Clustered Colouring in Minor-Closed Classes

The "clustered chromatic number" of a class of graphs is the minimum integer $k$ such that for some integer $c$ every graph in the class is $k$-colourable with monochromatic components of size at most $c$. We prove that for every graph $H$, the clustered chromatic number of the class of $H$-minor-free graphs is tied to the tree-depth of $H$. In particular, if $H$ is connected with tree-depth $t$ then every $H$-minor-free graph is $(2^{t+1}-4)$-colourable with monochromatic components of size at most $c(H)$. This provides the first evidence for a conjecture of Ossona de Mendez, Oum and Wood (2016) about defective colouring of $H$-minor-free graphs. If $t=3$ then we prove that 4 colours suffice, which is best possible. We also determine those minor-closed graph classes with clustered chromatic number 2. Finally, we develop a conjecture for the clustered chromatic number of an arbitrary minor-closed class

Statistical properties of ionospheric stimulated electromagnetic emissions

We have analysed the statistical properties of the stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE) spectral features in the steady state, reached after a long period of continuous HF pumping of the ionosphere in experiments performed at the Sura ionospheric radio research facility in Russia. Using a digital filter bank method, we have been able to analyse complex valued signals within narrow frequency bands. Each of the SEE spectral features are thereby separated into a number of narrow spectral components. Statistical tests were performed for all these spectral components and the distributions of the spectral amplitudes and phases were evaluated. Also, a test for sinusoidal components was performed. These tests showed that all observed SEE features were indistinguishable from coloured Gaussian noise. The test results exclude that the SEE features can be the result of a single isolated coherent process, but does not rule out that there could be many statistically independent parametric wave-wave processes taking place simultaneously at various parts of the HF-pumped ionosphere, as long as the superposition from all these is incoherent. Furthermore, from the test results, we cannot exclude the possibility that the waveforms of some, or all, of the SEE features may be chaotic

Model estimates of metazoans' contributions to the biological carbon pump

Funding: This work was supported by the Centre for Ocean Life, a VKR Centre of Excellence funded by the Villum Foundation, and by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (grant no. 5479). André W. Visser was funded in part through the Horizon 2020 project ECOTIP (grant no. 869383). Andrew S. Brierley and Roland Proud were funded in part through the EU BG3 project “SUMMER” and BG8 project “Mission Atlantic”. Collated echo-sounder data obtained from the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC) included observations made during the Atlantic Meridional Transect. The Atlantic Meridional Transect (AMT) is funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council through its National Capability Long-term Single Centre Science Programme, Climate Linked Atlantic Sector Science (grant number NE/R015953/1).The daily vertical migrations of fish and other metazoans actively transport organic carbon from the ocean surface to depth, contributing to the biological carbon pump. We use an oxygen-constrained, game-theoretic food-web model to simulate diel vertical migrations and estimate near-global (global ocean minus coastal areas and high latitudes) carbon fluxes and sequestration by fish and zooplankton due to respiration, fecal pellets, and deadfalls. Our model provides estimates of the carbon export and sequestration potential for a range of pelagic functional groups, despite uncertain biomass estimates of some functional groups. While the export production of metazoans and fish is modest (∼20 % of global total), we estimate that their contribution to carbon sequestered by the biological pump (∼800 PgC) is conservatively more than 50 % of the estimated global total (∼1300 PgC) and that they have a significantly longer sequestration timescale (∼250 years) than previously reported for other components of the biological pump. Fish and multicellular zooplankton contribute about equally to this sequestered carbon pool. This essential ecosystem service could be at risk from both unregulated fishing on the high seas and ocean deoxygenation due to climate change.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

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

Mechanism of action of probiotics

The modern diet doesn't provide the required amount of beneficial bacteria. Maintenance of a proper microbial ecology in the host is the main criteria to be met for a healthy growth. Probiotics are one such alternative that are supplemented to the host where by and large species of Lactobacillus, Bifidobacterium and Saccharomyces are considered as main probiotics. The field of probiotics has made stupendous strides though there is no major break through in the identification of their mechanism of action. They exert their activity primarily by strengthening the intestinal barrier and immunomodulation. The main objective of the study was to provide a deep insight into the effect of probiotics against the diseases, their applications and proposed mechanism of action

COMBINATORIAL EFFECT OF D-AMINOACIDS AND TETRACYCLINE AGAINST PSEUDOMONAS AERUGINOSA BIOFILM

Objective: The present study attempted to evaluate the anti-biofilm activity of D-amino acids (D-AAs) on Pseudomonas aeruginosa and determine if the combination of D-AAs with tetracycline enhances the anti-biofilm activity in vitro and ex vivo.Methods: Different D-AAs were tested for antibiofilm activity against wild type P. aeruginosa PAO1 and two multidrug resistant P. aeruginosa clinical strains in the presence of sub inhibitory concentrations of tetracycline using crystal violet microtitre plate assay. Results were further validated using in vitro wound dressing and ex vivo porcine skin models followed by cytotoxicity and hemocompatibility studies.Results: D-tryptophan (5 mmol) showed 61 % reduction in biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa. Interestingly combinatorial effect of 5 mmol D-tryptophan and 0.5 minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) (7.5µg/ml) tetracycline showed 90% reduction in biofilm formation. 5 mmol D-methionine shows 28 % reduction and combination with tetracycline shows 41% reduction in biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa. D-leucine and D-tyrosine alone or in combination with tetracycline did not show significant anti-biofilm activity. D tryptophan-tetracycline combination could reduce 80 % and 77 % reduction in biofilm formation in two multi drug resistant P. aeruginosa clinical strains. D-tryptophan-tetracycline-combination could also reduce 76% and 66% reduction in biofilm formation in wound dressing model and porcine skin explant respectively. The cytotoxicity and hemocompatibility studies did not show significant toxicity when this combination was used.Conclusion: The results established the potential therapeutic application of D-tryptophan alone or in combination with tetracycline for treating biofilm associated clinical problems caused by P. aeruginosa

The development of a multidisciplinary system to understand causal factors in road crashes

The persistent lack of crash causation data to help inform and monitor road and vehicle safety policy is a major obstacle. Data are needed to assess the performance of road and vehicle safety stakeholders and is needed to support the development of further actions. A recent analysis conducted by the European Transport Safety Council identified that there was no single system in place that could meet all of the needs and that there were major gaps including in-depth crash causation information. This paper describes the process of developing a data collection and analysis system designed to fill these gaps. A project team with members from 7 countries was set up to devise appropriate variable lists to collect crash causation information under the following topic levels: accident, road environment, vehicle, and road user, using two quite different sets of resources: retrospective detailed police reports (n=1300) and prospective, independent, on-scene accident research investigations (n=1000). Data categorisation and human factors analysis methods based on Cognitive Reliability and Error Analysis Method (Hollnagel, 1998) were developed to enable the causal factors to be recorded, linked and understood. A harmonised, prospective “on-scene” method for recording the root causes and critical events of road crashes was developed. Where appropriate, this includes interviewing road users in collaboration with more routine accident investigation techniques. The typical level of detail recorded is a minimum of 150 variables for each accident. The project will enable multidisciplinary information on the circumstances of crashes to be interpreted to provide information on the causal factors. This has major applications in the areas of active safety systems, infrastructure and road safety, as well as for tailoring behavioural interventions. There is no direct model available internationally that uses such a systems based approach