pinecone/core-2020-05-10-deduplication huggingface dataset:
A “garden of forking paths” – The quantum mechanics of histories of events

AbstractThis is a survey of a novel approach, called “ETH approach”, to the quantum theory of events happening in isolated physical systems and to the effective time evolution of states of systems featuring events. In particular, we attempt to present a clear explanation of what is meant by an “event” in quantum mechanics and of the significance of this notion. We then outline a theory of direct (projective) and indirect observations or recordings of physical quantities and events. Some key ideas underlying our general theory are illustrated by studying a simple quantum-mechanical model of a mesoscopic system
Falls screening and assessment tools used in acute mental health settings: a review of policies in England and Wales

AbstractObjectivesThere is an urgent need to improve the care of older people at risk of falls or who experience falls in mental health settings. The aims of this study were to evaluate the individual falls risk assessment tools adopted by National Health Service (NHS) mental health trusts in England and healthcare boards in Wales, to evaluate the comprehensiveness of these tools and to review their predictive validity.MethodsAll NHS mental health trusts in England (n=56) and healthcare boards in Wales (n=6) were invited to supply their falls policies and other relevant documentation (e.g. local falls audits). In order to check the comprehensiveness of tools listed in policy documents, the risk variables of the tools adopted by the mental health trusts’ policies were compared with the 2004 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) falls prevention guidelines. A comprehensive analytical literature review was undertaken to evaluate the predictive validity of the tools used in these settings.ResultsFalls policies were obtained from 46 mental health trusts. Thirty-five policies met the study inclusion criteria and were included in the analysis. The main falls assessment tools used were the St. Thomas’ Risk Assessment Tool in Falling Elderly Inpatients (STRATIFY), Falls Risk Assessment Scale for the Elderly, Morse Falls Scale (MFS) and Falls Risk Assessment Tool (FRAT). On detailed examination, a number of different versions of the FRAT were evident; validated tools had inconsistent predictive validity and none of them had been validated in mental health settings.ConclusionsFalls risk assessment is the most commonly used component of risk prevention strategies, but most policies included unvalidated tools and even well validated tool such as the STRATIFY and the MFS that are reported to have inconsistent predictive accuracy. This raises questions about operational usefulness, as none of these tools have been tested in acute mental health settings. The falls risk assessment tools from only four mental health trusts met all the recommendations of the NICE falls guidelines on multifactorial assessment for prevention of falls. The recent NICE (2013) guidance states that tools predicting risk using numeric scales should no longer be used; however, multifactorial risk assessment and interventions tailored to patient needs is recommended. Trusts will need to update their policies in response to this guidance
Search for a Higgs boson decaying into a Z and a photon in pp collisions at s=7 and 8 TeV

AbstractA search for a Higgs boson decaying into a Z boson and a photon is described. The analysis is performed using proton–proton collision datasets recorded by the CMS detector at the LHC. Events were collected at center-of-mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV, corresponding to integrated luminosities of 5.0 fb−1 and 19.6 fb−1, respectively. The selected events are required to have opposite-sign electron or muon pairs. No excess above standard model predictions has been found in the 120–160 GeV mass range and the first limits on the Higgs boson production cross section times the H→Zγ branching fraction at the LHC have been derived. The observed at 95% confidence level limits are between about 4 and 25 times the standard model cross section times the branching fraction. For a standard model Higgs boson mass of 125 GeV the expected limit at the 95% confidence level is 10 and the observed limit is 9.5. Models predicting the Higgs boson production cross section times the H→Zγ branching fraction to be larger than one order of magnitude of the standard model prediction are excluded for most of the 125–157 GeV mass range
Taeniid species of the Iberian wolf (Canis lupus signatus) in Portugal with special focus on Echinococcus spp.

