Nestedness in mutualistic networks

James et al. (2012) presented simulations that apparently falsify the analytical result by Bastolla et al. (2009), who showed that nested mutualistic interactions decrease interspecific competition and increase biodiversity in model ecosystems. This contradiction, however, mainly stems from the incorrect application of formulas derived for fully connected networks to empirical, sparse networks.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figur

Detailed study of SNR G306.3-0.9 using XMM-Newton and Chandra observations

We used combined data from XMM-Newton and Chandra observatories to study the X-ray morphology of SNR G306.3-0.9. A spatially-resolved spectral analysis was used to obtain physical and geometrical parameters of different regions of the remnant. Spitzer infrared observations were also used to constrain the progenitor supernova and study the environment in which the SNR evolved. The X-ray morphology of the remnant displays a non-uniform structure of semi-circular appearance, with a bright southwest region and very weak or almost negligible X-ray emission in its northern part. These results indicate that the remnant is propagating in a non-uniform environment as the shock fronts are encountering a high-density medium, where enhanced infrared emission is detected. The X-ray spectral analysis of the selected regions shows distinct emission-line features of several metal elements, confirming the thermal origin of the emission. The X-ray spectra are well represented by a combination of two absorbed thermal plasma models: one in equilibrium ionization with a mean temperature of ~0.19 keV, and another out of equilibrium ionization at a higher temperature of ~1.1 or 1.6-1.9 keV. For regions located in the northeast, central, and southwest part of the SNR, we found elevated abundances of Si, S, Ar, Ca, and Fe, typical of ejecta material. The outer regions located northwest and south show values of the abundances above solar but lower than to those found in the central regions. This suggests that the composition of the emitting outer parts of the SNR is a combination of ejecta and shocked material of the interstellar medium. The comparison between the S/Si, Ar/Si, and Ca/Si abundances ratios (1.75, 1.27, and 2.72 in the central region, respectively), favor a Type Ia progenitor for this SNR, a result that is also supported by an independent morphological analysis using X-ray and IR data.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysic

Highest weight Macdonald and Jack Polynomials

Fractional quantum Hall states of particles in the lowest Landau levels are described by multivariate polynomials. The incompressible liquid states when described on a sphere are fully invariant under the rotation group. Excited quasiparticle/quasihole states are member of multiplets under the rotation group and generically there is a nontrivial highest weight member of the multiplet from which all states can be constructed. Some of the trial states proposed in the literature belong to classical families of symmetric polynomials. In this paper we study Macdonald and Jack polynomials that are highest weight states. For Macdonald polynomials it is a (q,t)-deformation of the raising angular momentum operator that defines the highest weight condition. By specialization of the parameters we obtain a classification of the highest weight Jack polynomials. Our results are valid in the case of staircase and rectangular partition indexing the polynomials.Comment: 17 pages, published versio

H-alpha observations of the gamma-ray-emitting Be/X-ray binary LSI+61303: orbital modulation, disk truncation, and long-term variability

We report 138 spectral observations of the H-alpha emission line of the radio- and gamma-ray-emitting Be/X-ray binary LSI+61303 obtained during the period of September 1998 -- January 2013. From measuring various H-alpha parameters, we found that the orbital modulation of the H-alpha is best visible in the equivalent width ratio EW(B)/EW(R), the equivalent width of the blue hump, and in the radial velocity of the central dip. The periodogram analysis confirmed that the H-alpha emission is modulated with the orbital and superorbital periods. For the past 20 years the radius of the circumstellar disk is similar to the Roche lobe size at the periastron. It is probably truncated by a 6:1 resonance. The orbital maximum of the equivalent width of H-alpha emission peaks after the periastron and coincides on average with the X-ray and gamma-ray maxima. All the spectra are available upon request from the authors and through the CDS.Comment: 11 pages, accepted for publication in A&

The Visibility Graph: a new method for estimating the Hurst exponent of fractional Brownian motion

Fractional Brownian motion (fBm) has been used as a theoretical framework to study real time series appearing in diverse scientific fields. Because its intrinsic non-stationarity and long range dependence, its characterization via the Hurst parameter H requires sophisticated techniques that often yield ambiguous results. In this work we show that fBm series map into a scale free visibility graph whose degree distribution is a function of H. Concretely, it is shown that the exponent of the power law degree distribution depends linearly on H. This also applies to fractional Gaussian noises (fGn) and generic f^(-b) noises. Taking advantage of these facts, we propose a brand new methodology to quantify long range dependence in these series. Its reliability is confirmed with extensive numerical simulations and analytical developments. Finally, we illustrate this method quantifying the persistent behavior of human gait dynamics.Comment: 5 pages, submitted for publicatio

