Thermodynamic properties of extremely diluted symmetric Q-Ising neural networks

Using the replica-symmetric mean-field theory approach the thermodynamic and retrieval properties of extremely diluted {\it symmetric} $Q$-Ising neural networks are studied. In particular, capacity-gain parameter and capacity-temperature phase diagrams are derived for $Q=3, 4$ and $Q=\infty$. The zero-temperature results are compared with those obtained from a study of the dynamics of the model. Furthermore, the de Almeida-Thouless line is determined. Where appropriate, the difference with other $Q$-Ising architectures is outlined.Comment: 16 pages Latex including 6 eps-figures. Corrections, also in most of the figures have been mad

Carbon superatom thin films

Assembling clusters on surfaces has emerged as a novel way to grow thin films with targeted properties. In particular, it has been proposed from experimental findings that fullerenes deposited on surfaces could give rise to thin films retaining the bonding properties of the incident clusters. However the microscopic structure of such films is still unclear. By performing quantum molecular dynamics simulations, we show that C_28 fullerenes can be deposited on a surface to form a thin film of nearly defect free molecules, which act as carbon superatoms. Our findings help clarify the structure of disordered small fullerene films and also support the recently proposed hyperdiamond model for solid C_28.Comment: 13 pages, RevTeX, 2 figures available as black and white PostScript files; color PostScript and/or gif files available upon reques

Retrieval behavior and thermodynamic properties of symmetrically diluted Q-Ising neural networks

The retrieval behavior and thermodynamic properties of symmetrically diluted Q-Ising neural networks are derived and studied in replica-symmetric mean-field theory generalizing earlier works on either the fully connected or the symmetrical extremely diluted network. Capacity-gain parameter phase diagrams are obtained for the Q=3, Q=4 and $Q=\infty$ state networks with uniformly distributed patterns of low activity in order to search for the effects of a gradual dilution of the synapses. It is shown that enlarged regions of continuous changeover into a region of optimal performance are obtained for finite stochastic noise and small but finite connectivity. The de Almeida-Thouless lines of stability are obtained for arbitrary connectivity, and the resulting phase diagrams are used to draw conclusions on the behavior of symmetrically diluted networks with other pattern distributions of either high or low activity.Comment: 21 pages, revte

The use of citations in educational research: the instance of the concept of 'situated learning'

The paper provides a citation analysis of Lave and Wenger's work on communities of practice' and 'situated learning' over the period 1991-2001. The data relates to educational research in the UK, although comparisons are made with the USA. The findings indicate that although the text was incorporated and heavily used within educational research over the priod of the study there were very few citations that could be identified as cumulative. The discussion looks at whether this could be another instance of the failure of educational research and explores the role of theory in professional educatio

Universal features in the growth dynamics of complex organizations

We analyze the fluctuations in the gross domestic product (GDP) of 152 countries for the period 1950--1992. We find that (i) the distribution of annual growth rates for countries of a given GDP decays with ``fatter'' tails than for a Gaussian, and (ii) the width of the distribution scales as a power law of GDP with a scaling exponent $\beta \approx 0.15$. Both findings are in surprising agreement with results on firm growth. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that the evolution of organizations with complex structure is governed by similar growth mechanisms.Comment: 4 pages, 7 ps figures, using Latex2e with epsf rotate and multicol style files. Submitted to PR

Constraints on thermal conductivity in the merging cluster Abell 2146

The cluster of galaxies Abell 2146 is undergoing a major merger and is an ideal cluster to study ICM physics, as it has a simple geometry with the merger axis in the plane of the sky, its distance allows us to resolve features across the relevant scales and its temperature lies within Chandra's sensitivity. Gas from the cool core of the subcluster has been partially stripped into a tail of gas, which gives a unique opportunity to look at the survival of such gas and determine the rate of conduction in the ICM. We use deep 2.4 Ms Chandra observations of Abell 2146 to produce a high spatial resolution map of the temperature structure along a plume in the ram-pressure stripped tail, described by a partial cone, which is distinguishable from the hot ambient gas. Previous studies of conduction in the ICM typically rely on estimates of the survival time for key structures, such as cold fronts. Here we use detailed hydrodynamical simulations of Abell 2146 to determine the flow velocities along the stripped plume and measure the timescale of the temperature increase along its length. We find that conduction must be highly suppressed by multiple orders of magnitude compared to the Spitzer rate, as the energy used is about 1% of the energy available. We discuss magnetic draping around the core as a possible mechanism for suppressing conduction.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

