495 research outputs found
The "Collapse in Quality" Hypothesis
This paper evaluates the hypothesis that during the 2008-2009 collapse in international trade, imports of higher quality goods experienced larger reductions compared to low-quality imports, using data on US imports disaggregated by HS-10 product category and source country. We find little, if any, robust econometric evidence in support of this hypothesis.
Heat Treatment Improvement of Dairy Products via Ohmic Heating Processes : Thermal and Hyrodynamic Effect on Fouling
Fouling and consequently cleaning of heat exchangers in the dairy industry are nowadays a significant issue still not solved for the processing of quite a large variety of products. Ohmic heating processes for food products a priori are well known to minimize the fouling phenomenon due to a totally different way of heating food by admitting the current directly in the product. Such a technology could be a good alternative to counter both fouling and cleaning aspects when pasteurizing or sterilizing dairy desserts known to generate large amounts of soil on heated surfaces. The aim of this experimental study was to investigate the respective roles of both the hydrodynamic parameters and surface electrode temperatures on the fouling phenomenon when heating a simple dairy mix designed to mimic dairy product behaviors
Oxidation of beta2-glycoprotein I (beta2GPI) by the hydroxyl radical alters phospholipid binding and modulates recognition by anti-beta2GPI autoantibodies
Caractérisation chez les nématodes Meloidogyne Goeldi (Tylenchida) de types virulents vis-vis du gÚne Mi de la tomate dans deux zones maraßchÚres au Sénégal
Seasonality, intensity, and duration of rainfall extremes change in a warmer climate
Precipitation extremes are expected to intensify under climate change with consequent impacts in flooding and ecosystem functioning. Here we use station data and highâresolution simulations from the WRF convection permitting climate model (âŒ4 km, 1 h) over the US to assess future changes in hourly precipitation extremes. It is demonstrated that hourly precipitation extremes and storm depths are expected to intensify under climate change and what is now a 20âyear rainfall will become a 7âyear rainfall on average for ⌠75% of gridpoints over the US. This intensification is mostly expressed as an increase in rainfall tail heaviness. Statistically significant changes in the seasonality and duration of rainfall extremes are also exhibited over ⌠95% of the domain. Our results suggest more nonâlinear future precipitation extremes with shorter spell duration that are distributed more uniformly throughout the year
Representation of precipitation and top-of-atmosphere radiation in a multi-model convection-permitting ensemble for the Lake Victoria Basin (East-Africa)
The CORDEX Flagship Pilot Study ELVIC (climate Extremes in the Lake VICtoria basin) was recently established to investigate how extreme weather events will evolve in this region of the world and to provide improved information for the climate impact community. Here we assess the added value of the convection-permitting scale simulations on the representation of moist convective systems over and around Lake Victoria. With this aim, 10 year present-day model simulations were carried out with five regional climate models at both PARameterized (PAR) scales (12â25 km) and Convection-Permitting (CP) scales (2.5â4.5 km), with COSMO-CLM, RegCM, AROME, WRF and UKMO. Most substantial systematic improvements were found in metrics related to deep convection. For example, the timing of the daily maximum in precipitation is systematically delayed in CP compared to PAR models, thereby improving the agreement with observations. The large overestimation in the total number of rainy events is alleviated in the CP models. Systematic improvements were found in the diurnal cycle in Top-Of-Atmosphere (TOA) radiation and in some metrics for precipitation intensity. No unanimous improvement nor deterioration was found in the representation of the spatial distribution of total rainfall and the seasonal cycle when going to the CP scale. Furthermore, some substantial biases in TOA upward radiative fluxes remain. Generally our analysis indicates that the representation of the convective systems is strongly improved in CP compared to PAR models, giving confidence that the models are valuable tools for studying how extreme precipitation events may evolve in the future in the Lake Victoria basin and its surroundings
Guidelines for the definition of operational management units
The objective of fisheries management is the sustainable exploitation of the fish resources over the extent of their spatial distribution. Along with the Common
Fisheries Policy (CFP) objectives, the socio-economic viability of the fisheries exploiting the resource is also to be achieved. To reach these aims, managers need to
define the management units they are going to work with. For the purpose of GEPETO project, we define a management unit (MU) as the set of
fishing fleets exploiting a common pool of fish resources with strong spatial overlapping and sharing of habitats, which make them being typically fished together.