Algebraic invariants of five qubits

The Hilbert series of the algebra of polynomial invariants of pure states of five qubits is obtained, and the simplest invariants are computed.Comment: 4 pages, revtex. Short discussion of quant-ph/0506073 include

Reinforced feedback in virtual environment for rehabilitation of upper extremity dysfunction after stroke: preliminary data from a randomized controlled trial.

OBJECTIVES: To study whether the reinforced feedback in virtual environment (RFVE) is more effective than traditional rehabilitation (TR) for the treatment of upper limb motor function after stroke, regardless of stroke etiology (i.e., ischemic, hemorrhagic). DESIGN: Randomized controlled trial. Participants. Forty-four patients affected by stroke. Intervention. The patients were randomized into two groups: RFVE (N = 23) and TR (N = 21), and stratified according to stroke etiology. The RFVE treatment consisted of multidirectional exercises providing augmented feedback provided by virtual reality, while in the TR treatment the same exercises were provided without augmented feedbacks. Outcome Measures. Fugl-Meyer upper extremity scale (F-M UE), Functional Independence Measure scale (FIM), and kinematics parameters (speed, time, and peak). RESULTS: The F-M UE (P = 0.030), FIM (P = 0.021), time (P = 0.008), and peak (P = 0.018), were significantly higher in the RFVE group after treatment, but not speed (P = 0.140). The patients affected by hemorrhagic stroke significantly improved FIM (P = 0.031), time (P = 0.011), and peak (P = 0.020) after treatment, whereas the patients affected by ischemic stroke improved significantly only speed (P = 0.005) when treated by RFVE. CONCLUSION: These results indicated that some poststroke patients may benefit from RFVE program for the recovery of upper limb motor function. This trial is registered with NCT01955291

Hyperdeterminants as integrable discrete systems

We give the basic definitions and some theoretical results about hyperdeterminants, introduced by A. Cayley in 1845. We prove integrability (understood as 4d-consistency) of a nonlinear difference equation defined by the 2x2x2-hyperdeterminant. This result gives rise to the following hypothesis: the difference equations defined by hyperdeterminants of any size are integrable. We show that this hypothesis already fails in the case of the 2x2x2x2-hyperdeterminant.Comment: Standard LaTeX, 11 pages. v2: corrected a small misprint in the abstrac

Chandra X-ray counterpart of KS 1741-293

We aim to investigate the nature of the high energy source KS 1741-293 by revisiting the radio and infrared associations proposed in the early 1990s. Our work is mostly based on the analysis of modern survey and archive data, including the NRAO, MSX, 2MASS and Chandra archives, and catalogues. We also have obtained deep CCD optical observations by ourselves. The coincidence of KS 1741-293 with an extended radio and far-infrared source, tentatively suggested in 1994, is no longer supported by modern observational data. Instead, a Chandra source is the only peculiar object found to be consistent with all high-energy error circles of KS 1741-293 and we propose it to be its most likely X-ray counterpart. We also report the existence of a non-thermal radio nebula in the vicinity of the KS 1741-293 position with the appearance of a supernova remnant. The possibility of being associated to this X-ray binary is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Classification of qubit entanglement: SL(2,C) versus SU(2) invariance

The role of SU(2) invariants for the classification of multiparty entanglement is discussed and exemplified for the Kempe invariant I_5 of pure three-qubit states. It is found to being an independent invariant only in presence of both W-type entanglement and threetangle. In this case, constant I_5 admits for a wide range of both threetangle and concurrences. Furthermore, the present analysis indicates that an SL^3 orbit of states with equal tangles but continuously varying I_5 must exist. This means that I_5 provides no information on the entanglement in the system in addition to that contained in the tangles (concurrences and threetangle) themselves. Together with the numerical evidence that I_5 is an entanglement monotone this implies that SU(2) invariance or the monotone property are too weak requirements for the characterization and quantification of entanglement for systems of three qubits, and that SL(2,C) invariance is required. This conclusion can be extended to general multipartite systems (including higher local dimension) because the entanglement classes of three-qubit systems appear as subclasses.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, revtex