pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
The role of retailer's performance in optimal wholesale price discount policies

The main goal of this paper is to model the effects of wholesale price control on manufacturer’s profit, taking explicitly into account
the retailer’s sales motivation and performance. We consider a stylized distribution channel where a manufacturer sells a single kind of
good to a single retailer. Wholesale price discounts are assumed to increase the retailer’s motivation thus improving sales. We study the
manufacturer’s profit maximization problem as an optimal control model where the manufacturer’s control is the discount on wholesale
price and retailer’s motivation is one of the state variables. In particular in the paper we prove that an increasing discount policy is optimal
for the manufacturer when the retailer is not efficient while efficient retailers may require to decrease the trade discounts at the end of
the selling period. Computational experiments point out how the discount on wholesale price passed by the retailer to the market (passthrough)
influences the optimal profit of the manufacturer
Photon-axion conversion in intergalactic magnetic fields and cosmological consequences

Photon-axion conversion induced by intergalactic magnetic fields causes an apparent dimming of distant sources, notably of cosmic standard candles such as supernovae of type Ia (SNe Ia). We review the impact of this mechanism on the luminosity-redshift relation of SNe Ia, on the dispersion of quasar spectra, and on the spectrum of the cosmic microwave background. The original idea of explaining the apparent dimming of distant SNe Ia without cosmic acceleration is strongly constrained by these arguments. However, the cosmic equation of state extracted from the SN Ia luminosity-redshift relation remains sensitive to this mechanism. For example, it can mimic phantom energy
Photon detection with CMOS sensors for fast imaging

International audiencePixel detectors employed in high energy physics aim to detect single minimum ionizing particle with micrometric positioning resolution. Monolithic CMOS sensors succeed in this task thanks to a low equivalent noise charge per pixel of around 10 to 15 e-, and a pixel pitch varying from 10 to a few 10 s of microns. Additionally, due to the possibility for integration of some data treatment in the sensor itself, readout times of have been reached for 100 kilo-pixels sensors. These aspects of CMOS sensors are attractive for applications in photon imaging. For X-rays of a few keV, the efficiency is limited to a few % due to the thin sensitive volume. For visible photons, the back-thinned version of CMOS sensor is sensitive to low intensity sources, of a few hundred photons. When a back-thinned CMOS sensor is combined with a photo-cathode, a new hybrid detector results (EBCMOS) and operates as a fast single photon imager. The first EBCMOS was produced in 2007 and demonstrated single photon counting with low dark current capability in laboratory conditions. It has been compared, in two different biological laboratories, with existing CCD-based 2D cameras for fluorescence microscopy. The current EBCMOS sensitivity and frame rate is comparable to existing EMCCDs. On-going developments aim at increasing this frame rate by, at least, an order of magnitude. We report in conclusion, the first test of a new CMOS sensor, LUCY, which reaches 1000 frames per seco
Population genetic diversity of the NAT2 gene supports a role of acetylation in human adaptation to farming in Central Asia.

The arylamine N-acetyltransferase 2 (NAT2) enzyme detoxifies a wide spectrum of naturally occurring xenobiotics including carcinogens and drugs. Variation at the NAT2 gene has been linked to the human acetylation capacity, either 'slow' or 'fast', which modifies susceptibility to cancer and adverse drug reactions. We investigated the possible influence of natural selection in shaping the acetylation phenotype and the NAT2 gene variability in six Central Asian populations, who are either long-term sedentary agriculturalists (two Tajik populations), recent sedentary agriculturalists (Kazakhs, Uzbeks) or nomad pastoralists (two Kirghiz populations). To this end, we sequenced the entire NAT2 coding exon, as well as genotyping nine intergenic SNPs covering a 200-kb region. Our results revealed that the two Tajik populations exhibited significantly higher proportions of slow acetylators than the nomadic populations. In addition, sequence-based neutrality tests yielded significantly positive values in Central Asian populations following an agriculturalist lifestyle, due to an excess of haplotypes at intermediate frequencies. Taken together, our data suggest that balancing selection, and/or directional selection on standing low-frequency alleles, have shaped NAT2 genetic diversity and the human acetylation phenotype in Central Asian agriculturalists. These results further support the hypothesis that a major transition in human lifestyle, such as the emergence of farming has dramatically changed human chemical environments and the selective pressures they imposed
Growth of (Sr,La)-(Ta,Ti)-O-N perovskite oxide and oxynitride films by radio frequency magnetron sputtering: Influence of the reactive atmosphere on the film structure

