The concept of signed domination number of an undirected graph (introduced by J. E. Dunbar, S. T. Hedetniemi, M. A. Henning and P. J. Slater) is transferred to directed graphs. Exact values are found for particular types of tournaments. It is proved that for digraphs with a directed Hamiltonian cycle the signed domination number may be arbitrarily small.
The signed total domination number of a graph is a certain variant of the domination number. If $v$ is a vertex of a graph $G$, then $N(v)$ is its oper neighbourhood, i.e. the set of all vertices adjacent to $v$ in $G$. A mapping $f: V(G) \rightarrow \lbrace -1, 1\rbrace $, where $V(G)$ is the vertex set of $G$, is called a signed total dominating function (STDF) on $G$, if $\sum _{x \in N(v)} f(x) \ge 1$ for each $v \in V(G)$. The minimum of values $\sum _{x \in V(G)} f(x)$, taken over all STDF’s of $G$, is called the signed total domination number of $G$ and denoted by $\gamma _{\mathrm st}(G)$. A theorem stating lower bounds for $\gamma _{\mathrm st}(G)$ is stated for the case of regular graphs. The values of this number are found for complete graphs, circuits, complete bipartite graphs and graphs on $n$-side prisms. At the end it is proved that $\gamma _{\mathrm st}(G)$ is not bounded from below in general.
This paper analyses rent-based determinants of earthquake damage from an urban planning perspective with the data gathered from Adapazari, Turkey, after the disaster in 1999 Eastern Marmara Earthquake (EME). The study employs linear regression, log-linear regression, and artificial neural networks (ANN) methods for cross-verification of results and for finding out the significant urban rent attribute(s) responsible for the damage. All models used are equally capable of predicting the earthquake damage and converge to similar results even if the data are limited. Of the rent variables, the physical density is proved to be especially significant in predicting earthquake damage, while the land value contributes to building resistance. Thus, urban rent can be the primary tool for planners to help reduce the fatalities in preventive planning studies.
Modern biology is interested in better understanding mechanisms within cells. For this purpose, products of cells like metabolites, peptides, proteins or mRNA are measured and compared under different conditions, for instance healthy cells vs. infected cells. Such experiments usually yield regulation or expression values - the abundance or absence of a cell product in one condition compared to another one - for a large number of cell products, but with only a few replicates. In order to distinguish random fluctuations and noise from true regulations, suitable significance tests are needed. Here we propose a simple model which is based on the assumption that the regulation factors follow normal distributions with different expected values, but with the same standard deviation. Before suitable significance tests can be derived from this model, a reliable estimation for the standard deviation in the context of many small samples is needed. We therefore also include a discussion on the properties of the sample MAD ({\bf M}edian {\bf A}bsolute {\bf D}eviation from the median) and the sample standard deviation for small samples sizes.
By a ternary system we mean an ordered pair $(W, R)$, where $W$ is a finite nonempty set and $R \subseteq W \times W \times W$. By a signpost system we mean a ternary system $(W, R)$ satisfying the following conditions for all $x, y, z \in W$: if $(x, y, z) \in R$, then $(y, x, x) \in R$ and $(y, x, z) \notin R$; if $x \ne y$, then there exists $t \in W$ such that $(x, t, y) \in R$. In this paper, a signpost system is used as a common description of a connected graph and a spanning tree of the graph. By a ct-pair we mean an ordered pair $(G, T)$, where $G$ is a connected graph and $T$ is a spanning tree of $G$. If $(G, T)$ is a ct-pair, then by the guide to $(G,T)$ we mean the ternary system $(W, R)$, where $W = V(G)$ and the following condition holds for all $u, v, w \in W$: $(u, v, w) \in R$ if and only if $uv \in E(G)$ and $v$ belongs to the $u-w$ path in $T$. By Proposition 1, the guide to a ct-pair is a signpost system. We say that a signpost system is tree-controlled if it satisfies a certain set of four axioms (these axioms could be formulated in a language of the first-order logic). Consider the mapping $\phi $ from the class of all ct-pairs into the class of all signpost systems such that $\phi ((G, T))$ is the guide to $(G, T)$ for every ct-pair $(G, T)$. It is proved in this paper that $\phi $ is a bijective mapping from the class of all ct-pairs onto the class of all tree-controlled signpost systems.
