How much information is needed to be the majority during the binary-state opinion formation?

In this paper, we try to propose a toy model, which follows the majority rule with the Fermi function, to uncover the role of the heterogeneous interaction between individuals in opinion formation. In order to do this, we define the impact factor I_Fi$I{F}_i$, says individual i$i$, as the exponential function of its connectivity _ki$k_i$ with the tunable parameter β$\beta$. β$\beta$ also shows the public information that can be collected by individuals in the system. We realize our model in scale-free networks with mean connectivity 〈k〉$〈k〉$. We find that much more public information (β>_β2$\beta >{\beta }_2$) and less public information (β<_β1$\beta <{\beta }_1$) cannot let either of the two opinions be the majority during the opinion formation. Furthermore, _β1${\beta }_1$ is a constant and equal to −0.76(±0.04)$-0.76(\pm 0.04)$, and _β2${\beta }_2$ decreases as a power-law function of the mean connectivity 〈k〉$〈k〉$ of the network. Our work can provide some perspectives and tools to understand the diversity of opinion in social networks.     

Forecasting volatility of fuel oil futures in China: GARCH-type,SV or realized volatility models?

In most previous works on forecasting oil market volatility, squared daily returns were taken as the proxy of unobserved actual volatility. However, as demonstrated by Andersen and Bollerslev (1998) [22], this proxy with too high measurement noise could be perfectly outperformed by a so-called realized volatility (RV) measure calculated by the cumulative sum of squared intraday returns. With this motivation, we further extend earlier works by employing intraday high-frequency data to compare the performance of three typical volatility models in the daily out-of-sample volatility forecasting of fuel oil futures on the Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE): the GARCH-type, stochastic volatility (SV) and realized volatility models. By taking RV as the proxy of actual daily volatility and then computing forecasting errors, we find that the realized volatility model based on intraday high-frequency data produces significantly more accurate volatility forecasts than the GARCH-type and SV models based on daily returns. Furthermore, the SV model outperforms many linear and nonlinear GARCH-type models that capture long-memory volatility and/or the asymmetric leverage effect in volatility. These results also prove that abundant volatility information is available in intraday high-frequency data, and can be used to construct more accurate oil volatility forecasting models.     

Micro-transitions or breathers in L-alanine?

Within mean field approximation, a procedure is elaborated to consider noise induced phase transitions with arbitrary relations between the noises of different degrees of freedom. The proposed approach is applied to investigate effects of cross correlation between noises in the generalized synergetic model of Lorenz type. This cross correlation is shown to induce phase transitions of the dynamical system under consideration. Additionally, we find the correlation between noises transforms a synergetic behavior to a thermodynamic one. Received 13 November 2002 Published online 11 April 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: dikh@sumdu.edu.ua     

Are upwind techniques in multi-phase flow models necessary?

Two alternatives of primary variables are compared for two-phase flow in heterogeneous media by solving fully established benchmarks. The first combination utilizes pressure of the wetting fluid and saturation of the non-wetting fluid as primary variables, while the second employs capillary pressure of the wetting fluid and pressure of the non-wetting fluid. While the standard Galerkin finite element method (SGFEM) is known to fail in the physical reproduction of two-phase flow in heterogeneous media (unless employing a fully upwind correction), the second scheme with capillary pressure as a primary variable without applying an upwind technique produces correct physical fluid behaviour in heterogeneous media, as observed from experiments.     

Production or conservation in CHP networks?

In Sweden, Combined generation of Heat and Power (CHP) is in common practice. Different fuels are burnt in a boiler and the steam is used for generating electricity. The heat that has to be transferred from the condenser in the plant is used in the district heating grid. This grid is thus used as a cooling facility necessary for electricity production. However, energy conservation the Swedish building stock is also encouraged, and if this is utilized in district heated buildings it results in fewer possibilities for electricity production. This might be a major drawback when nuclear power is abolished, as is the result from a consensus some years ago. This paper deals with the question of whether it is better to conserve both heat and electricity, to save only one of the energy forms or if it is cheaper to produce more energy, instead of saving. A case study is presented dealing with Malmö, in the South of Sweden, and it is shown that energy conservation in district heated buildings cannot yield profitability: neither can conservation in the electricity grid, even if it gets closer to profitable savings. It is assumed that the total cost of heating, insulation and electricity is paid by the society and the minimum point for this cost will characterize the best solution.     

Is there a universality of the helix-coil transition in protein models?

The similarity in the thermodynamic properties of two completely different theoretical models for the helix-coil transition is examined critically. The first model is an all-atomic representation for a poly-alanine chain, while the second model is a minimal helix-forming model that contains no system specifics. Key characteristics of the helix-coil transition, in particular, the effective critical exponents of these two models agree with each other, within a finite-size scaling analysis. Received 8 December 1999     

Diffusion or bounce back in relativistic heavy-ion collisions?

