Long wave theory for experimental devices with compressed/expanded surfactant monolayers

Surfactant monolayers are of interest in a variety of phenomena, including thin film dynamics and the formation and dynamics of foams. Measurement of surface properties has received a continuous attention and requires good theoretical models to extract the relevant physico- chemical information from experimental data. A common experimental set up consists in a shallow liquid layer whose free surface is slowly com- pressed/expanded in periodic fashion by moving two slightly immersed solid barriers, which varies the free surface area and thus the surfactant concentration. The simplest theory ignores the fluid dynamics in the bulk fluid, assuming spatially uniform surfactant concentration, which requires quite small forcing frequencies and provides reversible dynamics in the compression/expansion cycles. Sometimes, it is not clear whether depar- ture from reversibility is due to non-equilibrium effects or to the ignored fluid dynamics. Here we present a long wave theory that takes the fluid dynamics and the symmetries of the problem into account. In particular, the validity of the spatially-uniform-surfactant-concentration assumption is established and a nonlinear diffusion equation is derived. This allows for calculating spatially nonuniform monolayer dynamics and uncovering the physical mechanisms involved in the surfactant behavior. Also, this analysis can be considered a good means for extracting more relevant information from each experimental run.

Implementation of the Heated Pulsed Theory using actively heated fiber optics: measurements of soil volumetric water content and soil volumetric heat capacity

