INCOME AND OUTCOMES - A STRUCTURAL MODEL OF INTRAHOUSEHOLD ALLOCATION

There is evidence from several sources that one cannot treat many-person households as a single decision maker. If this is the case, then factors such as the relative incomes of the household members may affect the final allocation decisions made by the household. We develop a method of identifying how ''incomes affect outcomes'' given conventional family expenditure data. The basic assumption we make is that household decision processes lead to efficient outcomes. We apply our method to a sample of Canadian couples with no children. We find that the final allocations of expenditures on each partner depend significantly on their relative incomes and ages and on the level of lifetime wealth

Blind fluorescence structured illumination microscopy: A new reconstruction strategy

In this communication, a fast reconstruction algorithm is proposed for fluorescence \textit{blind} structured illumination microscopy (SIM) under the sample positivity constraint. This new algorithm is by far simpler and faster than existing solutions, paving the way to 3D and/or real-time 2D reconstruction.Comment: submitted to IEEE ICIP 201

Acknowledgements

The allocation of time is a crucial decision that influences many aspects of household welfare. According to standard theory it depends on the potential wage rate of spouses relative to their domestic productivity. A major problem, however, is that individual productivities are not observed. As a consequence, an important source of difference in household living standards alongside with heterogeneity in preferences and wage rates, cannot be accounted for. This paper presents a new methodology to estimate individual domestic productivity based on the informational content of a standard time use survey, with time inputs observable but domestic output immeasurable. It provides empirical evidence based on a sample of French two-earner couples. As a test of the empirical validity of this approach, the paper shows that the estimate of female domestic productivity is a significant variable in explaining the overall intra-household distribution of resources

Mu rhythm: State of the art with special focus on cerebral palsy

Various specific early rehabilitation strategies are proposed to decrease functional disabilities in patients with cerebral palsy (CP). These strategies are thought to favour the mechanisms of brain plasticity that take place after brain injury. However, the level of evidence is low. Markers of brain plasticity would favour validation of these rehabilitation programs. In this paper, we consider the study of mu rhythm for this goal by describing the characteristics of mu rhythm in adults and children with typical development, then review the current literature on mu rhythm in CP. Mu rhythm is composed of brain oscillations recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) or magnetoencephalography (MEG) over the sensorimotor areas. The oscillations are characterized by their frequency, topography and modulation. Frequency ranges within the alpha band (∼10Hz, mu alpha) or beta band (∼20Hz, mu beta). Source location analyses suggest that mu alpha reflects somatosensory functions, whereas mu beta reflects motor functions. Event-related desynchronisation (ERD) followed by event-related (re-)synchronisation (ERS) of mu rhythm occur in association with a movement or somatosensory input. Even if the functional role of the different mu rhythm components remains incompletely understood, their maturational trajectory is well described. Increasing age from infancy to adolescence is associated with increasing ERD as well as increasing ERS. A few studies characterised mu rhythm in adolescents with spastic CP and showed atypical patterns of modulation in most of them. The most frequent findings in patients with unilateral CP are decreased ERD and decreased ERS over the central electrodes, but atypical topography may also be found. The patterns of modulations are more variable in bilateral CP. Data in infants and young children with CP are lacking and studies did not address the questions of intra-individual reliability of mu rhythm modulations in patients with CP nor their modification after motor learning. Better characterization of mu rhythm in CP, especially in infants and young children, is warranted before considering this rhythm as a potential neurophysiological marker of brain plasticity

Localization and chemical forms of cadmium in plant samples by combining analytical electron microscopy and X-ray spectromicroscopy

International audienceCadmium (Cd) is a metal of high toxicity for plants. Resolving its distribution and speciation in plants is essential for understanding the mechanisms involved in Cd tolerance, trafficking and accumulation. The model plant Arabidopsis thaliana was exposed to cadmium under controlled conditions. Elemental distributions in the roots and in the leaves were determined using scanning electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray microanalysis (SEM-EDX), and synchrotron-based micro X-ray fluorescence (μ-XRF), which offers a better sensitivity. The chemical form(s) of cadmium was investigated using Cd LIII-edge (3538 eV) micro X-ray absorption near edge structure (μ-XANES) spectroscopy. Plant μ-XANES spectra were fitted by linear combination of Cd reference spectra. Biological sample preparation and conditioning is a critical point because of possible artifacts. In this work we compared freeze-dried samples analyzed at ambient temperature and frozen hydrated samples analyzed at −170 °C. Our results suggest that in the roots Cd is localized in vascular bundles, and coordinated to S ligands. In the leaves, trichomes (epidermal hairs) represent the main compartment of Cd accumulation. In these specialized cells, μ-XANES results show that the majority of Cd is bound to O/N ligands likely provided by the cell wall, and a minor fraction could be bound to S-containing ligands. No significant difference in Cd speciation was observed between freeze-dried and frozen hydrated samples. This work illustrates the interest and the sensitivity of Cd LIII-edge XANES spectroscopy, which is applied here for the first time to plant samples. Combining μ-XRF and Cd LIII-edge μ-XANES spectroscopy offers promising tools to study Cd storage and trafficking mechanisms in plants and other biological samples

A characterization of Dirac morphisms

Relating the Dirac operators on the total space and on the base manifold of a horizontally conformal submersion, we characterize Dirac morphisms, i.e. maps which pull back (local) harmonic spinor fields onto (local) harmonic spinor fields.Comment: 18 pages; restricted to the even-dimensional cas