Duality in Graphical Models

Graphical models have proven to be powerful tools for representing high-dimensional systems of random variables. One example of such a model is the undirected graph, in which lack of an edge represents conditional independence between two random variables given the rest. Another example is the bidirected graph, in which absence of edges encodes pairwise marginal independence. Both of these classes of graphical models have been extensively studied, and while they are considered to be dual to one another, except in a few instances this duality has not been thoroughly investigated. In this paper, we demonstrate how duality between undirected and bidirected models can be used to transport results for one class of graphical models to the dual model in a transparent manner. We proceed to apply this technique to extend previously existing results as well as to prove new ones, in three important domains. First, we discuss the pairwise and global Markov properties for undirected and bidirected models, using the pseudographoid and reverse-pseudographoid rules which are weaker conditions than the typically used intersection and composition rules. Second, we investigate these pseudographoid and reverse pseudographoid rules in the context of probability distributions, using the concept of duality in the process. Duality allows us to quickly relate them to the more familiar intersection and composition properties. Third and finally, we apply the dualization method to understand the implications of faithfulness, which in turn leads to a more general form of an existing result

Anti-diarrhoeal Activity of Psidium guajava (Gauva) Aqueous Leaf Extract in Experimental Animals

Aqueous leaf extract of Psidium guajava (Guava) was evaluated for anti-diarrhoeal activity against castor oil-induced diarrhoea in albino rats. 50 and 100mg/kg (body weight) doses of the leaf extract showed a  dose-dependent anti-diarrhoeal activity comparable to a standard antidiarrhoeal drug Diphenoxylate given intraperitoneally at 5mg/kg (b.w.) Also, the extract reduced intestinal transit time in charcoal meal test in the same manner. A 100mg/kg dose of the extract also showed an anti-enteropooling effect comparable to a standard anti-enteropooling agent Chlopromazine (20mg/kg, intraperitoneally). Further studies are needed to isolate the effective components of the leaf extract.Keywords: Anti-diarrhoeal Activity, Psidium guajava, Castor oil induced, Diarrhoe

Strategic Network Formation with Attack and Immunization

Strategic network formation arises where agents receive benefit from connections to other agents, but also incur costs for forming links. We consider a new network formation game that incorporates an adversarial attack, as well as immunization against attack. An agent's benefit is the expected size of her connected component post-attack, and agents may also choose to immunize themselves from attack at some additional cost. Our framework is a stylized model of settings where reachability rather than centrality is the primary concern and vertices vulnerable to attacks may reduce risk via costly measures. In the reachability benefit model without attack or immunization, the set of equilibria is the empty graph and any tree. The introduction of attack and immunization changes the game dramatically; new equilibrium topologies emerge, some more sparse and some more dense than trees. We show that, under a mild assumption on the adversary, every equilibrium network with $n$ agents contains at most $2n-4$ edges for $n\geq 4$. So despite permitting topologies denser than trees, the amount of overbuilding is limited. We also show that attack and immunization don't significantly erode social welfare: every non-trivial equilibrium with respect to several adversaries has welfare at least as that of any equilibrium in the attack-free model. We complement our theory with simulations demonstrating fast convergence of a new bounded rationality dynamic which generalizes linkstable best response but is considerably more powerful in our game. The simulations further elucidate the wide variety of asymmetric equilibria and demonstrate topological consequences of the dynamics e.g. heavy-tailed degree distributions. Finally, we report on a behavioral experiment on our game with over 100 participants, where despite the complexity of the game, the resulting network was surprisingly close to equilibrium.Comment: The short version of this paper appears in the proceedings of WINE-1

