Free Will with Afterthoughts: A Quasichemical Model

A model of free will is proposed, appealing to the similarity with simple, two-body chemical reactions where the energy curves for the reagents and for the products cross. The system at the crossing point has a freedom of choice to perform the reaction or not. The Landau-Zener formula, corresponding to the opportunity of meeting twice the crossing point, is interpreted as free will with an afterthought and generalized to the cases when a subject thinks about a choice n times. If the probability distribution pn of afterthoughts is known, the probability of a final yes decision is given. The results are generalized to situations where a preference for or against a change exists or where the freedom is only partial, has to fight with conditioning factors, and possibly decreases with increasing instances of free choice

Free Will with Afterthoughts: A Quasichemical Model

A model of free will is proposed, appealing to the similarity with simple, two-body chemical reactions where the energy curves for the reagents and for the products cross. The system at the crossing point has a freedom of choice to perform the reaction or not. The Landau-Zener formula, corresponding to the opportunity of meeting twice the crossing point, is interpreted as free will with an afterthought and generalized to the cases when a subject thinks about a choice n times. If the probability distribution pn of afterthoughts is known, the probability of a final yes decision is given. The results are generalized to situations where a preference for or against a change exists or where the freedom is only partial, has to fight with conditioning factors, and possibly decreases with increasing instances of free choice

Children’s preference for HAS and LOCATED relations: A word learning bias for noun–noun compounds

The present study investigates children’s bias when interpreting novel noun–noun compounds (e.g. kig donka) that refer to combinations of novel objects (kig and donka). More specifically, it investigates children’s understanding of modifier–head relations of the compounds and their preference for HAS or LOCATED relations (e.g. a donka that HAS a kig or a donka that is LOCATED near a kig) rather than a FOR relation (e.g. a donka that is used FOR kigs). In a forced-choice paradigm, two- and three-year-olds preferred interpretations with HAS/LOCATED relations, while five-year-olds and adults showed no preference for either interpretation. We discuss possible explanations\ud for this preference and its relation to another word learning bias that is based on perceptual features of the referent objects, i.e. the shape bias. We argue that children initially focus on a perceptual stability rather than a pure conceptual stability when interpreting the meaning of nouns

Crossover: How Artists Build Careers Across Commercial, Nonprofit and Community Work

Explores how Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay area musicians, writers, and performing and visual artists move across sectors as part of their artistic and career development. Includes suggestions for developing opportunity and support for crossover

Additive Manufacturing of Recycled Composites

An additive remanufacturing process for mechanically recycled glass fibers and thermally recycled carbon fibers was developed. The main purpose was to demonstrate the feasibility of an additive remanufacturing process starting from recycled glass and carbon fibers to obtain a new photo- and thermally-curable composite. 3D printable and UV-curable inks were developed and characterized for new ad-hoc UV-assisted 3D printing apparatus. Rheological behavior was investigated and optimized considering the 3D printing process, the recyclate content, and the level of dispersion in the matrix. Some requirements for the new formulations were defined. Moreover, new printing apparatuses were designed and modified to improve the remanufacturing process. Different models and geometries were defined with different printable ink formulations to test material mechanical properties and overall process quality on the final pieces. To sum up, 3D printable inks with different percentages of recycled glass fiber and carbon fiber reinforced polymers were successfully 3D printed

A static analysis for Brane Calculi providing global occurrence counting information

In this paper we propose a static analysis for Brane Calculi [1], based on Abstract Interpretation [2] techniques. Our analysis statically approximates the dynamic behaviour of Brane systems, by providing a description of the possible hierarchical structure of membranes and of the processes possibly associated to each membrane, together with global occurrence counting information. Our analysis can be computed in polynomial time. We apply it to investigate several biological systems in which occurrence counting information plays a crucial role. In particular, our case study concerns the formation of the haemoglobin polymer in presence of alterations and investigate the influence that such alterations have on the ability of the haemoglobin polymer to bind oxygen molecules

Tasa de cambio real de equilibrio en Colombia: un enfoque de miles de modelos VEC

