Willard Bohn, Apollinaire on the Edge. Modern Art, Popular Culture, and the Avant-Garde

Le caratteristiche “intermedie” dell’opera di Guillaume Apollinaire sono messe in evidenza dalla presenza dell’edge – bordo, margine – nel titolo del volume. Ovvero, come recita l’elenco del sottotitolo, dalle relazioni che tale opera ha intessuto con l’arte moderna, la cultura popolare e l’avanguardia. In tal modo, osserva Willard Bohn, Apollinaire sarebbe riuscito a instaurare un delicato equilibrio tra senso e non-senso, tradizione e invenzione, ordine e avventura creativa. Il volume si co..

René Pommier, René Girard, un allumé qui se prend pour un phare

Sulla homepage del suo sito (Assez décodé!: http://rene.pommier.free.fr/index.htm), René Pommier si autodefinisce polemista, razionalista, nonché «infatigable pourfendeur de fariboles». Il caustico pamphlet dedicato alla persona e alle opere di René Girard ne è eloquente dimostrazione: esso svela le cantonate secondo lui prese da uno dei più noti pensatori francesi degli ultimi decenni e si prende specialmente gioco della «grande modestie» (p. 7) che lo conduce spesso a farsi carico di una ve..

Money to move:The effect on researchers of an international mobility grant

We examine the impact of a grant program promoting international mobility on researchers’ scientific outcomes and careers. To provide causal evidence, we exploit unique data from the Swiss National Foundation and implement a Regression Discontinuity Design analysis. We find that the grant effectively supports periods of research abroad that often extend beyond the duration of the grant, without increasing the probability of permanent migration. Awarded researchers increase their output quality, although the effect on output quantity and careers is not significant. Additional evidence suggests that financing international mobility likely affects output quality by reducing the cost of exploring new collaboration opportunities and research topics: awarded applicants are more likely to collaborate with new coauthors of higher, on average, scientific quality and rely less on their previous own research results. Moreover, the grants mainly benefit researchers receiving a mobility grant for the first time

Cognitive Health of Nonagenarians in Southern Italy: A Descriptive Analysis from a Cross-Sectional, Home-Based Pilot Study of Exceptional Longevity (Cilento Initiative on Aging Outcomes Or CIAO).

Background: Nonagenarians and centenarians (NCs) are an extremely fragile population, particularly in regard to their physical and cognitive function. The aim of this study was to define the neurocognitive profiles among 29 NCs and their 49 younger cohabitants aged 50-75 years from The Cilento Initiative on Aging Outcomes (CIAO) Pilot study in the South of Italy that had provided initial hypotheses regarding positive psychological traits related to exceptional longevity. Methods: During the home visits, lifestyle information with specific questionnaires, functional autonomy and the neuropsychological Mini Mental Scale Examination (MMSE), and the Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive (ADAS-Cog) scale were obtained by qualified study personnel. The total blood oxidative capacity was also determined by testing the reactive derivative of oxygen metabolites (d-ROM) and by the Biological Antioxidant Potential (BAP). In all individuals, the APOE genotype determination was also performed. Results: All the subjects in both groups showed high adherence to the Mediterranean Diet. None of the NCs had severe cognitive impairment, and a very low incidence of dementia was found. The data obtained on the Activities ed Instrumental Activities of Daily Living (ADL-IADL) scale showed that the majority of NCs (16/29) were autonomous in daily life activities. The comparative assessment of NCs and cohabitants showed no significant differences in the laboratory assessment of oxidative stress and APOE genotype. Conclusion: In the Cilento Region of Southern Italy, NCs seemed to have good cognitive status when compared to younger cohabitants aging 50-65 years without significant differences in oxidative stress markers or APOE genotype. These results might be related to optimal adherence to the Mediterranean diet, although other lifestyle factors and positive personality traits may also contribute to their healthy aging. Further studies on a larger population should be performed to confirm the results of this pilot study

The impact of the European Emission Trading Scheme on multiple measures of economic performance*

The European emission trading scheme (EU ETS) has introduced a price for carbon and has thus led to an additional cost for companies that are regulated by the scheme. There is a growing body of empirical literature that investigates the effects of the EU ETS on firm economic performance. However, the results found to date are mixed. The objective of this paper is to provide empirical evidence on the effect of the EU ETS on economic performance at the firm level. Differently from the previous literature, we test the effect of the EU ETS on a larger set of indicators of economic performance: value added, turnover, employment, investment, labour productivity, total factor productivity and markup. Moreover, we evaluate the extent to which the impact of the EU ETS differs depending on some observable features of firms. Our results, based on a large panel of European firms, provide a comprehensive picture of the economic impact of the EU ETS in its first and second phases of implementation. The evidence suggests that the EU ETS had a positive impact on the scale of treated firms, whereas it had a negative impact on scale-free aspects of economic performance

