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Conventional numerical solutions developed to describe the geomechanical behavior of rock interfaces subjected to differential load emphasize peak and residual shear strengths. The detailed analysis of pre- and post-peak shear stress-displacement behavior is central to various time-dependent and dynamic rock mechanic problems such as rockbursts and structural instabilities in highly stressed conditions. The complete stress-displacement surface (CSDS) model was developed to describe analytically the pre- and post-peak behavior of rock interfaces under differential loads. Original formulations of the CSDS model required extensive curve-fitting iterations which limited its practical applicability and transparent integration into engineering tools. The present work proposes modifications to the CSDS model aimed at developing a comprehensive and modern calibration protocol to describe the complete shear stress-displacement behavior of rock interfaces under differential loads. The proposed update to the CSDS model incorporates the concept of mobilized shear strength to enhance the post-peak formulations. Barton's concepts of joint roughness coefficient (JRC) and joint compressive strength (JCS) are incorporated to facilitate empirical estimations for peak shear stress and normal closure relations. Triaxial/uniaxial compression test and direct shear test results are used to validate the updated model and exemplify the proposed calibration method. The results illustrate that the revised model successfully predicts the post-peak and complete axial stress–strain and shear stress–displacement curves for rock joints.

Introduction: Kidney failure treated with hemodialysis (HD), or peritoneal dialysis (PD) is a major global health problem that is associated with increased risks of death and hospitalization. This study aimed to compare the incidence and causes of death and hospitalization during the first year of HD or PD among countries. Methods: The third iteration of the International Society of Nephrology Global Kidney Health Atlas (ISN-GKHA) was conducted between June and September 2022. For this analysis, data were obtained from the cross-sectional survey of key stakeholders from ISN-affiliated countries. Results: A total of 167 countries participated in the survey (response rate 87.4%). In 48% and 58% of countries, 1% to 10% of people treated with HD and PD died within the first year, respectively, with cardiovascular disease being the main cause. Access-related infections or treatment withdrawal owing to cost were important causes of death in low-income countries (LICs). In most countries, <30% and <20% of patients with HD and PD, respectively, required hospitalization during the first year. A greater proportion of patients with HD and PD in LICs were hospitalized in the first year than those in high-income countries (HICs). Access-related infection and cardiovascular disease were the commonest causes of hospitalization among patients with HD, whereas PD-related infection was the commonest cause in patients with PD. Conclusion: There is significant heterogeneity in the incidence and causes of death and hospitalization in patients with kidney failure treated with dialysis. These findings highlight opportunities to improve care, especially in LICs where infectious and social factors are strong contributors to adverse outcomes.

Au cours de dernières années, nous avons observé une croissance notable de l’utilisation des bases de données temporelles (BDT) dans divers secteurs tels que la santé, l’écologie, les finances et la gestion des stocks. Plusieurs solutions liées à la gestion du temps ont émergé, chacune prétendant offrir des performances supérieures pour manipuler d’importantes quantités de données temporelles (DT). En parcourant les pages qui suivent, le lecteur dispose de l’opportunité d’explorer les principes fondamentaux des bases de données (BD), de comprendre les différentes approches utilisées dans l’intégration de la temporalité dans les systèmes de gestion de bases de données (SGBD), et de comprendre les défis liés à la gestion des DT. Ce mémoire se penche sur la question fondamentale de l’évaluation des BDT et cherche à offrir des voies de solution en suggérant un protocole d’évaluation rigoureux afin de garantir une gestion efficace des DT dans divers domaines où cette fonctionnalité est de la plus haute importance.

The International Society of Nephrology Global Kidney Health Atlas charts the availability and capacity of kidney care globally. In the North America and the Caribbean region, the Atlas can identify opportunities for kidney care improvement, particularly in Caribbean countries where structures for systematic data collection are lacking. In this third iteration, respondents from 12 of 18 countries from the region reported a 2-fold higher than global median prevalence of dialysis and transplantation, and a 3-fold higher than global median prevalence of dialysis centers. The peritoneal dialysis prevalence was lower than the global median, and transplantation data were missing from 6 of the 10 Caribbean countries. Government-funded payments predominated for dialysis modalities, with greater heterogeneity in transplantation payor mix. Services for chronic kidney disease, such as monitoring of anemia and blood pressure, and diagnostic capability relying on serum creatinine and urinalyses were universally available. Notable exceptions in Caribbean countries included non-calcium-based phosphate binders and kidney biopsy services. Personnel shortages were reported across the region. Kidney failure was identified as a governmental priority more commonly than was chronic kidney disease or acute kidney injury. In this generally affluent region, patients have better access to kidney replacement therapy and chronic kidney disease-related services than in much of the world. Yet clear heterogeneity exists, especially among the Caribbean countries struggling with dialysis and personnel capacity. Important steps to improve kidney care in the region include increased emphasis on preventive care, a focus on home-based modalities and transplantation, and solutions to train and retain specialized allied health professionals.

Les systèmes d'information ont joué un rôle primordial dans la transformation numérique des organisations. Celles-ci, pour assurer la continuité et l'intégrité de leurs activités, ont rapidement ressenti le besoin de mettre en place des mécanismes pour renforcer la protection de leurs actifs. Dans ce contexte la notion de «défense en profondeur» se démarque, visant une protection multicouche des actifs. Afin de formaliser cette approche, nous introduisons l'ontologie de défense en profondeur des actifs informationnels (ODPA: Ontology for Deep Protection of Information Assets). Son objectif est d'obtenir une représentation homogène, robuste et exploitable de l'ensemble des éléments de sécurité. La mise en place d'une telle ontologie soulève plusieurs défis. Tout d'abord, quels sont les méthodes et modèles les plus adaptés pour représenter efficacement la multitude d'actifs et les diverses couches de défense? Ensuite, comment garantir que cette ontologie, une fois élaborée, offre une couverture exhaustive et pertinente des menaces potentielles tout en étant suffisamment agile pour s'adapter à l'évolution des risques? Les outils actuels de gestion de la sécurité de l'information se basent souvent sur des approches fragmentées, parfois redondantes et ne répondant pas toujours aux besoins spécifiques des organisations. Ces outils manquent souvent de formalisation et s'appuient sur des pratiques empiriques plutôt que sur des méthodologies formelles. Dans ce contexte, nous présentons ODPA, un cadre de référence visant à offrir une représentation systématique et exhaustive des actifs à sécuriser et des mécanismes de défense associés. L'ontologie ODPA est conçue pour décrire en détail les éléments constitutifs relatifs à la sécurité, ainsi que les contraintes d'intégrité associées. Grâce à des algorithmes de construction spécifiques, cette ontologie vise à offrir une vision cohérente, structurée et évolutive de la défense en profondeur. L'objectif est de faciliter la mise en

