On the Impact of Artificial Intelligence on Economy

Rapid advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) will have a dramatic impact on the global economy. This paper provides a systematic review of the economic impact of AI, focusing on the promotion of AI on productivity and economic growth; the impact of AI on labor employment; and the question of whether AI will increase income inequality. On this basis, a summary of how to implement public policies to reduce the potential negative impacts of AI on the employment structure and income inequality is provided. Finally, a summary and prospective research directions are provided

A study of the ultrasonic treatment effect on microstructure and mechanical properties of commercial purity titanium

This work presents a study of the ultrasonic treatment effect on microstructure and mechanical properties of ac-received and recrystallized commercial purity titanium specimens by means XRD, EBSD and TEM. It was demonstrated that the dislocation density growth and the twins with special boundaries [sigma]7b and [sigma]11b increase within the surface grains during ultrasonic treatment depend on initial structural state of the titanium specimens. The relationship between the structural parametrs change and the surface layer microhardness value of the titanium specimens subjected to ultrasonic treatment was shown. It was found that differences in the hardened surface layer depth and the surface microhardness of ac-received and recrystallized titanium specimens result in the same yield and ultimate tensile strength increment during ultrasonic treatment

Geometry: The leading parameter for the Poisson’s ratio of bending-dominated cellular solids

Control over the deformation behaviour that a cellular structure shows in response to imposed external forces is a requirement for the effective design of mechanical metamaterials, in particular those with negative Poisson’s ratio. This article sheds light on the old question of the relationship between geometric microstructure and mechanical response, by comparison of the deformation properties of bar-and-joint-frameworks with those of their realisation as a cellular solid made from linear-elastic material. For ordered planar tessellation models, we find a classification in terms of the number of degrees of freedom of the framework model: first, in cases where the geometry uniquely prescribes a single deformation mode of the framework model, the mechanical deformation and Poisson’s ratio of the linearly-elastic cellular solid closely follow those of the unique deformation mode; the result is a bending-dominated deformation with negligible dependence of the effective Poisson’s ratio on the underlying material’s Poisson’s ratio and small values of the effective Young’s modulus. Second, in the case of rigid structures or when geometric degeneracy prevents the bending-dominated deformation mode, the effective Poisson’s ratio is material-dependent and the Young’s modulus View the MathML sourceE˜cs large. All analysed structures of this type have positive values of the Poisson’s ratio and large values of View the MathML sourceE˜cs. Third, in the case, where the framework has multiple deformation modes, geometry alone does not suffice to determine the mechanical deformation. These results clarify the relationship between mechanical properties of a linear-elastic cellular solid and its corresponding bar-and-joint framework abstraction. They also raise the question if, in essence, auxetic behaviour is restricted to the geometry-guided class of bending-dominated structures corresponding to unique mechanisms, with inherently low values of the Young’s modulus

The shear-driven Rayleigh problem for generalised Newtonian fluids

We consider a variant of the classical ‘Rayleigh problem’ (‘Stokes’s first problem’) in which a semi-infinite region of initially quiescent fluid is mobilised by a shear stress applied suddenly to its boundary. We show that self-similar solutions for the fluid velocity are available for any generalised Newtonian fluid, regardless of its constitutive law. We demonstrate how these solutions may be used to provide insight into some generic questions about the behaviour of unsteady, non-Newtonian boundary layers, and in particular the effect of shear thinning or thickening on the thickness of a boundary layer

Parasitism of the root-lesion nematode Pratylenchus thornei on chickpea

Pratylenchus thornei-chickpea interactions were investigated under controlled and fluctuating environmental conditions in the growth chamber, greenhouse and shadehouse. Under controlled conditions. P. thornei infected chickpea hnes 12071/10054 and P2245 and cultivars Andoum 1, JG62 and UC 27. Line P 2245 and cv. JG 62 were the most susceptible genotypes on the basis of root damage and nematode reproduction, but nematode infection did not significantly reduce root and shoot weights. Cultivars Andoum 1 and UC27 and line 12071/10054 showed the least root damage and nematode reproduction. Inoculation of cv. Andoum 1 with 2500, 5000 or lOOOO nematodes per plant in pots did not affect shoot weight, regardless ofthe conditions of water stress ofthe plants. However, root weight was significantly reduced by nematode infection in plants grown under water stress and fluctuating temperature conditions in the greenhouse, but was not affected by any other treatment. The nematode reproduction index was not affected by soil water content under shadehouse conditions, but was greater on plants watered to soil water-holding capacity than in water-stressed plants under greenhouse conditions. For both environments, the nematode reproduction index decreased when inoculum density was greater than 5000 nematodes per plant.This research was supported by grant AGF92- 0910-CO2-01 from Comision Interministerial de Ciencia y Technologia (CICYT), We thank H, M, Halila, INRA, Tunisia for providing us with seeds of cultivar Andoum 1, and F, Orgaz, Instituto de Agricultura Sostenible, CSIC, Spain for measuring water potential.Peer reviewe