Riding the wake of a merging galaxy cluster

Using WHT OASIS integral field unit observations, we report the discovery of a thin plume of ionised gas extending from the brightest cluster galaxy in Abell 2146 to the sub-cluster X-ray cool core which is offset from the BCG by ~37 kpc. The plume is greater than 15 kpc long and less than 3 kpc wide. This plume is unique in that the cluster it is situated in is currently undergoing a major galaxy cluster merger. The brightest cluster galaxy is unusually located behind the X-ray shock front and in the wake of the ram pressure stripped X-ray cool core and evidence for recent disruption to the BCG is observed. We examine the gas and stellar morphology, the gas kinematics of the BCG and their relation to the X-ray gas. We propose that a causal link between the ionised gas plume and the offset X-ray cool core provides the simplest explanation for the formation of the plume. An interaction or merger between the BCG and another cluster galaxy is probably the cause of the offset.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

The Impacts of Infrastructure in Development: A Selective Survey

Development economists have considered physical infrastructure to be a precondition for industrialization and economic development. Yet, two issues remain to be addressed in the literature. First, while proper identification of the causal effectiveness of infrastructure in reducing poverty is important, experimental evaluation, such as randomized control trials (RCT)-based evaluation, is difficult in the context of large-scale infrastructure. Second, while micro studies so far have focused on the nexus between infrastructure and certain types of poverty outcomes such as income, poverty, health, education, and other individual socio-economic outcomes, to better interpret a wide variety of micro-level infrastructure evaluation results using either experimental or non-experimental methods, the role of infrastructure should be placed in a broader context. To bridge these gaps, we augment the existing review articles on the same topic, such as Estache (2010), Hansen, Andersen, and White, (2012), and World Bank (2012) by addressing these two remaining issues. First, while forming a counterfactual is often difficult for impact evaluation of infrastructure, engineering constraints beyond human manipulation can allow people to adopt quasi-experimental methods of impact evaluation. Second, evaluators can adopt, for example, a hybrid method of natural and artefactual field experiments to elicit the role of infrastructure in facilitating the complementarity of the market, state, and community mechanisms

Galaxy populations in the most distant SPT-SZ clusters II. Galaxy structural properties in massive clusters at 1.4 ≲ z ≲ 1.7

We investigate structural properties of massive galaxy populations in the central regions ( 4 × 1014 M ), high-redshift (1.4 . z . 1.7) galaxy clusters from the 2500 deg2 South Pole Telescope Sunyaev Zel’dovich effect (SPT-SZ) survey. We probe the connection between galaxy structure and broad stellar population properties at stellar masses of log(M/M ) > 10.85. We find that quiescent and star-forming cluster galaxy populations are largely dominated by bulge- and disk-dominated sources, respectively, with relative contributions being fully consistent with those of field counterparts. At the same time, the enhanced quiescent galaxy fraction observed in these clusters with respect to the coeval field is reflected in a significant morphology-density relation, with bulge-dominated galaxies already clearly dominating the massive galaxy population in these clusters at z ∼ 1.5. At face value, these observations show no significant environmental signatures in the correlation between broad structural and stellar population properties. In particular, the Sersic index and axis ratio distribution of massive, quiescent sources are consistent with field counterparts, in spite of the enhanced quiescent galaxy fraction in clusters. This consistency suggests a tight connection between quenching and structural evolution towards a bulge-dominated morphology, at least in the probed cluster regions and galaxy stellar mass range, irrespective of environment-related processes affecting star formation in cluster galaxies. We also probe the stellar mass–size relation of cluster galaxies, and find that star-forming and quiescent sources populate the mass–size plane in a manner largely similar to their field counterparts, with no evidence of a significant size difference for any probed sub-population. In particular, both quiescent and bulge-dominated cluster galaxies have average sizes at fixed stellar mass consistent with their counterparts in the field