Dans ce mémoire, on exposera des méthodes d'inférence pour modèles linéaires généralisés (MLG) en présence de données horizontalement partitionnées. Ce type d'approche est nécessaire lorsque les données requises pour effectuer une analyse sont stockées à différents endroits géographiques, alors que des contraintes (légales, éthiques ou opérationnelles) empêchent de les centraliser. On fera d'abord un rappel sur les MLG, dont les méthodes d'ajustement et les propriétés asymptotiques des estimateurs. Par la suite, on présentera l'article « Distributed Statistical Analyses: A Scoping Review and Examples of Operational Frameworks Adapted to Healthcare », que j'ai co-écrit à titre de co-premier auteur. Dans cet article, on aborde les contextes statistiques et appliqués qui entourent souvent les données distribuées en santé, et les hypothèses nécessaires pour garantir la validité de procédures d'inférence statistique (calcul d'intervalle de confiance, test d'hypothèses) liées aux MLG examinés. Puis, on fait une revue de la portée de la littérature concernant les méthodes d'inférences pour données distribuées horizontalement. De cette revue, on extrait six types de méthodes que l'on classifie et compare selon leur niveau de complexité opératoire et l'information que ces dernières requièrent de partager. Enfin, en contexte de MLG, on adapte les méthodes recensées pour les rendre applicables au contexte de déséquilibres distributionnels entre les noeuds de stockage de données. On présente de nouveaux résultats asymptotiques pour les estimateurs issus des méthodes adaptées. Enfin, on illustre les méthodes adaptées avec les MLG les plus communs, c'est-à-dire la régression linéaire et la régression logistique, en calculant explicitement les quantités générales décrites dans l'article dans le cadre de ces modèles.

Propagation modeling is a crucial tool for successful wireless deployments and spectrum planning with the demand for high modeling accuracy continuing to grow. Recognizing that detailed knowledge of the physical environment (terrain and clutter) is essential, we propose a novel approach that uses environmental information for predictions. Instead of relying on complex, detail-intensive models, we explore the use of simplified scalar features involving the total obstruction depth along the direct path from transmitter to receiver. Obstacle depth offers a streamlined, yet surprisingly accurate, method for predicting wireless signal propagation, providing a practical solution for efficient and effective wireless network planning., Comment: IEEE Antennas and Wireless Propagation Letters 2024

PURPOSE: Despite therapeutic advances in the treatment of ovarian cancer (OC), 5-year survival remains low, and patients eventually die from recurrent, chemotherapy-resistant disease. The National Cancer Gynecologic Cancer Steering Committee identified the integration of scientifically defined subgroups as a top strategic priority in clinical trial planning. METHODS: A group of experts was convened to review the scientific literature in OC to identify validated predictive biomarkers that could inform patient selection and treatment stratification. Here, we report on these findings and their potential for use in future clinical trial design on the basis of hierarchal evidence grading. RESULTS: The biomarkers were classified on the basis of mechanistic targeting, including DNA repair and replication stress, immunotherapy and tumor microenvironment, oncogenic signaling, and angiogenesis. Currently, BRCA mutations and homologous recombination deficiency to predict poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor response are supported in OC by the highest level of evidence. Additional biomarkers of response to agents targeting the pathways above have been identified but require prospective validation. CONCLUSION: Although a number of biomarkers of response to various agents in OC have been described in the literature, high-level evidence for the majority is lacking. This report highlights the unmet need for identification and validation of predictive biomarkers to guide therapy and future trial design in OC.

In this paper we exploit the concept of extended Pareto grid to study the geometric properties of the matching distance for R2 -valued regular functions defined on a closed Riemannian manifold. In particular, we prove that in this case the matching distance is realised either at special values or at values corresponding to vertical, horizontal or slope 1 lines., QC 20231107

This paper presents the design and the utilization of a wireless electro-optic platform to perform simultaneous multimodal electrophysiological recordings and optogenetic stimulation in freely moving rodents. The developed system can capture neural action potentials (AP), local field potentials (LFP) and electromyography (EMG) signals with up to 32 channels in parallel while providing four optical stimulation channels. The platform is using commercial off-the-shelf components (COTS) and a low-power digital field-programmable gate array (FPGA), to perform digital signal processing to digitally separate in real time the AP, LFP and EMG while performing signal detection and compression for mitigating wireless bandwidth and power consumption limitations. The different signal modalities collected on the 32 channels are time-multiplexed into a single data stream to decrease power consumption and optimize resource utilization. The data reduction strategy is based on signal processing and real-time data compression. Digital filtering, signal detection, and wavelet data compression are used inside the platform to separate the different electrophysiological signal modalities, namely the local field potentials (1–500 Hz), EMG (30–500 Hz), and the action potentials (300–5,000 Hz) and perform data reduction before transmitting the data. The platform achieves a measured data reduction ratio of 7.77 (for a firing rate of 50 AP/second) and weights 4.7 g with a 100-mAh battery, an on/off switch and a protective plastic enclosure. To validate the performance of the platform, we measured distinct electrophysiology signals and performed optogenetics stimulation in vivo in freely moving rondents. We recorded AP and LFP signals with the platform using a 16-microelectrode array implanted in the primary motor cortex of a Long Evans rat, both in anesthetized and freely moving conditions. EMG responses to optogenetic Channelrhodopsin-2 induced activation of motor cortex via optical fiber wer

We report a human-in-the-loop implementation of the multi-objective experimental design via a Bayesian optimization platform (EDBO+) towards the optimization of butylpyridinium bromide synthesis under continuous flow conditions. The algorithm simultaneously optimized reaction yield and production rate (or space-time yield) and generated a well defined Pareto front. The versatility of EDBO+ was demonstrated by expanding the reaction space mid-campaign by increasing the upper temperature limit. Incorporation of continuous flow techniques enabled improved control over reaction parameters compared to common batch chemistry processes, while providing a route towards future automated syntheses and improved scalability. To that end, we applied the open-source Python module, nmrglue, for semi-automated nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy analysis, and compared the acquired outputs against those obtained through manual processing methods from spectra collected on both low-field (60 MHz) and high-field (400 MHz) NMR spectrometers. The EDBO+ based model was retrained with these four different datasets and the resulting Pareto front predictions provided insight into the effect of data analysis on model predictions. Finally, quaternization of poly(4-vinylpyridine) with bromobutane illustrated the extension of continuous flow chemistry to synthesize functional materials.

