Response to “Comment on ‘Elasticity of flexible and semiflexible polymers with extensible bonds in the Gibbs and Helmholtz ensembles”’ [J. Chem. Phys. 138, 157101 (2013)]

No abstract: this is a "response" to a Comment

Monte Carlo simulations of single polymer force-extension relations

We present Monte Carlo simulations for studying the statistical mechanics of arbitrarily long single molecules under stretching. In many cases in which the thermodynamic limit is not satisfied, different statistical ensembles yield different macroscopic force-displacement curves. In this work we provide a description of the Monte Carlo simulations and discuss in details the assumptions adopted

Prediction of Vapor-liquid Equilibrium Databy Using Radial Basis Neural Networks

Most of the Chemical Engineering processes are nonlinear and complex in nature. They often require conventional modeling and simulation techniques based on certain simplified transport, kinetic and thermodynamic assumptions. These assumptions may, however, alter the exact nature of the system and would provide misleading information about the complex behavior of the system. An artificial neural network has the ability to overcome these limitations of the conventional approach by extracting the desired information directly from the data. In this paper radial basis network, a new generation of artificial neural network, has been successfully incorporated for the prediction of vapor liquid equilibrium data for binary systems including two azeotropes and a ternary system. Radial basis networks require lesser neurons than standard feed forward backpropagation and they can be trained in a fraction of time. From this work it is been proved that radial basis neural network has been successfully used for the prediction of vapor liquid equilibrium (VLE) data

Prediction of Vapor-liquid Equilibrium Databy Using Radial Basis Neural Networks

Most of the Chemical Engineering processes are nonlinear and complex in nature. They often require conventional modeling and simulation techniques based on certain simplified transport, kinetic and thermodynamic assumptions. These assumptions may, however, alter the exact nature of the system and would provide misleading information about the complex behavior of the system. An artificial neural network has the ability to overcome these limitations of the conventional approach by extracting the desired information directly from the data. In this paper radial basis network, a new generation of artificial neural network, has been successfully incorporated for the prediction of vapor liquid equilibrium data for binary systems including two azeotropes and a ternary system. Radial basis networks require lesser neurons than standard feed forward backpropagation and they can be trained in a fraction of time. From this work it is been proved that radial basis neural network has been successfully used for the prediction of vapor liquid equilibrium (VLE) data

Retraction: C-reactive protein in aortic valve disease

<p>Abstract</p> <p>A preliminary version of a review article was published in error on 16 October 2006.</p> <p>The correct version of the article had previously been published in <it>Cardiovascular Ultrasound</it>.</p> <p>The authors have agreed that the preliminary version should be retracted.</p

An Optimal Method of Iron Starvation of the Obligate Intracellular Pathogen, Chlamydia Trachomatis

Iron is an essential cofactor in a number of critical biochemical reactions, and as such, its acquisition, storage, and metabolism is highly regulated in most organisms. The obligate intracellular bacterium, Chlamydia trachomatis experiences a developmental arrest when iron within the host is depleted. The nature of the iron starvation response in Chlamydia is relatively uncharacterized because of the likely inefficient method of iron depletion, which currently relies on the compound deferoxamine mesylate (DFO). Inefficient induction of the iron starvation response precludes the identification of iron-regulated genes. This report evaluated DFO with another iron chelator, 2,2′-bipyridyl (Bpdl) and presented a systematic comparison of the two across a range of criteria. We demonstrate that the membrane permeable Bpdl was superior to DFO in the inhibition of chlamydia development, the induction of aberrant morphology, and the induction of an iron starvation transcriptional response in both host and bacteria. Furthermore, iron starvation using Bpdl identified the periplasmic iron-binding protein-encoding ytgA gene as iron-responsive. Overall, the data present a compelling argument for the use of Bpdl, rather than DFO, in future iron starvation studies of chlamydia and other intracellular bacteria

On infinite-finite duality pairs of directed graphs

The (A,D) duality pairs play crucial role in the theory of general relational structures and in the Constraint Satisfaction Problem. The case where both classes are finite is fully characterized. The case when both side are infinite seems to be very complex. It is also known that no finite-infinite duality pair is possible if we make the additional restriction that both classes are antichains. In this paper (which is the first one of a series) we start the detailed study of the infinite-finite case. Here we concentrate on directed graphs. We prove some elementary properties of the infinite-finite duality pairs, including lower and upper bounds on the size of D, and show that the elements of A must be equivalent to forests if A is an antichain. Then we construct instructive examples, where the elements of A are paths or trees. Note that the existence of infinite-finite antichain dualities was not previously known

Need for Alloparental Care and Attitudes Toward Homosexuals in 58 Countries: Implications for the Kin Selection Hypothesis

Homosexuality is an evolutionary puzzle. Many theories attempt to explain how a trait undermining individual reproduction can be maintained, but experimental testing of their predictions remains scarce. The kin selection hypothesis (KSH) is an important theoretical framework to account for the evolution of human homosexuality, postulating that its direct cost to reproduction can be offset by inclusive fitness gains through alloparental assistance to kin. Consistent evidence in support of the KSH has only been garnered from research on Samoan fa’afafine (i.e. feminine, same-sex attracted males), whereas research in numerous industrialized societies has repeatedly failed to secure empirical support for the theory. Here, we propose an alternative test of the KSH by investigating how need for alloparental care influences women’s attitudes toward homosexuality (AtH). AtH would influence the likelihood of women receiving alloparental care from homosexual kin. We applied logistic regression analysis to a large dataset (17,295 women in 58 countries) derived from the World Values Survey. As predicted by the KSH, women who are potentially most in need of alloparental support exhibit significantly more positive attitudes toward homosexuals. For single mothers who expressed parental care concerns, each additional child mothered was associated with an increase of 1.24 in their odds of exhibiting positive attitudes toward homosexuals. Our study is the first to provide circumstantial evidence in support of the KSH on a global scale