Modelling prevention strategies in Public Health

Various schemes of prevention measures in public health are developed and analyzed on the basis of a general mathematical model. Features related to cost issues, including primary and secondary prevention interventions, differential survival experiences and communicable diseases are in turn used to show the potentialities of the theoretical framework. Statistical estimation procedures are briefly discussed and a numerical application is presented with reference to Italian cancer data

"Limiti derivanti dalla fisica del sapore in estensioni del Modello Standard con settore elettrodebole parzialmente composto"

L'instabilità del settore di Higgs del Modello Standard (MS) suggerisce l'esistenza di una nuova fisica alla scala del TeV ancora inesplorata. Tra le nuove teorie proposte, uno scenario particolarmente interessante è quello in cui si estende il modello aggiungendo un nuovo stettore fortemente interagente (settore composto) alla scala del TeV. Attraverso un opportuno mescolamento fra i campi del settore composto e campi del MS (campi elementari), si riesce ad ottenere una buona descrizione della fisica elettrodebole. L'obbiettivo del seguente elaborato è quello di studiare alcune proprietà della nuova fisica alla scala del TeV, in particolare di stimare un limite inferiore alle masse dei bosoni composti pesanti che intervengono in questo nuovo scenario. Tali limiti sono dedotti da misure di precisione nella fisica del sapore, in particolare da processi di tipo FCNC (Flavour Changing Neutral Current). Il lavoro di tesi è stato cosi³ suddiviso: - Il primo capitolo contiene una presentazione qualitativa del modello teorico adottato e le sue motivazioni. - Il secondo capitolo è la descrizione quantitativa del modello adottato. Si descrive in dettaglio la lagrangiana a due settori (elementare e composto) e la parte di mescolamento delle masse. In particolare l'Higgs verrà introdotto nel settore composto. In seguito si scrivono le matrici di trasformazione che mescolano gli stati elementari e composti diagonalizzando la lagrangiana totale e, infine, le matrici di massa degli autostati di gauge. -Nel terzo capitolo si stimano i limiti inferiori per la massa dei bosoni pesanti derivanti dai processi di tipo FCNC (Flavour Changing Neutral Current) e dedotti da misure di precisione della fisica del sapore. -Alla fine segue un'appendice che illustra brevemente le tecniche di calcolo utilizzate per il calcolo dei diagrammi di tipo FCNC a un loop

Organizzare la formazione sul campo. Metodi, modelli ed esperienze

Introduction. CME has the aim of providing the best possible health care for patients and it is based predominately on lectures or oral presentations; however many studies have demonstrated gaps between real and ideal performance suggesting a lack of effect of CME, at least in its formal methods. Interactive techniques have increased potential for positively changing practice and, on occasion, outcome of patients. We describe a learning methodology which could be named “Workplace-based learning” and particularly the so called “Improvement group” which seems particularly useful in healthcare where changing practice is often necessary for better outcomes.Contribution. The CME provider in the province of Trento uses workplace-based learning and “Improvement group” methodology since 2005. This form includes activities and strategies which tend, though still rigorously monitored, to be more under the control of the learner, it offers opportunities to reflect on the work, and involves learner and teams who are not considered merely recipients of information anymore, thus more aptly producing relevant knowledge and new solutions to problems. New suggestions for CME providers in order to enrich their toolbox about medical education are offered.Conclusions. The high numbers of projects prove that workplace-based learning is feasible; it is also good in method and quality, even if projects were partly left in the hands of workers unspecialized in teaching and learning.Nevertheless the authors don’t want to promote workplace-based learning as unique; the suggestion is to use it next to the other forms, each with its own specificity

“S.E.E.D.S.” Un programma di insegnamento, supervisione e valutazione della consultazione medica nelle cure primarie

Background. The consultation is the most common diagnostic and therapeutic procedure, and it is the usual way in which primary care is delivered. Therefore it should be evaluated and taught as any medical procedure. In Italy little attention is paid to the management of the consultation, and as abroad clinicians and scholars usually consider clinical reasoning and communication in the consultation as two realms quite far away from one another. In this way the vision of the consultation as a complex encounter is lost. It is, therefore, necessary to teach clinical and communication competences together as one entity.Experience. An operational model of the consultation and the process of implementation of a teaching and evaluation program are described.Conclusion. The model is easy to teach and allows the evaluation of the consultation in a simple and direct way, enhancing reflection on the encounter and connecting clinical reasoning with communication skills

