Spectral radius, fractional [a,b][a,b]-factor and ID-factor-critical graphs

Let $G$ be a graph and $h: E(G)\rightarrow [0,1]$ be a function. For any two positive integers $a$ and $b$ with $a\leq b$, a fractional $[a,b]$-factor of $G$ with the indicator function $h$ is a spanning subgraph with vertex set $V(G)$ and edge set $E_h$ such that $a\leq\sum_{e\in E_{G}(v)}h(e)\leq b$ for any vertex $v\in V(G)$, where $E_h = \{e\in E(G)|h(e)>0\}$ and E_{G}(v)=\{e\in E(G)| e~\mbox{is incident with}~v~\mbox{in}~G\}. A graph $G$ is ID-factor-critical if for every independent set $I$ of $G$ whose size has the same parity as $|V(G)|$, $G-I$ has a perfect matching. In this paper, we present a tight sufficient condition based on the spectral radius for a graph to contain a fractional $[a,b]$-factor, which extends the result of Wei and Zhang [Discrete Math. 346 (2023) 113269]. Furthermore, we also prove a tight sufficient condition in terms of the spectral radius for a graph with minimum degree $\delta$ to be ID-factor-critical.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figure

Genetic Evaluation of 114 Chinese Short Stature Children in the Next Generation Era: a Single Center Study

Background/Aims: The genetics of human height is a frequently studied and complex issue. However, there is limited genetic research of short stature. To uncover the subgroup of patients to have higher yield and to propose a simplified diagnostic algorithm in the next generation era. Methods: This study included 114 Chinese children with height SDS ≤ -2.5 and unknown etiology from 2014 to 2015. Target/whole exome sequencing (referred as NGS) and chromosomal microarray analysis (CMA) were performed on the enrolled patients sequentially to identify potential genetic etiologies. The samples solved by NGS and CMA were retrospectively studied to evaluate the clinical pathway of the patients following a standard diagnostic algorithm. Results: In total, a potential genetic etiology was identified in 41 (36%) patients: 38 by NGS (33.3%), two by CMA (1.8%), and an additional one by both (0.9%). There were 46 different variants in 29 genes and 2 pathogenic CNVs identified. The diagnostic yield was significantly higher in patients with facial dysmorphism or skeletal abnormalities than those without the corresponding phenotype (P=0.006 and P=0.009, respectively, Pearson’s χ2 test). Retrospectively study the cohort indicate 83.3% patients eventually would be evaluated by NGS/CMA. Conclusion: This study confirms the utility of high-throughput molecular detection techniques for the etiological diagnosis of undiagnosed short stature and suggests that NGS could be used as a primary diagnostic strategy. Patients with facial dysmorphism and/or skeletal abnormalities are more likely to have a known genetic etiology. Moving NGS forward would simplified the diagnostic algorithm

Top-Down Modulations from Dorsal Stream in Lexical Recognition: An Effective Connectivity fMRI Study

Both the ventral and dorsal visual streams in the human brain are known to be involved in reading. However, the interaction of these two pathways and their responses to different cognitive demands remains unclear. In this study, activation of neural pathways during Chinese character reading was acquired by using a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique. Visual-spatial analysis (mediated by the dorsal pathway) was disassociated from lexical recognition (mediated by the ventral pathway) via a spatial-based lexical decision task and effective connectivity analysis. Connectivity results revealed that, during spatial processing, the left superior parietal lobule (SPL) positively modulated the left fusiform gyrus (FG), while during lexical processing, the left SPL received positive modulatory input from the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and sent negative modulatory output to the left FG. These findings suggest that the dorsal stream is highly involved in lexical recognition and acts as a top-down modulator for lexical processing

The Investigation of Reducing PAHs Emission from Coal Pyrolysis by Gaseous Catalytic Cracking

The catalytic cracking method of PAHs for the pyrolysis gaseous products is proposed to control their pollution to the environment. In this study, the Py-GC-MS is used to investigate in situ the catalytic effect of CaO and Fe2O3 on the 16 PAHs from Pingshuo coal pyrolysis under different catalytic temperatures and catalyst particle sizes. The results demonstrate that Fe2O3 is effective than that of CaO for catalytic cracking of 16 PAHs and that their catalytic temperature corresponding to the maximum PAHs cracking rates is different. The PAHs cracking rate is up to 60.59% for Fe2O3 at 600°C and is 52.88% at 700°C for CaO. The catalytic temperature and particle size of the catalysts have a significant effect on PAHs cracking rate and CaO will lose the capability of decreasing 16 PAHs when the temperature is higher than 900°C. The possible cracking process of 16 PAHs is deduced by elaborately analyzing the cracking effect of the two catalysts on 16 different species of PAHs

Effects of fluxing agents on gasification reactivity and gas composition of high ash fusion temperature coal

A Na-based fluxing agent Na2O (NBFA) and a composite fluxing agent (mixture of CaO and Fe2O3 with mass ratio of 3:1, CFA for short) were used to decrease the ash fusion temperature of the Dongshan and Xishan coal from Shanxi of China and make these coal meet the requirements of the specific gasification process. The main constituents of the fluxing agents used in this study can play a catalyst role in coal gasification. So it is necessary to understand the effect of fluxing agents on coal gasification reactivity and gas composition. The results showed that the ash fusion temperature of the two coal used decreased to the lowest point due to the eutectic phenomenon when 5 wt% of CFA or NBFA was added. Simultaneously, the gas molar ratio of H2/CO changed when CFA was added. A key application was thus found where the gas molar ratio of H2/CO can be adjusted by controlling the fluxing agent amount to meet the synthetic requirements for different chemical products

Spray Freezing Coating on the Carrier Particles for Powder Preparation

Carrier particle spray freeze-drying is a new technology with high added value for thermosensitive powder spray freeze-drying. The technology includes the following steps: atomization, coating, freezing, and drying. Due to the action of carrier particles, the condensation of frozen droplets in the conventional spray freeze-drying process is overcome. However, there are many influencing factors involved in the process of freezing coating. The mechanism of the complex droplet collision freezing process still needs to be studied. In this paper, from the perspective of spray freezing coating after atomized droplets collide with low-temperature carrier particles, the coating process and freezing process of single droplets impacting the sphere are analyzed microscopically. The freezing coating processes of static and dynamic carrier particles are reviewed. Moreover, the surface evaluation of powder and equipment development for creating powder products is discussed

Determination of 3′-Sialyllactose in Edible Bird’s Nests and the Effect of Stewing Conditions on the 3′-Sialyllactose Content of Edible Bird’s Nest Products

Sialyllactose is an acidic oligosaccharide that has an immune-protective effect against pathogens and contributes to developing the immune system and intestinal microbes. In this study, a method for the determination of 3′-sialyllactose by high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry was established. The sample was treated with 0.1% formic acid methanol solution, and the gradient elution was performed with 0.05% formic acid water and 0.1% formic acid acetonitrile. The hydrophilic liquid chromatographic column was used for separation. The results showed that the linearity was good in the concentration range of 1~160 μg/L. The limit of detection (LOD) and the limit of quantification (LOQ) of the method were 0.3 μg/kg and 1.0 μg/kg, the recovery range was 91.6%~98.4%, and the relative standard deviation (RSD) was 1.5%~2.2%. This method is fast and sensitive. In addition, the 3′-sialyllactose content in edible bird’s nest products produced by different processes was studied. It was found that within the tested range, 3′-sialyllactose in edible bird’s nest products increased with the intensity of stewing and increased with the addition of sugar. In short, the results provided a new method for detecting the nutritional value of edible bird’s nests, as well as a new direction for improving the nutritional value of edible bird’s nest products