Maximum size t-cross-intersecting and intersecting families with degree conditions

We present four main results: (1) A solution to the problem of finding two set systems A and B such that A is r1-intersecting, B is r2-intersecting, A,B are t-cross-intersecting and A+ B is a maximum; (2) A solution to the problem of finding two set systems A and B such that A,B are Sperner, t-cross-intersecting and A+ B is a maximum; (3) A solution to the problem of finding the maximum size of an intersecting set system F such that the complementary degree c( F ) = s for a specified value s; (4) An asymptotic result on the complementary degree of an intersecting set system

UniPCM: Universal Pre-trained Conversation Model with Task-aware Automatic Prompt

Recent research has shown that multi-task pre-training greatly improves the model's robustness and transfer ability, which is crucial for building a high-quality dialog system. However, most previous works on multi-task pre-training rely heavily on human-defined input format or prompt, which is not optimal in quality and quantity. In this work, we propose to use Task-based Automatic Prompt generation (TAP) to automatically generate high-quality prompts. Using the high-quality prompts generated, we scale the corpus of the pre-trained conversation model to 122 datasets from 15 dialog-related tasks, resulting in Universal Pre-trained Conversation Model (UniPCM), a powerful foundation model for various conversational tasks and different dialog systems. Extensive experiments have shown that UniPCM is robust to input prompts and capable of various dialog-related tasks. Moreover, UniPCM has strong transfer ability and excels at low resource scenarios, achieving SOTA results on 9 different datasets ranging from task-oriented dialog to open-domain conversation. Furthermore, we are amazed to find that TAP can generate prompts on par with those collected with crowdsourcing. The code is released with the paper

One for All, All for One: A Unified Evaluation Framework for Univariate DPA Attacks

Success Rate (SR) is empirically and theoretically a common metric for evaluating the performance of side-channel attacks. Intuitive expressions of success rate are desirable since they reveal and explain the functional dependence on relevant parameters, such as number of measurements and Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), in a straightforward manner. Meanwhile, existing works more or less expose unsolved fundamental problems, such as strong leakage assumption, difficulty in interpretation of principle, inaccurate evaluation, and inconsideration of high-order SR. In this paper, we first provide an intuitive framework that statistical tests embedded in different univariate DPA attacks are unified as analyzing and comparing visualized vectors in a Euclidean space by using different easy-to-understand metrics. Then, we establish a unified framework to abstract and convert the security evaluations to the problem of finding a boundary in the Euclidean space. With expressions of the boundary, judging whether a DPA attack succeeds in sense of $o^{th}$-order becomes fairly efficient and intuitive, and the corresponding SR can be calculated theoretically by integral. Finally, we propose an algorithm that is capable of estimating arbitrary order of SR effectively. Our experimental results verify the theory and highlight the superiority. We believe our research raises many new perspectives for comparing and evaluating side-channel attacks, countermeasures and implementations

Pretreating poplar cuttings with low nitrogen ameliorates salt stress responses by increasing stored carbohydrates and priming stress signaling pathways

Soil salinity is a widespread stress in semi-arid forests worldwide, but how to manage nitrogen (N) nutrition to improve plant saline tolerance remains unclear. Here, the cuttings of a widely distributed poplar from central Asia, Populus russikki Jabl., were exposed to either normal or low nitrogen (LN) concentrations for two weeks in semi-controlled greenhouse, and then they were added with moderate salt solution or not for another two weeks to evaluate their physiological, biochemical, metabolites and transcriptomic profile changes. LN-pretreating alleviated the toxicity caused by the subsequent salt stress in the poplar plants, demonstrated by a significant reduction in the influx of Na+ and Cl- and improvement of the K+/Na+ ratio. The other salt-stressed traits were also ameliarated, indicated by the variations of chlorophyll content, PSII photochemical activity and lipid peroxidation. Stress alleviation resulted from two different processes. First, LN pretreatment caused a significant increase of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC), allowed for an increased production of osmolytes and a higher potential fueling ion transport under subsequent salt condition, along with increased transcript levels of the cation/H+ ATPase. Second, LN pretreatment enhanced the transcript levels of stress signaling components and phytohormones pathway as well as antioxidant enzyme activities. The results indicate that early restrictions of N supply could enhance posterior survival under saline stress in poplar plants, which is important for plantation programs and restoration activities in semi-arid areas.This research was supported by Natural Science Foundation of China ( 31770644 and 31270660 ), Project of Innovation research team in Sichuan Education Administration in China (No. 13TD0023 )

Spanning Trails Connecting Given Edges

Suppose that F is the set of connected graphs such that a graph G ∈ F if and only if G satisfies both (F1) if X is an edge cut of G with |X | ≤ 3, then there exists a vertex v of degree |X | such that X consists of all the edges incident with v in G, and (F2) for every v of degree 3, v lies in a k-cycle of G, where 2 ≤ k ≤ 3. In this paper, we show that if G ∈ F and κ ′ (G) ≥ 3, then for every pair of edges e, f ∈ E(G), G has a trail with initial edge e and final edge f which contains all vertices of G. This result extends several former results (Broersma, Kriesell and Ryjáček [2], Kriesell [12] and Zhan [17]).

