Co-Operative Punishment Cements Social Cohesion

Most current attempts to explain the evolution - through individual selection - of pro-social behavior (i.e. behavior that favors the group) that allows for cohesive societies among non related individuals, focus on altruistic punishment as its evolutionary driving force. The main theoretical problem facing this line of research is that in the exercise of altruistic punishment the benefits of punishment are enjoyed collectively while its costs are borne individually. We propose that social cohesion might be achieved by a form of punishment, widely practiced among humans and animals forming bands and engaging in mob beatings, which we call co-operative punishment. This kind of punishment is contingent upon - not independent from - the concurrent participation of other actors. Its costs can be divided among group members in the same way as its benefits are, and it will be favoured by evolution as long as the benefits exceed the costs. We show with computer simulations that co-operative punishment is an evolutionary stable strategy that performs better in evolutionary terms than non-cooperative punishment, and demonstrate the evolvability and sustainability of pro-social behavior in an environment where not necessarily all individuals participate in co-operative punishment. Co-operative punishment together with pro-social behavior produces a self reinforcing system that allows the emergence of a 'Darwinian Leviathan' that strengthens social institutions.Altruism, Cooperation, Social, Prosocial, Cohesion, Evolution, Punishment, Retribution

Nongaussianity from Tachyonic Preheating in Hybrid Inflation

In a previous work we showed that large nongaussianities and nonscale-invariant distortions in the CMB power spectrum can be generated in hybrid inflation models, due to the contributions of the tachyon (waterfall) field to the second order curvature perturbation. Here we clarify, correct, and extend those results. We show that large nongaussianity occurs only when the tachyon remains light throughout inflation, whereas n=4 contamination to the spectrum is the dominant effect when the tachyon is heavy. We find constraints on the parameters of warped-throat brane-antibrane inflation from nongaussianity. For F-term and D-term inflation models from supergravity, we obtain nontrivial constraints from the spectral distortion effect. We also establish that our analysis applies to complex tachyon fields.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures. Comments added to introductio

Detection of Fog Network Data Telemetry Using Data Plane Programming

Fog computing has been introduced to deliver Cloud-based services to the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. It locates geographically closer to IoT devices than Cloud networks and aims at offering latency-critical computation and storage to end-user applications. To leverage Fog computing for computational offloading from end-users, it is important to optimize resources in the Fog nodes dynamically. Provisioning requires knowledge of the current network state, thus, monitoring mechanisms play a significant role to conduct resource management in the network. To keep track of the state of devices, we use P4, a data-plane programming language, to describe data-plane abstraction of Fog network devices and collect telemetry without the intervention of the control plane or adding a big amount of overhead. In this paper, we propose a software-defined architecture with a programmable data plane for data telemetry detection that can be integrated into Fog network resource management. After the implementation of detecting data telemetry based on In-Band Network Telemetry (INT) within a Mininet simulation, we show the available features and preliminary Fog resource management based on the collected data telemetry and future telemetry-based traffic engineering possibilities

Next-Generation SDN and Fog Computing: A New Paradigm for SDN-Based Edge Computing

In the last few years, we have been able to see how terms like Mobile Edge Computing, Cloudlets, and Fog computing have arisen as concepts that reach a level of popularity to express computing towards network Edge. Shifting some processing tasks from the Cloud to the Edge brings challenges to the table that might have been non-considered before in next-generation Software-Defined Networking (SDN). Efficient routing mechanisms, Edge Computing, and SDN applications are challenging to deploy as controllers are expected to have different distributions. In particular, with the advances of SDN and the P4 language, there are new opportunities and challenges that next-generation SDN has for Fog computing. The development of new pipelines along with the progress regarding control-to-data plane programming protocols can also promote data and control plane function offloading. We propose a new mechanism of deploying SDN control planes both locally and remotely to attend different challenges. We encourage researchers to develop new ways to functionally deploying Fog and Cloud control planes that let cross-layer planes interact by deploying specific control and data plane applications. With our proposal, the control and data plane distribution can provide a lower response time for locally deployed applications (local control plane). Besides, it can still be beneficial for a centralized and remotely placed control plane, for applications such as path computation within the same network and between separated networks (remote control plane)

El impacto de la cultura de “Confederación de Facultades”. Caso UNMdP

La historia del desarrollo de las Universidades Nacionales en Argentina marca la existencia de una forma estructural o cultura organizacional predominante donde cada Universidad difícilmente llega a ser un TODO, sino más bien una SUMA de LAS PARTES denominado por algunos como “Federación o Confederación de Facultades”. Esto suele determinar un funcionamiento institucional en donde el mayor peso relativo de la organización se encuentra disperso como un racimo de elementos o secciones (las Facultades/Escuelas), y que provoca que su gestión y administración central (el Rectorado) mediante la aplicación de políticas comunes sea en extremo compleja, y por ende la consecución de los objetivos y misiones institucionales sea más lento, engorroso y difícil de lo debido. El trabajo, que representara mis avances para la versión final de mi Tesis de Graduación de la Maestría en Gestión Universitaria de la UNMdP, pretende entonces, analizar la conformación histórica y la actualidad de la cultura organizacional llamada “Confederación de Facultades” y proponer algunas medidas de apaciguamiento de la misma, tomando como referencia a la UNMdP

Interlacing inequalities and control theory

AbstractGiven a p by p matrix A, we solve the problem of the existence of a p by q matrix B such that (A,B) has prescribed controllability indices and [λIp−A,−B] has prescribed invariant polynomials. The solution of this problem, together with an earlier theorem of the author's, is used to provide a new proof of the Sá-Thompson interlacing inequalities for invariant polynomials

Characterization of Automatically Reticulated Shape Memory Polymer Foams

Polyurethane shape memory polymer (SMP) foams have been shown to be biocompatible within porcine models and show potential to treat intracranial saccular aneurysms in patients, and use in other medical applications. After initial fabrication, SMP foams are closed-celled foams, a property that could potentially slow or inhibit complete healing of an aneurysm, limiting the potential for use of the foam as a medical application or as potential scaffolds for tissue engineering applications. Mechanical reticulation of SMP foams is a process that creates a network of open-celled pores within SMP foam while preserving the backbone framework of the foam. This process provides pathways for fluid diffusion and the accumulation of clotting factors within the bulk volume of the material; a property useful for SMP foams in medical application and potentially for tissue scaffolds. However, reticulation is also an arduous process that requires a significant time investment. An automated mechanical reticulation system will be used in order to process SMP foams at varying degrees of reticulation, the results of which will be characterized. SMP foams will be studied by changing the density of open-celled pores within a unit area of the foam. The goal of this optimization process will be to characterize the porous media properties, mechanical properties, and recovery volumes of SMP foams as a function of the number of pathways per unit area. Future work will test these relationships in vivo and evaluate their effectiveness at occluding intracranial aneurysms