BIOINFORMATICS APPROACH ON ACTION AND MECHANISM OF BROMELAIN IN HEPATOCELLULAR CARCINOMA

Objective: The objective of the study was to understand biomolecular interactions of Bromelain and its networking with p53 and β-catenin by a computational method of analysis in Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) condition. Methodology: The protein interaction partners for p53 and β-catenin involved in the progression of HCC were collected from National Center for Biotechnology Information. We collected data points and standardized the data points for our data analysis from the public database. We used Cytoscape 3.8.2 version plug-in for constructing a Protein-Protein interaction network. We constructed a pathway network using Biorender.com. Results: The protein interactions concerning p53 and β-catenin are identified and a network is constructed. A total of 18 and 34 nodes were identified which are involved in down-regulation and up-regulation of β-catenin and a total of 30 and 27 nodes for homosapiens are identified which are involved in the downregulation and upregulation of the p53 gene. We identified different pathways which trigger and impact the p53 and Wnt/β- catenin signaling pathways as potential target sites for Bromelain to arrest the progression of cancer Conclusion: In conclusion, our in silico studies anti-cancer activity of Bromelain in HCC relating its effect on apoptosis, cell differentiation, mesenchymal transition, p53 signaling, and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways

Species Abundance and Colour Preferences of Oviposition by Mosquitoes in Man-Made Containers under Field Conditions in Sokoto, Nigeria

A study was conducted to determine the occurrence and colour preferences of oviposition by mosquitoes in man-made containers under field conditions. A total of nine (9) different colour 2 litre plastic containers were used as artificial mosquito oviposition containers. They were filled with equal amounts of water and placed in the biological garden of the Department of Biological Sciences, Usmanu Danfodiyo University Sokoto. The containers were observed for seven (7) days for mosquito larvae. A total of 319 larvae belonging to four genera, Aedes, Anopheles, Culex and Mansonia were co-habiting/colonizing the garden. The highest occurring genus was Culex with 108 (33.9%) larvae, followed by Aedes with 92 (28.8%), Mansonia 79 (24.8%) and Anopheles with 40 (12.5%)larvae. The colour preference of mosquitoes was in this order: red 25.4 % (81), brown 20.4 % (65), black 16.0% (51), blue 13.2% (42), purple 10.3% (33), pink 7.8% (25), green 6.3% (20), yellow 0.6% (2) and white 0% (0). Although many genera oviposited in more than one colourcontainer, the general distribution of larvae revealed that Aedes and Culex preferred red colour, Mansonia preferred brown container while Anopheles preferred black container. This study shows the importance of colour in determining the breeding sites and thus the occurrence of mosquitoes. The implications of such containers as possible breeding foci of mosquitoes of potential public health significance have been highlighted.Key words: Colour preferences, Man-made containers, oviposition, Mosquito larva

A Study on Leadership Styles Adopted at V-Trans in India

Leadership styles are usually considered a benefit for the most companies. This style focuses the management that provides guidance and help to its team and departments while accepting and receiving the inputs from individual team members. These leaders not reserve to their activities and authority only but in actual they bother about consultation of employees. To evaluated worker’s views of their senior and top leadership team and state that this style focuses on using the skills, experience, and ideas of others. However, the leaders or managers using this style but still remains the final decision making power in the leader’s hand. To his or her credits, they will not make major decision without firstly getting the input from those that will be affected, provide proper recognition, and delegate responsibilities. The main intension of this paper is to identify and examine the leadership styles adopted in the organization. This leadership styles improve the performance in both short term and long term and can be used for any type of work project

Conductance modulation in graphene nanoribbon under transver-se asymmetric electric potential

We theoretically study the effect of transverse electric potentials on the transport properties of armchair graphene nanoribbons (AGNRs), formed by pairs of asymme-tric gates placed along the side of the ribbon. Single pair and dual pair configurations are considered. We also examine the effect of hollows (spatial regions void of carbon atoms) in the AGNR channels. We find that the use of hollowed AGNRs in the dual pair configuration allows for a significant modulation of the transport gap, when the two pairs have opposite polarity of gate bias. Furthermore, we show that for the dual-gate system, hollowed AGNR channels exhibit the optimal ratio of ON-state to OFF-state conductance, due to the smaller OFF-state conductance compared with spatially homogenous AGNR channels. Our results indicate that transverse gate technology coupled with careful engineering of hollow geometry may lead to possible applications in graphene-based electronic devices.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure