Adaptive Nonlinear Least Squares Framework for Contactless Vital Sign Monitoring

in IEEE Transactions on Microwave Theory and Techniques (2022)

ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЕ ПОСТАНОВЛЕНИЕ О СОХРАНЕНИИ СЧЕТОВ

in Herald of Civil Procedure (2022)

Европейский ордер на сохранение счетов (далее – ЕОСС), установленный Регламен- том ЕС 655/20141, представляет собой единую европейскую процедуру, которая позволяет кредиторам защитить будущее исполнение ... [more ▼]

Европейский ордер на сохранение счетов (далее – ЕОСС), установленный Регламен- том ЕС 655/20141, представляет собой единую европейскую процедуру, которая позволяет кредиторам защитить будущее исполнение своих требований, не позво- ляя их должнику снимать или переводить средства, хранящиеся на банковских счетах. Средство является защитной мерой. Оно замораживает средства, хра- нящиеся на целевых банковских счетах. Это не принудительная мера. Положение о ЕОСС не регулирует преобразование обеспечительной меры в меру перехода пра- ва собственности на денежные средства к кредитору в целях удовлетворения его требования. Это полностью оставлено на усмотрение национального законода- тельства. Это всего лишь третья единая процедура, установленная в Европейском союзе, после Европейского платежного поручения2 и Процедуры мелких претензий3. Другие принятые постановления ЕС в основном направлены на улучшение координации национальных процедур государств-членов, например, путем установления единых правил юрисдикции и выбора права и упрощения признания судебных реше- ний между государствами-членами1. Основная цель Регламента ЕОСС заключалась в разрешении трансграничного замораживания активов. Согласно действующему европейскому праву о юрисдикции и приведении в исполнение иностранных судеб- ных решений (так называемый Регламент Брюссель I bis)2 меры защиты, предо- ставляемые ex parte, т.е. без заслушивания ответчика, не подпадают под действие упрощенного режима исполнения иностранных судебных ЕОСС решений. Напро- тив, Регламент ЕОСС применяется только к трансграничным делам3 и, в част- ности, позволяет судам одного государства-члена выдавать в одностороннем порядке ЕОСС с сохранением банковского счета, открытого в другом государстве- члене. Эта статья построена следующим образом: раздел I объясняет происхо- ждение Регламента ЕОСС. Раздел II предлагает обзор его основных особенностей. Наконец, в разделе III обсуждается один избранный вопрос. [less ▲]

La qualité pour agir dans l’intérêt collectif

in Revue Critique de Jurisprudence Belge (2022)

Unveiling the relevance of traffic enforcement cameras on the severity of vehicle--pedestrian collisions in an urban environment with machine learning models

in Journal of Safety Research (2022)

Predicting Patch Correctness Based on the Similarity of Failing Test Cases

in ACM Transactions on Software Engineering and Methodology (2022)

Material Dependence and Kant’s Refutation of Idealism

in Topoi (2022)

The paper argues that in the Critique of Pure Reason Kant develops two anti-sceptical strategies. In the Fourth Paralogism (CPR A) he believes himself able to refute the sceptic by demonstrating that ... [more ▼]

The paper argues that in the Critique of Pure Reason Kant develops two anti-sceptical strategies. In the Fourth Paralogism (CPR A) he believes himself able to refute the sceptic by demonstrating that external perception is immediate. This strategy is rather unconvincing. In the Refutation of Idealism (CPR B) Kant promotes the material dependence of inner sense on outer sense. I show that Kant’s argument for material dependence has been widely overlooked, even though it is the strongest argument against external world scepticism he develops, since it anticipates mental content externalism while preserving transcendental idealism and empirical realism. [less ▲]

Greenhouse gas emission reduction in residential buildings: A lightweight model to be deployed on edge devices

in Journal of cleaner production (2022), 368

Keywords Greenhouse gas emission; Energy efficiency; Photovoltaics; Battery; Edge computing; Linear programming Electricity produced and used in the residential sector is responsible for approximately 30 ... [more ▼]

