A ticket to ride: Education and migration from lagging areas

National policies may have heterogeneous effects at the regional level. When coming to programmes aimed at increasing human capital, worker mobility from poorer to richer regions can reduce the benefits of the policy for the former areas. We focus on Italy and estimate the impact of education on the probability of migrating from a lagging area to a leading one. Endogeneity is addressed by exploiting an increase in the minimum school-leaving age in an instrumental variable framework. We find that one additional year of education increases the probability to migrate by 1.7 percentage points (9% of the average migration rate).     

A crash-prediction model for road tunnels

Considerable research has been carried out into open roads to establish relationships between crashes and traffic flow, geometry of infrastructure and environmental factors, whereas crash-prediction models for road tunnels, have rarely been investigated. In addition different results have been sometimes obtained regarding the effects of traffic and geometry on crashes in road tunnels. However, most research has focused on tunnels where traffic and geometric conditions, as well as driving behaviour, differ from those in Italy. Thus, in this paper crash prediction-models that had not yet been proposed for Italian road tunnels have been developed. For the purpose, a 4-year monitoring period extending from 2006 to 2009 was considered. The tunnels investigated are single-tube ones with unidirectional traffic. The Bivariate Negative Binomial regression model, jointly applied to non-severe crashes (accidents involving material-damage only) and severe crashes (fatal and injury accidents only), was used to model the frequency of accident occurrence. The year effect on severe crashes was also analyzed by the Random Effects Binomial regression model and the Negative Multinomial regression model. Regression parameters were estimated by the Maximum Likelihood Method. The Cumulative Residual Method was used to test the adequacy of the regression model through the range of annual average daily traffic per lane. The candidate set of variables was: tunnel length (L), annual average daily traffic per lane (AADT_L), percentage of trucks (%Tr), number of lanes (N_L), and the presence of a sidewalk. Both for non-severe crashes and severe crashes, prediction-models showed that significant variables are: L, AADT_L, %Tr, and N_L. A significant year effect consisting in a systematic reduction of severe crashes over time was also detected. The analysis developed in this paper appears to be useful for many applications such as the estimation of accident reductions due to improvement in existing tunnels and/or to modifications of traffic control systems, as well as for the prediction of accidents when different tunnel design options are compared.     

Tetra-anionic porphyrin loading onto ZnO nanoneedles: A hybrid covalent/non covalent approach

A stepwise surface functionalization procedure, based on hybrid covalent and non-covalent approach is herein proposed to anchor tetra-anionic meso-tetrakis(4-sulfonatophenyl)porphyrin on ZnO nanorods. Carboxyalkylphosphonic acids have been proven effective to form stable self-assembled monolayers through the surface grafting of –PO₃H₂ headgroups. The exposed carboxylic functionalities are suitable for the successful grafting of cationic poly-l-lysine that drives, in water, the non-covalent anchoring of the anionic porphyrin. A stepwise surface characterization, provided by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, elucidates the multilayers deposition and surface composition after each process step, thus, giving interesting insights on the chemical speciation of the exposed functionalities. UV–vis spectroscopy confirms the role of ZnO morphology to increase the porphyrin loading onto the investigated surfaces. The proposed approach is effective to achieve deposition of anionic porphyrins on ZnO nanostructures and combines the robustness of covalent functionalization with the versatility and full reversibility of the non-covalent strategies.     

Thermal conductivity of ME771 glass-epoxy laminate from millikelvin temperatures to 4 K

Permaglas ME771 is a glass-epoxy laminate which is suitable for use at cryogenic temperatures. We have measured the thermal conductivity of a sample of this material between 64 mK and 4.2 K in the direction parallel to the reinforcing fibres, enabling us to make a comparison with the better known material G-10CR. The thermal conductivity follows the form that would be expected for such a material, and is similar to that of G-10CR, which has a similar (room temperature) tensile strength. We comment on some confusion that has arisen over the difference between G-10CR, a material specifically produced for cryogenic use, and G-10, the more common equivalent.     

A dynamic variational multiscale method for viscoelasticity using linear tetrahedral elements

In this article, we develop a dynamic version of the variational multiscale (D‐VMS) stabilization for nearly/fully incompressible solid dynamics simulations of viscoelastic materials. The constitutive models considered here are based on Prony series expansions, which are rather common in the practice of finite element simulations, especially in industrial/commercial applications. Our method is based on a mixed formulation, in which the momentum equation is complemented by a pressure equation in rate form. The unknown pressure, displacement, and velocity are approximated with piecewise linear, continuous finite element functions. To prevent spurious oscillations, the pressure equation is augmented with a stabilization operator specifically designed for viscoelastic problems, in that it depends on the viscoelastic dissipation. We demonstrate the robustness, stability, and accuracy properties of the proposed method with extensive numerical tests in the case of linear and finite deformations.     

