Miracle-dz/UniFAR-FTUs huggingface dataset:
A Note on Graph Coloring Extensions and List-Colorings

Let G be a graph with maximum degree 3 not equal toK+1 and let P be a subset of vertices with pairwise distance, d(P ), between them at least 8. Let each vertex x be assigned a list of colors of size if x 2 V \P and 1 if x 2 P . W e prove that it is possible to color V (G) such that adjacent vertices receive dierent colors and each vertex has a color from its list. We show that d(P ) cannot be improved. This generalization of Brooks’ theorem answers the following question of Albertson positively: If G and P are objects described above, can any coloring of P in at most colors be extended to a proper coloring of G in at most colors? We say that a vertex-coloring of a graph G =( V,E )i sproper if the colors used on adjacent vertices are distinct. For an assignment of a color set (typically called a list) l(x) to each vertex x 2 V , we say that vertices are colored from their lists by a coloring c if c(x) 2 l(x) for each x 2 V ; c is called a list-coloring of G . A coloringc of V (G) extends a coloring c 0 of vertices in P if it is a proper coloring with c(x )= c 0 (x) for each x 2 P . W e denote by dG(x) the degree of x in a graph G and by G[X] the subgraph of G induced by a set of vertices X. The classic Brooks’ theorem states that any simple connected graph G with maximum degree can be colored properly in at most colors unless G = K+1 or G is an odd cycle. Recently, Albertson posed the following question. Take a graph described above, precolor a fixed set of vertices P in colors arbitrarily. Under what condition on P can we extend that coloring to a proper coloring of G in at most colors? He asks whether this condition is a large distance between the vertices in P . Albertson noticed though, that the maximum degree of a graph should be at least three. Indeed, it is easy to see that one cannot obtain a proper coloring of a path with an even number of vertices in two colors if the end-points are precolored in the same color. Here, we show that if the maximum degree is at least three, then there is a positive answer to Albertson’s question when the pairwise distance, d(P ), between vertices of P is at least 8; moreover, this distance is optimal. The color extension problem is closely related to the concept of a list-coloring
Multiplicative functions in short intervals

We introduce a general result relating "short averages" of a multiplicative function to "long averages" which are well understood. This result has several consequences. First, for the M\"obius function we show that there are cancellations in the sum of $\mu(n)$ in almost all intervals of the form $[x, x + \psi(x)]$ with $\psi(x) \rightarrow \infty$ arbitrarily slowly. This goes beyond what was previously known conditionally on the Density Hypothesis or the stronger Riemann Hypothesis. Second, we settle the long-standing conjecture on the existence of $x^{\epsilon}$-smooth numbers in intervals of the form $[x, x + c(\varepsilon) \sqrt{x}]$, recovering unconditionally a conditional (on the Riemann Hypothesis) result of Soundararajan. Third, we show that the mean-value of $\lambda(n)\lambda(n+1)$, with $\lambda(n)$ Liouville's function, is non-trivially bounded in absolute value by $1 - \delta$ for some $\delta > 0$. This settles an old folklore conjecture and constitutes progress towards Chowla's conjecture. Fourth, we show that a (general) real-valued multiplicative function $f$ has a positive proportion of sign changes if and only if $f$ is negative on at least one integer and non-zero on a positive proportion of the integers. This improves on many previous works, and is new already in the case of the M\"obius function. We also obtain some additional results on smooth numbers in almost all intervals, and sign changes of multiplicative functions in all intervals of square-root length.
Cell Culture Replication of a Genotype 1b Hepatitis C Virus Isolate Cloned from a Patient Who Underwent Liver Transplantation

