The origin of galaxy scaling laws in LCDM

It has long been recognized that tight relations link the mass, size, and characteristic velocity of galaxies. These scaling laws reflect the way in which baryons populate, cool, and settle at the center of their host dark matter halos; the angular momentum they retain in the assembly process; as well as the radial distribution and mass scalings of the dark matter halos. There has been steady progress in our understanding of these processes in recent years, mainly as sophisticated N-body and hydrodynamical simulation techniques have enabled the numerical realization of galaxy models of ever increasing complexity, realism, and appeal. These simulations have now clarified the origin of these galaxy scaling laws in a universe dominated by cold dark matter: these relations arise from the tight (but highly non-linear) relations between (i) galaxy mass and halo mass, (ii) galaxy size and halo characteristic radius; and (iii) from the self-similar mass nature of cold dark matter halo mass profiles. The excellent agreement between simulated and observed galaxy scaling laws is a resounding success for the LCDM cosmogony on the highly non-linear scales of individual galaxies.Comment: Contribution to the Proceedings of the Simons Conference "Illuminating Dark Matter", held in Kruen, Germany, in May 2018, eds. R. Essig, K. Zurek, J. Fen

Encapsulation of Cs/Sr contaminated clinoptilolite in geopolymers produced from metakaolin

The encapsulation of caesium (Cs) and strontium (Sr) contaminated clinoptilolite in Na and K based metakaolin geopolymers is reported. When Cs or Sr loaded clinoptilolite is mixed with a metakaolin geopolymer paste, the high pH of the activating solution and the high concentration of ions in solution cause ion exchange reactions and dissolution of clinoptilolite with release of Cs and Sr into the geopolymer matrix. The leaching of Cs and Sr from metakaolin-based geopolymer has therefore been investigated. It was found that Na-based geopolymers reduce leaching of Cs compared to K-based geopolymers and the results are in agreement with the hard and soft acids and bases (HSAB) theory. Cs ions are weak Lewis acids and aluminates are a weak Lewis base. During the formation of the geopolymer matrix Cs ions are preferentially bound to aluminate phases and replace Na in the geopolymer structure. Sr uptake by Na-geopolymers is limited to 0.4 mol Sr per mole of Al and any additional Sr is immobilised by the high pH which causes precipitation of Sr as low solubility hydroxide and carbonate phases. There was no evidence of any other phases being formed when Sr or Cs are added to metakaolin geopolymers

No extension of quantum theory can have improved predictive power

According to quantum theory, measurements generate random outcomes, in stark contrast with classical mechanics. This raises the question of whether there could exist an extension of the theory which removes this indeterminism, as suspected by Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen (EPR). Although this has been shown to be impossible, existing results do not imply that the current theory is maximally informative. Here we ask the more general question of whether any improved predictions can be achieved by any extension of quantum theory. Under the assumption that measurements can be chosen freely, we answer this question in the negative: no extension of quantum theory can give more information about the outcomes of future measurements than quantum theory itself. Our result has significance for the foundations of quantum mechanics, as well as applications to tasks that exploit the inherent randomness in quantum theory, such as quantum cryptography.Comment: 6 pages plus 7 of supplementary material, 3 figures. Title changed. Added discussion on Bell's notion of locality. FAQ answered at http://perimeterinstitute.ca/personal/rcolbeck/FAQ.htm

Serum antibodies in first-degree relatives of patients with IBD: A marker of disease susceptibility? A follow-up pilot-study after 7 years

Introduction: Various disease-specific serum antibodies were described in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and their yet healthy first-degree relatives. In the latter, serum antibodies are commonly regarded as potential markers of disease susceptibility. The present long-term follow-up study evaluated the fate of antibody-positive first-degree relatives. Patients and Methods: 25 patients with Crohn's disease, 19 patients with ulcerative colitis and 102 first-degree relatives in whom presence of ASCA, pANCA, pancreatic- and goblet-cell antibodies had been assessed were enrolled. The number of incident cases with inflammatory bowel disease was compared between antibody-positive and antibody-negative first-degree relatives 7 years after storage of serum samples. Results: 34 of 102 (33%) first-degree relatives were positive for at least one of the studied serum antibodies. In the group of first-degree relatives, one case of Crohn's disease and one case of ulcerative colitis were diagnosed during the follow-up period. However, both relatives did not display any of the investigated serum antibodies (p = 1). Discussion: The findings of our pilot study argue against a role of serum antibodies as a marker of disease susceptibility in first-degree relatives of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. However, these data have to await confirmation in larger ideally prospective multicenter studies before definite conclusions can be drawn

