5,754 research outputs found
Distributional effects of direct payments in Switzerland
The switch from market-support to direct payments in Switzerland had impacts on the income distribution among farmers. In this paper, the distributional effect of the switch as a whole and of the different kinds of direct payments are elaborated through a presentation of different decomposed Gini coefficients. Although the income distribution in Swiss Agriculture is still more equal than in most other countries, the Gini coefficient has risen from 0.27 in 1990 to 0.38 in 2009 and is by now strongly dependent on the composition of direct payments. Off-farm income and direct payments decrease, while market income increases income inequality.income distribution, direct payments, Gini decomposition, agricultural policy, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q00, Q18, Q28.,
Criteria of efficiency for conformal prediction
We study optimal conformity measures for various criteria of efficiency of
classification in an idealised setting. This leads to an important class of
criteria of efficiency that we call probabilistic; it turns out that the most
standard criteria of efficiency used in literature on conformal prediction are
not probabilistic unless the problem of classification is binary. We consider
both unconditional and label-conditional conformal prediction.Comment: 31 page
Test-retest reliability of the Shape/Texture Identification testTM in people with chronic stroke
To evaluate the test-retest reliability of the Shape/Texture Identification test (STI-test(TM)) in persons with chronic stroke
In vivo cannabidiol treatment improves endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation in mesenteric arteries of Zucker diabetic fatty rats
Background and purpose: We have shown that in vitro treatment with cannabidiol (CBD, 2 h) enhances endothelial function in arteries from Zucker diabetic fatty (ZDF) rats, partly due to a cyclooxygenase (COX)-mediated mechanism. The aim of the present study was to determine whether treatment with CBD in vivo would also enhance endothelial function.
Experimental approach: Male ZDF rats, or ZDF Lean rats, were treated for 7 days (daily i.p. injection) with either 10mg/kg CBD or vehicle (n D 6 per group). Sections of mesenteric resistance arteries, femoral arteries and thoracic aortae were mounted on a wire myograph, and cumulative concentration-response curves to endothelium-dependent (acetylcholine, ACh, 1 nM–100 mM) or endothelium-independent (sodium nitroprusside, SNP, 1 nM–100 mM) agents were constructed. Multiplex analysis was used to measure serum metabolic and cardiovascular biomarkers.
Key results: Vasorelaxation to ACh was significantly enhanced in mesenteric arteries from CBD-treated ZDF rats, but not ZDF Lean rats. The enhanced vasorelaxation in ZDF mesenteric arteries was no longer observed after COX inhibition using indomethacin or nitric oxide (NO) inhibition using L-NAME. Increased levels of serum c-peptide, insulin and intracellular adhesion molecule-1 observed in the ZDF compared to ZDF Lean rats were no longer significant after 7 days CBD treatment.
Conclusion and implications: Short-term in vivo treatment with CBD improves ex vivo endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation in mesenteric arteries from ZDF rats due to COX- or NO-mediated mechanisms, and leads to improvements in serum biomarkers
Reactivity of (1-methoxycarbonylpentadienyl)iron(1+) cations with hydride, methyl, and nitrogen nucleophiles
The reaction of tricarbonyl and (dicarbonyl)triphenylphosphine (1-methoxycarbonyl-pentadientyl)iron(1+) cations 7 and 8 with methyl lithium, NaBH3CN, or potassium phthalimide affords (pentenediyl)iron complexes 9a-c and 11a-b, while reaction with dimethylcuprate, gave (E,Z-diene)iron complexes 10 and 12. Oxidatively induced-reductive elimination of 9a-c gave vinylcyclopropanecarboxylates 17a-c. The optically active vinylcyclopropane (+)-17a, prepared from (1S)-7, undergoes olefin cross-metathesis with excess (+)-18 to yield (+)-19, a C9C16 synthon for the antifungal agent ambruticin. Alternatively reaction of 7 with methanesulfonamide or trimethylsilylazide gave (E,E-diene)iron complexes 14d and e. Huisgen [3 + 2] cyclization of the (azidodienyl)iron complex 14e with alkynes afforded triazoles 25a-e
Estimation of a probability in inverse binomial sampling under normalized linear-linear and inverse-linear loss
Sequential estimation of the success probability in inverse binomial
sampling is considered in this paper. For any estimator , its quality
is measured by the risk associated with normalized loss functions of
linear-linear or inverse-linear form. These functions are possibly asymmetric,
with arbitrary slope parameters and for
respectively. Interest in these functions is motivated by their significance
and potential uses, which are briefly discussed. Estimators are given for which
the risk has an asymptotic value as tends to , and which guarantee that,
for any in , the risk is lower than its asymptotic value. This
allows selecting the required number of successes, , to meet a prescribed
quality irrespective of the unknown . In addition, the proposed estimators
are shown to be approximately minimax when does not deviate too much from
, and asymptotically minimax as tends to infinity when .Comment: 4 figure
Spin qubits with electrically gated polyoxometalate molecules
Spin qubits offer one of the most promising routes to the implementation of
quantum computers. Very recent results in semiconductor quantum dots show that
electrically-controlled gating schemes are particularly well-suited for the
realization of a universal set of quantum logical gates. Scalability to a
larger number of qubits, however, remains an issue for such semiconductor
quantum dots. In contrast, a chemical bottom-up approach allows one to produce
identical units in which localized spins represent the qubits. Molecular
magnetism has produced a wide range of systems with tailored properties, but
molecules permitting electrical gating have been lacking. Here we propose to
use the polyoxometalate [PMo12O40(VO)2]q-, where two localized spins-1/2 can be
coupled through the electrons of the central core. Via electrical manipulation
of the molecular redox potential, the charge of the core can be changed. With
this setup, two-qubit gates and qubit readout can be implemented.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Nature Nanotechnolog
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