The interval constrained 3-coloring problem

In this paper, we settle the open complexity status of interval constrained coloring with a fixed number of colors. We prove that the problem is already NP-complete if the number of different colors is 3. Previously, it has only been known that it is NP-complete, if the number of colors is part of the input and that the problem is solvable in polynomial time, if the number of colors is at most 2. We also show that it is hard to satisfy almost all of the constraints for a feasible instance.Comment: minor revisio

PENGARUH BIAYA KUALITAS TERHADAP PRODUK RUSAK PADA PT BUMI SARANA BETON

THE EFFECT OF QUALITY COST TOWARDS THE DAMAGED PRODUCT AT PT BUMI SARANA BETON ABSTRAK Dewi Sanita, 2018. Pengaruh Biaya Kualitas terhadap Produk Rusak pada PT Bumi Sarana Beton. Skripsi. Program Studi Pendidikan Akuntansi. Fakultas Ekonomi. Universitas Negeri Makassar. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh Biaya Kualitas terhadap Produk Rusak pada PT Bumi Sarana Beton. Variabel dalam penelitian ini adalah Biaya Kualitas (X) dan Produk Rusak (Y). Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah seluruh data bulanan produk bata ringan periode tahun 2016, yang menjadi sampel sebanyak enam bulan. Teknik pengumpulan data yang digunakan adalah wawancara dan observasi. Teknik analisis data yang digunakan dalam penelitian ini adalah analisis regresi linear sederhana, analisis korelasi product moment, uji t dengan menggunakan program SPSS v.21.00 for windows. Hasil analisis dengan regresi linear sederhana diperoleh model persamaan Y= 5,140 + 0,078X, diartikan bahwa konstanta sebesar 5,140 menyatakan bahwa tanpa ada pengaruh biaya kualitas maka produk rusak pada PT Bumi Sarana Beton sebesar 5,140. Koefisien regresi variabel produk rusak bernilai 0,078. Hal ini berarti bahwa setiap terjadi kenaikan biaya kualitas satu satuan, akan meningkatkan produk rusak sebesar 0,078 satuan. Hasil penelitian menunjukkan bahwa biaya kualitas berpengaruh signifikan terhadap produk rusak pada PT Bumi Sarana Beton. Kata Kunci: Biaya Kualitas, Produk Rusak

Bio-Inspired Engineering of Exploration Systems

The multidisciplinary concept of "bioinspired engineering of exploration systems" (BEES) is described, which is a guiding principle of the continuing effort to develop biomorphic explorers as reported in a number of articles in the past issues of NASA Tech Briefs. The intent of BEES is to distill from the principles found in successful nature-tested mechanisms of specific crucial functions that are hard to accomplish by conventional methods but that are accomplished rather deftly in nature by biological organisms. The intent is not just to mimic operational mechanisms found in a specific biological organism but to imbibe the salient principles from a variety of diverse bio-organisms for the desired crucial function. Thereby, we can build explorer systems that have specific capabilities endowed beyond nature, as they will possess a combination of the best nature-tested mechanisms for that particular function. The approach consists of selecting a crucial function, for example, flight or some selected aspects of flight, and develop an explorer that combines the principles of those specific attributes as seen in diverse flying species into one artificial entity. This will allow going beyond biology and achieving unprecedented capability and adaptability needed in encountering and exploring what is as yet unknown. A classification of biomorphic flyers into two main classes of surface and aerial explorers is illustrated in the figure, with examples of a variety of biological organisms that provide the inspiration in each respective subclass. Such biomorphic explorers may possess varied mobility modes: surface-roving, burrowing, hopping, hovering, or flying, to accomplish surface, subsurface, and aerial exploration. Preprogrammed for a specific function, they could serve as one-way communicating beacons, spread over the exploration site, autonomously looking for/at the targets of interest. In a hierarchical organization, these biomorphic explorers would report to the next level of exploration mode (say, a large conventional lander/rover) in the vicinity. A widespread and affordable exploration of new/hazardous sites at lower cost and risk would thus become possible by utilizing a faster aerial flyer to cover long ranges and deploying a variety of function- specific, smaller biomorphic explorers for distributed sensing and local sample acquisition. Several conceptual biomorphic missions for planetary and terrestrial exploration applications have been illustrated in "Surface-Launched Explorers for Reconnaissance/ Scouting" (NPO-20871), NASA Tech Briefs, Vol. 26, No. 4 (April, 2002), page 69 and "Bio-Inspired Engineering of Exploration Systems," Journal of Space Mission Architecture, Issue 2, Fall 2000, pages 49-79

