Digital advertising around paid spaces,E-advertising industry’s revenue engine: A review and research agenda

We develop and describe a framework for research in a particular segment of digital advertising. Internet Advertising Paid Slots and Spaces (IAPS) is a neologism and work almost like a stock exchange for buying and selling advertising in various formats on designated spaces around web and make a significant contribution to Internet advertising revenues. These paid spaces were found to encompass diverse areas of Internet advertising that include search engine marketing, social media advertising and display advertising. Given the complexity of the modern digital advertising eco system, this literature review seeks to provide clarity, up-to-date knowledge and ongoing insights into Internet advertising channels, for managers making investment decisions in this context.     

Structural Analysis with Fuzzy Variables

Abstract: The analysis of existing structures requires engineers to model two types of uncertainty, cognitive and non-cognitive. The objective of this paper is to reexamine structural analysis methods by considering the cognitive type of uncertainty. Two analytical approaches are proposed for this purpose: (1) combining the displacement method with fuzzy arithmetic and (2) considering all possible permutations of extreme values of any uncertain variables in a structure using the displacement method. The first approach, which is based on fuzzy arithmetic, requires less computing time as compared with the permutations method but only obtains approximate solutions. However, the second approach produces the exact solution. For the purpose of illustration, the modulus of elasticity E is assumed to be an uncertain variable and is modeled as a triangular fuzzy number. The structural behavior was investigated due to this cognitive uncertainty in E. The results based on the second approach show that if E is a triangular fuzzy number, the member forces can be either fuzzy numbers or crisp values, depending on the structural type. In addition, modified definitions for fuzzy division and fuzzy subtraction are proposed in this paper. Applications of these modified definitions and proposed methods are also presented.     

Controllable formation of ionic liquid micro- and nanoparticles via a melt-emulsion-quench approach

We present a facile, scalable, and general method for the size-variable generation of monodispersed, near-spherical solid-state (frozen) ionic liquid nanoparticles based on a novel melt-emulsion-quench approach. Simple manipulation of the internal templating droplets within oil-in-water (o/w) microemulsions also permits the formation of well-defined microspheres. This simple and rapid preparation, requiring neither specialized equipment nor harsh conditions, suggests a wealth of potential for these designer nanomaterials within the biomedical, materials, and analytical communities.     

Genetic Biomarkers in Chronic Myeloid Leukemia: What Have We Learned So Far?

Chronic Myeloid Leukemia (CML) is a rare malignant proliferative disease of the hematopoietic system, whose molecular hallmark is the Philadelphia chromosome (Ph). The Ph chromosome originates an aberrant fusion gene with abnormal kinase activity, leading to the buildup of reactive oxygen species and genetic instability of relevance in disease progression. Several genetic abnormalities have been correlated with CML in the blast phase, including chromosomal aberrations and common altered genes. Some of these genes are involved in the regulation of cell apoptosis and proliferation, such as the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), tumor protein p53 (TP53), or Schmidt-Ruppin A-2 proto-oncogene (SRC); cell adhesion, e.g., catenin beta 1 (CTNNB1); or genes associated to TGF-β, such as SKI like proto-oncogene (SKIL), transforming growth factor beta 1 (TGFB1) or transforming growth factor beta 2 (TGFB2); and TNF-α pathways, such as Tumor necrosis factor (TNFA) or Nuclear factor kappa B subunit 1 (NFKB1). The involvement of miRNAs in CML is also gaining momentum, where dysregulation of some critical miRNAs, such as miRNA-451 and miRNA-21, which have been associated to the molecular modulation of pathogenesis, progression of disease states, and response to therapeutics. In this review, the most relevant genomic alterations found in CML will be addressed.     

A comprehensive design and rating study of evaporative coolers and condensers. Part I. Performance evaluation

The mathematical models of evaporative fluid coolers and evaporative condensers are studied in detail to perform a comprehensive design and rating analysis. The mathematical models are validated using experimental as well as numerical data reported in the literature. These models are integrated with the fouling model presented in an earlier paper, using the experimental data on tube fouling. In this paper, we use the fouling model to investigate the risk based thermal performance of these evaporative heat exchangers. It is demonstrated that thermal effectiveness of the evaporative heat exchangers degrades significantly with time indicating that, for a low risk level (p=0.01), there is about 66.7% decrease in effectiveness for the given fouling model. Furthermore, it is noted that there is about 4.7% increase in outlet process fluid temperature of the evaporative fluid cooler. Also, a parametric study is performed to evaluate the effect of elevation and mass flow rate ratio on typical performance parameters such as effectiveness for rating calculations while surface area for design calculations.     

