Sampling bias does not exaggerate climate–conflict claims

This correspondence is a response to Courtland Adams, Tobias Ide, Jon Barnett & Adrien Detges (2018), "Sampling bias in climate–conflict research" Nature Climate Change 8 (200–203) doi:10.1038/s41558-018-0068-2. Adams et al argue that claims regarding climate-conflict links are overstated because of sampling bias. However, this conclusion rests on logical fallacies and conceptual misunderstanding. There is some sampling bias, but it does not have the claimed effect

Analyzing the EGEE production grid workload: application to jobs submission optimization

International audienceGrids reliability remains an order of magnitude below clusters on production infrastructures. This work is aims at improving grid application performances by improving the job submission system. A stochastic model, capturing the behavior of a complex grid workload management system is proposed. To instantiate the model, detailed statistics are extracted from dense grid activity traces. The model is exploited in a simple job resubmission strategy. It provides quantitative inputs to improve job submission performance and it enables quantifying the impact of faults and outliers on grid operations

Aflatoxin-Induced TP53 R249S Mutation in HepatoCellular Carcinoma in Thailand: Association with Tumors Developing in the Absence of Liver Cirrhosis

Primary Liver Cancer (PLC) is the leading cause of death by cancer among males in Thailand and the 3rd among females. Most cases are hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) but cholangiocarcinomas represent between 4 and 80% of liver cancers depending upon geographic area. Most HCC are associated with chronic infection by Hepatitis B Virus while a G→T mutation at codon 249 of the TP53 gene, R249S, specific for exposure to aflatoxin, is detected in tumors for up to 30% of cases. We have used Short Oligonucleotide Mass Analysis (SOMA) to quantify free circulating R249S-mutated DNA in plasma using blood specimens collected in a hospital case:control study. Plasma R249S-mutated DNA was detectable at low concentrations (≥67 copies/mL) in 53 to 64% of patients with primary liver cancer or chronic liver disease and in 19% of controls. 44% of patients with HCC and no evidence of cirrhosis had plasma concentrations of R249S-mutated DNA ≥150 copies/mL, compared to 21% in patients with both HCC and cirrhosis, 22% in patients with cholangiocarcinoma, 12% in patients with non-cancer chronic liver disease and 3% of subjects in the reference group. Thus, plasma concentrations of R249S-mutated DNA ≥150 copies/mL tended to be more common in patients with HCC developing without pre-existing cirrhosis (p = 0.027). Overall, these results support the preferential occurrence of R249S-mutated DNA in HCC developing in the absence of cirrhosis in a context of HBV chronic infection

Bistable dynamics beyond rotating wave approximation

In this paper, we investigate the nonlinear dynamical behavior of dispersive optical bistability (OB) for a homogeneously broadened two-level atomic medium interacting with a single mode of the ring cavity without invoking the rotating wave approximation (RWA). The periodic oscillations (self-pulsing) and chaos of the unstable state of the OB curve is affected by the counter rotating terms through the appearance of spikes during its periods. Further, the bifurcation with atomic detuning, within and outside the RWA, shows that the OB system can be converted from a chaotic system to self-pulsing system and vice-versa