LA TUTELA PENALE DELLA CONCORRENZA NELL¿ORDINAMENTO DELL¿UNIONE EUROPEA

This thesis deals with the question as to whether the public and the private enforcements of European competition law, as currently shaped, are able to generate a sufficient and effective deterrence level. Proposals aimed at addressing certain possible gaps and shortages in this respect, in particular the criminalization of cartel conducts, are eventually put forward. More in details, sections I and II carry out a preliminary assessment of the real level of deterrence stemming from public and private enforcement tools with respect to violations of European competition law. Section III poses the question as to whether a possible criminalization of certain anticompetitive conducts in breach of European competition law, in particular cartels, along the line of what already occurred in many jurisdictions over the last decades, might contribute to enhance the current level of deterrence in this context. Section IV analyzes specific legal issues connected to a possible criminalization of cartel conducts in breach of art. 101 TFUE through directive, such as the identification of an appropriate legal basis pursuant to the Treaties of the European Union, the definition of the criminal offence, the penalties that could be provided, the interplay between criminal sanctions and leniency programs, the coordination between competition authorities and criminal judges, and certain further issues

Exact solution of the six-vertex model with domain wall boundary condition. Critical line between ferroelectric and disordered phases

This is a continuation of the papers [4] of Bleher and Fokin and [5] of Bleher and Liechty, in which the large $n$ asymptotics is obtained for the partition function $Z_n$ of the six-vertex model with domain wall boundary conditions in the disordered and ferroelectric phases, respectively. In the present paper we obtain the large $n$ asymptotics of $Z_n$ on the critical line between these two phases.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, to appear in the Journal of Statistical Physic

Anomalous Diffusion in Infinite Horizon Billiards

We consider the long time dependence for the moments of displacement < |r|^q > of infinite horizon billiards, given a bounded initial distribution of particles. For a variety of billiard models we find ~ t^g(q) (up to factors of log t). The time exponent, g(q), is piecewise linear and equal to q/2 for q2. We discuss the lack of dependence of this result on the initial distribution of particles and resolve apparent discrepancies between this time dependence and a prior result. The lack of dependence on initial distribution follows from a remarkable scaling result that we obtain for the time evolution of the distribution function of the angle of a particle's velocity vector.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures Submitted to Physical Review

Dirac quasinormal modes of the Reissner-Nordstr\"om de Sitter black hole

The quasinormal modes of the Reissner-Nordstr\"om de Sitter black hole for the massless Dirac fields are studied using the P\"oshl-Teller potential approximation. We find that the magnitude of the imaginary part of the quasinormal frequencies decreases as the cosmological constant or the orbital angular momentum increases, but it increases as the charge or the overtone number increases. An interesting feature is that the imaginary part is almost linearly related to the real part as the cosmological constant changes for fixed charge, and the linearity becomes better as the orbital angular momentum increases. We also prove exactly that the Dirac quasinormal frequencies are the same for opposite chirality.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, Phys. Rev. D in pres

Charge asymmetry ratio as a probe of quark flavour couplings of resonant particles at the LHC

We show how a precise knowledge of parton distribution functions, in particular those of the u and d quarks, can be used to constrain a certain class of New Physics models in which new heavy charged resonances couple to quarks and leptons. We illustrate the method by considering a left-right symmetric model with a W' from a SU(2)_R gauge sector produced in quark-antiquark annihilation and decaying into a charged lepton and a heavy Majorana neutrino. We discuss a number of quark and lepton mixing scenarios, and simulate both signals and backgrounds in order to determine the size of the expected charge asymmetry. We show that various quark-W' mixing scenarios can indeed be constrained by charge asymmetry measurements at the LHC, particularly at 14 TeV centre of mass energy.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figure

Validazione di un questionario breve sul benessere personale e professionale degli infermieri

Introduzione La prevenzione primaria del rischio di stress correlato al lavoro si sta diffondendo come prassi in tutte le istituzioni sanitarie. Per affrontarlo vengono promossi corsi di formazione o attivit\ue0 centrate sulla costruzione del benessere lavorativo-relazionale. Tuttavia non \ue8 facile valutare adeguatamente l\u2019efficacia degli interventi attuati. L\u2019obiettivo di questo studio \ue8 di contribuire alla validazione di un questionario creato per valutare l\u2019efficacia di interventi formativi centrati sul tema dello stress lavorativo, l\u2019Organizational Stress Management Evaluation (OSME) di virtHuman\ua9 International Srl. Materiale e metodi Per la validazione del questionario OSME e la valutazione delle sue propriet\ue0 psicometriche, questo strumento \ue8 stato somministrato, assieme al Job Content Questionnaire (JCQ), a 166 infermieri partecipanti a diversi interventi formativi. E\u2019 stata effettuata una valutazione dei cambiamenti pre e post intervento solo su 102 infermieri di questo campione, i quali hanno partecipato a varie edizioni dello stesso corso organizzato dal Collegio IPASVI delle Province di Milano, Lodi, Monza e Brianza in collaborazione con virtHuman\ua9 International Srl. Risultati L\u2019OSME, oltre a presentare una buona validit\ue0 di facciata, ha evidenziato buone propriet\ue0 psicometriche, come dimostrato dall\u2019elevata consistenza interna, dall\u2019assenza di effetti di floor e di ceiling e dalla presenza di associazioni significative tra alcune dimensioni dell\u2019OSME e quelle del JCQ, dimostrando una validit\ue0 convergente soprattutto nell\u2019area del benessere relazionale. Riguardo all\u2019intervento investigato, i risultati hanno mostrato un aumento del benessere personale e lavorativo-relazionale a seguito dell\u2019intervento. Conclusioni L\u2019OSME potrebbe proporsi come strumento utile per valutare l\u2019efficacia di interventi formativi in un\u2019ottica di promozione del benessere personale e professionale degli infermieri coinvolti. Servirebbero ulteriori studi per la validazione dello strumento in interventi formativi differenti, a livello di modello contenutistico, rispetto a quello preso in esame

