The totally asymmetric exclusion process on a ring: Exact relaxation dynamics and associated model of clustering transition

The totally asymmetric simple exclusion process in discrete time is considered on finite rings with fixed number of particles. A translation-invariant version of the backward-ordered sequential update is defined for periodic boundary conditions. We prove that the so defined update leads to a stationary state in which all possible particle configurations have equal probabilities. Using the exact analytical expression for the propagator, we find the generating function for the conditional probabilities, average velocity and diffusion constant at all stages of evolution. An exact and explicit expression for the stationary velocity of TASEP on rings of arbitrary size and particle filling is derived. The evolution of small systems towards a steady state is clearly demonstrated. Considering the generating function as a partition function of a thermodynamic system, we study its zeros in planes of complex fugacities. At long enough times, the patterns of zeroes for rings with increasing size provide evidence for a transition of the associated two-dimensional lattice paths model into a clustered phase at low fugacities.Comment: 9 pages 5 figures accepted for publication in Physica

Intramedullary fixation of femur fractures in children and adolescents with flexible rods

Objective: to evaluate the surgical treatment results using intramedullary retrograde Ender nails in isolated unilateral femur fractures. Methods: the authors performed a retrospective study of 31 patients (32 femurs), 22 (71%) males and 9 (29%) females with the mean age of 11,3 years (8 to 16 years old). According to the trauma mechanism we observed: 13 (42%) car accidents, 5 (16%) motorcycle accidents, 4 (13,%) running over accidents, 6 (19 %) falls from height and 3(10%) bicycle falls. The follow up varied from 1,6 to 6,3 years (average of 2,7 years). The period of hospitalization was 6,81 days varying from 3 to 19 days. After 1 year we performed clinical evaluation (pain, range of motion, gait) and scanogram do evaluate LDD. Results: We obtained 28 (90,3%) satisfactory and 3 (9,6%) unsatisfactory results. The following complications were recognized: LLD in 8 (25,8%), pain 2(6,4%), limited range of knee flexion in 1 (3,2,%) patients. Conclusions: the authors still consider small the population studied although the higher rate of satisfactory results. The treatment with Ender nails was effective, safe, unexpensive and can be indicated to treat isolated stable femur fractures.Objetivos: Avaliar o resultado do tratamento cirúrgico da fratura diafisária isolada do fêmur pela fixação intramedular retrógrada com hastes de Ender. Métodos: Os autores realizam um estudo retrospectivo de 31 pacientes (32 fêmures), sendo 22 (71%) do sexo masculino e nove (29%), do feminino. As idades variaram entre oito e 16 anos com média de 11,3 anos. Quanto ao mecanismo de trauma, observamos: 13 (42%) foram vítimas de acidente automobilístico; cinco (16%), de acidente motociclístico; quatro (13%), de atropelamento; seis (19%), de queda de altura; e três (10%), de queda de bicicleta. Quanto ao lado acometido, ocorreram 14 (44%) fraturas femorais direitas e 18 (56%) esquerdas com um paciente fraturado bilateralmente. O tempo de seguimento variou de 1,6 anos a 6,3 anos com média de 2,7 anos. O período de internação foi, em média, de 6,81 dias, variando entre três e 19 dias. Após um ano, realizaram avaliação funcional (dor, movimento, claudicação) e escanometria para avaliar possíveis discrepâncias. Resultados: 28 (90,3%) pacientes com resultado satisfatório e três (9,6%), insatisfatório. Como complicações, observamos anisomelia em oito (25,8%), dor em dois (6,4%) e limitação do arco de movimento de flexão joelho em um (3,2,%) paciente. Conclusões: Os autores ainda consideram a população estudada pequena, mas os resultados demonstram ser promissores. O tratamento com haste intramedular de Ender foi efetivo, seguro e econômico, podendo ser indicado para as fraturas femorais isoladas estáveis.UNIFESP-EPM Departamento de Ortopedia e TraumatologiaUNIFESP, EPM, Depto. de Ortopedia e TraumatologiaSciEL

Porn 2.0 straight from the horse's mouth. Consumption and Production of User Generated Content