Keywords Greenhouse gas emission; Energy efficiency; Photovoltaics; Battery; Edge computing; Linear programming Electricity produced and used in the residential sector is responsible for approximately 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE). Insulating houses and integrating renewable energy and storage resources are key for reducing such emissions. However, it is not only a matter of installing renewable energy technologies but also of optimizing the charging/discharging of the storage units. A number of optimization models have been proposed lately to address this problem. However, they are often limited in several respects: (i) they often focus only on electricity bill reduction, placing GHGE reduction on the backburner; (ii) they rarely propose hybrid-energy storage optimization strategies considering thermal and storage heater units; (iii) they are often designed using Linear Programming (LP) or metaheuristic techniques that are computational intensive, hampering their deployment on edge devices; and (iv) they rarely evaluate how the model impacts on the battery lifespan. Given this state-of-affairs, the present article compares two approaches, the first one proposing an innovative sliding grid carbon intensity threshold algorithm developed as part of a European project named RED WoLF, the second one proposing an algorithm designed based on LP. The comparison analysis is carried out based on two distinct real-life scenarios in France and UK. Results show that both algorithms contribute to reduce GHGE compared to a solution without optimization logic (between 10 to 25%), with a slight advantage for the LP algorithm. However, RED WoLF makes it possible to reduce significantly the computational time ([almost equal to]25 min for LP against [almost equal to]1 ms for RED WoLF) and to extend the battery lifespan (4 years for LP against 12 years for RED WoLF). Author Affiliation: (a) Université de Lorraine, CNRS, CRAN, F-54000, France (b) Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust, University of Luxembourg, L-1359 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg (c) Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Rochester Institute of Technology, 81 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623, United States (d) School of Built Environment, Engineering and Computing, Leeds Beckett University, Leeds, LS1 3HE, UK * Corresponding author. Article History: Received 12 March 2022; Revised 3 June 2022; Accepted 8 July 2022 (miscellaneous) Handling Editor: Panos Seferlis Byline: Paul Ortiz [paul.ortiz@univ-lorraine.fr] (a,*), Sylvain Kubler [s.kubler@univ-lorraine.fr] (a,b), Éric Rondeau [eric.rondeau@univ-lorraine.fr] (a), Katie McConky [ktmeie@rit.edu] (c), Alexander Alexandrovich Shukhobodskiy [A.Shukhobodskiy@leedsbeckett.ac.uk] (d), Giuseppe Colantuono [G.Colantuono@leedsbeckett.ac.uk] (d), Jean-Philippe Georges [jean-philippe.georges@univ-lorraine.fr] (a) [less ▲]

Kerr and Faraday rotations in topological flat and dispersive band structures

in New Journal of Physics (2022), 24(6), 063003

Integer quantum Hall (IQH) states and quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) states show the same static dc response but distinct dynamical ac response. In particular, the ac anomalous Hall conductivity profile σ ... [more ▼]

Integer quantum Hall (IQH) states and quantum anomalous Hall (QAH) states show the same static dc response but distinct dynamical ac response. In particular, the ac anomalous Hall conductivity profile σ yx (ω) is sensitive to the band shape of QAH states. For example, dispersive QAH bands shows resonance profile without a sign change at the band gap while the IQH states shows the sign change resonance at the cyclotron energy. We argue by flattening the dispersive QAH bands, σ yx (ω) should recover to that of flat Landau bands in IQH, thus it is necessary to know the origin of the sign change. Taking a topological lattice model with tunable bandwidth, we found that the origin of the sign change is not the band gap but the van Hove singularity energy of the QAH bands. In the limit of small bandwidth, the flat QAH bands recovers σ yx (ω) of the IQH Landau bands. Because of the Hall response, these topological bands exhibit giant polarization rotation and ellipticity in the reflected waves (Kerr effect) and rotation in the order of fine structure constant in the transmitted waves (Faraday effect) with profile resembles σ yx (ω). Our results serve as a simple guide to optical characterization for topological flat bands. [less ▲]

Real-Time Integrated Learning and Decision Making for Cumulative Shock Degradation

in Manufacturing and Service Operations Management (2022), 25(1), 235-253

Cooperative Hybrid Networks with Active Relays and RISs for B5G: Applications, Challenges, and Research Directions

in IEEE Wireless Communications (2022)

The Pandemic Worsens Europe’s Housing Problems

in Current History (2022), 121(833), 83-89

Housing is a flash point in many European countries, with protests erupting and citizens voting to wrench properties from big investors. Inequality is driving the explosive debate, as households across ... [more ▼]

Housing is a flash point in many European countries, with protests erupting and citizens voting to wrench properties from big investors. Inequality is driving the explosive debate, as households across the income distribution face very different kinds of challenges and opportunities in today’s unequal housing markets. The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the risks and rewards already present across different subgroups. This housing-generated inequality creates a conundrum for governments that must balance the interests of competing constituencies with complex housing markets, and points to fundamental questions about how to order society. [less ▲]

The story of a bank through the architecture of its headquarters

in Bulletin - Finance and Photography (2022), 2

On the algebraic immunity of direct sum constructions

in Discrete Applied Mathematics (2022), 320

In this paper, we study sufficient conditions to improve the lower bound on the algebraic immunity of a direct sum of Boolean functions. We exhibit three properties on the component functions such that ... [more ▼]