New Perspectives on the Evaluation of Public R&D Funding

Any economic criteria for an efficient allocation of resources is based on marginal “thinking”. Such criteria can equally be applied to the evaluation of the public allocation of R&D funds. Differently from the usual evaluation schemes - mainly dichotomous - this study implements the continuous treat- ment matching approach to investigate the optimality of the modulation of public funding. With this method, the marginal treatment effects can be identified and sub-optimal amounts of public funding determined. Although we can distinguish cases of input additionality, the substitutability outcome seems to prevail also when unobserved heterogeneity is accounted for

The Impact of Environmental Subsidy on Adoption and R&D Environmental Investment

This article is an empirical evaluation of the effects of a public environmental subsidy for technology adoption on environmental adoption (direct effect) and R&D investment (indirect effect), in a sample of Dutch non-service private companies over the 2006-2009 period. Combining information from surveys on the firm production and environmental costs, and by means of a continuous treatment matching approach, we are able to identify, for several subsidy amounts, whether an increase in such amounts may raise the levels or first differences in environmental technology adoption and R&D investment. We find negligible or significant crowding-out effects for both types of environmental investment, when controlling for firm invariant unobservables. Thus, our findings appear to suggest a serious re-modulation of the public policy tool under analysis, in terms of both the amounts provided and the firms targeted

FELIZ NAVIDAD [Material gráfico]

Copia digital. Madrid : Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte. Subdirección General de Coordinación Bibliotecaria, 201

COMT Val158Met polymorphism and socioeconomic status interact to predict attention deficit/hyperactivity problems in children aged 10–14

The functional Val158Met COMT polymorphism appears to affect a host of behaviours mediated by the pre-frontal cortex, and has been found associated to the risk for disruptive behaviours including ADHD. Parental socioeconomic status (SES) has also been reported as a predictor for the same childhood disorders. In a general population sample of 575 Italian pre-adolescents aged 10–14, we examined the association of the functional Val158Met COMT polymorphism and SES—both as linear and interactive effects—with oppositional defiant problems, conduct problems, and attention deficit/hyperactivity problems, as defined by the newly established Child Behaviour Check-List/6-18 DSM oriented scales. Multivariate- and subsequent univariate-analysis of covariance showed a significant association of COMT × SES interaction with CBCL 6/18 DOS attention deficit/hyperactivity problems (p = 0.004), and revealed higher scores among those children with Val/Val COMT genotype who belonged to low-SES families. We also found a significant association of SES with attention deficit/hyperactivity problems and conduct problems DOS (p = 0.04 and 0.01, respectively). Our data are consistent with a bulk of recent literature suggesting a role of environmental factors in moderating the contribution of specific genetic polymorphisms to human variability in ADHD. While future investigations will refine and better clarify which specific environmental and genetic mechanisms are at work in influencing the individual risk to ADHD in pre-adolescence, these data may contribute to identify/prevent the risk for ADHD problems in childhood

Differential Expression of Kisspeptin System and Kisspeptin Receptor Trafficking during Spermatozoa Transit in the Epididymis

The hypothalamus–pituitary–testis axis controls the production of spermatozoa, and the kisspeptin system, comprising Kiss1 and Kiss1 receptor (Kiss1R), is the main central gatekeeper. The activity of the kisspeptin system also occurs in testis and spermatozoa, but currently the need of peripheral kisspeptin to produce gametes is not fully understood. Hence, we characterized kisspeptin system in rat spermatozoa and epididymis caput and cauda and analyzed the possible presence of Kiss1 in the epididymal fluid. The presence of Kiss1 and Kiss1R in spermatozoa collected from epididymis caput and cauda was evaluated by Western blot; significant high Kiss1 levels in the caput (p < 0.001 vs. cauda) and constant levels of Kiss1R proteins were observed. Immunofluorescence analysis revealed that the localization of Kiss1R in sperm head shifts from the posterior region in the epididymis caput to perforatorium in the epididymis cauda. In spermatozoa-free epididymis, Western blot revealed higher expression of Kiss1 and Kiss1R in caput (p < 0.05 vs. cauda). Moreover, immunohistochemistry revealed that Kiss1 and Kiss1R proteins were mainly localized in the secretory epithelial cell types and in contractile myoid cells, respectively. Finally, both dot blot and Elisa revealed the presence of Kiss1 in the epididymal fluid collected from epididymis cauda and caput, indicating that rat epididymis and spermatozoa possess a complete kisspeptin system. In conclusion, we reported for the first time in rodents Kiss1R trafficking in spermatozoa during the epididymis transit and Kiss1 measure in the epididymal fluid, thus suggesting a possible role for the system in spermatozoa maturation and storage within the epididymis