Short Cycle Covers of Cubic Graphs and Graphs with Minimum Degree Three

The Shortest Cycle Cover Conjecture of Alon and Tarsi asserts that the edges of every bridgeless graph with $m$ edges can be covered by cycles of total length at most $7m/5=1.400m$. We show that every cubic bridgeless graph has a cycle cover of total length at most $34m/21\approx 1.619m$ and every bridgeless graph with minimum degree three has a cycle cover of total length at most $44m/27\approx 1.630m$

Child labour in an industrial town: a study of child workers in Birmingham, 1750 to 1880

There has been extensive historical research into child labour in industries such as textiles and coal mining, but there has been little focus on children employed in Birmingham industries such as pin making and button making. This thesis illuminates the extent and nature of child labour in Birmingham and the significant contribution made by child workers to industrialisation between 1750 and 1880. It draws attention to the importance of children’s earnings for family incomes and suggests that some families migrated to the town in search of paid employment for their children as well as adults. The attitudes of employers, Poor Law officials, parents and children towards early work are explored, finding that child workers were regarded as an integral part of the Birmingham economy. This thesis provides a case study of child labour and child workers in an industrial town. It uses a wide range of primary sources to highlight the experiences of thousands of child workers who were not bound as apprentices to employers, but engaged on a daily or weekly basis. It challenges the view that the employment of children in manufacturing was a relatively short-lived phenomenon during the early stages of industrialisation, arguing that child workers were widely employed in Birmingham’s factories and workshops until the 1870s. It highlights the strategies adopted by labouring families to provide their children with access to basic schooling, and identifies the specific threats to children’s health from industrial employment. Finally, this thesis argues that nineteenth-century migration schemes which sent poor children to work on Canadian farms represented a global dimension in the history of child labour

Towards dielectric relaxation at a single molecule scale

Dielectric relaxation lies at the heart of well-established techniques of dielectric spectroscopy essential to diverse fields of research and technology. We report an experimental route for increasing the sensitivity of dielectric spectroscopy ultimately towards the scale of a single molecule. We use the method of radio frequency scanning tunneling microscopy to excite a single molecule junction based on a polar substituted helicene molecule by an electric field oscillating at 2–5 GHz. We detect the dielectric relaxation of the single molecule junction indirectly via its effect of power dissipation, which causes lateral displacement. From our data we determine a corresponding relaxation time of about 300 ps—consistent with literature values of similar helicene derivatives obtained by conventional methods of dielectric spectroscopy.publishedVersio

Distributed brain co-processor for tracking spikes, seizures and behaviour during electrical brain stimulation

Early implantable epilepsy therapy devices provided open-loop electrical stimulation without brain sensing, computing, or an interface for synchronized behavioural inputs from patients. Recent epilepsy stimulation devices provide brain sensing but have not yet developed analytics for accurately tracking and quantifying behaviour and seizures. Here we describe a distributed brain co-processor providing an intuitive bi-directional interface between patient, implanted neural stimulation and sensing device, and local and distributed computing resources. Automated analysis of continuous streaming electrophysiology is synchronized with patient reports using a handheld device and integrated with distributed cloud computing resources for quantifying seizures, interictal epileptiform spikes and patient symptoms during therapeutic electrical brain stimulation. The classification algorithms for interictal epileptiform spikes and seizures were developed and parameterized using long-term ambulatory data from nine humans and eight canines with epilepsy, and then implemented prospectively in out-of-sample testing in two pet canines and four humans with drug-resistant epilepsy living in their natural environments. Accurate seizure diaries are needed as the primary clinical outcome measure of epilepsy therapy and to guide brain-stimulation optimization. The brain co-processor system described here enables tracking interictal epileptiform spikes, seizures and correlation with patient behavioural reports. In the future, correlation of spikes and seizures with behaviour will allow more detailed investigation of the clinical impact of spikes and seizures on patients