In this paper, we study sufficient conditions to improve the lower bound on the algebraic immunity of a direct sum of Boolean functions. We exhibit three properties on the component functions such that satisfying one of them is sufficient to ensure that the algebraic immunity of their direct sum exceeds the maximum of their algebraic immunities. These properties can be checked while computing the algebraic immunity and they allow to determine better the security provided by functions central in different cryptographic constructions such as stream ciphers, pseudorandom generators, and weak pseudorandom functions. We provide examples for each property and determine the exact algebraic immunity of candidate constructions. [less ▲]

Channel Estimation for UAV Communication Systems Using Deep Neural Networks

in Drones (2022)

Channel modeling of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from wireless communications has gained great interest for rapid deployment in wireless communication. The UAV channel has its own distinctive ... [more ▼]

Channel modeling of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) from wireless communications has gained great interest for rapid deployment in wireless communication. The UAV channel has its own distinctive characteristics compared to satellite and cellular networks. Many proposed techniques consider and formulate the channel modeling of UAVs as a classification problem, where the key is to extract the discriminative features of the UAV wireless signal. For this issue, we propose a framework of multiple Gaussian–Bernoulli restricted Boltzmann machines (GBRBM) for dimension reduction and pre-training utilization incorporated with an autoencoder-based deep neural network. The developed system used UAV measurements of a town’s already existing commercial cellular network for training and validation. To evaluate the proposed approach, we run ray-tracing simulations in the program Remcom Wireless InSite at a distinct frequency of 28 GHz and used them for training and validation. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is accurate in channel acquisition for various UAV flying scenarios and outperforms the conventional DNNs. [less ▲]

The effects of IMF programs on income inequality: a semi-parametric treatment effects approach

in International Journal of Development Issues (2022)

Purpose This paper aims to provide new insights regarding the impact of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs on income inequality. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a novel methodological ... [more ▼]

Purpose This paper aims to provide new insights regarding the impact of International Monetary Fund (IMF) programs on income inequality. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a novel methodological approach proposed by Acemoglu et al. (2019), using (1) the regression adjustment, (2) the inverse probability weighting and (3) the doubly robust estimator, which combines (1) and (2), and a sample of annual data for 135 developing countries over the time period 1970 to 2015. Findings The findings show that IMF programs are associated with greater income inequality for up to five years. By differentiating the effect of IMF programs, the authors find that only IMF non-concessional programs have a significant detrimental effect on income inequality, while IMF concessional programs do not have a consistent effect on income inequality. In addition, the authors find that only IMF programs with a higher number of conditions have a detrimental and statistically significant effect on income inequality, compared to IMF programs with a smaller number of conditions, where their effect on income inequality is found to be insignificant. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the analysis developed in this paper contributes to the existing literature by applying the most methodologically sound identification strategy, which does not rely on the linearity assumption, the selection of instruments or matching variables and additionally takes into account the selection bias related to IMF program participation. [less ▲]

Review - Cristina Ferreira, Ludovic Maugué, Sandrine Maulini, L’homme-bus : une histoire des controverses psychiatriques (1960-1980)

in Crime, Histoire and Sociétés (2022), 26(1), 123-124

Le 10 janvier 1986, Martial Richoz est placé de force à l’hôpital psychiatrique de Cery, dans la banlieue de Lausanne. Ce jeune homme se promenait depuis plusieurs années avec un trolleybus en miniature ... [more ▼]

Le 10 janvier 1986, Martial Richoz est placé de force à l’hôpital psychiatrique de Cery, dans la banlieue de Lausanne. Ce jeune homme se promenait depuis plusieurs années avec un trolleybus en miniature dans les rues de sa ville, déguisé en chauffeur des transports lausannois. Son enfermement se transforme en affaire juridique, médiatique et politique. Ce moment est l’occasion pour Cristina Ferreira, Ludovic Maugué et Sandrine Maulini de retracer « une histoire des controverses psychiatriques... [less ▲]

A Complete Study of Two Classes of Boolean Functions: Direct Sums of Monomials and Threshold Functions

in IEEE Transactions on Information Theory (2022), 68(5), 3404--3425

In this paper, we make a comprehensive study of two classes of Boolean functions whose interest originally comes from hybrid symmetric-FHE encryption (with stream ciphers like FiLIP), but which also ... [more ▼]

In this paper, we make a comprehensive study of two classes of Boolean functions whose interest originally comes from hybrid symmetric-FHE encryption (with stream ciphers like FiLIP), but which also present much interest for general stream ciphers. The functions in these two classes are cheap and easy to implement, and they allow the resistance to all classical attacks and to their guess and determine variants as well. We determine exactly all the main cryptographic parameters (algebraic degree, resiliency order, nonlinearity, algebraic immunity) for all functions in these two classes, and we give close bounds for the others (fast algebraic immunity, the dimension of the space of annihilators of minimal degree). This is the first time that this is done for all functions in large classes of cryptographic interest. [less ▲]

Real-time Monitoring and Early Warning Of Atrial Fibrillation

in Preprint (2022)

