Quantum stochastic walks on networks for decision-making

Recent experiments report violations of the classical law of total probability and incompatibility of certain mental representations when humans process and react to information. Evidence shows promise of a more general quantum theory providing a better explanation of the dynamics and structure of real decision-making processes than classical probability theory. Inspired by this, we show how the behavioral choice-probabilities can arise as the unique stationary distribution of quantum stochastic walkers on the classical network defined from Luce''s response probabilities. This work is relevant because (i) we provide a very general framework integrating the positive characteristics of both quantum and classical approaches previously in confrontation, and (ii) we define a cognitive network which can be used to bring other connectivist approaches to decision-making into the quantum stochastic realm. We model the decision-maker as an open system in contact with her surrounding environment, and the time-length of the decision-making process reveals to be also a measure of the process'' degree of interplay between the unitary and irreversible dynamics. Implementing quantum coherence on classical networks may be a door to better integrate human-like reasoning biases in stochastic models for decision-making

The first CO+ image: Probing the HI/H2 layer around the ultracompact HII region Mon R2

The CO+ reactive ion is thought to be a tracer of the boundary between a HII region and the hot molecular gas. In this study, we present the spatial distribution of the CO+ rotational emission toward the Mon R2 star-forming region. The CO+ emission presents a clumpy ring-like morphology, arising from a narrow dense layer around the HII region. We compare the CO+ distribution with other species present in photon-dominated regions (PDR), such as [CII] 158 mm, H2 S(3) rotational line at 9.3 mm, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and HCO+. We find that the CO+ emission is spatially coincident with the PAHs and [CII] emission. This confirms that the CO+ emission arises from a narrow dense layer of the HI/H2 interface. We have determined the CO+ fractional abundance, relative to C+ toward three positions. The abundances range from 0.1 to 1.9x10^(-10) and are in good agreement with previous chemical model, which predicts that the production of CO+ in PDRs only occurs in dense regions with high UV fields. The CO+ linewidth is larger than those found in molecular gas tracers, and their central velocity are blue-shifted with respect to the molecular gas velocity. We interpret this as a hint that the CO+ is probing photo-evaporating clump surfaces.Comment: The main text has 4 pages, 2 pages of Appendix, 4 figures, 1 table. Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics letter

On the nature of transport in near-critical dissipative-trapped-electron-mode turbulence: Effect of a subdominant diffusive channel

9 pages, 4 figures.-- PACS nrs.: 52.35.Ra, 52.55.-s.The change in nature of radial transport in numerical simulations of near-critical dissipative-trapped-electron-mode turbulence is characterized as the relative strength of an additional diffusive transport channel (subdominant to turbulence) is increased from zero. In its absence, radial transport exhibits the lack of spatial and temporal scales characteristic of self-organized-critical systems. This dynamical regime survives up to diffusivity values which, for the system investigated here, greatly exceeds the expected neoclassical value. These results, obtained using a novel Lagrangian method, complete and extend previous works based instead on the use of techniques imported from the study of cellular automata [ J. A. Mier et al., Phys. Plasmas 13, 102308 (2006) ]. They also shed further light on why some features of self-organized criticality seem to be observed in magnetically confined plasmas in spite of the presence of mechanisms which apparently violate the conditions needed for its establishment.This research was sponsored by DGICYT (Dirección General de Investigaciones Científicas y Tecnológicas) of Spain under Project No. ENE2006-15244-C03-01/FTN. Research sponsored in part by the Laboratory Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC05-00OR22725. Research supported in part by DOE Office of Science Grant No. DEFG02-04ER5741 at the University of Alaska.Publicad

A Search for Extraplanar Dust in Nearby Edge-On Spirals

We present high resolution BV images of 12 edge-on spiral galaxies observed with the WIYN 3.5-m telescope. These images were obtained to search for extraplanar (|z| > 0.4 kpc) absorbing dust structures similar to those previously found in NGC 891 (Howk & Savage 1997). Our imaged galaxies include a sample of seven massive L_*-like spiral galaxies within D<25 Mpc that have inclinations i > 87 deg from the plane of the sky. We find that five of these seven systems show extraplanar dust, visible as highly-structured absorbing clouds against the background stellar light of the galaxies. The more prominent structures are estimated to have associated gas masses >10^5 M_sun; the implied potential energies are > 10^(52) ergs. All of the galaxies in our sample that show detectable halpha emission at large z also show extraplanar dust structures. None of those galaxies for which extraplanar halpha searches were negative show evidence for extensive high-z dust. The existence of extraplanar dust is a common property of massive spiral galaxies. We discuss several mechanisms for shaping the observed dust features, emphasizing the possibility that these dusty clouds represent the dense phase of a multiphase medium at high-z in spiral galaxies. The correlation between high-z dust and extraplanar Halpha emission may simply suggest that both trace the high-z interstellar medium in its various forms (or phases), the existence of which may ultimately be driven by vigorous star formation in the underlying disk. (Abstract abridged)Comment: 26 pages; 15 jpeg figures. To appear in The Astronomical Journal, May 1999. Gzipped tar files of high-resolution figures in postscript and jpeg formats are available at http://www.astro.wisc.edu/~howk/Papers/papers.html#surve

