Small Number Of States Research Articles

Latent dynamics of primary sensory cortical population activity structured by fluctuations in the local field potential.

As emerging technologies enable measurement of precise details of the activity within microcircuits at ever-increasing scales, there is a growing need to identify the salient features and patterns within the neural populations that represent physiologically and behaviorally relevant aspects of the network. Accumulating evidence from recordings of large neural populations suggests that neural population activity frequently exhibits relatively low-dimensional structure, with a small number of variables explaining a substantial fraction of the structure of the activity. While such structure has been observed across the brain, it is not known how reduced-dimension representations of neural population activity relate to classical metrics of "brain state," typically described in terms of fluctuations in the local field potential (LFP), single-cell activity, and behavioral metrics. Hidden state models were fit to spontaneous spiking activity of populations of neurons, recorded in the whisker area of primary somatosensory cortex of awake mice. Classic measures of cortical state in S1, including the LFP and whisking activity, were compared to the dynamics of states inferred from spiking activity. A hidden Markov model fit the population spiking data well with a relatively small number of states, and putative inhibitory neurons played an outsize role in determining the latent state dynamics. Spiking states inferred from the model were more informative of the cortical state than a direct readout of the spiking activity of single neurons or of the population. Further, the spiking states predicted both the trial-by-trial variability in sensory responses and one aspect of behavior, whisking activity. Our results show how classical measurements of brain state relate to neural population spiking dynamics at the scale of the microcircuit and provide an approach for quantitative mapping of brain state dynamics across brain areas.

Relation coarsest partition method to observability of probabilistic Boolean networks

Using the relational coarsest partition (RCP) method, this article aims to study the observability problem of probabilistic Boolean networks (PBNs). The key step to solving this problem is to find the parallel cycle and the coarsest refinement partition of the given initial partition. Firstly, several definitions of observability for PBNs are proposed, and the connections between finite-time observability with positive probability (FTOPP), asymptotical observability (AO), and finite-time observability with probability one (FTOPO) are revealed. Secondly, by defining the appropriate transition relation, the RCP method is introduced into PBNs. In addition, based on the output signal mapping set, the initial partition is constructed. Thirdly, the concept of a parallel cycle for PBNs is proposed, and two algorithms are presented for computing the cycle and parallel cycle of PBNs. Moreover, with the help of the RCP method, a series of criteria are derived to solve the observability problem of PBNs, which works more efficiently. Fourth, when PBN is unobservable, an algorithm is proposed to design the state-flipping set with the smallest number of states, which can make the unobservable PBN observable. To show the validity and effectiveness of the obtained results, examples are finally given.

The Universal Periodic Review and West Papua: Beyond Invisibility?

Abstract Major human rights violations are experienced by the people of West Papua, the easternmost part of Indonesia, on an almost daily basis. Some commentators even describe the situation as a ‘slow genocide.’ Yet the plight of the people of West Papua has been almost invisible at the international level. Few states have championed the cause of the West Papuans directly with Indonesia, and international human rights monitoring bodies have largely failed to hold Indonesia to account for the atrocities committed in West Papua. This article examines the actions of the United Nations Human Rights Council on West Papua, focusing on the extent to which the West Papua situation has been addressed during the four cycles of Indonesia’s universal periodic review. Across the four cycles of the universal periodic review, only a small number of states have made a small number of recommendations to Indonesia on the West Papua situation. Encouragingly, the most recent review of Indonesia in 2022 appears to reflect growing internationalisation of the West Papua issue. However, the wider context of claims for self-determination and independence in West Papua, and the gravity of the human rights violations, appears to shackle the upr mechanism such that it fails to fully engage with the human rights challenges in West Papua. For the people of West Papua, this failure is perilous.

