Simulation Studies of Nanomagnet-Based Architecture

We report a simulation study on interacting ensembles of Co nanomagnets that can perform basic logic operations and propagate logic signals, where the state variable is the magnetization direction. Dipole field coupling between individual nanomagnets drives the logic functionality of the ensemble and coordinated arrangements of the nanomagnets allow for the logic signal to propagate in a predictable way. Problems with the integrity of the logic signal arising from instabilities in the constituent magnetizations are solved by introducing a biaxial anisotropy term to the Gibbs magnetic free energy of each nanomagnet. The enhanced stability allows for more complex components of a logic architecture capable of random combinatorial logic, including horizontal wires, vertical wires, junctions, fanout nodes, and a novel universal logic gate. Our simulations define the focus of scaling trends in nanomagnet-based logic and provide estimates of the energy dissipation and time per nanomagnet reversal

Transcriptional Plant Responses Critical for Resistance Towards Necrotrophic Pathogens

Plant defenses aimed at necrotrophic pathogens appear to be genetically complex. Despite the apparent lack of a specific recognition of such necrotrophs by products of major R genes, biochemical, molecular, and genetic studies, in particular using the model plant Arabidopsis, have uncovered numerous host components critical for the outcome of such interactions. Although the JA signaling pathway plays a central role in plant defense toward necrotrophs additional signaling pathways contribute to the plant response network. Transcriptional reprogramming is a vital part of the host defense machinery and several key regulators have recently been identified. Some of these transcription factors positively affect plant resistance whereas others play a role in enhancing host susceptibility toward these phytopathogens

Geology and Wine 12. New Zealand Terroir

New Zealand produces premium quality wines and its wine industry is growing rapidly. The winegrowing regions have growing degree-days that range from 900 in cool Central Otago and Canterbury, to more than 1600 in the warmest region in the country, Auckland. Average growing season temperatures for the same regions range from approximately 14.3°C to 17.6°C. Most trophy-winning red wines are grown in areas with a climate cooler than where similar wines are grown to high standard internationally. New Zealand vineyards are planted mainly on flat alluvium and aggradation gravels with slopes of less than 3°. Rapid growth is pushing new plantings onto adjacent hillsides that are underlain by greywacke, schist, and (less commonly) limestone. The expansion of the industry onto these different substrates will affect grape and wine characteristics and may lead to new styles of New Zealand ultra-premium wines. SOMMAIRE La Nouvelle-Zélande produit des vins de hautes qualités et son industrie vini-cole croît rapidement. Les degrésjours de croissance des régions vinicoles vont de 900 dans les régions fraîches d’Otago et de Canterbury, et dépasse 1 600 dans la région d’Auckland, la plus chaude du pays. Les températures de croissance moyenne pour ces mêmes régions vont de 14,3 °C à 17,6 °C. La plupart des vins rouges primés proviennent de régions au climat plus frais que leurs équivalents ailleurs dans le monde. Les vignes de Nouvelle-Zélande sont cultivées dans des sols alluvionnaires plats et des graviers d’aggradation au pendage de moins de 3°. La croissance rapide de l’industrie vinicole entraîne la plantation de vignes sur les sols des collines environnantes qui recouvrent des formations de grauwackes, de schistes argileux, et plus rarement de calcaires. L’expansion de l’industrie vinicole sur ces nouveaux substrats aura des répercussions sur les caractéristiques du raisin et du vin, ce qui pourrait donner de nouveaux styles de très grands vins de Nouvelle-Zélande

A filozófia, a vallás és a tudomány viszonya az ókori Kínában, az újonnan felfedezett írásos források tükrében = The relation of ancient Chinese philosophy, religion and science as reflected in the recently discovered written sources

