Computational study on planar dominating set problem

AbstractRecently, there has been significant theoretical progress towards fixed-parameter algorithms for the DOMINATING SET problem of planar graphs. It is known that the problem on a planar graph with n vertices and dominating number k can be solved in O(2O(k)n) time using tree/branch-decomposition based algorithms. In this paper, we report computational results of Fomin and Thilikos algorithm which uses the branch-decomposition based approach. The computational results show that the algorithm can solve the DOMINATING SET problem of large planar graphs in a practical time and memory space for the class of graphs with small branchwidth. For the class of graphs with large branchwidth, the size of instances that can be solved by the algorithm in practice is limited to about one thousand edges due to a memory space bottleneck. The practical performances of the algorithm coincide with the theoretical analysis of the algorithm. The results of this paper suggest that the branch-decomposition based algorithms can be practical for some applications on planar graphs

Using Fluorescent Viruses for Detecting Bacteria in Water

A method of detecting water-borne pathogenic bacteria is based partly on established molecular-recognition and fluorescent-labeling concepts, according to which bacteria of a species of interest are labeled with fluorescent reporter molecules and the bacteria can then be detected by fluorescence spectroscopy. The novelty of the present method lies in the use of bacteriophages (viruses that infect bacteria) to deliver the fluorescent reporter molecules to the bacteria of the species of interest

Optimal integration of a hybrid solar-battery power source into smart home nanogrid with plug-in electric vehicle

Hybrid solar-battery power source is essential in the nexus of plug-in electric vehicle (PEV), renewables, and smart building. This paper devises an optimization framework for efficient energy management and components sizing of a single smart home with home battery, PEV, and potovoltatic (PV) arrays. We seek to maximize the home economy, while satisfying home power demand and PEV driving. Based on the structure and system models of the smart home nanogrid, a convex programming (CP) problem is formulated to rapidly and efficiently optimize both the control decision and parameters of the home battery energy storage system (BESS). Considering different time horizons of optimization, home BESS prices, types and control modes of PEVs, the parameters of home BESS and electric cost are systematically investigated. Based on the developed CP control law in home to vehicle (H2V) mode and vehicle to home (V2H) mode, the home with BESS does not buy electric energy from the grid during the electric price's peak periods

From collection resources to intelligent data: Construction of intelligent digital humanities platform for local historical documents of Shanghai Jiao Tong University

Local historical documents originated from daily life of people belong to special collection resources that were not published publicly. They are valuable assets of universities and libraries. At present, most documents had only finished digitalization or partial datalization work. However, the requirements of deep knowledge mining in documents data, providing visual analysis, and effectively supporting the research of historic humanities scholars had not been fully met. Taking the local historical documents project of Shanghai Jiao Tong University as an example, using relevant techniques of digital humanities (DH), the in-depth analysis and utilization research of documents data were carried out. On the one hand, the core database of the documents was established based on standardizing metadata cataloguing and establishing metadata association. On the other hand, based on the core database, an intelligent DH system platform was constructed. The platform is to realize full-field retrieval and display of the documents, text analysis, association analysis, statistics, and visual presentation of knowledge. In addition, in the process of using the platform for research, humanities scholars can continuously expand the data dimensions and the relationships between data, achieve intelligent supplementation of documents data and platform self-learning. The concept of DH has led to a new direction of database construction and platform development. In the exploration and practice of DH, libraries should continue to widen thinking, improve service and innovation capabilities, and provide better research perspectives, research environments, research support, and research experience for humanities scholars.GECEM Project (ERC-Starting Grant), ref. 679371, Horizon 2020, project hosted at UPOCenter for Digital Sources of Chinese History, Library at Shanghai Jiao Tong Universit

The role of dietary fibre in modulating gut microbiota dysbiosis in patients with Type 2 Diabetes: A systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials

Background: The prevalence of type 2 diabetes is on the increase worldwide, and it represents about 90% of adults who are diagnosed with diabetes. Overweight and obesity, lifestyle, genetic predisposition and gut microbiota dysbiosis have been implicated as possible risk factors in the development of type 2 diabetes. In particular, low intake of dietary fibre and consumption of foods high in fat and sugar, which are common in western lifestyle, have been reported to contribute to the depletion of specific bacterial taxa. Therefore, it is possible that intake of high dietary fibre may alter the environment in the gut and provide the needed substrate for microbial bloom. Aim: The current review is a systematic review and meta-analysis which evaluated the role of dietary fibre in modulating gut microbiota dysbiosis in patients with type 2 diabetes. Methods: This is a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials which relied on the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) framework. Electronic searches were conducted using EBSCOHost with links to Health Sciences Research Databases, EMBASE and Google Scholar. The reference lists of articles were also searched for relevant studies. Searches were conducted from date of commencement of the database to 5 August 2020. The search strategy was based on the Population, Intervention, Comparator, Outcomes, Studies (PICOS) framework and involved the use of synonyms and medical subject headings (MesH). Search terms were combined with Boolean operators (OR/AND). Results: Nine studies which met the inclusion criteria were selected for the systematic review and meta-analysis, and four distinct areas were identified: the effect of dietary fibre on gut microbiota; the role of dietary fibre on short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs); glycaemic control; and adverse events. There was significant difference (p 0.05) in relation to acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid. There was only significant improvement (p = 0.002) with respect to glycated haemoglobin with a mean difference of −0.18 (95% CI, −0.29, −0.06) between the dietary fibre group and placebo group. Differences between the two groups were not significant (p > 0.05) in relation to fasting blood glucose and homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR). Furthermore, there were no significant differences between the two groups in subjects who reported adverse events. It is possible that the promotion of SCFA producers in greater diversity and abundance by dietary fibre in this review led to improvement in glycated haemoglobin, partly due to increased glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) production. In addition, Bifidobacterium lactis has been reported to increase glycogen synthesis, decrease expression of hepatic gluconeogenesis genes, improve translocation of glucose transport-4 and promote glucose uptake. It is also possible that the reduction in body weight of participants in the intervention group compared with control may have contributed to the observed improvement in glycated haemoglobin. Conclusion: This systematic review and meta-analysis have demonstrated that dietary fibre can significantly improve (p 0.05) on fasting blood glucose, HOMA-IR, acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and adverse events

Radiogenomics-Based Risk Prediction of Glioblastoma Multiforme with Clinical Relevance

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM)is the most common and aggressive primary brain tumor. Although temozolomide (TMZ)-based radiochemotherapy improves overall GBM patients\u27 survival, it also increases the frequency of false positive post-treatment magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessments for tumor progression. Pseudo-progression (PsP) is a treatment-related reaction with an increased contrast-enhancing lesion size at the tumor site or resection margins miming tumor recurrence on MRI. The accurate and reliable prognostication of GBM progression is urgently needed in the clinical management of GBM patients. Clinical data analysis indicates that the patients with PsP had superior overall and progression-free survival rates. In this study, we aimed to develop a prognostic model to evaluate the tumor progression potential of GBM patients following standard therapies. We applied a dictionary learning scheme to obtain imaging features of GBM patients with PsP or true tumor progression (TTP) from the Wake dataset. Based on these radiographic features, we conducted a radiogenomics analysis to identify the significantly associated genes. These significantly associated genes were used as features to construct a 2YS (2-year survival rate) logistic regression model. GBM patients were classified into low- and high-survival risk groups based on the individual 2YS scores derived from this model. We tested our model using an independent The Cancer Genome Atlas Program (TCGA) dataset and found that 2YS scores were significantly associated with the patient\u27s overall survival. We used two cohorts of the TCGA data to train and test our model. Our results show that the 2YS scores-based classification results from the training and testing TCGA datasets were significantly associated with the overall survival of patients. We also analyzed the survival prediction ability of other clinical factors (gender, age, KPS (Karnofsky performance status), normal cell ratio) and found that these factors were unrelated or weakly correlated with patients\u27 survival. Overall, our studies have demonstrated the effectiveness and robustness of the 2YS model in predicting the clinical outcomes of GBM patients after standard therapies

Progress in relationship between chronotype and technology addiction and its mechanism

In the era of digitalization, the Internet has changed people's lifestyle and circadian rhythm, and has also brought the global problem of technology addiction. Many studies have shown that chronotype is significantly related to specific technology addiction (such as Internet, smartphones, video games and social media), which makes chronotype become a new perspective to explore the occurrence, development and maintenance of technology addiction. Individuals can be classified into three chronotypes: morning type (M-type), neither type (N-type) and evening type (E-type). Most studies showed that E-type was the risk factor in the onset and maintenance of problematic technology use. At present, most of the prior research focused on the relationship between chronotype and technology addiction, and there were few studies on the mechanism. Based on this situation, this paper discusses physiological factors (such as reward system), psychological factors (such as depression), individual factors (such as gender, age, personality traits and sleep patterns) and environmental factors (such as parental style), analyzes the relationship with Interaction of Person-Affect-Cognition-Execution (I-PACE) model and life history theory from the perspectives of etiology and evolution, and reviews the relationship between chronotype and technology addiction and its mechanism