«Aggression» as an imperative norm of international law: genesis of development

The article reveals the essence of «aggression» as an imperative norm of modern international law. Attention is focused on the fact that despite the prohibition of aggression by the imperative norms of international law and its recognition by the international community as an international crime, a universal definition of aggression has not yet been adopted. Consideration of the essence of aggression by analyzing the provisions contained in the UN Charter, the Declaration of Principles of 1970 and the Helsinki Final Act of 1975 require some clarification and expansion. The definition proposed by the UN General Assembly Resolution No. 3314 needs to be confirmed by convention, as the resolutions of the UN General Assembly have the nature of soft law. The provisions of the Resolution can be transformed into customary norms of international law, however, the fact of the transformation of the provisions of this resolution into customary norms at the current stage is debatable and requires additional justification. It is noted that the definition of aggression is also contained in the ICC Statute, however, this statute has been adopted by a relatively small number of states, so these provisions are not mandatory for non-participating states. In addition, the Court has jurisdiction to administer justice and render appropriate judgments only in relation to natural persons. Therefore, today there is an urgent need to adopt a definition of aggression at the universal convention level, which will contribute to the prevention of the international crime of aggression and increase the effectiveness of combating it. It is indisputable that the prohibition of aggression acquires its imperative status through its inherent rationalism and moral authority instead of state consent.

State-Interaction Approach for Evaluating g-Tensors within EOM-CC and RAS-CI Frameworks: Theory and Benchmarks.

Among various techniques designed for studying open-shell species, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy plays an important role. The key quantity measured by EPR is the g-tensor, describing the coupling between an external magnetic field and molecular electronic spin. One theoretical framework for quantum chemistry calculations of g-tensors is based on response theory, which involves substantial developments that are specific to the underlying electronic structure models. A simplified and easier-to-implement approach is based on the state-interaction scheme, in which perturbation is included by considering a small number of states. We describe and benchmark the state-interaction approach using equation-of-motion coupled-cluster and restricted-active-space configuration interaction wave functions. The analysis confirms that this approach can deliver accurate results and highlights caveats of applying it, such as a choice of the reference state, convergence with respect to the number of states used in calculations, etc. The analysis also contributes toward a better understanding of challenges in calculations of higher-order properties using approximate wave functions.

Continuous-time Markov-chain models for reaction systems: fast and slow processes

It is sometimes of interest to identify the fast and slow processes in a reaction system. We present here an approach to this problem which is based on a simple stochastic model, a continuous-time Markov chain on a small number of states. We show how it is possible to use such a stochastic model to find and plot the time-courses of concentrations, and to find simple short-time and long-time approximations to these time-courses; that is, to separate the fast and the slow processes. The most significant computation involved is the exponentiation of many small matrices, which is easily accomplished in the computing environment R.

A Community Building Energy Modelling – Life Cycle Cost Analysis framework to design and operate net zero energy communities

Despite building codes and standards helping build energy-efficient structures, most focus only on typical individual buildings. Second, they do not discuss community-based renewable energy adoption strategies as part of the standards. However, to facilitate the transition to net zero emissions in the upcoming decades, policies and recommendations from standards must enhance their scope from the buildings to communities and exploit the maximum energy retrofit opportunities available within the community premises. This study proposes a Community Building Energy Modelling – Life Cycle Cost Analysis (CBEM - LCCA) decision-making framework to analyze the techno-economical feasibility of the residential community-wide implementation of any building retrofit scheme. The framework developed is applied in a 14-building residential community in Mumbai, India, to compare the techno-economic benefit of implementing community-wide renewable installations against the existing national Energy Conservation Building Code (ECBC). The results reveal that all the communities together have the potential to generate 333 MWh of electricity per year from solar rooftops alone against the consumption of 369 MWh. The communities are observed to be capable of achieving nearly net-zero energy after adopting a community-wide rooftop solar photovoltaic installation with fewer than eight years of simple payback period (SPP). A thorough sensitivity analysis also reveals that the community rooftop solar strategy proves economically far superior to ECBC compliance of individual building envelopes. Among the retrofits, the roof-wall combination gave the minimum SPP of 8.38 years at a 100 % cooling space fraction. The findings provide evidence for why only a small number of states support ECBC code compliance, and it is recommended that policymakers use the proposed CBEM-LCCA framework to create appropriate energy policies for developing community-wide rather than individual building-level retrofit strategies.

