Limites et enjeux du travail à distance en contexte transfrontalier

in Entreprises Magazine (2022), 115

Le télétravail imposé par la pandémie n’est pas sans soulever un certain nombre de questions (juridiques, sociales, fiscales notamment) liées à la présence de la frontière entre le lieu de résidence et le ... [more ▼]

Le télétravail imposé par la pandémie n’est pas sans soulever un certain nombre de questions (juridiques, sociales, fiscales notamment) liées à la présence de la frontière entre le lieu de résidence et le lieu de travail. Par ailleurs, dans un contexte tendu par les problèmes de mobilité et de congestion, une autre forme de travail à distance tend à se développer ces dernières années: les espaces de Coworking. [less ▲]

ChemPert: mapping between chemical perturbation and transcriptional response for non-cancer cells

in Nucleic Acids Research (2022)

La communauté d’énergie : un groupement d’économie sociale et solidaire ?

in RTDCom (2022)

Optimal strategy for multiple-phase estimation under practical measurement with multimode NOON states

in Physical Review. A. (2022), 106

Taxes and declared profits: evidence from gold mines in Africa

in Resources Policy (2022), 78

In this paper, we analyze the effects of tax changes on the declared profits of extractive firms. We consider a country that levies a profit tax and a royalty on the profits of extractive firms to ... [more ▼]

In this paper, we analyze the effects of tax changes on the declared profits of extractive firms. We consider a country that levies a profit tax and a royalty on the profits of extractive firms to maximize its tax revenues. Mining companies located in the country engage in overstating extractive costs to reduce their taxable income. We show that the higher taxes, the lower the declared profit. Then, we estimate the effect of the change of profit taxes and royalties on the extracting firms’ profit in African countries during the period spanning from 2007 to <br />2018. We employ the Mining Intelligence database to constitute an individual data panel of gold mines located in Sub-Saharan countries. Our empirical findings also suggest an inverse relationship between the tax rate change of the tax instruments and the declared profit of the firms. This link indicates that firms decide on how much profit to declare depending on the tax levels. [less ▲]

Number transcoding in bilinguals—A transversal developmental study

in PLoS ONE (2022), 17(8), 0273391

Number transcoding is the cognitive task of converting between different numerical codes (i.e. visual “42”, verbal “forty-two”). Visual symbolic to verbal transcoding and vice versa strongly relies on ... [more ▼]

Number transcoding is the cognitive task of converting between different numerical codes (i.e. visual “42”, verbal “forty-two”). Visual symbolic to verbal transcoding and vice versa strongly relies on language proficiency. We evaluated transcoding of German-French bilinguals from Luxembourg in 5th, 8th, 11th graders and adults. In the Luxembourgish educational system, children acquire mathematics in German (LM1) until the 7th grade, and then the language of learning mathematic switches to French (LM2). French `70s `80s `90s are less transparent than `30s `40s `50s numbers, since they have a base-20 structure, which is not the case in German. Transcoding was evaluated with a reading aloud and a verbal-visual number matching task. Results of both tasks show a cognitive cost for transcoding numbers having a base-20 structure (i.e. `70s, `80s and `90s), such that response times were slower in all age groups. Furthermore, considering only base-10 numbers (i.e. `30s `40s `50s), it appeared that transcoding in LM2 (French) also entailed a cost. While participants across age groups tended to read numbers slower in LM2, this effect was limited to the youngest age group in the matching task. In addition, participants made more errors when reading LM2 numbers. In conclusion, we observed an age-independent language effect with numbers having a base-20 structure in French, reflecting their reduced transparency with respect to the decimal system. Moreover, we find an effect of language of math acquisition such that transcoding is less well mastered in LM2. This effect tended to persist until adulthood in the reading aloud task, while in the matching task performance both languages become similar in older adolescents and young adults. This study supports the link between numbers and language, especially highlighting the impact of language on reading numbers aloud from childhood to adulthood. [less ▲]

Ringing the bell for quality P.E.: What are the realities of remote physical education?

in European Journal of Public Health (2022), 32(Issue Supplement_1), 3843

Background To date, few data on the quality and quantity of online physical education (P.E.) during the COVID-19 pandemic have been published. We assessed activity in online classes and reported allocated ... [more ▼]

Background To date, few data on the quality and quantity of online physical education (P.E.) during the COVID-19 pandemic have been published. We assessed activity in online classes and reported allocated curriculum time for P.E. in a multi-national sample of European children (6–18 years). Methods Data from two online surveys were analysed. A total of 8395 children were included in the first round (May–June 2020) and 24 302 in the second round (January–February 2021). Results Activity levels during P.E. classes were low in spring 2020, particularly among the youngest children and in certain countries. 27.9% of students did not do any online P.E. and 15.7% were hardly ever very active. Only 18.4% were always very active and 14.9% reported being very active quite often. In winter 2020, we observed a large variability in the allocated curriculum time for P.E. In many countries, this was lower than the compulsory requirements. Only 65.7% of respondents had the same number of P.E. lessons than before pandemic, while 23.8% had less P.E., and 6.8% claimed to have no P.E. lessons. Rates for no P.E. were especially high among secondary school students, and in large cities and megapolises. Conclusions During the COVID-19 pandemic, European children were provided much less P.E. in quantity and quality than before the pandemic. Countermeasures are needed to ensure that these changes do not become permanent. Particular attention is needed in large cities and megapolises. The critical role of P.E. for students’ health and development must be strengthened in the school system. [less ▲]

Evaluation of SORL1 in Lewy Body Dementia Identifies No Significant Associations

in Movement Disorders (2022)

Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a clinically heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder characterized by parkinsonism, visual hallucinations, fluctuating mental status, and rapid eye movement sleep behavior ... [more ▼]

Lewy body dementia (LBD) is a clinically heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder characterized by parkinsonism, visual hallucinations, fluctuating mental status, and rapid eye movement sleep behavior disorder. LBD lies along a spectrum between Parkinson's disease and Alzheimer's disease, and recent evidence suggests that the genetic architectures of these age-related syndromes are intersecting. In summary, we did not find a significant enrichment of rare, damaging SORL1 mutations in our well-powered LBD cohort. Our data set is, to our knowledge, the largest genome-sequence cohort in this understudied disease. Although it is possible that an association was missed due to allelic heterogeneity, our findings indicate that caution should be exercised when interpreting SORL1 mutations in LBD, as the current evidence does not conclusively support an association with disease risk. [less ▲]

Coevaporation Stabilizes Tin-Based Perovskites in a Single Sn-Oxidation State

in Nano Letters (2022)

Chemically processed methylammonium tin-triiodide (CH3NH3SnI3) films include Sn in different oxidation states, leading to poor stability and low power conversion efficiency of the resulting solar cells ... [more ▼]

