Academic Hats and Ice Cream: Two Optimization Problems

This article describes the use of computer software to optimize the design of an academic hat and an ice cream cone

Functional Brain Imaging with Multi-Objective Multi-Modal Evolutionary Optimization

Functional brain imaging is a source of spatio-temporal data mining problems. A new framework hybridizing multi-objective and multi-modal optimization is proposed to formalize these data mining problems, and addressed through Evolutionary Computation (EC). The merits of EC for spatio-temporal data mining are demonstrated as the approach facilitates the modelling of the experts' requirements, and flexibly accommodates their changing goals

PHYSICAL AND LITERARY COMPOSITION «STORIES ABOUT THE MIRROR AND THE LENS»

In the article discusses the possibility and expediency of teaching computer science, mathematics, physics, literature, and even within a single academic discipline, to be called Mathematical Physics and IT (MPhIT or STEAM). For example, solving the problems of optics discusses such tools of mathematics: the function of a single argument, its derivative, and the normal system of differential and algebraic equations, its analytic and numerical solution with the help of the Internet, computer systems, mathematics and user forums Mathcad. The physical laws of reflection and refraction of light

Circadian Clock Genes Contribute to the Regulation of Hair Follicle Cycling

Hair follicles undergo recurrent cycling of controlled growth (anagen), regression (catagen), and relative quiescence (telogen) with a defined periodicity. Taking a genomics approach to study gene expression during synchronized mouse hair follicle cycling, we discovered that, in addition to circadian fluctuation, CLOCK–regulated genes are also modulated in phase with the hair growth cycle. During telogen and early anagen, circadian clock genes are prominently expressed in the secondary hair germ, which contains precursor cells for the growing follicle. Analysis of Clock and Bmal1 mutant mice reveals a delay in anagen progression, and the secondary hair germ cells show decreased levels of phosphorylated Rb and lack mitotic cells, suggesting that circadian clock genes regulate anagen progression via their effect on the cell cycle. Consistent with a block at the G1 phase of the cell cycle, we show a significant upregulation of p21 in Bmal1 mutant skin. While circadian clock mechanisms have been implicated in a variety of diurnal biological processes, our findings indicate that circadian clock genes may be utilized to modulate the progression of non-diurnal cyclic processes

Features of production of clay ware dishes in Komi-Zyryan culture, North West Siberia from the end of the 19th to the first half of the 20th century

The availability of clay, its natural characteristics (plasticity, formability, low melting strength) and the simpli-city of manufacturing techniques made it possible to satisfy domestic household needs for ceramic ware. For Komi-Zyryan peoples, pottery production from the second half of the 19th to the first half of the 20th centuries was characterised by the coexistence of two traditions: stucco and use of the potter's wheel. The moulded technique is characterised by building up from the base using two methods of joining the separately-made base and vessel walls. Archaic techniques of pottery manufacture survive in the method of shaping the bottom and walls of a vessel using a form-model and firing a pot in a fire. Pottery production was concentrated in the hands of women and was defined as a home industry. The use of a hand pottery wheel, which appeared at the turn of the 19th to 20th century, did not change the technique of manufacturing the vessel; it was used only to impart aesthetic characteristics. The appearance of the potter's foot circle in the 1930s led to the appearance of an exhaust method for modelling a pot, which was not widely used in home production. This new technology using the foot pottery wheel is defined as a male craft. Both technologies were characterised by firing in the Russian kiln; much less often, master craftsmen equipped special kilns for firing. When «hardening» the moulded vessel, a flour solution was used, which gave it a black colour. Instead of scalding while firing in a special kiln, pottery artisans used a lead slip. The range of pottery is represented by two large groups (cupped and pot-shaped), categorised by the ratio of the height of the pot to its diameter. Cup-shaped vessels are represented by pitchers and bowls, and pot-shaped vessels by cans with a cylindrical body and pots with a rounded body