Pensions and the Dynamics of Inequality in Italy: Initial Evidence, 1987-2014

As certified by Eurostat, in 2015 Italy was among the European countries with the most pronounced income inequality, with a “20:20 ratio” of 5.8. That is, the income share of the richest 20% of households is 5.8 times that of the poorest 20%. Only Serbia, Romania, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Spain, Greece, Latvia, Estonia e Portugal displayed a higher inequality ratio that year. Even in the broader group of all OECD countries, including the US and the UK, Italy is among the most unequal. The main difference between Italy and the US or Britain is that in Italy inequality had gradually decreased through the 1980s, scoring a minimum in 1991, before then rising dramatically (Fiorio, 2011; Brandolini and Smeeding, 2008). In the US and the UK, by contrast, inequality has increased steadily. The social costs of income inequality can be substantially aggravated or mitigated by a country’s welfare system, so it is important to analyze the structures that the various nations have adopted. The main differences concern both amount of expenditure and the form in which benefits are delivered. For Italy, between 2000 and 2008 the bulk of social expenditure went for old age pensions (59.1% compared with an average of 43.7% in Europe). The article examines trends in inequality in Italy from 1987 to 2014 and analyzes the changing distribution of individual incomes by source (payroll employment, self-employment, pension) and by geographical area

Extremal metrics on blow ups

Given a compact Kahler manifold with an extremal metric (M,\omega), we give sufficient conditions on finite sets points p_1,...,p_n and weights a_1,...a_n for which the blow up of M at p_1,...,p_n has an extremal metric in the Kahler class \pi^*[\omega] - \epsilon (a_1 PD[E_1] + .. + a_n PD[E_n]) for all \epsilon sufficiently small. In particular our result implies that if (M,\omega) is a toric manifold and p_1,...,p_n is any subset of the fixed locus of the torus action, then such metrics exist for any choice of the weights. The relationship with previous constructions of the first two authors for Kahler constant scalar curvature metrics is discussed.Comment: 39 page

The willingness to pay in the food sector. Testing the hypothesis of consumer preferences for some made in Italy products

Previous publications have shown that Italian consumers are willing to pay a premium price for certain categories of Made in Italy products. The premium price has proven to be higher in the food sector. This study provides an extensive literature review on the topic and aims to test a hypothesis regarding consumer preferences towards some Made in Italy food products of mass consumption (olive oil, meat and fish), with specific reference to the value systems that influence the purchase. This paper studies the correlation between the potential willingness to pay a premium price for the mentioned products and the characteristics of consumers' sample. The results obtained confirm the willingness to pay for Made in Italy products and correlate the willingness to pay a premium price with the level of education of the respondents to the questionnaire. Thus, these findings show that consumers with a higher educational level tend to make more sustainable food choices and by doing so lean toward a sustainable lifestyle

Balanced metrics on Cartan and Cartan-Hartogs domains

This paper consists of two results dealing with balanced metrics (in S. Donaldson terminology) on nonconpact complex manifolds. In the first one we describe all balanced metrics on Cartan domains. In the second one we show that the only Cartan-Hartogs domain which admits a balanced metric is the complex hyperbolic space. By combining these results with those obtained in [13] (Kaehler-Einstein submanifolds of the infinite dimensional projective space, to appear in Mathematische Annalen) we also provide the first example of complete, Kaehler-Einstein and projectively induced metric g such that $\alpha g$ is not balanced for all $\alpha >0$.Comment: 11 page

Soft Fiber-Reinforced Pneumatic Actuator Design and Fabrication: Towards Robust, Soft Robotic Systems

© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019. Soft robotics is a rapidly evolving, young research area. So far there are no well-established design standards nor fabrication procedures for soft robots. A number of research groups are working on soft robotics solutions independently and we can observe a range of designs realized in different ways. These soft robots are based on various actuation principles, are driven with various actuation media, and offer various actuation properties. Still, most of them require lots of manual effort and high manual fabrication skills from the person manufacturing these kinds of robots. A significant share of the proposed designs suffers from some imperfections that could be improved by simple design changes. In this work, we propose a number of design and fabrication rules for improving the performance and fabrication complexity of soft fiber-reinforced pneumatic actuators. The proposed design approach focuses on a circular geometry for the pressure chambers and applying a dense, fiber-based reinforcement. Such an approach allows for a more linear actuator response and reduced wear of the actuators, when compared to previous approaches. The proposed manufacturing procedure introduces the application of the reinforcement before the fabrication of the actuator body, significantly reducing the required fabrication effort and providing more consistent and more reliable results

Hpv-negative cervical cancer: A narrative review

Cervical cancer (CC) is the fourth most frequent cancer in women worldwide. HPV infection is associated with the majority of CC cases, but a small proportion of CCs actually test negative for HPV. The prevalence of HPV among CC histotypes is very different. It has been suggested that HPV-negative CC may represent a biologically distinct subset of tumors, relying on a distinct pathogenetic pathway and carrying a poorer prognosis, than HPV-positive CCs. Although, the discordance in terms of sensitivity and specificity between different HPV tests as well as the potential errors in sampling and storing tissues may be considered as causes of false-negative results. The identification of HPV-negative CCs is essential for their correct management. The aim of this narrative review is to summarize the clinical and pathological features of this variant. We also discuss the pitfalls of different HPV tests possibly leading to classification errors

Is the first of the two born saved? A rare and dramatic case of double placental damage from SARS-CoV-2

The current coronavirus pandemic has affected, in a short time, various and different areas of medicine. Among these, the obstetric field has certainly been touched in full, and the knowledge of the mechanisms potentially responsible for placental damage from SARS-CoV-2 occupy a certain importance. Here we present here a rare case of dichorionic twins born at 30 weeks and 4 days of amenorrhea, one of whom died in the first few hours of life after placental damages potentially related to SARS-CoV-2. We also propose a brief review of the current literature giving ample emphasis to similar cases described