1,094 research outputs found
The Index Distribution of Gaussian Random Matrices
We compute analytically, for large N, the probability distribution of the
number of positive eigenvalues (the index N_{+}) of a random NxN matrix
belonging to Gaussian orthogonal (\beta=1), unitary (\beta=2) or symplectic
(\beta=4) ensembles. The distribution of the fraction of positive eigenvalues
c=N_{+}/N scales, for large N, as Prob(c,N)\simeq\exp[-\beta N^2 \Phi(c)] where
the rate function \Phi(c), symmetric around c=1/2 and universal (independent of
), is calculated exactly. The distribution has non-Gaussian tails, but
even near its peak at c=1/2 it is not strictly Gaussian due to an unusual
logarithmic singularity in the rate function.Comment: 4 pages Revtex, 4 .eps figures include
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Bump start needed: linking guidelines, policy and practice in promoting physical activity during and beyond pregnancy
First paragraph: There is compelling evidence that regular physical activity (PA) during pregnancy benefits both mother and baby.1 2 Notably, physical and psychological benefits are evident in the literature, such as marked reductions in the development of gestational diabetes and hypertensive disorders, alongside improvements in depressive symptoms and cardiorespiratory fitness.1 2 The evidence base has been reflected by recent policy initiatives, for example, in 2017 (relaunched in 2019), the UK‘s chief medical officers (CMOs) published PA guidelines for pregnant women, which made substantial strides in unifying and translating the evidence into recommendations.1 The CMO guidelines are aimed at supporting health professionals to provide consistent, evidence-based PA messages to women throughout pregnancy.1 Recently, the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity have updated their professional standards for working with antenatal and postnatal clients to align with these CMO guidelines.3 However, not all women have access to professionals with this level of expertise and training, potentially limiting the impact of the CMO guidelines
Spectra of Empirical Auto-Covariance Matrices
We compute spectra of sample auto-covariance matrices of second order
stationary stochastic processes. We look at a limit in which both the matrix
dimension and the sample size used to define empirical averages
diverge, with their ratio kept fixed. We find a remarkable scaling
relation which expresses the spectral density of sample
auto-covariance matrices for processes with dynamical correlations as a
continuous superposition of appropriately rescaled copies of the spectral
density for a sequence of uncorrelated random
variables. The rescaling factors are given by the Fourier transform
of the auto-covariance function of the stochastic process. We also obtain a
closed-form approximation for the scaling function
. This depends on the shape parameter , but
is otherwise universal: it is independent of the details of the underlying
random variables, provided only they have finite variance. Our results are
corroborated by numerical simulations using auto-regressive processes.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
Overcoming the risk of inaction from emissions uncertainty in smallholder agriculture
The potential for improving productivity and increasing the resilience of smallholder agriculture, while also contributing to climate change mitigation, has recently received considerable political attention (Beddington et al 2012). Financial support for improving smallholder agriculture could come from performance-based funding including sale of carbon credits or certified commodities, payments for ecosystem services, and nationally appropriate mitigation action (NAMA) budgets, as well as more traditional sources of development and environment finance. Monitoring the greenhouse gas fluxes associated with changes to agricultural practice is needed for performance-based mitigation funding, and efforts are underway to develop tools to quantify mitigation achieved and assess trade-offs and synergies between mitigation and other livelihood and environmental priorities (Olander 2012)
Carbon nanofiber-supported tantalum oxides as durable catalyst for the oxygen evolution reaction in alkaline media
Active and durable electrocatalysts for the oxygen evolution reaction (OER), capable of replacing noble metal catalysts, are required to develop efficient and competitive devices within the frame of the water electrolysis technology for hydrogen production. In this work, we have investigated tantalum based catalysts supported on carbon nanofibers (CNF) for the first time. The effect of CNF characteristics and the catalyst annealing temperature on the electrochemical response for the OER have been analyzed in alkaline environment using a rotating ring disc electrode (RRDE). The best OER activity and oxygen efficiency were found with a highly graphitic CNF, despite its lower surface area, synthesized at 700 °C, and upon a catalyst annealing temperature of 800 °C. The ordering degree of carbon nanofibers favors the production of oxygen in combination with a low oxygen content in tantalum oxides. The most active catalyst exhibited also an excellent durability.The authors want to thank the Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (MICINN) and FEDER for the received funding in the project of reference ENE2017-83976-C2-1-R, and to the Gobierno de Aragón (DGA) for the funding to Grupo de Investigación Conversión de Combustibles ( T06_17R ). J.C. Ruiz-Cornejo acknowledges DGA for his PhD grant. D. Sebastián acknowledges the MICINN for the Ramón y Cajal research contract (RyC-2016-20944
