Torus Models of the Outer Disc of the Milky Way using LAMOST Survey Data

With a sample of 48,161 K giant stars selected from the LAMOST DR 2 catalogue, we construct torus models in a large volume extending, for the first time, from the solar vicinity to a Galactocentric distance of $\sim 20$ kpc, reaching the outskirts of the Galactic disc. We show that the kinematics of the K giant stars match conventional models, e.g. as created by Binney in 2012, in the Solar vicinity. However such two-disc models fail if they are extended to the outer regions, even if an additional disc component is utilised. If we loosen constraints in the Sun's vicinity, we find that an effective thick disc model could explain the anti-centre of the MW. The LAMOST data imply that the sizes of the Galactic discs are much larger, and that the outer disc is much thicker, than previously thought, or alternatively that the outer structure is not a conventional disc at all. However, the velocity dispersion $\sigma_{0z}$ of the kinematically thick disc in the best-fitting model is about 80 km s$^{-1}$ and has a scale parameter $R_{\sigma}$ for an exponential distribution function of $\sim 19$ kpc. Such a height $\sigma_{0z}$ is strongly rejected by current measurements in the solar neighbourhood, and thus a model beyond quasi-thermal, two or three thin or thick discs is required.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures and 3 tables, Accepted for publication in MNRA

Jointless gene of tomato

The present invention relates to the isolation and identification of a JOINTLESS gene from a tomato plant (genus Lycopersicon). More specifically, the invention relates to novel nucleic acid molecules isolated from a tomato plant, proteins encoded by such nucleic acid molecules, and antibodies raised against such proteins. The present invention is also directed to a nucleic acid homolog of a JOINTLESS gene and a method to identify a homolog in plants other than tomato

The subordinated processes controlled by a family of subordinators and corresponding Fokker-Planck type equations

In this work, we consider subordinated processes controlled by a family of subordinators which consist of a power function of time variable and a negative power function of $\alpha-$stable random variable. The effect of parameters in the subordinators on the subordinated process is discussed. By suitable variable substitutions and Laplace transform technique, the corresponding fractional Fokker-Planck-type equations are derived. We also compute their mean square displacements in a free force field. By choosing suitable ranges of parameters, the resulting subordinated processes may be subdiffusive, normal diffusive or superdiffusive.Comment: 11 pages, accepted by J. Stat. Mech.: Theor. Ex

A WOA-based optimization approach for task scheduling in cloud Computing systems

Task scheduling in cloud computing can directly affect the resource usage and operational cost of a system. To improve the efficiency of task executions in a cloud, various metaheuristic algorithms, as well as their variations, have been proposed to optimize the scheduling. In this work, for the first time, we apply the latest metaheuristics WOA (the whale optimization algorithm) for cloud task scheduling with a multiobjective optimization model, aiming at improving the performance of a cloud system with given computing resources. On that basis, we propose an advanced approach called IWC (Improved WOA for Cloud task scheduling) to further improve the optimal solution search capability of the WOA-based method. We present the detailed implementation of IWC and our simulation-based experiments show that the proposed IWC has better convergence speed and accuracy in searching for the optimal task scheduling plans, compared to the current metaheuristic algorithms. Moreover, it can also achieve better performance on system resource utilization, in the presence of both small and large-scale tasks