(1) Background: Cancer antigen 125 (CA-125) is a protein produced by ovarian cancer cells that is used for patients’ monitoring. However, the best ways to analyze its decline and prognostic role are poorly quantified. (2) Methods: We leveraged individual patient data from the Gynecologic Cancer Intergroup (GCIG) meta-analysis (N = 5573) to compare different approaches summarizing the early trajectory of CA-125 before the prediction time (called the landmark time) at 3 or 6 months after treatment initiation in order to predict overall survival. These summaries included observed and estimated measures obtained by a linear mixed model (LMM). Their performances were evaluated by 10-fold cross-validation with the Brier score and the area under the ROC (AUC). (3) Results: The estimated value and the last observed value at 3 months were the best measures used to predict overall survival, with an AUC of 0.75 CI 95% [0.70; 0.80] at 24 and 36 months and 0.74 [0.69; 0.80] and 0.75 [0.69; 0.80] at 48 months, respectively, considering that CA-125 over 6 months did not improve the AUC, with 0.74 [0.68; 0.78] at 24 months and 0.71 [0.65; 0.76] at 36 and 48 months. (4) Conclusions: A 3-month surveillance provided reliable individual information on overall survival until 48 months for patients receiving first-line chemotherapy.

Burn injuries can result from mechanisms such as thermal, chemical, and electrical insults. A prompt and accurate assessment of burns is essential for deciding definitive clinical treatments. Currently, the primary approach for burn assessments, via visual and tactile observations, is approximately 60%-80% accurate. The gold standard is biopsy and a close second would be non-invasive methods like Laser Doppler Imaging (LDI) assessments, which have up to 97% accuracy in predicting burn severity and the required healing time. In this paper, we introduce a machine learning pipeline for assessing burn severities and segmenting the regions of skin that are affected by burn. Segmenting 2D colour images of burns allows for the injured versus non-injured skin to be delineated, clearly marking the extent and boundaries of the localized burn/region-of-interest, even during remote monitoring of a burn patient. We trained a convolutional neural network (CNN) to classify four severities of burns. We built a saliency mapping method, Boundary Attention Mapping (BAM), that utilises this trained CNN for the purpose of accurately localizing and segmenting the burn regions from skin burn images. We demonstrated the effectiveness of our proposed pipeline through extensive experiments and evaluations using two datasets; 1) A larger skin burn image dataset consisting of 1684 skin burn images of four burn severities, 2) An LDI dataset that consists of a total of 184 skin burn images with their associated LDI scans. The CNN trained using the first dataset achieved an average F1-Score of 78% and micro/macro- average ROC of 85% in classifying the four burn severities. Moreover, a comparison between the BAM results and LDI results for measuring injury boundary showed that the segmentations generated by our method achieved 91.60% accuracy, 78.17% sensitivity, and 93.37% specificity.

In a previous paper, we considered several models of the parlor game baccara chemin de fer, including Model B2 (a $2\times2^{484}$ matrix game) and Model B3 (a $2^5\times2^{484}$ matrix game), both of which depend on a positive-integer parameter $d$, the number of decks. The key to solving the game under Model B2 was what we called Foster's algorithm, which applies to additive $2\times2^n$ matrix games. Here "additive" means that the payoffs are additive in the $n$ binary choices that comprise a player II pure strategy. In the present paper, we consider analogous models of the casino game baccara chemin de fer that take into account the $100\,\alpha$ percent commission on Banker (player II) wins, where $0\le\alpha\le1/10$. Thus, the game now depends not just on the discrete parameter $d$ but also on a continuous parameter $\alpha$. Moreover, the game is no longer zero sum. To find all Nash equilibria under Model B2, we generalize Foster's algorithm to additive $2\times2^n$ bimatrix games. We find that, with rare exceptions, the Nash equilibrium is unique. We also obtain a Nash equilibrium under Model B3, based on Model B2 results, but here we are unable to prove uniqueness., Comment: 32 pages, 2 figures

Édition augmentée et mise à jourPostface de Micheline DumontAmateur·rice·s de Civilization VI, de jeux de rôles «grandeur nature», de La trilogie berlinoise, du Trône de fer, de l'œuvre de Tolkien ou de Satrapi ; chroniques enflammant la médiasphère à propos de productions culturelles évoquant des évènements ou phénomènes advenus ou rémanents (Assassin's Creed Unity, SLA¯V et Kanata, Autant en emporte le vent); tribuns opposant des argumentaires irréconciliables quant à la décolonisation et la réconciliation, à ce qui doit être commémoré (ou déboulonné) ou à l'élimination de la brutalité policière et du racisme: chaque jour, de multiples discours et pratiques sur l'histoire propagés par divers médias meublent le quotidien de dizaines de millions de personnes.Cette popularité met en relief l'importance de réfléchir à l'usage en classe des œuvres ne provenant ni du monde savant ni du monde scolaire pour que les élèves deviennent plus autonomes, avertis, critiques.Les auteurs et autrices de cet ouvrage explorent les usages scolaires possibles et souhaitables de l'histoire profane ou publique pour faire apprendre l'histoire aux élèves. « Dans Mondes profanes, une foule de didacticiens en histoire se penchent sur les usages possibles des films, chansons, jeux vidéo et lieux historiques, avec le souci d'apprendre aux élèves à développer une pensée historienne critique. »- Louis Cornellier, Le Devoir« Cet ouvrage [...] intéressera aussi bien les enseignants des disciplines de “l'univers social” que les chercheurs en didactique de ces disciplines, et en premier de l'histoire. »- Sylvain Doussot, Revue française de pédagogie

We present a systematic interpretation of vector boson scattering (VBS) and diboson measurements from the LHC in the framework of the dimension-six standard model effective field theory (SMEFT). We consider all available measurements of VBS fiducial cross-sections and differential distributions from ATLAS and CMS, in most cases based on the full Run II luminosity, and use them to constrain 16 independent directions in the dimension-six EFT parameter space. Compared to the diboson measurements, we find that VBS provides complementary information on several of the operators relevant for the description of the electroweak sector. We also quantify the ultimate EFT reach of VBS measurements via dedicated projections for the high luminosity LHC. Our results motivate the integration of VBS processes in future global SMEFT interpretations of particle physics data.

Les relations internationales sont les rapports multiformes entretenus par les individus, les organisations privées et les gouvernements dans les diverses sphères de l’activité humaine. Cet ouvrage s’attarde strictement aux relations politiques et économiques interétatiques, qui demeurent l’épine dorsale de ce domaine. Il en examine les principales théories et en présente les acteurs essentiels que sont les États et les organisations internationales, avant d’analyser leur politique étrangère. Qui sont les décideurs ? Quels facteurs influencent leurs décisions et comment se traduisent leurs politiques dans les faits ? Quels sont les fondements et les instruments de la diplomatie et de la stratégie ? Quelles sont les mutations des relations internationales post-guerre froide ? Le chapitre sur l’économie expose les principales composantes des échanges commerciaux et financiers. Cette cinquième édition modifie substantiellement la précédente, notamment en raison de l’enrichissement de la littérature sur les relations internationales, dont elle rend compte, mais pas seulement. Le monde a changé : l’environnement est devenu une véritable préoccupation des États, sans parler du déclin apparent d’un système unipolaire largement dominé par la superpuissance américaine et de la remise en question du néolibéralisme avec la renaissance du protectionnisme et du nationalisme. Conçu en priorité pour les étudiants de science politique et d’études internationales, ce manuel demeure très accessible aux étudiants d’autres disciplines et au grand public.

