Search

Early modern warfare in Western Europe exposed civilian populations to violence, hardship, and disease. Despite limited empirical evidence, the ensuing mortality effects are regularly invoked by economic historians to explain patterns of economic development. Using newly collected data on adult burials and war events in the seventeenth-century Low Countries, we estimate early modern war-driven mortality in localities close to military activity. We find a clear and significant general mortality effect consistent with the localized presence of diseases. During years with major epidemic disease outbreaks, we demonstrate a stronger and more widely spreading mortality effect. However, war-driven mortality increases during epidemic years are of similar relative magnitude is those in non-epidemic war years. Given the omnipresence of warfare in the seventeenth-century Low Countries, war-driven mortality was remarkably constant rather than a sharp discontinuity. The economic impact of warfare likely played out over the long term rather than driven by sudden large mortality spikes creating rapid structural change.

We studied the intraday effects of return overreactions around extreme negative one-minute interval returns of Nasdaq100 constituents based on nanosecond data. An extreme negative one-minute interval return is defined as the lowest return that occurs once in 1,000 one-minute intervals. We document that 31% of such an extreme one-minute interval's return is reversed in the subsequent trading minute. The relative magnitude of the reversal after extreme negative one-minute interval returns is particularly high for the 20% most liquid and the 20% largest firms of our sample.

A theoretic model based on the concepts of constrained arbitrage and capital mobility is proposed to interpret closed-end fund puzzles. Although a discount for a closed-end fund’s price relative to its net asset value (NAV) is more prevalent, our model never excludes the possibility of a premium, which depends on the relative magnitude of the key parameters for the closed-end fund and its component stocks. Since closed-end funds tend to be more owned by individual investors who are less likely to be active traders due to investor inertia, and investor enthusiasm is usually higher for stocks than for closed-end funds, the aggregated price of component stocks will be more likely higher than the price of the closed-end fund, thus leading to the discount. Our model further shows that a closed-end fund’s discount is negatively related to its expected dividends and the interest rate. The above results are reproduced by simulation.Keywords: Closed-End Fund Puzzles, Constrained Arbitrage, Capital Mobility, Investor Inertia, Investor SentimentJEL Classifications: G12, G14, G23, G40DOI: https://doi.org/10.32479/ijefi.11373

This paper investigates the house price cycle in 17 major cities in Poland, analysing separately prices of newly constructed housing and prices in the existing stock. We apply the Andre, Gupta and Mwamba (2019) framework and test the deepness and steepness of the cycles. Deepness concerns the relative magnitude of peaks and downturns, while steepness determines, how fast peaks or downturns are reached. When at least one of those measures is not symmetric, there is asymmetry in the cycle. We apply the triples test and the entropy test and find little evidence for asymmetry, mostly only in small cities. This seems to be intriguing, because usually there are asymmetries, for example slow price increases end in sudden drops. The explanation for the smooth cycle in the Polish housing market are a still not satisfied demand for housing and continuously growing wages. Banks issued mortgages only to the more affluent people, which were able to pay back the mortgage. Additionally, two housing subsidy schemes helped to keep house prices stable, when the situation in the global economy worsened, which might have led to price drops.

Recent efforts to characterize small (Mw

The production effect is the memory advantage for items studied aloud over items studied silently. Three experiments examined the influence of (1) the distinctiveness heuristic in a pure-list paradigm and (2) statistical distinctiveness during study. Aloud versus silent processing was manipulated within-subject in a mixed-list procedure and additional pure-list items were alternated with the to-be-remembered words. This arrangement permitted the first examination of the production effect using both within-subject and between-subjects manipulations in the same experiment. The quite large between-subjects production effect observed for the pure-list words is attributed to the distinctiveness of the aloud words being enhanced by the co-occurring within-subject manipulation. In addition, when the pure-list words were all read aloud, they effectively increased the overall proportion of aloud words, thereby decreasing the distinctiveness of the to-be-remembered aloud words in the mixed list. Correspondingly, there was a decrease in the magnitude of the production effect. However, when the pure-list words were all read silently, the magnitude of the production effect was unchanged relative to baseline. These results provide partial support for the influence of statistical distinctiveness on the magnitude of the production effect.

