A note on two notions of compliance

We establish a relation between two models of contracts: binary session types, and a model based on event structures and game-theoretic notions. In particular, we show that compliance in session types corresponds to the existence of certain winning strategies in game-based contracts.Comment: In Proceedings ICE 2014, arXiv:1410.701

Specialization and Technology in Mexico: A Virtual Pattern of Development and Competitiveness?

By the end of the 80s and the beginning of the 90s, Mexico has shown important transformations in its pattern of industrialization and competitiveness. It is hard to determine whether this pattern might become a successful one in the near future. However, some points about the features which are presently prevailing can be emphasized: (1) The structural change in the composition of Mexican exports and the improved performance in competitiveness when the dynamics in market shares are considered. This pattern is mainly related to again in competitiveness which is supported by what has been defined in terms of static allocative efficiency. Still, when actual competitiveness is analyzed, domestic industry appears to maintain the traditional structure which emerged during the ISI period. In a sense, sectors and firms that developed technical capabilities and economies of scale in this period possess higher opportunities to achieve actual competitiveness. (2) The specificity of this pattern seems to support the hypothesis that the new Mexican specialization has not been followed by a change in both the development of production capacity and technological capabilities. Moreover, when the analysis is extended in the most recent years, it seems to confirm how the maquila industry is one of the leading actors in industrial modernization. The diffusion of this type of industry introduces only very weak linkages with domestic productive sectors, strengthening the specificities of the competitiveness pattern in terms of production capacity and technological capabilities

Applicazione in GRASS per l\u2019identificazione di aree idonee alla realizzazione di nuovi impianti di itticoltura offshore

La gestione della fascia costiera \ue8 un processo complesso che cerca di integrare lo sfruttamento dell\u2019area con il mantenimento di una buona qualit\ue0 ambientale. Trattandosi di un problema spaziale complesso pu\uf2 essere ben affrontato mediante strumenti GIS. Questo lavoro presenta un approccio applicato all\u2019itticoltura offshore, sviluppando una procedura con GRASS per l\u2019identificazione delle aree idonee all\u2019installazione di nuovi impianti, applicata al caso della Regione Liguria. La selezione dei siti si \ue8 basata sulla definizione di due principali criteri che ne determinano l\u2019idoneit\ue0 per l\u2019attivit\ue0 proposta (\u201caree non idonee\u201d e \u201caree potenzialmente idonee\u201d) e di condizioni concernenti la zona studio. La procedura ha permesso di ottenere la mappa finale con la perimetrazione delle aree idonee, tramite la realizzazione intermedia delle mappe dei criteri. Sono state identificate circa trenta zone idonee lungo la costa ligure, principalmente localizzare a ponente; a levante si trovano quelle di maggiore estensione. La procedura \ue8 stata verificata confrontando le aree individuate con la posizione degli impianti gi\ue0 esistenti. I risultati di questo lavoro dimostrano come questa procedura permette di individuare le aree idonee in modo semplice, rapido, efficiente ed efficace. Con opportune modifiche la procedura pu\uf2 essere applicata a qualunque sistema marino costiero e pu\uf2 essere adattata ad altre attivit\ue0 della zona costiera. Questo lavoro \ue8 inoltre una solida base per lo sviluppo futuro di un Sistema di Supporto alle Decisioni Spaziali che restituisca scenari alternativi per i portatori di interesse al fine di individuare la migliore scelta decisionale

Microsatellite instability in gastric cancer is associated with tumor location and family history in a high-risk population from Tuscany

