571 research outputs found

    Fibonacci type semigroups

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    We study "Fibonacci type" groups and semigroups. By establishing asphericity of their presentations we show that many of the groups are infinite. We combine this with Adjan graph techniques and the classification of the finite Fibonacci semigroups (in terms of the finite Fibonacci groups) to extend it to the Fibonacci type semigroups

    Demonstration Project for Asphalt Performance Engineered Mixture Design Testing

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    The asphalt industry is moving towards performance-based methods for asphalt mixture design. The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is supportive of state departments of transportations (DOT) adopting index and predictive performance tests, especially those making use of the Asphalt Mixture Performance Tester (AMPT). The FHWA is therefore encouraging state DOTs to gain experience with the requirements of the procedures and analysis tools for Balanced Mixture Design (BMD). The main objective of this study is to evaluate fatigue cracking on three INDOT mainline pavement projects that have asphalt mixtures designed by the Superpave 5 mixture design, and to better understand the fundamental engineering testing capabilities of the AMPT. A total of four Superpave 5 asphalt mixtures were collected and tested from the three projects. The viscoelastic characteristics and fatigue behavior of plant-mixed, laboratory compacted (PMLC), laboratory-mixed, laboratory compacted (LMLC), and plant-mixed, field compacted (PMFC) specimens were assessed according to the AASHTO TP-132 and AASHTO TP-133 test methods. Two AMPT machines (IPC Controls and PaveTest) were used to conduct the dynamic modulus tests, while all fatigue tests were performed using a PaveTest AMPT. The raw data were analyzed using the FlexMAT software. The dynamic modulus and cyclic fatigue test results indicate that AMPT testing can be used to effectively evaluate INDOT asphalt mixtures during the mixture design and production phases. However, to do so, detailed planning and effective training are needed to help ensure the successful completion of AMPT testing

    Boundary Layer Transition Flight Experiment Overview and In-Situ Measurements

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    In support of the Boundary Layer Transition Flight Experiment (BLTFE) Project, a manufactured protuberance tile was installed on the port wing of Space Shuttle Orbiter Discovery for the flights of STS-119 and STS-128. Additional instrumentation was also installed in order to obtain more spatially resolved measurements downstream of the protuberance. This paper provides an overview of the BLTFE Project, including the project history, organizations involved, and motivations for the flight experiment. Significant efforts were made to place the protuberance at an appropriate location on the Orbiter and to design the protuberance to withstand the expected environments. Efforts were also extended to understand the as-fabricated shape of the protuberance and the thermal protection system tile configuration surrounding the protuberance. A high-level overview of the in-situ flight data is presented, along with a summary of the comparisons between pre- and post-flight analysis predictions and flight data. Comparisons show that predictions for boundary layer transition onset time closely match the flight data, while predicted temperatures were significantly higher than observed flight temperatures

    Largeness and SQ-universality of cyclically presented groups

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    Largeness, SQ-universality, and the existence of free subgroups of rank 2 are measures of the complexity of a finitely presented group. We obtain conditions under which a cyclically presented group possesses one or more of these properties. We apply our results to a class of groups introduced by Prishchepov which contains, amongst others, the various generalizations of Fibonacci groups introduced by Campbell and Robertson

    Efficient Finite Groups Arising in the Study of Relative Asphericity

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    We study a class of two-generator two-relator groups, denoted Jn(m, k), that arise in the study of relative asphericity as groups satisfying a transitional curvature condition. Particular instances of these groups occur in the literature as finite groups of intriguing orders. Here we find infinite families of non-elementary virtually free groups and of finite metabelian non-nilpotent groups, for which we determine the orders. All Mersenne primes arise as factors of the orders of the non-metacyclic groups in the class, as do all primes from other conjecturally infinite families of primes. We classify the finite groups up to isomorphism and show that our class overlaps and extends a class of groups Fa,b,c with trivalent Cayley graphs that was introduced by C.M.Campbell, H.S.M.Coxeter, and E.F.Robertson. The theory of cyclically presented groups informs our methods and we extend part of this theory (namely, on connections with polynomial resultants) to ?bicyclically presented groups? that arise naturally in our analysis. As a corollary to our main results we obtain new infinite families of finite metacyclic generalized Fibonacci groups

    Multilocus molecular systematics of the circumtropical reef-fish genus Abudefduf (Pomacentridae): history, geography and ecology of speciation

