638 research outputs found
Simulating the universe(s) Ill: observables for the full bubble collision spacetime
This is the third paper in a series establishing a quantitative relation between inflationary scalar field potential landscapes and the relic perturbations left by the collision between bubbles produced during eternal inflation. We introduce a new method for computing cosmological observables from numerical relativity simulations of bubble collisions in one space and one time dimension. This method tiles comoving hypersurfaces with locally-perturbed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker coordinate patches. The method extends previous work, which was limited to the spacetime region just inside the future light cone of the collision, and allows us to explore the full bubble-collision spacetime. We validate our new methods against previous work, and present a full set of predictions for the comoving curvature perturbation and local negative spatial curvature produced by identical and non-identical bubble collisions, in single scalar field models of eternal inflation. In both collision types, there is a non-zero contribution to the spatial curvature and cosmic microwave background quadrupole. Some collisions between non-identical bubbles excite wall modes, giving extra structure to the predicted temperature anisotropies. We comment on the implications of our results for future observational searches. For non-identical bubble collisions, we also find that the surfaces of constant field can readjust in the presence of a collision to produce spatially infinite sections that become nearly homogeneous deep into the region affected by the collision. Contrary to previous assumptions, this is true even in the bubble into which the domain wall is accelerating
A framework to evaluate the viability of robotic process automation for business process activities
Robotic process automation (RPA) is a technology for centralized automation
of business processes. RPA automates user interaction with graphical user
interfaces, whereby it promises efficiency gains and a reduction of human
negligence during process execution. To harness these benefits, organizations
face the challenge of classifying process activities as viable automation
candidates for RPA. Therefore, this work aims to support practitioners in
evaluating RPA automation candidates. We design a framework that consists of
thirteen criteria grouped into five perspectives which offer different
evaluation aspects. These criteria leverage a profound understanding of the
process step. We demonstrate and evaluate the framework by applying it to a
real-life data set.Comment: This is an accepted manuscript for the "RPA Forum" at the "Int.
Conference on Business Process Management (BPM 2020)". The final
authenticated version is available online at
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-58779-6_1
Limited role of spatial selfstructuring in emergent trade-offs during pathogen evolution
Pathogen transmission and virulence are main evolutionary variables broadly assumed to be linked
through trade-offs. In well-mixed populations, these trade-offs are often ascribed to physiological
restrictions, while populations with spatial self-structuring might evolve emergent trade-offs. Here,
we reexamine a spatially-explicit, SIR model of the latter kind proposed by Ballegooijen and Boerlijst
with the aim of characterising the mechanisms causing the emergence of the trade-off and its structural
robustness. Using invadability criteria, we establish the conditions under which an evolutionary
feedback between transmission and virulence mediated by pattern formation can poise the system to
a critical boundary separating a disordered state (without emergent trade-off) from a self-structured
phase (where the trade-off emerges), and analytically calculate the functional shape of the boundary
in a certain approximation. Beyond evolutionary parameters, the success of an invasion depends
on the size and spatial structure of the invading and invaded populations. Spatial self-structuring is
often destroyed when hosts are mobile, changing the evolutionary dynamics to those of a well-mixed
population. In a metapopulation scenario, the systematic extinction of the pathogen in the disordered
phase may counteract the disruptive effect of host mobility, favour pattern formation and therefore
recover the emergent trade-off.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad and FEDER
funds of the EU through grants ViralESS (FIS2014-57686-P and FIS2017-84256-P). The internship of VB was
financed by the Severo Ochoa Centers of Excellence Program (SEV-2013-0347)
Forecasting malaria incidence based on monthly case reports and environmental factors in Karuzi, Burundi, 1997–2003
BACKGROUND: The objective of this work was to develop a model to predict malaria incidence in an area of unstable transmission by studying the association between environmental variables and disease dynamics. METHODS: The study was carried out in Karuzi, a province in the Burundi highlands, using time series of monthly notifications of malaria cases from local health facilities, data from rain and temperature records, and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Using autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) methodology, a model showing the relation between monthly notifications of malaria cases and the environmental variables was developed. RESULTS: The best forecasting model (R2adj = 82%, p < 0.0001 and 93% forecasting accuracy in the range +/- 4 cases per 100 inhabitants) included the NDVI, mean maximum temperature, rainfall and number of malaria cases in the preceding month. CONCLUSION: This model is a simple and useful tool for producing reasonably reliable forecasts of the malaria incidence rate in the study area
