Econometric Modeling and Analysis of Residential Water Demand Based on Unbalanced Panel Data

This paper develops an econometric methodology devised to analyze a sample of time unbalanced panel data on residential water consumption in the French island La Reunion with the purpose to bring out the main determinants of household water consumption and estimate the importance of water consumption by uses. For this purpose, we specify a daily panel econometric model and derive, by performing a time aggregation, a general linear regression model accounting for water consumption data recorded on periods of any calendar date and time length. To esti-mate efficiently the parameters of this model we develop a feasible two step generalized least square method. Using the principle of best linear unbiased prediction, we finally develop an approach allowing to consistently break down the volume of water consumption recorded on household water bills by uses, namely by enforcing this estimated decomposition to add up to the observed total. The application of this methodology to a sample of 437 unbalanced panel observations shows the scope of this approach for the empirical analysis of actual data.econometric modeling; water consumption; panel data

Copépodes pélagiques du plateau ivoirien. Utilisation de I'analyse des correspondances dans l'étude des variations saisonnières

Several 'analyses factorielles des correspondences' were used with the numerical data of planktonic copepods issued from a 1 year sampling programme at different stations of the Ivorian shelf. The main results were the following: (1) 'Ecological seasons' approximately corresponding to hydrological seasons may be defined for planktonic populations. (2) Each 'season' is characterized by one group of species, whose maximum abundance occurs in this period. (3) The same definition of ecological season is obtained whether all species present are used or whether only the most important ones are used. (4) The first principal axes may be interpreted as temperature and salinity or as the station's distance from shore

Copépodes pélagiques du plateau ivoirien. 2 - Utilisation de l'arbre de longueur minimum dans le classement des récoltes

The minimum spanning tree algorithm is used to classify two sets of planktonic copepod samples. This algorithm links the samples the distance of which is minimum, without doing a loop, so that the sum of the segment lengths is minimum. The authors estimated the distance between samples by 2 different ways: by a coefficient of association the Jaccard's index - and by the x2 distance. Jaccard's index is not retained but the use of the x2 distance allows comparison with the 'analyse factorielle des correspondances'. The results are discussed from an ecological point of view

A Catalog of the Highest-energy Cosmic Rays Recorded during Phase I of Operation of the Pierre Auger Observatory

A catalog containing details of the highest-energy cosmic rays recorded through the detection of extensive air showers at the Pierre Auger Observatory is presented with the aim of opening the data to detailed examination. Descriptions of the 100 showers created by the highest-energy particles recorded between 2004 January 1 and 2020 December 31 are given for cosmic rays that have energies in the range 78–166 EeV. Details are also given on a further nine very energetic events that have been used in the calibration procedure adopted to determine the energy of each primary. A sky plot of the arrival directions of the most energetic particles is shown. No interpretations of the data are offered.Fil: Binet, V. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Física de Rosario (IFIR-CONICET); Argentina.Fil: Micheletti, M. I. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Física de Rosario (IFIR-CONICET); Argentina

Characterization of an internal slope movement structure by hydrogeophysical surveying

International audienceA hydrogeophysical study was carried out by a water controlled injection within a landslide situated on an active part of the La Clapière landslide foot (Alpes Maritimes, France). Coupling of both real-time geophysical and hydrological follow ups allowed the representation and quantification of the surface water drainage in space and time within the slipped mass. Thus, 30% of the injected water is quickly drained by a complex slipping surface meanly situated at 10-m depth. The transit time between injection and outflow of the water allowed an overloading of about 10 m3 (i.e. 10 tons) comparable with classical rain events in the area. This weight and the associated interstitial pressures increase have not led to any movements asking for the origin of the water volumes which could induce destabilizations. This experiment enabled an accurate redefinition of the internal slope structure and the understanding of the dynamics of the slipped mass with a surface hydraulic request

Mapping the complete glycoproteome of virion-derived HIV-1 gp120 provides insights into broadly neutralizing antibody binding

The surface envelope glycoprotein (SU) of Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1), gp120SU plays an essential role in virus binding to target CD4+ T-cells and is a major vaccine target. Gp120 has remarkably high levels of N-linked glycosylation and there is considerable evidence that this “glycan shield” can help protect the virus from antibody-mediated neutralization. In recent years, however, it has become clear that gp120 glycosylation can also be included in the targets of recognition by some of the most potent broadly neutralizing antibodies. Knowing the site-specific glycosylation of gp120 can facilitate the rational design of glycopeptide antigens for HIV vaccine development. While most prior studies have focused on glycan analysis of recombinant forms of gp120, here we report the first systematic glycosylation site analysis of gp120 derived from virions produced by infected T lymphoid cells and show that a single site is exclusively substituted with complex glycans. These results should help guide the design of vaccine immunogens

