All-Pairs Bottleneck Paths in Vertex Weighted Graphs

Let G=(V,E,w) be a directed graph, where w:V→ℝ is a weight function defined on its vertices. The bottleneck weight, or the capacity, of a path is the smallest weight of a vertex on the path. For two vertices u,v the capacity from u to v, denoted by c(u,v), is the maximum bottleneck weight of a path from u to v. In the All-Pairs Bottleneck Paths (APBP) problem the task is to find the capacities for all ordered pairs of vertices. Our main result is an O(n ^2.575) time algorithm for APBP. The exponent is derived from the exponent of fast matrix multiplication.     

Particle Size,Surface Coating,and PEGylation Influence the Biodistribution of Quantum Dots in Living Mice

This study evaluates the influence of particle size, PEGylation, and surface coating on the quantitative biodistribution of near‐infrared‐emitting quantum dots (QDs) in mice. Polymer‐ or peptide‐coated ⁶⁴Cu‐labeled QDs 2 or 12 nm in diameter, with or without polyethylene glycol (PEG) of molecular weight 2000, are studied by serial micropositron emission tomography imaging and region‐of‐interest analysis, as well as transmission electron microscopy and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. PEGylation and peptide coating slow QD uptake into the organs of the reticuloendothelial system (RES), liver and spleen, by a factor of 6–9 and 2–3, respectively. Small particles are in part renally excreted. Peptide‐coated particles are cleared from liver faster than physical decay alone would suggest. Renal excretion of small QDs and slowing of RES clearance by PEGylation or peptide surface coating are encouraging steps toward the use of modified QDs for imaging living subjects.     

Acoustic emission for controlling drill position in fiber-reinforced plastic and metal stacks

Drilling a stack made of fiber-reinforced plastic and metal layers is investigated and presented in this paper. Improvement of performance can be achieved if the process parameters will be adapted to the various drilled materials and drill position. Therefore, the true position of the drill should be precisely known. An algorithm for real time monitoring of drill position is suggested. Drill position is defined by analyzing acoustic emission signals from a sensor located near the drilling point. During drilling of CFRP and Al-stacks, it could be proved that material changeover can be identified ahead of time, especially when using stepped drills.     

Experimental study on solid circulation in a multiple jet fluidized bed

Particle image velocimetry was used to investigate the evolution of multiple inlet gas jets located at the distributor base of a two‐dimensional fluidized bed setup. Results were used to estimate the solid circulation rate of the fluidized bed as well as particle‐entrainment into the individual jets. The effects of fluidization velocity, orifice diameter, orifice pitch, particle diameter, and particle density were studied. It was determined from this study that the solid circulation rate linearly increased with an increase in the fluidization velocity until the multiple jet system transitioned from isolated to an interacting system. In the interacting system of jets, the solid circulation increased with fluidization velocity but at a much lower rate. For multiple jet systems, this phenomenon may indicate the presence of an optimum operating condition with high circulation rate and low air input in the bed. © 2011 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 58: 3003–3015, 2012     

Controlling lipid digestibility: Response of lipid droplets coated by β-lactoglobulin-dextran Maillard conjugates to simulated gastrointestinal conditions

There is considerable interest in controlling the digestibility of lipids within the human gastrointestinal tract. In this study, we examined the influence of coating lipid droplets with β-lactoglobulin-dextran Maillard conjugates on their physicochemical stability and lipase digestibility under simulated gastrointestinal conditions. Initially, Maillard conjugates were prepared by dry-heating freeze-dried β-lactoglobulin and dextran under controlled conditions (76% relative humidity, 60 °C, 24 h). Particle size and charge measurements showed that conjugation of β-lactoglobulin with dextran altered lipid droplet responsiveness to pH (7.0-3.0), gastric pepsin (0-2 h), ionic strength (0-60 mM CaCl₂), bile (0-25 mg/mL), and pancreatic lipase. Increasing the molecular weight of the dextran moieties attached to the β-lactoglobulin molecules increased emulsion stability and slightly decreased lipid digestibility, which was attributed to an increase in steric repulsion. This research should facilitate the rational design of Maillard conjugates to improve emulsion stability, control lipid digestion, and deliver lipophilic bioactive components within the gastrointestinal tract.     

