An adaptive system of vigilance in spotted deer (Axis axis) herds in response to predation

Spotted deer or chital (Axis axis), a major prey species in southern India, lives in large groups. To understand the benefits of group living, we carried out observations on chital herds under natural conditions. Individual and group vigilance showed a negative correlation with herd size, whereas the latter had a positive correlation with proportion of vigilant individuals. Furthermore, individual vigilance was negatively correlated with proportion of individuals vigilant and positively correlated with group vigilance. These results are explained in the context of a three-phase vigilance system, probably operative in the chital herd, under specified ecological conditions. We surmise that this system allows for adaptation to predation risk and has possibly co-evolved with the optimal hunting strategy of the predator.

Isotropic heating of galaxy cluster cores via rapidly reorienting active galactic nucleus jets

Active galactic nucleus (AGN) jets carry more than sufficient energy to stave off catastrophic cooling of the intracluster medium (ICM) in the cores of cool-core clusters. However, in order to prevent catastrophic cooling, the ICM must be heated in a near-isotropic fashion and narrow bipolar jets with P-jet = 10(44-45) erg s(-1), typical of radio AGNs at cluster centers, are inefficient in heating the gas in the transverse direction to the jets. We argue that due to existent conditions in cluster cores, the supermassive black holes (SMBHs) will, in addition to accreting gas via radiatively inefficient flows, experience short stochastic episodes of enhanced accretion via thin disks. In general, the orientation of these accretion disks will be misaligned with the spin axis of the black holes (BHs) and the ensuing torques will cause the BH's spin axis (and therefore the jet axis) to slew and rapidly change direction. This model not only explains recent observations showing successive generations of jet-lobes-bubbles in individual cool-core clusters that are offset from each other in the angular direction with respect to the cluster center, but also shows that AGN jets can heat the cluster core nearly isotropically on the gas cooling timescale. Our model does require that the SMBHs at the centers of cool-core clusters be spinning relatively slowly. Torques from individual misaligned disks are ineffective at tilting rapidly spinning BHs by more than a few degrees. Additionally, since SMBHs that host thin accretion disks will manifest as quasars, we predict that roughly 1-2 rich clusters within z < 0.5 should have quasars at their centers.

Lysis dynamics and membrane oligomerization pathways for Cytolysin A (ClyA) pore-forming toxin

Pore-forming toxins are known for their ability to efficiently form transmembrane pores which eventually leads to cell lysis. The dynamics of lysis and underlying self-assembly or oligomerization pathways leading to pore formation are incompletely understood. In this manuscript the pore-forming kinetics and lysis dynamics of Cytolysin-A (ClyA) toxins on red blood cells (RBCs) are quantified and compared with experimental lysis data. Lysis experiments are carried out on a fixed mass of RBCs, under isotonic conditions in phosphate-buffered saline, for different initial toxin concentrations ranging from 2.94-14.7 nM. Kinetic models which account for monomer binding, conformation and oligomerization to form the dodecameric ClyA pore complex are developed and lysis is assumed to occur when the number of pores per RBC (n(p)) exceeds a critical number, n(pc). By analysing the model in a sublytic regime (n(p) < n(pc)) the number of pores per RBC to initiate lysis is found to lie between 392 and 768 for the sequential oligomerization mechanism and between 5300 and 6300 for the non-sequential mechanism. Rupture rates which are first order in the number of RBCs are seen to provide the best agreement with the lysis experiments. The time constants for pore formation are estimated to lie between 1 and 20 s and monomer conformation time scales were found to be 2-4 times greater than the oligomerization times. Cell rupture takes places in 100s of seconds, and occurs predominantly with a steady number of pores ranging from 515 to 11 000 on the RBC surface for the sequential mechanism. Both the sequential irreversible and non-sequential kinetics provide similar predictions of the hemoglobin release dynamics, however the hemoglobin released as a function of the toxin concentration was accurately captured only with the sequential model. Each mechanism develops a distinct distribution of mers on the surface, providing a unique experimentally observable fingerprint to identify the underlying oligomerization pathways. Our study offers a method to quantify the extent and dynamics of lysis which is an important aspect of developing novel drug and gene delivery strategies based on pore-forming toxins.

