Connectivity in the presence of an opponent

The paper introduces two player connectivity games played on finite bipartite graphs. Algorithms that solve these connectivity games can be used as subroutines for solving M\"uller games. M\"uller games constitute a well established class of games in model checking and verification. In connectivity games, the objective of one of the players is to visit every node of the game graph infinitely often. The first contribution of this paper is our proof that solving connectivity games can be reduced to the incremental strongly connected component maintenance (ISCCM) problem, an important problem in graph algorithms and data structures. The second contribution is that we non-trivially adapt two known algorithms for the ISCCM problem to provide two efficient algorithms that solve the connectivity games problem. Finally, based on the techniques developed, we recast Horn's polynomial time algorithm that solves explicitly given M\"uller games and provide an alternative proof of its correctness. Our algorithms are more efficient than that of Horn's algorithm. Our solution for connectivity games is used as a subroutine in the algorithm

Ascaris suum informs extrasynaptic volume transmission in nematodes

Neural circuit synaptic connectivities (the connectome) provide the anatomical foundation for our understanding of nematode nervous system function. However, other nonsynaptic routes of communication are known in invertebrates including extrasynaptic volume transmission (EVT), which enables short- and/or long-range communication in the absence of synaptic connections. Although EVT has been highlighted as a facet o

Joint Traffic Blocking and Routing Under Network Failures and Maintenances

Under device failures and maintenance activities, network resources reduce and congestion may arise inside networks. In this paper, we study a dual approach that combines traffic blocking (rate-limiting) at the edge of a network and traffic rerouting inside the network. We formulate a joint ingress blocking and routing optimization problem and develop mechanisms to introduce blocking differentiations among users with different service priorities and with different level of impact to network congestions. Our evaluation result shows that by blocking only a small fraction of traffic, one can greatly reduce network congestion under severe failures and maintenance activities. Our solution efficiently identifies the optimal blocking among heterogeneous users and achieves much better performance in comparison with proportional traffic blocking. The proposed algorithms can be easily adopted by network service providers in their traffic engineering practices

Joint Traffic Blocking and Routing under Network Failures and Maintenances

Under device failures and maintenance activities, network resources reduce and congestion may arise inside networks. As a result, users experience degraded performance on packet delays and losses. Traditional approaches focused on rerouting traffic to alleviate network congestion and improve users ’ performance. However, due to the network capacity reduction, traffic rerouting alone cannot always satisfy users ’ performance requirements. In this paper, we study a dual approach that combines traffic blocking (rate-limiting) at the edge of a network and traffic rerouting inside the network. While ingress traffic blocking reduces the utility of network users, overall network performance can be significantly improved due to alleviated congestion and shorter routing paths. Therefore, it is important to design ingress traffic blocking and routing jointly to achieve a good balance between the two factors. Working towards this goal, we formulate a joint ingress blocking and routing optimization problem. We develop mechanisms to introduce blocking and routing differentiations among users with different service priorities and with different level of impact to network congestions. Using network topologies and traffic demands collected from a Tier-1 ISP network, we evaluated our approach. Our result shows that by blocking only a small fraction of traffic, one can greatly reduce network congestion under severe failures and maintenance activities. Our solution efficiently identifies the optimal blocking and routing differentiation among heterogeneous users and achieves much better performance in comparison with proportional traffic blocking. The proposed algorithms can be easily adopted by network service providers in their traffic engineering practices. I

New intelligent multifunctional SiO2/VO2 composite films with enhanced infrared light regulation performance, solar modulation capability, and superhydrophobicity

Highly transparent, energy-saving, and superhydrophobic nanostructured SiO2/VO2 composite films have been fabricated using a sol–gel method. These composite films are composed of an underlying infrared (IR)-regulating VO2 layer and a top protective layer that consists of SiO2 nanoparticles. Experimental results showed that the composite structure could enhance the IR light regulation performance, solar modulation capability, and hydrophobicity of the pristine VO2 layer. The transmittance of the composite films in visible region (Tlum) was higher than 60%, which was sufficient to meet the requirements of glass lighting. Compared with pristine VO2 films and tungsten-doped VO2 film, the near IR control capability of the composite films was enhanced by 13.9% and 22.1%, respectively, whereas their solar modulation capability was enhanced by 10.9% and 22.9%, respectively. The water contact angles of the SiO2/VO2 composite films were over 150°, indicating superhydrophobicity. The transparent superhydrophobic surface exhibited a high stability toward illumination as all the films retained their initial superhydrophobicity even after exposure to 365 nm light with an intensity of 160 mW.cm−2 for 10 h. In addition, the films possessed anti-oxidation and anti-acid properties. These characteristics are highly advantageous for intelligent windows or solar cell applications, given that they can provide surfaces with anti-fogging, rainproofing, and self-cleaning effects. Our technique offers a simple and low-cost solution to the development of stable and visible light transparent superhydrophobic surfaces for industrial applications

