In this paper we develop a model to identify real exchange rate and output shocks in the African CFA Franc Zone and in Dollar-pegging Caribbean countries (including members of the East Caribbean Currency Union). These two groups of countries each comprise states using several different local currencies: on the one hand the BCEAOCFA Franc and the BEAC-CFA Franc (both pegged to the Euro), on the ...

This paper investigates the impacts and responses of macroeconomic shocks in some domestic economies in Sub-Saharan Africa over the period 1961-99; more specifically, it seeks to answer the question of whether there are any systematic differences in the responses of the CFA franc zones and the non-CFA franc zone countries to macroeconomic shocks. Based on the Blanchard-Quah methodology, we iden...

In this study, grapes and corresponding wines of Merlot /No 022, 025 and 029/ and Cabernet Franc /No 02, 010 and 012/ clones (recently developed) were evaluated regarding the total phenolic content, total anthocyanin content, and radical scavenging activity, aiming to better understand their quality and market potential. The nineteen individual polyphenols were quantified in studied grape sampl...

In the current research work, the problem of fracture mechanics in a plate with a central hole under tensile loading is studied. The stress intensity factors are calculated for a finite plate containing two symmetrical hole-edge cracks. The problem is solved by two different methods, namely the finite element method and the FRANC software analysis. At first the finite element method is used and...

The monetary implications arising from EMU for Swiss monetary policy show up primarily in the exchange rate. Until now, fluctuations in the Swiss franc against the euro have been surprisingly moderate. The Swiss franc has thus tracked the euro's decline against the US dollar without experiencing strong inflationary pressures and a convergence in the interest-rate differential: a paradoxical res...

This paper test for multiple unknown breaks in UIP regressions for seven major currencies and the years 1980-98. For periods of EMS turbulence and crises we observe a switch from the “usual” negatively signed OLS slope coefficient to high positive values. This result can be nicely explained in the framework of McCallum’s (1994) monetary policy reaction model as a consequence of a decrease in th...

15 seconds of fame is an interactive installation that every 15 seconds generates a new pop-art portrait of a randomly selected viewer. The installation was inspired by Andy Warhol’s ironical statement that “in the future everybody will be famous for 15 minutes.” The installation detects human faces and crops them from the wide-angle view of people standing before the installation. Pop-art port...

David Giron*, Enric Frago, Ga€ elle Glevarec, Corn e M. J. Pieterse and Marcel Dicke Institut de Recherche sur la Biologie de l’Insecte, UMR 7261, CNRS – Universit e Franc ois-Rabelais, Tours, France; Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, South Parks Road, Oxford, OX1 3PS UK; Biomol ecules et Biotechnologies V eg etales, EA 2106 Universit e Franc ois-Rabelais, Tours, France; Plant-Microb...