28 research outputs found
Multidisciplinary aircraft design optimisation using an improved blackboard framework
No full textThe commercial aircraft design process is controlled by chief engineers that meet at regular intervals to make key decisions. This has remained largely unchanged since the early days of aircraft design and has prompted researchers and industry practitioners to explore various communication architectures under the topic of Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation. Although many have been widely studied, they are rarely used in industrial design primarily because they fail to integrate well within the existing organisational structure of aircraft companies. A legacy blackboard framework for Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation has been the subject of this study. Blackboard frameworks promote concurrent engineering practices using a database, some form of system level controller and a flexible arrangement of the knowledge sources that make up the design process. The specific framework considered in this thesis uses an automatic rule base to iteratively change the bounds on the shared design variables until they converge to what is deemed to be a single optimal design. The thesis covers the development and testing of a novel rule set, which has been given the name “Multidisciplinary Pattern Search” by the author, to reflect that its logic combines ideas from several well established heuristic optimisers. Two aircraft design test cases demonstrate the merit of the Multidisciplinary Pattern Search, as well as the work done on the database and visualisation modules. The results indicate that the revised blackboard performs better than the distributed Collaborative Optimisation approach, albeit sometimes worse than the monolithic Simultaneous Analysis and Design method that tends to be very organisationally disruptive to implement. An additional 25% reduction in the convergence rate was achieved simply by reusing the available data in the database. Finally, a team based application investigated the ease of use of the revised blackboard method. The feedback highlighted that the process was intuitive and largely easy to use, but further work is needed on a better human process interface
Author Correction: Local Josephson vortex generation and manipulation with a Magnetic Force Microscope (Nature Communications, (2019), 10, 1, (4009), 10.1038/s41467-019-11924-0)
No full text© 2019, The Author(s). The original version of this Article contained an error in the spelling of the author Christophe Brun, which was incorrectly given as Chritophe Brun. Additionally this Article omitted from the author list the seventh author Nickolay Lebedev, who is from the ‘Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, 141700 Dolgoprudny, Russia’. These errors have now been corrected in both the PDF and HTML versions of the Article
Existence and Dynamics of Strains in a Nonlocal Reaction-Diffusion Model of Viral Evolution
No full textInternational audienceIn this work, we develop a mathematical framework for predicting and quantifying virus diversity evolution during infection of a host organism. It is specified as a virus density distribution with respect to genotype and time governed by a reaction-diffusion integro-differential equation taking virus mutations, replication, and elimination by immune cells and medical treatment into account. Conditions for the existence of virus strains that correspond to localized density distributions in the space of genotypes are determined. It is shown that common viral evolutionary traits like diversification and extinction are driven by nonlocal interactions via immune responses, target-cell competition, and therapy. This provides us with a mechanistic explanation for clinically relevant properties like immune escape and drug resistance selection, and allows us to link virus genotypes to phenotypes
The Evolution of Architectural Morphogenesis at the Beginning of XXI Century in the Context of Scientific Advances
No full textAbstractInnovative spatial forms arise and develop at an intersection of science and art, engineering and architecture. Various geometric structures with different types of symmetry are studied by mathematicians, engineers and architects. Computer simulation reveals a new range of geometric shapes as well as various types of partitioning and filling of two-dimensional surface and three-dimensional space. For the engineering and architectural theory it is important to study fundamental mechanisms of form shaping and the form itself in the context of conceptual evidence of modern interdisciplinary studies. This is necessary for the further development of the creative potential of architecture and engineering
Nuclear Strike Against Hiroshima and Nagasaki. War Crime, That Could Be Avoided
No full textThe article focuses on the research of the consequences of the US nuclear bombings of Japanese cities in August 6th and 9th 1945. Military, political and psychological aspects, that were crucial for American military planning at the latest stage of the Second World War are taken into consideration. Also the problems of the new reality in the global policy of that period, which made it possible to demonstrate the military power in such a destructive way, are investigated. The author offers some logical alternatives to the real circumstances of the 6thAugust 1945, including both implementing and non-implementing of the nuclear weapons. The author also offers some new conception of the bipolarity considering the «A-bomb factor» in the international relations, which was critical since August 1945 till August 1949. The very fact of the using the most destructive and powerful weapon, developed after the Germans' capitulation but before the capitulation of Japan, corresponds with the political concept, offered by K. Clausevitz in early 19th century. The approach to the problem, advocated by the German military theorist was in details researched in the article. Using some historical and political methodology, the author criticizes the realization of this concept in August 1945th and offers some alternatives in the historical retrospective. Acknowledging, on the whole, the necessity of demonstration of the newest weapon by the United States in global political aspect, the author reveals a number of targets, which seem more optimal for this goal. Bombing of peaceful cities, which caused inadmissible civil losses, is characterized by the author as military crime
