Double loop networks with minimum delay

AbstractDouble loop networks have been widely studied as practical and reliable computer networks. Let N denote the number of stations in a double loop network. The literature has proposed a topology which yields the diameter 2√N. In this paper we give a heuristic method which finds a topology with diameter roughly √3N for large N. We also give several infinite classes of values of N for which topologies are found that achieve the lower bound ⌈√3N⌉ − 2 for the diameter

Identification of rice chromosome segment substitution line Z322-1-10 and mapping QTLs for agronomic traits from the F₃ population

Chromosome segment substitution lines (CSSLs) are powerful tools to combine naturally occurring genetic variants with favorable alleles in the same genetic backgrounds of elite cultivars. An elite CSSL Z322-1-10 was identified from advanced backcrosses between a japonica cultivar Nipponbare and an elite indica restorer Xihui 18 by SSR marker-assisted selection (MAS). The Z322-1-10 line carries five substitution segments distributed on chromosomes 1, 2, 5, 6 and 10 with an average length of 4.80 Mb. Spikilets per panicle, 1000-grain weight, grain length in the Z322-1-10 line are significantly higher than those in Nipponbare. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified and mapped for nine agronomic traits in an F3 population derived from the cross between Nipponbare and Z322-1-10 using the restricted maximum likelihood (REML) method in the HPMIXED procedure of SAS. We detected 13 QTLs whose effect ranging from 2.45% to 44.17% in terms of phenotypic variance explained. Of the 13 loci detected, three are major QTL (qGL1, qGW5-1 and qRLW5-1) and they explain 34.68%, 44.17% and 33.05% of the phenotypic variance. The qGL1 locus controls grain length with a typical Mendelian dominance inheritance of 3:1 ratio for long grain to short grain. The already cloned QTL qGW5-1 is linked with a minor QTL for grain width qGW5-2 (13.01%) in the same substitution segment. Similarly, the previously reported qRLW5-1 is also linked with a minor QTL qRLW5-2. Not only the study is important for fine mapping and cloning of the gene qGL1, but also has a great potential for molecular breeding

Genome-wide scan using DArT markers for selection footprints in six-rowed naked barley from the Tibetan Plateau

As one of the world’s earliest domesticated crops, barley is a model species for the study of evolution and domestication. Domestication is an evolutionary process whereby a population adapts, through selection; to new environments created by human cultivation. We describe the genome-scanning of molecular diversity to assess the evolution of barley in the Tibetan Plateau. We used 667 Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) markers to genotype 185 barley landraces and wild barley accessions from the Tibetan Plateau. Genetic diversity in wild barley was greater than in landraces at both genome and chromosome levels, except for chromosome 3H. Landraces and wild barley accessions were clearly differentiated genetically, but a limited degree of introgression was still evident. Significant differences in diversity between barley subspecies at the chromosome level were observed for genes known to be related to physiological and phenotypical traits, disease resistance, abiotic stress tolerance, malting quality and agronomic traits. Selection on the genome of six-rowed naked barley has shown clear multiple targets related to both its specific end-use and the extreme environment in Tibet. Our data provide a platform to identify the genes and genetic mechanisms that underlie phenotypic changes, and provide lists of candidate domestication genes for modified breeding strategies

Mass measurements of neutron-deficient Y, Zr, and Nb isotopes and their impact on rp and νp nucleosynthesis processes

© 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This manuscript is made available under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0). For further details please see: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Using isochronous mass spectrometry at the experimental storage ring CSRe in Lanzhou, the masses of 82Zr and 84Nb were measured for the first time with an uncertainty of ∼10 keV, and the masses of 79Y, 81Zr, and 83Nb were re-determined with a higher precision. The latter are significantly less bound than their literature values. Our new and accurate masses remove the irregularities of the mass surface in this region of the nuclear chart. Our results do not support the predicted island of pronounced low α separation energies for neutron-deficient Mo and Tc isotopes, making the formation of Zr–Nb cycle in the rp-process unlikely. The new proton separation energy of 83Nb was determined to be 490(400) keV smaller than that in the Atomic Mass Evaluation 2012. This partly removes the overproduction of the p-nucleus 84Sr relative to the neutron-deficient molybdenum isotopes in the previous νp-process simulations.Peer reviewe

