Deterministic walks in random networks: an application to thesaurus graphs

In a landscape composed of N randomly distributed sites in Euclidean space, a walker (``tourist'') goes to the nearest one that has not been visited in the last \tau steps. This procedure leads to trajectories composed of a transient part and a final cyclic attractor of period p. The tourist walk presents universal aspects with respect to \tau and can be done in a wide range of networks that can be viewed as ordinal neighborhood graphs. As an example, we show that graphs defined by thesaurus dictionaries share some of the statistical properties of low dimensional (d=2) Euclidean graphs and are easily distinguished from random graphs. This approach furnishes complementary information to the usual clustering coefficient and mean minimum separation length.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, revised version submited to Physica A, corrected references to figure

Decision models for supplier selection in industry 4.0 era: a systematic literature review

Industry 4.0 comprises the application of different technological solutions so that business processes throughout the production chain are integrated. The supplier’s selection, considering the industry 4.0 requirements, is essential in promoting collaborative strategies between suppliers and manufacturers. In this context, this study presents a systematic literature review about quantitative models to support supplier selection in the industry 4.0 era. Fourteen studies were reviewed and characterized in different perspectives such as modelling, application, and validation of the decision model. The results revealed that most of the decision models were developed combining multicriteria decision-making (MCDM) with Artificial Intelligence (AI). Among the criteria related to the Industry 4.0 environment, the most frequent ones were information sharing, technological capacity, digital collaboration and engagement. The gathered results can be useful to guide researchers and managers in the development of computational tools to assist decision-making processes for supplier selection in Industry 4.0 era.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Iron Metabolism and the Inflammatory Response

Funding: This work was partially supported by iNOVA4Health-UID Multi/04462—a program financially supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia/Ministério da Educação e Ciência, through national funds and co-funded by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership—and Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, which financial support grants fellowships to A.M. (SFRH/ BD/104599/2014), I.M. (SFRH/BD/114552/2016), A.K., J.A., and R.G. (IF/01495/2015).Iron (Fe) is essential to almost all organisms, as required by cells to satisfy metabolic needs and accomplish specialized functions. Its ability to exchange electrons between different substrates, however, renders it potentially toxic. Fine tune-mechanisms are necessary to maintain Fe homeostasis and, as such, to prevent its participation into the Fenton reaction and generation of oxidative stress. These are particularly important in the context of inflammation/infection, where restricting Fe availability to invading pathogens is one, if not, the main host defense strategy against microbial growth. The ability of Fe to modulate several aspects of the immune response is associated with a number of “costs” and “benefits”, some of which have been described in this review. © 2017 IUBMB Life, 69(6):442–450, 2017. © 2017 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biologypublishersversionpublishe

Solution and Asymptotic Behavior for a Nonlocal Coupled System of Reaction-Diffusion

This paper concerns with existence, uniqueness and asymptotic behavior of the solutions for a nonlocal coupled system of reaction-diffusion. We prove the existence and uniqueness of weak solutions by the Faedo-Galerkin method and exponential decay of solutions by the classic energy method. We improve the results obtained by Chipot-Lovato and Menezes for coupled systems. A numerical scheme is presented

Advances in chemometric control of commercial diesel adulteration by kerosene using IR spectroscopy

Adulteration is a recurrent issue found in fuel screening. Commercial diesel contamination by kerosene is highly difficult to be detected via physicochemical methods applied in market. Although the contamination may affect diesel quality and storage stability, there is a lack of efficient methodologies for this evaluation. This paper assessed the use of IR spectroscopies (MIR and NIR) coupled with partial least squares (PLS) regression, support vector machine regression (SVR), and multivariate curve resolution with alternating least squares (MCR-ALS) calibration models for quantifying and identifying the presence of kerosene adulterant in commercial diesel. Moreover, principal component analysis (PCA), successive projections algorithm (SPA), and genetic algorithm (GA) tools coupled to linear discriminant analysis were used to observe the degradation behavior of 60 samples of pure and kerosene-added diesel fuel in different concentrations over 60 days of storage. Physicochemical properties of commercial diesel with 15% kerosene remained within conformity with Brazilian screening specifications; in addition, specified tests were not able to identify changes in the blends’ performance over time. By using multivariate classification, the samples of pure and contaminated fuel were accurately classified by aging level into two well-defined groups, and some spectral features related to fuel degradation products were detected. PLS and SVR were accurate to quantify kerosene in the 2.5–40% (v/v) range, reaching RMSEC < 2.59% and RMSEP < 5.56%, with high correlation between real and predicted concentrations. MCR-ALS with correlation constraint was able to identify and recover the spectral profile of commercial diesel and kerosene adulterant from the IR spectra of contaminated blends