The time evolution of pseudorapidity distributions of produced charged hadrons in d + Au collisions at = 200 GeV is investigated. Results of a nonequilibrium statistical relativistic diffusion model with three sources are compared with a macroscopic “bounce-back” model that does not allow for statistical equilibration at large times, but instead leads to motion reversal. When compared to the data, the results of the diffusion approach are more precise, thus emphasizing that the system is observed to be on its way to thermal equilibrium.     

Superconductivity in MgB2: clean or dirty?

A large number of experimental facts and theoretical arguments favor a two-gap model for superconductivity in MgB2. However, this model predicts strong suppression of the critical temperature by interband impurity scattering and, presumably, a strong correlation between the critical temperature and the residual resistivity. No such correlation has been observed. We argue that this fact can be understood if the band disparity of the electronic structure is taken into account, not only in the superconducting state, but also in normal transport.     

Ultrafast magneto-optics in nickel: magnetism or optics?

Several magnetic and optical processes contribute to the magneto-optical response of nickel thin films after excitation by a femtosecond laser pulse. We achieved a first complete identification by explicitly measuring the time-resolved Kerr ellipticity and rotation, as well as its temperature and magnetic field dependence in epitaxially grown (111) and (001) oriented Cu/Ni/Cu wedges. The first hundreds of femtoseconds the response is dominated by state filling effects. The true demagnetization takes approximately 0.5-1 ps. At the longer (sub-ns) time scales the spins are found to precess in their anisotropy field. Simple and transparent models are introduced to substantiate our interpretation.     

Singer's Formant in Sopranos: Fact or Fiction?

Although it is generally agreed that the singer's formant (F_S) is a prerequisite for successful stage performance, the results of this research do not support its presence in the soprano voices of trained female singers. Results are based on a recent investigation testing 10 advanced/professional sopranos in two groups singing sustained vowels at three frequencies: high (932 Hz), mid (622 Hz), and low (261 Hz). Spectrographic analysis shows that the nature of harmonic energy varies in relation to pitch. A resonance band somewhat resembling the tenor F_S was usually evident in vowels sung at low and mid pitch. However, unlike the F_S of typically less than 1 kHz bandwidth associated with tenors, sopranos singing similar pitches produced corresponding bandwidths which were significantly broader, usually at least 2-kHz wide. Vowels sung by sopranos at high-pitch levels exhibited strong fundamental frequency production with strong reinforcement of adjacent harmonics extending to 5 kHz and beyond. This type of production in essence nullifies the necessity for a typical F_S. Absence of the F_S in strong soprano voices might also imply the adaptation of a sufficiently different overall vocal tract configuration, so that techniques geared to developing maximal projection should not be the same as those developed to maximize the F_S in other voices.     

Multifractality in stock indexes: Fact or Fiction?

Multifractal analysis and extensive statistical tests are performed upon intraday minutely data within individual trading days for four stock market indexes (including HSI, SZSC, S&P 500, and NASDAQ) to check whether the indexes (instead of the returns) possess multifractality. We find that the mass exponent τ(q) is linear and the singularity α(q) is close to 1 for all trading days and all indexes. Furthermore, we find strong evidence showing that the scaling behaviors of the original data sets cannot be distinguished from those of shuffled time series. Hence, the so-called multifractality in the intraday stock market indexes is merely an illusion.     

Asymmetry of formation of π+-mesons by linearly polarized photons in the region of the first pion-nucleon resonance

This article presents measurements of the asymmetry of formation of ⁺ mesons on a proton by linearly polarized photons in the energy region from 220 to 320 MeV and for pion emission angles 90–135° in the c.m.s. Aphenomenological analysis is carried out on the basis of 25 measured values of the asymmetry and the data of other laboratories. As a result of the analysis, five independent values are obtained for the multipole amplitude functions.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 5, pp. 94–101, May, 1978.     

Iron deposition and inflammation in multiple sclerosis. Which one comes first?

Whether iron deposition is an epiphenomenon of the multiple sclerosis (MS) disease process or may play a primary role in triggering inflammation and disease development remains unclear at this time, and should be studied at the early stages of disease pathogenesis. However, it is difficult to study the relationship between iron deposition and inflammation in early MS due to the delay between the onset of symptoms and diagnosis, and the poor availability of tissue specimens. In a recent article published in BMC Neuroscience, Williams et al. investigated the relationship between inflammation and iron deposition using an original animal model labeled as "cerebral experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis", which develops CNS perivascular iron deposits. However, the relative contribution of iron deposition vs. inflammation in the pathogenesis and progression of MS remains unknown. Further studies should establish the association between inflammation, reduced blood flow, iron deposition, microglia activation and neurodegeneration. Creating a representative animal model that can study independently such relationship will be the key factor in this endeavor.     

Should the coupling constants be mass dependent in the relativistic mean-field models?

Mass-dependent coupling constants are proposed for baryonic resonances in the relativistic mean-field model, according to the mass splitting of the SU (6) multiplet. With this choice the negative effective masses are avoided and the system remains nucleon dominated with moderate antidelta abundance.