Genetic diversity is one of the useful tools to select appropriate lines for hybridization. Twenty short-statured maize inbred lines were taken for present study, which were collected from CIMMYT India and Mexico through Plant Breeding Division, Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI), Gazipur. This experiment was conducted from November 2015 to April 2016 to identify parental lines to produce single cross short statured maize hybrids. From the genetic diversity studies, the importance of both additive and non-additive gene actions for the expression of yield and yield contributing characters were found. Values of vector I and II revealed that both the vectors had positive values for date of silking, plant height, rows/cob, grains/row and yield. These results indicated that these five characters had highest contribution towards divergence. Based on the relative magnitude of D2 values; 20 inbred lines were grouped into five clusters. Seven inbred lines were selected on the basis of genetic diversity and per se performance which will be crossed separately in a half-diallel fashion to develop hybrids.

Contains fulltext : 225885.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Since the seminal work of Yarbus, multiple studies have demonstrated the influence of task-set on oculomotor behavior and the current cognitive state. In more recent years, this field of research has expanded by evaluating the costs of abruptly switching between such different tasks. At the same time, the field of classifying oculomotor behavior has been moving toward more advanced, data-driven methods of decoding data. For the current study, we used a large dataset compiled over multiple experiments and implemented separate state-of-the-art machine learning methods for decoding both cognitive state and task-switching. We found that, by extracting a wide range of oculomotor features, we were able to implement robust classifier models for decoding both cognitive state and task-switching. Our decoding performance highlights the feasibility of this approach, even invariant of image statistics. Additionally, we present a feature ranking for both models, indicating the relative magnitude of different oculomotor features for both classifiers. These rankings indicate a separate set of important predictors for decoding each task, respectively. Finally, we discuss the implications of the current approach related to interpreting the decoding results.

The existence of a skin resistance for adsorbate mass transport at the surface of a pelletized adsorbent particle or at the surface of adsorbent crystals within a particle has been proven by many macroscopic and microscopic experiments. An isothermal and isobaric column dynamic test method may be used to approximately estimate the relative magnitude of the skin resistance.

The present investigation was carried out at the research farm of the Division of Plant Breeding & Genetics, SKUAST –Jammu, Chatha. The experimental material of the present study comprised 20 true breeding facultative type winter wheat lines which were evaluated under rainfed conditions in a RBD. The best ten winter wheat lines (Arkaan, Blue boy, China 4435893, Drina, Drina NS 720, Nordersprez, WW12, WW21, WW23 and WW25) used as females and three spring wheat (PBW175, PBW 644 and WH 1080) were used as male parents to develop the experimental material for line x tester mating design. 30F1s and advanced 30F2 seeds along with 13 parents were sown in the Rabi 2016-17 in a RBD under rainfed conditions. Observations were recorded on yield traits. The mean squares for comparisons of parents’ vs crosses were significant. Combining ability analysis carried over F1 and F2 generation revealed that variance for crosses, testers and partly in lines was significant for almost all the traits. The GCA effects were greater than SCA effects for most of the traits. The compassion of relative magnitude of GCA and SCA variances indicated greater magnitude of GCA variance than SCA variance yield traits indicating the presence of additive gene action for the inheritance of these traits. On the basis of overall ranking of the parents for GCA, the lines Arkaan, Blue boy, Nordersprez, Drina and WW25 and in testers WH1080, PBW 175 revealed desirable significant effect for many traits.).

A typical way to investigate the relationship between spatial attention and the programming of an eye movement is with a dual-task. Here, participants simultaneously make an eye movement in 1 direction and discriminate a target at the same or a different location. Results of these tasks consistently find that performance is best at the goal of an upcoming eye movement. It is less clear, however, the extent to which spatial attention can shift independently of the programmed saccade. In this article, for the first time, we use an evidence accumulation model to examine this longstanding question. Specifically, across 2 studies, we quantify the relative contributions of spatial attention and saccade preparation in a perceptual dual-task. Our results establish that there is a unique and measurable effect of spatial attention away from the saccade goal, and, interestingly, that the relative magnitude of this effect varies by cue type. There is a larger influence of spatial attention when a peripheral rather than a central cue is employed. We suggest that these results support the claim that each form of orienting is mediated by a distinct underlying mechanism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

