A New Walk on Equations Monte Carlo Method for Linear Algebraic Problems

International audienceA new Walk on Equations (WE) Monte Carlo algorithm for Linear Algebra (LA) problem is proposed and studied. This algorithm relies on a non-discounted sum of an absorbed random walk. It can be applied for either real or complex matrices. Several techniques like simultaneous scoring or the sequential Monte Carlo method are applied to improve the basic algorithm. Numerical tests are performed on examples with matrices of different size and on systems coming from various applications. Comparisons with standard deterministic or Monte Carlo algorithms are also done

Comparison between the three porcine RN genotypes for growth, carcass composition and meat quality traits

A three-step experimental design has been carried out to add evidence about the existence of the RN gene, with two segregating alleles RN- and rn+, having major effects on meat quality in pigs, to estimate its effects on production traits and to map the RN locus. In the present article, the experimental population and sampling procedures are described and discussed, and effects of the three RN genotypes on growth and carcass traits are presented. The RN genotype had no major effect on growth performance and killing out percentage. Variables pertaining to carcass tissue composition showed that the RN- allele is associated with leaner carcasses (about 1 s.d. effect without dominance for back fat thickness, 0.5 s.d. effect with dominance for weights of joints). Muscle glycolytic potential (GP) was considerably higher in RN- carriers, with a maximum of a 6.85 s.d. effect for the live longissimus muscle GP. Physico-chemical characteristics of meat were also influenced by the RN genotype in a dominant way, ultimate pH differing by about 2 s.d. between homozygous genotypes and meat colour by about 1 s.d. Technological quality was also affected, with a 1 s.d. decrease in technological yield for RN- carriers. The RN genotype had a more limited effect on eating quality. On the whole, the identity between the acid meat condition and the RN- allele effect is clearly demonstrated (higher muscle GP, lower ultimate pH, paler meat and lower protein content), and the unfavourable relationship between GP and carcass lean to fat ratio is confirmed

Risk due to creep of prestressed concrete at moderate temperature

This study is a part of a French national project dealing with the mechanical behaviour of the containment vessel of French Nuclear Power Plants in case of a severe accident. The accident conditions are characterized by the increases of internal pressure, +0.5 MPa, and of temperature, up to 180°C, during two weeks. Heating can induce a strong increase of creep deformations kinetics leading to prestressing losses of concrete. Associated to internal pressure, tensile stress could occur in some areas of the structure and the potential cracking could affect the containment capacity of the vessel. One of the objectives of the project was thus to provide original creep data to develop accurate models, taking into account the coupled effects of temperature, desiccation and damage, and able to predict the behaviour of prestressed concrete structures in such insitu conditions. A wide experimental program consisted of numerous creep tests under various thermo-hydro-mechanical conditions in the values range of the accident. The presented results concern uniaxial compressive and flexural creep tests respectively performed on concrete cylinders and prestressed concrete beams, at 20°C and 40°C without desiccation