From breaking the rule to making the rules : the adoption, entrenchment and diffusion of gender quotas in France

Once a country allergic to any type of preferential treatment or quota measure for women, France has become a country that applies gender quotas to regulate women's presence and representation in politics, the business sector, public bodies, public administration, and even some civil society organizations. While research has concentrated on the adoption of electoral gender quotas in many countries and their international diffusion, few studies focus on explaining the successful diffusion of gender quotas from politics to other domains in the same country. This paper proposes to fill this gap by studying the particularly puzzling case of a country that at one point strongly opposed the adoption of gender quotas in politics, but, in less than a decade, transformed into one of the few countries applying gender quotas across several policy domains. This paper argues that the legal entrenchment of the parity principle, the institutionalization of parity in several successive women's policy agencies, and key players in these newly created agencies are mainly responsible for this unexpected development. The diffusion of gender quotas in France thus offers an illuminating example of under which conditions women's policy agencies can act autonomously to diffuse and impose a new tool for gender equality

IRM dans le diagnostic des spondyloarthrites axiales: utilité et pièges diagnostiques [MRI of axial spondyloarthritis: diagnostic role and pitfalls].

MRI has become a major tool for the diagnosis of axial spondyloarthritis and provides objective signs based on which therapy can be initiated. In clinical practice, ASAS classification criteria are often applied for the diagnosis of spondyloarthritis at a pre-radiographic stage. However, MRI signs of spondyloarthritis as stated in ASAS criteria lack specificity, and can be encountered in a wide array of diagnoses, in particular degenerative and mechanical conditions. In this article, we will review the role of MRI in the diagnosis and classification of spondyloarthritis, general technical considerations, the elementary MRI signs of axial spondyloarthritis, as well as diagnostic pitfalls. We also provide a practical approach on how to avoid overdiagnosis of spondyloarthritis and to improve the diagnostic value of MRI.

Diffantom: Whole-Brain Diffusion MRI Phantoms Derived from Real Datasets of the Human Connectome Project.

Food allergies are believed to be on the rise and currently management relies on the avoidance of the food. Hen's egg allergy is after cow's milk allergy the most common food allergy; eggs are used in many food products and thus difficult to avoid. A technological process using a combination of enzymatic hydrolysis and heat treatment was designed to produce modified hen's egg with reduced allergenic potential. Biochemical (SDS-PAGE, Size exclusion chromatography and LC-MS/MS) and immunological (ELISA, immunoblot, RBL-assays, animal model) analysis showed a clear decrease in intact proteins as well as a strong decrease of allergenicity. In a clinical study, 22 of the 24 patients with a confirmed egg allergy who underwent a double blind food challenge with the hydrolysed egg remained completely free of symptoms. Hydrolysed egg products may be beneficial as low allergenic foods for egg allergic patients to extent their diet. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Cultural Diffusion Was the Main Driving Mechanism of the Neolithic Transition in Southern Africa

It is well known that the Neolithic transition spread across Europe at a speed of about 1 km/yr. This result has been previously interpreted as a range expansion of the Neolithic driven mainly by demic diffusion (whereas cultural diffusion played a secondary role). However, a long-standing problem is whether this value (1 km/yr) and its interpretation (mainly demic diffusion) are characteristic only of Europe or universal (i.e. intrinsic features of Neolithic transitions all over the world). So far Neolithic spread rates outside Europe have been barely measured, and Neolithic spread rates substantially faster than 1 km/yr have not been previously reported. Here we show that the transition from hunting and gathering into herding in southern Africa spread at a rate of about 2.4 km/yr, i.e. about twice faster than the European Neolithic transition. Thus the value 1 km/yr is not a universal feature of Neolithic transitions in the world. Resorting to a recent demic-cultural wave-of-advance model, we also find that the main mechanism at work in the southern African Neolithic spread was cultural diffusion (whereas demic diffusion played a secondary role). This is in sharp contrast to the European Neolithic. Our results further suggest that Neolithic spread rates could be mainly driven by cultural diffusion in cases where the final state of this transition is herding/pastoralism (such as in southern Africa) rather than farming and stockbreeding (as in Europe)

Atomic diffusion induced by stress relaxation in InGaAs/GaAs epitaxial layers

The origin of the microscopic inhomogeneities in InxGa1-xAs layers grown on GaAs by molecular beam epitaxy is analyzed through the optical absorption spectra near the band gap. It is seen that, for relaxed thick layers of about 2.8μm, composition inhomogeneities are responsible for the band edge smoothing into the whole compositional range (0.05diffusion at the surface during growth, induced by the strain inhomogeneities that arise from stress relaxation. In consequence, the strain variations present in the layer are converted into composition variations during growth. This process is energetically favorable as it diminishes elastic energy. An additional support to this hypothesis is given by a clear proportionality between the magnitude of the composition variations and the mean strain

A generalized 1D particle transport method for convection diffusion reaction model

This work is devoted to the development of numerical method to deal with convection diffusion dominated problem with reaction term, non - stiff chemical reaction and stiff chemical reaction. The technique is based on the unifying Eulerian - Lagrangian schemes (particle transport method) under the framework of operator splitting method. In the computational domain, the particle set is assigned to solve the convection reaction subproblem along the characteristic curves created by convective velocity. At each time step, convection, diffusion and reaction terms are solved separately by assuming that, each phenomenon occurs separately in a sequential fashion. Moreover, adaptivities and projection techniques are used to add particles in the regions of high gradients (steep fronts) and discontinuities and transfer a solution from particle set onto grid point respectively. The numerical results show that, the particle transport method has improved the solutions of CDR problems. Nevertheless, the method is time consumer when compared with other classical technique e.g., method of lines. Apart from this advantage, the particle transport method can be used to simulate problems that involve movingsteep/smooth fronts such as separation of two or more elements in the system.