Preheating Behaviors of Iron Ore Pellets with Humic Substance-Based Binder

Humic substance-based binder (HB) has been found to be an effective substitution for bentonite in the production of iron ore pellets. In this study, it was found that the preheating time needed to be prolonged during the pelletization processing which is a remarkable feature of pellets with HB instead of bentonite. As far as the oxidation behaviors were concerned, a manifest oxidation hysteresis platform was observed in the FeO content vs. preheating time curve during the second minute in the preheating process, which implied that the emission of humic substance noticeably interfered with oxidation process pellets. Consequently, in contrast to bentonite, the magnetite phase could not be completely transformed into hematite until the preheating time reached 16 min. Meanwhile, the SEM-EDS analysis showed that the crystal grains of preheated pellets with HB were well interconnected when the preheating time was 16 min. This also verified that the optimal preheating time of pellets with HB (16 min) was longer than that of pellets with bentonite (10 min)

Tomato SIAN11 regulates flavonoid biosynthesis and seed dormancy by interaction with bHLH proteins but not with MYB proteins

The flavonoid compounds are important secondary metabolites with versatile human nutritive benefits and fulfill a multitude of functions during plant growth and development. The abundance of different flavonoid compounds are finely tuned with species-specific pattern by a ternary MBW complex, which consists of a MYB, a bHLH, and a WD40 protein, but the essential role of SIAN11, which is a WD40 protein, is not fully understood in tomato until now. In this study, a tomato WD40 protein named as SIAN11 was characterized as an effective transcription regulator to promote plant anthocyanin and seed proanthocyanidin (PA) contents, with late flavonoid biosynthetic genes activated in 35S::SIAN77 transgenic lines, while the dihydroflavonol flow to the accumulation of flavonols or their glycosylated derivatives was reduced by repressing the expression of SIFLS in this SIAN/1-overexpressed lines. The above changes were reversed in 35S::SIAN77-RNAi transgenic lines except remained levels of flavonol compounds and SIFLS expression. Interestingly, our data revealed that SIAN11 gene could affect seed dormancy by regulating the expressions of abscisic acid (ABA) signaling-related genes SIABI3 and SIABI5, and the sensitivity to ABA treatment in seed germination is conversely changed by SIAN/ 1-overexpressed or -downregulated lines. Yeast two-hybrid assays demonstrated that SIAN11 interacted with bHLH but not with MYB proteins in the ternary MBW complex, whereas bHLH interacted with MYB in tomato. Our results indicated that low level of anthocyanins in tomato fruits, with low expression of bHLH (SITT8) and MYB (SIANT1 and SIAN2) genes, remain unchanged upon modification of SIAN11 gene alone in the transgenic lines. These results suggest that the tomato WD40 protein SIAN11, coordinating with bHLH and MYB proteins, plays a crucial role in the fine adjustment of the flavonoid biosynthesis and seed dormancy in tomato

Multi-omics reveals deoxycholic acid modulates bile acid metabolism via the gut microbiota to antagonize carbon tetrachloride-induced chronic liver injury

ABSTRACTDeoxycholic acid (DCA) serves essential functions in both physiological and pathological liver processes; nevertheless, the relationship among DCA, gut microbiota, and metabolism in chronic liver injury remain insufficiently understood. The primary objective of this study is to elucidate the potential of DCA in ameliorating chronic liver injury and evaluate its regulatory effect on gut microbiota and metabolism via a comprehensive multi-omics approach. Our study found that DCA supplementation caused significant changes in the composition of gut microbiota, which were essential for its antagonistic effect against CCl4-induced chronic liver injury. When gut microbiota was depleted with antibiotics, the observed protective efficacy of DCA against chronic liver injury became noticeably attenuated. Mechanistically, we discovered that DCA regulates the metabolism of bile acids (BAs), including 3-epi DCA, Apo-CA, and its isomers 12-KLCA and 7-KLCA, IHDCA, and DCA, by promoting the growth of A.muciniphila in gut microbiota. This might lead to the inhibition of the IL-17 and TNF inflammatory signaling pathway, thereby effectively countering CCl4-induced chronic liver injury. This study illustrates that the enrichment of A. muciniphila in the gut microbiota, mediated by DCA, enhances the production of secondary bile acids, thereby mitigating chronic liver injury induced by CCl4. The underlying mechanism may involve the inhibition of hepatic IL-17 and TNF signaling pathways. These findings propose a promising approach to alleviate chronic liver injury by modulating both the gut microbiota and bile acids metabolism