Low-yield explosion monitoring requires the use of nearby short-period observations, which exhibit sensitivities to geologic heterogeneity and have low signal-to-noise ratios compared to larger events. In this study, we analyze 843 seismic events using nearly 475,000 individual observations to compute precise relative locations of small (1

The volatility of investor returns depends not only on the volatility of the stocks investors hold but also on their time-varying capital exposure to these holdings. We provide comprehensive evidence on the volatility of investor returns using individual stocks, portfolios of stocks, and market indexes from the U.S. and major international stock markets. Our main finding is that the volatility of investor returns is higher than the corresponding volatility of stock returns in nearly all specifications. The relative magnitude of the volatility differential varies from as little as 10% and up to 75%, where this differential tends to increase with investment horizon. Probing into the drivers of this volatility differential reveals that firms issue more equity after low past volatility but before high future volatility, implying that managers cater to investor propensity to "chase stability." Overall, taken together with existing evidence that investor returns tend to be lower than corresponding stock returns, this study suggests that the risk-return trade-off for stock investors is worse than previously thought.

This research examines empirically volatility spillover effect of oil prices on exchange rate. We are specifically concerned with the comparison of the relative magnitude of the oil shock on the exchange rate volatilities of 5 major oil importers (Pakistan, India, China, Japan, and Germany) and 5 major oil exporters (UAE, Canada, Iraq, Russia, and Saudi Arabia). By applying Diebold & Yilmaz (2012) methodology, the results suggested that oil prices show more contribution “from” other countries while it has less contribution “to” other countries. The examination of oil importers and exporters’ exchange rates depicted that oil prices have more volatility spillover effect on oil exporting countries as compared to oil importing countries. The outcomes are valuable for practitioners, such as traders, investors, as well as policy makers to enhance their understanding about interconnectedness of financial markets.

We present a class of diffraction-free partially coherent beams each member of which is comprised of a finite power, non-accelerating Airy bump residing on a statistically homogeneous, Gaussian-correlated background. We examine free-space propagation of soft apertured realizations of the proposed beams and show that their evolution is governed by two spatial scales: the coherence width of the background and aperture size. A relative magnitude of these factors determines the practical range of propagation distances over which the novel beams can withstand diffraction. The proposed beams can find applications to imaging and optical communications through random media., 5 pages, 5 figures

Breeding of nuclear fuel from fertile nuclides may allow to extend known nuclear fuel resources from a century to thousands of years. In this article, we show that the requirement for a breeder reactor fuel to feature an effective neutron production per absorption larger than 2 ( η > 2 ) breaks down for fertile and fissionable nuclides meeting two criteria related to the relative magnitude of capture and fission cross sections. Moreover, we find that a breeding ratio larger than unity can be achieved for fuels consisting of a single nuclide, in spite of the this nuclide featuring η 2 . In particular, neptunium is identified as a nuclear fuel that can sustain a reactivity increase over time up to a burn-up exceeding 240 GWd/ton in a fast neutron spectrum.

An effective Schmid factor (ESF), as an alternative parameter to the uniaxial stress based Schmid factor, is newly proposed to account for the effects of grain orientations and general loading conditions including shear deformation on the selection of slip/twin modes of magnesium alloys. The validity of the proposed parameter is confirmed by accurately predicting twin variants developed during double pass differential speed rolling of Mg-3Al-1Zn alloy. The analysis based on the ESF concept clarifies that shear stress and their relative magnitude to the normal stress have considerable impact on the activation of the predominate slip, twin type and variants.

Residual trapping of a nonwetting phase in a porous medium is directly impacted by the relative magnitude of capillary, viscous, and gravity forces. Ratios of these forces control the sequence by w...

Phase controlled accurate voltage divider creates two coherent AC voltages with calculated magnitude ratio using additional voltages with calculated phase control. Ratio of these voltages is calculated theoretically with high accuracy. Digital-to-analog converters (DAC) are used to create AC additional voltages. Because of it the discreteness of the phase controlled voltage divider is equal to DACs digit divided on two. Modern DAC, depend on their operation speed, usually have 6-16 digits. Consequently, the discreteness of the relative magnitude phase control lies in the range of 3 × 10–2 –3 × 10–5. Discreteness of the DAC phase control only slightly infl uence on the accuracy of the magnitude phase control, so that only discreteness of DAC infl uences on the accuracy of measurement by phase controlled dividers. Report describes the methods of the discreteness uncertainty reduction in voltage dividers with phase control. Two methods of the discreteness uncertainty reduction are discussed. First one use phase controlled dividers only. Other one use mixed both phase and magnitude control. The discreteness uncertainty of both methods is investigated. Possibility of the crea tion of the phase controlled divider with diff erent control low are discussed and analyzed. Decade calibration in both cases is developed and researched.

