The neutrino spectral split in core-collapse supernovae: a magnetic resonance phenomenon

A variety of neutrino flavour conversion phenomena occur in core-collapse supernova, due to the large neutrino density close to the neutrinosphere, and the importance of the neutrino-neutrino interaction. Three different regimes have been identified so far, usually called the synchronization, the bipolar oscillations and the spectral split. Using the formalism of polarization vectors, within two-flavours, we focus on the spectral split phenomenon and we show for the first time that the physical mechanism underlying the neutrino spectral split is a magnetic resonance phenomenon. In particular, we show that the precession frequencies fulfill the magnetic resonance conditions. Our numerical calculations show that the neutrino energies and the location at which the resonance takes place in the supernova coincide well with the neutrino energies at which a spectral swap occurs. The corresponding adiabaticity parameters present spikes at the resonance location.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, text and references adde

Shockwaves in Supernovae: New Implications on the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background

We investigate shock wave effects upon the diffuse supernova neutrino background using dynamic profiles taken from hydrodynamical simulations and calculating the neutrino evolution in three flavors with the S-matrix formalism. We show that the shock wave impact is significant and introduces modifications of the relic fluxes by about $20 \%$ and of the associated event rates at the level of $10-20 \%$. Such an effect is important since it is of the same order as the rate variation introduced when different oscillation scenarios (i.e. hierarchy or $\theta_{13}$) are considered. In addition, due to the shock wave, the rates become less sensitive to collective effects, in the inverted hierarchy and when $\sin^2 2 \theta_{13}$ is between the Chooz limit and $10^{-5}$. We propose a simplified model to account for shock wave effects in future predictions.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Citizenship Policies : Hollow Words (where we are going)

Most policies adopted by councils and local authorities only deal with respecting neighbours or public spaces and ignore the participative dimension of citizenship

¿Gestión pública, privada o por el tercer sector? Diferencias en los resultados en atención primaria de Cataluña

Comparar los resultados de los equipos de atención primaria en Cataluña en función de su modelo de gestión y evaluar el impacto de un modelo de gestión conocido como gestión por entidades de base asociativa (EBA). Llevamos a cabo un análisis comparado multidimensional siguiendo una lógica cuasi-experimental a partir de comparar los centros gestionados a través del modelo EBA con otros centros gestionados por el sector público a través del Instituto Catalán de la Salud (ICS) o por el tercer sector a través de consorcios hospitalarios. Barcelona, Cataluña, España. Tenemos en cuenta 368 observaciones (centros de atención primaria) y 18 parámetros medidos en 2015. Distintos métodos de gestión. Comparación de indicadores de actividad, efectividad en el proceso asistencial y eficiencia antes y después de controlar por el indicador socioeconómico del área básica de salud y las características de la región sanitaria. Test de diferencias significativas en las medias de los indicadores según modelo de gestión una vez realizado el emparejamiento conforme a variables clave mediante la técnica Propensity Score Matching. Diferencias significativas en el indicador de carga de trabajo por profesional médico de familia, en cinco indicadores de efectividad en el proceso asistencial y en el coste por usuario. La diversificación del modelo de gestión a través del modelo EBA muestra resultados que se pueden interpretar a favor del mantenimiento o de la ampliación de la aplicación de este modelo de gestión. Si bien los centros gestionados a través del modelo EBA se han implantado en áreas de nivel socioeconómico medio o alto, sus resultados continúan siendo significativamente positivos una vez se controla por el nivel socioeconómico de su área

The effects of economic crises on participatory democracy

This paper examines the impact of economic conditions on participatory democracy. It analyses whether economic crises affect the types of proposals that emerge from local participatory processes and the fate of these proposals. Focusing on more than 500 proposals that emerged from 34 participatory processes in Spain between 2007 and 2011, our study covers a period which straddles the emergence of severe economic problems resulting from the global financial crisis. Applying four different but complementary analytical strategies, we find two types of effects. First, proposals made during the crisis period were less costly though more challenging. Second, local governments implemented a smaller proportion of the proposals that were put forward by the public. These findings suggest that external economic shocks reduce the ability of governments to respond to the demands of citizens, but that citizens also recalibrate their expectations in response to austerity

Is there a gender gap in the sense of duty to vote?