Gender, teaching style, classroom composition and alienation from learning: an exploratory study

in Educational Research (2022)

Defeasible Deontic Logic: Arguing about Permission and Obligation

in IfCoLog Journal of Logics and Their Applications (2022), 9(4), 957-1018

Defeasible deontic logic uses techniques from non-monotonic logic to address various challenges in normative reasoning, such as prima facie permissions and obligations, moral dilemmas, deontic detachment ... [more ▼]

Defeasible deontic logic uses techniques from non-monotonic logic to address various challenges in normative reasoning, such as prima facie permissions and obligations, moral dilemmas, deontic detachment, contrary-to-duty reasoning and legal interpretation. In this article, we use formal argumentation to design defeasible deontic logics, based on two classical deontic logics. In particular, we use the ASPIC+ structured argumentation theory to define non-monotonic variants of well-understood monotonic modal logics. We illustrate the ASPIC+-based approach and the resulting defeasible deontic logics using argumentation about strong permission. [less ▲]

The Relation Between Executive Functions and Math Intelligence in Preschool Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

in Psychological Bulletin (2022), 148(5-6), 337-369

Executive functions (EFs) are key skills underlying other cognitive skills that are relevant to learning and everyday life. Although a plethora of evidence suggests a positive relation between the three ... [more ▼]

Executive functions (EFs) are key skills underlying other cognitive skills that are relevant to learning and everyday life. Although a plethora of evidence suggests a positive relation between the three EF subdimensions inhibition, shifting, and updating, and math skills for schoolchildren and adults, the findings on the magnitude of and possible variations in this relation are inconclusive for preschool children and several narrow math skills (i.e., math intelligence). Therefore, the present meta-analysis aimed to (a) synthesize the relation between EFs and math intelligence (an aggregate of math skills) in preschool children; (b) examine which study, sample, and measurement characteristics moderate this relation; and (c) test the joint effects of EFs on math intelligence. Utilizing data extracted from 47 studies (363 effect sizes, 30,481 participants) from 2000 to 2021, we found that, overall, EFs are significantly related to math intelligence (r = .34, 95% CI [.31, .37]), as are inhibition (r = .30, 95% CI [.25, .35]), shifting (r = .32, 95% CI [.25, .38]), and updating (r = .36, 95% CI [.31, .40]). Key measurement characteristics of EFs, but neither children’s age nor gender, moderated this relation. These findings suggest a positive link between EFs and math intelligence in preschool children and emphasize the importance of measurement characteristics. We further examined the joint relations between EFs and math intelligence via meta-analytic structural equation modeling. Evaluating different models and representations of EFs, we did not find support for the expectation that the three EF subdimensions are differentially related to math intelligence. [less ▲]

Aggregated hold-out for sparse linear regression with a robust loss function

in Electronic Journal of Statistics (2022), 16(1), 935-997

Sparse linear regression methods generally have a free hyperparameter which controls the amount of sparsity, and is subject to a bias-variance tradeoff. This article considers the use of Aggregated hold ... [more ▼]

Sparse linear regression methods generally have a free hyperparameter which controls the amount of sparsity, and is subject to a bias-variance tradeoff. This article considers the use of Aggregated hold-out to aggregate over values of this hyperparameter, in the context of linear regression with the Huber loss function. Aggregated hold-out (Agghoo) is a procedure which averages estimators selected by hold-out (cross-validation with a single split). In the theoretical part of the article, it is proved that Agghoo satisfies a non-asymptotic oracle inequality when it is applied to sparse estimators which are parametrized by their zero-norm. In particular, this includes a variant of the Lasso introduced by Zou, Hastié and Tibshirani \cite{Zou_Has_Tib:2007}. Simulations are used to compare Agghoo with cross-validation. They show that Agghoo performs better than CV when the intrinsic dimension is high and when there are confounders correlated with the predictive covariates. [less ▲]

Developing and Validating a Short-Form Questionnaire for the Assessment of Seven Facets of Conscientiousness in Large-Scale Assessments

in Journal of Personality Assessment (2022), 104(6), 759-773

Conscientiousness is the most important personality predictor of academic achievement. It consists of several lower order facets with differential relations to academic achievement. There is currently no ... [more ▼]

Conscientiousness is the most important personality predictor of academic achievement. It consists of several lower order facets with differential relations to academic achievement. There is currently no short instrument assessing facets of conscientiousness in the educational context. Therefore, in the present multi-study report, we develop and validate a short-form questionnaire for the assessment of seven Conscientiousness facets, namely Industriousness, Perfectionism, Tidiness, Procrastination Refrainment, Control, Caution, and Task Planning. To this end, we examined multiple representative samples totaling N = 14,604 Grade 9 and 10 students from Luxembourg. The questionnaire was developed by adapting and shortening an existing scale using an exhaustive search algorithm. The algorithm was specified to select the best item combination based on model fit, reliability, and measurement invariance across the German and French language versions. The resulting instrument showed the expected factorial structure. The relations of the facets with personality constructs and academic achievement were in line with theoretical assumptions. Reliability was acceptable for all facets. Measurement invariance across language versions, gender, immigration status and cohort was established. We conclude that the presented questionnaire provides a short measurement of seven facets of Conscientiousness with valid and reliable scores. [less ▲]

