pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
Horizontal subduction zones, convergence velocity and the building of the Andes.

International audienceWe discuss the relationships between Andean shortening, plate velocities at the trench, and slab geometry beneath South America. Although some correlation exists between the convergence velocity and the westward motion of South America on the one hand, and the shortening of the continental plate on the other hand, plate kinematics neither gives a satisfactory explanation to the Andean segmentation in general, nor explains the development of the Bolivian orocline in Paleogene times. We discuss the Cenozoic history of horizontal slab segments below South America, arguing that they result from the subduction of oceanic plateaus whose effect is to switch the buoyancy of the young subducting plate to positive. We argue that the existence of horizontal slab segments, below the Central Andes during Eocene-Oligocene times, and below Peru and North-Central Chile since Pliocene, resulted (1) in the shortening of the continental plate interiors at a large distance from the trench, (2) in stronger interplate coupling and ultimately, (3) in a decrease of the trenchward velocity of the oceanic plate. Present-day horizontal slab segments may thus explain the diminution of the convergence velocity between the Nazca and South American plates since Late Miocene
The tropical brown alga Lobophora variegata as a bioindicator of mining contamination in the New Caledonia lagoon: a field transplantation study

International audiencePrevious field and laboratory studies have identified the alga Lobophora variegata as a good candidate for biomonitoring metal contamination in the New Caledonia lagoon which is subjected to intensive and extensive metal inputs from land-based mining activities. The aim of this work was to further assess the bioindicative potential of this species by investigating, in the field, its bioaccumulation capacity for local key contaminants, i.e. Ag, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni and Zn. Algae from clean and contaminated sites were cross-transplanted for a period of three months in order to determine the in situ uptake and depuration kinetics of the nine elements. Results indicate that algae transplanted to the contaminated site displayed a significant linear increase in concentration with time for Ag, As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn and Ni. In contrast, algae transplanted to the clean site did not show major depuration of these elements, except for Co. Overall, L. variegata showed a rapid temporal response in metal uptake, especially for the elements intensively released into the coastal environment of New Caledonia (viz., Co, Cr, Mn and Ni). This species appears therefore as an excellent bioindicator species of metal contamination in this area. Our results also provide background information necessary for using L. variegata under in situ experimental conditions so as to provide better quantitative information on ambient metal contamination levels. The wide distribution of L. variegata in tropical areas further enhances its potential as a bioindicator species of metal contamination in other tropical coastal environments
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
Nonlocal, noncommutative diagrammatics and the linked cluster Theorems

International audienceRecent developments in quantum chemistry, perturbative quantum field theory, statistical physics or stochastic differential equations require the introduction of new families of Feynman-type diagrams. These new families arise in various ways. In some generalizations of the classical diagrams, the notion of Feynman propagator is extended to generalized propagators connecting more than two vertices of the graphs. In some others (introduced in the present article), the diagrams, associated to noncommuting product of operators inherit from the noncommutativity of the products extra graphical properties. The purpose of the present article is to introduce a general way of dealing with such diagrams. We prove in particular a “universal” linked cluster theorem and introduce, in the process, a Feynman-type “diagrammatics” that allows to handle simultaneously nonlocal (Coulomb-type) interactions, the generalized diagrams arising from the study of interacting systems (such as the ones where the ground state is not the vacuum but e.g. a vacuum perturbed by a magnetic or electric field, by impurities...) or Wightman fields (that is, expectation values of products of interacting fields). Our diagrammatics seems to be the first attempt to encode in a unified algebraic framework such a wide variety of situations. In the process, we promote two ideas. First, Feynman-type diagrammatics belong mathematically to the theory of linear forms on combinatorial Hopf algebras. Second, linked cluster-type theorems rely ultimately on Möbius inversion on the partition lattice. The two theories should therefore be introduced and presented accordingly. Among others, our theorems encompass the usual versions of the theorem (although very different in nature, from Goldstone diagrams in solid state physics to Feynman diagrams in QFT or probabilistic Wick theorems)
Integrating the Central European Past into a Common Narrative: the mobilizations around the 'crimes of Communism' in the European Parliament

