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Coherent modeling of mortality patterns for age-specific subgroups
The recent actuarial literature has shown that mortality patterns and trajectories in closely related populations are similar in some respects and that small differences are unlikely to increase in the long run. The common feeling is that mortality forecasts for individual countries could be improved by taking into account the patterns from a larger group. Starting from this consideration, we apply the three-way Lee–Carter model to a group of countries, by extending the bilinear LC model to a three-way structure, which incorporates a further component in the decomposition of the log-mortality rates. From a methodological point of view, there are several issues to deal with when focusing on such kind of data. In the presence of a three-way data structure, several choices on the pretreatment of the data could affect the whole modeling process. This kind of analysis is useful to assess the source of variation in the raw mortality data, before the extraction of the rank-one components by the LC model. The proposed procedure is used to extract an ad hoc time mortality trend parameter for age-specific subgroups. The results show that the proposed strategy leads to a more coherent description of mortality for age-specific subgroups
A sectoral analysis of Italy's development : 1861 -2010
Italy‘s economic growth over its 150 years of unified history did not occur at a steady pace nor was it
balanced across sectors. Relying on an entirely new input (labour and capital) database by us built
and presented in the Appendix, together with new Banca d‘Italia estimates of GDP by sector, this
paper evaluates the different labour productivity growth trends within the Italian economy‘s sectors,
as well as the contribution of structural change to productivity growth. Italy‘s performance is then set
in an international context: a comparison of sectoral labour productivity growth rates and levels
within a selected sample of countries (UK, US, Germany, Japan, India) allows us to better time,
quantify and gauge the causes of Italy‘s catching-up process and subsequent more recent slowdown.
Finally, the paper analyses the proximate sources of Italy‘s growth, relative to the other countries, in
a standard growth accounting framework, in an attempt also to disentangle the contribution of both
total factor productivity growth and capital deepening to the country‘s labour productivity dynamics
Response to “Comment on ‘Elasticity of flexible and semiflexible polymers with extensible bonds in the Gibbs and Helmholtz ensembles”’ [J. Chem. Phys. 138, 157101 (2013)]
No abstract: this is a "response" to a Comment
Monte Carlo simulations of single polymer force-extension relations
We present Monte Carlo simulations for studying the statistical mechanics of arbitrarily long single molecules under stretching. In many cases in which the thermodynamic
limit is not satisfied, different statistical ensembles yield different macroscopic force-displacement
curves. In this work we provide a description of the Monte Carlo simulations and discuss in
details the assumptions adopted
Scaling relations of the colour-detected cluster RzCS 052 at z=1.016 and of some other high redshift clusters
We report on the discovery of the z=1.016 cluster RzCS 052 using a modified
red sequence method, followup spectroscopy and X-ray imaging. This cluster has
a velocity dispersion of 710+-150 km/s, a virial mass of 4.0e14 Msol (based on
21 spectroscopically confirmed members) and an X-ray luminosity of (0.68+-
0.47)e44 ergs/s in the [1-4] keV band. This optically selected cluster appears
to be of richness class 3 and to follow the known L_X-sigma_v relation for high
redshift X-ray selected clusters. Using these data, we find that the halo
occupation number for this cluster is only marginally consistent with what
expected assuming a self-similar evolution of cluster scaling relations,
suggesting perhaps a break of them at z~1. We also rule out a strong galaxy
merging activity between z=1 and today. Finally, we present a Bayesian approach
to measuring cluster velocity dispersions and X-ray luminosities in the
presence of a background: we critically reanalyze recent claims for X-ray
underluminous clusters using these techniques and find that the clusters can be
accommodated within the existing L_X -sigma_v relation.Comment: MNRAS, in pres
Rare diseases of the anterior segment of the eye: update on diagnosis and management
This special issue is focused on the current approaches used to identify and manage rare diseases of the anterior segment
of the eye, which range from congenital to acquired disorders that are caused by ocular or systemic conditions and often
have consequences that extend beyond the anterior segment of the eye
Identification of the Coronal Sources of the Fast Solar Wind
The present spectroscopic study of the ultraviolet coronal emission in a
polar hole, detected on April 6-9, 1996 with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph
Spectrometer aboard the SOHO spacecraft, identifies the inter-plume lanes and
background coronal hole regions as the channels where the fast solar wind is
preferentially accelerated. In inter-plume lanes, at heliocentric distance 1.7
\rsun, the corona expands at a rate between 105 km/s and 150 km/s, that is,
much faster than in plumes where the outflow velocity is between 0 km/s and 65
km/s. The wind velocity is inferred from the Doppler dimming of the O VI
1032, 1037 \AA lines, within a range of values, whose lower
and upper limit corresponds to anisotropic and isotropic velocity distribution
of the oxygen coronal ions, respectively.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, Accepted by ApJ Letter
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