Chemically processed methylammonium tin-triiodide (CH3NH3SnI3) films include Sn in different oxidation states, leading to poor stability and low power conversion efficiency of the resulting solar cells (PSCs). The development of absorbers with Sn [2+] only has been identified as one of the critical steps to develop all Sn-based devices. Here, we report on coevaporation of CH3NH3I and SnI2 to obtain absorbers with Sn being only in the preferred oxidation state [+2] as confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The Sn [4+]-free absorbers exhibit smooth highly crystalline surfaces and photoluminescence measurements corroborating their excellent optoelectronic properties. The films show very good stability under heat and light. Photoluminescence quantum yields up to 4 × 10^-3 translate in a quasi Fermi-level splittings exceeding 850 meV under one sun equivalent conditions showing high promise in developing lead-free, high efficiency, and stable PSCs. [less ▲]

Evolution of Non-Terrestrial Networks From 5G to 6G: A Survey

in IEEE Communications Surveys & Tutorials (2022), 24(4), 2633-2672

Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) traditionally have certain limited applications. However, the recent technological advancements and manufacturing cost reduction opened up myriad applications of NTNs for ... [more ▼]

Non-terrestrial networks (NTNs) traditionally have certain limited applications. However, the recent technological advancements and manufacturing cost reduction opened up myriad applications of NTNs for 5G and beyond networks, especially when integrated into terrestrial networks (TNs). This article comprehensively surveys the evolution of NTNs highlighting their relevance to 5G networks and essentially, how it will play a pivotal role in the development of 6G ecosystem. We discuss important features of NTNs integration into TNs and the synergies by delving into the new range of services and use cases, various architectures, technological enablers, and higher layer aspects pertinent to NTNs integration. Moreover, we review the corresponding challenges arising from the technical peculiarities and the new approaches being adopted to develop efficient integrated ground-air-space (GAS) networks. Our survey further includes the major progress and outcomes from academic research as well as industrial efforts representing the main industrial trends, field trials, and prototyping towards the 6G networks. [less ▲]

Matching Traffic Demand in GEO Multibeam Satellites: The Joint Use of Dynamic Beamforming and Precoding Under Practical Constraints

in IEEE Transactions on Broadcasting (2022)

To adjust for the non-uniform spatiotemporal nature of traffic patterns, next-generation high throughput satellite (HTS) systems can benefit from recent technological advancements in the space-segment in ... [more ▼]

To adjust for the non-uniform spatiotemporal nature of traffic patterns, next-generation high throughput satellite (HTS) systems can benefit from recent technological advancements in the space-segment in order to dynamically design traffic-adaptive beam layout plans (ABLPs). In this work, we propose a framework for dynamic beamforming (DBF) optimization and adaptation in dynamic environments. Given realistic traffic patterns and a limited power budget, we propose a feasible DBF operation for a geostationary multibeam HTS network. The goal is to minimize the mismatch between the traffic demand and the offered capacity under practical constraints. These constraints are dictated by the traffic-aware design requirements, the on-board antenna system limitations, and the signaling considerations in the K-band. Noting that the ABLP is agnostic about the inherent inter-beam interference (IBI), we construct an interference simulation environment using irregularly shaped beams for a large-scale multibeam HTS system. To cope with IBI, the combination of on-board DBF and on-ground precoding is considered. For precoded and non-precoded HTS configurations, the proposed design shows better traffic-matching capabilities in comparison to a regular beam layout plan. Lastly, we provide trade-off analyses between system-level key performance indicators for different realistic non-uniform traffic patterns. [less ▲]

Construction of a digital fetus library for radiation dosimetry

in Medical Physics (2022)

Purpose: Accurate estimations of fetal absorbed dose and radiation risks are crucial for radiation protection and important for radiological imaging research owing to the high radiosensitivity of the ... [more ▼]

Purpose: Accurate estimations of fetal absorbed dose and radiation risks are crucial for radiation protection and important for radiological imaging research owing to the high radiosensitivity of the fetus. Computational anthropomorphic models have been widely used in patient-specific radiation dosimetry calculations. In this work, we aim to build the first digital fetal library for more reliable and accurate radiation dosimetry studies. Acquisition and validation methods: Computed tomography (CT) images of abdominal and pelvic regions of 46 pregnant females were segmented by experienced medical physicists. The segmented tissues/organs include the body contour, skeleton, uterus, liver, kidney, intestine, stomach, lung, bladder, gall bladder, spleen, and pancreas for maternal body, and placenta, amniotic fluid, fetal body, fetal brain, and fetal skeleton. Nonuniform rational B-spline (NURBS) surfaces of each identified region was constructed manually using 3D modeling software. The Hounsfield unit values of each identified organs were gathered from CT images of pregnant patients and converted to tissue density. Organ volumes were further adjusted according to reference measurements for the developing fetus recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) and International Commission on Radiological Protection. A series of anatomical parameters, including femur length, humerus length, biparietal diameter, abdominal circumference (FAC), and head circumference, were measured and compared with WHO recommendations. Data format and usage notes: The first fetal patient-specific model library was developed with the anatomical characteristics of each model derived from the corresponding patient whose gestational age varies between 8 and 35 weeks. Voxelized models are represented in the form of MCNP matrix input files representing the three-dimensional model of the fetus. The size distributions of each model are also provided in text files. All data are stored on Zenodo and are publicly accessible on the following link: https://zenodo.org/record/6471884. Potential applications: The constructed fetal models and maternal anatomical characteristics are consistent with the corresponding patients. The resulting computational fetus could be used in radiation dosimetry studies to improve the reliability of fetal dosimetry and radiation risks assessment. The advantages of NURBS surfaces in terms of adapting fetal postures and positions enable us to adequately assess their impact on radiation dosimetry calculations. [less ▲]

Optimal Priority Assignment for Real-Time Systems: A Coevolution-Based Approach

in Empirical Software Engineering (2022), 27

In real-time systems, priorities assigned to real-time tasks determine the order of task executions, by relying on an underlying task scheduling policy. Assigning optimal priority values to tasks is ... [more ▼]

In real-time systems, priorities assigned to real-time tasks determine the order of task executions, by relying on an underlying task scheduling policy. Assigning optimal priority values to tasks is critical to allow the tasks to complete their executions while maximizing safety margins from their specified deadlines. This enables real-time systems to tolerate unexpected overheads in task executions and still meet their deadlines. In practice, priority assignments result from an interactive process between the development and testing teams. In this article, we propose an automated method that aims to identify the best possible priority assignments in real-time systems, accounting for multiple objectives regarding safety margins and engineering constraints. Our approach is based on a multi-objective, competitive coevolutionary algorithm mimicking the interactive priority assignment process between the development and testing teams. We evaluate our approach by applying it to six industrial systems from different domains and several synthetic systems. The results indicate that our approach significantly outperforms both our baselines, i.e., random search and sequential search, and solutions defined by practitioners. Our approach scales to complex industrial systems as an offline analysis method that attempts to find near-optimal solutions within acceptable time, i.e., less than 16 hours. [less ▲]

