Adaptable or adapted? Whether it is a question of physical, biological, or even economic systems, this problem arises when all these systems are the location of matter and energy conversion. To this interdisciplinary question, we propose a theoretical framework based on the two principles of thermodynamics. Considering a finite time linear thermodynamic approach, we show that non-equilibrium systems operating in a quasi-static regime are quite deterministic as long as boundary conditions are correctly defined. The Novikov-Curzon-Ahlborn derivation applied to non-endoreversible systems then makes it possible to precisely determine the conditions for obtaining characteristic operating points. As a result, power maximization principle (MPP), entropy minimization principle (mEP), efficiency maximization, or waste minimization states are only specific modalities of system operation. We show that boundary conditions play a major role in defining operating points because they define the intensity of the feedback that ultimately characterizes the operation. Armed with these thermodynamic foundations, we show that the intrinsically most efficient systems are also the most constrained in terms of controlling the entropy and dissipation production. In particular, we show that the best figure of merit necessarily leads to a vanishing production of power. On the other hand, a class of systems emerges, which, although they do not offer extreme efficiency or power, have a wide range of use and therefore marked robustness. It therefore appears that the number of degrees of freedom of the system leads to an optimization of the allocation of entropy production.In this article, we will solve the Bagley-Torvik equation by employing integral transform method. Caputo fractional derivative operator is used in the modeling of the equation. The obtained solution is expressed in terms of generalized G function. Further, we will compare the obtained results with other available results in the literature to validate their usefulness. Furthermore, examples are included to highlight the control of the fractional parameters on he dynamics of the model. Moreover, we use this equation in modelling of real free oscillations of a one-degree-of-freedom mechanical system composed of a cart connected with the springs to the support and moving via linear rolling bearing block along a rail.The self-organizing fuzzy (SOF) logic classifier is an efficient and non-parametric classifier. Its classification process is divided into an offline training stage, an online training stage, and a testing stage. Representative samples of different categories are obtained through the first two stages, and these representative samples are called prototypes. However, in the testing stage, the classification of testing samples is completely dependent on the prototype with the maximum similarity, without considering the influence of other prototypes on the classification decision of testing samples. Aiming at the testing stage, this paper proposed a new SOF classifier based on the harmonic mean difference (HMDSOF). In the testing stage of HMDSOF, firstly, each prototype was sorted in descending order according to the similarity between each prototype in the same category and the testing sample. Secondly, multiple local mean vectors of the prototypes after sorting were calculated. Finally, the testing sample was classified into the category with the smallest harmonic mean difference. Based on the above new method, in this paper, the multiscale permutation entropy (MPE) was used to extract fault features, linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was used to reduce the dimension of fault features, and the proposed HMDSOF was further used to classify the features. At the end of this paper, the proposed fault diagnosis method was applied to the diagnosis examples of two groups of different rolling bearings. The results verify the superiority and generalization of the proposed fault diagnosis method.Complex networks structures have been extensively used for describing complex natural and technological systems, like the Internet or social networks. More recently, complex network theory has been applied to quantum systems, where complex network topologies may emerge in multiparty quantum states and quantum algorithms have been studied in complex graph structures. In this work, we study multimode Continuous Variables entangled states, named cluster states, where the entanglement structure is arranged in typical real-world complex networks shapes. Cluster states are a resource for measurement-based quantum information protocols, where the quality of a cluster is assessed in terms of the minimal amount of noise it introduces in the computation. We study optimal graph states that can be obtained with experimentally realistic quantum resources, when optimized via analytical procedure. We show that denser and regular graphs allow for better optimization. In the spirit of quantum routing, we also show the reshaping of entanglement connections in small networks via linear optics operations based on numerical optimization.Asymmetry in contrarian behavior is investigated within the Galam model of opinion dynamics using update groups of size 3 with two competing opinions A and B. Denoting x and y the respective proportions of A and B contrarians, four schemes of implementations are studied. https://www.selleckchem.com/products/gdc-1971.html The first scheme activates contrarians after each series of updates with probabilities x and y for agents holding respectively opinion A and B. Second scheme activates contrarians within the update groups only against global majority with probability x when A is the majority and y when B is the majority. The third scheme considers in-group contrarians acting prior to the local majority update against both local majority and minority opinions. The last scheme activates in-group contrarians