Modulation of Endocannabinoid System Components in Depression: Pre-Clinical and Clinical Evidence

Depression is characterized by continuous low mood and loss of interest or pleasure in enjoyable activities. First-line medications for mood disorders mostly target the monoaminergic system; however, many patients do not find relief with these medications, and those who do suffer from negative side effects and a discouragingly low rate of remission. Studies suggest that the endocannabinoid system (ECS) may be involved in the etiology of depression and that targeting the ECS has the potential to alleviate depression. ECS components (such as receptors, endocannabinoid ligands, and degrading enzymes) are key neuromodulators in motivation and cognition as well as in the regulation of stress and emotions. Studies in depressed patients and in animal models for depression have reported deficits in ECS components, which is motivating researchers to identify potential diagnostic and therapeutic biomarkers within the ECS. By understanding the effects of cannabinoids on ECS components in depression, we enhance our understanding of which brain targets they hit, what biological processes they alter, and eventually how to use this information to design better therapeutic options. In this article, we discuss the literature on the effects of cannabinoids on ECS components of specific depression-like behaviors and phenotypes in rodents and then describe the findings in depressed patients. A better understanding of the effects of cannabinoids on ECS components in depression may direct future research efforts to enhance diagnosis and treatment.     

Order optimal information spreading using algebraic gossip

In this paper we study gossip based information spreading with bounded message sizes. We use algebraic gossip to disseminate $k$ distinct messages to all $n$ nodes in a network. For arbitrary networks we provide a new upper bound for uniform algebraic gossip of $O((k+\log n + D)\varDelta )$ rounds with high probability, where $D$ and $\varDelta $ are the diameter and the maximum degree in the network, respectively. For many topologies and selections of $k$ this bound improves previous results, in particular, for graphs with a constant maximum degree it implies that uniform gossip is order optimal and the stopping time is $\varTheta (k + D)$ . To eliminate the factor of $\varDelta $ from the upper bound we propose a non-uniform gossip protocol, TAG, which is based on algebraic gossip and an arbitrary spanning tree protocol $\mathcal{S } $ . The stopping time of TAG is $O(k+\log n +d(\mathcal{S })+t(\mathcal{S }))$ , where $t(\mathcal{S })$ is the stopping time of the spanning tree protocol, and $d(\mathcal{S })$ is the diameter of the spanning tree. We provide two general cases in which this bound leads to an order optimal protocol. The first is for $k=\varOmega (n)$ , where, using a simple gossip broadcast protocol that creates a spanning tree in at most linear time, we show that TAG finishes after $\varTheta (n)$ rounds for any graph. The second uses a sophisticated, recent gossip protocol to build a fast spanning tree on graphs with large weak conductance. In turn, this leads to the optimally of TAG on these graphs for $k=\varOmega (\text{ polylog }(n))$ . The technique used in our proofs relies on queuing theory, which is an interesting approach that can be useful in future gossip analysis.     

Adaptive shape prior for recognition and variational segmentation of degraded historical characters

We propose a variational method for model based segmentation of gray-scale images of highly degraded historical documents. Given a training set of characters (of a certain letter), we construct a small set of shape models that cover most of the training set's shape variance. For each gray-scale image of a respective degraded character, we construct a custom made shape prior using those fragments of the shape models that best fit the character's boundary. Therefore, we are not limited to any particular shape in the shape model set. In addition, we demonstrate the application of our shape prior to degraded character recognition. Experiments show that our method achieves very accurate results both in segmentation of highly degraded characters and both in recognition. When compared with manual segmentation, the average distance between the boundaries of respective segmented characters was 0.8 pixels (the average size of the characters was 70*70 pixels).     

Sampled-data H8 state-feedback control of systems with state delays

Sliding mode based feedback control has long been recognized as a powerful, yet easy-to-implement, control method to counteract non-vanishing external disturbances and unmodelled dynamics. Recently, research attention has focused on the development of sliding mode feedback control methods for various classes of infinite-dimensional systems. However, the existing methods are based on the assumption that distributed sensing and actuation is available, which significantly restricts their applicability to distributed process control applications. In this work, a sliding mode output feedback control method is developed for a class of linear infinite-dimensional systems with finite-dimensional unstable part using finite-dimensional sensing and actuation. Modal decomposition is initially used to decompose the original infinite-dimensional system into an interconnection of a finite-dimensional (possibly unstable) system and an infinite-dimensional stable system. Then, a sliding mode-based stabilizing state feedback controller is constructed on the basis of the finite-dimensional system. Subsequently, an infinite-dimensional Luenberger state observer, which utilizes a finite number of measurements, is constructed to provide estimates of the state of the infinite-dimensional system. Finally, an output feedback controller design is completed by coupling the infinite-dimensional Luenberger state observer and the sliding mode-based state feedback controller. Implementation, performance and robustness issues of the sliding-mode output feedback controller are illustrated in a simulation study of a distributed parameter system governed by the linearization around the spatially-uniform steady-state solution of the Kuramoto–Sivashinsky partial differential equation with periodic boundary conditions.