Registration of 3D Fetal Brain US and MRI

We propose a novel method for registration of 3D fetal brain ultrasound and a reconstructed magnetic resonance fetal brain volumes. The reconstructed MR volume is first segmented using a probabilistic atlas and an ultrasound-like image volume is simulated from the segmentation of the MR image. This ultrasound-like image volume is then affinely aligned with real ultrasound volumes of 27 fetal brains using a robust block-matching approach which can deal with intensity artefacts and missing features in ultrasound images. We show that this approach results in good overlap of four small structures. The average of the co-aligned US images shows good correlation with anatomy of the fetal brain as seen in the MR reconstruction

Incidence and drug treatment of emotional distress after cancer diagnosis : a matched primary care case-control study

Notes This work is published under the standard license to publish agreement. After 12 months the work will become freely available and the license terms will switch to a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

The puzzling mitochondrial phylogeography of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), the commercially most important insect protein species

Abstract Background The black soldier fly (Diptera: Stratiomyidae, Hermetia illucens) is renowned for its bioconversion ability of organic matter, and is the worldwide most widely used source of insect protein. Despite varying extensively in morphology, it is widely assumed that all black soldier flies belong to the same species, Hermetia illucens. We here screened about 600 field-collected and cultured flies from 39 countries and six biogeographic regions to test this assumption based on data for three genes (mitochondrial COI, nuclear ITS2 & 28S rDNA) and in order to gain insights into the phylogeography of the species. Results Our study reveals a surprisingly high level of intraspecific genetic diversity for the mitochondrial barcoding gene COI (divergences up to 4.9%). This level of variability is often associated with the presence of multiple species, but tested nuclear markers (ITS2 and 28S rDNA) were invariant and fly strain hybridization experiments under laboratory conditions revealed reproductive compatibility. COI haplotype diversity is not only very high in all biogeographic regions (56 distinct haplotypes in total), but also in breeding facilities and research centers from six continents (10 haplotypes: divergences up to 4.3%). The high genetic diversity in fly-breeding facilities is mostly likely due to many independent acquisitions of cultures via sharing and/or establishing new colonies from field-collected flies. However, explaining some of the observed diversity in several biogeographic regions is difficult given that the origin of the species is considered to be New World (32 distinct haplotypes) and one would expect severely reduced genetic diversity in the putatively non-native populations in the remaining biogeographic regions. However, distinct, private haplotypes are known from the Australasian (N = 1), Oriental (N = 4), and the Eastern Palearctic (N = 4) populations. We reviewed museum specimen records and conclude that the evidence for introductions is strong for the Western Palearctic and Afrotropical regions which lack distinct, private haplotypes. Conclusions Based on the results of this paper, we urge the black soldier fly community to apply molecular characterization (genotyping) of the fly strains used in artificial fly-breeding and share these data in research publications as well as when sharing cultures. In addition, fast-evolving nuclear markers should be used to reconstruct the recent invasion history of the species

Circulating Markers Reflect Both Anti- and Pro-Atherogenic Drug Effects in ApoE-Deficient Mice

Background: Current drug therapy of atherosclerosis is focused on treatment of major risk factors, e.g. hypercholesterolemia while in the future direct disease modification might provide additional benefits. However, development of medicines targeting vascular wall disease is complicated by the lack of reliable biomarkers. In this study, we took a novel approach to identify circulating biomarkers indicative of drug efficacy by reducing the complexity of the in vivo system to the level where neither disease progression nor drug treatment was associated with the changes in plasma cholesterol.Results: ApoE-/- mice were treated with an ACE inhibitor ramipril and HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor simvastatin. Ramipril significantly reduced the size of atherosclerotic plaques in brachiocephalic arteries, however simvastatin paradoxically stimulated atherogenesis. Both effects occurred without changes in plasma cholesterol. Blood and vascular samples were obtained from the same animals. In the whole blood RNA samples, expression of MMP9, CD14 and IL-1RN reflected pro and anti-atherogenic drug effects. In the plasma, several proteins, e.g. IL-1β, IL-18 and MMP9 followed similar trends while protein readout was less sensitive than RNA analysis.Conclusion: In this study, we have identified inflammation-related whole blood RNA and plasma protein markers reflecting anti-atherogenic effects of ramipril and pro-atherogenic effects of simwastatin in a mouse model of atherosclerosis. This opens an opportunity for early, non-invasive detection of direct drug effects on atherosclerotic plaques in complex in vivo systems

Пожарная и промышленная безопасность на предприятиях нефтегазодобывающей отрасли

Работа посвящена анализу теоретических основ обеспечения пожарной безопасности, улучшению практических приемов и методах противопожарной защиты, при повседневной эксплуатации установки подготовки нефти на опасном производственном объекте в области пожарной безопасности. В результате исследования изучены методы эксплуатации установки подготовки нефти на опасном производственном объекте, позволяющие не только предотвратить возникновение аварии или пожара, но и быстро ликвидировать последствия. Противопожарные мероприятия существенно повышают уровень пожарной безопасности своих объектов и снижают потери от пожаров.The work is devoted to the analysis of the theoretical foundations of fire safety, improvement of practical techniques and methods of fire protection, in the daily operation of the oil treatment plant at a hazardous production facility in the field of fire safety. As a result of the study, the methods of operation of an oil treatment plant at a dangerous production facility were studied, allowing not only to prevent an accident or fire, but also to quickly eliminate the consequences. Fire-fighting measures significantly increase the level of fire safety of their facilities and reduce losses from fires