From predicting to learning dissipation from pair correlations of active liquids

in Journal of Chemical Physics (2022)

Active systems, which are driven out of equilibrium by local non-conservative forces, can adopt unique behaviors and configurations. An important challenge in the design of novel materials, which utilize ... [more ▼]

Active systems, which are driven out of equilibrium by local non-conservative forces, can adopt unique behaviors and configurations. An important challenge in the design of novel materials, which utilize such properties, is to precisely connect the static structure of active systems to the dissipation of energy induced by the local driving. Here, we use tools from liquid-state theories and machine learning to take on this challenge. We first analytically demonstrate for an isotropic active matter system that dissipation and pair correlations are closely related when driving forces behave like an active temperature. We then extend a nonequilibrium mean-field framework for predicting these pair correlations, which unlike most existing approaches is applicable even for strongly interacting particles and far from equilibrium, to predicting dissipation in these systems. Based on this theory, we reveal a robust analytic relation between dissipation and structure, which holds even as the system approaches a nonequilibrium phase transition. Finally, we construct a neural network that maps static configurations of particles to their dissipation rate without any prior knowledge of the underlying dynamics. Our results open novel perspectives on the interplay between dissipation and organization out of equilibrium. [less ▲]

Probabilistic Deep Learning for Real-Time Large Deformation Simulations

in Computer Methods in Applied Mechanics and Engineering (2022), 398(0045-7825), 115307

For many novel applications, such as patient-specific computer-aided surgery, conventional solution techniques of the underlying nonlinear problems are usually computationally too expensive and are ... [more ▼]

For many novel applications, such as patient-specific computer-aided surgery, conventional solution techniques of the underlying nonlinear problems are usually computationally too expensive and are lacking information about how certain can we be about their predictions. In the present work, we propose a highly efficient deep-learning surrogate framework that is able to accurately predict the response of bodies undergoing large deformations in real-time. The surrogate model has a convolutional neural network architecture, called U-Net, which is trained with force–displacement data obtained with the finite element method. We propose deterministic and probabilistic versions of the framework. The probabilistic framework utilizes the Variational Bayes Inference approach and is able to capture all the uncertainties present in the data as well as in the deep-learning model. Based on several benchmark examples, we show the predictive capabilities of the framework and discuss its possible limitations. [less ▲]

Zones and zoning: Linking the geographies of freeports with ArtTech and financial market making

in Geoforum (2022)

Freeports and special economic zones (SEZs) are established policy tools to attract foreign investment at specific locations, based on the de-coupling of sovereignty and territory. As a result, they ... [more ▼]

Freeports and special economic zones (SEZs) are established policy tools to attract foreign investment at specific locations, based on the de-coupling of sovereignty and territory. As a result, they emerged not only in developmental contexts, but also in tax havens and financial centres. Recently, freeports and SEZs have shifted from responding to global competition for spaces best suited to attract tangible manufacturing to responding to competition for spaces with best conditions to enable value extraction and wealth shielding. We develop the argument on the emerging industry of ArtTech and new ‘fine art freeports’ that thrive on two core social practices: fracturing property rights to enhance financial liquidity and trading activity in highly exclusive fine-art markets, and offshoring – or zoning – to exploit freeport-facilitated relations for market making and rent-seeking.Besides such practices to make and game markets, freeports supply important physical infrastructure for fine-art technical and custody services that precondition any form of value creation. As such, freeports are important spaces for policy experimentation. Contrary to the conventional belief about free zones in general and freeports in particular, however, their economic impact remains limited. We explain this by conceptualising freeports as ‘zones’ defined or designed by specific processes of ‘zoning’ that link their multiple geographies. We conclude that freeports are no sites of exception but spaces that help legitimise novel institutional and economic arrangements emergent in the economy at large. [less ▲]

Backscatter Sensors Communication for 6G Low-Powered NOMA-Enabled IoT Networks Under Imperfect SIC

in IEEE Systems Journal (2022)

The combination of nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) using power-domain with backscatter communication (BC) is expected to connect large-scale Internet of things (IoT) devices in the future sixth ... [more ▼]

The combination of nonorthogonal multiple access (NOMA) using power-domain with backscatter communication (BC) is expected to connect large-scale Internet of things (IoT) devices in the future sixth-generation era. This article introduces a BC in a multicell IoT network, where a source in each cell transmits a superimposed signal to its associated IoT devices using NOMA. The backscatter sensor tag (BST) also transmits data to IoT devices by reflecting and modulating the superimposed signal of the source. A new optimization framework is provided that simultaneously optimizes the total power of each source, power allocation coefficient of IoT devices, and RC of BST under imperfect successive interference cancellation decoding. This work aims to maximize the total energy efficiency (EE) of the IoT network subject to the quality of services of each IoT device. The problem is first transformed using the Dinkelbach method and then decoupled into two subproblems. The Karush–Kuhn–Tucker conditions and dual Lagrangian method are employed to obtain efficient solutions. In addition, we also calculate the EE of the conventional NOMA network without BC as a benchmark framework. Simulation results unveil the advantage of our considered NOMA BC network over the conventional NOMA network in terms of system total EE. [less ▲]

Histories of the past and histories of the future: Pandemics and historians of education

in Paedagogica Historica (2022)

The COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of the 2020s not only marked a dramatic moment in world health, but also the start of manifold and entangled global crises that seem to define a watershed moment ... [more ▼]

The COVID-19 outbreak at the beginning of the 2020s not only marked a dramatic moment in world health, but also the start of manifold and entangled global crises that seem to define a watershed moment with severe effects on education. Pandemics we know are recurrent events. Faced with COVID-19 some historians have looked to previous pandemics to understand the nature of the disease and its trajectory, and how previous generations have dealt with similar health crises. This special issue intends not to reinforce narratives of the past but rather to question them. The histories that have been written for this special issue Histories of the Past and Histories of the Future: Pandemics and Historians of Education offer insights that refer to past and future research agendas. They look at the mediation and circulation of knowledge during past pandemics, trace unheard voices and emotions of pandemics, analyse national policies and emerging discourses, and underline the entangled histories of education and pandemics. Collectively the articles brought together in this issue forcibly suggest that the most fruitful and rewarding way forward to studying past pandemics lies in thinking ecologically. By asses- sing the myriad consequences of living in ” pandemic times,” of confronting exposure, transmission, transmutation, disruption, and loss, and looking to community and collective futures we believe we cannot study pandemics and their impact on education and children's lives without widening the aperture of our research. Adopting an ecological approach will help us to not only actively engage with histories of the present and contemporary collecting, but also offer the possibility of new understandings and new insights into the dynamics and consequences of past pandemics. [less ▲]

