Synthesis and forming behavior of aluminium-based hybrid powder metallurgic composites

Aluminium-based metal matrix composites were synthesized from Al-TiO₂-Gr powder mixtures using the powder metallurgy technique and their forming characteristics were studied during cold upsetting. Green cylindrical compacts of pure Al, Al-5wt%TiO₂, Al-5wt%TiO₂-2wt%Gr, and Al-5wt%TiO₂-4wt%Gr were made using a 400-kN hydraulic press equipped with suitable punch and die and by sintering at (590 ± 10)℃ for 3 h. Cold upset forging tests were carried out, the true axial stress (σ_z), the true hoop stress (σ_θ), and the true hydrostatic stress (σ_m) were evaluated and, their behavior against the true axial strain (?_z) was also analyzed. It is observed that the addition of 5wt% TiO₂ into the Al matrix increases σ_z, σ_θ, and σ_m. The addition of both TiO₂ and Gr reinforcements reduces the densification and deformation characteristics of the sintered preforms during cold upsetting. Microstructure analyses of the as-sintered and cold upset forged specimens also were carried out to substantiate the experimental results.     

The impact of specialized enemies on the dimensionality of host dynamics

Although individual species persist within a web of interactions with other species, data are usually gathered only from the focal species itself. We ask whether evidence of a species' interactions be detected and understood from patterns in the dynamics of that species alone. Theory predicts that strong coupling between a prey and a specialist predator/parasite should lead to an increase in the dimensionality of the prey's dynamics, whereas weak coupling should not. Here we describe a rare test of this prediction. Two natural enemies were added separately to replicate populations of a moth. For biological reasons that we identify here, the prediction of increased dimensionality was confirmed when a parasitoid wasp was added (although this increase had subtleties not previously appreciated), but the prediction failed for an added virus. Thus, an imprint of the interactions may be discerned within time-series data from component species of a system.     

Integration of cytogenetic landmarks into the draft sequence of the human genome

We have placed 7,600 cytogenetically defined landmarks on the draft sequence of the human genome to help with the characterization of genes altered by gross chromosomal aberrations that cause human disease. The landmarks are large-insert clones mapped to chromosome bands by fluorescence in situ hybridization. Each clone contains a sequence tag that is positioned on the genomic sequence. This genome-wide set of sequence-anchored clones allows structural and functional analyses of the genome. This resource represents the first comprehensive integration of cytogenetic, radiation hybrid, linkage and sequence maps of the human genome; provides an independent validation of the sequence map and framework for contig order and orientation; surveys the genome for large-scale duplications, which are likely to require special attention during sequence assembly; and allows a stringent assessment of sequence differences between the dark and light bands of chromosomes. It also provides insight into large-scale chromatin structure and the evolution of chromosomes and gene families and will accelerate our understanding of the molecular bases of human disease and cancer.     

Invasion sequence affects predator-prey dynamics in a multi-species interaction

Ecologists seek to understand the rules that govern the assembly, coexistence and persistence of communities of interacting species. There is, however, a variety of sequences in which a multi-species community can be assembled--unlike more familiar one- and two-species systems. Ecological systems can exhibit contrasting dynamics depending on initial conditions, but studies have been focused on simple communities initiated at different densities, not on multi-species communities constructed in different sequences. Investigations of permanence and convergence in ecological communities have been concerned with the flux of whole species (presence or absence) but have not addressed the central issues concerning the dynamics exhibited by individual species in particular interactions. Here we examine data for replicated three-species systems and demonstrate that the dynamic trajectories of both a predator and its prey within the system are determined by the sequence in which it is constructed, and that for one construction-sequence alternative dynamic patterns are possible.