Crowding-out in productive and redistributive rent seeking

This paper presents a general rent-seeking model in which participants decide on entry before choosing their levels of efforts. The conventional wisdom in the rent-seeking literature suggests that the rent dissipation increases with the number of potential participants and with their productivity of effort. In this paper, we show that this result of the rent-seeking literature is far from general and applies only when participants are relatively weak and enter the game with certainty. In the presence of strong competitors, the expected total dissipation actually decreases, since participation in the game is less frequent. We further consider the impact of competitors' exit option, distinguishing between \textquotedblright redistributive rent-seeking\textquotedblright\ and \textquotedblright productive rent-seeking\textquotedblright\ situations. In redistributive rent-seeking, no social loss results from the fact that all competitors exit the race. In productive rent-seeking, instead, lack of participation creates a social loss (the \textquotedblright lost treasure\textquotedblright\ effect), since valuable rents are left unexploited. We show that the lost-treasure effect perfectly counterbalances the reduction in rent dissipation due to competitors' exit. Hence, unlike redistributive rent-seeking, in productive rent-seeking the total social loss remains equal to the entire rent even when parties grow stronger or the number of players increases.Rent-seeking; rent dissipation; Tullock's paradox

Crowding-out in Productive and Redistributive Rent-Seeking.

This paper presents a general rent-seeking model in which participants decide on entry before choosing their levels of efforts. The conventional wisdom in the rent-seeking literature suggests that the rent dissipation increases with the number of potential participants and with their pro- ductivity of effort. In this paper, we show that this result of the rent- seeking literature is far from general and applies only when participants are relatively weak and enter the game with certainty. In the presence of strong competitors, the expected total dissipation actually decreases, since participation in the game is less frequent. We further consider the impact of competitors' exit option, distinguishing between "redistributive rent-seeking"and "productive rent-seeking" situations. In redistributive rent-seeking, no social loss results from the fact that all competitors exit the race. In productive rent-seeking, instead, lack of participation creates a social loss (the "lost treasure" effect), since valuable rents are left unex- ploited. We show that the lost-treasure effect perfectly counterbalances the reduction in rent dissipation due to competitors' exit. Hence, unlike redistributive rent-seeking, in productive rent-seeking the total social loss remains equal to the entire rent even when parties grow stronger or the number of players increases.Rent-seeking, rent dissipation, Tullock' s paradox.

Non-paraxial design and fabrication of a compact OAM sorter in the telecom infrared

A novel optical device is designed and fabricated in order to overcome the limits of the traditional sorter based on log-pol optical transformation for the demultiplexing of optical beams carrying orbital angular momentum (OAM). The proposed configuration simplifies the alignment procedure and significantly improves the compactness and miniaturization level of the optical architecture. Since the device requires to operate beyond the paraxial approximation, a rigorous formulation of transformation optics in the non-paraxial regime has been developed and applied. The sample has been fabricated as 256-level phase-only diffractive optics with high-resolution electron-beam lithography, and tested for the demultiplexing of OAM beams at the telecom wavelength of 1310 nm. The designed sorter can find promising applications in next-generation optical platforms for mode-division multiplexing based on OAM modes both for free-space and multi-mode fiber transmission.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figure

Perturbative and Numerical Methods for Stochastic Nonlinear Oscillators

Interferometric gravitational wave detectors are devoted to pick up the effect induced on masses by gravitational waves. The variations of the length dividing two mirrors is measured through a laser interferometric technique. The Brownian motion of the masses related to the interferometer room temperature is a limit to the observation of astrophysical signals. It is referred to as thermal noise and it affects the sensitivity of both the projected and the future generation interferometers. In this paper we investigate the relevance of small non-linear effects and point out their impact on the sensitivity curve of interferometric gravitational wave detectors (e.g. VIRGO, LIGO, GEO, ...) through perturbative methods and numerical simulations. We find that in the first order approximation the constants characterizing the power spectrum density (PSD) are renormalized but it retains its typical shape. This is due to the fact that the involved Feynman diagrams are of tadpole type. Higher order approximations are required to give rise to up-conversion effects. This result is predicted by the perturbative approach and is in agreement with the numerical results obtained by studying the system's non-linear response by numerically simulating its dynamics.Comment: 12 pages, REVTeX + 7 PostScript figure

Modified Halloysite Nanotubes: Nanoarchitectures for Enhancing the Capture of Oils from Vapor and Liquid Phases

We prepared hybrid halloysite nanotubes (HNT/sodium alkanoates) in which the inner cavity of the nanoclay was selectively modified. Physicochemical studies evidenced the interactions between HNT and sodium alkanoates, ruled out clay exfoliation, quantified the amount of the loaded substance, and showed an increase of the total net negative charge, allowing us to obtain rather stable aqueous nanoclay dispersions. These dispersions were exploited as inorganic micelles to capture hydrocarbon and aromatic oils in the vapor and liquid states and were revealed to be nonfoaming but very efficient in encapsulating oils. Here, we have fabricated biocompatibile and low-cost inorganic micelles that can be exploited for industrial applications on a large scale