A branch and bound enhanced genetic algorithm for scheduling a flowline manufacturing cell with sequence dependent family setup times

This paper addresses the permutation flowline manufacturing cell with sequence dependent family setup times problem with the objective to minimize the makespan criterion. We develop a cooperative approach including a genetic algorithm and a branch and bound procedure. The latter is probabilistically integrated in the genetic algorithm in order to enhance the current solution. Moreover, the application of the branch and bound algorithm is based upon the decomposition of the problem into subproblems. The performance of the proposed method is tested by numerical experiments on a large number of representative problems.     

The Design and Evaluation of a Computerized and Physical Simulator for Training Clinical Prostate Exams

The most effective screening for prostate cancer combines the prostate specific antigen blood test with the digital rectal examination (DRE). In performing a DRE, two sequential tasks are completed: ( task a) palpating the prostate to identify abnormalities and ( task b) linking identified abnormalities to a disease diagnosis. At present, clinicians find too few abnormalities and have variable rates of detection, due in part to the inadequacy of training simulators. The Virginia Prostate Examination Simulator (VPES) was designed, built, and tested to address the inadequacies of current simulators by incorporating the design requirements of the basic elements of accurate anatomy, multiple and reconfigurable scenarios of graded difficulty, and technique and performance feedback. We compared the training effectiveness of the VPES with two commercial simulators in an experiment of 36 medical and nurse practitioner students. Results indicate each type of training simulator-improved abilities, in general. Upon closer analysis, however, the following key patterns emerge: 1) Across all types of training, more deficiencies lie in skill-based rather than rule-based decision making, which improves only for VPES trainees; 2) only VPES training transfers both to other simulators and previously unencountered scenarios; 3) visual feedback may increase the number of abnormalities reported yet hinder the ability to discriminate; and 4) applied finger pressure did not correlate with the ability to identify abnormalities.      

Autoradiographic evidence that quinuclidinyl 4-(bromophenyl)-2-thienylglycolate (QBPTG) displays in vivo selectivity for the muscarinic m2 subtype

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of expanding the vital signs to include smoking status. DESIGN: We prospectively conducted exit interviews with patients at a general internal medicine clinic in Madison, Wisconsin, during a 16-month period from 1991 to 1993. METHODS: Patients were surveyed briefly before (N = 870) and after (N = 994) the implementation of a simple institutional change in clinical practice. This change involved training the staff in how to use progress notepaper with a vital sign stamp that included smoking status (current, former, or never) along with the traditional vital signs. Included in the survey were questions about whether the patient smoked, whether the patient was asked that day about smoking status (by a clinician or other staff), and, for smokers, whether they were urged to quit smoking and given specific advice on how to do so. RESULTS: After expansion of the vital signs, patients were much more likely to report inquiries about their smoking status on the day of a clinic visit (an increase from approximately 58% at baseline to 81% at intervention; P < 0.0001). The vital sign intervention was associated with significant increases in the percentage of smokers who reported that their clinician advised them that day to quit smoking (from approximately 49% at baseline to 70% during the intervention; P < 0.01) and in the percentage who reported that their clinician gave them specific advice that day on how to stop smoking (from approximately 24% at baseline to 43% during the intervention; P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: Expanding the vital signs to include smoking status was associated with a dramatic increase in the rate of identifying patients who smoke and of intervening to encourage and assist with smoking cessation. This simple, low-cost intervention may effectively prompt clinicians to inquire about use of tobacco and offer recommendations to smokers.     

3-D computer simulations of resolution effects of multidetector point focusing SPECT imaging

The authors present an efficient algorithm and the results of its application in simulating the three-dimensional (3-D) projection data resulting from a 3-D distribution of radioactivity. The algorithm was applied to a series of geometrical mathematical phantoms and to a realistic mathematical brain phantom. The authors simulated the projection data from a multidetector single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) system with point focusing collimators. The simulated projection data were then reconstructed using the manufacturer's software. The objects simulated included simple geometrical solids such as spheres and sheets, as well as the distribution of muscarinic cholinergic receptors in a realistic brain slice. Spheres were chosen as a model for brain structures such as caudate nucleus, thalamus, and cerebellum; sheets were selected as representing lateral cortical gray matter regions. The results of these simulations indicate the existence of significant qualitative and quantitative artifacts in reconstructed human brain images.     

