Selfish Routing of Splittable Flow with Respect to Maximum Congestion

We study the problem of selfishly routing splittable traffic with respect to maximum congestion through a shared network. Our model naturally combines features of the two best studied models in the context of selfish routing: The KP-model cite{KP99} and the Wardrop-model cite{War52}. We are given a network with source nodes $s_i$, sink nodes $t_i$, $1 leq i leq k$, $m$ edges, and a latency function for each edge. Traffics of rate $r_i$ are destined from $s_i$ to $t_i$. Traffics are splittable and each piece of traffic tries to route in such a way that it minimizes its private latency. In the absence of a central regulation, Nash Equilibria represent stable states of such a system. In a Nash Equilibrium, no piece of traffic can decrease its private latency by unilaterally changing its route. The increased social cost due to the lack of central regulation is defined in terms of the coordination ratio, i.e. the worst possible ratio of the social cost of a traffic flow at Nash Equilibrium and the social cost of a global optimal traffic flow. In this paper, we show that in the above model pure Nash Equilibria always exist. Then, we analyze the coordination ratio of single-commodity networks with linear latency functions. Our main result is a tight upper bound of $frac{4}{3} m$, where $m$ is the number of edges of the network, for the coordination ratio of single-commodity networks with linear latency functions. On our way to our main result we analyze the coordination ratio of single-hop networks and show a tight upper bound of $m+Theta(sqrt{m})$. A more sophisticated analysis yields an upper bound of $frac{4}{3}m$ for the coordination ratio of multi-hop networks, which is then used to derive the main result for arbitrary single-commodity linear networks

Real-time three-dimensional ultrasound : a valuable new tool in preoperative assessment of complex congenital cardiac disease

Evaluating complex cardiac defects in small children preoperatively requires multiple diagnostic procedures including echocardiography, and also invasive methods such as cardiac catheterisation, computer-tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. This article assesses the complex anatomy of the atrioventricular valves in atrioventricular septal defect using bedside real-time three-dimensional echocardiography and comparing these results to the anatomic findings at the time of operative intervention.peer-reviewe

Iodine in plant-based dairy products is not sufficient in the UK : a market survey

Acknowledgements A.A. thanks the Saudi Arabia Cultural Bureau and Ministry of Education for financial support. No AI was used in the writing process and in the final manuscript. One artistic image was generated using AI technology as part of the graphical abstract.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Challenges in treatment of postinfarction ventricular septal defect and heart failure

Introduction. Acquired ventricular septal defect (VSD) is uncommon, but serious mechanical complication of acute myocardial infarction with poor outcome and high mortality rate in surgically or medically treated patients. Case report. We report a 58-year-old male patient admitted to our hospital six days following acute inferior myocardial infarction complicated by ventricular septal rupture with signs of heart failure. Coronary angiography revealed 3-vessel disease, with proximally occluded dominant right coronary artery. Transthoracic echo exam revealed aneurysm of a very thin inferior septum and the basal portion of the inferior left ventricular wall, with septal wall rupture. One of the VSD dimensions was 15 mm and left- to right shunt was calculated 2 : 1. Since the patient was at too high risk for surgical closure, transcatheter closure of VSD was chosen as a better option. Under short intravenous sedation, 24 mm Amplatzer device was implanted percutaneously with transesophageal echo guidance. The post-procedural result revealed a small residual shunt, but it was followed by significant improvement of the patient's clinical status. A 24h Holter ECG monitoring did not show cardiac rhythm or conduction disturbances. Coronary angiography was repeated ten days following the procedure, after hemodynamic stabilization of the patient, with direct stenting of the circumflex artery and the intermediate artery. Ostial left descending artery lesion was left for further functional significance assessment. Conclusion: Percutaneous closure with a septal occluder device can be definitive primary treatment for anatomically suitable patients or it can serve as a bridge to surgical treatment

GenX uptake by wheat and rice in flooded and non-flooded soils : A greenhouse experiment

Funding Amnah Al Zbedy: financial support of her scholarship from the Cultural Bureau of Saudi Arabia, London. Viktoria Müller: financial support of her scholarship from the Macaulay Development Trust, UK.Peer reviewe

Cutting the Gordian knot : early and complete amino acid sequence confirmation of class II lasso peptides by HCD fragmentation

SAJ would like to thank the University of Aberdeen for an Elphinstone Scholarship. CC-A thanks CONICYT PFCHA/DOCTORADO BECAS CHILE/2016 (#21160585) fellowship and CONICYT Basal Centre Grant for the Centre for Biotechnology and Bioengineering, CeBiB (FB0001). JFC also thanks CONICYT for a National PhD Scholarship (#21110356) and a Visiting Student Scholarship.Peer reviewedPostprin

Executive summary. Expert consensus statement on the diagnosis and treatment of paediatric pulmonary hypertension. The European Paediatric Pulmonary Vascular Disease Network, endorsed by ISHLT and DGPK

The European Paediatric Pulmonary Vascular Disease (PVD) Network is a registered, non-profit organisation that strives to define and develop effective, innovative diagnostic methods and treatment options in all forms of paediatric pulmonary hypertensive vascular disease, including specific forms such as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)-congenital heart disease, pulmonary hypertension (PH) associated with bronchopulmonary dysplasia, persistent PH of the newborn, and related cardiac dysfunction. Methods The writing group members conducted searches of the PubMed/MEDLINE bibliographic database (1990-2015) and held five face-to-face meetings with votings. Clinical trials, guidelines, and reviews limited to paediatric data were searched using the terms 'pulmonary hypertension' and 5-10 other keywords, as outlined in the other nine articles of this special issue. Class of recommendation (COR) and level of evidence (LOE) were assigned based on European Society of Cardiology/American Heart Association definitions and on paediatric data only, or on adult studies that included >10% children. Results A total of 9 original consensus articles with graded recommendations (COR/LOE) were developed, and are summarised here. The topics included diagnosis/monitoring, genetics/biomarker, cardiac catheterisation, echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance/chest CT, associated forms of PH, intensive care unit/ventricular assist device/lung transplantation, and treatment of paediatric PAH. Conclusions The multipaper expert consensus statement of the European Paediatric PVD Network provides a specific, comprehensive, detailed but practical framework for the optimal clinical care of children with PH