Agent Based Models of Language Competition: Macroscopic descriptions and Order-Disorder transitions

We investigate the dynamics of two agent based models of language competition. In the first model, each individual can be in one of two possible states, either using language $X$ or language $Y$, while the second model incorporates a third state XY, representing individuals that use both languages (bilinguals). We analyze the models on complex networks and two-dimensional square lattices by analytical and numerical methods, and show that they exhibit a transition from one-language dominance to language coexistence. We find that the coexistence of languages is more difficult to maintain in the Bilinguals model, where the presence of bilinguals in use facilitates the ultimate dominance of one of the two languages. A stability analysis reveals that the coexistence is more unlikely to happen in poorly-connected than in fully connected networks, and that the dominance of only one language is enhanced as the connectivity decreases. This dominance effect is even stronger in a two-dimensional space, where domain coarsening tends to drive the system towards language consensus.Comment: 30 pages, 11 figure

Genética forense y técnicas de reproducción asistida: en guardia ante lo inesperado

Desde que Alec Jeffreys dio a conocer la huella genética, el ADN se ha convertido en una herramienta imprescindible para los investigadores del crimen. Su poder para la identificación se fundamenta en la seguridad de que el ADN de cada perso na p rocede indudablemente de sus progenitores, siendo único e irrepetible. Sin embargo la naturaleza puede generar alteraciones q ue parecen contradecir esos preceptos, conduciendo a error a los expertos forenses. El quimerismo es un buen ejemplo. Asimismo l as transfusiones, trasplantes de órganos así como las técnicas aplicadas en reproducción humana asistida, son capaces de generar unos resultados genéticos difíciles de interpretar por un forense. En el presente trabajo se dedica a revisar cómo estos procedimi entos se han convertido involuntariamente en una posible fuente de error para investigadores del crimen.Since Alec Jeffreys di scovered the genetic fingerprint, DNA has become an indispensable tool for crime investigators. His power for identification is based on the certainty that the DNA of each person comes undoubtedly from their parents, being un ique. But nature can generate d isturbances that seem to contradict those precepts, leading to mislead the forensic experts. Chimerism cases are a good example. Also transfusions, organ transplants and the techniques used in assisted human reproduction, are able to generate genetic resul ts difficult to interpret by forensics. The present work is devoted to review how these procedures have become involuntarily, a possible source of error for crime investigators

Com estudien els alumnes de secundària?

Una de les activitats habituals dels alumnes d'educació secundaria obligatòria és la que genèricament anomenem "estudi" que, quasi sempre, és un requisit indispensable per superar l'avaluació d'una matèria o un curs. Una recerca realitzada a la UAB i a la Universitat Ramon Llull ha volgut conèixer quins són els procediments d'estudi que els alumnes emprenen més habitualment i si en fan d'aquests un ús estratègic. D'altra banda, ha volgut conèixer com influencia aquest coneixement estratègic els resultats obtinguts en diferents tasques d'estudi.Una de las actividades habituales de los alumnos de educación secundaria obligatoria es la que genéricamente llamamos "estudio" que, casi siempre, es un requisito indispensable para superar la evaluación de una materia o un curso. Una investigación realizada en la UAB y la Universidad Ramon Llull ha querido conocer cuáles son los procedimientos de estudio que los alumnos emprenden más habitualmente y si hacen de estos un uso estratégico. Por otro lado, ha querido conocer cómo influye ese conocimiento estratégico los resultados obtenidos en diferentes tareas de estudio

Identification of barriers and motivations in the circulation of audiovisual media contents in the Lusophone space: communication, interculturality, citizenship, and interactivity

This research article analyses the main barriers and motivations in the understanding and acceptance of Galician audiovisual media products by a sample of consumers located in different areas of the Lusophone space, according to the new circulation and consumption modes of audiovisual products. To this end, we examined the influence of the cultural codifiers involved in the acceptance of audiovisual contents by certain communities which, despite of being geographically dispersed, share cultural identity elements. In addition, we analysed the role of formal and linguistic variables in the reception of audiovisual content

Framing Forest Fires and Environmental Activism: a Storytelling Contest about Human Intervention in Nature

