Sleep Problems in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

The purpose of the current study was to examine the effect of restricted and repetitive behaviors (RRBs) on the relationship between sleep problems and externalizing behaviors in young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Sixty-six participants with ASD and a mean age of 4 years and their parents participated in the study. Parents reported on their child’s sleep, ASD symptoms, and externalizing behavior during a one-time lab visit. Bivariate correlations and a mediation analysis were conducted to assess the associations between sleep problems, externalizing behavior, and RRB. Results suggested that children with higher scores in measures of RRB had higher scores in sleep problems and externalizing behavior. Results also suggested that RRB partially mediated the relationship between sleep problems and externalizing behavior. Implications for the early identification of sleep and behavior problems, as well as ASD symptoms, are discussed

Spin glass freezing in Kondo lattice compounds

It is presented a theory that describes a spin glass phase at finite temperatures in Kondo lattice systems with an additional RKKY interaction represented by long range, random couplings among localized spins like in the Sherrington- Kirkpatrick (SK) spin glass model. The problem is studied within the functional integral formalism where the spin operators are represented by bilinear combinations of fermionic (anticommuting) Grassmann variables. The Kondo and spin glass transitions are both described with the mean field like static ansatz that reproduces good results in the two well known limits. At high temperatures and low values of the Kondo coupling there is a paramagnetic (disordered) phase with vanishing Kondo and spin glass order parameters. By lowering the temperature a second order transition line is found at Tsg to a spin glass phase. For larger values of the Kondo coupling there is a second order transition line at roughly Tk to a Kondo ordered state. For T<Tsg the transition between the Kondo and spin glass phases becomes first order.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figure, to appear on Phys. Rev.

Blind Multiclass Ensemble Classification

The rising interest in pattern recognition and data analytics has spurred the development of innovative machine learning algorithms and tools. However, as each algorithm has its strengths and limitations, one is motivated to judiciously fuse multiple algorithms in order to find the "best" performing one, for a given dataset. Ensemble learning aims at such high-performance meta-algorithm, by combining the outputs from multiple algorithms. The present work introduces a blind scheme for learning from ensembles of classifiers, using a moment matching method that leverages joint tensor and matrix factorization. Blind refers to the combiner who has no knowledge of the ground-truth labels that each classifier has been trained on. A rigorous performance analysis is derived and the proposed scheme is evaluated on synthetic and real datasets.Comment: To appear in IEEE Transactions in Signal Processin

On the correlation between fragility and stretching in glassforming liquids

We study the pressure and temperature dependences of the dielectric relaxation of two molecular glassforming liquids, dibutyl phtalate and m-toluidine. We focus on two characteristics of the slowing down of relaxation, the fragility associated with the temperature dependence and the stretching characterizing the relaxation function. We combine our data with data from the literature to revisit the proposed correlation between these two quantities. We do this in light of constraints that we suggest to put on the search for empirical correlations among properties of glassformers. In particular, argue that a meaningful correlation is to be looked for between stretching and isochoric fragility, as both seem to be constant under isochronic conditions and thereby reflect the intrinsic effect of temperature

Descriptive and spatial epidemiology of bovine cysticercosis in North-Eastern Spain (Catalonia).

From March 2005 to December 2007, 284 animals from 67 cattle farms (24 dairy and 43 beef) affected by bovine cysticercosis were detected in the region of Catalonia (North-Eastern Spain). Dairy farms were almost twice more likely to be affected than beef farms (OR=1.79, 95% CI=1.08-2.96, p<0.05), and infected premises have a statistically significant (p<0.05) larger number of animals when compared to uninfected farms in Catalonia. The geographical distribution of the infected farms was evaluated and two statistically significant clusters were identified. The most likely cluster was located in the western part of the study region, with 8 out of 10 farms infected. Epidemiological investigations revealed that the 8 farms belonged to the same company. The secondary cluster was located in Eastern Catalonia with 12 infected farms out of 167 cattle farms. No epidemiological links were found among the 12 infected premises. A questionnaire, based on the EFSA risk assessment, was used to assess the most likely route of introduction into each affected farm. Water supply for animals was the route with the highest score in 41.8% of the cases

Lattice QCD-based equations of state at vanishing net-baryon density

We present realistic equations of state for QCD matter at vanishing net-baryon density which embed recent lattice QCD results at high temperatures combined with a hadron resonance gas model in the low-temperature, confined phase. In the latter, we allow an implementation of partial chemical equilibrium, in which particle ratios are fixed at the chemical freeze-out, so that a description closer to the experimental situation is possible. Given the present uncertainty in the determination of the chemical freeze-out temperature from first-principle lattice QCD calculations, we consider different values within the expected range. The corresponding equations of state can be applied in the hydrodynamic modeling of relativistic heavy-ion collisions at the LHC and at the highest RHIC beam energies. Suitable parametrizations of our results as functions of the energy density are also provided.Comment: Updated journal version with refined EoS-parametrization. July 2014. 8 pp. 4 figs. 3 parametrization-tables and weblink Ref. [45

Spin Glass and antiferromagnetism in Kondo lattice disordered systems

The competition between spin glass (SG), antiferromagnetism (AF) and Kondo effect is studied here in a model which consists of two Kondo sublattices with a gaussian random interaction between spins in differents sublattices with an antiferromagnetic mean Jo and standard deviation J. In the present approach there is no hopping of the conduction electrons between the sublattices and only spins in different sublattices can interact. The problem is formulated in the path integral formalism where the spin operators are expressed as bilinear combinations of Grassmann fields which can be solved at mean field level within the static approximation and the replica symmetry ansatz. The obtained phase diagram shows the sequence of phases SG, AF and Kondo state for increasing Kondo coupling. This sequence agrees qualitatively with experimental data of the Ce_{2} Au_{1-x} Co_{x} Si_{3} compound.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to EPJ