This paper aims to measure and analyze the extent and determinants of energy poverty in China and to examine the effects of electricity accessibility on rural development and welfare. It constructs a ...multi-dimensional energy poverty index based on five dimensions: household cooking fuel, lighting, household electrical appliance services, entertainment/education, and communication. Using the instrumental variable of the 2SLS method and the hierarchical logit model, this paper also explores the impact of electricity accessibility in rural areas on the multi-dimensional energy poverty index, rural expenditure and income, and individual health and education outcomes. The results indicate that the multi-dimensional energy poverty index has experienced a downward trend over the years, yet it remains higher in rural areas compared with urban areas and in central and western regions compared with eastern regions. Electricity accessibility has a notable effect on reducing multi-dimensional energy poverty and promoting rural development, but it varies by region and rural expenditure quantile. Unclean cooking energy in rural households markedly reduces individual educational levels and increases the probability of ill health. In conclusion, this paper suggests that improving electricity accessibility and promoting clean cooking energy are important policy measures for alleviating energy poverty and improving rural welfare in China.
Based on the literature regarding Sen’s capability approach, this work contributes to the empirical literature on multidimensional well-being by exploring whether a relationship exists between ...resources and how individuals convert their personal endowments. To control for conversion efficiency, differences in individual efficiency levels are estimated using the Stochastic Frontier Approach (SFA) in a production analysis, and efficiency scores are calculated at the individual level to capture the main factors leading to existing conversion inefficiency. Differences in individual living standards may also be caused by lower/higher efficiency in converting personal resources into income and well-being. Some determinants of efficiency levels for both poor and non-poor individuals are then investigated. Individual characteristics that can contribute to explaining the relationship between individuals’ resources and achieved functioning are further investigated, and an individual’s conversion efficiency is found to be positively affected by increased parental income, being married and living in an urban or eastern area. On the other hand, ageing and a larger household size decrease an individual’s conversion efficiency. Constraints in the conversion of given resource factors into achieved functioning can be caused by personal, environmental or social factors. These conversion factors determine why one individual achieves higher functioning output than someone else with the same input.
Cortical layer 1 (L1) interneurons have been proposed as a hub for attentional modulation of underlying cortex, but the transformations that this circuit implements are not known. We combined ...genetically targeted voltage imaging with optogenetic activation and silencing to study the mechanisms underlying sensory processing in mouse barrel cortex L1. Whisker stimuli evoked precisely timed single spikes in L1 interneurons, followed by strong lateral inhibition. A mild aversive stimulus activated cholinergic inputs and evoked a bimodal distribution of spiking responses in L1. A simple conductance-based model that only contained lateral inhibition within L1 recapitulated the sensory responses and the winner-takes-all cholinergic responses, and the model correctly predicted that the network would function as a spatial and temporal high-pass filter for excitatory inputs. Our results demonstrate that all-optical electrophysiology can reveal basic principles of neural circuit function in vivo and suggest an intuitive picture for how L1 transforms sensory and modulatory inputs.
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•All-optical electrophysiology reveals synaptic excitation and inhibition, in vivo•Whisker stimuli evoke concurrent excitation and inhibition in L1 interneurons•Cholinergic inputs evoke winner-takes-all spiking in L1 interneurons•Lateral inhibition within L1 governs whisker and cholinergic responses
By simultaneously combining genetically targeted voltage imaging with optogenetic modulation of neuronal activity, Fan et al. demonstrate that all-optical electrophysiology in awake animals can be a powerful tool for revealing hidden principles of neural circuit function.
Quantum communication protocols based on nonclassical correlations can be more efficient than known classical methods and offer intrinsic security over direct state transfer. In particular, remote ...state preparation aims at the creation of a desired and known quantum state at a remote location using classical communication and quantum entanglement. We present an experimental realization of deterministic continuous-variable remote state preparation in the microwave regime over a distance of 35 cm. By employing propagating two-mode squeezed microwave states and feedforward, we achieve the remote preparation of squeezed states with up to 1.6 dB of squeezing below the vacuum level. Finally, security of remote state preparation is investigated by using the concept of the one-time pad and measuring the von Neumann entropies. We find nearly identical values for the entropy of the remotely prepared state and the respective conditional entropy given the classically communicated information and, thus, demonstrate close-to-perfect security.
In experiments with superconducting quantum circuits, characterizing the photon statistics of propagating microwave fields is a fundamental task. We quantify the n^{2}+n photon number variance of ...thermal microwave photons emitted from a blackbody radiator for mean photon numbers, 0.05≲n≲1.5. We probe the fields using either correlation measurements or a transmon qubit coupled to a microwave resonator. Our experiments provide a precise quantitative characterization of weak microwave states and information on the noise emitted by a Josephson parametric amplifier.
