Strain rate effects on compressive behavior of covalently bonded CNT networks

In this study, strain rate effects on the compressive mechanical properties of randomly structured carbon nanotube (CNT) networks were examined. For this purpose, three-dimensional atomistic models of CNT networks with covalently-bonded junctions were generated. After that, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of compressive loading were performed at five different strain rates to investigate the basic deformation characteristic mechanisms of CNT networks and determine the effect of strain rate on stress–strain curves. The simulation results showed that the strain rate of compressive loading increases, so that a higher resistance of specimens to deformation is observed. Furthermore, the local deformation characteristics of CNT segments, which are mainly driven by bending and buckling modes, and their prevalence are strongly affected by the deformation rate. It was also observed that CNT networks have superior features to metal foams such as metal matrix syntactic foams (MMSFs) and porous sintered fiber metals (PSFMs) in terms of energy absorbing capabilities.     

Ecological interaction and phylogeny, studying functionality on composed networks

We study a class of composed networks that are formed by two tree networks, T_P and T_A, whose end points touch each other through a bipartite network B_PA. We explore this network using a functional approach. We are interested in how much the topology, or the structure, of T_X (X=A or P) determines the links of B_PA. This composed structure is a useful model in evolutionary biology, where T_P and T_A are the phylogenetic trees of plants and animals that interact in an ecological community. We make use of ecological networks of dispersion of fruits, which are formed by frugivorous animals and plants with fruits; the animals, usually birds, eat fruits and disperse their seeds. We analyse how the phylogeny of T_X determines or is correlated with B_PA using a Monte Carlo approach. We use the phylogenetic distance among elements that interact with a given species to construct an index κ that quantifies the influence of T_X over B_PA. The algorithm is based on the assumption that interaction matrices that follows a phylogeny of T_X have a total phylogenetic distance smaller than the average distance of an ensemble of Monte Carlo realisations. We find that the effect of phylogeny of animal species is more pronounced in the ecological matrix than plant phylogeny.     

Feedback between node and network dynamics can produce real-world network properties

Real-world networks are characterized by common features, including among others a scale-free degree distribution, a high clustering coefficient and a short typical distance between nodes. These properties are usually explained by the dynamics of edge and node addition and deletion.     

Blocking probability analysis of pruned optical banyan networks on vertical stacking scheme with extra banyan planes

Vertically stacked pruned optical banyan networks with extra planes (in short, EP-VSOB networks) have lower switch count and optimal time complexity (O(log₂ N)) for routing N input requests. However, blocking probability is relatively higher than that of a VSOB networks using regular banyan planes. In the EP-VSOB architecture, the number of pruned planes has always been considered as , and a few extra planes (regular banyan) have been added with these pruned planes. In this paper we present the results of blocking analysis of a more generalized architecture in which the number of pruned planes can be 2^x, where x ? 0 in addition to the variable extra planes. This generalization helps us make a compromise between different constraints and performance metrics. Our simulation results show that for some given performance requirements (e.g. cost, speed or blocking probability) we can choose a network that has lower switch count compared to -plane pruned crosstalk-free optical banyan networks. For example, to ensure blocking probability <0.02, previously we would chose a pruned network of 32 pruned planes and 1 extra planes (a regular banyan); however, our simulations results show that a network of 16 pruned planes and 2 extra planes is enough to ensure the same performance. It is notable that, the hardware cost decreases by 28.65% in this new combination of pruned and extra planes. We believe our results will provide more flexibility in choosing a particular EP-VSOB network satisfying given requirements.     

