278 research outputs found

    Asymptotically Diagonal Delay Differential Systems

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    Las organizaciones solidarias un análisis de su naturaleza y significado a la luz del caso valenciano

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    Volunteer organizations are increasingly attracting the attention of collective action scholars. For some, in its recent stunning apogee, the denationalizing strategy of the Welfare State is revealed; for others, they are the expression of a new social movement. In this article the authors use the wide evidence gathered in the Valencian case, through diverse exploration strategies (open interviews, public opinión polis, case analysis) in order to examine such thesis. The output obtained rather shows us the heterogeneity, disparity and diversity of existing organizations, their limited sample of resources and their exiguous intemal articulation. The authors claim the need to reinterprete the Third Sector from their interactions with the remaining institutional frameworks of welfare production.Las organizaciones de voluntariado están recibiendo una creciente atención por parte de los analistas de la acción colectiva. Para unos, en su fulgurante auge reciente, se manifiesta la estrategia privatizadora del Estado de Bienestar; para otros, son expresión de un nuevo movimiento social. En este artículo los autores utilizan la amplia evidencia reunida en el caso valenciano, mediante distintas estrategias de exploración (entrevistas abiertas, encuestas, análisis de casos), para someter a examen dichas tesis. El resultado obtenido muestra más bien la heterogeneidad, disparidad y diversidad de organizaciones existentes, su reducido tamaño de recursos y su exigua articulación interna. Los autores apuntan la necesidad de reinterpretar el Tercer Sector desde la perspectiva de sus interacciones con los restantes marcos institucionales de producción de bienestar

    Migration paths saturations in meta-epidemic systems

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    In this paper we consider a simple two-patch model in which a population affected by a disease can freely move. We assume that the capacity of the interconnected paths is limited, and thereby influencing the migration rates. Possible habitat disruptions due to human activities or natural events are accounted for. The demographic assumptions prevent the ecosystem to be wiped out, and the disease remains endemic in both populated patches at a stable equilibrium, but possibly also with an oscillatory behavior in the case of unidirectional migrations. Interestingly, if infected cannot migrate, it is possible that one patch becomes disease-free. This fact could be exploited to keep disease-free at least part of the population

    Effect of Lifestyle Intervention in the Concentration of Adipoquines and Branched Chain Amino Acids in Subjects with High Risk of Developing Type 2 Diabetes: Feel4Diabetes Study

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    Introduction: The global prevalence of type 2 diabetes (T2D) is increasing rapidly, especially in low- and middle-income countries and has a high number of associated comorbidities. Plasmatic concentrations of branched chain amino acids (BCAA) and retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) have been shown to be elevated in T2D subjects in cross-sectional studies. However, the effect of lifestyle community-based interventions on BCAA and RBP4 concentrations has not yet been analyzed. Material and methods: The Feel4Diabetes study is a school and community-based intervention that identified 360 European families with a high risk of developing T2D according to the FINDRISC questionnaire. Families were randomized in control and intervention groups were followed-up from 2016 to 2018. In the Spanish families, the concentration of BCAA and RBP4 was determined in 266 subjects (115 control and 151 intervention group) that attended the three time-point assessments by colorimetric and ELISA reaction, respectively. Results: Baseline BCAA levels showed positive correlations with the FINDRISC score and glucose impairment (baseline glucose, insulin, and glycated hemoglobin), body mass index, and body weight. The participants receiving the community-based intervention showed a significant decrease in glycated hemoglobin and BCAA levels compared to the control group (p = 0.011 and p < 0.001, respectively). However, baseline RBP4 did not show significant correlations with anthropometric and glycemic parameters, and no significant change was observed in anthropometric parameters and RBP4 concentrations throughout the follow-up. Conclusion: A community-based intervention on lifestyle led to a significant reduction in BCAA levels regardless of weight loss. These findings suggest that this interventional approach could be promising in T2D prevention

    Revisiting land cover observations to address the needs of the climate modeling community

