Sensitivity analysis of oscillator models in the space of phase-response curves: Oscillators as open systems

Oscillator models are central to the study of system properties such as entrainment or synchronization. Due to their nonlinear nature, few system-theoretic tools exist to analyze those models. The paper develops a sensitivity analysis for phase-response curves, a fundamental one-dimensional phase reduction of oscillator models. The proposed theoretical and numerical analysis tools are illustrated on several system-theoretic questions and models arising in the biology of cellular rhythms

De Pygmaeorum bellis sive de argumento antiquo in carmen heroico-comicum converso

De Pygmaeorum bellis sive de argumento antiquo in carmen heroico-comicum converso The theme of the battle or the war between the Pygmies and the cranes is an ancient one. Homer already alludes to it in the Iliad. Various testimonies make clear that it was dealt with in a Greek poem which must have had some similarity with the famous Batrachomyomachia. Later Greek and Latin authors offer bits of information about the Pygmies, the cranes and the alleged origins of their conflicts, as well as the vicissitudes of their battles. Not unsurprisingly, some modern authors, writing either in the vernacular or in Latin, have tried to fill the gap and have written on the theme. In Neo-Latin poetry the most famous treatment of it was the Pugmaio-geranomachia written around the end of the seventeenth century by the famous English Neo-Latin poet Joseph Addison (1672-1719), a mock-epic highly admired in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. In France, Théodule Paillard-Fernel (1807-1877) wrote another Latin poem on these battles: his Latin poem (bearing the French title Combat mémorable entre les pygmées et les grues), dating from 1824, was undoubtedly inspired by Addison. Prior to these two poets, Jacques Moireau, an priest of the Oratory (1622-1666) who lived and worked in France, wrote a Neo-Latin epic with the title Pygmaeidos libri VIII sive poëtica classicae iuventutis paegnia, which, however, did not influence or inspire in any way Addison or Paillard-Fernel. Moireau’s Pygmaeis, though issued two times (Vendôme 1676 and Angers 1682), remains completely unknown to modern Neo-Latin scholars: thus, it is absent from Ludwig Braun’s recent (2007) catalogue and survey of Neo-Latin epic in France, 1500-1700. Moireau’s Pygmaeis is an out-of-the-ordinary epic poem. Contrary to Addison and Paillard-Fernel, this poet did not treat the theme in a serious way, so as to make the reader smile at the funny contrast between the elevated style of the epic and the insignificance of its protagonists; instead, he wrote a burlesque poem – a genre of poetry which in itself is rather exceptional in Neo-Latin literature – undermining both the contents and the style of traditional epic poetry. Thus, he proceeded in exactly the same way in Latin as Scarron did in French; not by coincidence, it is said that Scarron has been influenced by Moireau, a point which would require further study, since virtually nothing is known about Moireau’s life and activities. Since the poem remains unexplored until the present day, a survey of the contents of the eight books opens the presentation of the work. The rest of the talk deals with the characteristics of the poem and highlights some of its most funny passages. Thus attention is paid to the absolutely not heroic character of many of its ‘heroes’ (actually, it happens that female warriors are depicted as being more brave), the anachronisms adorning the poem (thus the poem, the time of action of which is situated in ancient Greek history, features such characters as a cowardly Cicero, the printer Plantin, the cartographer Ortelius, the humanists Despauterius and Lambinus, the scientist Galileo Galilei, a Turkish immigrant called Mustapha, etc.), the parody of epic commonplaces (e.g. the very wittily perverted descriptions of sunrise and sunset, or the council of the Gods), the insertion of truisms, and the subversion of the epic style itself (Moireau deliberately uses a mixture of styles, and noticeably introduces trivial images, words that are not fitting into the high style of epic, and semi-Latin vocabulary).Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Electrical neurostimulation for chronic pain: on selective relay of sensory neural activities in myelinated nerve fibers

Chronic pain affects about 100 million adults in the US. Despite their great need, neuropharmacology and neurostimulation therapies for chronic pain have been associated with suboptimal efficacy and limited long-term success, as their mechanisms of action are unclear. Yet current computational models of pain transmission suffer from several limitations. In particular, dorsal column models do not include the fundamental underlying sensory activity traveling in these nerve fibers. We developed a (simple) simulation test bed of electrical neurostimulation of myelinated nerve fibers with underlying sensory activity. This paper reports our findings so far. Interactions between stimulation-evoked and underlying activities are mainly due to collisions of action potentials and losses of excitability due to the refractory period following an action potential. In addition, intuitively, the reliability of sensory activity decreases as the stimulation frequency increases. This first step opens the door to a better understanding of pain transmission and its modulation by neurostimulation therapies

L’écriture de la torture comme art romanesque : Pensée éthique et création littéraire dans Le maître de jeu de Sergio Kokis

