Scaling of Information in Turbulence

We propose a new perspective on Turbulence using Information Theory. We compute the entropy rate of a turbulent velocity signal and we particularly focus on its dependence on the scale. We first report how the entropy rate is able to describe the distribution of information amongst scales, and how one can use it to isolate the injection, inertial and dissipative ranges, in perfect agreement with the Batchelor model and with a fBM model. In a second stage, we design a conditioning procedure in order to finely probe the asymmetries in the statistics that are responsible for the energy cascade. Our approach is very generic and can be applied to any multiscale complex system.Comment: in Europhysics Letters, 201

Multiscale and Anisotropic Characterization of Images Based on Complexity: an Application to Turbulence

This article presents a multiscale, non-linear and directional statistical characterization of images based on the estimation of the skewness, flatness, entropy and distance from Gaussianity of the spatial increments. These increments are characterized by their magnitude and direction; they allow us to characterize the multiscale properties directionally and to explore anisotropy. To describe the evolution of the probability density function of the increments with their magnitude and direction, we use the skewness to probe the symmetry, the entropy to measure the complexity, and both the flatness and distance from Gaussianity to describe the shape. These four quantities allow us to explore the anisotropy of the linear correlations and non-linear dependencies of the field across scales. First, we validate the methodology on two-dimensional synthetic scale-invariant fields with different multiscale properties and anisotropic characteristics. Then, we apply it on two synthetic turbulent velocity fields: a perfectly isotropic and homogeneous one, and a channel flow where boundaries induce inhomogeneity and anisotropy. Our characterization unambiguously detects the anisotropy in the second case, where our quantities report scaling properties that depend on the direction of analysis. Furthermore, we show in both cases that turbulent velocity fluctuations are always isotropic, when the mean velocity profile is adequately removed

A quantitative version of Krein's theorems for Fréchet spaces

For a Banach space E and its bidual space E'', the function k(H) defined on bounded subsets H of E measures how far H is from being &#963;(E,E')-relatively compact in E. This concept, introduced independently by Granero, and Cascales et al., has been used to study a quantitative version of Krein¿s theorem for Banach spaces E and spaces Cp(K) over compact K. In the present paper, a quantitative version of Krein¿s theorem on convex envelopes coH of weakly compact sets H is proved for Fréchet spaces, i.e. metrizable and complete locally convex spaces. For a Fréchet space E, the above function k(H) has been defined in thisi paper by menas of d(h,E) is the natural distance of h to E in the bidual E''. The main result of the paper is the following theorem: For a bounded set H in a Fréchet space E, the following inequality holds k(coH) < (2^(n+1) &#8722; 2)k(H) + 1/2^n for all n &#8712; N. Consequently, this yields also the following formula k(coH) &#8804; (k(H))^(1/2))(3-2(k(H)^(1/2))). Hence coH is weakly relatively compact provided H is weakly relatively compact in E. This extends a quantitative version of Krein¿s theorem for Banach spaces (obtained by Fabian, Hajek, Montesinos, Zizler, Cascales, Marciszewski, and Raja) to the class of Fréchet spaces. We also define and discuss two other measures of weak non-compactness lk(H) and k'(H) for a Fréchet space and provide two quantitative versions of Krein¿s theorem for both functions.The research was supported for C. Angosto by the project MTM2008-05396 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, for J. Kakol by National Center of Science, Poland, Grant No. N N201 605340, and for M. Lopez-Pellicer by the project MTM2010-12374-E (complementary action) of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.Angosto Hernández, C.; Kakol, J.; Kubzdela, A.; López Pellicer, M. (2013). A quantitative version of Krein's theorems for Fréchet spaces. Archiv der Mathematik. 101(1):65-77. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00013-013-0513-4S65771011Angosto C., Cascales B.: Measures of weak noncompactness in Banach spaces. Topology Appl. 156, 1412–1421 (2009)C. Angosto, Distance to spaces of functions, PhD thesis, Universidad de Murcia (2007).C. Angosto and B. Cascales, A new look at compactness via distances to functions spaces, World Sc. Pub. Co. (2008).Angosto C., Cascales B.: The quantitative difference between countable compactness and compactness. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 343, 479–491 (2008)Angosto C., Cascales B., Namioka I.: Distances to spaces of Baire one functions. Math. Z. 263, 103–124 (2009)C. Angosto, J. Ka̧kol, and M. López-Pellicer, A quantitative approach to weak compactness in Fréchet spaces and spaces C(X), J. Math. Anal. Appl. 403 (2013), 13–22.Cascales B., Marciszesky W., Raja M.: Distance to spaces of continuous functions. Topology Appl. 153, 2303–2319 (2006)M. Fabian et al. Functional Analysis and Infinite-dimensional geometry, CMS Books in Mathematics, Canadian Math. Soc., Springer (2001).M. Fabian et al. A quantitative version of Krein’s theorem, Rev. Mat. Iberoam. 21 (2005), 237–248Granero A. S.: An extension of the Krein-Smulian Theorem. Rev. Mat. Iberoam. 22, 93–110 (2006)Granero A. S., Hájek P., Montesinos V.: Santalucía, Convexity and ω*-compactness in Banach spaces. Math. Ann. 328, 625–631 (2004)Grothendieck A.: Criteres de compacité dans les spaces fonctionnelles généraux. Amer. J. Math. 74, 168–186 (1952)Khurana S. S.: Weakly compactly generated Fréchet spaces. Int. J. Math. Math. Sci. 2, 721–724 (1979

