A game theory model to explore the role of cooperation and diversity in community food security: the case of Southern Malawi

The Sustainable Development Goals aim at ending food insecurity by 2030. Therefore, civil society needs to understand the inherent complexities of both socio-economic and ecological dynamics and their interdependencies. In particular, the behavioural dynamics that underpin human agents are crucial in driving the final outcomes in terms of community food security and require further attention. Using household behaviour within a rural village of Southern Malawi as an example, we describe a game theory model representing cropping strategies: (1) cooperation, as driven by other-regarding preferences, and (2) conformation, the tendency to converge to similar crop planting choices as opposed to differentiation (and thus crop diversity). We find that the latter plays a crucial role in driving the system towards successful strategies: how individuals relate to social norms has greater effect. Cooperation is only necessary for community success when the community converges on crop planting choices. On the contrary, differentiation, the affirmation of the individual unique identity, can succeed with or without cooperation. We further elaborate on the idea that community level sustainability can be reached through different pathways, which might require food exchange mechanisms within and beyond the system boundaries. © 2020, Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.This research is supported by the Basque Government through the BERC 2018-2021 program and by the Ikertzaile Doktoreentzako Hobekuntzarako doktoretza-ondoko Programa and by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO through BC3 María de Maeztu excellence accreditation MDM-2017-0714 and by the Leverhulme TrustResearch Fellowship “CREATE: the network components of creativity and success. This work was also inspired and partially funded by the ASSETS (Attaining Sustainable Services from Ecosystems) project (NERC/ESPA NE-J002267-1)

Heat and mass transfer analysis of radiative and chemical reactive effects on MHD nanofluid over an infinite moving vertical plate

A comparative study of nanofluid (Cu–H2O) and pure fluid (water) is investigated over a moving upright plate surrounded by a porous surface. The novelty of the study includes the unsteady laminar MHD natural transmission flow of an incompressible fluid, to get thermal conductivity of nanofluid is more than pure fluid. The chemical reaction of this nanofluid with respect to radiation absorption is observed by considering the nanoparticles to attain thermal equilibrium. The present work is validated with the previously published work. The upright plate travels with a constant velocity u0, and the temperature and concentration are considered to be period harmonically independent with a constant mean at the plate. The most excellent appropriate solution to the oscillatory pattern of boundary layer equations for the governing flow is computed utilizing the Perturbation Technique. The impacts of factors on velocity, temperature, and concentration are visually depicted and thoroughly elucidated. The fluid features in the boundary layer regime are explored visually and qualitatively. This enhancement is notably significant for copper nanoparticles.The work of U.F.-G. was supported by the government of the Basque Country for the ELKARTEK21/10 KK-2021/00014 and ELKARTEK20/78 KK-2020/00114 research programs

Performance of magnetic dipole contribution on ferromagnetic non-Newtonian radiative MHD blood flow: An application of biotechnology and medical sciences

Casson flow ferromagnetic liquid blood flow over stretching region is studied numerically. The domain is influence by radiation and blood flow velocity and thermal slip conditions. Blood acts an impenetrable magneto-dynamic liquid yields governing equations. The conservative governing nonlinear partial differential equations, reduced to ODEs by the help of similarity translation technique. The transport equations were transformed into first order ODEs and the resultant system are solved with help of 4th order R-K scheme. Performing a magnetic dipole with a Casson flow across a stretched region with Brownian motion and Thermophoresis is novelty of the problem. Significant applications of the study in some spheres are metallurgy, extrusion of polymers, production in papers and rubber manufactured sheets. Electronics, analytical instruments, medicine, friction reduction, angular momentum shift, heat transmission, etc. are only few of the many uses for ferromagnetic fluids. As ferromagnetic interaction parameter value improves, the skin-friction, Sherwood and Nusselt numbers depreciates. A comparative study of the present numerical scheme for specific situations reveals a splendid correlation with earlier published work. A change in blood flow velocity magnitude has been noted due to Casson parameter. Increasing change in blood flow temperature noted due to Casson parameter. Skin-friction strengthened and Nusselt number is declined with Casson parameter. The limitation of current work is a non-invasive magnetic blood flow collection system using commercially available magnetic sensors instead of SQUID or electrodes.Unai Fernandez-Gamiz was supported by Government of the Basque Country [ELKARTEK21/10KK-2021/00014 & ELKARTEK22/85]. Irfan Nurhidayat was supported by King Mongkut’s Institute of Technology Ladkrabang (KMITL), Bangkok, Thailand [KDS2020/045]

Breaking through the Mermin-Wagner limit in 2D van der Waals magnets

The Mermin-Wagner theorem states that long-range magnetic order does not exist in one- (1D) or two-dimensional (2D) isotropic magnets with short-ranged interactions. Here we show that in finite-size 2D van der Waals magnets typically found in lab setups (within millimetres), short-range interactions can be large enough to allow the stabilisation of magnetic order at finite temperatures without any magnetic anisotropy. We demonstrate that magnetic ordering can be created in 2D flakes independent of the lattice symmetry due to the intrinsic nature of the spin exchange interactions and finite-size effects. Surprisingly we find that the crossover temperature, where the intrinsic magnetisation changes from superparamagnetic to a completely disordered paramagnetic regime, is weakly dependent on the system length, requiring giant sizes (e.g., of the order of the observable universe ~ 1026 m) to observe the vanishing of the magnetic order as expected from the Mermin-Wagner theorem. Our findings indicate exchange interactions as the main ingredient for 2D magnetism

