A Tool for Programming Embarrassingly Task Parallel Applications on CoW and NoW

Embarrassingly parallel problems can be split in parts that are characterized by a really low (or sometime absent) exchange of information during their computation in parallel. As a consequence they can be effectively computed in parallel exploiting commodity hardware, hence without particularly sophisticated interconnection networks. Basically, this means Clusters, Networks of Workstations and Desktops as well as Computational Clouds. Despite the simplicity of this computational model, it can be exploited to compute a quite large range of problems. This paper describes JJPF, a tool for developing task parallel applications based on Java and Jini that showed to be an effective and efficient solution in environment like Clusters and Networks of Workstations and Desktops.Comment: 7 page

A macroscopic violation of no-signaling in time inequalities? How to test temporal entanglement with behavioral observables

In this paper we applied for the \ufb01rst time the no-signaling in time (NSIT) formalism discussed by Ko\ufb02er and Brukner (2013) to investigate temporal entanglement between binary human behavioral unconscious choices at t1 with binary random outcomes at t2. NSIT consists of a set of inequalities and represents mathematical conditions for macro-realism which require only two measurements in time. The analyses of three independent experiments show a strong violation of NSIT in two out of three of them, suggesting the hypothesis of a quantum-like temporal entanglement between human choices at t1 with binary random outcomes at t2. We discuss the potentialities of using NSIT to test temporal entanglement with behavioral measures

Comparable Estimates of Intergenerational Income Mobility in Italy

This paper examines the degree of intergenerational economic mobility in Italy. It adds to the growing number of international studies of the extent to which economic status is passed on across generations. On the basis of recent econometric innovations used in the literature, I am able to overcome some of the data limitations for Italy. I use the Historical Database of the Bank of Italy households survey, which contains information from 1977 to 2002. Retrospective information in the repeated cross-sections may be exploited by applying a two-sample two stage least squares estimation. I estimate the intergenerational income elasticity for Italy and find that mobility is limited. From an overall comparison, the evidence provided in this paper hints at Italy in the low-mobility group among advanced societies in the range of values characterising the US and the UK. The analysis of the results allows a characterization of interesting descriptive features in the transmission of economic status in Italy.Intergenerational income mobility; two-sample two-stage least squares; mobility patterns.

Dynamic Seigniorage Models Revisited. Should Fiscal Flexibility and Conservative Central Bankers Go Together?

This paper presents a dynamic seigniorage model where excessive debt levels persist in steady state, causing a permanent inflation bias. Discretionary monetary responses to shocks are too interventionist because they do not take into account the role of debt policy, which spreads part of the adjustment onto future periods. Institutional design should contemplate the appointment of weight-conservative central bankers. The central bank preferences should be more conservative the more the government is willing to delay the adjustment of expenditures following a supply shock. The combination of fiscal intervention and a zero inflation rule describes how members of a monetary union might react to asymmetric shocks. The costs of this regime are negligible if the discount factor is small and seigniorage losses are limited.

Revisiting Public Debt and Inflation: Fiscal Implications of an Independent Central Banker

The mainstream literature on monetary policy games under output persistence posits that: a) monetary regimes do not affect real variables in the steady state; b) optimal institutional design should entirely remove the inflation bias. We show that neither result necessarily holds if output persistence originates from debt dynamics and distortionary taxation. First, monetary delegation induces a strategic use of debt policy affecting steady-state distortions. Second, the reduction of such distortions may require monetary institutions that tolerate an inflation rate above the socially optimal level.

An empirical investigation of the relationship between inequality and growth

This paper studies the correlation between inequality, measured by the Gini coefficent of incomes, and the growth rate of per capita GDP in a panel of countries between the late 1950s and late 1990s. Inequality Granger causes growth with a negative coefficient, while growth Granger causes inequality with a positive sign. Quantitatively, the former effect appears much larger than the latter. Once I allow for the effect to differ between rich and poor countries interesting differences emerge. While lagged inequality appears positively correlated with growth in the subgroup of rich countries, in poor countries besides a negative and significant effect of lagged inequality on growth there is a negative and significant effect of lagged growth on inequalitygrowth; inequality; panel; GMM; Granger causality

Nanostructured target fabrication with metal and semiconductor nanoparticles

The development of ultra-intense high-energy (≫1 J) short (<1 ps) laser pulses in the last decade hasenabled the acceleration of high-energy short-pulse proton beams. A key parameter for enhancing theacceleration regime is the laser-to-target absorption, which heavily depends on the target structureand material. In this work, we present the realization of a nanostructured target with a sub-laserwavelength nano-layer in the front surface as a possible candidate for improving the absorption. Thenanostructuredfilm was realized by a simpler and cheaper method than using conventionallithographic techniques: A colloidal solution of metallic or semiconductor nanoparticles (NPs) wasproduced by laser ablation and, after a heating and sonication process, was spray-dried on the frontsurface of an aluminum target. The obtained nanostructuredfilm with a thickness of 1μm appears, atmorphological and chemical analysis, uniformly nanostructured and distributed on the target surfacewithout the presence of oxides or external contaminants. Finally, the size of the NPs can be tuned fromtens to hundreds of nanometers simply by varying the growth parameters (i.e., irradiation time,fluence, and laser beam energy