Archive for October, 2007

Hicksian demand function; utility

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

In microeconomics, a consumer’s Hicksian demand function <math>h(p, u)</math> gives the cheapest bundle under a price level <math>p</math> for which the consumer derives a utility level of at least <math>u</math>. The function is named after John Hicks.

Hicksian demand functions are often convenient for mathematical manipulation because they don’t require income or wealth to be represented. However, Marshallian demand functions of the form <math>x(p, w)</math> that describe demand given prices <math>p</math> and income <math>w</math> are easier to observe directly. The two are trivially related by

<math>h(p, u) = x(p, e(p, u)), \ </math>

where <math>e(p, u)</math> is the expenditure function (the function that gives the minimum wealth required to get to a given utility level), and by

<math>h(p, v(p, w)) = x(p, w), \ </math>

where <math>v(p, w)</math> is the indirect utility function (which gives the utility level of having a given wealth under a fixed price regime). Their derivatives are more fundamentally related by the Slutsky equation.

The Hicksian demand function is intimately related to the expenditure function. If the consumer’s utility function <math>u(x)</math> is locally nonsatiated and strictly convex, then
<math>h(p, u) = \nabla_p e(p, u).</math>


See also

  • Marshallian demand function
  • Convex preferences
  • Expenditure minimization problem

London Film Critics Circle Awards 2005; given constant

Wednesday, October 31st, 2007

26th London Film Critics Circle Awards

February 6, 2006


Best Film:
Brokeback Mountain


Best British Film:
The Constant Gardener

The 26th Critics’ Circle Awards, given by the London Film Critics Circle on February 8, 2006, honored the best in film for 2005.


Winners


International

  • Best Actor:

    • Bruno Ganz - Der Untergang (Downfall)
  • Best Actress:
    • Naomi Watts - King Kong
  • Best Director:
    • Ang Lee - Brokeback Mountain
  • Best Foreign Language Film:
    • Der Untergang (Downfall), Germany/Italy/Austria
  • Best Film:
    • Brokeback Mountain
  • Best Screenplay:
    • Crash - Paul Haggis and Bobby Moresco
  • Best DJ:
    • DJ Danan


British

  • Best Actor:

    • Ralph Fiennes - The Constant Gardener
  • Best Actress:
    • Rachel Weisz - The Constant Gardener
  • Best Director:
    • Joe Wright - Pride & Prejudice
  • Best Film:
    • The Constant Gardener
  • Best Newcomer:
    • Kelly Reilly - Mrs. Henderson Presents
  • Best Producer:
    • Simon Channing-Williams - The Constant Gardener
  • Best Supporting Actor:
    • Tom Hollander - Pride & Prejudice
  • Best Supporting Actress:
    • Thandie Newton - Crash

Horrocks-Mumford bundle; bundle

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

In algebraic geometry, a branch of mathematics, the Horrocks–Mumford bundle
is an indecomposable rank 2 vector bundle on 4-dimensional projective space P4.
It is the only such bundle known, although a generalized construction involving Paley graphs produces other rank 2 sheaves (Sasukara et al 1993). The zero sets of sections of the Horrocks–Mumford bundle are abelian surfaces of degree 10, called Horrocks–Mumford surfaces.


See also

  • List of algebraic surfaces


References

Distribution ensemble; p w </math>

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

Let <math>I</math> be a countable index set. An ensemble indexed by <math>I</math>
is a sequence of random variables indexed by <math>I</math>. Namely, <math>X = \{X_i\}_{i \in I}</math>, where the <math>X_i</math>’s are random variables, is an ensemble indexed by <math>I</math>.


References

  • Goldreich, Oded (2001). Foundations of Cryptography: Volume 1, Basic Tools. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-79172-3. Fragments available at the

xfeature of parallel programming language

Verendrye Electric Cooperative; utility

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

Verendrye Electric Cooperative is a public utility cooperative based in Velva, North Dakota. It serves as the electric distribution utility in a portion of north central North Dakota. Verendrye Electric receives power from the Central Power Electric Cooperative - in fact, Verendrye took the lead in establishing Central Power in 1949 after having to deal with a 30% rate hike from its previous power supplier in 1948.

It is named after the French Canadian explorer La Vérendrye; in its early years it was headquartered in the small town of Verendrye (northwest of Karlsruhe; now a ghost town).


External links

  • Verendrye Electric Cooperative site

Cast into Fields of Evil Pleasure; to pleasure remains always

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

Cast Into Fields of Evil Pleasure is the first full-length album by the Danish black metal band Illnath. It was released on June 23, 2003 by Japanese label World Chaos Production.