The research of pornography has always been sorrowful and affected by many accusations of researchers being ‘Porn apologists dressing up personal convictions to look more objective by attaching the word “studies” to the title of their journal’ or often according to anti-porn advocates they were ‘expressing their own opinions rather than producing research’ and were likely to write ‘fulsome articles […] declaring “porn is wonderful for men” (Atwood & Smith, 2014, p. 8). Their work was ‘ill-considered post-modernist and populist positioning, rather than critical analysis (Atwood & Smith, 2014, p. 8). On the other hand being critical of pornography did not stand in neutral light either. In pornography context being “critical” was always associated with being anti-porn in the sense of producing ‘criticism of pornography’, with fault-finding and condemnation being of primary importance, but this research is not anti-porn neither pro-porn oriented wishing to contribute to greater understanding of consumer culture rather than identifying faults of it. Consumers in the research of pornography are objects of a great controversy (McKee, 2005a). There are ongoing debates of how pornography damages individuals (Hamilton, 2004, p. 4) with the attention to relationship issues, violence, sexual abuse or crimes, particularly on young individuals. Such opinions are usually raised in public debates by politicians, journalists, church leaders and academics; however the voice of consumers and prosumers of user generated pornography is missing. The only time it is heard is while those who consider themselves as “addicts” are seeking to stop watching pornography (Taylor, 2005). Thus consumers and prosumers of user generated content (UGC) are misrepresented, stigmatized, objects of epistemic violence. In our study we offer qualitative study from the perspective of consumers and producers employing consumer culture theoretical framework. We investigate prosumer culture of UGC content challenging academicals criticism of porn consumers and their actions revealing new areas of study and broadening the understanding of UGC content representing previously unheard consumers and prosumers

L\'{e}vy flights in inhomogeneous environments

We study the long time asymptotics of probability density functions (pdfs) of L\'{e}vy flights in different confining potentials. For that we use two models: Langevin - driven and (L\'{e}vy - Schr\"odinger) semigroup - driven dynamics. It turns out that the semigroup modeling provides much stronger confining properties than the standard Langevin one. Since contractive semigroups set a link between L\'{e}vy flights and fractional (pseudo-differential) Hamiltonian systems, we can use the latter to control the long - time asymptotics of the pertinent pdfs. To do so, we need to impose suitable restrictions upon the Hamiltonian and its potential. That provides verifiable criteria for an invariant pdf to be actually an asymptotic pdf of the semigroup-driven jump-type process. For computational and visualization purposes our observations are exemplified for the Cauchy driver and its response to external polynomial potentials (referring to L\'{e}vy oscillators), with respect to both dynamical mechanisms.Comment: Major revisio

Levy flights and Levy -Schroedinger semigroups

We analyze two different confining mechanisms for L\'{e}vy flights in the presence of external potentials. One of them is due to a conservative force in the corresponding Langevin equation. Another is implemented by Levy-Schroedinger semigroups which induce so-called topological Levy processes (Levy flights with locally modified jump rates in the master equation). Given a stationary probability function (pdf) associated with the Langevin-based fractional Fokker-Planck equation, we demonstrate that generically there exists a topological L\'{e}vy process with the very same invariant pdf and in the reverse.Comment: To appear in Cent. Eur. J. Phys. (2010

Heavy-tailed targets and (ab)normal asymptotics in diffusive motion

We investigate temporal behavior of probability density functions (pdfs) of paradigmatic jump-type and continuous processes that, under confining regimes, share common heavy-tailed asymptotic (target) pdfs. Namely, we have shown that under suitable confinement conditions, the ordinary Fokker-Planck equation may generate non-Gaussian heavy-tailed pdfs (like e.g. Cauchy or more general L\'evy stable distribution) in its long time asymptotics. For diffusion-type processes, our main focus is on their transient regimes and specifically the crossover features, when initially infinite number of the pdf moments drops down to a few or none at all. The time-dependence of the variance (if in existence), $\sim t^{\gamma}$ with $0<\gamma <2$, in principle may be interpreted as a signature of sub-, normal or super-diffusive behavior under confining conditions; the exponent $\gamma$ is generically well defined in substantial periods of time. However, there is no indication of any universal time rate hierarchy, due to a proper choice of the driver and/or external potential.Comment: Major revisio

The utilisation of health research in policy-making: Concepts, examples and methods of assessment