A 2002 és 2005 között zajló kutatás számos eredményt hozott. Ezek egy részét már publikáltuk különféle hazai és nemzetközi szakfolyóiratokban, szakkönyvekben, más részét pedig a közeljövőben kívánjuk közzétenni. Munkánk során bebizonyosodott, hogy az újonnan felfedezett írott források jelentős mennyiségű új információt nyújtanak a kínai gondolkodás különféle aspektusainak, illetve azok egymáshoz való viszonyának vizsgálatához. A kutatás feltárta az ókori kínai filozófia, vallás és tudomány számos, eddig ismeretlen régióját, és a gondolkodás e területeinek sok lényeges összefüggését. Kutatásaink egyik fontos eredménye, hogy sikerült olyan, eddig ismeretlen természetfilozófiai teóriákat rekonstruálnunk, amelyek jól kimutathatóan szoros, és intenzív kölcsönhatásban álltak a gondolkodás különféle területeivel. Ezen természetfilozófiai teóriák közé több kozmogóniai és kozmológiai elképzelés tartozik. A szóban forgó elképzelések feltárása lehetővé tette számunkra egyebek mellett a korabeli tudomány jobb megértését, megismerését. Jelentős eredménynek tekintjük, hogy sikerült minden eddiginél pontosabban meghatároznunk a korabeli gondolkodás számos fontos fogalmát, sikerült feltérképeznünk több, gondolkodástörténeti szempontból alapvető jelentőségű terminus jelentéstartalmát. Ez a munka szintén rávilágított a korabeli filozófia, vallás és tudomány számos kapcsolódási pontjára. Kutatásaink sok eredményt hoztak az ókori Kína vallási elképzeléseinek és mitológiájának tanulmányozása terén is. Sikerült rávilágítanunk a népi vallásosság (sámánizmus, exorcizmus), és a gondolkodás más területeinek több fontos összefüggésére. | Our research carried out between 2002 and 2005 has led to several conclusions. Some parts of our research results have already been published, some will be published in the near future. Our work has clearly demonstrated that the recently discovered written sources provide a huge quantity of new information for the research of various aspects of the ancient Chinese thinking and of the relationship between these aspects. The research has revealed many important and so far unknown theories and overlappings of the ancient Chinese philosophy, religion and science. One important result of our research is that we have reconstructed several previously unknown theories of natural philosophy which were in intensive interaction with several fields of the thinking of the time. Among these theories of natural philosophy there are several cosmogonical and cosmological ones. We are convinced that the reconstruction of these theories has led us to a better understanding of the ancient Chinese science. At the same time we have explored the scope of meaning of several important terms of the ancient Chinese thinking. This work has also shed light on many linkages of the philosophy, religion and science of the period. Our work has yield lots of results also in the research of the fields of mythology and religion. The team has discovered many connections between the popular religion (shamanism, exorcism etc.) and other fields of the thinking of the period

Reverse engineering of linking preferences from network restructuring

We provide a method to deduce the preferences governing the restructuring dynamics of a network from the observed rewiring of the edges. Our approach is applicable for systems in which the preferences can be formulated in terms of a single-vertex energy function with f(k) being the contribution of a node of degree k to the total energy, and the dynamics obeys the detailed balance. The method is first tested by Monte-Carlo simulations of restructuring graphs with known energies, then it is used to study variations of real network systems ranging from the co-authorship network of scientific publications to the asset graphs of the New York Stock Exchange. The empirical energies obtained from the restructuring can be described by a universal function f(k) -k ln(k), which is consistent with and justifies the validity of the preferential attachment rule proposed for growing networks.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PR

Entropy and Hausdorff Dimension in Random Growing Trees

We investigate the limiting behavior of random tree growth in preferential attachment models. The tree stems from a root, and we add vertices to the system one-by-one at random, according to a rule which depends on the degree distribution of the already existing tree. The so-called weight function, in terms of which the rule of attachment is formulated, is such that each vertex in the tree can have at most K children. We define the concept of a certain random measure mu on the leaves of the limiting tree, which captures a global property of the tree growth in a natural way. We prove that the Hausdorff and the packing dimension of this limiting measure is equal and constant with probability one. Moreover, the local dimension of mu equals the Hausdorff dimension at mu-almost every point. We give an explicit formula for the dimension, given the rule of attachment