On a Conjecture of Rapoport and Zink

In their book Rapoport and Zink constructed rigid analytic period spaces $F^{wa}$ for Fontaine's filtered isocrystals, and period morphisms from PEL moduli spaces of $p$-divisible groups to some of these period spaces. They conjectured the existence of an \'etale bijective morphism $F^a \to F^{wa}$ of rigid analytic spaces and of a universal local system of $Q_p$-vector spaces on $F^a$. For Hodge-Tate weights $n-1$ and $n$ we construct in this article an intrinsic Berkovich open subspace $F^0$ of $F^{wa}$ and the universal local system on $F^0$. We conjecture that the rigid-analytic space associated with $F^0$ is the maximal possible $F^a$, and that $F^0$ is connected. We give evidence for these conjectures and we show that for those period spaces possessing PEL period morphisms, $F^0$ equals the image of the period morphism. Then our local system is the rational Tate module of the universal $p$-divisible group and enjoys additional functoriality properties. We show that only in exceptional cases $F^0$ equals all of $F^{wa}$ and when the Shimura group is $GL_n$ we determine all these cases.Comment: v2: 48 pages; many new results added, v3: final version that will appear in Inventiones Mathematica

The epidemiological transition in Antananarivo, Madagascar: an assessment based on death registers (1900–2012)

Background: Madagascar today has one of the highest life expectancies in sub-Saharan Africa, despite being among the poorest countries in the continent. There are relatively few detailed accounts of the epidemiological transition in this country due to the lack of a comprehensive death registration system at the national level. However, in Madagascar's capital city, death registration was established around the start of the 20th century and is now considered virtually complete. Objective: We provide an overview of trends in all-cause and cause-specific mortality in Antananarivo to document the timing and pace of the mortality decline and the changes in the cause-of-death structure. Design: Death registers covering the period 1976–2012 were digitized and the population at risk of dying was estimated from available censuses and surveys. Trends for the period 1900–1976 were partly reconstructed from published sources. Results: The crude death rate stagnated around 30‰ until the 1940s in Antananarivo. Mortality declined rapidly after the World War II and then resurged again in the 1980s as a result of the re-emergence of malaria and the collapse of Madagascar's economy. Over the past 30 years, impressive gains in life expectancy have been registered thanks to the unabated decline in child mortality, despite political instability, a lasting economic crisis and the persistence of high rates of chronic malnutrition. Progress in adult survival has been more modest because reductions in infectious diseases and diseases of the respiratory system have been partly offset by increases in cardiovascular diseases, neoplasms, and other diseases, particularly at age 50 years and over. Conclusions: The transition in Antananarivo has been protracted and largely dependent on anti-microbial and anti-parasitic medicine. The capital city now faces a double burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases. The ongoing registration of deaths in the capital generates a unique database to evaluate the performance of the health system and measure intervention impacts

The Composition of the Cuticular and Internal Free Fatty Acids and Alcohols from Lucilia sericata Males and Females

GC, GC–MS, and HPLC–LLSD analyses were used to identify and quantify cuticular and internal lipids in males and females of the blow-fly (Lucilia sericata). Sixteen free fatty acids, seven alcohols and cholesterol were identified and quantitatively determined in the cuticular lipids of L. sericata. Cuticular fatty acids ranged from C6 to C20 and included unsaturated entities such as 16:1n-9, 18:1n-9, 20:4n-3 and 20:5n-3. Cuticular alcohols (only saturated and even-numbered) ranged from C12 to C20 in males and C10 to C22 in females. Only one sterol was found in the cuticular lipids of both males and females. 23 free fatty acids, five alcohols and cholesterol were identified in the internal lipids. Internal fatty acids were present in large amounts—7.4 mg/g (female) and 10.1 mg/g (male). Only traces of internal alcohols (from C14 to C26 in males, from C14 to C22 in females) were found in L. sericata. Large amounts of internal cholesterol were identified in L. sericata males and females (0.49 and 0.97 mg/g of the insect body, respectively)

Infection of Anopheles gambiae mosquitoes with entomopathogenic fungi: effect of host age and blood-feeding status

