Review of James Alfred Loader, Proverbs 1–9: historical commentary on the Old Testament, Leuven: Peeters, 2014.

In Hommes, Nusse, and Simonovits (1990) the dynamics of a simple economic model was studied. Although this piecewise linear model is quite simple, its dynamics shows different kinds of behavior such as periodic, quasiperiodic, and chaotic behavior. In particular, a new kind of bifurcation, namely a period three to period two bifurcation, was observed numerically. This paper deals with this new bifurcation phenomenon and we show that the “period three to period two” bifurcation occurs and is a structurally stable phenomenon in a class of two-dimensional continuous, piecewise linear systems. In particular, the “period three to period two” bifurcation is a structurally stable phenomenon in economic models with Hicksian nonlinearitie

Structural Simplification of Bedaquiline: the Discovery of 3-(4-(N,N-dimethylaminomethyl)phenyl)quinoline Derived Antitubercular Lead Compounds

Bedaquiline (BDQ) is a novel and highly potent last-line antituberculosis drug that was approved by the US FDA in 2013. Owing to its stereo-structural complexity, chemical synthesis and compound optimization are rather difficult and expensive. This study describes the structural simplification of bedaquiline while preserving antitubercular activity. The compound's structure was split into fragments and reassembled in various combinations while replacing the two chiral carbon atoms with an achiral linkage instead. Four series of analogues were designed; these candidates retained their potent antitubercular activity at sub-microgram per mL concentrations against both sensitive and multidrug-resistant (MDR) Mycobacterium tuberculosis strains. Six out of the top nine MIC-ranked candidates were found to inhibit mycobacterial ATP synthesis activity with IC50 values between 20 and 40 μm, one had IC50>66 μm, and two showed no inhibition, despite their antitubercular activity. These results provide a basis for the development of chemically less complex, lower-cost bedaquiline derivatives and describe the identification of two derivatives with antitubercular activity against non-ATP synthase related targets

Greedy Rectilinear Drawings

A drawing of a graph is greedy if for each ordered pair of vertices u and v, there is a path from u to v such that the Euclidean distance to v decreases monotonically at every vertex of the path. The existence of greedy drawings has been widely studied under different topological and geometric constraints, such as planarity, face convexity, and drawing succinctness. We introduce greedy rectilinear drawings, in which each edge is either a horizontal or a vertical segment. These drawings have several properties that improve human readability and support network routing. We address the problem of testing whether a planar rectilinear representation, i.e., a plane graph with specified vertex angles, admits vertex coordinates that define a greedy drawing. We provide a characterization, a linear-time testing algorithm, and a full generative scheme for universal greedy rectilinear representations, i.e., those for which every drawing is greedy. For general greedy rectilinear representations, we give a combinatorial characterization and, based on it, a polynomial-time testing and drawing algorithm for a meaningful subset of instances.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 26th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2018

Gabriel Triangulations and Angle-Monotone Graphs: Local Routing and Recognition

A geometric graph is angle-monotone if every pair of vertices has a path between them that---after some rotation---is $x$- and $y$-monotone. Angle-monotone graphs are $\sqrt 2$-spanners and they are increasing-chord graphs. Dehkordi, Frati, and Gudmundsson introduced angle-monotone graphs in 2014 and proved that Gabriel triangulations are angle-monotone graphs. We give a polynomial time algorithm to recognize angle-monotone geometric graphs. We prove that every point set has a plane geometric graph that is generalized angle-monotone---specifically, we prove that the half-$\theta_6$-graph is generalized angle-monotone. We give a local routing algorithm for Gabriel triangulations that finds a path from any vertex $s$ to any vertex $t$ whose length is within $1 + \sqrt 2$ times the Euclidean distance from $s$ to $t$. Finally, we prove some lower bounds and limits on local routing algorithms on Gabriel triangulations.Comment: Appears in the Proceedings of the 24th International Symposium on Graph Drawing and Network Visualization (GD 2016

