Deformation in the large of some complex manifolds, II

The compact complex manifolds considered in this article are principal torus bundles over a torus. We consider the Kodaira Spencer map of the complete Appell Humbert family (introduced by the first author in Part I) and are able to show that we obtain in this way a connected component of the space of complex structures each time that the base dimension is two, the fibre dimension is one, and a suitable topological condition is verified.Comment: 23 pages, to appear in the AMS Series 'Contemporary Mathematics',in the Proceedings of the 10th anniversary (2004) Conference for the Mathematics Institute at East China Normal Universit

Intellectual Property Rights and Market Dynamics

Two opposite models are currently operating in the modern economy, the strong intellectual property rights (IPR) model, and the open source/open science model. They have traditionally been applied to alternative institutional contexts. The strong IPR model has been associated to the business environment, while the open science model has been associated to the academic or research system. More recently, a strengthening of the IPR system has occurred in the public research system, and open science models have been adopted in private sectors like the open source software. This paper discusses these different models and their implications on the innovative activity of firms and economies, and the market dynamics. One of the main benefits deriving from a strong IPR system is that it encourages the entry of new technology-based firms and the commercialisation of technologies in markets for technologies. At the same time, an increased patent protection is also associated to potential costs, such as those arising from a excessive fragmentation of property rights, an abuse of patent protection for strategic reasons (sleeping and blocking patents), and an increase in litigation costs.Intellectual Property Rights, Patents, Patent Policy, Open Science, Open Source Software, Technology Commercialisation and Diffusion

The interaction-driven starburst contribution to the cosmic star formation rate density

An increasing amount of observational evidence supports the notion that there are two modes of star formation: a quiescent mode in disk-like galaxies, and a starburst mode, which is generally interpreted as driven by merging. Using a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation, we derive the relative contribution to the cosmic star formation rate density of quiescently starforming and starburst galaxies, predicted under the assumption that starburst events are triggered by galaxy encounters (merging and fly-by kind) during their merging histories. We show that, within this framework, quiescently starforming galaxies dominate the cosmic star formation rate density at all redshifts. The contribution of the burst-dominated starforming galaxies increases with redshift, rising from <5% at low redshift (z5. We estimated that the fraction of the final (z=0) galaxy stellar mass which is formed through the burst component of star formation is ~10% for 10^10 M_\odot<M_*<10^11.5 M_\odot. Starburst galaxies, selected according to their distance from the galaxy main sequence, account for ~10% of the star formation rate density in the redshift interval 1.5<z<2.5, i.e. at the cosmic peak of the star formation activity.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in A&

Short term effects of public smoking bans on health

This paper evaluates the causal negative effect of environmental tobacco exposure on health by exploiting the time and geographical variation in public-place smoking bans implemented in Switzerland between 2007 and 2011. Using monthly data from the universe of Swiss hospitals between 2004 and 2012, we show that the incidence of acute myocardial infarction hospitalizations decreases by about 10-12% immediately after the law implementation. We also find evidence of heterogeneity by age and sex and across income and education groups. In particular, the policy affected mainly men aged 50+ and the regions characterized by a lower level of income and education

3D scanner characterisation for Open Design

The 3D laser scanning technology has been reached by more and more users in the last years, thanks to a new market of low cost devices, more affordable for simple, non-professional use. The educational use is one of such environments, and its didactics purposes gives the opportunity to test new technology from a variety of different point of views. 3D laser scanning, for example, is very promising in environments like Design university education, where the control of the shape of an object is one of the topics discussed in courses, and one of the main focuses of the product design profession. This paper describes the use of this technology in students and research lab, and its metrological characterization, especially on the relationship between performances and object optical characteristics (like gloss and color), object position and ambient lighting. It is to keep in mind that, in a student lab, geometry reverse acquisition is one of the activities done to understand products layout: the knowledge of influences of surrounding and material characteristics on scanner performances is a key factor to improve the performance when low cost scanner are involved. The characterization performed gave the opportunity to students to test how such devices work, the output reliability, which are the inherent issues and what kind of strategies should be introduced to enhance the scanning quality, indeed one of the main problems of these low cost devices

Conserved role of medium acidification in chronological senescence of yeast and mammalian cells