Exact solution of the six-vertex model with domain wall boundary conditions. Antiferroelectric phase

We obtain the large $n$ asymptotics of the partition function $Z_n$ of the six-vertex model with domain wall boundary conditions in the antiferroelectric phase region, with the weights a=\sinh(\ga-t), b=\sinh(\ga+t), c=\sinh(2\ga), |t|<\ga. We prove the conjecture of Zinn-Justin, that as $n\to\infty$, Z_n=C\th_4(n\om) F^{n^2}[1+O(n^{-1})], where \om and $F$ are given by explicit expressions in \ga and $t$, and $\th_4(z)$ is the Jacobi theta function. The proof is based on the Riemann-Hilbert approach to the large $n$ asymptotic expansion of the underlying discrete orthogonal polynomials and on the Deift-Zhou nonlinear steepest descent method.Comment: 69 pages, 10 figure

Rapid prototyping of organ-on-a-chip devices using maskless photolithography

Organ-on-a-chip (OoC) and microfluidic devices are conventionally produced using microfabrication procedures that require cleanrooms, silicon wafers, and photomasks. The prototyping stage often requires multiple iterations of design steps. A simplified prototyping process could therefore offer major advantages. Here, we describe a rapid and cleanroom-free microfabrication method using maskless photolithography. The approach utilizes a commercial digital micromirror device (DMD)-based setup using 375 nm UV light for backside exposure of an epoxy-based negative photoresist (SU-8) on glass coverslips. We show that microstructures of various geometries and dimensions, microgrooves, and microchannels of different heights can be fabricated. New SU-8 molds and soft lithography-based polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chips can thus be produced within hours. We further show that backside UV exposure and grayscale photolithography allow structures of different heights or structures with height gradients to be developed using a single-step fabrication process. Using this approach: (1) digital photomasks can be designed, projected, and quickly adjusted if needed; and (2) SU-8 molds can be fabricated without cleanroom availability, which in turn (3) reduces microfabrication time and costs and (4) expedites prototyping of new OoC devices.Functional Genomics of Muscle, Nerve and Brain Disorder

Measurement of the 240Pu(n,f) cross-section at the CERN n-TOF facility : First results from experimental area II (EAR-2)

The accurate knowledge of the neutron-induced fission cross-sections of actinides and other isotopes involved in the nuclear fuel cycle is essential for the design of advanced nuclear systems, such as Generation-IV nuclear reactors. Such experimental data can also provide the necessary feedback for the adjustment of nuclear model parameters used in the evaluation process, resulting in the further development of nuclear fission models. In the present work, the 240Pu(n,f) cross-section was measured at CERN's n-TOF facility relative to the well-known 235U(n,f) cross section, over a wide range of neutron energies, from meV to almost MeV, using the time-of-flight technique and a set-up based on Micromegas detectors. This measurement was the first experiment to be performed at n-TOF's new experimental area (EAR-2), which offers a significantly higher neutron flux compared to the already existing experimental area (EAR-1). Preliminary results as well as the experimental procedure, including a description of the facility and the data handling and analysis, are presented

Neutron cross-sections for advanced nuclear systems : The n-TOF project at CERN

© Owned by the authors, published by EDP Sciences, 2014 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedThe study of neutron-induced reactions is of high relevance in a wide variety of fields, ranging from stellar nucleosynthesis and fundamental nuclear physics to applications of nuclear technology. In nuclear energy, high accuracy neutron data are needed for the development of Generation IV fast reactors and accelerator driven systems, these last aimed specifically at nuclear waste incineration, as well as for research on innovative fuel cycles. In this context, a high luminosity Neutron Time Of Flight facility, n-TOF, is operating at CERN since more than a decade, with the aim of providing new, high accuracy and high resolution neutron cross-sections. Thanks to the features of the neutron beam, a rich experimental program relevant to nuclear technology has been carried out so far. The program will be further expanded in the near future, thanks in particular to a new high-flux experimental area, now under construction.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio