Gènes et Langues : une longue histoire commune ?

Ce texte propose un point de vue critique sur la façon dont l’histoire des langues et l’histoire des populations humaines se sont construites en parallèle et en correspondance, depuis le début du XIXe s. jusqu’à nos jours. D’un point de vue méthodologique, les convergences sont nombreuses, les linguistes, aussi bien que les généticiens des populations utilisant les mêmes méthodes de distances, ou les mêmes approches cladistiques ou probabilistes de reconstruction phylogénétique. La validité et les limites des analogies entre évolution linguistique et génétique sont discutées à partir d’exemples tirés de la littérature récente. L’analyse critique se place selon un double point de vue : d’abord en examinant comment ces diverses méthodes sont appliquées par les phylogénéticiens aux données linguistiques, sous le regard suspicieux de certains linguistes et, ensuite, en considérant la façon dont les généticiens des populations intègrent certaines classifications linguistiques, souvent contestées par les linguistes, à leurs propres problématiques génétiques.This text is intended to review how the history of languages and the history of human populations were drawn in parallel and in correspondence, since the 19th century. From the methodological point of view, convergences are numerous, both linguists and population geneticists making use of the same distance methods and the same cladistic or probabilistic approaches. The validity and limits of this analogy between linguistic and genetic evolution of mankind are discussed from recent published examples. Critics are based alternately on how these methods are applied to the linguistic data by phylogeneticists, under the suspicious and critical look of some linguists, and on how the human population geneticists include linguistic classification, often much debated by linguists, within their own genetic concerns

Origine et expansion de l’Afro-Asiatique : méthodologie pour une approche pluridisciplinaire

Le groupe linguistique afro-asiatique occupe un domaine géographique à cheval entre Afrique et Asie, une répartition qui pose la question de la localisation du berceau de cette famille. Linguistique, génétique des populations et archéologie se sont penchées sur cette question sans toutefois parvenir à y répondre. La spécificité des approches de chacune de ces disciplines, ainsi que leur nature interprétative, rendent la question du foyer encore plus complexe et appellent à une reformulation méthodologique de cette problématique. Cet article constitue une réflexion méthodologique sur la problématique de l’évolution d’un phylum linguistique et tente de définir un cadre théorique global pour aborder l’évolution des populations humaines de façon syncrétique, biologique et culturelle à la fois. Nous y présentons une revue critique des approches linguistiques et extra-linguistiques de la question du foyer de l’Afro-Asiatique. Nous proposons une méthodologie unique tenant compte des limites observées dans les approches actuelles et passées sur cette question, de considérations propres à chacune des disciplines concurrentes ainsi que des incidences dues à la nature même des données disponibles.The Afro-Asiatic linguistic group occupies a geographical zone which straddles two continents, Africa and Asia, a distribution which brings into question the location of this family’s homeland. Linguistics, Population Genetics and Archaeology have tried unsuccessfully to provide an answer, because the specificity and the interpretative nature of their different approaches make the homeland issue even more complex, and calls for reconsideration of the methodology used. This paper is a methodological reflection on the development of a linguistic group and an attempt to define an overall theoretical framework to consider the development of human populations in syncretic, biological and cultural terms. We present here a critical review of the linguistic and extra-linguistic methods applied to the question of an Afro-Asiatic homeland. We propose a single methodology taking into account the limitations observed in past and current works on the subject, the considerations related to each discipline as well as the particular impacts due to the nature of the available data

Magnetic structure of bulk GdMnO₃: Influence of strain

Internal structural distortions are of great interest in the determination of electronic and magnetic properties of the strong correlated rare earth manganites. When combined with external structural modifications like uniaxial or biaxial strains, structural distortions can lead to the emergence of new magnetic ground states. This realization is seemingly more probable with the low-band-width manganite GdMnO3 on the grounds that it is located in the magnetoelectric phase diagram of orthorhombic rare earth manganites between the A-type antiferromagnetic (AFM) order and the cycloidal spin orders. Herein, a thorough analysis of the magnetic structure of GdMnO3 based on the density functional theory connected with a classical Heisenberg model together with Monte Carlo calculations is presented. It is found whether a compressive uniaxial strain along the c direction or biaxial strain on the ab plane favors a ferromagnetic (FM) ground state over the AFM one. On the contrary, a tensile strain also on the ab plane is likely to stabilize the E-type AFM order

