3,039 research outputs found

    On unitary convex decompositions of vectors in a JBJB^{*}-algebra

    No full text
    summary:By exploiting his recent results, the author further investigates the extent to which variation in the coefficients of a unitary convex decomposition of a vector in a unital JBJB^{*}-algebra permits the vector decomposable as convex combination of fewer unitaries; certain C C^{*}-algebra results due to M. Rørdam have been extended to the general setting of JBJB^{*}-algebras

    Decoupling and prices: determinant of dairy farmers’ choices? A model to analyse impacts of the 2003 CAP reform

    No full text
    The reform of European Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2003 has resulted in substantial changes to the attribution of subsidies to dairy farmers. Moreover, dairy farmers are in also facing an unprecedented situation on the markets with the soaring prices of agricultural raw materials: they sell their products at a higher price (milk, meat and cereals), but must also cope with the increasing prices of concentrates. In this paper1, we discuss cross effects, on the productive strategy of French dairy farms, of the Luxemburg Agreement and the prices variations. A model based on mathematical programming has been privileged to determine how dairy farmers might re-evaluate their systems to identify optimal production plan. While respecting the principle of agent rationality (maximization of profit), the model incorporates the economic risk related to the volatility of the inputs and outputs prices. Thus the model maximises the expected utility of the income while taking into account a set of constraints: regulatory, structural, zootechnical, agronomic and environmental. The model is applied to four types of dairy farms to cope with the diversity of production systems in the west of France (“grazier” type, “semi intensive” type, “milk + cereals” type and “milk + young bulls” type). The model is used to produce quantitative estimations and support reflection through the simulation of the setting up of the Single payment scheme. The sensitivity of the results is discussed by taking into account several options of prices for cereals and livestock products. These may have a strong influence on the structure of the diet and, therefore, on the level of intensification of the forage area. The results show that the implementation of the CAP reform encourages farmers to substitute a part of corn silage by grass in the diet. However, the rising price of agricultural production encourages, on the contrary, farmers to intensify their system in order to free up land for growing cereals. We also observe that a decrease of the young bulls fattening activity to develop cereal crops is also economically profitable.dairy farm, single payment, price variation, Agricultural and Food Policy, Livestock Production/Industries,

    Keynote Address — Funk and Afro Futurism: The Past, Present, and Future of the Funk

    No full text
    Dr. Frederick “Rickey” Vincent is author of the award-winning Funk: The Music, the People and the Rhythm of The One (1996), the first definitive treatment of funk music and culture. His address addresses: Liberation in the Moment: Other Worlds and Black Liberation (from Soul Train to “Wakanda Forever”) The Rhythm Revolution: Liberation, Motion, and Black Identity (JB and The One) Transcendence: The Higher Plane of the Funk Groove (Sly and the body/mind/spirit unification) The Collective: Tribalism in a Post-Industrial World (Funk blends genres, blends cultures as long as it’s “On the One”) The Epic: P-Funk Earth Tour and Beyond (The “super groups” take over) More Bounce: Digital Funk and the Search for the Soul in the Machine (From Disco to House to EDM) Bring That Beat Back: the Return of the Raw (From LA to DC, the funk band returns)https://ecommons.udayton.edu/dayton_funk_content/1028/thumbnail.jp

    Loss of Retrovirus Production in JB/RH Melanoma Cells Transfected with H-2Kband TAP-1 Genes

    No full text
    AbstractJB/RH1 melanoma cells, as well as other melanomas of C57BL/6 mice (B16 and JB/MS), express a common melanoma-associated antigen (MAA) encoded by an ecotropic melanoma-associated retrovirus (MelARV). JB/RH1 cells do not express the H-2Kbmolecules due to down-regulation of the H-2Kband TAP-1 genes. When JB/RH1 cells were transfected with the H-2Kband cotransfected with the TAP-1 gene, it resulted in the appearance of H-2Kbmolecules and an increase in their immunogenicity, albeit they lost expression of retrovirus-encoded MAA recognized by MM2-9B6 mAb. Loss of MAA was found to result from a complete and stable elimination of ecotropic MelARV production in the H-2Kb/TAP-1-transfected JB/RH1 cells. Northern blot analysis showed no differences in ecotropic retroviral messages in MelARV-producing and -nonproducing melanoma cells, suggesting that loss of MelARV production was not due to down-regulation of MelARV transcription. Southern blot analysis revealed several rearrangements in the proviral DNA of H-2Kb-positive JB/RH1 melanoma cells. Sequence analysis of the ecotropic proviral DNA from these cells showed numerous nucleotide substitutions, some of which resulted in the appearance of a novel intraviralPstI restriction site and the loss of aHindIII restriction site in thepolregion. PCR amplification of the proviral DNAs indicates that an ecotropic provirus found in the H-2Kb-positive cells is novel and does not preexist in the parental H-2Kb-negative melanoma cells. Conversely, the ecotropic provirus of the parental JB/RH1 cells was not amplifable from the H-2Kb-positive cells. Our data indicate that stable loss of retroviral production in the H-2Kb/TAP-1-transfected melanoma cells is probably due to the induction of recombination between a productive ecotropic MelARV and a defective nonecotropic provirus leading to the generation of a defective ecotropic provirus and the loss of MelARV production and expression of the retrovirus-encoded MAA