Application status of steel slag asphalt mixture

总结了钢渣的物理性质、化学成分及矿物相组成; 分析了影响钢渣体积安定性的因素及其改善措施; 探讨了钢渣沥青混合料的配合比设计方法; 分析了钢渣沥青混合料的路用性能(高温稳定性、低温抗裂性、水稳定性、抗疲劳性、体积安定性、抗滑性)及其功能特性(导电性与微波加热); 研究了钢渣沥青混合料的生态、社会及经济效益; 介绍了国内外的工程应用。研究结果表明:钢渣可用于沥青混合料,且应为陈化半年以上的转炉钢渣或电炉钢渣; 钢渣的物理力学性能优良,而化学成分及矿物相组成受炼钢工艺影响有所区别; 钢渣体积安定性的不足可通过预处理或陈化处理得到较好的改善; 钢渣沥青混合料的配合比设计要点包括钢渣替代传统集料的方式和比例、沥青混合料级配修正、有效相对密度测定以及最佳油石比的确定; 钢渣沥青混合料的路用性能及功能特性优于天然集料沥青混合料,具有较好的环境影响性且综合经济效益更高; 关于钢渣沥青混合料路用性能的研究较多,而作用机理方面相对缺乏,关键性的限制因素如密度较高、体积安定性不良、混合料沥青用量增加等仍未得到根本性解决; 未来应重点研究钢渣沥青路面的长期性能及质量控制体系,并开展全寿命周期研究,以加快钢渣沥青路面的应用与推广。The physical properties, chemical composition and mineral phases of different steel slags were summarized. The factors that affect the volume stability and improvement measures were analysed. The mix design method for steel slag asphalt mixtures was discussed. The road performance(high temperature stability, low temperature crack resistance, moisture susceptibility, fatigue resistance, volume stability, and skid resistance)and functional characteristics(conductivity and microwave heating ability)of steel slag asphalt mixture were all investigated. The benefits of steel slag asphalt mixtures in ecology, society and economy were studied, and the engineering applications at home and abroad were introduced. Research result indicates that certain steel slag can be used for asphalt mixtures, and the steel slag for asphalt mixtures should be the basic oxygen furnace and electric arc furnace aged for more than half a year. The steel slag has excellent physical and mechanical properties, whilst the chemical composition and mineral phase composition are different for each slag type and affected by the steel making process. The lack of volume stability of steel slag can be improved with a pre-treatment or aging treatment. The key points of mix design of steel slag asphalt mixture include the mode and proportion of steel slag that can replace traditional aggregates, the gradation correction of asphalt mixture, the determination of effective relative density and the optimum asphalt-aggregate ratio. The pavement performances and functional properties of steel slag asphalt mixtures are better than those of natural aggregate asphalt mixtures. The use of steel slag asphalt mixture is of benefit to the environment and saves cost.The research on the road performance of steel slag asphalt mixture is additional, but the mechanism of action is relatively lacking

Transplanted Olfactory Ensheathing Cells Reduce Retinal Degeneration in Royal College of Surgeons Rats

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: Retinitis pigmentosa (RP) is a group of genetic disorders and a slow loss of vision that is caused by a cascade of retinal degenerative events. We examined whether these retinal degenerative events were reduced after cultured mixtures of adult olfactory ensheathing cells (OECs) and olfactory nerve fibroblasts (ONFs) were transplanted into the subretinal space of 1-month-old RCS rat, a classic model of RP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The changes in retinal photoreceptors and Müller cells of RCS rats after cell transplantation were observed by the expression of recoverin and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), counting peanut agglutinin (PNA)-positive cone outer segments and calculating the relative apoptotic area. The retinal function was also evaluated by Flash electroretinography (ERG). To further investigate the mechanisms, by which OECs/ONFs play important roles in the transplanted retinas, nerve growth factor (NGF), brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) secretion of the cultured cells were analyzed by ELISA. The ability of OECs/ONFs to ingest porcine retinal outer segments and the amount of phagocytosis were compared with retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells. RESULTS: Our research showed that the transplantation of OECs/ONFs mixtures restored recoverin expression, protected retinal outer segments, increased PNA-positive cone outer segments, reduced caspase-positive apoptotic figures, downregulated GFAP, and maintained the b-wave of the ERG. Cultured OECs/ONFs expressed and secreted NGF, BDNF, and bFGF which made contributions to assist survival of the photoreceptors. An in vitro phagocytosis assay showed that OECs, but not ONFs, phagocytosed porcine retinal outer segments, and the phagocytic ability of OECs was even superior to that of RPE cells. CONCLUSIONS: These findings demonstrate that transplantation of OECs/ONFs cleaned up the accumulated debris in subretinal space, and provided an intrinsic continuous supply of neurotrophic factors. It suggested that transplantation of OECs/ONFs might be a possible future route for protection of the retina and reducing retinal degeneration in RP