Serum antibodies in first-degree relatives of patients with IBD: A marker of disease susceptibility? A follow-up pilot-study after 7 years

Introduction: Various disease-specific serum antibodies were described in patients with inflammatory bowel disease and their yet healthy first-degree relatives. In the latter, serum antibodies are commonly regarded as potential markers of disease susceptibility. The present long-term follow-up study evaluated the fate of antibody-positive first-degree relatives. Patients and Methods: 25 patients with Crohn's disease, 19 patients with ulcerative colitis and 102 first-degree relatives in whom presence of ASCA, pANCA, pancreatic- and goblet-cell antibodies had been assessed were enrolled. The number of incident cases with inflammatory bowel disease was compared between antibody-positive and antibody-negative first-degree relatives 7 years after storage of serum samples. Results: 34 of 102 (33%) first-degree relatives were positive for at least one of the studied serum antibodies. In the group of first-degree relatives, one case of Crohn's disease and one case of ulcerative colitis were diagnosed during the follow-up period. However, both relatives did not display any of the investigated serum antibodies (p = 1). Discussion: The findings of our pilot study argue against a role of serum antibodies as a marker of disease susceptibility in first-degree relatives of patients with inflammatory bowel disease. However, these data have to await confirmation in larger ideally prospective multicenter studies before definite conclusions can be drawn

LOGISTICS PERFORMANCE AND EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS: EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE

This article aims to analyse the importance of logistics performance in European Union (EU) exports over a sample period in order to detect possible advances on behalf of Member States. We will estimate several gravity equations using the Logistics Performance Index (LPI) and its components as characteristic proxy variables of trade facilitation. In order to avoid the possible heterogeneity caused by sample bias, we will employ the two-stage model proposed by Heckman. The estimations of the gravity models using the two-stage Heckman model for 26 EU countries lead to the conclusion that logistics were more important for exporting nations than importing nations in both 2005 and 2010, reinforcing the interest in the exporter side of the paper. In reference to the components of the LPI, Competence and Tracking have acquired greater importance in recent years, in keeping with the weak domestic demand in European countries and their search for new international markets.Puertas Medina, RM.; Martí Selva, ML.; Garcia Menendez, L. (2013). LOGISTICS PERFORMANCE AND EXPORT COMPETITIVENESS: EUROPEAN EXPERIENCE. Empirica. 1-14. doi:10.1007/s10663-013-9241-zS114Anderson JE (1979) A theorical foundation to the gravity equation. Am Econ Rev 69: 106–116 http://www.jstor.org/stable/1802501Anderson J, Van Wincoop E (2003) Gravity with gravitas: a solution to the border puzzle. Am Econ Rev 93:170–192. doi: 10.1257/000282803321455214Arvis JF, Mustra M, Ojala L, Shepherd B, Saslavsky D (2007) Connecting to compete: trade logistics in the global economy. World Bank, WashingtonArvis JF, Mustra M, Panzer J, Ojala L, Naula T (2010) Connecting to compete: trade logistics in the global economy. World Bank, WashingtonArvis JF, Mustra M, Ojala L, Shepherd B, Saslavsky D (2012) Connecting to compete: trade logistics in the global economy. World Bank, WashingtonBehar A, Manner P (2008) Logistics and exports. African economics working paper series 293. CSAE WPS/2008-13. University of Oxford, OxfordBehar A, Venables AJ (2010) Transport costs and international trade. In: Palma A, Lindsey R, Quinet E, Vickerman R (eds) Handbook of transport economics. Edward Elgar, pp 97–115Behar A, Manners P, Nelson B (2009) Exports and logistics. Oxford Department of Economics Discussion Paper 439Bergstrand JH (1985) The gravity equation in international trade: some microeconomic foundations and empirical evidence. Rev Econ Stat 71: 143–153. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1925975Bergstrand JH (1989) The generalized gravity equation, monopolistic competition, and the factor-proportions theory in international trade. Rev Econ Stat 67: 474–481. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1928061Breuss F, Egger P (1999) How reliable are estimations of east-west trade potencials based on cross-section gravity analysis? Empirica 26:86–89. doi: 10.1023/A:1007011329676CILT (2012) Available at http://www.ciltuk.org.uk/pages/royalcharter . Accessed 02 Aug 2012Felipe J, Kumar U (2012) The role of trade facilitation in Central Asia: a gravity model. East Eur Econ 50:5–20. doi: 10.2753/EEE0012-875500401Heckman J (1979) Sample selection bias as a specification error. Econometrica 47: 153–161. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1912352Helpman E, Krugman P (1985) Market structure and foreign trade. Increasing returns, imperfect competition and the international economy. The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA/LondonHertel T, Mirza T (2009) The role of trade facilitation in South Asian economic integration. Study on intraregional trade and investment in South Asia. ADB, Mandaluyong CityHollweg C, Wong M-H (2009) Measuring regulatory restrictions in logistics services. ERIA Discussion Paper Series, no. 14Jane C–C (2011) Performance evaluation of logistic systems under cost and reliability considerations. Transp Res E-Log 47:130–137. doi: 10.1016/j.tre.2010.09.012Keskin MH (2012) The exigencies of the common logistics policy for European community and the deconstruction of the common transportation policy. Afr J Bus Manage 6:10697–10707. doi: 10.5897/AJBM11.1523Korinek J, Sourdin P (2011) To what extent are high-quality logistics services trade facilitating? Oecd trade policy working papers 108. OECD PublishingLangley C, Coyle J, Gibson B, Novak R, Bardi E (2008) Managing supply chain: a logistics approach. South–Western College Publishing, LondonMangan J, Lalwani C, Butcher C (2008) Global logistics and supply chain management. Wiley John & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJMartí ML, Puertas R, García L (2012) Relevance of trade facilitation in emerging countries′s export. J Int Trade Eco Dev. http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09638199.2012.698639Requena F, Llano C (2010) The border effects in Spain: an industrial-level analysis. Empirica 37:455–476. doi: 10.1007/s10663-010-9123-6Rushton A, Oxley J, Croucher P (2009) The handbook of logistics and distribution management. Kogan Page, LondonVilko J, Karandassov B, Myller E (2011) Logistic infrastructure and its effects on economic development. China–USA Bus Rev 10:1152–1167World Bank (2010) Trade and transport facilitation assessment: a practical toolkit for country implementation. World Bank, Washingto

Expressiveness of Temporal Query Languages: On the Modelling of Intervals, Interval Relationships and States

Storing and retrieving time-related information are important, or even critical, tasks on many areas of Computer Science (CS) and in particular for Artificial Intelligence (AI). The expressive power of temporal databases/query languages has been studied from different perspectives, but the kind of temporal information they are able to store and retrieve is not always conveniently addressed. Here we assess a number of temporal query languages with respect to the modelling of time intervals, interval relationships and states, which can be thought of as the building blocks to represent and reason about a large and important class of historic information. To survey the facilities and issues which are particular to certain temporal query languages not only gives an idea about how useful they can be in particular contexts, but also gives an interesting insight in how these issues are, in many cases, ultimately inherent to the database paradigm. While in the area of AI declarative languages are usually the preferred choice, other areas of CS heavily rely on the extended relational paradigm. This paper, then, will be concerned with the representation of historic information in two well known temporal query languages: it Templog in the context of temporal deductive databases, and it TSQL2 in the context of temporal relational databases. We hope the results highlighted here will increase cross-fertilisation between different communities. This article can be related to recent publications drawing the attention towards the different approaches followed by the Databases and AI communities when using time-related concepts