AbstractTaeniid species represent relevant pathogens in human and animals, circulating between carnivorous definitive hosts and a variety of mammalian intermediate hosts. In Portugal, however, little is known about their occurrence and life cycles, especially in wild hosts. An epidemiological survey was conducted to clarify the role of the Iberian wolf as a definitive host for taeniid species, including Echinococcus spp. Wolf fecal samples (n=68) were collected from two regions in Northern Portugal. Taeniid eggs were isolated through a sieving-flotation technique, and species identification was performed using multiplex-PCR followed by sequencing of the amplicons. Taenia hydatigena (in 11.8% of the samples), Taenia serialis (5.9%), Taenia pisiformis (2.9%), Taenia polyacantha (1.5%) and Echinococcus intermedius (Echinococcus granulosus ‘pig strain’, G7) (1.5%) were detected. This is the first study to characterize the taeniid species infecting the Portuguese Iberian wolf, with the first records of T. polyacantha and E. intermedius in this species in the Iberian Peninsula. Iberian wolves can be regarded as relevant hosts for the maintenance of the wild and synanthropic cycles of taeniids in Portugal
Analysing Biochemical Oscillation through Probabilistic Model Checking

AbstractAutomated verification of stochastic models has been proved to be an effective technique for the analysis of a large class of stochastically behaving systems. In this paper we show how stochastic model-checking can be effectively applied to the analysis of biological systems. We consider a few models of biological systems taken from the literature, and we consider both their encodings as ordinary differential equations and Markovian models. We show that stochastic model-checking verification of biological systems can complement both deterministic and stochastic simulation techniques when dealing with dynamical properties of oscillators. We demonstrate how stochastic model-checking can provide exact quantitative characterization of properties of systems exhibiting oscillatory behavior, providing insights that cannot be obtained with differential equations models and that would require a large number of runs with stochastic simulation approaches
The nature and distribution of flowing features in a weakly karstified porous limestone aquifer

SummaryThe nature and distribution of flowing features in boreholes in an area of approximately 400km2 in a weakly karstic porous limestone aquifer (the Chalk) was investigated using single borehole dilution tests (SBDTs) and borehole imaging. One-hundred and twenty flowing features identified from SBDTs in 24 boreholes have densities which decrease from ∼0.3m−1 near the water table to ∼0.07m−1 at depths of more than 40m below the water table; the average density is 0.20m−1. There is some evidence of regional lithological control and borehole imaging of three boreholes indicated that most flowing features are associated with marls, hardgrounds and flints that may be developed at a more local scale.Borehole imaging also demonstrated that many flowing features are solutionally enlarged fractures, suggesting that even in carbonate aquifers where surface karst is developed on only a small scale, groundwater flow is still strongly influenced by dissolution. Fully connected solutional pathways can occur over 100s, sometimes 1000s of metres. However, conduits, tubules and fissures may not always be individually persistent along a flowpath, instead being connected together and also connected to unmodified fractures to create a relatively dense network of voids with variable apertures (<0.1cm to >15cm). Groundwater therefore moves along flowpaths made up of voids with varying shape and character. Local solutional development of fractures at significant depths below the surface suggests that mixing corrosion and in situ sources of acidity may contribute to solutional enhancement of fractures.The study demonstrates that single borehole dilution testing is a useful method of obtaining a large dataset of flowing features at catchment-regional scales. The Chalk is a carbonate aquifer with small-scale surface karst development and this study raises the question of whether other carbonate aquifers with small-scale surface karst have similar characteristics, and what hydrological role small-scale dissolutional features play in highly karstic aquifers
Domestic dogs in protected areas: a threat to Brazilian mammals?

AbstractThe presence of domestic dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) in Brazilian protected areas is fairly frequent. The interaction of such dogs with native animals leads to population declines for many species, particularly carnivores. In this paper the main threats dogs bring about Brazilian biodiversity are assessed with a focus on protected areas. We collected information from papers on the interaction of dogs and wildlife species as well as from interviews with National Park managers. Studies in protected areas in Brazil listed 37 native species affected by the presence of dogs due to competition, predation, or pathogen transmission. Among the 69 threatened species of the Brazilian fauna, 55% have been cited in studies on dogs. Dog occurrence was assessed for 31 National Parks in Brazil. The presence of human residents and hunters in protected areas were the factors most often quoted as facilitating dog occurrence. These may be feral, street or domestically owned dogs found in protected areas in urban, rural or natural areas. Effective actions to control this invasive alien species in natural areas must consider dog dependence upon humans, pathways of entry, and the surrounding landscape and context
Molecular screening of pathogenic Escherichia coli strains isolated from dairy neonatal calves in Cordoba province, Argentina

