414 research outputs found
Optimizing the computation of overriding
We introduce optimization techniques for reasoning in DLN---a recently
introduced family of nonmonotonic description logics whose characterizing
features appear well-suited to model the applicative examples naturally arising
in biomedical domains and semantic web access control policies. Such
optimizations are validated experimentally on large KBs with more than 30K
axioms. Speedups exceed 1 order of magnitude. For the first time, response
times compatible with real-time reasoning are obtained with nonmonotonic KBs of
this size
HiTrust: building cross-organizational trust relationship based on a hybrid negotiation tree
Small-world phenomena have been observed in existing peer-to-peer (P2P) networks which has proved useful in the design of P2P file-sharing systems. Most studies of constructing small world behaviours on P2P are based on the concept of clustering peer nodes into groups, communities, or clusters. However, managing additional multilayer topology increases maintenance overhead, especially in highly dynamic environments. In this paper, we present Social-like P2P systems (Social-P2Ps) for object discovery by self-managing P2P topology with human tactics in social networks. In Social-P2Ps, queries are routed intelligently even with limited cached knowledge and node connections. Unlike community-based P2P file-sharing systems, we do not intend to create and maintain peer groups or communities consciously. In contrast, each node connects to other peer nodes with the same interests spontaneously by the result of daily searches
Two-stage evolution of mantle peridotites from the Stalemate Fracture Zone, northwestern Pacific
This paper reports the results of a mineralogical study of 14 mantle peridotite samples dredged in 2009 from the eastern slope of the northwestern segment of the Stalemate Ridge in the northwestern Pacific during cruise SO201-KALMAR Leg 1b of the R/V Sonne. The sample collection included four serpentinized and silicified dunites and ten variably serpentinized lherzolites. The compositions of primary minerals (clinopyroxene, orthopyroxene, and spinel) change systematically from the lherzolites to dunites. Spinel from the lherzolites shows higher Mg# and lower Cr# values (0.65-0.68 and 0.26-0.33, respectively) compared with spinel from the dunites (Mg# = 0.56-0.64 and Cr# = 0.38-0.43). Clinopyroxene from the lherzolites is less magnesian (Mg# = 91.7-92.4) than clinopyroxene from dunite sample DR37-3 (Mg# = 93.7). Based on the obtained data, it was concluded that the lherzolites of the Stalemate Fracture Zone were derived by 10-12% near-fractional melting of a DMM-type depleted mantle reservoir beneath the Kula-Pacific spreading center. The dunites were produced by interaction of residual lherzolites with sodium- and titaniumrich melt and are probably fragments of a network of dunite channels in the shallow mantle. The moderately depleted composition of minerals clearly distinguishes the lherzolites from the strongly depleted peridotites of the East Pacific Rise and indicates the existence of slow-spreading mid-ocean ridges in the Pacific Ocean during the Cretaceous-Paleogene
Knowledge Graph Exploration: A Usability Evaluation of Query Builders for Laypeople
SPARQL enables users to access and browse knowledge graphs in a precise way. However, using SPARQL requires knowledge that many casual users lack. To counter this, specific tools have been created that enable more casual users to browse and query results. This paper evaluates and compares the most prominent techniques, QueryVOWL, SPARKLIS and the Wikidata Query Service (WQS), through a usability evaluation, using a mixed-method evaluation based on usability metrics and heuristics, containing both quantitative and qualitative data. The findings show that while WQS achieved the best results, usability problems were encountered in all tools. Key aspects for usability, extracted from the evaluation, serve as important contributions for future query builders
On stochastic sea of the standard map
Consider a generic one-parameter unfolding of a homoclinic tangency of an
area preserving surface diffeomorphism. We show that for many parameters
(residual subset in an open set approaching the critical value) the
corresponding diffeomorphism has a transitive invariant set of full
Hausdorff dimension. The set is a topological limit of hyperbolic sets
and is accumulated by elliptic islands.
As an application we prove that stochastic sea of the standard map has full
Hausdorff dimension for sufficiently large topologically generic parameters.Comment: 36 pages, 5 figure
The Red Sea, Coastal Landscapes, and Hominin Dispersals
This chapter provides a critical assessment of environment, landscape and resources in the Red Sea region over the past five million years in relation to archaeological evidence of hominin settlement, and of current hypotheses about the role of the region as a pathway or obstacle to population dispersals between Africa and Asia and the possible significance of coastal colonization. The discussion assesses the impact of factors such as topography and the distribution of resources on land and on the seacoast, taking account of geographical variation and changes in geology, sea levels and palaeoclimate. The merits of northern and southern routes of movement at either end of the Red Sea are compared. All the evidence indicates that there has been no land connection at the southern end since the beginning of the Pliocene period, but that short sea crossings would have been possible at lowest sea-level stands with little or no technical aids. More important than the possibilities of crossing the southern channel is the nature of the resources available in the adjacent coastal zones. There were many climatic episodes wetter than today, and during these periods water draining from the Arabian escarpment provided productive conditions for large mammals and human populations in coastal regions and eastwards into the desert. During drier episodes the coastal region would have provided important refugia both in upland areas and on the emerged shelves exposed by lowered sea level, especially in the southern sector and on both sides of the Red Sea. Marine resources may have offered an added advantage in coastal areas, but evidence for their exploitation is very limited, and their role has been over-exaggerated in hypotheses of coastal colonization
Evidence for the return of subducted continental crust
Author Posting. © Nature Publishing Group, 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Nature Publishing Group for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Nature 448 (2007): 684-687, doi:10.1038/nature06048.Substantial quantities of terrigenous sediments are known to enter the
mantle at subduction zones, but little is known about their fate in the mantle.
