153,333 research outputs found
Applications of Biological Cell Models in Robotics
In this paper I present some of the most representative biological models
applied to robotics. In particular, this work represents a survey of some
models inspired, or making use of concepts, by gene regulatory networks (GRNs):
these networks describe the complex interactions that affect gene expression
and, consequently, cell behaviour
One health in history
This chapter historicizes "One Health" as a concept and approach. It explores the changing constellation of ideas, practices and conditions that brought human and animal health into alignment in different historical contexts, the people and institutions involved and the factors of change over time. The first section shows how deeply animals and animal health were embedded within human medicine in the pre-modern period. The second section extends from the late 18th-century foundation of the veterinary profession to the turn of the 20th century. It tracks the evolving relationship between the veterinary and medical professions, and how, as scientific knowledge and practices changed, new conceptual links were forged between humans, animals and the environment. The third section extends this analysis into the 20th century, focusing particularly on the changing status of animals within medical research, and on international efforts to develop comparative medicine and veterinary public health. The conclusion challenges the idea that the historical record can provide straightforward lessons or guides for "One Health" today
Towards the Design of Heuristics by Means of Self-Assembly
The current investigations on hyper-heuristics design have sprung up in two
different flavours: heuristics that choose heuristics and heuristics that
generate heuristics. In the latter, the goal is to develop a problem-domain
independent strategy to automatically generate a good performing heuristic for
the problem at hand. This can be done, for example, by automatically selecting
and combining different low-level heuristics into a problem specific and
effective strategy. Hyper-heuristics raise the level of generality on automated
problem solving by attempting to select and/or generate tailored heuristics for
the problem at hand. Some approaches like genetic programming have been
proposed for this. In this paper, we explore an elegant nature-inspired
alternative based on self-assembly construction processes, in which structures
emerge out of local interactions between autonomous components. This idea
arises from previous works in which computational models of self-assembly were
subject to evolutionary design in order to perform the automatic construction
of user-defined structures. Then, the aim of this paper is to present a novel
methodology for the automated design of heuristics by means of self-assembly
Neckpinch singularities in fractional mean curvature flows
In this paper we consider the evolution of sets by a fractional mean
curvature flow. Our main result states that for any dimension , there
exists an embedded surface in evolving by fractional mean
curvature flow, which developes a singularity before it can shrink to a point.
When this result generalizes the analogue result of Grayson for the
classical mean curvature flow. Interestingly, when , our result provides
instead a counterexample in the nonlocal framework to the well known Grayson
Theorem, which states that any smooth embedded curve in the plane evolving by
(classical) MCF shrinks to a point
Grappling with the complexity of the New Zealand Curriculum: Next steps in exploring the NZC in initial teacher education.
Teacher educators in New Zealand are charged with supporting student teachers' understandings of the New Zealand Curriculum document (Ministry of Education, 2007). Integral to this challenge is the need to provide relevant knowledge and understandings that are contextually and pedagogically appropriate (Fullan, 2007; Jasman, 2003). Aspects of the "front end" of the New Zealand Curriculum document such as the vision, principles, values and key competencies along with the learning area statements need to be understood by newly graduated teachers who will be applying this curriculum in their own classrooms. This paper reports on ongoing research investigating and reflecting on student-teacher understandings of these components of the New Zealand curriculum, on completion of three different compulsory papers within the Bachelor of Teaching degree and Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Primary). Implications for pre-service teacher education and for supporters of provisionally registered teachers are considered
Corporate political activity and location-based advantage: MNE responses to institutional transformation in Ugandaâs electricity industry
We examine how multinational enterprises (MNEs) employ political strategies in response to location-based, institutional transformations in new frontier African markets. Specifically, we explore the heterogeneous corporate political activities of advanced and emerging market MNEs in Ugandaâs electricity industry, as they respond to and influence locational advantage using diverse political capabilities. We argue that, in institutionally fragile, new frontier markets, Dunningâs OLI paradigm is more theoretically robust and managerially relevant when combined with a political perspective. Effective MNE political strategies in these markets rely on nonmarket capabilities in political stakeholder engagement, community embeddedness, regional understanding, and responsiveness to stages of institutionalization
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