prior to the local majority update but only against the local majority. The main result is the loss of the fifty-fifty attractor produced by symmetric contrarians. Producing a bit less contrarians on its own side than the other side becomes the key to win a public debate, which in turn can guarantee an election victory. The associated phase diagram of opinion dynamics is found to exhibit a rich variety of counterintuitive results.Fatigue in any material is a result of continuous irreversible degradation process. Traditionally, fatigue life is predicted by extrapolating experimentally curve fitted empirical models. In the current study, unified mechanics theory is used to predict life of Ti-6Al-4V under monotonic tensile, compressive and cyclic load conditions. The unified mechanics theory is used to derive a constitutive model for fatigue life prediction using a three-dimensional computational model. The proposed analytical and computational models have been used to predict the low cycle fatigue life of Ti-6Al-4V alloys. It is shown that the unified mechanics theory can be used to predict fatigue life of Ti-6Al-4V alloys by using simple predictive models that are based on fundamental equation of the material, which is based on thermodynamics associated with degradation of materials.The many-body dynamics of an electron spin-1/2 qubit coupled to a bath of nuclear spins by hyperfine interactions, as described by the central spin model in two kinds of external field, are studied in this paper. In a completely polarized bath, we use the state recurrence method to obtain the exact solution of the X X Z central spin model in a constant magnetic field and numerically analyze the influence of the disorder strength of the magnetic field on fidelity and entanglement entropy. For a constant magnetic field, the fidelity presents non-attenuating oscillations. The anisotropic parameter λ and the magnetic field strength B significantly affect the dynamic behaviour of the central spin. Unlike the periodic oscillation in the constant magnetic field, the decoherence dynamics of the central spin act like a damping oscillation in a disordered field, where the central spin undergoes a relaxation process and eventually reaches a stable state. The relaxation time of this process is affected by the disorder strength and the anisotropic parameter, where a larger anisotropic parameter or disorder strength can speed up the relaxation process. Compared with the constant magnetic field, the disordered field can regulate the decoherence over a large range, independent of the anisotropic parameter.The new era of quantum foundations, fed by the quantum information theory experience and opened in the early 2000s by a series of memorable papers [...].Superpixel clustering is one of the most popular computer vision techniques that aggregates coherent pixels into perceptually meaningful groups, taking inspiration from Gestalt grouping rules. link2 However, due to brain complexity, the underlying mechanisms of such perceptual rules are unclear. Thus, conventional superpixel methods do not completely follow them and merely generate a flat image partition rather than hierarchical ones like a human does. link3 In addition, those methods need to initialize the total number of superpixels, which may not suit diverse images. In this paper, we first propose context-aware superpixel (CASP) that follows both Gestalt grouping rules and the top-down hierarchical principle. Thus, CASP enables to adapt the total number of superpixels to specific images automatically. Next, we propose bilateral entropy, with two aspects conditional intensity entropy and spatial occupation entropy, to evaluate the encoding efficiency of image coherence. Extensive experiments demonstrate CASP achieves better superpixel segmentation performance and less entropy than baseline methods. More than that, using Pearson's correlation coefficient, a collection of data with a total of 120 samples demonstrates a strong correlation between local image coherence and superpixel segmentation performance. Our results inversely support the reliability of above-mentioned perceptual rules, and eventually, we suggest designing novel entropy criteria to test the encoding efficiency of more complex patterns.Laser-induced incandescence (LII) is a powerful diagnostic technique allowing quantifying soot emissions in flames and at the exhaust of combustion systems. It can be advantageously coupled with modeling approaches to infer information on the physical properties of combustion-generated particles (including their size), which implies formulating and solving balance equations accounting for laser-excited soot heating and cooling processes. Properly estimating soot diameter by time-resolved LII (TiRe-LII), nevertheless, requires correctly evaluating the thermal accommodation coefficient α T driving the energy transferred by heat conduction between soot aggregates and their surroundings. To analyze such an aspect, an extensive set of LII signals has been acquired in a Diesel spray flame before being simulated using a refined model built upon expressions accounting for soot heating by absorption, annealing, and oxidation as well as cooling by radiation, sublimation, conduction, and thermionic emission. Within this framework, different conduction sub-models have been tested while a corrective factor allowing the particle aggregate properties to be taken into account has also been considered to simulate the so-called shielding effect. Using a fitting procedure coupling design of experiments and a genetic algorithm-based solver, the implemented model has been parameterized so as to obtain simulated data merging on a single curve with experimentally monitored ones. Eventually, values of the thermal accommodation coefficient have been estimated with each tested conduction sub-model while the influence of the aggregate size on the so-inferred α T has been analyzed.