On Intergenerational Transmission of Reading Habits in Italy: Is a Good Example the Best Sermon?

The intergenerational transmission of preference and attitudes has been less investigated in the literature than the intergenerational transmission of education and income. Using the Italian Time Use Survey (2002-2003) conducted by ISTAT, we analyse the intergenerational transmission of reading habits: are children more likely to allocate time to studying and reading when they observe their parents doing the same activity? The intergeneration transmission of attitudes towards studying and reading can be explained by both cultural and educational transmission from parents to children and by imitating behaviours. The latter channel is of particular interest, since it entails a direct influence parents may have on child’s preference formation through their role model, and it opens the scope for active policies aimed at promoting good parents’ behaviours. We follow two fundamental approaches to estimation: a “long run” model, consisting of OLS intergenerational type regressions for the reading habit, and “short run” household fixed effect models, where we aim at identifying the impact of the role model exerted by parents, exploiting different exposure of sibling to parents’ example within the same household. Our long run results show that children are more likely to read and study when they live with parents that are used to read. Mothers seem to be more important than fathers in this type of intergenerational transmission. Moreover, the short run analysis shows that there is an imitation effect: in the day of the survey children are more likely to read after they saw either the mother or the father reading.

Higher order corrections of the extended Chaplygin gas cosmology with varying GG and Λ\Lambda

In this paper, we study two different models of dark energy based on Chaplygin gas equation of state. The first model is the variable modified Chaplygin gas while the second one is the extended Chaplygin gas. Both models are considered in the framework of higher order $f(R)$ modified gravity. We also consider the case of time varying gravitational constant $G$ and $\Lambda$ for both models. We investigate some cosmological parameters such as the Hubble, the deceleration and the equation of state parameters. Then we showed that the model that we considered, extended Chaplygin gas with time-dependent $G$ and $\Lambda$, is consistent with the observational data. Finally we conclude with the discussion of cosmological perturbations of our model.Comment: Perturbation analysis added, typos corrected, references adde

Energy-momentum for a charged nonsingular black hole solution with a nonlinear mass function

The energy-momentum of a new four-dimensional, charged, spherically symmetric and nonsingular black hole solution constructed in the context of general relativity coupled to a theory of nonlinear electrodynamics is investigated, whereby the nonlinear mass function is inspired by the probability density function of the continuous logistic distribution. The energy and momentum distributions are calculated by use of the Einstein, Landau-Lifshitz, Weinberg and M{\o}ller energy-momentum complexes. In all these prescriptions it is found that the energy distribution depends on the mass $M$ and the charge $q$ of the black hole, an additional parameter $\beta$ coming from the gravitational background considered, and on the radial coordinate $r$. Further, the Landau-Lifshitz and Weinberg prescriptions yield the same result for the energy, while in all the aforesaid prescriptions all the momenta vanish. We also focus on the study of the limiting behavior of the energy for different values of the radial coordinate, the parameter $\beta$, and the charge $q$. Finally, it is pointed out that for $r\rightarrow \infty$ and $q = 0$ all the energy-momentum complexes yield the same expression for the energy distribution as in the case of the Schwarzschild black hole solution.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures, two of the figures changed, Discussion modified accordingly, present version accepted for publication in AHE

Landslide damage assessment using the Support Analysis Framework (SAF): the 2009 landsliding event in Calabria (Italy)

In this paper, a simplified methodological approach is used to assess damage indices related to landslide phenomena that occurred in Calabria (Italy) between November 2008 and January 2009. This approach, which was designed for and applied to single landslides, uses the Support Analysis Framework (SAF), a procedure containing the elements that can be damaged by a landslide grouped in categories. In this paper, we test wide-ranging use of the SAF on a number of landslides, assessing landslide damage on a municipal scale to get a final estimate of the amount of damage caused by all of the landslides that occurred in a selected municipality. <br><br> Data regarding the damage caused by landslides were gathered from the press. Daily newspapers were systematically collected and elaborated to assess direct, indirect and intangible damage caused during the abovementioned period by a rainfall-triggered <i>landsliding event</i>. In the paper, regional- and provincial-scale results are described, and the methodological approach is briefly described. <br><br> The application of the proposed methodological approach to the 2009 landsliding event shows that the results can be used to summarise landslide damage from a complex event in order to better plan an intervention strategy at a regional, provincial or municipal scale. <br><br> The availability of newspaper data during the event and the speed of the proposed approach allow for rapid location of the damaged sectors during the event, which will continuously upgrade the regional damage framework. This can all be done almost in "real time". <br><br> For regional agencies, this framework can be a starting point to both manage the emergency and to acquire and interpret data giving a more detailed damage distribution so that a response can be organised. Moreover, based on the damage assessment, a characterisation of the landsliding event can also be carried out and used to describe the damage scenario occurring after each type of event

Intervista a Donata Degrassi

pp.258-26

Prediction of disease progression, treatment response and dropout in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

Drug development in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) has been characterised by unacceptably high failure rates. In addition to the poor sensitivity in forced expiratory volume in one second (FEV1), numerous causes are known to contribute to this phenomenon, which can be clustered into drug-, disease- and design-related factors. Here we present a model-based approach to describe disease progression, treatment response and dropout in clinical trials with COPD patients