Swarm optimization, swarm intelligence and swarm robotics are the fields considering a group of relatively simple individuals able cooperate to perform complex tasks, in decentralized manner. The inspiration is found in the first line within animal societies, such as birds, ants and bees. Social insects exhibit successful behavior in performing complex tasks on the level of the group, and are a...

Tuberculosis (TB) remains the single most infectious disease causing the highest mortality in humans. India is the highest TB burden country according to World Health Organization (WHO) statistics for 2011. The previous studies in India showed that 3% of multi drug resistant TB (MDR-TB) is seen in new tuberculosis cases and 17.2% among retreatment cases. The alarming increase in MDR-TB and the ...

This paper discusses a recent proposal for the simulation of acoustic black holes with ions (Horstmann et al 2010 Phys. Rev. Lett. 104 250403). Ions are rotating on a ring with an inhomogeneous but stationary velocity profile. Phonons cannot leave a region in which the ion velocity exceeds the group velocity of the phonons, like light cannot escape from a black hole. The system is described by ...