Income-related health inequality in urban China (1991-2015): The role of homeownership and housing conditions

in Health and Place (2022), 73

Unprecedented economic growth has been experienced over the several decades worldwide, but such rapid economic growth wasn’t accompanied by equally-substantial improvement in health, especially health ... [more ▼]

Unprecedented economic growth has been experienced over the several decades worldwide, but such rapid economic growth wasn’t accompanied by equally-substantial improvement in health, especially health inequalities between the rich and poor. This study examines the role of housing in income-related health inequalities (income-health gradient) in urban China. We here analyze 1991-2015 China Health and Nutrition Survey data to ask how housing affects income-related health inequalities in urban China. We find pro-poor inequalities in self-reported bad health but pro-rich inequalities in objective bad health (general overweight/obesity, central obesity and high blood pressure). Housing conditions serve to reduce the health gradient, especially for objective health. On the contrary, homeownership exacerbates the health gradient. Improving housing conditions thus appears to be an effective way of reducing the income-health gradient in urban China. [less ▲]

Collaborative Cache-Aided Relaying Networks: Performance Evaluation and System Optimization

in IEEE Journal on Selected Areas In Communications (2022)

This paper studies a multi-tier cache-aided relaying network, where the destination D is randomly located in the network and it requests files from the source S through the help of cache-aided base ... [more ▼]

This paper studies a multi-tier cache-aided relaying network, where the destination D is randomly located in the network and it requests files from the source S through the help of cache-aided base station (BS) and N relays. In this system, the multi-tier architecture imposes a significant impact on the system collaborative caching and file delivery, which brings a big challenge to the system performance evaluation and optimization. To address this problem, we first evaluate the system performance by deriving analytical outage probability expression, through fully taking into account the random location of the destination and different file delivery modes related to the file caching status. We then perform the asymptotic analysis on the system outage probability when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) is high, to enclose some important and meaningful insights on the network. We further optimize the caching strategies among the relays and BS, to improve the network outage probability. Simulations are performed to show the effectiveness of the derived analytical and asymptotic outage probability for the proposed caching strategy. In particular, the proposed caching is superior to the conventional caching strategies such as the most popular content (MPC) and equal probability caching (EPC) strategies. [less ▲]

Irreversibility and Biased Ensembles in Active Matter: Insights from Stochastic Thermodynamics

in Annual Reviews (2022)

Active systems evade the rules of equilibrium thermodynamics by constantly dissipating energy at the level of theirmicroscopic components.This energy flux stems from the conversion of a fuel, present in ... [more ▼]

Active systems evade the rules of equilibrium thermodynamics by constantly dissipating energy at the level of theirmicroscopic components.This energy flux stems from the conversion of a fuel, present in the environment, into sustained individual motion. It can lead to collective effects without any equilibrium equivalent, some of which can be rationalized by using equilibrium tools to recapitulate nonequilibrium transitions. An important challenge is then to delineate systematically to what extent the character of these active transitions is genuinely distinct from equilibrium analogs.We review recent works that use stochastic thermodynamics tools to identify, for active systems, a measure of irreversibility comprising a coarse-grained or informatic entropy production.We describe how this relates to the underlying energy dissipation or thermodynamic entropy production, and how it is influenced by collective behavior. Then, we review the possibility of constructing thermodynamic ensembles out of equilibrium, where trajectories are biased toward atypical values of nonequilibrium observables.We show that this is a generic route to discovering unexpected phase transitions in active matter systems, which can also inform their design. [less ▲]

A Survey on Non-Geostationary Satellite Systems: The Communication Perspective

in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials (2022)

The next phase of satellite technology is being characterized by a new evolution in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites, which conveys exciting new communication capabilities to provide non ... [more ▼]

The next phase of satellite technology is being characterized by a new evolution in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) satellites, which conveys exciting new communication capabilities to provide non-terrestrial connectivity solutions and to support a wide range of digital technologies from various industries. NGSO communication systems are known for a number of key features such as lower propagation delay, smaller size, and lower signal losses in comparison to the conventional geostationary orbit (GSO) satellites, which can potentially enable latency-critical applications to be provided through satellites. NGSO promises a substantial boost in communication speed and energy efficiency, and thus, tackling the main inhibiting factors of commercializing GSO satellites for broader utilization. The promised improvements of NGSO systems have motivated this paper to provide a comprehensive survey of the state-of-the-art NGSO research focusing on the communication prospects, including physical layer and radio access technologies along with the networking aspects and the overall system features and architectures. Beyond this, there are still many NGSO deployment challenges to be addressed to ensure seamless integration not only with GSO systems but also with terrestrial networks. These unprecedented challenges are also discussed in this paper, including coexistence with GSO systems in terms of spectrum access and regulatory issues, satellite constellation and architecture designs, resource management problems, and user equipment requirements. Finally, we outline a set of innovative research directions and new opportunities for future NGSO research. [less ▲]