Human COQ9 Rescues a coq9 Yeast Mutant by Enhancing Coenzyme Q Biosynthesis from 4-Hydroxybenzoic Acid and Stabilizing the CoQ-Synthome

Coq9 is required for the stability of a mitochondrial multi-subunit complex, termed the CoQ-synthome, and the deamination step of Q intermediates that derive from para-aminobenzoic acid (pABA) in yeast. In human, mutations in the COQ9 gene cause neonatal-onset primary Q10 deficiency. In this study, we determined whether expression of human COQ9 could complement yeast coq9 point or null mutants. We found that expression of human COQ9 rescues the growth of the temperature-sensitive yeast mutant, coq9-ts19, on a non-fermentable carbon source and increases the content of Q6, by enhancing Q biosynthesis from 4-hydroxybenzoic acid (4HB). To study the mechanism for the rescue by human COQ9, we determined the steady-state levels of yeast Coq polypeptides in the mitochondria of the temperature-sensitive yeast coq9 mutant expressing human COQ9. We show that the expression of human COQ9 significantly increased steady-state levels of yeast Coq4, Coq6, Coq7, and Coq9 at permissive temperature. Human COQ9 polypeptide levels persisted at non-permissive temperature. A small amount of the human COQ9 co-purified with tagged Coq6, Coq6-CNAP, indicating that human COQ9 interacts with the yeast Q-biosynthetic complex. These findings suggest that human COQ9 rescues the yeast coq9 temperature-sensitive mutant by stabilizing the CoQ-synthome and increasing Q biosynthesis from 4HB. This finding provides a powerful approach to studying the function of human COQ9 using yeast as a model

First observation of psi(2S)-->K_S K_L

The decay psi(2S)-->K_S K_L is observed for the first time using psi(2S) data collected with the Beijing Spectrometer (BESII) at the Beijing Electron Positron Collider (BEPC); the branching ratio is determined to be B(psi(2S)-->K_S K_L) = (5.24\pm 0.47 \pm 0.48)\times 10^{-5}. Compared with J/psi-->K_S K_L, the psi(2S) branching ratio is enhanced relative to the prediction of the perturbative QCD ``12%'' rule. The result, together with the branching ratios of psi(2S) decays to other pseudoscalar meson pairs (\pi^+\pi^- and K^+K^-), is used to investigate the relative phase between the three-gluon and the one-photon annihilation amplitudes of psi(2S) decays.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, 2 tables, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let

Fast Ensemble Smoothing

Smoothing is essential to many oceanographic, meteorological and hydrological applications. The interval smoothing problem updates all desired states within a time interval using all available observations. The fixed-lag smoothing problem updates only a fixed number of states prior to the observation at current time. The fixed-lag smoothing problem is, in general, thought to be computationally faster than a fixed-interval smoother, and can be an appropriate approximation for long interval-smoothing problems. In this paper, we use an ensemble-based approach to fixed-interval and fixed-lag smoothing, and synthesize two algorithms. The first algorithm produces a linear time solution to the interval smoothing problem with a fixed factor, and the second one produces a fixed-lag solution that is independent of the lag length. Identical-twin experiments conducted with the Lorenz-95 model show that for lag lengths approximately equal to the error doubling time, or for long intervals the proposed methods can provide significant computational savings. These results suggest that ensemble methods yield both fixed-interval and fixed-lag smoothing solutions that cost little additional effort over filtering and model propagation, in the sense that in practical ensemble application the additional increment is a small fraction of either filtering or model propagation costs. We also show that fixed-interval smoothing can perform as fast as fixed-lag smoothing and may be advantageous when memory is not an issue