Existe una creciente necesidad de hacer el mejor uso del agua para regadío. Una alternativa eficiente consiste en la monitorización del contenido volumétrico de agua (θ), utilizando sensores de humedad. A pesar de existir una gran diversidad de sensores y tecnologías disponibles, actualmente ninguna de ellas permite obtener medidas distribuidas en perfiles verticales de un metro y en escalas laterales de 0.1-1,000 m. En este sentido, es necesario buscar tecnologías alternativas que sirvan de puente entre las medidas puntuales y las escalas intermedias. Esta tesis doctoral se basa en el uso de Fibra Óptica (FO) con sistema de medida de temperatura distribuida (DTS), una tecnología alternativa de reciente creación que ha levantado gran expectación en las últimas dos décadas. Específicamente utilizamos el método de fibra calentada, en inglés Actively Heated Fiber Optic (AHFO), en la cual los cables de Fibra Óptica se utilizan como sondas de calor mediante la aplicación de corriente eléctrica a través de la camisa de acero inoxidable, o de un conductor eléctrico simétricamente posicionado, envuelto, alrededor del haz de fibra óptica. El uso de fibra calentada se basa en la utilización de la teoría de los pulsos de calor, en inglés Heated Pulsed Theory (HPP), por la cual el conductor se aproxima a una fuente de calor lineal e infinitesimal que introduce calor en el suelo. Mediante el análisis del tiempo de ocurrencia y magnitud de la respuesta térmica ante un pulso de calor, es posible estimar algunas propiedades específicas del suelo, tales como el contenido de humedad, calor específico (C) y conductividad térmica. Estos parámetros pueden ser estimados utilizando un sensor de temperatura adyacente a la sonda de calor [método simple, en inglés single heated pulsed probes (SHPP)], ó a una distancia radial r [método doble, en inglés dual heated pulsed probes (DHPP)]. Esta tesis doctoral pretende probar la idoneidad de los sistemas de fibra óptica calentada para la aplicación de la teoría clásica de sondas calentadas. Para ello, se desarrollarán dos sistemas FO-DTS. El primero se sitúa en un campo agrícola de La Nava de Arévalo (Ávila, España), en el cual se aplica la teoría SHPP para estimar θ. El segundo sistema se desarrolla en laboratorio y emplea la teoría DHPP para medir tanto θ como C. La teoría SHPP puede ser implementada con fibra óptica calentada para obtener medidas distribuidas de θ, mediante la utilización de sistemas FO-DTS y el uso de curvas de calibración específicas para cada suelo. Sin embargo, la mayoría de aplicaciones AHFO se han desarrollado exclusivamente en laboratorio utilizando medios porosos homogéneos. En esta tesis se utiliza el programa Hydrus 2D/3D para definir tales curvas de calibración. El modelo propuesto es validado en un segmento de cable enterrado en una instalación de fibra óptica y es capaz de predecir la respuesta térmica del suelo en puntos concretos de la instalación una vez que las propiedades físicas y térmicas de éste son definidas. La exactitud de la metodología para predecir θ frente a medidas puntuales tomadas con sensores de humedad comerciales fue de 0.001 a 0.022 m3 m-3 La implementación de la teoría DHPP con AHFO para medir C y θ suponen una oportunidad sin precedentes para aplicaciones medioambientales. En esta tesis se emplean diferentes combinaciones de cables y fuentes emisoras de calor, que se colocan en paralelo y utilizan un rango variado de espaciamientos, todo ello en el laboratorio. La amplitud de la señal y el tiempo de llegada se han observado como funciones del calor específico del suelo. Medidas de C, utilizando esta metodología y ante un rango variado de contenidos de humedad, sugirieron la idoneidad del método, aunque también se observaron importantes errores en contenidos bajos de humedad de hasta un 22%. La mejora del método requerirá otros modelos más precisos que tengan en cuenta el diámetro del cable, así como la posible influencia térmica del mismo. ABSTRACT There is an increasing need to make the most efficient use of water for irrigation. A good approach to make irrigation as efficient as possible is to monitor soil water content (θ) using soil moisture sensors. Although, there is a broad range of different sensors and technologies, currently, none of them can practically and accurately provide vertical and lateral moisture profiles spanning 0-1 m depth and 0.1-1,000 m lateral scales. In this regard, further research to fulfill the intermediate scale and to bridge single-point measurement with the broaden scales is still needed. This dissertation is based on the use of Fiber Optics with Distributed Temperature Sensing (FO-DTS), a novel approach which has been receiving growing interest in the last two decades. Specifically, we employ the so called Actively Heated Fiber Optic (AHFO) method, in which FO cables are employed as heat probe conductors by applying electricity to the stainless steel armoring jacket or an added conductor symmetrically positioned (wrapped) about the FO cable. AHFO is based on the classic Heated Pulsed Theory (HPP) which usually employs a heat probe conductor that approximates to an infinite line heat source which injects heat into the soil. Observation of the timing and magnitude of the thermal response to the energy input provide enough information to derive certain specific soil thermal characteristics such as the soil heat capacity, soil thermal conductivity or soil water content. These parameters can be estimated by capturing the soil thermal response (using a thermal sensor) adjacent to the heat source (the heating and the thermal sources are mounted together in the so called single heated pulsed probe (SHPP)), or separated at a certain distance, r (dual heated pulsed method (DHPP) This dissertation aims to test the feasibility of heated fiber optics to implement the HPP theory. Specifically, we focus on measuring soil water content (θ) and soil heat capacity (C) by employing two types of FO-DTS systems. The first one is located in an agricultural field in La Nava de Arévalo (Ávila, Spain) and employ the SHPP theory to estimate θ. The second one is developed in the laboratory using the procedures described in the DHPP theory, and focuses on estimating both C and θ. The SHPP theory can be implemented with actively heated fiber optics (AHFO) to obtain distributed measurements of soil water content (θ) by using reported soil thermal responses in Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) and with a soil-specific calibration relationship. However, most reported AHFO applications have been calibrated under laboratory homogeneous soil conditions, while inexpensive efficient calibration procedures useful in heterogeneous soils are lacking. In this PhD thesis, we employ the Hydrus 2D/3D code to define these soil-specific calibration curves. The model is then validated at a selected FO transect of the DTS installation. The model was able to predict the soil thermal response at specific locations of the fiber optic cable once the surrounding soil hydraulic and thermal properties were known. Results using electromagnetic moisture sensors at the same specific locations demonstrate the feasibility of the model to detect θ within an accuracy of 0.001 to 0.022 m3 m-3. Implementation of the Dual Heated Pulsed Probe (DPHP) theory for measurement of volumetric heat capacity (C) and water content (θ) with Distributed Temperature Sensing (DTS) heated fiber optic (FO) systems presents an unprecedented opportunity for environmental monitoring. We test the method using different combinations of FO cables and heat sources at a range of spacings in a laboratory setting. The amplitude and phase-shift in the heat signal with distance was found to be a function of the soil volumetric heat capacity (referred, here, to as Cs). Estimations of Cs at a range of θ suggest feasibility via responsiveness to the changes in θ (we observed a linear relationship in all FO combinations), though observed bias with decreasing soil water contents (up to 22%) was also reported. Optimization will require further models to account for the finite radius and thermal influence of the FO cables, employed here as “needle probes”. Also, consideration of the range of soil conditions and cable spacing and jacket configurations, suggested here to be valuable subjects of further study and development.

