Counting solutions from finite samplings

We formulate the solution counting problem within the framework of inverse Ising problem and use fast belief propagation equations to estimate the entropy whose value provides an estimate on the true one. We test this idea on both diluted models (random 2-SAT and 3-SAT problems) and fully-connected model (binary perceptron), and show that when the constraint density is small, this estimate can be very close to the true value. The information stored by the salamander retina under the natural movie stimuli can also be estimated and our result is consistent with that obtained by Monte Carlo method. Of particular significance is sizes of other metastable states for this real neuronal network are predicted.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures and 1 table, further discussions adde

Women's view on sexual intercourse and physical abuse : results from a cross-sectional survey in villages surrounding Bobo-Dioulasso, Burkina Faso

Our objective is to understand what do verbal and physical interactions within the couple as declared by women tell us about their related autonomy regarding sexual intercourse with their regular partner. Data were gathered thanks to a baseline KABP survey in 8 villages in Burkina Faso. Overall, 591 women aged 15 to 49 living in a stable union constitute our analysis sample. A low percentage (18.2%) of respondents declares that a woman can refuse to have sex with her partner. However, a large part (77.3%) considers this refusal as an unacceptable reason for wife beating. Multivariate logistic regression shows that the belief in a possibility to refuse sex is higher among women in polygamous union and among those who have their own resources. In contrast, disapproval of wife beating as a reaction to this refusal increases with age. It is also higher among women not denying that their partner has multiple sexual partners. Surprisingly, it is lower among women who have their own economic resources. These findings suggest that programs should work on strong beliefs, which are the result of internalization of gender roles as they may, in patriarchal societies such as Burkina Faso, facilitate acceptance of domestic violence

Development of hot drawing process for nitinol tube

In recent years, Nitinol, near-equiatomic nickel-titanium alloys, have found growing applications in medical technology and joining technology, due to their special characteristics such as shape memory, superplasticity and biocompatibility. The production of Nitinol tube cost-effectively remains a technical challenge. In this paper, we describe a hot drawing process for Nitinol tube production. A Nitinol tube blank and a metal core are assembled together. The assembly is hot drawn for several passes to a final diameter. The metal core is then plastically stretched to reduce its diameter and removed from the tube. Hot drawing process has been applied to Ni50.7Ti and Ni47Ti44Nb9 alloys. Nitinol tubes of 13.6 mm outer diameter and 1 mm wall thickness have been successfully produced from a tube blank of 20 mm outer diameter and 3.5 mm thickness

Maintaining bone health in the lumbar spine: routine activities alone are not enough

Public health organisations typically recommend a minimum amount of moderate intensity activities such as walking or cycling for two and a half hours a week, combined with some more demanding physical activity on at least 2 days a week to maintain a healthy musculoskeletal condition. For populations at risk of bone loss in the lumbar spine, these guidelines are particularly relevant. However, an understanding of how these different activities are influential in maintaining vertebral bone health is lacking. A predictive structural finite element modelling approach using a strain-driven algorithm was developed to study mechanical stimulus and bone adaptation in the lumbar spine under various physiological loading conditions. These loading conditions were obtained with a previously developed full-body musculoskeletal model for a range of daily living activities representative of a healthy lifestyle. Activities of interest for the simulations include moderate intensity activities involving limited spine movements in all directions such as, walking, stair ascent and descent, sitting down and standing up, and more demanding activities with large spine movements during reaching and lifting tasks. For a combination of moderate and more demanding activities, the finite element model predicted a trabecular and cortical bone architecture representative of a healthy vertebra. When more demanding activities were removed from the simulations, areas at risk of bone degradation were observed at all lumbar levels in the anterior part of the vertebral body, the transverse processes and the spinous process. Moderate intensity activities alone were found to be insufficient in providing a mechanical stimulus to prevent bone degradation. More demanding physical activities are essential to maintain bone health in the lumbar spine