BXD recombinant inbred mice as a model to study neurotoxicity

BXD recombinant inbred (RI) lines represent a genetic reference population derived from a cross between C57BL/6J mice (B6) and DBA/2J mice (D2), which through meiotic recombination events possesses recombinant chromosomes containing B6 or D2 haplotype segments. The quantitative trait loci (QTLs) are the locations of segregating genetic polymorphisms and are fundamental to understanding genetic diversity in human disease susceptibility and severity. QTL mapping represents the typical approach for identifying naturally occurring polymorphisms that influence complex phenotypes. In this process, genotypic values at markers of known genomic locations are associated with phenotypic values measured in a segregating population. Indeed, BXD RI strains provide a powerful tool to study neurotoxicity induced by different substances. In this review, we describe the use of BXD RI lines to understand the underlying mechanisms of neurotoxicity in response to ethanol and cocaine, as well as metals and pesticide exposures. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland

Tracing developmental trajectories of oppositional defiant behaviors in preschool children

Objective: Previous studies on developmental trajectories have used ad hoc definitions of oppositional defiant behaviors (ODB), which makes it difficult to compare results. This article defines developmental trajectories of ODB from ages 3-5 based on five different standard measurements derived from three separate instruments. -- Method: A sample of 622 three-year-old preschoolers, followed up at ages 4, 5, and 6, was assessed with the five measures of oppositionality answered by parents and teachers. Growth-Mixture-Modeling (GMM) estimated separate developmental trajectories for each ODB measure for ages 3 to 5. -- Results: The number of classes-trajectories obtained in each GMM depended on the ODB measure, but two clear patterns emerged: four trajectories (persistent low, decreasers, increasers/high increasers, persistent moderate/persistent high) or three trajectories (persistent low, decreasers, increasers/high increasers). Persistent high trajectories accounted for 4.4%-9.5% of the children. The trajectories emerging from the different ODB measures at ages 3 to 5 discriminated disruptive disorders, comorbidity, use of services, and impairment at age 6, and globally showed a similar pattern, summarizing longitudinal information on oppositionality in preschool children in a similar way. -- Conclusions: Trajectories resulting from standard scales of the questionnaires have predictive validity for identifying relevant clinical outcomes, but are measure-specific. The results contribute to knowledge about the development of ODB in preschool children

Business Process Re-engineering in Public Administration: The case study of Western Ligurian Sea Port Authority

Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is a technique based on a radical redesign of the structure of an organization to improve its efficiency by optimizing processes and reducing costs. It has been proven effective over a plethora of private applications however, not many studies based on the public sector have been reported even though it is known to be inefficient. This is mainly due to an overall smaller market exposure of public administrations compared to private companies. However, nowadays, in the age of digitalization, the growing global competition is requiring PA to improve the efficiency of their processes. This paper offers a real case-study of an application of BPR in a PA namely the Genoa Port in Italy, one of the biggest ports in Europe. The following analysis has been carried out through an AS IS / TO BE approach and the outcome of the re-engineering process has been validated through Discrete Event Simulation. The results show how BPR can improve the efficiency of PAs and, particularly, how the port environment can drastically turn into an efficient and optimized system

"Food Addiction" in Patients with Eating Disorders is Associated with Negative Urgency and Difficulties to Focus on Long-Term Goals

