Fostering household formation: evidence from a Spanish rental subsidy

In Southern Europe youngsters leave their parental home significantly later than in Northern Europe and the United States. In this paper, we study the effect of a monthly cash subsidy on the probability that young adults live apart from parents and childbearing. The subsidy, introduced in Spain in 2008, is conditional on young adults renting accommodation, and it amounts to almost 20 percent of the average youngsters' wage. Our identification strategy exploits the subsidy eligibility age threshold to assess the causal impact of the cash transfer. Difference-in-Differences estimates show positive effects of the policy on the probability of living apart from parents, living with a romantic partner, and chidbearing for 22 year-olds compared to 21 year-olds. Results persist when the sample is expanded to include wider age ranges. The effect is larger among young adults earning lower incomes and living in high rental price areas. This is consistent with the hypothesis that youngsters delay household formation because the cost is too high relative to their income

Virtual Processes and Superradiance in Spin-Boson Models

We consider spin-boson models composed by a single bosonic mode and an ensemble of $N$ identical two-level atoms. The situation where the coupling between the bosonic mode and the atoms generates real and virtual processes is studied, where the whole system is in thermal equilibrium with a reservoir at temperature $\beta^{-1}$. Phase transitions from ordinary fluorescence to superradiant phase in three different models is investigated. First a model where the coupling between the bosonic mode and the $j-th$ atom is via the pseudo-spin operator $\sigma^{,z}_{(j)}$ is studied. Second, we investigate the generalized Dicke model, introducing different coupling constants between the single mode bosonic field and the environment, $g_{1}$ and $g_{2}$ for rotating and counter-rotating terms, respectively. Finally it is considered a modified version of the generalized Dicke model with intensity-dependent coupling in the rotating terms. In the first model the zero mode contributes to render the canonical entropy a negative quantity for low temperatures. The last two models presents phase transitions, even when only Hamiltonian terms which generates virtual processes are considered

Detection of advanced persistent threat using machine-learning correlation analysis

As one of the most serious types of cyber attack, Advanced Persistent Threats (APT) have caused major concerns on a global scale. APT refers to a persistent, multi-stage attack with the intention to compromise the system and gain information from the targeted system, which has the potential to cause significant damage and substantial financial loss. The accurate detection and prediction of APT is an ongoing challenge. This work proposes a novel machine learning-based system entitled MLAPT, which can accurately and rapidly detect and predict APT attacks in a systematic way. The MLAPT runs through three main phases: (1) Threat detection, in which eight methods have been developed to detect different techniques used during the various APT steps. The implementation and validation of these methods with real traffic is a significant contribution to the current body of research; (2) Alert correlation, in which a correlation framework is designed to link the outputs of the detection methods, aims to identify alerts that could be related and belong to a single APT scenario; and (3) Attack prediction, in which a machine learning-based prediction module is proposed based on the correlation framework output, to be used by the network security team to determine the probability of the early alerts to develop a complete APT attack. MLAPT is experimentally evaluated and the presented sy

Nuevo grillo (Orthoptera, Gryllidae) para Castilla-La Mancha y la península Ibérica

We report Tartarogryllus tartarus (Saussure, 1874), a species with disjunct distribution in the Mediterranean-Turanean area, for the first time in the Iberian Peninsula. We summarize morphological charateristics for the species identification adding some new relevant traits to distinguish it from Acheta domesticus and Eumodicogryllus bordigalensis, particularly the interior tympanic opening that is shaped like a narrow slot whereas it is almost rounded in Acheta and Eumodicogryllus. We have found the species in cereal crops and vegetation around hiper-saline lagoons of arid lands (Castilla-La Mancha, Spain). Adult emergence occurs in May with maximum sexual activity at the end of this month and in June. We suspect that this species may be more widely distributed in other regions of the Iberian Peninsula with appropriate habitat.Encontramos por primera vez en la península Ibérica Tartarogryllus tartarus (Saussure, 1874), especie de distribución disjunta en el área Turano-Mediterránea. Resumimos los distintos caracteres morfológicos utilizados para identificar esta especie y añadimos algunos nuevos para distinguirla de especies similares como Acheta domesticus y Eumodicogryllus bordigalensis. Destacamos la apertura timpánica interior en forma de ranura estrecha y poco perceptible en esta especie mientras que es redondeada en Acheta y en Eumodicogryllus. Habita cultivos de cereal y vegetación en zonas áridas alrededor de lagunas hipersalinas (Castilla-La Mancha, España). Los adultos emergen a partir de mediados de mayo con máxima actividad reproductiva a finales de este mes y en junio. Sugerimos que la especie puede tener una distribución más amplia en la península Ibérica en aquellas regiones que presentan el hábitat adecuado

TASTE. III. A homogeneous study of transit time variations in WASP-3b

The TASTE project is searching for low-mass planets with the Transit Timing Variation (TTV) technique, by gathering high-precision, short-cadence light curves for a selected sample of transiting exoplanets. It has been claimed that the "hot Jupiter" WASP-3b could be perturbed by a second planet. Presenting eleven new light curves (secured at the IAC80 and UDEM telescopes) and re-analyzing thirty-eight archival light curves in a homogeneous way, we show that new data do not confirm the previously claimed TTV signal. However, we bring evidence that measurements are not consistent with a constant orbital period, though no significant periodicity can be detected. Additional dynamical modeling and follow-up observations are planned to constrain the properties of the perturber or to put upper limits to it. We provide a refined ephemeris for WASP-3b and improved orbital/physical parameters. A contact eclipsing binary, serendipitously discovered among field stars, is reported here for the first time.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables; accepted for publication in A&

A multidimensional culturally adapted representation of emotions for affective computational simulation and recognition

[EN] One of the main challenges in affective computing is the development of models to represent the information that is inherent to emotions. It is necessary to consider that the terms used by humans to name emotions depend on the culture and language used. This article presents an experiment-based method to represent and adapt emotion terms to different cultural environments. We propose using circular boxplots to analyze the distribution of emotions in the Pleasure-Arousal space. From the results of this analysis, we define a new cross-cultural representation model of emotions in which each emotion term is assigned to an area in the Pleasure-Arousal space. An emotion is represented by a vector in which the direction indicates the type, and the module indicates the intensity of the emotion. We propose two methods based on fuzzy logic to represent and express emotions: the emotion representation process in which the term associated with the recognized emotion is defuzzified and projected as a vector in the Pleasure-Arousal space; and the emotion expression process in which a fuzzification of the vector is produced, generating a fuzzy emotion term that is adapted to the culture and language in which the emotion will be used.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Government project TIN2017-89156-R, Generalitat Valenciana, and European Social Fund by the FPI Grant ACIF/2017/085, in part GVA-CEICE project PROMETEO/2018/002, and TAILOR, a project funded by EU Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under GA No 952215.Taverner-Aparicio, JJ.; Vivancos, E.; Botti V. (2023). A multidimensional culturally adapted representation of emotions for affective computational simulation and recognition. IEEE Transactions on Affective Computing. 14(1):761-772. https://doi.org/10.1109/TAFFC.2020.303058676177214