Verification of PCP-Related Computational Reductions in Coq

We formally verify several computational reductions concerning the Post correspondence problem (PCP) using the proof assistant Coq. Our verifications include a reduction of a string rewriting problem generalising the halting problem for Turing machines to PCP, and reductions of PCP to the intersection problem and the palindrome problem for context-free grammars. Interestingly, rigorous correctness proofs for some of the reductions are missing in the literature

Comparison of PBO solvers in a dependency solving domain

Linux package managers have to deal with dependencies and conflicts of packages required to be installed by the user. As an NP-complete problem, this is a hard task to solve. In this context, several approaches have been pursued. Apt-pbo is a package manager based on the apt project that encodes the dependency solving problem as a pseudo-Boolean optimization (PBO) problem. This paper compares different PBO solvers and their effectiveness on solving the dependency solving problem.Comment: In Proceedings LoCoCo 2010, arXiv:1007.083

Filling a blank on the map: 60 years of fisheries in Equatorial Guinea

Despite a scarcity of pertinent information, it has been possible to reconstruct time series of marine fisheries catches for Equatorial Guinea from 1950 to 2010 using per capita fish consumption and population numbers for small-scale fisheries, catch rates and number of vessels for industrial fisheries and discard rates to estimate the discarded bycatch. Small-scale fisheries, industrial large-scale fisheries, domestic and legal and illegal foreign fisheries and their discards are all included. Total catches were estimated at 2.7 million tonnes over the time period considered, of which 653 000 t were caught domestically compared to 187 000 t reported by FAO. This shows that fisheries have more importance for Equatorial Guinea's food security than the official data suggest. In contrast to what is suggested by official figures, fisheries were shown to be strongly impacted by civil and political unrest; notably, they declined overall because of civil and political conflicts, socio-demographic dynamics, and a growing role of the newly discovered oil resources, which directly and indirectly threaten the food security of the people of Equatorial Guinea

Cardiac ryanodine receptor N-terminal region biosensors identify novel inhibitors via FRET-based high-throughput screening

The N-terminal region (NTR) of ryanodine receptor (RyR) channels is critical for the regulation of Ca2+ release during excitation-contraction (EC) coupling in muscle. The NTR hosts numerous mutations linked to skeletal (RyR1) and cardiac (RyR2) myopathies, highlighting its potential as a therapeutic target. Here, we constructed two biosensors by labeling the mouse RyR2 NTR at domains A, B, and C with FRET pairs. Using fluorescence lifetime (FLT) detection of intramolecular FRET signal, we developed high-throughput screening (HTS) assays with these biosensors to identify small-molecule RyR modulators. We then screened a small validation library and identified several hits. Hits with saturable FRET dose-response profiles and previously unreported effects on RyR were further tested using [3H]ryanodine binding to isolated sarcoplasmic reticulum vesicles to determine effects on intact RyR opening in its natural membrane. We identified three novel inhibitors of both RyR1 and RyR2 and two RyR1-selective inhibitors effective at nanomolar Ca2+. Two of these hits activated RyR1 only at micromolar Ca2+, highlighting them as potential enhancers of excitation-contraction coupling. To determine whether such hits can inhibit RyR leak in muscle, we further focused on one, an FDA-approved natural antibiotic, fusidic acid (FA). In skinned skeletal myofibers and permeabilized cardiomyocytes, FA inhibited RyR leak with no detrimental effect on skeletal myofiber excitation-contraction coupling. However, in intact cardiomyocytes, FA induced arrhythmogenic Ca2+ transients, a cautionary observation for a compound with an otherwise solid safety record. These results indicate that HTS campaigns using the NTR biosensor can identify compounds with therapeutic potential

Global delivery models: the role of talent, speed and time zones in the global outsourcing industry

Global delivery models (GDMs) are transforming the global IT and business process outsourcing industry. GDMs are a new form of client-specific investment promoting service integration with clients by combining client proximity with time-zone spread for 24/7 service operations. We investigate antecedents and contingencies of setting up GDM structures. Based on comprehensive data we show that providers are likely to establish GDM location configurations when clients value access to globally distributed talent and speed of service delivery, in particular when services are highly commoditized. Findings imply that coordination across time zones increasingly affects international operations in business-to-business and born-global industries

Understanding the activation mechanism induced by NOx on the performances of VOx/TiO2 based catalysts in the total oxidation of chlorinated VOCs

A previous investigation of the chlorobenzene combustion activity of VOx/TiO2, VOx-WO/TiO2 and VOx-MoOx/TiO2 catalysts in the presence of NO pointed out the activation effect of NO. The suggested three-step mechanism based on catalytic performances data only was: (1) chlorobenzene is oxidized on the surface of the VOx phase (as described by Mars-van Krevelen), (2) NO gets oxidized to NO2, mainly on WOx and MoOx and (3) the in situ produced NO2 assists O-2 in the reoxidation of the VOx phase thus speeding up the oxidation step of the Mars-van Krevelen mechanism. The latter effect macroscopically corresponds to the observed increase of chlorobenzene conversion. This contribution aims at validating this hypothetical mechanism by pointing out the favourable occurrence of an oxidation of NO to NO2 on the WOx and MoOx phases and by pointing out the higher efficiency of NO2 than O-2 to reoxidize the reduced VOx sites. In addition, the present contribution clearly demonstrates that, in the absence of NO, the chlorobenzene total oxidation occurred following the Mars-van Krevelen mechanism. Moreover, a thorough characterization of the oxidation state of the vanadium proving that the improvement of the catalyst activity brought by the simultaneous presence of NO and O-2 is linked to the stronger reoxidation of the VOx active phase. Furthermore, plotting all the catalytic activity data versus the mean vanadium oxidation level clearly depicts, for the first time, the strong dependence between them. Under a mean vanadium oxidation level of 4.82 the catalyst is inactive while above 4.87 the activity is stabilized at a high level of conversion independent of the vanadium oxidation level. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Revisiting the marine reservoir age in Baja California continental margin sediments using 14C and 210Pb dating

International audienceKnowledge of the Marine Reservoir Effect (MRE) correction is fundamental in palaeoceanographic research to establish an accurate age-depth model for marine sedimentary records. However, during the last decades different MRE corrections have been applied in inconsistent ways for the same locality and same sediment cores, at Soledad Basin, Baja California, Mexico, creating confusion about the proper correction value of the marine reservoir effect (ΔR) to be applied. In contrast with the empirical approach previously used for assessing the ΔR value in Soledad Basin, in this study we applied an analytical approach based on the concurrent application of AMS-14 C and 210 Pb xs dating techniques made on sedimentary total organic carbon and foraminifera to determine new regional ΔR values from newly collected sediment cores from this site. Our results from Soledad Basin show a ΔR of 206 ± 32 years for foraminifera and 706 ± 42 years for organic carbon. Modeled ages using these results, and compared with those previously applied for the basin, highlight the relevance of the correct use of the local reservoir age as it can generate an offset of approximately 150 years if the other published ΔR were used. These differences can shift core chronologies by several decades and thus yield significant errors in palaeoceanographic reconstructions, which will be important to remedy in future work