AbstractThe aim of this study was to perform a current molecular characterization of bovine pathogenic Escherichia coli strains isolated from random samplings in Argentinean dairy farms. Rectal swabs were obtained from 395 (63.7%) healthy and 225 (36.3%) diarrheic calves, belonging to 45 dairy farms in Cordoba Province, Argentina. E. coli isolates were examined for virulence genes (f5, f41, f17, sta, stb, lt, eae, vt) using PCR and the prevalence of E. coli virulence profiles was spatially described in terms of spatial distribution. A total of 30.1% isolates were found to be positive for at least one of the virulence genes. Depending on the different gene combinations present, 11 virulence profiles were found. Most of the isolates analyzed had a single gene, and no combination of fimbrial and enterotoxin gene was predominant. There was no association between the frequency and distribution of E. coli virulence genes and calf health status. Most of the virulence profiles were compatible with ETEC strains and showed a homogeneous distribution over the sampled area. A clustering pattern for E. coli virulence profiles could not be recognized. This work provides updated information on the molecular characterization of pathogenic E. coli strains from dairy herds in Cordoba, Argentina. These findings would be important to formulate prevention programs and effective therapies for diarrhea in calves caused by E. coli
Strict and nonstrict independent and-parallelism in logic programs: Correctness, efficiency, and compile-time conditions

AbstractThis paper presents some fundamental properties of independent and- parallelism and extends its applicability by enlarging the class of goals eligible for parallel execution. A simple model of (independent) and-parallel execution is proposed and issues of correctness and efficiency are discussed in the light of this model. Two conditions, “strict” and “nonstrict” independence, are defined and then proved sufficient to ensure correctness and efficiency of parallel execution: If goals which meet these conditions are executed in parallel, the solutions obtained are the same as those produced by standard sequential execution. Also, in the absence of failure, the parallel proof procedure does not generate any additional work (with respect to standard SLD resolution), while the actual execution time is reduced. Finally, in case of failure of any of the goals, no slowdown will occur. For strict independence, the results are shown to hold independently of whether the parallel goals execute in the same environment or in separate environments. In addition, a formal basis is given for the automatic compile-time generation of independent and-parallelism: Compiletime conditions to efficiently check goal independence at run time are proposed and proved sufficient. Also, rules are given for constructing simpler conditions if information regarding the binding context of the goals to be executed in parallel is available to the compiler
No further gravitational wave modes in F(T) gravity

AbstractWe explore the possibility of further gravitational wave modes in F(T) gravity, where T is the torsion scalar in teleparallelism. It is explicitly demonstrated that gravitational wave modes in F(T) gravity are equivalent to those in General Relativity. This result is achieved by calculating the Minkowskian limit for a class of analytic function of F(T). This consequence is also confirmed by the preservative analysis around the flat background in the weak field limit with the scalar–tensor representation of F(T) gravity
Inference regarding multiple structural changes in linear models with endogenous regressors

AbstractThis paper considers the linear model with endogenous regressors and multiple changes in the parameters at unknown times. It is shown that minimization of a Generalized Method of Moments criterion yields inconsistent estimators of the break fractions, but minimization of the Two Stage Least Squares (2SLS) criterion yields consistent estimators of these parameters. We develop a methodology for estimation and inference of the parameters of the model based on 2SLS. The analysis covers the cases where the reduced form is either stable or unstable. The methodology is illustrated via an application to the New Keynesian Phillips Curve for the US
Defining 〈A2〉 in the finite volume Hamiltonian formalism

