An Improved Bound for First-Fit on Posets Without Two Long Incomparable Chains

It is known that the First-Fit algorithm for partitioning a poset P into chains uses relatively few chains when P does not have two incomparable chains each of size k. In particular, if P has width w then Bosek, Krawczyk, and Szczypka (SIAM J. Discrete Math., 23(4):1992--1999, 2010) proved an upper bound of ckw^{2} on the number of chains used by First-Fit for some constant c, while Joret and Milans (Order, 28(3):455--464, 2011) gave one of ck^{2}w. In this paper we prove an upper bound of the form ckw. This is best possible up to the value of c.Comment: v3: referees' comments incorporate

DESORPTION YIELDS USING keV POLYATOMIC PROJECTILES

We have studied the negative secondary ion emission from solid organic targets bombarded by molecular ions and cluster ions. As an example we present here the results obtained with the compound phenylalanine. We have used organic projectiles of mass 73 [Si (CH3)+], 147[Si(CH3)3 OSi(CH3)2+], 300 [molecular ion of coronene C24H12]+, 598 [coronene dimer 2(M-H)]+, and atomic and polyatomic ions of mass 133 [Cs]+, 393 [Cs2I]+, 653 [Cs3I2]+. These primary ions have been produced in the bombardment of targets of coronene and CsI by fission fragment from a 252Cf source. They were accelerated and focussed on the sample target. Sophisticated time of flight measurements of the primary and secondary ions have been performed with a special data acquisition system. All the time of flight mass spectra were recorded at one. The secondary molecular ion yield of the phenilalanine (M-H)- = 164 has been studied as a function of the energy of impact and of the mass of the projectile. A large enhancement of the yield with the mass and the energy is observed

CLUSTER FORMATION BY FAST HEAVY ION IMPACT ON METAL ACETATES

No abstract availabl

Trees with Given Stability Number and Minimum Number of Stable Sets

We study the structure of trees minimizing their number of stable sets for given order $n$ and stability number $\alpha$. Our main result is that the edges of a non-trivial extremal tree can be partitioned into $n-\alpha$ stars, each of size $\lceil \frac{n-1}{n-\alpha} \rceil$ or $\lfloor \frac{n-1}{n-\alpha}\rfloor$, so that every vertex is included in at most two distinct stars, and the centers of these stars form a stable set of the tree.Comment: v2: Referees' comments incorporate

Circulating adrenomedullin estimates survival and reversibility of organ failure in sepsis: the prospective observational multinational Adrenomedullin and Outcome in Sepsis and Septic Shock-1 (AdrenOSS-1) study

Background: Adrenomedullin (ADM) regulates vascular tone and endothelial permeability during sepsis. Levels of circulating biologically active ADM (bio-ADM) show an inverse relationship with blood pressure and a direct relationship with vasopressor requirement. In the present prospective observational multinational Adrenomedullin and Outcome in Sepsis and Septic Shock 1 (, AdrenOSS-1) study, we assessed relationships between circulating bio-ADM during the initial intensive care unit (ICU) stay and short-term outcome in order to eventually design a biomarker-guided randomized controlled trial. Methods: AdrenOSS-1 was a prospective observational multinational study. The primary outcome was 28-day mortality. Secondary outcomes included organ failure as defined by Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score, organ support with focus on vasopressor/inotropic use, and need for renal replacement therapy. AdrenOSS-1 included 583 patients admitted to the ICU with sepsis or septic shock. Results: Circulating bio-ADM levels were measured upon admission and at day 2. Median bio-ADM concentration upon admission was 80.5 pg/ml [IQR 41.5-148.1 pg/ml]. Initial SOFA score was 7 [IQR 5-10], and 28-day mortality was 22%. We found marked associations between bio-ADM upon admission and 28-day mortality (unadjusted standardized HR 2.3 [CI 1.9-2.9]; adjusted HR 1.6 [CI 1.1-2.5]) and between bio-ADM levels and SOFA score (p < 0.0001). Need of vasopressor/inotrope, renal replacement therapy, and positive fluid balance were more prevalent in patients with a bio-ADM > 70 pg/ml upon admission than in those with bio-ADM ≤ 70 pg/ml. In patients with bio-ADM > 70 pg/ml upon admission, decrease in bio-ADM below 70 pg/ml at day 2 was associated with recovery of organ function at day 7 and better 28-day outcome (9.5% mortality). By contrast, persistently elevated bio-ADM at day 2 was associated with prolonged organ dysfunction and high 28-day mortality (38.1% mortality, HR 4.9, 95% CI 2.5-9.8). Conclusions: AdrenOSS-1 shows that early levels and rapid changes in bio-ADM estimate short-term outcome in sepsis and septic shock. These data are the backbone of the design of the biomarker-guided AdrenOSS-2 trial. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02393781. Registered on March 19, 2015