Information–energy equivalence and the emergence of self-replicating biological systems

Biological processes are characterized by a decrease in entropy in apparent violation of the second law of thermodynamics. Information stored in genomes help to solve this paradox when interpreted under the relationship between information and energy stated by Brillouin in the 1950’s. However, the origins of living forms from inanimate matter which have no information storage device remains an open question. In this paper, a theoretical approach is developed on this issue. The replication of a simple entity with a binary genome is assumed to require an information-equivalent energy in addition to the standard activation energy. It is found that, in some conditions, a decrease in entropy can be accomplished together with a decrease in Gibbs free energy. An equation of the total energy for the replication of this entity is derived. Three factors are predicted to lower this energy: a small number of states of the coding sequence, a lower temperature, and a high ratio of the reaction on diffusion coefficients. These factors may have favoured the emergence of evolutionary demons—information storage devices that are able to decrease entropy. It is evaluated that some short, single-stranded RNA sequences made only of G and of C may conform to this model. The consequences of this model and its predictions on the origins of life on Earth and on other planets are discussed.

Local approximation for perfect discrimination of quantum states

Quantum state discrimination involves identifying a given state out of a set of possible states. When the states are mutually orthogonal, perfect state discrimination is alway possible using a global measurement. In the case of multipartite systems when the parties are constrained to use multiple rounds of local operations and classical communications (LOCC), perfect state discrimination is often impossible even with the use of \emph{asymptotic LOCC}, wherein an error is allowed but must vanish in the limit of an infinite number of rounds. Utilizing our recent results on asymptotic LOCC, we derive a lower bound on the error probability for LOCC discrimination of any given set of mutually orthogonal pure states. We use this lower bound to prove necessary conditions for perfect state discrimination by asymptotic LOCC. We then illustrate by example the power of these necessary conditions in significantly simplifying the determination of whether perfect discrimination of a given set of states can be accomplished arbitrarily closely using LOCC. The latter examples include a proof that perfect discrimination by asymptotic LOCC is impossible for any \emph{minimal} unextendible product basis (UPB), where minimal means that for the given multipartite system, no UPB with a smaller number of states can exist. We also give a simple proof that what has been called \emph{strong nonlocality without entanglement} is considerably stronger than had previously been demonstrated.

Современные малые государства: подходы к операционализации, классификации и уровни комплексного анализа

The relevance of the topic is attributed to the diversity of sovereign polities due to the relatively recent increase in the number of states, many of which possess an objectively small size, and changing role of small states that occupied a peripheral position within the bipolar system of international relations, and now are receiving more opportunities in a globalizing world that help them solve the problem of limited resources in world politics. At the same time, the category of small states is not unanimously agreed upon, despite its frequent use in public and scientific discourse by researchers. The aim of this article is to systematize approaches to the conceptualization and operationalization of small states based on absolute, relative, quantitative and qualitative criteria and to analyze their applicability at various levels from global to dyadic ones. The article also seeks to establish the number of small states based on the index of the size of the state developed by the Russian researcher A. V. Travish, taking into account the ratio between states in terms of their population, territory and GDP. Although this approach does not allow delineating the boundaries of qualitatively different subcategories of small states due to their large number, the author concludes that the selection of cases for thicker research should begin with a primary quantitative analysis. Finally, an attempt has been made to classify small states based on geographical and analytical criteria, taking into account the aforementioned index of the size of the state.

