This article reflects upon and updates our prize-winning paper, ‘First-mover advantages,’ which was published in SMJ 10 years ago. We discuss the evolution of the literature over the past decade and suggest opportunities for continuing research. In particular, we see benefits from linking empirical findings on first-mover advantages with the complementary stream of research on the resource-base...

We show that the optimization problem is NP-hard for a wide class of motion planning puzzles, including classical SOKOBAN. We investigate a new problem, the Box Mover Problem (BMP), in which the agent is allowed to lift and carry boxes on a rectilinear grid in order to rearrange them. Some classical motion planning puzzles are special cases of BMP. We also identify a natural class of BMP instan...

Previous Perspectives in the Journal of General Physiology have considered (a) the different advantages of two models of ion channel permeation and (b) whether ryanodine receptor adaptation might arise from flash photolysis. Each argument, over the choice of model or influence of technique, is an example of a classic scientific dispute. Here we turn to another hoary old problem—the identificati...

A thermal power station is a power plant in which the prime mover is steam driven. Water is heated, turns into steam and spins a steam turbine which drives an electrical generator. After it passes through the turbine, the steam is condensed in a condenser and recycled to where it was heated; this is known as a Rankine cycle. The greatest variation in the design of thermal power stations is due ...

Energetic autonomy of a hydraulic-based mobile robot requires a power source capable of both hydraulic and electrical power generation. The hydraulic power is used for locomotion and the electric power is used for the control computer, sensors and other peripherals. In addition, the power source must be lightweight and quiet. This study presents several designs of internal combustion engine-bas...

A self-holding three-position electric tubular actuator (SHTPETA) is described in the article. The proposed linear can be applied a clutch system, where it necessary to change certain mover positions over time. Other potential applications of such actuators shift gears, coupling (decoupling) various moving (rotating) mechanisms, or electromagnetic valves. force SHTPETA achieved by reluctance be...

Hybrid transmissions are characterized by their utilization of more than one form of energy storage. They have the potential to help reduce overall fuel consumption and vehicle emissions by providing the possibility of brake energy recuperation and prime mover operation management. Electric hybrids and electric vehicle drives are nowadays ubiquitous, and mechanical energy storage in flywheel ha...

The primary motor cortex produces motor commands that include encoding the direction of movement. Excitability of the motor cortex in the reaction time (RT) task can be assessed using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). To elucidate the timing of the increase in cortical excitability and of the determination of movement direction before movement onset, we asked six right-handed, healthy su...

PURPOSE This study evaluated the effect of remote voluntary contractions(RVC) on concentric isokinetic knee extensor and flexor peak torque, rate of torque development, power, and work, the activation of the affected muscles, and gender differences therein. METHODS Eleven men and 12 women were evaluated with EMG and isokinetic dynamometry during knee extension and flexion tests in RVC and bas...

We live in times of anthropogenic climate crisis. Or do we? This essay shows how “humanity” is a thoroughly modern fetish forged the bloodbath militarized accumulation and conquest after 1492. To say that Anthropos drives crisis implicates historical actor does not exist. But reality different. Humanity nothing. Specific groups humans make history – empires, classes, religious institutions, arm...