The effects of IMF conditional programs on the unemployment rate

in European Journal of Political Economy (2022)

The fundamental mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to ensure global financial stability and to assist countries in economic turmoil. Although there is a consensus that IMF-supported ... [more ▼]

The fundamental mission of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to ensure global financial stability and to assist countries in economic turmoil. Although there is a consensus that IMF-supported programs can have a direct effect on the labor market of recipient countries, it remains unclear how IMF participation decision and conditionalities attached to IMF loans can affect the unemployment rate of borrowing countries. Using a world sample of countries from 1980 to 2014, we investigate how lending conditional programs of the IMF affect the unemployment rate. Our analyses account for the selection bias related to, first, the IMF participation decision and, second, the conditions included within the program. We show that IMF program participation significantly increases the unemployment rate of recipient countries. Once we control for the number of conditions, however, we find that only IMF conditions have a detrimental and highly significant effect on the unemployment rate. There is evidence that the adverse short-run effect of IMF conditions holds robust in the long-run. Disaggregating IMF conditionality by issue area, we find adverse effects on the unemployment rate for four policy areas: labor market deregulation, reforms requiring privatization of state-owned enterprises, external sector reforms stipulating trade and capital account liberalization, and fiscal policy reforms that restrain government expenditure. Our initial results are found to be robust across alternative empirical specifications. [less ▲]

Informalität im regionalen Wachstumsprozess. Einblick in eine „Black Box“ der Planungspraxis am Beispiel Luxemburgs

in Raumforschung und Raumordnung (2022)

Der Beitrag behandelt die Steuerung des Siedlungsflächenwachstums im Großherzogtum Luxemburg aus der Perspektive von Informalität. Luxemburg steht unter einem hohen demographischen und ökonomischen ... [more ▼]

Der Beitrag behandelt die Steuerung des Siedlungsflächenwachstums im Großherzogtum Luxemburg aus der Perspektive von Informalität. Luxemburg steht unter einem hohen demographischen und ökonomischen Wachstumsdruck in allen Landesteilen (Hauptstadt, altindustrialisierter Süden, ländlicher Norden), der das Planungssystem stark herausfordert. Zugleich gibt es keine formelle Regionalplanung, allenfalls Ansätze interkommunaler Kooperation, die überwiegend freiwilliger Natur sind. Anhand von empirischen Fallstudien in zwei wachstumsstarken Gemeinden (Junglinster, Schuttrange) skizziert der Beitrag Planungsentscheidungen im institutionellen Dreieck zwischen Kommune, Staat und privaten Trägern. Informalität dient hier nicht nur zur Kompensation fehlender planerischer Steuerung, sondern auch dem Umgang mit der komplexen Rechtsmaterie des Landes. Informell kommen auch die vitalen Interessen der Grundeigentümer ins Spiel: Da ein Teil der Wohlfahrtseffekte des Landes über Grund und Boden realisiert wird, sind Spekulationsinteressen immanent, haben ein hohes Blockadepotenzial. In diesem Kontext formuliert der Beitrag erste Überlegungen für ein regionales Wachstumsmanagement, das die Lücke zwischen staatlicher Landesplanung und kommunalem Eigensinn schließen könnte. [less ▲]

SSPCATCHER: Learning to catch security patches

in Empirical Software Engineering (2022), 27

Massive MIMO Hybrid Precoding for LEO Satellite Communications With Twin-Resolution Phase Shifters and Nonlinear Power Amplifiers

in IEEE Transactions on Communications (2022), 70(8), 5543-5557

The massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission technology has recently attracted much attention in the non-geostationary, e.g., low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication (SATCOM ... [more ▼]

The massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) transmission technology has recently attracted much attention in the non-geostationary, e.g., low earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication (SATCOM) systems since it can significantly improve the energy efficiency (EE) and spectral efficiency. In this work, we develop a hybrid analog/digital precoding technique in the massive MIMO LEO SATCOM downlink, which reduces the onboard hardware complexity and power consumption. In the proposed scheme, the analog precoder is implemented via a more practical twin-resolution phase shifting (TRPS) network to make a meticulous tradeoff between the power consumption and array gain. In addition, we consider and study the impact of the distortion effect of the nonlinear power amplifiers (NPAs) in the system design. By jointly considering all the above factors, we propose an efficient algorithmic approach for the TRPS-based hybrid precoding problem with NPAs. Numerical results show the EE gains considering the nonlinear distortion and the performance superiority of the proposed TRPS-based hybrid precoding scheme over the baselines. [less ▲]

Investigations on the lateral-torsional buckling of an innovative U-shaped steel beam in construction stage of composite beam

in Structures (2022), 44

Structural elements of building have to meet a multitude of requirements. Besides the static load bearing capacity, common requirements are the structural integrity and efficiency during the construction ... [more ▼]

Structural elements of building have to meet a multitude of requirements. Besides the static load bearing capacity, common requirements are the structural integrity and efficiency during the construction stage and sufficient fire resistance. Within the French CIFRE research project COMINO, an innovative type of composite beam was developed for buildings beams with a span of 6 -12m, which need fire resistance until 2 hours with no additional supports at construction stage. The developed solution is composed of a steel U-section acting as a formwork in construction stage for a reinforced concrete part that provides the fire resistance. In the exploitation stage, the steel and the reinforced concrete are acting together as a composite beam. In construction stage, when the concrete is not hardened and thus the stabilizing effect is not present, the steel beam, is subjected to Lateral-Torsional Buckling. In order to investigate the structural behaviour of the new developed steel section in construction stage, a single full-scale test has been carried out at the Laboratory of Structural Engineering of the University of Luxembourg. This article focuses on the stability of the steel beam made of thin-walled steel parts without considering any stabilizing effect. The test results are then compared to the results of numerical investigations and to the analytical solutions of EN 1993. [less ▲]

Another end of the world is possible : Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen, from bioeconomy to architecture

in ARQ (2022), (111), 52-59

Can technology ignore the physical limits of growth, or can it only provide us with more and better products, but also with more and better waste? This is a text that reflects on the entropic nature of ... [more ▼]

