Effect of a liquid Phase on Superplasticity of 2-moI%-Y 2 0 3 -StabiIlzed Tetragonal Zirconla Polycrystals

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/66013/1/j.1151-2916.1990.tb09806.x.pd

Computation of protein geometry and its applications: Packing and function prediction

This chapter discusses geometric models of biomolecules and geometric constructs, including the union of ball model, the weigthed Voronoi diagram, the weighted Delaunay triangulation, and the alpha shapes. These geometric constructs enable fast and analytical computaton of shapes of biomoleculres (including features such as voids and pockets) and metric properties (such as area and volume). The algorithms of Delaunay triangulation, computation of voids and pockets, as well volume/area computation are also described. In addition, applications in packing analysis of protein structures and protein function prediction are also discussed.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figure

Personal goals, group performance and ‘social’ networks: participants’ negotiation of virtual and embodied relationships in the ‘Workplace Challenge’ physical activity programme

County Sports Partnerships (CSPs) epitomise the growing reliance upon building networks and partnerships sports delivery. This study investigated how social networks were created and contested in a CSP-led programme entitled the ‘Workplace Challenge’ (WPC). The WPC used a web-platform to encourage workplace-based teams to engage in physical activity by self-recording their activity over an eight-week period. Points were awarded for activity completed and a peer-challenge facility was promoted via online league tables, prizes and the opportunity to ‘challenge’ other users. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a total of seventeen participants recruited from one public and one private sector workplace and from a sample of participants registered as individuals. Two programme planners employed by the CSP also took part. A figurational framework was utilised to investigate participants’ negotiation of networks of embodied and virtual relationships within the programme. Findings suggest the messages promoted in the WPC were disseminated and transformed according to the organizational structure of these networks. Embodied social relationships within workplaces reinforced peer support in professional I-we identities, whereas virtual networks sometimes highlighted participants’ isolation. Moreover, emphasis upon competition within and between teams caused some to question their performance. Often, competition motivated engagement. For less active participants, constant comparison could prove discouraging, particularly if participants felt they had let their colleagues down. Planners of similar programmes must be cognizant of the uneven manner of programme dissemination. Contextual differences at the point of delivery including existing organizational structures and power hierarchies have an impact upon participants’ perceptions of a programme

Scale-free memory model for multiagent reinforcement learning. Mean field approximation and rock-paper-scissors dynamics

A continuous time model for multiagent systems governed by reinforcement learning with scale-free memory is developed. The agents are assumed to act independently of one another in optimizing their choice of possible actions via trial-and-error search. To gain awareness about the action value the agents accumulate in their memory the rewards obtained from taking a specific action at each moment of time. The contribution of the rewards in the past to the agent current perception of action value is described by an integral operator with a power-law kernel. Finally a fractional differential equation governing the system dynamics is obtained. The agents are considered to interact with one another implicitly via the reward of one agent depending on the choice of the other agents. The pairwise interaction model is adopted to describe this effect. As a specific example of systems with non-transitive interactions, a two agent and three agent systems of the rock-paper-scissors type are analyzed in detail, including the stability analysis and numerical simulation. Scale-free memory is demonstrated to cause complex dynamics of the systems at hand. In particular, it is shown that there can be simultaneously two modes of the system instability undergoing subcritical and supercritical bifurcation, with the latter one exhibiting anomalous oscillations with the amplitude and period growing with time. Besides, the instability onset via this supercritical mode may be regarded as "altruism self-organization". For the three agent system the instability dynamics is found to be rather irregular and can be composed of alternate fragments of oscillations different in their properties.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figur

Induction of T Lymphocytes Specific for Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus in Calves with Maternal Antibody

