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(2p + 1)-class association schemes from the generalized Maiorana-McFarland class
No full textIn several articles, it has been shown that the preimage set partition of weakly regular (vectorial) bent functions, which are vectorial dual-bent, give rise to association schemes. The first construction of association schemes from certain partitions obtained from non-weakly regular bent functions, namely from ternary generalized Maiorana-McFarland functions, is presented in Özbudak and Pelen (2022) [32]. In this article, association schemes are obtained from generalized Maiorana-McFarland bent functions from Fpn×Fpk×Fpk to Fp, which are constructed from pk bent functions from Fpn to Fp with certain properties. The obtained schemes are in general (2p+1)-class association schemes. In the case that n=1 respectively in one case for n=2, the association schemes reduce to (3p+1)/2-class association schemes respectively to 2p-class association schemes. For p=3, these schemes are the 5-class and 6-class association schemes obtained by Özbudak and Pelen. Therefore, the construction in this article substantially generalizes these earlier constructions. Also note that for n=1 respectively n=2, the construction is based in bent functions from Fp to Fp respectively from Fp2 to Fp, for which the choices are very limited. Depending on the choice of the bent functions used for the construction, the resulting generalized Maiorana-McFarland function may be weakly regular or non-weakly regular, it may be an l-form, or it may not be an l-form. It is pointed out that for weakly regular bent l-forms, which can be obtained with this construction, the preimage set partition yields a p-class fusion scheme of a (2p+1)-class association scheme
Influence of functionalized h-BN particle interphase and interface regulation with structural design on the directional thermal conductivity and mechanical performance of carbon fiber/epoxy composites
No full textThis study highlights the importance of interfacial adhesion between carbon fiber (CF) and the epoxy matrix by adopting a novel approach that combines untreated and silane-treated h-BN in a multilayered structure. The interface was engineered by electrospraying h-BN particles, while the interphase was modified by incorporating up to 20 % h-BN into the epoxy matrix. The highest out-of-plane thermal conductivity of 2.31 W/mK, a 116 % increase compared to the reference value of 1.07 W/mK, was achieved by sizing CF with silanized h-BN through electrospraying, in conjunction with the 20 % h-BN-loaded epoxy matrix. Conversely, the incorporation of h-BN in the epoxy alone resulted in the best mechanical performance, with approximately a 46.4 % increase in elastic modulus, a 105 % improvement in flexural modulus, and a nearly 5 % increase in Charpy impact strength. Based on CT scan results, the resizing of CF fabrics improved directional thermal conductivity in CF/epoxy composites with controlled porosity
High throughput mutational scanning of a protein via alchemistry on a high-performance computing resource
No full textAntibiotic resistance presents a significant challenge to public health, as bacteria can develop resistance to antibiotics through random mutations during their life cycles, making the drugs ineffective. Understanding how these mutations contribute to drug resistance at the molecular level is crucial for designing new treatment approaches. Recent advancements in molecular biology tools have made it possible to conduct comprehensive analyses of protein mutations. Computational methods for assessing molecular fitness, such as binding energies, are not as precise as experimental techniques like deep mutational scanning. Although full atomistic alchemical free energy calculations offer the necessary precision, they are seldom used to assess high throughput data as they require significantly more computational resources. We generated a computational library using deep mutational scanning for dihydrofolate reductase (DHFR), a protein commonly studied in antibiotic resistance research. Due to resource limitations, we analyzed 33 out of 159 positions, identifying 16 single amino acid replacements. Calculations were conducted for DHFR in its drug-free state and in the presence of two different inhibitors. We demonstrate the feasibility of such calculations, made possible due to the enhancements in computational resources and their optimized use
Large field polynomial inflation in Palatini f (R,ϕ) gravity
No full textIn this paper, we employ the Palatini formalism to investigate the dynamics of large-field inflation using a renormalizable polynomial inflaton potential in the context of f(R,ϕ) gravity. Assuming instant reheating, we make a comparative analysis of large-field polynomial inflation (PI). We first consider the minimal and non-minimal coupling of inflaton in R gravity, and then we continue with the minimally and non-minimally coupled inflaton in f(R,ϕ) gravity. We scan the parameter space for the inflationary predictions (n s and r) consistent with the Planck and BICEP/Keck 2018 results as well as the sensitivity forecast of the future CMB-S4 and depict the compliant regions in the ϕ 0-β plane where ϕ 0 and β are two parameters of polynomial inflation model which control the saddle point of the potential and the flatness in the vicinity of this point respectively. We find that a substantial portion of the parameter space aligns with the observational data
Political power and lawmaking in the Ottoman Empire: Ulamāʾ and Sultans vis-à-vis Sharia
