COMPATIBILITY OF SYSTEMS OF FUZZY RELATION EQUATIONS

In this paper, a fuzzy relation equation system with the generalized conjunction and implication operations is considered. Necessary and sufficient conditions of solvability of this system are proved. The case where these conditions are not fulfilled is considered and the solvability degree of the approximate solution is estimated. The interpolation property of the solution independently on whether it is precise or approximate is established.     

AN ASSESSMENT OF AFLATOXIN B1 IN THE ENVIRONMENT OF A RICE GROWING COMMUNITY AND ASSOCIATED CANCER RISK

A study to assess possible exposure to carcinogenic metabolites (aflatoxins) from a mold Aspergillus flavus has been conducted in a rice producing area of Brazoria County, Texas. One hundred samples of unmilled rice were analyzed by thin-layer chromatography (TLC) for the amount of aflatoxin produced by the mold during rice growth and storage. Two well water samples and two rice elevator dust samples were also checked for possible aflatoxin content. The cancer mortality rates (gastrointestinal and urinary tracts cancers) in the rice-growing and nonrice-growing areas of the same county were compared.
No aflatoxin was detected by TLC methods in rice, rice dusts or water samples. When extracts of rice dusts were checked for mutagenesis by the Ames Salmonella assay as a supplement to the TLC analysis, the results suggested that these dusts might have contained mutagenic material. This observation notwithstanding, we found no evidence that the rice produced in the studied part of the Gulf Coast had a problem of aflatoxin contamination. Also, cancer mortality rates for two major organ systems were not found to differ for rice-producing and nonrice-producing areas of rural Brazoria County.     

ECOLOGICAL DETERMINANTS OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT OPPOSITION TO FEDERAL POLICY

Public protest is usually conceived as challenge to the state, overlooking protest performed by governments within state structures. We identify local government opposition to federal policy decisions as a combination of contentious politics and policy innovation. This theoretical framework highlights the role of social structural conditions, political culture, and contextual pressures, which we examine using local government opposition to the USA PATRIOT Act as a case study. We employ multilevel mixed models on a merged data set constructed from (1) a list of places that opposed the Patriot Act, (2) the U.S. Census 2000, and (3) aggregated CBS News/New York Times national polls. We find that social and political variables at the community and at the state levels substantively impact the odds that local government entities express dissent to the Patriot Act. Results also show that prior instances of protest within a state carry significant weight for the process of remonstration.