No short-term contingency between grooming and food tolerance in Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus)

The exchange services such as allo-grooming, allo-preening, food tolerance and agonistic support has been observed in a range of species. Two proximate mechanisms have been proposed to explain the exchanges of services in animals. First, an animal can give a service to a partner depending on how the partner behaved toward it in the recent past. This mechanism is usually tested by examining the within-dyad temporal relation between events given and received over short time periods. Second, the partner choice mechanism assumes that animals give favours toward specific partners but not others, by comparing how each partner behaved toward them over longer time frames. As such, the partner choice mechanism does not make specific predictions on a temporal contingency between services received and given over short time frames. While there is evidence for a long-term positive correlation between services exchanged in animals, results for short-term contingencies between services given and received are mixed. Our study investigated the exchange of grooming for food tolerance in a partially-provisioned group of Barbary macaques, by analysing the short-term contingency between these events. Tolerance over food was compared immediately after grooming and in control condition, using food of different shareability. We found no evidence that grooming increases food tolerance or decrease aggression around food in the short term. Food tolerance was affected by the shareability of the food and the sex of the partners. The exchanges of grooming and food tolerance in non-human primates may be little affected by recent single events. We suggest that long-term exchanges between services given and received and social partner choice may play a more important role in explaining social interactions than short-term contingent events

Effect of Q&P Process on 0.15C-MnSi Steels

The present study is focused on analyzing the effect of Mn amount on two experimental steel compositions, specially designed for Q&P (Quenching and Partitioning), 0.15C-2.5Mn-1.5Si and 0.15C-3Mn-1.5Si without significant contribution of Al. Two-Step Q&P thermal treatments were performed at laboratory scale in a quenching dilatometer Bähr DIL805A/D. The fractions of retained austenite were evaluated by X-ray diffraction techniques. The mechanical properties of the Q&P samples were evaluated, a strong dependence of strength, uniform elongation and strain hardening values on process parameters has been found. Higher uniform elongation were related to higher residual austenite contents. The 0.15C-3Mn-1.5Si steel showed systematically the largest mechanical values with respect to the 0.15C-2.5Mn-1.5Si steel.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Ground state, bound state, and normalized solutions to semilinear Maxwell and Schr\"odinger equations

The existence of ground states and (multiple) bound states to semilinear time-independent Maxwell and Schr\"odinger equations, with or without $L^2$-constraints, is investigated.Comment: Ph.D. thesis (discussed in September 2021). Improved versions of Chapters 6 and 7 available at arXiv:2101.03076 and arXiv:2101.02611 respectively. Chapters 3 and 4 are based on arXiv:1901.05776 and arXiv:2006.03565 respectively. The results in Chapter 8 are ne

Mechanical Properties and Microstructure of Forged Steels

Forged steels represent a quite interesting material family, both from a scientific and commercial point of view, following many applications they can be devoted to [...

Analysis of phase transformation in high strength low alloyed steels

The effect of low-alloy additions on phase transformation of high strength low alloyed steels is reported. Various as-quenched materials with microstructures consisting of low carbon (granular) bainitic, mixed bainitic/martensitic and fully martensitic microstructures were reproduced in laboratory. Results show that for a given cooling rate, an increase of austenite grain size (AGS) and of Mo and Cr contents decreases the transformation temperatures and promotes martensite formation

Normalized solutions to Schr\"odinger equations in the strongly sublinear regime

We look for solutions to the Schr\"odinger equation $$-\Delta u + \lambda u = g(u) \quad \text{in } \mathbb{R}^N$$ coupled with the mass constraint $\int_{\mathbb{R}^N}|u|^2\,dx = \rho^2$, with $N\ge2$. The behaviour of $g$ at the origin is allowed to be strongly sublinear, i.e., $\lim_{s\to0}g(s)/s = -\infty$, which includes the case $$g(s) = \alpha s \ln s^2 + \mu |s|^{p-2} s$$ with $\alpha > 0$ and $\mu \in \mathbb{R}$, $2 < p \le 2^*$ properly chosen. We consider a family of approximating problems that can be set in $H^1(\mathbb{R}^N)$ and the corresponding least-energy solutions, then we prove that such a family of solutions converges to a least-energy one to the original problem. Additionally, under certain assumptions about $g$ that allow us to work in a suitable subspace of $H^1(\mathbb{R}^N)$, we prove the existence of infinitely many solutions

