Endogenous Market Formation and Monetary Trade: An Experiment

The theory of money assumes decentralized bilateral exchange and excludes centralized multilateral exchange. However, endogenizing the exchange process is critical for understanding the conditions that support the use of money. We develop a “travelling game” to study the emergence of decentralized and centralized exchange, theoretically and experimentally. Players located on separate islands can either trade locally, or pay a cost to trade elsewhere, so decentralized and centralized markets can both emerge in equilibrium. The former minimize trade costs through monetary exchange; the latter maximizes overall surplus through non-monetary exchange. Monetary trade emerges when coordination is problematic, while centralized trade emerges otherwise. This shows that to understand the emergence of money it is important to amend standard theory such that the market structure is endogenized

Object Oriented and Rule-based Design of Visual Languages using Tiger

In this paper we present the state-of-the-art of the TIGER environment for the generation of visual editor plug-ins in Eclipse, with the focus on its Designer component, a visual environment for object oriented and rule-based design of visual languages. Based on an alphabet for finite automata we show how a visual language can be designed by defining the abstract and concrete syntax of the visual language and syntax directed editing operations in the generated editor plug-in. For the graphical layout we use the Graphical Editing Framework (GEF) of ECLIPSE which offers an efficient and standardized way for graphical layouting

Microstructural Parcellation of the Human Cerebral Cortex – From Brodmann's Post-Mortem Map to in vivo Mapping with High-Field Magnetic Resonance Imaging

The year 2009 marked the 100th anniversary of the publication of the famous brain map of Korbinian Brodmann. Although a “classic” guide to microanatomical parcellation of the cerebral cortex, it is – from today's state-of-the-art neuroimaging perspective – problematic to use Brodmann's map as a structural guide to functional units in the cortex. In this article we discuss some of the reasons, especially the problematic compatibility of the “post-mortem world” of microstructural brain maps with the “in vivo world” of neuroimaging. We conclude with some prospects for the future of in vivo structural brain mapping: a new approach which has the enormous potential to make direct correlations between microstructure and function in living human brains: “in vivo Brodmann mapping” with high-field magnetic resonance imaging

EMF Model Refactoring based on Graph Transformation Concepts

The Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) provides a modeling and code generation framework for Eclipse applications based on structured data models. Within model driven software development based on EMF, refactoring of EMF models become a key activity. In this paper, we present an approach to define EMF model refactoring methods as transformation rules being applied in place on EMF models. Performing an EMF model refactoring, EMF transformation rules are applied and can be translated to corresponding graph transformation rules, as in the graph transformation environment AGG. If the resulting EMF model is consistent, the corresponding result graph is equivalent and can be used for validating EMF model refactoring. Results on conflicts and dependencies of refactorings for example, can help the developer to decide which refactoring is most suitable for a given model and why

Effect of genital herpes on cervicovaginal HIV shedding in women co-infected with HIV AND HSV-2 in Tanzania.

To compare the presence and quantity of cervicovaginal HIV among HIV seropositive women with clinical herpes, subclinical HSV-2 infection and without HSV-2 infection respectively; to evaluate the association between cervicovaginal HIV and HSV shedding; and identify factors associated with quantity of cervicovaginal HIV. Four groups of HIV seropositive adult female barworkers were identified and examined at three-monthly intervals between October 2000 and March 2003 in Mbeya, Tanzania: (1) 57 women at 70 clinic visits with clinical genital herpes; (2) 39 of the same women at 46 clinic visits when asymptomatic; (3) 55 HSV-2 seropositive women at 60 clinic visits who were never observed with herpetic lesions; (4) 18 HSV-2 seronegative women at 45 clinic visits. Associations of genital HIV shedding with HIV plasma viral load (PVL), herpetic lesions, HSV shedding and other factors were examined. Prevalence of detectable genital HIV RNA varied from 73% in HSV-2 seronegative women to 94% in women with herpetic lesions (geometric means 1634 vs 3339 copies/ml, p = 0.03). In paired specimens from HSV-2 positive women, genital HIV viral shedding was similar during symptomatic and asymptomatic visits. On multivariate regression, genital HIV RNA (log10 copies/mL) was closely associated with HIV PVL (β = 0.51 per log10 copies/ml increase, 95%CI:0.41-0.60, p<0.001) and HSV shedding (β = 0.24 per log10 copies/ml increase, 95% CI:0.16-0.32, p<0.001) but not the presence of herpetic lesions (β = -0.10, 95%CI:-0.28-0.08, p = 0.27). HIV PVL and HSV shedding were more important determinants of genital HIV than the presence of herpetic lesions. These data support a role of HSV-2 infection in enhancing HIV transmissibility

Decoherence and Entanglement Dynamics of Coupled Qubits

We study the entanglement dynamics and relaxation properties of a system of two interacting qubits in the two cases (I) two independent bosonic baths and (II) one common bath, at temperature T. The entanglement dynamics is studied in terms of the concurrence C (t) between the two spins and of the von Neumann entropy S(t) with respect to the bath, as a function of time. We prove that the system does thermalize. In the case (II) of a single bath, the existence of a decoherence-free (DFS) subspace makes entanglement dynamics very rich. We show that when the system is initially in a state with a component in the DFS the relaxation time is surprisingly long, showing the existence of semi-decoherence free subspaces. The equilibrium state in this case is not the Gibbs state. The entanglement dynamics for the single bath case is also studied as a function of temperature, coupling strength with the environment and strength of tunneling coupling. The case of the mixed state is finally shown and discussed.Comment: improved version with all the details and study in function of temperature, coupling strengths and the study of the mixed state cas

A systems biology approach to dynamic modeling and inter-subject variability of statin pharmacokinetics in human hepatocytes

A dynamic model for the biotransformation of atorvastatin has been developed using quantitative metabolite measurements in primary human hepatocytes. The model comprises kinetics for transport processes and metabolic enzymes as well as population liver expression data allowing us to assess the impact of inter-individual variability of concentrations of key proteins. Application of computational tools for parameter sensitivity analysis enabled us to considerably improve the validity of the model and to create a consistent framework for precise computer-aided simulations in toxicology

The Diversity of Heath Flowering Phenology– Revealing Fine Scale Patterns of Heterogeneity by High Resolution Drone Cameras

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) open up new perspectives for the repetitive spatial monitoring of vegetation stands and possibly even for fine scale analyses of individual plants. The potentials of recent UAV camera systems for integrating high spatial resolution (< 10 cm per image pixel) and area wide mapping are undergoing research. In particular, robust algorithms are needed for a spatially explicit characterization of individual plants, their structural composition and related functional traits. Such information can be used to examine ecological interdependencies that determine habitat establishment, and in general, to evaluate the habitat quality for nature conservation purposes [1]. In our study we developed a UAV-based methodological procedure to analyse open heathland areas that are protected in the European Natura 2000 network, and therefore, need to be managed to preserve a favourable conservation status [2]. We mapped the flowering phase of regenerated dwarf shrub heath (Calluna vulgaris) stands 2 years after burning and of unmanaged old stands using a standard RGB drone camera. From the UAV imaging point cloud a digital orthophoto and a digital surface model was generated with 2 cm pixel resolution. A method was developed that extracts every individual plant on the basis of RGB-colour value classification, texture filtering and local maxima estimation on a normalized digital surface model. For every plant the maximum plant height as well as the RGB colour distribution could be extracted and related to field surveys of plant traits. On that basis, a colour model was constructed that statistically predicts the phenological heath plant status with regard to fractional cover of flowers, fruits, vegetative shoots and senescent plant components. Our study reveals that the flowering phase of Calluna vulgaris is spatially much more divers than expected. Colour models from simple RGB imagery show that phases of completely vegetative, withered, fruit and full flowering plants spatially coexist in heterogeneous alternations of individual plants, in fact, independent of growth age after burning (height 40 cm) exhibit significantly lower fractions of fruit and flowers while senescence is increased. However, the high phenological diversity after fire management shows that driving factors of shoot extension and flower productions, thus, are triggered by additional mechanisms that are not affected by habitat management practice. UAV-based imagery can help to observe such effects for a more detailed evaluation of management effects. REFERENCES: 1. Neumann C, Weiss G, Schmidtlein S, Itzerott S, Lausch A, Doktor D, Brell M., 2015. Gradient-based assessment of habitat quality for spectral ecosystem monitoring. Remote Sensing. 7(3), 2871-98. 2. Habitat Directive, 1992. Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. Official Journal of the European Union. 206, 7-50