This article focuses on the processes of sense-making of forest fires in a Mediterranean context. The authors use a textual approach to compare media framing with activist organizational storytelling. The authors conducted a frame analysis in two major daily newspapers in Catalonia (La Vanguardia and El Periódico de Catalunya) during three summers and compared the results with the stories from four leading activist and volunteering organizations that came out of in-depth interviews with their members, one focus group and published materials. The results identified up to five major mainstream media frames, among which were stories focusing on agricultural risk, climate change and weather conditions; imprudent and negligent attitudes; inappropriate fuel management and woodland conditions; and arson. The natural self-regulatory frame was present as part of the discourse of resilience but almost residual. Some journalism focused on the spectacular nature of the events and their dramatic impact, which led to some degree of mediatization of wildfires. The organizations problematized these frames and discussed about the appropriateness of human intervention to prevent forest fires. The results also revealed that activists observed the issue from a broader complexity, replicating frames on “structural responsibility” instead of “individual responsibility” allocation. The authors point out that if wildfires are to be better understood and dealt with more in-depth knowledge is required of different stakeholders’ approaches to preventing forest fires

Performance–energy trade-offs of deep learning convolution algorithms on ARM processors

In this work, we assess the performance and energy efficiency of high-performance codes for the convolution operator, based on the direct, explicit/implicit lowering and Winograd algorithms used for deep learning (DL) inference on a series of ARM-based processor architectures. Specifically, we evaluate the NVIDIA Denver2 and Carmel processors, as well as the ARM Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A78AE CPUs as part of a recent set of NVIDIA Jetson platforms. The performance–energy evaluation is carried out using the ResNet-50 v1.5 convolutional neural network (CNN) on varying configurations of convolution algorithms, number of threads/cores, and operating frequencies on the tested processor cores. The results demonstrate that the best throughput is obtained on all platforms with the Winograd convolution operator running on all the cores at their highest frequency. However, if the goal is to reduce the energy footprint, there is no rule of thumb for the optimal configuration.Open Access funding provided thanks to the CRUE-CSIC agreement with Springer Nature. This research was funded by Project PID2020-113656RB-C21/C22 supported by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Manuel F. Dolz was also supported by the Plan Gen–T grant CDEIGENT/2018/014 of the Generalitat Valenciana. Héctor Martínez is a POSTDOC_21_00025 fellow supported by Junta de Andalucía. Adrián Castelló is a FJC2019-039222-I fellow supported by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033. Antonio Maciá is a PRE2021-099284 fellow supported by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033

Performance–energy trade‑ofs of deep learning convolution algorithms on ARM processors

In this work, we assess the performance and energy efciency of high-performance codes for the convolution operator, based on the direct, explicit/implicit lowering and Winograd algorithms used for deep learning (DL) inference on a series of ARM-based processor architectures. Specifcally, we evaluate the NVIDIA Denver2 and Carmel processors, as well as the ARM Cortex-A57 and Cortex-A78AE CPUs as part of a recent set of NVIDIA Jetson platforms. The performance–energy evaluation is carried out using the ResNet-50 v1.5 convolutional neural network (CNN) on varying confgurations of convolution algorithms, number of threads/cores, and operating frequencies on the tested processor cores. The results demonstrate that the best throughput is obtained on all platforms with the Winograd convolution operator running on all the cores at their highest frequency. However, if the goal is to reduce the energy footprint, there is no rule of thumb for the optimal confguration.Funding for open access charge: CRUE-Universitat Jaume

Characterization of the Impact of Density Gradient Centrifugation on the Profile of the Pig Sperm Transcriptome by RNA-Seq