Heterotic domain wall solutions and SU(3) structure manifolds
We examine compactifications of heterotic string theory on manifolds with
SU(3) structure. In particular, we study N = 1/2 domain wall solutions which
correspond to the perturbative vacua of the 4D, N =1 supersymmetric theories
associated to these compactifications. We extend work which has appeared
previously in the literature in two important regards. Firstly, we include two
additional fluxes which have been, heretofore, omitted in the general analysis
of this situation. This allows for solutions with more general torsion classes
than have previously been found. Secondly, we provide explicit solutions for
the fluxes as a function of the torsion classes. These solutions are
particularly useful in deciding whether equations such as the Bianchi
identities can be solved, in addition to the Killing spinor equations
themselves. Our work can be used to straightforwardly decide whether any given
SU(3) structure on a six-dimensional manifold is associated with a solution to
heterotic string theory. To illustrate how to use these results, we discuss a
number of examples taken from the literature.Comment: 34 pages, minor corrections in second versio
Nacionalismo y americanismo entre los voluntarios chilenos en el Ejército Libertador de Cuba durante su segunda guerra de independencia (1895-1898)
The war of independence of Cuba from 1895-1898 mobilized a large contingent of Chilean volunteers to the island, willing to fight alongside the rebels. From documentaries, periodicals and literature —from Cuban and Chilean sources— this paper analyses the motivations and circumstances that summoned them and how they adapted and legitimized themselves in a war that they adopted as their own, despite being foreigners. While an Americanist culture underlies their departure and behavior, it was the redefinition of a renewed nationalism that emerged within the complex situation in Chile during the period preceding the Antillean conflict, which allowed them, most of the time, to be recognized as legitimate fighters by their superior officers and by the troops they commanded.La guerra de independencia de Cuba de 1895-1898 movilizó hacia la isla a un importante contingente de voluntarios chilenos, dispuestos a combatir junto a los insurrectos. A partir de fuentes documentales, periódicas y bibliográficas — cubanas y chilenas—, en el presente artículo se analizan las motivaciones y circunstancias que los convocaron y cómo debieron adaptarse y legitimarse dentro de una guerra que asumieron como propia, no obstante ser extranjeros. Si bien subyace en su partida y sus conductas una cultura americanista, fue la resignificación del renovado nacionalismo surgido en la compleja situación de Chile en el período que precede al conflicto antillano, lo que les permitió, la mayoría de las veces, ser reconocidos como legítimos combatientes por sus oficiales superiores y la tropa que comandaron
Insulin detemir in a twice daily insulin regimen versus a three times daily insulin regimen in the treatment of type 1 diabetes in children: A pilot randomized controlled trial
Article deposited according to agreement with BMC, December 6, 2010.YesFunding provided by the Open Access Authors Fund
A Predominant Role for Parenchymal c-Jun Amino Terminal Kinase (JNK) in the Regulation of Systemic Insulin Sensitivity
It has been established that c-Jun N-terminal kinase 1 (JNK1) is essential to the pathogenesis of insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Although JNK influences inflammatory signaling pathways, it remains unclear whether its activity in macrophages contributes to adipose tissue inflammation and ultimately to the regulation of systemic metabolism. To address whether the action of this critical inflammatory kinase in bone marrow-derived elements regulates inflammatory responses in obesity and is sufficient and necessary for the deterioration of insulin sensitivity, we performed bone marrow transplantation studies with wild type and JNK1-deficient mice. These studies illustrated that JNK1-deficiency in the bone marrow-derived elements (BMDE) was insufficient to impact macrophage infiltration or insulin sensitivity despite modest changes in the inflammatory profile of adipose tissue. Only when the parenchymal elements lacked JNK1 could we demonstrate a significant increase in systemic insulin sensitivity. These data indicate that while the JNK1 activity in BMDE is involved in metabolic regulation and adipose milieu, it is epistatic to JNK1 activity in the parenchymal tissue for regulation of metabolic homeostasis
The Cosmological Constant
This is a review of the physics and cosmology of the cosmological constant.
Focusing on recent developments, I present a pedagogical overview of cosmology
in the presence of a cosmological constant, observational constraints on its
magnitude, and the physics of a small (and potentially nonzero) vacuum energy.Comment: 50 pages. Submitted to Living Reviews in Relativity
(http://www.livingreviews.org/), December 199
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