Circuit Theory

Contains reports on three research projects

Gender Difference in the Perception of Guilt in Consumer Boycott in Brazil

The aim of this chapter is to analyze consumer boycott from the perception of men\u27s and women\u27s guilt on a specific case involving Nike company through partners in its supply chain in China. The study was conducted with 281 consumers in the city of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) in 2012. In the process of validating a scale of consumer boycott in Brazil, the 13 items of the original scale were kept, but were grouped in different factors. The emerged factors were perception of guilt, influence from others, boycott efficiency, and purchase frequency. Testing relationship among demographic variables and these factors, only gender was significant on perception of guilt. In this sense, we seek in psychology, psychoanalysis (also briefly in anthropology and history), features that could explain the reasons why women feel guiltier than men, and thus are more likely to boycott

Defense-through-Deception Network Security Model: Securing University Campus Network from DOS/DDOS Attack

Denial of Service (DOS) and (DDOS) Distributed Denial of Service attacks have become a major security threat to university campus network security since most of the students and teachers prepare online services such as enrolment, grading system, library etc. Therefore, the issue of network security has become a priority to university campus network management. Using online services in university network can be easily compromised. However, traditional security mechanisms approach such as Defense-In-Depth (DID) Model is outdated in today’s complex network and DID Model has been used as a primary cybersecurity defense model in the university campus network today. However, university administration should realize that Defense-In-Depth (DID) are playing an increasingly limited role in DOS/DDoS protection and this paper brings this fact to light. This paper presents that the Defense-In-Depth (DID) is not capable of defending complex and volatile DOS/DDOS attacks effectively. The test results were presented in this study in order to support our claim. The researchers established a Defense-In-Depth (DID) Network model at the Central Luzon State University and penetrated the Network System using DOS/DDOS attack to simulate the real network scenario. This paper also presents the new approach Defense-through-Deception network security model that improves the traditional passive protection by applying deception techniques to them that give insights into the limitations posed by the Defense-In-Depth (DID) Model. Furthermore, this model is designed to prevent an attacker who has already entered the network from doing damage

Use of Repeated Within-Subject Measures to Assess Infants’ Preference for Similar Others

Research employing single-choice paradigms in which an infant is asked to make a single choice between two puppets suggest that infants show a preference for prosocial others and those who are similar to themselves. However, the extent to which infants’ preference for similar others is stable is unknown, as are other factors within the paradigm that may influence infants’ choices. The purpose of this study (two experiments, N = 44 infants, aged 8–15 months) was to replicate and extend previous work by including (1) within-subject repeated measures and (2) an experimental manipulation of a plausible demand characteristic. Results for the first-choice trial indicated a majority of the infants did not choose the similar puppet. Results from the within-subject repeated trials also indicated that a majority of the infants did not choose the similar puppet but a majority did choose a puppet from the same side. The experimental manipulation of the demand characteristic showed no effect on infant puppet choices. These results suggest that a closer examination of the single-choice puppet paradigm for assessing infants’ social evaluation is warranted. These findings also support recommendations made by others, including publishing null findings, standardizing data collection and reporting methods, and examining individual differences by employing within-subject designs with repeated measures

Two-dimensional quantum-corrected black hole in a finite size cavity

We consider the gravitation-dilaton theory (not necessarily exactly solvable), whose potentials represent a generic linear combination of an exponential and linear functions of the dilaton. A black hole, arising in such theories, is supposed to be enclosed in a cavity, where it attains thermal equilibrium, whereas outside the cavity the field is in the Boulware state. We calculate quantum corrections to the Hawking temperature $T_{H}$, with the contribution from the boundary taken into account. Vacuum polarization outside the shell tend to cool the system. We find that, for the shell to be in the thermal equilibrium, it cannot be placed too close to the horizon. The quantum corrections to the mass due to vacuum polarization vanish in spite of non-zero quantum stresses. We discuss also the canonical boundary conditions and show that accounting for the finiteness of the system plays a crucial role in some theories (e.g., CGHS), where it enables to define the stable canonical ensemble, whereas consideration in an infinite space would predict instability.Comment: 21 pages. In v.2 misprints corrected. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Classical integrability in the BTZ black hole