Asymptotic error distribution for the Riemann approximation of integrals driven by fractional Brownian motion

in Electronic Journal of Probability (2022)

Relevé de caducité non contradictoire

in La semaine juridique JCP G (2022)

Regulation of N6-Methyladenosine after Myocardial Infarction

in Cells (2022), 11(15), 2271

Development of heart failure (HF) after myocardial infarction (MI) is responsible for premature death. Complex cellular and molecular mechanisms are involved in this process. A number of studies have ... [more ▼]

Development of heart failure (HF) after myocardial infarction (MI) is responsible for premature death. Complex cellular and molecular mechanisms are involved in this process. A number of studies have linked the epitranscriptomic RNA modification N6-methyladenosine (m6A) with HF, but it remains unknown how m6A affects the risk of developing HF after MI. We addressed the regulation of m6A and its demethylase fat mass and obesity-associated (FTO) after MI and their association with HF. Using liquid chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry, we observed an increase of m6A content in the infarcted area of rat hearts subjected to coronary ligation and a decrease in blood. FTO expression measured by quantitative PCR was downregulated in the infarcted hearts. In whole blood samples collected at the time of reperfusion in MI patients, m6A content was lower in patients who developed HF as attested by a 4-month ejection fraction (EF) of ≤40 as compared to patients who did not develop HF (EF \textgreater 50\%). M6A content was higher in females. These results show that m6A measured in blood is associated with HF development after MI and motivate further investigation of the potential role of m6A as a novel epitranscriptomics biomarker and therapeutic target of HF. [less ▲]

The Next Generation of Beam Hopping Satellite Systems: Dynamic Beam Illumination with Selective Precoding

in IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications (2022)

Characteristics associated with COVID‑19 vaccine hesitancy

in Scientific Reports (2022)

Understanding what lies behind actual COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is fundamental to help policy makers increase vaccination rates and reach herd immunity. We use June 2021 data from the COME-HERE survey to ... [more ▼]

Understanding what lies behind actual COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy is fundamental to help policy makers increase vaccination rates and reach herd immunity. We use June 2021 data from the COME-HERE survey to explore the predictors of actual vaccine hesitancy in France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Spain and Sweden. We estimate a linear-probability model with a rich set of covariates and address issues of common-method variance. 13% of our sample say they do not plan to be vaccinated. Post-Secondary education, home-ownership, having an underlying health condition, and one standard-deviation higher age or income are all associated with lower vaccine hesitancy of 2–4.5% points. Conservative-leaning political attitudes and a one standard-deviation lower degree of confidence in the government increase this probability by 3 and 6% points respectively. Vaccine hesitancy in Spain and Sweden is significantly lower than in the other countries. [less ▲]

A pharmacogenomic assessment of psychiatric adverse drug reactions to levetiracetam.

in Epilepsia (2022), 63(6), 1563-1570

OBJECTIVE: Levetiracetam (LEV) is an effective antiseizure medicine, but 10%-20% of people treated with LEV report psychiatric side-effects, and up to 1% may have psychotic episodes. Pharmacogenomic ... [more ▼]

OBJECTIVE: Levetiracetam (LEV) is an effective antiseizure medicine, but 10%-20% of people treated with LEV report psychiatric side-effects, and up to 1% may have psychotic episodes. Pharmacogenomic predictors of these adverse drug reactions (ADRs) have yet to be identified. We sought to determine the contribution of both common and rare genetic variation to psychiatric and behavioral ADRs associated with LEV. METHODS: This case-control study compared cases of LEV-associated behavioral disorder (n = 149) or psychotic reaction (n = 37) to LEV-exposed people with no history of psychiatric ADRs (n = 920). All samples were of European ancestry. We performed genome-wide association study (GWAS) analysis comparing those with LEV ADRs to controls. We estimated the polygenic risk scores (PRS) for schizophrenia and compared cases with LEV-associated psychotic reaction to controls. Rare variant burden analysis was performed using exome sequence data of cases with psychotic reactions (n = 18) and controls (n = 122). RESULTS: Univariate GWAS found no significant associations with either LEV-associated behavioural disorder or LEV-psychotic reaction. PRS analysis showed that cases of LEV-associated psychotic reaction had an increased PRS for schizophrenia relative to contr ols (p = .0097, estimate = .4886). The rare-variant analysis found no evidence of an increased burden of rare genetic variants in people who had experienced LEV-associated psychotic reaction relative to controls. SIGNIFICANCE: The polygenic burden for schizophrenia is a risk factor for LEV-associated psychotic reaction. To assess the clinical utility of PRS as a predictor, it should be tested in an independent and ideally prospective cohort. Larger sample sizes are required for the identification of significant univariate common genetic signals or rare genetic signals associated with psychiatric LEV ADRs. [less ▲]