Widgets Dedicated to User Interface Evaluation

In this article, evaluation-based widgets are proposed as a contribution to assist evaluators for early evaluation of user interfaces. This contribution imbricates the ergonomic quality evaluation process into widgets used for user-interface graphical composition. In other words, these widgets evaluate themselves according to a defined set of ergonomic guidelines. The proposed widgets indicate the possible interface design ergonomic inconsistencies as a notification to the designer. The guidelines set can be modified through an interface dedicated to guidelines definition into XML files. The proposed widgets are intended for the evaluation of different kind of user interfaces: WIMP, web, and mobile. An experimental evaluation, involving these evaluation-based widgets, is proposed to illustrate and to validate the approach.     

Automated mapping of rice fields using multi-year training sample normalization

Rice agriculture is of great ecological, environmental, and socioeconomic importance in the Lower Mississippi Alluvial Valley, as its distribution and size heavily impact food production and a number of ecosystem services. Long-term rice mapping is challenging as a result of insufficient training data – both in spatial amount and in temporal coverage, the high cost of powerful geospatial data processing platforms, and incomplete image coverage during the critical window to capture the unique rice signals. Here, we developed a simple yet effective method for rice field extraction without heavy reliance on the complete profiles of Landsat time series or repeated training data. The core is a multiple-year training sample normalization that extends the samples obtained in one year for classification in another year. Pseudo-invariant objects and a set of linear regressions were used to predict what the given vegetation index values of training samples would be if they had been acquired under the same conditions in a different mapping year. The generated pseudo training samples were further utilized to classify the mapping image. We experimented with four years’ Landsat Thematic Mapper and Operational Land Imager data and achieved comparable accuracies as the single-year classification. Because of its simplicity and low computational requirements, it can be efficiently implemented on cloud computing platforms, such as Google Earth Engine platform. This technique provides an affordable and effective solution to derive crop distribution information on a large-scale basis.     

Purification and Biochemical Characterization of Lipase from Tunisian Euphorbia peplus Latex

Lipases from vegetable sources have been the focus of intense and growing research. The use of enzymes from plants has the advantage of employing industrial waste products. The lipase activity of Euphorbia peplus L. (Euphorbiaceae) was investigated for the first time. The Euphorbia peplus latex lipase (EpLL) was purified after ammonium sulfate fractionation and anion exchange chromatography on a DEAE-Cellulose column leading to 12.57-fold purification. The EpLL displayed a probable molecular weight of about 40 kDa. The lipase activity was optimum at a temperature of 40 °C and pH 8, the specific activities of EpLL were found to be 249 ± 12.45 and 161.4 ± 8.07 U/mg when tributyrin (TC₄) and olive oil were used as substrate respectively. The enzyme retained 80 % of its activity when incubated for 1 h at 50 °C. The EpLL was strongly destabilised by divalent metal ions (Fe²⁺, Mg²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Cu²⁺). Lipase was slightly stimulated by Triton X-100 and Tween-80, while strongly inhibited by sodium dodecyl sulfate. A good stability of the enzyme in the presence of organic solvents was reveled suggesting its industrial utility.     

Disulfide Bond Substitution by Directed Evolution in an Engineered Binding Protein

Breaking ties : The antitumour protein, neocarzinostatin (NCS), is one of the few drug‐carrying proteins used in human therapeutics. However, the presence of disulfide bonds limits this protein's potential development for many applications. This study describes a generic directed‐evolution approach starting from NCS‐3.24 (shown in the figure complexed with two testosterone molecules) to engineer stable disulfide‐free NCS variants suitable for a variety of purposes, including intracellular applications.