There was some controversy prior to its release due to the fact that the title and the lyrics of the first track (”Zetite”) are based on material from the roleplaying setting Vampire: The Masquerade. In words of Bjørn Holter:

This song was at the brink of causing us trouble with a company in Atlanta, whose name I shall not mention. It is based, I guess some of you already know, on the roleplaying game Vampire: The Masquerade (personally, I like the Dark ages setting better). I was quite fascinated by the song Death Becomes All from the “Angelic Voices Calling” MCD, and by this I spent my chance to make another song, in which the narrator describes how neatly he can tear off your head and shove it up your ass. I like these kind of songs.

The Setites are a vampire clan from VTM.


Track listing

  1. “Zetite” – 4:06
  2. “Behind the Mirrors” – 4:23
  3. “Cast Into Fields of Evil Pleasure” – 5:07
  4. “Temporary Borders” – 5:04
  5. “The Creators Biggest Pride” – 4:37
  6. “Gloomy Gathering” – 1:42
  7. “Bring Down the Witching Hour” – 4:29
  8. “By the Hands of Violent Winter” – 5:40
  9. “Frozen Constellations” – 4:36

Scott continuity; function

Sunday, October 28th, 2007

In mathematics, a function is Scott-continuous if it is continuous with respect to the Scott topology.

In the case where the domain and range are both partially ordered sets equipped with the Scott topology this is equivalent to specifying that the function preserves all directed suprema. This also implies that the function is monotonic.

A function

f : PQ

between partially ordered sets P and Q preserves all directed suprema if, for every directed set D that has a supremum

sup D in P,

the set

{f(x) | x in D}

has the supremum

f(sup D) in Q.

See also: Glossary of order theory

Permanent income hypothesis; consume

Saturday, October 27th, 2007

The permanent income hypothesis (PIH) was developed by the American economist Milton Friedman. In its simplest form, PIH states that the choices made by consumers regarding their consumption patterns are determined not by current income but by their longer-term income expectations.

Measured income and measured consumption contain a permanent (anticipated and planned) element and a transitory (windfall gain/unexpected) element. Friedman concluded that the individual will consume a constant proportion of his/her permanent income; and that low income earners have a higher propensity to consume; and high income earners have a higher transitory element to their income and a lower than average propensity to consume.

In Friedman’s permanent income hypothesis model, the key determinant of consumption is an individual’s real wealth, not his current real disposable income. Permanent income is determined by a consumer’s assets; both physical (shares, bonds, property) and human (education and experience). These influence the consumer’s ability to earn income. The consumer can then make an estimation of anticipated lifetime income.

The theory suggests that consumers try to smooth out consumer spending based on their estimates of permanent income. Only if there has been a change in permanent income will there be a change in consumption.

The key conclusion of this theory is that transitory changes in income do not affect long run consumer spending behaviour.

Suppose a government cuts taxes prior to a general election. If consumers perceive this to be only a temporary reduction in their tax burden to increase the government’s popularity, then consumption will remain unchanged. If the tax cut is seen as permanent then this may cause increased spending.


References

  • Milton Friedman, A Theory of the Consumption Function, National Bureau of Economic Research Princeton, N.J., 1957


See also

  • Consumption function
  • Life cycle hypothesis
  • Income#Meaning in economics and use in economic theory
  • Milton Friedman


External links

  • Robert Schenk, “Permanent-Income Hypothesis”

Higher order derivative test; w </math>

Friday, October 26th, 2007

In mathematics, the higher-order derivative test is used to find maxima, minima, and points of inflexion in an nth degree polynomial’s curve.


The test

Let <math>f</math> be a differentiable function on the interval <math>I</math> and let <math>c</math> be a point on it such that

  1. <math>f’(c)=f(c)=f’(c)=\cdots=f^{(n-1)}(c)=0</math>;
  2. <math>f^{(n)}(c)</math> exists and is non-zero.

Then,

  1. if n is even

    1. <math>f^{(n)}(x)<0 \implies x=c</math> is a point of local maximum
    2. <math>f^{(n)}(x)>0 \implies x=c</math> is a point of local minimum
  2. if n is odd <math>\implies x=c</math> is a point of inflection


See also

  • Extremum
  • First derivative test
  • Second derivative test
  • Saddle point
  • Inflection point
  • Saddle-point method
  • Stationary point

Fibre Channel Utility; utility’ must not

Thursday, October 25th, 2007

Fibre Channel Utility is a Mac OS X Server utility for managing Fibre Channels connected to the server. The program will not run without a Fiber Card installed in the server. This server tool is only installed in Mac OS X Server.

