Strain engineering of the CeNi5 system

The effect of strain on the CeNi5 system has been investigated using density functional theory (DFT). The studies have shown that localised Ce 4f and Ni 3d states carry the magnetic moment of the material. The Ce 4f moment remains relatively unchanged during strain whereas the Ni 3d moment increases as the strain becomes increasingly tensile in both the basal and non-basal directions. A significant strain-dependent interaction exists between delocalised, non-magnetic Ce 6s–Ni 4s states. A weaker group of Ni 3d–Ce 6s/Ni 4s and Ni 3d–Ni 3d interactions exist, indicating that competing localised and delocalised mechanisms act on the Ni 3d states during strain

Binding site transitions across strained oxygenated and hydroxylated Pt(111)

The effects of strain σ on the binding position preference of oxygen atoms and hydroxyl groups adsorbed on Pt(111) have been investigated using density functional theory. A transition between the bridge and FCC binding occurs under compressive strain of the O/Pt(111) surface. A significant reconstruction occurs under compressive strain of the OH/Pt(111) surface, and the surface OH groups preferentially occupy on-top (bridge) positions at highly compressive (less compressive/tensile) strains. Changes to magnetisation of the O- and OH-populated surfaces are discussed and for O/Pt(111) oxygenation reduces the surface magnetism via a delocalised mechanism. The origins of the surface magnetisation for both O- and OH-bearing systems are discussed in terms of the state-resolved electronic populations and of the surface charge density

PLIT: An alignment-free computational tool for identification of long non-coding RNAs in plant transcriptomic datasets

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are a class of non-coding RNAs which play a significant role in several biological processes. RNA-seq based transcriptome sequencing has been extensively used for identification of lncRNAs. However, accurate identification of lncRNAs in RNA-seq datasets is crucial for exploring their characteristic functions in the genome as most coding potential computation (CPC) tools fail to accurately identify them in transcriptomic data. Well-known CPC tools such as CPC2, lncScore, CPAT are primarily designed for prediction of lncRNAs based on the GENCODE, NONCODE and CANTATAdb databases. The prediction accuracy of these tools often drops when tested on transcriptomic datasets. This leads to higher false positive results and inaccuracy in the function annotation process. In this study, we present a novel tool, PLIT, for the identification of lncRNAs in plants RNA-seq datasets. PLIT implements a feature selection method based on L1 regularization and iterative Random Forests (iRF) classification for selection of optimal features. Based on sequence and codon-bias features, it classifies the RNA-seq derived FASTA sequences into coding or long non-coding transcripts. Using L1 regularization, 31 optimal features were obtained based on lncRNA and protein-coding transcripts from 8 plant species. The performance of the tool was evaluated on 7 plant RNA-seq datasets using 10-fold cross-validation. The analysis exhibited superior accuracy when evaluated against currently available state-of-the-art CPC tools

Parameter estimation of a land surface scheme using multicriteria methods

Attempts to create models of surface-atmosphere interactions with greater physical realism have resulted in land surface schemes (LSS) with large numbers of parameters. The hope has been that these parameters can be assigned typical values by inspecting the literature. The potential for using the various observational data sets that are now available to extract plot-scale estimates for the parameters of a complex LSS via advanced parameter estimation methods developed for hydrological models is explored in this paper. Results are reported for two case studies using data sets of typical quality but very different location and climatological regime (ARM-CART and Tucson). The traditional single-criterion methods were found to be of limited value. However, a multicriteria approach was found to be effective in constraining the parameter estimates into physically plausible ranges when observations on at least one appropriate heat flux and one properly selected state variable are available. Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union

Sensitivity analysis of a land surface scheme using multicriteria methods

Attempts to model surface-atmosphere interactions with greater physical realism have resulted in complex land surface schemes (LSS) with large numbers of parameters. A companion paper describes a multicriteria calibration procedure for extracting plot-scale estimates of the preferred ranges of these parameters from the various observational data sets that are now available. A complementary procedure is presented in this paper that provides an objective determination of the multicriteria sensitivity of the modeled variables to the parameters, thereby allowing the number of calibration parameters and hence the computational effort to be reduced. Two case studies are reported for the BATS model using data sets of typical quality but very different location and climatological regime (ARM-CART and Tucson). The sensitivity results were found to be consistent with the physical properties of the different environments, thereby supporting the reasonableness of the model formulation. Further, when the insensitive parameters are omitted from the calibration process, there is little degradation in the quality of the model description and little change in the preferred range of the remaining parameters. Copyright 1999 by the American Geophysical Union

A department of methodology can coordinate transdisciplinary sport science support