International audienceThe yeast chronological life span (CLS) model has led to the identification of the pro-aging effects of the TOR-Sch9 /S6K and Ras-Adenylate cyclase-PKA pathways, components of which play conserved role in nutrient sensing and aging in mammals [1-4]. One of the early changes that occurs in yeast cells grown in media containing 2% glucose and excess amino acids is the production of acetic acid and acidification of the medium to below pH 4. This acidification has been shown to accelerate yeast aging [5-9]. However, it is clear that it does not explain the effect of the TOR-Sch9/S6K and Ras-AC-PKA pathways on aging since their inhibition extends chronological life span in media that is not acidified and that does not contain acetic acid [10]. The assumption that acetic acid is an organic toxin, which is the key mediator of chronological aging under standard conditions, is probably not true for most genetic backgrounds, since under physiological conditions acetic acid is generated at low levels compared to another metabolite, ethanol [6-7, 11]. Additionally, acetic acid, in spite of its potential toxicity, represents one among several carbon sources that can be utilized by Saccharomyces cerevisiae for growth and metabolism [12-15]

Three essays on the role of federalism in the Swiss healthcare system

Switzerland is a country with a strongly decentralized political system, based on federalism and institutions of direct democracy, on a liberal economic culture, and on a well-developed tradition of mutualism and social security (generous social expenditure and welfare system). Switzerland is unique for its high level of decentralization and for the particular distribution of competences and roles between the central State (the Confederation) and the cantonal authorities. This particular setting allows cantons to have significant leeway in the organization of health care and the implementation of specific public policies. This thesis aims to give a contribution to the health economics literature, assessing some of the internal implications of the Swiss federal setting in the health care sector (chapters 1 and 2) and drawing some more general public policy results, exploiting the Swiss context (chapter 3). The first two chapters explore two different sides of the equity of the Swiss health care system. In the first chapter, I assess to what extent the political autonomy allocated to cantons leads to differences in the level of regressivity in the financing of the health care system and over time. The second chapter investigates the role of managed care contracts and higher deductible on the equity in health care utilization. Finally, in the third chapter I carry out a policy evaluation analysis to assess the causal effects of smoking bans on acute myocardial infarction. Different from the other two chapters, this work draws conclusions that abstract from the Swiss context. Switzerland is the perfect setting where to employ our empirical strategy, due to the different times of implementation of the policy if interest. However, the results have external validity. Each work is based on a different database: the first and the third are based on administrative data, while the second one relies on survey data

Hypervirulent antibiotic-resistantClostridium difficilein Europe

Recently, several Clostridium difficile outbreaks due to PCR ribotype 027, associated with increased disease severity and death, have been reported in North America and in several European countries. This strain is toxinA/toxinB-positive, contains the genes for binary toxin and has an 18 bp deletion and a frameshift mutation in the gene tcdC hypothesized to result in a deregulated expression of toxins A and B. These strains are high producers of toxins in vitro compared with other toxinotypes. Moreover, these strains show a high level of resistance to fluoroquinolones, possibly due to the presence of a transition mutation (C to T) in the gyr A, resulting in the amino acid substitution Th82->IIe. A 2 month prospective study was conducted in 38 hospitals in 14 different European countries to get an overview of the phenotypic and genotypic features of C. difficile isolates in 2005. In all, 411 isolates of C. difficile were obtained from diarrhoeic patients with suspected C. difficile -associated diarrhoea (CDAD); the prevalence of the 027 epidemic strain was 6.2%. All 027 strains were positive for binary toxin genes, had an 18 bp deletion in tcdC gene and were resistant to erythromycin and moxifloxacin. Patients infected with an 027 strain were likely to have a more severe disease (OR=2.52, 95% CI 0.92-6.85, p=0.04) and to have been more specifically treated by metronidazole or vancomycin (OR=7.23, CI 0.99-149, p=0.02). Ongoing epidemiological surveillance of CDAD cases with periodic characterization of the strains is needed to detect clustering of cases in time and space and to monitor the emergence of a specific hypervirulent clone. Key words: Clostridium difficile, toxins A and B, hypervirulence, C. difficile-associated diarrhoe