What are gene patents and why are people worried about them?

This article examines what it means to patent a gene. Numerous ethical concerns have been raised about the effects of such patents on clinical medical practice as well as on research and development. We describe what kinds of inventions are covered by human gene patents, give several examples and summarize the small body of empirical research performed in the US examining the effects of these patents. There is little evidence that early fears about gene patenting placing substantial restraints on research and clinical medicine have come to fruition. Nonetheless, there are areas of concern, and policy makers, physicians and the public should be alert to ensure that the net social benefits of patenting human genes are maintained.     

What is behind the plastic strain rate?

The plastic strain rate plays a central role in macroscopic models on elasto-viscoplasticity. In order to discuss the concept behind this quantity, we propose, first, a kinetic toy model to describe the dynamics of sliding layers representative of plastic deformation of single crystalline metals. The dynamic variable is given by the distribution function of relative strains between adjacent layers, and the plastic strain rate emerges as the average hopping rate between energy wells. We demonstrate the behavior of this model under different deformations and how it captures the elastic-to-plastic transition. Second, the kinetic toy model is reduced to a closed evolution equation for the average of the relative strain, allowing us to make a direct link to macroscopic theories. It is shown that the constitutive relation for the plastic strain rate does not only depend on the stress, but also on the macroscopic applied deformation rate, contrary to common practice.     

What is the Correct Definition of Average Pressure?

Use of a correct definition of average pressure is important in numerical modeling of oil reservoirs and aquifers, where the simulated domain can be very large. Also, the average pressure needs to be defined in the application of pore-network modeling of (two-phase) flow in porous media, as well as in the (theoretical) upscaling of flow equations. Almost always the so-called intrinsic phase-volume average operator, which weighs point pressure values with point saturation values, is employed. Here, we introduce and investigate four other potentially plausible averaging operators. Among them is the centroid-corrected phase-average pressure, which corrects the intrinsic phase-volume average pressure for the distance between the centroid of the averaging volume and the phase. We consider static equilibrium of two immiscible fluids in a homogeneous, one-dimensional, vertical porous medium domain under a series of (static) drainage conditions. An important feature of static equilibrium is that the total potential (i.e., the sum of pressure and gravity potentials) is constant for each phase over the whole domain. Therefore, its average will be equal to the same constant. It is argued that the correct average pressure must preserve the fact that fluid potentials are constant. We have found that the intrinsic phase-volume average pressure results in a gradient in the total phase potential, i.e., the above criterion is violated. In fact, only the centroid-corrected operator satisfies this criterion. However, at high saturations, use of the centroid-corrected average can give rise to negative values of the difference between the average nonwetting and wetting phase pressures. For main drainage, differences among various averaging operators are significantly less because both phases are present initially, such that the difference between the centroids of phases, and the middle of the domain are relatively small.     

What is the Optimal Shape of a Pipe?

We consider an incompressible fluid in a three-dimensional pipe, following the Navier–Stokes system with classical boundary conditions. We are interested in the following question: is there any optimal shape for the criterion “energy dissipated by the fluid”? Moreover, is the cylinder the optimal shape? We prove that there exists an optimal shape in a reasonable class of admissible domains, but the cylinder is not optimal. For that purpose, we define the first order optimality condition, thanks to the adjoint state and we prove that it is impossible that the adjoint state be a solution of this over-determined system when the domain is the cylinder. At last, we show some numerical simulations for that problem.     

How valid are Sugiyama׳s experiments on follower forces?

This paper is inspired by the review articles of Langthjem and Sugiyama, and Elishakoff on the dynamic stability of non-conservative elastic systems. It examines Sugiyama׳s experimental results on a cantilever column subjected to the weight and thrust of a small rocket motor mounted at the tip end. The test results cannot be utilized directly for comparison with estimated critical loads of the column but they demonstrate the stabilization of the system due to rocket thrust.     