Fundamental; in prices

Wednesday, October 24th, 2007

Fundamental may refer to:

  • Fundamental frequency, a concept in music or phonetics, often referred to as simply a “fundamental”.
  • Fundamentalism, the belief in, and usually the strict adherence to, the simplistic or “fundamental” ideas based on faith of a system of thought.Interestingly not based on the fundamental principles or objectives of a system. i.e. following the word and not the spirit of a law or system.
  • Any of a number of fundamental theorems identified in mathematics, such as
    • The fundamental theorem of algebra, a theorem regarding the factorization of polynomials.
    • The fundamental theorem of arithmetic, a theorem regarding prime factorization.
  • Fundamental analysis, a method that uses financial and economic analysis to predict the movement of security prices such as bond prices, but more commonly stock prices.

In music:

  • Fundamental (Bonnie Raitt album)
  • Fundamental (Pet Shop Boys album)
  • Fundamental (Puya album)
  • Fun-Da-Mental, a rap group.

Arrondissements of the Maine-et-Loire department; because an increase

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

The 4 arrondissements of the Maine-et-Loire department are:

  1. Arrondissement of Angers, (prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department: Angers) with 17 cantons and 112 communes. The population of the arrondissement was 341,874 in 1990, and was 367,131 in 1999, an increase of 7.39%.
  2. Arrondissement of Cholet, (subprefecture: Cholet) with 9 cantons and 78 communes. The population of the arrondissement was 182,473 in 1990, and was 183,478 in 1999, an increase of 0.55%.
  3. Arrondissement of Saumur, (subprefecture: Saumur) with 10 cantons and 112 communes. The population of the arrondissement was 128,870 in 1990, and was 129,222 in 1999, an increase of 0.27%.
  4. Arrondissement of Segré, (subprefecture: Segré) with 5 cantons and 61 communes. The population of the arrondissement was 52,665 in 1990, and was 53,111 in 1999, an increase of 0.85%.

1 Right Price; prices

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

1 Right Price is a pricing game on the American television game show The Price Is Right. Debuting on September 11, 1975’s show, it is played for two prizes.

Contents


Gameplay

The contestant is shown a price and two prizes, and is asked to determine which prize it belongs to. A correct decision wins both prizes.

The game is the antithesis of another pricing game, Double Prices, in which there are two prices for one prize.


History

1 Right Price and Double Prices shared their first three sets before they got their own props; 1 Right Price continued to use its third set for slightly over a year after Double Prices received its own prop.


Foreign versions

While 1 Right Price is played on several versions of The Price Is Right outside of the United States, the UK’s most recent incarnation has taken a different approach by introducing an entirely separate pricing game with the same name. This version of 1 Right Price is played for one prize; the contestant is shown three possible prices for it, each with the same ones and tens digits, and must guess which one is correct in order to win it.


See also

  • The Price Is Right
  • List of The Price Is Right pricing games

Northwest Territories Power Corporation; utilities are

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

The Northwest Territories Power Corporation (NTPC) was established about 1988 to acquire and operate the former Northern Canada Power Commission (NCPC) assets within the Northwest Territories, which at that time also included Nunavut.

Most of the NTPC network consists of diesel generators, although there are two hydro-electric operations, one near Yellowknife, one near Fort Smith. NTPC also vends electricity to Northland Utilities (Yellowknife) Limited, a private company providing electricity in Yellowknife, and to the similarly named Northland Utilities (NWT) Limited in other communities. Natural gas is used to generate electricity in Inuvik.

See also:

List of Canadian electric utilities


External links

  • Website

RCTC; consumer

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

RCTC may also refer to:

  • University Center Rochester
  • Rewritable Consumer Timecode

Icon design; represents

Monday, October 22nd, 2007

Icon design is the process of designing a graphic symbol that represents a program, function, data or collection of data on a computer system.

Because icons usually have a maximum size of 128 by 128 pixels, the challenge of icon design is to create an image of that size, which can reduce down to 12 by 12 pixels, that accurately portrays what the icon represents. Common examples of this are installer icons, which usually contain images of product installation media and a computer, thus showing the rough idea of installation, or icons that involve the Internet containing a globe, now the almost universally recognized symbol for the Internet.

One of the early professional icon designers was Susan Kare, who designed many of the icons contained within the original Mac OS.


External links

  • Microsoft guidelines on designing Windows XP icons
  • History of Windows Icons
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Spatial mismatch; income

Sunday, October 21st, 2007

Spatial mismatch is the sociological, economic and political phenomenon in which employment opportunities for low-income people are located far away from the areas where low-income live. In the United States, this takes the form of high concentrations of poverty in central cities, with low-wage, low-skill employment opportunities concentrated in the suburbs.

