Spherically symmetric solutions of a boundary value problem for monopoles

In this paper we study spherically symmetric monopoles, which are critical points for the Yang-Mills-Higgs functional over a disk in 3 dimensions, with prescribed degree and covariant constant at the boundary. This is a 3-dimensional gauge-theory generalization of the Ginzburg-Landau model in 2 dimensions.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, LaTe

Can Solar System observations tell us something about the cosmological constant?

In this note we show that the latest determinations of the residual Mercury's perihelion advance, obtained by accounting for almost all known Newtonian and post-Newtonian orbital effects, yields only very broad constraints on the cosmological constant. Indeed, from \delta\dot\omega=-0.0036 + - 0.0050 arcseconds per century one gets -2 10^-34 km^-2 < Lambda < 4 10^-35 km^-2. The currently accepted value for Lambda, obtained from many independent cosmological and large-scale measurements, amounts to almost 10^-46 km^-2.Comment: Latex2e, 4 pages, 2 table, no figures, 11 references. Table 2 added, typos in the units of Lambda correcte

Is HIV short-sighted? Insights from a multistrain nested model

An important component of pathogen evolution at the population level is evolution within hosts. Unless evolution within hosts is very slow compared to the duration of infection, the composition of pathogen genotypes within a host is likely to change during the course of an infection, thus altering the composition of genotypes available for transmission as infection progresses. We develop a nested modeling approach that allows us to follow the evolution of pathogens at the epidemiological level by explicitly considering within-host evolutionary dynamics of multiple competing strains and the timing of transmission. We use the framework to investigate the impact of short-sighted within-host evolution on the evolution of virulence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and find that the topology of the within-host adaptive landscape determines how virulence evolves at the epidemiological level. If viral reproduction rates increase significantly during the course of infection, the viral population will evolve a high level of virulence even though this will reduce the transmission potential of the virus. However, if reproduction rates increase more modestly, as data suggest, our model predicts that HIV virulence will be only marginally higher than the level that maximizes the transmission potential of the virus

The Motivational Profile of Organic Food Consumers: a Survey of Specialized Stores Customers in Italy

Organic food demand is becoming increasingly important throughout the world. Despite this relevance, however, not many attempts have been carried out to profile this food market segment. This paper aims to investigate on motivations that drive consumers towards purchasing organic foods in Italy. Through a survey carried out in some organic specialized stores sited in Sardinia, we explored organic consumer behaviour with specific emphasis on understanding consumer reasons to buy organic products. A Multiple Correspondence Analysis has obtained four consumers’ motivational profiles and several findings. Furthermore, a Logit regression allowed us to evaluate the relationships between individual motivations and some socio-demographic characteristics of organic consumers. Some marketing and policy implications arise from the obtained results