A Structural Entropy Measurement Principle of Propositional Formulas in Conjunctive Normal Form

The satisfiability (SAT) problem is a core problem in computer science. Existing studies have shown that most industrial SAT instances can be effectively solved by modern SAT solvers while random SAT instances cannot. It is believed that the structural characteristics of different SAT formula classes are the reasons behind this difference. In this paper, we study the structural properties of propositional formulas in conjunctive normal form (CNF) by the principle of structural entropy of formulas. First, we used structural entropy to measure the complex structure of a formula and found that the difficulty solving the formula is related to the structural entropy of the formula. The smaller the compressing information of a formula, the more difficult it is to solve the formula. Secondly, we proposed a λ-approximation strategy to approximate the structural entropy of large formulas. The experimental results showed that the proposed strategy can effectively approximate the structural entropy of the original formula and that the approximation ratio is more than 92%. Finally, we analyzed the structural properties of a formula in the solution process and found that a local search solver tends to select variables in different communities to perform the next round of searches during a search and that the structural entropy of a variable affects the probability of the variable being flipped. By using these conclusions, we also proposed an initial candidate solution generation strategy for a local search for SAT, and the experimental results showed that this strategy effectively improves the performance of the solvers CCAsat and Sparrow2011 when incorporated into these two solvers.     

Photodegradation mechanisms of acyclovir in water and the toxicity of photoproducts

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - In the present work the final products of coumarin radiation chemical transformation are investigated by chromatography. During radiolysis of...     

Recent advances and challenges in the recovery and purification of cellular exosomes

Exosomes are nanovesicles secreted by most cellular types that carry important biochemical compounds throughout the body with different purposes, playing a preponderant role in cellular communication. Because of their structure, physicochemical properties and stability, recent studies are focusing in their use as nanocarriers for different therapeutic compounds for the treatment of different diseases ranging from cancer to Parkinson's disease. However, current bioseparation protocols and methodologies are selected based on the final exosome application or intended use and present both advantages and disadvantages when compared among them. In this context, this review aims to present the most important technologies available for exosome isolation while discussing their advantages and disadvantages and the possibilities of being combined with other strategies. This is critical since the development of novel exosome‐based therapeutic strategies will be constrained to the effectiveness and yield of the selected downstream purification methodologies for which a thorough understanding of the available technological resources is needed.     

Quantitative Analysis of Al in Flour Products by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Combined with Partial Least Squares

Journal of Applied Spectroscopy - Based on partial least squares (PLS) analysis, the effects of different smoothing points and different preprocessing methods on the accuracy and precision of the...     

Editorial to the Special Issue: Adsorption,Absorption and Thermochemical Transport Processes in Complex Porous Structures

Transport in Porous Media - The theme of coupling problems for adsorption, absorption and thermochemical transport in porous media is very important for engineering applications. Based on the...