Some theoretical and methodological comments on the impact of policies on fertility

Theoretically, and for reasons that I will shortly summarise in this presentation, there are strong reasons to expect policies to have a positive impact on fertility. Empirically, however, the evidence regarding the potential impact of policies of fertility is less clear cut. While numerous studies do indeed show a positive impact of policies, there is no consensus regarding the actual magnitude of the impact, nor about its short- or medium-term nature (Gauthier 2007). What I want to do in this presentation is consequently to reflect on the results from empirical studies by raising a number of theoretical and methodological issues.

Can policies enhance fertility in Europe?

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Supersymmetric free-damped oscillators: Adaptive observer estimation of the Riccati parameter

A supersymmetric class of free damped oscillators with three parameters has been obtained in 1998 by Rosu and Reyes through the factorization of the Newton equation. The supplementary parameter is the integration constant of the general Riccati solution. The estimation of the latter parameter is performed here by employing the recent adaptive observer scheme of Besancon et al., but applied in a nonstandard form in which a time-varying quantity containing the unknown Riccati parameter is estimated first. Results of computer simulations are presented to illustrate the good feasibility of this approach for a case in which the estimation is not easily accomplished by other meansComment: 8 pages, 6 figure

The effects of donepezil in Alzheimer's disease - Results from a multinational trial

Donepezil has been shown to be well tolerated and to improve cognition and global function in patients with mild to moderately severe Alzheimer's disease (AD). The current trial was undertaken to investigate further the efficacy and safety of donepezil, in a multinational setting, in patients with mild to moderately severe AD. This 30-week, placebo-controlled, parallel-group study consisted of a 24-week, double-blind treatment phase followed by a 6-week, single-blind, placebo washout. Eight hundred and eighteen patients with mild to moderately severe AD were randomly allocated to treatment with single, daily doses of 5 or 10 mg donepezil, or placebo. The two primary efficacy measures were: a cognitive performance test, the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-cognitive subscale (ADAS-cog) and a global evaluation, the Clinician's Interview-Based Impression of Change with caregiver input (CIBIC plus). Secondary outcome measures included the Sum of the Boxes of the Clinical Dementia Rating Scale (CDR-SB), a modified Interview for Deterioration in Daily living activities in Dementia (IDDD) and a patient-rated quality of life assessment. Statistically significant improvements in cognitive and global function were observed, as evaluated by ADAS-cog and CIBIC plus, respectively, in both the 5 and 10 mg/day donepezil groups, compared with placebo. Treatment-associated changes were also observed in functional skills, as shown by improved scores on the CDR-SB and the complex-tasks component of the IDDD. A dose-response effect was evident, with the 10 mg/day donepezil group demonstrating greater benefits in all outcome measures than the 5 mg/day group. Donepezil was well tolerated by this patient population and did not produce any clinically significant laboratory test abnormalities. The results of this study confirm that donepezil is effective and well tolerated in treating the symptoms of mild to moderately severe AD

Nouvelles estimations du coût de l’enfant au Canada

Afin de pouvoir évaluer le degré auquel les politiques gouvernementales d’aide et de soutien aux familles compensent les coûts économiques reliés à la prise en charge d’un enfant, il importe de disposer d’une estimation du coût de l’enfant. Dans cet article, l’auteur présente un nouveau modèle d’estimation de ce coût, et l’applique aux données de l’enquête de Statistique Canada sur les dépenses des familles en 1982. La première partie décrit les développements méthodologiques et théoriques ayant permis l’obtention de ce modèle, et la deuxième analyse les estimations du coût de l’enfant selon son âge et son rang, pour des familles de niveaux de vie différents.In order to be able to appraise to what extent policy measures compensate for the cost of rearing a child, one needs an estimate of this cost. In this paper, the author presents a new model which is applied to data obtained from the survey of family expenditures, made in 1982 by Statistics Canada. The first part is devoted to the methodological and theoretical considerations on which the model is based, and the second part analyses the estimates of the cost of a child, according to age and rank of the child, and standard of living of the family.A fin de poder evaluar el grado en el cual las políticas governementales de ayuda y sostén a las familias compensan los costos económicos relacionados a la toma en cargo de un niño es importante disponer de una estimación de su costo. En este artículo, el autor presenta un nuevo modelo de estimación del costo y lo aplica a los datos de la encuesta de Estadísticas Canada sobre los gastos de las familias en 1982. La primera parte describe los desarrollos metodológicos y teóricos que han permitido el logro de este modelo y la segunda analiza las estimaciones del costo del niño segun su edad y su rango para las familias de distintos niveles de vida

A Kaluza-Klein Model with Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking: Light-Particle Effective Action and its Compactification Scale Dependence

We investigate decoupling of heavy Kaluza-Klein modes in an Abelian Higgs model with space-time topologies $\mathbb{R}^{3,1} \times S^{1}$ and $\mathbb{R}^{3,1} \times S^{1}/\mathbb{Z}_{2}$. After integrating out heavy KK modes we find the effective action for the zero mode fields. We find that in the $\mathbb{R}^{3,1} \times S^{1}$ topology the heavy modes do not decouple in the effective action, due to the zero mode of the 5-th component of the 5-d gauge field $A_{5}$. Because $A_{5}$ is a scalar under 4-d Lorentz transformations, there is no gauge symmetry protecting it from getting mass and $A_{5}^{4}$ interaction terms after loop corrections. In addition, after symmetry breaking, we find new divergences in the $A_{5}$ mass that did not appear in the symmetric phase. The new divergences are traced back to the gauge-goldstone mixing that occurs after symmetry breaking. The relevance of these new divergences to Symanzik's theorem is discussed. In order to get a more sensible theory we investigate the $S^{1}/\mathbb{Z}_{2}$ compactification. With this kind of compact topology, the $A_{5}$ zero mode disappears. With no $A_{5}$, there are no new divergences and the heavy modes decouple. We also discuss the dependence of the couplings and masses on the compactification scale. We derive a set of RG-like equations for the running of the effective couplings with respect to the compactification scale. It is found that magnitudes of both couplings decrease as the scale $M$ increases. The effective masses are also shown to decrease with increasing compactification scale. All of this opens up the possibility of placing constraints on the size of extra dimensions.Comment: 35 pages, 6 figure

Лазерное инициирование порошков тэна в условиях объемного сжатия

Определены энергетические пороги инициирования и исследована кинетика процесса взрывного разложения порошков тетранитрата пентаэритрита, объемносжатых до давления 5·108Н/м2, при воздействии импульсом лазерного излучения на длинах волн 1064 нм (область прозрачности) и 266 нм (область собственного поглощения). Реализованы условия низкопорогового инициирования для порошков чистого тэна первой, второй и четвертой гармониках излучения неодимового лазера