cometadata/datacite-rtg-text-other-reclassification-records huggingface dataset:
Culture-specific Consumption Patterns of German and Ukrainian Wine Consumers
Creators: name: Rewerts, Astrid Lucie
name: Hanf, Jon Henrich
name: Wettstein, Nadine
name: Rewerts, Astrid Lucie
name: Hanf, Jon Henrich
name: Wettstein, Nadine
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: Means-End-Chain-Theory
subject: Soft-Laddering
subject: cross-cultural comparison
subject: wine consumers

description: By referring to Means-End-Chain-Theory, we identified personal values as the actual buying motive. Since these values vary according to the consumer’s cultural background, it is expected that culture-specific values lead to culture-specific consumption patterns. To verify this proposition, we conducted laddering-interviews using the example of wine in a German-Ukrainian comparison. As expected, consumers differ with respect to their purchasing motives.
Benchmarking database performance for genomic data
Creators: name: Khushi, Matloob
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Databases (cs.DB)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Genomic regions represent features such as gene annotations, transcription factor binding sites and epigenetic modifications. Performing various genomic operations such as identifying overlapping/non-overlapping regions or nearest gene annotations are common research needs. The data can be saved in a database system for easy management, however, there is no comprehensive database built-in algorithm at present to identify overlapping regions. Therefore I have developed a region-mapping (RegMap) SQL-based algorithm to perform genomic operations and have benchmarked the performance of different databases. Benchmarking identified that PostgreSQL extracts overlapping regions much faster than MySQL. Insertion and data uploads in PostgreSQL were also better, although general searching capability of both databases was almost equivalent. In addition, using the algorithm pair-wise, overlaps of >1000 datasets of transcription factor binding sites and histone marks, collected from previous publications, were reported and it was found that HNF4G significantly co-locates with cohesin subunit STAG1 (SA1).
Seasonal abundance, distribution and prey species of harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) in southern Vancouver Island waters
Creators: name: Hall, Anna Marie
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2009

description: Harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) occur year round in the waters of southern British Columbia, but little is known about their seasonal abundance, habitat use and food habits. A systematic vessel-based line transect survey was undertaken to quantitatively assess seasonal trends in harbour porpoise abundance and distribution within the Canadian waters of Juan de Fuca and Haro Straits (08 September 2001 to 31 August 2002). These data were supplemented with opportunistic counts (1995-1996, 1998-2001) and stomach contents from post-mortem stranded porpoise (1998-2001). The study area encompassed 805.3 km2 ; with a total transect length of 1838.4 km. Data collection was restricted to Beaufort 0 and 1 sea conditions, and abundance was estimated using DISTANCE 3.5 software. Encounter rates observed from April to October were significantly higher than from the rest of the year. Seasonal abundance estimates (corrected for visual radial distance estimation) ranged from a high of 673 porpoise from April-October (CV=20.5%, 95% CI 450 - 1006) and declined to 208 porpoise from November-March (CV=37.5%, 95% CI 101 - 429). Harbour porpoise were not uniformly distributed within the study area. Localized areas of high counts may represent critical porpoise habitats. A bimodal distribution of stranding frequency corresponded to the period of increased abundance. Ten adult and five immature harbour porpoise stomachs were examined (8 males and 7 females). Fish bones and otoliths were identified to species. Each stomach contained only a single species of piscine prey (n=5). No cephalopod beaks or eye lenses were present. Specimens from south Vancouver Island contained sand lance (Ammodyies hexapterus), with the one from the southeast coast containing Pacific hake (Merluccius productus), and the one from the southwest coast containing Pacific herring (Clupea pallasi).
Improved Estimation of Ranks for Learning Item Recommenders with Negative Sampling
Creators: name: Subbiah, Anushya
name: Rendle, Steffen
name: Aggarwal, Vikram
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Information Retrieval (cs.IR)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: In recommendation systems, there has been a growth in the number of recommendable items (# of movies, music, products). When the set of recommendable items is large, training and evaluation of item recommendation models becomes computationally expensive. To lower this cost, it has become common to sample negative items. However, the recommendation quality can suffer from biases introduced by traditional negative sampling mechanisms. In this work, we demonstrate the benefits from correcting the bias introduced by sampling of negatives. We first provide sampled batch version of the well-studied WARP and LambdaRank methods. Then, we present how these methods can benefit from improved ranking estimates. Finally, we evaluate the recommendation quality as a result of correcting rank estimates and demonstrate that WARP and LambdaRank can be learned efficiently with negative sampling and our proposed correction technique.
Greek meat supply response and price volatility in a rational expectations framework: A multivariate GARCH approach
Creators: name: Rezitis, Anthony N.
name: Stavropoulos, Konstantinos S.
name: Rezitis, Anthony N.
name: Stavropoulos, Konstantinos S.
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: meat supply
subject: price volatility
subject: rational expectations
subject: MGARCH.