The objective of this work was to evaluate four parental lines of cucumber which included: ‘Zeina’ (Zna), ‘Beit Alpha’ (BA), ‘Straight 8’ (Strght 8) and ‘Calypso’ (Capso) and six F1s generated by diallel cross, using randomized complete block design with three replications to study heterosis and combining ability for yield and yield component traits. Estimated heterosis showed that cross ‘Zna × Capso’ had the highest Better Parent (BP) heterosis in total fruit yield/ha while ‘BA × Capso’ had the highest Mid Parent (MP) heterosis in the same trait. Significant general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combining ability variances were obtained in all the traits implying that both the additive and non-additive gene effects operated in the genetic expression of the traits. Relative magnitude of GCA and SCA variances indicated preponderance of additive gene action for all the traits. ‘Beit Alpha’ and ‘Straight 8’ are best general combiners while ‘BA × Capso’ and ‘Capso × Strght 8’ were the best specific combiners for total fruit yield. Keywords: Cucumber, Hybrid vigour, Half diallel crosses, GCA, SCA

Traditional approaches to understanding the multiple benefits of sustainable drainage systems often rely on value transfer. This converts each benefit into a monetary value, which can then be compared with the cost of the project. The approach, while well-developed, is limited because it does not systematically incorporate the spatial nature of the benefits. This paper discusses the development of an alternative way of evaluating and comparing benefits, allowing spatial distribution and local context and circumstances to be taken into consideration. The suggested approach is to create a score for each benefit category, which is normalised against a defined initial condition state on a scale of 0 to 10. This approach allows a direct comparison of the relative magnitude of benefits for a given location and provides a clear understanding of how and to whom multiple benefits accrue. The approach allows a singular significant benefit to be compared against many minor benefits. It can also easily be modified to reflect local preferences by weighting each benefit category appropriately. The method is demonstrated by three case studies in Newcastle, UK.

The paper examines the economic effects of labeling food nanotechnology products using an analytical framework of heterogeneous consumers and imperfectly competitive suppliers. Labeling results in increased costs for nanofood producers (the cost effect of the labeling policy), reduced consumer uncertainty regarding the nature of the food product (certainty effect), and can affect consumer attitudes towards nanofoods by being perceived as a warning signal (stigma effect). In this context, nanofood labeling can change the perceived quality differences between nanofoods and their conventional and organic counterparts, with such changes being more salient when the stigma effect is large, when consumers have low awareness of food nanotechnology in the absence of labeling, and/or when competition among nanofood suppliers is more intense. Despite its empirical relevance, the impact of a labeling policy on consumer preferences (and the economic ramifications of such impact) has largely been ignored by the theoretical literature on the economics of labels. Our analysis shows that it matters. Specifically, our study shows that the market and welfare effects of labeling are case-specific and dependent on consumer awareness of, and attitudes towards food nanotechnology before and after the introduction of the policy as well as the relative magnitude of the cost, certainty and stigma effects of nanofood labeling. Our analytical findings also suggest that the effects of nanofood labels on consumer welfare are asymmetric with certain groups of consumers benefiting even when labeling has a stigma effect on nanofoods.

We investigate the endogenous emergence of residential and industrial areas when proximity to the centre benefits both households and firms. Households wish to locate near firms and near the centre due to costs of commuting and of visiting the centre that are proportional to distance. Firms wish to locate near households because this reduces the wage they need to pay to attract workers, and near the centre due to the iceberg cost of transporting their output to the centre. Depending on the relative magnitude of three cost parameters (commuting to work, visiting the centre, transporting output to the centre), different urban structures arise. If the cost of visiting the centre is large and the cost of commuting to work is small (relatively to the cost of transporting output), households locate in the centre and firms in the outskirts. The opposite occurs if both costs are very small. If the cost of visiting the centre is small and that of commuting to work is large, housing and industry become completely integrated. Complex urban structures emerge in intermediate cases.