International audienceIn the search for new dielec. and ferroelec. compds., we were interested in the perovskite (Sr1-​xLax)​2(Ta1-​xTix)​2O7 solid soln. with ferroelec. end members Sr2Ta2O7 (TCurie=-​107 °C) and La2Ti2O7 (TCurie=1461 °C)​.  In order to achieve a Curie temp. close to room temp., the formulation with x=0.01 was chosen and synthesized as thin films by reactive radio-​frequency magnetron sputtering.  In oxygen rich plasma, a (Sr0.99La0.01)​2(Ta0.99Ti0.01)​2O7 film is deposited, characterized by a band-​gap Eg=4.75 eV and an (1 1 0) epitaxial growth on (0 0 1)​MgO substrate.  The use of nitrogen rich plasma allows to synthesize (Sr0.99La0.01)​(Ta0.99Ti0.01)​O2N oxynitride films, with band gap Eg∼2.10 eV and a polycryst., textured or epitaxial growth on (0 0 1)​MgO substrate.  Nitrogen-​substoichiometric oxynitride films with larger lattice cells are produced for low dinitrogen percentages in the sputtering plasma
The neuronal sources of EEG: Modeling of simultaneous scalp and intracerebral recordings in epilepsy.

International audienceIn many applications which make use of EEG to investigate brain functions, a central question is often to relate the recorded signals to the spatio-temporal organization of the underlying neuronal sources of activity. A modeling attempt to quantitatively investigate this imperfectly known relationship is reported. The proposed plausible model of EEG generation relies on an accurate representation of the neuronal sources of activity. It combines both an anatomically realistic description of the spatial features of the sources (convoluted dipole layer) and a physiologically relevant description of their temporal activities (coupled neuronal populations). The model was used in the particular context of epileptiform activity (interictal spikes) to interpret simultaneously generated scalp and intracerebral EEG. Its integrative properties allowed for the bridging between source-related parameters (spatial extent, location, synchronization) and the properties of resulting EEG signals (amplitude of spikes, amplitude gradient along intracerebral electrodes, topography over scalp electrodes). The sensitivity of both recording modalities to source-related parameters was also studied. The model confirmed that the cortical area involved in interictal spikes is rather large. Its relative location with respect to recording electrodes was found to strongly influence the properties of EEG signals as the source geometry is a critical parameter. The influence, on simulated signals, of the synchronization degree between neuronal populations within the epileptic source was also investigated. The model revealed that intracerebral EEG can reflect epileptic activities corresponding to weak synchronization between neuronal populations of the epileptic patch. These results, as well as the limitations of the model, are discussed
New observation strategies for the solar UV spectral irradiance

International audienceMany applications in space weather and in space situational awareness require continuous solar spectral irradiance measurements in the UV, and to a lesser degree in the visible band. Most space-borne solar radiometers are made out of two different parts: (i) a front filter that selects the passband and (ii) a detector that is usually based on silicon technology. Both are prone to degradation , which may be caused either by the degradation of the filter coating due to local deposition or to structural changes, or by the degradation of the silicon detector by solar radiative and energetic particle fluxes. In this study, we provide a theoretical analysis of the filter degradation that is caused by structural changes such as pinholes; contamination-induced degradation will not be considered. We then propose a new instrumental concept, which is expected to overcome, at least partially, these problems. We show how most of the solar UV spectrum can be reconstructed from the measurement of only five spectral bands. This instrumental concept outperforms present spectrometers in terms of degradation. This new concept in addition overcomes the need for silicon-based detectors, which are replaced by wide band gap material detectors. Front filters, which can contribute to in-flight degradation, therefore are not required, except for the extreme-UV (EUV) range. With a small weight and a low telemetry, this concept may also have applications in solar physics, in astrophysics and in planetology
Apposition of the topological sensitivity and linear sampling approaches to inverse scattering