Personalised meta-path generation for heterogeneous graph neural networks

in Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery (2022), 36(6), 2299-2333

Reactionary Education in the USA

in Social Anthropology (2022)

La riduzione della povertà lavorativa nella direttiva sui salari minimi adeguati

in VTDL - Variazioni su Temi di Diritto del Lavoro (2022)

Global Challenges: Opening up Chemistry, Pandemics, and Air Pollution

in ACS Environmental Au (2022), 2(4), 287--289

As the first half of 2022 comes to a close, it is an interesting time to reflect on some recent trends. In many ways, the world is “opening” up again, with many colleagues going to their first “in person” ... [more ▼]

As the first half of 2022 comes to a close, it is an interesting time to reflect on some recent trends. In many ways, the world is “opening” up again, with many colleagues going to their first “in person” conferences since the start of the pandemic in early 2020. A significant leap forward for open chemistry was made in 2021, with the Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) Registry embracing a hybrid model and releasing half a million chemicals as the CAS Common Chemistry set under an open license. (1)ACS Environmental Au continues to develop as one of the key gold open access journals for publishing work on environmental topics. (2) The European Union has just launched the €400 million European Partnership for the Assessment of Risks from Chemicals (PARC), with ∼200 partners (3) and a whole work package on FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) (4,5) and Open (6) data. While these trends are cause for optimism, the CAS Registry continues to climb toward the 200 million chemical mark (7) and many of us were blown away by the sheer immensity of the chemical pollution problem at recent meetings. Other colleagues, e.g., those affected by war, by lockdowns, or with insufficient funds, are unable to share in the “post-pandemic” reopening, conferences, and travel. Others cannot afford the costs associated with open access or still do not see the benefits of open science. Why the focus on these disjoint subjects? Both chemical pollution and the COVID-19 pandemic are global challenges requiring global solutions, where failure to act comes with a high price. Landrigan et al. estimated that 9 million premature deaths (16% of the global total) were caused by pollution in 2015. (8) Worldwide deaths directly due to the COVID-19 pandemic are already over 6 million (9) (January 2020 to May 2022). While public awareness is high, individuals often feel powerless to tackle global challenges─yet the pandemic has proven that individual actions can make an incredible collective difference. The same applies to open data and the exchange of research results─the collective benefit from many individual contributions can be extraordinary. [less ▲]

User Scheduling and Power Allocation for Precoded Multi-Beam High Throughput Satellite Systems With Individual Quality of Service Constraints

in IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology (2022)

Free-energy transduction in chemical reaction networks: From enzymes to metabolism

in J. Chem. Phys. (2022), 157(2), 024109

Introduction

in Journal for the Study of British Cultures (2022), 29(1), 7-18

Fostering children’s block building self-concepts and stability knowledge through construction play.

in Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology (2022), 80

The study investigated preschool children’s block building self-concepts in relation to their stability knowledge acquisition as implied by the reciprocal effects model and possible effects of different ... [more ▼]

The study investigated preschool children’s block building self-concepts in relation to their stability knowledge acquisition as implied by the reciprocal effects model and possible effects of different forms of play. We investigated three types of construction play: (a) guided play with verbal and material scaffolds, (b) guided play with material scaffolds, and (c) free play. We examined the effects of the different play forms on block building self-concept and stability knowledge acquisition as well as the reciprocal effects model’s fit to preschool children. We implemented a pre-post-follow-up design, N = 183 German 5- to 6-year-olds (88 female). Block building self-concept declined in the free play group, but not in the guided play groups. Both guided play groups outperformed the free play group in stability knowledge acquisition. The reciprocal effects model was not supported. Guided play may be effective in fostering children’s block building self-concepts and stability knowledge. [less ▲]

Age at onset as stratifier in idiopathic Parkinson's disease - effect of ageing and polygenic risk score on clinical phenotypes

in NPJ Parkinson's Disease (2022), 9(8), 102

Several phenotypic differences observed in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients have been linked to age at onset (AAO). We endeavoured to find out whether these differences are due to the ageing process ... [more ▼]