Cooperative Multi-robot Patrolling: A study of distributed approaches based on mathematical models of game theory to protect infrastructures

El principio de Teoría de Juegos permite desarrollar modelos estocásticos de patrullaje multi-robot para proteger infraestructuras criticas. La protección de infraestructuras criticas representa un gran reto para los países al rededor del mundo, principalmente después de los ataques terroristas llevados a cabo la década pasada. En este documento el termino infraestructura hace referencia a aeropuertos, plantas nucleares u otros instalaciones. El problema de patrullaje se define como la actividad de patrullar un entorno determinado para monitorear cualquier actividad o sensar algunas variables ambientales. En esta actividad, un grupo de robots debe visitar un conjunto de puntos de interés definidos en un entorno en intervalos de tiempo irregulares con propósitos de seguridad. Los modelos de partullaje multi-robot son utilizados para resolver este problema. Hasta el momento existen trabajos que resuelven este problema utilizando diversos principios matemáticos. Los modelos de patrullaje multi-robot desarrollados en esos trabajos representan un gran avance en este campo de investigación. Sin embargo, los modelos con los mejores resultados no son viables para aplicaciones de seguridad debido a su naturaleza centralizada y determinista. Esta tesis presenta cinco modelos de patrullaje multi-robot distribuidos e impredecibles basados en modelos matemáticos de aprendizaje de Teoría de Juegos. El objetivo del desarrollo de estos modelos está en resolver los inconvenientes presentes en trabajos preliminares. Con esta finalidad, el problema de patrullaje multi-robot se formuló utilizando conceptos de Teoría de Grafos, en la cual se definieron varios juegos en cada vértice de un grafo. Los modelos de patrullaje multi-robot desarrollados en este trabajo de investigación se han validado y comparado con los mejores modelos disponibles en la literatura. Para llevar a cabo tanto la validación como la comparación se ha utilizado un simulador de patrullaje y un grupo de robots reales. Los resultados experimentales muestran que los modelos de patrullaje desarrollados en este trabajo de investigación trabajan mejor que modelos de trabajos previos en el 80% de 150 casos de estudio. Además de esto, estos modelos cuentan con varias características importantes tales como distribución, robustez, escalabilidad y dinamismo. Los avances logrados con este trabajo de investigación dan evidencia del potencial de Teoría de Juegos para desarrollar modelos de patrullaje útiles para proteger infraestructuras. ABSTRACT Game theory principle allows to developing stochastic multi-robot patrolling models to protect critical infrastructures. Critical infrastructures protection is a great concern for countries around the world, mainly due to terrorist attacks in the last decade. In this document, the term infrastructures includes airports, nuclear power plants, and many other facilities. The patrolling problem is defined as the activity of traversing a given environment to monitoring any activity or sensing some environmental variables If this activity were performed by a fleet of robots, they would have to visit some places of interest of an environment at irregular intervals of time for security purposes. This problem is solved using multi-robot patrolling models. To date, literature works have been solved this problem applying various mathematical principles.The multi-robot patrolling models developed in those works represent great advances in this field. However, the models that obtain the best results are unfeasible for security applications due to their centralized and predictable nature. This thesis presents five distributed and unpredictable multi-robot patrolling models based on mathematical learning models derived from Game Theory. These multi-robot patrolling models aim at overcoming the disadvantages of previous work. To this end, the multi-robot patrolling problem was formulated using concepts of Graph Theory to represent the environment. Several normal-form games were defined at each vertex of a graph in this formulation. The multi-robot patrolling models developed in this research work have been validated and compared with best ranked multi-robot patrolling models in the literature. Both validation and comparison were preformed by using both a patrolling simulator and real robots. Experimental results show that the multirobot patrolling models developed in this research work improve previous ones in as many as 80% of 150 cases of study. Moreover, these multi-robot patrolling models rely on several features to highlight in security applications such as distribution, robustness, scalability, and dynamism. The achievements obtained in this research work validate the potential of Game Theory to develop patrolling models to protect infrastructures.