Diversification and hybridization in firm knowledge bases in nanotechnologies

The paper investigates the linkages between the characteristics of technologies and the structure of a firms' knowledge base. Nanotechnologies have been defined as converging technologies that operate at the nanoscale, and which require integration to fulfill their economic promises. Based on a worldwide database of nanofirms, the paper analyses the degree of convergence and the convergence mechanisms within firms. It argues that the degree of convergence in a firm's nano-knowledge base is relatively independent from the size of the firm's nano-knowledge base. However, while firms with small nano-knowledge bases tend to exploit convergence in each of their patents/publications, firms with large nano-knowledge bases tend to separate their nano-R&D activities in the different established fields and achieve diversity through the juxtaposition of the output of these independent activitie

The PELskin project: part II—investigating the physical coupling between flexible filaments in an oscillating flow

The fluid-structure interaction mechanisms of a coating composed of flexible flaps immersed in a periodically oscillating channel flow is here studied by means of numerical simulation, employing the Euler-Bernoulli equations to account for the flexibility of the structures. A set of passively actuated flaps have previously been demonstrated to deliver favourable aerodynamic impact when attached to a bluff body undergoing periodic vortex shedding. As such, the present configuration is identified to provide a useful test-bed to better understand this mechanism, thought to be linked to experimentally observed travelling waves. Having previously validated and elucidated the flow mechanism in Paper 1 of this series, we hereby undertake a more detailed analysis of spectra obtained for different natural frequency of structures and different configurations, in order to better characterize the mechanisms involved in the organized motion of the structures. Herein, this wave-like behaviour, observed at the tips of flexible structures via interaction with the fluid flow, is characterized by examining the time history of the filaments motion and the corresponding effects on the fluid flow, in terms of dynamics and frequency of the fluid velocity. Results indicate that the wave motion behaviour is associated with the formation of vortices in the gaps between the flaps, which itself are a function of the structural resistance to the cross flow. In addition, formation of vortices upstream of the leading and downstream of the trailing flap is seen, which interact with the formation of the shear-layer on top of the row. This leads to a phase shift in the wave-type motion along the row that resembles the observation in the cylinder case

Modelling forest–savanna mosaic dynamics in man-influenced environments: effects of fire, climate and soil heterogeneity

Forests and savannas are the major ecotypes in humid tropical regions. Under present climatic conditions, forest is in a phase of natural expansion over savanna, but traditional human activities, especially fires, have strongly influenced the succession. We here present a new model, FORSAT, dedicated to the forest–savanna mosaic on a landscape scale and based on stochastic modelling of key processes (fire and succession cycle) and consistent with common field data. The model is validated by comparison between the qualitative emergent behaviour of the model and results of biogeographical field studies. Three types of forest succession are shown: progression of the forest edge, formation and coalescence of clumps in savanna and global afforestation of savanna. The parameters (frequency of savanna fires, climate and soil fertility) appear to have comparable effects and there is a sharp threshold between a forest edge progression scenario and the cluster formation one. Moreover, pioneer seed dispersal pattern and recruitment are determinant: peaked curves near a seed source and far dispersal combine to increase the fitness of the pioneers

Central African biomes and forest succession stages derived from modern pollen data and plant functional types

New detailed vegetation reconstructions are proposed in Atlantic Central Africa from a modern pollen data set derived from 199 sites (Cameroon, Gabon and Congo) including 131 new sites. In this study, the concept of plant functional classification is improved with new and more detailed plant functional types (PFTs) and new aggregations of pollen taxa. Using the biomisation method, we reconstructed (1) modern potential biomes and (2) potential succession stages of forest regeneration, a new approach in Atlantic Central African vegetation dynamics and ecosystem functioning reconstruction. When compared to local vegetation, potential biomes are correctly reconstructed (97.5% of the sites) and tropical rain forest (TRFO biome) is well identified from tropical seasonal forest (TSFO biome). When the potential biomes are superimposed on the White's vegetation map, only 76.4% of the sites are correctly reconstructed. But using botanical data, correspondence and cluster analyses, the 43 sites from Congo (Mayombe) evidence more affinities with those of central Gabon and so they can also be considered as correctly reconstructed as TRFO biome and White's map should be revised. In terms of potential succession stages of forest regeneration, the mature forest (TMFO) is well differentiated from the secondary forest (TSFE), but inside this latter group, the young and the pioneer stages are not clearly identified due probably to their low sampling representation. Moreover, linked to their progressive and mosaic character, the boundaries between two forest biomes or two forest stages are not clearly detected and need also a more intensive sampling in such transitions