A study of a flexible fiber model and its behavior in DNS of turbulent channel flow

The dynamics of individual flexible fibers in a turbulent flow field have been analyzed, varying their initial position, density and length. A particlelevel fiber model has been integrated into a general-purpose, open source Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) code. The fibers are modeled as chains of cylindrical segments connected by ball and socket joints. The equations of motion of the fibers contain the inertia of the segments, the contributions from hydrodynamic forces and torques, and the connectivity forces at the joints. Direct Numerical Simulation (DNS) of the incompressible Navier–Stokes equations is used to describe the fluid flow in a plane channel and a one-way coupling is considered between the fibers and the fluid phase. We investigate the translational motion of fibers by considering the mean square displacement of their trajectories. We find that the fiber motion is primarily governed by velocity correlations of the flow fluctuations. In addition, we show that there is a clear tendency of the thread-like fibers to evolve into complex geometrical configurations in a turbulent flow field, in fashion similar to random conformations of polymer strands subjected to thermal fluctuations in a suspension. Finally, we show that fiber inertia has a significant impact on reorientation time-scales of fibers suspended in a turbulent flow field

Meta-analysis reveals that pollinator functional diversity and abundance enhance crop pollination and yield

How insects promote crop pollination remains poorly understood in terms of the contribution of functional trait differences between species. We used meta-analyses to test for correlations between community abundance, species richness and functional trait metrics with oilseed rape yield, a globally important crop. While overall abundance is consistently important in predicting yield, functional divergence between species traits also showed a positive correlation. This result supports the complementarity hypothesis that pollination function is maintained by non-overlapping trait distributions. In artificially constructed communities (mesocosms), species richness is positively correlated with yield, although this effect is not seen under field conditions. As traits of the dominant species do not predict yield above that attributed to the effect of abundance alone, we find no evidence in support of the mass ratio hypothesis. Management practices increasing not just pollinator abundance, but also functional divergence, could benefit oilseed rape agriculture

Considerations on the use of video playbacks as visual stimuli: The Lisbon workshop consensus

This paper is the consensus of a workshop that critically evaluated the utility and problems of video playbacks as stimuli in studies of visual behavior. We suggest that video playback is probably suitable for studying motion, shape, texture, size, and brightness. Studying color is problematic because video systems are specifically designed for humans. Any difference in color perception must lead to a different color sensation in most animals. Another potentially problematic limitation of video images is that they lack depth cues derived from stereopsis, accommodation, and motion parallax. Nonetheless, when used appropriately, video playback allows an unprecedented range of questions in visual communication to be addressed. It is important to note that most of the potential limitations of video playback are not unique to this technique but are relevant to all studies of visual signaling in animals

Atlas of prostate cancer heritability in European and African-American men pinpoints tissue-specific regulation.