Early social adversity modulates the relation between attention biases and socioemotional behaviour in juvenile macaques

Affect-biased attention may play a fundamental role in early socioemotional development, but factors influencing its emergence and associations with typical versus pathological outcomes remain unclear. Here, we adopted a nonhuman primate model of early social adversity (ESA) to: (1) establish whether juvenile, pre-adolescent macaques demonstrate attention biases to both threatening and reward-related dynamic facial gestures; (2) examine the effects of early social experience on such biases; and (3) investigate how this relation may be linked to socioemotional behaviour. Two groups of juvenile macaques (ESA exposed and non-ESA exposed) were presented with pairs of dynamic facial gestures comprising two conditions: neutral-threat and neutral-lipsmacking. Attention biases to threat and lipsmacking were calculated as the proportion of gaze to the affective versus neutral gesture. Measures of anxiety and social engagement were also acquired from videos of the subjects in their everyday social environment. Results revealed that while both groups demonstrated an attention bias towards threatening facial gestures, a greater bias linked to anxiety was demonstrated by the ESA group only. Only the non-ESA group demonstrated a significant attention bias towards lipsmacking, and the degree of this positive bias was related to duration and frequency of social engagement in this group. These findings offer important insights into the effects of early social experience on affect-biased attention and related socioemotional behaviour in nonhuman primates, and demonstrate the utility of this model for future investigations into the neural and learning mechanisms underlying this relationship across development

A genetic algorithm for shortest path with real constraints in computer networks

The shortest path problem has many different versions. In this manuscript, we proposed a muti-constrained optimization method to find the shortest path in a computer network. In general, a genetic algorithm is one of the common heuristic algorithms. In this paper, we employed the genetic algorithm to find the solution of the shortest path multi-constrained problem. The proposed algorithm finds the best route for network packets with minimum total cost, delay, and hop count constrained with limited bandwidth. The new algorithm was implemented on four different capacity networks with random network parameters, the results showed that the shortest path under constraints can be found in a reasonable time. The experimental results showed that the algorithm always found the shortest path with minimal constraints

Top Compositeness at the Tevatron and LHC

We explore the possibility that the right-handed top quark is composite. We examine the consequences that compositeness would have on $t \bar{t}$ production at the Tevatron, and derive a weak constraint on the scale of compositeness of order a few hundred GeV from the $t \bar{t}$ inclusive cross section. More detailed studies of differential properties of $t \bar{t}$ production could potentially improve this limit. We find that a composite top can result in an enhancement of the $t \bar{t} t \bar{t}$ production rate at the LHC (of as much as $10^3$ compared to the Standatd Model four top rate). We explore observables which allow us to extract the four top rate from the backgrounds, and show that the LHC can either discover or constrain top compositeness for wide ranges of parameter space.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figure

Partially Supersymmetric Composite Higgs Models

We study the idea of the Higgs as a pseudo-Goldstone boson within the framework of partial supersymmetry in Randall-Sundrum scenarios and their CFT duals. The Higgs and third generation of the MSSM are composites arising from a strongly coupled supersymmetric CFT with global symmetry SO(5) spontaneously broken to SO(4), whilst the light generations and gauge fields are elementary degrees of freedom whose couplings to the strong sector explicitly break the global symmetry as well as supersymmetry. The presence of supersymmetry in the strong sector may allow the compositeness scale to be raised to ~10 TeV without fine tuning, consistent with the bounds from precision electro-weak measurements and flavour physics. The supersymmetric flavour problem is also solved. At low energies, this scenario reduces to the "More Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model" where only stops, Higgsinos and gauginos are light and within reach of the LHC.Comment: 28 pages. v2 minor changes and Refs. adde

