Relative Tutte polynomials of tensor products of colored graphs

The tensor product $(G_1,G_2)$ of a graph $G_1$ and a pointed graph $G_2$ (containing one distinguished edge) is obtained by identifying each edge of $G_1$ with the distinguished edge of a separate copy of $G_2$, and then removing the identified edges. A formula to compute the Tutte polynomial of a tensor product of graphs was originally given by Brylawski. This formula was recently generalized to colored graphs and the generalized Tutte polynomial introduced by Bollob\'as and Riordan. In this paper we generalize the colored tensor product formula to relative Tutte polynomials of relative graphs, containing zero edges to which the usual deletion-contraction rules do not apply. As we have shown in a recent paper, relative Tutte polynomials may be used to compute the Jones polynomial of a virtual knot

Traditional culture as a vehicle for Christian future-making: ethnic minority elites pioneering self-representations in northern Myanmar

This paper explores the pioneering work for future-making by one of Myanmar’s non-dominant ethnic groups. Specifically, it examines how the Christian Lisu elite strategically, and somewhat opportunistically, use ‘traditional culture’ to perform ethnicity against the background of their ‘double-minority’ status vis-à-vis the dominant populations of the (Kachin) state and (Myanmar) nation. It analyses heterogeneous social actors and conditions that have influenced a Christian elite’s renewed interest in their pre-Christian litpix traditions, as well as the challenges involved in translating the singularity of its abstraction into various embodied forms. Central to this process is the selection, revision and standardisation of previously marginalised artefacts and practices, placing them in the litpix domain independent of religion (Christianity). These embodied forms are readily tagged as ethnically Lisu whenever assertion of difference is needed. I argue that the emerging litpix space has become a significant discursive site relating to Lisu self-representations of modern selves and relations. It is also crucial in the Christian elite’s efforts to gain competitive political, economic and cultural resources for the future development of the Burmese Lisu (especially the younger generation) while maintaining the church’s important influence on public and private life in the Lisu Christian community

Mediating Gospel singing: Audiovisual recording and the transformation of voice among the Christian Lisu in Post-2000 Nujiang, China

The contemporary gospel singing of the Nujiang Lisu in China’s southwestern Yunnan province seems to have been predominated by new media technologies and recorded popular mutgguat ssat music. The prevalence of Christian audiovisual recordings reflects more than a shift in the materiality of Lisu religious practices. Moreover, it speaks to the transformative ways that the Christian Lisu have engaged with technologies for their gospel singing as a practice of religious mediation. New musical styles and expressive forms have been disseminated through recordings and further institutionalized in the worship service and other religious settings. Drawing on a material approach from the recent studies of religion as mediation, rather than perceiving modern mass media as destructive to the traditional hymn singing and authentic religious experience, I examine how recording-mediated mutgguat ssat singing celebrates Lisu religious, social and cultural identities in contemporary Nujiang society. I contend that the adoption of audiovisual recording has enriched Lisu singing to operate as a resilient medium through the use of which elements of traditional cultural forms are incorporated to encourage religious participation and further produce a more genuine Lisu expression of Christianity on a daily basis

The complexity of lattice knots

AbstractA family of polygonal knots Kn on the cubical lattice is constructed with the property that the quotient of length L(Kn) over the crossing number Cr(Kn) approaches zero as L approaches infinity. More precisely Cr(Kn) = O(L(Kn)43). It is shown that this construction is optimal in the sense that for any knot K on the cubical lattice with length L and Cr crossings Cr ⩽ 3.2L43

Postnatal development of NADPH-diaphorase expression in the visual cortex of the golden hamster

Nitric oxide is an important neuromodulator in the brain and is involved in the development of visual system. But it is not clear how nitric oxide and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) are involved in the developing visual cortex of rodents. Thus we examined the expression of NOS activity in the postnatal developing visual cortex of the golden hamster by using histochemical technique for NADPH-diaphorase (NADPH-d). A heavily stained NADPH-d band was observed in the neuropil of the visual cortex. This NADPH-d band initially appeared in the cortical plate from the day of birth (P0) to postnatal day 4 (P4). From P7 to P21, this band was confined to area 17 and migrated to the deeper layers III-IV and V-VI before it eventually disappeared at P28. Such developmental trends of the band correlated well with the process of formation and establishment of the geniculo-cortical projection patterns. Thus, the areal specific development of the band suggests that NOS is closely related to the cortical differentiation and synaptic formation of the primary visual cortex. On the other hand, monocular eye enucleation on P1 could not alter the appearance of this NADPH-d positive band, indicating a non-activity dependant role of NOS. In addition, differences in the laminar distributions and developmental sequence between the heavily and lightly stained NADPH-d positive neurons during development suggest that they play different roles in the development.published_or_final_versio

