Impact of off-shell dynamics on the transport properties and the dynamical evolution of Charm Quarks at RHIC and LHC temperatures

We evaluate drag and diffusion transport coefficients comparing a quasi-particle approximation with on-shell constituents of the QGP medium and a dynamical quasi-particles model with off-shell bulk medium at finite temperature T. We study the effects of the width $\gamma$ of the particles of the bulk medium on the charm quark transport properties exploring the range where $\gamma < M_{q,g}$. We find that off-shell effects are in general quite moderate and can induce a reduction of the drag coefficient at low momenta that disappear already at moderate momenta, $p \gtrsim 2-3\, \rm GeV$. We also observe a moderate reduction of the breaking of the Fluctuation-Dissipation theorem (FDT) at finite momenta. Moreover, we have performed a first study of the dynamical evolution of HQ elastic energy loss in a bulk medium at fixed temperature extending the Boltzmann (BM) collision integral to include off-shell dynamics. A comparison among the Langevin dynamics, the BM collisional integral with on-shell and the BM extension to off-shell dynamics shows that the evolution of charm energy when off-shell effects are included remain quite similar to the case of the on-shell BM collision integral.Comment: 13 pages, 14 figure

Sensors for Rate Responsive Pacing

Advances in pacemaker technology in the 1980s have generated a wide variety of complex multiprogrammable pacemakers and pacing modes. The aim of the present review is to address the different rate responsive pacing modalities presently available in respect to physiological situations and pathological conditions. Rate adaptive pacing has been shown to improve exercise capacity in patients with chronotropic incompetence. A number of activity and metabolic sensors have been proposed and used for rate control. However, all sensors used to optimize pacing rate metabolic demands show typical limitations. To overcome these weaknesses the use of two sensors has been proposed. Indeed an unspecific but fast reacting sensor is combined with a more specific but slower metabolic one. Clinical studies have demonstrated that this methodology is suitable to reproduce normal sinus behavior during different types and loads of exercise. Sensor combinations require adequate sensor blending and cross checking possibly controlled by automatic algorithms for sensors optimization and simplicity of programming. Assessment and possibly deactivation of some automatic functions should be also possible to maximize benefits from the dual sensor system in particular conditions. This is of special relevance in patient whose myocardial contractility is limited such as in subjects with implantable defibrillators and biventricular pacemakers. The concept of closed loop pacing, implementing a negative feedback relating pacing rate and the control signal, will provide new opportunities to optimize dual-sensors system and deserves further investigation. The integration of rate adaptive pacing into defibrillators is the natural consequence of technical evolution

Cold-storage of Piezodorus guildinii (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) eggs for rearing Telenomus podisi (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae)

Piezodorus guildinii (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae) is an important soybean pest, and one of its main natural enemies is Telenomus podisi (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae). Rearing of the parasitoid is constrained by the hosts' egg quality, which deteriorates after few generations in laboratory, therefore, cold-stored host eggs utilization could be a useful tool for augmentative biological control. Thus, the objective was to evaluate the quality of P. guildinii cold-stored eggs, on the performance of parental and F1 generation of T. podisi. Hosteggs 24 hour old were stored at -18°C for one (N= 53), two (N= 28) or three months (N= 29), and approximately 40 host eggs were offered to a T. podisi female per treatment, for 48 hours. The control treatment consisted of 24-hour-old non-frozen host eggs, obtained and kept at 24°C (N= 55). Parental generation parasitism and progeny´s emergence on frozen eggs was significantly lower than on non-frozen eggs, even for the shorter storage period. Male proportion and preimaginal development time of the progeny increased with freezing period. However, parasitism proportion caused by adults of F1, and emergence, male proportion, and preimaginal development time of F2 were not affected. Although the performance of T. podisi on frozen P. guildinii eggs was significantly lower than on nonfrozen ones, host eggs storage for up to two months allowed obtaining a parasitism rate of 40% with a high emergence rate. This could be helpful enough to maintain mass rearings, mainly during the host hibernation period, and to enhance field parasitism when host is scarce.Fil: Cingolani, Maria Fernanda. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Greco, Nancy Mabel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; ArgentinaFil: Liljesthrom, Gerardo Gustavo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Museo. Centro de Estudios Parasitológicos y de Vectores; Argentin