description: This paper examines supply response models in a rational expectations framework for each one of the four major Greek meat markets, i.e. beef, broiler, lamb and pork. A multivariate GARCH model with Cholesky decomposition is used to incorporate price volatility into the rational expectations supply response model for each meat category and as a result the conditional covariance matrix remains positive definite without imposing any restrictions on the parameters. The empirical results confirm the existence of rational behaviour by meat producers in the four examined markets and indicate that price volatility is a major risk factor in Greek meat production while feed prices and veterinarian medicine prices are both important cost factors. Furthermore, the last Common Agricultural Policy reform is found to have a negative impact on the beef and lamb production in Greece.
Combining cluster and value chain approaches to analyze the competitiveness of fresh vegetables producers: case studies in Germany, Italy and Spain
Creators: name: Riedel, Bettina
name: Bokelmann, Wolfgang
name: Canavari, Maurizio
name: Riedel, Bettina
name: Bokelmann, Wolfgang
name: Canavari, Maurizio
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: fresh vegetables
subject: clusters
subject: global value chains
subject: knowledge
subject: competitiveness
subject: governance

description: European producers of fresh vegetables are under pressure to improve their performance in order to increase competitiveness. Innovative products and processes and competitive advantage can be gained by the creation and use of unique resources as an outcome of cooperation between producers and complementary actors in local clusters. However, locally clustered producers do not sell to open markets but instead need access to value chains governed by lead firms: the large European retail chains, which decide the rules and conditions of participation. The study claims the necessity to combine aspects from cluster theory with ideas from global value chain approach to discover elements in European fresh vegetable business that could enable local producers to gain competitive advantages in the global market. The study presents results from a multiple case-study analysis involving three different European fresh vegetable producing regions in Germany, Italy and Spain. In-depth interviews with practitioners from the respective fresh vegetables businesses revealed interesting changes in organization of business relationships in the European fresh vegetables sector.
Integrating extensive beef productions into the agro-food chain
Creators: name: Robles, Rita Robles
name: Robles, Rita Robles
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: Quality beef
subject: extensive production systems
subject: Delphi analysis.

description: Agricultural outputs are immersed in a context of change characterized by an evolution from the quantity to the quality, in consonance with consumer's demand. Among the different productions, beef has been one of the more affected goods, due to the confluence of different factors, such as: the high international competition, the existing surpluses in the European Union, food crisis, as EEB, and more recently, those aspects related to animal welfare and the environment. Integrating quality beef into the food chain, and particularly, the one coming from extensive breeding systems, evidence different aspects insufficiently well-known, both, from the point of view of the production as from the demand. This article, try to identify such factors in order to get a better integration of this kind of productions into the food chain, by applying Delphi Methodology, in order to summarize and present the information given by different actors, as farmers, consumers, policy makers, administrative institutions…Results, evidence a high consensus about the need to keep on working in the differentiation of the product as well as to improve the information and promotion of this product, being production costs or even the price, not so decisive in this case.
Quality beef schemes and consumer perception
Creators: name: Robles, Rita Robles
name: Vannini, Luigi
name: Alvarez, Roberto
name: Robles, Rita Robles
name: Vannini, Luigi
name: Alvarez, Roberto
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: Consumer behaviour
subject: quality beef
subject: quality schemes.

description: Meat quality is currently conditioned to the fulfilment of different requirements concerning food safety and other ethic and social aspects. Nevertheless, restrictions and other considerations going faster than the above mentioned aspects could be applied in order to gain a higher consumer’s satisfaction, that’s to say, a higher quality. On the other hand, many different studies point to the existence of important shifts that manifest the need to increase the knowledge about consumer’s preferences. This work analyzes different strategies used to increase beef quality, guarantying such quality with the presence of a particular distinctive or brand, at the same time that some aspects concerning consumer’s behaviour behind beef quality are manifested. Data coming from the statistical treatment of different interviews are complemented with the information supplied by other secondary information sources, in order to construct the theoretical model to identify the main strategies to perform in order to promote the consumption of this product.
Additional file 1 of Knowledge, attitudes and practices of faculty on mentorship: an exploratory interpretivist study at a sub-Saharan African medical school
Creators: name: Mubuuke, Aloysius G.
name: Scovia N. Mbalinda
name: Munabi, Ian G.
name: Kateete, David
name: Opoka, Robert B.
name: Kiguli, Sarah
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Medicine
subject: Science Policy
subject: 111714 Mental Health
subject: FOS: Health sciences

description: Additional file 1: Interview guide. This provides the details of the questions that were asked the participants during the individual interviews.
Ethnic identity and dietary habits among Hispanic immigrants in Spain
Creators: name: Romo, Rodrigo
name: Gil, Jose Maria
name: Romo, Rodrigo
name: Gil, Jose Maria
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: Ethnic identity
subject: Food habits
subject: Latin American immigrants
subject: Spain.

