Hamiltonian model for multidimensional epistasis

We propose and solve a Hamiltonian model for multidimensional epistastatic interactions between beneficial mutations. The model is able to give rise either to a phase transition between two equilibrium states, without any coexistence, or exhibits a state where hybrid species can coexist, with gradual passage from one wild type to another. The transition takes place as a function of the "tolerance" of the environment, which we define as the amount of noise in the system.Comment: 3 pages, 2 figures (in seperate files) spelling corrected and a reference adde

Economic importance of Gypsophila L., Ankyropetalum Fenzl and Saponaria L. (Caryophyllaceae) taxa of Turkey

Gypsophila L. is the third biggest genus of Caryophyllaceae family in Turkey. The genus has 55 species in the country. 33 species are endemics and total number of the taxa is 58. Ankyropetalum Fenzl is a small genus with 3 species and 1 of them is endemic. Saponaria L. has 20 taxa of 18 species and 10 taxa of them are endemics to Turkey. Turkey is the gene center of all the genera. All of the genera are known as coven, female coven and halva root and developed roots or rhizomes are economically very important. Extract produced from the roots are known as fire extinguisher, gold polishing, cleaner and softener of delicate fabrics and crispness giving to halva. The extracts are often used for making liqueur, herbal cheese, ice cream and some foods. Some taxa are Boron (B) hyperacumulators, so they can be planted and used for destroyed agriculture to control erosion. Gypsophila paniculata L. is very important in horticulture. Gypsophila bicolor, Gypsophila arrostii, Gypsophila perfoliata, Ankyropetalum gypsophiloides and Saponaria officinalis L. are very important because of their saponin contents. In this paper, economic importance of the plants in the light of our observations and literatures was given.Key words: Gypsophila, Ankyropetalum, Saponaria, economy, saponin

Evaluación de diferentes métodos de modelización para la estimación de la altura total del árbol de la Región Mediterránea de Turquía

Efficient management of timber resources and wood utilization practices require accurate and versatile information about important characteristics of forest resources for evaluating the numerous management and utilization alternatives for timber resources. Tree height is considered one of the most useful variables along with stocking and diameter at breast height, in estimating forest stand wood volumes and productivity. Six nonlinear growth functions were fitted to tree height-diameter data of three major tree species in Western Mediterranean Region’s forests of Turkey. The generalized regression neural network (GRNN) technique has been applied for tree height prediction, as well, due to its ability to fit complex nonlinear models. The performance of the models was compared and evaluated. Further, equivalence tests of the selected models were conducted. Validation showed the appropriatness of all models to predict tree height. According to the model performance criteria, the six nonlinear growth functions were able to capture the height-diameter relationships and fitted the data almost equally well, while the constructed generalized regression neural network (GRNN) models were found to be superior to all nonlinear regression models, in terms of their predictive ability. La gestión eficiente de los recursos forestales y la de utilización de la madera requieren de información precisa y versátil acerca de las características importantes de los recursos forestales para la evaluación de la gestión y de las alternativas de utilización de los recursos forestales. La altura del árbol es considerada como una de las variables más útiles, junto con la densidad, y el diámetro a la altura del pecho, en la estimación de volúmenes de madera y la productividad de masas forestales. Se ajustaron seis modelos de altura total-diámetro y se compararon con el fin de estimar con precisión la altura total del árbol de las tres principales especies de árboles en los bosques de la Región Occidental Mediterráneo de Turquía. La regresión generalizada de redes neuronales (GRNN) se presenta como una técnica alternativa de red neuronal a la técnica de regresión no lineal para estimar la altura total de los árboles debido a su capacidad para adaptarse a modelos complejos no lineales. Se compararon y evaluaron los modelos. Se llevaron a cabo otras pruebas, como la equivalencia de los modelos seleccionados. De acuerdo con los criterios del rendimiento de los modelos, las seis funciones no lineales de crecimiento fueron capaces de capturar las relaciones altura-diámetro y ajustaron los datos casi igual de bien, mientras que las construidas mediante modelos de regresión generalizados de redes neuronales (GRNN) resultaron ser superiores a todos los modelos de regresión no lineal, en términos de su capacidad predictiva

Detail investigation of thermoelectric performance and magnetic properties of Cs-doped Bi2Sr2Co2Oy ceramic materials

Bi2Sr2-xCsxCo2Oy materials with 0 = x = 0.15, have been fabricated via the classical ceramic technique. XRD results have indicated that undoped and Cs-substituted samples are composed of Bi2Sr2Co2Oy phase as the major one. Microstructural studies have demonstrated the formation of a liquid phase, which allows a drastic grain growth. This factor is responsible for a drastic improvement of relative density, reaching about 95% of the theoretical one for 0.125 Cs content. On the other hand, electrical resistivity has been reduced up to 14 mO cm at 650 °C for 0.125 Cs content, around 40% lower than the obtained in undoped samples. As a consequence, Seebeck coefficient has been decreased due to the raise in charge carrier concentration. The highest power factor at 650 °C (0.21 mW/K2 m) has been found for 0.125 Cs substituted sample, about 40% larger than the obtained in undoped samples, and very similar to the notified in single crystals (0.26 mW/K2 m). Magnetisation with respect to temperature results have demonstrated that measured samples have a paramagnetic property above 50 K, except 0.10 Cs. Magnetic hysteresis curves have shown that the slopes and the magnitudes have increased with decreasing temperature

Drastic microstructural modification of Bi2Ca2Co2Oy ceramics by Na doping and laser texturing

