New results on rewrite-based satisfiability procedures

Program analysis and verification require decision procedures to reason on theories of data structures. Many problems can be reduced to the satisfiability of sets of ground literals in theory T. If a sound and complete inference system for first-order logic is guaranteed to terminate on T-satisfiability problems, any theorem-proving strategy with that system and a fair search plan is a T-satisfiability procedure. We prove termination of a rewrite-based first-order engine on the theories of records, integer offsets, integer offsets modulo and lists. We give a modularity theorem stating sufficient conditions for termination on a combinations of theories, given termination on each. The above theories, as well as others, satisfy these conditions. We introduce several sets of benchmarks on these theories and their combinations, including both parametric synthetic benchmarks to test scalability, and real-world problems to test performances on huge sets of literals. We compare the rewrite-based theorem prover E with the validity checkers CVC and CVC Lite. Contrary to the folklore that a general-purpose prover cannot compete with reasoners with built-in theories, the experiments are overall favorable to the theorem prover, showing that not only the rewriting approach is elegant and conceptually simple, but has important practical implications.Comment: To appear in the ACM Transactions on Computational Logic, 49 page

Nitrogen doping of metallic single-walled carbon nanotubes: n-type conduction and dipole scattering

The charge transport properties of individual, metallic nitrogen doped, single-walled carbon nanotubes are investigated. It is demonstrated that n-type conduction can be achieved by nitrogen doping. Evidence was obtained by appealing to electric-field effect measurements at ambient condition. The observed temperature dependencies of the zero-bias conductance indicate a disordered electron system with electric-dipole scattering, caused mainly by the pyridine-type nitrogen atoms in the honeycomb lattice. These results illustrate the possibility of creating all-metallic molecular devices, in which the charge carrier type can be controlled.Comment: 16 page

Influence of Radiation Dose in Computed Tomography on Antioxidant Enzyme Activity in Rabbit Erythrocytes

The objective of this study was to assess the radiation dose in computed tomography examinations of rabbits using different examination protocols and to correlate these values with the activity of antioxidant enzymes in their red blood cells following irradiation. The presented results revealed that a single, routine computed tomography scan exposure led to a different response of the activity of antioxidant enzymes in red blood cells regarding both dose and time. The results indicate that there is a dose threshold that is about 25 mGy. Doses below that level do not produce any significant changes in the level of antioxidant enzymes activity. On the other hand, the level just above that threshold had a significant impact on the antioxidant defence, but in a relatively short time period (2 hours after exposure), compared to the higher dose that requires a longer adaptive period

Skin and skeletal system lesions of european pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) from natural habitats

Water pollution is known to play an important role in the pathogenesis of plastron, carapace and skin diseases of turtles. In this study, a total of 150 European pond turtles (Emys orbicularis) of different age and both sexes, originating from natural habitats in Serbia, were examined for morphological changes of the skin, plastron, carapace and skeletal system. The turtles were taken out from their natural habitats in Lake Ludas, Lake Palic and Lake Tresetiste. After artificial hibernation, they were subjected to detailed examination, sampled and treated, and finally returned into their natural habitat. Biopsies from the skin and shell were subjected to histopathological examination and microbiological analysis. X-ray scanning was also performed to detect changes in the skeletal system. Macroscopic changes of the skin, most frequently degenerative, inflammatory or neoplastic diseases, were diagnosed in 49.33% of the turtles examined. Dermatitis of different origin and form was the most prominent histopathological finding (28.00%). In the plastron, inflammatory and degenerative processes were frequently found. Osteopathy and mechanical injuries were the dominant findings. Macroscopic changes of the plastron, carapace and skeletal system were diagnosed in 67.33% of the turtles examined. Using X-ray scanning, generalised osteopathy, anomalies and malformations of different aetiology were also diagnosed on the tail and legs. Microbiological examinations showed the presence of a variety of bacterial and fungal agents, either primary pathogens or potential polluters, which invaded the skin and shell, or were present in cloacal swab samples. Bacterial infection was diagnosed in 76.66% of the turtles, first of all in those with skin and shell necrosis. Mycoses were diagnosed in 33.33% of the animals

Collective and broken pair states of 65,67Ga

Excited states of 65Ga and 67Ga nuclei were populated through the 12C(58Ni,αp) and 12C(58Ni,3p) reactions, respectively, and investigated by in-beam γ-ray spectroscopic methods. The NORDBALL array equipped with a charged particle ball and 11 neutron detectors was used to detect the evaporated particles and γ rays. The level schemes of 65,67Ga were constructed on the basis of γγ-coincidence relations up to 8.6 and 10 MeV excitation energy, and Iπ=27/2 and 33/2+ spin and parity, respectively. The structure of 65,67Ga nuclei was described in the interacting boson-fermion plus broken pair model, including quasiproton, quasiproton-two-quasineutron, and three-quasiproton fermion configurations in the boson-fermion basis states. Most of the states were assigned to quasiparticle + phonon and three quasiparticle configurations on the basis of their electromagnetic decay properties

Measurement of the b(b)over-bar dijet cross section in pp collisions at root s=7TeV with the ATLAS detector

The dijet production cross section for jets containing a b-hadron (b-jets) has been measured in protonproton collisions with a centre-of-mass energy of root s = 7TeV, using the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The data used correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.2 fb(-1). The cross section is measured for events with two identified b-jets with a transverse momentum pT GT 20GeV and a minimum separation in the eta-phi plane of Delta R = 0.4. At least one of the jets in the event is required to have p(T) GT 270GeV. The cross section is measured differentially as a function of dijet invariant mass, dijet transverse momentum, boost of the dijet system, and the rapidity difference, azimuthal angle and angular distance between the b-jets. The results are compared to different predictions of leading order and next-to-leading order perturbative quantum chromodynamics matrix elements supplemented with models for parton-showers and hadronization