Climate Change and Its Impact on Wheat Production in Kansas

This paper studies the effect of climate change on wheat production in Kansas using annual time series data from 1949 to 2014. For the study, an error correction model is developed in which the price of wheat, the price of oats (substitute good), average annual temperature and average annual precipitation are used as explanatory variables with total output of wheat being the dependent variable. Time series properties of the data series are diagnosed using unit root and cointegration tests. The estimated results suggest that Kansas farmers are supply responsive to both wheat as well as its substitute (oat) prices in the short run as well as in the long run. Climate variables; temperature has a positive effect on wheat output in the short run but an insignificant effect in the long run. Precipitation has a positive effect in the short run but a negative effect in the long run

Strained band edge characteristics from hybrid density functional theory and empirical pseudopotentials: GaAs, GaSb, InAs and InSb

The properties of a semiconductor are drastically modified when the crystal point group symmetry is broken under an arbitrary strain. We investigate the family of semiconductors consisting of GaAs, GaSb, InAs and InSb, considering their electronic band structure and deformation potentials subject to various strains based on hybrid density functional theory. Guided by these first-principles results, we develop strain-compliant local pseudopotentials for use in the empirical pseudopotential method (EPM). We demonstrate that the newly proposed empirical pseudopotentials perform well close to band edges and under anisotropic crystal deformations. Using the EPM, we explore the heavy hole-light hole mixing characteristics under different stress directions, which may be useful in manipulating their transport properties and optical selection rules. The very low 5 Ry cutoff targeted in the generated pseudopotentials paves the way for large-scale EPM-based electronic structure computations involving these lattice mismatched constituents. © 2016 IOP Publishing Ltd

Heterogeneous Delays in Neural Networks

We investigate heterogeneous coupling delays in complex networks of excitable elements described by the FitzHugh-Nagumo model. The effects of discrete as well as of uni- and bimodal continuous distributions are studied with a focus on different topologies, i.e., regular, small-world, and random networks. In the case of two discrete delay times resonance effects play a major role: Depending on the ratio of the delay times, various characteristic spiking scenarios, such as coherent or asynchronous spiking, arise. For continuous delay distributions different dynamical patterns emerge depending on the width of the distribution. For small distribution widths, we find highly synchronized spiking, while for intermediate widths only spiking with low degree of synchrony persists, which is associated with traveling disruptions, partial amplitude death, or subnetwork synchronization, depending sensitively on the network topology. If the inhomogeneity of the coupling delays becomes too large, global amplitude death is induced

INCF/OCNS Software Working Group

Neuroscience cannot exist without its ecosystem of community-developed software tools that many of us rely heavily upon. The newly established Software Working Group, a community working group shared by the International Neuroinformatics Coordinating Facility (INCF) and the Organization for Computational Neurosciences (OCNS), aims to undertake activities that focus on these software tools. Members of the working group will find and discuss relevant software tools, learn and teach how to use them, test and review them, and report bugs to inform tool developers of issues when required. The working group will also strive to learn how these tools work to get involved in their development and maintenance. The aim is to ensure that the tools that our community depends on continue to be maintained by actively engaged community members, and to bring end users into close collaboration with tool developers. Since the working group includes many tool developers, it also serves as a platform to exchange design and development ideas, and will assist in improving interoperability between related tools. Another related goal of the working group is to help members define, improve, and teach transferable skills in the area of modern research software development, particularly in but not limited to, computational neuroscience. The working group is designed to be flexible, instead of being linked to a particular goal. This approach allows the group to pursue timely projects that its members value and are interested in working on. The current goals of the working group are: - To set up and maintain a living document of the current best practices in research software development to serve as a reference for the research community, especially tool developers - To host regular “developer sessions” where developer teams of various tools discuss their development pipelines (or workflows)—to disseminate various development practices, and help potential contributors get started. The activities of the working group can be followed on its website at https://ocns.github.io/SoftwareWG

Roadmap to DILI research in Europe. A proposal from COST action ProEuroDILINet

\ua9 2024 The AuthorsIn the current article the aims for a constructive way forward in Drug-Induced Liver Injury (DILI) are to highlight the most important priorities in research and clinical science, therefore supporting a more informed, focused, and better funded future for European DILI research. This Roadmap aims to identify key challenges, define a shared vision across all stakeholders for the opportunities to overcome these challenges and propose a high-quality research program to achieve progress on the prediction, prevention, diagnosis and management of this condition and impact on healthcare practice in the field of DILI. This will involve 1. Creation of a database encompassing optimised case report form for prospectively identified DILI cases with well-characterised controls with competing diagnoses, biological samples, and imaging data; 2. Establishing of preclinical models to improve the assessment and prediction of hepatotoxicity in humans to guide future drug safety testing; 3. Emphasis on implementation science and 4. Enhanced collaboration between drug-developers, clinicians and regulatory scientists. This proposed operational framework will advance DILI research and may bring together basic, applied, translational and clinical research in DILI

Low dimensional nanostructures of fast ion conducting lithium nitride

As the only stable binary compound formed between an alkali metal and nitrogen, lithium nitride possesses remarkable properties and is a model material for energy applications involving the transport of lithium ions. Following a materials design principle drawn from broad structural analogies to hexagonal graphene and boron nitride, we demonstrate that such low dimensional structures can also be formed from an s-block element and nitrogen. Both one- and two-dimensional nanostructures of lithium nitride, Li3N, can be grown despite the absence of an equivalent van der Waals gap. Lithium-ion diffusion is enhanced compared to the bulk compound, yielding materials with exceptional ionic mobility. Li3N demonstrates the conceptual assembly of ionic inorganic nanostructures from monolayers without the requirement of a van der Waals gap. Computational studies reveal an electronic structure mediated by the number of Li-N layers, with a transition from a bulk narrow-bandgap semiconductor to a metal at the nanoscale

A Scaleable and License Free 5G Internet of Radio Light Architecture for Services in Train Stations

In this paper we present a 5G Internet Radio- Light (IoRL) architecture for underground train stations that can be readily deployed because it utilizes unlicensed visible light and millimeter wave part of the spectrum, which does not require Mobile Network Operator (MNO) permission to deploy and which is used to provide travelers with accurate location, interaction, access to Internet and Cloud based Services, such as high resolution video on a Tablet PC. The paper describes the train station use cases and the IoRL architecture.European Commissio

Roadmap to DILI research in Europe. A proposal from COST action ProEuroDILINet

Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.In the current article the aims for a constructive way forward in Drug-Induced Liver Injury (DILI) are to highlight the most important priorities in research and clinical science, therefore supporting a more informed, focused, and better funded future for European DILI research. This Roadmap aims to identify key challenges, define a shared vision across all stakeholders for the opportunities to overcome these challenges and propose a high-quality research program to achieve progress on the prediction, prevention, diagnosis and management of this condition and impact on healthcare practice in the field of DILI. This will involve 1. Creation of a database encompassing optimised case report form for prospectively identified DILI cases with well-characterised controls with competing diagnoses, biological samples, and imaging data; 2. Establishing of preclinical models to improve the assessment and prediction of hepatotoxicity in humans to guide future drug safety testing; 3. Emphasis on implementation science and 4. Enhanced collaboration between drug-developers, clinicians and regulatory scientists. This proposed operational framework will advance DILI research and may bring together basic, applied, translational and clinical research in DILI.Peer reviewe