V-like formations in flocks of artificial birds

We consider flocks of artificial birds and study the emergence of V-like formations during flight. We introduce a small set of fully distributed positioning rules to guide the birds' movements and demonstrate, by means of simulations, that they tend to lead to stabilization into several of the well-known V-like formations that have been observed in nature. We also provide quantitative indicators that we believe are closely related to achieving V-like formations, and study their behavior over a large set of independent simulations

Comparação entre os cristais de Teichmann do sangue humano e de animais e sua importancia pericial

Orientador : Roberto Jose GonçalvesDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Odontologia de PiracicabaResumo: a preconizada por Teichmann, através da utilização do ácido acético glacial e, utilizando-se a mesma técnica, comparar com os cristais de hemina do sangue de animais domésticos (cão, gato e galinha), animais. Que Este trabalho visa evidenciar os cristais de hemina do sangue humano, pela técnicpossuem um maior convívio com o homem; nesses cristais, observou-se a cor, forma e ângulos, no intuito de serem notadas possíveis diferenças, porventura existentes, entre os ângulos internos dos cristais de hemina do sangue humano e os cristais originados a partir 00 sangue dos animais pesquisados. Para o desenvolvimento deste trabalho, foram coletadas amostras de sangue humano em locais de crimes e durante a necropsia de cadáveres não identificados no Departamento Médico Legal de Vitória; essas amostras foram utilizadas para a obtenção dos cristais de hemina, pela técnica de Teichmann, através da dissociação iôruca da hematina pelo ácido acético e seus ângulos internos foram medidos. Com a colaboração de um médico veterinário, foram coletadas amostras de sangue de galinha, cachorro e gato e, utilizando-se a mesma técnica de Teichmann, os cristais- originados tiveram seus ângulos internos também medidos e comparados com os ângulos dos cristais do sangue humano, na tentativa de se diferenciar a espécie animal pelos ângulos internos dos cristais. Foram selecionadas cerca de vinte e cinco amostras de cada espécie animal e de pessoas vítimas de mortes violentas, todos adultos. Pelos resultados obtidos, foi observado que: A técnica de obtenção dos cristais de hemína não diferencia, morfologicamente, sangue humano do sangue de outros animais pesquisados.A análise comparativa dos ângulos internos dos cristais fonnados, tanto no sangue humano quanto no sangue dos animais estudados, não diferencia um do outro. A presença dos cristais de Teichmann, no sangue humano, é prova de certeza de sangue; em amostras sangüíneas e manchas levantadas em locais de crime, entretanto, não diferencia o sangue humano do sangue de animais domésticos como cão, gato e galinhaAbstract: This work seeks to evidence the crystals of hemina present in the human blood, using the technique proc1aimed by Teichmann, through the use of the glacial acetic acid and, using the same technique, comparing to the crystals of hemina of domestic animals (dog, cat and chicken) which possess a larger familiarity with men, observing its color, form, size and angles with the aim of noticing possible differences that may exist, among the internal angles of the hemina crystals, of the human blood from the blood of the researched animals. For the development of this work samples of human blood were picked up in places of crimes and during the necropsy non identified of corpes in the Legal Medical Department of Vitória; samples which were used for the obtaining of the hemina crystals, by the technique of Teichmann through the chemical reaction of the hemoglobin for the acetic acid and its internal angles were measured. With a veterinary doctor' s collaboration, samples of chicken, dog and cat bloods were picked up, and being used this same Teichmann's technique, the originated crystals also had their internal angles measured and compared with the angles of the crystals of the human blood, in the attempt of differing the animal species through the internal angles of the crystals. They were selected about twenty-five samples of each animal species and of people victims of people victims of violent deaths, all adults. Results showed that: The technique of obtaining the hemina crystals doesn't differentiate, morphologically, human blood from the blood of other researched animals. The comparative analysis made in the internal angles of the formed crystals, as much ín the human blood as ín the blood of the animais studied, doesn't differentiate one blood from the other. The presence of the Teichmann's crystals in the human blood is a proof that it is real blood, in blood samples and in blood stains collected in the scenes of crime; however it doesn't differentiate human blood from blood of domestic animais like dog, cat and chickenMestradoMestre em Odontologia Legal e Deontologi