description: Immigration has become a new phenomenon in Spanish society during the last years. In 2007, immigrants represented around 10% of total population, with 35% coming from Latin-American countries. When immigrants arrive, they bring their own values and cultural symbols, which, essentially, are different from those of the indigenous population. As time goes through, two alternative processes are observed: 1) a gradual switch towards the Host Society values; or 2) a maintenance of their ethnical identity. Focussing in the Latin-American immigrants in Barcelona, the objective of this paper is twofold: 1) to measure their degree of ethnical identity; and 2) to analyse the relationship between food habits and their ethnical identity. Food habits refer here to the consumption of traditional meals from their country of origin. Face-to-face interviews with a representative sample of Latin American immigrants in the Metropolitan area of Barcelona are undertaken. First, socioeconomics characteristics of the sample are described. Second, the MEIM scale is used to measure their ethnical identity, which combines aspects from the social identity and personal development theories. Finally, a Multinomial Logit Model is estimated to identify the relationship between food habits and ethnical identity. Results indicate that the higher the level of ethnic identity and feeling of belonging, the greater the persistence of dietary habits from the country of origin.
INTEGRAL observations of AGN in the Galactic Plane
Creators: name: Soldi, S.
name: Beckmann, V.
name: Bassani, L.
name: Courvoisier, T. J. -L.
name: Landi, R.
name: Malizia, A.
name: Dean, A. J.
name: De Rosa, A.
name: Fabian, A. C.
name: Walter, R.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2005
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics (astro-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We present results on approximately one year of INTEGRAL observations of six AGN detected during the regular scans of the Galactic Plane. The sample is composed by five Seyfert 2 objects (MCG -05-23-16, NGC 4945, the Circinus galaxy, NGC 6300, ESO 103-G35) and the radio galaxy Centaurus A. The continuum emission of each of these sources is well represented by a highly absorbed (NH > 1e22 1/cm^2) power law, with average spectral index Gamma = 1.9 +/- 0.3. A high energy exponential cut-off at Ec ~ 50 keV is required to fit the spectrum of the Circinus galaxy, whereas a lower limit of 130 keV has been found for NGC 4945 and no cut-off has been detected for NGC 6300 in the energy range covered by these INTEGRAL data. The flux of Centaurus A was found to vary by a factor of ~ 2 in 10 months, showing a spectral change between the high and low state, which can be modelled equally well by a change in the absorption (NH from 17e22 to 33e22 1/cm^2) or by the presence of a cut-off at >~ 120 keV in the low state spectrum. A comparison with recently reprocessed BeppoSAX/PDS data shows a general agreement with INTEGRAL results. The high energy cut-off in the hard X-ray spectra appears to be a common but not universal characteristic of Seyfert 2 and to span a wide range of energies.
description: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&A
Evolution of Entanglement Entropy in One-Dimensional Systems
Creators: name: Calabrese, Pasquale
name: Cardy, John
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2005
Subjects: subject: Statistical Mechanics (cond-mat.stat-mech)
subject: Strongly Correlated Electrons (cond-mat.str-el)
subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the unitary time evolution of the entropy of entanglement of a one-dimensional system between the degrees of freedom in an interval of length l and its complement, starting from a pure state which is not an eigenstate of the hamiltonian. We use path integral methods of quantum field theory as well as explicit computations for the transverse Ising spin chain. In both cases, there is a maximum speed v of propagation of signals. In general the entanglement entropy increases linearly with time $t$ up to t=l/2v, after which it saturates at a value proportional to l, the coefficient depending on the initial state. This behavior may be understood as a consequence of causality.
description: 26 pages, 7 figures
Additional file 2 of Impact of prior antibiotics on infected pancreatic necrosis microbiology in ICU patients: a retrospective cohort study
Creators: name: Garret, Charlotte
name: Canet, Emmanuel
name: Corvec, Stéphane
name: Boutoille, David
name: Péron, Matthieu
name: Archambeaud, Isabelle
name: Thuaut, Aurélie Le
name: Jean-Baptiste Lascarrou
name: Douane, Frédéric
name: Lerhun, Marc
name: Regenet, Nicolas
name: Coron, Emmanuel
name: Reignier, Jean
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Space Science
subject: Medicine
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Biotechnology
subject: 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Science Policy
subject: 110309 Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: 60506 Virology

description: Additional file 2: Table S2. Microbiological culture results in 23 patients with infected pancreatic necrosis and multidrug-resistant (MDR) or extensively drug-resistant (XDR) bacteria in pancreatic samples.
Prediction of potential inhibitors for RNA-dependent RNA polymerase of SARS-CoV-2 using comprehensive drug repurposing and molecular docking approach
Creators: name: Parvez, Md. Sorwer Alam
name: Karim, Md. Adnan
name: Hasan, Mahmudul
name: Jaman, Jomana
name: Karim, Ziaul
name: Tahsin, Tohura
name: Hasan, Md. Nazmul
name: Hosen, Mohammad Jakir
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Biomolecules (q-bio.BM)
subject: FOS: Biological sciences