    Mixture regression analysis on age at onset in Bipolar Disorder patients: investigation of the role of serotonergic genes

    No full text
    Bipolar Disorder (BPD) is a complex psychiatric disease with a relevant underlying genetic basis. HTR2A T102C, HTR2C Cys23Ser, SLC6A4 5-HTTLPR and rs25531 polymorphisms were genotyped in 230 BPD patients and inserted as covariates in a mixture regression model of age at onset (AAO). 5-HTTLPR polymorphism associated with early onset component under recessive and additive model. HTR2A T102C, HTR2C Cys23Ser and 5-HTTLPR interaction terms associated with early onset component under dominant, recessive and additive model. These findings suggest a role of genes codifying for elements of the serotonergic system in influencing the AAO in BPD

    Surjective isometries between unitary sets of unital JB∗-algebras

    No full text
    We would like to thank Prof. Lajos Molnár for encouraging us to explore this problem. We are also indebted to the anonymous reviewer for several useful comments. First and fifth authors partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (MICINN) and European Regional Development Fund project no. PGC2018-093332-B-I00, Programa Operativo FEDER 2014-2020 and Consejería de Economía y Conocimiento de la Junta de Andalucía grant numbers A-FQM-242-UGR18 and FQM375. First author partially supported by EPSRC (UK) project “Jordan Algebras, Finsler Geometry and Dynamics” ref. no. EP/R044228/1. Second author partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP 21J21512. Fourth author partially supported by JSPS KAKENHI (Japan) Grant Number JP 20K03650. * Funding for open access charge: Universidad de Granada / CBUAThis paper is, in a first stage, devoted to establishing a topological–algebraic characterization of the principal component, U0(M), of the set of unitary elements, U(M), in a unital JB⁎-algebra M. We arrive to the conclusion that, as in the case of unital C⁎-algebras, U0(M)=M1−1∩U(M)={Ue⋯Ue(1):n∈N,hj∈Msa∀1≤j≤n}={u∈U(M): there exists w∈U0(M) with ‖u−w‖<2} is analytically arcwise connected. Actually, U0(M) is the smallest quadratic subset of U(M) containing the set eiM. Our second goal is to provide a complete description of the surjective isometries between the principal components of two unital JB⁎-algebras M and N. Contrary to the case of unital C⁎-algebras, we shall deduce the existence of connected components in U(M) which are not isometric as metric spaces. We shall also establish necessary and sufficient conditions to guarantee that a surjective isometry Δ:U(M)→U(N) admits an extension to a surjective linear isometry between M and N, a conclusion which is not always true. Among the consequences it is proved that M and N are Jordan ⁎-isomorphic if, and only if, their principal components are isometric as metric spaces if, and only if, there exists a surjective isometry Δ:U(M)→U(N) mapping the unit of M to an element in U0(N). These results provide an extension to the setting of unital JB⁎-algebras of the results obtained by O. Hatori for unital C⁎-algebras.CBUAConsejería de Economía y Conocimiento de la Junta de Andalucía A-FQM-242-UGR18, FQM375Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y UniversidadesEngineering and Physical Sciences Research Council EP/R044228/1Universidad de GranadaMinisterio de Ciencia e InnovaciónJapan Society for the Promotion of Science JP 20K03650, JP 21J21512European Regional Development Fund PGC2018-093332-B-I0

    Flexible time–space network formulation and hybrid metaheuristic for conflict-free and energy-efficient path planning of automated guided vehicles

    No full text
    Operations of Automated Guided Vehicles (AGVs) are desired to be more energy-efficient while maintaining high transport productivity, motivated by the green production requirements. This paper investigates a new energy-efficient planning problem for determining conflict-free paths of the AGVs in its transport roadmap. In this problem, the vehicle path and transport time in the roadmap are jointly optimized, based on a flexible time–space network (FTSN). We provide the mathematical problem formulation of the energy-efficient path planning problem. The resulting optimization problem is proved to be a non-convex mixed-integer nonlinear programming which is computationally intractable. We further propose a hybrid metaheuristic that integrates the genetic algorithm and estimation of the distribution algorithm to improve its computational efficiency. Numerical results show the effectiveness of the developed algorithm based on the FTSN framework, compared to the existing metaheuristics, the conventional path planning method, and a commercial solver. The proposed method has a wide application in improving energy use of material handling, providing a guiding significance on promoting cleaner production of flexible manufacturing systems.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository 'You share, we take care!' - Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.Transport Engineering and Logistic

    Decoupling of genome size and sequence divergence in a symbiotic bacterium

    No full text
    Author Posting. © American Society for Microbiology, 2000. This article is posted here by permission of American Society for Microbiology for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Bacteriology 182 (2000): 3867-3869, doi:10.1128/JB.182.13.3867-3869.2000.In contrast to genome size variation in most bacterial taxa, the small genome size of Buchnera sp. was shown to be highly conserved across genetically diverse isolates (630 to 643 kb). This exceptional size conservation may reflect the inability of this obligate mutualist to acquire foreign DNA and reduced selection for genetic novelty within a static intracellular environment.Financial support was provided by a National Institute of Health postdoctoral training grant to J.J.W. (Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona) and a National Science Foundation grant (DEB- 9815413) to N.A.M
    corecore