AbstractIt is shown how in principle for non-Abelian gauge theories it is possible in the finite volume Hamiltonian framework to make sense of calculating the expectation value of ‖A‖2=∫d3x(Aai(x→))2. Gauge invariance requires one to replace ‖A‖2 by its minimum over the gauge orbit, which makes it a highly non-local quantity. We comment on the difficulty of finding an expression for ‖A‖2min analogous to that found for the Abelian case, and the relation of this question to Gribov copies. We deal with these issues by implementing the Hamiltonian on the so-called fundamental domain, with appropriate boundary conditions in field space, essential to correctly represent the physics of the problem
Evidence for the decay X(3872)→ψ(2S)γ

AbstractEvidence for the decay mode X(3872)→ψ(2S)γ in B+→X(3872)K+ decays is found with a significance of 4.4 standard deviations. The analysis is based on a data sample of proton–proton collisions, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 3 fb−1, collected with the LHCb detector, at centre-of-mass energies of 7 and 8 TeV. The ratio of the branching fraction of the X(3872)→ψ(2S)γ decay to that of the X(3872)→J/ψγ decay is measured to beB(X(3872)→ψ(2S)γ)B(X(3872)→J/ψγ)=2.46±0.64±0.29, where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second is systematic. The measured value does not support a pure DD¯⁎ molecular interpretation of the X(3872) state
Production of charged pions, kaons and protons at large transverse momenta in pp and Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV

AbstractTransverse momentum spectra of π±, K± and p(p¯) up to pT=20 GeV/c at mid-rapidity in pp, peripheral (60–80%) and central (0–5%) Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV have been measured using the ALICE detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The proton-to-pion and the kaon-to-pion ratios both show a distinct peak at pT≈3 GeV/c in central Pb–Pb collisions. Below the peak, pT<3 GeV/c, both ratios are in good agreement with hydrodynamical calculations, suggesting that the peak itself is dominantly the result of radial flow rather than anomalous hadronization processes. For pT>10 GeV/c particle ratios in pp and Pb–Pb collisions are in agreement and the nuclear modification factors for π±, K± and p(p¯) indicate that, within the systematic and statistical uncertainties, the suppression is the same. This suggests that the chemical composition of leading particles from jets in the medium is similar to that of vacuum jets
Extension of the CPT theorem to non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and unstable states

AbstractWe extend the CPT theorem to quantum field theories with non-Hermitian Hamiltonians and unstable states. Our derivation is a quite minimal one as it requires only the time-independent evolution of scalar products, invariance under complex Lorentz transformations, and a non-standard but nonetheless perfectly legitimate interpretation of charge conjugation as an antilinear operator. The first of these requirements does not force the Hamiltonian to be Hermitian. Rather, it forces its eigenvalues to either be real or to appear in complex conjugate pairs, forces the eigenvectors of such conjugate pairs to be conjugates of each other, and forces the Hamiltonian to admit of an antilinear symmetry. The latter two requirements then force this antilinear symmetry to be CPT, while forcing the Hamiltonian to be real rather than Hermitian. Our work justifies the use of the CPT theorem in establishing the equality of the lifetimes of unstable particles that are charge conjugates of each other. We show that the Euclidean time path integrals of a CPT-symmetric theory must always be real. In the quantum-mechanical limit the key results of the PT symmetry program of Bender and collaborators are recovered, with the C-operator of the PT symmetry program being identified with the linear component of the charge conjugation operator
I see what you say: Prior knowledge of other’s goals automatically biases the perception of their actions

AbstractWe investigated whether top-down expectations about an actor’s intentions affect action perception in a representational momentum (RM) paradigm. Participants heard an actor declare an intention to either take or leave an object and then saw him either reach for or withdraw from it, such that action and intention were either congruent or incongruent. Observers generally misperceived the hand’s disappearance point further along the trajectory than it actually was, in line with the idea that action perception incorporates predictions of the action’s future course. Importantly, this RM effect was larger for actions congruent with the actor’s goals than for incongruent actions. These results demonstrate that action prediction integrates both current motion and top-down knowledge about the actor’s intention. They support recent theories that emphasise the role of prior expectancies and prediction errors in social (and non-social) cognitive processing
Effective crustal permeability controls fault evolution: An integrated structural, mineralogical and isotopic study in granitic gneiss, Monte Rosa, northern Italy

