Complexity and Algorithms for the Discrete Fr\'echet Distance Upper Bound with Imprecise Input

We study the problem of computing the upper bound of the discrete Fr\'{e}chet distance for imprecise input, and prove that the problem is NP-hard. This solves an open problem posed in 2010 by Ahn \emph{et al}. If shortcuts are allowed, we show that the upper bound of the discrete Fr\'{e}chet distance with shortcuts for imprecise input can be computed in polynomial time and we present several efficient algorithms.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figure

Salt pans matter : a system of ecology and culture cohabitation for Cabo de Gata, Andalusia, Spain

This thesis book seeks new meanings for the concept of “cohabitation”, it is important to understand “cohabitation” as the link to connect cultural inheritance and natural restoration. We need to find a way to coexist with nature and create something beyond - the new relationship for “economy, nature, and culture.” The salt pans in Cabo de gata of Andalucia, Spain is not just a potential habitat for the migrating birds, especially for flamingos, but also for the cultural heritage of the traditional craft of salt production. Unfortunately, it is the only salt pan still under operation in the region today. Actually, in recent years, the local salt pans have declined because the local traditional salt production has been replaced by industrially produced salt(chemical mined salt) from other countries. While the salt pans are gradually abandoned, the habitat lost, too. It is important for us to think about ecosystem transformation and cultural protection at this point. Could the traditional salt industry still have value today? What is the potential for the future? The unique thing about the site is that the salt pan is facing to the sea and right beside the volcano, which creates a shift in scale from the deep topo to a vast flatness. It extracts the water from the sea to create the color palette, which is different from the natural salt pan. This book brings an idea to guide the salt pan for future development from aesthetic, ecological and experiencial viewpoint. The first chapter will talk about the importance of the salt pan, how it works and how the craft of salt production relates to habitat. The issue will lead us to think about how could we preserve this special landscape by keeping its natural function and cultural value but also by creating “a unique and valuable experience for visitors”. That could be the reason for it should exist even when the salt production has less economic value for this area in the future. The design proposal for the “narrative experience”- an experience of knowledge and engagement, and experience about the interaction between the natural process and artificial production

High Quality Biosolids: Assessment of Nitrogen Mineralization and Potential for Improving Highway Soils

Biosolids production is increasing with increase in human population. Over the years, the quality of biosolids has been improving with the upgrading of most wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) as dictated by a need to meet discharge limits in receiving water bodies. Applying biosolids to agricultural soils to improve crop production has been practiced for decades. With increased regulation on land application in agricultural lands, biosolids industry has been exploring ways to use biosolids in specific situations such as highway roadside soils to improve soil properties. Roadside soils are known to be compacted and contaminated due to vehicular traffic and typically have low organic matter and nutrients. The objective of this study was to investigate the efficacy of high quality biosolids (i.e. Bloom) to improve soil physical and chemical properties. Results showed that Bloom and its mixture can significantly improve soil bulk density and hydraulic conductivity. Bloom-amended soils had a higher nitrogen mineralization rate than the control (2.45 times faster in simulated roadside soil and 1.21 times faster in agricultural soil) and compost amended soil. Further, soils amended with cured Bloom had relatively slower N mineralization than those applied with uncured Bloom since the curing process will decrease organic matter (OM) content and facilitate the loss of N as ammonium. The take home message is that bloom is more effective than inorganic fertilizer in terms of improving soil physical properties for roadside soils and bloom mixed with sand and sawdust is more effective than pure bloom. Bloom addition can significantly increase soil organic nitrogen mineralization. Further study and analysis will be needed to conclude on the effect of deer compost on soil physical properties and the mineralization rate of Orgro amended soil

1H-NMR spectroscopy to investigate the effects of food on animals and humans through metabolomics

Metabolomics have proven highly effective for unravelling the complex metabolomic interactions between food and health. 1H-NMR has provided abundant information when the animal metabolism response to feed characteristics was evaluated or when the connection between health status of people and food composition was investigated. As a first step of the PhD work, standard operating procedures (SOPs) were setup to investigate the metabolome of serum, feces, urine and meat by means of 1H-NMR. The SOPs were outlined so to be of general applicability for metabolomics investigation of any animal. The SOPs gave the opportunity to face new projects which highlighted effects of food on the metabolism of animals and humans. In order to gain confidence about metabolomic investigations on animal studies, a simple trial focused on arginine supplementation for broiler chickens was setup at the first stage. We found that arginine supplementation improved food efficiency in fast-growing broiler chickens. Second, a complex trial relating to probiotics administration for horses was performed. Such trial was considered as an intermediate step to provide references for the final goal. As a result, some potential biomarkers suggested that a likely mechanism was linked to the change of energy source in muscle from carbohydrates to short-chain fatty acids. Finally, the effects of probiotics on human health was investigated through two experiments aiming to provide evidences of probiotic supplementation on the treatments of gastrointestinal diseases. It was the first trial aiming to assess safety and efficacy of a mixture of probiotics for the treatment of infantile colic in exclusively breastfed infants. We found propylene glycol was considered as the potential candidate molecules of individuals supplemented with probiotics. In terms of the treatments of symptomatic uncomplicated diverticular disease (SUDD), short chain fatty acids production seemed to play a mainstay role in the complex metabolic pathway characterizing SUDD patients