Altres ajuts: CERCA Programme/Generalitat de CatalunyaRNA-Seq data from human semen suggests that the study of the sperm transcriptome requires the previous elimination from the ejaculates of somatic cells carrying a larger load of RNA. Semen purification is also carried to study the sperm transcriptome in other species including swine and it is often done by density gradient centrifugation to obtain viable spermatozoa from fresh ejaculates or artificial insemination doses, thereby limiting the throughput and remoteness of the samples that can be processed in one study. The aim of this work was to evaluate the impact of purification with density gradient centrifugation by BoviPure TM on porcine sperm. Four boar ejaculates were purified with BoviPure TM and their transcriptome sequenced by RNA-Seq was compared with the RNA-Seq profiles of their paired non-purified sample. Seven thousand five hundred and nineteen protein coding genes were identified. Correlation, cluster, and principal component analysis indicated high-although not complete-similarity between the purified and the paired non-purified ejaculates. 372 genes displayed differentially abundant RNA levels between treatments. Most of these genes had lower abundances after purification and were mostly related to translation, transcription and metabolic processes. We detected a significant change in the proportion of genes of epididymal origin within the differentially abundant genes (1.3%) when compared with the catalog of unaltered genes (0.2%). In contrast, the proportion of testis-specific genes was higher in the group of unaltered genes (4%) when compared to the list of differentially abundant genes (0%). No proportion differences were identified for prostate, white blood, lymph node, tonsil, duodenum, skeletal muscle, liver, and mammary gland. Altogether, these results suggest that the purification impacts on the RNA levels of a small number of genes which are most likely caused by the removal of epididymal epithelial cells but also premature germinal cells, immature or abnormal spermatozoa or seminal exosomes with a distinct load of RNAs

Characterization of activated carbon fiber/polyaniline materials by position-resolved microbeam small-angle X-ray scattering

Activated carbon fiber (ACF)/polyaniline (PANI) materials have been prepared using two different methods, viz. chemical and electrochemical polymerization. Electrochemical characterization of both materials shows that the electrodes with polyaniline have a higher capacitance than does a pristine porous carbon electrode. To analyze the distribution of PANI within the ACF, characterization by position-resolved microbeam small-angle X-ray scattering (μSAXS) has been carried out. μSAXS results obtained with a single ACF indicate that, for the experimental conditions used, a PANI coating is formed inside the micropores and that it is higher in the external regions of the ACF than in the core. Additionally, it seems that the penetration of PANI inside the fibers occurs in a larger extent for the chemical polymerization or, in other words, for the electrochemically polymerized sample there is a slightly larger accumulation of PANI in the external regions of the ACF.Fil: Salinas-Torres, D.. Universida de Alicante; EspañaFil: Sieben, Juan Manuel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Química del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química. Instituto de Química del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Lozano-Castelló, D.. Universida de Alicante; EspañaFil: Morallón, E.. Universida de Alicante; EspañaFil: Burghammer, M.. EuropeanSynchrotronRadiationFacility; FranciaFil: Riekel, C.. EuropeanSynchrotronRadiationFacility; FranciaFil: Cazorla Amorós, Diego. Universida de Alicante; Españ

Preparation of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 photovoltaic absorbers by an aqueous metal selenite co-precipitation route

In this paper, we report a novel and simple solution-based approach for the fabrication of chalcopyrite Cu(In,Ga)Se2 thin film solar cells. An aqueous co-precipitation method based on metal selenites, M2(SeO3)x (M = Cu, In, Ga) precursors was investigated. The resulting powder, dispersed in a binder to form an ink, was coated on a substrate by doctor blade technique. A soft annealing treatment allowed the reduction of metal selenites into selenides. Further rapid thermal processing (RTP) achieved crystalline chalcopyrite absorber. The obtained layer provides good compositional control and adequate morphology for solar cell applications. The water-based synthesis is a sustainable and simple procedure, and together with doctor blade printing, provides a potential cost-effective advantage over conventional fabrication processes (vacuum-based deposition techniques). The short circuit current (JSC), open circuit voltage (VOC), fill factor (FF), and total area power conversion efficiency (Eff.) of the device are 26 mA/cm2, 450 mV, 62%, and 7.2%, respectively. The effective band gap of 1.12 eV confirmed Ga-incorporation in the CIGS crystal lattice.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Competiveness under INNPACTO Program (IPT-2011-0913- 920000). The authors would like to thanks to Manuel Ocana Jurado ~ (ICMS-CISC) for his help in the XPS measurements. L. Oliveira would like to thank the support of the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) e Brazil