Magnetic fields and accretion flows on the classical T Tauri star V2129 Oph

From observations collected with the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter, we report the discovery of magnetic fields at the surface of the mildly accreting classical T Tauri star V2129 Oph. Zeeman signatures are detected, both in photospheric lines and in the emission lines formed at the base of the accretion funnels linking the disc to the protostar, and monitored over the whole rotation cycle of V2129 Oph. We observe that rotational modulation dominates the temporal variations of both unpolarized and circularly polarized line profiles. We reconstruct the large-scale magnetic topology at the surface of V2129 Oph from both sets of Zeeman signatures simultaneously. We find it to be rather complex, with a dominant octupolar component and a weak dipole of strengths 1.2 and 0.35 kG, respectively, both slightly tilted with respect to the rotation axis. The large-scale field is anchored in a pair of 2-kG unipolar radial field spots located at high latitudes and coinciding with cool dark polar spots at photospheric level. This large-scale field geometry is unusually complex compared to those of non-accreting cool active subgiants with moderate rotation rates. As an illustration, we provide a first attempt at modelling the magnetospheric topology and accretion funnels of V2129 Oph using field extrapolation. We find that the magnetosphere of V2129 Oph must extend to about 7R* to ensure that the footpoints of accretion funnels coincide with the high-latitude accretion spots on the stellar surface. It suggests that the stellar magnetic field succeeds in coupling to the accretion disc as far out as the corotation radius, and could possibly explain the slow rotation of V2129 Oph. The magnetospheric geometry we derive produces X-ray coronal fluxes typical of those observed in cTTSs.Comment: MNRAS, in press (18 pages, 17 figures

A Cenozoic-style scenario for the end-Ordovician glaciation

The end-Ordovician was an enigmatic interval in the Phanerozoic, known for massive glaciation potentially at elevated CO2 levels, biogeochemical cycle disruptions recorded as large isotope anomalies and a devastating extinction event. Ice-sheet volumes claimed to be twice those of the Last Glacial Maximum paradoxically coincided with oceans as warm as today. Here we argue that some of these remarkable claims arise from undersampling of incomplete geological sections that led to apparent temporal correlations within the relatively coarse resolution capability of Palaeozoic biochronostratigraphy. We examine exceptionally complete sedimentary records from two, low and high, palaeolatitude settings. Their correlation framework reveals a Cenozoic-style scenario including three main glacial cycles and higher-order phenomena. This necessitates revision of mechanisms for the end-Ordovician events, as the first extinction is tied to an early phase of melting, not to initial cooling, and the largest δ13C excursion occurs during final deglaciation, not at the glacial apex

Event-related desynchronization in motor imagery with EEG neurofeedback in the context of declarative interference and sleep

Motor imagery (MI) in combination with neurofeedback (NF) is a promising supplement to facilitate the acquisition of motor abilities and the recovery of impaired motor abilities following brain injuries. However, the ability to control MI NF is subject to a wide range of inter-individual variability. A substantial number of users experience difficulties in achieving good results, which compromises their chances to benefit from MI NF in a learning or rehabilitation context. It has been suggested that context factors, that is, factors outside the actual motor task, can explain individual differences in motor skill acquisition. Retrospective declarative interference and sleep have already been identified as critical factors for motor execution (ME) and MI based practice. Here, we investigate whether these findings generalize to practicing MI NF. Three groups underwent three blocks of practicing MI with NF, each on two subsequent days. In two of the groups, MI NF blocks were followed by either immediate or delayed declarative memory tasks. The control group performed only MI NF and no specific interference tasks. Two of the MI NF blocks were run on the first day of the experiment, the third in the morning of the second day. Significant within-block NF gains in mu and beta frequency event-related desynchronization (ERD) where evident for all groups. However, data did not provide evidence for an impact of immediate or delayed declarative interference on MI NF ERD. Also, MI NF ERD remained unchanged after a night of sleep. We did not observe the expected pattern of results for MI NF ERD with regard to declarative interference and a night of sleep. This is discussed in the context of variable experimental task designs, inter-individual differences, and performance measures