Due to their similarities in anatomy, physiology, and pharmacology to humans, mice are a valuable model system to study the generation and mechanisms modulating conventional outflow resistance and thus intraocular pressure. In addition, mouse models are critical for understanding the complex nature of conventional outflow homeostasis and dysfunction that results in ocular hypertension. In this review, we describe a set of minimum acceptable standards for developing, characterizing, and utilizing mouse models of open-angle ocular hypertension. We expect that this set of standard practices will increase scientific rigor when using mouse models and will better enable researchers to replicate and build upon previous findings.

Prevalence, symptoms, and treatment of depression suggest that major depressive disorders (MDD) present sex differences. Social stress-induced neurovascular pathology is associated with depressive symptoms in male mice; however, this association is unclear in females. Here, we report that chronic social and subchronic variable stress promotes blood-brain barrier (BBB) alterations in mood-related brain regions of female mice. Targeted disruption of the BBB in the female prefrontal cortex (PFC) induces anxiety- and depression-like behaviours. By comparing the endothelium cell-specific transcriptomic profiling of the mouse male and female PFC, we identify several pathways and genes involved in maladaptive stress responses and resilience to stress. Furthermore, we confirm that the BBB in the PFC of stressed female mice is leaky. Then, we identify circulating vascular biomarkers of chronic stress, such as soluble E-selectin. Similar changes in circulating soluble E-selectin, BBB gene expression and morphology can be found in blood serum and postmortem brain samples from women diagnosed with MDD. Altogether, we propose that BBB dysfunction plays an important role in modulating stress responses in female mice and possibly MDD.

Predicting the future motion of road agents is a critical task in an autonomous driving pipeline. In this work, we address the problem of generating a set of scene-level, or joint, future trajectory predictions in multi-agent driving scenarios. To this end, we propose FJMP, a Factorized Joint Motion Prediction framework for multi-agent interactive driving scenarios. FJMP models the future scene interaction dynamics as a sparse directed interaction graph, where edges denote explicit interactions between agents. We then prune the graph into a directed acyclic graph (DAG) and decompose the joint prediction task into a sequence of marginal and conditional predictions according to the partial ordering of the DAG, where joint future trajectories are decoded using a directed acyclic graph neural network (DAGNN). We conduct experiments on the INTERACTION and Argoverse 2 datasets and demonstrate that FJMP produces more accurate and scene-consistent joint trajectory predictions than non-factorized approaches, especially on the most interactive and kinematically interesting agents. FJMP ranks 1st on the multi-agent test leaderboard of the INTERACTION dataset., Comment: CVPR 2023

While supervised detection and classification frameworks in autonomous driving require large labelled datasets to converge, Unsupervised Domain Adaptation (UDA) approaches, facilitated by synthetic data generated from photo-real simulated environments, are considered low-cost and less time-consuming solutions. In this paper, we propose UDA schemes using adversarial discriminative and generative methods for lane detection and classification applications in autonomous driving. We also present Simulanes dataset generator to create a synthetic dataset that is naturalistic utilizing CARLA's vast traffic scenarios and weather conditions. The proposed UDA frameworks take the synthesized dataset with labels as the source domain, whereas the target domain is the unlabelled real-world data. Using adversarial generative and feature discriminators, the learnt models are tuned to predict the lane location and class in the target domain. The proposed techniques are evaluated using both real-world and our synthetic datasets. The results manifest that the proposed methods have shown superiority over other baseline schemes in terms of detection and classification accuracy and consistency. The ablation study reveals that the size of the simulation dataset plays important roles in the classification performance of the proposed methods. Our UDA frameworks are available at https://github.com/anita-hu/sim2real-lane-detection and our dataset generator is released at https://github.com/anita-hu/simulanes, Comment: Accepted by IV 2022

Background: The Peritoneal Dialysis Outcomes and Practice Patterns Study (PDOPPS) is an international, prospective study following persons treated by peritoneal dialysis (PD) to identify modifiable practices associated with improvements in PD technique and person survival. The aim of this study was to assess the representativeness of the Australian cohort included in PDOPPS compared to the complete Australian PD population, as reported to the Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant (ANZDATA) Registry. Method(s): Adults with at least one PD treatment reported to ANZDATA Registry during the census period of PDOPPS Phase I (November 2014 to April 2018) were compared to the Australian PDOPPS cohort. The primary outcomes were the representativeness of centres and persons. Secondary outcomes explored the association of person characteristics with consent to study participation. Result(s): After data linkage, 511 PDOPPS participants were compared to 5616 Australians treated with PD. Within centres eligible for PDOPPS, selected centres were similar to other Australian centres. The PDOPPS participants' cohort tended to include older persons, more males, a higher proportion of Caucasians and more persons with higher socioeconomic advantage compared to the Australian PD population. Differences in distribution across sex and ethnicities between the PDOPPS cohort and the overall PD population were in part due to the selection and consent processes, during which females and non-Caucasians were more likely to not consent to PDOPPS participation. Conclusion(s): Sampling methods used in PDOPPS allowed for good national representativeness of the included centres. However, representativeness of the unweighted PDOPPS sample was suboptimal in regard to some participant characteristics.Copyright © The Author(s) 2021.

Aim: Haemodialysis treatment prescription varies widely internationally. This study explored patient- and centre-level characteristics associated with weekly haemodialysis hours. Method(s): Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant (ANZDATA) Registry data were analysed. Characteristics associated with weekly duration were evaluated using mixed-effects linear regression models with patient- and centre-level covariates as fixed effects, and dialysis centre and state as random effects using the 2017 prevalent in-centre haemodialysis (ICHD) and home haemodialysis (HHD) cohorts. Evaluation of patterns of weekly duration over time analysed the 2000 to 2017 incident ICHD and HHD cohorts. Result(s): Overall, 12 494 ICHD and 1493 HHD prevalent patients in 2017 were included. Median weekly treatment duration was 13.5 (interquartile range [IQR] 12-15) hours for ICHD and 16 (IQR 15-20) hours for HHD. Male sex, younger age, higher body mass index, arteriovenous fistula/graft use, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ethnicity and longer dialysis vintage were associated with longer weekly duration for both ICHD and HHD. No centre characteristics were associated with duration. Variability in duration across centres was very limited in ICHD compared with HHD, with variation in HHD being associated with state. Duration did not vary significantly over time for ICHD, whereas longer weekly HHD treatments were reported between 2006 and 2012 compared with before and after this period. Conclusion(s): This study in the Australian and New Zealand haemodialysis population showed that weekly duration was primarily associated with patient characteristics. No centre effect was demonstrated. Practice patterns seemed to differ across states/countries, with more variability in HHD than ICHD.Copyright © 2020 Asian Pacific Society of Nephrology

We present a systematic interpretation of vector boson scattering (VBS) and diboson measurements from the LHC in the framework of the dimension-six standard model effective field theory (SMEFT). We consider all available measurements of VBS fiducial cross-sections and differential distributions from ATLAS and CMS, in most cases based on the full Run II luminosity, and use them to constrain 16 independent directions in the dimension-six EFT parameter space. Compared to the diboson measurements, we find that VBS provides complementary information on several of the operators relevant for the description of the electroweak sector. We also quantify the ultimate EFT reach of VBS measurements via dedicated projections for the high luminosity LHC. Our results motivate the integration of VBS processes in future global SMEFT interpretations of particle physics data.