The introduction of the genotype 2a isolate JFH1 was a major breakthrough in the field of hepatitis C virus (HCV), allowing researchers to study the complete life cycle of the virus in cell culture. However, fully competent culture systems encompassing the most therapeutically relevant HCV genotypes are still lacking, especially for the highly drug-resistant genotype 1b. For most isolated HCV clones, efficient replication in cultured hepatoma cells requires the introduction of replication-enhancing mutations. However, such mutations may interfere with viral assembly, as occurs in the case of the genotype 1b isolate Con1. In this study, we show that a clinical serum carrying a genotype 1b virus with an exceptionally high viral load was able to infect Huh7.5 cells. Similar to previous reports, inoculation of Huh7.5 cells by natural virus is very inefficient compared to infection by cell culture HCV. A consensus sequence of a new genotype 1b HCV isolate was cloned from the clinical serum (designated Barcelona HCV1), and then subjected to replication studies. This virus replicated poorly in a transient fashion in Huh7.5 cells after electroporation with in vitro transcribed RNA. Nonetheless, approximately 3 weeks post electroporation and thereafter, core protein-positive cells were detected by immunofluorescence. Surprisingly, small amounts of core protein were also measurable in the supernatant of electroporated cells, suggesting that HCV particles might be assembled and released. Our findings not only enhance the current method of cloning in vitro HCV replication-competent isolates, but also offer valuable insights for the realization of fully competent culture systems for HCV.
Deep learning for integrated hand detection and pose estimation

We propose a novel framework which integrates human hand detection and pose estimation into one single pipeline. Unlike most of previous works which only focus on the pose estimation part subject to some strong assumptions or relying on a weak detector to detect human hands, we employ a deep learning architecture to complete both aforementioned tasks. By letting three different neural networks share the convolutional layers, this deeply learning architecture can efficiently and accurately detect human hands and compute their hand pose configuration. Moreover, we propose a new energy function to optimize the predicted result of convolutional neural network. To validate the proposed framework, experiments have been conducted and the results show that our approach is highly reliable and suitable for real-world applications.
Pharmacological inhibition of the chemokine receptor CX3CR1 attenuates disease in a chronic-relapsing rat model for multiple sclerosis

Significance Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory and degenerative disease of the central nervous system (CNS) causing paralysis. The most effective treatments for MS aim to block infiltration of inflammatory cells to the brain. However, severe side effects related to the broad-acting specificity of these treatments exist. AZD8797, a unique inhibitor of the chemokine receptor CX3CR1, provides inhibition of subpopulations of peripheral leukocytes with potential for a beneficial effect: side effect ratio. We provide evidence that blocking this receptor results in reduced paralysis, inflammation, and degeneration in the CNS in a disease model for MS. Furthermore, CX3CR1 expression analysis in the MS brain strengthens the evidence for CX3CR1 as a new target for the treatment of MS. One hallmark of multiple sclerosis (MS) and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) is infiltration of leukocytes into the CNS, where chemokines and their receptors play a major mediatory role. CX3CR1 is a chemokine receptor involved in leukocyte adhesion and migration and hence a mediator of immune defense reactions. The role of CX3CR1 in MS and EAE pathogenesis however remains to be fully assessed. Here, we demonstrate CX3CR1 mRNA expression on inflammatory cells within active plaque areas in MS brain autopsies. To test whether blocking CNS infiltration of peripheral leukocytes expressing CX3CR1 would be a suitable treatment strategy for MS, we developed a selective, high-affinity inhibitor of CX3CR1 (AZD8797). The compound is active outside the CNS and AZD8797 treatment in Dark Agouti rats with myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-induced EAE resulted in reduced paralysis, CNS pathology, and incidence of relapses. The compound is effective when starting treatment before onset, as well as after the acute phase. This treatment strategy is mechanistically similar to, but more restricted than, current very late antigen-4–directed approaches that have significant side effects. We suggest that blocking CX3CR1 on leukocytes outside the CNS could be an alternative approach to treat MS.
BibSonomy: a social bookmark and publication sharing system

Auch erschienen in: Moor, Aldo de u.a. (Hrsg.): Proceedings of the First Conceptual Structures Tool Interoperability Workshop at the 14th International Conference on Conceptual Structures. Aalborg : Universitetsforlag, 2006. S. 87-102
Merits and limits of the modified Becke-Johnson exchange potential