AbstractTwo dextral faults within granitic gneiss in the Monte Rosa nappe, northern Italy reveal key differences in their evolution controlled by evolving permeability and water/rock reactions. The comparison reveals that identical host rock lithologies develop radically different mineralogies within the fault zones, resulting in fundamentally different deformation histories. Oxygen and hydrogen isotope analyses coupled to microstructural characterisation show that infiltration of meteoric water occurred into both fault zones. The smaller Virgin Fault shows evidence of periodic closed system behaviour, which promoted the growth of hydrothermal K-feldspar, whilst the more open system behaviour of the adjacent Ciao Ciao Fault generated a weaker muscovite-rich fault core, which promoted a step change in fault evolution. Effective crustal permeability is a vital control on fault evolution and, coupled to the temperature (i.e. depth) at which key mineral transformations occur, is probably a more significant factor than host rock strength in controlling fault development. The study suggests that whether a fault in granitic basement grows into a large structure may be largely controlled by the initial hydrological properties of the host rocks. Small faults exposed at the surface may therefore be evolutionary “dead-ends” that typically do not represent the early stages in the development of larger faults
Jet-like correlations with neutral pion triggers in pp and central Pb–Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV

AbstractWe present measurements of two-particle correlations with neutral pion trigger particles of transverse momenta 8<pTtrig<16 GeV/c and associated charged particles of 0.5<pTassoc<10 GeV/c versus the azimuthal angle difference Δφ at midrapidity in pp and central Pb–Pb collisions at sNN=2.76 TeV with ALICE. The new measurements exploit associated charged hadrons down to 0.5 GeV/c, which significantly extends our previous measurement that only used charged hadrons above 3 GeV/c. After subtracting the contributions of the flow background, v2 to v5, the per-trigger yields are extracted for |Δφ|<0.7 on the near and for |Δφ−π|<1.1 on the away side. The ratio of per-trigger yields in Pb–Pb to those in pp collisions, IAA, is measured on the near and away side for the 0–10% most central Pb–Pb collisions. On the away side, the per-trigger yields in Pb–Pb are strongly suppressed to the level of IAA≈0.6 for pTassoc>3 GeV/c, while with decreasing momenta an enhancement develops reaching about 5 at low pTassoc. On the near side, an enhancement of IAA between 1.2 at the highest to 1.8 at the lowest pTassoc is observed. The data are compared to parton-energy-loss predictions of the JEWEL and AMPT event generators, as well as to a perturbative QCD calculation with medium-modified fragmentation functions. All calculations qualitatively describe the away-side suppression at high pTassoc. Only AMPT captures the enhancement at low pTassoc, both on the near and away side. However, it also underpredicts IAA above 5 GeV/c, in particular on the near-side
A UA(1) symmetry restoration scenario supported by the generalized Witten–Veneziano relation and its analytic solution

AbstractThe Witten–Veneziano relation, or, alternatively, its generalization proposed by Shore, facilitates understanding and describing the complex of η and η′ mesons. We present an analytic, closed-form solution to Shore's equations which gives results on the η–η′ complex in full agreement with results previously obtained numerically. Although the Witten–Veneziano relation and Shore's equations are related, the ways they were previously used in the context of dynamical models to calculate η and η′ properties, were rather different. However, with the analytic solution, the calculation can be formulated similarly to the approach through the Witten–Veneziano relation, and with some conceptual improvements. In the process, one strengthens the arguments in favor of a possible relation between the UA(1) and SUA(3) chiral symmetry breaking and restoration. To test this scenario, the experiments such as those at RHIC, NICA and FAIR, which extend the RHIC (and LHC) high-temperature scans also to the finite-density parts of the QCD phase diagram, should pay particular attention to the signatures from the η′–η complex indicating the symmetry restoration