Faster maturation of selective attention in musically trained children and adolescents : Converging behavioral and event-related potential evidence

Previous work suggests that musical training in childhood is associated with enhanced executive functions. However, it is unknown whether this advantage extends to selective attention-another central aspect of executive control. We recorded a well-established event-related potential (ERP) marker of distraction, the P3a, during an audio-visual task to investigate the maturation of selective attention in musically trained children and adolescents aged 10-17 years and a control group of untrained peers. The task required categorization of visual stimuli, while a sequence of standard sounds and distracting novel sounds were presented in the background. The music group outperformed the control group in the categorization task and the younger children in the music group showed a smaller P3a to the distracting novel sounds than their peers in the control group. Also, a negative response elicited by the novel sounds in the N1/MMN time range (similar to 150-200 ms) was smaller in the music group. These results indicate that the music group was less easily distracted by the task-irrelevant sound stimulation and gated the neural processing of the novel sounds more efficiently than the control group. Furthermore, we replicated our previous finding that, relative to the control group, the musically trained children and adolescents performed faster in standardized tests for inhibition and set shifting. These results provide novel converging behavioral and electrophysiological evidence from a cross-modal paradigm for accelerated maturation of selective attention in musically trained children and adolescents and corroborate the association between musical training and enhanced inhibition and set shifting.Peer reviewe

Desorption Ionique A Partir De Surfaces Solides Sous Impact D'ions Lents (kev) Et Rapides (mev). Influence De L'etat De Charge Et De L'angle D'incidence Dans La Voie D'entree

SIGLEINIST T 71467 / INIST-CNRS - Institut de l'Information Scientifique et TechniqueFRFranc

MeV, keV AND PHOTON INDUCED DESORPTION TIME OF FLIGHT MASS SPECTROMETRY

An experimental comparison is presented concerning secondary ion desorption from insulators by keV and MeV heavy ion and by pulsed laser light. Time of flight mass spectra obtained with these desorption probes turned out to show many similarities /1,2,3/ despite of the quite different energizing processes. Some corresponding data have been published already /1,2,3,4/. The aim of the present work is to measure absolute ion yields and to exhibit the virtually existing differences associated with the three desorption probes. This has an practical aspect, since the combination of the methods could inlarge their capabilities for mass spectrometry but it might also lead to a deeper understanding of the desorption mechanisms. The measurements were made with the same targets under the same experimental conditions whatever the desorption probes (keV, MeV, Laser)

Numerical method for determining water droplets size distributions of spray nozzles using a two-zone model

International audienceThe water spray systems are widely used for fire safety area and is a well-established technique for providing safety and protection of nuclear installations and also industrial facilities. One major challenge is to be able to properly determine the technical features of the water spray system that are required for predictive simulations. For that, a Phase Doppler Interferometer (PDI) device, that is a complex and challenging laser technique, is often used to measure the water droplets size distributions and the water droplets velocities. However, some usual water spray models can require as input parameters only an overall water droplets size distribution and water droplets initial velocity and some statistical methods are needed to determine them from local accurate measurements. In this paper, it is addressed a new calibration approach for assessing the input parameters of this modeling by using large-scale and well-controlled fire tests. Then, by introducing some correlations to take into account different operating conditions of the pressure at the spray nozzle head, this technique is validated on other large-scale fire tests. After discussing thoroughly the results, this new method shows that it can be a valuable and efficient tool for determining the overall features of water spray systems linked with the modeling of water spray system used in this study. © 2017 Elsevier B.V