Self-organized Collective Motion with a Simulated Real Robot Swarm

Collective motion is one of the most fascinating phenomena observed in the nature. In the last decade, it aroused so much attention in physics, control and robotics fields. In particular, many studies have been done in swarm robotics related to collective motion, also called flocking. In most of these studies, robots use orientation and proximity of their neighbors to achieve collective motion. In such an approach, one of the biggest problems is to measure orientation information using on-board sensors. In most of the studies, this information is either simulated or implemented using communication. In this paper, to the best of our knowledge, we implemented a fully autonomous coordinated motion without alignment using very simple Mona robots. We used an approach based on Active Elastic Sheet (AES) method. We modified the method and added the capability to enable the swarm to move toward a desired direction and rotate about an arbitrary point. The parameters of the modified method are optimized using TCACS optimization algorithm. We tested our approach in different settings using Matlab and Webots

Geochemistry and Sr-Nd Isotopes of the Oligo-Miocene Bagh-e-Khoshk Granitoid in SE of the UDMA, Iran: Implications for Petrogenesis and Geodynamic Setting

Oligo-Miocene Bagh-e-Khoshk granitoid stock is intruded into the Eocene volcanic rocks in the southeastern part of the Urumieh-Dukhtar Magmatic assemblage in Iran. The granitoids are mainly consisting of diorite, quartz diorite and granodioritic rock types. They are metaluminous to slightly peraluminous, medium to high K calc-alkaline, with SiO2 ranging from 50.2 to 66 wt.%. The major elements mostly define linear trends and negative slopes with increasing of SiO2, while K2O is positively correlated with silica. There is a higher content of Ba, Rb, Nb and Zr elements with increasing SiO2, whereas Sr shows an opposite behavior. Primordial mantle-normalized multi-element patterns show enrichment in LILE relative to HFSE with distinctive Nb, Ta, Ti negative anomalies. These signatures are typical of subduction related magmas that formed in an active continental margin. The high Ba/La Ba/TiO2, Ba/Nb and Th/Nb ratios emphasizes the significant involvement of fluids during subduction processes. The chondrite-normalized REE patterns of the Bagh-e-Khoshk granitoids show an enrichment in light REEs ((La/Yb)n = 3.84, 7.41), very slightly HREE fractionation patterns ([Gd/Yb]n=1.26–1.83)  and small positive Eu anomalies (EuN/EuN* = 1.01, 1.44) in diorites. Whole-rock Sm–Nd isotope analysis give εNd values (+2.91 to +3.29) and Sr ratios (0.7046–0.7053). The geochemical characteristics, positive εNd and low Sr ratios of the Baghe-Khoshk granitoids suggest their formation from partial melting of the mantle wedge source, at pressures below the garnet stability field, modified by fluids during subduction processes

Magma Evolution and Mantle Metasomatism: Constraints on Olivine Composition in Potassic-Ultrapotassic Mafic Rocks from Lar Igneous Suite, SE of Iran

The Lar igneous suite (LIS), in southeastern Iran, is part of post collisional alkaline magmatism in Sistan suture zone. Shonkinite and kersantite are the only two high-Mg, K-rich olivine bearing rocks in the LIS. We study major and some compatible trace elements in the Lar shonkinite and kersantite (LSK) olivines to define mantle mineralogy and metasomatic processes. Olivines in shonkinite have higher Fo (83-90), compared with those in kersantite (Fo76-80). Ca and Ni contents in the olivines are relatively low, whereas their Mn and Ti contents are high and variable, respectively. Low Ni contents exhibit olivine crystallization at igneous conditions from a magma originated by partial melting of an olivine-rich mantle source. Geochemical date reveal that magma evolution is responsible for high-Mn and low Fo contents in kersantitic olivines. In contrast, high Mn, Mn/Fe and Fo contents in shonkinitic olivines indicate an existence of Mn-rich and Ca-Si-poor metasomatic agents in the source. So, considering the Middle Oligocene-Miocene post-collision nature of the Lar igneous suite, melts or fluids derived from upwelling asthenosphere in the form of magnesitic-carbonatite melts, had great potential in metasomatism of subcontinental lithospheric mantle. This CO2 and K-rich liquid then reacts with peridotite to produce new mineral assemblages including low-Ca clinopyroxene, olivine and phlogopite. Partial melting of such metasomatized source region was responsible for producing the undersaturated, K-rich shonkinite and kersantite in the LIS

Socialism and the Possibility of Utopia in Wesker Trilogy

Every modern epoch seems to produce a small number of artists whose work provides society with an antidote to the ignorance of its own exhaustion. Arnold Wesker is one of these writers who offer this therapeutic service to an ailing body. The Wesker Trilogy (1960) has charted the gradual fading of Communist faith and youthful energy among a group of Jews in the East End of London (1936-1959). In this article the author has applied sociological approach, remarkably moral and philosophical socialism, to The Wesker Trilogy in order to reveal Wesker’s most ambitious achievement and impressive contribution to the English New Wave Theatre and all his working-class audiences. Therefore, the quest for a radically reconfigured socialism, which Wesker articulates with force and passion in The Trilogy, appears by the late 1960s as a quest for survival, not only for the Left itself but for all humankind. Meanwhile, he works to protect human freedom and dignity and to promote a life worth living. Although he follows many of the goals of socialism, he willingly subordinates his socialist principles of solidarity and communal cooperation to defending the rights of the individual. In Wesker’s estimation, no political or religious cause―not even Judaism or socialism―is worth the sacrifice of individual liberty. Finally, what is discussed here is Wesker’s notion of utopia. He thinks that the belief in the utopian ideal could provide a meaning and order for life. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2016.v7n3s1p29

Geothermobarometry of Khunrang intrusive complex (northwest of Jiroft, Kerman province): Constraint on using mineral chemistry of amphibole to determine characteristics of parental magma

Khunrang intrusive complex (KIC), as a one of the largest complexes in the southern part of Sanandaj- Sirjan zone, is located in northwest of Jiroft in the Kerman province. The complex is mainly consists of acidic-intermediate felsic rocks of diorite, quartz diorite, tonalite, granodiorite and granite with subordinate amounts of hornblende gabbro and microgabbro as mafic members. General texture of the samples is hypidiomorphic granular; but porphyry texture with microgranular groundmass also occasionally occurs in felsic samples. Mineral chemistry studies on the amphibole crystals in both felsic and mafic parts of KIC show that they are S-Amph type and magnesio-hornblende in composition that formed in a relatively oxidized environment in an active continental margin. Plagioclases have a range of composition from labradorite (An50.4Ab49.0Or0.6) to oligoclase (An26.2Ab73.0Or0.9) with average of andesine (An36.6Ab62.6Or0.8) and bytownite (An89.6Ab10.4Or0.0) to andesine (An35.8Ab56.0Or8.2) with average of labradorite (An56.8Ab41.9Or1.3) for felsic and mafic samples, respectively. Based on geothermobarometry studies on amphiboles and also amphibole-plagioclase pairs, average temperatures of 760-783°C and 691-717 °C with pressure ranges o