Un estudio del adjetivo en un corpus de textos escritos en inglés y español pertenecientes al discurso de especialidad de las Tecnologías de la Información y las Comunicaciones

Esta investigación se enmarca dentro de los denominados lenguajes de especialidad que para esta tesis será el de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC). De todos los aspectos relacionados con el estudio de estos lenguajes que pudieran tener interés lingüístico ha primado el análisis del componente terminológico. Tradicionalmente la conceptualización de un campo del saber se representaba mayoritariamente a través del elemento nominal, así lo defiende la Teoría General de la Terminología (Wüster, 1968). Tanto la lexicología como la lexicografía han aportado importantes contribuciones a los estudios terminológicos para la identificación del componente léxico a través del cual se transmite la información especializada. No obstante esos primeros estudios terminológicos que apuntaban al sustantivo como elmentos denominativo-conceptual, otras teorías más recientes, entre las que destacamos la Teoría Comunicativa de la Terminología (Cabré, 1999) identifican otras estructuras morfosintácticas integradas por otros elementos no nominales portadores igualmente de esa carga conceptual. A partir de esta consideración, hemos seleccionado para este estudio el adjetivo relacional en tanto que representa otra categoría gramatical distinta al sustantivo y mantiene un vínculo con éste debido a su procedencia. Todo lo cual puede suscitar cierto interés terminológico. A través de esta investigación, nos hemos propuesto demostrar las siguientes hipótesis: 1. El adjetivo relacional aporta contenido especializado en su asociación con el componente nominal. 2. El adjetivo relacional es portador de un valor semántico que hace posible identificar con más precisión la relación conceptual de los elementos -adjetivo y sustantivo - de la combinación léxica resultante, especialmente en algunas formaciones ambiguas. 3. El adjetivo relacional, como modificador natural del sustantivo al que acompaña, podría imponer cierta restricción en sus combinaciones y, por tanto, hacer una selección discriminada de los integrantes de la combinación léxica especializada. Teniendo en cuenta las anteriores hipótesis, esta investigación ha delimitado y caracterizado el segmento léxico objeto de estudio: la ‘combinación léxica especializada (CLE)’ formalmente representada por la estructura sintáctica [adjR+n], en donde adjR es el adjetivo y n el sustantivo al que acompaña. De igual forma hemos descrito el marco teórico desde el que abordar nuestro análisis. Se trata de la teoría del Lexicón Generatvio (LG) y de la representación semántica (Pustojovsky, 1995) que propone como explicación de la generación de significados. Hemos analizado las distintas estructuras de representación léxica y en especial la estructura qualia a través de la cual hemos identificado la relación semántica que mantienen los dos ítems léxicos [adjR+n] de la estructura sintáctica de nuestro estudio. El estudio semántico de las dos piezas léxicas ha permitido, además, comprobar el valor denominativo del adjetivo en la combinación. Ha sido necesario elaborar un corpus de textos escritos en inglés y español pertenecientes al discurso de especialidad de las TIC. Este material ha sido procesado para nuestros fines utilizando distintas herramientas electrónicas. Se ha hecho uso de lexicones electrónicos, diccionarios online generales y de especialidad y corpus de referencia online, estos últimos para poder eventualmente validad nuetros datos. Asimismo se han utilizado motores de búsqueda, entre ellos WordNet Search 3.1, para obtener la información semántica de nuestros elementos léxicos. Nuestras conclusiones han corroborado las hipótesis que se planteaban en esta tesis, en especial la referente al valor denominativo-conceptual del adjetivo relacional el cual, junto con el sustantivo al que acompaña, forma parte de la representación cognitiva del lenguaje de especialidad de las TIC. Como continuación a este estudio se proponen sugerencias sobre líneas futuras de investigación así como el diseño de herramientas informáticas que pudieran incorporar estos datos semánticos como complemento de los ítems léxicos dotados de valor denominativo-conceptual. ABSTRACT This research falls within the field of the so-called Specialized Languages which for the purpose of this study is the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) discourse. Considering their several distinguishing features terminology concentrates our interest from the point of view of linguistics. It is broadly assumed that terms represent concepts of a subject field. For the classical view of terminology (Wüster, 1968) these terms are formally represented by nouns. Both lexicology and terminology have made significant contributions to the study of terms. Later research as well as other theories on Terminology such as the Communicative Theory of Terminology (Cabré, 1993) have shown that other lexical units can also represent knowledge organization. On these bases, we have focused our research on the relational adjective which represents a functional unit different from a noun while still connected to the noun by means of its nominal root. This may have a potential terminological interest. Therefore the present research is based on the next hypotheses: 1. The relational adjective conveys specialized information when combined with the noun. 2. The relational adjective has a semantic meaning which helps understand the conceptual relationship between the adjective and the noun being modified and disambiguate certain senses of the resulting lexical combination. 3. The relational adjective may impose some restrictions when choosing the nouns it modifies. Considering the above hypotheses, this study has identified and described a multi-word lexical unit pattern [Radj+n] referred to as a Specialized Lexical Combination (SLC) linguistically realized by a relational adjective, Radj, and a noun, n. The analysis of such a syntactic pattern is addressed from the framework of the Generative Lexicon (Pustojovsky, 1995). Such theory provides several levels of semantic description which help lexical decomposition performed generatively. These levels of semantic representation are connected through generative operations or generative devices which account for the compositional interpretation of any linguistic utterance in a given context. This study analyses these different levels and focuses on one of them, i.e. the qualia structure since it may encode the conceptual meaning of the syntactic pattern [Radj+n]. The semantic study of these two lexical items has ultimately confirmed the conceptual meaning of the relational adjective. A corpus made of online ICT articles from magazines written in English and Spanish – some being their translations - has been used for the word extraction. For this purpose some word processing software packages have been employed. Moreover online general language and specialized language dictionaries have been consulted. Search engines, namely WordNet Search 3.1, have been also exploited to find the semantic information of our lexical units. Online reference corpora in English and Spanish have been used for a contrastive analysis of our data. Finally our conclusions have confirmed our initial hypotheses, i.e. relational adjectives are specialized lexical units which together with the nouns are part of the knowledge representation of the ICT subject field. Proposals for new research have been made together with some other suggestions for the design of computer applications to visually show the conceptual meaning of certain lexical units.