International audienceThe focus of this study is the reconstruction of a penetrable obstacle in acoustic medium from the knowledge of incident time-harmonic waves and corresponding scattered fields. The problem is investigated by way of two competing approaches: the method of topological sensitivity and that of linear sampling, that have been successfully developed for a variety of physical settings (acoustic, electromagnetic, elastodynamic) as non-iterative tools for solving the inverse scattering problem. On adopting a particular scattering configuration -- plane waves impigning on a spherical obstacle -- that permits analytical treatment as the testing platform, a parallel is drawn between the two methods to evaluate their relative performance in reconstructing the obstacle from the scattered field data. For completeness, the comparison is made by considering a range of input parameters in terms of material properties of the scatterer, frequency of illuminating waves, and noise in the data
Highly efficient polarized polymer light-emitting diodes utilizing oriented 
films of beta-phase poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene)

Uniaxially oriented films of beta-phase poly(9,9-dioctylfluorene) (PFO) were realized by a friction-transfer technique followed by thermal annealing and vapor treatments. Absorption and photoluminescence (PL) spectra show the characteristics of beta-phase: an additional absorption peak at 433 nm and redshifted PL peaks compared with those of the usual nematic (N) phase. We fabricated polarized polymer light-emitting diodes utilizing oriented films of beta-phase PFO. Highly polarized beta-phase emission with an integrated polarization ratio of 51 was observed from the devices. The efficiency of the devices based on beta-phase reached 2.0 cd/A, which is two times higher than that based on N-phase
Gluonic transversity from lattice QCD

We present an exploratory study of the gluonic structure of the ϕ meson using lattice QCD (LQCD). This includes the first investigation of gluonic transversity via the leading moment of the twist-2 double-helicity-flip gluonic structure function Δ(χ,Q²). This structure function only exists for targets of spin J ≥ 1 and does not mix with quark distributions at leading twist, thereby providing a particularly clean probe of gluonic degrees of freedom. We also explore the gluonic analogue of the Soffer bound which relates the helicity flip and nonflip gluonic distributions, finding it to be saturated at the level of 80%. This work sets the stage for more complex LQCD studies of gluonic structure in the nucleon and in light nuclei where Δ(χ,Q²) is an “exotic glue” observable probing gluons in a nucleus not associated with individual nucleons.United States. Department of Energy (DE- SC0010495)United States. Department of Energy (DE-SC0011090
Associated Higgs-W-Boson production at hadron colliders: a fully exclusive QCD calculation at NNLO

We consider QCD radiative corrections to standard model Higgs-boson production in association with a W boson in hadron collisions. We present a fully exclusive calculation up to next-to-next-to-leading order (NNLO) in QCD perturbation theory. To perform this NNLO computation, we use a recently proposed version of the subtraction formalism. Our calculation includes finite-width effects, the leptonic decay of the W boson with its spin correlations, and the decay of the Higgs boson into a bb¯ pair. We present selected numerical results at the Tevatron and the LHC
The MtrAB two-component system controls antibiotic production in Streptomyces coelicolor A3(2)

MtrAB is a highly conserved two component system implicated in the regulation of cell division in the Actinobacteria. It coordinates DNA replication with cell division in the unicellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis and links antibiotic production to sporulation in the filamentous Streptomyces venezuelae. Chloramphenicol biosynthesis is directly regulated by MtrA in S. venezuelae and deletion of mtrB constitutively activates MtrA and results in constitutive over-production of chloramphenicol. Here we report that in Streptomyces coelicolor, MtrA binds to sites upstream of developmental genes and the genes encoding ActII-1, ActII-4 and RedZ, which are cluster situated regulators of the antibiotics actinorhodin (Act) and undecylprodigiosin (Red). Consistent with this, deletion of mtrB switches on production of Act, Red and streptorubin B, a product of the Red pathway. Thus, we propose that MtrA is a key regulator that links antibiotic production to development and it can be used to upregulate antibiotic production in distantly related streptomycetes
Evolution of polymer blend morphologies during extrusion in a flat die

