Understanding differences in regional poverty rates

An examination of the huge variation in U.S. regional poverty rates, showing that although demographic, policy, and cost-of-living factors all play a role, economic differences are key.Income ; Regional economics

Another look at part-time employment

A study that disputes recent reports claiming that undesirable and low-paying part-time jobs are overtaking full-time work, explaining how these reports overlook expansion in the labor force, confuse establishment and household data, and disregard differences in worker characteristics that can obscure relative wages.Employment (Economic theory)

Sectoral wage convergence: a nonparametric distributional analysis

A nonparametric analysis of the similarity between goods and services wage densities, applying kernel density estimates and an overlap statistic to U.S. weekly full-time wages from 1969 to 1993.Manufactures ; Service industries ; Wages

Are service-sector jobs inferior?

An argument that the wage gap between the service-producing and goods-producing sectors has narrowed to the point that the service industries now offer wage opportunities very similar to those in manufacturing and construction.Service industries ; Wages

Sectoral wage convergence: a nonparametric distributional analysis

An examination of the relative shapes of the wage distribution in the U.S. goods-producing and service-producing sectors that uses a nonparametric measure of density overlap to analyze wage differences between the two sectors over time. ; What implications do 21st century monetary innovations bring for holdings of central bank money and standards of value? Emerging technologies such as cybercash, e-cash, and smart cards can be expected to reduce demand for central bank money, but the theoretical framework for monetary policy has not changed.Manufactures ; Service industries ; Wages

Mémoire organisationnelle adaptative en vue d'une classification automatique pour la capitalisation d'informations

International audienceUne mémoire organisationnelle est un espace de capitalisation d’informations diverses circulant au sein d’une entreprise. L’objectif de nos travaux est d’assister les usagers dans le classement de ces informations au sein de cette mémoire organisationnelle tout en limitant leur contribution. Pour ce faire, nous proposons un méta-modèle de mémoire organisationnelle sur lequel nous souhaitons faire reposer un processus de classification automatique

Organizational memory: A model based on a heterogeneous network and an automatic information integration process

Organizational memory is a space where various information circulating in a company are capitalized. From the users' point of view, an organizational memory, which can be seen as an information system component, is very important since it stores the “shared knowledge” of the organization. But, at the same time, the cost of this knowledge is relatively high since users' participation, i.e. to integrate/maintain... the memory is important. The aim of our work is to model an organizational memory through a heterogeneous network on which is based an automatic information integration process to assist users in this task while limiting their effort. We developed a prototype and evaluated through an experiment its ability to integrate new information into an organizational memory based on the proposed model

Using satellite estimates of aboveground biomass to assess carbon stocks in a mixed-management, semi-deciduous tropical forest in the Yucatan Peninsula

Information on the spatial distribution of forest aboveground biomass (AGB) and its uncertainty is important to evaluate management and conservation policies in tropical forests. However, the scarcity of field data and robust protocols to propagate uncertainty prevent a robust estimation through remote sensing. We upscaled AGB from field data to LiDAR, and to landscape scale using Sentinel-2 and ALOS-PALSAR through machine learning, propagated uncertainty using a Monte Carlo framework and explored the relative contributions of each sensor. Sentinel-2 outperformed ALOS-PALSAR (R2 = 0.66, vs 0.50), however, the combination provided the best fit (R2 = 0.70). The combined model explained 49% of the variation comparing against plots within the calibration area, and 17% outside, however, 94% of observations outside calibration area fell within the 95% confidence intervals. Finally, we partitioned the distribution of AGB in different management and conservation categories for evaluating the potential of different strategies for conserving carbon stock

Reappraisal of Vipera aspis Venom Neurotoxicity

BACKGROUND: The variation of venom composition with geography is an important aspect of intraspecific variability in the Vipera genus, although causes of this variability remain unclear. The diversity of snake venom is important both for our understanding of venomous snake evolution and for the preparation of relevant antivenoms to treat envenomations. A geographic intraspecific variation in snake venom composition was recently reported for Vipera aspis aspis venom in France. Since 1992, cases of human envenomation after Vipera aspis aspis bites in south-east France involving unexpected neurological signs were regularly reported. The presence of genes encoding PLA(2) neurotoxins in the Vaa snake genome led us to investigate any neurological symptom associated with snake bites in other regions of France and in neighboring countries. In parallel, we used several approaches to characterize the venom PLA(2) composition of the snakes captured in the same areas. [br/] METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We conducted an epidemiological survey of snake bites in various regions of France. In parallel, we carried out the analysis of the genes and the transcripts encoding venom PLA(2)s. We used SELDI technology to study the diversity of PLA(2) in various venom samples. Neurological signs (mainly cranial nerve disturbances) were reported after snake bites in three regions of France: Languedoc-Roussillon, Midi-Pyrénées and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur. Genomes of Vipera aspis snakes from south-east France were shown to contain ammodytoxin isoforms never described in the genome of Vipera aspis from other French regions. Surprisingly, transcripts encoding venom neurotoxic PLA(2)s were found in snakes of Massif Central region. Accordingly, SELDI analysis of PLA(2) venom composition confirmed the existence of population of neurotoxic Vipera aspis snakes in the west part of the Massif Central mountains. [br/] CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The association of epidemiological studies to genetic, biochemical and immunochemical analyses of snake venoms allowed a good evaluation of the potential neurotoxicity of snake bites. A correlation was found between the expression of neurological symptoms in humans and the intensity of the cross-reaction of venoms with anti-ammodytoxin antibodies, which is correlated with the level of neurotoxin (vaspin and/or ammodytoxin) expression in the venom. The origin of the two recently identified neurotoxic snake populations is discussed according to venom PLA(2) genome and transcriptome data

A PROFILE-BASED ARCHITECTURE FOR A FLEXIBLE AND PERSONALIZED INFORMATION ACCESS

International audienceInformation relevance is an important issue in information access techniques. A solution for improving this relevance is the personalization or adaptation of the answers provided to users. For this purpose we propose, in this article, an information retrieval and recommendation architecture in which any element is described in detail by a profile. The originality of this architecture is at the level of its generic aspects and the numerous possibilities of interactions between complementary profiles derived from a profile generic model. Thereafter, we propose a flexible use of profiles to evaluate the personal relevance of a user or a users group by combining various matchings between profiles criteria