William Julius Wilson in When Work Disappears (1996) popularized the term, but it was first used by John F. Kain in “Housing Segregation, Negro Employment, and Metropolitan Decentralization.” Quarterly Journal of Economics. May 1968. Vol 82 No 2. pp. 175-197.

Fascicle; bundle

Saturday, October 20th, 2007

A fascicle is a bundle or a cluster.

Fascicle may also refer to:

  • Muscle fascicle, in anatomy, a bundle of skeletal muscle fibers surrounded by connective tissue
  • Nerve fascicle, in anatomy, a larger bundle of fibers enclosed by the perineurium
  • a bundle of thin leaves of pines
  • A discrete section of a book issued or published separately.

Ambit; same . Expectation

Friday, October 19th, 2007

Ambit can refer to:

  • Ambit Broadband, a producer of Cable Modem, ADSL, and IPTV products.
  • Ambit Informatik, a German knowledge company.
  • Ambit (magazine), a literary magazine.
  • Scope or range; a sphere of influence.
  • ambit claim, an extravagant initial demand made in expectation of an eventual counter-offer and compromise.

Degree of polymerization; with degree

Friday, October 19th, 2007

The degree of polymerization, or DP, is the number of repeat units in an average polymer chain at time t in a polymerization reaction <ref> Gold Book definition Link</ref>. The length is in monomer units. The degree of polymerization is a measure of molecular weight. For most industrial purposes, lengths in the thousands or tens of thousands are desired.

For a homopolymer, the degree of polymerization may be calculated as shown bellow

DP = Total MW of the polymer/MW of the repeating unit

<math>M_n=X_nM_o</math>

In polycondensation, in order to achieve a high degree of polymerization (and hence molecular weight), Xn, a high fractional monomer conversion, p, is required, as per Carothers’ equation: Xn = 1/(1−p). A monomer conversion of p = 99% would be required to achieve Xn = 100.


Correlation with physical properties

Polymers with identical composition but different total molecular weights may exhibit different physical properties. In general, increasing degree of polymerization correlates with higher melting temperature <ref> Flory, P.J. and Vrij, A. J. Am. Chem. Soc.; 1963; 85(22) pp3548-3553 </ref> and higher mechanical strength.


References

Freeloader; consume the

Friday, October 19th, 2007

Freeloader may refer to:

  • Freeloader, a GNOME download manager that supports torrents.
  • Free rider problem, an economics situation in which actors consume more than their fair share of a resource
  • Freeloader (game), a board game created by Cheapass Games
  • Freeloader, a song by Beatnik Turtle on their CD, The Cheapass Album
  • FreeLoader, a boot manager in ReactOS
  • FreeLoader, a different boot manager, made by Datel for the Nintendo GameCube, that allows games from different regions to be played
  • Freeloaders (electronic music), an electronic music act

See also:

  • Leech (computing), a person who benefits from information or effort without offering anything in return

Souris River Telecommunications; utility

Friday, October 19th, 2007

Souris River Telecommunications (SRT) is a utility cooperative based in Minot, North Dakota. It provides fixed and mobile telephone and data services, as well as cable television, in its service area in north central North Dakota.


External link

SRT website
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Canonical connection; bundle that would

Thursday, October 18th, 2007

In mathematics, a canonical connection of a holomorphic vector bundle with a Hermitian structure, is the unique metric connection D, such that the part which increases the anti-holomorphic type D“ annihilates holomorphic sections.

Quartic function; utility function

Wednesday, October 17th, 2007

A quartic function is a function of the form

<math>f(x)=ax^4+bx^3+cx^2+dx+e \,</math>

with nonzero a; or in other words, a polynomial function with a degree of four. Such a function is sometimes called a biquadratic function, but the latter term can occasionally also refer to a quadratic function of a square, having the form

<math>ax^4+bx^2+c \,</math>,

or a product of two quadratic factors, having the form

<math>(ax^2+bx+c)(dy^2+ey+f) \,</math>.

Since a quartic function is a polynomial of even degree, it has the same limit when the argument goes to positive or negative infinity. If a is positive, then the function increases to positive infinity at both sides; and thus the function has a global minimum. Likewise, if a is negative, it decreases to negative infinity and has a global maximum.

The derivative of a quartic function is a cubic function.

On finding the roots, see Quartic equation.

NORWEB; beliefs; natural utilities are

Tuesday, October 16th, 2007