International audienceAfter the Cold War, a new constellation of actors entered transnational European assemblies. Their interpretation of European history, which was based on the equivalence of the two 'totalitarianisms', Stalinism and Nazism, directly challenged the prevailing Western European narrative constructed on the uniqueness of the Holocaust as the epitome of evil. This article focuses on the mobilizations of these memory entrepreneurs in the European Parliament in order to take into account the issue of agency in European memory politics. Drawing on a social and political analysis centered on institutionally embedded actors, a process-tracing analysis investigates the adoption of the furthest-reaching official expression of a 'totalitarian' interpretation of Communism to date: the Resolution on European Conscience and Totalitarianism from April 2009. This case study shows that the issue was put on the parliamentary agenda by a small group of Central and Eastern European politicians who had managed to 'learn the ropes' of effective advocacy in the Assembly. An official vision of Communism then emerged through intense negotiations structured by interwoven ideological and national lines of division. However, this narrative largely remains of regional, rather than pan-European, relevance. In the competition for the definition of 'Europe' and its values, the persistent diversity in the assessment of Communism gives evidence of the local rootedness of remembrance despite the pan-European ambitions of memory entrepreneurs
Multicriteria inventory classification using a genetic algorithm

Cataloged from PDF version of article.One of the application areas of genetic algorithms is parameter optimization. This paper addresses the problem of
optimizing a set of parameters that represent the weights of criteria, where the sum of all weights is 1. A chromosome
represents the values of the weights, possibly along with some cut-off points. A new crossover operation, called continuous
uniform crossover, is proposed, such that it produces valid chromosomes given that the parent chromosomes are valid. The
new crossover technique is applied to the problem of multicriteria inventory classification. The results are compared with
the classical inventory classification technique using the Analytical Hierarchy Process. @ 1998 Elsevier Science B.V
Annual cycle of humic substances in a temperate estuarine system affected by agricultural practices

International audienceAlthough widely studied for their chemical structures and properties (e.g., metal complexation, growth stimulation of planktonic species), humic substances (HS) have been very poorly quantified in fluvial and estuarine waters. In this monthly basis study, we determined HS concentrations (by Adsorptive Square Wave Cathodic Stripping Voltammetry) along the entire river-seawater gradient of the Penzé estuary (NW France), with the aim to characterize the export of these compounds. In this watershed where agricultural activities are predominant, manuring activities were identified as being the main source of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and HS. HS concentrations varied usually within a narrow range in fluvial waters, i.e., 1.8 ± 0.4 mgC L−1 (150 ± 40 μM), but increased significantly as the first flood of autumn occurred (>4 mgC L−1 in river and upper estuary). At this time, HS accounted for a very high proportion of DOC (>80%). As evidenced by the increasing contribution of HS to DOC, and by the increasing contribution of small colloidal HS species; this autumnal flood increase should be attributed to a greater retention and transformation of organic matter on soils over the hotter, drier, and lighter period preceding the first autumnal flood. In the mixing zone, HS displayed mostly conservative behaviour, although some removals were occasionally observed. Overall, our study suggests that preservation of HS could be relatively important during their transfer across macrotidal temperate estuaries, at least in systems affected by agricultural practices
Sequencing and counting with the multicost-regular constraint

International audienceThis paper introduces a global constraint encapsulating a regular constraint together with several cumulative costs. It is motivated in the context of personnel scheduling problems, where a schedule meets patterns and occurrence requirements which are intricately bound. The optimization problem underlying the multicost-regular constraint is NP-hard but it admits an efficient Lagrangian relaxation. Hence, we propose a filtering based on this relaxation. The expressiveness and the efficiency of this new constraint is experimented on personnel scheduling benchmark instances with standard work regulations. The comparative empirical results show how multicost-regular can significantly outperform a decomposed model with regular and global-cardinality constraints
Coverage dependent desorption dynamics of deuterium on Si(100) surfaces: Interpretation with a diffusion-promoted desorption model

We studied coverage dependence of time-of-flight (TOF) spectra of D2 molecules thermally desorbed from the D/Si(100) surface. The mean translational energies Et of desorbed D2 molecules were found to increase from 0.20±0.05 eV to 0.40±0.04 eV as the desorption coverage window was decreased from 1.0 MLD0.9 ML to 0.2 MLD0 ML, being consistent with the kinetics switch predicted in the interdimer mechanism. The measured TOF spectra were deconvoluted into 2H, 3H, and 4H components by a curve fitting method along the principle of detailed balance. As a result, it turned out that the desorption kinetics changes from the 4H to the 3H situation at high coverage above D = 0.9 ML, while the 2H desorption is dominant for a quite wide coverage region up to D = 0.8 ML. A dynamic desorption mechanism by which the desorption is promoted by D-atom diffusion to dangling bonds was proposed
Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators in the elderly: rationale and specific age-related considerations