The modified Becke-Johnson exchange potential [F. Tran and P. Blaha, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 226401 (2009)] (TB-mBJ) is tested on various types of solids which are difficult to describe theoretically: nonmagnetic semiconducting transition-metal oxides and sulfides, metals (Fe, Co, Ni, and Cu), and (anti)ferromagnetic insulators (e.g., YBa2Cu3O6). The results for the band gap and other quantities such as the magnetic moment or electric field gradient are analyzed in detail, in particular to have a better understanding of the mechanism which leads to improved (or sometimes worse) results with the TB-mBJ potential compared to the standard local density and generalized gradient approximations.
Colour preferences and colour vision in poultry chicks

The dramatic colours of biological communication signals raise questions about how animals perceive suprathreshold colour differences, and there are long-standing questions about colour preferences and colour categorization by non-human species. This study investigates preferences of foraging poultry chicks (Gallus gallus) as they peck at coloured objects. Work on colour recognition often deals with responses to monochromatic lights and how animals divide the spectrum. We used complementary colours, where the intermediate is grey, and related the chicks' choices to three models of the factors that may affect the attractiveness. Two models assume that attractiveness is determined by a metric based on the colour discrimination threshold either (i) by chromatic contrast against the background or (ii) relative to an internal standard. An alternative third model is that categorization is important. We tested newly hatched and 9-day-old chicks with four pairs of (avian) complementary colours, which were orange, blue, red and green for humans. Chromatic contrast was more relevant to newly hatched chicks than to 9-day-old birds, but in neither case could contrast alone account for preferences; especially for orange over blue. For older chicks, there is evidence for categorization of complementary colours, with a boundary at grey.
Microwave curing bismaleimide-triazine composites filled with micro-silica and nano-silica

A novel composite of bismaleimide-triazine (BT) resins containing 2,2′-diallyl bisphenol A (DABPA) and filled with the mixture of micro- and nano-silica particles were cured by conventional thermal and microwave-assisted process. The dielectric and mechanical properties of BT composites were studied in this paper. The results indicated that the curing method, particle size and content of silica had influences on the dielectric and mechanical properties of BT composites. The dielectric constant and dielectric loss tangent of microwave-cured samples were lower than those of the thermal cured samples because of the different curing mechanism. With the increase of micro-silica content, the dielectric constant of BT composites increased, while the dielectric loss tangent decreased. Due to the decrease of the free volume, the dielectric constant and dielectric loss tangent decreased when the nano-silica particles were incorporated into the composites. In addition, the flexural strength of the BT composites will also be improved by incorporating appropriate amount of micro- and nano-silica particles.
Identification of targets and new developments in the treatment of multiple sclerosis – focus on cladribine

Orally available disease-modifying drugs for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (MS) represent an unmet need for this chronic and debilitating disease. Among 5 currently investigated drugs at phase 3 clinical stage, promising efficacy data for fingolimod and oral cladribine have recently been published. However, benefits need to be weighed against the risks to define the role of these compounds within current treatment regimens. In this review, data on the efficacy of a promising compound, oral cladribine, are discussed and balanced with known and anticipated risks in a postmarketing era, and finally gives an outlook on the potential place of this drug in treatment algorithms for MS in the future.
Relation of family history of prostate cancer to perceived vulnerability and screening behavior

Men with a positive family history of prostate cancer are known to be at increased risk for the disease; however, relatively little is known about their risk perceptions or screening behavior. To address these issues, the current study examined the relationship of family history of prostate cancer to perceived vulnerability of developing prostate cancer and prostate cancer screening practices. Participants were 83 men with a positive family history of prostate cancer and 83 men with a negative family history of prostate cancer. As predicted, men with a positive family history reported greater (p⩽0.05) perceived vulnerability of developing prostate cancer and stronger intentions to undergo screening (p⩽0.05). They also reported greater past performance of prostate‐specific antigen screening and were more likely to request information about prostate cancer (p⩽0.05). Additional analyses indicated that perceived vulnerability mediated the relation between family history and intentions to undergo prostate cancer screening. Findings confirm the increased likelihood of men with a positive family history to undergo prostate cancer screening and suggest that heightened concerns about developing the disease are an important motivating factor. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Offsetting the Incentives: Risk Shifting and Benefits of Benchmarking in Money Management

