A defensive alliance in a graph G = (V,E) is a set of vertices S ⊆ V satisfying the condition that for every vertex v ∈ S, the number of neighbors v has in S plus one (counting v) is at least as large as the number of neighbors it has in V − S. Because of such an alliance, the vertices in S, agreeing to mutually support each other, have the strength of numbers to be able to defend themselves fr...

In 1998 a lawyer working for the Dutch consumer organisation, Consumentenbond, suggested that hospitals, like hotels, should be classified according to the quality of service they provide. For the establishment of such a register it would of course be necessary to determine various parameters, including the incidence of complications occurring in each hospital. It did not take long before this ...

The Secretary of the British Medical Association rejects the arguments advanced in two preceding articles in the same Journal issue, one by legal practitioners Diana and Malcolm Brahams and the other by law student Peter Ferguson, both of which favor legislation to govern decisions on the withholding of treatment from defective newborns. Havard criticizes the draft bill proposed by the Brahams...

Introduction: Breast cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in women with an increasing outbreak. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between defensive styles and Islamic quality of life (QoL) with death obsession in women with breast cancer. Methods: This research was a correlational study. The statistical population of the study included 220 female patients with...

The diversity of terpenoid compounds produced by plants plays an important role in mediating various plant-herbivore, plant-pollinator, and plant-pathogen interactions. This diversity has resulted from gene duplication and neofunctionalization of the enzymes that synthesize and subsequently modify terpenes. Two diterpene synthases in Norway spruce (Picea abies), isopimaradiene synthase and levo...

This study documents effects of the toxic dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum, a producer of paralytic shellfish poison, on juvenile farmed (5.9+/-0.39 cm) giant lions-paw scallop Nodipecten subnodosus. Scallops were fed bloom concentrations of toxic dinoflagellate G. catenatum for 7 h. The effect of the toxic dinoflagellate in different tissues was determined by analysis of antioxidant enzyme...

A defensive alliance in a graph G = (V,E) is a set of vertices S ⊆ V where for each v ∈ S, at least half of the vertices in the closed neighborhood of v are in S. A defensive alliance S is called global if every vertex in V (G) \S is adjacent to at least one member of the defensive alliance S. In this paper, we derive an upper bound to the size of the minimum global defensive alliances in star ...