Attempts by governments around the world to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 have substantially altered the early rearing environment, raising concerns about potential negative consequences for babies ...born during this time. The objective of this study was to determine whether infants born during the COVID-19 pandemic were at greater risk of screening positive for developmental delay compared with infants born before the pandemic.
Participants were from 2 longitudinal cohorts. The prepandemic cohort, Impact of Maternal and Paternal Postpartum Depression, recruited postpartum individuals in the period between 2015 and 2018. Infant development milestone data (Ages and Stages Questionnaire ASQ-3) were collected at 1-year postpartum (n = 2903), between 2016 and 2019. The pandemic cohort, Pregnancy during the Pandemic, recruited pregnant individuals between April 2020 and April 2021. Infant development milestone data (ASQ-3) were collected at 1-year postpartum (n = 3742), between May 2021 and December 2022. Sociodemographic information, pregnancy outcomes, and depression symptom data were also collected.
In covariate-adjusted analyses, pandemic-born infants had lower mean scores and higher odds of screening positive for delay on the Communication, Gross Motor, and Personal-Social domains of the ASQ-3 compared with prepandemic infants. Sex differences showed that males and females screened "at risk" in different domains.
Most pandemic-born infants display typical development, and differences between prepandemic and pandemic-born infants were small. Nevertheless, an increased risk for delayed development among pandemic-born infants suggests the need for ongoing monitoring to determine what, if any, resources and interventions are needed to support healthy child development.
In this paper, feed-forward pre-equalization in conjunction with a PAM modulation scheme are proposed for use in wireless visible light communication (VLC) systems in order to enable the transmission ...of data rates >1 Gb/s. Simulation results demonstrate that simple few-tap feed-forward pre-equalization is able to remove the intersymbol interference caused by the limited link bandwidth of a line of sight VLC link, providing up to 5 dB better receiver sensitivity compared with postequalization. The pre-equalization scheme is implemented for a free-space VLC link using a PAM modulation scheme, which provides an enhanced spectral efficiency compared to NRZ modulation. Micropixelated LEDs (μLEDs) are used as the transmitter in this study, as they exhibit higher modulation bandwidth than conventional large-diameter LEDs. An avalanche photodiode is used at the receiver to provide an enhanced link power budget. Error-free (BER <;10 -12 ) 2 Gb/s free-space VLC transmission over 0.6 m is demonstrated experimentally using a simple 3-tap feed-forward pre-equalizer and a PAM-4 modulation scheme. The results show that feed-forward pre-equalization with only a few taps can improve the μLED-based link performance greatly, providing a simple and cost-effective solution for high-speed VLC links.
Background
Common bile duct (CBD) stone is one of the most common diseases among elderly people. In recent decades, there are numerous studies regarding the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic common ...bile duct exploration (LCBDE). Elderly patients are often regarded as high-risk patients because they are more likely to present with age-specific deterioration of organ function and coexisting chronic diseases, which may reduce their tolerance of laparoscopic surgery. Although laparoscopic surgery for choledocholithiasis is now widely accepted as the treatment for CBD stone, its appropriateness for the treatment of elderly patients or those with coexisting high-risk patients has not been well established. Therefore, the objective of this paper is to analyze the safety and efficacy of LCBDE in elderly patients.
Methods
Between January 2012 and November 2015, 376 patients underwent LCBDE in our center. Based on their ages, they were divided into two groups, and a retrospective study was performed. By making comparisons between younger group who were younger than 70 years (
n
= 253) and elderly group who were 70 years old or older (
n
= 123), the demographics, clinical characteristics, laboratory data, operative parameters and outcomes were analyzed.
Results
Before operation, elderly patients had more coexisting chronic diseases and risk factors, such as arterial hypertension, heart diseases, pulmonary diseases and previous abdominal surgery (
P
< 0.05). In both groups, LCBDE was equally successful with a high clearance rate (100 % in elderly patients vs. 98.8 % in younger group,
P
= 0.554). Besides, the operating time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospital stay, total costs and overall complication showed no significant difference between two groups (
P
> 0.05). There was no major bile duct injury or death in either group.
Conclusion
Although elderly patients are frequently confronted with coexisting disorders, LCBDE can be considered as a safe and effective technique in choledocholithiasis treatment for elderly patients.
Two-mode squeezing is a fascinating example of quantum entanglement manifested in cross-correlations of non-commuting observables between two subsystems. At the same time, these subsystems themselves ...may contain no quantum signatures in their self-correlations. These properties make two-mode squeezed (TMS) states an ideal resource for applications in quantum communication. Here, we generate propagating microwave TMS states by a beam splitter distributing single mode squeezing emitted from distinct Josephson parametric amplifiers along two output paths. We experimentally study the fundamental dephasing process of quantum cross-correlations in continuous-variable propagating TMS microwave states and accurately describe it with a theory model. In this way, we gain the insight into finite-time entanglement limits and predict high fidelities for benchmark quantum communication protocols such as remote state preparation and quantum teleportation.
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