Can technology ignore the physical limits of growth, or can it only provide us with more and better products, but also with more and better waste? This is a text that reflects on the entropic nature of construction materials and their economic process, based on the work of the Romanian economist Nicholas Georgescu-Roegen. The discussion helps us to critically reflect if architecture can, given its material quality, extend the life or death of the world, or whether it is simply an activity that contributes for us to having "a short but extravagant existence". [less ▲]

Energy Efficient Transmission Design for NOMA Backscatter-Aided UAV Networks with Imperfect CSI

in Drones (2022)

The recent combination of ambient backscatter communication (ABC) with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has shown great potential for connecting large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) in future ... [more ▼]

The recent combination of ambient backscatter communication (ABC) with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) has shown great potential for connecting large-scale Internet of Things (IoT) in future unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) networks. The basic idea of ABC is to provide battery-free transmission by harvesting the energy of existing RF signals of WiFi, TV towers, and cellular base stations/UAV. ABC uses smart sensor tags to modulate and reflect data among wireless devices. On the other side, NOMA makes possible the communication of more than one IoT on the same frequency. In this work, we provide an energy efficient transmission design ABC-aided UAV network using NOMA. This work aims to optimize the power consumption of a UAV system while ensuring the minimum data rate of IoT. Specifically, the transmit power of UAVs and the reflection coefficient of the ABC system are simultaneously optimized under the assumption of imperfect channel state information (CSI). Due to co-channel interference among UAVs, imperfect CSI, and NOMA interference, the joint optimization problem is formulated as non-convex, which involves high complexity and makes it hard to obtain the optimal solution. Thus, it is first transformed and then solved by a sub-gradient method with low complexity. In addition, a conventional NOMA UAV framework is also studied for comparison without involving ABC. Numerical results demonstrate the benefits of using ABC in a NOMA UAV network compared to the conventional UAV framework. [less ▲]

Inbound Carrier Plan Optimization for Adaptive VSAT Networks

in IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems (2022)

The past decades witnessed the application of adaptive modulation and coding (ACM) in satellite links. However, ACM technologies come at the cost of higher complexity when designing the network’s carrier ... [more ▼]

The past decades witnessed the application of adaptive modulation and coding (ACM) in satellite links. However, ACM technologies come at the cost of higher complexity when designing the network’s carrier plan and user terminals. Accounting for those issues is even more important when the satellite link uses frequencies in Ka band and above, where the attenuation caused by tropospheric phenomena is a major concern. In this paper, we propose a solution for the inbound, i.e. return link, carrier plan sizing of very small aperture terminal (VSAT) networks. As tropospheric attenuation is a key factor, we present a mathematical problem formulation based on spatially correlated attenuation time series generators. Our proposed sizing scheme is formulated as a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) optimization problem. The numerical results for a test scenario in Europe show a 10 to 50% bandwidth improvement over traditional sizing methods for outage probabilities lower than 1%. [less ▲]

Targeting a light-weight and multi-channel approach for distributed stream processing

in Journal of Parallel and Distributed Computing (2022), 167

Gaussian approximation for sums of region-stabilizing scores

in Electronic Journal of Probability (2022), 27

We consider the Gaussian approximation for functionals of a Poisson process that are expressible as sums of region-stabilizing (determined by the points of the process within some specified regions) score ... [more ▼]

We consider the Gaussian approximation for functionals of a Poisson process that are expressible as sums of region-stabilizing (determined by the points of the process within some specified regions) score functions and provide a bound on the rate of convergence in the Wasserstein and the Kolmogorov distances. While such results have previously been shown in Lachièze-Rey, Schulte and Yukich (2019), we extend the applicability by relaxing some conditions assumed there and provide further insight into the results. This is achieved by working with stabilization regions that may differ from balls of random radii commonly used in the literature concerning stabilizing functionals. We also allow for non-diffuse intensity measures and unbounded scores, which are useful in some applications. As our main application, we consider the Gaussian approximation of number of minimal points in a homogeneous Poisson process in $[0,1]^d$ with $d \geq 2$, and provide a presumably optimal rate of convergence. [less ▲]

The Failure of “Yugoslavia’s Last Chance”: Ante Marković and his Reformists in the 1990 Elections

in Nationalities Papers (2022)

The last Prime Minister of Yugoslavia Ante Marković was considered by many within the country and in the international community to be Yugoslavia’s last chance for a peaceful transition toward democracy ... [more ▼]

The last Prime Minister of Yugoslavia Ante Marković was considered by many within the country and in the international community to be Yugoslavia’s last chance for a peaceful transition toward democracy and capitalism. In spite of his popularity, the Reformist party he created failed decisively in the first democratic elections of 1990. We expose the reasons for this failure by analyzing electoral, economic, and sociodemographic data on the level of more than two hundred Yugoslav municipalities where the Reformists put forward their candidates. Our analysis shows that the party’s failure had little to do with the voters’ exposure to the effects of the free market reforms undertaken by Marković’s federal government during this period. Instead, the Reformists’ results were largely determined by the communities’ ethnic makeup and interethnic balance. The Reformists suffered at the hands of a strong negative campaign by the Serbian regime of Slobodan Milošević, and they were squeezed out by the ethnically based parties that benefited from voters behaving strategically in the electoral marketplace dominated by questions of nationalism. The analysis presented here offers important lessons for our understanding of Yugoslavia’s breakup, post-communist transitions in general, and electoral politics in societies on the verge of ethnic conflict. [less ▲]

One step ahead: mapping the Italian and German cybersecurity laws against the proposal for a NIS2 directive

in International Cybersecurity Law Review (2022)

With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating digital transformation of the Single Market, the European Commission also speeded up the review of the first piece of European Union (EU)-wide cybersecurity ... [more ▼]

With the COVID-19 pandemic accelerating digital transformation of the Single Market, the European Commission also speeded up the review of the first piece of European Union (EU)-wide cybersecurity legislation, the NIS Directive. Originally foreseen for May 2021, the Commission presented the review as early as December 2020 together with a Proposal for a NIS2 Directive. Almost in parallel, some Member States strengthened (or adopted) national laws beyond the scope of the NIS Directive to respond adequately to the fast-paced digital threat landscape. Against this backdrop, the article investigates the national interventions in the field of cybersecurity recently adopted by Italy and Germany. In order to identify similarities and divergences of the Italian and German national frameworks with the European Commission’s Proposal for a NIS2 Directive, the analysis will focus on selected aspects extrapolated from the Commission Proposal, namely: i) the enlarged scope; ii) detailed cybersecurity risk-management measures; iii) more stringent supervisory measures; and, iv) stricter enforcement requirements, including harmonised sanctions across the EU. The article concludes that the national cybersecurity legal frameworks under scrutiny already match the core of the proposed changes envisaged by the NIS2 Proposal. [less ▲]