Le roman de Sergio Kokis Le maître de jeu propose une double réflexion sur l’éthique et l’écriture romanesque, et pose une question essentielle : comment écrire un récit de torture ? Au-delà de l’histoire et de ses personnages, cette étude du roman s’attardera au registre du corps du torturé, à interroger la façon dont on passe du témoignage (le récit) à l’écriture (le roman) et à voir comment la pensée éthique transforme la narration. Tenter de cerner ces éléments implique un désir de comprendre les enjeux éthiques et les problèmes romanesques qui sous-tendent cette histoire de torture. Cette réflexion se prolonge par une interrogation sur le bien et le mal, notions présentées à travers la pensée Nietzsche ou les romans de Dostoïevski lors des échanges — souvent ludiques ou ironiques — entre le narrateur et un visiteur qui prétend être Dieu.Sergio Kokis’s novel Le Maître de jeu suggests a twofold reflection on ethics and novel-writing, and asks a fundamental question: how can you write a story of torture? Going beyond character and plot, this study of the novel focuses on the register of the tortured person’s body, asks how one goes from bearing witness (the story) to writing (the novel), and indicates how the narrative is transformed by ethical thinking. Attempting to work out these elements implies a desire to understand the ethical issues and novelistic problems underlying this story of torture. The analysis leads to questions about good and evil, concepts that are presented through the thought of Nietzsche or the novels of Dostoievski during exchanges—often playful or ironic—between the narrator and a visitor who claims to be God.Le Maître de jeu, novela de Sergio Kokis, propone una doble reflexión sobre la ética y la escritura novelesca y plantea una cuestión esencial: ¿Cómo escribir un relato de tortura? Más allá de la historia y sus personajes, nuestro estudio de la novela se detendrá en el registro del cuerpo del torturado, en interrogarse sobre la forma en que se pasa del testimonio (el relato) a la escritura (la novela) y ver cómo el pensamiento ético transforma la narración. Tratar de delimitar estos elementos implica un deseo de comprender los retos éticos y los problemas novelescos en que se apoya esta historia de tortura. Esta reflexión se prolonga en una interrogación sobre el bien y el mal, nociones presentadas a través del pensamiento de Nietzsche o las novelas de Dostoïevski durante los intercambios —con frecuencia lúdicos o irónicos— entre el narrador y un visitante que pretende ser Dios

Kick synchronization versus diffusive synchronization

The paper provides an introductory discussion about two fundamental models of oscillator synchronization: the (continuous-time) diffusive model, that dominates the mathematical literature on synchronization, and the (hybrid) kick model, that accounts for most popular examples of synchronization, but for which only few theoretical results exist. The paper stresses fundamental differences between the two models, such as the different contraction measures underlying the analysis, as well as important analogies that can be drawn in the limit of weak coupling.Peer reviewe

When students rally for anti-racism : engaging with racial literacy in higher education

Despite a decade of diversity policy plans, a wave of student rallies has ignited debates across western European university campuses. We observe these debates from a situated call for anti-racism in Belgian higher education institutions, and critically reflect on the gap between diversity policy discourse and calls for anti-racism. The students' initiatives make a plea for racial literacy in the curriculum, to foster a critical awareness on how racial hierarchies have been educated through curricula and institutional processes. Students rethink race as a matter to be (un)learned. This pedagogical question, on racial literacy in the curriculum, is a response to diversity policies often silent about race and institutionalised racisms. Students request a fundamental appeal of knowledgeability in relation to race; diversity policy mostly envisions working on (racial) representation, as doing anti-racist work. This article argues how racial literacy might offer productive ways to bridge the disparities between students' calls for anti-racism and the institutional (depoliticised) vocabulary of diversity. We implement Stuart Hall's critical race theory and Jacques Ranciere's subjectification as key concepts to study and theorise these calls for anti-racism as a racial literacy project. This project can be built around engagement as educational concept. We coin possibilities to deploy education as a forum of engagement and dialogue where global asymmetries such as race, gender and citizenship can be critically addressed

Thermal Performance of the LHC External Auxiliary Bus-Bar Tube: Mathematical Modelling

The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) externally routed auxiliary bus-bar tube (EAB) will house the electrical feeders of the LHC short straight section (SSS) correcting magnets. The superconducting wires w ill be contained in a stainless steel tube and immersed in a quasi-static helium bath. The EAB thermal performance during the cooling of the magnets down to the operating temperature of 1.9 K is studi ed. A 3-d finite element thermal model of the EAB during a cooling process from 293 K to 4.5 K is described. The semi-analytical model of the EAB cool-down from 4.5 K to 1.9 K is also presented

C.R. Prod. Discog. in ABS Magazine n°80 - part 2

C.R. : DOKTU RHUTE MUUZIC ( Doctor Roots Music) & HIGHWAY "Live in Helsinki" Backbeat Rec. BBCD024 - - DETONICS "Detonized" Naked NP068 - - BIG AL & THE HEAVYWEIGHTS "Love One Another" Vizztome Label Group VT-BA01 - - ERIC DEMMER "So Fine" Gulf Coast Rec. - - PATTY TUITE "Hard Case of the Blues" Treat City Prod. - - VANESSA COLLIER "Live at Power Station" Phoenix Fire Rec. - -BRAD GUITAR WILSON Cali Bee Rec