On sonic anemometer measurement theory

In this paper a model for the measuring process of sonic anemometers (ultrasound pulse based) is presented. The differential equations that describe the travel of ultrasound pulses are solved in the general case of non-steady, non-uniform atmospheric flow field. The concepts of instantaneous line-average and travelling pulse-referenced average are established and employed to explain and calculate the differences between the measured turbulent speed (travelling pulse-referenced average) and the line-averaged one. The limit k1l=1 established by Kaimal in 1968, as the maximum value which permits the neglect of the influence of the sonic measuring process on the measurement of turbulent components is reviewed here. Three particular measurement cases are analysed: A non-steady, uniform flow speed field, a steady, non-uniform flow speed field and finally an atmospheric flow speed field. In the first case, for a harmonic time-dependent flow field, Mach number, M (flow speed to sound speed ratio) and time delay between pulses have revealed themselves to be important parameters in the behaviour of sonic anemometers, within the range of operation. The second case demonstrates how the spatial non-uniformity of the flow speed field leads to an influence of the finite transit time of the pulses (M≠0) even in the absence of non-steady behaviour of the wind speed. In the last case, a model of the influence of the sonic anemometer processes on the measurement of wind speed spectral characteristics is presented. The new solution is compared to the line-averaging models existing in the literature. Mach number and time delay significantly distort the measurement in the normal operational range. Classical line averaging solutions are recovered when Mach number and time delay between pulses go to zero in the new proposed model. The results obtained from the mathematical model have been applied to the calculation of errors in different configurations of practical interest, such as an anemometer located on a meteorological mast and the transfer function of a sensor in an atmospheric wind. The expressions obtained can be also applied to determine the quality requirements of the flow in a wind tunnel used for ultrasonic anemometer calibrations.

Diversity for Texts Builds in Language L(MT): Indexes Based in Theory of Information

If one has a distribution of words (SLUNs or CLUNS) in a text written in language L(MT), and is adjusted one of the mathematical expressions of distribution that exists in the mathematical literature, some parameter of the elected expression it can be considered as a measure of the diversity. But because the adjustment is not always perfect as usual measure; it is preferable to select an index that doesn't postulate a regularity of distribution expressible for a simple formula. The problem can be approachable statistically, without having special interest for the organization of the text. It can serve as index any monotonous function that has a minimum value when all their elements belong to the same class, that is to say, all the individuals belong to oneself symbol, and a maximum value when each element belongs to a different class, that is to say, each individual is of a different symbol. It should also gather certain conditions like they are: to be not very sensitive to the extension of the text and being invariant to certain number of operations of selection in the text. These operations can be theoretically random. The expressions that offer more advantages are those coming from the theory of the information of Shannon-Weaver. Based on them, the authors develop a theoretical study for indexes of diversity to be applied in texts built in modeling language L(MT), although anything impedes that they can be applied to texts written in natural languages.