A Gaussian damage function combined with sliced finite-element meshing for damage detection

in Journal of Civil Structural Health Monitoring (2022)

Bridges are among the most important components of transportation systems. Timely damage detection of these structures not only ensures reliability but also prevents catastrophic failures. This paper ... [more ▼]

Bridges are among the most important components of transportation systems. Timely damage detection of these structures not only ensures reliability but also prevents catastrophic failures. This paper addresses the damage assessment of bridges based on model updating techniques. Artificial damage was introduced to a beam that was a part of a real prestressed concrete bridge. The magnitude of the damage was increased stepwise, and static loading experiments were conducted in each step. A linear Finite-Element (FE) model with solid elements that were clustered into slices was utilised. A Gaussian bell-shaped curve was used as a damage function to describe the crack location using only three parameters. The experiments focused on sagging under dead load. Damage identification was performed in two steps using a coarse and a refined model. Initially, the FE model with a coarse mesh was updated to approximately localise the damage. Then, the FE model is refined in the vicinity of the approximately localised damage, and damage identification was accurately achieved. The results show that after the second step, the maximum error value of damage localisation is less than 0.5%. This approach could be later used to detect small damages that are not visible. [less ▲]

Studying the Parkinson's disease metabolome and exposome in biological samples through different analytical and cheminformatics approaches: a pilot study

in Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry (2022)

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease, with an increasing incidence in recent years due to the ageing population. Genetic mutations alone only explain <10% of PD ... [more ▼]

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disease, with an increasing incidence in recent years due to the ageing population. Genetic mutations alone only explain <10% of PD cases, while environmental factors, including small molecules, may play a significant role in PD. In the present work, 22 plasma (11 PD, 11 control) and 19 feces samples (10 PD, 9 control) were analyzed by non-target high resolution mass spectrometry (NT-HRMS) coupled to two liquid chromatography (LC) methods (reversed phase (RP) and hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography (HILIC)). A cheminformatics workflow was optimized using open software (MS-DIAL and patRoon) and open databases (all public MSP-formatted spectral libraries for MS-DIAL, PubChemLite for Exposomics and the LITMINEDNEURO list for patRoon). Furthermore, five disease-specific databases and three suspect lists (on PD and related disorders) were developed, using PubChem functionality to identifying relevant unknown chemicals. The results showed that non-target screening with the larger databases generally provided better results compared with smaller suspect lists. However, two suspect screening approaches with patRoon were also good options to study specific chemicals in PD. The combination of chromatographic methods (RP and HILIC) as well as two ionization modes (positive and negative) enhanced the coverage of chemicals in the biological samples. While most metabolomics studies in PD have focused on blood and cerebrospinal fluid, we found a higher number of relevant features in feces, such as alanine betaine or nicotinamide, which can be directly metabolized by gut microbiota. This highlights the potential role of gut dysbiosis in PD development. [less ▲]

SLNR-based Secure Energy Efficient Beamforming in Multibeam Satellite Systems

in IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems (2022)

Motivated by the fact that both security and energy efficiency are the fundamental requirements and design targets of future satellite communications, this letter investigates secure energy efficient ... [more ▼]

Motivated by the fact that both security and energy efficiency are the fundamental requirements and design targets of future satellite communications, this letter investigates secure energy efficient beamforming in multibeam satellite systems, where the satellite user in each beam is surrounded by an eavesdropper attempting to intercept the confidential information. To simul- taneously improve the transmission security and reduce power consumption, our design objective is to maximize the system secrecy energy efficiency (SEE) under the constraint of total transmit power budget. Different from the existing schemes with high complexity, we propose an alternating optimization scheme to address the SEE problem by decomposing the original nonconvex problem into subproblems. Specifically, we first utilize the signal- to-leakage-plus-noise ratio (SLNR) metric to obtain closed-form normalized beamforming weight vectors, while the successive convex approximation (SCA) method is used to efficiently solve the power allocation subproblem. Then, an iterative algorithm is proposed to obtain the suboptimal solutions. Finally, simulation results are provided to verify the superiority of the proposed scheme compared to the benchmark schemes [less ▲]

GRN Mutations Are Associated with Lewy Body Dementia

in Movement Disorders (2022)

ABSTRACT Background Loss-of-function mutations in GRN are a cause of familial frontotemporal dementia, and common variants within the gene have been associated with an increased risk of developing ... [more ▼]

ABSTRACT Background Loss-of-function mutations in GRN are a cause of familial frontotemporal dementia, and common variants within the gene have been associated with an increased risk of developing Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease. Although TDP-43-positive inclusions are characteristic of GRN-related neurodegeneration, Lewy body copathology has also been observed in many GRN mutation carriers. Objective The objective of this study was to assess a Lewy body dementia (LBD) case–control cohort for pathogenic variants in GRN and to test whether there is an enrichment of damaging mutations among patients with LBD. Methods We analyzed whole-genome sequencing data generated for 2591 European-ancestry LBD cases and 4032 neurologically healthy control subjects to identify disease-causing mutations in GRN. Results We identified six heterozygous exonic GRN mutations in seven study participants (cases: n = 6; control subjects: n = 1). Each variant was predicted to be pathogenic or likely pathogenic. We found significant enrichment of GRN loss-of-function mutations in patients with LBD compared with control subjects (Optimized Sequence Kernel Association Test P = 0.0162). Immunohistochemistry in three definite LBD cases demonstrated Lewy body pathology and TDP-43-positive neuronal inclusions. Conclusions Our findings suggest that deleterious GRN mutations are a rare cause of familial LBD. © 2022 International Parkinson Movement Disorder Society. This article has been contributed to by U.S. Government employees and their work is in the public domain in the USA. [less ▲]

University students’ friendship networks: Ambivalence and the role of attachment and personality

in Trends in Psychology (2022), online first

Given the importance of friendships throughout the life span and the possible experience of ambivalence within these relationships, the present study aims at examining the role that attachment and ... [more ▼]

Given the importance of friendships throughout the life span and the possible experience of ambivalence within these relationships, the present study aims at examining the role that attachment and personality dimensions may play in this experience. University students (N = 87) completed an online survey, including the Big Five Inventory-10 (BFI-10), the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ), as well as a two-item scale and an emotion checklist as two measures of ambivalence towards their friends. The correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between the ambivalence measures and secure attachment, fearful attachment, neuroticism, and agreeableness. A subsequent regression analysis demonstrated that fearful attachment, neuroticism, agreeableness, and gender can explain a considerable amount of variation in the degree of ambivalence. The results indicate that both certain attachment dimensions and certain personality dimensions predict the experience of ambivalence, although their importance may vary depending on the object of ambivalence. [less ▲]