Despite the increasingly high rate of implantation of cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) in elderly patients, data supporting their clinical and cost-effectiveness in this age stratum are ambiguous and contradictory. We comprehensively reviewed the state-of-the-art data regarding the applicability, safety, clinical- and cost-effectiveness of the ICD in elderly patients, and analysed which patients in this age stratum are more likely to get a survival benefit from this therapy. Although peri-procedural risk may be slightly higher in the elderly, this procedure is still relatively safe in this age group. In terms of correcting potentially life-threatening arrhythmias, the effectiveness of ICD therapy is comparable in older and younger individuals. However, the assumption of persistent ICD benefit in the elderly population is questionable, as any advantage of the device on arrhythmic death may be largely attenuated by a higher total non-arrhythmic mortality. While septuagenarians and octogenarians have higher annual all-cause mortality rates, ICD therapy may remain effective in highly selected patients at high risk of arrhythmic death and with minimum comorbidities despite advanced age. ICD intervention among the elderly, as a group, may not be cost-effective, but the procedure may reach cost-effectiveness in those expected to live >5-7 years after implantation. Biological age rather than chronological age per se should be the decisive factor in making a decision on ICD selection for survival benefit
Measurement and modelling of the turbulent boundary layer near the attachment line of a swept wing

This work is motivated by the need for low-order aerodynamic models to predict accurately the effect on profile drag of controlling attachment line transition. Head's entrainment method (1) , a rapid integral boundary layer technique used for design studies on swept wings, suffers from the governing swept-tapered turbulent integral boundary layer equations being ill-posed in the vicinity of the attachment line. This singularity has been treated using crude extrapolations of the attachment-line similarity solution for over half a century, but this approach is unlikely to deliver accurate predictions of the effect of changes in the attachment line flow on profile drag. An experimental study has been carried out to explore the nature of the turbulent flow in the vicinity of a highly swept swept attachment line and has revealed a quite complex, non-monotonic development of the momentum thickness in this region. It has also revealed lower levels of twist in the boundary layer velocity profiles than anticipated from the highly curved character of the inviscid flow streamlines. These observations have prompted an alternative approach to the modelling of the flow in this region which not only successfully eliminates the lack of robustness in the swept-tapered equations but which also matches the experimental results to within ±5%
An inter-laboratory comparison of multi-enzyme and multiple substrate-induced respiration assays to assess method consistency in soil monitoring

peer-reviewedThe use of indicators in soil monitoring schemes to detect changes in soil quality is receiving increased attention, particularly the application of soil biological methods. However, to date, the ability to compare information from different laboratories applying soil microbiological techniques in broad-scale monitoring has rarely been taken into account. This study aimed to assess the consistency and repeatability of two techniques that are being evaluated for use as microbiological indicators of soil quality: multi-enzyme activity assay and multiple substrate-induced respiration (MSIR). Data were tested for intrinsic (within-assay plate) variation, inter-laboratory repeatability (geometric mean regression and correlation coefficient) and land-use discrimination (principal components analysis). Intrinsic variation was large for both assays suggesting that high replicate numbers are required. Inter-laboratory repeatability showed diverging patterns for the enzyme assay and MSIR. Discrimination of soils was significant for both techniques with relatively consistent patterns; however, combined laboratory discrimination analyses for each technique showed inconsistent correspondence between the laboratories. These issues could be addressed through the adoption of reliable analytical standards for biological methods along with adequate replication. However, until the former is addressed, dispersed analyses are not currently advisable for monitoring schemes.UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra
Portable extraction of partially structured facts from the web

A novel fact extraction task is defined to fill a gap between current information retrieval and information extraction technologies. It is shown that it is possible to extract useful partially structured facts about different kinds of entities in a broad domain, i.e. all kinds of places depicted in tourist images. Importantly the approach does not rely on existing linguistic resources (gazetteers, taggers, parsers, etc.) and it ported easily and cheaply between two very different languages (English and Latvian). Previous fact extraction from the web has focused on the extraction of structured data, e.g. (Building-LocatedIn-Town). In contrast we extract richer and more interesting facts, such as a fact explaining why a building was built. Enough structure is maintained to facilitate subsequent processing of the information. For example, this partial structure enables straightforward template-based text generation. We report positive results for the correctness and interest of English and Latvian facts and for the utility of the extracted facts in enhancing image captions
Membrane transport proteins in human melanoma: associations with tumour aggressiveness and metastasis