Study of the inertial effect and the nonlinearities of?the?CRONE suspension based on the hydropneumatic technology

In this paper, we emphasize two main effects involved in the CRONE car suspension technology (CRONE: French acronym for Commande Robuste d??Ordre Non Entier). In a first time, we present the influence of the inductive or inertial effect of the pipes that links the different cells of the hydropneumatic car suspension. These components are mainly resistive and capacitive devices. Then, we analyze the nonlinear relations that link the hydraulic power variables (the flow and the pressure) of the hydraulic resistors and the hydropneumatic accumulators and we study the effect of the nonlinear terms on the car suspension response. Our study is based on the gamma RC arrangement developed in Altet et al. (In: Analysis and design of hybrid systems??proceedings of ADHS03, pp. 63?C68. Elsevier, Amsterdam, 2003) and Serrier et al. (In: Proceedings of IDETC/CIE 2005: ASME 2005 international design engineering technical conferences and computers and information in engineering conference, Long Beach, CA, USA, 24?C28 September 2005). In a second time, we focus only on the gamma RLC arrangement, introduced in Abi Zeid Daou et al. (Int. J. Electron. 96(12):1207?C1223, 2009). We show whether the parasite effect due to the pipes or the nonlinear RC components affect the system??s response. The simulation results show that neither the inertial effect caused by these parasite pipes of one meter length nor the use of the nonlinear resistors or the accumulators modifies the response of the gamma RC arrangement.     

The Mechanical Properties of the Slurry and the Resistance Force of a Sphere Moving With Uniform Velocity in the Slurry

It is commonly considered that the mechanical properties of the slurryare different from that of ordinary Newtonian fluid,and can be describedby that of Bingham fluid.Hence its shearing stress should be described bythe formula of the shearing stress of Bingham fluid.But the author holdsthe contrary opinion and firmly believes that the slurry is a highly viscousfluid with very long relaxation time such as those of asphalt,glass,etc.In this article,we have discussed the mechanical properties of the slurryand the reslstance of a sphere moving with uniform veloclty in the slurry.In the process of discussion.we use Stokes solution of the vlscous fluidpassing around a sphere.When the sphere is in equilibrium under theaction of gravitational force,the force of buoyancy and the resistance,we get the velocity of sedimentation.When the velocity of sedimentationis equal to zero,we get the relation between the yield stress of Binghamfluid and the diameter of the particles which will not sink.The theoreticalresults     

Remarks on the Rayleigh-Bénard Convection on Spherical Shells

The main objective of this article is to study the effect of spherical geometry on dynamic transitions and pattern formation for the Rayleigh-Bénard convection. The study is mainly motivated by the importance of spherical geometry and convection in geophysical flows. It is shown in particular that the system always undergoes a continuous (Type-I) transition to a 2l _c -dimensional sphere ${S^{2l_c}}$ , where l _c is the critical wave number corresponding to the critical Rayleigh number. Furthermore, it has shown in Ma and Wang (Physica D 239:3–4, 167–189, 2010) that it is critical to add nonisotropic turbulent friction terms in the momentum equation to capture the large-scale atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns. We show in particular that the system with turbulent friction terms added undergoes the same type of dynamic transition, and obtain an explicit formula linking the critical wave number (pattern selection), the aspect ratio, and the ratio between the horizontal and vertical turbulent friction coefficients.     

What does an ideal wall look like?

This paper deals with the interface between a solid and an ideal gas. The surface of the solid is considered to be an ideal wall, if the flux of entropy is continuous, i.e., if the interaction between wall and gas is non-dissipative. The concept of an ideal wall is discussed within the framework of kinetic theory. In particular it is shown that a non-dissipative wall must be adiabatic and does not exerts shear stresses to the gas, if the interaction of a gas atom with the wall is not influenced by the presence of other gas atoms. It follows that temperature jumps and slip will be observed at virtually all walls, although they will be negligibly small in the hydrodynamic regime (i.e., for small Knudsen numbers).     

