Households’ vulnerability from trade in Vietnam

This paper assesses vulnerability from trade in Vietnam by presenting an extended version of Ligon and Schechter’s (2003) Vulnerability as low Expected Utility (VEU) measure. It uses the Vietnam Household Living Standard Surveys (VHLSS) panel data covering the period 2002–06. The empirical results show that risk-induced vulnerability and heterogeneity in trade exposure matter in determining household overall vulnerability and that this is not linked to the actual manifestation of shocks. Although it does not represent, by any means, an argument against free trade, this work is relevant for policymaking since it contributes to deepen our knowledge on the subtle links between trade openness and vulnerability and informs us about suitable instruments to accompany it

Abdominal aortic aneurysm is associated with a variant in low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a common cause of morbidity and mortality and has a significant heritability. We carried out a genome-wide association discovery study of 1866 patients with AAA and 5435 controls and replication of promising signals (lead SNP with a p value < 1 × 10-5) in 2871 additional cases and 32,687 controls and performed further follow-up in 1491 AAA and 11,060 controls. In the discovery study, nine loci demonstrated association with AAA (p < 1 × 10-5). In the replication sample, the lead SNP at one of these loci, rs1466535, located within intron 1 of low-density-lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1) demonstrated significant association (p = 0.0042). We confirmed the association of rs1466535 and AAA in our follow-up study (p = 0.035). In a combined analysis (6228 AAA and 49182 controls), rs1466535 had a consistent effect size and direction in all sample sets (combined p = 4.52 × 10-10, odds ratio 1.15 [1.10-1.21]). No associations were seen for either rs1466535 or the 12q13.3 locus in independent association studies of coronary artery disease, blood pressure, diabetes, or hyperlipidaemia, suggesting that this locus is specific to AAA. Gene-expression studies demonstrated a trend toward increased LRP1 expression for the rs1466535 CC genotype in arterial tissues; there was a significant (p = 0.029) 1.19-fold (1.04-1.36) increase in LRP1 expression in CC homozygotes compared to TT homozygotes in aortic adventitia. Functional studies demonstrated that rs1466535 might alter a SREBP-1 binding site and influence enhancer activity at the locus. In conclusion, this study has identified a biologically plausible genetic variant associated specifically with AAA, and we suggest that this variant has a possible functional role in LRP1 expression

Introduction to the special issue: "Negation and Clitics in French: Interaction and Variation"

This introduction presents very briefly some of the main issues currently discussed around negation particles and clitics in contemporary French and taken up by the six contributions it assembles, namely language change (grammaticalisation of clitics into agreement markers, completion of the Jespersen Cycle) vs. stable variation, and external (sociolinguistic) or internal (phonotactic, prosodic, or syntactic) factors triggering variation in both cases; the hypothesis of a potential diglossia in French opposing two grammars with considerable syntactic differences. Five out of six contributions focus on modern standard and non-standard varieties of French, with a formal theoretical background, while one shows a more philological-descriptive approach and is dedicated to Old French manuscripts

Interlaboratory comparison for quantitative chlorine analysis in cement pastes with laser induced breakdown spectroscopy

International audienceConcrete structures experience severe damage during service, such as pitting corrosion of rebars caused by the ingress of chlorine (Cl) into the porous concrete structure. The ingress can be monitored using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), a promising civil engineering technique used to detect Cl in concrete structures in addition to conventional wet chemistry methods. The key advantages of LIBS are high spatial resolution, which is important when analyzing heterogeneous concrete samples, as well as the almost complete absence of sample preparation. To assess LIBS as a reliable analytical method, its accuracy and robustness must be carefully tested. This paper presents the results of an interlaboratory comparison on the analysis of Cl in cement paste samples conducted by 12 laboratories in 10 countries. Two sets of samples were prepared with Cl content ranging from 0.06-1.95 wt.% in the training set and 0.23-1.51 wt.% in the test set, with additional variations in the type of cement and Cl source (salt type). The overall result shows that LIBS is suitable for the quantification of the studied samples: the average relative error was generally below 15 %. The results demonstrate the true status quo of the LIBS method for this type of analysis, given that the laboratories were not instructed on how to perform the analysis or how to process the data