Extremal Binary PFAs with Small Number of States

The largest known reset thresholds for DFAs are equal to [Formula: see text], where [Formula: see text] is the number of states. This is conjectured to be the maximum possible. PFAs (with partial transition function) can have exponentially large reset thresholds. This is still true if we restrict to binary PFAs. However, asymptotics do not give conclusions for fixed [Formula: see text]. We prove that the maximal reset threshold for binary PFAs is strictly greater than [Formula: see text] if and only if [Formula: see text]. These results are mostly based on the analysis of synchronizing word lengths for a certain family of binary PFAs. This family has the following properties: it contains the well-known Černý automata; for [Formula: see text] it contains a binary PFA with maximal possible reset threshold; for all [Formula: see text] it contains a PFA with reset threshold larger than the maximum known for DFAs. Analysis of this family reveals remarkable patterns involving the Fibonacci numbers and related sequences such as the Padovan sequence. We derive explicit formulas for the reset thresholds in terms of these recurrent sequences. Asymptotically the Černý family gives reset thresholds of polynomial order. We prove that PFAs in the family are not extremal for [Formula: see text]. For that purpose, we present an improvement of Martyugin’s prime number construction of binary PFAs.

Food labeling in the European Union: a review of existing approaches

PurposeThis review explores the phenomenon of front-of-pack nutrition labels (FoPNLs) in the European Union (EU). FoPNLs highlight the nutritional quality of food and non-alcoholic beverages and help consumers to make healthier choices. The review explores different types of FoPNLs and evaluates their effectiveness.Design/methodology/approachA policy analysis was conducted, relying on extant academic literature, grey literature and policy documents. The use of current FoPNLs is interpreted in light of national and economic interests.FindingsOur review identifies and describes seven government endorsed FoPNLs that are currently used in the EU. Five are positive endorsement labels (Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Lithuania, Slovenia and Sweden), which only provide a positive indication on more healthy products. The Keyhole is used in three EU countries (Denmark, Lithuania and Sweden), while the others are used in one country each. The Nutri-Score represents a summary label, which provides an overall grade of how healthy a product is. It is used in six countries (Belgium, France, Germany, Netherlands, Spain and Luxembourg). Finally, the Nutrinform battery is a nutrient-specific non-interpretive scheme, indicating the content of nutrients in a portion of a food product. All identified labels are only used on a voluntary basis, encouraging selective use.Originality/valueThis review contributes to a significant discussion about food labeling in the EU. It summarizes existing approaches and evaluates them in terms of their effectiveness. The current schemes in use reflect regional clustering. The most common scheme is the Nutri-Score. This is predominantly found in western EU states. Another major label is the Keyhole, with summary endorsement schemes being prevalent in northern EU states. The least common is Nutrinform, which has some support in southern EU states. The Nutri-score is most effective although economic interests are pushing for the Nutrinform battery in a small number of states. Finally, the review suggests that all existing FoPNLs are voluntary, these labels fail to provide consumers with adequate information about nutrition quality of food products. The EU needs to mobilize support to agree on a single one.

Finite-state super transducers for compact language resource representation in edge voice-AI

Finite-state transducers have been proven to yield compact representations of pronunciation dictionaries used for grapheme-to-phoneme conversion in speech engines running on low-resource embedded platforms. However, for highly inflected languages even more efficient language resource reduction methods are needed. In the paper, we demonstrate that the size of finite-state transducers tends to decrease when the number of word forms in the modelled pronunciation dictionary reaches a certain threshold. Motivated by this finding, we propose and evaluate a new type of finite-state transducers, called ‘finite-state super transducers’, which allow for the representation of pronunciation dictionaries by a smaller number of states and transitions, thereby significantly reducing the size of the language resource representation in comparison to minimal deterministic final-state transducers by up to 25%. Further, we demonstrate that finite-state super transducers exhibit a generalization capability as they may accept and thereby phonetically transform even inflected word forms that had not been initially represented in the original pronunciation dictionary used for building the finite-state super transducer. This method is suitable for speech engines operating on platforms at the edge of an AI system with restricted memory capabilities and processing power, where efficient speech processing methods based on compact language resources must be implemented.