Breaking through the Mermin-Wagner limit in 2D van der Waals magnets

The Mermin-Wagner theorem states that long-range magnetic order does not exist in one- or two-dimensional (2D) isotropic magnets with short-ranged interactions. The theorem has been a milestone in magnetism and has been driving the research of recently discovered 2D van der Waals (vdW) magnetic materials from fundamentals up to potential applications. In such systems, the existence of magnetic ordering is typically attributed to the presence of a significant magnetic anisotropy, which is known to introduce a spin-wave gap and circumvent the core assumption of the theorem. Here we show that in finite-size 2D vdW magnets typically found in lab setups (e.g., within millimetres), short-range interactions can be large enough to allow the stabilisation of magnetic order at finite temperatures without any magnetic anisotropy for practical implementations. We demonstrate that magnetic ordering can be created in flakes of 2D materials independent of the lattice symmetry due to the intrinsic nature of the spin exchange interactions and finite-size effects in two-dimensions. Surprisingly we find that the crossover temperature, where the intrinsic magnetisation changes from superparamagnetic to a completely disordered paramagnetic regime, is weakly dependent on the system length, requiring giant sizes (e.g., of the order of the observable universe ~10$^{26}$ m) in order to observe the vanishing of the magnetic order at cryogenic temperatures as expected from the Mermin-Wagner theorem. Our findings indicate exchange interactions as the main driving force behind the stabilisation of short-range order in 2D magnetism and broaden the horizons of possibilities for exploration of compounds with low anisotropy at an atomically thin level

3D-Printed 96 GHz Bull’s-Eye Antenna with Off-Axis Beaming

Reducing the profile, footprint and weight of antennas embarked on aircrafts, drones or satellites has been a long pursued objective. Here we tackle this issue by developing a millimeter-wave 96 GHz elliptical Bull’s-Eye antenna with off-axis radiation at 16.5° that has been fabricated by low cost 3-D printing stereolithography, followed by metal coating. The theoretical basis for optimum off-axis operations is explained. Measurement results show an overall good agreement with simulations, displaying a gain of 17 dB and a 3.5° beamwidth (E-plane) at the operational frequency. The off-axis beaming enlarges the potential applicability of this technology with respect to the broadside beam solution.This work was supported by the Spanish Government under contract TEC2014-51902-C2-2-R. M. N.-C. is supported by University of Birmingham [Birmingham Fellowship]. M.B. acknowledges support by the Spanish Government under contract RYC-2011-0822

The Early Asexual Development Regulator fluG Codes for a Putative Bifunctional Enzyme

FluG is a long recognized early regulator of asexual development in Aspergillus nidulans. fluG null mutants show profuse aerial growth and no conidial production. Initial studies reported sequence homology of FluG with a prokaryotic type I glutamine synthetase, but catalytic activity has not been demonstrated. In this study, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the FluG sequence, which revealed a single polypeptide containing a putative N-terminal amidohydrolase region linked to a putative C-terminal γ-glutamyl ligase region. Each region corresponded, separately and completely, to respective single function bacterial enzymes. Separate expression of these regions confirmed that the C-terminal region was essential for asexual development. The N-terminal region alone did not support conidial development, but contributed to increased conidial production under high nutrient availability. Point mutations directed at respective key catalytic residues in each region demonstrated that they were essential for biological function. Moreover, the substitution of the N- and C-terminal regions with homologs from Lactobacillus paracasei and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, respectively, maintained functionality, albeit with altered characteristics. Taken together, the results lead us to conclude that FluG is a bifunctional enzyme that participates in an as yet unidentified metabolic or signaling pathway involving a γ-glutamylated intermediate that contributes to developmental fate

Advanced glycation end-products: Mechanics of aged collagen from molecule to tissue

Concurrent with a progressive loss of regenerative capacity, connective tissue aging is characterized by a progressive accumulation of Advanced Glycation End-products (AGEs). Besides being part of the typical aging process, type II diabetics are particularly affected by AGE accumulation due to abnormally high levels of systemic glucose that increases the glycation rate of long-lived proteins such as collagen. Although AGEs are associated with a wide range of clinical disorders, the mechanisms by which AGEs contribute to connective tissue disease in aging and diabetes are still poorly understood. The present study harnesses advanced multiscale imaging techniques to characterize a widely employed . in vitro model of ribose induced collagen aging and further benchmarks these data against experiments on native human tissues from donors of different age. These efforts yield unprecedented insight into the mechanical changes in collagen tissues across hierarchical scales from molecular, to fiber, to tissue-levels. We observed a linear increase in molecular spacing (from 1.45. nm to 1.5. nm) and a decrease in the D-period length (from 67.5. nm to 67.1. nm) in aged tissues, both using the ribose model of . in vitro glycation and in native human probes. Multiscale mechanical analysis of . in vitro glycated tendons strongly suggests that AGEs reduce tissue viscoelasticity by severely limiting fiber-fiber and fibril-fibril sliding. This study lays an important foundation for interpreting the functional and biological effects of AGEs in collagen connective tissues, by exploiting experimental models of AGEs crosslinking and benchmarking them for the first time against endogenous AGEs in native tissue