An efficient heuristic for calculating a protected path with specified nodes

The problem of determining a path between two nodes in a network that must visit specific intermediate nodes arises in a number of contexts. For example, one might require traffic to visit nodes where it can be monitored by deep packet inspection for security reasons. In this paper a new recursive heuristic is proposed for finding the shortest loopless path, from a source node to a target node, that visits a specified set of nodes in a network. In order to provide survivability to failures along the path, the proposed heuristic is modified to ensure that the calculated path can be protected by a node-disjoint backup path. The performance of the heuristic, calculating a path with and without protection, is evaluated by comparing with an integer linear programming (ILP) formulation for each of the considered problems. The ILP solver may fail to obtain a solution in a reasonable amount of time, especially in large networks, which justifies the need for effective, computationally efficient heuristics for solving these problems. Our numerical results are also compared with previous heuristics in the literature

Complete Fusion Enhancement and Suppression of Weakly Bound Nuclei at Near Barrier Energies

We consider the influence of breakup channels on the complete fusion of weakly bound systems in terms of dynamic polarization potentials. It is argued that the enhancement of the cross section at sub-barrier energies may be consistent with recent experimental observations that nucleon transfer, often leading to breakup, is dominant compared to direct breakup. The main trends of the experimental complete fusion cross section for $^{6,7}$Li + $^{209}$Bi are analyzed in the framework of the DPP approach.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure

RECODIS : Resilient communication services protecting end-user applications from disaster-based failures

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Structural properties of crumpled cream layers

The cream layer is a complex heterogeneous material of biological origin which forms spontaneously at the air-milk interface. Here, it is studied the crumpling of a single cream layer packing under its own weight at room temperature in three-dimensional space. The structure obtained in these circumstances has low volume fraction and anomalous fractal dimensions. Direct means and noninvasive NMR imaging technique are used to investigate the internal and external structure of these systems.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted in J. Phys. D: Appl. Phy

Experimental observations of tsunami induced scour at onshore structures

Tsunami inundation of the coastal environment can induce scour at structure foundations leading to failure. A series of experiments are made using a unique Pneumatic Long Wave Generator to generate tsunami wave periods of 25 - 147 s equating to 3 - 17.3 mins at 1:50 Froude scale. The waves propagate over a sloping bathymetry and impinge upon a square structure founded onshore in a flat sediment bed. Flow velocity, height and scour are recorded as a function of time during tsunami inundation. The rate of scour is observed to be time dependent. Equilibrium, which is not attained, is argued to be an inappropriate measure for time-dependent transient flows such as tsunami in which the flow velocity, depth and direction are variable. The maximum scour depth is recorded and critically is observed not to be equal to the final depth due to significant sediment slumping when flow velocities reduce in the latter stages of inundation. Current and wave scour predictor equations over predict the scour, while the ASCE 7-16 method under predicts. Comparisons with available data in the literature show longer inundation durations increase the amount of scour

Phase Diagram of the Attractive Hubbard Model with Inhomogeneous Interactions

The phase diagram of the attractive Hubbard model with spatially inhomogeneous interactions is obtained using a single site dynamical mean field theory like approach. The model is characterized by three parameters: the interaction strength, the active fraction (fraction of sites with the attractive interaction), and electron filling. The calculations indicate that in a parameter regime with intermediate values of interaction strength (compared to the bare bandwidth of the electrons), and intermediate values of the active fraction, "non-BCS" superconductivity is obtained. The results of this work are likely to be relevant to many systems with spatially inhomogeneous superconductivity such as strongly correlated oxides, systems with negative U centers, and, in future, cold atom optical lattices.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, to appear in Physical Review

Personality and psychological capital as indicators of future job success? : A multicultural comparison between three European countries

The main goal of this research was to study psychological capital and its relationship with personality across cultures. This was achieved by comparing the main variables across three distinct cultural settings: Eastern Europe (Bulgaria), Nordic Europe (Finland), and South Europe (Portugal). Altogether 231 people answered the questionnaires. Results indicated that personality and psychological capital were connected. In particular, Extraverted (p < 0.01), iNtuitive (p < 0.01) and Thinking people (p < 0.01) revealed higher scores in all psychological capital dimensions than their counterparts: Introverted, Sensing and Feeling people. There were also significant differences concerning the level of psychological capital in different countries. The Portuguese sample scored highest in all the dimensions of psychological capital, whereas Finnish indicated the lowest scores of the three countries. When all variables are taken together, results show that the highest psychological capital scores are observed in the “Portuguese perceiving” group; the lowest psychological capital scores are found in the “Finnish introverted” group. Bulgarians did not differ significantly in their scores. These results illustrate important and previously unidentified relationships between psychological capital and personality in distinct cultures. All together, and from a theoretical standpoint, the findings point to the need to explore the effect of culture on psychological capital; the relationships between personality and psychological capital also need further exploration. There are also practical implications, which are discussed at the end of the text. The fact that the questionnaires were collected from students in distinct scientific areas in the three countries may represent a drawback. Studies of psychological capital are very recent. After a first phase of instrument development, the next step is to build knowledge regarding the relationships between psychological capital and other well-established individual, social and organizational constructs. The current research aimed at contributing to this stream of works.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Hysteresis in the Mott Transition between Plasma and Insulating Gas

We show that hysteresis can occur in the transition between a neutral plasma and the insulating gas consisting of neutral pairs bound by Coulomb attraction. Since the transition depends sensitively on the screening length in the plasma, regions of bistability occur in density--temperature phase space. We present numerical results which indicate where these regions occur for systems such as spin-polarized hydrogen, positronium gas, and excitons in a semiconductor.Comment: 9 pages (Latex/RevTex), 6 postscript figures which are in compressed and uuencoded file, prepared using the utility "uufiles" and separately submitted. They should be automatically included with the text when it is downloaded. Figures also available in hard copy from the authors ([email protected]; [email protected]); paper submitted to Phys. Rev.

Estudos da ocorrência de fungos micorrizicos arbusculares e do potencial infectivo em espécies nativas da caatinga, na região de Petrolina, Pernambuco

O objetivo deste trabalho foi ampliar os conhecimentos sobre a associação micorrizica (número de glomerosporos, potencial de infectividade do solo, percentual de colonização e diversidade de FMA) em plantas nativas da caatinga