A prior study identified factors that contribute to engineering design defects and assessed the relative magnitude of the impact of those factors. This paper provides 40 mitigation strategi...

Although reduced ambient lighting (~50 lx) does not increase the degree of form-deprivation myopia (FDM) in chickens or infant monkeys, it does reduce the probability that monkeys will recover from FDM and that the normal age-dependent reduction in hyperopia will occur in monkeys reared with unrestricted vision. These findings suggest that low ambient lighting levels affect the regulatory mechanism responsible for emmetropization. To study this issue, infant rhesus monkeys (age ~ 24 days) were reared under dim light (55 ± 9 lx) with monocular −3D (dim-light lens-induced myopia, DL-LIM, n = 8) or +3D spectacle lenses (dim-light lens-induced hyperopia, DL-LIH, n = 7) until approximately 150 days of age. Refractive errors, ocular parameters and sub-foveal choroidal thickness were measured periodically and compared with normal-light-reared, lens-control monkeys (NL-LIM, n = 16; NL-LIH, n = 7). Dim light rearing significantly attenuated the degree of compensatory anisometropias in both the DL-LIM (-0.63 ± 0.77D vs. −2.11 ± 1.10D in NL-LIM) and DL-LIH treatment groups (-0.18 ± 1.93D vs. +1.71 ± 0.39D in NL-LIH). These effects came about because the treated and fellow control eyes had a lower probability of responding appropriately to the eye’s effective refractive state. Vision-induced interocular differences in choroidal thickness were only observed in monkeys that exhibited compensating refractive changes, suggesting that failures in detecting the relative magnitude of optical errors underlay the abnormal refractive responses. Our findings suggest that low ambient lighting levels reduce the efficacy of the vision-dependent mechanisms that regulate refractive development.

Success in mathematics, both in school and out, is dependent on a strong start in early childhood. Indeed, a considerable body of research has demonstrated that children’s early numeracy competence has been found to be highly predictive of their future mathematical success in school (e.g., Mazzocco & Thompson, 2005; Romano, Babchishin, & Pagani, 2010). For example, kindergarteners’ counting skills, their knowledge of symbolic representations of number (e.g., reading and interpreting written numerals), and their judgments about the relative magnitude of quantities (e.g., knowing that 7 is larger than 5 but smaller than 10) are predictive of their achievement at the end of the first grade (Jordan, Kaplan, Locuniak, & Ramineni, 2007; Martin, Cirino, Sharp, & Barnes, 2014); other studies have shown that early numeracy skills predict achievement in the third grade (Jordan, Glutting, & Ramineni, 2010; Jordan, Kaplan, Ramineni, & Locuniak, 2009) and beyond (Duncan et al., 2007; Geary, Hoard, Nugent, & Bailey, 2013; Watts, Duncan, Siegler, & Davis-Kean, 2014).

In the study of Giffen behavior or “Giffenity”, there remains a paradox. On the one hand, the Wold-Juréen (1953) utility function has been touted as the progenitor of a multi-decade search for those two-good, particular utility functions, which exhibit Giffenity. On the other hand, there is no evidence that the Wold-Juréen (1953) utility function has ever been fully evaluated for Giffenity, with perhaps one minor exception, Weber (, 1997). But there, Weber showed that the Giffenity of Good 1 depends upon the relative magnitude of income vis-à-vis the price of Good 2. Weber’s precondition is so vague that it lacks broad appeal. This paper offers a new and a clear cut precondition for Giffen behavior under the Wold-Juréen (1953) utility function. That is, we show that if the price of Good 1 is greater than or equal to the price of Good 2, then Good 1 is a Giffen good.