Money managers are rewarded for increasing the value of assets under management, and predominantly so in the mutual fund industry. This gives the manager an implicit incentive to exploit the well-documented positive fund-flows to relative-performance relationship by manipulating her risk exposure. In a dynamic portfolio choice framework, we show that as the year-end approaches, the ensuing convexities in the manager's objective induce her to closely mimic the index, relative to which her performance is evaluated, when the fund's year-to-date return is sufficiently high. As her relative performance falls behind, she chooses to deviate from the index by either increasing or decreasing the volatility of her portfolio. The maximum deviation is achieved at a critical level of underperformance. It may be optimal for the manager to reach such deviation via selling the risky asset despite its positive risk premium. Under multiple sources of risk, with both systematic and idiosyncratic risks present, we show that optimal managerial risk shifting may not necessarily involve taking on any idiosyncratic risk. Costs of misaligned incentives to investors resulting from the manager's policy are economically significant. We then demonstrate how a simple risk management practice that accounts for benchmarking can ameliorate the adverse effects of managerial incentives.
Cycling of Ultrafine-Grained Ti-6Al-4V ELI Alloy: Microstructural Changes and Enhanced Fatigue Limit

Ti-6Al-4V ELI (extra low interstitials) was processed by equal channel angular pressing in order to obtain an ultrafine-grained (UFG) microstructure which is known to enhance the fatigue behavior of metallic materials. Fatigue properties of UFG Ti-6Al-4V ELI were studied by strain and stress controlled fatigue tests. UFG Ti-6Al-4V ELI shows an improvement of the fatigue behavior compared to conventional grain (CG) size counterpart. Microstructural investigations prior to and after fatigue testing confirm a high structural stability of the UFG material. Hence, the UFG alloy has a high potential for prospective use in biomedical and engineering applications.
An Optimal Task Allocation Model for System Cost Analysis in Heterogeneous Distributed Computing Systems: A Heuristic Approach

Distributed computing systems (DCSs), task allocation strategy is an essential phase to minimize the system cost (i.e. the sum of execution and communication costs). To utilize the capabilities of distributed computing system (DCS) for an effective parallelism, the tasks of a parallel program must be properly allocated to the available processors in the system. Inherently, task allocation problem is NP&hard in co mplexity. To overcome this problem, it is necessary to introduce heuristics for generating near optimal solution to the given problem. This paper deals with the problem of task allocation in DCS such that the system cost is minimized. This can be done by minimizing the inter&processor communication cost (IPCC). Ther efore, in this paper we have proposed an algorithm that tries to allocate the tasks to the processors, one by one on the basis of communication link sum (CLS). This type of allocation policy will reduce the inter&processor communication (IPC) and thus minimize the system cost. For an allocation purposes, execution cost of the tasks on each processor and communication cost between the tasks has been taken in the form of matrices.
Binding of Multiple Rap1 Proteins Stimulates Chromosome Breakage Induction during DNA Replication

Telomeres, the ends of linear eukaryotic chromosomes, have a specialized chromatin structure that provides a stable chromosomal terminus. In budding yeast Rap1 protein binds to telomeric TG repeat and negatively regulates telomere length. Here we show that binding of multiple Rap1 proteins stimulates DNA double-stranded break (DSB) induction at both telomeric and non-telomeric regions. Consistent with the role of DSB induction, Rap1 stimulates nearby recombination events in a dosage-dependent manner. Rap1 recruits Rif1 and Rif2 to telomeres, but neither Rif1 nor Rif2 is required for DSB induction. Rap1-mediated DSB induction involves replication fork progression but inactivation of checkpoint kinase Mec1 does not affect DSB induction. Rap1 tethering shortens artificially elongated telomeres in parallel with telomerase inhibition, and this telomere shortening does not require homologous recombination. These results suggest that Rap1 contributes to telomere homeostasis by promoting chromosome breakage.
Impact and wear resistance of polymer nanocomposites at low filler content