The control of blend morphologies during process is of prime importance in order to predict the final properties of polymer blends. A coextrusion technique combined with static mixers was developed in order to smartly blend polymeric melts and to optimize the blend morphologies during the flow in static mixers [1]. The aim of this paper is to study the evolution of those blend morphologies during extrusion in a flat die. The effect of the viscosity ratio and the interfacial tension are also investigated. The experimental observations are confronted with numerical simulation results
Twinning and grain subdivision during dynamic deformation of a Mg AZ31 sheet alloy at room temperature

The microstructural evolution of an AZ31 rolled sheet during dynamic deformation at strain rates of ∼103 s−1 has been investigated by electron backscatter diffraction, X-ray and neutron diffraction. The influence of orientation on the predominant deformation mechanisms and on the recovery processes taking place during deformation has been systematically examined. The results have been compared with those corresponding to the same alloy tested quasi-statically under equivalent conditions. It has been found that strain rate enhances the activation of  extension twinning dramatically, while contraction and secondary twinning are not significantly influenced. The polarity of  extension twinning is even reversed in some grains under selected testing conditions. Significant grain subdivision by the formation of geometrically necessary boundaries (GNBs) takes place during both quasi-static and dynamic deformation of this AZ31 alloy. It is remarkable that GNBs of high misorientations form even at the highest strain rates. The phenomenon of recovery has been found to be orientation dependen
Limits on uranium and thorium bulk content in Gerda Phase I detectors

Internal contaminations of $^{238}$U, $^{235}$U and $^{232}$Th in the bulk of high purity germanium detectors are potential backgrounds for experiments searching for neutrinoless double beta decay of $^{76}$Ge. The data from Gerda Phase I have been analyzed for alpha events from the decay chain of these contaminations by looking for full decay chains and for time correlations between successive decays in the same detector. No candidate events for a full chain have been found. Upper limits on the activities in the range of a few nBq/kg for $^{226}$Ra, $^{227}$Ac and $^{228}$Th, the long-lived daughter nuclides of $^{238}$U, $^{235}$U and $^{232}$Th, respectively, have been derived. With these upper limits a background index in the energy region of interest from $^{226}$Ra and $^{228}$Th contamination is estimated which satisfies the prerequisites of a future ton scale germanium double beta decay experiment
In silico identification and experimental validation of amino acid motifs required for the Rho-of-plants GTPase-mediated activation of receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases

KEY MESSAGE: Several amino acid motifs required for Rop-dependent activity were found to form a common surface on RLCKVI_A kinases. This indicates a unique mechanism for Rho-type GTPase-mediated kinase activation in plants. Rho-of-plants (Rop) G-proteins are implicated in the regulation of various cellular processes,  including cell growth, cell polarity, hormonal and pathogen responses. Our knowledge about the signalling pathways downstream of Rops is continuously increasing. However, there are still substantial gaps in this knowledge. One reason for this is that these pathways are considerably different from those described for yeast and/or animal Rho-type GTPases. Among others, plants lack all Rho/Rac/Cdc42-activated kinase families. Only a small group of plant-specific receptor-like cytoplasmic kinases (RLCK VI_A) has been shown to exhibit Rop-binding-dependent in vitro activity. These kinases do not carry any known GTPase-binding motifs. Based on the sequence comparison of the Rop-activated RLCK VI_A and the closely related but constitutively active RLCK VI_B kinases, several distinguishing amino acid residues/motifs were identified. All but one of these were found to be required for the Rop-mediated regulation of the in vitro activity of two RLCK VI_A kinases. Structural modelling indicated that these motifs might form a common Rop-binding surface. Based on in silico data mining, kinases that have the identified Rop-binding motifs are present in Embryophyta but not in unicellular green algae. It can, therefore, be supposed that Rops recruited these plant-specific kinases for signalling at an early stage of land plant evolution
Mechanical actuator for biomimetic propulsion and the effect of the caudal fin elasticity on the swimming performance

