Level Structure and Properties of Open f-Shell Elements

Open f-shell elements still constitute a great challenge for atomic theory owing to their (very) rich fine-structure and strong correlations among the valence-shell electrons. For these medium and heavy elements, many atomic properties are sensitive to the correlated motion of electrons and, hence, require large-scale computations in order to deal consistently with all relativistic, correlation and rearrangement contributions to the electron density. Often, different concepts and notations need to be combined for just classifying the low-lying level structure of these elements. With Jac, the Jena Atomic Calculator, we here provide a toolbox that helps to explore and deal with such elements with open d- and f-shell structures. Based on Dirac’s equation, Jac is suitable for almost all atoms and ions across the periodic table. As an example, we demonstrate how reasonably accurate computations can be performed for the low-lying level structure, transition probabilities and lifetimes for Th2+ ions with a 5f6d ground configuration. Other, and more complex, shell structures are supported as well, though often for a trade-off between the size and accuracy of the computations. Owing to its simple use, however, Jac supports both quick estimates and detailed case studies on open d- or f-shell elements.

Articulations and Products of Transition Systems and their Applications to Petri Net Synthesis

In order to speed up the synthesis of Petri nets from labelled transition systems, a divide and conquer strategy consists in defining decompositions of labelled transition systems, such that each component is synthesisable iff so is the original system. Then corresponding Petri Net composition operators are searched to combine the solutions of the various components into a solution of the original system. The paper presents two such techniques, which may be combined: products and articulations. They may also be used to structure transition systems, and to analyse the performance of synthesis techniques when applied to such structures.

Kinematic Viscosity and Electrical Resistivity of a Multicomponent Melt due to Liquid–Liquid Structure Transition

We investigated the kinematic viscosity and electrical resistivity of the multicomponent Fe74Cu1Nb1.5Mo1.5B8.5Si13.5 melt during three heating–cooling cycles. The temperature dependence of kinematic viscosity and electrical resistivity have the anomalous zones in the same temperature range and they are associated with the liquid–liquid structure transition (LLST). The anomalies were explained by changes in the activation energy and the cluster size. As the cluster size decreases, the activation energy decreases, but the viscosity and electrical resistance increase. LLST begins with the cluster dissolution, and as a result, the Arrhenius plot becomes nonlinear in the transition temperature range. After three cycles of heating–cooling, the temperature dependences of the kinematic viscosity and electrical resistance did not qualitatively change, and this allows us to conclude that LLST is thermoreversible. With an increase in the number of thermal cycles, the activation energy of viscous flow decreases, as well as the onset temperature and temperature range of LLST.

Temporal assortment of cooperators in the spatial prisoner’s dilemma

We study a spatial, one-shot prisoner’s dilemma (PD) model in which selection operates on both an organism’s behavioral strategy (cooperate or defect) and its decision of when to implement that strategy, which we depict as an organism’s choice of one point in time, out of a set of discrete time slots, at which to carry out its PD strategy. Results indicate selection for cooperators across various time slots and parameter settings, including parameter settings in which cooperation would not evolve in an exclusively spatial model—as in work investigating exogenously imposed temporal networks. Moreover, in the presence of time slots, cooperators’ portion of the population grows even under different combinations of spatial structure, transition rules, and update dynamics, though rates of cooperator fixation decline under pairwise comparison and synchronous updating. These findings indicate that, under certain evolutionary processes, merely existing in time and space promotes the evolution of cooperation.

Family Structure Transitions: Prevalence and Physical Health Effects in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam

This study aimed to identify the prevalence and physical health consequences of family structure transitions among children in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. In many high-income countries, family structure transitions are common, and research suggests that they can lead to worse physical health for children. However, we know little about either the prevalence or consequences of family structure transitions for children in low-and middle-income countries, who make up the vast majority of the world’s children. First, we estimated the number of family structure transitions by age 12 using four rounds of Young Lives data from four low-and middle-income countries (N = 8062, Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam) and validated our prevalence estimates with another dataset from these same countries. The proportion of children experiencing a family structure transition by age 12 was: 14.8% in Ethiopia, 5.6% in India, 22.0% in Peru, and 7.7% in Vietnam. We put these estimates in context by comparing them to 17 high- and upper-middle-income countries. Second, using linear mixed models, we found that family structure transitions were not directly associated with worse physical health for children in Ethiopia, India, Peru, and Vietnam. Children in Peru experienced higher rates of family structure transitions relative to children in the other Young Lives countries, and similar rates to many of the 17 comparison countries, yet physical health was unaffected. It is possible that in low-and middle-income countries, the environment may overwhelm family stability as a determinant of physical health.

Special features of short-duration processes in condensed media

The problem of the short-duration processes is considered on the base of the nonlocal theory of non-equilibrium transport, taking into account inertial effects. The system temporal evolution out of equilibrium connected to the dynamic structure transition described by the Speed-Gradient principle (SG-principle or SGP) developed in control theory and cybernetic physics. In the manuscript, we show that retardation of the system response to the short-duration loading due to inertial effects influences on the system evolution and can change its direction. The response to the shock loading of condensed matter is compared to quasi-stationary loading in a wide range of conditions. The short duration loading can lead the system into the structure unstable state and even give rise to self-organization of turbulent structures in the medium. The use of SGP for the modelling of such processes opens new possibilities to control them.