Endoplasmic reticulum stress enhances fibrosis through IRE1α-mediated degradation of miR-150 and XBP-1 splicing

ER stress results in activation of the unfolded protein response and has been implicated in the development of fibrotic diseases. In this study, we show that inhibition of the ER stress-induced IRE1α signaling pathway, using the inhibitor 4μ8C, blocks TGFβ-induced activation of myofibroblasts in vitro, reduces liver and skin fibrosis in vivo, and reverts the fibrotic phenotype of activated myofibroblasts isolated from patients with systemic sclerosis. By using IRE1α(-/-) fibroblasts and expression of IRE1α-mutant proteins lacking endoribonuclease activity, we confirmed that IRE1α plays an important role during myofibroblast activation. IRE1α was shown to cleave miR-150 and thereby to release the suppressive effect that miR-150 exerted on αSMA expression through c-Myb. Inhibition of IRE1α was also demonstrated to block ER expansion through an XBP-1-dependent pathway. Taken together, our results suggest that ER stress could be an important and conserved mechanism in the pathogenesis of fibrosis and that components of the ER stress pathway may be therapeutically relevant for treating patients with fibrotic diseases

The Coulomb phase shift revisited

We investigate the Coulomb phase shift, and derive and analyze new and more precise analytical formulae. We consider next to leading order terms to the Stirling approximation, and show that they are important at small values of the angular momentum $l$ and other regimes. We employ the uniform approximation. The use of our expressions in low energy scattering of charged particles is discussed and some comparisons are made with other approximation methods.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl

Early complications after living donor nephrectomy: analysis of the Swiss Organ Living Donor Health Registry.

We evaluated the prospectively collected data about the incidence of early peri- and postoperative complications, and potential risk factors for adverse outcomes after living kidney donation in Switzerland. Peri- and postoperative events were prospectively recorded on a questionnaire by the local transplant teams of all Swiss transplant centres and evaluated by the Swiss Organ Living Donor Health Registry. Complications were classified according to the Clavien grading system. A total of 1649 consecutive donors between 1998 and 2015 were included in the analysis. There was no perioperative mortality observed. The overall complication rate was 13.5%. Major complications defined as Clavien ≥3 occurred in 2.1% of donors. Obesity was not associated with any complications. Donor age >70years was associated with major complications (odds ratio [OR] 3.99) and genitourinary complications (urinary tract infection OR 5.85; urinary retention OR 6.61). There were more major complications observed in donors with laparoscopic surgery versus open surgery (p = 0.048), but an equal overall complication rate (p = 0.094). We found a low rate of major and minor complications, independent of surgical technique, after living donor nephrectomy. There was no elevated complication rate in obese donors. In contrast, elderly donors >70 years had an elevated risk for perioperative complications

Weekly low-dose treatment with intravenous iron sucrose maintains iron status and decreases epoetin requirement in iron-replete haemodialysis patients

Background. Haemodialysis patients need sustained treatment with intravenous iron because iron deficiency limits the efficacy of recombinant human epoetin therapy in these patients. However, the optimal intravenous iron maintenance dose has not been established yet. Methods. We performed a prospective multicentre clinical trial in iron-replete haemodialysis patients to evaluate the efficacy of weekly low-dose (50 mg) intravenous iron sucrose administration for 6 months to maintain the iron status, and to examine the effect on epoetin dosage needed to maintain stable haemoglobin values in these patients. Fifty patients were enrolled in this prospective, open-label, single arm, phase IV study. Results. Forty-two patients (84%) completed the study. After 6 months of intravenous iron sucrose treatment, the mean ferritin value showed a tendency to increase slightly from 405 ± 159 at baseline to 490 ± 275 µg/l at the end of the study, but iron, transferrin levels and transferrin saturation did not change. The haemoglobin level remained stable (12 ± 1.1 at baseline and 12.1 ± 1.5 g/dl at the end of the study). The mean dose of darbepoetin alfa could be reduced from 0.75 to 0.46 µg/kg/week; epoetin alfa was decreased from 101 to 74 IU/kg/week; and the mean dose of epoetin beta could be reduced from 148 to 131 IU/kg/week at the end of treatment. Conclusions. A regular 50 mg weekly dosing schedule of iron sucrose maintains stable iron stores and haemoglobin levels in haemodialysed patients and allows considerable dose reductions for epoetins. Low-dose intravenous iron therapy may represent an optimal approach to treat the continuous loss of iron in dialysis patient