Phenotypic plasticity is a key factor for the success of organisms in heterogeneous environments. Although many forms of phenotypic plasticity can be induced and retracted repeatedly, few extant models have analyzed conditions for the evolution of reversible plasticity. We present a general model of reversible plasticity to examine how plastic shifts in the mode and breadth of environmental tol...

Previous investigations of the movement patterns of older adults have focused on functional movements. Performance declines have been reported with increasing age. Many investigations, however, do not require older adults to perform maximal, force producing actions. Smaller declines might be observed if older adults made a maximal effort. This investigation examined changes in a maximal skill--...

The effect of reaction temperature on the synthesis of graphitic thin film on nickel substrate was investigated in the range of 400°C to 1,000°C. Amorphous carbon (a-C) film was obtained at 400°C on nickel foils by chemical vapor deposition; hybrid films of multilayer graphene (MLG) and a-C were synthesized at a temperature of 600°C, while MLG was obtained at temperatures in excess of 800°C. Sc...

One of the main issues in the production of polymer nanocomposites is the dispersion state of filler as multilayered graphene (MLG) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) tend to agglomerate due to van der Waals forces. The agglomeration can be avoided by using organic solvents, selecting suitable dispersion and production methods, and functionalizing the fillers. Another proposed method is the use of hyb...

This is an extended abstract of a talk to be presented at the Future Issues for Multilingual Text Processing workshop of PRICAI-96. This talk intends to give an overview of the project ACNLG (Applied Chinese Natural Language Generation) as it currently stands. Since we are at the beginning of our project, the discussion has a corresponding preliminary character. By discussing our philosophy and...

The invasion of activated fibroblasts is a key mechanism of tissue fibrosis pathology. The recognition and uptake of apoptotic cells can induce the anti-fibrogenic programming of macrophages. We demonstrate that after interacting with apoptotic cells, macrophages secrete bioactive molecules that antagonize TGF-β1-induced increases in myofibroblast (fibroproliferative) phenotypic markers and red...