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate if eating disorder patients differ in specific personality traits depending on a positive screening of food addiction (FA) and to find a model to predict FA in eating disorder patients using measures of personality and impulsivity. Methods : Two hundred seventy eight patients, having an eating disorder, self-reported on FA, impulsivity, personality, eating and general psychopathology. Patients were then split into two groups, depending on a positive or negative result on the FA screening. Analysis of variance was used to compare means between the two groups. Stepwise binary logistic regression was used to obtain a predictive model for the presence of FA. Results: Patients with FA had lower self-directedness, and more negative urgency and lack of perseverance than patients not reporting addictive eating. The probability of FA can be predicted by high negative urgency, high reward dependence, and low lack of premeditation. Conclusion: Eating disorder patients who have more problems to pursue tasks to the end and to focus on long-term goals seem to be more likely to develop addictive eating patterns

'Food Addiction' in Patients with Eating Disorders is Associated with Negative Urgency and Difficulties to Focus on Long-Term Goals

Objectives: The present study aimed to investigate if eating disorder patients differ in specific personality traits depending on a positive screening of food addiction (FA) and to find a model to predict FA in eating disorder patients using measures of personality and impulsivity. Methods: Two hundred seventy eight patients, having an eating disorder, self-reported on FA, impulsivity, personality, eating and general psychopathology. Patients were then split into two groups, depending on a positive or negative result on the FA screening. Analysis of variance was used to compare means between the two groups. Stepwise binary logistic regression was used to obtain a predictive model for the presence of FA. Results: Patients with FA had lower self-directedness, and more negative urgency and lack of perseverance than patients not reporting addictive eating. The probability of FA can be predicted by high negative urgency, high reward dependence, and low lack of premeditation. Conclusion: Eating disorder patients who have more problems to pursue tasks to the end and to focus on long-term goals seem to be more likely to develop addictive eating patterns

Effect of A Very Low-Calorie Ketogenic Diet on Food and Alcohol Cravings, Physical and Sexual Activity, Sleep Disturbances, and Quality of Life in Obese Patients

Psychological well-being and hunger and food control are two relevant factors involved in the success of weight-loss therapy in treating obesity. Thus, this study aims to evaluate food and alcohol cravings, physical and sexual activity, sleep, and life quality (QoL) in obese patients following a very low-calorie ketogenic (VLCK) diet, as well as the role of weight lost and ketosis on these parameters. A battery of psychological test was performed in twenty obese patients (12 females, 47.2 +/- 10.2 year and BMI of 35.5 +/- 4.4) through the course of a 4-month VLCK diet on four subsequent visits: baseline, maximum ketosis, reduced ketosis, and endpoint. Each subject acted as their own control. Relevantly, the dietary-induced changes in body composition (7.7 units of BMI lost, 18 kg of fat mass (1.2 kg of visceral fat mass)) were associated with a statistically significant improvement in food craving scores, physical activity, sleepiness, and female sexual function. Overall, these results also translated in a notable enhancement in QoL of the treated obese patients. Therefore, the rapid and sustained weight and fat mass (FM) loss induced by the VLCK diet is associated with good food control and improvements in the psychological well-being parameters in obese subjects, which could contribute to the long-term success of this therapy

AmrZ is a major determinant of c-di-GMP levels in Pseudomonas fluorescens F113

The transcriptional regulator AmrZ is a global regulatory protein conserved within the pseudomonads. AmrZ can act both as a positive and a negative regulator of gene expression, controlling many genes implicated in environmental adaption. Regulated traits include motility, iron homeostasis, exopolysaccharides production and the ability to form biofilms. In Pseudomonas fluorescens F113, an amrZ mutant presents a pleiotropic phenotype, showing increased swimming motility, decreased biofilm formation and very limited ability for competitive colonization of rhizosphere, its natural habitat. It also shows different colony morphology and binding of the dye Congo Red. The amrZ mutant presents severely reduced levels of the messenger molecule cyclic-di-GMP (c-di-GMP), which is consistent with the motility and biofilm formation phenotypes. Most of the genes encoding proteins with diguanylate cyclase (DGCs) or phosphodiesterase (PDEs) domains, implicated in c-di-GMP turnover in this bacterium, appear to be regulated by AmrZ. Phenotypic analysis of eight mutants in genes shown to be directly regulated by AmrZ and encoding c-di-GMP related enzymes, showed that seven of them were altered in motility and/or biofilm formation. The results presented here show that in P. fluorescens, AmrZ determines c-di-GMP levels through the regulation of a complex network of genes encoding DGCs and PDEs