The topic of gender differences in the propensity to vote has been a central theme in political behavior studies for more than seventy years. When trying to explain why the turnout gender gap has shrunk over the last few decades, some scholars have claimed that this might be due to the fact that women are more dutiful than men; however, no study to date has systematically addressed gender differences regarding the sense of civic duty to vote. The present research focused on such differences and empirically tested the role of political interest and moral predispositions on this gender gap. We explored duty levels in nine different Western countries and, most of the time, we found small but significant gender differences in favor of men. Our estimations suggest that this relationship can be explained mainly by the simple fact that women are less interested in politics than men

Les interactions naturelles en réalité virtuelle : impact sur la charge cognitive

International audienceMany of the virtual reality (VR) interaction devices available to the general public rely on the use of controllers. However, theses ones generate some usability constraints. Current availability of new gestural devices provides a more “natural” way to interact in VR, i.e. more intuitive, facilitating learning and especially minimizing cognitive load. However, this last one is rarely taken into account in the literature on VR design and evaluation. In order to fill this gap, we propose to evaluate, within a comparative study, the respective impact of 2 interaction paradigms on the cognitive load and performance of two different user populations (experienced vs. novice): gestural interaction using Leap Motion® (test group) and more traditional interaction using gamepad controllers (control group). Initial results indicate significantly higher cognitive load and significantly lower performance during gestural interaction with the Leap Motion® than during interaction with the controllers. These results highlight technical limitations related to Leap Motion® and the need to improve technically these devices to obtain a robust technologyUne grande partie des dispositifs d’interaction en réalité virtuelle (VR) accessibles au grand public repose sur l’usage des contrôleurs. Or, ces derniers génèrent certaines contraintes d’utilisabilité. La récente disponibilité de dispositifs d’interaction gestuelle permet d’avoir des interactions plus « naturelles » pour l’utilisateur, i.e. plus intuitives, permettant de faciliter l’apprentissage et surtout de minimiser la charge cognitive; or ce dernier trait est peu pris en compte dans la littérature en conception/évaluation VR. Afin de pallier ce manque, nous proposons d’évaluer au sein d'une étude comparative, l’impact respectif de 2 paradigmes d’interaction sur la charge cognitive et les performances de deux populations d’utilisateurs différentes (expérimentée vs. novice) : les interactions gestuelles à l’aide du Leap Motion® (groupe test) et les interactions plus classiques à l’aide de contrôleurs de mouvement de type gamepad (groupe contrôle). Les premiers résultats indiquent une charge cognitive significativement plus élevée et des performances significativement moindres lors de l’interaction gestuelle avec le Leap Motion® que lors de l’interaction avec les contrôleurs et ce, pour les 2 types de population. Ces résultats mettent en évidence les limites techniques liées au Leap Motion® ainsi que la nécessité d’améliorer techniquement ces dispositifs avant de pouvoir aboutir à une technologie robuste

Answering without reading : IMC and Strong Satisficing in Online Surveys

Some respondents of online surveys click responses at random. Screeners or instructional manipulation checks (IMC) have become customary for identifying this strong form of satisficing. This research first analyzes the factors that condition IMC failures using an online panel survey carried out in Spain (2011-2015). Our data show that the probability of passing a screener depends mainly on the screener's difficulty, the individuals' intrinsic motivations for answering the survey, and past failures. We then address the substantive consequences of omitting those who fail to pass IMCs. We find that this strategy introduces an additional source of bias in descriptive analyses. The article ends with a discussion of the implications that these findings have for the use of IMCs

Methodological challenges for the large N study of local participatory experiences. Combining methods and databases

In this article we analyse the effects of different data collection strategies in the study of local participatory experiences in a region of Spain (Andalusia). We examine the divergences and similarities between the data collected using different methods, as well as the implications for the reliability of the data. We have collected participatory experiences through two parallel processes: a survey of municipalities and web content mining. The survey of municipalities used two complementary strategies: an online questionnaire and a CATI follow-up for those municipalities that had not answered our first online contact attempt. Both processes (survey and data mining) were applied to the same sample of municipalities, but provided significantly different images of the characteristics of Andalusia’s participatory landscape. The goal of this work is to discuss the different types of biases introduced by each data collection procedure and their implications for substantive analyses.Peer Reviewe