In the current sporting landscape, it is not uncommon for professional sport teams and organizations to employ multidisciplinary sport science support teams. In these teams and organizations, a “head of performance” may manage a number of sub-discipline specialists with the aim of enhancing athlete performance. Despite the best intentions of multidisciplinary sport science support teams, difficulties associated with integrating sub-disciplines to enhance performance preparation have become apparent. It has been suggested that the problem of integration is embedded in the traditional reductionist method of applied sport science, leading to the eagerness of individual specialists to quantify progress in isolated components. This can lead to “silo” working and decontextualized learning environments that can hinder athlete preparation. To address this challenge, we suggest that ecological dynamics is one theoretical framework that can inform common principles and language to guide the integration of sport science sub-disciplines in a Department of Methodology. The aim of a Department of Methodology would be for group members to work within a unified conceptual framework to (1) coordinate activity through shared principles and language, (2) communicate coherent ideas, and (3) collaboratively design practice landscapes rich in information (i.e., visual, acoustic, proprioceptive and haptic) and guide emergence of multi-dimensional behaviors in athlete performance

Are people moving home less? An analysis of address changing in England and Wales, 1971-2011, using the ONS longitudinal study

Expectations of migration and mobility steadily increasing in the longer term, which have a long currency in migration theory and related social science, are at odds with the latest US research showing a marked decline in internal migration rates. Given the similarity in demographic, economic and social trends between the USA and the UK, this paper reports the results of research that investigates whether the latter has been experienced any similar change in more recent decades. Using the Office for National Statistics Longitudinal Study (ONS-LS) of linked census records, it examines the evidence provided by its 10-year migration indicator, with particular attention to a comparison of the first and latest decades available, 1971-1981 and 2001-2011. This suggests that, as in the USA, there has been a marked reduction in the level of shorter-distance (less than 10km) moving that has involved almost all types of people. In contrast to this and to US experience, however, the propensity of people to make longer-distance address changes between decennial censuses has declined much less, though the 2.6% fall between the 1970s and the 2000s may be an underestimate owing to the inclusion of moves to and from university in the latest decade. This finding is consistent with the results of a companion study which analysed data on migration between the health areas of England and Wales (Champion and Shuttleworth, 2015). There is therefore a strong case for now probing the causes of the sharp reduction in shorter-distance moving in Britain as well as the USA, as well as for investigating why the two countries differ in terms of their experience of longer-distance migration trends

Translation studies and metaphor studies: Possible paths of interaction between two well-established disciplines

The objects of study of these two disciplines are etymological cognates, the meaning that lies at the heart of both translation and metaphor being that of transfer. The study of metaphor in translation therefore involves tackling the complexities of a double act of transfer through the use of methodologies that are correspondingly subtle. The article aims to investigate what the disciplines of translation studies and metaphor studies have in common and what the potential for interdisciplinary research might be. As argued by Israel (2011), having absorbed numerous research models and approaches from other disciplines over the last few decades, translation studies is in a strong position to share its insights and perspectives with these same disciplines. In the case of research into metaphor in translation, although the centres of gravity of translation studies and metaphor studies are rather different there is great potential for a two-way interaction between these two disciplines. On the one hand, it is now virtually inconceivable that a study of metaphor in translation should not take full account of work by scholars specialising in metaphor studies. On the other hand, translation studies can provide metaphor scholars with mono-, bi- and even multilingual data from its case studies to supplement their own descriptive work. There do of course exist a number of caveats regarding the compatibility of material from the two disciplines. However, in many cases the result of such research has been work worthy of the attention of scholars working within both disciplines. The article focuses specifically on text-based research but is of relevance to other approaches as well

Parameter sensitivity analysis for different complexity land surface models using multicriteria methods

A multicriteria algorithm, the MultiObjective Generalized Sensitivity Analysis (MOGSA), was used to investigate the parameter sensitivity of five different land surface models with increasing levels of complexity in the physical representation of the vegetation (BUCKET, CHASM, BATS 1, Noah, and BATS 2) at five different sites representing crop land/ pasture, grassland, rain forest, cropland, and semidesert areas. The methodology allows for the inclusion of parameter interaction and does not require assumptions of independence between parameters, while at the same time allowing for the ranking of several single-criterion and a global multicriteria sensitivity indices. The analysis required on the order of 50 thousand model runs. The results confirm that parameters with similar "physical meaning" across different model structures behave in different ways depending on the model and the locations. It is also shown that after a certain level an increase in model structure complexity does not necessarily lead to better parameter identifiability, i.e., higher sensitivity, and that a certain level of overparameterization is observed. For the case of the BATS 1 and BATS 2 models, with essentially the same model structure but a more sophisticated vegetation model, paradoxically, the effect on parameter sensitivity is mainly reflected in the sensitivity of the soil-related parameter. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union