We studied the presence of microsatellite instability (MSI) in a series of 108 gastric cancers (GCs) previously identified in an epidemiological study carried out in a high-risk area around Florence, To investigate associations between MSI and GC family history, 34 cases (31.5%) who had a GC-affected first-degree relative were included in the series, A family history positive for colorectal cancer was reported quite rarely (5.6%). The analysis of 6 microsatellite loci in DNA from paired normal tissue and tumor samples microdissected from paraffin-embedded specimens revealed varying degrees of instability: 56 cases (51.8%) did not show instability at any of the 6 loci; 19 (17.6%) showed instability at 1 locus; 16 (14.8%) showed instability at 2 loci; 11 (10.2%) showed instability at 3 loci; 4 (3.7%) showed instability at 4 loci; and 2 (1.9%) showed instability at 5 loci, The replication error-positive (RER+) phenotype, defined as the presence of MSI at 2 or more loci, had a frequency of 30.6% (33 of 108) and tended to be positively associated with female sex, intestinal histological type, advanced tumor stage, vascular invasion, positive GC family history, and blood group of A type, No correlation emerged between age at diagnosis and RER+ phenotype, whereas a significant association with the RER+ phenotype was shown by the antral location. A multivariate analysis adjusting for a selected group of potential confounding factors confirmed the strong association of the RER+ phenotype with the antral location (P = 0.001) and with a positive GC family history (P < 0.05). Survival analyses at 5 and 8 years showed no difference between RER+ and RER-patients, even when corrected for stage distribution. By the microdissection technique, we also used microsatellite allele patterns to investigate intratumoral heterogeneity and genetic relationships between tumors and adjacent dysplasia and/or intestinal metaplasia. Areas of metaplasia and dysplasia demonstrated MSI only in cases with MSI-positive tumors, In MSI-positive tumors, there was consistent evidence of intratumoral microsatellite allele heterogeneity, indicating the presence of genetically divergent tumor cell clones within the same neoplasm

Dutch disease-cum-financialization booms and external balance cycles in developing countries

We formally investigate the medium-to-long-run dynamics emerging out of a Dutch disease-cum-financialization phenomenon. We take inspiration from the most recent Colombian development pattern. The “pure” Dutch disease first causes deindustrialization by permanently appreciating the economy’s exchange rate in the long run. Financialization, i.e. booming capital inflows taking place in a climate of natural resource-led financial over-optimism, causes medium-run exchange rate volatility and macroeconomic instability. This jeopardizes manufacturing development even further by raising macroeconomic uncertainty. We advise the adoption of capital controls and a developmentalist monetary policy to tackle these two distinct but often intertwined phenomena

Prima facie reasons to question enclosed intellectual property regimes and favor open-source regimes for germplasm

In principle, intellectual property protections (IPPs) promote and protect important but costly investment in research and development. However, the empirical reality of IPPs has often gone without critical evaluation, and the potential of alternative approaches to lend equal or greater support for useful innovation is rarely considered. In this paper, we review the mounting evidence that the global intellectual property regime (IPR) for germplasm has been neither necessary nor sufficient to generate socially beneficial improvements in crop plants and maintain agrobiodiversity. Instead, based on our analysis, the dominant global IPR appears to have contributed to consolidation in the seed industry while failing to genuinely engage with the potential of alternatives to support social goods such as food security, adaptability, and resilience. The dominant IPR also constrains collaborative and cumulative plant breeding processes that are built upon the work of countless farmers past and present. Given the likely limits of current IPR, we propose that social goods in agriculture may be better supported by alternative approaches, warranting a rapid move away from the dominant single-dimensional focus on encouraging innovation through ensuring monopoly profits to IPP holders

Resistance to chemotherapy: new treatments and novel insights into an old problem

Resistance to cancer chemotherapeutic treatment is a common phenomenon, especially in progressive disease. The generation of cellular models of drug resistance has been pivotal in unravelling the main effectors of resistance to traditional chemotherapy at the molecular level (i.e. intracellular drug inactivation, detoxifying systems, defects in DNA repair, apoptosis evasion, membrane transporters and cell adhesion). The development of targeted therapies has also been followed by resistance, reminiscent of an evolutionary arms race, as exemplified by imatinib and other BCR-ABL inhibitors for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukaemia. Although traditionally associated with the last stages of the disease, recent findings with minimally transformed pretumorigenic primary human cells indicate that the ability to generate drug resistance arises early during the tumorigenic process, before the full transformation. Novel technologies, such as genome profiling, have in certain cases predicted the outcome of chemotherapy and undoubtedly have tremendous potential for the future. In addition, the novel cancer stem cell paradigm raises the prospect of cell-targeted therapies instead of treatment directed against the whole tumour