Physiological characteristics of insects can influence their susceptibility to fungal infection of which age and nutritional status are among the most important. An understanding of host–pathogen interaction with respect to these physiological characteristics of the host is essential if we are to develop fungal formulations capable of reducing malaria transmission under field conditions. Here, two independent bioassays were conducted to study the effect of age and blood-feeding status on fungal infection and survival of Anopheles gambiae s.s. Giles. Mosquitoes were exposed to 2 × 1010 conidia m−2 of oil-formulated Metarhizium anisopliae ICIPE-30 and of Beauveria bassiana I93-825, respectively, and their survival was monitored daily. Three age groups of mosquitoes were exposed, 2–4, 5–8, and 9–12 days since emergence. Five groups of different feeding status were exposed: non-blood-fed, 3, 12, 36, and 72 h post-blood feeding. Fungal infection reduced the survival of mosquitoes regardless of their age and blood-feeding status. Although older mosquitoes died relatively earlier than younger ones, age did not tend to affect mosquito susceptibility to fungal infection. Non-blood-fed mosquitoes were more susceptible to fungus infection compared to all categories of blood-fed mosquitoes, except for those exposed to B. bassiana 72 h post-blood feeding. In conclusion, formulations of M. anisopliae and B. bassiana can equally affect mosquitoes of different age classes, with them being relatively more susceptible to fungus infection when non-blood-fed

Socialization, Adaptation, Transnationalism, and the Reproductive Behavior of Sub-Saharan African Migrants in France

Background:  Migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) move from a region with high fertility to regions with low fertility. Yet very few studies have examined the reproductive behavior of international migrants from SSA. Objective: This study examines the roles of origin and destination socialization on the fertility and fertility ideals of SSA migrants in France. The study draws on measures of assimilation to systematically examine the effects of socialization and adaptation as well as transnationalism for the effects of sustained origin ties.  Methods: Data are from the TEO (“Trajectoires et Origines”) survey conducted in France (2008/2009). Logistic regression is used to examine current fertility (the odds of having a birth in the preceding five years), and Poisson regression is used to examine cumulative fertility (children ever born) and fertility ideals (reported ideal number of children in a family). Results: Controlling for sociodemographic factors, first-generation SSA migrants have higher fertility than second-generation SSA migrants and non-immigrants. But first and second-generation SSA migrants have higher fertility ideals than non-immigrants. Among SSA migrants, first and second-generation migrants do not differ in fertility and fertility ideals when adaptation is accounted for. Most measures of adaptation are negatively associated with actual fertility and fertility ideals. Transnationalism is associated with higher fertility ideals but less so with actual fertility. Conclusion: The study finds some evidence for origin socialization, but the findings are more strongly supportive of adaptation to the host society. Origin socialization appears to have a stronger influence on fertility ideals than actual fertility

Are Third World Emigration Forces Abating?

Most observers appear to believe that Third World emigration pressure is on the rise. But history suggests that migration typically follows a bell shape, in which case it might be entering on the downward phase. This paper estimates the economic and demographic fundamentals driving emigration from the developing world to the United States since 1970. The results suggest that emigration pressure, determined largely by source country demographics, education, poverty, and migrant stock dynamics, has recently been abating. Projections into the future suggest that it may even decline, and that its composition will become much more African and much less Hispanic

An electron microscopy study of graphite growth in nodular cast irons

Growth of graphite during solidification and high-temperature solid-state transformation has been investigated in samples cut out from a thin-wall casting which solidified partly in the stable (iron–graphite) and partly in the metastable (iron–cementite) systems. Transmission electron microscopy has been used to characterize graphite nodules in as-cast state and in samples having been fully graphitized at various temperatures in the austenite field. Nodules in the as-cast material show a twofold structure characterized by an inner zone where graphite is disoriented and an outer zone where it is well crystallized. In heat-treated samples, graphite nodules consist of well-crystallized sectors radiating from the nucleus. These observations suggest that the disoriented zone appears because of mechanical deformation when the liquid contracts during its solidification in the metastable system. During heat-treatment, the graphite in this zone recrystallizes. In turn, it can be concluded that nodular graphite growth mechanism is the same during solidification and solid-state transformatio