Developing a programme theory to explain how primary health care teams learn to respond to intimate partner violence: a realist case-study

Background: Despite the progress made on policies and programmes to strengthen primary health care teams’ response to Intimate Partner Violence, the literature shows that encounters between women exposed to IPV and health-care providers are not always satisfactory, and a number of barriers that prevent individual health-care providers from responding to IPV have been identified. We carried out a realist case study, for which we developed and tested a programme theory that seeks to explain how, why and under which circumstances a primary health care team in Spain learned to respond to IPV. Methods: A realist case study design was chosen to allow for an in-depth exploration of the linkages between context, intervention, mechanisms and outcomes as they happen in their natural setting. The first author collected data at the primary health care center La Virgen (pseudonym) through the review of documents, observation and interviews with health systems’ managers, team members, women patients, and members of external services. The quality of the IPV case management was assessed with the PREMIS tool. Results: This study found that the health care team at La Virgen has managed 1) to engage a number of staff members in actively responding to IPV, 2) to establish good coordination, mutual support and continuous learning processes related to IPV, 3) to establish adequate internal referrals within La Virgen, and 4) to establish good coordination and referral systems with other services. Team and individual level factors have triggered the capacity and interest in creating spaces for team leaning, team work and therapeutic responses to IPV in La Virgen, although individual motivation strongly affected this mechanism. Regional interventions did not trigger individual and/ or team responses but legitimated the workings of motivated professionals. Conclusions: The primary health care team of La Virgen is involved in a continuous learning process, even as participation in the process varies between professionals. This process has been supported, but not caused, by a favourable policy for integration of a health care response to IPV. Specific contextual factors of La Virgen facilitated the uptake of the policy. To some extent, the performance of La Virgen has the potential to shape the IPV learning processes of other primary health care teams in Murcia.

On terminological figurativeness: From theory to practice

Terminologists’ interest in studying the role of metaphor and metaphorical terms in specialized communication has proliferated since the first papers addressing this issue appeared in the 1990s. However, we believe that some facets of terminological meaning still remain overlooked or merit further analysis. This paper attempts to contribute to the study of one of these facets: the figurative meaning of some compound terms used in the domain of luxury marketing and business. In order to present a systematized view of this phenomenon we will adopt some theoretical tools from the Conventional Figurative Language Theory, in order to confirm the validity of some of its postulates for compound term analysis. Next, a contrastive approach between English, Spanish and Russian compound terms will put the theoretical ideas into practice with the aim of illustrating their applied and metalinguistic potential. Some basic conclusions will be offered at the end of the paper.

De Gaulle and Europe: Historical Revision and Social Science Theory. Program for the Study of Germany and Europe Working Paper Series 8.5

The thousands of books and articles on Charles de Gaulle's policy toward European integration, whether written by historians, social scientists, or commentators, universally accord primary explanatory importance to the General's distinctive geopolitical ideology. In explaining his motivations, only secondary significance, if any at all, is attached to commercial considerations. This paper seeks to reverse this historiographical consensus by examining the four major decisions toward European integration during de Gaulle's presidency: the decisions to remain in the Common Market in 1958, to propose the Foucher Plan in the early 1960s, to veto British accession to the EC, and to provoke the "empty chair" crisis in 1965-1966, resulting in the "Luxembourg Compromise." In each case, the overwhelming bulk of the primary evidence-speeches, memoirs, or government documents-suggests that de Gaulle's primary motivation was economic, not geopolitical or ideological. Like his predecessors and successors, de Gaulle sought to promote French industry and agriculture by establishing protected markets for their export products. This empirical finding has three broader implications: (1) For those interesred in the European Union, it suggests that regional integration has been driven primarily by economic, not geopolitical considerations--even in the "least likely" case. (2) For those interested in the role of ideas in foreign policy, it suggests that strong interest groups in a democracy limit the impact of a leader's geopolitical ideology--even where the executive has very broad institutional autonomy. De Gaulle was a democratic statesman first and an ideological visionary second. (3) For those who employ qualitative case-study methods, it suggests that even a broad, representative sample of secondary sources does not create a firm basis for causal inference. For political scientists, as for historians, there is in many cases no reliable alternative to primary-source research.

