7,389 research outputs found
Outsourcing labour to the cloud
Various forms of open sourcing to the online population are establishing themselves as cheap, effective methods of getting work done. These have revolutionised the traditional methods for innovation and have contributed to the enrichment of the concept of 'open innovation'. To date, the literature concerning this emerging topic has been spread across a diverse number of media, disciplines and academic journals. This paper attempts for the first time to survey the emerging phenomenon of open outsourcing of work to the internet using 'cloud computing'. The paper describes the volunteer origins and recent commercialisation of this business service. It then surveys the current platforms, applications and academic literature. Based on this, a generic classification for crowdsourcing tasks and a number of performance metrics are proposed. After discussing strengths and limitations, the paper concludes with an agenda for academic research in this new area
Importance of force decomposition for local stress calculations in biomembrane molecular simulations
Local stress fields are routinely computed from molecular dynamics trajectories to understand the structure and mechanical properties of lipid bilayers. These calculations can be systematically understood with the Irving-Kirkwood-Noll theory. In identifying the stress tensor, a crucial step is the decomposition of the forces on the particles into pairwise contributions. However, such a decomposition is not unique in general, leading to an ambiguity in the definition of the stress tensor, particularly for multibody potentials. Furthermore, a theoretical treatment of constraints in local stress calculations has been lacking. Here, we present a new implementation of local stress calculations that systematically treats constraints and considers a privileged decomposition, the central force decomposition, that leads to a symmetric stress tensor by construction. We focus on biomembranes, although the methodology presented here is widely applicable. Our results show that some unphysical behavior obtained with previous implementations (e.g. nonconstant normal stress profiles along an isotropic bilayer in equilibrium) is a consequence of an improper treatment of constraints. Furthermore, other valid force decompositions produce significantly different stress profiles, particularly in the presence of dihedral potentials. Our methodology reveals the striking effect of unsaturations on the bilayer mechanics, missed by previous stress calculation implementations
Geometric derivation of the microscopic stress: a covariant central force decomposition
We revisit the derivation of the microscopic stress, linking the statistical mechanics of particle systems and continuum mechanics. The starting point in our geometric derivation is the Doyle-Ericksen formula, which states that the Cauchy stress tensor is the derivative of the free-energy with respect to the ambient metric tensor and which follows from a covariance argument. Thus, our approach to define the microscopic stress tensor does not rely on the statement of balance of linear momentum as in the classical Irving-Kirkwood-Noll approach. Nevertheless, the resulting stress tensor satisfies balance of linear and angular momentum. Furthermore, our approach removes the ambiguity in the definition of the microscopic stress in the presence of multibody interactions by naturally suggesting a canonical and physically motivated force decomposition into pairwise terms, a key ingredient in this theory. As a result, our approach provides objective expressions to compute a microscopic stress for a system in equilibrium and for force-fields expanded into multibody interactions of arbitrarily high order. We illustrate the proposed methodology with molecular dynamics simulations of a fibrous protein using a force-field involving up to 5-body interactions
Nuevos datos sobre la sedimentación terciaria en La Mancha (Ciudad Real)
Los datos obtenidos de la investigación geofísica y perforación de sondeos en la parte occidental de La Mancha han permitido determinar la estructura del sustrato del Neógeno: un conjunto de fosas controladas por fallas, que se generaron en periodos de tectónica distensiva. Se han separado tres unidades litoestratigráficas: Unidad detrítica de la base, Unidad lutítica roja intermedia y Unidad carbonatada superior
Nuevos datos sobre la sedimentación terciaria en La Mancha (Ciudad Real)
Los datos obtenidos de la investigación geofísica y perforación de sondeos en la parte occidental de La Mancha han permitido determinar la estructura del sustrato del Neógeno: un conjunto de fosas controladas por fallas, que se generaron en periodos de tectónica distensiva. Se han separado tres unidades litoestratigráficas: Unidad detrítica de la base, Unidad lutítica roja intermedia y Unidad carbonatada superior
Nondiffractive sonic crystals
We predict theoretically the nondiffractive propagation of sonic waves in
periodic acoustic media (sonic crystals), by expansion into a set of plane
waves (Bloch mode expansion), and by finite difference time domain calculations
of finite beams. We also give analytical evaluations of the parameters for
nondiffractive propagation, as well as the minimum size of the nondiffractively
propagating acoustic beams.Comment: 7 figures, submitted to J. Acoust. Soc. A
Retrograde filling material in periapical surgery: a systematic review
Background: Periapical surgery focuses on the treatment of teeth with persistent periapical lesions when orthograde root canal treatment fails. Although MTA® is the gold standard material for retrograde filling, Biodentine® - a tricalcium silicate-based cement - has been proposed in order to resolve several of its limitations. A systematic review has been carried out to compare the physicochemical properties of Biodentine® versus MTA® as root-end filling material in periapical surgery. Material and methods: An electronic search was conducted by two independent examiners during March 2020 in the Cochrane, PubMed-MEDLINE and Scopus databases. In addition, a manual search was made in specialized journals. Comparative human or in vitro studies that evaluated bond strength, the presence of marginal gap and sealing ability were included. No restriction on publication date was applied. Animal studies, clinical cases, cases series and expert opinions were excluded. Results: After analyzing 147 initially selected studies, 13 publications were included. Regarding bond strength, the studies seemed to evidence better performance of Biodentine® in both acidic and blood contaminated environments. In relation to the presence of marginal gap and sealing ability, the studies yielded contradictory results. According to some authors, the sealing ability of Biodentine® is greater than that of MTA® during the first 24 hours, though both materials prove equal after one week. Other authors recorded no significant differences. Conclusions: Considering the limitations and heterogeneity of the studies included, there is not sufficient evidence to confirm the clinical superiority of Biodentine® as a root-end filling material in periapical surgery
Combined molecular/continuum modeling reveals the role of friction during fast unfolding of coiled-coil proteins
Coiled-coils are filamentous proteins that form the basic building block of important force-bearing cellular elements, such as intermediate filaments and myosin motors. In addition to their biological importance, coiled-coil proteins are increasingly used in new biomaterials including fibers, nanotubes, or hydrogels. Coiled-coils undergo a structural transition from an a-helical coil to an unfolded state upon extension, which allows them to sustain large strains and is critical for their biological function. By performing equilibrium and out-of-equilibrium all-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of coiledcoils in explicit solvent, we show that two-state models based on Kramers’ or Bell’s theories fail to predict the rate of unfolding at high pulling rates. We further show that an atomistically informed continuum rod model accounting for phase transformations and for the hydrodynamic interactions with the solvent can reconcile two-state models with our MD results. Our results show that frictional forces, usually neglected in theories of fibrous protein unfolding, reduce the thermodynamic force acting on the interface, and thus control the dynamics of unfolding at different pulling rates. Our results may help interpret MD simulations at high pulling rates, and could be pertinent to cytoskeletal networks or protein-based artificial materials subjected to shocks or blasts
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