Quantum tree-based planning

Reinforcement Learning is at the core of a recent revolution in Arti cial Intelligence. Simultaneously, we are witnessing the emergence of a new  eld: Quantum Machine Learning. In the context of these two major developments, this work addresses the interplay between Quantum Computing and Reinforcement Learning. Learning by interaction is possible in the quantum setting using the concept of oraculization of environments. The paper extends previous oracular instances to address more general stochastic environments. In this setting, we developed a novel quantum algorithm for near-optimal decision-making based on the Reinforcement Learning paradigm known as Sparse Sampling. The proposed algorithm exhibits a quadratic speedup compared to its classical counterpart. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the  first quantum planning algorithm exhibiting a time complexity independent of the number of states of the environment, which makes it suitable for large state space environments, where planning is otherwise intractable.This work is financed by National Funds through the Portuguese funding agency, FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, within project UIDB/50014/2020

Muscle residual force enhancement: a brief review

Muscle residual force enhancement has been observed in different muscle preparations for more than half a century. Nonetheless, its mechanism remains unclear; to date, there are three generally accepted hypotheses: 1) sarcomere length non-uniformity, 2) engagement of passive elements, and 3) an increased number of cross-bridges. The first hypothesis uses sarcomere non-homogeneity and instability to explain how "weak" sarcomeres would convey the higher tension generated by an enhanced overlap from "stronger" sarcomeres, allowing the whole system to produce higher forces than predicted by the force-length relationship; non-uniformity provides theoretical support for a large amount of the experimental data. The second hypothesis suggests that passive elements within the sarcomeres (i.e., titin) could gain strain upon calcium activation followed by stretch. Finally, the third hypothesis suggests that muscle stretch after activation would alter cross-bridge kinetics to increase the number of attached cross-bridges. Presently, we cannot completely rule out any of the three hypotheses. Different experimental results suggest that the mechanisms on which these three hypotheses are based could all coexist

Micro-ct Evaluation Of The Radioprotective Effect Of Resveratrol On The Mandibular Incisors Of Irradiated Rats

The purpose of this study was to perform a microcomputed tomographic evaluation of the radioprotective effect of resveratrol on the volume of mandibular incisors of irradiated rats. A second aim was to make a quantitative assessment of the effect of x-ray exposure on these dental tissues. Twenty adult male rats were divided into four groups: control, irradiated control, resveratrol, and irradiated resveratrol. The resveratrol groups received 100 mg/kg of resveratrol, whereas the irradiated groups were exposed to 15 Gy of irradiation. The animals were sacrificed 30 days after the irradiation procedure, and their mandibles were removed and scanned in a microcomputed tomography unit. The images were loaded into Mimics software to allow segmentation of the mandibular incisor and assessment of its volume. The results were compared by One-way ANOVA and Tukey's post hoc test, considering a 5% significance level. The irradiated groups showed significantly diminished volumes of the evaluated teeth, as compared with the control group (p < 0.05). The resveratrol group presented higher values than those of the irradiated groups, and volumes similar to those of the control group. High radiation doses significantly affected tooth formation, resulting in alterations in the dental structure, and thus lower volumes. Moreover, resveratrol showed no effective radioprotective impact on dental tissues. Future studies are needed to evaluate different concentrations of this substance, in an endeavor to verify its potential as a radioprotector for these dental tissues.30

Wearing colored glasses can influence the exercise performance and testosterone concentration

Perception of red color is associated with higher testosterone concentration and better human performance. Thus, we evaluated the acute effects of wearing colored-lens glasses on the YoYo intermittent endurance exercise test 2 (YoYoIE2) performance indicators and testosterone concentration. Ten soccer players performed three YoYoIE2 (counterbalanced crossover) wearing colorless (control), blue- or red-lensed glasses (2–4 days of rest in between). YoYoIE2 performance did not differ among the trials (p>0.05), but blood testosterone increased post-exercise in red compared to red baseline (red=14%, effect size=0.75). Analysis showed faster heart rate recovery (p0.05) among the trials. Wearing red-colored lenses during high-intensity intermittent exercise increased testosterone concentration, but do not influence performance

Hysteretic behaviour of metal connectors for hybrid (high- and low-grade mixed species) cross laminated timber