description: The pandemic prevalence of COVID-19 has become a very serious global health issue. Scientists all over the world have been heavily invested in the discovery of a drug to combat SARS-CoV-2. It has been found that RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase (RdRp) plays a crucial role in SARS-CoV-2 replication, and thus could be a potential drug target. Here, comprehensive computational approaches including drug repurposing and molecular docking were employed to predict an effective drug candidate targeting RdRp of SARS-CoV-2. This study revealed that Rifabutin, Rifapentine, Fidaxomicin, 7-methyl-guanosine-5'-triphosphate-5'-guanosine and Ivermectin have a potential inhibitory interaction with RdRp of SARS-CoV-2, and could be effective drugs for COVID-19. In addition, virtual screening of the compounds from ZINC database also allowed the prediction of two compounds (ZINC09128258 and ZINC 09883305) with pharmacophore features that interact effectively with RdRp of SARS-CoV-2; indicating their potentiality as effective inhibitors of the enzyme. Furthermore, ADME analysis along with analysis of toxicity was also investigated to check the pharmacokinetics and drug-likeness properties of the two compounds. Comparative structural analysis of protein-inhibitor complexes revealed that positions of the amino acid Y32, K47, Y122, Y129, H133, N138, D140, T141, S709 and N781 are crucial for drug surface hotspot in the RdRp of SARS-CoV-2.
description: 21 pages, 6 figures
Estimating Exoplanet Mass using Machine Learning on Incomplete Datasets
Creators: name: Lalande, Florian
name: Tasker, Elizabeth
name: Doya, Kenji
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2024
Subjects: subject: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
subject: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM)
subject: Machine Learning (cs.LG)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: The exoplanet archive is an incredible resource of information on the properties of discovered extrasolar planets, but statistical analysis has been limited by the number of missing values. One of the most informative bulk properties is planet mass, which is particularly challenging to measure with more than 70\% of discovered planets with no measured value. We compare the capabilities of five different machine learning algorithms that can utilize multidimensional incomplete datasets to estimate missing properties for imputing planet mass. The results are compared when using a partial subset of the archive with a complete set of six planet properties, and where all planet discoveries are leveraged in an incomplete set of six and eight planet properties. We find that imputation results improve with more data even when the additional data is incomplete, and allows a mass prediction for any planet regardless of which properties are known. Our favored algorithm is the newly developed $k$NN$\times$KDE, which can return a probability distribution for the imputed properties. The shape of this distribution can indicate the algorithm's level of confidence, and also inform on the underlying demographics of the exoplanet population. We demonstrate how the distributions can be interpreted with a series of examples for planets where the discovery was made with either the transit method, or radial velocity method. Finally, we test the generative capability of the $k$NN$\times$KDE to create a large synthetic population of planets based on the archive, and identify potential categories of planets from groups of properties in the multidimensional space. All codes are Open Source.
description: 30 pages, 14 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in the Open Journal of Astrophysics
Olive oils protected by the EU geographical indications: creation and distribution of the value-adding within supply chains
Creators: name: Roselli, Luigi
name: Casieri, Arturo
name: De Gennaro, Bernardo
name: Medicamento, Umberto
name: Roselli, Luigi
name: Casieri, Arturo
name: De Gennaro, Bernardo
name: Medicamento, Umberto
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: olive oil
subject: protected designation of origin
subject: supply chain
subject: value-chain.

description: The world olive oil market is characterized by a growing price competition on the supply side. Economy of scales and low production costs from both traditional and more recent producing Countries determine an increasing pressure on European Union (EU) olive farmers that suffer lower revenues. Product differentiation, driven by higher quality and consumer expectations, is one of the most powerful competitive strategies that EU farmers may adopt to face this challenge. Geographical indications established by the EU (PDO and PGI) can be successful marketing levers to ensure olive oil differentiation based on high quality standards and geographical origin of production. These EU quality certification schemes were designed to respond to consumer demand, to ensure intellectual property protection for the most qualifying products, and to provide farmers with a fair share of the added value. There is a wide literature about the PDOs’ economic and social impacts, but only few studies analyze their benefits and costs along the supply chain. By investigating the added value generation process within an Italian PDO olive-oil supply chain (“Terra di Bari” PDO), this work aims to evaluate the effectiveness of PDO certification schemes in improving farm’s profitability. The study was performed directly interviewing a sample of the most representative farmers, manufacturers and stakeholders of the PDO olive oil supply chain localized in the Province of Bari (Puglia, Italy).
A New S-S' Pair Creation Rate Expression Improving Upon Zener Curves for I-E Plots
Creators: name: Beckwith, A. W.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2004
Subjects: subject: Mathematical Physics (math-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences
subject: 81S99