Although genome-wide association studies have identified over 100 risk loci that explain ∼33% of familial risk for prostate cancer (PrCa), their functional effects on risk remain largely unknown. Here we use genotype data from 59,089 men of European and African American ancestries combined with cell-type-specific epigenetic data to build a genomic atlas of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) heritability in PrCa. We find significant differences in heritability between variants in prostate-relevant epigenetic marks defined in normal versus tumour tissue as well as between tissue and cell lines. The majority of SNP heritability lies in regions marked by H3k27 acetylation in prostate adenoc7arcinoma cell line (LNCaP) or by DNaseI hypersensitive sites in cancer cell lines. We find a high degree of similarity between European and African American ancestries suggesting a similar genetic architecture from common variation underlying PrCa risk. Our findings showcase the power of integrating functional annotation with genetic data to understand the genetic basis of PrCa.This work was supported by NIH fellowship F32 GM106584 (AG), NIH grants R01 MH101244(A.G.), R01 CA188392 (B.P.), U01 CA194393(B.P.), R01 GM107427 (M.L.F.), R01 CA193910 (M.L.F./M.P.) and Prostate Cancer Foundation Challenge Award (M.L.F./M.P.). This study makes use of data generated by the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium data is available on www.wtccc.org.uk. Funding for the Wellcome Trust Case Control Consortium project was provided by the Wellcome Trust under award 076113. This study makes use of data generated by the UK10K Consortium. A full list of the investigators who contributed to the generation of the data is available online (http://www.UK10K.org). The PRACTICAL consortium was supported by the following grants: European Commission's Seventh Framework Programme grant agreement n° 223175 (HEALTH-F2-2009-223175), Cancer Research UK Grants C5047/A7357, C1287/A10118, C5047/A3354, C5047/A10692, C16913/A6135 and The National Institute of Health (NIH) Cancer Post-Cancer GWAS initiative Grant: no. 1 U19 CA 148537-01 (the GAME-ON initiative); Cancer Research UK (C1287/A10118, C1287/A 10710, C12292/A11174, C1281/A12014, C5047/A8384, C5047/A15007 and C5047/A10692), the National Institutes of Health (CA128978) and Post-Cancer GWAS initiative (1U19 CA148537, 1U19 CA148065 and 1U19 CA148112—the GAME-ON initiative), the Department of Defense (W81XWH-10-1-0341), A Linneus Centre (Contract ID 70867902), Swedish Research Council (grant no K2010-70X-20430-04-3), the Swedish Cancer Foundation (grant no 09-0677), grants RO1CA056678, RO1CA082664 and RO1CA092579 from the US National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health; US National Cancer Institute (R01CA72818); support from The National Health and Medical Research Council, Australia (126402, 209057, 251533, 396414, 450104, 504700, 504702, 504715, 623204, 940394 and 614296); NIH grants CA63464, CA54281 and CA098758; US National Cancer Institute (R01CA128813, PI: J.Y. Park); Bulgarian National Science Fund, Ministry of Education and Science (contract DOO-119/2009; DUNK01/2–2009; DFNI-B01/28/2012); Cancer Research UK grants [C8197/A10123] and [C8197/A10865]; grant code G0500966/75466; NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme (projects 96/20/06 and 96/20/99); Cancer Research UK grant number C522/A8649, Medical Research Council of England grant number G0500966, ID 75466 and The NCRI, UK; The US Dept of Defense award W81XWH-04-1-0280; Australia Project Grant [390130, 1009458] and Enabling Grant [614296 to APCB]; the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia (Project Grant [PG7] and Research infrastructure grant [to APCB]); NIH grant R01 CA092447; Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (P30 CA68485); Cancer Research UK [C490/A10124] and supported by the UK National Institute for Health Research Biomedical Research Centre at the University of Cambridge; Competitive Research Funding of the Tampere University Hospital (9N069 and X51003); Award Number P30CA042014 from the National Cancer Institute.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/0.1038/ncomms1097

Atlas of prostate cancer heritability in European and African-American men pinpoints tissue-specific regulation

Although genome-wide association studies have identified over 100 risk loci that explain ∼33% of familial risk for prostate cancer (PrCa), their functional effects on risk remain largely unknown. Here we use genotype data from 59,089 men of European and African American ancestries combined with cell-type-specific epigenetic data to build a genomic atlas of single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) heritability in PrCa. We find significant differences in heritability between variants in prostate-relevant epigenetic marks defined in normal versus tumour tissue as well as between tissue and cell lines. The majority of SNP heritability lies in regions marked by H3k27 acetylation in prostate adenoc7arcinoma cell line (LNCaP) or by DNaseI hypersensitive sites in cancer cell lines. We find a high degree of similarity between European and African American ancestries suggesting a similar genetic architecture from common variation underlying PrCa risk. Our findings showcase the power of integrating functional annotation with genetic data to understand the genetic basis of PrCa

