Search results for "miR"
showing 10 items of 1117 documents
The role of synergies within generative models of action execution and recognition: A computational perspective
2015
Controlling the body – given its huge number of degrees of freedom – poses severe computational challenges. Mounting evidence suggests that the brain alleviates this problem by exploiting “synergies”, or patterns of muscle activities (and/or movement dynamics and kinematics) that can be combined to control action, rather than controlling individual muscles of joints [1–10]. D’Ausilio et al. [11] explain how this view of motor organization based on synergies can profoundly change the way we interpret studies of action recognition in humans and monkeys, and in particular the controversy on the “granularity” of the mirror neuron system (MNs): whether it encodes either (lower) kinematic aspects…
Lamb shift of a uniformly accelerated hydrogen atom in the presence of a conducting plate
2009
We investigate the effects of acceleration on the energy-level shifts of a hydrogen atom interacting with the electromagnetic field and in the presence of an infinite perfectly conducting plate. We consider the contributions of vacuum fluctuations and of the radiation reaction field to the Lamb shift, and we discuss their dependence from the acceleration of the atom. We show that, because of the presence of the boundary, both vacuum field fluctuations and radiation reaction field contributions are affected by atomic acceleration. In particular, the effect of the vacuum field fluctuations on the energy-level shifts is not equivalent to that of a thermal field. We also discuss the dependence …
Causality, non-locality and three-body Casimir–Polder energy between three ground-state atoms
2006
The problem of relativistic causality in the time-dependent three-body Casimir–Polder interaction energy between three atoms, initially in their bare ground-state, is discussed. It is shown that the non-locality of the spatial correlations of the electromagnetic field emitted by the atoms during their dynamical self-dressing may become manifest in the dynamical three-body Casimir–Polder interaction energy between the three atoms.
Effects of a uniform acceleration on atom–field interactions
2014
We review some quantum electrodynamical effects related to the uniform acceleration of atoms in vacuum. After discussing the energy level shifts of a uniformly accelerated atom in vacuum, we investigate the atom-wall Casimir-Polder force for accelerated atoms, and the van der Waals/Casimir-Polder interaction between two accelerated atoms. The possibility of detecting the Unruh effect through these phenomena is also discussed in detail.
van der Waals interactions between excited atoms in generic environments
2015
We consider the the van der Waals force involving excited atoms in general environments, constituted by magnetodielectric bodies. We develop a dynamical approach studying the dynamics of the atoms and the field, mutually coupled. When only one atom is excited, our dynamical theory suggests that for large distances the van der Waals force acting on the ground-state atom is monotonic, while the force acting in the excited atom is spatially oscillating. We show how this latter force can be related to the known oscillating Casimir--Polder force on an excited atom near a (ground-state) body. Our force also reveals a population-induced dynamics: for times much larger that the atomic lifetime the …
¿Proveer justicia u oprimir a los pueblos? La acción de los corregedores de las Azores en el periodo moderno
2020
En Portugal, los corregedores han sido presentados por la historiografía tradicional como uno de los pilares del proceso de centralización política que había tenido lugar en el reino portugués a partir del final de la Edad Media. Esta interpretación ha sido corregida en las últimas décadas por nuevas investigaciones e interpretaciones. En los territorios portu- gueses de ultramar, la distancia amplió algunos de los “obstáculos fácticos” (según Antonio Manuel Hespanha) que hacían difícil, si no imposible, la concreción de cualquier proyecto centralizador. El caso azoriano es de esto un buen ejemplo. En este artículo, además de una síntesis de los poderes de los corregedores…
Mirror symmetry and toric degenerations of partial flag manifolds
1998
In this paper we propose and discuss a mirror construction for complete intersections in partial flag manifolds $F(n_1, ..., n_l, n)$. This construction includes our previous mirror construction for complete intersection in Grassmannians and the mirror construction of Givental for complete flag manifolds. The key idea of our construction is a degeneration of $F(n_1, ..., n_l, n)$ to a certain Gorenstein toric Fano variety $P(n_1, ..., n_l, n)$ which has been investigated by Gonciulea and Lakshmibai. We describe a natural small crepant desingularization of $P(n_1, ..., n_l, n)$ and prove a generalized version of a conjecture of Gonciulea and Lakshmibai on the singular locus of $P(n_1, ..., n…
The effect of peatland drainage and restoration on Odonata species richness and abundance
2015
Background Restoration aims at reversing the trend of habitat degradation, the major threat to biodiversity. In Finland, more than half of the original peatland area has been drained, and during recent years, restoration of some of the drained peatlands has been accomplished. Short-term effects of the restoration on peatland hydrology, chemistry and vegetation are promising but little is known about how other species groups apart from vascular plants and bryophytes respond to restoration efforts. Results Here, we studied how abundance and species richness of Odonata (dragonflies and damselflies) respond to restoration. We sampled larvae in three sites (restored, drained, pristine) on each o…
The role of power line rights-of-way as an alternative habitat for declined mire butterflies
2011
Habitat loss is one of the greatest threats for biodiversity. In Finland, two thirds of natural mires have been drained for silviculture, which transforms open wetlands into dense forests. However, vegetation management of power line rights-of-way (ROW) maintain the drained mires as open areas. The aim of this study was to determine the effect of the power line ROW vegetation management on butterfly abundance, species richness and community structure by comparing the managed power line ROWs to unmanaged drained control sites and to natural mires. The species richness or abundance of mire butterflies did not differ between the power line ROWs and natural mires. In contrast, both species rich…
No evidence of systematic pre-emptive loggings after notifying landowners of their lands’ conservation potential
2020
Landowners can intentionally impair biodiversity values occurring on their land to pre-empt biodiversity protection. This often leads to significant negative effects on biodiversity. We studied whether landowners in Finland engaged in pre-emptive loggings after they were notified that their wooded mires are candidate sites for a mire protection program. After the notification, harvesting rates of the candidate wooded mires were significantly lower compared to harvesting rates of similar but non-candidate wooded mires. Annual and monthly harvesting rates indicated that notifying landowners of the conservation potential did not launch systematic pre-emptive logging behavior. Nevertheless, par…