Exploiting the SIQR model for COVID-19, I show that the wavy infection curve in Japan is the result of fluctuation of policy on isolation measure imposed by the government and obeyed by citizens. Assuming the infection coefficient be a two-valued function of the number of daily confirmed new cases, I show that when the removal rate of infected individuals is between these two values, the wavy infection curve is self-organized. On the basis of the infection curve, I classify the outbreak of COVID-19 into five types and show that these differences can be related to the relative magnitude of the transmission coefficient and the quarantine rate of infected individuals., 10 pages,10 figures

This paper describes validity testing of the NeuLog NUL-217 GSR measurement device. This was accomplished by comparing the NeuLog device to readings from the Biopac Student Lab Systems EDA system. The results of this research found that measurements from the NeuLog device are correlated with and comparable to the Biopac system. The absolute skin conductance levels typically differed between the two systems. For most psychological and human factors research the dynamic skin conductance responses are more important than absolute levels. The timing and relative magnitude of changes typically tracked well across the two systems indicating that the Neulog system is suitable for the purposes of its intended use in psychological and technological research.

International audience; Retraction dynamics of viscous drops and sheets depend on the relative magnitude of the viscous force over the inertia-capillary force. The dynamics are more complicated in the case of viscoplastic drops/sheets because the yield stress of the fluid also comes into play. The retraction of slender viscoplastic drops and sheets depends on the relative magnitude of the yield stress over the capillary stress. Depending on its relative magnitude, the yield stress can completely resist the retraction. In this study, the retraction of viscoplastic drops and sheets has been investigated theoretically neglecting the effect of the surrounding medium. Using long-wave theory we derive the retraction criteria of slender drops (axisymmetric) and sheets (two-dimensional) for yield stress fluids. Direct numerical simulations are also performed by solving the complete momentum conservation equations. A good agreement is found between the numerical results and the proposed retraction

Introduction: Several chronic inflammatory diseases (CID) are associated with elevated risks for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). However, the relative magnitude of elevated CVD risk may differ considerably between chronic inflammatory diseases. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that not all CIDs are associated with elevated risk for diabetes mellitus (DM) and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), and that magnitudes of increased CVD risk differ considerably across CIDs. Methods: We estimated the incidence of DM and ASCVD in 18,373 patients with any of six CIDs [human immunodeficiency virus infection (HIV), Irritable bowel disease (IBD), psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), scleroderma, and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)] in regular outpatient care, as well as controls without CIDs in regular primary care, in a large metropolitan health system since January 1 st , 2000. We assessed incidence of outcomes in patients with each CID compared to controls using quasi-Poisson regression adjusting for age, sex, insurance status, and common CVD risk factors. A 90-day blanking period was applied for identifying incident cases. Results: Psoriasis, HIV, male sex, black race, Hispanic ethnicity, and being on public insurance were all associated with significantly elevated risks for DM (Figure). HIV, RA, scleroderma, SLE, male sex, and public insurance were all associated with significantly elevated risks for ASCVD. The magnitude of increased risk for ASCVD was similarly high for HIV (incidence rate ratio 1.79, 95% confidence interval 1.57-2.05), scleroderma (1.79, 1.42-2.27), and SLE (1.95, 1.59-2.39). Conclusion: Several, but not all, CIDs are associated with elevated risks for DM and ASCVD, but the magnitude of risk elevation differs depending on the CID. These data demonstrate the importance of nuanced approaches to understanding CID- and inflammation-associated CVD risks.

We investigate the endogenous emergence of residential and industrial districts around a central shopping district (CSD). Households wish to locate near firms and near the CSD due to commuting costs proportional to distance. Firms wish to locate near households because this reduces the wage they need to pay to attract workers, and near the CSD due to the iceberg cost of transporting their output to the CSD. Depending on the relative magnitude of three cost parameters (commuting to work, commuting to shop, transporting output), different urban structures arise. If the cost of commuting to shop is large and the cost of commuting to work is small (relatively to the cost of transporting output), households locate in the centre and firms in the periphery. The opposite occurs if both costs are very small. If the cost of commuting to shop is small and that of commuting to work is large, housing and industry become integrated. Complex urban structures emerge in intermediate cases.

The paper compares the findings provided by empirical and physically-based models in estimating future evolutions in landslide occurrence as a consequence of the ongoing Climate Change. As test case, the phenomena affecting pyroclastic covers on Lattari Mts. (Campania Region) are considered. Simulation chains developed for both the approaches, pros and cons are carefully displayed pointing out the uncertainties currently associated to projections and the main gaps to bridge. Whatever the approach, an increase is expected but the relative magnitude and the evolution is deeply influenced by impact tools beyond the selected climate projections and concentration scenarios.