Subducted sediment may be entrained in buoyantly upwelling plumes and returned
to the earthâs surface at hotspots, but the proportion of recycled sediment in the
mantle is small and clear examples of recycled sediment in hotspot lavas are rare.
We report here remarkably enriched 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd isotope signatures
(up to 0.720830 and 0.512285, respectively) in Samoan lavas from three dredge
locations on the underwater flanks of Savaiâi island, Western Samoa. The
submarine Savaiâi lavas represent the most extreme 87Sr/86Sr isotope compositions
reported for ocean island basalts (OIBs) to date. The data are consistent with the
presence of a recycled sediment component (with a composition similar to upper
continental crust, or UCC) in the Samoan mantle. Trace element data show similar
affinities with UCCâincluding exceptionally low Ce/Pb and Nb/U ratiosâthat
complement the enriched 87Sr/86Sr and 143Nd/144Nd isotope signatures. The
geochemical evidence from the new Samoan lavas radically redefines the
composition of the EM2 (enriched mantle 2) mantle endmember, and points to the
presence of an ancient recycled UCC component in the Samoan plume
Depositional setting, provenance and tectonic-volcanic setting of Eocene-Recent deep-sea sediments of the oceanic Izu-Bonin forearc, NW Pacific (IODP Expedition 352)
New biostratigraphical, geochemical, and magnetic evidence is synthesized with IODP Expedition 352 shipboard results to understand the sedimentary and tectono-magmatic development of the IzuâBonin outer forearc region. The oceanic basement of the IzuâBonin forearc was created by supra-subduction zone seafloor spreading during early Eocene (c. 50â51 Ma). Seafloor spreading created an irregular seafloor topography on which talus locally accumulated. Oxide-rich sediments accumulated above the igneous basement by mixing of hydrothermal and pelagic sediment. Basaltic volcanism was followed by a hiatus of up to 15 million years as a result of topographic isolation or sediment bypassing. Variably tuffaceous deep-sea sediments were deposited during Oligocene to early Miocene and from mid-Miocene to Pleistocene. The sediments ponded into extensional fault-controlled basins, whereas condensed sediments accumulated on a local basement high. Oligocene nannofossil ooze accumulated together with felsic tuff that was mainly derived from the nearby IzuâBonin arc. Accumulation of radiolarian-bearing mud, silty clay, and hydrogenous metal oxides beneath the carbonate compensation depth (CCD) characterized the early Miocene, followed by middle MioceneâPleistocene increased carbonate preservation, deepened CCD and tephra input from both the oceanic IzuâBonin arc and the continental margin Honshu arc. The IzuâBonin forearc basement formed in a near-equatorial setting, with late Mesozoic arc remnants to the west. Subduction-initiation magmatism is likely to have taken place near a pre-existing continentâoceanic crust boundary. The IzuâBonin arc migrated northward and clockwise to collide with Honshu by early Miocene, strongly influencing regional sedimentation
Pervasive melt percolation reactions in ultra-depleted refractory harzburgites at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, 15° 20âČN : ODP Hole 1274A
Author Posting. © The Authors, 2006. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Springer for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 153 (2007): 303-319, doi:10.1007/s00410-006-0148-6.ODP Leg 209 Site 1274 mantle peridotites are highly refractory in terms of lack of residual
clinopyroxene, olivine Mg# (up to 0.92) and spinel Cr# (~0.5), suggesting high degree of partial
melting (>20%). Detailed studies of their microstructures show that they have extensively
reacted with a pervading intergranular melt prior to cooling in the lithosphere, leading to
crystallization of olivine, clinopyroxene and spinel at the expense of orthopyroxene. The least
reacted harzburgites are too rich in orthopyroxene to be simple residues of low-pressure (spinel
field) partial melting. Cu-rich sulfides that precipitated with the clinopyroxenes indicate that
the intergranular melt was generated by no more than 12% melting of a MORB mantle or by
more extensive melting of a clinopyroxene-rich lithology. Rare olivine-rich lherzolitic domains,
characterized by relics of coarse clinopyroxenes intergrown with magmatic sulfides, support
the second interpretation. Further, coarse and intergranular clinopyroxenes are highly depleted
in REE, Zr and Ti. A two-stage partial melting/melt-rock reaction history is proposed, in which
initial mantle underwent depletion and refertilization after an earlier high pressure (garnet field)
melting event before upwelling and remelting beneath the present-day ridge. The ultra-depleted
compositions were acquired through melt re-equilibration with residual harzburgites.Funding for this
research was provided by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique-Institut National des
Sciences de lâUnivers (Programme Dynamique et Evolution de la Terre Interne)
Maize transformation: from plant material to the release of genetically modified and edited varieties.
Over the past decades, advances in plant biotechnology have allowed the development of genetically modified maize varieties that have significantly impacted agricultural management and improved the grain yield worldwide. To date, genetically modified varieties represent 30% of the worldÂŽs maize cultivated area and incorporate traits such as herbicide, insect and disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, high yield, and improved nutritional quality. Maize transformation, which is a prerequisite for genetically modified maize development, is no longer a major bottleneck. Protocols using morphogenic regulators have evolved significantly towards increasing transformation frequency and genotype independence. Emerging technologies using either stable or transient expression and tissue culture-independent methods, such as direct genome editing using RNA-guided endonuclease system as an in vivo desired-target mutator, simultaneous double haploid production and editing/haploid-inducer-mediated genome editing, and pollen transformation, are expected to lead significant progress in maize biotechnology. This review summarises the significant advances in maize transformation protocols, technologies, and applications and discusses the current status, including a pipeline for trait development and regulatory issues related to current and future genetically modified and genetically edited maize varieties.Article 766702
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