description: To simplify phenomenology modeling used for charge density wave (CDW)transport, we apply a wavefunctional formulation of tunneling Hamiltonians to a physical transport problem characterized by a perturbed washboard potential. To do so, we consider tunneing between states that are wavefunctionals of a scalar quantum field. I-E curves that match Zener curves - used to fit data experimentally with wavefunctionals congruent with the false vacuum hypothesis. This has a very strong convergence with electron-positron pair production representations.The similarities in plot behavior of the current values after the threshold electric field values argue in favor of the Bardeen pinning gap paradigm proposed for quasi-one-dimensional metallic transport problems.
description: 22 pages,6 figures, and extensive editing of certain segments.Paper has been revised due to acceptance by World press scientific MPLB journal. This is word version of file which has been submitted to MPLBs editor for final proofing. Due for publication perhaps in mid spring to early summer 2006
A technique for natural gauge boson masses
Creators: name: Koch, Benjamin
name: Laporte, Cristobal
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th)
subject: General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc)
subject: High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: In this work, a novel mechanism for spontaneous symmetry breaking is presented. This mechanism avoids quadratic divergencies and is thus capable of addressing the hierarchy problem in gauge theories. Using the scale-dependent effective action $Γ_{k}$ minimally coupled to a gravitational sector, variational parameter setting is applied. This provides a mass and vacuum expectation value as a function of the constants arising in the low scale expansion of Newtons' and cosmological couplings. A comparison with experimental data, such as the Higgs mass, allows putting restrictions on these constants. With this generic approach one can compare with explicit candidates for an effective field theory of gravity. As an example, we use the asymptotic safety scenario, where we find restrictions on the matter content of the theory.
description: 20 pages, 3 figures, Accepted for publication in PRD
Additional file 3 of Impact of prior antibiotics on infected pancreatic necrosis microbiology in ICU patients: a retrospective cohort study
Creators: name: Garret, Charlotte
name: Canet, Emmanuel
name: Corvec, Stéphane
name: Boutoille, David
name: Péron, Matthieu
name: Archambeaud, Isabelle
name: Thuaut, Aurélie Le
name: Jean-Baptiste Lascarrou
name: Douane, Frédéric
name: Lerhun, Marc
name: Regenet, Nicolas
name: Coron, Emmanuel
name: Reignier, Jean
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Space Science
subject: Medicine
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Biotechnology
subject: 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Science Policy
subject: 110309 Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: 60506 Virology

description: Additional file 3: Table S3. Details of antibiotic therapy and microbiological results of pancreatic samples in 10 patients with extensively drug-resistant bacteria during their hospital stays for infected pancreatic necrosis.
BREAKING THE BOOM AND BUST: EXPLORING THIRTY YEARS OF DIVERSIFICATION IN WESTERN CANADA
Creators: name: Chambers, Edward J.
name: Ryan, Chris
name: Chambers, Edward J.
name: Ryan, Chris
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2009
Subjects: subject: Industrial Organization
subject: Labor and Human Capital
subject: Political Economy
subject: Public Economics
subject: Resource /Energy Economics and Policy
subject: Risk and Uncertainty
subject: Alberta
subject: Western Canada
subject: diversification
subject: "boom and bust"
subject: shift-share
subject: portfolio choice
subject: employment
subject: sector shift
subject: development
subject: policy
subject: policies
subject: economic history
subject: history
subject: retrospective
subject: location quotients