Vp/Vs ratios in the Parnaíba Basin from joint active-passive seismic analysis – Implications for continental amalgamation and basin formation

Acknowledgements The authors thank Jordi Julià and two anonymous reviewers for valuable comments on an earlier version of the manuscript. Thanks to the PBAP program for the availability of WARR, DSR and teleseismic three-component data (Project 5547: BP ENERGY/FUB/FINATEC— PARNAÍBA BASIN REFRACTION EXPERIMENT). RAF thanks CNPq and INCT Estudos Tectônicos (CNPq, CAPES, FAP-DF) for research fellowship and funds. *The data that support the findings of this study may be available from the authors upon reasonable request.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Digestible lysine effects on gene expression by Japanese quails in the pre-laying phase

This study aimed to determine the effects of digestible lysine levels in the diets of Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) on performance, blood parameters and the expression of insulin-like growth factor I, and growth hormone receptor (GHR), apolipoprotein A-I (APOA-I), acetyl-CoA-carboxylase (ACC), and fatty acid synthase (FAS) genes. A total of 288 seven-day-old female Japanese quails were randomly assigned to one of three diets that contained 0.8%, 1.10%, or 1.40% digestible lysine. The birds were slaughtered at 42 days old, and relative gene expression was evaluated in the liver by qRT-PCR using the 2-ΔCT method. Lysine supplementation had no effect on weight gain and feed conversion. Abdominal fat was lower in birds supplemented with 0.8% digestible lysine than those supplemented with 1.10% and 1.40%. Increased total cholesterol and triglycerides were elevated in quails that received supplementation of 1.10% digestible lysine compared with the other diets. High density lipoproteins were decreased in birds that received 0.8% digestible lysine. Quails fed with 1.40% digestible lysine had greater expression of GHR and APOA-I than quails fed diets with 0.8 and 1.10% (P &lt;0.05). The greatest expressions of ACC and FAS were observed in the liver of quails fed with 0.8% digestible lysine. The current results suggest that lysine supplementation in the pre-laying phase allows birds to deposit muscle mass to reach the optimal conformation and body fatness that provides an energetic reserve for the productive phase by modulating the expression of genes related to growth and lipid metabolism. Keywords: Coturnix coturnix japonica, growth, growth hormone, lipid synthesis, lipid metabolis

Equilibrium statistical mechanics for incomplete nonextensive statistics

The incomplete nonextensive statistics in the canonical and microcanonical ensembles is explored in the general case and in a particular case for the ideal gas. By exact analytical results for the ideal gas it is shown that taking the thermodynamic limit, with $z=q/(1-q)$ being an extensive variable of state, the incomplete nonextensive statistics satisfies the requirements of equilibrium thermodynamics. The thermodynamical potential of the statistical ensemble is a homogeneous function of the first degree of the extensive variables of state. In this case, the incomplete nonextensive statistics is equivalent to the usual Tsallis statistics. If $z$ is an intensive variable of state, i.e. the entropic index $q$ is a universal constant, the requirements of the equilibrium thermodynamics are violated.Comment: 7 page

Nematodes Affecting Potato and Sustainable Practices for Their Management

Plant-parasitic nematodes are a significant factor limiting potato production and tuber quality in several regions where potato is produced. Overall, parasitic nematodes alone cause an estimated annual crop loss of $ 78 billion worldwide and an average crop yield loss of 10–15%. As a result, sustainable food production and food security are directly impacted by pests and diseases. Degrading land use with monocultures and unsustainable cropping practices have intensified problems associated with plant pathogens. Proper identification of nematode species and isolates is crucial to choose effective and sustainable management strategies for nematode infection. Several nematode species have been reported associated with potato. Among those, the potato cyst nematodes Globodera rostochiensis and G. pallida, the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne spp., the root lesion nematode Pratylenchus spp., the potato rot nematode Ditylenchus destructor and the false root-knot nematode Nacobbus aberrans are major species limiting potato yield and leading to poor tuber quality. Here, we report a literature review on the biology, symptoms, damage and control methods used for these nematode species