La metodología Behavioral Equilibrium Exchange Rate (BEER) sugiere muchas variables como fundamentales de la tasa de cambio real de equilibrio (TCRE). Esto genera incertidumbre en la especificación de los modelos debido a que la TCRE depende y varía, a menudo de manera drástica, del conjunto particular de variables elegidas. Abordamos este problema estimando miles de especificaciones de vectores de corrección de errores (VEC) para datos colombianos entre 2000Q1-2019Q4. De acuerdo con una extensa revisión de la literatura, empleamos treinta y cinco proxies clasificadas entre cinco grupos fijos de fundamentales económicos que subyacen la TCRE: endeudamiento, sector fiscal, productividad, términos de intercambio y diferenciales de tasas de interés. Nuestro enfoque deriva una distribución empírica de la TCRE que nos permite afirmar con mayor certeza, entre cientos de especificaciones económicas plausibles, si el tipo de cambio real está desalineado o en equilibrio.Behavioral Equilibrium Exchange Rate (BEER) models suggest many variables as potential drivers of equilibrium real exchange rates (ERER). This gives rise to model uncertainty issues, as ERER depends and varies, often drastically, on a particular set of chosen variables. We address this issue by estimating thousands of Vector Error Correction (VEC) specifications for Colombian data between 2000Q1-2019Q4. According to an extensive literature review, we employ thirty-five proxies categorized among five fixed groups of economic fundamentals that underlie the ERER: Indebtedness, Fiscal sector, Productivity, Terms-of-Trade, and Interest Rate Differentials. Our approach derives an empirical distribution of ERER that allows us to state with greater certainty, among hundreds of plausible economic specifications, whether the real exchange rate is either misaligned or in equilibrium.Este trabajo estima la tasa de cambio real de equilibrio en Colombia bajo una metodología que busca explicar su comportamiento con un grupo de variables macroeconómicas fundamentales. Dada la incertidumbre y todas las posibles variables que se pueden considerar como fundamentales, en esta investigación se emplean más de treinta variables clasificadas entre cinco grupos de fundamentales (endeudamiento, sector fiscal, productividad, términos de intercambio y diferencial de tasas). Con esto, se estiman miles de modelos de corrección de errores de vectores cointegrados (VECM por sus siglas en inglés) con todas las posibles combinaciones entre variables clasificadas dentro de cada fundamental. A partir de las relaciones de cointegración estimadas, se construye una distribución empírica de la tasa de cambio real de equilibrio que permite identificar con mayor certeza periodos en que la tasa de cambio real observada se encontraba por encima o por debajo de su nivel de equilibrio. Contribución El estudio del desalineamiento de la tasa de cambio real ha sido de gran interés a lo largo de los años, debido a su utilidad para evaluar el desequilibrio macroeconómico de un país. Este indicador ayuda a las autoridades monetarias y cambiarias a determinar si los movimientos del tipo de cambio nominal obedecen a choques temporales, que probablemente retrocedan en el corto plazo, o si corresponden a cambios más permanentes en las variables macroeconómicas fundamentales. No obstante, la literatura ha destacado que, incluso dentro de una misma metodología para estimar la tasa de cambio real de equilibrio, los resultados pueden variar dependiendo de las variables que se incluyan como fundamentales. Esta investigación aborda este problema al estimar miles de modelos que resultan de combinar múltiples formas de medir los fundamentales y así dar mayor robustez a los resultados. Resultados Los resultados muestran que los coeficientes de las variables consideradas cumplen, en su mayoría, con el signo esperado. Es decir, que su dirección y relación con la tasa de cambio real es consistente, robusta y va en línea con lo esperado y planteado en la literatura internacional. Por su parte, la distribución empírica del equilibrio de la tasa de cambio real evidencia que durante 2004 y 2013 se experimentó una reducción de este indicador (apreciación) acorde con los mayores términos de intercambio, alguna mejora en la productividad relativa, el aumento del gasto del gobierno y la reducción del endeudamiento externo. Para el periodo 2014-2019 se resalta que este indicador tuvo un incremento (depreciación) consistente con la caída internacional del precio del petróleo que resultó en un deterioro de los términos de intercambio y mayores indicadores de deuda externa. Por su parte, el desalineamiento que es calculado como la diferencia entre la tasa de cambio real observada y este equilibrio exhibe ciertos periodos de alto desalineamiento positivo, es decir, periodos en donde la tasa de cambio real observada fue mayor su equilibrio. Estos, estuvieron asociados con la crisis financiera global (2008-2009) y el choque petrolero (2014-2015). Además, teniendo en cuenta el régimen de tipo de cambio flexible adoptado en Colombia, la tasa de cambio real ha tendido a oscilar alrededor su equilibrio