The benefits of using traditional martial arts as an intervention programme for children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties

The aim of this paper is to examine the potential use of a traditional martial arts programme as a form of intervention for children with behavioural, emotional and social difficulties (also known as BESD) and the benefits that such an intervention could offer. As a special education teacher and Karate-Do practitioner, I believe I can present the use of martial arts in the school setting in a different light, explaining their usefulness as a psychotherapeutic tool that promotes inclusion. In this paper the benefits and inclusive characteristics of martial arts will be examined, as well the importance of the instructor as a mentor, therapist and role model. There will also be a brief overview of similar intervention programmes that have already been successfully implemented in schools

Introducing a new tool to navigate, understand and use International Codes of Nomenclature

Background. In order to designate the various concepts of taxa in biology, evolution and paleontology, scientists have developed various rules on how to create unique names for taxa. Different Codes of Nomenclature have been developed for animals, plants, fungi, bacteria etc., with standard sets of Rules that govern the formation, publication and application of the nomina of extant and extinct species. These Codes are the result of decades of discussions, workshops, publications and revisions. The structure and complexity of these Codes have been criticized many times by zoologists. This project aims, using the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature as a case study, to show that the structure of these Codes is better reflected and understood as networks. Methods. The majority of the text of the Code has been divided into hundreds of Nodes of different types, connected to each other with different types of Edges to form a network. The various mathematical descriptors of the entire system, as well as for the elements of the network, have been conceptually framed to help describing and understanding the Code as a network. Results. The network of the Code comprises 1,379 Nodes, which are connected with 11,276 Edges. The structure of the Code can be accurately described as a network, a mathematical structure that is better suited than any kind of linear text publication to reflect its structure. Discussion. Thinking of the Code as a network allows a better, in-depth understanding of the Code itself, as the user can navigate in a more efficient way, as well as to depict and analyze all the implied connections between the various parts of the Code that are not visible immediately. The network of the Code is an open access tool that could also help teaching, using and disseminating the Code. More importantly, this network is a powerful tool that allows identifying a priori the parts of the Code that could be potentially affected by upcoming amendment and revisions. This kind of analysis is not limited to nomenclature, as it could be applied to other fields that use complex textbooks with long editing history, such as Law, Medicine and Linguistics.Fil: Vlachos, Evangelos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio; Argentin

A modularity analysis helps improving the structure of the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature

Background. In a recent work I transformed a complex and integrated text like the International Code of Zoological Nomenclature into a network of interconnected parts of text. This new approach allowed understanding that a continuous body of text cannot accurately reflect the true structure of the Code, and provided a scientific methodology to identify a priori parts that could be affected by future revisions. In this next step, I investigate further the structure of the Code, seeking to use the network in order to identify the various conceptual communities grouping the various articles and other text items of the Code. Methods. Using the first version of the network of the Code, I perform a comprehensive modularity analysis in two rounds: the first round aims to identify the fewest and largest communities or modules for the entire network, whereas the second round identifies the sub-modules within each larger module. The potential conflicts between the current structure of the Code and the module composition are evaluated with a parcellation analysis. Results. The optimal modularity search identified 10 different modules in the entire network of varying size (ranging from 75 to 200 nodes). Each module can be further divided into smaller modules, that all-together allow describing the 65 conceptual groups of text items in the Code. Parcellation analysis revealed that two-thirds of the current chapters of the Code are in excellent or good accordance with the recovered conceptual modules, whereas the current composition of six chapters is in serious conflict with the conceptual structure of the Code. Discussion. Judging only the composition and not the order of appearance of the Articles in the Chapters of the Code, I show that in many cases the current structure of the Code is found to correspond quite well to the concepts presented therein. The most important conflict is found on the provisions related to the various groups of names governed by the Code: family-, genus-, and species-group names. Currently, these provisions are spread out in different Articles in different Chapters, along the entire length of the Code. The modularity analysis suggests that re-organizing the Code in chapters that will deal with all aspects related to a given group (e.g., chapters including information on name formation, availability, typification, and validity for a given group), could potentially improve reader experience and, consequently, the applicability of the Code.Fil: Vlachos, Evangelos. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentin

The fermion-boson map for large d

We show that the three-dimensional map between fermions and bosons at finite temperature generalises for all odd dimensions $d>3$. We further argue that such a map has a nontrivial large $d$ limit. Evidence comes from studying the gap equations, the free energies and the partition functions of the $U(N)$ Gross-Neveu and CP$^{N-1}$ models for odd $d\geq 3$ in the presence of imaginary chemical potential. We find that the gap equations and the free energies can be written in terms of the Bloch-Wigner-Ramakrishnan $D_d(z)$ functions analysed by Zagier. Since $D_2(z)$ gives the volume of ideal tetrahedra in 3$d$ hyperbolic space our three-dimensional results are related to resent studies of complex Chern-Simons theories, while for $d>3$ they yield corresponding higher dimensional generalizations. As a spinoff, we observe that particular complex saddles of the partition functions correspond to the zeros and the extrema of the Clausen functions $Cl_d(\theta)$ with odd and even index $d$ respectively. These saddles lie on the unit circle at positions remarkably well approximated by a sequence of rational multiples of $\pi$.Comment: 34 pages, 1 figur

Breaking the mold: Telescoping drives the evolution of more integrated and heterogeneous skulls in cetaceans

The skull of modern cetaceans (= crown Cetacea or Neoceti) experimented along its evolutionary history dramatic changes in the arrangement of cranial bones linked with the acquisition of a novel feature in mammalian skull configuration: the telescoping (i.e., skulls with a combination of extensive bone overlap and extreme proximity of anterior and posterior cranial elements). Cetacean telescoping not only shows radical changes in the position of bones, but also in the arrangement of cranial sutures, with large areas of bone overlap (= horizontal sutures). This represents a new level of bone-suture configurations, breaking the typical mammalian skull design, and exploring new morphospaces that might bias the exploration of new ecological and behavioural strategies. Despite telescoping being investigated in the last years from different perspectives, the impact of the novel sutures configurations in the topographical organization and integration of the cetaceans skull has never been addressed. In this study, we applied Anatomical Network Analysis to examine the level of organization and integration of archaeocete, odontocete and mysticete skulls. We constructed networks of six cetacean skulls (Dorudon, Aetiocetus, Yamatocetus, Eubalaena, Balaenoptera, and Tursiops) based on the most complete published skulls and/or first-hand examinations. Our results show that crown cetaceans occupy a previously unoccupied place in the tetrapod skull morphospace, with better integrated, slightly simpler, and mainly more heterogeneous skulls in comparison to other mammals. PERMANOVA shows a statistically significant difference between the skulls of cetaceans and terrestrial tetrapods, suggesting a unique skull network specialization of cetaceans linked with their transition to the aquatic environment. The evolution of telescoping in modern cetaceans promotes new sutural contacts between skull bones without loss or fusion (except interparietal), but rather adding new connections in those bones mainly involved in the telescoping process (e.g., supraoccipital). Among mysticetes, the most extreme skull integration and complexity is observed in Eubalaena spp., and might reflect the disparate skull anatomy of balaenids in relation to their specialized skim feeding behaviour. Telescoped skulls in neocetes are more modular compared to their ancestors, and four main modules are detected: two dorsolateral, one palatal and another one in the posterodorsal region. Telescoping mostly alters the composition of the posterodorsal module, which expands to include bones that would otherwise form part of the dorsolateral modules. Anatomical Network Analysis allows looking at the telescoping of cetacean skulls through a different lens, magnifying the connectivity pattern of their bones that potentially mirrors aspects of their evolution.Fil: Buono, Mónica Romina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Centro Nacional Patagónico. Instituto Patagónico de Geología y Paleontología; ArgentinaFil: Vlachos, Evangelos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; Argentina. Museo Paleontológico Egidio Feruglio; Argentina9th International Meeting on the Secondary Adaptation of Tetrapods to Life in WaterSan Vicente de Tagua TaguaChileAsociación Paleontológica ArgentinaAsociación Chilena de Paleontologí

A Hardware Architecture for Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces with Minimal Active Elements for Explicit Channel Estimation