Modeling of diabetes mellitus-related depression

Research on the mechanisms of diabetes-related depression is limited by the lack of sufficiently adequate animal models. Among 80 rats, we formed four groups: (i) normal (N, control), (ii) with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes mellitus (group Dm), (iii) with a depression model induced by various mild but long-lasting repetitive stressogenic stimulations applied each day during 4 weeks (group D), and (iv) diabetic rats subjected to the combined action of stressogenic influences (group DmD). The latter group (35 animals) was divided into two subgroups, DmD1 subjected to the above chronic stressogenic stimulations, and DmD2 in which diabetic rats were during the above period (4 weeks) kept in isolation. Rats of groups Dm, D, and DmD manifested clear behavioral symptoms of depression. These symptoms were relatively mild in group Dm and much more intense in group DmD. The body mass of rats noticeably decreased in the Dm and D groups and dramatically dropped in the DmD group. In this group, diabetes-related changes in the levels of blood glucose, insulin, and hemoglobin A1C were the greatest. The same relates to the behavioral indices demonstrated by rats in the open field test. The contents of norepinephrine, 5-hydroxytryptamine, and dopamine in the thalamus of rats of groups Dm, D, and DmD were lower than in the norm, and these shifts where most dramatic in the DmD group. The levels of ACTH and cortisol increased in the experimental groups; again, shifts were the greatest in the DmD group. RT PCR and Western blotting showed that the level of NPY protein in the hypothalamus was lower in groups Dm, D, and DmD than that in the norm. Thus, chronic unpredictable stressogenic stimulation or behavioral isolation of diabetic rats significantly aggravates manifestations of depression and stably provides the formation of an adequate animal model of diabetes-related depression. Keeping animals in isolation (subgroup DmD2) is more suitable for empirical studies because of a lower mortalityЕфективність досліджень механізмів депресії, пов’язаної з цукровим діабетом, обмежується недостатністю адекватних експериментальних моделей. Із 80 щурів ми сформували чотири групи: нормальну (N, контроль), групу Dm із стрептозотоциніндукованим експериментальним діабетом, групу D з ознаками депресії, індукованої помірними за силою, але тривалими повторюваними різноманітними стресогенними стимуляціями, що реалізувалися в рандомізованому порядку щоденно протягом чотирьох тижнів, а також групу DmD, котра складалася зі щурів із діабетом, підданих хронічним стресогенним впливам. Остання група (35 тварин) була розділена на дві підгрупи: DmD1, піддану вказаним стресогенним стимуляціям, та DmD2, в якій щури з діабетом утримувалися в ізоляції протягом аналогічного періоду (чотири тижні). У щурів груп Dm, D і DmD проявлялися виражені поведінкові симптоми депресії. Ці симптоми були порівняно слабкими в групі Dm і найбільш інтенсивними в групі DmD. Маса тіла тварин помітно зменшувалася порівняно з нормою в групах Dm і D та різко падала в групі DmD. У цій групі пов’язані з діабетом зміни рівнів глюкози в крові, інсуліну та гемоглобіну А1С були найбільшими. Те ж саме стосувалося поведінкових індексів, що визначалися в щурів у тесті відкритого поля. Рівні норадреналіну, серотоніну та дофаміну в таламусі щурів груп Dm, D і DmD були нижчими за норму; ці зрушення виявилися найбільш драматичними в групі DmD. Рівні АКТГ і кортизола в експериментальних групах зростали; ці зміни також були найбільш значними в групі DmD. Виміри з використанням полімеразної ланцюгової реакції та Вестерн блоттингу вказували на зниження рівня протеїну NPY в групах Dm, D і DmD. Таким чином, помірна за силою хронічна непередбачувана стресогенна стимуляція або поведінкова ізоляція щурів із діабетом істотно збільшують прояви депресії та забезпечують стабільне формування адекватної діабет-залежної моделі депресії в експериментах на тваринах. Утримання щурів у ізоляції (підгрупа DmD2) виглядає більш придатним для емпіричних досліджень, оскільки смертність тварин у даній підгрупі була нижчою

Non-Markovian dynamics for an open two-level system without rotating wave approximation: Indivisibility versus backflow of information

By use of the two measures presented recently, the indivisibility and the backflow of information, we study the non-Markovianity of the dynamics for a two-level system interacting with a zero-temperature structured environment without using rotating wave approximation (RWA). In the limit of weak coupling between the system and the reservoir, and by expanding the time-convolutionless (TCL) generator to the forth order with respect to the coupling strength, the time-local non-Markovian master equation for the reduced state of the system is derived. Under the secular approximation, the exact analytic solution is obtained and the sufficient and necessary conditions for the indivisibility and the backflow of information for the system dynamics are presented. In the more general case, we investigate numerically the properties of the two measures for the case of Lorentzian reservoir. Our results show the importance of the counter-rotating terms to the short-time-scale non-Markovian behavior of the system dynamics, further expose the relations between the two measures and their rationality as non-Markovian measures. Finally, the complete positivity of the dynamics of the considered system is discussed

Detection of herb-symptom associations from traditional chinese medicine clinical data

YesTraditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an individualized medicine by observing the symptoms and signs (symptoms in brief) of patients. We aim to extract the meaningful herb-symptom relationships from large scale TCM clinical data. To investigate the correlations between symptoms and herbs held for patients, we use four clinical data sets collected from TCM outpatient clinical settings and calculate the similarities between patient pairs in terms of the herb constituents of their prescriptions and their manifesting symptoms by cosine measure. To address the large-scale multiple testing problems for the detection of herb-symptom associations and the dependence between herbs involving similar efficacies, we propose a network-based correlation analysis (NetCorrA) method to detect the herb-symptom associations. The results show that there are strong positive correlations between symptom similarity and herb similarity, which indicates that herb-symptom correspondence is a clinical principle adhered to by most TCM physicians. Furthermore, the NetCorrA method obtains meaningful herb-symptom associations and performs better than the chi-square correlation method by filtering the false positive associations. Symptoms play significant roles for the prescriptions of herb treatment. The herb-symptom correspondence principle indicates that clinical phenotypic targets (i.e., symptoms) of herbs exist and would be valuable for further investigations

Phase separating binary fluids under oscillatory shear

We apply lattice Boltzmann methods to study the segregation of binary fluid mixtures under oscillatory shear flow in two dimensions. The algorithm allows to simulate systems whose dynamics is described by the Navier-Stokes and the convection-diffusion equations. The interplay between several time scales produces a rich and complex phenomenology. We investigate the effects of different oscillation frequencies and viscosities on the morphology of the phase separating domains. We find that at high frequencies the evolution is almost isotropic with growth exponents 2/3 and 1/3 in the inertial (low viscosity) and diffusive (high viscosity) regimes, respectively. When the period of the applied shear flow becomes of the same order of the relaxation time $T_R$ of the shear velocity profile, anisotropic effects are clearly observable. In correspondence with non-linear patterns for the velocity profiles, we find configurations where lamellar order close to the walls coexists with isotropic domains in the middle of the system. For particular values of frequency and viscosity it can also happen that the convective effects induced by the oscillations cause an interruption or a slowing of the segregation process, as found in some experiments. Finally, at very low frequencies, the morphology of domains is characterized by lamellar order everywhere in the system resembling what happens in the case with steady shear.Comment: 1 table and 12 figures in .gif forma

Patients with refractory cytomegalovirus (CMV) infection following allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation are at high risk for CMV disease and non-relapse mortality

AbstractPre-emptive therapy is an effective approach for cytomegalovirus (CMV) control; however, refractory CMV still occurs in a considerable group of recipients after allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT). Until now, hardly any data have been available about the clinical characteristics and risk factors of refractory CMV, or its potential harmful impact on the clinical outcome following allo-HSCT. We studied transplant factors affecting refractory CMV in the 100 days after allo-HSCT, and the impact of refractory CMV on the risk of CMV disease and non-relapse mortality (NRM). We retrospectively studied 488 consecutive patients with CMV infection after allo-HSCT. Patients with refractory CMV in the 100 days after allo-HSCT had a higher incidence of CMV disease and NRM than those without refractory CMV (11.9% vs. 0.8% and 17.1% vs. 8.3%, respectively). Multivariate analysis showed that refractory CMV infection in the 100 days after allo-HSCT was an independent risk factor for CMV disease (hazard ratio (HR) 10.539, 95% CI 2.467–45.015, p 0.001), and that refractory CMV infection within 60–100 days after allo-HSCT was an independent risk factor for NRM (HR 8.435, 95% CI 1.511–47.099, p 0.015). Clinical factors impacting on the risk of refractory CMV infection included receiving transplants from human leukocyte antigen-mismatched family donors (HR 2.012, 95% CI 1.603–2.546, p <0.001) and acute graft-versus-host disease (HR 1.905, 95% CI 1.352–2.686, p <0.001). We conclude that patients with refractory CMV infection during the early stage after allo-HSCT are at high risk for both CMV disease and NRM

System-size scan of dihadron azimuthal correlations in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collisions

System-size dependence of dihadron azimuthal correlations in ultra-relativistic heavy ion collision is simulated by a multi-phase transport model. The structure of correlation functions and yields of associated particles show clear participant path-length dependences in collision systems with a partonic phase. The splitting parameter and root-mean-square width of away-side correlation functions increase with collision system size from $^{14}$N+$^{14}$N to $^{197}$Au+$^{197}$Au collisions. The double-peak structure of away-side correlation functions can only be formed in sufficient "large" collision systems under partonic phase. The contrast between the results with partonic phase and with hadron gas could suggest some hints to study onset of deconfinment.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 1 table; Nucl. Phys. A (accepted