We quantify the impact of unpolarized lepton-proton and lepton-nucleus inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) cross section measurements from the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) on the proton and nuclear parton distribution functions (PDFs). To this purpose, we include neutral- and charged-current DIS pseudodata in a self-consistent set of proton and nuclear global PDF determinations based on the NNPDF methodology. We demonstrate that the EIC measurements will reduce the uncertainty of the light quark PDFs of the proton at large values of the momentum fraction x and, more significantly, of the quark and gluon PDFs of heavy nuclei, especially at small and large x. We illustrate the implications of the improved precision of nuclear PDFs for the interaction of ultrahigh energy cosmic neutrinos with matter.

AIM: Haemodialysis treatment prescription varies widely internationally. This study explored patient- and centre-level characteristics associated with weekly haemodialysis hours. METHODS: Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant (ANZDATA) Registry data were analysed. Characteristics associated with weekly duration were evaluated using mixed-effects linear regression models with patient- and centre-level covariates as fixed effects, and dialysis centre and state as random effects using the 2017 prevalent in-centre haemodialysis (ICHD) and home haemodialysis (HHD) cohorts. Evaluation of patterns of weekly duration over time analysed the 2000 to 2017 incident ICHD and HHD cohorts. RESULTS: Overall, 12 494 ICHD and 1493 HHD prevalent patients in 2017 were included. Median weekly treatment duration was 13.5 (interquartile range [IQR] 12-15) hours for ICHD and 16 (IQR 15-20) hours for HHD. Male sex, younger age, higher body mass index, arteriovenous fistula/graft use, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ethnicity and longer dialysis vintage were associated with longer weekly duration for both ICHD and HHD. No centre characteristics were associated with duration. Variability in duration across centres was very limited in ICHD compared with HHD, with variation in HHD being associated with state. Duration did not vary significantly over time for ICHD, whereas longer weekly HHD treatments were reported between 2006 and 2012 compared with before and after this period. CONCLUSION: This study in the Australian and New Zealand haemodialysis population showed that weekly duration was primarily associated with patient characteristics. No centre effect was demonstrated. Practice patterns seemed to differ across states/countries, with more variability in HHD than ICHD.

We present a global interpretation of Higgs, diboson, and top quark production and decay measurements from the LHC in the framework of the Standard Model Effective Field Theory (SMEFT) at dimension six. We constrain simultaneously 36 independent directions in its parameter space, and compare the outcome of the global analysis with that from individual and two-parameter fits. Our results are obtained by means of state-of-the-art theoretical calculations for the SM and the EFT cross-sections, and account for both linear and quadratic corrections in the $1/\Lambda^2$ expansion. We demonstrate how the inclusion of NLO QCD and $\mathcal{O}\left( \Lambda^{-4}\right)$ effects is instrumental to accurately map the posterior distributions associated to the fitted Wilson coefficients. We assess the interplay and complementarity between the top quark, Higgs, and diboson measurements, deploy a variety of statistical estimators to quantify the impact of each dataset in the parameter space, and carry out fits in BSM-inspired scenarios such as the top-philic model. Our results represent a stepping stone in the ongoing program of model-independent searches at the LHC from precision measurements, and pave the way towards yet more global SMEFT interpretations extended to other high-$p_T$ processes as well as to low-energy observables., Comment: 93 pages, 31 figures, results available from https://lhcfitnikhef.github.io/SMEFT/. v2: updated results. v3: version accepted for publication in JHEP. This paper is dedicated to the memory of our friend and collaborator Cen Zhang

This report describes the physics case, the resulting detector requirements, and the evolving detector concepts for the experimental program at the Electron-Ion Collider (EIC). The EIC will be a powerful new high-luminosity facility in the United States with the capability to collide high-energy electron beams with high-energy proton and ion beams, providing access to those regions in the nucleon and nuclei where their structure is dominated by gluons. Moreover, polarized beams in the EIC will give unprecedented access to the spatial and spin structure of the proton, neutron, and light ions. The studies leading to this document were commissioned and organized by the EIC User Group with the objective of advancing the state and detail of the physics program and developing detector concepts that meet the emerging requirements in preparation for the realization of the EIC. The effort aims to provide the basis for further development of concepts for experimental equipment best suited for the science needs, including the importance of two complementary detectors and interaction regions. This report consists of three volumes. Volume I is an executive summary of our findings and developed concepts. In Volume II we describe studies of a wide range of physics measurements and the emerging requirements on detector acceptance and performance. Volume III discusses general-purpose detector concepts and the underlying technologies to meet the physics requirements. These considerations will form the basis for a world-class experimental program that aims to increase our understanding of the fundamental structure of all visible matter, Comment: 902 pages, 415 authors, 151 institutions

We quantify the impact of unpolarized lepton-proton and lepton-nucleus inclusive deep-inelastic scattering (DIS) cross section measurements from the future Electron-Ion Collider (EIC) on the proton and nuclear parton distribution functions (PDFs). To this purpose we include neutral- and charged-current DIS pseudodata in a self-consistent set of proton and nuclear global PDF determinations based on the NNPDF methodology. We demonstrate that the EIC measurements will reduce the uncertainty of the light quark PDFs of the proton at large values of the momentum fraction $x$, and, more significantly, of the quark and gluon PDFs of heavy nuclei, especially at small and large $x$. We illustrate the implications of the improved precision of nuclear PDFs for the interaction of ultra-high energy cosmic neutrinos with matter., Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, In the context of the Electron-Ion collider yellow report

The Exascale Computing Project (ECP) is invested in co-design to assure that key applications are ready for exascale computing. Within ECP, the Co-design Center for Particle Applications (CoPA) is addressing challenges faced by particle-based applications across four sub-motifs: short-range particle-particle interactions (e.g., those which often dominate molecular dynamics (MD) and smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) methods), long-range particle-particle interactions (e.g., electrostatic MD and gravitational N-body), particle-in-cell (PIC) methods, and linear-scaling electronic structure and quantum molecular dynamics (QMD) algorithms. Our crosscutting co-designed technologies fall into two categories: proxy applications (or apps) and libraries. Proxy apps are vehicles used to evaluate the viability of incorporating various types of algorithms, data structures, and architecture-specific optimizations and the associated trade-offs; examples include ExaMiniMD, CabanaMD, CabanaPIC, and ExaSP2. Libraries are modular instantiations that multiple applications can utilize or be built upon; CoPA has developed the Cabana particle library, PROGRESS/BML libraries for QMD, and the SWFFT and fftMPI parallel FFT libraries. Success is measured by identifiable lessons learned that are translated either directly into parent production application codes or into libraries, with demonstrated performance and/or productivity improvement. The libraries and their use in CoPA's ECP application partner codes are also addressed., Comment: 26 pages, 17 figures