description: The topic of diversification has been studied extensively by academics and policy makers. The theory of diversification, dating back to the 1930s and the Great Depression, suggests that increasing the variety of industries in a region spreads the risk and reduces the likelihood that all industries will suffer a downturn at the same time. This serves to mitigate the boom and bust pattern often experienced by a heavy reliance on a limited number of industries, which in three of the four western provinces, means natural resource-based industries. This study examines diversification progress in the four western provinces over the last 30 years. The time span covers the greatest progress in trade liberalization policy in the nation’s history, and the evidence is clear that increased trade is an important contributor to economic diversification. Over the past three decades, Canada participated in the Tokyo (1973 to 1979), Uruguay (1986 to 1994) and Doha (beginning in 2001) Rounds of multilateral trade negotiations, and implemented the Free Trade Agreement with the United States in 1989 and the North American Free Trade Agreement in 1994. In addition to participating in international activities, provincial governments took important steps by reducing interprovincial trade barriers with the Agreement on Internal Trade in 1994 and the Alberta-BC Trade, Investment and Labour Mobility Agreement of 2006. The study uses labour force data to examine whether the four western provinces have become more diversified and concludes that Alberta has made the most progress, while acknowledging that Manitoba’s already-diversified economy leaves less potential for further progress in that province. The study also examines the actions taken by federal and provincial governments that contributed to increased diversification. Based on the results of the analysis it is possible to draw five key observations about diversification and how it can be encouraged.
Linear optics implementation of weak values in Hardy's paradox
Creators: name: Ahnert, S. E.
name: Payne, M. C.
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2004
Subjects: subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We propose an experimental setup for the implementation of weak measurements in the context of the gedankenexperiment known as Hardy's Paradox. As Aharonov et al. showed, these weak values form a language with which the paradox can be resolved. Our analysis shows that this language is indeed consistent and experimentally testable. It also reveals exactly how a combination of weak values can give rise to an apparently paradoxical result.
description: 4 pages, accepted by PRA
WESTERN CANADA’S EXPORTS: CAUSES AND IMPLICATIONS OF CHANGING COMPETITIVENESS IN KEY MARKETS
Creators: name: Mirus, Rolf
name: Ryan, Chris
name: Mirus, Rolf
name: Ryan, Chris
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2008
Subjects: subject: International Development
subject: International Relations/Trade
subject: Political Economy
subject: Public Economics
subject: Western Canada
subject: international trade
subject: trade
subject: competitiveness
subject: key markets
subject: NAFTA
subject: FTA
subject: free trade agreements
subject: imports
subject: exports
subject: United States
subject: Alberta
subject: Western provinces

description: This report surveys the export performance of Western Canadian goods producers for the period 1995 to 2007. During that period Canada’s GDP growth outpaced export growth, but Western Canada’s exports grew at a faster rate than Canada’s exports overall, resulting in increased weight of Western exports in Canada’s total. As well, Western Canada’s exports have shifted significantly towards the NAFTA markets of US and Mexico. The composition of products exported from the West and the individual provinces is shown in detail. Each province is found to have unique export strengths. During the observation period, B.C.’s exports were the most volatile and Manitoba’s the least, but overall the provincial economies of Alberta and Saskatchewan were the most volatile. The causes of volatility in export revenues can be traced to the natural resource nature of the exports: energy, forestry, and agricultural products, and minerals are all subject to price and exchange rate fluctuations. The report shows a particularly disappointing export performance for Western Canada’s producers in Asian markets, a fact which gives rise to concerns about the future in light of a slowing world economy. And had it not been for Alberta’s energy exports, Western Canada’s market share in the US would have decreased. One of the key implications of the report is the need to address the vulnerability of Western Canada’s exports to market erosion and continued volatility. To this end the report develops a method to identify priorities for trade negotiations with countries that represent significant markets for Western exporters. A number of these are currently providing preferential access to some of our biggest competitors in these markets through their own bilateral or regional free trade agreements. Recommendations thus follow on the most important trade agreements which Canada should pursue.
Open source tools for management and archiving of digital microscopy data to allow integration with patient pathology and treatment information
Creators: name: Khushi, Matloob
name: Edwards, Georgina
name: de Marcos, Diego Alonso
name: Carpenter, Jane E
name: Graham, J Dinny
name: Clarke, Christine L
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Image and Video Processing (eess.IV)
subject: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV)
subject: FOS: Electrical engineering, electronic engineering, information engineering
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: Virtual microscopy includes digitisation of histology slides and the use of computer technologies for complex investigation of diseases such as cancer. However, automated image analysis, or website publishing of such digital images, is hampered by their large file sizes. We have developed two Java based open source tools: Snapshot Creator and NDPI-Splitter. Snapshot Creator converts a portion of a large digital slide into a desired quality JPEG image. The image is linked to the patients clinical and treatment information in a customised open source cancer data management software (Caisis) in use at the Australian Breast Cancer Tissue Bank (ABCTB) and then published on the ABCTB website www.abctb.org.au using Deep Zoom open source technology. Using the ABCTB online search engine, digital images can be searched by defining various criteria such as cancer type, or biomarkers expressed. NDPI-Splitter splits a large image file into smaller sections of TIFF images so that they can be easily analysed by image analysis software such as Metamorph or Matlab. NDPI-Splitter also has the capacity to filter out empty images. Snapshot Creator and NDPI-Splitter are novel open source Java tools. They convert digital slides into files of smaller size for further processing. In conjunction with other open source tools such as Deep Zoom and Caisis, this suite of tools is used for the management and archiving of digital microscopy images, enabling digitised images to be explored and zoomed online. Our online image repository also has the capacity to be used as a teaching resource. These tools also enable large files to be sectioned for image analysis.
ALBERTA’S EXPORT EXPERIENCE UNDER FREE TRADE AGREEMENTS: 1988 - 2007
Creators: name: Mirus, Rolf
name: Tanerguclu, Hande
name: Mirus, Rolf
name: Tanerguclu, Hande
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2008
Subjects: subject: International Relations/Trade
subject: Political Economy
subject: Public Economics
subject: Resource /Energy Economics and Policy
subject: Alberta
subject: NAFTA
subject: FTA
subject: free trade agreement
subject: free trade
subject: imports
subject: exports
subject: Mexico
subject: United States
subject: Israel
subject: Chile
subject: Costa Rica
subject: energy sector
subject: FDI
subject: investment

