Centro-affine normal flows on curves: Harnack estimates and Ancient solutions

We prove that the only compact, origin-symmetric, strictly convex ancient solutions of the planar $p$ centro-affine normal flows are contracting origin-centered ellipses.Comment: I changed the title and fixed some typos. To appear in Annales de l'Institut Henri Poincar\'e (C) Analyse Non Lin\'eair

Influence of sow dietary polyunsaturated fatty acid source on the immunoglobulin profile of piglets

To examine the effect of different n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) sources in sow diets on piglets’ immunoglobulin (Ig) profile, two groups of twelve sows each were fed different diets from day 45 of pregnancy and during lactation on two commercial farms. On farm I, a palm oil diet (25 g/kg; PALM) and a linseed oil containing diet (20 g/kg; LIN) were fed. On farm II, the same PALM diet and a fish oil containing diet (20 g/kg; FISH) were fed. All diets contained equal amounts of C18:2n-6 (13 g/kg). One day before parturition, blood (for serum) was taken and shortly after parturition, colostrum was taken from the sows (not from sows on farm I) for determination of Ig levels. On day 5 post partum and the day before weaning, blood (for serum) was taken from 4 piglets of six sows per group (24 piglets in total per group; for 5-d old piglets on farm II, only 6 piglets of the FISH group were sampled). In all samples total IgG, IgA, IgM concentration and specific F4-IgG, -IgA and -IgM titer (Log2 titer) against E. coli were determined. On farm I, the sows of the LIN group showed a trend towards lower IgG titers compared to the PALM group around farrowing (P<0.1). On farm II, the sows on the FISH diet showed a significantly (P<0.05) lower F4-IgG titer compared to the sows fed PALM. The colostrum samples on farm II showed no differences between both groups. On farm I, the 5-d old piglets from the LIN group had significantly higher IgA and IgM concentrations and higher F4-IgA and F4-IgM titers (P<0.05). F4-IgA and F4-IgG titers were also significantly higher at weaning in the LIN group compared to the PALM group. On farm II, the piglets of the FISH group had a significantly higher IgG concentration and F4-IgA titer (P<0.05) and a trend towards a higher IgM concentration (P<0.1) around weaning compared to the PALM group. It seems that fish oil in the maternal diet increases total IgG concentration, while linseed oil reduces total IgG and increases total IgA compared to a palm fat containing diet. Both fish and linseed oil seem to have a positive effect on total IgM concentration compared to the palm diet

Generalized Supersymmetries and Composite Structure in M-Theory

We describe generalized D=11 Poincar\'{e} and conformal supersymmetries. The corresponding generalization of twistor and supertwistor framework is outlined with $OSp(1|64)$ superspinors describing BPS preons. The $\frac{k}{32}$ BPS states as composed out of $n=32 - k$ preons are introduced, and basic ideas concerning BPS preon dynamics is presented. The lecture is based on results obtained by J.A. de Azcarraga, I. Bandos, J.M. Izquierdo and the author$^1$.Comment: LaTeX, 7pages. Talk presented at the XVI-th Max Born Symposium ,,Supersymmetries and Quantum Symmetries `01" (21-25.09.2001, Karpacz, Poland) and International Nankai Symposium (8-11.10.2001, Tianjin, China). To be published in the Proceedings of Nankai Symposium, Ed. Ge Mo-Lin and J. Park, Int. J. Mod. Phys.

Between two cultures: a dialogue in jewellery

This paper is concerned with the research I am carrying out at The University of Manchester‟s Laser Processing Centre, a project which emerged through a need to understand more about laser technology and its potential for use in the creative industries. My interest lies specifically with titanium and, being a jeweller this means finding answers for contemporary jewellery, but I have found that crucially, since I am based in the School of Mechanical, Aerospace and Civil Engineering, it is the dialogue between myself and the engineers and scientists that surround me that has enabled most of the progress. I therefore have to thank Professor Lin Li and Professor Andrew Gale for their continued support in this unusual venture

Combustion of Pure, Hydrolyzed and Methyl Ester Formed of Jatropha Curcas Lin Oil

The density and viscosity of vegetable oil are higher than that of diesel oil. Thus its direct combustion in the diesel engine results many problems. This research was conducted to investigate the flame characteristics of combustion of jatropha curcas lin in pure, hydrolyzed and methyl ester form. The results indicated that the combustion of pure jatropha curcas lin occurs in three stages, hydrolyzed in two stages and methyl ester in one stage. For pure jatropha curcas lin, in the first stage, unsaturated fatty acid burned for 0.265 s. It is followed by saturated fatty acid, burned for 0.389 s in the second stage. And, in the last stage is the burned of glycerol for 0.560 s. Meanwhile for hydrolyzed one, in the first stage, unsaturated fatty acid burned for 0.736 s, followed by saturated fatty acid, burned for 0.326 s in the second stage. And the last, for methyl ester is the burned for 0.712 s. The highest burning rate was for methyl ester which was 0.003931cc/s. The energy releasing rate of methyl ester, which was for 13,628.67 kcal/(kg.s) resembled that of diesel oil the most, while the lowest rate was for pure jatropha curcas lin which was 8,200.94 kcal/(kg.s). In addition, massive explosion occurred in the fuel containing unsaturated fatty acid and glycero