Les discussions sur les objectifs de soins (DOS) n’ont pas lieu aussi souvent qu’ils devraient pour les patients hospitalisés à haut risque de mortalité. Une DOS est à la fois une responsabilité éthique et une intervention associée avec une meilleure qualité de soins en fin de vie. L’identification automatique des patients à haut risque de mortalité par un modèle de prédiction au moment d’admission pourrait stimuler des médecins à amorcer une DOS avec les patients identifiés. L’objectif du projet présenté dans ce mémoire était de développer un modèle de prédiction de mortalité chez des patients hospitalisés qui soit automatisable et compatible avec les systèmes informatiques existants dans la région d’Estrie, précisément au Centre hospitalier universitaire de Sherbrooke (CHUS). Nous avons appliqué l’expertise médicale et une technique d’apprentissage automatique supervisé, la forêt aléatoire, pour développer le modèle « Soutien à la discussion précoce à l’hôpital à l’aide du pronostic » (Hospital Early Discussion Support Using Prognosis ; HEADS-UP), en tenant compte des exigences d’un modèle de prédiction visé à être implanté dans un système d’aide à la décision clinique pour stimuler les DOS. Ces exigences incluent notamment celles liées à la validité externe, l’interprétabilité et l’utilité clinique d’un modèle de prédiction. La validité externe et l’utilité clinique du modèle HEADS-UP étaient comparées à celles d’un modèle de référence, le modèle « Risque de mortalité hospitalière à un an modifié » (Modified Hospital One-year Mortality Risk ; mHOMR). Le modèle HEADS-UP avait une meilleure validité externe comparée au modèle mHOMR (indice C 0,89 vs 0,84). Le modèle HEADS-UP avait également plus d’utilité clinique que le modèle mHOMR en permettant d’identifier plus de patients qui n’ont pas eu de documentation minimale d’une DOS (la documentation du statut de réanimation) pendant une hospitalisation ni l’année précédant l’hospitalisation et qui sont décédés à l’int

Background: Hemodialysis treatment prescription varies widely around the world. This study explored patient- and center-level characteristics associated with weekly haemodialysis hours. Method(s): Australia and New Zealand Dialysis and Transplant (ANZDATA) Registry data was analyzed. Characteristics associated with weekly duration were evaluated using mixed-effects linear regression models with patient- and center-level covariates as fixed effects, and dialysis center and state as random effects using the 2017 prevalent in-centre hemodialysis (ICHD) and home hemodialysis (HHD) cohorts. Evaluation of patterns of weekly duration over time analyzed the 2000 to 2017 incident ICHD and HHD cohorts. Result(s): Overall, 12,494 ICHD and 1,493 HHD prevalent patients in 2017 were included. Median weekly treatment duration was 13.5 (interquartile range (IQR) 12-15) hours for ICHD and 16 (IQR 15-20) hours for HHD. Male sex, younger age, higher body mass index, arteriovenous fistula/graft use, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ethnicity and longer dialysis vintage were associated with longer weekly duration for both ICHD and HHD. No center characteristics were associated with weekly duration. Variability in duration across centers was very limited in ICHD compared to HHD, with variation in HHD being associated with state. Duration did not vary significantly over time for ICHD, whereas longer weekly HHD treatments were reported between 2006 and 2012 compared to before and after this period. Conclusion(s): This study in the Australian and New Zealand hemodialysis population showed that weekly treatment duration was primarily associated with patient characteristics. No center effect was demonstrated. Practice patterns seemed to differ across states/countries, with more variability in HHD than in ICHD. (Figure Presented).

We present a model-independent determination of the nuclear parton distribution functions (nPDFs) using machine learning methods and Monte Carlo techniques based on the NNPDF framework. The neutral-current deep-inelastic nuclear structure functions used in our previous analysis, nNNPDF1.0, are complemented by inclusive and charm-tagged cross-sections from charged-current scattering. Furthermore, we include all available measurements of W and Z leptonic rapidity distributions in proton-lead collisions from ATLAS and CMS at s = 5.02 TeV and 8.16 TeV. The resulting nPDF determination, nNNPDF2.0, achieves a good description of all datasets. In addition to quantifying the nuclear modifications affecting individual quarks and antiquarks, we examine the implications for strangeness, assess the role that the momentum and valence sum rules play in nPDF extractions, and present predictions for representative phenomenological applications. Our results, made available via the LHAPDF library, highlight the potential of high-energy collider measurements to probe nuclear dynamics in a robust manner.

We review the current status of Parton Distribution Function (PDF) determinations for unpolarized and longitudinally polarized protons and for unpolarized nuclei, which are probed by high-energy hadronic scattering in perturbative Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD). We present the established theoretical framework, the experimental information, and the methodological aspects inherent to any modern PDF extraction. Furthermore, we summarize the present knowledge of PDFs and discuss their limitations in both accuracy and precision relevant to advance our understanding of QCD proton substructure and pursue our quest for precision in the Standard Model and beyond. In this respect, we highlight various achievements, discuss contemporary issues in PDF analyses, and outline future directions of progress., Comment: 34 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables; invited review submitted to Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, Vol.70 (2020); version accepted for publication; various references updated; improved discussion on implications for astroparticle physics

Accurate radio frequency power prediction in a geographic region is a computationally expensive part of finding the optimal transmitter location using a ray tracing software. We empirically analyze the viability of deep learning models to speed up this process. Specifically, deep learning methods including CNNs and UNET are typically used for segmentation, and can also be employed in power prediction tasks. We consider a dataset that consists of radio frequency power values for five different regions with four different frame dimensions. We compare deep learning-based prediction models including RadioUNET and four different variations of the UNET model for the power prediction task. More complex UNET variations improve the model on higher resolution frames such as 256x256. However, using the same models on lower resolutions results in overfitting and simpler models perform better. Our detailed numerical analysis shows that the deep learning models are effective in power prediction and they are able to generalize well to the new regions.