description: The international involvement of Alberta-based businesses covers trade in goods, trade in services, and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), both inward and outward. Increasingly FDI is linked to trade in goods and services. Indeed, the export of services like consulting or construction engineering tends to involve the setting up of supporting facilities abroad (outward FDI), and exports of goods frequently necessitate the provision of maintenance services in their wake, either across the border or through an office abroad. Data on outward FDI by Alberta-based firms are not available, nor are data on exports of services by province of origin. Therefore an analysis of what has been happening to Alberta’s international commercial relations is of necessity limited to merchandise trade. This report focuses on the export performance of Alberta since the entry into force of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 1989, the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, and free trade agreements with Chile, Israel and Costa Rica in 1997, 1997 and 2002, respectively. These agreements were negotiated to improve the market access for Canadian producers, and it is the purpose of this report to pursue the extent to which these trade agreements have achieved their objective for Alberta-based exporters. Exports are valued in Canadian dollars unless stated otherwise and are classified using the Harmonized System (HS), the internationally standardized product categorization developed by the World Customs Organization (WCO). The data sources are the World Trade Atlas, compiled by Global Trade Information Services Inc., the Trade Information Enquiry Retrieval System (TIERS) of Statistics Canada, and Statistics Canada’s population and employment figures. As many Alberta firms are participants in supply chains that cross international borders, exports of goods may well contain imported components. It is not possible to determine where the constituent components of an export are source because data are based on customs forms that capture only the total value of the shipment. For that reason, this report focuses on the value of total merchandise exports from Alberta. It gives a partial, but given the data constraints, the best possible picture of the international activities of Alberta-based companies.
Marine mammals and human health in the Eastern Bering Sea : using an ecosystem-based food web model to track PCBs
Creators: name: Coombs, Andrea Pauline.
Publisher: name: University of British Columbia
Year: 2009

description: The comprehensive changes that have occurred in the Bering Sea over the last 30 years have prompted a wide range of studies to better understand the ecosystem as a whole. One set of studies has used the Ecopath with Ecosim (EwE) modelling software to synthesise existing biological data and gain insight into how the ecosystem was before and after the system-wide changes. This modelling framework provides a means for tracing contaminants through the ecosystem, and evaluating the role that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) may have played in the changing dynamics of the eastern Bering Sea. Using the EwE software, the likely pathways of PCB flow within the eastern Bering Sea were identified and health implications of contaminant exposure for Steller sea lions, other species of marine mammals, and humans were evaluated. The base EwE model was refined from existing models and validated with traditional stock assessment data. Ecotracer (a component of the EwE software) tracked the bioaccumulation of contaminants moving through the system with biomass. The models estimated contaminant concentrations for species and functional groups that have not previously been measured. Results suggest that PCB concentrations for most species in the eastern Bering Sea have remained below threshold levels associated with negative reproduction and survival effects. However, these concentrations may have subtle effects on adults and more serious effects on foetuses and nursing young, which could inhibit the recovery of Steller sea lions and other species that have declined in the eastern Bering Sea. Although the benefits of traditional foods appear to continue to outweigh the risks posed by contaminants for humans, PCB exposure and dietary intake for many Alaska Natives subsisting on marine mammals is above the USEPA Daily Reference Dose. Results extend the existing eastern Bering Sea models and are important in terms of management alternatives for marine mammals and human health. They also synthesise evidence regarding the presence, extent, and movement of PCBs throughout the system. The refined eastern Bering Sea models are useful tools for exploring different scenarios and hypotheses, to inform resource managers, and to further our understanding of this ecosystem.
REFORM OF THE CANADIAN WHEAT BOARD: A “MADE IN CANADA” APPROACH TO MARKETING GRAIN
Creators: name: Pedde, Richard
name: Mirus, Rolf
name: Pedde, Richard
name: Mirus, Rolf
Publisher: name: Unknown
Year: 2008
Subjects: subject: Agribusiness
subject: Agricultural and Food Policy
subject: Crop Production/Industries
subject: Farm Management
subject: Industrial Organization
subject: International Relations/Trade
subject: Political Economy
subject: Public Economics
subject: wheat board
subject: canada
subject: agriculture
subject: grain
subject: marketing

