Essays on equilibrium policy analysis.

This thesis describes and implements a method to carry out policy analysis within an equilibrium framework. This method allows to account for potential effects induced by price adjustments. The analysis is based on overlapping generation, life-cycle models where heterogeneous agents make endogenous decisions regarding their consumption and education as well as labour supply and criminal activity. Some of the agent's optimising decisions (education, crime) are discrete choices. The first part of the thesis deals with the issue of including binary decision choices in a life cycle model: the implications of non-convex choice sets in life cycle models with uninsurable idiosyncratic risk are studied in detail and some results on the properties of the individual problem's solution are provided. Next, we apply the proposed framework to analyse two distinct policy questions. The first application looks at the equilibrium analysis of tuition policies on the distribution of education and income. Empirical evidence suggests a link between human capital accumulation and wage dispersion. We experiment with college tuition subsidies and find that while in partial equilibrium such policies can be very effective in increasing education levels and reducing inequality in general equilibrium the results are less encouraging. The second application considers whether policies targeting a reduction in crime rates through changes in education outcomes can be considered an effective and cost-viable alternative to interventions based on harsher punishment alone. I find that policies targeting crime reduction through increases in high school graduation rates are cost-effective, especially if they are targeted at the poor

Reappraisal of a XVI century earthquake combining historical, geological and instrumental information

The earthquake occurred during 1561 in Southern Italy heavily struck a zone known as Vallo di Diano. This is the only destructive earthquake whose epicentre is attributed to that valley. Two problems arise about this epicentral location: 1)the distribution of reported effect is highly asymmetrical, possibly reflecting population distribution at that time, 2)some geologist maintain that there is no evidence for ongoing active tectonics in the Vallo di Diano area. The basic question behind our work is the following: Is it possible that both expert judgement and computer techniques have up to now placed the 1561 epicentre in the wrong place, driven by asymmetrical distribution of observations and by site effects enhancing damage in the alluvial valley? It was possible to demonstrate that, when site amplification are taken into account, the location of an historical earthquake can vary significantly. This applies not only to epicentre but especially to extended seismogenic faults connected to large events. From the seismogenic point of view, we demonstrate that the location of the 1561 in the Melandro valley is more statistically significant than the one up to know proposed. More detailed geological data are however needed to lend support to the Val Melandro fault hypothesis

Markov-Chain Approximations for Life-Cycle Models

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Rainfall-induced differential settlements of foundations on heterogeneous unsaturated soils

This study stochastically investigates the rainfall-induced differential settlement of a centrally loaded, rigid strip foundation on an unsaturated soil with spatially varying values of either preconsolidation stress or porosity. The differential settlement (between the two foundation ends) is calculated at various times during rainfall by way of a coupled, hydro-mechanical, finite-element analysis. The Barcelona basic model describes the mechanical behaviour of the soil, and the van Genuchten relationships describe water retention and permeability. The variability of soil properties is modelled by means of random fields with spatial correlation in the framework of a Monte Carlo simulation. The study demonstrates that the occurrence of rainfall-induced differential settlements can be consistently analysed using concepts of unsaturated soil mechanics and random field theory. Results show that differential settlements can be vastly underpredicted (or even completely missed) if random heterogeneity and partial saturation are not simultaneously considered. The variation of differential settlements and their statistics during the rainfall depend on the magnitude of the applied load and the statistics of soil variability. Moreover, the transient phase of infiltration and a spatial correlation length equal to the width of the foundation pose the highest risk of differential settlement

Extension of Wavenumber Domain Focusing for spotlight COSMO-SkyMed SAR Data

In this work we describe a method to handle curved orbits in wavenumber domain focusing algorithm for high-resolution SAR data acquired by Low Earth Orbit satellites using spotlight mode. The stand..

Towards specific T–H relationships: FRIBAS database for better characterization of RC and URM buildings

FRIBAS database is an open access database composed of the characteristics of 312 buildings (71 masonry, 237 reinforced concrete and 4 mixed types). It collects and harmonizes data from different surveys performed on buildings in the Basilicata and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions (Southern and Northeastern Italy, respectively). Each building is defined by 37 parameters related to the building and foundation soil characteristics. The building and soil fundamental periods were experimentally estimated based on ambient noise measurements. FRIBAS gave us the opportunity to study the influence of the main characteristics of buildings and the soil-building interaction effect to their structural response. In this study, we have used the FRIBAS dataset to investigate how the building period varies as a function of construction materials and soil types. Our results motivate the need of going beyond a 'one-fits-all' numerical period-height (T-H) relationship for generic building typologies provided by seismic codes, towards specific T-H relationships that account for both soil and building typologies

The epigenetic regulators CBP and p300 facilitate leukemogenesis and represent therapeutic targets in acute myeloid leukemia.

Growing evidence links abnormal epigenetic control to the development of hematological malignancies. Accordingly, inhibition of epigenetic regulators is emerging as a promising therapeutic strategy. The acetylation status of lysine residues in histone tails is one of a number of epigenetic post-translational modifications that alter DNA-templated processes, such as transcription, to facilitate malignant transformation. Although histone deacetylases are already being clinically targeted, the role of histone lysine acetyltransferases (KAT) in malignancy is less well characterized. We chose to study this question in the context of acute myeloid leukemia (AML), where, using in vitro and in vivo genetic ablation and knockdown experiments in murine models, we demonstrate a role for the epigenetic regulators CBP and p300 in the induction and maintenance of AML. Furthermore, using selective small molecule inhibitors of their lysine acetyltransferase activity, we validate CBP/p300 as therapeutic targets in vitro across a wide range of human AML subtypes. We proceed to show that growth retardation occurs through the induction of transcriptional changes that induce apoptosis and cell-cycle arrest in leukemia cells and finally demonstrate the efficacy of the KAT inhibitors in decreasing clonogenic growth of primary AML patient samples. Taken together, these data suggest that CBP/p300 are promising therapeutic targets across multiple subtypes in AML.Funding in the Huntly laboratory comes from Cancer Research UK, Leukemia Lymphoma Research, the Kay Kendal Leukemia Fund, the Leukemia lymphoma Society of America, the Wellcome Trust, The Medical Research Council and an NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre grant. Patient samples were processed in the Cambridge Blood and Stem Cell Biobank.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available via NPG at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/onc.2015.9