Monitoring the reversible B to A-like transition of DNA in eukaryotic cells using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

The ability to detect DNA conformation in eukaryotic cells is of paramount importance in understanding how some cells retain functionality in response to environmental stress. It is anticipated that the B to A transition might play a role in resistance to DNA damage such as heat, desiccation and toxic damage. To this end, conformational detail about the molecular structure of DNA has been derived primarily from in vitro experiments on extracted or synthetic DNA. Here, we report that a B- to A-like DNA conformational change can occur in the nuclei of intact cells in response to dehydration. This transition is reversible upon rehydration in air-dried cells. By systematically monitoring the dehydration and rehydration of single and double-stranded DNA, RNA, extracted nuclei and three types of eukaryotic cells including chicken erythrocytes, mammalian lymphocytes and cancerous rodent fibroblasts using Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, we unequivocally assign the important DNA conformation marker bands within these cells. We also demonstrate that by applying FTIR spectroscopy to hydrated samples, the DNA bands become sharper and more intense. This is anticipated to provide a methodology enabling differentiation of cancerous from non-cancerous cells based on the increased DNA content inherent to dysplastic and neoplastic tissue

An excel utility for the rapid characterization of 'funny filters" in PIXE analysis.

"Funny filters", i.e. compound absorbers with an aperture in one layer, provide an effective means of recording both trace and major element X-ray lines in a single PIXE spectrum. However, the characterization of funny filters has some pitfalls. An Excel utility has been developed to characterize the physical parameters of the filter on the assumption of a constant H-value for the PIXE system. Its application is illustrated using data taken independently at two laboratories

Digital Society Development and Industry 5.0

Radi lakšeg razumijevanja teme ―"Digitalno društvo i razvoj industrije" 5.0 u radu će biti objašnjeno što je digitalno društvo te koje tehnologije utječu na razvoj digitalnog društva, potom povijest razvoja industrije od parnog stroja do industrije 4.0. Ostatak rada usmjeren je na razvoj industrije 5.0 i utjecaj industrije 5.0 na društvo. Dolaskom industrije 5.0 dogodit će se promjene u mnogim područjima, dok su ovdje opisane promjene u području medicine i ekonomije. Razvoj kobota i umjetne inteligencije temelj je industrije 5.0 koji će omogućiti rad robota uz čovjeka, tj. oni će dijeliti isti radni prostor te si međusobno pomagati. Bit će spomenuti stavovi Europske Unije na temu umjetne inteligencije i utjecaja umjetne inteligencije na društvo. Nove promjene donose i nedostatke, čovjek će morati proći edukaciju za rad uz kobote i priviknuti se na rad uz njih. Postoji mogućnost da će se čovjek morati natjecati sa kobotima za radna mjesta što bi moglo stvoriti negativnu percepciju o njima.In order to better understand the topic - "Digital Society and Industry Development" 5.0, the paper will explain what the digital society is and what technologies affect the development of the digital society, then the history of industry development from steam engine to Industry 4.0. The rest of the paper focuses on the development of Industry 5.0 and the impact of Industry 5.0 on society. With the advent of Industry 5.0, changes will occur in many areas, while changes in medicine and economics are described here. The development of cobots and artificial intelligence is the foundation of Industry 5.0, which will enable robots to work with humans, ie they will share the same workspace and help each other. The attitudes of the European Union on the topic of artificial intelligence and the impact of artificial intelligence on society will be mentioned. New changes also bring shortcomings, one will have to go through training to work with cobwebs and get used to working with them. There is a possibility that a man will have to compete with cobots for jobs which could create a negative perception about them

