756 research outputs found
Continuous and discontinuous absorbing-state phase transitions on Voronoi-Delaunay random lattices
We study absorbing-state phase transitions in two-dimensional
Voronoi-Delaunay (VD) random lattices with quenched coordination disorder.
Quenched randomness usually changes the criticality and destroys discontinuous
transitions in low-dimensional nonequilibrium systems. We performed extensive
simulations of the Ziff-Gulari-Barshad (ZGB) model, and verified that the VD
disorder does not change the nature of its discontinuous transition. Our
results corroborate recent findings of Barghatti and Vojta [Phys. Rev. Lett.
{\bf 113}, 120602 (2014)] stating the irrelevance of topological disorder in a
class of random lattices that includes VD and raise the interesting possibility
that disorder in nonequilibrium APT may, under certain conditions, be
irrelevant for the phase coexistence. We also verify that the VD disorder is
irrelevant for the critical behavior of models belonging to the directed
percolation and Manna universality classes.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure
Contact process on a Voronoi triangulation
We study the continuous absorbing-state phase transition in the contact
process on the Voronoi-Delaunay lattice. The Voronoi construction is a natural
way to introduce quenched coordination disorder in lattice models. We simulate
the disordered system using the quasistationary simulation method and determine
its critical exponents and moment ratios. Our results suggest that the critical
behavior of the disordered system is unchanged with respect to that on a
regular lattice, i.e., that of directed percolation
Forecasting Large Realized Covariance Matrices: The Benefits of Factor Models and Shrinkage
We propose a model to forecast large realized covariance matrices of returns,
applying it to the constituents of the S\&P 500 daily. To address the curse of
dimensionality, we decompose the return covariance matrix using standard
firm-level factors (e.g., size, value, and profitability) and use sectoral
restrictions in the residual covariance matrix. This restricted model is then
estimated using vector heterogeneous autoregressive (VHAR) models with the
least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO). Our methodology
improves forecasting precision relative to standard benchmarks and leads to
better estimates of minimum variance portfolios
Isolated traumatic dislocation of the cuboid
The cuboid bone stabilizes the lateral column of the foot. It articulates with the midtarsal and tarsometatarsal joints and this anatomically proportionates marked stability to the cuboid. Isolated dislocations of the cuboid a rare ocurrence. The authors present a rare case of an isolated traumatic dislocation of the cuboid bone without fracture and present a short review of the pertinent literature
Genome-wide diversity and differentiation in New World populations of the human malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax.
BACKGROUND: The Americas were the last continent colonized by humans carrying malaria parasites. Plasmodium falciparum from the New World shows very little genetic diversity and greater linkage disequilibrium, compared with its African counterparts, and is clearly subdivided into local, highly divergent populations. However, limited available data have revealed extensive genetic diversity in American populations of another major human malaria parasite, P. vivax. METHODS: We used an improved sample preparation strategy and next-generation sequencing to characterize 9 high-quality P. vivax genome sequences from northwestern Brazil. These new data were compared with publicly available sequences from recently sampled clinical P. vivax isolates from Brazil (BRA, total n = 11 sequences), Peru (PER, n = 23), Colombia (COL, n = 31), and Mexico (MEX, n = 19). PRINCIPAL FINDINGS/CONCLUSIONS: We found that New World populations of P. vivax are as diverse (nucleotide diversity π between 5.2 × 10-4 and 6.2 × 10-4) as P. vivax populations from Southeast Asia, where malaria transmission is substantially more intense. They display several non-synonymous nucleotide substitutions (some of them previously undescribed) in genes known or suspected to be involved in antimalarial drug resistance, such as dhfr, dhps, mdr1, mrp1, and mrp-2, but not in the chloroquine resistance transporter ortholog (crt-o) gene. Moreover, P. vivax in the Americas is much less geographically substructured than local P. falciparum populations, with relatively little between-population genome-wide differentiation (pairwise FST values ranging between 0.025 and 0.092). Finally, P. vivax populations show a rapid decline in linkage disequilibrium with increasing distance between pairs of polymorphic sites, consistent with very frequent outcrossing. We hypothesize that the high diversity of present-day P. vivax lineages in the Americas originated from successive migratory waves and subsequent admixture between parasite lineages from geographically diverse sites. Further genome-wide analyses are required to test the demographic scenario suggested by our data
Effective Action for QED with Fermion Self-Interaction in D=2 and D=3 Dimensions
In this work we discuss the effect of the quartic fermion self-interaction of
Thirring type in QED in D=2 and D=3 dimensions. This is done through the
computation of the effective action up to quadratic terms in the photon field.
We analyze the corresponding nonlocal photon propagators nonperturbatively in %
\frac{k}{m}, where k is the photon momentum and m the fermion mass. The poles
of the propagators were determined numerically by using the Mathematica
software. In D=2 there is always a massless pole whereas for strong enough
Thirring coupling a massive pole may appear . For D=3 there are three regions
in parameters space. We may have one or two massive poles or even no pole at
all. The inter-quark static potential is computed analytically in D=2. We
notice that the Thirring interaction contributes with a screening term to the
confining linear potential of massive QED_{2}. In D=3 the static potential must
be calculated numerically. The screening nature of the massive QED
prevails at any distance, indicating that this is a universal feature of % D=3
electromagnetic interaction. Our results become exact for an infinite number of
fermion flavors.Comment: Latex, 13 pages, 3 figure
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