Intelligent surfaces comprising of cost effective, nearly passive, and reconfigurable unit elements are lately gaining increasing interest due to their potential in enabling fully programmable wireless environments. They are envisioned to offer environmental intelligence for diverse communication objectives, when coated on various objects of the deployment area of interest. To achieve this overarching goal, the channels where the Reconfigurable Intelligent Surfaces (RISs) are involved need to be in principle estimated. However, this is a challenging task with the currently available hardware RIS architectures requiring lengthy training periods among the network nodes utilizing RIS-assisted wireless communication. In this paper, we present a novel RIS architecture comprising of any number of passive reflecting elements, a simple controller for their adjustable configuration, and a single Radio Frequency (RF) chain for baseband measurements. Capitalizing on this architecture and assuming sparse wireless channels in the beamspace domain, we present an alternating optimization approach for explicit estimation of the channel gains at the RIS elements attached to the single RF chain. Representative simulation results demonstrate the channel estimation accuracy and achievable end-to-end performance for various training lengths and numbers of reflecting unit elements.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, invited/accepted to IEEE ICASSP 202

Massive MIMO Channel Estimation for Millimeter Wave Systems via Matrix Completion

Millimeter Wave (mmWave) massive Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) systems realizing directive beamforming require reliable estimation of the wireless propagation channel. However, mmWave channels are characterized by high variability that severely challenges their recovery over short training periods. Current channel estimation techniques exploit either the channel sparsity in the beamspace domain or its low rank property in the antenna domain, nevertheless, they still require large numbers of training symbols for satisfactory performance. In this paper, we present a novel channel estimation algorithm that jointly exploits the latter two properties of mmWave channels to provide more accurate recovery, especially for shorter training intervals. The proposed iterative algorithm is based on the Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) and provides the global optimum solution to the considered convex mmWave channel estimation problem with fast convergence properties.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted to IEEE SP

Energy Efficiency Maximization in Millimeter Wave Hybrid MIMO Systems for 5G and Beyond

At millimeter wave (mmWave) frequencies, the higher cost and power consumption of hardware components in multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) systems do not allow beamforming entirely at the baseband with a separate radio frequency (RF) chain for each antenna. In such scenarios, to enable spatial multiplexing, hybrid beamforming, which uses phase shifters to connect a fewer number of RF chains to a large number of antennas is a cost effective and energy-saving alternative. This paper describes our research on fully adaptive transceivers that adapt their behaviour on a frame-by-frame basis, so that a mmWave hybrid MIMO system always operates in the most energy efficient manner. Exhaustive search based brute force approach is computationally intensive, so we study fractional programming as a low-cost alternative to solve the problem which maximizes energy efficiency. The performance results indicate that the resulting mmWave hybrid MIMO transceiver achieves significantly improved energy efficiency results compared to the baseline cases involving analogue-only or digital-only signal processing solutions, and shows performance trade-offs with the brute force approach.Comment: 2020 IEEE International Conference on Communications and Networking (ComNet

Radio frequency-chain selection for energy and spectral efficiency maximization in hybrid beamforming under hardware imperfections

The next-generation wireless communications require reduced energy consumption, increased data rates and better signal coverage. The millimetre-wave frequency spectrum above 30 GHz can help fulfil the performance requirements of the next-generation mobile broadband systems. Multiple-input multiple-output technology can provide performance gains to help mitigate the increased path loss experienced at millimetre-wave frequencies compared with microwave bands. Emerging hybrid beamforming architectures can reduce the energy consumption and hardware complexity with the use of fewer radio-frequency (RF) chains. Energy efficiency is identified as a key fifth-generation metric and will have a major impact on the hybrid beamforming system design. In terms of transceiver power consumption, deactivating parts of the beamformer structure to reduce power typically leads to significant loss of spectral efficiency. Our aim is to achieve the highest energy efficiency for the millimetre-wave communications system while mitigating the resulting loss in spectral efficiency. To achieve this, we propose an optimal selection framework which activates specific RF chains that amplify the digitally beamformed signals with the analogue beamforming network. Practical precoding is considered by including the effects of user interference, noise and hardware impairments in the system modelling