description: The debate continues: whether or not single desk selling of Western Canadian grain provides the best return to producers. It is methodologically difficult to show that better returns may have been foregone in the past, yet the experience in Illinois suggests that, absent the CWB, farmers could also achieve worse results. While this battle – a battle that is in part ideological in nature – has been taking place, the world has moved forward and new services markets have evolved. There may indeed be $20 bills on the sidewalk that can be picked up by moving with the world – without, for the time being, abandoning the single desk. In this brief discussion paper we argue that the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) can improve its performance through increased recourse to specialized skills. As such, our proposal advocates further specialization of the process of marketing Western grains by out-sourcing functions which the present structure of the CWB is ill-equipped to perform itself. Our argument is to push the CWB further in the direction in which it has already ventured, for example, in some of its financial risk management practices.
Effect of Strain on Band Engineering in Gapped Graphene
Creators: name: Chnafa, Hasna
name: Mekkaoui, Miloud
name: Jellal, Ahmed
name: Bahaoui, Abdelhadi
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
subject: Quantum Physics (quant-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: We study the effect of strain on the band engineering in gapped graphene subject to external sources. By applying the Floquet theory, we determine the effective Hamiltonian of electron dressed by a linearly, circularly and an elliptically polarized dressing field in the presence of strain along armchair and zigzag directions. Our results show that the energy spectrum exhibits different symmetries and for the strainless case it takes an isotropic and anisotropic forms whatever the values of irradiation intensity, whereas it is linear as in the case of pristine graphene. It increases slowly when strain is applied along the armchair direction but rapidly for the zigzag case. Moreover, it is found that the renormalized band gap changes along different strain magnitudes and does not change for the polarization phase $θ$ compared to linear and circular polarizations where its values change oppositely.
description: 18 pages, 10 figures. Clarifications and references added
Additional file 1 of Impact of prior antibiotics on infected pancreatic necrosis microbiology in ICU patients: a retrospective cohort study
Creators: name: Garret, Charlotte
name: Canet, Emmanuel
name: Corvec, Stéphane
name: Boutoille, David
name: Péron, Matthieu
name: Archambeaud, Isabelle
name: Thuaut, Aurélie Le
name: Jean-Baptiste Lascarrou
name: Douane, Frédéric
name: Lerhun, Marc
name: Regenet, Nicolas
name: Coron, Emmanuel
name: Reignier, Jean
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Space Science
subject: Medicine
subject: Microbiology
subject: FOS: Biological sciences
subject: Biotechnology
subject: 59999 Environmental Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Earth and related environmental sciences
subject: 39999 Chemical Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: FOS: Chemical sciences
subject: Immunology
subject: FOS: Clinical medicine
subject: 69999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified
subject: Science Policy
subject: 110309 Infectious Diseases
subject: FOS: Health sciences
subject: 60506 Virology

description: Additional file 1: Table S1. Modified Marshall scoring system for organ dysfunction.
Measuring Dark Energy Clustering with CMB-Galaxy Correlations
Creators: name: Hu, Wayne
name: Scranton, Ryan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2004
Subjects: subject: Astrophysics (astro-ph)
subject: FOS: Physical sciences

description: The integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) as measured through its correlation with galaxies provides a unique opportunity to study the dynamics of the dark energy through its large scale clustering properties. Ultimately, a deep all-sky galaxy survey out to z~2 can make a 10sigma or ~10% measurement of the correlation and limit ~3% changes in the gravitational potential or total density fluctuation due to dark energy clustering on the Gpc scale. A canonical single scalar field or quintessence model predicts that these clustering effects will appear on the horizon scale with a strength that reflects the evolution of the dark energy density. In terms of a constant equation of state, this would allow tests of the quintessence prediction for models where |1+w| > 0.05.
description: 8 pages, 9 figures changes reflect PRD published version
Seeing Red: PPG Biometrics Using Smartphone Cameras
Creators: name: Lovisotto, Giulio
name: Turner, Henry
name: Eberz, Simon
name: Martinovic, Ivan
Publisher: name: arXiv
Year: 2020
Subjects: subject: Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (cs.CV)
subject: FOS: Computer and information sciences

description: In this paper, we propose a system that enables photoplethysmogram (PPG)-based authentication by using a smartphone camera. PPG signals are obtained by recording a video from the camera as users are resting their finger on top of the camera lens. The signals can be extracted based on subtle changes in the video that are due to changes in the light reflection properties of the skin as the blood flows through the finger. We collect a dataset of PPG measurements from a set of 15 users over the course of 6-11 sessions per user using an iPhone X for the measurements. We design an authentication pipeline that leverages the uniqueness of each individual's cardiovascular system, identifying a set of distinctive features from each heartbeat. We conduct a set of experiments to evaluate the recognition performance of the PPG biometric trait, including cross-session scenarios which have been disregarded in previous work. We found that when aggregating sufficient samples for the decision we achieve an EER as low as 8%, but that the performance greatly decreases in the cross-session scenario, with an average EER of 20%.
description: 8 pages, 15th IEEE Computer Society Workshop on Biometrics 2020