Passive antibody to bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) acquired through colostrum intake may interfere with the development of a protective immune response by calves to this virus. The objective of this study was to determine if calves, with a high level of maternal antibody to bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), develop CD4+, CD8+, or γδ T lymphocyte responses to BVDV in the absence of a measurable humoral immune response. Colostrum or milk replacer fed calves were challenged with virulent BVDV at 2-5 weeks of age and/or after maternal antibody had waned. Calves exposed to BVDV while passive antibody levels were high did not mount a measurable humoral immune response to BVDV. However, compared to nonexposed animals, these animals had CD4+, CD8+, and γδ T lymphocytes that were activated by BVDV after exposure to in vitro BVDV. The production of IFNγ by lymphocytes after in vitro BVDV exposure was also much greater in lymphocytes from calves exposed to BVDV in the presence of maternal antibody compared to the nonexposed calves. These data indicate that calves exposed to BVDV while maternal antibody levels are high can develop antigen specific CD4+, CD8+, and γδ T lymphocytes in the absence of an active antibody response. A manuscript presented separately demonstrates that the calves with T lymphocytes specific for BVDV in this study were also protected from virulent BVDV genotype 2 challenge after maternal antibody became undetectable

Using statistical and artificial neural networks to predict the permeability of loosely packed granular materials

Well-known analytical equations for predicting permeability are generally reported to overestimate this important property of porous media. In this work, more robust models developed from statistical (multivariable regression) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) methods utilised additional particle characteristics [‘fines ratio’ (x50/x10) and particle shape] that are not found in traditional analytical equations. Using data from experiments and literature, model performance analyses with average absolute error (AAE) showed error of ~40% for the analytical models (Kozeny–Carman and Happel–Brenner). This error reduces to 9% with ANN model. This work establishes superiority of the new models, using experiments and mathematical techniques

Seletividade, eficiência de controle de plantas daninhas e persistência no solo de imazamox aplicado na cultura do feijoeiro.

O presente trabalho teve como objetivo avaliar a seletividade, o controle de plantas daninhas e a persistência no solo de imazamox aplicado na cultura do feijoeiro, durante os anos de 1995 a 1997. Nos experimentos de seletividade foram testados: imazamox (20, 30 e 40 g i.a./ha), imazamox + bentazon (30+480 g i.a./ha), imazamox + fomesafen (30+125 g i.a./ha) e testemunha nas cultivares Pérola, Jalo Precoce, Novo Jalo e Xamego. Os experimentos foram mantidos livres de plantas daninhas e foram avaliadas a fitotoxicidade visual e a produção de grãos. Nos experimentos de eficiência de controle de plantas daninhas foram testados: imazamox (20, 30 e 40 g i.a./ha), bentazon (480 g i.a./ha), fomesafen (125 e 250 g i.a./ha), imazamox + bentazon (30+480 g i.a./ha), imazamox + fomesafen (30 + 125 g i.a./ha), bentazon / imazamox (480/30 g i.a/ha, aplicação seqüencial), fomesafen/imazmox (125/30 g i.a./ha, aplicação seqüencial), fomesafen/fomesafen (100/100 g i.a./ha, aplicação seqüencial) e testemunha. Foram avaliadas as porcentagens de controle de Euphorbia heterophylla e Bidens pilosa. Para o estudo da persistência de imazamox no solo, foram conduzidos experimentos em dois locais: Goiânia, GO (argiloso) e Jussara, GO (arenoso). Imazamox (40 g i.a./ha) causou injúrias à cultura do feijoeiro que acarretaram redução de 15% na produtividade (média dos experimentos). A mistura de imazamox e bentazon causou menor grau de injúrias no feijoeiro, obtendo-se ganhos de produtividade de 8% (médias dos experimentos). Imazamox mostrou-se ineficiente para o controle de Bidens pilosa, enquanto para Euphorbia heterophylla observou-se controle eficiente a partir da dose de 40 g i.a./ha. Aplicações seqüenciais de fomesafen/imazamox (125/30 g i.a/ha) apresentaram controle eficiente de Euphorbia heterophylla e Bidens pilosa. A persistência de imazamox no solo, para ambos os locais, foi maior em 1995 que 1996. Isto foi devido à maior umidade do solo em 1996. A sensibilidade das culturas sucedâneas aos resíduos de imazamox no solo foi, em ordem decrescente: sorgo, milho e arroz. O período entre a aplicação do herbicida e o plantio da cultura sucedânea (INP) variou de acordo com a sensibilidade das culturas aos resíduos de imazamox no solo e à sua persistência. Considerando ambos os locais e anos, o INP variou de 68 a 111 dias para milho, 78 a 139 dias para sorgo e 25 a 75 dias para o arroz