Molecular-motor generated active stresses drive the cytoskeleton away from equilibrium, endowing it with tunable mechanical properties that are essential for diverse functions such as cell division and motility[1-5]. Designing analogous biomimetic systems is a key prerequisite for creating active matter that can emulate cellular functions[6-7]. These long-term goals requires understanding of how motor-generated stresses tune the mechanics of filamentous networks[8-11]. In microtubule-based active matter, kinesin motors generate extensile motion that leads to persistent breaking and reforming of the network links[12]. We study how such microscopic dynamics modifies the network's mechanical properties, uncovering that the network viscosity first increases with the imposed shear rate before transitioning back to a low-viscosity state. The non-monotonic shear-dependent viscosity can be controlled by tuning the speed of molecular motors. A two-state phenomenological model that incorporates liquid- and solid-like elements quantitatively relates the non-monotonic shear-rate-dependent viscosity to locally-measured flows. These studies show that rheology of extensile networks are different from previously studied active gels[13], where contractility enhances mechanical stiffness. Moreover, the flow induced gelation is not captured by continuum models of hydrodynamically interacting swimmers[14-21]. Observation of activity-dependent viscoelasticity necessitates the development of models for self-yielding of soft active solids whose intrinsic active stresses fluidize or stiffen the network.

Code hardening is meant to fight malicious tampering with sensitive code executed on client hosts. Code splitting is a hardening technique that moves selected chunks of code from client to server. Although widely adopted, the effective benefits of code splitting are not fully understood and thoroughly assessed. The objective of this work is to compare non protected code vs. code splitting protected code, considering two levels of the chunk size parameter, in order to assess the effectiveness of the protection - in terms of both attack time and success rate - and to understand the attack strategy and process used to overcome the protection. We conducted an experiment with master students performing attack tasks on a small application hardened with different levels of protection. Students carried out their task working at the source code level. We observed a statistically significant effect of code splitting on the attack success rate that, on the average, was reduced from 89% with unprotected clear code to 52% with the most effective protection. The protection variant that moved some small-sized code chunks turned out to be more effective than the alternative moving fewer but larger chunks. Different strategies were identified yielding different success rates. Moreover we discovered that successful attacks exhibited different process w.r.t. failed ones. We found empirical evidence of the effect of code splitting, assessed the relative magnitude, and evaluated the influence of the chunk size parameter. Moreover we extracted the process used to overcome such obfuscation technique.

This study explored the impact of student loan and credit card debt on young people’s psychological distress. Targeting American young adults ages 18–28, we examined the impacts of student loan and credit card debt on psychological distress and estimated their relative magnitude using five biannual waves from the Transition into Adulthood Study. Fixed-effects models investigated whether changes in debts led to changes in psychological distress. Increases of $1000 in student loan and credit card debt resulted in 6% and 4% higher odds of distress, respectively. Comparison showed credit card debt inflicted twice as much stress. Implications on young adults’ debt reduction and distress alleviation are addressed.

Detailed process, critical energy, and critical shear stress of twin formation during hexagonal-close-packed (HCP) to face-centered-cubic (FCC) transition are proposed through first principles calculation. It reveals that a lower critical energy is needed for HCP→FCC basal transition with twin formation than that without twin. The relative magnitude of critical shear stresses is strongly correlated with c/a ratio of HCP metals, and fundamentally determines the appearance of HCP→FCC basal transition and phase-transition twin. The predicted results bring about reasonable explanations to two puzzling points regarding Mg and twin formation in the literature.

While recall errors in retrospective data from household surveys may generate estimation biases, the nature and the relative magnitude of the errors are still largely unknown, especially in...

Tools for estimating probabilities of flooding hazards caused by the simultaneous effect of sea level and waves are needed for the secure planning of densely populated coastal areas that are strongly vulnerable to climate change. In this paper we present a method for combining location-specific probability distributions of three different components: (1) long-term mean sea level change, (2) short-term sea level variations, and (3) wind-generated waves. We apply the method in two locations in the Helsinki Archipelago to obtain run-up level estimates representing the joint effect of the still water level and the wave run-up. These estimates for the present, 2050 and 2100 are based on field measurements and mean sea level scenarios. In the case of our study locations, the significant locational variability of the wave conditions leads to a difference in the safe building levels of up to one meter. The rising mean sea level in the Gulf of Finland and the uncertainty related to the associated scenarios contribute significantly to the run-up levels for the year 2100. We also present a sensitivity test of the method and discuss its applicability to other coastal regions. Our approach allows for the determining of different building levels based on the acceptable risks for various infrastructure, thus reducing building costs while maintaining necessary safety margins.

