STIM map: detection map for exoplanets imaging beyond asymptotic Gaussian residual speckle noise

Direct imaging of exoplanets is a challenging task as it requires to reach a high contrast at very close separation to the star. Today, the main limitation in the high-contrast images is the quasi-static speckles that are created by residual instrumental aberrations. They have the same angular size as planetary companions and are often brighter, hence hindering our capability to detect exoplanets. Dedicated observation strategies and signal processing techniques are necessary to disentangle these speckles from planetary signals. The output of these methods is a detection map in which the value of each pixel is related to a probability of presence of a planetary signal. The detection map found in the literature relies on the assumption that the residual noise is Gaussian. However, this is known to lead to higher false positive rates, especially close to the star. In this paper, we re-visit the notion of detection map by analyzing the speckle noise distribution, namely the Modified Rician distribution. We use non-asymptotic analysis of the sum of random variables to show that the tail of the distribution of the residual noise decays as an exponential distribution, hence explaining the high false detection rate obtained with the Gaussian assumption. From this analysis, we introduce a novel time domain detection map and we demonstrate its capabilities and the relevance of our approach through experiments on real data. We also provide an empirical rule to determine detection threshold providing a good trade off between true positive and false positive rates for exoplanet detection

El significado de la vejez y su relación con la salud en ancianas y ancianos integrados a un programa de envejecimiento activo

Revista electrónicaEl presente trabajo busca analizar las percepciones que tiene un grupo de ancianas y ancianos de la comunidad de San Cristóbal Ecatepec, Estado de México, acerca de su vejez y su relación con la salud. El modelo teórico de la Gerontología Social y del Capital Social de Bourdieu, permiten adentrarnos en el análisis de estas percepciones. La metodología cualitativa, a través de entrevistas a profundidad, fueron las vías para recuperar la información. Las ancianas y ancianos forman parte del programa de “Envejecimiento Activo” diseñado en el Centro Universitario Ecatepec, de la Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, y la presente investigación es uno de los productos de dicho programa. Los resultados nos muestran que las personas reconocen los cambios físicos que han presentado con el paso de los años, los cuales implican la disminución de sus capacidades físicas; sin embargo, también presentan estrategias que les permiten enfrentar dichos cambios, de tal manera que buscan seguir estando activos en su vida diaria a partir de una actividad ajustada, lo que representa una acción de resistencia ante los estereotipos que la modernidad le ha impuesto al anciano: como una persona en declive y decadencia.Sin financiamient

How evidence-based policies can help tackle discrimination in amateur football

Research suggests that sport can have a positive effect in fostering social cohesion among those from different backgrounds. Yet to have this effect, it is necessary to overcome instances of discrimination that can prevent people from participating. Drawing on a field experiment in Norway, Robert Dur, Carlos Gomez-Gonzalez and Cornel Nesseler highlight the importance of using evidence-based policies to reduce discrimination in amateur football

Mapping discrimination in Europe through a field experiment in amateur sport

Societies are increasingly multicultural and diverse, consisting of members who migrated from various other countries. However, immigrants and ethnic minorities often face discrimination in the form of fewer opportunities for labor and housing, as well as limitations on interactions in other social domains. Using mock email accounts with typical native-sounding and foreign-sounding names, we contacted 23,020 amateur football clubs in 22 European countries, asking to participate in a training session. Response rates differed across countries and were, on average, about 10% lower for foreign-sounding names. The present field experiment reveals discrimination against ethnic minority groups, uncovering organizational deficiencies in a system trusted to foster social interactions

Economic Implications of DSO-TSO Coordination Schemes at a System Level and for Market Actors in case of Flexibility or Traditional Grid-based Solution

This paper proposes a methodology to evaluate the economic implication of the use of flexibility to solve both joint DSO-TSO and local DSO-specific congestion management needs. The presented methodology enables evaluating the economic implications at a system level and per market actor according to the selected DSO-TSO coordination scheme and given flexibility needs. Firstly, several DSO-TSO coordination schemes are presented to solve joint needs, in which market access to flexible resources at the distribution grid is enabled to a greater or lesser extent. Secondly, the use of flexibility is compared to traditional grid solutions (i.e., grid reinforcement, temporary commissioning services) to enable the DSO to make cost-efficient grid decisions in the short and medium term. Finally, the economic impact on flexible service providers at the distribution level is carefully presented. This methodology seeks to support energy policies and other regulatory decisions.This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement nº 824414. TECNALIA is a “CERVERA Technology Centre of Excellence” recognized by the Ministry of Science and Innovatio

Examining discrimination against Jews in Italy with three natural field experiments

We use three natural field experiments to examine anti-Semitism in Italy by sending email inquiries to amateur football clubs, landlords, and employers and comparing the response rates to emails sent with Jewish- and non-Jewish-sounding names. Italy is an interesting country as discrimination was heterogeneous and geographically unevenly distributed during World War II. We analyze if today's anti-Semitism in Italy is geographically correlated to the deportations and killings of Jews during the Holocaust. The results show significant discrimination when looking for football club and an apartment, but not when seeking a job. We find markedly different results for women. Comparing areas with different societal and economic implications provides us with a more informed perspective about the extent of discrimination

Gender information and perceived quality: An experiment with professional soccer performance

Whether one looks at revenue, investment or coverage, men’s sports do better than women’s. Many assume that absolute differences in quality of athletic performance are the driving force. However, the existence of stereotypes should alert us to another possibility: gender information might influence perceived quality. We perform an experiment in which 613 participants viewed clips of elite female and male soccer players. In the control group, participants evaluated unmodified videos where the gender of the players is clear to see. In the treatment group, participants evaluated the same videos but with gender obscured by blurring. Using a regression analysis, we find that participants rate men’s videos higher – but only when they know they are watching men. When blurring obscures the gender, ratings for female and male athletes do not differ. We discuss implications for research and the sports industry.publishedVersio

Examining discrimination against Jews in Italy with three natural field experiments

We use three natural field experiments to examine anti-Semitism in Italy by sending email inquiries to amateur football clubs, landlords, and employers and comparing the response rates to emails sent with Jewish- and non-Jewish-sounding names. Italy is an interesting country as discrimination was heterogeneous and geographically unevenly distributed during World War II. We analyze if today's anti-Semitism in Italy is geographically correlated to the deportations and killings of Jews during the Holocaust. The results show significant discrimination when looking for football club and an apartment, but not when seeking a job. We find markedly different results for women. Comparing areas with different societal and economic implications provides us with a more informed perspective about the extent of discrimination.publishedVersio

Socio-Ecological Regionalization of the Urban Sub-Basins in Mexic

Mexico is a diverse country in terms of culture and natural environments. For this reason, the delimitation of homogeneous basins with similar environmental, social, and economic attributes is important in order to facilitate the elaboration of high-impact regional development strategies. However, this represents an ongoing challenge due to the complexity of the interactions that occur within socio-ecological systems at a regional scale. In the present study, the main objective was to identify the interrelationships among different aspects of the socio-ecological system located within basins, with the goal of utilizing this information to promote the region-specific sustainable development of an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM). Therefore, in this study, environmental, social, economic, and institutional variables, relevant to water management and with thecapacitytobeexpressedspatially,wereutilizedtoidentifyregionswithsimilarcharacteristicsand to regionalize the urban sub-basins of Mexico based on a principal component analysis (PCA) and the k-medoids clustering algorithm. The identification of the most adequate number of regions at the national level was determined by the silhouette method. As a result, five distinct regions for Mexico were generated, which forms the first step in the design of integrated water resources management strategies for these regions.Universidad Autónoma del Estado de MéxicoConsejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología (CONACyT-México