A Secure Data Sharing Scheme in Community Segmented Vehicular Social Networks for 6G

in IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics (2022)

The use of aerial base stations, AI cloud, and satellite storage can help manage location, traffic, and specific application-based services for vehicular social networks. However, sharing of such data ... [more ▼]

The use of aerial base stations, AI cloud, and satellite storage can help manage location, traffic, and specific application-based services for vehicular social networks. However, sharing of such data makes the vehicular network vulnerable to data and privacy leakage. In this regard, this article proposes an efficient and secure data sharing scheme using community segmentation and a blockchain-based framework for vehicular social networks. The proposed work considers similarity matrices that employ the dynamics of structural similarity, modularity matrix, and data compatibility. These similarity matrices are then passed through stacked autoencoders that are trained to extract encoded embedding. A density-based clustering approach is then employed to find the community segments from the information distances between the encoded embeddings. A blockchain network based on the Hyperledger Fabric platform is also adopted to ensure data sharing security. Extensive experiments have been carried out to evaluate the proposed data-sharing framework in terms of the sum of squared error, sharing degree, time cost, computational complexity, throughput, and CPU utilization for proving its efficacy and applicability. The results show that the CSB framework achieves a higher degree of SD, lower computational complexity, and higher throughput. [less ▲]

La Comédie-Française face au Coronavirus

in La Scène mondiale en période de confinement (2022)

Depuis le vendredi 13 mars 2020, le monde entier vit au rythme ralenti de la crise sanitaire due au Coronavirus. Le parangon de la culture française, à savoir la ComédieFrançaise, ne fait pas exception et ... [more ▼]

Depuis le vendredi 13 mars 2020, le monde entier vit au rythme ralenti de la crise sanitaire due au Coronavirus. Le parangon de la culture française, à savoir la ComédieFrançaise, ne fait pas exception et ne déroge pas à la règle. Qu’à cela ne tienne, Éric Ruf, Administrateur Général depuis 2014, la troupe de la Comédie-Française ainsi que les différents métiers du théâtre, salariés de cette institution ont opté pour le numérique et mis en place une WEB-TV, initialement intitulée « La Comédie continue ! » (du lundi 30 mars au dimanche 24 mai 2020), puis « La Comédie continue encore ! » (du lundi 25 mai au mardi 14 juillet 2020), avant de devenir « La Comédie reprend ! » avec, depuis le lundi 28 septembre 2020, une émission hebdomadaire et quotidienne nommée « Quelle Comédie », laquelle s’intéresse à l’actualité de la Comédie-Française. Depuis le mardi 10 novembre 2020, les internautes peuvent profiter de « Comédie d’automne ». Au gré des confinements, la Maison de Molière aura réussi à se renouveler, sans jamais lasser le public, en proposant des programmes différents au fil des semaines, et, aussi paradoxal que cela puisse paraître, à fidéliser des milliers d’internautes. [less ▲]

Parental Assortative Mating and the Intergenerational Transmission of Human Capital

in Labour Economics (2022), 77

We study the contribution of parental educational assortative mating to the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment. We develop an empirical model for educational correlations within the ... [more ▼]

We study the contribution of parental educational assortative mating to the intergenerational transmission of educational attainment. We develop an empirical model for educational correlations within the family in which parental educational sorting can translate into intergenerational transmission jointly by both parents, or transmission can originate from each parent independently. Estimating the model using educational attainment from Danish population-based administrative data for over 400,000 families, we find that on aver- age 75 percent of the intergenerational correlation in education is driven by the joint contribution of the par- ents. We also document a 38 percent decline of assortative mating in education for parents born between the early 1920s and the early 1950s. While the raw correlations also show decreases in father- and mother- specific intergenerational transmissions of educational attainment, our model shows that once we decompose all factors of intergenerational mobility, the share of intergenerational transmission accounted for by parent-specific factors increased from 7 to 27 percent; an increase compensated by a corresponding fall in joint intergenerational transmission from both parents, leaving total intergenerational persistence un- changed. The mechanisms of intergenerational transmission have changed, with an increased importance of one-to-one parent-child relationships. [less ▲]

LSTM-Based Distributed Conditional Generative Adversarial Network for Data-Driven 5G-Enabled Maritime UAV Communications

in IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems (2022)

5G enabled maritime unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication is one of the important applications of 5G wireless network which requires minimum latency and higher reliability to support mission ... [more ▼]

5G enabled maritime unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication is one of the important applications of 5G wireless network which requires minimum latency and higher reliability to support mission-critical applications. Therefore, lossless reliable communication with a high data rate is the key requirement in modern wireless communication systems. These all factors highly depend upon channel conditions. In this work, a channel model is proposed for air-to-surface link exploiting millimeter wave (mmWave) for 5G enabled maritime unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) communication. Firstly, we will present the formulated channel estimation method which directly aims to adopt channel state information (CSI) of mmWave from the channel model inculcated by UAV operating within the Long Short Term Memory (LSTM)-Distributed Conditional generative adversarial network (DCGAN) i.e. (LSTM-DCGAN) for each beamforming direction. Secondly, to enhance the applications for the proposed trained channel model for the spatial domain, we have designed an LSTM-DCGAN based UAV network, where each one will learn mmWave CSI for all the distributions. Lastly, we have categorized the most favorable LSTM-DCGAN training method and emanated certain conditions for our UAV network to increase the channel model learning rate. Simulation results have shown that the proposed LSTM-DCGAN based network is vigorous to the error generated through local training. A detailed comparison has been done with the other available state-of-the-art CGAN network architectures i.e. stand-alone CGAN (without CSI sharing), Simple CGAN (with CSI sharing), multi-discriminator CGAN, federated learning CGAN and DCGAN. Simulation results have shown that the proposed LSTM-DCGAN structure demonstrates higher accuracy during the learning process and attained more data rate for downlink transmission as compared to the previous state of artworks. [less ▲]

Some Prevalent Sets in Multifractal Analysis: How Smooth is Almost Every Function in T_p^\alpha(x)

in Journal of Fourier Analysis and Applications (2022), 28(4),

We present prevalent results concerning generalized versions of the $T_p^\alpha$ spaces, initially introduced by Calderón and Zygmund. We notably show that the logarithmic correction appearing in the ... [more ▼]

We present prevalent results concerning generalized versions of the $T_p^\alpha$ spaces, initially introduced by Calderón and Zygmund. We notably show that the logarithmic correction appearing in the quasi-characterization of such spaces is mandatory for almost every function; it is in particular true for the Hölder spaces, for which the existence of the correction was showed necessary for a specific function. We also show that almost every function from $T_p^α (x0 )$ has α as generalized Hölder exponent at $x_0$. [less ▲]