Several phenotypic differences observed in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients have been linked to age at onset (AAO). We endeavoured to find out whether these differences are due to the ageing process itself by using a combined dataset of idiopathic PD (n = 430) and healthy controls (HC; n = 556) excluding carriers of known PD-linked genetic mutations in both groups. We found several significant effects of AAO on motor and non-motor symptoms in PD, but when comparing the effects of age on these symptoms with HC (using age at assessment, AAA), only positive associations of AAA with burden of motor symptoms and cognitive impairment were significantly different between PD vs HC. Furthermore, we explored a potential effect of polygenic risk score (PRS) on clinical phenotype and identified a significant inverse correlation of AAO and PRS in PD. No significant association between PRS and severity of clinical symptoms was found. We conclude that the observed non-motor phenotypic differences in PD based on AAO are largely driven by the ageing process itself and not by a specific profile of neurodegeneration linked to AAO in the idiopathic PD patients. [less ▲]

La manne des ressources naturelles, l’investissement public optimal et la redistribution : le rôle de la productivité totale des facteurs et de la capacité de l’État

in Revue d'Économie du Développement (2022)

Neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation are linked, but independent of a-synuclein inclusions, in a seeding/spreading mouse model of Parkinson's disease

in Glia (2022)

A key pathological process in Parkinson's disease (PD) is the transneuronal spreading of α-synuclein. Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) is a presynaptic protein that, in PD, forms pathological inclusions. Other ... [more ▼]

A key pathological process in Parkinson's disease (PD) is the transneuronal spreading of α-synuclein. Alpha-synuclein (α-syn) is a presynaptic protein that, in PD, forms pathological inclusions. Other hallmarks of PD include neurodegeneration and microgliosis in susceptible brain regions. Whether it is primarily transneuronal spreading of α-syn particles, inclusion formation, or other mechanisms, such as inflammation, that cause neurodegeneration in PD is unclear. We used a model of spreading of α-syn induced by striatal injection of α-syn preformed fibrils into the mouse striatum to address this question. We performed quantitative analysis for α-syn inclusions, neurodegeneration, and microgliosis in different brain regions, and generated gene expression profiles of the ventral midbrain, at two different timepoints after disease induction. We observed significant neurodegeneration and microgliosis in brain regions not only with, but also without α-syn inclusions. We also observed prominent microgliosis in injured brain regions that did not correlate with neurodegeneration nor with inclusion load. Using longitudinal gene expression profiling, we observed early gene expression changes, linked to neuroinflammation, that preceded neurodegeneration, indicating an active role of microglia in this process. Altered gene pathways overlapped with those typical of PD. Our observations indicate that α-syn inclusion formation is not the major driver in the early phases of PD-like neurodegeneration, but that microglia, activated by diffusible, oligomeric α-syn, may play a key role in this process. Our findings uncover new features of α-syn induced pathologies, in particular microgliosis, and point to the necessity for a broader view of the process of α-syn spreading. [less ▲]

Thermodynamics of concentration vs flux control in chemical reaction networks

in J. Chem. Phys. (2022), 156(1), 014116

THE SIMPLE SEPARATING SYSTOLE FOR HYPERBOLIC SURFACES OF LARGE GENUS

in J. Inst. Math. Jussieu (2022), 21(6), 2205--2214

British Borders

in Journal for the Study of British Cultures (2022), 29(1), 142

Trade Secret Protection and R&D Investment of Family Firms

in Family Business Review (2022)

Deterministic control of ferroelectric polarization by ultrafast laser pulses

in Nature Communications (2022), 13

Enhancing spectral quality in complex environmental matrices: Supporting suspect and non-target screening in zebra mussels with ion mobility

in Environment International (2022), 170

Identification of bioaccumulating contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) via suspect and non-target screening remains a challenging task. In this study, ion mobility separation with high-resolution mass ... [more ▼]

Identification of bioaccumulating contaminants of emerging concern (CECs) via suspect and non-target screening remains a challenging task. In this study, ion mobility separation with high-resolution mass spectrometry (IM-HRMS) was used to investigate the effects of drift time (DT) alignment on spectrum quality and peak annotation for screening of CECs in complex sample matrices using data independent acquisition (DIA). Data treatment approaches (Binary Sample Comparison) and prioritisation strategies (Halogen Match, co-occurrence of features in biota and the water phase) were explored in a case study on zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) in Lake Mälaren, Sweden’s largest drinking water reservoir. DT alignment evidently improved the fragment spectrum quality by increasing the similarity score to reference spectra from on average (±standard deviation) 0.33 ± 0.31 to 0.64 ± 0.30 points, thus positively influencing structure elucidation efforts. Thirty-two features were tentatively identified at confidence level 3 or higher using MetFrag coupled with the new PubChemLite database, which included predicted collision cross-section values from CCSbase. The implementation of predicted mobility data was found to support compound annotation. This study illustrates a quantitative assessment of the benefits of IM-HRMS on spectral quality, which will enhance the performance of future screening studies of CECs in complex environmental matrices. [less ▲]