Semiparametric CRB and Slepian-Bangs formulas for Complex Elliptically Symmetric Distributions

The main aim of this paper is to extend the semiparametric inference methodology, recently investigated for Real Elliptically Symmetric (RES) distributions, to Complex Elliptically Symmetric (CES) distributions. The generalization to the complex field is of fundamental importance in all practical applications that exploit the complex representation of the acquired data. Moreover, the CES distributions has been widely recognized as a valuable and general model to statistically describe the non-Gaussian behaviour of datasets originated from a wide variety of physical measurement processes. The paper is divided in two parts. In the first part, a closed form expression of the constrained Semiparametric Cram\'{e}r-Rao Bound (CSCRB) for the joint estimation of complex mean vector and complex scatter matrix of a set of CES-distributed random vectors is obtained by exploiting the so-called \textit{Wirtinger} or $\mathbb{C}\mathbb{R}$-\textit{calculus}. The second part deals with the derivation of the semiparametric version of the Slepian-Bangs formula in the context of the CES model. Specifically, the proposed Semiparametric Slepian-Bangs (SSB) formula provides us with a useful and ready-to-use expression of the Semiparametric Fisher Information Matrix (SFIM) for the estimation of a parameter vector parametrizing the complex mean and the complex scatter matrix of a CES-distributed vector in the presence of unknown, nuisance, density generator. Furthermore, we show how to exploit the derived SSB formula to obtain the semiparametric counterpart of the Stochastic CRB for Direction of Arrival (DOA) estimation under a random signal model assumption. Simulation results are also provided to clarify the theoretical findings and to demonstrate their usefulness in common array processing applications.Comment: Submitted to IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1807.08505, arXiv:1807.0893

The nature of accessibility studies

Accessibility has come to play a pivotal role on the world's stage, gradually pervading different aspects of our lives as well as a vast range of fields, giving rise to a plethora of fruitful new ideas, methods and models, and becoming an ever more key issue within a process that is reshaping the very fabric of society. The ubiquitous effects of accessibility have led to the emergence of a new research field, namely accessibility studies (AS). This paper presents both the path that has led towards the emergence of AS as well as the distinctive features of this new field. AS is defined as the field concerned with the investigation of accessibility processes and phenomena, and the design, implementation and evaluation of accessibility-based and accessibility-oriented methodologies. The analysis is carried out mainly, though not exclusively, in reference to media accessibility (MA), as it is one of the most mature areas in which the process of the formation of AS has been taking place. It concludes by arguing that AS is a timely field that addresses the most pressing issues our society is facing nowadays and appealing to MA to embrace its identity as an area of AS

Towards a pedagogy of accessibility: The need for critical learning spaces in media accessibility education and training

Until now, the debate on education and training in accessibility has largely ignored the core competences of the accessibility expert, as it has tended to focus exclusively on context- and field-related skills. Looking at the case of media accessibility through the critical lens of accessibility studies, the article calls for the development of a theoretical reflection on education and training. Such reflection could then solidly support extensive investigation of the specific skills of accessibility researchers, professionals and policy-makers, frame analyses of current programmes, and strengthen proposals for new curricula and professional profiles. The article contributes to such a reflection by advancing and discussing the inclusion of critical learning spaces within vocation- and research-oriented courses. Using the critical lens of accessibility studies, the article also investigates whether education and training in audiovisual translation and media accessibility have been mostly dominated by some discriminatory normative frameworks, such as the medical model of disability, and how this is influenced by and in turn influences practices. The article suggests that this problem requires a (re)design of education (and practices) using the tools that constitute the critical apparatus of accessibility studies, such as the human variation paradigm, the social model of accessibility, the universalist account of access, the poietic model of agency, and proactive and user-centred approaches. Ultimately, the article outlines the very first traits of a pedagogy of accessibility, that is, a systematic approach to the practice(s) of teaching and learning accessibilit