Cross-laminated timber (CLT) is a prefabricated solid engineered wood product made of at least three orthogonally bonded layers of solid-sawn lumber that are laminated by gluing longitudinal and transverse layers with structural adhesives to form a solid panel. Previous studies have shown that the CLT buildings can perform well in seismic loading and are recognized as the essential role of connector performance in structural design, modelling, and analysis of CLT buildings. When CLT is composed of high-grade/high-density layers for the outer lamellas and low-grade/low-density for the core of the panels, the CLT panels are herein designated as hybrid CLT panels as opposed to conventional CLT panels that are built using one lumber type for both outer and core lamellas. This paper presents results of a testing program developed to estimate the cyclic performance of CLT connectors applied on hybrid CLT layups. Two connectors are selected, which can be used in wall-to-floor connections. These are readily available in the North American market. Characterization of the performance of connectors is done in two perpendicular directions under a modified CUREE cyclic loading protocol. Depending on the mode of failure, in some cases, testing results indicate that when the nails or screws penetrate the low-grade/low-density core lumber, a statistically significant difference is obtained between hybrid and conventional layups. However, in other cases, due to damage in the face layer or in the connection, force-displacement results for conventional and hybrid CLT layups were not statistically significant.Comment: WCTE 2016 World Conference on Timber Engineering, August 22-25, 2016, Vienna, Austri

A COMERCIALIZAÇÃO DOS PRODUTOS ORGÂNICOS NA FEIRA AGROECOLÓGICA DE MACEIÓ/AL: UMA AVALIAÇÃO SOB A LÓGICA DA TEORIA DOS CUSTOS DE TRANSAÇÃO

A Teoria dos Custos de Transação disciplina que em um determinado mercado deverá haver um fluxo de informação, de maneira a propiciar um ambiente favorável à diminuição da incerteza (e assimetria de informação) que evitariam à ocorrência de atitudes oportunistas, e consequentemente a redução dos custos de transação. Na agricultura orgânica a certificação formalmente estabelecida é o único instrumento que garante que o produto possa ser classificado realmente como orgânico. Este ensaio parte do pressuposto de que um sólido ambiente institucional pode garantir uma reputação ao produtor e as empresas varejistas dando ao consumidor a crença nas suas palavras mesmo sem a presença de uma certificação orgânica formal e reduzindo os custos de transação. E procura-se responder as seguintes indagações: (i) os custos de transação poderão ser diminuídos pela relação de confiança existente entre os produtores/feirantes para com os consumidores e empresas varejistas e das empresas varejistas para como os consumidores? (ii) como o consumidor poderá, realmente, ter certeza que está adquirindo um produto classificado como orgânico, dado haver uma assimetria de informações em determinadas situações e a possibilidade latente de ações oportunistas? Chegou-se a conclusão de que, os custos de transação referentes a comercialização dos produtos orgânicos da Feira Agroecológica de Maceió, podem ser diminuídos mesmos havendo um ambiente propício a atitudes oportunistas, incerteza e uma alta situação de assimetria de informação, uma vez que o consumidor possua a crença de que está consumindo um produto de origem orgânica, baseado em sua relação de confiança com os produtores/feirantes e do suporte do SEBRAE/AL corroborando a hipótese de que um ambiente institucional sólido deve reduzir as incertezas e inibir as práticas oportunistas por parte dos agentes. ----------------------------------------------The Theory of the Costs of Transaction disciplines that in a certain market there must exist a flow of information, in way to propitiate a favorable atmosphere to the decrease of the uncertainty and asymmetry of information that would avoid the fraud attitudes and consequently the reduction of the transaction costs. In the organic agriculture the certification formally established it is the only instrument that guarantees that the product can really be classified as organic. This essay starts from the presupposition that a solid institutional ambient can guarantee a reputation to the producer and the retail companies giving to the consumer the faith in their words even without the presence of a formal organic certification and reducing the transaction costs. It is tried to answer the following inquiries: (i) can the transaction costs be reduced by the relationship of trust among the producers/merchants to the consumers and retail companies and of the retail companies for the consumers? (ii) will the consumer be able to, to have certainty that is acquiring a product classify as organic, given there is an asymmetry of information in certain situations and the actions opportunists' latent possibility? The conclusion was that, the transaction costs regarding commercialization of the organic products of the Fair Agroecológica of Maceió, they can be decreased having a favorable atmosphere to attitudes opportunists, uncertainty and a high situation of asymmetry of information, once the consumer possesses the faith that it is consuming a product of organic origin, based on his/her trust relationship with the producers/merchants and of the support of SEBRAE/AL corroborating the hypothesis that a solid institutional atmosphere should reduce the uncertainties and to inhibit the practices opportunists on the side of the agents.confiança, agricultura orgânica e teoria dos custos de transação, trust, organic agriculture and theory of the transaction cost, Farm Management,