Robust optimization and power management of a triple junction photovoltaic electric vehicle with battery storage

This paper highlights a robust optimization and power management algorithm that supervises the energy transfer flow to meet the photovoltaic (PV) electric vehicle demand, even when the traction system is in motion. The power stage of the studied system consists of a triple-junction PV generator as the main energy source, a lithium-ion battery as an auxiliary energy source, and an electric vehicle. The input-output signal adaptation is made by using a stage of energy conversion. A bidirectional DC-DC buck-boost connects the battery to the DC-link. Two unidirectional boost converters interface between the PV generator and the DC link. One is controlled with a maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm to reach the maximum power points. The other is used to control the voltage across the DC-link. The converters are connected to the electric vehicle via a three-phase inverter via the same DC-link. By considering the nonlinear behavior of these elements, dynamic models are developed. A robust nonlinear MPPT algorithm has been developed owing to the nonlinear dynamics of the PV generator, metrological condition variations, and load changes. The high performance of the MPPT algorithm is effectively highlighted over a comparative study with two classical P & O and the fuzzy logic MPPT algorithms. A nonlinear control based on the Lyapunov function has been developed to simultaneously regulate the DC-link voltage and control battery charging and discharging operations. An energy management rule-based strategy is presented to effectively supervise the power flow. The conceived system, energy management, and control algorithms are implemented and verified in the Matlab/Simulink environment. Obtained results are presented and discussed under different operating conditions.Web of Science2216art. no. 612

Dark Matter Direct Detection with Non-Maxwellian Velocity Structure

The velocity distribution function of dark matter particles is expected to show significant departures from a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. This can have profound effects on the predicted dark matter - nucleon scattering rates in direct detection experiments, especially for dark matter models in which the scattering is sensitive to the high velocity tail of the distribution, such as inelastic dark matter (iDM) or light (few GeV) dark matter (LDM), and for experiments that require high energy recoil events, such as many directionally sensitive experiments. Here we determine the velocity distribution functions from two of the highest resolution numerical simulations of Galactic dark matter structure (Via Lactea II and GHALO), and study the effects for these scenarios. For directional detection, we find that the observed departures from Maxwell-Boltzmann increase the contrast of the signal and change the typical direction of incoming DM particles. For iDM, the expected signals at direct detection experiments are changed dramatically: the annual modulation can be enhanced by more than a factor two, and the relative rates of DAMA compared to CDMS can change by an order of magnitude, while those compared to CRESST can change by a factor of two. The spectrum of the signal can also change dramatically, with many features arising due to substructure. For LDM the spectral effects are smaller, but changes do arise that improve the compatibility with existing experiments. We find that the phase of the modulation can depend upon energy, which would help discriminate against background should it be found.Comment: 34 pages, 16 figures, submitted to JCAP. Tables of g(v_min), the integral of f(v)/v from v_min to infinity, derived from our simulations, are available for download at http://astro.berkeley.edu/~mqk/dmdd

An evolutionary gap in primate default mode network organization

The human default mode network (DMN) is engaged at rest and in cognitive states such as self-directed thoughts. Interconnected homologous cortical areas in primates constitute a network considered as the equivalent. Here, based on a cross-species comparison of the DMN between humans and non-hominoid primates (macaques, marmosets, and mouse lemurs), we report major dissimilarities in connectivity profiles. Most importantly, the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of non-hominoid primates is poorly engaged with the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), though strong correlated activity between the human PCC and the mPFC is a key feature of the human DMN. Instead, a fronto-temporal resting-state network involving the mPFC was detected consistently across non-hominoid primate species. These common functional features shared between non-hominoid primates but not with humans suggest a substantial gap in the organization of the primate\u27s DMN and its associated cognitive functions