Unsupervised neural analysis of very-long-period events at Stromboli volcano using the self-organizing maps

We have implemented a method based on an unsupervised neural network to cluster the waveforms of very-long-period (VLP) events associated with explosive activity at the Stromboli volcano (southern Italy). Stromboli has several active vents in the summit area producing together more than 200 explosions/day. We applied this method to investigate the relationship between each vent and its associated VLP explosive waveform. We selected 147 VLP events recorded between November and December 2005, when digital infrared camera recordings were available. From a visual inspection of the infrared camera images, we classified the VLPs on the basis of which vent produced each explosion. We then applied the self-organizing map (SOM), an unsupervised neural technique widely applied in data exploratory analysis, to cluster the VLPs on the basis of their waveform similarity. Our analysis demonstrates that the most recurrent VLP waveforms are usually generated by the same vent. Some exceptions occurred, however, in which different waveforms are associated with the same vent, as well as different vents generating similar waveforms. This suggests that the geometry of the upper conduit-vent system plays a role in shaping the recurring VLP events, whereas occasional modest changes in the source process dynamics produce the observed exceptions

Regional Labour Market Disparities in an Enlarged European Union

We characterise regional labour market problems in the EU 27 using disaggregate data on regional employment, unemployment and participation rates, by gender and 10-year age groups at the NUTS-2 level. We ask whether accession changed disparities in regional labour market conditions and to what degree the structure of employment, unemployment and participation rates in the 12 new member countries differs from the EU 15. We find that aggregate labour market disparities are comparable between the two country groups but that there are important structural differences. Performing a basic components analysis we find that five principal components (four of which are associated with the structure of employment and participations rates) explain around 90 percent of the variance in the data. Cluster analysis suggests that new member country regions are most similar in structural labour market characteristics to many German and French NUTS-2 regions. Regression analysis suggests that the correlates of aggregate regional employment and unemployment rates between the two groups do not differ dramatically but that there may be some differences with respect to employment rates of individual demographic groups

The Portuguese Economy in the Irish Mirror, 1960–2004

Economic growth, Structural change, Shift-share analysis, Portugal, Ireland, European integration, F15, F43, N14, O4, O52,

Youth labour market performance in European regions

Youth labour market, Regions, Eastern and Western EU countries, J21, J13, R23, P50,

High GADA titer increases the risk of insulin requirement in LADA patients: a 7-year follow-up (NIRAD study 7).

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine whether glutamic acid decarboxylase antibody (GADA) titer and other clinical parameters could define the risk of progression to insulin therapy in latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA) patients during a 7-year follow-up. METHODS: This study involved 220 LADA and 430 type 2 diabetes subjects followed up for 7 years from the time of GADA screening to evaluate their progression toward insulin therapy. Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariate logistic regression analysis were performed to identify the markers capable of influencing this progression. RESULTS: During the follow-up, the drop out was 4% in both groups. A total of 119 (56.1%) out of 212 LADA patients required insulin during the 7 years of follow-up. The Kaplan-Meier plots showed that 74/104 (71.1%) of high GADA titer required insulin compared with 45/108 (41.6%) of low GADA titer and with 86/412 (20.9%) of type 2 diabetes (P<0.0001 for both). A BMI of ≤25 kg/m2 and IA-2IC and zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8) positivity were also shown as the markers of faster progression (P<0.0001 for both). The proportion of LADA patients requiring insulin was significantly higher in the group of subjects treated also with sulfonylurea in the first year from diagnosis compared with those treated with diet and/or insulin sensitizers (P<0.001). The multivariate analysis confirmed that the presence of high GADA titer was a significant predictor of insulin requirement (P<0.0001, OR=6.95). CONCLUSIONS: High GADA titer, BMI ≤ 25, ZnT8 and IA-2IC positivity and sulfonylurea treatment, in the first year from diagnosis, significantly increase the progression toward insulin requirement in LADA patients