Characterization and computation of approximate bisimulations for fuzzy automata

Approximate bisimulations for fuzzy automata have recently drawn attention of researches, since they allow to correlate different fuzzy automata which behave equivalently only to the chosen degree. This is of a particular interest in the state reduction of fuzzy automata, since it allows us to find a fuzzy automaton with a much smaller number of states and a slightly different behaviour from the original fuzzy automaton. The contribution of this paper is twofold. First, we study special types of approximate bisimulations which allow us to correlate all elements from both sets of states of two fuzzy automata. We show their properties, and particularly that they induce the so-called approximate isomorphism between the corresponding factor fuzzy automata. We pay a special attention to similarities and differences between homotypic and heterotypic approximate bisimulations. Second, we provide an efficient algorithm with the complexity O((m+n)n) for computing the greatest λ-approximate bisimulation between two finite fuzzy automata over the Gödel structure (if it exists), where λ is the threshold for approximation, n is the number of states and m is the number of non-zero transitions of the automata. This algorithm gives a great reduction of complexity when compared to the previously developed one, which has the complexity O(mn5). We also design an algorithm with the complexity O((m+n)n) for computing the greatest λ∈[0,1] such that there exists a λ-approximate bisimulation between two given finite fuzzy automata over the Gödel structure.

International Legal Issues Arising from Repatriation of the Children of Islamic State

Abstract The detention of children of Islamic State within Kurdish-controlled camps in Syria presents a complex dilemma for national authorities and the international community. Although a small number of states have repatriated their nationals, overall, little progress has been made and thousands of children continue to languish in deplorable conditions. Resolution has been urged from both humanitarian and international security perspectives, but Western states, in particular, have sought to avoid responsibility, often using legal mechanisms to impede repatriation efforts. This article asks whether international legal frameworks can provide a route to resolution. It argues that by centralizing the international law and policy on children’s rights, repatriation becomes the priority rather than domestic political and security objectives. Conceptual light is shed on the ways in which international human rights law standards can be mobilized for the protection of conflict-affected children as individual rights holders.

Optimal Thinning of MCMC Output

AbstractThe use of heuristics to assess the convergence and compress the output of Markov chain Monte Carlo can be sub-optimal in terms of the empirical approximations that are produced. Typically a number of the initial states are attributed to ‘burn in’ and removed, while the remainder of the chain is ‘thinned’ if compression is also required. In this paper, we consider the problem of retrospectively selecting a subset of states, of fixed cardinality, from the sample path such that the approximation provided by their empirical distribution is close to optimal. A novel method is proposed, based on greedy minimisation of a kernel Stein discrepancy, that is suitable when the gradient of the log-target can be evaluated and approximation using a small number of states is required. Theoretical results guarantee consistency of the method and its effectiveness is demonstrated in the challenging context of parameter inference for ordinary differential equations. Software is available in the Stein Thinning package in Python, R and MATLAB.

Seeking overlap and redundancy in human rights protection: reputation, consistency and the acceptance of the UN human rights treaties’ individual communications procedures

ABSTRACT A common explanation for state acceptance of the optional individual communications procedures (ICPs) of UN human rights treaties involves costly signalling theory. Commitment to ICPs is said to enable states to signal sincere commitment more credibly. Such signalling, however, is not particularly costly and ultimately a reasonable motive for only a small number of states. For most states that accept ICPs, signalling bears no obvious instrumental value; for many, the global ICPs also overlap with existing and institutionally stronger human rights monitoring mechanisms at the regional level. This begs the question: Why do states seek such overlap and redundancy? Acknowledging the role of preferences for effective human rights protection, we suggest an additional reputational motive that foregrounds the value of consistency in commitments and related reputations. Employing survival analysis and data for six ICPs, we show that ICP acceptance is particularly driven by states that are also subject to institutionally stronger regional human rights courts. Given the marginal benefits in rights protection through adding overlap, we argue that the effects of consistent commitment on the perception of a state’s character provide a persuasive supplementary explanation.