Multistability and multiperiodicity of delayed Cohen-Grossberg neural networks with a general class of activation functions

In this paper, by using analysis approach and decomposition of state space, the multistability and multiperiodicity issues are discussed for Cohen-Grossberg neural networks (CGNNs) with time-varying delays and a general class of activation functions, where the general class of activation functions consist of nondecreasing functions with saturation’s including piecewise linear functions with two corner points and standard activation functions as its special case. Based on the Cauchy convergence principle, some sufficient conditions are obtained for checking the existence and uniqueness of equilibrium points of the n-neuron CGNNs. It is shown that the n-neuron CGNNs can have 2ⁿ locally exponentially stable equilibrium points located in saturation regions. Also, some conditions are derived for ascertaining equilibrium points to be locally exponentially stable or globally exponentially attractive and to be located in any designated region. As an extension of multistability, some similar results are presented for ascertaining multiple periodic orbits when external inputs of the n-neuron CGNNs are periodic. Finally, three examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the obtained results.     

Epidemic spreading on weighted complex networks

Nowadays, the emergence of online services provides various multi-relation information to support the comprehensive understanding of the epidemic spreading process. In this Letter, we consider the edge weights to represent such multi-role relations. In addition, we perform detailed analysis of two representative metrics, outbreak threshold and epidemic prevalence, on SIS and SIR models. Both theoretical and simulation results find good agreements with each other. Furthermore, experiments show that, on fully mixed networks, the weight distribution on edges would not affect the epidemic results once the average weight of whole network is fixed. This work may shed some light on the in-depth understanding of epidemic spreading on multi-relation and weighted networks.     

A study on small-world brain functional networks altered by postherpetic neuralgia

Understanding the effect of postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) pain on brain activity is important for clinical strategies. This is the first study, to our knowledge, to relate PHN pain to small-world properties of brain functional networks. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to construct functional brain networks of the subjects during the resting state. Sixteen patients with PHN pain and 16 (8 males, 8 females for both groups) age-matched controls were studied. The PHN patients exhibited decreased local efficiency along with non-significant changes of global efficiency in comparison with the healthy controls. Moreover, regional nodal efficiency was found to be significantly affected by PHN pain in the areas related to sense (postcentral gyrus, inferior parietal gyrus and thalamus), memory/affective processes (parahippocampal gyrus) and emotional activities (putamen). Significant correlation (p < 0.05) was also found between the nodal efficiency of putamen and pain intensity in PHN patients. Our results suggest that PHN modulates the local efficiency, and the small-world properties of brain networks may have potentials to objectively evaluate pain information in clinic.     

Self-averaging in complex brain neuron signals

Nonlinear statistical properties of Ventral Tegmental Area (VTA) of limbic brain are studied in vivo. VTA plays key role in generation of pleasure and in development of psychological drug addiction. It is shown that spiking time-series of the VTA dopaminergic neurons exhibit long-range correlations with self-averaging behavior. This specific VTA phenomenon has no relation to VTA rewarding function. Last result reveals complex role of VTA in limbic brain. Received 17 April 2002 / Received in final form 30 September 2002 Published online 31 December 2002     

An adaptive strategy based on linear prediction of queue length to minimize congestion in Barabási-Albert scale-free networks

In this paper, we propose an adaptive strategy based on the linear prediction of queue length to minimize congestion in Barabási-Albert (BA) scale-free networks. This strategy uses local knowledge of traffic conditions and allows nodes to be able to self-coordinate their accepting probability to the incoming packets. We show that the strategy can delay remarkably the onset of congestion and systems avoiding the congestion can benefit from hierarchical organization of accepting rates of nodes. Furthermore, with the increase of prediction orders, we achieve larger values for the critical load together with a smooth transition from free-flow to congestion.     

Exploring the origins of the power-law properties of energy landscapes: An egg-box model

Multidimensional potential energy landscapes (PELs) have a Gaussian distribution for the energies of the minima, but at the same time the distribution of the hyperareas for the basins of attraction surrounding the minima follows a power-law. To explore how both these features can simultaneously be true, we introduce an “egg-box” model. In these model landscapes, the Gaussian energy distribution is used as a starting point and we examine whether a power-law basin area distribution can arise as a natural consequence through the swallowing up of higher-energy minima by larger low-energy basins when the variance of this Gaussian is increased sufficiently. Although the basin area distribution is substantially broadened by this process, it is insufficient to generate power-laws, highlighting the role played by the inhomogeneous distribution of basins in configuration space for actual PELs.