An efficient approach for the S‐shaped penalty function

Interval goal programming (IGP) with a marginal penalty function (PF) was first proposed by Charnes and Collomb in 1972, and further improved by Kvanli and other researchers. Recently, Lu and Chen proposed an efficient logarithmic method to formulate IGP with an S‐shaped PF. However, their method requires adding many binary variables when the problem size becomes large, which increases the computational burden in the solution process. This study proposes an efficient approach for the S‐shaped PF. The arbitrary PF frequently appears in the fields of business and industry. However, none of the previous approaches have addressed arbitrary PFs without adding binary variables. The proposed approach can be easily extended to formulate an arbitrary PF in which binary variables are no longer required, regardless of the number of break points. The proposed method can improve the efficiency of IGP for solving large size management and decision problems in considering PFs. In order to demonstrate the correctness, usefulness of the proposed model, illustrative examples are provided.     

Synthesis,characterization and biophysical evaluation of the 2D Ti2CTx MXene using 3D spheroid-type cultures

MXenes are novel 2-D materials which have been extensively investigated for use in advanced biocomposites, water purification, biosensors, bioimaging and antibacterial systems. However, the knowledge associated with the mechanism of cytotoxic response is still limited to lack of verification against 3D spheroid-type cultures. Herein, we present a report on the in vitro cytotoxicity of Ti₂CT_x MXene against cervical cancer cell lines (HeLa) in a form of 3D spheroid with comparison to 2D cell culture system. Ti₂CT_x MXenes can be characterized by their multi-layered structure that is produced by the efficient elimination of Al and appearance of the surface functional groups. The biological results with 2D and 3D HeLa indicated that the Ti₂CT_x MXene was moderately cytotoxic to cells and the cytotoxicity was dose dependent. Our results showed that the toxicity of MXenes is potentially due to direct contact of the Ti₂CT_x MXene with the cell membrane wall. The Raman spectra suggested that the Ti₂CT_x MXenes interfered with the cytoplasmic proteins’ conformation and the surrounding microenvironment. This inherently modified the biochemistry of the cell membrane and caused cell apoptosis. This paper contributes to the pool of knowledge regarding the biocompatibility and biophysical properties of Ti₂CT_x MXene.     

Paradoxical Tensions Related to AI-Powered Evaluation Systems in Competitive Sports

Information Systems Frontiers - Judging in competitive sports is prone to errors arising from the inherent limitations to humans’ cognitive and sensorial capabilities and from various...     

Laser thermal processing of amorphous silicon gates to reduce poly-depletion in CMOS devices

One major challenge in advanced CMOS technology is to have adequate dopant activation at the polycrystalline silicon (poly-Si) gate/gate oxide interface to minimize the poly-Si depletion effect. In this paper, laser thermal processing (LTP) was employed to fabricate single or dual-layer poly-Si-gated MOS capacitors with ultrathin gate oxides. Capacitance-voltage data show that the carrier concentration at the poly-Si gate/gate oxide interface increases substantially when the devices are subjected to LTP prior to a rapid thermal anneal (RTA). Thus, LTP readily reduces the poly-depletion thickness in MOS devices. For p/sup +/-gated capacitors, this is achieved with boron penetration that is equivalent to the control sample with 1000/spl deg/C, 5 s RTA (without LTP). In addition, results from secondary ion mass spectrometry indicate that the concentration of dopants near the critical gate/gate oxide interface increases significantly after a post-LTP anneal, in good agreement with the electrical data. Time-dependent dielectric breakdown studies show that the gate oxide reliability is not degraded even after LTP at high fluences.     

Array interconnection for rearrangeable 2-D MEMS optical switch

Two-dimensional (2-D) microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) optical switches can be constructed by arranging the MEMS-actuated micromirrors as an array. We consider here the switching capability, routing, and optimization of the rectangular array interconnection on which the capability and efficiency of 2-D MEMS switches depend. The switching capability of a rectangular array is proved analytically. Two routing algorithms, namely, the most-bend routing and the least-bend routing, are developed, which, respectively, maximize and minimize the number of 2 /spl times/ 2 switches in the "bend" state. A method of counting the number of permutations realizable with a given number of switches in the "bend" state is proposed to evaluate the performance of both routing schemes. The understanding of the underlying interconnection pattern enables us to study the problem of constructing rearrangeable optical switches of arbitrary size.     

Age relations of cardiovascular risk factors in a traditional Melanesian society: the Kitava Study

This study examined cross-sectional age relations of blood pressure, anthropometric indexes, serum lipids, and hemostatic variables in 203 subsistence horticulturists aged 20-86 y in Kitava, Trobriand Islands, Papua New Guinea. The population is characterized by extreme leanness (despite food abundance), low blood pressure, low plasma plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 activity, and rarity of cardiovascular disease. Tubers, fruit, fish, and coconut are dietary staples whereas dairy products, refined fat and sugar, cereals, and alcohol are absent and salt intake is low. Although diastolic blood pressure was not associated with age in Kitavans, systolic blood pressure increased linearly after 50 y of age in both sexes. Body mass index decreased with age in both sexes. Serum total cholesterol, triacylglycerol, low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol, and apolipoprotein B increased in males between 20 and 50 y of age, whereas high-density-lipoprotein cholesterol and apolipoprotein A-I decreased. There were no significant differences in these indexes with age in the few females studied. A slight linear age-related increase of lipoprotein(a) was present in males. Plasma fibrinogen, factor VII clotting activity, factor VIII clotting activity, and von Willebrand factor antigen increased with age in both sexes but plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 activity did not. The modest or absent relations between the indexes measured and age are apparently important explanations of the virtual nonexistence of stroke and ischemic heart disease in Kitava.     

Suboptimal SISO decoding of systematic binary algebraic block codes

Previous work on concatenated single parity-check codes has yielded exceptionally good performance despite, or perhaps because of, their weak algebraic structure. In this article, maximum a posteriori single parity-check decoders are applied to the decoding of systematic binary algebraic block codes. Results for a range of Hamming codes show good performance compared to soft-decision brute force (maximum-likelihood) and algebraic decoding. The decoding complexity of the proposed technique grows only linearly with increasing block length.