Global Networks of Trade and Bits

Considerable efforts have been made in recent years to produce detailed topologies of the Internet. Although Internet topology data have been brought to the attention of a wide and somewhat diverse audience of scholars, so far they have been overlooked by economists. In this paper, we suggest that such data could be effectively treated as a proxy to characterize the size of the "digital economy" at country level and outsourcing: thus, we analyse the topological structure of the network of trade in digital services (trade in bits) and compare it with that of the more traditional flow of manufactured goods across countries. To perform meaningful comparisons across networks with different characteristics, we define a stochastic benchmark for the number of connections among each country-pair, based on hypergeometric distribution. Original data are thus filtered by means of different thresholds, so that we only focus on the strongest links, i.e., statistically significant links. We find that trade in bits displays a sparser and less hierarchical network structure, which is more similar to trade in high-skill manufactured goods than total trade. Lastly, distance plays a more prominent role in shaping the network of international trade in physical goods than trade in digital services.Comment: 25 pages, 6 figure

Coupling 3D Geomechanics to Classical Petroleum System Simulation

Geomechanical models of classical petroleum system simulators are limited to 1D phenomenological laws relating porosity to vertical effective stress. In order to overcome this limitation, a 3D poromechanical model is integrated in the sedimentary basin simulation by applying an iterative coupling scheme between a conventional basin code and a mechanical finite element code. This paper presents the porous material constitutive law specifically devised to deal with basin modeling, together with essential aspects of the mechanical code implementation and explicit coupling workflow. The numerical procedure is first verified according to a semi-analytical solution and then compared to an implicit academic code. Finally, a 3D synthetic case demonstrates the importance of incorporating 3D geomechanics to basin simulation. The results show that tectonic compression may significantly contribute to overpressure development and natural fracturing of seal rocks, contrary to the standard procedures of petroleum system simulation which are unable to capture such effect

Interventions to prevent youth violence in Latin America: a systematic review

Objectives: This review aims to summarise evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to prevent youth violence in Latin America. Methods: A systematic search on 13 academic databases was conducted to locate studies evaluating a primary or secondary prevention intervention in Latin America. Studies could use any type of quantitative design to assess outcomes related to youth violence. A search of websites, references and citation searching was also carried out. The quality of each study was assessed. Results: Nine studies were identified. Most documented positive effects of the interventions on the perception of youth violence present in the community/school. Evidence was found of a reduction in homicides and juvenile crimes in three studies, two of which evaluated a community-based intervention. There were mixed results for the self-report of participation on violent acts. The majority of the studies lacked of a rigorous design. Conclusions: Most of the interventions had some promising results, including the reduction of homicides within communities. Community-based programmes were the most consistent regarding an effectiveness to prevent violence. However, the evidence for Latin America is still scarce and relies on non-rigorously designed studies

Phenylketonuria in Portugal: Genotype-Phenotype Correlations Using Molecular, Biochemical, and Haplotypic Analyses

The impairment of the hepatic enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase (PAH) causes elevation of phenylalanine levels in blood and other body fluids resulting in the most common inborn error of amino acid metabolism (phenylketonuria). Persistently high levels of phenylalanine lead to irreversible damage to the nervous system. Therefore, early diagnosis of the affected individuals is important, as it can prevent clinical manifestations of the disease.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Design Technology Co-Optimization in advanced FDSOI CMOS around the Minimum Energy Point: body biasing and within-cell VT_T-mixing

International audienceWe propose an original Technology/Design Cooptimization of standard cells mixing devices of different threshold voltages (VT-flavors) within a cell. It is successfully applied with nMOS Low-V$_T$ (LVT) and pMOS Super-Low-VT (SLVT) in Ultra-Low-Voltage (ULV) Fully Depleted SiliconOn-Insulator (FDSOI) LETI standard cells using diffusion breaks. It enables adjusting the V$_T$ of pMOS subject to SiGechannel-induced Local Layout Effect (LLE); leading experimentally to a 23% frequency gain on 22nm FDSOItechnology for a 2-finger inverter Ring Oscillator (IVSX2 RO) vs. reference LVT at the same static leakage and VDD=0.4Vsupply voltage; which corresponds to the Minimum Energy Point (MEP). This solution is combined with Forward BodyBiasing (FBB), which brings +253% frequency at V$_{DD}$=0.4V and FBB=1.6V and improves the energy efficiency with a -13%minimum Energy Delay Product (EDP) along with a 50mV V$_{DD}$ reduction at the minimum ED