Evaluation of gas diffusion electrodes as detectors in amperometric hydrogen sensors

This work is directed to the study and evaluation of gas diffusion electrodes as detectors in hydrogen sensors. Electrochemical experiments were carried out with rotating disk electrodes with a thin porous coating of the catalyst as a previous step to select useful parameters for the sensor. An experimental arrangement made in the laboratory that simulates the sensor was found appropriate to detect volumetric hydrogen percentages above 0.25% in mixtures H2:N2. The system shows a linear response for volumetric percentages of hydrogen between 0.25 and 2 %.

Diffusion of Smart Meters in Central East Europe

The present study deals with innovation diffusion as the central component of innovation process and takes smart meters as a concrete example from the electric power industry. Smart meters are seen as key enablers of the industry-wide shift towards smart grids and are recognized by the European Union as means of reaching its environmental and energy goals. However, the spread of smart meters through the market, especially in Central East Europe (CEE), is not corresponding to the expectations and identified benefits. The current work synthesizes available data for the under-researched geographical region of CEE and clarifies the process of smart meter diffusion and drivers behind it. In addition to innovation theories the methods applied are rate of adoption and thematic analysis. The results prove the large gap between optimal and actual diffusion as well as the lagging position of CEE in comparison to the EU’s market leaders. The smart metering market is driven from bottom-up and the majority of CEE countries have already carried out or started the initial activities. Therefore, in coming years more intensive smart meters deployment will be seen.

Comparison of diffusion models for description of osmotic dehydration of radish slices dipped in brine

ABSTRACT This paper aims at describing the osmotic dehydration of radish cut into cylindrical pieces, using one- and two-dimensional analytical solutions of diffusion equation with boundary conditions of the first and third kind. These solutions were coupled with an optimizer to determine the process parameters, using experimental data. Three models were proposed to describe the osmotic dehydration of radish slices in brine at low temperature. The two-dimensional model with boundary condition of the third kind well described the kinetics of mass transfers, and it enabled prediction of moisture and solid distributions at any given time.

Nódulo umbilical metastático (nódulo da Irmã Maria José): um sinal de alerta para tumoração maligna intra-abdominal - relato de caso

O nódulo da "Irmã Maria José" é tumor metastático que acomete a cicatriz umbilical e pode ser a primeira evidência de neoplasia intra-abdominal disseminada. Os autores relatam o caso de uma paciente com o nódulo da "Irmã Maria José" no qual o diagnóstico do tumor primário só foi possível por meio dos testes imuno-histoquímicos da lesão biopsiada da pele.

An experimental investigation of the effects of nozzle ellipticity on the flow structure of co-flow jet diffusion flames

The flow structure of cold and ignited jets issuing into a co-flowing air stream was experimentally studied using a laser Doppler velocimeter. Methane was employed as the jet fluid discharging from circular and elliptic nozzles with aspect ratios varying from 1.29 to 1.60. The diameter of the circular nozzle was 4.6 mm and the elliptic nozzles had approximately the same exit area as that of the circular nozzle. These non-circular nozzles were employed in order to increase the stability of attached jet diffusion flames. The time-averaged velocity and r.m.s. value of the velocity fluctuation in the streamwise and transverse directions were measured over the range of co-flowing stream velocities corresponding to different modes of flame blowout that are identified as either lifted or attached flames. On the basis of these measurements, attempts were made to explain the existence of an apparent optimum aspect ratio for the blowout of attached flames observed at higher values of co-flowing stream velocities. The insensitivity of the blowout limits of lifted flames to nozzle geometry observed in our previous work at low co-flowing stream velocities was also explained. Measurements of the fuel concentration at the jet centerline indicated that the mixing process was enhanced with the 1.38 aspect ratio jet compared with the 1.60 aspect ratio jet. On the basis of the obtained experimental data, it was suggested that the higher blowout limits of attached flames for an elliptic jet of 1.38 aspect ratio was due to higher entrainment rates.

Covalidation of Integral Transforms and Method of Lines in Nonlinear Convection-Diffusion with Mathematica

The Mathematica system (version 4.0) is employed in the solution of nonlinear difusion and convection-difusion problems, formulated as transient one-dimensional partial diferential equations with potential dependent equation coefficients. The Generalized Integral Transform Technique (GITT) is first implemented for the hybrid numerical-analytical solution of such classes of problems, through the symbolic integral transformation and elimination of the space variable, followed by the utilization of the built-in Mathematica function NDSolve for handling the resulting transformed ODE system. This approach ofers an error-controlled final numerical solution, through the simultaneous control of local errors in this reliable ODE's solver and of the proposed eigenfunction expansion truncation order. For covalidation purposes, the same built-in function NDSolve is employed in the direct solution of these partial diferential equations, as made possible by the algorithms implemented in Mathematica (versions 3.0 and up), based on application of the method of lines. Various numerical experiments are performed and relative merits of each approach are critically pointed out.