Mixed Public-Private Enterprises in Europe: Economic Theory and an Empirical Analysis of Italian Water Utilities. Bruges European Economic Research (BEER) Papers 4/July 2006

Mixed enterprises, which are entities jointly owned by the public and private sector, are spreading all over Europe in local utilities. Well aware that in the vast majority of cases the preference of local authorities towards such governance structure is determined by practical reasons rather than by the ambition to implement new regulatory designs (an alternative to the typical “external” regulation), our purpose is to confer some scientific value to this phenomenon which has not been sufficiently investigated in the economic literature. This paper aims at proposing an economic analysis of mixed enterprises, especially of the specific configuration in which the public partner acts as controller and the private one (or “industrial” partner) as service provider. We suggest that the public service concession to mixed enterprises could embody, under certain conditions, a noteworthy substitute to the traditional public provision and the concession to totally private enterprises, as it can push regulated operators to outperform and limit the risk of private opportunism. The starting point of the entire analysis is that ownership allows the (public) owner to gather more information about the actual management of the firm, according to property rights theory. Following this stream of research, we conclude that under certain conditions mixed enterprises could significantly reduce asymmetric information between regulators and regulated firms by implementing a sort of “internal” regulation. With more information, in effect, the public authority (as owner/controller of the regulated firm, but also as member of the regulatory agency) can stimulate the private operator to be more efficient and can monitor it more effectively with respect to the fulfilment of contractual obligations (i.e., public service obligations, quality standards, etc.). Moreover, concerning the latter function, the board of directors of the mixed enterprise can be the suitable place where public and private representatives (respectively, welfare and profit maximisers) can meet to solve all disputes arising from incomplete contracts, without recourse to third parties. Finally, taking into account that a disproportionate public intervention in the “private” administration (or an ineffective protection of the general interest) would imply too many drawbacks, we draw some policy implications that make an equitable debate on the board of the firm feasible. Some empirical evidence is taken from the Italian water sector.

De Gaulle and Europe: Historical Revision and Social Science Theory. CES Germany & Europe Working Papers, No. 08.5, 1998

The thousands of books and articles on Charles de Gaulle's policy toward European integration, whether written by historians, political scientists, or commentators, universally accord primary explanatory importance to the General's distinctive geopolitical ideology. In explaining his motivations, only secondary significance, if any at all, is attached to commercial considerations. This paper seeks to reverse this historiographical consensus by the four major decisions toward European integration taken under de Gaulle's Presidency: the decisions to remain in the Common Market in 1958, to propose the Fouchet Plan in the early 1960s, to veto British accession to the EC, and to provoke the "empty chair" crisis in 1965-1966, resulting in Luxembourg Compromise. In each case, the overwhelming bulk of the primary evidence speeches, memoirs, or government documents suggests that de Gaulle's primary motivation was economic, not geopolitical or ideological. Like his predecessors and successors, de Gaulle sought to promote French industry and agriculture by establishing protected markets for their export products. This empirical finding has three broader implications: (1) For those interested in the European Union, it suggests that regional integration has been driven primarily by economic, not geopolitical considerations even in the least likely case. (2) For those interested in the role of ideas in foreign policy, it suggests that strong interest groups in a democracy limit the impact of a leaders geopolitical ideology even where the executive has very broad institutional autonomy. De Gaulle was a democratic statesman first and an ideological visionary second. (3) For those who employ qualitative case-study methods, it suggests that even a broad, representative sample of secondary sources does not create a firm basis for causal inference. For political scientists, as for historians, there is in many cases no reliable alternative to primary source research.

Testing the expectations hypothesis when interest rates are near integrated /

Mode of access: Internet.

Rent, interest and wages ; or, The real bearings of the land question : private rent the mother of interest, the cause of commercial depressions & social misery /

Mode of access: Internet.

The effect of deficits on prices of financial assets : theory and evidence /

"March 1984."

Inflation expectations, interest rates and arbitrary income transfers

Unexpected inflation, disinflation or deflation cause arbitrary income transfers between an economy's borrowers and lenders. This redistribution results from distorted real interest rates that are too high when price level changes are over-predicted and too low when they are under-predicted. This article shows that in Australia's case, inflation expectations were mostly biased upwards throughout the 1990s, according to the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research series and to a new derived series based on bond yields, implying that real interest rates were too high over this time. In turn, this caused substantial arbitrary income transfers from debtors to creditors, estimated to have averaged up to 3 per cent of gross domestic product over the period.