This article uses the WRF-CMAQ model to systematically study the source apportionment of PM2.5 under typical meteorological conditions in the dry season (November 2010) in the Pearl River Delta (PRD). According to the geographical location and the relative magnitude of pollutant emission, Guangdong Province is divided into eight subdomains for source apportionment study. The Brute-Force Method (BFM) method was implemented to simulate the contribution from different regions to the PM2.5 pollution in the PRD. Results show that the industrial sources accounted for the largest proportion. For emission species, the total amount of NOx and VOC in Guangdong Province, and NH3 and VOC in Hunan Province are relatively larger. In Guangdong Province, the emission of SO2, NOx and VOC in the PRD are relatively larger, and the NH3 emissions are higher outside the PRD. In northerly-controlled episodes, model simulations demonstrate that local emissions are important for PM2.5 pollution in Guangzhou and Foshan. Meanwhile, emissions from Dongguan and Huizhou (DH), and out of Guangdong Province (SW) are important contributors for PM2.5 pollution in Guangzhou. For PM2.5 pollution in Foshan, emissions in Guangzhou and DH are the major contributors. In addition, high contribution ratio from DH only occurs in severe pollution periods. In southerly-controlled episode, contribution from the southern PRD increases. Local emissions and emissions from Shenzhen, DH, Zhuhai-Jiangmen-Zhongshan (ZJZ) are the major contributors. Regional contribution to the chemical compositions of PM2.5 indicates that the sources of chemical components are similar to those of PM2.5. In particular, SO42- is mainly sourced from emissions out of Guangdong Province, while the NO3- and NH4+ are more linked to agricultural emissions.

We will inevitably face new epidemics where the lack of long time-series data and the uncertainty about the outbreak dynamics make difficult to obtain quantitative predictions. Here we present an algorithm to qualitatively infer time-varying contact rates from short time-series data, letting us predict the start, relative magnitude and decline of epidemic outbreaks. Using real time-series data of measles, dengue, and the current zika outbreak, we demonstrate our algorithm can outperform existing algorithms based on estimating reproductive numbers. Keywords: Epidemic prediction, Inference, Contact rate

While multiple lines of evidence suggests that root carbon (C) can significantly impact the soil organic C (SOC) pool and subsequent C cycles via rhizosphere priming effects, the relative magnitude of the effects that root- and fungal-derived C inputs have in driving the priming of SOC decomposition are currently unknown. In this study, we used ingrowth cores and stable C isotope analyses to quantify root- and mycelium-derived C sequestered in soil labile and recalcitrant C pools and their relative contributions to the decomposition of native SOC in a spruce-fir-dominated coniferous forest on the eastern Tibetan Plateau, China. The results showed that new C sequestered in the soil labile C pool was primarily (77%) from mycelium-derived C, while 60% of the root-derived C sequestered in the soil was incorporated into the recalcitrant pool. Furthermore, although the total native SOC pool was not significantly influenced by new C derived from both roots and mycelia, mycelium-derived C induced a remarkably greater negative priming effect (−12.0%) on the native labile C pool than did root-derived C (−5.8%); in contrast, mycelium-derived C induced a greater positive priming effect (13.8%) than root-derived C (7.1%) on the native recalcitrant C pool. Collectively, our findings suggest that mycelium-derived C make a greater contribution to the newly sequestered C in the soil labile C pool than root-derived C, thereby inducing a remarkably greater positive priming effect on the decomposition of native soil recalcitrant C. Therefore, mycelium-derived C inputs may play a dominant role in soil C dynamics and long-term C storage, at least in alpine forest ecosystems where ectomycorrhizal mutualisms dominate.

This paper shows that the number of aftershocks with a relative magnitude does not depend on the magnitude of the main shock, and, in global and regional consideration, it is characterized by an exponential distribution that is similar to the Gutenberg–Richter repeatability law. This type of distribution makes it possible to give a simple and adequate interpretation of Bath’s law.