No full textDelineating the authority to define and implement sharia has been an essential question in the historical practice of Islamic societies. Generally speaking, during the pre-Ottoman period, ʿulamāʾ (Muslim scholars), as specialists of scriptural sources and sharia knowledge, and rulers, as the holders of political power, competed for primacy in this sphere. This chapter starts with the Ottoman institutional development in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries that gradually transformed ʿulamāʾ from being independent interpreters of scriptural sources and producers of sharia to being agents of the Ottoman government, scholar-bureaucrats. It argues that this institutional development inaugurated a decisive new chapter in the configuration of political and lawmaking authority in Islamic history, one in which the executive authority and ʿulamāʾ were positioned not as rivals but instead as partners in the exercise of political power, harnessing the coercive power of the state to make binding laws from sharia knowledge
Germany's economic relations with Indo-Pacific countries and China
Get PDFThe main objective of this study is to analyse Germany’s economic relations with the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) countries and India. We will focus on trade and investment relations between Germany and China as well as the other Indo-Pacific countries. The results of our work make it clear that Germany’s main interest in the region lies in its economic relations with China. At the same time, Germany is China’s most important trading partner in Europe. This is followed at some distance by Japan, South Korea, India, and Australia. Overall, there is an upward trend in trade and investment relations with other RCEP countries
Reframing plant stress tolerance in the era of climate change
No full textCurrently every country is suffering from climate change and despite the ongoing efforts, there are still limited success stories for the improvement of plant abiotic stress resilience. The studies mainly focused on understanding the stress response and tolerance at the molecular level and utilizing it to another genotype with no tolerance. The strong interaction of plants with their environment is the main obstacle here, which prevents the outcomes of small-scale experiments to be repeated in the field. The inclusion of wild genotypes adapted to extreme environments in QTL studies and breeding efforts may stand as a promising approach for the improvement of abiotic stress tolerance. Agricultural practices including biostimulants, micronutrients and nanoparticles, genome editing, and engineering organelles can also lead to reduced yield loss. Understanding how stress memory is initiated and how to make it heritable even under favorable growth conditions is another approach that needs more investigation. The aim of this book chapter is to point out the fact that single efforts by themselves will not be enough for sustain-ability, and although there is still a gap between breeders, farmers, biodiversity scientists, agricultural engineers, molecular scientists, plant pathologists, and climate scientists, they should combine their knowledge to secure future generations
Human-robot friendship (HRF) procedure with children
No full textIntergroup contact theory posits that a positive encounter with a member of another social group (i.e., outgroup) can improve the individual’s attitudes toward the entire outgroup [3] and even non-contacted outgroups [34]. The current study applies the human-robot friendship (HRF) procedure [5] to children in early (N = 68) and middle childhood (N = 60), to investigate how a brief, positive contact with a social robot affects their perceptions of robots and other human outgroups. The HRF procedure indeed improved attitudes toward social robots in both age groups. However, the attitude improvement did not extend to non-contacted secondary outgroups and even showed a reverse pattern among young children. This study is among the first developmental research to experimentally demonstrate the relation between interaction with a robot and attitudes toward robots
Beam codebook refinement for mmWave devices with random orientations: concept and experimental validation
No full textThere is a growing interest in codebook-based beam-steering for millimeter-wave (mmWave) systems due to its potential for low complexity and rapid beam search. A key focus of recent research has been the design of codebooks that strike a trade-off between achievable gain and codebook size, which directly impacts beam search time. Statistical approaches have shown promise by leveraging the likelihood that certain beam directions (equivalently, sets of phase-shifter configurations) are more probable than others. Such approaches are shown to be valid for static, non-rotating transmission stations such as base stations. However, for the case of user terminals that are constantly changing orientation, the possible phase-shifter configurations become equally probable, rendering statistical methods less relevant. On the other hand, user terminals come with a large number of possible steering vector configurations, which can span up to six orders of magnitude. Therefore, efficient solutions to reduce the codebook size (set of possible steering vectors) without compromising array gain are needed. We address this challenge by proposing a novel and practical codebook refinement technique, aiming to reduce the code book size while maintaining array gain within γ dB of the maximum achievable gain at any random orientation of the user terminal. We project that a steering vector at a given angle could effectively cover adjacent angles with a small gain loss compared to the maximum achievable gain. We demonstrate experimentally that it is possible to reduce the codebook size from 102416 to just a few configurations (e.g., less than ten), covering all angles while maintaining the gain within γ=3 dB of the maximum achievable gain