Study on vibration reduction and mobility improvement for?the flexible manipulator via redundancy resolution

The flexible redundant manipulator, i.e., the flexible manipulator with redundant rigid degrees of freedom, possesses the same kinematic redundancy property as the rigid redundant manipulator. Some undesired effects on the flexible redundant manipulator are expected to alleviate via kinematic redundancy. Due to the presence of structural flexibility, a manipulator will inevitably vibrate when performing tasks. Therefore, how to reduce its vibration responses is a significant problem. Moreover, the manipulator??s mobility, i.e., its ability to move, is another important issue, because good mobility is a desirable goal for almost all robotic manipulator systems. In this paper, how to reduce vibration and improve mobility is studied for the flexible redundant manipulator. Firstly, a method for vibration control via redundancy resolution is put forward. Secondly, the self-motions satisfying vibration reduction are analyzed, and its additional optimization ability is revealed. Based on this ability, a strategy is proposed to both reduce vibration and improve mobility for the flexible redundant manipulator. Finally, simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of this strategy.     

Well-Posedness of the Multidimensional Fractional Stochastic Navier–Stokes Equations on the Torus and on Bounded Domains

In this work, we introduce and study the well-posedness of the multidimensional fractional stochastic Navier–Stokes equations on bounded domains and on the torus (briefly dD-FSNSE). For the subcritical regime, we establish thresholds for which a maximal local mild solution exists and satisfies required space and time regularities. We prove that under conditions of Beale–Kato–Majda type, these solutions are global and unique. These conditions are automatically satisfied for the 2D-FSNSE on the torus if the initial data has H ¹-regularity and the diffusion term satisfies growth and Lipschitz conditions corresponding to H ¹-spaces. The case of 2D-FSNSE on the torus is studied separately. In particular, we established thresholds for the global existence, uniqueness, space and time regularities of the weak (strong in probability) solutions in the subcritical regime. For the general regime, we prove the existence of a martingale solution and we establish the uniqueness under a condition of Serrin’s type on the fractional Sobolev spaces.     

What does head movement tell about the minimum number of mechanical degrees of freedom in quiet human stance?

In this study, we checked experimentally whether anterior–posterior accelerations of the head during quiet human stance are usually below or above known thresholds of the otolith sensor. Thereto, we measured head kinematics with high spatial resolution. Furthermore, we used both these experimental data and computer simulations of two double inverted pendulum (DIP) models in order to verify the validity of DIP models in general. The results are clear cut. First, not only are acceleration thresholds regularly exceeded about once a second but also are velocity thresholds exceeded, albeit probably less frequently. Second, COM and head movement predicted by interwoven DIP model dynamics can not reproduce the mean measured amplitudes at once. Thus, neither the formerly promoted single inverted pendulum nor any DIP model can causally explain the dynamics of quiet human stance. Instead, we suggest to factor in at least three mechanical degrees of freedom. Due to a couple of reasons discussed, the triple inverted pendulum (TIP) model seems to be a promising abstraction implying potential to better understand the dynamics of quiet human stance.     

A numerical investigation of the barotropic instability on the equatorial β-plane

The barotropic instability of horizontal shear flows is investigated by using two numerical algorithms to solve the equatorial β-plane barotropic equations. The first is the Arakawa Jacobian method (Arakawa, in J Comput Phys 1:119–143, 1966), which is a second-order-centered finite differences scheme that conserves energy and enstrophy, and the second is the fourth-order essentially non-oscillatory scheme for non-linear PDE’s of Osher and Shu (SIAM J Numer Anal 28:907–922, 1991), which is designed to track sharp fronts. We are interested in the performance of these two methods in tracking the long-time behavior of the instability, under the influence of the non-linearity, in the simple case of a Helmholtz shear layer. The associated linear problem is solved analytically, and the linear solution is used as an initial condition for the numerical simulations. We run a series of numerical simulations using both methods with various grid refinements and with two different amplitudes of the initial perturbation. A small viscosity term is added to the vorticity equation to damp the grid-scale waves for Arakawa’s method. This is not necessary for the high-order ENO-4 scheme, which has its own grid-scale dissipation. At high resolution, the two methods are in good agreement; they yield qualitatively and quantitatively the same solution in the long run: for small disturbances, the total flow stabilizes into a steady-state meridional shear with a smooth profile near the equator, while strong disturbances merge together to form a single large-scale vortex that propagates westward, along the equator, consistent with the African easterly waves and the monsoons trough circulation. At coarse resolution, however, Arakawa’s method seems to be much superior to the fourth-order ENO-4 scheme as it provides solutions that are more consistent with the fine resolution one.