It is well known that inorganic filler particles enhance the mechanical and tribological properties of polymers. The stiffness, toughness, and wear performance of the composites are extensively determined by the size, shape, volume content, and especially the dispersion homogeneity of the particles. In the present study, various amounts of micro- and nano-scale particles (titanium dioxide TiO 2 , 200-400 nm, calcium silicate CaSiO 3 , 4-15 μm) were introduced into an epoxy polymer matrix for its reinforcement. The influence of these particles on the impact strength, dynamic mechanical thermal properties, and block-on-ring wear behavior was investigated. Using only the nano-particles, the results demonstrate the best improvement in stiffness, impact strength, and wear resistance of the epoxy at a nano-particle content of 4 vol% TiO 2 . Therefore, this nanocomposite was used to act as a matrix for the CaSiO 3 micro-particles, in the hope of finding synergistic effects between the micro- and the nano-particles. Results show, in fact, a further improvement of wear resistance and stiffness, whereas the impact strength suffers. Geometrical properties of the particles, the homogeneous dispersion state, energy dissipating fracture mechanisms, and a transition of wear mechanisms mostly contribute to the increase in performance.
Nylon-6 and Montmorillonite-Layered Silicate (MLS) Nanocomposites

Reducing the high gas permeability of plastic packaging is of serious concern for a variety of applications in food packaging and microelectronics arena. In the development of high altitude scientific balloons, the potential for unmanned mission success is critically related to the improvement in helium barrier capability. Separately, the introduction of expandable smectite clays, such as montmorillonites, into polymers has resulted in improved barrier properties. Here we investigate the mechanical properties and helium permeability of dispersed montmorillonite-layered silicates (MLS) in nylon-6 nanocomposite films. A 20 wt% MLS in nylon-6 master batch was prepared in a twin-screw extruder and then mixed with nylon to produce nylon MLS nanocomposites with MLS content ranging from 1 to 5% for testing. The nylon nanocomposites were extruded into films. A highly exfoliated dispersion in different films was determined using X-ray diffraction. Nylon-6 nanocomposites showed formation of -crystalline form, which was absent in neat nylon-6. Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) confirmed the crystallinity change and the role of MLS as an additional nucleation contributor. The glass transition and mechanical properties were related to the nucleation capabilities of MLS. Increase in the degree and type of crystallinity together with tortuous path development due to exfoliated dispersion were the primary reasons behind the improvement in gas barrier properties of exfoliated nylon-6 nanocomposites.
Morphometric Parameters of Peripheral Nerves in Calves Correlated with Conduction Velocity

Background Peripheral nerve injuries are the most frequent neurologic disorder in cattle. So far, no physiologic values have been established for the motor nerve conduction velocity (mNCV) in this precocial species. Objectives The electrophysiologic and morphometric reference values of peripheral nerves in calves were determined. It was hypothesized that these parameters would correlate to the high degree of maturity in the first days of life in this species compared to other species. Animals Twenty‐six healthy calves were used in this study. Methods The mNCV of the radial and the sciatic/common peroneal nerve was measured in all 26 calves. Nerve biopsies from a group of 6 calves were taken to correlate the obtained electrophysiologic data with morphological parameters. Results The mean mNCV of the radial nerve was 48.3 ± 10.6 m/s, whereas the mean mNCV of the sciatic/peroneal nerve was with 83.8 ± 5.9 m/s significantly faster (P < .0001). The average fiber diameter was 8.40 ± 2.80 μm (range, 1.98–17.90 μm) and the average g‐ratio was 0.61 ± 0.04 SD. Conclusion and Clinical Importance The established reference values for mNCV in calves correlate well with the evaluated morphometric parameters. Attributable to their comparably fast mNCV and high fiber diameters, juvenile calves appear to be much more mature individuals than other mammals. Electrophysiologic characterization of peripheral nerve injury now is feasible in this species.