Les aînés anglophones du Québec hors Montréal ont un accès variable aux services de santé et services sociaux (SSSS). C’est pourquoi notre recherche explore l’accès aux SSSS pour les aînés anglophones vivant hors Montréal. Spécifiquement, nous décrivons les facteurs (facilitateurs et barrières) influençant l’accès aux SSSS. Ainsi, nous avons conduit une recherche qualitative de type étude de cas unique imbriquée. Nous avons collecté les données à l’aide d’entretiens semi-dirigés audio-enregistrés, d’un questionnaire sociodémographique et d’un journal de bord. Nous avons transcrit, puis analysé thématiquement les entretiens et avons analysé les données sociodémographiques par statistiques descriptives. Les 10 aînés rencontrés nous ont permis d’identifier 11 facteurs divisés en 6 facilitateurs et 8 barrières influençant l’accès aux SSSS. Les plus signifiants sont la concordance (facilitateur) ou la non-concordance (barrière) de la langue de l’aîné avec le travailleur des SSSS, où la nonconcordance mène à des consentements aux interventions non valides. Également, le facteur présence minoritaire, c’est-à-dire la concentration de la population anglophone, affecte les opportunités sociales des aînés. Ce facteur est un facilitateur lorsque fort et une barrière, lorsque faible. Enfin, des SSSS peu « amis » des aînés anglophones, définis comme un système de SSSS complexe à naviguer lorsque la langue des aînés et leurs caractéristiques personnelles ne sont pas prises en considération, constituent également une barrière. Les résultats de cette recherche informent sur les actions à poser pour faciliter l’accès aux SSSS de ces aînés anglophones et suggèrent des améliorations bénéfiques pour l’ensemble de la population., Quebec’s English-speaking seniors living outside of Montreal have variable access to Health and social services (HSS). Thus, our research described factors modulating access to HSS for English seniors outside of Montreal. To do so, we ran a qualitative, single case embedded case study. We collected data with interviews, sociodemographic questionnaire and field notes. Data were analyzed thematically and by descriptive statistics. We met 10 seniors, allowing identifying 10 factors (6 facilitators and 8 barriers) influencing access to HSS. The most significant are language concordance (facilitator) and lack of language concordance (barrier), high concentration of the English-speaking community (facilitator) and low concentration of the English-speaking community (barrier) and not English elder friendly HSS (barrier). Effects of those factors vary from increased social opportunities to invalid consent. Recommendations are presented to improve their access to HSS, and our results suggest changes in HSS organizations could benefit the entire population.

L’humanité est à un moment charnière de son histoire. Elle entrevoit les premiers signes d’un effondrement climatique imminent qu’elle seule peut freiner. D’une année à l’autre, les aléas climatiques se font plus sévères, particulièrement dans les villes. Plus d’un demi-siècle d'urbanisation intensive a mené tout droit vers des collectivités nord-américaines fragilisées, c’est-à-dire centrées sur les voitures, minéralisées et dégarnies de couvert végétal. Un héritage toxique pour les administrations municipales d’aujourd’hui, aux prises avec des territoires qui deviennent inhospitaliers, voire dangereux, à la première pluie abondante ou vague de chaleur. Désormais, la résilience climatique incarne la dernière planche de salut pour les villes du 21e siècle. Cet essai se penche sur deux enjeux climatiques majeurs à Montréal : les ilots de chaleur urbains et les débordements d’égouts dans les cours d’eau, communément appelés « surverses ». L’objectif général est de convertir un quadrilatère vulnérable à ces deux enjeux en ilot de résilience climatique et multimodal grâce entre autres à une reconfiguration routière et à l’ajout de phytotechnologies et d’infrastructures naturelles. Pour y parvenir, une grille d’analyse comportant dix critères a été développée pour comparer la vulnérabilité de trois quadrilatères montréalais; ceux-ci avaient comme point commun la présence d’une cour d’école fortement minéralisée. Le quadrilatère de l’école Saint-Anselme, qui s’est révélé le plus vulnérable des trois, fait l’objet de plusieurs recommandations spécifiques à l’attention de l’arrondissement Ville-Marie : un retrait important de l’espace réservé à la voiture; l’ajout de corridors d’arbres dotés de fosses continues et drainantes; l’intégration d’un réseau de biorétentions; la végétalisation des toitures d’édifices accueillant des groupes vulnérables; le verdissement de la cour d’école. Puisque la Ville de Montréal est en position de guider et d’outiller les arrondissements, six

Au sein d’une organisation, de même qu’entre des organisations, il y a plusieurs intervenants qui doivent prendre des décisions en fonction de la vision qu’ils se font de l’organisation concernée, de son environnement et des interactions entre les deux. Dans la plupart des cas, les données sont fragmentées en plusieurs sources non coordonnées ce qui complique, notamment, le fait de retracer leur évolution chronologique. Ces différentes sources sont hétérogènes par leur structure, par la sémantique des données qu’elles contiennent, par les technologies informatiques qui les manipulent et par les règles de gouvernance qui les contrôlent. Dans ce contexte, un système de santé apprenant (Learning Health System) a pour objectif d’unifier les soins de santé, la recherche biomédicale et le transfert des connaissances, en offrant des outils et des services pour améliorer la collaboration entre les intervenants ; l’optique sous-jacente à cette collaboration étant de fournir à un individu de meilleurs services qui soient personnalisés. Les méthodes classiques de construction de modèle de données sont fondées sur des règles de pratique souvent peu précises, ad hoc, non automatisables. L’extraction des données d’intérêt implique donc d’importantes mobilisations de ressources humaines. De ce fait, la conciliation et l’agrégation des sources sont sans cesse à recommencer parce que les besoins ne sont pas tous connus à l’avance, qu’ils varient au gré de l’évolution des processus et que les données sont souvent incomplètes. Pour obtenir l’interopérabilité, il est nécessaire d’élaborer une méthode automatisée de construction de modèle de données qui maintient conjointement les données brutes des sources et leur sémantique. Cette thèse présente une méthode qui permet, une fois qu’un modèle de connaissance est choisi, la construction d’un modèle de données selon des critères fondamentaux issus d’un modèle ontologique et d’un modèle relationnel temporel basé sur la logique des interval, Within an organization, many stakeholders must make decisions based on their vision of the organization, its environment, and the interactions between these two. In most cases, the data are fragmented in several uncoordinated sources, making it difficult, in particular, to trace their chronological evolution. These different sources are heterogeneous in their structure, in the semantics of the data they contain, in the computer technologies that manipulate them, and in the governance rules that control them. In this context, a Learning Health System aims to unify health care, biomedical research and knowledge transfer by providing tools and services to enhance collaboration among stakeholders in the health system to provide better and personalized services to the patient. The implementation of such a system requires a common data model with semantics, structure, and consistent temporal traceability that ensures data integrity. Traditional data model design methods are based on vague, non-automatable best practice rules where the extraction of data of interest requires the involvement of very important human resources. The reconciliation and the aggregation of sources are constantly starting over again because not all needs are known in advance and vary with the evolution of processes and data are often incomplete. To obtain an interoperable data model, an automated construction method that jointly maintains the source raw data and their semantics is required. This thesis presents a method that build a data model according to fundamental criteria derived from an ontological model, a relational model and a temporal model based on the logic of intervals. In addition, the method is semi-automated by an OntoRelα prototype. On the one hand, the use of ontologies to define the semantics of data is an interesting way to ensure a better semantic interoperability since it automatically expresses different logical axioms allowing the description of data and their links. On the