Eroding market stability by proliferation of financial instruments
We contrast Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT), the theoretical basis for the
development of financial instruments, with a dynamical picture of an
interacting market, in a simple setting. The proliferation of financial
instruments apparently provides more means for risk diversification, making the
market more efficient and complete. In the simple market of interacting traders
discussed here, the proliferation of financial instruments erodes systemic
stability and it drives the market to a critical state characterized by large
susceptibility, strong fluctuations and enhanced correlations among risks. This
suggests that the hypothesis of APT may not be compatible with a stable market
dynamics. In this perspective, market stability acquires the properties of a
common good, which suggests that appropriate measures should be introduced in
derivative markets, to preserve stability.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figure
Effectiveness of a training course on smoking cessation knowledge and behaviour for health profession students. The SISMA project
Introduction. University students are at risk of starting smoking or continuing and increasing the consumption of tobacco products. The aim of the study was to assess the impact of the training course, Sisma Project, about smoking in healthcare degree courses, in terms of knowledge, behaviour and to evaluate the course. Methods. SISMA project was a pre- post study about an intervention delivered to healthcare profession students about smoking and smoking cessation. It had a before-after design and was an online optional course available on the eLearning platform Moodle 2. The course was structured in four lessons of sixty minutes, a debate among experts and a final test of evaluation. The McNemar test was used to measure the effectiveness of Sisma on smoking behaviour of students after the intervention. Students rated the course assigning a score from one to ten, and expressed free comments about point of strength and weakness of Sisma project. Results. The participants were 365 students, 28.5% males and 71.5% females, most were nursing 194 (53.2%) and dental hygienists students 105 (28.8%). Current smokers were 161 (44.1%) before and 142 (38.9%) after the course, there was statistical significant difference in smoking status after attending the course (p < 0.001). Students evaluated the course giving a high score with a mean of 8.13 (SD: 1.1); the main points of strength were the content (33.2%), the structure (15.6%) and knowledge given by the course (12.6%). The main point of weakness were the online structure 62 (37%), problem related to length and time 17 (10%) and the final test 15 (9%). Discussion. Given the central role health professionals play in patient care, students need to be aware and trained in tobacco cessation techniques. Our results indicate that smoking behaviour significantly changed after attending a university course for smoking cessation and students appreciated its contents and structure
Strong anisotropy in surface kinetic roughening: analysis and experiments
We report an experimental assessment of surface kinetic roughening properties
that are anisotropic in space. Working for two specific instances of silicon
surfaces irradiated by ion-beam sputtering under diverse conditions (with and
without concurrent metallic impurity codeposition), we verify the predictions
and consistency of a recently proposed scaling Ansatz for surface observables
like the two-dimensional (2D) height Power Spectral Density (PSD). In contrast
with other formulations, this Ansatz is naturally tailored to the study of
two-dimensional surfaces, and allows to readily explore the implications of
anisotropic scaling for other observables, such as real-space correlation
functions and PSD functions for 1D profiles of the surface. Our results confirm
that there are indeed actual experimental systems whose kinetic roughening is
strongly anisotropic, as consistently described by this scaling analysis. In
the light of our work, some types of experimental measurements are seen to be
more affected by issues like finite space resolution effects, etc. that may
hinder a clear-cut assessment of strongly anisotropic scaling in the present
and other practical contexts
Metric characterization of cluster dynamics on the Sierpinski gasket
We develop and implement an algorithm for the quantitative characterization
of cluster dynamics occurring on cellular automata defined on an arbitrary
structure. As a prototype for such systems we focus on the Ising model on a
finite Sierpsinski Gasket, which is known to possess a complex thermodynamic
behavior. Our algorithm requires the projection of evolving configurations into
an appropriate partition space, where an information-based metrics (Rohlin
distance) can be naturally defined and worked out in order to detect the
changing and the stable components of clusters. The analysis highlights the
existence of different temperature regimes according to the size and the rate
of change of clusters. Such regimes are, in turn, related to the correlation
length and the emerging "critical" fluctuations, in agreement with previous
thermodynamic analysis, hence providing a non-trivial geometric description of
the peculiar critical-like behavior exhibited by the system. Moreover, at high
temperatures, we highlight the existence of different time scales controlling
the evolution towards chaos.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure
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