Size, density and costs of network services - the case of the distribution of electricity in Italy

The classical approach to the effects of territorial context in defining costs of distibution in network services (as the distribution of electric energy), often makes confusion between scale and density economies The consequence is a wrong definition of some variables and a misleading specification of the model. The result is a heavy underestimationf ot the role of the territorial context in shaping the curve of the average spatial cost of distribution. Both Cobb-Douglas and Translog functions are used to estimate the role of territorial characteristics in defining costs. We find, for the Italian case, that the share of cost due to a "non optimal territorial context" is about 40% on average (with a maximum of 68% in low density and scattered areas). There is a trade off between a policy equalizing spatial prices and a choice of minimize costs in central areas.

The Growth of Structure in Interacting Dark Energy Models

If dark energy interacts with dark matter, there is a change in the background evolution of the universe, since the dark matter density no longer evolves as a^{-3}. In addition, the non-gravitational interaction affects the growth of structure. In principle, these changes allow us to detect and constrain an interaction in the dark sector. Here we investigate the growth factor and the weak lensing signal for a new class of interacting dark energy models. In these models, the interaction generalises the simple cases where one dark fluid decays into the other. In order to calculate the effect on structure formation, we perform a careful analysis of the perturbed interaction and its effect on peculiar velocities. Assuming a normalization to today's values of dark matter density and overdensity, the signal of the interaction is an enhancement (suppression) of both the growth factor and the lensing power, when the energy transfer in the background is from dark matter to dark energy (dark energy to dark matter).Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures. Minor improvements to clarify relation to previous work. Version accepted by JCA

Calderón desfigurado: (sobre las representaciones calderonianas en la época prerromántica)

Estudo dos comportamentos de jovens adolescentes, de origem étnico-cultural diferenciada, nas áreas familiar, escolar, pessoal, social e religiosa, relativas à identidade, aos hábitos de lazer, aos hábitos alimentares e ao consumo de substâncias tóxicas e factores àquele associados, bem como a opinião dos jovens quanto às razões que determinam os consumos prejudiciais e possíveis soluções

Theoretical Priors On Modified Growth Parametrisations

Next generation surveys will observe the large-scale structure of the Universe with unprecedented accuracy. This will enable us to test the relationships between matter over-densities, the curvature perturbation and the Newtonian potential. Any large-distance modification of gravity or exotic nature of dark energy modifies these relationships as compared to those predicted in the standard smooth dark energy model based on General Relativity. In linear theory of structure growth such modifications are often parameterised by virtue of two functions of space and time that enter the relation of the curvature perturbation to, first, the matter over-density, and second, the Newtonian potential. We investigate the predictions for these functions in Brans-Dicke theory, clustering dark energy models and interacting dark energy models. We find that each theory has a distinct path in the parameter space of modified growth. Understanding these theoretical priors on the parameterisations of modified growth is essential to reveal the nature of cosmic acceleration with the help of upcoming observations of structure formations.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Financial Constraints and Foreign Market Entries or Exits: Firm-Level Evidence from France

This paper studies the effect of credit constraints on the expansion and survival of firms in foreign markets. It develops a model in which, lower access to external finance, or reduced internal liquidity, hampers the firm ability to finance the recurrent costs to serve foreign markets and decreases firm survival in foreign markets. Additionally, financial constraints act as a barrier to firm export expansion by decreasing the firm ability to finance the entry costs into new export markets; thus, they push firm to avoid losing destinations. We use a unique longitudinal dataset on French firms that contains information on export destinations of individual firms and allows us to construct various firm-level measures of financial constraints to test these predictions. We obtain two main results. First, credit constraints have a negative effect on the number of newly served destinations. Second, higher probability of exit from the export market is also associated with credit constraints; that is consistent with constraints limiting the financing of recurrent export costs.Firm heterogeneity, financial constraints, trade.

Integration of BPM systems

New technologies have emerged to support the global economy where for instance suppliers, manufactures and retailers are working together in order to minimise the cost and maximise efficiency. One of the technologies that has become a buzz word for many businesses is business process management or BPM. A business process comprises activities and tasks, the resources required to perform each task, and the business rules linking these activities and tasks. The tasks may be performed by human and/or machine actors. Workflow provides a way of describing the order of execution and the dependent relationships between the constituting activities of short or long running processes. Workflow allows businesses to capture not only the information but also the processes that transform the information - the process asset (Koulopoulos, T. M., 1995). Applications which involve automated, human-centric and collaborative processes across organisations are inherently different from one organisation to another. Even within the same organisation but over time, applications are adapted as ongoing change to the business processes is seen as the norm in today’s dynamic business environment. The major difference lies in the specifics of business processes which are changing rapidly in order to match the way in which businesses operate. In this chapter we introduce and discuss Business Process Management (BPM) with a focus on the integration of heterogeneous BPM systems across multiple organisations. We identify the problems and the main challenges not only with regards to technologies but also in the social and cultural context. We also discuss the issues that have arisen in our bid to find the solutions

Tipología y gestión documental en la televisión temática musical

Se describen los diferentes tipos documentales con los que se cuentan en las televisiones temáticas musicales así como las principales características que describen y determinan su gestión documental en el marco de los sistemas de información. Para ello se analiza cada tipo documental —concierto, entrevista y videoclips —describiendo elementos generales y particulares para una conservación y recuperación efectiva, exhaustiva y pertinente, partiendo para ello de las necesidades potenciales y reales de los usuarios de estos medios. Para la descripción de estos elementos audiovisuales se utilizan elementos que pueden aparecer en otras bases de datos de medios audiovisuales por lo que pueden ser adaptadas para este tipo de empresas que conservan otro tipo de ítems informativos.This item describes different documentary types that can found in the musical thematic televisions as well as their main characteristics which allow us to describe and determine their documentary management within the frameg the information systems. For each analyzed documentary type-concert, interview and videoclips —we describen its general and particular elements in order to its conservation and to assure an effective, exhaustive and pertinent recovery, taking into account the potential and actual necessities of the users. For the description of these audio-visual the same elements are used that can appear in other data bases of audio-visual means are used, and this they can be adapted to the kind of informative stuff preserved by other companie