Fading-ratio-based selection for massive MIMO systems under line-of-sight propagation

in Wireless Networks (2022)

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) enables increased throughput by using spatial multiplexing. However, the throughput may severely degrade when the number of users served by a single base ... [more ▼]

Massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) enables increased throughput by using spatial multiplexing. However, the throughput may severely degrade when the number of users served by a single base station increases, especially under line-of-sight (LoS) propagation. Selecting users is a possible solution to deal with this problem. In the literature, the user selection algorithms can be divided into two classes: small-scale fading aware (SSFA) and large scale fading aware (LSFA) algorithms. The LSFA algorithms are good solutions for massive MIMO systems under non LoS propagation since the small-scale fading does not affect the system performance under this type of propagation. For the LoS case, the small scale fading has a great impact on the system performance, requiring the use of SSFA algorithms. However, disregarding the large-scale fading is equivalent to assuming that all users are equidistant from the base station and experience the same level of shadowing, which is not a reasonable approximation in practical applications. To address this shortcoming, a new user selection algorithm called the fading-ratio-based selection (FRBS) is proposed. FRBS considers both fading information to drop those users that induce the highest interference to the remaining ones. Simulation results considering LoS channels show that using FRBS yields near optimum downlink throughput, which is similar to that of the state-of-the-art algorithm, but with much lower computational complexity. Moreover, the use of FRBS with zero forcing precoder resulted in 26.28% improvement in the maximum throughput when compared with SSFA algorithms, and 35.39% improvement when compared with LSFA algorithms. [less ▲]

Sustainable Corporate Governance in the EU: Reasonable Global Ambitions?

in Revue Européenne du Droit (2022), 3(4), 111

Confirmation quasi-intégrale par la cour d’appel de Paris de la décision de la Commission des sanctions de l’Autorité des marchés financiers du 17 avril 2020 contre Elliott Advisors UK Limited et Elliott Capital Advisors L. P.

in Revue des Sociétés (2022), (7-8), 447

Cross-Border Enforcement of Consumer Law: Looking to the Future

in United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2022)

Entre modernité et prudence : la transposition en droit français de la directive (UE) 2019/1023 du 20 juin 2019 sur la restructuration et l’insolvabilité

in Revue des Sociétés (2022), 7-8

Is There a Need for a Directive on Pillar Two? A Few Normative Comments.

in Intertax, International Tax Review (2022), 50(6/7), 527-530

Poland’s request to link the entry into force of the Pillar 2 Directive to an international agreement on Pillar 1 raises fundamental questions about the European constitutional structure. Beyond the mere ... [more ▼]

Poland’s request to link the entry into force of the Pillar 2 Directive to an international agreement on Pillar 1 raises fundamental questions about the European constitutional structure. Beyond the mere legality of such a link, this contribution seeks to respond to some normative concerns related to the creation of such secondary legislation. [less ▲]

Further resource multiplication at more advanced ages? Interactions between education, parental socioeconomic status, and age in their impacts upon health

in Sociology Compass (2022)

While scholarship has shown that socioeconomic status creates fine-grained gradients in health, there is debate regarding whether having higher amounts of one socioeconomic resource amplifies (resource ... [more ▼]

While scholarship has shown that socioeconomic status creates fine-grained gradients in health, there is debate regarding whether having higher amounts of one socioeconomic resource amplifies (resource multiplication) or reduces (resource substitution) the health benefits of  one's other socioeconomic resources. A further question is whether these processes are accentuated or diminished at more advanced ages. Using the 2016 and 2018 waves of the United States General Social Survey (N = 2995) and logistic regression analyses, this study reveals processes of resource multiplication between respondents' education and both parental education and parental occupational prestige in their effects upon self-rated health. Furthermore, these processes are accentuated at more advanced ages. Additionally, these interactive effects remain significant after controlling for respondent-level total family income and occupational prestige, suggesting mechanisms beyond actualized socioeconomic circumstances. These findings raise concerns regarding less educated older persons coming from less advantaged backgrounds. Accordingly, policies and programs should help equalize social circumstances early in the life course, to produce more salubrious trajectories with advancing age. [less ▲]

Better Executive Functions Are Associated With More Efficient Cognitive Pain Modulation in Older Adults: An fMRI Study

in Frontiers in Pain Research (2022), 14

Normal and Pathological NRF2 Signalling in the Central Nervous System

in Antioxidants (2022), 11(8), 1426

The nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) was originally described as a master regulator of antioxidant cellular response, but in the time since, numerous important biological functions ... [more ▼]

The nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) was originally described as a master regulator of antioxidant cellular response, but in the time since, numerous important biological functions linked to cell survival, cellular detoxification, metabolism, autophagy, proteostasis, inflammation, immunity, and differentiation have been attributed to this pleiotropic transcription factor that regulates hundreds of genes. After 40 years of in-depth research and key discoveries, NRF2 is now at the center of a vast regulatory network, revealing NRF2 signalling as increasingly complex. It is widely recognized that reactive oxygen species (ROS) play a key role in human physiological and pathological processes such as ageing, obesity, diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. The high oxygen consumption associated with high levels of free iron and oxidizable unsaturated lipids make the brain particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress. A good stability of NRF2 activity is thus crucial to maintain the redox balance and therefore brain homeostasis. In this review, we have gathered recent data about the contribution of the NRF2 pathway in the healthy brain as well as during metabolic diseases, cancer, ageing, and ageing-related neurodegenerative diseases. We also discuss promising therapeutic strategies and the need for better understanding of cell-type-specific functions of NRF2 in these different fields. [less ▲]

Bearing the cost of politics: Consumer prices and welfare in Russia

in Journal of International Economics (2022), 137

In August 2014, the Russian Federation implemented an embargo on select food and agricultural imports from Western countries in response to previously imposed economic sanctions. In this paper we quantify ... [more ▼]

In August 2014, the Russian Federation implemented an embargo on select food and agricultural imports from Western countries in response to previously imposed economic sanctions. In this paper we quantify the effect of this embargo on consumer prices and welfare in Russia. We provide evidence for the direct effect on monthly consumer prices with a difference-in-differences approach. The embargo caused prices of embargoed goods to rise by up to 7.7% – 14.9% in the short run and by on average 2.6% – 8.1% until at least 2016. The results further suggest the shock was transmitted to non-embargoed sectors through domestic input-output linkages. We then construct a general equilibrium Ricardian model of trade with input-output linkages and goods that are tradable, non-tradable or embargoed. The model-based counterfactual analysis predicts the overall price index in Russia to have increased by 0.33% and welfare to have declined by 1.84% due to the embargo. [less ▲]