Thermal conductivity measurements of pitch-bonded graphites at millikelvin temperatures: Finding a replacement for AGOT graphite

Pitch-bonded graphites are among the best known thermal insulators at sub-kelvin temperatures, but are very good conductors at higher temperatures. This makes them ideal for mechanical supports which must provide good thermal isolation at an operating temperature below 1 K, but must have good conductance at higher temperatures to aid in initially cooling down an instrument (a “passive heat switch”). One type of graphite, AGOT, has been known as having the lowest thermal conductivity below 1 K not only among graphites, but also compared with any other material. It is, however, no longer available. We have carried out thermal conductivity measurements at temperatures between 60 mK and 4 K on a proposed replacement, POCO AXM-5Q graphite, as well as a sample of AGOT graphite. Our measurements show that both graphites have a difference of about six orders of magnitude in conductivity between room temperature and 100 mK, but that AGOT graphite is not as good an insulator as previously believed. We conclude that AXM-5Q graphite is not only a suitable replacement for AGOT, but in fact is somewhat superior.     

Perceiving others’ personalities: Examining the dimensionality, assumed similarity to the self, and stability of perceiver effects.

In interpersonal perception, “perceiver effects” are tendencies of perceivers to see other people in a particular way. Two studies of naturalistic interactions examined perceiver effects for personality traits: seeing a typical other as sympathetic or quarrelsome, responsible or careless, and so forth. Several basic questions were addressed. First, are perceiver effects organized as a global evaluative halo, or do perceptions of different traits vary in distinct ways? Second, does assumed similarity (as evidenced by self-perceiver correlations) reflect broad evaluative consistency or trait-specific content? Third, are perceiver effects a manifestation of stable beliefs about the generalized other, or do they form in specific contexts as group-specific stereotypes? Findings indicated that perceiver effects were better described by a differentiated, multidimensional structure with both trait-specific content and a higher order global evaluation factor. Assumed similarity was at least partially attributable to trait-specific content, not just to broad evaluative similarity between self and others. Perceiver effects were correlated with gender and attachment style, but in newly formed groups, they became more stable over time, suggesting that they grew dynamically as group stereotypes. Implications for the interpretation of perceiver effects and for research on personality assessment and psychopathology are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Beta-1-integrin expression in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia: possible relationship with the stem cell antigen CD34

In the hemopoietic system, interactions between stem cells and components of the bone marrow microenvironment play a pivotal role in blood cell proliferation and differentiation. Among the adhesion molecules, the integrins of the beta 1-subfamily are known to direct cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions and evidence has been provided that CD34-positive stem cells bind either to the bone marrow stroma or to the extracellular matrix proteins through the beta 1-integrins. It seems that changes in their expression pattern or signalling function are likely to reflect disturbances at the hemopoietic bone marrow microenvironmental level. Any alteration of their biological functions makes them attractive candidates for playing decisive roles in the leukemic processes. In this view, beta 1-integrins have been recognized to mediate those cellular interactions and migrations that are important in the biology of leukemia. In this paper we review some aspects of the role played by beta 1-integrins, especially VLA-4 and VLA-5, in adult acute lymphoblastic leukemia in relation with the expression rate of the stem cell antigen CD34.     

A non-linear dynamic modelling approach for the characterization and error compensation in sampling oscilloscopes

A mathematical modelling approach is proposed for measurement-based characterization of non-linear dynamic sources of error in the vertical channel of a sampling oscilloscope. The proposed approach has been derived from a recently proposed modified Volterra series expansion which, under particular conditions, provides fast convergence and can be truncated to the first integral term. A possible characterization procedure, based on instrument testing under sinusoidal AC input signals with different frequencies and variable DC bias components, is described and used to evaluate the performances of a commercial oscilloscope. The waveforms obtained by using the identified model are compared with the experimental ones for model validation; successively the model is used for the error compensation of the memory effects.     

A Variable Resolution Video Codec for Low Bit-Rate Applications

Demand for interpersonal video and audio communication at bit rates available on basic and subprimary ISDN accesses is growing and it is expected that service implementation will require large numbers of low-cost high-quality equipment. This paper describes the concept and simulation results of a coding scheme of the hybrid (intraframe transform and temporal DPCM) type whose main feature is the possibility of regaining high resolution for slowly changing pictures. Methods for controlling the spatio/temporal resolutions and simulation results are given. A byproduct of the algorithm allows the reduction of the transmission buffer to negligible values.