Individual attitudes towards immigrants: welfare-state determinants across countries

This paper analyzes welfare-state determinants of individual attitudes towards immigrants - within and across countries - and their interaction with labor-market drivers of preferences. We consider two different mechanisms through which a redistributive welfare system might adjust as a result of immigration. Under the first scenario, immigration has a larger impact on individuals at the top of the income distribution, while under the second one it is low-income individuals who are most affected through this channel. Individual attitudes are consistent with the first welfare-state scenario and with labor-market determinants of immigration attitudes. In countries where natives are on average more skilled than immigrants, individual income is negatively correlated with pro-immigration preferences, while individual skill is positively correlated with them. These relationships have the opposite signs in economies characterized by skilled migration (relative to the native population). Such results are confirmed when we exploit international differences in the characteristics of destination countries' welfare state

Do interest groups affect US immigration policy?

While anecdotal evidence suggests that interest groups play a key role in shaping immigration policy, there is no systematic empirical analysis of this issue. In this paper, we construct an industry-level dataset for the United States, by combining information on the number of temporary work visas with data on lobbying activity associated with immigration. We find robust evidence that both pro- and anti-immigration interest groups play a statistically significant and economically relevant role in shaping migration across sectors. Barriers to migration are lower in sectors in which business interest groups incur larger lobby expenditures and higher in sectors where labor unions are more important

Congestion models and weighted Bayesian potential games

Games associated to congestion situations a la Rosenthal (1973) have pure Nash equilibria. This result implicitly relies on the existence of a potential function. In this paper we will provide a characterization of potential games in terms of coordination games and dummy games. Secondly, we extend Rosenthal's congestion model to an incomplete information setting, and show that the related Bayesian games are potential games and therefore have pure Bayesian equilibria.Game Theory;game theory

Experimental study of vapor-cell magneto-optical traps for efficient trapping of radioactive atoms

We have studied magneto-optical traps (MOTs) for efficient on-line trapping of radioactive atoms. After discussing a model of the trapping process in a vapor cell and its efficiency, we present the results of detailed experimental studies on Rb MOTs. Three spherical cells of different sizes were used. These cells can be easily replaced, while keeping the rest of the apparatus unchanged: atomic sources, vacuum conditions, magnetic field gradients, sizes and power of the laser beams, detection system. By direct comparison, we find that the trapping efficiency only weakly depends on the MOT cell size. It is also found that the trapping efficiency of the MOT with the smallest cell, whose diameter is equal to the diameter of the trapping beams, is about 40% smaller than the efficiency of larger cells. Furthermore, we also demonstrate the importance of two factors: a long coated tube at the entrance of the MOT cell, used instead of a diaphragm; and the passivation with an alkali vapor of the coating on the cell walls, in order to minimize the losses of trappable atoms. These results guided us in the construction of an efficient large-diameter cell, which has been successfully employed for on-line trapping of Fr isotopes at INFN's national laboratories in Legnaro, Italy.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J.

Rinvenimenti di pesi da telaio in edifici rustici: il caso di Villadose (Rovigo)

The excavations by the “Università degli Studi”, Verona, under the scientific guidance of Prof. Giuliana M. Facchini, have brought to light a small room that is believed to have been used for the treatment of wool, given the nature of the loom weights recovered. It is not easy, on the basis of the specifics of the parts recovered, to form a hypothesis of the type of woolen yarn that was spun: probably it was material of average consistency, destined to satisfy the needs of personal/family consumption (rather than wholesale)

Optimal quantum tomography for states, measurements, and transformations

We present the first complete optimization of quantum tomography, for states, POVMs, and various classes of transformations, for arbitrary prior ensemble and arbitrary representation, giving corresponding feasible experimental schemes.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur

Anthropological and Cultural Features of a Skeletal Sample of Horsemen from the Medieval Necropolis of Vicenne-Campochiaro (Molise, Italy)

In the medieval necropolis of Vicenne (Italy) among 130 skeletons, thirteen horsemen, recognized on the basis of the contextual burials with horse, have been found. This rite, rarely found in Europe, recalls an Asian rite, attested from the Iron Age to the Age of Migration in nomadic Asian populations. Local and Germanic goods were also found. In order to study the anthropological composition of this population, some morphometrical skeletal features have been analyzed. Heterogeneity both in the horsemen and in the other males of the necropolis has been observed. Besides the multicultural context testified by archaeological data, a multiethnic society seems to emerge by the anthropological analysis. In these Italian territories, involved by migrations, Asian and Germanic population probably crossed with the local ones

222Rn concentration in the atmosphere in Milan and in the plain around

Radon measurements at ground level are a useful tool for the study on atmospheric stability or mixing conditions. Radon concentration in the atmosphere was measured in Milan over a continuous four-year period from 1996 to 1999. In the town area pollutants emitted during late evening and night hours by motor traffic as well as by industrial plants accumulate at low height concurring with radon accumulation in the Nocturnal Stable Layer. In years 1998-1999 radon measurements were taken in Landriano, an area located 30 km south of the town. In Lombard plain there are numerous huge plants, thermoelectric power stations burning by methane and carbon, oil refineries; moreover other plants are being carried out. With the aim to control the contribute of these plants to air pollution, it is important to know atmospheric stability and turbulence conditions. Landriano is only few kilometres from the thermoelectric power station in Tavazzano. In this paper the results of measuring campaigns as well as the comparison of radon concentrations between the two sites surveyed are reported. The general criteria of the measurements, the interpretative models of radon concentration in the atmosphere are discussed

La Fisica nel parco giochi fa bene anche al curriculum

Viene descritto un percorso didattico di fisica attraverso le attrazioni del parco di divertimenti di Mirabilandia (Ravenna). Viene in particolare illustrata un’esperienza di integrazione del percorso nel curriculum scolastico di fisica, condotta in una classe III di liceo scientifico, che ha avuto risultati positivi sull’apprendimento

External photoevaporation of protoplanetary discs in sparse stellar groups: the impact of dust growth

We estimate the mass loss rates of photoevaporative winds launched from the outer edge of protoplanetary discs impinged by an ambient radiation field. We focus on mild/moderate environments (the number of stars in the group/cluster is N ~ 50), and explore disc sizes ranging between 20 and 250 AU. We evaluate the steady-state structures of the photoevaporative winds by coupling temperature estimates obtained with a PDR code with 1D radial hydrodynamical equations. We also consider the impact of dust dragging and grain growth on the final mass loss rates. We find that these winds are much more significant than have been appreciated hitherto when grain growth is included in the modelling: in particular, mass loss rates > 1e-8 M_sun/yr are predicted even for modest background field strengths ( ~ 30 G_0) in the case of discs that extend to R > 150 AU. Grain growth significantly affects the final mass loss rates by reducing the average cross section at FUV wavelengths, and thus allowing a much more vigorous flow. The radial profiles of observable quantities (in particular surface density, temperature and velocity patterns) indicate that these winds have characteristic features that are now potentially observable with ALMA. In particular, such discs should have extended gaseous emission that is dust depleted in the outer regions, characterised by a non-Keplerian rotation curve, and with a radially increasing temperature gradient.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures and 1 table. Accepted for publication in MNRA