Preparation, structure and catalytic properties of magnetically separable Cu-Fe catalysts for glycerol hydrogenolysis

The Cu-Fe catalysts with stoichiometric proportion (Cu/Fe molar ratio was 0.5) were prepared by an epoxide assisted route. The structural properties of Cu-Fe catalysts were determined by X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Mossbauer spectroscopy measurements. These results indicated that a crystalline phase transformation from c-CuFe2O4 to t-CuFe2O4 occurred when elevating the calcination temperature from 500 to 600 degrees C. The M-H plots exhibited that all Cu-Fe catalysts had ferromagnetic nature and the saturation magnetization values monotonously increased with increasing calcination temperature irrespective of the phases composition. The significant superparamagnetic behavior was observed in the results of magnetic and Mossbauer spectroscopy measurements. The H-2 temperature-programmed reduction (H-2-TPR) was also conducted for examining the reducibility of Cu-Fe catalysts. The catalytic performance of Cu-Fe catalysts was examined for the hydrogenolysis reaction of glycerol. It is found that the formation of spinel CuFe2O4 greatly enhances the hydrogenolysis activity. The highest glycerol conversion (47%) was obtained over CuFe-500 catalyst, while the selectivity of 1,2-propanediol was maintained at about 92% for all catalysts

Frequency of Online Health Information Seeking and Types of Information Sought Among the General Chinese Population: Cross-sectional Study

BackgroundThe internet is one of the most popular health information resources, and the Chinese constitute one-fifth of the online users worldwide. As internet penetration continues to rise, more details on the Chinese population seeking online health information need to be known based on the current literature. ObjectiveThis study aims to explore the sociodemographic differences in online health information seeking (OHIS), including the frequency of OHIS and the types of online health information sought among the general Chinese population in mainland China. MethodsA cross-sectional study for assessing the residents’ health care needs with self-administered questionnaires was implemented in 4 counties and districts in China from July 2018 to August 2018. Pearson’s chi-square test was used to identify the sociodemographic differences between infrequent and frequent online health information seekers. We also performed binary logistic regression for the 4 types of online health information as the dependent variables and the sociodemographic factors as the independent variables. ResultsCompared with infrequent online health information seekers, frequent seekers were more likely to be female (infrequent: 1654/3318; 49.85%; frequent: 1015/1831, 55.43%), older (over 60 years old; infrequent: 454/3318, 13.68%; frequent: 282/1831, 15.40%), married (infrequent: 2649/3318, 79.84%; frequent: 1537/1831, 83.94%), and better educated (bachelor’s or above; infrequent: 834/3318, 25.14%; frequent: 566/1831, 30.91%). They were also more likely to earn a higher income (over RMB ¥50k [RMB ¥1=US $0.15641]; infrequent: 1139/3318, 34.33%; frequent: 710/1831, 34.78%), have commercial health insurance (infrequent: 628/3318, 18.93%; frequent: 470/1831, 25.67%), and have reported illness in the past 12 months (infrequent: 659/3318, 19.86%; frequent: 415/1831, 22.67%). Among the 4 health information types, health science popularization was the most searched for information by Chinese online health information seekers (3654/5149, 70.79%), followed by healthy behaviors (3567/5149, 69.28%), traditional Chinese medicine (1931/5149, 37.50%), and medical concerns (1703/5149, 33.07%). The binary logistic regression models showed that males were less likely to seek information on healthy behaviors (adjusted odds ratio [AOR] 0.69, 95% CI 0.61-0.78) and traditional Chinese medicine (AOR 0.64, 95% CI 0.57-0.73), and respondents who had at least 1 chronic disease were more likely to seek information on medical concerns (AOR 1.27, 95% CI 1.07-1.51) and traditional Chinese medicine (AOR 1.26, 95% CI 1.06-1.49). ConclusionsSociodemographic factors were associated with the frequency of OHIS and types of information sought among the general Chinese population. The results remind providers of online health information to consider the needs of specific population groups when tailoring and presenting health information to the target population