Explore the vast range of titles available.

Measures of divergence between two points play a key role in many engineering problems. One such measure is a distance function, but there are many important measures which do not satisfy the properties of the distance. The Bregman divergence, Kullback-Leibler divergence and f-divergence are such measures. In the present article, we study the differential-geometrical structure of a manifold induced by a divergence function. It consists of a Riemannian metric, and a pair of dually coupled affine connections, which are studied in information geometry. The class of Bregman divergences are characterized by a dually flat structure, which is originated from the Legendre duality. A dually flat space admits a generalized Pythagorean theorem. The class of f-divergences, defined on a manifold of probability distributions, is characterized by information monotonicity, and the Kullback-Leibler divergence belongs to the intersection of both classes. The f-divergence always gives the α-geometry, which consists of the Fisher information metric and a dual pair of ±α-connections. The α-divergence is a special class of f-divergences. This is unique, sitting at the intersection of the f-divergence and Bregman divergence classes in a manifold of positive measures. The geometry derived from the Tsallis q-entropy and related divergences are also addressed.

In this paper, we are interested in the design of closed-loop control laws to satisfy a set of temporal constraints in discrete event systems modeled by timed event graphs (TEGs). The dynamic behavior of the TEG is represented by a system of linear equations in Max-Plus algebra. Temporal constraints are imposed on some paths of the TEG and are expressed by a set of Max-Plus linear inequalities. The proposed approach is applied to the control of a networked automation producer/consumer system under a temporal constraint. The temporal constraint to be satisfied is imposed on the response time of the considered networked automation system (NAS). The calculated control laws are causal feedbacks and can be represented by monitor places connected to the NAS model.

Plasmodium falciparum is a protozoan parasite which causes malarial disease in humans. Infections commonly occur in sub-Saharan Africa, a region with high rates of inadequate nutrient consumption resulting in malnutrition. The complex relationship between malaria and malnutrition and their effects on gut immunity and physiology are poorly understood. Here, we investigated the effect of malaria infection in the guts of moderately malnourished mice. We utilized a well-established low protein diet that is deficient in zinc and iron to induce moderate malnutrition and investigated mucosal tissue phenotype, permeability, and innate immune response in the gut. We observed that the infected moderately malnourished mice had lower parasite burden at the peak of infection, but damaged mucosal epithelial cells and high levels of FITC-Dextran concentration in the blood serum, indicating increased intestinal permeability. The small intestine in the moderately malnourished mice were also shorter after infection with malaria. This was accompanied with lower numbers of CD11b+ macrophages, CD11b+CD11c+ myeloid cells, and CD11c+ dendritic cells in large intestine. Despite the lower number of innate immune cells, macrophages in the moderately malnourished mice were highly activated as determined by MHCII expression and increased IFNγ production in the small intestine. Thus, our data suggest that malaria infection may exacerbate some of the abnormalities in the gut induced by moderate malnutrition.

Calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions (CAIs) are one of the first solids to have condensed in the solar nebula, while presolar grains formed in various evolved stellar environments. It is generally accepted that CAIs formed close to the Sun at temperatures above 1,500 K, where presolar grains could not survive, and were then transported to other regions of the nebula where the accretion of planetesimals took place. In this context, a commonly held view is that presolar grains are found solely in the fine-grained rims surrounding chondrules and in the low-temperature fine-grained matrix that binds the various meteoritic components together. Here we demonstrate, on the basis of noble gas isotopic signatures, that presolar SiC grains were incorporated into fine-grained CAIs in the Allende carbonaceous chondrite at the time of their formation, and have survived parent-body processing. This finding provides new clues on the conditions in the nascent Solar System at the condensation of the first solids. A commonly held view is that presolar grains could not survive the high temperatures of the protoplanetary disk close to the Sun, where calcium–aluminium-rich inclusions (CAI) formed. Yet a detailed noble gas isotopic composition analysis of a CAI shows evidence of presolar SiC incorporated in it that could withstand high-temperature processing.

. The structural and electronic properties of the ternary Cu x Ag 1 - x Cl alloy are investigated using a recent version of the full potential linear muffin-tin orbitals method (FPLMTO) based on the density functional theory, within both the local density approximation (LDA) and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA). The lattice constants, bulk modulus and band gap were calculated as a function of copper molar fraction x in rock salt ( B 1) and zincblende ( B 3) structures. These parameters were found to depend non-linearly on alloy concentration Cu, except for the lattice parameter which follows Vegard’s law. Our results predict the rock salt phase as the ground state for this ternary system.

The isotopic composition of ruthenium (Ru) in individual presolar silicon carbide (SiC) Stardust grains bears the signature of s-process nucleosynthesis in asymptotic giant branch stars, plus an anomaly in$^{99}Ru$that is explained by the in situ decay of technetium isotope$^{99}Tc$in the grains. This finding, coupled with the observation of Tc spectral lines in certain stars, shows that the majority of presolar SiC grains come from low-mass asymptotic giant branch stars, and that the amount of$^{99}Tc$produced in such stars is insufficient to have left a detectable$^{99}Ru$anomaly in early solar system materials.

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2013 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA, August 4 – August 8, 2013.

The present study reports the structural, electronic, magnetic, and optical properties of vanadium-doped Li 2 Te using the ab-initio simulations within the framework of density functional theory. To account for exchange-correlation effects, the PBE-GGA, PBE-GGA-mBJ, and PBE-GGA+U approximations were employed. Our findings reveal that the ground state of vanadium-doped Li 2 Te is ferromagnetic, with the ferromagnetic behavior predominantly arising from strong spin-splitting effects on the d orbitals of vanadium atoms. The formation energy ( E F ​) was calculated to confirm the thermodynamic stability and alloying feasibility of the compound at zero temperature. The negative value of E F ​ indicates favorable alloying stability. Electronic structure analysis demonstrates that the material exhibits half-metallic ferromagnetic behavior, characterized by 100% spin polarization at the Fermi level. This property makes it a promising candidate for spintronic applications. To further understand the magnetic interactions, the s(p)-d exchange coupling constants ( N 0 α and N 0 β ) were computed, revealing significant exchange splitting effects in both conduction and valence bands. These findings provide comprehensive insights into the multifunctional properties of vanadium-doped Li 2 Te, offering valuable references for its potential applications in next-generation spintronic devices.

In Japan, computer simulation is used to evaluate the characteristic of performance of the current collection between overhead lines and a pantograph. Characteristics of contact wire uplift and strain are important indices to evaluate contact line structure in a high-speed railway. Especially in the case when a train runs into a tunnel at high speed, pantographs are strongly affected by aerodynamic flow. Therefore, it is important to investigate these characteristics within a tunnel. In this study, we carried out measurement of contact wire uplift and strain in the neighborhood of the tunnel inlet. Furthermore, we carried out a simulation and estimated them with consideration of the pantograph lift. By comparing the measurement result and simulation estimation, we examined the validity of simulation. In this way, it is possible to improve the accuracy of prediction of current collection performance of contact line by computer simulation.

The paper suggests a new fault coverage model for the case when the effectiveness of recovery mechanisms in a subsystem depends on the entire performance level of this subsystem. Examples of this effect can be found in computing systems, electrical power distribution networks, communication systems, etc. The paper presents a modification of the generalized reliability block diagram (RBD) method for evaluating reliability and performance indices of complex multistate series-parallel systems with performance-dependent fault coverage under the assumption that the system state cannot change during the task execution. The suggested method based on a universal generating function technique allows the system performance distribution to be obtained using a straightforward recursive procedure. Illustrative examples are presented.