Šeimų kalbų politika: latvių kalbos kaip paveldėtosios išlaikymas diasporoje

This article explores the concept of family language policy in relation to child agency and parents’ discourse strategies in the context of the Latvian diaspora. Research is based on four interviews with parents from three countries: the United Kingdom, Norway and Greece. Respondents were recruited through Saturday/Sunday schools in the diaspora, addressing Latvian speakers who work there or whose children attend these schools. Both parents of all four families analysed in this study use Latvian at home. Data were collected using the Zoom platform during spring 2023 and are part of a larger study about family language policies in the diaspora. Currently, data are also gathered using methods such as audio recordings of interactions between parents and children and online classroom observations in Latvian (Saturday) schools. The main research questions for this article are: which language ideologies underlie language practices (language choices) at home involving parents and children, and which parental discourse strategies are used in families with regard to the multilingual language practices of their children.Straipsnyje analizuojama dabartinės Latvijos diasporos šeimų kalbų politika. Siekiama nustatyti, kokios kalbinės ideologijos lemia kalbines praktikas namie, tėvų ir vaikų kalbų pasirinkimus, kokias diskurso strategijas taiko tėvai augindami dvikalbius vaikus. Naudota giluminių interviu su keturiomis latvėmis motinomis medžiaga, rinkta 2023 m. sausio–kovo mėnesiais. Informantės gyvena Jungtinėje Karalystėje (dvi šeimos), Norvegijoje (viena šeima) ir Graikijoje (viena šeima). Straipsnis yra platesnio tiriamojo projekto „Letonika“ (2022–2024) dalis. Duomenų analizė rodo, kad paveldėtosios kalbos perdavimo vaikams sėkmė labai priklauso nuo tėvų įsitikinimo, kiek jie gali veikti kalbinį vaikų elgesį, taip pat nuo vaikų noro bendradarbiauti. Be to, daug lemia konkrečios tėvų taikomos pokalbių strategijos bendraujant su vaikais, t. y. kiek tame pačiame pokalbyje laikomasi vieno kodo, kiek sugebama į tai kreipti vaikus. Analizė atskleidė, kad vaikų kalbinė raida, konkrečiau – kalbiniai jų sutrikimai gali turėti labai neigiamą poveikį kalbinėms tėvų praktikoms, perkeisti kalbines jų nuostatas, mažinti tėvų įsitikinimą, kad jie gali aktyviai prisidėti prie savo vaikų dvikalbystės su paveldėtąja kalba. Skirtingos tėvų ir vaikų kalbinės praktikos (pvz., vienos ar kitos kalbos pasirinkimas arba kodų kaita bendraujant), vyraujančios šeimose kasdienybėje, formuoja ir plečia jų kalbų politiką. Šie sudėtingi įsitikinimų, kalbų vadybos, komunikacijos modeliai ir jų sampynos reikalauja daugiau ir išsamesnio mokslinio dėmesio. Drauge paskirų šeimų kalbų politika siejasi ir yra veikiama vietos bendruomenės praktikų (pvz., mokykloje, darbe), turimų ir išreiškiamų nuostatų, taip pat nacionalinio socialinio diskurso bei šalies kalbų politikos. Kadangi kiekviena šeima yra savita sudėtinga sistema, svarbus ir individualus dėmesys kiekvienam atvejui

The Analysis of Historical Origin and Productiveness of Derivational Affixes in the Declaration of Independence of America (1776)

This paper presents the analysis of historical origin and the productiveness of affixes (prefixes and affixes) that are found in the text Declaration of Independence. It focuses mainly on derivational affixes combining with the morpheme and also its derivation in the history of English. It also notes the frequency and distribution of the affixes in the text.The aim of this study is to reveal the derivational affixes in the Declaration of Independence together with its analysis related to the origin of the affixes. Three sources of guidance are used as a means to aid the identification the affixes. They are dictionaries, books, and online resources.The result of the study shows that there are eight prefixes and eighteen categories of suffixes found in the Declaration of Independence. Moreover, it is noticed that most of the derivational affixes are still used till nowadays. The frequent prefixes in the text are un-, dis-, and in-. Meanwhile, the common suffixes found are ion (-tion, ation) followed by ence (-ance) and ment together with er /-or. It can be concluded that their productivity remains to be survived till present day though there are also some affixes that show declensions.Keywords: derivational affixes, Declaration of Independenc

Identification and characterisation of a novel integral membrane protein, shrew-1 that complexes with adherens junctions in polarised cells

