Vacuum energies due to delta-like currents: simulating classical objects along branes with arbitrary codimensions

In this paper we investigate the vacuum energies of several models of quantum fields interacting with static external currents (linear couplings) concentrated along parallel branes with an arbitrary number of codimensions. We show that we can simulate the presence of static charges distributions as well as the presence of classical static dipoles in any dimension for massive and massless fields. We also show that we can produce confining potentials with massless self interacting scalar fields as well as long range anisotropic potentials.Comment: 18 latex page

The Dynamics of a Mobile Phone Network

The empirical study of network dynamics has been limited by the lack of longitudinal data. Here we introduce a quantitative indicator of link persistence to explore the correlations between the structure of a mobile phone network and the persistence of its links. We show that persistent links tend to be reciprocal and are more common for people with low degree and high clustering. We study the redundancy of the associations between persistence, degree, clustering and reciprocity and show that reciprocity is the strongest predictor of tie persistence. The method presented can be easily adapted to characterize the dynamics of other networks and can be used to identify the links that are most likely to survive in the future

Physical Conditions in the Dwarf Local Group Irregular Galaxy IC10. I- Diffuse Ionized Gas

A detailed analysis on the physical conditions of the Interstellar Medium in the main body of the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy IC 10 is carried out using long-slit spectroscopy. Maps of the excitation, the H$\alpha$ flux, [NII]/H$\alpha$ and [SII]/H$\alpha$ are presented. The Diffuse Ionized Gas inside the galaxy is studied. We found that the spectral characteristics are not similar to those for spiral galaxies: the values of the ratios [NII]/H$\alpha$ and [SII]/H$\alpha$ are not as large as in spiral galaxies but the excitation is much larger. These values, especially the large excitation, can be explained by proposing an extra source of ionization. Different sources are studied but any of the models at hand could be really fitted except a combination of photons leaking from the HII regions in addition to the ionization provided by the WR stars present in this galaxy. Shocks are not needed for explaining the line intensity ratios except in a small part in the west side of the galaxy.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&

How Humans Judge Machines

How people judge humans and machines differently, in scenarios involving natural disasters, labor displacement, policing, privacy, algorithmic bias, and more. How would you feel about losing your job to a machine? How about a tsunami alert system that fails? Would you react differently to acts of discrimination depending on whether they were carried out by a machine or by a human? What about public surveillance? How Humans Judge Machines compares people's reactions to actions performed by humans and machines. Using data collected in dozens of experiments, this book reveals the biases that permeate human-machine interactions. Are there conditions in which we judge machines unfairly? Is our judgment of machines affected by the moral dimensions of a scenario? Is our judgment of machine correlated with demographic factors such as education or gender? César Hidalgo and colleagues use hard science to take on these pressing technological questions. Using randomized experiments, they create revealing counterfactuals and build statistical models to explain how people judge artificial intelligence and whether they do it fairly. Through original research, How Humans Judge Machines bring us one step closer to understanding the ethical consequences of AI. Written by César A. Hidalgo, the author of Why Information Grows and coauthor of The Atlas of Economic Complexity (MIT Press), together with a team of social psychologists (Diana Orghian and Filipa de Almeida) and roboticists (Jordi Albo-Canals), How Humans Judge Machines presents a unique perspective on the nexus between artificial intelligence and society. Anyone interested in the future of AI ethics should explore the experiments and theories in How Humans Judge Machines

Presence of Adult Companion Goats Favors the Rumen Microbial and Functional Development in Artificially Reared Kids

Newborn dairy ruminants are usually separated from their dams after birth and fed on milk replacer. This lack of contact with adult animals may hinder the rumen microbiological and physiological development. This study evaluates the effects of rearing newborn goat kids in contact with adult companions on the rumen development. Thirty-two newborn goat kids were randomly allocated to two experimental groups which were reared either in the absence (CTL) or in the presence of non-lactating adult goats (CMP) and weaned at 7 weeks of age. Blood and rumen samples were taken at 5, 7, and 9 weeks of age to evaluate blood metabolites and rumen microbial fermentation. Next-generation sequencing was carried out on rumen samples collected at 7 weeks of age. Results showed that CTL kids lacked rumen protozoa, whereas CMP kids had an abundant and complex protozoal community as well as higher methanogen abundance which positively correlated with the body weight and blood beta-hydroxybutyrate as indicators of the physiological development. CMP kids also had a more diverse bacterial community (+132 ASVs) and a different structure of the bacterial and methanogen communities than CTL kids. The core rumen bacterial community in CMP animals had 53 more ASVs than that of CTL animals. Furthermore, the number of ASVs shared with the adult companions was over 4-fold higher in CMP kids than in CTL kids. Greater levels of early rumen colonizers Proteobacteria and Spirochaetes were found in CTL kids, while CMP kids had higher levels of Bacteroidetes and other less abundant taxa (Veillonellaceae, Cyanobacteria, and Selenomonas). These findings suggest that the presence of adult companions facilitated the rumen microbial development prior to weaning. This accelerated microbial development had no effect on the animal growth, but CMP animals presented higher rumen pH and butyrate (+45%) and ammonia concentrations than CTL kids, suggesting higher fibrolytic and proteolytic activities. CMP kids also had higher blood beta-hydroxybutyrate (+79%) and lower blood glucose concentrations (-23%) at weaning, indicating an earlier metabolic development which could favor the transition from pre-ruminant to ruminant after the weaning process. Further research is needed to determine the effects of this intervention in more challenging farm conditions

