Dynamic fracture of icosahedral model quasicrystals: A molecular dynamics study

Ebert et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 77, 3827 (1996)] have fractured icosahedral Al-Mn-Pd single crystals in ultrahigh vacuum and have investigated the cleavage planes in-situ by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). Globular patterns in the STM-images were interpreted as clusters of atoms. These are significant structural units of quasicrystals. The experiments of Ebert et al. imply that they are also stable physical entities, a property controversially discussed currently. For a clarification we performed the first large scale fracture simulations on three-dimensional complex binary systems. We studied the propagation of mode I cracks in an icosahedral model quasicrystal by molecular dynamics techniques at low temperature. In particular we examined how the shape of the cleavage plane is influenced by the clusters inherent in the model and how it depends on the plane structure. Brittle fracture with no indication of dislocation activity is observed. The crack surfaces are rough on the scale of the clusters, but exhibit constant average heights for orientations perpendicular to high symmetry axes. From detailed analyses of the fractured samples we conclude that both, the plane structure and the clusters, strongly influence dynamic fracture in quasicrystals and that the clusters therefore have to be regarded as physical entities.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, for associated avi files, see http://www.itap.physik.uni-stuttgart.de/~frohmut/MOVIES/emitted_soundwaves.avi and http://www.itap.physik.uni-stuttgart.de/~frohmut/MOVIES/dynamic_fracture.av

The role of model risk in extreme value theory for capital adequacy

© 2016 Incisive Risk Information (IP) Limited. In the recent literature, methods from extreme value theory (EVT) have frequently been applied to the estimation of tail risk measures. While previous analyses show that EVT methods often lead to accurate estimates for risk measures, a potential drawback lies in large standard errors of the point estimates in these methods, as only a fraction of the data set is used. Thus, we comprehensively study the impact of model risk on EVT methods when determining the value-at-risk and expected shortfall. We distinguish between first-order effects of model risk, which consist of misspecification and estimation risk, and second-order effects of model risk, which refer to the dispersion of risk measure estimates, and show that EVT methods are less prone to first-order effects. However, they show a greater sensitivity toward secondorder effects.We find that this can lead to severe value-at-risk and expected shortfall underestimations and should be reflected in regulatory capital models

When resources collide: Towards a theory of coincidence in information spaces

This paper is an attempt to lay out foundations for a general theory of coincidence in information spaces such as the World Wide Web, expanding on existing work on bursty structures in document streams and information cascades. We elaborate on the hypothesis that every resource that is published in an information space, enters a temporary interaction with another resource once a unique explicit or implicit reference between the two is found. This thought is motivated by Erwin Shroedingers notion of entanglement between quantum systems. We present a generic information cascade model that exploits only the temporal order of information sharing activities, combined with inherent properties of the shared information resources. The approach was applied to data from the world's largest online citizen science platform Zooniverse and we report about findings of this case study

Evidence of fNIRS-based prefrontal cortex hypoactivity in obesity and binge-eating disorder

Obesity (OB) and associated binge-eating disorder (BED) show increased impulsivity and emotional dysregulation. Albeit well-established in neuropsychiatric research, functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has rarely been used to study OB and BED. Here, we investigated fNIRS-based food-specific brain signalling, its association with impulsivity and emotional dysregulation, and the temporal variability in individuals with OB with and without BED compared to an age- and sex-stratified normal weight (NW) group. Prefrontal cortex (PFC) responses were recorded in individuals with OB (n = 15), OB + BED (n = 13), and NW (n = 12) in a passive viewing and a response inhibition task. Impulsivity and emotional dysregulation were self-reported; anthropometrics were objectively measured. The OB and NW groups were measured twice 7 days apart. Relative to the NW group, the OB and OB + BED groups showed PFC hyporesponsivity across tasks, whereas there were few significant differences between the OB and OB + BED groups. Greater levels of impulsivity were significantly associated with stronger PFC responses, while more emotional dysregulation was significantly associated with lower PFC responses. Temporal differences were found in the left orbitofrontal cortex responses, yet in opposite directions in the OB and NW groups. This study demonstrated diminished fNIRS-based PFC responses across OB phenotypes relative to a NW group. The association between impulsivity, emotional dysregulation, and PFC hypoactivity supports the assumption that BED constitutes a specific OB phenotype

Clinical skills of veterinary students - a cross-sectional study of the self-concept and exposure to skills training in Hannover, Germany

Background: Students of veterinary medicine should achieve basic professional competences required to practise their profession. A main focus of veterinary education is on developing clinical skills. The present study used the guidelines of the "Day-One Skills" list of European Association of Establishments for Veterinary Education (EAEVE) to create an online questionnaire for assessing the skills acquired by students at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo). The theoretical and practical veterinary knowledge levels of the students and postgraduates are determined and compared. Results: In two batches, 607 people responded (response batch 1, 23.78%; response batch 2, 23.83%). From 49 defined skills, 28 are actually practised during training at the university and 21 activities are known only theoretically. Furthermore, the students showed great willingness to use simulators and models in a clinical skills lab. Conclusions: The results of this survey highlight that the opening of a clinical skills lab at the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover and its incorporation into the study programme are ideal tools to promote practical competences and foster the motivation to learn