Sähköiset ohjausjärjestelmät puutavaranostureissa

Tämän opinnäytetyön aiheena oli perehtyä puutavaranostureissa viime vuosien aikana yleistyneisiin sähköohjauksiin, niiden toimintaperiaateihin sekä vikadiagnosointiin. Tarkoituksena oli luoda Kraftmek Oy:lle helposti luettava manuaali, jota voi käyttää apuna erilaisten vikatilanteiden diagnosointiin kenttäolosuhteissa sekä samalla saavuttaa parempi ymmärrys näiden toiminnasta. Työssä pitäydyttiin toimeksiantoyrityksen toimitusvalikoimassa oleviin ohjausjärjestelmiin, joissa ei ole omaa vikadiagnosointia. Työssä on perehdytty muun muassa erityyppisten hydraulisien venttiilipöytien sähköohjauksiin, kuten suorasähköohjattuihin, proportionaalisiin PWM-ohjauksiin, radio-ohjauksiin ja näiden kombinaatioihin CAN-ohjauksien yleistymisen myötä. CAN-ohjauksien yleistymisen myötä on mahdollistettu useamman ohjainlaitteen kytkeminen samaan järjestelmään, joka on avannut uusia haasteita vianselvitykseen ja myös uusia mahdollisuuksia automatisointiin ja ohjainjärjestelmien yhdistämiseen. Integraatio työkoneen CAN-järjestelmään voisi tulevaisuudessa mahdollistaa pääsyn erilaisiin koneen anturidatoihin ja ohjausparametreihin. Nämä mahdollisuudet voisi esimerkiksi olla työkoneen kierrosnopeuden hallitseminen, aisankäännön automaatio tai kärryn vetopyörien automaattinen päälle kytkentä tarpeen mukaan. Myös eri ohjausjärjestelmien yhdistäminen on CAN-ohjausten myötä mahdollistettu helposti, tästä hyvä esimerkki on radio-ohjauksen liittäminen kiinteään koneeseen asennettuun ohjaukseen. Valmiin työn tuloksena syntyi Excel-taulukko, johon on kerätty erilaisia vikatilanteita ja niihin vianselvitysmenetelmiä. Tarkoitus oli tehdä mahdollisimman monipuolinen ja modulaarinen sekä helposti luettava dokumentti, jota seuraamalla voidaan helpommin selvittää ja korjata yleisimmät vian aiheuttajat. Manuaalin tiedot perustuvat suurelta osin hiljaiseen tietoon yrityksen sisältä, jota löytyi kattavasti. Työn tuloksena syntyneen dokumentin lisäksi saatiin parempi ymmärrys eri ohjausjärjestelmien toiminnasta ja niiden rakenteesta, josta on hyötyä varsinkin CAN ohjauksissa ja niiden kytkennöissä

How CRM tools support the sales representatives within the mobile operator sector in Finland.

Customer relationship management (CRM) is crucial for any company in today's world to stay competitive. Different tools provide different benefits. CRM tools are used in various fields, departments, and for various purposes. This study investigates how CRM tools benefit the sales representatives within the mobile operator sector in Finland. The problem investigated in this study was if the CRM tools used by B2C sales representatives in the telephone operator sector in Finland are sufficient in practice and how they theoretically can be improved. This research was conducted using a qualitative research method in the form of a semi-structured interviewing. The results were analysed using a thematic analysis. It was found that the major benefits that the tools offer to the sales representative in the mobile operator sector in Finland was the customer events (history) log, specific AI product offering and overall efficiency in the form of saved time, for example. In the study it was found that the benefits that CRM tools bring to the sale process varies somehow between the B2B and the B2C sector. The benefits that the CRM tools bring to the sales process within the B2B sector was mainly the enabling of all customer data to be collected in one database or tool which enables an easier way to control the sales funnel. It also helps in finding the most important sales opportunities and keeps the sales representatives focus on the right things at the right times. It was also found that they provide a higher insight of small details which the human eye would not necessarily notice otherwise. On the other hand, the benefits that the CRM tools bring to the B2C sales process were the quick, tailored, and precise decision making regarding the product offering, which aims to satisfy the customers need. It was also found that CRM tools help in the creation and mapping of the overall picture of the customers interaction with the company. This helps speeding up the sales process, saves time, makes the interaction with the customer more natural and prepared valid data to counter objections

CLEVR-Math : A Dataset for Compositional Language, Visual and Mathematical Reasoning

We introduce CLEVR-Math, a multi-modal math word problems dataset consisting of simple math word problems involving addition/subtraction, represented partly by a textual description and partly by an image illustrating the scenario. The text describes actions performed on the scene that is depicted in the image. Since the question posed may not be about the scene in the image, but about the state of the scene before or after the actions are applied, the solver envision or imagine the state changes due to these actions. Solving these word problems requires a combination of language, visual and mathematical reasoning. We apply state-of-the-art neural and neuro-symbolic models for visual question answering on CLEVR-Math and empirically evaluate their performances. Our results show how neither method generalise to chains of operations. We discuss the limitations of the two in addressing the task of multi-modal word problem solving

CLEVR-Math : A Dataset for Compositional Language, Visual and Mathematical Reasoning

We introduce CLEVR-Math, a multi-modal math word problems dataset consisting of simple math word problems involving addition/subtraction, represented partly by a textual description and partly by an image illustrating the scenario. The text describes actions performed on the scene that is depicted in the image. Since the question posed may not be about the scene in the image, but about the state of the scene before or after the actions are applied, the solver envision or imagine the state changes due to these actions. Solving these word problems requires a combination of language, visual and mathematical reasoning. We apply state-of-the-art neural and neuro-symbolic models for visual question answering on CLEVR-Math and empirically evaluate their performances. Our results show how neither method generalise to chains of operations. We discuss the limitations of the two in addressing the task of multi-modal word problem solving