solar cell’s electrical parameters were obtained from the J-V curve: conversion efficiency, 1.21%; fill factor, 50%; open circuit voltage, 360 mV; and short circuit current density, 6.8 mA/cm2.

Mo bilayer for thin film photovoltaics revisited

Thin film solar cells based on Cu(In,Ga)Se2 as an absorber layer use Mo as the back contact. This metal is widely used in research and in industry but despite this, there are only a few published studies on the properties of Mo. Properties such as low resistivity and good adhesion to soda lime glass are hard to obtain at the same time. These properties are dependent on the deposition conditions and are associated with the overall stress state of the film. In this report, a study of the deposition of a Mo bilayer is carried out by analysing first single and then bilayers. The best properties of the bilayer were achieved when the bottom layer was deposited at 10 × 10−3 mbar with a thickness of 500 nm and the top layer deposited at 1 × 10−3 mbar with a thickness of 300 nm. The films deposited under these conditions showed good adhesion and a sheet resistivity lower than 0.8 .

Film thickness in a ball-on-disc contact lubricated with greases, bleed oils and base oils

Three different lubricating greases and their bleed and base oils were compared in terms of film thickness in a ball-on-disc test rig through optical interferometry. The theoretical values calculated according to Hamrock's equation are in close agreement with the base oil film thickness measurements, which validates the selected experimental methodology. The grease and bleed oil film thickness under fully flooded lubrication conditions presented quite similar behaviour and levels. Therefore, the grease film thickness under full film conditions might be predicted using their bleed oil properties, namely the viscosity and pressure-viscosity coefficient. The base and bleed oil lubricant parameter LP are proportional to the measured film thickness. A relationship between grease and the corresponding bleed oil film thickness was evidenced.

Wuthering heights on the screen: exploring the relations between film adaptation and subtitling

This essay aims to confront the literary text Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë with five of its screen adaptations and Portuguese subtitles. Owing to the scope of the study, it will necessarily afford merely a bird‘s eye view of the issues and serve as a starting point for further research. Accordingly, the following questions are used as guidelines: What transformations occur in the process of adapting the original text to the screen? Do subtitles update the film dialogues to the target audience‘s cultural and linguistic context? Are subtitles influenced more by oral speech than by written literary discourse? Shouldn‘t subtitles in fact reflect the poetic function prevalent in screen adaptations of literary texts? Rather than attempt to answer these questions, we focus on the objects as phenomena. Our interdisciplinary undertaking clearly involves a semio-pragmatic stance, at this stage trying to avoid theoretical backdrops that may affect our apprehension of the objects as to their qualities, singularities, and conventional traits, based on Lucia Santaella‘s interpretation of Charles S. Peirce‘s phaneroscopy. From an empirical standpoint, we gather features and describe peculiarities, under the presumption that there are substrata in subtitling that point or should point to the literary source text, albeit through the mediation of a film script and a particular cinematic style. Therefore, we consider how the subtitling process may be influenced by the literary intertext, the idiosyncrasies of a particular film adaptation, as well as the socio-cultural context of the subtitler and target audience. First, we isolate one of the novel‘s most poignant scenes – ‗I am Heathcliff‘ – taking into account its symbolic play and significance in relation to character and plot construction. Secondly, we study American, English, French, and Mexican adaptations of the excerpt into film in terms of intersemiotic transformations. Then we analyze differences between the film dialogues and their Portuguese subtitles.

Topics regarding access to european information institutions: European Union so close and yet so far

From the 1990s, the Parliament, the Council and the European Commission adopted a new approach to disclosure of their working papers. Legal instruments to regulate and allow a fairly broad access to internal working documents of these institutions were created. European institutions also exploited the potential of Information and Communication Technologies, developing new instruments to register the documents produced and make them accessible to the public. The commitment to transparency sought to shows a more credible European government, and reduces the democratic deficit. However, the data analysis regarding access to EU institutions documents shows that general public is still far from direct contact with European bodies.

The need for information literacy skills among users of European Union information

The aim of this paper is the assessment of information literacy skills related to European topics, among a group of 234 users of 55 European Documentation Centres (EDCs), from 21 European Union Member- States. We will present the results of a survey European information. So we will analyse the answers given by the users of the EDCs relating to aspects like the best sources to access trustworthy and impartial Europe information. The factors determining access to information on the EU and the frequency of this access will equally be analysed. The reasons the users gave for the ease or difficulty in accessing European information are also included and pondered on. Parallel to this, we will evaluate the aspects most valued by the users of this kind of information. Our findings on the use of European information available on the Internet, especially the knowledge and making use of databases will be presented. Based on this analysis the paper will demonstrate the need to develop information literacy competencies to identify, use and access European information. Doing so, some potential components of information literacy skills adapted to European information will be introduced.

One-step preparation of optically transparent Ni-Fe oxide film electrocatalyst for oxygen evolution reaction

Optically transparent cocatalyst film materials is very desirable for improved photoelectrochemical (PEC)oxygen evolution reaction (OER) over light harvesting photoelectrodes which require the exciting light to irradiate through the cocatalyst side, i.e., front-side illumination. In view of the reaction overpotential at electrode/electrolyte interface, the OER electrocatalysts have been extensively used as cocatalysts for PEC water oxidation on photoanode. In this work, the feasibility of a one-step fabrication of the transparent thin film catalyst for efficient electrochemical OER is investigated. The Ni-Fe bimetal oxide films, 200 nm in thickness, are used for study. Using a reactive magnetron co-sputtering technique, transparent(> 50% in wavelength range 500-2000 nm) Ni-Fe oxide films with high electrocatalytic activities were successfully prepared at room temperature. Upon optimization, the as-prepared bimetal oxide film with atomic ratio of Fe/Ni = 3:7 demonstrates the lowest overpotential for the OER in aqueous KOH solution, as low as 329 mV at current density of 2 mA cm 2, which is 135 and 108 mV lower than that of as-sputtered FeOx and NiOx thin films, respectively. It appears that this fabrication strategy is very promising to deposit optically transparent cocatalyst films on photoabsorbers for efficient PEC water splitting.