In an attempt to search for potential candidate molecules involved in the pathogenesis of endometriosis, a novel 2910 bp cDNA encoding a putative 411 amino acid protein, shrew-1 was discovered. By computational analysis it was predicted to be an integral membrane protein with an outside-in transmembrane domain but no homology with any known protein or domain could be identified. Antibodies raised against the putative open-reading frame peptide of shrew-1 labelled a protein of ca. 48 kDa in extracts of shrew-1 mRNA positive tissues and also detected ectopically expressed shrew-1. In the course of my PhD work, I confirmed the prediction that shrew-1 is indeed a transmembrane protein, by expressing epitope-tagged shrew-1 in epithelial cells and analysing the transfected cells by surface biotinylation and immunoblots. Additionally, I could show that shrew-1 is able to target to E-cadherin-mediated adherens junctions and interacts with the E-cadherin-catenin complex in polarised MCF7 and MDCK cells, but not with the N-cadherin-catenin complex in non-polarised epithelial cells. A direct interaction of shrew-1 with beta-catenin could be shown in an in vitro pull-down assay. From this data, it could be assumed that shrew-1 might play a role in the function and/or regulation of the dynamics of E-cadherin-mediated junctional complexes. In the next part of my thesis, I showed that stable overexpression of shrew-1 in normal MDCK cells. causes changes in morphology of the cells and turns them invasive. Furthermore, transcription by ²-catenin was activated in these MDCK cells stably overexpressing shrew-1. It was probably the imbalance of shrew-1 protein at the adherens junctions that led to the misregulation of adherens junctions associated proteins, i.e. E-cadherin and beta-catenin. Caveolin-1 is another integral membrane protein that forms complexes with Ecadherin- beta-catenin complexes and also plays a role in the endocytosis of E-cadherin during junctional disruption. By immunofluorescence and biochemical studies, caveolin-1 was identified as another interacting partner of shrew-1. However, the functional relevance of this interaction is still not clear. In conclusion, it can be said that shrew-1 interacts with the key players of invasion and metastasis, E-cadherin and caveolin-1, suggesting its possible role in these processes and making it an interesting candidate to unravel other unknown mechanisms involved in the complex process of invasion.Auf der Suche nach Molekülen, die potentiell zur Pathogenese der Endometriose betragen könnten, wurde eine 2910 bp große cDNA identifiziert, die für ein bisher unbekanntes, hypothetisches Protein von 411 Aminosäuren codiert, das wurde shrew-1 genannt wurde. Eine Computeranalyse der Proteinsequenz ergab, dass es sich bei dem Protein um ein integrales Membranprotein handelt. Jedoch konnten keinerlei Homologien mit bekannten Proteinen oder Proteindomänen festgestellt werden. Antikörper gegen zwei verschiedene Peptidsequenzen aus potentiellen offenen shrew-1-Leserahmen markierten in Extrakten von shrew-1 positivem Gewebe ein Protein von etwa 48 KDa. Ausserdem kann mit diesen Antikörpern ektopisch exprimiertes shrew-1 nachgewiesen werden. Antikörper gegen zwei verschiedene Peptidsequenzen aus potentiellen offenen shrew-1-Leserahmen markierten in Extrakten von shrew-1 positivem Gewebe ein Protein von etwa 48 KDa. Ausserdem kann mit diesen Antikörpern ektopisch exprimiertes shrew-1 nachgewiesen werden. Desweiteren wurde gefunden, dass shrew-1 an Adhäsionsverbindungen transportiert wird, die durch E-Cadherin vermittelt werden. Shrew-1 interagiert mit dem E-Cadherin-Catenin-Komplex polarisierter Epithelzellen (MCF7- oder MDCKZellen). Im Gegensatz dazu kann in nicht-polarisierten Epithelzellen (EJ28-Zellen), welche einen N-Cadherin-Catenin-Komplex enthalten, keine Interaktion nachgewiesen werden. Eine direkte Interaktion von Shrew-1 mit ²-Catenin in einem in vitro Pull-down-assay lässt vermuten, dass die Einbindung von shrew-1 in den E-Cadherin-Catenin Komplex zumindest teilweise über beta-Catenin erfolgen kann. Die physiologische Auflösung der E-Cadherin-vermittelten Adhäsionskomplexe durch die Aktivierung der Rezeptortyrosinkinase c-met führt, zusammen mit E-Cadherin, zu einer Internaliserung von shrew-1 in Vesikeln, vermutlich den caveolae, in denen E-Cadherin und shrew-1 zu kolokalisieren scheinen. Zusammmengefasst könnten diese Daten könnten darauf hinweisen, dass shrew-1 eine Rolle in der Funktion und/oder Regulation dynamischer Prozesse in E-Cadherin-vermittelten Adhäsionsverbindungen spielen könnte. Eine stabile Überexpression von shrew-1 in MDCK-Zellen zeigte, dass shrew-1 Veränderungen in der Zellmorphologie und, damit verbunden, der Invasivität der Zellen verursacht. Ausserdem konnte in den shrew-1 transfizierten MDCK-Zellen beta-Catenin vermittelte Transkriptionsaktivierung beobachtet werden. Dies ist ist möglicherweise darauf zurück zu führen, dass ein Ungleichgewicht des transfizierten shrew-1 im Adhäsionskomplex eine Deregulation der dort befindlichen Proteine, wie z.B. E-Cadherin und beta-Catenin ergibt. Caveolin-1 ist ein weiteres integrales Membranprotein, das mit E-Cadherin-²- Catenin-Komplexen direkt interagieren kann. Außerdem spielt es eine Rolle bei der Endozytose von E-Cadherin während der Auflösung von Adhäsionskomplexen zwischen zwei Zellen. Durch Immunfluoreszenz und biochemische Untersuchungen konnte Caveolin-1 in dieser Arbeit als ein weiterer Interaktionspartner von shrew-1 identifiziert werden. Eine funktionelle Relevanz dieser Interaktion ist zur Zeit allerdings noch unklar. Zusammenfassend kann gesagt werden, dass shrew-1 mit Key-playern von Invasion und Metastasierung, nämlich E-Cadherin und Caveolin-1, interagiert. Dies deutet auf eine wichtige Rolle von shrew-1 in diesen Prozessen hin und macht es zu einem interessanten Kandidaten, an dem weitere Mechanismen im komplexen Prozess der Invasivität von Zellen erforscht werden können