This paper presents a mechanical actuator for the biomimetic propulsion of swimming devices and the experimental study of the effect of the caudal fin elasticity on the overall performance. The design of the proposed drive allows the DC motor to operate at constant speed, so all the power of the motor is spent only for the motion of the caudal fin. A prototype of the actuator, in which the caudal fin serves as a driving element, is manufactured and tested in both laboratory and natural conditions. The swimming speed, the thrust efficiency and the maneuverability are evaluated for caudal fins with different stiffness. The caudal fin whose rigidity varies relative to both vertical and horizontal cross-section, exhibits the best performance. The achieved results also confirm that the proposed actuator could be of great interest to applications in the field of underwater operation, ocean investigation and environmental protection
Preparation and physicochemical characterization of omeprazole:methyl-beta-cyclodextrin inclusion complex in solid state

Abstract  In this work, we illustrate the usefulness of cyclodextrins, namely, methyl-ß-cyclodextrin (MßCD), an amorphous, methylated derivative of the natural ß-cyclodextrin (ßCD), as a tool to form an inclusion complex with omeprazole (OME), a poorly water soluble drug. Solid binary systems between OME and MßCD were prepared experimentally in a stoichiometry 1:1 by different techniques (physical mixing, kneading, spray-drying and freeze-drying). Afterward these products were characterized by Fourier transformation-infrared spectroscopy (FTIR); X-ray diffractometry (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The results obtained suggest that spray-drying and freeze-drying methods yield a higher degree of amorphous entities suggesting the formation of inclusion complexes between OME and MßCD.http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10847-006-9200-
Convergence to separate variables solutions for a degenerate parabolic
  equation with gradient source

The large time behaviour of nonnegative solutions to a quasilinear degenerate
diffusion equation with a source term depending solely on the gradient is
investigated. After a suitable rescaling of time, convergence to a unique
profile is shown for global solutions. The proof relies on the half-relaxed
limits technique within the theory of viscosity solutions and on the
construction of suitable supersolutions and barrier functions to obtain optimal
temporal decay rates and boundary estimates. Blowup of weak solutions is also
studied
Phosphorus cluster production by laser ablation

Neutral and charged phosphorus clusters of a wide size range have been
produced by pulsed laser ablation (PLA) in vacuum at 532, 337, and 193 nm
ablating wavelengths and investigated by time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The
neutral P_n clusters are even-numbered with local abundance maxima at n = 10
and 14, while the cationic and anionic clusters are preferentially odd-numbered
with (P_7)+, (P_21)+, and (P_17)- being the most abundant ions. The dominance
of the magic clusters is more pronounced at 337-nm ablation that is explained
by efficient direct ejection of their building blocks under these conditions.
Nanocrystalline phosphorus films have been produced by PLA in ambient helium
gas
Nuclear matter response function with a central plus tensor Landau
  interaction

We present a method to obtain response functions in the random phase
approximation (RPA) based on a residual interaction described in terms of
Landau parameters with central plus tensor contributions. The response
functions keep the explicit momentum dependence of the RPA, in contrast with
the traditional Landau approximation. Results for symmetric nuclear matter and
pure neutron matter are presented using Landau parameters derived from
finite-range interactions, both phenomenological and microscopic. We study the
convergence of response functions as the number of Landau parameters is
increased
Path Integral Bosonization of Massive GNO Fermions

We show the quantum equivalence between certain symmetric space sine-Gordon models and the massive free fermions. In the massless limit, these fermions reduce to the free fermions introduced by Goddard, Nahm and Olive (GNO) in association with symmetric spaces $K/G$. A path integral formulation is given in terms of the Wess-Zumino-Witten action where the field variable $g$ takes value in the orthogonal, unitary, and symplectic representations of the group $G$ in the basis of the symmetric space. We show that, for example, such a path integral bosonization is possible when the symmetric spaces $K/G$ are $SU(N) the relation between massive GNO fermions and the nonabelian solitons, and explain the restriction imposed on the fermion mass matrix due to the integrability of the bosonic model