Accelerated relaxation and suppressed dynamic heterogeneity in a kinetically constrained (East) model with swaps

We introduce a kinetically constrained spin model with a local softness parameter, such that spin flips can violate the kinetic constraint with an (annealed) site-dependent rate. We show that adding MC swap moves to this model can dramatically accelerate structural relaxation. We discuss the connection of this observation with the fact that swap moves are also able to accelerate relaxation in structural glasses. We analyse the rates of relaxation in the model. We also show that the extent of dynamical heterogeneity is strongly suppressed by the swap moves.EPSRC funding (to co-author JP Garrahan), see acknowledgement

Herdbook analyses of the Asturiana beef cattle breeds

International audienc

Change in genetic size of small-closed populations: Lessons from a domestic mammal population

The aim of this study was to monitor changes in genetic size of a small-closed population of Iranian Zandi sheep, by using pedigree information from animals born between 1991 and 2005. The genetic size was assessed by using measures based on the probability of identity-by-descend of genes (coancestry, f, and effective population size, Ne ), as well as measures based on probability of gene origin (effective number of founders, fe , effective number of founder genomes, fg , and effective number of non-founder genomes, fne ). Average coancestry, or the degree of genetic similarity of individuals, increased from 0.81% to 1.44% during the period 1993 to 2005, at the same time that Ne decreased from 263 to 93. The observed trend for fe was irregular throughout the experiment in a way that fe was 68, 87, 77, 92, and 80 in 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002, and 2005, respectively. Simultaneously, fg , the most informative effective number, decreased from 61 to 35. The index of genetic diversity (GD) which was obtained from estimates of fg , decreased about 2% throughout the period studied. In addition, a noticeable reduction was observed in the estimates of fne from 595 in 1993 to 61 in 2005. The higher than 1 ratio of fe to fg indicated the presence of bottlenecks and genetic drift in the development of this population of Zandi sheep. From 1993 to 1999, fne was much higher than fe , thereby indicating that with respect to loss of genetic diversity, the unequal contribution of founders was more important than the random genetic drift in non-founder generations. Subsequently, random genetic drift in non-founder generations was the major reason for fe > fne . The minimization of average coancestry in new reproductive individuals was recommended as a means of preserving the population against a further loss in genetic diversity

Expérience de sélection sur la croissance du tissu maigre chez le porc, avec des pères répétés: évolution génétique des caractères soumis à la sélection

International audienc

Pleiotropic functions of the tumor- and metastasis-suppressing Matrix Metalloproteinase-8 in mammary cancer in MMTV-PyMT transgenic mice

Matrix metalloproteinase-8 (MMP-8; neutrophil collagenase) is an important regulator of innate immunity which has onco-suppressive actions in numerous tumor types

Terrestrial impact structures as geoheritage: an assessment method of their scientific value and its application to Brazil

Terrestrial impact structures are geological and geomorphological features with particular importance to understand the history and evolution of the planet. Impact structures are scattered around the world but in many countries these features are under threat, essentially due to anthropic factors. Impact structures with higher scienti c value should be considered as geological heritage and, consequently, be subjected to geoconservation strategies. In order to select the most important impact structures to be properly conserved and managed, this paper proposes a quantitative assessment method of the scienti c value of these structures. The eight Brazilian impact structures were used to test this method that has the potential to be applied to any geological context in any country. The structures known as Araguainha Dome-MT and Serra da Cangalha-TO reached a higher scienti c value, which justi es the need to develop geoconservation strategies and a proper management.The Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (CNPq / National Council for Research and Development) and the Programa Ciências sem Fronteiras / Science Without Borders Programme are acknowledged for the support of the postdoctoral grant No 233209/2013-1 of the 1st author. The work was co-funded by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund, based on COMPETE 2020 (Programa Operacional da Competitividade e Internacionalização), project ICT (UID/ GEO/04683/2013) with reference POCI-01-0145- FEDER-007690 and Portuguese funds provided by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Modelling Service Level Agreements for Business Process Outsourcing Services

Many proposals to model service level agreements (SLAs) have been elaborated in order to automate different stages of the service lifecycle such as monitoring, implementation or deployment. All of them have been designed for computational services and are not well–suited for other types of services such as business process outsourcing (BPO) services. However, BPO services suported by process–aware information systems could also benefit from modelling SLAs in tasks such as performance monitoring, human resource assignment or process configuration. In this paper, we identify the requirements for modelling such SLAs and detail how they can be faced by combining techniques used to model computational SLAs, business processes, and process performance indicators. Furthermore, our approach has been validated through the modelling of several real BPO SLAsMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad TIN2012-32273Junta de Andalucía TIC-5906Junta de Andalucía P12-TIC-186