Behavioral and neurophysiological correlates of emotional face processing in borderline personality disorder: are there differences between men and women?

Emotional dysregulation is a core feature of borderline personality disorder (BPD);it is, for example, known to influence one's ability to read other people's facial expressions. We investigated behavioral and neurophysiological foundations of emotional face processing in individuals with BPD and in healthy controls, taking participants' sex into account. 62 individuals with BPD (25 men, 37 women) and 49 healthy controls (20 men, 29 women) completed an emotion classification task with faces depicting blends of angry and happy expressions while the electroencephalogram was recorded. The cortical activity (late positive potential, P3/LPP) was evaluated using source modeling. Compared to healthy controls, individuals with BPD responded slower to happy but not to angry faces;further, they showed more anger ratings in happy but not in angry faces, especially in those with high ambiguity. Men had lower anger ratings than women and responded slower to angry but not happy faces. The P3/LPP was larger in healthy controls than in individuals with BPD, and larger in women than in men;moreover, women but not men produced enlarged P3/LPP responses to angry vs. happy faces. Sex did not interact with behavioral or P3/LPP-related differences between healthy controls and individuals with BPD. Together, BPD-related alterations in behavioral and P3/LPP correlates of emotional face processing exist in both men and women, supposedly without sex-related interactions. Results point to a general 'negativity bias' in women. Source modeling is well suited to investigate effects of participant and stimulus characteristics on the P3/LPP generators

Применение метода проектов для формирования знаний о природе у детей дошкольного возраста

В ВКР представлено одно из средств формирования экологического образования у детей дошкольного возраста метод проектов. Это дидактическое средство активизации познавательного и творческого развития ребенка и одновременно формирование его личностных качеств. Знания, приобретаемые детьми в ходе метода проектов, становятся достоянием их личного опыта. Экспериментируя, ребенок ищет ответ на вопрос и тем самым, развивает творческие способности, коммуникативные навыки. Экологическое образование детей дошкольного возраста – это многоаспектное качество, включающее в себя экологические представления и знания ребенка о пользе природе и всего живого, понимание детьми элементарных взаимосвязей, существующих в природе, умения и навыки эмоционально-чувственного взаимодействия с природными объектами и гуманно-действенного взаимодействия человека с ней. Эффективным средством формирования знаний о природе у детей дошкольного возраста является использование метода проектов, цель которого – посредством познавательно-исследовательской деятельности, которая организуется во взаимодействии с детьми и экологические представления и знания, положительное эмоциональное отношение к природе

Stellar Disk Truncations: Where do we stand ?

In the light of several recent developments we revisit the phenomenon of galactic stellar disk truncations. Even 25 years since the first paper on outer breaks in the radial light profiles of spiral galaxies, their origin is still unclear. The two most promising explanations are that these 'outer edges' either trace the maximum angular momentum during the galaxy formation epoch, or are associated with global star formation thresholds. Depending on their true physical nature, these outer edges may represent an improved size characteristic (e.g., as compared to D_25) and might contain fossil evidence imprinted by the galaxy formation and evolutionary history. We will address several observational aspects of disk truncations: their existence, not only in normal HSB galaxies, but also in LSB and even dwarf galaxies; their detailed shape, not sharp cut-offs as thought before, but in fact demarcating the start of a region with a steeper exponential distribution of starlight; their possible association with bars; as well as problems related to the line-of-sight integration for edge-on galaxies (the main targets for truncation searches so far). Taken together, these observations currently favour the star-formation threshold model, but more work is necessary to implement the truncations as adequate parameters characterising galactic disks.Comment: LaTeX, 10 pages, 6 figures, presented at the "Penetrating Bars through Masks of Cosmic Dust" conference in South Africa, proceedings published by Kluwer, and edited by Block, D.L., Freeman, K.C., Puerari, I., & Groess, R; v3 to match published versio