In other words, a MU is the set of fishing fleets exploiting a common fish community over their spatial distribution. MUs have to be defined by the fish community, by the
spatial range of distribution of the fish community, and by the set of fishing fleets sharing the exploitation of the fish communityL'objectif de gestion de la pĂȘche est l'exploitation durable des ressources halieutiques sur l'Ă©tendue de leur rĂ©partition spatiale. Avec la nouvelle
Politique Commune de la pĂȘche (PCP) l' objectif de la viabilitĂ© socio-Ă©conomique des pĂȘcheries exploitant la ressource doit Ă©galement ĂȘtre rĂ©alisĂ©. Pour l'atteindre, les gestionnaires doivent dĂ©finir des unitĂ©s de gestion. Les partenaires du projet GEPETO, dĂ©finissent une unitĂ© de gestion (MU) comme l'ensemble des
flottes de pĂȘche exploitant un pool commun de ressources halieutiques disponibles dans des habitats communs, ce qui les rend trĂšs imbriquĂ©es.
En d'autres termes, un MU est l'ensemble des flottes de pĂȘche exploitant une communautĂ© de poissons ordinaires sur leur rĂ©partition spatiale. La MU peu ĂȘtre dĂ©finie par la communautĂ© de poissons, par la gamme spatiale de la distribution de la communautĂ© de poissons, et par l'ensemble des flottes de pĂȘche qui partagent l'exploitation de la communautĂ© de poissons
Sperm design and variation in the New World blackbirds (Icteridae)
Post-copulatory sexual selection (PCSS) is thought to be one of the evolutionary forces responsible for the rapid and divergent evolution of sperm design. However, whereas in some taxa particular sperm traits are positively associated with PCSS, in other taxa, these relationships are negative, and the causes of these different patterns across taxa are poorly understood. In a comparative study using New World blackbirds (Icteridae), we tested whether sperm design was influenced by the level of PCSS and found significant positive associations with the level of PCSS for all sperm components but head length. Additionally, whereas the absolute length of sperm components increased, their variation declined with the intensity of PCSS, indicating stabilizing selection around an optimal sperm design. Given the diversity of, and strong selection on, sperm design, it seems likely that sperm phenotype may influence sperm velocity within species. However, in contrast to other recent studies of passerine birds, but consistent with several other studies, we found no significant link between sperm design and velocity, using four different species that vary both in sperm design and PCSS. Potential reasons for this discrepancy between studies are discussed
Role of Esrrg in the Fibrate-Mediated Regulation of Lipid Metabolism Genes in Human ApoA-I Transgenic Mice
We have used a new ApoA-I transgenic mouse model to identify by global gene expression profiling, candidate genes that affect lipid and lipoprotein metabolism in response to fenofibrate treatment. Multilevel bioinformatical analysis and stringent selection criteria (2-fold change, 0% false discovery rate) identified 267 significantly changed genes involved in several molecular pathways. The fenofibrate-treated group did not have significantly altered levels of hepatic human APOA-I mRNA and plasma ApoA-I compared with the control group. However, the treatment increased cholesterol levels to 1.95-fold mainly due to the increase in high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. The observed changes in HDL are associated with the upregulation of genes involved in phospholipid biosynthesis and lipid hydrolysis, as well as phospholipid transfer protein. Significant upregulation was observed in genes involved in fatty acid transport and ÎČ-oxidation, but not in those of fatty acid and cholesterol biosynthesis, Krebs cycle and gluconeogenesis. Fenofibrate changed significantly the expression of seven transcription factors. The estrogen receptor-related gamma gene was upregulated 2.36-fold and had a significant positive correlation with genes of lipid and lipoprotein metabolism and mitochondrial functions, indicating an important role of this orphan receptor in mediating the fenofibrate-induced activation of a specific subset of its target genes.National Institutes of Health (HL48739 and HL68216); European Union (LSHM-CT-2006-0376331, LSHG-CT-2006-037277); the Biomedical Research Foundation of the Academy of Athens; the Hellenic Cardiological Society; the John F Kostopoulos Foundatio
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