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    Improving systematic observations of land cover, as an Essential Climate Variable, should contribute to a better understanding of the global climate system and thus improve our ability to predict climatic change. The aim of this paper is to bring global land cover observations closer to meeting the needs of climate science. First, consultation mechanisms were established with the climate modeling community to identify its specific requirements in terms of satellite-based global land cover products. This assessment highlighted specific needs in terms of land cover characterization, accuracy of products, as well as stability and consistency needs that are currently not met or even addressed. The current land cover representation and mapping techniques were then called into question to specifically focus on the critical need of stable products expressed by climate users. Decoupling the stable and dynamic components of the land cover characterization and using a multi-year dataset were proposed as two key approaches to allow generating consistent suites of global land cover products over time

    Effects of rapid prey evolution on predator-prey cycles

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    We study the qualitative properties of population cycles in a predator-prey system where genetic variability allows contemporary rapid evolution of the prey. Previous numerical studies have found that prey evolution in response to changing predation risk can have major quantitative and qualitative effects on predator-prey cycles, including: (i) large increases in cycle period, (ii) changes in phase relations (so that predator and prey are cycling exactly out of phase, rather than the classical quarter-period phase lag), and (iii) "cryptic" cycles in which total prey density remains nearly constant while predator density and prey traits cycle. Here we focus on a chemostat model motivated by our experimental system [Fussmann et al. 2000,Yoshida et al. 2003] with algae (prey) and rotifers (predators), in which the prey exhibit rapid evolution in their level of defense against predation. We show that the effects of rapid prey evolution are robust and general, and furthermore that they occur in a specific but biologically relevant region of parameter space: when traits that greatly reduce predation risk are relatively cheap (in terms of reductions in other fitness components), when there is coexistence between the two prey types and the predator, and when the interaction between predators and undefended prey alone would produce cycles. Because defense has been shown to be inexpensive, even cost-free, in a number of systems [Andersson and Levin 1999, Gagneux et al. 2006,Yoshida et al. 2004], our discoveries may well be reproduced in other model systems, and in nature. Finally, some of our key results are extended to a general model in which functional forms for the predation rate and prey birth rate are not specified.Comment: 35 pages, 8 figure

    Analysis of symmetries in models of multi-strain infections

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    In mathematical studies of the dynamics of multi-strain diseases caused by antigenically diverse pathogens, there is a substantial interest in analytical insights. Using the example of a generic model of multi-strain diseases with cross-immunity between strains, we show that a significant understanding of the stability of steady states and possible dynamical behaviours can be achieved when the symmetry of interactions between strains is taken into account. Techniques of equivariant bifurcation theory allow one to identify the type of possible symmetry-breaking Hopf bifurcation, as well as to classify different periodic solutions in terms of their spatial and temporal symmetries. The approach is also illustrated on other models of multi-strain diseases, where the same methodology provides a systematic understanding of bifurcation scenarios and periodic behaviours. The results of the analysis are quite generic, and have wider implications for understanding the dynamics of a large class of models of multi-strain diseases

    Inclusive V0V^0 Production Cross Sections from 920 GeV Fixed Target Proton-Nucleus Collisions

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    Inclusive differential cross sections dσpA/dxFd\sigma_{pA}/dx_F and dσpA/dpt2d\sigma_{pA}/dp_t^2 for the production of \kzeros, \lambdazero, and \antilambda particles are measured at HERA in proton-induced reactions on C, Al, Ti, and W targets. The incident beam energy is 920 GeV, corresponding to s=41.6\sqrt {s} = 41.6 GeV in the proton-nucleon system. The ratios of differential cross sections \rklpa and \rllpa are measured to be 6.2±0.56.2\pm 0.5 and 0.66±0.070.66\pm 0.07, respectively, for \xf 0.06\approx-0.06. No significant dependence upon the target material is observed. Within errors, the slopes of the transverse momentum distributions dσpA/dpt2d\sigma_{pA}/dp_t^2 also show no significant dependence upon the target material. The dependence of the extrapolated total cross sections σpA\sigma_{pA} on the atomic mass AA of the target material is discussed, and the deduced cross sections per nucleon σpN\sigma_{pN} are compared with results obtained at other energies.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, 5 table
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