Bi2Ca2-xNaxCo2Oy materials with x = 0 = x = 0.125, have been prepared either by sintering through the classical ceramic method, or textured using the laser floating zone technique. XRD results have shown that Bi2Ca2Co2Oy phase is the major one, independently of the Na content, in both kind of samples. SEM studies have shown a drastic microstructural modification between sintered and laser-textured materials. Na-doping increases density and grain sizes in sintered materials, while it enhances grain alignment in laser-grown materials. Moreover, it decreases secondary phase content in all cases. Electrical resistivity is also drastically reduced through texturing, when compared to the sintered samples, and Na-doping further decreases it. The lowest values determined in the laser-textured samples (26 mO cm at 650 °C) are around 40% lower than the best in sintered materials. On the other hand, S has been only slightly affected for Na-doping or processing method for all samples. Consequently, the highest power factor at 650 °C (0.18 mW/K2 m) has been obtained in laser-grown 0.075Na-doped samples, which is around 20 and 70% higher than the measured in undoped laser-textured samples, and sintered ones, respectively. Se han preparado materiales de composición Bi2Ca2-xNaxCo2Oy, con x = 0 ≤ x ≤ 0,125, por el método de estado sólido, además de texturarlos mediante la técnica de zona flotante inducida por láser. Los resultados de XRD han mostrado que la fase Bi2Ca2Co2Oy aparece como la mayoriraria, independientemente del contenido de Na, en ambos tipos de muestras. Los estudios SEM han encontrado una drástica modificación microestructural entre materiales sinterizados y texturados. El dopado con Na aumenta la densidad y el tamaño de grano en materiales sinterizados, mientras que mejora la orientación de los granos en materiales texturados. Además, disminuye el contenido de fases secundarias en todos los casos. La resistividad eléctrica disminuye drásticamente con el texturado, en comparación con las muestras sinterizadas, mientras que el dopado con Na la disminuye aún más. Los valores más bajos determinados en muestras texturadas (26 mΩ cm a 650 °C) son alrededor del 40% menor que los mejores datos publicados en materiales sinterizados. Por otro lado, S solo se ha visto afectado levemente, tanto por el dopado como por el método de procesado. En consecuencia, el máximo factor de potencia a 650 °C (0,18 mW/K2 m) se ha obtenido en muestras dopadas con 0,075 Na y texturadas, que es alrededor de un 20 a un 70% superior al medido en muestras texturadas sin dopar y sinterizadas, respectivamente

Composites of reactive silica nanoparticles and poly(glycidyl methacrylate) with linear and crosslinked chains by in situ bulk polymerization

Composites of poly(glycidyl methacrylate) (PGMA) and L-lysine-coated silica nanoparticles with varying contents were prepared by in situ bulk polymerization using benzoyl peroxide (BPO) as free radical initiator. Silica nanoparticles covered by L-lysine molecules were synthesized using emulsion method. Dynamic light scattering measurements confirmed that the particles are highly monodisperse with the diameter of 10 nm and free of aggregates in the monomer (glycidyl methacrylate, GMA). Upon polymerization of the homogeneous particle/monomer dispersion, aggregates of individual silica nanoparticles are observed by tapping mode atomic force microscope (AFM). Amine and/or carboxylic acid sites on particle surface covalently react with the oxirane groups of the polymer backbone. The aggregation was substantially suppressed by using a difunctional comonomer divinyl benzene (DVB) in polymerization. A three-dimensional polymer network, P(GMA-DVB), forms throughout the system. This structure leads to significant progress in particle dispersion, therefore in physical properties of the resulting composite. We demonstrated that the composites prepared by crosslinked chains are thermally more stable and mechanically stiffer than those prepared by linear ones.TÜBİTAK TBAG-109T905; TÜBİTAK TBAG-108T446; State Planning Organization (DPT-2003K120690-6

Operations sequencing in a cable assembly shop

The need for a better, compact and neat solution in the cable systems used by the automotive industry resulted in emerge of companies specialized in producing such cable systems. The present study is an extension of the work that was carried out for one such company. One of the main operations in the production of cable systems is the attachment of the connectors to the ends of the cables. This process is composed of cutting, stripping and crimping the cable ends. These operations are to be performed for each connecter attachment. Each connector type requires a different head for the crimping operation. Thus, the required setup time is doubled if the heads for both ends of the cable should be changed. The problem in hand is a TSP where the distances between the nodes are either one or two. An effective and simple heuristic algorithm is developed that yields either an optimum solution or one that is off by a few percent. Among nine experiments six resulted with optimum solution while the others deviated from the optimum at most one percent

Thermal conductivity and thermoelectric power of potassium and sodium-substituted Bi-2212 superconductor prepared by PEI technique

In the present study, thermal conductivity (κ − T), thermoelectric power (S − T), and figure of merit (ZT) measurements from room temperature down to 20 K of polycrystalline Bi2Sr2Ca1−xNaxCu2O8+y and Bi2Sr2Ca1−xKxCu2O8+y superconductors prepared by a polymer solution technique using polyethyleneimine, PEI, have been carried out. The thermoelectric power, S(T), of samples have both negative (at high T) and positive values (at low T), and are found to increase with decreasing temperature, reaching their maximum values (peaks) around their Tc values and dropping rapidly to zero below Tc. Na and K substitutions also have a considerable effect on the thermal conductivity, κ. Namely, with increasing Na concentration the magnitude of κ is decreased, but for the K substitution, the magnitude of κ is drastically increased for x = 0.75.This work is supported by the Research Fund of Çukurova University, Adana, Turkey, under Grant Contract Nos FBE.2013YL45 and FEF2013BAP22. A. Sotelo and M. A. Madre wish to thank the Gobierno de Aragon and the Fondo Social Europeo (Research Group T12) and MINECO-FEDER (Project MAT2013-46505-C3-1-R) for the financial support.Peer Reviewe