Modelling the Spatial Structure of Pig Production in Denmark

In Denmark, the concentration of pig production is highest in the western part of the country. However, there may be even larger local differences in the number of pigs produced. In this study we analyze the determinants of the location of pig production in Denmark with particular focus on spatial externalities and the interaction between the location of pig production and upstream sector and slaughterhouses. It is the assumption that the location of slaughterhouses is influenced by the location of the primary producers, implying that this variable is endogenous, whereas the location of primary producers is independent of the location of slaughterhouses. This is due to the fact that transportation costs of pigs are paid by the cooperatives owning the slaughterhouses. This assumption is tested applying a spatial econometric model. The model is estimated for 1999 and 2004. Furthermore, the impact of negative environmental externalities of pig production on location is analyzed. The results show that spatial externalities have a positive effect on the location of pig production whereas environmental regulation has a negative effect on location.Agglomeration, Externalities, Spatial Econometrics, Polluted Production, Livestock Production/Industries,

The significance of the Carolingian advocate

This article argues that ninth-century advocates in the Frankish world deserve more attention than they have received. Exploring some of the wealth of relevant evidence, it reviews and critiques both current historiographical approaches to the issue. Instead of considering Carolingian advocates as largely a by-product of the ecclesiastical immunity, or viewing advocacy as a Trojan horse for a subsequent establishment of lordship over monasteries, the article proposes a reading of ninth-century advocacy as intimately linked with wider Carolingian reform, particularly an interest in promoting formal judicial procedure

Client-side mobile user profile for content management using data mining techniques

Mobile device can be used as a medium to send and receive the mobile internet content. However, there are several limitations using mobile internet. Content personalisation has been viewed as an important area when using mobile internet. In order for personalisation to be successful, understanding the user is important. In this paper, we explore the implementation of the user profile at client-side, which may be used whenever user connect to the mobile content provider. The client-side user profile can help to free the provider in performing analysis by using data mining technique at the mobile device. This research investigates the conceptual idea of using clustering and classification of user profile at the client-site mobile. In this paper, we applied K-means and compared several other classification algorithms like TwoStep, Kohenen and Anomaly to determine the boundaries of the important factors using information ranking separation

Automatically Discovering Hidden Transformation Chaining Constraints

Model transformations operate on models conforming to precisely defined metamodels. Consequently, it often seems relatively easy to chain them: the output of a transformation may be given as input to a second one if metamodels match. However, this simple rule has some obvious limitations. For instance, a transformation may only use a subset of a metamodel. Therefore, chaining transformations appropriately requires more information. We present here an approach that automatically discovers more detailed information about actual chaining constraints by statically analyzing transformations. The objective is to provide developers who decide to chain transformations with more data on which to base their choices. This approach has been successfully applied to the case of a library of endogenous transformations. They all have the same source and target metamodel but have some hidden chaining constraints. In such a case, the simple metamodel matching rule given above does not provide any useful information

Method overloading and overriding cause encapsulation flaw

International audienceBased on an experiment using three languages under .NET, this paper argues that the semantic differences between these languages regarding method overloading and overriding give rise to significant complexity and break encapsulation. We first recalls the various interpretations of overriding and overloading in object oriented languages through what we call language signatures. Then, we realize an experimentation with .NET components coded in different Programming languages in order to observe the global behavior. From this, we show that overriding and overloading are not compatible with a key property of components: encapsulation. We conclude that, in the current state of the art, in order to build predictable assembly, components must expose their internal structure! We propose a solution to this problem

Use of Urinary Pregnanediol 3-glucuronide to Confirm Ovulation

Objective Urinary hormonal markers may assist in increasing the efficacy of Fertility Awareness Based Methods (FABM). This study uses urinary pregnanediol-3a-glucuronide (PDG) testing to more accurately identify the infertile phase of the menstrual cycle in the setting of FABM. Methods Secondary analysis of an observational and simulation study, multicentre, European study. The study includes 107 women and tracks daily first morning urine (FMU), observed the changes in cervical mucus discharge, and ultrasonography to identify the day of ovulation over 326 menstrual cycles. The following three scenarios were tested: (A) use of the daily pregnandiol-3a-glucuronide (PDG) test alone; (B) use of the PDG test after the first positive urine luteinizing hormone (LH) kit result; (C) use of the PDG test after the disappearance of fertile type mucus. Two models were used: (1) one day of PDG positivity; or (2) waiting for three days of PDG positivity before declaring infertility. Results After the first positivity of a LH test or the end of fertile mucus, three consecutive days of PDG testing over a threshold of 5 μg/mL resulted in a 100% specificity for ovulation confirmation. They were respectively associated an identification of an average of 6.1 and 7.6 recognized infertile days. Conclusions The results demonstrate a clinical scenario with 100% specificity for ovulation confirmation and provide the theoretical background for a future development of a competitive lateral flow assay for the detection of PDG in the urine

Combinaison d'information visuelle et textuelle pour la recherche d'information multimédia

International audienceNous présentons dans cet article un modèle de représentation de documents multimédia combinant des informations textuelles et des descripteurs visuels. Le texte et l'image composant un document sont chacun décrits par un vecteur de poids $tf.idf$ en suivant une approche "sac-de-mots". Le modèle utilisé permet d'effectuer des requêtes multimédia pour la recherche d'information. Notre méthode est évaluée sur la base imageCLEF'08 pour laquelle nous possédons la vérité de terrain. Plusieurs expérimentations ont ét\é menées avec différents descripteurs et plusieurs combinaisons de modalités. L'analyse des résultats montre qu'un modèle de document multimédia permet d'augmenter les performances d'un système de recherche basé uniquement sur une seule modalité, qu'elle soit textuelle ou visuelle