Height and the Normal Distribution: Evidence from Italian Military Data

Researchers modeling historical heights have typically relied on the restrictive assumption of a normal distribution, only the mean of which is affected by age, income, nutrition, disease, and similar influences. To avoid these restrictive assumptions, we develop a new semiparametric approach in which covariates are allowed to affect the entire distribution without imposing any parametric shape. We apply our method to a new database of height distributions for Italian provinces, drawn from conscription records, of unprecedented length and geographical disaggregation. Our method allows us to standardize distributions to a single age and calculate moments of the distribution that are comparable through time. Our method also allows us to generate counterfactual distributions for a range of ages, from which we derive age-height profiles. These profiles reveal how the adolescent growth spurt (AGS) distorts the distribution of stature, and they document the earlier and earlier onset of the AGS as living conditions improved over the second half of the nineteenth century. Our new estimates of provincial mean height also reveal a previously unnoticed “regime switch” from regional convergence to divergence in this period

Stellar Occultation by Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko Observed with Rosetta 's Alice Far-ultraviolet Spectrograph

International audienceFollowing our previous detection of ubiquitous ${{\rm{H}}}_{2}{\rm{O}}$ and ${{\rm{O}}}_{2}$ absorption against the far-ultraviolet continuum of stars located near the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, we present a serendipitously observed stellar occultation that occurred on 2015 September 13, approximately one month after the comet's perihelion passage. The occultation appears in two consecutive 10-minute spectral images obtained by Alice, Rosetta's ultraviolet (700–2100 Å) spectrograph, both of which show H2O absorption with column density >1017.5 cm−2 and significant O2 absorption (O2/H2O ≈ 5%–10%). Because the projected distance from the star to the nucleus changes between exposures, our ability to study the H2O column density profile near the nucleus (impact parameters 20 and O2 column densities decrease with increasing impact parameter, in accordance with expectations, but the O2 column decreases ~3 times more quickly than H2O. When combined with previously published results from stellar appulses, we conclude that the O2 and H2O column densities are highly correlated, and O2/H2O decreases with the increasing H2O column

Analysis of Hybrid Gas–Dust Outbursts Observed at 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

International audienceCometary outbursts offer a valuable window into the composition of comet nuclei with their forceful ejection of dust and volatiles in explosive events, revealing the interior components of the comet. Understanding how different types of outbursts influence the dust properties and volatile abundances, to better interpret what signatures can be attributed to primordial composition and what features are the result of processing, is an important task best undertaken with a multi-instrument approach. The European Space Agency Rosetta mission to 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko carried a suite of instruments capable of carrying out this task in the near-nucleus coma with unprecedented spatial and spectral resolution. In this work, we discuss two outbursts that occurred 2015 November 7 and were observed by three instruments on board: the Alice ultraviolet spectrograph, the Visual Infrared and Thermal Imaging Spectrometer, and the Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System. Together, the observations show that mixed gas and dust outbursts can have different spectral signatures representative of their initiating mechanisms, with the first outburst showing indicators of a cliff collapse origin and the second more representative of fresh volatiles being exposed via a deepening fracture. This analysis opens up the possibility of remote spectral classification of cometary outbursts with future work

Spatial Distribution of Ultraviolet Emission from Cometary Activity at 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

International audienceThe Alice ultraviolet spectrograph on board the Rosetta orbiter provided the first near-nucleus ultraviolet observations of a cometary coma from arrival at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 August through 2016 September. The characterization of atomic and molecular emissions in the coma revealed the unexpected contribution of dissociative electron impact emission at large heliocentric distances and during some outbursts. This mechanism also proved useful for compositional analysis, and Alice observed many cases that suggested elevated levels of the supervolatile O2, identifiable in part to their emissions resulting from dissociative electron impact. In this paper, we present the first two-dimensional UV maps constructed from Alice observations of atomic emission from 67P during an increase in cometary activity on 2015 November 7–8. Comparisons to observations of the background coma and an earlier collimated jet are used to describe possible changes to the near-nucleus coma and plasma. To verify the mapping method and place the Alice observations in context, comparisons to images derived from the MIRO and VIRTIS-H instruments are made. The spectra and maps we present show an increase in dissociative electron impact emission and an O2/H2O ratio of ~0.3 for the activity; these characteristics have been previously identified with cometary outbursts seen in Alice data. Further, UV maps following the increases in activity show the spatial extent and emission variation experienced by the near-nucleus coma, informing future UV observations of comets that lack the same spatial resolution

Globalization and the Rise of Mass Education—Introduction

This chapter outlines the relationship between globalization and education by presenting several potential factors linking the two aspects. First, existing evidence on the evolution of national school systems is presented. Secondly, an interpretative framework to connect global socioeconomic and political forces with local and national educational developments is discussed, based on migrations, trade, evolving institutions, colonialism and the activity of missions. Next, this framework is used to present the individual chapters of the book, with a broad geographical scope including countries in the Southern and Northern European periphery, North America and Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. The last section sums up the main results and briefly presents remaining gaps that future research should fill

A Struggling Nation Since Its Founding? Liberal Italy and the Cost of Neglecting Primary Education

This chapter investigates the impact of the Casati Law (1859) on the development of Italy’s national school system before the Fascist era (1861–1922). Unified Italy inherited large regional education disparities: literacy rates among children ranged from 60 percent in the northwest to 10 percent in the south. The Casati Law aimed to provide for a uniform education system; however, the funding and management of primary schools were left to the municipalities. The analysis shows that this arrangement hampered regional convergence and the diffusion of schooling within the country. When the system became more centralized in 1911, literacy rates started to grow more rapidly and to converge across regions. Despite this convergence, Italy’s comparative human-capital disadvantages and educational regional inequalities have persisted to the present day

Brain Drain and Brain Gain in Italy and Ireland in the Age of Mass Migration

Emigrants from Italy and Ireland contributed disproportionately to the Age of Mass Migration. That their departure improved the living standards of those they left behind is hardly in doubt. Nevertheless, a voluminous literature on the selectivity of migrant flows— both from sending and receiving country perspectives—has given rise to claims that migration generates both ‘brain drains’ and ‘brain gains’. On the one hand, positive or negative selection among emigrants may affect the level of human capital in sending countries. On the other hand, the prospect of emigration and return migration may both spur investment in schooling in source countries. This essay describes the history of emigration from Italy and Ireland during the Age of Mass Migration from these perspectives