Balancing work and family in Italy: New mothersÂ’ employment decisions after childbirth

Compared with other European countries, the Italian labour market stands out for the low level of both female participation and fertility. In this paper we focus on the employment patterns of Italian mothers around the time of childbirth. Our hypothesis is that the difficulties involved in reconciling work and family when there are children are among the leading causes of the low female employment rate in Italy. Data from the 2002 Italian Birth Sample Survey show that about 20 per cent of mothers who were working before childbirth, stop working one and a half years after delivery and that about 14 per cent voluntarily decide to resign. The paper analyses the factors that most influence new mothersÂ’ unemployment risk after childbirth.female employment, childbirth, childcare

What is the growth potential of green innovation? An assessment of EU climate policy options

This paper provides a model-based analysis of the cost-efficiency of different EU climate policy options that could direct innovation in the private sector towards an environmentally sustainable growth path. Our objective is to assess different policy options in order to identify an appropriate policy-mix of environmental and innovation market instruments in terms of their cost-effectiveness. For this purpose, we develop a fully-dynamic, multisectoral DSGE model with endogenous technological change where we specifically identify its environmental content and we calibrate the model for the EU and the rest of the world. Our results suggest that an appropriate policy mix should intensively stimulate R&D in the green sectors in the short-run and phase-it out by spreading the R&D support to all sectors of the economy in the medium-term. Although intuitive, the orders of magnitude presented in this paper should be interpreted with caution by taking into account the underlying assumptions of the model and identification of green innovation data.Carbon revenue recycling, climate change, directed technical change, double dividend, dynamic general equilibrium model, endogenous growth, R&D

An analysis of the efficiency of public spending and national policies in the area of R&D

Improving the quality of public finances is a major challenge for European policy makers. The economic crisis has increased budgetary pressures and accentuated the tension between the need to sustain public spending aimed at raising the EU growth potential and the increased scarcity of public resources. Rising the efficiency and effectiveness of public spending in growth-enhancing areas such as education, R&D and innovation has become, therefore, even more important. This paper reviews the innovation performance of the different EU Member States and provides estimates of the relative efficiency of their R&D spending. In doing so, it aims at moving the policy discussion from mere volume-based policy targets towards a better assessment of the quality and effects of public R&D spending. The main contribution of this paper is therefore the identification of both (1) a suitable methodology for the evaluation of efficiency levels across Member States and (2) structural and policy determinants which may contribute to raise efficiency levels of R&D spending across countries and over time. Results indicate that there exist large cross-country differences in terms of measured efficiency, which is an indication that in many Member States there remains a significant potential for further improvement. Currently, there appears to be a divide in efficiency levels between old and new Member States. However, there is some evidence that the new Member States are catching up. The estimated efficiency scores indicate that all EU Member States have improved their efficiency levels over time. There is evidence that the efficiency of R&D spending is higher in countries with a strong knowledge base which, in turn, implies that increases in R&D spending do not necessarily lead to reductions in efficiency levels. Other factors that positively affect efficiency levels include the high-tech specialisation of the economy, the level of investment in education, the employment share in science and technology, and the degree of protection of intellectual property rights. Finally, a R&D tax treatment more oriented towards fiscal incentives rather than direct subsidies appears to have a positive effect on the efficiency level of R&D spending across EU Member States. This work is based on both a quantitative measurement of efficiency levels and a qualitative analysis of the policy instruments used in the Member States to promote R&D efficiency and effectiveness. Efficiency scores are calculated by means of the Stochastic Frontier Analysis for a set of input and output indicators in order to overcome the limitations associated with each individual indicator. A complementary survey of national governments highlights some further policy instruments that could contribute to increase the efficiency of R&D and innovation policies, in particular at the national level. The results of the survey argue in favour of adopting a systemic approach to R&D, education and innovation policies, including three main elements: (i) adapting educational programmes and the research infrastructure to the needs of science and industry; (ii) making a sustained commitment to knowledge investment by adopting medium-term funding programmes; and (iii) evaluating existing R&D programmes in order to determine which policy tools are the most effective and in which areas R&D investments offer the highest returns. More recently, Member States have introduced R&D spending measures specifically targeted to deal with the consequences of the economic crisis. A closer look at these measures reveals that Member States consider direct grants and offers of tax relief as appropriate instruments to counteract the effects of the crisis. It should be clear that such policy measures should be tailored to the specific needs and strengths of every Member State.Public Finance, Efficiency, R&D spending, patents, innovation policy.

Non equilibrium optical properties in semiconductors from first--principles: a combined theoretical and experimental study of bulk silicon

The calculation of the equilibrium optical properties of bulk silicon by using the Bethe--Salpeter equation solved in the Kohn--Sham basis represents a cornerstone in the development of an ab--initio approach to the optical and electronic properties of materials. Nevertheless calculations of the {\em transient} optical spectrum using the same efficient and successful scheme are scarce. We report, here, a joint theoretical and experimental study of the transient reflectivity spectrum of bulk silicon. Femtosecond transient reflectivity is compared to a parameter--free calculation based on the non--equilibrium Bethe--Salpeter equation. By providing an accurate description of the experimental results we disclose the different phenomena that determine the transient optical response of a semiconductor. We give a parameter--free interpretation of concepts like bleaching, photo--induced absorption and stimulated emission, beyond the Fermi golden rule. We also introduce the concept of optical gap renormalization, as a generalization of the known mechanism of band gap renormalization. The present scheme successfully describes the case of bulk silicon, showing its universality and accuracy.Comment: 14 pages, 13 figure

