1,150 research outputs found
Information entropy in fragmenting systems
The possibility of facing critical phenomena in nuclear fragmentation is a
topic of great interest. Different observables have been proposed to identify
such a behavior, in particular, some related to the use of information entropy
as a possible signal of critical behavior. In this work we critically examine
some of the most widespread used ones comparing its performance in bond
percolation and in the analysis of fragmenting Lennard Jones Drops.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
Phase diagram for morphological transitions of wetting films on chemically structured substrates
Using an interface displacement model we calculate the shapes of thin
liquidlike films adsorbed on flat substrates containing a chemical stripe. We
determine the entire phase diagram of morphological phase transitions in these
films as function of temperature, undersaturation, and stripe widthComment: 15 pages, RevTeX, 7 Figure
Structural Refinement for the Modal nu-Calculus
We introduce a new notion of structural refinement, a sound abstraction of
logical implication, for the modal nu-calculus. Using new translations between
the modal nu-calculus and disjunctive modal transition systems, we show that
these two specification formalisms are structurally equivalent.
Using our translations, we also transfer the structural operations of
composition and quotient from disjunctive modal transition systems to the modal
nu-calculus. This shows that the modal nu-calculus supports composition and
decomposition of specifications.Comment: Accepted at ICTAC 201
Size Matters: Origin of Binomial Scaling in Nuclear Fragmentation Experiments
The relationship between measured transverse energy, total charge recovered
in the detector, and size of the emitting system is investigated. Using only
very simple assumptions, we are able to reproduce the observed binomial
emission probabilities and their dependences on the transverse energy.Comment: 14 pages, including 4 figure
The neuropathogenesis of highly pathogenic avian influenza H5Nx viruses in mammalian species including humans
Circulation of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) H5Nx viruses of the A/Goose/Guangdong/1/96 lineage in birds regularly causes infections of mammals, including humans. In many mammalian species, infections are associated with severe neurological disease, a unique feature of HPAI H5Nx viruses compared with other influenza A viruses. Here, we provide an overview of the neuropathogenesis of HPAI H5Nx virus infection in mammals, centered on three aspects: neuroinvasion, neurotropism, and neurovirulence. We focus on in vitro studies, as well as studies on naturally or experimentally infected mammals. Additionally, we discuss the contribution of viral factors to the neuropathogenesis of HPAI H5Nx virus infections and the efficacy of intervention strategies to prevent neuroinvasion or the development of neurological disease.</p
Dynamically avoiding fine-tuning the cosmological constant: the "Relaxed Universe"
We demonstrate that there exists a large class of action functionals of the
scalar curvature and of the Gauss-Bonnet invariant which are able to relax
dynamically a large cosmological constant (CC), whatever it be its starting
value in the early universe. Hence, it is possible to understand, without
fine-tuning, the very small current value of the CC as compared to its
theoretically expected large value in quantum field theory and string theory.
In our framework, this relaxation appears as a pure gravitational effect, where
no ad hoc scalar fields are needed. The action involves a positive power of a
characteristic mass parameter, M, whose value can be, interestingly enough, of
the order of a typical particle physics mass of the Standard Model of the
strong and electroweak interactions or extensions thereof, including the
neutrino mass. The model universe emerging from this scenario (the "Relaxed
Universe") falls within the class of the so-called LXCDM models of the cosmic
evolution. Therefore, there is a "cosmon" entity X (represented by an effective
object, not a field), which in this case is generated by the effective
functional and is responsible for the dynamical adjustment of the cosmological
constant. This model universe successfully mimics the essential past epochs of
the standard (or "concordance") cosmological model (LCDM). Furthermore, it
provides interesting clues to the coincidence problem and it may even connect
naturally with primordial inflation.Comment: LaTeX, 63 pp, 8 figures. Extended discussion. Version accepted in
JCA
Empirical Evidence on the Use of Credit Scoring for Predicting Insurance Losses with Psycho-social and Biochemical Explanations
An important development in personal lines of insurance in the United States is the use of credit history data for insurance risk classification to predict losses. This research presents the results of collaboration with industry conducted by a university at the request of its state legislature. The purpose was to see the viability and validity of the use of credit scoring to predict insurance losses given its controversial nature and criticism as redundant of other predictive variables currently used. Working with industry and government, this study analyzed more than 175,000 policyholders’ information for the relationship between credit score and claims. Credit scores were significantly related to incurred losses, evidencing both statistical and practical significance. We investigate whether the revealed relationship between credit score and incurred losses was explainable by overlap with existing underwriting variables or whether the credit score adds new information about losses not contained in existing underwriting variables. The results show that credit scores contain significant information not already incorporated into other traditional rating variables (e.g., age, sex, driving history). We discuss how sensation seeking and self-control theory provide a partial explanation of why credit scoring works (the psycho-social perspective). This article also presents an overview of biological and chemical correlates of risk taking that helps explain why knowing risk-taking behavior in one realm (e.g., risky financial behavior and poor credit history) transits to predicting risk-taking behavior in other realms (e.g., automobile insurance incurred losses). Additional research is needed to advance new nontraditional loss prediction variables from social media consumer information to using information provided by technological advances. The evolving and dynamic nature of the insurance marketplace makes it imperative that professionals continue to evolve predictive variables and for academics to assist with understanding the whys of the relationships through theory development.IC2 Institut
Hennessy-Milner Logic with Greatest Fixed Points as a Complete Behavioural Specification Theory
There are two fundamentally different approaches to specifying and verifying
properties of systems. The logical approach makes use of specifications given
as formulae of temporal or modal logics and relies on efficient model checking
algorithms; the behavioural approach exploits various equivalence or refinement
checking methods, provided the specifications are given in the same formalism
as implementations.
In this paper we provide translations between the logical formalism of
Hennessy-Milner logic with greatest fixed points and the behavioural formalism
of disjunctive modal transition systems. We also introduce a new operation of
quotient for the above equivalent formalisms, which is adjoint to structural
composition and allows synthesis of missing specifications from partial
implementations. This is a substantial generalisation of the quotient for
deterministic modal transition systems defined in earlier papers
Dynamical ionization ignition of clusters in intense and short laser pulses
The electron dynamics of rare gas clusters in laser fields is investigated
quantum mechanically by means of time-dependent density functional theory. The
mechanism of early inner and outer ionization is revealed. The formation of an
electron wave packet inside the cluster shortly after the first removal of a
small amount of electron density is observed. By collisions with the cluster
boundary the wave packet oscillation is driven into resonance with the laser
field, hence leading to higher absorption of laser energy. Inner ionization is
increased because the electric field of the bouncing electron wave packet adds
up constructively to the laser field. The fastest electrons in the wave packet
escape from the cluster as a whole so that outer ionization is increased as
well.Comment: 8 pages, revtex4, PDF-file with high resolution figures is available
from http://mitarbeiter.mbi-berlin.de/bauer/publist.html, publication no. 24.
Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Optimal topological simplification of discrete functions on surfaces
We solve the problem of minimizing the number of critical points among all
functions on a surface within a prescribed distance {\delta} from a given input
function. The result is achieved by establishing a connection between discrete
Morse theory and persistent homology. Our method completely removes homological
noise with persistence less than 2{\delta}, constructively proving the
tightness of a lower bound on the number of critical points given by the
stability theorem of persistent homology in dimension two for any input
function. We also show that an optimal solution can be computed in linear time
after persistence pairs have been computed.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figure
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