A number of clinical neurological pathologies are associated with increased permeability of the blood brain barrier (BBB). Induced changes of the homeostatic mechanisms in the brain microenvironment lead among others to cellular changes in the CNS. The question was whether some of these changes can be induced by osmotic opening of BBB in an in vivo experiment and whether they can be detected in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). CSF was taken via the suboccipital puncture from 10 healthy rats and six rats after the osmotic opening of the BBB. In all 16 animals, concentration of myelin basic protein (MBP ng/ml), Neuron-specific enolase (NSE ng/ml) and Tau-protein (Tau pg/ml) were determined in CSF by ELISA. Values in both groups were statistically evaluated. Significant difference between the control and experimental group was revealed only for the concentration of myelin basic protein (p<0.01). The presented results indicate that osmotic opening of the BBB in vivo experiment without the presence of other pathological conditions of the brain leads to a damage of myelin, without impairment of neurons or their axons., P. Kozler, O. Sobek, J. Pokorný., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Silové působení světla na objekty je registrováno patrně od 17. století, kdy Johanes Kepler zmínil tento mechanismuus na základě pozorování odklonu chvostů komet od Slunce. Od této ukázky radiačního tlaku našly silové účinky světla řadu podob a aplikací ve všech přírodních vědách - od zachycení mikroorganismů ve fokusovaném laserovém svazku přes optická síta ke třídění částic, chlazení pohybu nanočástic až po stabilizaci orientace satelitu Kepler (jak zajímavá historická shoda). V předkládaném článku se zaměříme na chování nanočástic a mikročástic nekulového tvaru ozářených laserovými svazky různých vlastností., A force interaction between light and objects has been suggested since the 17th century when Johannes Kepler proposed this mechanism after observing comet tails which deviate from the Sun. Since this initial example of radiation pressure, the force interaction between light and objects has found many forms and applications in sciences - from trapping of microorganisms in a focused laser beam to optical sieves for particle sorting to cooling of nanoparticles motion or orientation stabilisation of the Kepler satellite (an interesting historical coincidence). In this contribution we will focus on the behaviour of nanoparticles and microparticles with a non-spherical shape illuminated by laser beams of various properties., Pavel Zemánek, Petr Jákl, Oto Brzobohatý., and Obsahuje seznam literatury
Vermiculite (V) from Brazil with aqueous solutions AgNO3 and/or Cu(NO3)2 was used for preparation of nanocomposites V/Ag, V/Cu, V/AgCu and V/CuAg using two procedures and their effect on bacteria was compared. Structural changes were evaluated using X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, Infrared spectroscopy (IRS) and Scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Elemental chemical composition was determined using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) analysis and the solutions were analyzed by Atomic emission spectroscopy with inductively coupled plasma (AES-ICP). Antibacterial properties of Ag- and Cu-vermiculites and combined Ag/Cu-vermiculites were tested on two bacteria groups: (1) Gram-positive, G+, (Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus faecalis) and (2) Gram-negative, G-, (Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae). The samples under antibacterial testing showed different effective times and minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) values. The Gram-negative bacteria showed higher sensitivity to the prepared samples than Gram-positive bacteria. The combined Cu/Ag vermiculites stopped the bacterial growth at lower MIC value., Marianna Hundáková, Marta Valášková, Vladimír Tomášek, Erich Pazdziora and Kateřina Matějová., and Obsahuje bibliografii
Ischemic postconditioning and remote conditioning are potentially useful tools for protecting ischemic myocardium. This study tested the hypothesis that 2,3-dehydrosilybin (DHS), a flavonolignan component of Silybum marianum , could attenuate cardiomyocyte damage following hypoxia/ reoxygenation by decreasing the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). After 5-6 days of cell culture in normoxic conditions the rat neonatal cardiomyocytes were divided into four groups. Control group (9 h at normoxic conditions), hypoxia/ reoxygenation group (3 h at 1 % O2 , 94 % N2 and 5 % CO2 followed by 10 min of 10 μmol·l -1 DHS and 6 h of reoxygenation in normoxia) and postconditioning group (3 h of hypoxia, three cycles of 5 min reoxygenation and 5 min hypoxia followed by 6 h of normoxia). Cell viability assess ed by propidium iodide staining was decreased after DHS treatment consistent with increased levels of lactatedehydrogenase (LDH) after reoxygenation. LDH leakage was significantly reduced when cardiomyocytes in the H/Re group were exposed to DHS. DHS treatment reduced H2O2 production and also decreased the generation of ROS in the H/Re group as evidenced by a fluorescence indicator. DHS treatment reduces reoxygenation-induced injury in cardiomyocytes by attenuation of ROS generation, H2O2 and protein carbonyls levels. In addition, we found that both the postconditioning protocol and the DHS treatment are associated with restored ratio of phosphorylated/total protein kinase C epsilon, relative to the H/Re group. In conclusion, our data support the protective role of DH S in hypoxia/reperfusion injury and indicate that DHS may act as a postconditioning mimic., E. Gabrielová, V. Křen, M. Jabůrek, M. Modrianský., and Obsahuje bibliografii