Extreme Starbursts in the Local Universe

The "Extreme starbursts in the local universe" workshop was held at the Insituto de Astrofisica de Andalucia in Granada, Spain on 21-25 June 2010. Bearing in mind the advent of a new generation of facilities such as JWST, Herschel, ALMA, eVLA and eMerlin, the aim of the workshop was to bring together observers and theorists to review the latest results. The purpose of the workshop was to address the following issues: what are the main modes of triggering extreme starbursts in the local Universe? How efficiently are stars formed in extreme starbursts? What are the star formation histories of local starburst galaxies? How well do the theoretical simulations model the observations? What can we learn about starbursts in the distant Universe through studies of their local counterparts? How important is the role of extreme starbursts in the hierarchical assembly of galaxies? How are extreme starbursts related to the triggering of AGN in the nuclei of galaxies? Overall, 41 talks and 4 posters with their corresponding 10 minutes short talks were presented during the workshop. In addition, the workshop was designed with emphasis on discussions, and therefore, there were 6 discussion sessions of up to one hour during the workshop. Here is presented a summary of the purposes of the workshop as well as a compilation of the abstracts corresponding to each of the presentations. The summary and conclusions of the workshop along with a description of the future prospects by Sylvain Veilleux can be found in the last section of this document. A photo of the assistants is included.Comment: worksho

Clinical phenotypes of acute heart failure based on signs and symptoms of perfusion and congestion at emergency department presentation and their relationship with patient management and outcomes

Objective To compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients with acute heart failure (AHF) according to clinical profiles based on congestion and perfusion determined in the emergency department (ED). Methods and results Overall, 11 261 unselected AHF patients from 41 Spanish EDs were classified according to perfusion (normoperfusion = warm; hypoperfusion = cold) and congestion (not = dry; yes = wet). Baseline and decompensation characteristics were recorded as were the main wards to which patients were admitted. The primary outcome was 1-year all-cause mortality; secondary outcomes were need for hospitalisation during the index AHF event, in-hospital all-cause mortality, prolonged hospitalisation, 7-day post-discharge ED revisit for AHF and 30-day post-discharge rehospitalisation for AHF. A total of 8558 patients (76.0%) were warm+ wet, 1929 (17.1%) cold+ wet, 675 (6.0%) warm+ dry, and 99 (0.9%) cold+ dry; hypoperfused (cold) patients were more frequently admitted to intensive care units and geriatrics departments, and warm+ wet patients were discharged home without admission. The four phenotypes differed in most of the baseline and decompensation characteristics. The 1-year mortality was 30.8%, and compared to warm+ dry, the adjusted hazard ratios were significantly increased for cold+ wet (1.660; 95% confidence interval 1.400-1.968) and cold+ dry (1.672; 95% confidence interval 1.189-2.351). Hypoperfused (cold) phenotypes also showed higher rates of index episode hospitalisation and in-hospital mortality, while congestive (wet) phenotypes had a higher risk of prolonged hospitalisation but decreased risk of rehospitalisation. No differences were observed among phenotypes in ED revisit risk. Conclusions Bedside clinical evaluation of congestion and perfusion of AHF patients upon ED arrival and classification according to phenotypic profiles proposed by the latest European Society of Cardiology guidelines provide useful complementary information and help to rapidly predict patient outcomes shortly after ED patient arrival

Comparación de distintas estrategias para la predicción de muerte a corto plazo en el paciente anciano infectado

Objective. The aim of this study was to determine the utility of a post hoc lactate added to SIRS and qSOFA score to predict 30-day mortality in older non-severely dependent patients attended for infection in the Emergency Department (ED). Methods. We performed an analytical, observational, prospective cohort study including patients of 75 years of age or older, without severe functional dependence, attended for an infectious disease in 69 Spanish ED for 2-day three seasonal periods. Demographic, clinical and analytical data were collected. The primary outcome was 30-day mortality after the index event. Results. We included 739 patients with a mean age of 84.9 (SD 6.0) years; 375 (50.7%) were women. Ninety-one (12.3%) died within 30 days. The AUC was 0.637 (IC 95% 0.587-0.688; p= 2 and 0.698 (IC 95% 0.635- 0.761; p= 2. Comparing receiver operating characteristic (ROC) there was a better accuracy of qSOFA vs SIRS (p=0.041). Both scales improve the prognosis accuracy with lactate inclusion. The AUC was 0.705 (IC95% 0.652-0.758; p<0.001) for SIRS plus lactate and 0.755 (IC95% 0.696-0.814; p<0.001) for qSOFA plus lactate, showing a trend to statistical significance for the second strategy (p=0.0727). Charlson index not added prognosis accuracy to SIRS (p=0.2269) or qSOFA (p=0.2573). Conclusions. Lactate added to SIRS and qSOFA score improve the accuracy of SIRS and qSOFA to predict short-term mortality in older non-severely dependent patients attended for infection. There is not effect in adding Charlson index