Logarithmic corrections in the free energy of monomer-dimer model on plane lattices with free boundaries

Using exact computations we study the classical hard-core monomer-dimer models on m x n plane lattice strips with free boundaries. For an arbitrary number v of monomers (or vacancies), we found a logarithmic correction term in the finite-size correction of the free energy. The coefficient of the logarithmic correction term depends on the number of monomers present (v) and the parity of the width n of the lattice strip: the coefficient equals to v when n is odd, and v/2 when n is even. The results are generalizations of the previous results for a single monomer in an otherwise fully packed lattice of dimers.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Inclusive One Jet Production With Multiple Interactions in the Regge Limit of pQCD

DIS on a two nucleon system in the regge limit is considered. In this framework a review is given of a pQCD approach for the computation of the corrections to the inclusive one jet production cross section at finite number of colors and discuss the general results.Comment: 4 pages, latex, aicproc format, Contribution to the proceedings of "Diffraction 2008", 9-14 Sep. 2008, La Londe-les-Maures, Franc

Fundamental Cycles and Graph Embeddings

In this paper we present a new Good Characterization of maximum genus of a graph which makes a common generalization of the works of Xuong, Liu, and Fu et al. Based on this, we find a new polynomially bounded algorithm to find the maximum genus of a graph

Experimenting with Cigarettes and Physical Activity Among Mexican Origin Youth: A Cross Sectional Analysis of the Interdependent Associations Among Sensation Seeking, Acculturation, and Gender

Sensation seeking tendencies tend to manifest during adolescence and are associated with both health-compromising behaviors and health-enhancing behaviors. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the relationship between sensation seeking and physical activity, a health-enhancing behavior, and between sensation seeking and experimenting with cigarettes, a health compromising-behavior, among a cohort of Mexican origin adolescents residing in the United States with different levels of acculturation. Methods: In 2009, 1,154 Mexican origin youth (50.5% girls, mean age 14.3 years (SD = 1.04)) provided data on smoking behavior, physical activity, linguistic acculturation, and sensation seeking. We conducted Pearson's chi(2) tests to examine the associations between categorical demographic characteristics (i.e. gender, age, country of birth and parental educational attainment) and both cigarette experimentation and physical activity and Student's t-tests to examine mean differences on the continuous variables (i.e. sensation seeking subscale) by the behaviors. We examined mean differences in the demographic characteristics, acculturation, and both behaviors for each of the sensation seeking subscales using analysis of variance (ANOVA). To examine relationships between the sensation seeking subscales, gender, and both behaviors, at different levels of acculturation we completed unconditional logistic regression analyses stratified by level of acculturation. Results: Overall, 23.3% had experimented with cigarettes and 29.0% reported being physically active for at least 60 minutes/day on at least 5 days/week. Experimenting with cigarettes and being physically active were more prevalent among boys than girls. Among girls, higher levels of sensation seeking tendencies were associated with higher levels of acculturation and experimentation with cigarettes, but not with physical activity. Among boys, higher levels of sensation seeking tendencies were associated with higher levels of acculturation, experimenting with cigarettes and being physically active. Conclusions: Our results suggest that interventions designed to prevent smoking among Mexican origin youth may need to address social aspects associated with acculturation, paying close attention to gendered manifestations of sensation seeking.National Cancer Institute CA105203, CA126988Caroline W. Law Fund for Cancer PreventionDan Duncan Family Institute for Cancer Prevention and Risk AssessmentCenter for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Research in Underserved Population

Better Synchronizability Predicted by Crossed Double Cycle

In this brief report, we propose a network model named crossed double cycles, which are completely symmetrical and can be considered as the extensions of nearest-neighboring lattices. The synchronizability, measured by eigenratio $R$, can be sharply enhanced by adjusting the only parameter, crossed length $m$. The eigenratio $R$ is shown very sensitive to the average distance $L$, and the smaller average distance will lead to better synchronizability. Furthermore, we find that, in a wide interval, the eigenratio $R$ approximately obeys a power-law form as $R\sim L^{1.5}$.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Finding 2-Edge and 2-Vertex Strongly Connected Components in Quadratic Time

We present faster algorithms for computing the 2-edge and 2-vertex strongly connected components of a directed graph, which are straightforward generalizations of strongly connected components. While in undirected graphs the 2-edge and 2-vertex connected components can be found in linear time, in directed graphs only rather simple $O(m n)$-time algorithms were known. We use a hierarchical sparsification technique to obtain algorithms that run in time $O(n^2)$. For 2-edge strongly connected components our algorithm gives the first running time improvement in 20 years. Additionally we present an $O(m^2 / \log{n})$-time algorithm for 2-edge strongly connected components, and thus improve over the $O(m n)$ running time also when $m = O(n)$. Our approach extends to k-edge and k-vertex strongly connected components for any constant k with a running time of $O(n^2 \log^2 n)$ for edges and $O(n^3)$ for vertices

Counting flags in triangle-free digraphs

Motivated by the Caccetta-Haggkvist Conjecture, we prove that every digraph on n vertices with minimum outdegree 0.3465n contains an oriented triangle. This improves the bound of 0.3532n of Hamburger, Haxell and Kostochka. The main new tool we use in our proof is the theory of flag algebras developed recently by Razborov.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures; this is the final version to appear in Combinatoric

Anti-CRISPR-mediated control of gene editing and synthetic circuits in eukaryotic cells.

Repurposed CRISPR-Cas molecules provide a useful tool set for broad applications of genomic editing and regulation of gene expression in prokaryotes and eukaryotes. Recent discovery of phage-derived proteins, anti-CRISPRs, which serve to abrogate natural CRISPR anti-phage activity, potentially expands the ability to build synthetic CRISPR-mediated circuits. Here, we characterize a panel of anti-CRISPR molecules for expanded applications to counteract CRISPR-mediated gene activation and repression of reporter and endogenous genes in various cell types. We demonstrate that cells pre-engineered with anti-CRISPR molecules become resistant to gene editing, thus providing a means to generate "write-protected" cells that prevent future gene editing. We further show that anti-CRISPRs can be used to control CRISPR-based gene regulation circuits, including implementation of a pulse generator circuit in mammalian cells. Our work suggests that anti-CRISPR proteins should serve as widely applicable tools for synthetic systems regulating the behavior of eukaryotic cells

Bipartite partial duals and circuits in medial graphs

It is well known that a plane graph is Eulerian if and only if its geometric dual is bipartite. We extend this result to partial duals of plane graphs. We then characterize all bipartite partial duals of a plane graph in terms of oriented circuits in its medial graph.Comment: v2: minor changes. To appear in Combinatoric