The gyrokinetic toroidal code at Princeton (GTC-P) is a highly scalable and portable particle-in-cell (PIC) code. It solves the 5-D Vlasov–Poisson equation featuring efficient utilization of modern parallel computer architectures at the petascale and beyond. Motivated by the goal of developing a modern code capable of dealing with the physics challenge of increasing problem size with sufficient resolution, new thread-level optimizations have been introduced as well as a key additional domain decomposition. GTC-P’s multiple levels of parallelism, including internode 2-D domain decomposition and particle decomposition, as well as intranode shared memory partition and vectorization, have enabled pushing the scalability of the PIC method to extreme computational scales. In this article, we describe the methods developed to build a highly parallelized PIC code across a broad range of supercomputer designs. This particularly includes implementations on heterogeneous systems using NVIDIA GPU accelerators and Intel Xeon Phi (MIC) coprocessors and performance comparisons with state-of-the-art homogeneous HPC systems such as Blue Gene/Q. New discovery science capabilities in the magnetic fusion energy application domain are enabled, including investigations of ion–temperature–gradient driven turbulence simulations with unprecedented spatial resolution and long temporal duration. Performance studies with realistic fusion experimental parameters are carried out on multiple supercomputing systems spanning a wide range of cache capacities, cache-sharing configurations, memory bandwidth, interconnects, and network topologies. These performance comparisons using a realistic discovery-science-capable domain application code provide valuable insights on optimization techniques across one of the broadest sets of current high-end computing platforms worldwide.

In this contribution, we present a status report on the recent progress towards an analysis of nuclear parton distribution functions (nPDFs) using the NNPDF methodology. We discuss how the NNPDF fitting approach can be extended to account for the dependence on the atomic mass number A, and introduce novel algorithms to improve the training of the neural network parameters within the NNPDF framework. Finally, we present preliminary results of an nPDF fit to neutral current deep-inelastic lepton–nucleus scattering data, and demonstrate how one can validate the new fitting methodology by means of closure tests.

We perform the first simultaneous extraction of unpolarized parton distributions and fragmentation functions from a Monte Carlo analysis of inclusive and semi-inclusive deep-inelastic scattering, Drell-Yan lepton-pair production, and single-inclusive $e^+ e^-$ annihilation data. We use data resampling techniques to thoroughly explore the Bayesian posterior distribution of the extracted functions, and use $k$-means clustering on the parameter samples to identify the configurations that give the best description across all reactions. Inclusion of the semi-inclusive data reveals a strong suppression of the strange quark distribution at parton momentum fractions $x \gtrsim 0.01$, in contrast with the ATLAS observation of enhanced strangeness in $W^\pm$ and $Z$ production at the LHC. Our study reveals significant correlations between the strange quark density and the strange $\to$ kaon fragmentation function needed to simultaneously describe semi-inclusive $K^\pm$ production data from COMPASS and inclusive $K^\pm$ spectra in $e^+ e^-$ annihilation from ALEPH and SLD, as well as between the strange and light antiquark densities in the proton., Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures; version to appear in Phys. Rev. D

We present a first determination of the nuclear parton distribution functions (nPDF) based on the NNPDF methodology: nNNPDF1.0. This analysis is based on neutral-current deep-inelastic structure function data and is performed up to NNLO in QCD calculations with heavy quark mass effects. For the first time in the NNPDF fits, the $\chi^2$ minimization is achieved using stochastic gradient descent with reverse-mode automatic differentiation (backpropagation). We validate the robustness of the fitting methodology through closure tests, assess the perturbative stability of the resulting nPDFs, and compare them with other recent analyses. The nNNPDF1.0 distributions satisfy the boundary condition whereby the NNPDF3.1 proton PDF central values and uncertainties are reproduced at $A=1$, which introduces important constraints particularly for low-$A$ nuclei. We also investigate the information that would be provided by an Electron-Ion Collider (EIC), finding that EIC measurements would significantly constrain the nPDFs down to $x\simeq 5\times 10^{-4}$. Our results represent the first-ever nPDF determination obtained using a Monte Carlo methodology consistent with that of state-of-the-art proton PDF fits, and provide the foundation for a subsequent global nPDF analyses including also proton-nucleus data., Comment: 50 pages, 24 figures

The spread of early farming across Europe from its origins in Southwest Asia was a culturally transformative process which took place over millennia. Within regions, the pace of the transition was probably related to the particular climatic and environmental conditions encountered, as well as the nature of localized hunter-gatherer and farmer interactions. The establishment of farming in the interior of the Balkans represents the first movement of Southwest Asian livestock beyond their natural climatic range, and widespread evidence now exists for early pottery being used extensively for dairying. However, pottery lipid residues from sites in the Iron Gates region of the Danube in the northern Balkans show that here, Neolithic pottery was being used predominantly for processing aquatic resources. This stands out not only within the surrounding region but also contrasts markedly with Neolithic pottery use across wider Europe. These findings provide evidence for the strategic diversity within the wider cultural and economic practices during the Neolithic, with this exceptional environmental and cultural setting offering alternative opportunities despite the dominance of farming in the wider region.

Snackjack is a highly simplified version of blackjack that was proposed by Ethier (2010) and given its name by Epstein (2013). The eight-card deck comprises two aces, two deuces, and four treys, with aces having value either 1 or 4, and deuces and treys having values 2 and 3, respectively. The target total is 7 (vs. 21 in blackjack), and ace-trey is a natural. The dealer stands on 6 and 7, including soft totals, and otherwise hits. The player can stand, hit, double, or split, but split pairs receive only one card per paircard (like split aces in blackjack), and there is no insurance. We analyze the game, both single and multiple deck, deriving basic strategy and one-parameter card-counting systems. Unlike in blackjack, these derivations can be done by hand, though it may nevertheless be easier and more reliable to use a computer. More importantly, the simplicity of snackjack allows us to do computations that would be prohibitively time-consuming at blackjack. We can thereby enhance our understanding of blackjack by thoroughly exploring snackjack., Comment: 55 pages, 11 figures

The discovery of a sizeable asymmetry in the $\bar u$ and $\bar d$ distributions in the proton was one of the more consequential experimental findings in hadron physics last century. Although widely believed to be related to the fundamental role of chiral symmetry in QCD, a definitive verification of this hypothesis has remained elusive. We propose a novel test of the role of chiral symmetry in generating the sea flavor asymmetry by comparing the $\bar d-\bar u$ content in the proton with that in the $\Delta^+$ baryon, where a significant enhancement is expected around the opening of the $N \pi$ decay channel. Recent developments in lattice QCD suggest a promising way to test this prediction in the near future., Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures