210 research outputs found
Judgments about moral responsibility and determinism in patients with behavioural variant of frontotemporal dementia: Still compatibilists
Do laypeople think that moral responsibility is compatible with determinism? Recently, philosophers and psychologists trying to answer this question have found contradictory results: while some experiments reveal people to have compatibilist intuitions, others suggest that people could in fact be incompatibilist. To account for this contradictory answers, Nichols and Knobe (2007) have advanced a 'performance error model' according to which people are genuine incompatibilist that are sometimes biased to give compatibilist answers by emotional reactions. To test for this hypothesis, we investigated intuitions about determinism and moral responsibility in patients suffering from behavioural frontotemporal dementia. Patients suffering from bvFTD have impoverished emotional reaction. Thus, the 'performance error model' should predict that bvFTD patients will give less compatibilist answers. However, we found that bvFTD patients give answers quite similar to subjects in control group and were mostly compatibilist. Thus, we conclude that the 'performance error model' should be abandoned in favour of other available model that best ïŹt our data
Super Bound States in the Continuum on Photonic Flatbands: Concept, Experimental Realization, and Optical Trapping Demonstration
In this work, we theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate the
formation of a super bound state in a continuum (BIC) on a photonic crystal
flat band. This unique state simultaneously exhibits an enhanced quality factor
and near-zero group velocity across an extended region of the Brillouin zone.
It is achieved at the topological transition when a symmetry-protected BIC
pinned at merges with two Friedrich-Wintgen quasi-BICs, which arise from
destructive interference between lossy photonic modes of opposite symmetries.
As a proof-of-concept, we employ the super flat BIC to demonstrate
three-dimensional optical trapping of individual particles. Our findings
present a novel approach to engineering both the real and imaginary components
of photonic states on a subwavelength scale for innovative optoelectronic
devices
One single static measurement predicts wave localization in complex structures
A recent theoretical breakthrough has brought a new tool, called
\emph{localization landscape}, to predict the localization regions of vibration
modes in complex or disordered systems. Here, we report on the first experiment
which measures the localization landscape and demonstrates its predictive
power. Holographic measurement of the static deformation under uniform load of
a thin plate with complex geometry provides direct access to the landscape
function. When put in vibration, this system shows modes precisely confined
within the sub-regions delineated by the landscape function. Also the maxima of
this function match the measured eigenfrequencies, while the minima of the
valley network gives the frequencies at which modes become extended. This
approach fully characterizes the low frequency spectrum of a complex structure
from a single static measurement. It paves the way to the control and
engineering of eigenmodes in any vibratory system, especially where a
structural or microscopic description is not accessible.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
AGTEC-Org Agronomy Handbook of Methods
A common handbook was conceived in the CORE Organic AGTEC-Org project in order to give some elements of field trial monitoring
Unveiling Candida albicans intestinal carriage in healthy volunteers: the role of micro- and mycobiota, diet, host genetics and immune response
Candida albicans; Colonization resistance; MetagenomicsCandida albicans; ResistĂšncia a la colonitzaciĂł; MetagenĂČmicaCandida albicans; Resistencia a la colonizaciĂłn; MetagenĂłmicaCandida albicans is a commensal yeast present in the gut of most healthy individuals but with highly variable concentrations. However, little is known about the host factors that influence colonization densities. We investigated how microbiota, host lifestyle factors, and genetics could shape C. albicans intestinal carriage in 695 healthy individuals from the Milieu IntĂ©rieur cohort. C. albicans intestinal carriage was detected in 82.9% of the subjects using quantitative PCR. Using linear mixed models and multiway-ANOVA, we explored C. albicans intestinal levels with regard to gut microbiota composition and lifestyle factors including diet. By analyzing shotgun metagenomics data and C. albicans qPCR data, we showed that Intestinimonas butyriciproducens was the only gut microbiota species whose relative abundance was negatively correlated with C. albicans concentration. Diet is also linked to C. albicans growth, with eating between meals and a low-sodium diet being associated with higher C. albicans levels. Furthermore, by Genome-Wide Association Study, we identified 26 single nucleotide polymorphisms suggestively associated with C. albicans colonization. In addition, we found that the intestinal levels of C. albicans might influence the host immune response, specifically in response to fungal challenge. We analyzed the transcriptional levels of 546 immune genes and the concentration of 13 cytokines after whole blood stimulation with C. albicans cells and showed positive associations between the extent of C. albicans intestinal levels and NLRP3 expression, as well as secreted IL-2 and CXCL5 concentrations. Taken together, these findings open the way for potential new interventional strategies to curb C. albicans intestinal overgrowth.This work was supported by a grant from Agence Nationale de la Recherche (FunComPath ANR-14-IFEC-0004), the French Governmentâs Investissement dâAvenir program (Laboratoire dâExcellence Integrative Biology of Emerging Infectious Diseases [ANR10-LABX-62-IBEID], and [ANR-10-LABX-69-01]), the European Unionâs Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie action, Innovative Training Network (FunHoMic; Grant No. 812969), and the European Unionâs Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Program (HDM-FUN, Grant No. 847507). AWW and the Rowett Institute (University of Aberdeen) received core funding support from the Scottish Governmentâs Rural and Environmental Sciences and Analytical Services (RESAS)
Sentinel-1 backscatter time series for characterization of evapotranspiration dynamics over temperate coniferous forests
Forestsâ ecosystems are an essential part of the global carbon cycle with vast carbon storage potential. These systems are currently under external pressures showing increasing change due to climate change. A better understanding of the biophysical properties of forests is, therefore, of paramount importance for research and monitoring purposes. While there are many biophysical properties, the focus of this study is on the in-depth analysis of the connection between the C-band Copernicus Sentinel-1 SAR backscatter and evapotranspiration (ET) estimates based on in situ meteorological data and the FAO-based PenmanâMonteith equation as well as the well-established global terrestrial ET product from the Terra and Aqua MODIS sensors. The analysis was performed in the Free State of Thuringia, central Germany, over coniferous forests within an area of 2452 km2, considering a 5-year time series (June 2016âJuly 2021) of 6- to 12-day Sentinel-1 backscatter acquisitions/observations, daily in situ meteorological measurements of four weather stations as well as an 8-day composite of ET products of the MODIS sensors. Correlation analyses of the three datasets were implemented independently for each of the microwave sensorâs acquisition parameters, ascending and descending overpass direction and co- or cross-polarization, investigating different time series seasonality filters. The Sentinel-1 backscatter and both ET time series datasets show a similar multiannual seasonally fluctuating behavior with increasing values in the spring, peaks in the summer, decreases in the autumn and troughs in the winter months. The backscatter difference between summer and winter reaches over 1.5 dB, while the evapotranspiration difference reaches 8 mm/day for the in situ measurements and 300 kg/m2/8-day for the MODIS product. The best correlation between the Sentinel-1 backscatter and both ET products is achieved in the ascending overpass direction, with datasets acquired in the late afternoon, and reaches an R2-value of over 0.8. The correlation for the descending overpass direction reaches values of up to 0.6. These results suggest that the SAR backscatter signal of coniferous forests is sensitive to the biophysical property evapotranspiration under some scenarios
Integrating Concepts of Artificial Intelligence in the EO4GEO Body of Knowledge
PonĂšncia del XXIV ISPRS Congress (2022 edition), 6â11 June 2022, Nice, FranceThe EO4GEO Body of Knowledge (BoK) forms a structure of concepts and relationships between them, describing the domain of
Earth Observation and Geo-Information (EO/GI). Each concept carries a short description, a list of key literature references and a set
of associated skills which are used for job profiling and curriculum building. As the EO/GI domain is evolving continuously, the BoK
needs regular updates with new concepts embodying new trends, and deprecating concepts which are not relevant anymore. This paper
presents the inclusion of BoK concepts related to Artificial Intelligence. This broad field of knowledge has links to several applications
in EO/GI. Its connection to concepts, already existing in the BoK, needs special attention. To perform a clean and structural integration
of the cross-cutting domain of AI, first a separate cluster of AI concepts was created, which was then merged with the existing BoK.
The paper provides examples of this integration with specific concepts and examples of training resources in which AI-related concepts
are used. Although the presented structure already provides a good starting point, the positioning of AI within the EO/GI-focussed
BoK needs to be further enhanced with the help of expert calls as part of the BoK update cycle
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