SHOP2: An HTN Planning System

The SHOP2 planning system received one of the awards for distinguished performance in the 2002 International Planning Competition. This paper describes the features of SHOP2 which enabled it to excel in the competition, especially those aspects of SHOP2 that deal with temporal and metric planning domains

Structural Coloring in Large Scale Core-Shell Nanowires

Cataloged from PDF version of article.We demonstrated two complementary size-dependent structural coloring mechanisms, interference and scattering, in indefinitely long core-shell nanowire arrays. The unusual nanostructures are comprised of an amorphous semiconducting core and a polymer shell layer with disparate refractive indices but with similar thermomechanical properties. Core-shell nanowires are mass produced from a macroscopic semiconductor rod by using a new top-to-bottom fabrication approach based on thermal size reduction. Nanostructures with diameters from 30 to 200 nm result in coloration that spans the whole visible spectrum via resonant Mie scattering. Nanoshell coloration based on thin film interference is proposed as a structural coloration mechanism which becomes dominant for nanowires having 700-1200 nm diameter. Controlled color generation in any part of visible and infrared spectral regions can be achieved by the simple scaling down procedure. Spectral color generation in mass-produced uniform core-shell nanowire arrays paves the way for applications such as spectral authentication at nanoscale, light-scattering ingredients in paints and cosmetics, large-area devices, and infrared shielding

Membranes in rod solutions: a system with spontaneously broken symmetry

We consider a dilute solution of infinitely rigid rods near a curved, perfectly repulsive surface and study the contribution of the rod depletion layer to the bending elastic constants of membranes. We find that a spontaneous curvature state can be induced by exposure of BOTH sides of the membrane to a rod solution. A similar result applies for rigid disks with a diameter equal to the rod's length. We also study the confinement of rods in spherical and cylindrical repulsive shells. This helps elucidate a recent discussion on curvature effects in confined quantum mechanical and polymer systems.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; submitted to PR

Evaluation of viability and nutritive value of Indigofera tinctoria as a potential animal feeding in Aceh Province, Indonesia

A series of studies related to animal feeding technology to stimulate the egg production and egg quality with the development of a cheap source of protein types and useful has been done through the evaluation of viabilityand nutritive value of Indigofera tinctoria and in vivo treatments on quail and chicken. Research conducted since 2010 to October 2012 with a focus on increasing the ability to grow the Indigofera’s seed under soaking treatment inauxin hormone and testing the nutritional value on quail and chicken. The first study related to the viability testing is done by soaking the seed of Indigofera in auxin hormone before planting in the field. The study consisted of 4treatments and 5 replications of soaking period, namely: control, B (12 hours), C (24 hours) and D (32 hours) in the solution. The parameters measured were: viability and growth of seed and dry matter content of Indigofera leaf. Thesecond study tested the nutritive value of Indigofera in the ration of laying chickens and quail. Treatments were: 0, 2, 4 and 6% of Indigofera leaf in the ration. Parameters observed in were: egg production, fertility, hatchability andegg quality. The results showed that the viability of the Indigofera’s seed with soaking treatment significantly increased to 80% and soaking for 32 hours resulted a higher viability. The treatment of soaking in auxin hormonealso increased nutrient content of indigofera leaf especially protein. In terms of nutritional value, supplement of Indigofera leaf was very useful to improve the production and quality of eggs in both local laying chickens and quail.The addition of Indigofera leaf in the ration up to 5% also reduced the feed consumption and increasead Haugh unit of egg chicken. From these results it was concluded that the viability of Indigofera tinctoria increased by soaking inauxin hormone for 12-32 hours. These treatments also stimulated the dry matter and protein contents in Indigofera’s leaf. The supplement of Indigofera tinctoria leaf as much as 1-5% in the ration also improved the egg production and quality of local chicken and quail. It was indicated that Indigofera tinctoria contains not only protein and amino acids but also vitamin and mineral for egg qualit

Depletion forces near a soft surface

We investigate excluded-volume effects in a bidisperse colloidal suspension near a flexible interface. Inspired by a recent experiment by Dinsmore et al. (Phys. Rev, Lett. 80, 409 (1998)), we study the adsorption of a mesoscopic bead on the surface and show that depletion forces could in principle lead to particle encapsulation. We then consider the effect of surface fluctuations on the depletion potential itself and construct the density profile of a polymer solution near a soft interface. Surprisingly we find that the chains accumulate at the wall, whereas the density displays a deficit of particles at distances larger than the surface roughness. This non-monotonic behavior demonstrates that surface fluctuations can have major repercusions on the properties of a colloidal solution. On average, the additional contribution to the Gibbs adsorbance is negative. The amplitude of the depletion potential between a mesoscopic bead and the surface increases accordingly.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Reduced risk of clinical malaria in children infected with multiple clones of Plasmodium falciparum in a highly endemic area: a prospective community study

A prospective community study in a highly malaria endemic area of Papua New Guinea found that infection with multiple Plasmodium falciparum genotypes was an indicator of lowered risk of subsequent clinical attack. The results suggest that concurrent or very recent infections provide protection from superinfecting parasites. The finding of an association between reduced risk of clinical malaria and infection with parasites of merozoite surface protein 1 (MSP-1) type RO33 or MSP-2 type 3D7 further suggests that the concomitant immunity is, at least in part, a consequence of a response to these major merozoite surface protein

Energy loss and longitudinal wakefield of relativistic short proton bunches in electron clouds

The aim of our study is the numerical computation of the wakefield and energy loss per unit length for relativistic, short (<10  ns) proton bunches interacting with an electron cloud inside the beam pipe. We present analytical expressions for the energy loss in the impulse kick approximation. For the simulation of the wakefields a 2D self-consistent, electrostatic particle-in-cell (PIC) code is employed. Results for the energy loss and for the wakefields are presented for the parameter scope of the CERN LHC and SPS. For selected parameters the results are compared to a three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic PIC code

Entropic Interactions in Suspensions of Semi-Flexible Rods: Short-Range Effects of Flexibility

We compute the entropic interactions between two colloidal spheres immersed in a dilute suspension of semi-flexible rods. Our model treats the semi-flexible rod as a bent rod at fixed angle, set by the rod contour and persistence lengths. The entropic forces arising from this additional rotational degree of freedom are captured quantitatively by the model, and account for observations at short range in a recent experiment. Global fits to the interaction potential data suggest the persistence length of fd-virus is about two to three times smaller than the commonly used value of $2.2 \mu {m}$.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PRE rapid communication