Analyzing probabilistic pushdown automata

The paper gives a summary of the existing results about algorithmic analysis of probabilistic pushdown automata and their subclasses.     

Validation of a Method for Analysis of Aroma Compounds in Red Wine using Liquid–Liquid Extraction and GC–MS

An analytical method for determination of volatile composition of wines using sample preparation by liquid–liquid extraction and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry for separation and detection has been developed and validated. Extraction of volatile compounds was performed in dichloromethane, and 1-octanol was added as an internal standard. Kékfrankos red wine produced in Villány wine region in Hungary was used as a model wine for testing and validation of the method. The developed method allowed satisfactory determination of 33 volatile compounds in the wines. Compounds analyzed include alcohols, esters, lactones, fatty acids, furans, and nitrogen compounds. The calibration curves of the four reference compounds used (2-phenyl ethanol, ethyl nonanoate, butyrolactone, and tyrosol) were linear in all cases with correlation coefficients (R ²) ranging from 0.9951 to 0.9992. The accuracy of the method was checked with a standard addition method (recovery 92.2–103 %), showing good repeatability and reproducibility (RSD?<?10 %).     

Metals in organic and conventional wheat flours determined by an optimised and validated ICP‐MS method

This study was undertaken (i) to optimise and validate a suitable method for multi‐element determination in cereal products and (ii) to evaluate multi‐element content differences in commercially available conventional vs. organic wheat flours. Presented ICP‐MS method is simple and accurate for the determination of eighteen elements in cereal food. Obtained results show differences in metal content between conventional and organic wheat flours and confirm that both types of production are well within the toxicological safety limits regarding the metal contents. The significant differences among conventional vs. organic wheat flours were obtained for As, Cd, Cr, Fe, Mg, Mo, Ni and V. Toxic metals (Al, As, Cd and Pb) input was higher in conventional compared with organic wheat flours. However, further and long‐term research is needed to clearly underline the effects of organic agricultural practice on the quality of food products.     

Particle Swarm Optimization and Pure Adaptive Search in Finish Goods’ Inventory Management

Abstract

Inventory management deals with a tradeoff between the benefits of keeping stocks of goods that allows fulfillment of the customer’s demand, and the cost of carrying inventory. Inventory control techniques are very important components and the most organizations can substantially reduce their costs associated with the flow of materials. This paper presents new inventory management model based on particle swarm optimization and pure adaptive search global optimization algorithm in production-inventory system. The proposed model is focusing on planned level of demand for finished goods, production and raw materials cost, production capacity as the norm, change of the production cost and inventory capital cost, all of which are typical factors in automobile manufacture industry. The model determines different factors such as the minimizing inventory quantity, minimizing inventory value, and minimizing production cost based on demand for production items. The model is tested with original real-world dataset obtained from the automotive company Lear from US and its factory in Novi Sad, Serbia.     

Capillary electrophoretic profiling of tryptic digests of water soluble proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis-transgenic and non-transgenic maize species

Capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE) has been applied to separation and characterisation of enzymatic (tryptic) hydrolysates of water-soluble proteins from Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt)-transgenic (Aristis-Bt) and two native non-transgenic (Aristis and Coventry) maize varieties. Water-soluble proteins were extracted from the flour of these maize species and digested by bovine pancreatic trypsin immobilised on agarose gel in 100 mM ammonium hydrocarbonate buffer, pH 7.9. The yielded tryptic digests of proteins were analysed by CZE in four acidic background electrolytes (BGEs) (100 mM H₃PO₄, 50 mM Tris, pH 2.25; 500 mM acetic acid, pH 2.54; 200 mM formic acid, 200 mM acetic acid, pH 2.05; and 200 mM iminodiacetic acid, pH 2.26) using a lab-made CZE apparatus equipped with bare fused silica capillary and UV-absorption detector operating at 206 nm. Among the tested BGEs, the best resolution of the tryptic peptides of extracted proteins of the above three maize species was obtained in isoelectric BGE, 200 mM iminodiacetic acid, pH 2.26. Selected resolved tryptic peptides of proteins were characterised by effective electrophoretic mobilities and corrected (migration times normalised) peak areas. Some significant relative qualitative and quantitative differences in CZE-UV profiling of tryptic protein digests were found, which can be potentially used to differentiate transgenic Aristis Bt and non-transgenic Aristis varieties or two native non-transgenic varieties, Aristis and Coventry.     

Fuzzy gain-scheduling control of a gas-liquid separation plant implemented on a PLC

In the paper an approach to the non-linear control of a gas-liquid separation plant is presented. To solve the problem the fuzzy gain-scheduling method was used and implemented on a programmable logic controller (PLC). Velocity-based linearization approach was used for control system design and implementation for the first time in process control application. Emphasis was placed on the appropriate adaptation of the method and some important implementation issues. The algorithm was carefully designed and tested by using ordinary simulation, hardware-in-the-loop simulation, and experiments on the real plant. The results show that the proposed approach substantially improves the closed-loop performance of the plant.     

Spinning the web: New social contacts of Prague’s suburbanites

Suburbanization is one of the most important processes changing the nature of metropolitan regions in Europe’s post-socialist countries. This paper evaluates the importance of social contacts of new suburbanites on local level social cohesion and development. The paper employs examples from empirical research into new suburban communities in the Prague metropolitan region of the Czech Republic. Our results show that both internal and external social ties are developing in such newly built areas, which is important for the well-being of both the neighborhood and the municipality. Internal ties foster the social cohesion of a neighborhood, while external ties encourage development of the whole municipality (e.g., via political participation or informal contacts).     

Thermally Induced Microstructural Transformations of Fe72Si15B8V4Cu1 Alloy

Thermal stability, mechanism, and kinetics of thermally induced microstructural transformations and their effects on magnetic permeability of Fe₇₂Si₁₅B₈V₄Cu₁ alloy with combined amorphous/nanocrystalline structure were studied. DTA curves revealed two separated thermally activated exothermic events in the temperature ranges from 740 K to 820 K (467 °C to 547 °C) and 870 K to 930 K (597 °C to 657 °C). Crystalline phases present in the as-prepared and thermally treated alloy samples were identified, and their microstructural parameters were determined using XRD, while, to gain further insight into the mechanism of microstructural transformations, AFM and SEM–EDS analyses were performed. Deconvolution of the complex DTA peak into individual steps was conducted, and, in correlation with the results of microstructural analysis, kinetic triplets corresponding to individual transformation steps were determined, allowing for the estimation of the lifetimes of the alloy at different temperatures. Magnetic permeability measurements showed that, in spite of the influence of microstructural transformations on magnetic properties of the alloy, the favorable magnetic properties are retained over relatively a wide temperature range.