Digital Society Development and Industry 5.0

Radi lakšeg razumijevanja teme ―"Digitalno društvo i razvoj industrije" 5.0 u radu će biti objašnjeno što je digitalno društvo te koje tehnologije utječu na razvoj digitalnog društva, potom povijest razvoja industrije od parnog stroja do industrije 4.0. Ostatak rada usmjeren je na razvoj industrije 5.0 i utjecaj industrije 5.0 na društvo. Dolaskom industrije 5.0 dogodit će se promjene u mnogim područjima, dok su ovdje opisane promjene u području medicine i ekonomije. Razvoj kobota i umjetne inteligencije temelj je industrije 5.0 koji će omogućiti rad robota uz čovjeka, tj. oni će dijeliti isti radni prostor te si međusobno pomagati. Bit će spomenuti stavovi Europske Unije na temu umjetne inteligencije i utjecaja umjetne inteligencije na društvo. Nove promjene donose i nedostatke, čovjek će morati proći edukaciju za rad uz kobote i priviknuti se na rad uz njih. Postoji mogućnost da će se čovjek morati natjecati sa kobotima za radna mjesta što bi moglo stvoriti negativnu percepciju o njima.In order to better understand the topic - "Digital Society and Industry Development" 5.0, the paper will explain what the digital society is and what technologies affect the development of the digital society, then the history of industry development from steam engine to Industry 4.0. The rest of the paper focuses on the development of Industry 5.0 and the impact of Industry 5.0 on society. With the advent of Industry 5.0, changes will occur in many areas, while changes in medicine and economics are described here. The development of cobots and artificial intelligence is the foundation of Industry 5.0, which will enable robots to work with humans, ie they will share the same workspace and help each other. The attitudes of the European Union on the topic of artificial intelligence and the impact of artificial intelligence on society will be mentioned. New changes also bring shortcomings, one will have to go through training to work with cobwebs and get used to working with them. There is a possibility that a man will have to compete with cobots for jobs which could create a negative perception about them

Influence of substrate pH value on kefir beverage production in stirred tank reactor

Kefirni napitak je fermentirano piće proizvedeno dodavanjem kefirnih zrnaca u vodenu otopinu saharoze. Kefirna zrnca građena su od matriksa, načinjenog od dekstrana, i mikroorganizama, najviše kvasaca, bakterija mliječne kiseline, bifidobakterija te bakterija octene kiseline, odgovornih za provođenje fermentacije. Raspon optimalne pH vrijednosti za svaku je vrstu različit pa će kod određene pH vrijednosti podloge, udio pojedine vrste mikroorganizama varirati zajedno s koncentracijom produkata njihovog metabolizma. U konačnici, pH podloge utječe i na samu dinamiku odvijanja bioprocesa te posljedično i na pokazatelje uspješnosti. U ovom završnom radu uspoređena je dinamika odvijanja proizvodnje kefirnog napitka u bioreaktoru s miješalom kao i njegov sastav tokom cijelog vremena trajanja fermentacije kod dvije različite pH vrijednosti podloge (pH 4 i pH 5). Utvrđeno je da je kod pH podloge 5 ostvareno kraće vrijeme fermentacije, a izvor ugljika je gotovo u potpunosti utrošen. Također, zabilježene su više koncentracije produkata, kao što su etanol, mliječna i octena kiselina, u odnosu na drugi eksperiment.Water kefir is a fermented beverage produced by adding kefir grains to an aqueous sucrose solution. Kefir grains are made of a matrix, made of dextran, and microorganisms, mostly yeasts, bifidobacteria and lactic and acetic acid bacteria, responsible for conducting fermentation. The range of optimal pH value for each species is different, so at a certain pH value of the media, the share of each type of microorganisms will vary together with the concentration of the products of their metabolism. Ultimately, the pH of the media affects the dynamics of the bioprocess and, consequently, the bioprocess efficiency parametres. This bachelor thesis compares the dynamics of water kefir production in a stirred tank bioreactor as well as its composition during the entire fermentation at two different pH values (pH 4 and pH 5) of the media. It was found that at pH 5, a shorter fermentation time was achieved and the carbon source was almost completely consumed. Also, higher concentrations of products like ethanol, lactic and acetic acid were recorded in comparison to the second experiment