Effects of instabilities and coherent structures on the performance of a thermocline based thermal energy storage

We investigate the transient dynamics of disturbances inside a thermocline based molten salt thermal energy storage (TES). Numerical simulations were conducted with four inlet flow configurations. The disturbances introduced at the inlet grow via Rayleigh Taylor instability. The formed vortical motions inside the tank propagate downstream and destroy the thermocline. The vortex-thermocline interaction upsets the stratification inside the TES. The disturbance growth rate, penetration length and vortex Reynolds number are measured. The growth of penetration length prior to the vortex-thermocline interaction is quadratic. The vortex Reynolds number of the eddy which causes thermocline breakdown increases with increase in Atwood number. The impingement of vortex on thermocline is studied. (C) 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Inverse Polynomial Based Explicit Guidance for Lunar Soft Landing During Powered Braking

In this paper an explicit guidance law for the powered descent phase of the soft lunar landing is presented. The descent trajectory, expressed in polynomial form is fixed based on the boundary conditions imposed by the precise soft landing mission. Adapting an inverse model based approach, the guidance command is computed from the known spacecraft trajectory. The guidance formulation ensures the vertical orientation of the spacecraft during touchdown. Also a closed form relation for the final flight time is proposed. The final time is expressed as a function of initial position and velocity of the spacecraft ( at the start of descent) and also depends on the desired landing site. To ensure the fuel minimum descent the proposed explicit method is extended to optimal guidance formulation. The effectiveness of the proposed guidance laws are demonstrated with simulation results.

Explicit and Unique Construction of Tetrablock Unitary Dilation in a Certain Case

Consider the domain E in defined by This is called the tetrablock. This paper constructs explicit boundary normal dilation for a triple (A, B, P) of commuting bounded operators which has as a spectral set. We show that the dilation is minimal and unique under a certain natural condition. As is well-known, uniqueness of minimal dilation usually does not hold good in several variables, e.g., Ando's dilation is known to be not unique, see Li and Timotin (J Funct Anal 154:1-16, 1998). However, in the case of the tetrablock, the third component of the dilation can be chosen in such a way as to ensure uniqueness.

特征向量导数计算的简单动柔度法

在计算很多特征向量导数时, 以Nelson法为代表的直接法都显出效率低下, 第二作者为此发展了直接法的一个分支—动柔度法。本文虽是动柔度法的继续, 但就非重特征值情况而言, 它是一种最好的动柔度法, 因为它像Fox法一样, “ 一步求解”便可获得通解, 然而它又不存在Fox法的缺点—支配方程的系数阵为满阵, 所以说, 在计算很多非重特征值的特征向量导数时, 简单动柔度法不仅在计算步骤上比Nelson法简单, 而且在计算时间上成倍地减少。

Flexible representations of dynamics are used in object manipulation.

To manipulate an object skillfully, the brain must learn its dynamics, specifying the mapping between applied force and motion. A fundamental issue in sensorimotor control is whether such dynamics are represented in an extrinsic frame of reference tied to the object or an intrinsic frame of reference linked to the arm. Although previous studies have suggested that objects are represented in arm-centered coordinates [1-6], all of these studies have used objects with unusual and complex dynamics. Thus, it is not known how objects with natural dynamics are represented. Here we show that objects with simple (or familiar) dynamics and those with complex (or unfamiliar) dynamics are represented in object- and arm-centered coordinates, respectively. We also show that objects with simple dynamics are represented with an intermediate coordinate frame when vision of the object is removed. These results indicate that object dynamics can be flexibly represented in different coordinate frames by the brain. We suggest that with experience, the representation of the dynamics of a manipulated object may shift from a coordinate frame tied to the arm toward one that is linked to the object. The additional complexity required to represent dynamics in object-centered coordinates would be economical for familiar objects because such a representation allows object use regardless of the orientation of the object in hand.

Comportamiento de dos cultivares clonales de quequisque (Xanthosoma sagittifolium (L) Schott) obtenidas a través de dos técnicas de propagación, establecidas en condiciones de Yolaina, municipio de Nueva Guinea

El objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar el comportamiento agronómico de plantas de dos cultivares clonales de quequisque (Masaya y Nueva Guinea) propagados a través de dos técnicas de propagación, (CRAS y convencional), y establecidas en condiciones de Yolaina, Nueva Guinea. Se utilizó el esquema del diseño BCA con tres bloques y cuatro tratamientos por bloque. La parcela se conformó de cuatro surcos con 12 plantas cada uno, a distancia de 0.8 m entre surco y 0.6 entre plantas, 48 plantas por parcela de las que se evaluaron 20 plantas en los surcos centrales (parcela útil). El ANDEVA de las variables morfológicas indicó que no hubo diferencias estadísticas entre los genotipos y entre las combinaciones genotipo-técnica a excepción del número de hijos, en la mayoría de las variables morfológicas, y fechas de evaluación, se registraron diferencias estadísticas a favor de las plantas-CRAS independientes del genotipo. El análisis de los componentes del rendimiento indica que no se reportaron diferencias significativas entre los genotipos y las interacciones genotipo-ambiente. En el caso de las técnicas hubo diferencias estadísticas en el número de cormelos por planta a favor de las plantas-CRAS (5.43) en las relaciones a las plantas CONV (3.56). Por el contrario en el peso promedio de cormelo las diferencias favorecieron a las plantas-CONV (116.51 g) muy distantes de los 84.49 g reportados por las plantas-CRAS. La combinación Masaya-CRAS obtuvo el mejor rendimiento con 244.36 qq/mz (11,107.35 kg/ha) y la de menor rendimiento la Masaya-CONV con 170.90 qq/mz (7,768.15 kg/ha). Los síntomas del DMV fueron evidentes en las plantas de todos los tratamientos, registrándose valores similares entre los genotipos, pero muy disímiles entre las técnicas, donde las plantas propagadas convencionalmente registraron los mayores porcentajes. Las plantas-CRAS en ambos genotipo presentaron los más bajos valores. El porcentaje de plantas afectadas por la lesión foliar marginal fue superior en el cultivar Nueva Guinea, aún en combinación con las técnicas. Las afectaciones con esta bacteria iae no se registraron en las plantas-CRAS. El genotipo Nueva Guinea en combinación con las dos técnicas registró mayor porcentaje de ralees y yemas brotadas en los cormelos al momento de cosecha, lo que sugiere precocidad de este genotipo. Las técnicas CRAS y CONV reportaron similares resultados

Thermal fatigue on pistons induced by shaped high power laser. Part II: Design of spatial intensity distribution via numerical simulation

In the laser induced thermal fatigue simulation test on pistons, the high power laser was transformed from the incident Gaussian beam into a concentric multi-circular pattern with specific intensity ratio. The spatial intensity distribution of the shaped beam, which determines the temperature field in the piston, must be designed before a diffractive optical element (DOE) can be manufactured. In this paper, a reverse method based on finite element model (FEM) was proposed to design the intensity distribution in order to simulate the thermal loadings on pistons. Temperature fields were obtained by solving a transient three-dimensional heat conduction equation with convective boundary conditions at the surfaces of the piston workpiece. The numerical model then was validated by approaching the computational results to the experimental data. During the process, some important parameters including laser absorptivity, convective heat transfer coefficient, thermal conductivity and Biot number were also validated. Then, optimization procedure was processed to find favorable spatial intensity distribution for the shaped beam, with the aid of the validated FEM. The analysis shows that the reverse method incorporated with numerical simulation can reduce design cycle and design expense efficiently. This method can serve as a kind of virtual experimental vehicle as well, which makes the thermal fatigue simulation test more controllable and predictable. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Perspectivas da governança e segurança climática global

Elabora um marco teórico-conceitual, destacando a importância do conceito de segurança climática global e sua relação com a governança e governabilidade. Descreve o perfil dos países emissores de gases de efeito estufa (GEE). Identifica as oportunidades técnico-econômicas para a transição para uma economia de baixo carbono que mitigue a mudança climática. Analisa três cenários prospectivos da evolução do sistema internacional, tendo como variável principal o grau de cooperação atingido.

煤粉燃烧中NO_x和SO_x生成的详细反应机理模拟

采用详细化学反应机理与CFD方法耦合的煤粉燃烧数值模拟程序,计算了煤粉燃烧过程中CO,NOx和SOx等的浓度分布特性.通过与实验对照,验证了数值模拟方法的可靠性,并分析了燃烧温度和煤粉细度等因素对于NO生成的影响.结果表明温度对于NO的生成影响较大,随着温度的增加, NO的生成浓度明显增加;对于不同煤种,可能存在一个温度点,这时NO的生成速率将非常快;在计算范围内,温度对SO2的最终生成浓度没有明显影响,而只影响SO2的释放过程.煤粉细度对于NO生成有较小的影响.

Longevity and Persistence of Triploid Grass Carp Stocked into the Santee Cooper Reservoirs of South Carolina

This study evaluated longevity and population persistence of 768,500 triploid grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella Valenciennes) stocked in the 70,000-ha Santee Cooper system in South Carolina from 1989 through 1996 to control hydrilla (Hydrilla verticillata (L.f.) Royle).