On the General Chain Pair Simplification Problem

The Chain Pair Simplification problem (CPS) was posed by Bereg et al. who were motivated by the problem of efficiently computing and visualizing the structural resemblance between a pair of protein backbones. In this problem, given two polygonal chains of lengths n and m, the goal is to simplify both of them simultaneously, so that the lengths of the resulting simplifications as well as the discrete Frechet distance between them are bounded. When the vertices of the simplifications are arbitrary (i.e., not necessarily from the original chains), the problem is called General CPS (GCPS). In this paper we consider for the first time the complexity of GCPS under both the discrete Frechet distance (GCPS-3F) and the Hausdorff distance (GCPS-2H). (In the former version, the quality of the two simplifications is measured by the discrete Fr\u27echet distance, and in the latter version it is measured by the Hausdorff distance.) We prove that GCPS-3F is polynomially solvable, by presenting an widetilde-O((n+m)^6 min{n,m}) time algorithm for the corresponding minimization problem. We also present an O((n+m)^4) 2-approximation algorithm for the problem. On the other hand, we show that GCPS-2H is NP-complete, and present an approximation algorithm for the problem

Genomic Scaffold Filling Revisited

The genomic scaffold filling problem has attracted a lot of attention recently. The problem is on filling an incomplete sequence (scaffold) I into I\u27, with respect to a complete reference genome G, such that the number of adjacencies between G and I\u27 is maximized. The problem is NP-complete and APX-hard, and admits a 1.2-approximation. However, the sequence input I is not quite practical and does not fit most of the real datasets (where a scaffold is more often given as a list of contigs). In this paper, we revisit the genomic scaffold filling problem by considering this important case when, (1) a scaffold S is given, the missing genes X = c(G) - c(S) can only be inserted in between the contigs, and the objective is to maximize the number of adjacencies between G and the filled S\u27 and (2) a scaffold S is given, a subset of the missing genes X\u27 subset X = c(G) - c(S) can only be inserted in between the contigs, and the objective is still to maximize the number of adjacencies between G and the filled S\u27\u27. For problem (1), we present a simple NP-completeness proof, we then present a factor-2 greedy approximation algorithm, and finally we show that the problem is FPT when each gene appears at most d times in G. For problem (2), we prove that the problem is W[1]-hard and then we present a factor-2 FPT-approximation for the case when each gene appears at most d times in G

Synthesis and Characterization of Free-Stand Graphene/Silver Nanowire/Graphene Nano Composite as Transparent Conductive Film with Enhanced Stiffness

As-grown graphene via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has potential defects, cracks, and disordered grain boundaries induced by the synthesis and transfer process. Graphene/silver nanowire/graphene (Gr/AgNW/Gr) sandwich composite has been proposed to overcome these drawbacks significantly as the AgNW network can provide extra connections on graphene layers to enhance the stiffness and electrical conductivity. However, the existing substrate (polyethylene terephthalate (PET), glass, silicon, and so on) for composite production limits its application and mechanics behavior study. In this work, a vacuum annealing method is proposed and validated to synthesize the free-stand Gr/AgNW/Gr nanocomposite film on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids. AgNW average spacing, optical transmittance, and electrical conductivity are characterized and correlated with different AgNW concentrations. Atomic force microscope (AFM) indentation on the free-stand composite indicates that the AgNW network can increase the composite film stiffness by approximately 460% with the AgNW concentration higher than 0.6 mg/mL. Raman spectroscopy shows the existence of a graphene layer and the disturbance of the AgNW network. The proposed method provides a robust way to synthesize free-stand Gr/AgNW/Gr nanocomposite and the characterization results can be utilized to optimize the nanocomposite design for future applications

Synthesis and Characterization of Free-Stand Graphene/Silver Nanowire/Graphene Nano Composite as Transparent Conductive Film with Enhanced Stiffness

As-grown graphene via chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has potential defects, cracks, and disordered grain boundaries induced by the synthesis and transfer process. Graphene/silver nanowire/graphene (Gr/AgNW/Gr) sandwich composite has been proposed to overcome these drawbacks significantly as the AgNW network can provide extra connections on graphene layers to enhance the stiffness and electrical conductivity. However, the existing substrate (polyethylene terephthalate (PET), glass, silicon, and so on) for composite production limits its application and mechanics behavior study. In this work, a vacuum annealing method is proposed and validated to synthesize the free-stand Gr/AgNW/Gr nanocomposite film on transmission electron microscopy (TEM) grids. AgNW average spacing, optical transmittance, and electrical conductivity are characterized and correlated with different AgNW concentrations. Atomic force microscope (AFM) indentation on the free-stand composite indicates that the AgNW network can increase the composite film stiffness by approximately 460% with the AgNW concentration higher than 0.6 mg/mL. Raman spectroscopy shows the existence of a graphene layer and the disturbance of the AgNW network. The proposed method provides a robust way to synthesize free-stand Gr/AgNW/Gr nanocomposite and the characterization results can be utilized to optimize the nanocomposite design for future applications