735 research outputs found

    Hog Insurance Adoption and Suppliers' Discrimination: A Bivariate Probit Model with Partial Observability

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    This paper explores the factors that impact insurance choices. Specially designed survey questions allow one to fully observe the demand tendency by the farmers and partially observe the supply tendency by the insurance company. A joint estimation of insurance decision by both supply and demand sides suggested that factors performing different roles in affecting insurance participation game. Farmer’s age and education have positive impact on insurance demand, but are indifference to the insurance providers. Insurance suppliers care more about farmers’ experience in the field, but this experience occasionally results in overconfidence for the farmers and hence, impedes insurance purchasing. Production scales, proxy by sow inventory, is put more weight by the farmers than the suppliers when making decisions. Production efficiency measures, which performs as incentives for farmers to purchase insurance, acts as some disadvantages in the suppliers’ point of view. While the suppliers prefer customers who use vaccine, the hog producers tend to treat vaccine as a substitute for insurance so as to prevent disease risk. The study also generates discussion on the topics such as short-run vs. long-run factor impact by comparing past insurance choices and current choices. Information on choices regarding different types of insurance (hog and breeding sow) is also discussed. Results from bivairate probit model offers deeper understanding about livestock insurance choices and further insights to improve policy design and promote participation.Livestock Insurance Choices, Bivariate Probit, Partial Observability, Agribusiness, International Development, Livestock Production/Industries, Risk and Uncertainty, C35, D13, Q12,

    Large Genomes Assembly Using MAPREDUCE Framework

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    Knowing the genome sequence of an organism is the essential step toward understanding its genomic and genetic characteristics. Currently, whole genome shotgun (WGS) sequencing is the most widely used genome sequencing technique to determine the entire DNA sequence of an organism. Recent advances in next-generation sequencing (NGS) techniques have enabled biologists to generate large DNA sequences in a high-throughput and low-cost way. However, the assembly of NGS reads faces significant challenges due to short reads and an enormously high volume of data. Despite recent progress in genome assembly, current NGS assemblers cannot generate high-quality results or efficiently handle large genomes with billions of reads. In this research, we proposed a new Genome Assembler based on MapReduce (GAMR), which tackles both limitations. GAMR is based on a bi-directed de Bruijn graph and implemented using the MapReduce framework. We designed a distributed algorithm for each step in GAMR, making it scalable in assembling large-scale genomes. We also proposed novel gap-filling algorithms to improve assembly results to achieve higher accuracy and more extended continuity. We evaluated the assembly performance of GAMR using benchmark data and compared it against other NGS assemblers. We also demonstrated the scalability of GAMR by using it to assemble loblolly pine (~22Gbp). The results showed that GAMR finished the assembly much faster and with a much lower requirement of computing resources

    The management of obstructive sleep apnea accompanied with mandibular retrognathia across the lifespan from orthodontic perspective

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    Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a complex disease with complex etiology, which requires multidisciplinary cooperation in diagnosis and treatment. Mandibular retrognathia is strongly associated with OSA. Orthodontists can either correct the mandibular retrognathia of pediatric OSA via various kinds of orthodontic appliances, following adenoidectomy and tonsillectomy, or enlarge upper airway by mandibular advancement device (MAD) through repositioning the mandible and tongue of adult OSA patients. This mini review was to investigate the therapy of MAD to adult OSA as well as orthodontic treatment to pediatric OSA

    The molecular pathology of genioglossus in obstructive sleep apnea

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    Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep respiratory disease characterized by sleep snoring accompanied by apnea and daytime sleeplessness. It is a complex disease, with the multifactorial etiology, and the pathology is incompletely understood. Genioglossus (GG), the largest dilator of upper airway, whose fatigue is strongly correlated to onset of OSA. This brief review was to investigate the pathogenesis of OSA targeting on GG from different risk factors as gender, obesity, and aging, and the molecular mechanism of GG injury in OSA pathogenesis. We hope to find the targeted molecular mechanism on GG in OSA treatment

    Coincidence detection probability of (Îł,2e)(\gamma, 2e) photoemission measurement

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    In the study of the strongly correlated electrons, one of the challenging core tasks is to develop the potential techniques for direct detection of the many-body correlations of the strongly correlated electrons. (Îł,2e)(\gamma, 2e) photoemission technique has been developed to investigate the two-body correlations of the target correlated electrons. In this article, we will focus on this technique for the correlated electrons near the Fermi energy. The coincidence detection probability of the two emitted electrons in the (Îł,2e)(\gamma, 2e) photoemission measurement is shown to be relevant to a two-body Bethe-Salpeter wave function, which describes the dynamical two-body correlations of the target correlated electrons. As the coincidence detection probability involves an electron-electron interaction matrix element, the arbitrary momentum and/or energy transfer due to this electron-electron interaction makes the (Îł,2e)(\gamma, 2e) photoemission technique fail to reveal the inner-pair structure of the two-body Bethe-Salpeter wave function. However, the center-of-mass momentum and energy of the two-body Bethe-Salpeter wave function can be distinctly resolved. Thus, the (Îł,2e)(\gamma, 2e) photoemission technique can provide the center-of-mass physics of the two-body Bethe-Salpeter wave function of the target correlated electrons. It would be one potential technique to study the center-of-mass physics of the Cooper pairs in superconductor.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figure

    Renormalization formalism for superconducting phase transition with inner-Cooper-pair dynamics

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    As charge carrier of the macroscopic superconductivity, the Cooper pair is a composite particle of two paired electrons, which has both center-of-mass and inner-pair degrees of freedom. In most cases, these two different degrees of freedom can be well described by the macroscopic Ginzburg-Landau theory and the microscopic Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) theory, respectively. Near the superconducting phase transition where the Cooper pair is fragile and unstable because of the small binding energy, there are non-trivial couplings between these two different degrees of freedom due to such as finite energy and/or momentum transfer. The non-trivial couplings make the original derivation of the Ginzburg-Landau theory from the BCS theory fail in principle as where these two different degrees of freedom should not be decoupled. In this manuscript, we will present a renormalization formalism for an extended Ginzburg-Landau action for the superconducting phase transition where there is finite energy transfer between the center-of-mass and the inner-pair degrees of freedom of Cooper pairs. This formalism will provide a theoretical tool to study the unusual effects of the inner-pair time-retarded physics on the superconducting phase transition.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figure
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