ФРАГМЕНТАЦИЯ ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОГО ПРОСТРАНСТВА И ДИНАМИЗМ СОВРЕМЕННОЙ СИСТЕМЫ ГРАНИЦ

The forms, political and other factors of the dynamism of spatial boundaries are considered in the light of modern approaches in border studies. One of borders’ paradoxes lies in their inertia and at the same time high and increasing dynamism. It led to the creation of the concept of bordering, that is, the constant change in the functions and regime of borders, their significance for public opinion under the influence of political institutions, the practice of cross-border interactions and the international political and economic situation. The dynamism of the system of borders is determined by the increase in their number and length, reflecting the fragmentation of the world political space at all levels, the growing diversity of types of modern polities and the differences between them. In particular, the number of small states and, accordingly, the number of pairs of state borders are multiplied. The limited niche that small countries are forced to occupy in the international division of labor, as a rule, requires a specific regime (high openness) of borders and the delegation of part of sovereignty to other political actors. Large differences between polities, different ratios of kinds and the level of sovereignty results in the diversity and variability of the functional types of borders. Multilevel processes of integration and regionalization provoke an active redistribution of functions between state and other borders. Border issues are inseparable from the increasingly dynamic evolution of territorial identities, in particular, under the influence of international migration. Finally, the dynamism of borders is associated with their use as a tool for managing social and political processes. The configuration, functions and regime of borders, the asymmetry of cross-border flows are both a mirror and a factor of power of neighboring states and regions.

Canadian Financial Imperialism and Structural Adjustment in the Caribbean

From the start of the early 1980s, structural adjustment was already normalized in the Caribbean given the power of a variety of self-interested actors, including the U.S., IFIs, and Canadian investors who continued to advance and support— by any means necessary— structural adjustment policies in the Caribbean. Debt traps, coupled with incursions on Caribbean state’s sovereignty would see the neoliberal and capitalist doctrine accepted by all of the independent states in the English-speaking Caribbean region by the mid-1980s. Structural adjustment drastically intensified the existing inequalities in states and removed the ability for governments to alleviate these situations. Alongside Caribbean structural adjustment policies (SAPs) in the 1980s was also a successful wave of imperialist (anti-socialist and anti-communist) propaganda. The result being that many of the independent states in the region would see left governments replaced with reactionary conservative ones; And a small number of states confessing themselves to be socialist and/or Marxist-Leninist to receive help from other socialist (and non-aligned) states, like Cuba and the Soviet Union. This article analyzes the causes, characteristics and consequences of the new global international architecture of the 1980s to the 2000s, looking at new opportunities for foreign investors that arose in the 1980s, and how these changes strengthened the already powerful Canadian banks and investors in the English-speaking Caribbean.

State Gun-Control, Gun-Rights, and Preemptive Firearm-Related Laws Across 50 US States for 2009-2018.

Objectives. To assess state policy environments and the relationship between state gun-control, gun-rights, and preemptive firearm-related laws in the United States. Methods. In 2019 through 2020, we evaluated substantive firearm laws and preemptive firearm laws across 50 US states for 2009 through 2018. For each state, we compared substantive measures with preemptive measures on the same policy topic for 2018. Results. The presence of state firearm-related laws varied across states, but with the exception of "punitive preemption" the number of gun-control, gun-rights, and preemptive measures remained unchanged in most states from 2009 through 2018. As of 2018, a majority of states had preemptive measures on almost all gun-control policy topics without enacting substantive gun-control measures. Several states had a combination of gun-control and preemptive measures. Only a small number of states had gun-control measures with few to no preemptive measures. Conclusions. Even where state legislators were unable to pass statewide gun-rights measures, they succeeded in passing preemption, preserving state authority over a wide range of gun-control and gun-rights policy topics. The majority of states used preemption as a tool to support policy frameworks favoring gun rights.