PROBLEMS OF MASTERING LATVIAN AS A SECOND LANGUAGE IN THE CONTEXT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF APPLIED LINGUISTICS

The objective of the paper is to illuminate the interpretation of the term „Applied Linguistics” in Latvia and abroad (in Western Europe, the USA and Russia), and thereby identifying possibilities and grounds for the research of Latvian as a second language in the context of the development of applied linguistics in Latvia. Apart from theoretical literature, the author also uses data from observations of classroom discussions, which were obtained in three secondary schools and one elementary school (two schools in Rezekne, one in Rezekne region and one in Balvi). The author of the paper conducted a discourse research of Grade 9 pupils who learn Latvian as a second language (LAT 2). These research data are also important for problems of the development of methodology of applied linguistics in Latvia, because they enable the identification of new data and research methods. Applied linguistics as a field is based on the research of language and its role in human activities. Modern research of applied linguistics in Western Europe shows that attention is paid to areas such as second language acquisition (SLA), cognition, language policy and planning, lexicography, translation theory, corpus linguistics, etc. In Russia, when defining the areas and functions of applied linguistics, emphasize is put on the close connection of linguistics with information technology, artificial intelligence and logics. Russian linguists link the emergence of applied linguistics to the development of science and technology, which have made it necessary to observe language in action. The term „Applied Linguistics” is usually opposed to theoretical linguistics, which studies language in a system under a particular condition. To identify the interpretation of the term „Applied Linguistics” in Latvia, two sources were used for the paper: The „Interpretative Dictionary of Basic Terms of Linguistics” (IDBTL), published in 2007, and the description of the branches and sub-branches of science available on the home page of the Latvian Council of Science (LCS). The comparison of these sources reveals two differences in the definition of „applied linguistics”. IDBTL does not mention sociolinguistics among the areas of applied linguistics. Sociolinguistics is mentioned separately in the dictionary, but there is no link to applied linguistics. The second difference is that IDBTL does not refer to language teaching or learning – neither in the definition of applied linguistics, nor in the description of its areas, whereas it is mentioned in the LCS description of sub-branches. These findings show a lack of consistency in introducing the problem of second language acquisition into the context of the development of applied linguistics. The second part of the paper gives an insight into the research of the Latvian language as a second language. The research data were obtained through structural observations of class discourse and by analyzing them with the help of check lists and tables. The data of the class discourse research is important for the research of the actual situation of language acquisition. The task of an applied linguist is to be a mediator between the theory of linguistics and language pedagogy (linguodidactics). Even for studying problems of mastering the Latvian language as a second language, there is still a lack of systemic research which would provide a deeper analysis of the difficulties that LAT2 pupils deal with while learning Latvian, as well as while studying other subjects bilingually or in Latvian. There is an on-going need for class discourse research and for research of a individual language acquisition processes by means of interviews, questionnaires, and pupils’ reports about the accomplishment of some cognitive or linguistic tasks, as well as by other methods