Least energy solutions to a cooperative system of Schrödinger equations with prescribed L2L^{2}-bounds: at least L2L^{2}-critical growth

We look for least energy solutions to the cooperative systems of coupled Schrödinger equations $\begin{aligned} \left\{ \begin{array}{l} -\Delta u_i + \lambda _i u_i = \partial _iG(u)\quad \mathrm {in} \ {\mathbb {R}}^N, \ N \ge 3,\\ u_i \in H^1({\mathbb {R}}^N), \\ \int _{{\mathbb {R}}^N} |u_i|^2 \, dx \le \rho _i^2 \end{array} \right. i\in \{1,\ldots ,K\} \end{aligned}$ with ≥0, where $\rho _i>0$ is prescribed and $(\lambda _i, u_i) \in {\mathbb {R}}\times H^1 ({\mathbb {R}}^N)$ is to be determined, $i\in \{1,\dots ,K\}$. Our approach is based on the minimization of the energy functional over a linear combination of the Nehari and Pohožaev constraints intersected with the product of the closed balls in $L^2({\mathbb {R}}^N)$ of radii $\rho _i$, which allows to provide general growth assumptions about G and to know in advance the sign of the corresponding Lagrange multipliers. We assume that G has at least $L^2$-critical growth at 0 and admits Sobolev critical growth. The more assumptions we make about G, N, and K, the more can be said about the minimizers of the corresponding energy functional. In particular, if =2, ∈ {3,4}, and G satisfies further assumptions, then $u=(u_1,u_2)$ is normalized, i.e., $\int _{{\mathbb {R}}^N} |u_i|^2 \, dx=\rho _i^2$ for ∈ {1,2}

Grooming coercion and the post-conflict trading of social services in wild Barbary macaques

In animal and human societies, social services such as protection from predators are often exchanged between group members. The tactics that individuals display to obtain a service depend on its value and on differences between individuals in their capacity to aggressively obtain it. Here we analysed the exchange of valuable social services (i.e. grooming and relationship repair) in the aftermath of a conflict, in wild Barbary macaques (Macaca sylvanus). The relationship repair function of post-conflict affiliation (i.e. reconciliation) was apparent in the victim but not in the aggressor. Conversely, we found evidence for grooming coercion by the aggressor; when the victim failed to give grooming soon after a conflict they received renewed aggression from the aggressor. We argue that post-conflict affiliation between former opponents can be better described as a trading of social services rather than coercion alone, as both animals obtain some benefits (i.e. grooming for the aggressor and relationship repair for the victim). Our study is the first to test the importance of social coercion in the aftermath of a conflict. Differences in competitive abilities can affect the exchange of services and the occurrence of social coercion in animal societies. This may also help explain the variance between populations and species in their social behaviour and conflict management strategies

Laser Powder Bed Fusion of Stainless Steel Grades: A Review

In this paper, the capability of laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) systems to process stainless steel alloys is reviewed. Several classes of stainless steels are analyzed (i.e., austenitic, martensitic, precipitation hardening and duplex), showing the possibility of satisfactorily processing this class of materials and suggesting an enlargement of the list of alloys that can be manufactured, targeting different applications. In particular, it is reported that stainless steel alloys can be satisfactorily processed, and their mechanical performances allow them to be put into service. Porosities inside manufactured components are extremely low, and are comparable to conventionally processed materials. Mechanical performances are even higher than standard requirements. Micro surface roughness typical of the as-built material can act as a crack initiator, reducing the strength in both quasi-static and dynamic conditions