The importance of health research utilisation in policy-making, and of understanding the mechanisms involved, is increasingly recognised. Recent reports calling for more resources to improve health in developing countries, and global pressures for accountability, draw greater attention to research-informed policy-making. Key utilisation issues have been described for at least twenty years, but the growing focus on health research systems creates additional dimensions. The utilisation of health research in policy-making should contribute to policies that may eventually lead to desired outcomes, including health gains. In this article, exploration of these issues is combined with a review of various forms of policy-making. When this is linked to analysis of different types of health research, it assists in building a comprehensive account of the diverse meanings of research utilisation. Previous studies report methods and conceptual frameworks that have been applied, if with varying degrees of success, to record utilisation in policy-making. These studies reveal various examples of research impact within a general picture of underutilisation. Factors potentially enhancing utilisation can be identified by exploration of: priority setting; activities of the health research system at the interface between research and policy-making; and the role of the recipients, or 'receptors', of health research. An interfaces and receptors model provides a framework for analysis. Recommendations about possible methods for assessing health research utilisation follow identification of the purposes of such assessments. Our conclusion is that research utilisation can be better understood, and enhanced, by developing assessment methods informed by conceptual analysis and review of previous studies

Large-scale coalition formation: application in power distribution systems

Doctor of PhilosophyDepartment of Computing and Information SciencesScott A. DeLoachCoalition formation is a key cooperative behavior of a system of multiple autonomous agents. When the capabilities of individual agents are not su fficient for the improvement of well-being of the individual agents or of the entire system, the agents can bene t by joining forces together in coalitions. Coalition formation is a technique for finding coalitions that are best fi tted to achieve individual or group goals. This is a computationally expensive task because often all combinations of agents have to be considered in order to find the best assignments of agents to coalitions. Previous research has therefore focused mainly on small-scale or otherwise restricted systems. In this thesis we study coalition formation in large-scale multi-agent systems. We propose an approach for coalition formation based on multi-agent simulation. This approach allows us to find coalitions in systems with thousands of agents. It also lets us modify behaviors of individual agents in order to better match a specific coalition formation application. Finally, our approach can consider both social welfare of the multi-agent system and well-being of individual self-interested agents. Power distribution systems are used to deliver electric energy from the transmission system to households. Because of the increased availability of distributed generation using renewable resources, push towards higher use of renewable energy, and increasing use of electric vehicles, the power distribution systems are undergoing significant changes towards active consumers who participate in both supply and demand sides of the electricity market and the underlying power grid. In this thesis we address the ongoing change in power distribution systems by studying how the use of renewable energy can be increased with the help of coalition formation. We propose an approach that lets renewable generators, which face uncertainty in generation prediction, to form coalitions with energy stores, which on the other hand are always able to deliver the committed power. These coalitions help decrease the uncertainty of the power generation of renewable generators, consequently allowing the generators to increase their use of renewable energy while at the same time increasing their pro fits. Energy stores also bene t from participating in coalitions with renewable generators, because they receive payments from the generators for the availability of their power at specific time slots. We first study this problem assuming no physical constraints of the underlying power grid. Then we analyze how coalition formation of renewable generators and energy stores in a power grid with physical constraints impacts the state of the grid, and we propose agent behavior that leads to increase in use of renewable energy as well as maintains stability of the grid

Estrategias arquitectónicas en el cine de Douglas Sirk

[ES] La arquitectura y el cine se han encontrado relacionadas a través del tiempo, debido a sus composiciones espaciales, ya sean estas reales o ficticias. La característica de mayor interés en la siguiente investigación, es la vinculación de las escenografías cinematográficas con la historia y personajes de una cierta narrativa. Para lo cual se tomará tres casos de estudio: Escrito sobre el viento, Solo el cielo lo sabe, Imitación a la vida. Estas películas, dirigidas por Douglas Sirk (1897-1987) y rodadas para los estudios Universal Internacional Pictures en los años 50, pertenecen a lo que hoy conocemos como época dorada de Hollywood. Dicho análisis estará enfocado en encontrar su particular visión creativa, así como evidenciar la relación que tiene el espacio arquitectónico, el diseño interior y objetos decorativos, con el contenido narrativo que Sirk expresa en sus películas.[EN] Architecture and cinema have been found related through time, due to their spatial compositions, whether they are real or fictitious. The characteristic of greatest interest in the following investigation is the relation of the cinematographic scenographies with the history and characters of a certain narrative. For which three case studies will be taken: Written on the wind, All that heaven allows, Imitation of life. These films, directed by Douglas Sirk (1897-1987) and shot for Universal International Pictures in the 50s, belong to what we know today as golden age of Hollywood. This analysis will be focused on finding his particular creative vision, as well as evidencing the relationship that architectural space, interior design and decorative objects have, with the narrative content that Sirk express in his films.Janovsky Cobos, SA. (2020). Estrategias arquitectónicas en el cine de Douglas Sirk. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/139499TFG