Cyclic scheduling of a robotic flexible cell with load lock and swap

In this paper, we study the problem of robotic cell scheduling with m machines with flexibility, load lock and swap assumptions. The robotic cell repetitively produces parts of identical types. We determine the cycle time of all 1-unit cycles in this type of robotic cell and present two new lower bounds for robot move cycles with load lock and swap, either there is flexibility or inflexibility. We also provide a new robot move cycle and prove that it dominates all classical robot move cycles considered in the existing literature of m-machine robotic cells.     

Mealtime Behaviors and Food Consumption of Perceived Picky and Nonpicky Eaters through Home Use Test

Picky eating has been investigated through numerous surveys and food recalls, but few studies have applied in‐home meal evaluations as a method to investigate behaviors and food preferences of children perceived by their parent to be a picky eater (PE) or nonpicky eater (NPE). A 2‐wk in‐home meal study was completed to investigate differences in PE and NPE mealtime behaviors and food selections using real‐time parental observations. Parents (n = 170) and their 2‐ to 4‐y‐old children (83 PE and 87 NPE) evaluated 5 standardized meals in‐home. Parents recorded their child's and their own hedonic liking of the products and completed an assessment of their child's behavior and consumption at each meal. Significant differences were found between perceived PE and NPE children for all 16 behaviors assessed. On average, perceived NPE were assessed to consume a higher percentage of the meal served and to have higher acceptance scores for most of the foods evaluated. Some foods, though, like breaded chicken and plain pasta, were liked equally by PE and NPE. Several significant differences in hedonic liking were revealed when PE children were compared to their parents. Yet, few differences in liking occurred between NPE children and their parents or between the 2 parental groups. Because study participants evaluated meals real‐time rather than memory recall, the differences and similarities found between perceived PE and NPE may be considered direct experiential evidence with reduced subjective bias as created when subjects recall past experiences. Thus, findings from this study can provide the foundation to establish an objective definition and classification of PE and NPE.     

Dynamic affinity-based classification of multi-class imbalanced data with one-versus-one decomposition: a fuzzy rough set approach

Although the relevance problem in recommender systems, which typically refers to the similarity between the preference of the user and the items the system recommends, has been well studied, the issue of making recommendations in right orders has barely been mentioned before. The order defines the way in which items should be better consumed in relation to each other. The analysis of real-world data sets demonstrates strong item consumption patterns in the degree of order. In this paper, we propose a novel method to tackle the right-order recommendation problem based on a graph structure that incorporates the item consumption orders. The proposed method can combine relevance and order effects in recommendations. We attempt to recommend the relevant items in the consecutive steps within a user session so that the user’s selected items in the consecutive steps can be stringed together in a right order. The experimental evaluation conducted on three real-world data sets shows that the recommendation accuracy is improved by considering item consumption orders compared with the baseline recommendation methods. In addition, the study on right-order recommendation contributes to the exploration on recommendation appropriateness besides relevance.     

Social Exclusion in Later Life: A Systematic Review of the Literature

In the last decade, there has been a growing awareness regarding social exclusion. Considering the ageing population and the likelihood of older people being socially excluded, the aims of this article are to: (1) review existing studies concerning social exclusion in later life; and (2) identify how environmental and life-course perspectives are presented in studies focusing on social exclusion in later life. A systematic review in seven scientific databases was conducted to explore the peer-reviewed evidence. In total, 26 articles were included and analysed. Findings describe the variety of methods, conceptualisation, dimensions and measures used in this recent area of research. Determinants of social exclusion in later life are discussed and life-course and environmental perspectives are examined. The discussion highlights the complex character of the concept and measurement of social exclusion, and the presence of general and age-specific dimensions of social exclusion in later life. The time and context relativity and the need for life-course and environmental perspectives on social exclusion in later life are discussed. Finally, future directions of research are discussed.     

Application of LS-SVM strategy to estimate H2S loading capacity in different ionic liquids and alkanolamines

Favorable properties of aqueous solutions are improved with the addition of different materials for separation of hydrogen sulfide (H₂S). Also, equilibrium data and available equations for solubility estimation of this gas are only valid for specific solutions and limited ranges of temperature and pressure. In this regard, a machine learning model based on Support vector machine (SVM) algorithm is proposed and developed with mixtures containing different amines and ionic liquids to predict H₂S solubility over wide ranges of temperature (298–434.5 K), pressure (13–9319 kPa), overall mass concentration (3.82–100%) and mixture's apparent molecular weight (18.39–556.17 g/mol). The accuracy of the performance of this network was evaluated by regression analysis on calculated and experimental data, which had not been used in network training.     

The Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Multifunctionalised Derivatives of Noscapine as Cytotoxic Agents

Noscapine, a phthalideisoquinoline alkaloid derived from Papaver somniferum, is a well‐known antitussive drug that has a relatively safe in vitro toxicity profile. Noscapine is also known to possess weak anticancer efficacy, and since its discovery, efforts have been made to design derivatives with improved potency. Herein, the synthesis of a series of noscapine analogues, which have been modified in the 6′, 9′, 1 and 7‐positions, is described. In a previous study, replacement of the naturally occurring N‐methyl group in the 6′‐position with an N‐ethylaminocarbonyl was shown to promote cell‐cycle arrest and cytotoxicity against three cancer cell lines. Here, this modification has been combined with other structural changes that have previously been shown to improve anticancer activity, namely halo substitution in the 9′‐position, regioselective O‐demethylation to reveal a free phenol in the 7‐position, and reduction of the lactone to the corresponding cyclic ether in the 1‐position. The incorporation of new aryl substituents in the 9′‐position was also investigated. The study identified interesting new compounds able to induce G2/M cell‐cycle arrest and that possess cytotoxic activity against the human prostate carcinoma cell line PC3, the human breast adenocarcinoma cell line MCF‐7, and the human pancreatic epithelioid carcinoma cell line PANC‐1. In particular, the ethyl urea cyclic ether noscapinoids and a compound containing a 6′‐ethylaminocarbonyl along with 9′‐chloro, 7‐hydroxy and lactone moieties exhibited the most promising biological activities, with EC₅₀ values in the low micromolar range against all three cancer cell lines, and these derivatives warrant further investigation.     

Design of a composite sulfuric acid decomposition reactor,concentrator, and preheater for hydrogen generation processes

The Hybrid Sulfur Process, as well as similar sulfur cycles for the production of nuclear hydrogen, requires the decomposition of sulfuric acid into sulfur dioxide, oxygen, and water at temperatures above 800 °C and at pressures up to 9 MPa. The design of a reactor for this process presents numerous challenges in terms of maintaining small pressure differentials and utilizing currently available materials of construction. This paper focuses on design calculations for a composite reactor that preheats, concentrates, and decomposes sulfuric acid for use in the production of hydrogen. The decomposition reaction takes place within individual tubes of a multitube reactor.