A function f : {0, 1} → {0, 1} is said to be k-monotone if it flips between 0 and 1 at most k times on every ascending chain. Such functions represent a natural generalization of (1-)monotone functions, and have been recently studied in circuit complexity, PAC learning, and cryptography. Our work is part of a renewed focus in understanding testability of properties characterized by freeness of ...

BACKGROUND Use of alkaline peroxide denture cleanser with different temperature of water could cause a change in surface hardness of the acrylic denture and also has a bleaching effect. The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of increased water content during thermal cycling of hot water-treated acrylic on the surface hardness of acrylic denture base when compared to warm water tre...

A large testing programme of a strip steel grade, microalloyed by vanadium, titanium and niobium, was conducted. The experiment was based on combination of cold rolling, recrystallization annealing, mechanical testing, metallographic examinations, SEM and TEM analyses. Samples in the form of stripes with dimensions of 3.9×25×500 mm were rolled in several passes with the total height reduction o...

This paper presents an exhaustive analysis of the problem of computing the Lp distance of two probabilistic automata. It gives efficient exact and approximate algorithms for computing these distances for p even and proves the problem to be NP-hard for all odd values of p, thereby completing previously known hardness results. It further proves the hardness of approximating the Lp distance of two...

A Pb-62% Sn two-phase eutectic alloy was processed by high-pressure torsion (HPT) and stored at room temperature (RT) to investigate the occurrence of self-annealing. The microstructural characteristics and mechanical properties were recorded during self-annealing using scanning electron microscopy, tensile testing and nanoindentation. Processing by HPT produces a weakening effect but storage a...

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the effect of 30% hydrogen peroxide on the surface changes and nanomechanical properties of intertubular dentine. METHODS Five freshly extracted human premolars were sectioned and two specimens were obtained from each tooth. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) images of dentine were taken. Baseline hardness and Young's modulus of intertubular dentine were determined using nan...

Graphs are widely used to model complicated data semantics in many applications. In this paper, we aim to develop efficient techniques to retrieve graphs, containing a given query graph, from a large set of graphs. Considering the problem of testing subgraph isomorphism is generally NP-hard, most of the existing techniques are based on the framework of filtering-and-verification to reduce the p...

background and objectives: the effect of the different proteins and polysaccharides on the characteristics of low-fat cheese has been a topic of recent study. the release of aromatic compounds from the cheese is affected by the addition of texture improvers. the present study investigated the addition of polysaccharides and proteins on the hardness, microstructure and ester release of low-fat b...

Rolling contact fatigue tests on 100Cr6 steel were carried out with a ballon-rod tester. Microstructural damage was manifested by gradual hardness changes under the subsurface, and microcracks formed adjacent to inclusions; both being evidence of plastic deformation. The hardness increase appears to be due to the development of residual stress, while the microcracks form as a result of the conc...