49 research outputs found
Equilibration of a strongly interacting plasma: holographic analysis of local and nonlocal probes
The relaxation of a strongly coupled plasma towards the hydrodynamic regime
is studied by analyzing the evolution of local and nonlocal observables in the
holographic approach. The system is driven in an initial anisotropic and
far-from equilibrium state through an impulsive time-dependent deformation
(quench) of the boundary spacetime geometry. Effective temperature and entropy
density are related to the position and area of a black hole horizon, which has
formed as a consequence of the distortion. The behavior of stress-energy
tensor, equal-time correlation functions and Wilson loops of different shapes
is examined, and a hierarchy among their thermalization times emerges: probes
involving shorter length scales thermalize faster.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Talk presented at "QCD@Work 2016", International
Workshop on QCD, Theory and Experiment, Martina Franca (Taranto), Italy, June
27-30, 201
Hybrid exotic mesons in soft-wall AdS/QCD
Hybrid mesons with exotic quantum numbers are examined in
soft-wall AdS/QCD. The predicted mass spectrum is compared to the measured
values of the candidates , and .
Thermal effects are analysed through the spectral function in the AdS-Black
Hole model, and the differences with the Hawking-Page description are
discussed.Comment: LaTex, 5 pages, 2 figures. Poster presented at "QCD@Work 2014",
International Workshop on QCD, Theory and Experiment, Giovinazzo (Bari),
Italy, June 16-19, 2014. One reference adde
Exotic mesons in a holographic model of QCD
Mesons with quantum numbers cannot be represented as simple
quark-antiquark pairs. We explore hybrid configurations in the light meson
sector comprising a quark, an antiquark and an excited gluon, studying the
properties of such states in a phenomenological model inspired by the
gauge/gravity correspondence. The computed mass, compared to the experimental
mass of the candidates , and ,
favous as the lightest hybrid state. An interesting result
concerns the stability of hybrid mesons at finite temperature: they disappear
from the spectral function (i.e. they melt) at a lower temperature with respect
to other states, light vector and scalar mesons, and scalar glueballs.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
Dynamics near a first order phase transition
We study various dynamical aspects of systems possessing a first order phase transition in their phase diagram. We isolate three qualitatively distinct types of theories depending on the structure of instabilities and the nature of the low temperature phase. The non-equilibrium dynamics is modeled by a dual gravitational theory in 3+1 dimension which is coupled to massive scalar field with self-interacting potential. By numerically solving the Einstein-matter equations of motion with various initial configurations, we investigate the structure of the final state arising through coalescence of phase domains. We find that static phase domains, even quite narrow are very long lived and we find a phenomenological equation for their lifetime. Within our framework we also analyze moving phase domains and their collision as well as the effects of spinodal instability and dynamical instability on an expanding boost invariant plasma
Multi-Time-Scale Features for Accurate Respiratory Sound Classification
The COVID-19 pandemic has amplified the urgency of the developments in computer-assisted medicine and, in particular, the need for automated tools supporting the clinical diagnosis and assessment of respiratory symptoms. This need was already clear to the scientific community, which launched an international challenge in 2017 at the International Conference on Biomedical Health Informatics (ICBHI) for the implementation of accurate algorithms for the classification of respiratory sound. In this work, we present a framework for respiratory sound classification based on two different kinds of features: (i) short-term features which summarize sound properties on a time scale of tenths of a second and (ii) long-term features which assess sounds properties on a time scale of seconds. Using the publicly available dataset provided by ICBHI, we cross-validated the classification performance of a neural network model over 6895 respiratory cycles and 126 subjects. The proposed model reached an accuracy of 85%±3% and an precision of 80%±8%, which compare well with the body of literature. The robustness of the predictions was assessed by comparison with state-of-the-art machine learning tools, such as the support vector machine, Random Forest and deep neural networks. The model presented here is therefore suitable for large-scale applications and for adoption in clinical practice. Finally, an interesting observation is that both short-term and long-term features are necessary for accurate classification, which could be the subject of future studies related to its clinical interpretation
Economic Interplay Forecasting Business Success
A startup ecosystem is a dynamic environment in which several actors, such as investors, venture capitalists, angels, and facilitators, are the protagonists of a complex interplay. Most of these interactions involve the flow of capital whose size and direction help to map the intricate system of relationships. This quantity is also considered a good proxy of economic success. Given the complexity of such systems, it would be more desirable to supplement this information with other informative features, and a natural choice is to adopt mathematical measures. In this work, we will specifically consider network centrality measures, borrowed by network theory. In particular, using the largest publicly available dataset for startups, the Crunchbase dataset, we show how centrality measures highlight the importance of particular players, such as angels and accelerators, whose role could be underestimated by focusing on collected funds only. We also provide a quantitative criterion to establish which firms should be considered strategic and rank them. Finally, as funding is a widespread measure for success in economic settings, we investigate to which extent this measure is in agreement with network metrics; the model accurately forecasts which firms will receive the highest funding in future years
Territorial Development as an Innovation Driver: A Complex Network Approach
Rankings are a well-established tool to evaluate the performance of actors in different sectors of the economy, and their use is increasing even in the context of the startup ecosystem, both on a regional and on a global scale. Although rankings meet the demand for measurability and comparability, they often provide an oversimplified picture of the status quo, which, in particular, overlooks the variability of the socio-economic conditions in which the quantified results are achieved. In this paper, we describe an approach based on constructing a network of world countries, in which links are determined by mutual similarity in terms of development indicators. Through the instrument of community detection, we perform an unsupervised partition of the considered set of countries, aimed at interpreting their performance in the StartupBlink rankings. We consider both the global ranking and the specific ones (quality, quantity, business). After verifying if community membership is predictive of the success of a country in the considered ranking, we rate country performances in terms of the expectation based on community peers. We are thus able to identify cases in which performance is better than expected, providing a benchmark for countries in similar conditions, and cases in which performance is below the expectation, highlighting the need to strengthen the innovation ecosystem
Best Practices in Knowledge Transfer: Insights from Top Universities
The impact of knowledge transfer induced by universities on economy, society, and culture is widely acknowledged; nevertheless, this aspect is often neglected by university rankings. Here, we considered three of the most popular global university rankings and specific knowledge transfer indicators by U-multirank, a European ranking system launched by the European Commission, in order to answer to the following research question: how do the world top universities, evaluated according to global university rankings, perform from a knowledge transfer point of view? To this aim, the top universities have been compared with the others through the calculation of a Global Performance Indicator in Knowledge Transfer (GPI KT), a hierarchical clustering, and an outlier analysis. The results show that the universities best rated by global rankings do not always perform as well from knowledge transfer point of view. By combining the obtained results, it is possible to state that only 5 universities (Berkeley, Stanford, MIT, Harvard, CALTEC), among the top in the world, exhibit a high-level performance in knowledge transfer activities. For a better understanding of the success factors and best practices in knowledge transfer, a brief description of the 5 cited universities, in terms of organization of technology transfer service, relationship with business, entrepreneurship programs, and, more generally, third mission activities, is provided. A joint reading of the results suggests that the most popular global university rankings probably fail to effectively photograph third mission activities because they can manifest in a variety of forms, due to the intrinsic and intangible nature of third mission variables, which are difficult to quantify with simple and few indicators