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    We investigated a pantropical sub-family and genus of damselfishes, the sergeant-majors (Pomacentridae: Abudefdufinae: Abudefduf), to identify the tempo and mechanisms of speciation in the lineage. We examined sequence capture data from 500 loci and 20 species, with multiple individuals sampled from across the geographic ranges of widespread species. Utilizing a maximum likelihood framework, as well as a time-calibrated Bayesian phylogeny, the following key questions are addressed: What is the historical tempo of speciation? What are the relative contributions of vicariant, peripatric and parapatric speciation to sergeant-major diversity? How is speciation related to major variation in trophic ecology? The approximately 20 species of sergeant-majors fall into three main lineages. The ancestral condition appears to be benthivory, which is predominant in two lineages comprising six species. The remaining species of sergeant-majors, of which there are at least 15, fall within a clade composed entirely of planktivores. This clade is sister to a benthivore clade that included one species, Abudefduf notatus, in transition to planktivory. Most speciation of sergeant-majors, which appeared ∼24 million years ago, occurred in the last 10 million years. Present distributional patterns indicate vicariant speciation precipitated by the closure of land barriers between both sides of the Atlantic and the Pacific, and the emergence of land between the Indian and Pacific Oceans. Within this backdrop, frequent oscillations in sea level over the last 10 million years also appear to have generated conditions suitable for both peripatric and vicariant speciation, and most speciation within the genus appears linked to these changes in sea level. Diversification within the genus has been concentrated in planktivorous seargeant-majors rather than benthivores. The root cause is unclear, but does not appear to be related to differences in dispersal potential, which is greater in the planktivorous species, due to the ability of their post-larval juveniles to raft with floating debris. This elevated speciation rate in planktivores and their propensity to form local endemics may reflect relaxation of selective pressures (e.g., on crypticity) that limit speciation in benthivorous sergeant-majors. Finally, our data allow us to clarify relationships of geminate sergeant-major species, indicating that there are subdivisions within the Atlantic for both benthivore and planktivore geminate pairs that may have misled previous studies

    Multiple Cytokines Are Released When Blood from Patients with Tuberculosis Is Stimulated with Mycobacterium tuberculosis Antigens

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    Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection may cause overt disease or remain latent. Interferon gamma release assays (IGRAs) detect Mtb infection, both latent infection and infection manifesting as overt disease, by measuring whole-blood interferon gamma (IFN-γ) responses to Mtb antigens such as early secreted antigenic target-6 (ESAT-6), culture filtrate protein 10 (CFP-10), and TB7.7. Due to a lack of adequate diagnostic standards for confirming latent Mtb infection, IGRA sensitivity for detecting Mtb infection has been estimated using patients with culture-confirmed tuberculosis (CCTB) for whom recovery of Mtb confirms the infection. In this study, cytokines in addition to IFN-γ were assessed for potential to provide robust measures of Mtb infection.Cytokine responses to ESAT-6, CFP-10, TB7.7, or combinations of these Mtb antigens, for patients with CCTB were compared with responses for subjects at low risk for Mtb infection (controls). Three different multiplexed immunoassays were used to measure concentrations of 9 to 20 different cytokines. Responses were calculated by subtracting background cytokine concentrations from cytokine concentrations in plasma from blood stimulated with Mtb antigens.Two assays demonstrated that ESAT-6, CFP-10, ESAT-6+CFP-10, and ESAT-6+CFP-10+TB7.7 stimulated the release of significantly greater amounts of IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-8, MCP-1 and MIP-1β for CCTB patients than for controls. Responses to combination antigens were, or tended to be, greater than responses to individual antigens. A third assay, using whole blood stimulation with ESAT-6+CFP-10+TB7.7, revealed significantly greater IFN-γ, IL-2, IL-6, IL-8, IP-10, MCP-1, MIP-1β, and TNF-α responses among patients compared with controls. One CCTB patient with a falsely negative IFN-γ response had elevated responses with other cytokines.Multiple cytokines are released when whole blood from patients with CCTB is stimulated with Mtb antigens. Measurement of multiple cytokine responses may improve diagnostic sensitivity for Mtb infection compared with assessment of IFN-γ alone

    Deep water towed array measurements at close range

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    Author Posting. © Acoustical Society of America, 2013. This article is posted here by permission of Acoustical Society of America for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 134 (2013): 3230, doi:10.1121/1.4818869.During the North Pacific Acoustic Laboratory Philippine Sea 2009 experiment, towed array receptions were made from a towed source as the two ships transited from a separation of several Convergence Zones through a Closest Point of Approach at 3 km. A combination of narrowband tones and broadband pulses were transmitted covering the frequency band 79–535 Hz. The received energy arrives from two general paths—direct path and bottom bounce. Bearing-time records of the narrowband arrivals at times show a 35° spread in the angle of arrival of the bottom bounce energy. Doppler processing of the tones shows significant frequency spread of the bottom bounce energy. Two-dimensional modeling using measured bathymetry, a geoacoustic parameterization based upon the geological record, and measured sound-speed field was performed. Inclusion of the effects of seafloor roughness and surface waves shows that in-plane scattering from rough interfaces can explain much of the observed spread in the arrivals. Evidence of out-of-plane scattering does exist, however, at short ranges. The amount of out-of-plane scattering is best observed in the broadband impulse-beam response analysis, which in-plane surface roughness modeling cannot explain.This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research, Ocean Acoustics, under contract N00014-11-M-0170
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