287 research outputs found
Node-balancing by edge-increments
Suppose you are given a graph with a weight assignment
and that your objective is to modify using legal
steps such that all vertices will have the same weight, where in each legal
step you are allowed to choose an edge and increment the weights of its end
points by .
In this paper we study several variants of this problem for graphs and
hypergraphs. On the combinatorial side we show connections with fundamental
results from matching theory such as Hall's Theorem and Tutte's Theorem. On the
algorithmic side we study the computational complexity of associated decision
problems.
Our main results are a characterization of the graphs for which any initial
assignment can be balanced by edge-increments and a strongly polynomial-time
algorithm that computes a balancing sequence of increments if one exists.Comment: 10 page
Formal properties of recursive Virtual Machine architectures.
A formal model of hardware/software architectures is developed and applied to Virtual Machine Systems. Results are derived on the sufficient conditions that a machine architecture must verify in order to support VM systems. The model deals explicitly with resource mappings (protection) and with I/O devices. Some already published results are retrieved and other ones, more general, are obtained
Evaluation of a general practice based Hepatitis C virus screening intervention
In 2003 an estimated 37,500 of Scotland's population was chronically infected with HCV; 44% were undiagnosed former injecting drug users (IDU) - a priority group for arrival therapy. Aims to evaluate a hepatitis C virus (HCV) screening intervention. Outcomes measures among two similar general practice populations in an area of high HCV and drug use prevalence, one of which was exposed to an HCV screening intervention, were compared. Thirty to fifty four year old attendees of the intervention practice were opportunistically offered testing and counselling, where clinically appropriate, (November 2003 - April 2004). Outcomes: HCV test uptake, case detection, referral and treatment administration rates. Of 584 eligible attendees, 421 (72%) were offered and 117 (28%) accepted testing in the intervention practice; no testing was undertaken in the comparison practice. Prevalences of HCV antibody were 13% (15/117), 75% (3/4) and 91% (10/11) among all tested persons, current IDUs and former IDUs respectively. For 4/15 (27%) evidence of binge drinking following the receipt of their positive result, was available. Of the 11 referred to specialist care because they were HCV RNA positive, nine attended at least one appointment. Two received treatment: one had achieved a sustained viral response as of February 2008. While non targeted HCV screening in the general practice setting can detect infected former IDU, the low diagnostic yield among non IDUs limited the effectiveness of the intervention. A more targeted approach for identifying former IDUs is recommended. Additionally, the low uptake of treatment among chronically infected persons four years after diagnosis demonstrates the difficulties in clinically managing such individuals. Strategies, including support for those with a history of problem alcohol use, to improve treatment uptake are required
Massive gravity as a quantum gauge theory
We present a new point of view on the quantization of the massive
gravitational field, namely we use exclusively the quantum framework of the
second quantization. The Hilbert space of the many-gravitons system is a Fock
space where the one-particle Hilbert
space carries the direct sum of two unitary irreducible
representations of the Poincar\'e group corresponding to two particles of mass
and spins 2 and 0, respectively. This Hilbert space is canonically
isomorphic to a space of the type where is a gauge charge
defined in an extension of the Hilbert space
generated by the gravitational field and some ghosts fields
(which are vector Fermi fields) and (which
are vector field Bose fields.)
Then we study the self interaction of massive gravity in the causal
framework. We obtain a solution which goes smoothly to the zero-mass solution
of linear quantum gravity up to a term depending on the bosonic ghost field.
This solution depends on two real constants as it should be; these constants
are related to the gravitational constant and the cosmological constant. In the
second order of the perturbation theory we do not need a Higgs field, in sharp
contrast to Yang-Mills theory.Comment: 35 pages, no figur
Structural characterisation of neutrophil glycans by ultra sensitive mass spectrometric glycomics methodology
Neutrophils are the most abundant white blood cells in humans and play a vital role in several aspects of the immune response. Numerous reports have implicated neutrophil glycosylation as an important factor in mediating these interactions. We report here the application of high sensitivity glycomics methodologies, including matrix assisted laser desorption ionisation (MALDI-TOF) and MALDI-TOF/TOF analyses, to the structural analysis of N- and O-linked carbohydrates released from two samples of neutrophils, prepared by two separate and geographically remote laboratories. The data produced demonstrates that the cells display a diverse range of sialylated and fucosylated complex glycans, with a high level of similarity between the two preparations
Eco-evolutionary dynamics on deformable fitness landscapes
Conventional approaches to modelling ecological dynamics often do not include evolutionary changes in the genetic makeup of component species and, conversely, conventional approaches to modelling evolutionary changes in the genetic makeup of a population often do not include ecological dynamics. But recently there has been considerable interest in understanding the interaction of evolutionary and ecological dynamics as coupled processes. However, in the context of complex multi-species ecosytems, especially where ecological and evolutionary timescales are similar, it is difficult to identify general organising principles that help us understand the structure and behaviour of complex ecosystems. Here we introduce a simple abstraction of coevolutionary interactions in a multi-species ecosystem. We model non-trophic ecological interactions based on a continuous but low-dimensional trait/niche space, where the location of each species in trait space affects the overlap of its resource utilisation with that of other species. The local depletion of available resources creates, in effect, a deformable fitness landscape that governs how the evolution of one species affects the selective pressures on other species. This enables us to study the coevolution of ecological interactions in an intuitive and easily visualisable manner. We observe that this model can exhibit either of the two behavioural modes discussed in the literature; namely, evolutionary stasis or Red Queen dynamics, i.e., continued evolutionary change. We find that which of these modes is observed depends on the lag or latency between the movement of a species in trait space and its effect on available resources. Specifically, if ecological change is nearly instantaneous compared to evolutionary change, stasis results; but conversely, if evolutionary timescales are closer to ecological timescales, such that resource depletion is not instantaneous on evolutionary timescales, then Red Queen dynamics result. We also observe that in the stasis mode, the overall utilisation of resources by the ecosystem is relatively efficient, with diverse species utilising different niches, whereas in the Red Queen mode the organisation of the ecosystem is such that species tend to clump together competing for overlapping resources. These models thereby suggest some basic conditions that influence the organisation of inter-species interactions and the balance of individual and collective adaptation in ecosystems, and likewise they also suggest factors that might be useful in engineering artificial coevolution
Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV
A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The
analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC
from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an
integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross
section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected
exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the
standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The
analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model
Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The
largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is
observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance
of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local
significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is
estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of
this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
Measurement of isolated photon production in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV
Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead
collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the
pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80
GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be
in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The
ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the
number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for
all PbPb reaction centralities.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
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