4,413 research outputs found
Automating decision making to help establish norm-based regulations
Norms have been extensively proposed as coordination mechanisms for both
agent and human societies. Nevertheless, choosing the norms to regulate a
society is by no means straightforward. The reasons are twofold. First, the
norms to choose from may not be independent (i.e, they can be related to each
other). Second, different preference criteria may be applied when choosing the
norms to enact. This paper advances the state of the art by modeling a series
of decision-making problems that regulation authorities confront when choosing
the policies to establish. In order to do so, we first identify three different
norm relationships -namely, generalisation, exclusivity, and substitutability-
and we then consider norm representation power, cost, and associated moral
values as alternative preference criteria. Thereafter, we show that the
decision-making problems faced by policy makers can be encoded as linear
programs, and hence solved with the aid of state-of-the-art solvers
Anderson Localization Phenomenon in One-dimensional Elastic Systems
The phenomenon of Anderson localization of waves in elastic systems is
studied. We analyze this phenomenon in two different set of systems: disordered
linear chains of harmonic oscillators and disordered rods which oscillate with
torsional waves. The first set is analyzed numerically whereas the second one
is studied both experimentally and theoretically. In particular, we discuss the
localization properties of the waves as a function of the frequency. In doing
that we have used the inverse participation ratio, which is related to the
localization length. We find that the normal modes localize exponentially
according to Anderson theory. In the elastic systems, the localization length
decreases with frequency. This behavior is in contrast with what happens in
analogous quantum mechanical systems, for which the localization length grows
with energy. This difference is explained by means of the properties of the re
ection coefficient of a single scatterer in each case.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figure
Metallicity inhomogeneities in local star-forming galaxies as sign of recent metal-poor gas accretion
We measure the oxygen metallicity of the ionized gas along the major axis of
seven dwarf star-forming galaxies. Two of them, SDSSJ1647+21 and SDSSJ2238+14,
show 0.5 dex metallicity decrements in inner regions with enhanced
star-formation activity. This behavior is similar to the metallicity drop
observed in a number of local tadpole galaxies by Sanchez Almeida et al. (2013)
and interpreted as showing early stages of assembling in disk galaxies, with
the star formation sustained by external metal-poor gas accretion. The
agreement with tadpoles has several implications: (1) it proves that galaxies
other than the local tadpoles present the same unusual metallicity pattern. (2)
Our metallicity inhomogeneities were inferred using the direct method, thus
discarding systematic errors usually attributed to other methods. (3) Taken
together with the tadpole data, our findings suggest a threshold around one
tenth the solar value for the metallicity drops to show up. Although galaxies
with clear metallicity drops are rare, the physical mechanism responsible for
them may sustain a significant part of the star-formation activity in the local
Universe. We argue that the star-formation dependence of the mass-metallicity
relationship, as well as other general properties followed by most local disk
galaxies, are naturally interpreted as side effects of pristine gas infall.
Alternatives to the metal poor gas accretion are examined too.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 10 pages. 5 Fig
Deconstructing Red-Black Trees with Bantling
The refinement of DNS has harnessed access points, and current trends suggest that the improvement of reinforcement learning will soon emerge. Here, authors verify the understanding of web browsers, demonstrates the private importance of cyberinformatics. In order to answer this challenge, we validate that despite the fact that multi-processors and vacuum tubes can synchronize to achieve this mis- sion, vacuum tubes and local-area networks can col- laborate to overcome this question
Survival analysis of productive life in Florida dairy goats using a Cox proportional hazards model
Longevity is an economically important trait, since extending the functional life of a doe would allow us to keep the most productive females in the herd as long as possible, and this could result in the increased profitability of dairy farms. Thus, the objectives of this study were to determine the most important factors that influence the length of productive life (LPL) of female Florida goats and to estimate its genetic additive variance using a Cox proportional hazards model. The data consisted of 70,695 productive life records from 25,722 Florida females kidding between 2006 and 2020. A total of 19,495 does had completed their productive life while 6227 (24.2%) does had censored information. The pedigree contained information on 56,901 animals. The average censoring age and average failure age after first kidding for LPL were 36 and 47 months respectively. The model included, as time-independent effects, the age at first kidding and the interaction between herd, year and season of birth of the doe, and as time-dependent effects, the age at kidding, the interaction between herd, year and season of kidding, the within-herd class of milk production deviation, and the interaction between the lactation number and the stage of lactation. All fixed effects had a significant effect on LPL (p < 0.05). Does with older ages at the first kidding and an earlier age at kidding were at higher risk of being culled. A large difference among herds was observed in terms of culling risk, which highlighted the importance of adequate management practices. Also, high-producing does were less likely to be culled. The estimate of the additive genetic variance was 1.844 (in genetic standard deviation), with a heritability estimate of 0.58 ± 0.012. The results of this study are expected to contribute to the development of a genetic model for genetic evaluation of the length of the productive life of Spanish dairy goat breeds.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
Versatile Graphene-Based Platform for Robust Nanobiohybrid Interfaces
Technologically useful and robust graphene-based interfaces for devices
require the introduction of highly selective, stable, and covalently bonded
functionalities on the graphene surface, whilst essentially retaining the
electronic properties of the pristine layer. This work demonstrates that highly
controlled, ultrahigh vacuum covalent chemical functionalization of graphene
sheets with a thiol-terminated molecule provides a robust and tunable platform
for the development of hybrid nanostructures in different environments. We
employ this facile strategy to covalently couple two representative systems of
broad interest: metal nanoparticles, via S-metal bonds, and thiol-modified DNA
aptamers, via disulfide bridges. Both systems, which have been characterized by
a multi-technique approach, remain firmly anchored to the graphene surface even
after several washing cycles. Atomic force microscopy images demonstrate that
the conjugated aptamer retains the functionality required to recognize a target
protein. This methodology opens a new route to the integration of high-quality
graphene layers into diverse technological platforms, including plasmonics,
optoelectronics, or biosensing. With respect to the latter, the viability of a
thiol-functionalized chemical vapor deposition graphene-based solution-gated
field-effect transistor array was assessed
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