BACKGROUND: Malignant melanoma, generally described as incurable, is notoriously refractory to chemotherapy. The mechanisms contributing to this have not yet been defined and the contributions of drug efflux pumps, implicated in chemo-resistance of many other cancer types, have not been extensively investigated in melanoma.\ud
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METHODS: In this study, expression of multi-drug resistant (MDR1/P-gp and MRP-1) proteins was examined, by immunohistochemistry, in archival specimens from 134 melanoma patients. This included 92 primary tumours and 42 metastases.\ud
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RESULTS: On assessing all specimens, MRP-1 and MDR1/P-gp expression was found to be common, with the majority (81%) of melanomas expressing at least one of these efflux pumps. Although there is significant association between expression of these pumps (P=0.007), MRP-1 was found to be the predominant (67% of cases) form detected. chi(2) analysis showed significant associations between expression of MRP-1 and/or MDR1/P-gp and the aggressive nature of this disease specifically increased Breslow's depth, Clark's level and spread to lymph nodes. This association with aggressiveness and spread is further supported by the observation that a significantly higher percentage of metastases, than primary tumours, express MRP-1 (91% vs 57%; P<0.0001) and MDR1/P-gp (74% vs 50%; P=0.010).\ud
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CONCLUSION: The predominant expression of these pumps and, in particular, MRP-1 suggests that they may be important contributors to the inherent aggressive and resistant nature of malignant melanoma
Software engineering support activities for very small entities

The emerging ISO/IEC 29110 standard Lifecycle profiles for Very Small Entities has at its core a Management and Engineering Guides which is targeted at very small entity (enterprise, organization, department or project) having up to 25 people, to assist them unlock the potential benefits of using standards which are specifically designed to address there needs. The developers of the standard, ISO/IEC JCT1/SC7 Working Group 24 (WG24), recommend the use of pilot projects as a mean to trial the adoption of the new International standard in small organisations. Accordingly an ISO/IEC 29110 pilot project has been established between the Software Engineering group of Brest University and a 14 person company with the aim of establishing an engineering discipline for a new web-based project. This paper details the lessons learned from the pilot project and based on our experiences with using ISO/IEC 29110 we identify a potential deficiency and accordingly propose new process area, “Infrastructure and Support” for include in the future evolution of ISO/IEC 29110 Process Profiles
Analysis of the efﬁciency of the Iberian power futures market.

Market efficiency is analysed for the Iberian Power Futures Market and other European Power Markets, as well as other fuel markets through evaluation of ex-post Forward Risk Premium. The equilibrium price from compulsory call auctions for distribution companies within the framework of the Iberian Power Futures Market is not optimal for remuneration purposes as it seems to be slightly upward biased. In the period considered (August 2006–July 2008), monthly futures contracts behave similarly to quarterly contracts. Average risk premia have been positive in power and natural gas markets but negative in oil and coal markets. Different hypotheses are tested regarding increasing volatility with maturity and regarding Forward Risk Premium variations (decreasing with variance of spot prices during delivery period and increasing with skewness of spot prices during delivery period). Enlarged data sets are recommended for stronger test results. Energy markets tend to show limited levels of market efficiency. Regarding the emerging Iberian Power Futures Market, price efficiency is improved with market development of all the coexistent forward contracting mechanisms and with further integration of European Regional Electricity Markets
Inequality of opportunity in Indian children: the case of immunization and nutrition

A child’s access to health care and minimum nutrition should not depend on circumstances such as caste, religion, gender, place of birth, or other parental characteristics, which are beyond the control of a child. This paper uses two rounds of Indian National Family Health Surveys and concepts of Inequality of Opportunity and Human Opportunity Indices to measure inequality arising out of unequal access to full immunization and minimum nutrition for Indian children. The results suggest overall high level of inequality of opportunity with substantial geographical variations. Changes in inequality of opportunity in the two services during 1992-93 to 2005-06 were mixed with some geographical regions outperforming others. The findings also call for substantial policy revisions if the goal of universal access to full immunization and minimum nutrition has to be achieved.
Burn threshold prediction for high efficiency deep grinding

Burn threshold diagrams are useful for the prediction of thermally induced grinding damage and were originally developed to describe the conventional shallow cut grinding regime. With the development of new high stock removal grinding processes such as High Efficiency Deep Grinding (HEDG), the prevention of thermal damage to the workpiece is of particular concern. The principle of HEDG is based around the change in thermal characteristics of the grinding process at high Peclet numbers, whereby less heat is partitioned to the workpiece. Conventional burn threshold diagrams are valid for Peclet numbers below 50, well below the values expected in HEDG. This study presents a modified approach to the construction of burn threshold diagrams which takes account of the change in thermal partitioning with Peclet number. The approach has been validated through grinding trials over a range of specific material removal rates