Connecting Rights to Reality: A Progressive Framework of Core Legal Protections for Women's Property Rights

This document presents information of how women in many countries are far less likely than men to own property and assets - key tools to gaining economic security and earning higher incomes. Though laws to protect women's property rights exist in most countries, gender and cultural constraints can prevent women from owning or inheriting property. In this series, ICRW suggests practical steps to promote, protect and fulfill women's property rights

Financial Education and Households' Economic Decisions

This doctoral thesis is a collection of three empirical essays which explore the underlying factors affecting households\u2019 financial decisions. We first investigate the relationship between financial education and a wide range of wealth decisions using DNB Household Survey data and a recent approach proposed by Lewbel (2012). We consider two channels of financial education: basic and advanced financial literacy acquired during adulthood, and money education received from the family during adolescence. We find that advanced financial literacy positively affects the ownership of financial and risky assets, whereas money education and the propensity to invest in risky assets and holding debt are negatively related. We also find evidence of a gender gap, with males\u2019 wealth decisions more affected by higher levels of financial literacy. Overall, our results highlight the complementarity between the two channels, with financial literacy increasing the propensity to invest in risky assets and money education in safer assets. Our findings underline the importance of acquiring financial education not only through proper educational programs when adults, but also in the family environment during adolescence, where teens can learn positive attitudes towards money that are maintained throughout their life. In the second chapter, using Dutch data from the LISS Panel, we study the effect of financial satisfaction on multiple dimensions of individuals\u2019 attitudes towards dishonesty, namely benefits fraud, tax evasion, fare evasion, stealing property and bribery. We use two indices of financial literacy as instruments to deal with the potential endogeneity of financial satisfaction. Financial satisfaction significantly affects the propensity to engage in cheating towards the government. However, other forms of dishonesty are mainly influenced by personal characteristics such as differences in risk aversion. We show that love of money and being trusting might also affect individuals\u2019 ethical behavior, as they are significantly related with the acceptability of immoral conduct. Our results are useful to deepen our knowledge about the factors affecting attitudes towards cheating and, consequently, think of ways to limit it. The third chapter focuses on a specific dimension of financial behavior: saving decisions. This study examines the linkages between financial socialization and self-control in explaining saving behavior. Using novel household survey data from the United States, we decompose the effect of financial socialization in its direct and indirect components, mediated through self-control. In addition, we analyze the relationship between these two dimensions and the ownership of different financial products, as well as the decision to save through alternative saving strategies. Our results show that financial socialization received early in life is positively associated with general saving habits. Furthermore, we find that parents\u2019 financial socialization influences the development of children\u2019s self-control skills. However, their contribution differs depending on the type of financial product being analyzed

Nonlinear structures of strongly coupled complex plasmas in the proximity of a presheath/sheath edge

The formation of a steady-state nonlinear potential structure of a double-layer type near the presheath/sheath edge of a plasma discharge is theoretically investigated in complex plasmas containing Boltzmann electrons, cold fluid ions and strongly coupled microparticles. Equilibrium of the particles is provided by the electrostatic force and an effective 'dust pressure' associated with electrostatic interactions between the highly charged grains. The results are of importance for complex plasma experiments in microgravity conditions, for thermophoretically levitated configurations and for processing plasmas loaded by nanometer-sized microparticles

Espressioni delle varianti di "splicing" della fibronectina, durante la transizione epitelio-mesenchimale in linee tumorali della prostata.

La Fibronectina (FN) è una glicoproteina della matrice extracellulare, fondamentale sia nell’embriogenesi, per la migrazione e il differenziamento cellulare, sia nel processo di cicatrizzazione, poiché favorisce la migrazione dei macrofagi e di altre cellule del sistema immunitario nell'area lesa. Un singolo gene codifica per la FN, tuttavia, nell'uomo sono state individuate 20 diverse varianti proteiche, tali varianti derivano da eventi di splicing alternativo di un dominio IIICS e di due esoni di tipo III chiamati Extra domini A e B (EDA e EDB). Una delle isoforme maggiormente studiata è la fibronectina oncofetale (fFN) espressa da cellule e tessuti sia embrionali che tumorali. Studi recenti indicano che l'espressione della fFN è particolarmente elevata nel cancro della prostata suggerendo l’utilizzo in radioterapia di anticorpi diretti contro questa isoforma, senza danneggiare l'epitelio ghiandolare prostatico normale che non esprime fFN. Inoltre la fFN è stata trovata non solo nel tumore primario ma anche in tumori secondari. Una delle ipotesi più recenti sostiene che il processo patologico, associato alla progressione neoplastica e alla metastatizzazione, possa verificarsi attraverso la transizione epitelio-mesenchimale (EMT). Il nostro lavoro ha lo scopo di verificare l'associazione della EMT con l’induzione dell'espressione di fFN, in due linee cellulari di tumore della prostata, PC3 e DU145, utilizzando metodiche di biologia cellulare, molecolare e biochimiche. Le due linee cellulari sono state trattate con “transforming growth factor beta” (TGF-β), il principale induttore di EMT. Alla fine del trattamento, le cellule sono state sottoposte ad analisi di qRT-PCR e citofluorimetria indicando l’avvenuta transizione EMT come la riduzione dell’espressione di EpCAM ed E-caderina (E-cadh), entrambi marcatori delle linee epiteliali. Con la messa a punto di questi modelli sperimentali di EMT nel cancro alla prostata saranno studiate le isoforme della FN con particolare attenzione all’espressione di fFN attraverso l’utilizzo di: Western-blot, usando anticorpi specifici per verificare ed eventualmente confermare l’EMT

AS NOVAS TECNOLOGIAS E OS LIMITES DA FORMAÇÃO: UMA ABORDAGEM A PARTIR DA TEORIA CRÍTICA

Resumo: As novas tecnologias e os limites da formação: uma abordagem a partir da teoria crític

AS NOVAS TECNOLOGIAS E OS LIMITES DA FORMAÇÃO: UMA ABORDAGEM A PARTIR DA TEORIA CRÍTICA

Resumo: As novas tecnologias e os limites da formação: uma abordagem a partir da teoria crític

The Debate Over Disclosure in Third-Party Litigation Finance: Balancing the Need for Transparency with Efficiency

The market for third-party litigation financing (TPLF) in the United States is facing unprecedented growth and popularity. The ever-increasing complexity and cost of legal disputes, especially in the commercial context, has made third-party financing an invaluable resource for both litigants in need of capital and investors seeking to diversify their portfolios with nontraditional assets. However, as the market continues to boom, so does the risk that TPLF will be used unethically. Critics of the industry are calling on regulators at both the state and federal levels to implement comprehensive disclosure requirements for TPLF at the outset of all civil litigation as a means to prevent financiers from exerting control over the funded litigation and to expose conflicts of interest. To the contrary, members from within the TPLF community are adamantly opposed to over-broad disclosure requirements that would serve only to add a layer of unnecessary time and expense to funded parties in the midst of litigation. How can we ensure that TPLF is used ethically without burdening courts and parties with unwarranted disclosure? In recognition of the need for uniform regulations regarding the disclosure of TPLF information, yet in acknowledgement of the need for judicial economy and to preserve confidential financial information, this note proposes a solution that would strike a balance between transparency and efficiency. Instead of a mandatory disclosure requirement for TPLF agreements in full, the initial disclosure requirement should be limited merely to the identity and existence of third-party funding. Upon a showing of a particular need for additional disclosure of TPLF information, the court should conduct an in camera review prior to allowing adverse parties to access privileged information. In doing so, the court may independently determine whether or not additional discovery is necessary and can prevent unnecessary consumption of party resources