3,164 research outputs found
Provenance Circuits for Trees and Treelike Instances (Extended Version)
Query evaluation in monadic second-order logic (MSO) is tractable on trees
and treelike instances, even though it is hard for arbitrary instances. This
tractability result has been extended to several tasks related to query
evaluation, such as counting query results [3] or performing query evaluation
on probabilistic trees [10]. These are two examples of the more general problem
of computing augmented query output, that is referred to as provenance. This
article presents a provenance framework for trees and treelike instances, by
describing a linear-time construction of a circuit provenance representation
for MSO queries. We show how this provenance can be connected to the usual
definitions of semiring provenance on relational instances [20], even though we
compute it in an unusual way, using tree automata; we do so via intrinsic
definitions of provenance for general semirings, independent of the operational
details of query evaluation. We show applications of this provenance to capture
existing counting and probabilistic results on trees and treelike instances,
and give novel consequences for probability evaluation.Comment: 48 pages. Presented at ICALP'1
Answer Set Solving with Bounded Treewidth Revisited
Parameterized algorithms are a way to solve hard problems more efficiently,
given that a specific parameter of the input is small. In this paper, we apply
this idea to the field of answer set programming (ASP). To this end, we propose
two kinds of graph representations of programs to exploit their treewidth as a
parameter. Treewidth roughly measures to which extent the internal structure of
a program resembles a tree. Our main contribution is the design of
parameterized dynamic programming algorithms, which run in linear time if the
treewidth and weights of the given program are bounded. Compared to previous
work, our algorithms handle the full syntax of ASP. Finally, we report on an
empirical evaluation that shows good runtime behaviour for benchmark instances
of low treewidth, especially for counting answer sets.Comment: This paper extends and updates a paper that has been presented on the
workshop TAASP'16 (arXiv:1612.07601). We provide a higher detail level, full
proofs and more example
Triplet-singlet conversion in ultracold Cs and production of ground state molecules
We propose a process to convert ultracold metastable Cs molecules in
their lowest triplet state into (singlet) ground state molecules in their
lowest vibrational levels. Molecules are first pumped into an excited triplet
state, and the triplet-singlet conversion is facilitated by a two-step
spontaneous decay through the coupled
states. Using spectroscopic data and accurate quantum chemistry calculations
for Cs potential curves and transition dipole moments, we show that this
process has a high rate and competes favorably with the single-photon decay
back to the lowest triplet state. In addition, we demonstrate that this
conversion process represents a loss channel for vibrational cooling of
metastable triplet molecules, preventing an efficient optical pumping cycle
down to low vibrational levels
Labor Market Effects of U.S. Sick Pay Mandates
This paper exploits temporal and spatial variation in the implementation of nine-city- and four state-level U.S. sick pay mandates to assess their labor market consequences. We use the synthetic control group method and traditional difference-in-differences models along with the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages to estimate the causal effects of mandated sick pay on employment and wages. We do not find much evidence that employment or wages were significantly affected by the mandates that typically allow employees to earn one hour of paid sick leave per work week, up to seven days per year. Employment decreases of 2 percent lie outside the 92 percent confidence interval and wage decreases of 3 percent lie outside the 95 percent confidence interval
Isochromosome 12p formation regulates vitamin D metabolism in testicular cancer
Isochromosome 12p (iChr12p) is typical in almost all invasive testicular cancers. Increased copy number of genes on 12p is associated with the development of a clinically manifest tumor; however, the causative genes have not yet been identified. Chromosome 12 harbors many genes involved in Vitamin D metabolism. RNAseq analysis of Vitamin D receptor (VDR) genes from the TCGA cohort revealed that clustering of VDR expression signatures could differentiate between pure seminomas and non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCT). Using TCGA mRNA expression of anabolic (CYP2R1, CYP27A1 and CYP27B1) and catabolic (CYP24A1) Vitamin D enzymes, positive (PTHLH, IFNG, and TNF) and negative (FGF23) feedback regulators could also clearly distinguish between pure seminomas and NSGCT. We hypothesize that the regulation of Vitamin D metabolism might be disturbed through iChr12p formation, influencing testicular carcinogenesis via increased FGF23 and PTHLH expression. While FGF23 represses CYP27B1 and activates catabolism of active hormone, increased PTHLH secretion can lead to hypercalcemia via inactivation of VDR. In conclusion, testicular cancer is associated with extensive modifications in intratesticular Vitamin D homeostasis. Further research is needed to clarify whether Vitamin D deficiency causes the formation of iChr12p and whether Vitamin D deficiency via iChr12p genomic aberration is involved in testicular carcinogenesis
The tractability frontier of well-designed SPARQL queries
We study the complexity of query evaluation of SPARQL queries. We focus on
the fundamental fragment of well-designed SPARQL restricted to the AND,
OPTIONAL and UNION operators. Our main result is a structural characterisation
of the classes of well-designed queries that can be evaluated in polynomial
time. In particular, we introduce a new notion of width called domination
width, which relies on the well-known notion of treewidth. We show that, under
some complexity theoretic assumptions, the classes of well-designed queries
that can be evaluated in polynomial time are precisely those of bounded
domination width
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