A self-adapting latency/power tradeoff model for replicated search engines

For many search settings, distributed/replicated search engines deploy a large number of machines to ensure efficient retrieval. This paper investigates how the power consumption of a replicated search engine can be automatically reduced when the system has low contention, without compromising its efficiency. We propose a novel self-adapting model to analyse the trade-off between latency and power consumption for distributed search engines. When query volumes are high and there is contention for the resources, the model automatically increases the necessary number of active machines in the system to maintain acceptable query response times. On the other hand, when the load of the system is low and the queries can be served easily, the model is able to reduce the number of active machines, leading to power savings. The model bases its decisions on examining the current and historical query loads of the search engine. Our proposal is formulated as a general dynamic decision problem, which can be quickly solved by dynamic programming in response to changing query loads. Thorough experiments are conducted to validate the usefulness of the proposed adaptive model using historical Web search traffic submitted to a commercial search engine. Our results show that our proposed self-adapting model can achieve an energy saving of 33% while only degrading mean query completion time by 10 ms compared to a baseline that provisions replicas based on a previous day's traffic

Pb(II) and Mn(II) Supermolecular Polymers of Bipy and (4-Chlorophenyloxy) Acetate Anions: Syntheses, Structure and Fluorescence Properties

Two new supermolecular polymers of the formula [Pb4L8(2,2’-bipy)4] 1 and [MnL2(4,4’-bipy)] 2 [HL = (4-chlorophenyloxy)acetic acid] have been synthesized and characterized by X-ray single crystal diffraction analysis, elemental analysis, fluorescence spectroscopy method and electrochemical analysis. Complex 1 is a multinuclear dimmer in which four Pb ions are linked together by the L ligands. In complex 2, each carboxyl of L bridges two Mn ions to form infinite Mn–O–C-Orods. Both in complex 1 and complex 2, π–π stacking and van der Waals’ interactions make the two complexes stable, 3-D, supermolecular polymers. This work will contribute to the design and synthesis of fluorescent, supramolecular polymers.Keywords: Supermolecular polymers, fluorescence, 4-chlorophenyloxyacetic aci

Macro-micro feedback links of water management in South Africa : CGE analyses of selected policy regimes

The pressure on an already stressed water situation in South Africa is predicted to increase significantly under climate change, plans for large industrial expansion, observed rapid urbanization, and government programs to provide access to water to millions of previously excluded people. The present study employed a general equilibrium approach to examine the economy-wide impacts of selected macro and water related policy reforms on water use and allocation, rural livelihoods, and the economy at large. The analyses reveal that implicit crop-level water quotas reduce the amount of irrigated land allocated to higher-value horticultural crops and create higher shadow rents for production of lower-value, water-intensive field crops, such as sugarcane and fodder. Accordingly, liberalizing local water allocation in irrigation agriculture is found to work in favor of higher-value crops, and expand agricultural production and exports and farm employment. Allowing for water trade between irrigation and non-agricultural uses fueled by higher competition for water from industrial expansion and urbanization leads to greater water shadow prices for irrigation water with reduced income and employment benefits to rural households and higher gains for non-agricultural households. The analyses show difficult tradeoffs between general economic gains and higher water prices, making irrigation subsidies difficult to justify.Water Supply and Sanitation Governance and Institutions,Town Water Supply and Sanitation,Water Supply and Systems,Water and Industry,Water Conservation

Functional characterization of a gluthathione Stransferase gene from Limonium bicolor in response to several abiotic stresses

In the present study, we characterized a gluthathione S-transferase gene (LbGST1) in response to different abiotic stresses. Real time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) indicated that the LbGST1 can be differentially regulated by stress of NaCl, NaHCO3 and low temperature, suggesting a role in plant stress response. To further investigate abiotic stress tolerance of LbGST1, the transgenic yeast harboring the LbGST1 was generated under the control of inducible GAL promoter (pYES2 vector); yeast cells transformed with empty pYES2 were also generated as a control. Stress tolerance tests showed that LbGST1 yeast transformants exhibited elevated tolerance to the stresses of thermal (53°C), alkali (NaHCO3), ultraviolet radiation, salt (NaCl), drought (sorbitol) and freezing (-20°C) compared with the control transformants, suggesting that the LbGST1 is tolerant to these abiotic stresses. Our results indicate that the LbGST1 gene is resistant to a wider repertoire of stresses and may play a common role in plant acclimation to the examined stress conditions.Key words: Gluthathione S-transferases (GST), abiotic stress, expression analysis, Limonium bicolor