2,726 research outputs found
Semi- and fully synthetic carbohydrate vaccines against pathogenic bacteria : recent developments
The importance of vaccine-induced protection was repeatedly demonstrated over the last three decades and emphasized during the recent COVID-19 pandemic as the safest and most effective way of preventing infectious diseases. Vaccines have controlled, and in some cases, eradicated global viral and bacterial infections with high efficiency and at a relatively low cost. Carbohydrates form the capsular sugar coat that surrounds the outer surface of human pathogenic bacteria. Specific surface-exposed bacterial carbohydrates serve as potent vaccine targets that broadened our toolbox against bacterial infections. Since first approved for commercial use, antibacterial carbohydrate-based vaccines mostly rely on inherently complex and heterogenous naturally derived polysaccharides, challenging to obtain in a pure, safe, and cost-effective manner. The introduction of synthetic fragments identical with bacterial capsular polysaccharides provided well-defined and homogenous structures that resolved many challenges of purified polysaccharides. The success of semisynthetic glycoconjugate vaccines against bacterial infections, now in different phases of clinical trials, opened up new possibilities and encouraged further development towards fully synthetic antibacterial vaccine solutions. In this mini-review, we describe the recent achievements in semi- and fully synthetic carbohydrate vaccines against a range of human pathogenic bacteria, focusing on preclinical and clinical studies
Reflections on a coaching pilot project in healthcare settings
This paper draws on personal reflection of coaching experiences and learning as a coach to consider the relevance of these approaches in a management context with a group of four healthcare staff who participated in a pilot coaching project. It explores their understanding of coaching techniques applied in management settings via their reflections on using coaching approaches and coaching applications as healthcare managers. Coaching approaches can enhance a manager’s skill portfolio and offer the potential benefits in terms of successful goal achievement, growth, mutual learning and development for both themselves and staff they work with in task focused scenarios
Counting dependent and independent strings
The paper gives estimations for the sizes of the the following sets: (1) the
set of strings that have a given dependency with a fixed string, (2) the set of
strings that are pairwise \alpha independent, (3) the set of strings that are
mutually \alpha independent. The relevant definitions are as follows: C(x) is
the Kolmogorov complexity of the string x. A string y has \alpha -dependency
with a string x if C(y) - C(y|x) \geq \alpha. A set of strings {x_1, \ldots,
x_t} is pairwise \alpha-independent if for all i different from j, C(x_i) -
C(x_i | x_j) \leq \alpha. A tuple of strings (x_1, \ldots, x_t) is mutually
\alpha-independent if C(x_{\pi(1)} \ldots x_{\pi(t)}) \geq C(x_1) + \ldots +
C(x_t) - \alpha, for every permutation \pi of [t]
Degree spectra for transcendence in fields
We show that for both the unary relation of transcendence and the finitary
relation of algebraic independence on a field, the degree spectra of these
relations may consist of any single computably enumerable Turing degree, or of
those c.e. degrees above an arbitrary fixed degree. In other
cases, these spectra may be characterized by the ability to enumerate an
arbitrary set. This is the first proof that a computable field can
fail to have a computable copy with a computable transcendence basis
Mapping the MIS Curriculum Based on Critical Skills of New Graduates: An Empirical Examination of IT Professionals
MIS curricula research almost always focuses on either curriculum issues or the critical skills required of new MIS graduates, rarely both. This study examines both by determining the critical skills required of new graduates, from the perspective of IT professionals in the field, then uniquely mapping those skills into a comprehensive yet flexible MIS curriculum that could be used by any MIS department. Using a sample of 153 IT professionals from six organizations in the mid-South, the results are somewhat surprising. While personal attributes are important, IT workers clearly believe that technology skills are a critical component of an MIS education, in particular database skills (including SQL), computer languages (at least two), and web design proficiency. Results also stress the importance of foundational concepts and knowledge, preparing new graduates for careers and not merely their first job. The impact for MIS curriculum designers is clear: make the major technically robust while simultaneously providing a core foundation in both business and IT. The study strongly suggests that concentrations (two or more sequenced courses) are a must; four are recommended as a result of this study: programming/architecture, telecommunications/networks, database, and web design/e-commerce. Implications are discussed
Tree Compression with Top Trees Revisited
We revisit tree compression with top trees (Bille et al, ICALP'13) and
present several improvements to the compressor and its analysis. By
significantly reducing the amount of information stored and guiding the
compression step using a RePair-inspired heuristic, we obtain a fast compressor
achieving good compression ratios, addressing an open problem posed by Bille et
al. We show how, with relatively small overhead, the compressed file can be
converted into an in-memory representation that supports basic navigation
operations in worst-case logarithmic time without decompression. We also show a
much improved worst-case bound on the size of the output of top-tree
compression (answering an open question posed in a talk on this algorithm by
Weimann in 2012).Comment: SEA 201
On the complexity of computing the -restricted edge-connectivity of a graph
The \emph{-restricted edge-connectivity} of a graph , denoted by
, is defined as the minimum size of an edge set whose removal
leaves exactly two connected components each containing at least vertices.
This graph invariant, which can be seen as a generalization of a minimum
edge-cut, has been extensively studied from a combinatorial point of view.
However, very little is known about the complexity of computing .
Very recently, in the parameterized complexity community the notion of
\emph{good edge separation} of a graph has been defined, which happens to be
essentially the same as the -restricted edge-connectivity. Motivated by the
relevance of this invariant from both combinatorial and algorithmic points of
view, in this article we initiate a systematic study of its computational
complexity, with special emphasis on its parameterized complexity for several
choices of the parameters. We provide a number of NP-hardness and W[1]-hardness
results, as well as FPT-algorithms.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figure
Reconfiguration of Dominating Sets
We explore a reconfiguration version of the dominating set problem, where a
dominating set in a graph is a set of vertices such that each vertex is
either in or has a neighbour in . In a reconfiguration problem, the goal
is to determine whether there exists a sequence of feasible solutions
connecting given feasible solutions and such that each pair of
consecutive solutions is adjacent according to a specified adjacency relation.
Two dominating sets are adjacent if one can be formed from the other by the
addition or deletion of a single vertex.
For various values of , we consider properties of , the graph
consisting of a vertex for each dominating set of size at most and edges
specified by the adjacency relation. Addressing an open question posed by Haas
and Seyffarth, we demonstrate that is not necessarily
connected, for the maximum cardinality of a minimal dominating set
in . The result holds even when graphs are constrained to be planar, of
bounded tree-width, or -partite for . Moreover, we construct an
infinite family of graphs such that has exponential
diameter, for the minimum size of a dominating set. On the positive
side, we show that is connected and of linear diameter for any
graph on vertices having at least independent edges.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure
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Seniors and Information Technology: A MIS-Fit?
The “digital divide” between the haves and have-nots in society continues to draw attention in traditional media outlets as well as academic research. Those yearning to join the computer revolution comprise several groups defined by wealth, ethnicity, country (even regions of countries), and age. While there has been research into the digital divide in all of these areas, the focus of this paper is Information Technology (IT) use by the elderly, or our senior citizens. Our interest in this group stems from the dynamic interaction of two forces: 1) senior populations are growing in percentage and sheer number both in the United States and internationally; and 2) as a group, the elderly have more disposable income to spend on IT than their younger counterparts. In order to coordinate our research agenda, the current investigation presents a framework that delineates scholarly inquiry into this topic by the elements of the framework. We look at what has been done, and what we feel needs to be done, in order to incorporate an important demographic group into the mainstream of computing society: our seniors
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