Spatial lymphocyte dynamics in lymph nodes predicts the cytotoxic T cell frequency needed for HIV infection control
No full textThe surveillance of host body tissues by immune cells is central for mediating their defense function. In vivo imaging technologies have been used to quantitatively characterize target cell scanning and migration of lymphocytes within lymph nodes (LNs). The translation of these quantitative insights into a predictive understanding of immune system functioning in response to various perturbations critically depends on computational tools linking the individual immune cell properties with the emergent behavior of the immune system. By choosing the Newtonian second law for the governing equations, we developed a broadly applicable mathematical model linking individual and coordinated T-cell behaviors. The spatial cell dynamics is described by a superposition of autonomous locomotion, intercellular interaction, and viscous damping processes. The model is calibrated using in vivo data on T-cell motility metrics in LNs such as the translational speeds, turning angle speeds, and meandering indices. The model is applied to predict the impact of T-cell motility on protection against HIV infection, i.e., to estimate the threshold frequency of HIV-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) that is required to detect productively infected cells before the release of viral particles starts. With this, it provides guidance for HIV vaccine studies allowing for the migration of cells in fibrotic LNs.This work is supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant 18-11-00171). VV was supported by a grant from the RUDN University Program 5-100. AM is also supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and FEDER grant no. SAF2016-75505-R (AEI/MINEICO/FEDER, UE) and the María de Maeztu Programme for Units of Excellence in R&D (MDM-2014-0370)
Life of Russian Orthodox Clergy in the United States at the End of the 19th Century (Reflected in the correspondence of the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev)
Get PDFUsing little-known correspondence of the Ober-Procurator of the Holy Synod Konstantin Pobedonostsev with the bishop Nickolay (Ziorov) — head of Russian Orthodox Church in the United States in 1892–1898 — the article explores the everyday life of Russian clergy in America. This correspondence is deposited at the Russian State Historical Archive in St. Petersburg and has not been published or studied before. The author analyzes Pobedonostsev’s role in the diocese affairs. This examination is new both in the Church’s history and recently published literature on Pobedonostsev. Yet the Ober-Procurator’s supervision was of utmost importance for the Russian mission in the United States, faced with the crucial challenge of adapting itself to the alien cultural environment. Pobedonostsev was well informed about the situation with the Russian mission, helped to solve many personnel, financial and organizational problems, was a chief promoter of its interests before the Russian imperial government — Foreign Ministry, Ministry of Finance, the State Council, and the Tzar’s court. Pobedonostsev also stayed in touch with the US diplomatic mission in Russia and Russian diplomats in the United States. He was very close with bishop Nickolay who regarded the Ober-Procurator as his main benefactor and constantly turned to him for advice and assistance. Pobedonostsev strongly supported the bishop’s reforms of missionary activities in education, parish life, and propagation of Orthodoxy, as well as his efforts to defend the Russian Orthodox mission’s interests before American authorities. No wonder their extensive correspondence richly reflected the diocese’s life with all its problems and needs. The article highlights their close cooperation in recruiting qualified clergymen for American service, which was the key task for the mission that suffered from a shortage of reliable professional personnel. Pobedonostsev-Nickolay cooperation greatly contributed to the diocese progress, which later reached its peak under Nickolay’s successor bishop Tikhon (Bellavin). Their correspondence sheds new light on the personalities of both men united by their fervent devotion to the Orthodox Church and highly conservative views. It also presents a revealing case study of the interaction between Russian ecclesiastic and state authorities as well as their perception of American culture. The author’s main methodological approach consisted in text analysis of the archival documents juxtaposed against the context of Russian-American relations and the realities of American life
The evolution of mass flow and total temperature pulsations in flat plate boundary layer at M=2.5
No full textSpatial lymphocyte dynamics in lymph nodes predicts the cytotoxic T cell frequency needed for HIV infection control
No full textThe surveillance of host body tissues by immune cells is central for mediating their defense function. In vivo imaging technologies have been used to quantitatively characterize target cell scanning and migration of lymphocytes within lymph nodes (LNs). The translation of these quantitative insights into a predictive understanding of immune system functioning in response to various perturbations critically depends on computational tools linking the individual immune cell properties with the emergent behavior of the immune system. By choosing the Newtonian second law for the governing equations, we developed a broadly applicable mathematical model linking individual and coordinated T-cell behaviors. The spatial cell dynamics is described by a superposition of autonomous locomotion, intercellular interaction, and viscous damping processes. The model is calibrated using in vivo data on T-cell motility metrics in LNs such as the translational speeds, turning angle speeds, and meandering indices. The model is applied to predict the impact of T-cell motility on protection against HIV infection, i.e., to estimate the threshold frequency of HIV-specific cytotoxic T cells (CTLs) that is required to detect productively infected cells before the release of viral particles starts. With this, it provides guidance for HIV vaccine studies allowing for the migration of cells in fibrotic LNs.This work is supported by the Russian Science Foundation (grant 18-11-00171). VV was supported by a grant from the RUDN University Program 5-100. AM is also supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness and FEDER grant no. SAF2016-75505-R (AEI/MINEICO/FEDER, UE) and the María de Maeztu Programme for Units of Excellence in R&D (MDM-2014-0370)