Using the fact the BTZ black hole is a quotient of AdS_3 we show that classical string propagation in the BTZ background is integrable. We construct the flat connection and its monodromy matrix which generates the non-local charges. From examining the general behaviour of the eigen values of the monodromy matrix we determine the set of integral equations which constrain them. These equations imply that each classical solution is characterized by a density function in the complex plane. For classical solutions which correspond to geodesics and winding strings we solve for the eigen values of the monodromy matrix explicitly and show that geodesics correspond to zero density in the complex plane. We solve the integral equations for BMN and magnon like solutions and obtain their dispersion relation. Finally we show that the set of integral equations which constrain the eigen values of the monodromy matrix can be identified with the continuum limit of the Bethe equations of a twisted SL(2, R) spin chain at one loop.Comment: 45 pages, Reference added, typos corrected, discussion on geodesics improved to include all geodesic

Hmong Adults Self-Rated Oral Health: A Pilot Study

Since 1975, the Hmong refugee population in the U.S. has increased over 200%. However, little is known about their dental needs or self-rated oral health (SROH). The study aims were to: (1) describe the SROH, self-rated general health (SRGH), and use of dental/physician services; and (2) identify the factors associated with SROH among Hmong adults. A cross-sectional study design with locating sampling methodology was used. Oral health questionnaire was administered to assess SROH and SRGH, past dental and physician visits, and language preference. One hundred twenty adults aged 18–50+ were recruited and 118 had useable information. Of these, 49% rated their oral health as poor/fair and 30% rated their general health as poor/fair. Thirty-nine percent reported that they did not have a regular source of dental care, 46% rated their access to dental care as poor/fair, 43% visited a dentist and 66% visited a physician within the past 12 months. Bivariate analyses demonstrated that access to dental care, past dental visits, age and SRGH were significantly associated with SROH (P \u3c 0.05). Multivariate analyses demonstrated a strong association between access to dental care and good/excellent SROH. About half of Hmong adults rated their oral health and access to dental care as poor. Dental insurance, access to dental care, past preventive dental/physician visits and SRGH were associated with SROH

Towards a robotic personal trainer for the elderly

The use of robots in the environment of the elderly has grown significantly in recent years. The idea is to try to increase the comfort and well-being of older people through the employment of some kind of automated processes that simplify daily work. In this paper we present a prototype of a personal robotic trainer which, together with a non-invasive sensor, allows caregivers to monitor certain physical activities in order to improve their performance. In addition, the proposed system also takes into account how the person feels during the performance of the physical exercises and thus, determine more precisely if the exercise is appropriate or not for a specific person.This work was partly supported by the Spanish Government (RTI2018-095390-B-C31) and FCT—Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia through the Post-Docscholarship SFRH/BPD/102696/2014 (A. Costa) and UID/CEC/00319/2019

The postulates of gravitational thermodynamics

The general principles and logical structure of a thermodynamic formalism that incorporates strongly self-gravitating systems are presented. This framework generalizes and simplifies the formulation of thermodynamics developed by Callen. The definition of extensive variables, the homogeneity properties of intensive parameters, and the fundamental problem of gravitational thermodynamics are discussed in detail. In particular, extensive parameters include quasilocal quantities and are naturally incorporated into a set of basic general postulates for thermodynamics. These include additivity of entropies (Massieu functions) and the generalized second law. Fundamental equations are no longer homogeneous first-order functions of their extensive variables. It is shown that the postulates lead to a formal resolution of the fundamental problem despite non-additivity of extensive parameters and thermodynamic potentials. Therefore, all the results of (gravitational) thermodynamics are an outgrowth of these postulates. The origin and nature of the differences with ordinary thermodynamics are analyzed. Consequences of the formalism include the (spatially) inhomogeneous character of thermodynamic equilibrium states, a reformulation of the Euler equation, and the absence of a Gibbs-Duhem relation.Comment: 28 pages, Revtex, no figures. An important sentence and several minor corrections included. To appear in Physical Review