Monotop phenomenology at the Large Hadron Collider

We investigate new physics scenarios where systems comprised of a single top quark accompanied by missing transverse energy, dubbed monotops, can be produced at the LHC. Following a simplified model approach, we describe all possible monotop production modes via an effective theory and estimate the sensitivity of the LHC, assuming 20 fb$^{-1}$ of collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, to the observation of a monotop state. Considering both leptonic and hadronic top quark decays, we show that large fractions of the parameter space are reachable and that new physics particles with masses ranging up to 1.5 TeV can leave hints within the 2012 LHC dataset, assuming moderate new physics coupling strengths.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures, 3 table

Progetto di un sistema per la conservazione a lungo termine e a norma di legge di documenti elettronici

NOT AVAILABLENell\u27articolo viene presentato il lavoro svolto dall\u27Istituto di Fisiologia Clinica del CNR per la progetta- zione di un sistema di gestione elettronica dei dati prodotti durante l\u27attivit? clinica. Per garantire una conservazione di lungo periodo e il rispetto dei termini di validit? legale, ? stato necessario utilizzare strumenti e metodi di prevenzione nei confronti dell\u27invecchiamento dei supporti, dell\u27obsolescenza dei formati software e della scadenza delle firme digitali. Il sistema ? stato progettato rispettando la normativa CNIPA e in con- formit? con lo standard ISO OAIS. Il risultato finale ? stato la realizzazione di un sistema molto semplice dal punto di vista architetturale, modulare e flessibile in vista di un\u27esportazione verso altri enti. Particolare attenzione ? stata posta agli strumenti di indicizzazione e all\u27utilizzo di software open source

Synergies between EU R&I Funding Programmes. Policy Suggestions from the Launching Event of the Stairway to Excellence Project

This Policy Brief addresses the concept of synergies arising from the two major EU funding sources (The European Structural and Investment Funds and Horizon 2020) in the context of the new Stairway to Excellence Project. This project is centred on the provision of assistance to Member States who joined in 2004, 2007 and 2013 in using innovation funding under ESIFs via the early and effective implementation of RIS3 with the aim of closing the innovation gap and promote scientific and technological excellence. This Policy Brief summarises the discussion and case studies presented at the launching conference of the Stairway to Excellence Project held in Prague in October 2014. This event offered a first opportunity to identify the key elements for building successful synergies and gave a useful insight into how synergies could be achieved in practice. A diverse set of experiences from five EU countries (Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Spain, and the UK) and an international organisation were presented. In turn, this could be a source of inspiration for other regional and national managing authorities and the research community.JRC.J.2-Knowledge for Growt

HMGA1 knock-down induces autophagy through regulation of ULK gene expression in cancer cells

High Mobility Group A1 (HMGA1) is a chromatinic protein whose overexpression is a feature of malignant neoplasias. Many studies support its causal role in cell transformation and cancer progression. Indeed, HMGA1 is an architectural transcriptional factor that regulates, by binding DNA and interacting with various transcriptional regulators, the expression of several genes involved in critical biological processes, such as cell proliferation, apoptosis and migration. Autophagy is a self-degradative process that, providing energy sources, removing damaged organelles and misfolded or aggregated proteins, allows cell survival in stress conditions or, when iper-activated, leads to non-apoptotic programmed cell death. Autophagy is often deregulated in cancer cells in which plays an important and complex role, being mainly oncogenic during cancer initiation, and tumor-suppressive during cancer progression. Studying the effects of HMGA1 knock-down in skin cancer cells SCC-13, I have found that it increases autophagy, as assessed by both western blot and immunofluorescence analysis of several autophagic markers, such as pS6, LC3 and SQSTM1/p62. Interestingly, the ability of HMGA1 depletion to increase autophagy is not restricted to skin cancer cells, since similar results have been achieved also silencing HMGA1 expression in HeLa cells, and mouse embryonic fibroblasts null for Hmga1 are more susceptible than the wild-type counterpart to undergo autophagy after starvation or treatment with rapamycin. Consistently, silencing of HMGA1 upregulates the two autophagy-initiating kinases Unc-51-like kinase 1 (ULK1) and Unc-51-like kinase 2 (ULK2), and functional experiments demonstrate that HMGA1 binds their promoter regions and negatively regulates their transcription. Accordingly, the block of ULK1 expression reduces the pro-autophagic effects induced by HMGA1 silencing indicating that they are, at least in part, mediated by ULK1. Taken together, these results clearly indicate that HMGA1 protects cancer cells from autophagy, thus suggesting, on one hand, a new mechanism through which HMGA1 can contribute to cancer progression and, on the other hand, a mechanism through which autophagy can be deregulated in cancer cells

Sublinear-Space Bounded-Delay Enumeration for Massive Network Analytics: Maximal Cliques

Due to the sheer size of real-world networks, delay and space become quite relevant measures for the cost of enumeration in network analytics. This paper presents efficient algorithms for listing maximum cliques in networks, providing the first sublinear-space bounds with guaranteed delay per enumerated clique, thus comparing favorably with the known literature