Determination of Stoichiometry and Superconducting Properties of Tl-1234 and (Cu0.25Tl0.75)-1234 Phases Substituted by Erbium

Superconducting samples of type TlBa₂Ca_3?y Er _y Cu₄O_11?δ and Cu_0.25Tl_0.75Ba₂Ca_3?y Er _y Cu₄O_12?δ ,y ranging from 0.0 to 0.1, have been prepared by a single step of solid-state reaction technique at normal pressure using high-purity oxide elements. The lattice parameters, for prepared samples, have been estimated from X-ray powder diffraction (XRD). The elemental stoichiometry of the prepared samples has been determined using Particle Induced X-ray Emission (PIXE), whereas the oxygen-content has been determined using elastic backscattering spectroscopy at 3 MeV proton beam. The superconducting transition temperature T _c has been determined from the electrical resistivity measurements. The data of T _c , for TlBa₂Ca_3?y Er _y Cu₄O_11?δ , show enhancement in its value from 124.5 to 128.45 K as y (Er-content) increases from 0.0 to 0.05, whereas it began to suppress with further increase in y. T _c gradually suppresses with increase of yfor Cu_0.25Tl_0.75Ba₂Ca_3?y Er _y Cu₄O_12?δ . Finally, the applied magnetic field B=0.44 T shows enlargement in the transition width. The effect of magnetic field on Tl-1234 phase is a little higher than that on (Cu_0.25Tl_0.75)-1234, indicating that the anisotropy parameter Γ for Tl-1234 is slightly higher than that for (Cu_0.25Tl_0.75)-1234.     

Synergistic antifungal effects of thyme essential oil and Lactobacillus plantarum cell‐free supernatant against Penicillium spp. and in situ effects

This study evaluates the synergistic antifungal effects between thyme essential oils and Lactobacillus plantarum cell‐free supernatant (LCFS) against Penicillium spp. and in situ antifungal activity in rice grains. Thyme essential oil and LCFS showed remarkable antifungal activities against Penicillium spp. with the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) of 40 and 80 µL/mL, respectively. The analysis of fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index showed the antifungal synergism between thyme essential oil and LCFS against Penicillium spp. with FIC index of 0.5. This synergism also resulted in fourfold reduction in their MICs when applied in combination. The antifungal modes of action were characterized by observing the changes in cell membrane permeability and degradation of fungal cell wall. The combination of thyme essential oil and LCFS (2 × MIC of each) showed remarkable in situ antifungal effect and completely inhibit the growth of Penicillium in rice seeds. The results suggested the possible applications of the observed synergism on actual crops.

Practical applications

Essential oils are used as preservative in food industry and high concentration of essential oil is associated with negative organoleptic characteristics. This study presented a novel approach for synergistic antifungal effects by using the combination of thyme essential oil and Lactobacillus plantarum cell‐free supernatant (LCFS) against Penicillium spp. and systematic evaluation of the antifungal effect by using fractional inhibitory concentration (FIC) index method. This approach will be a role model for future research on synergism and overcome the major drawbacks of using live bacteria and the negative effects arising from antimicrobial activities of essential oils.     

A priority rule-based constructive heuristic and an improvement method for balancing assembly lines with parallel multi-manned workstations

Assembly lines of big-size products such as buses, trucks and helicopters are very different from the lines studied in the literature. These products’ manufacturing processes have a lot of tasks most of which have long task times. Since traditional assembly line models including only one worker in each station (i.e. simple assembly lines) or at most two workers (two-sided assembly lines) may not be suitable for manufacturing these type of products, they need much larger shop floor for a number of stations and long product flow times. In this study, an assembly line balancing problem (ALBP) with parallel multi-manned stations is considered. Following the problem definition, a mixed integer programming formulation is developed. A detailed study of priority rules for simple ALBPs is also presented, and a new efficient constructive heuristic algorithm based on priority rules is proposed. In order to improve solutions found by the constructive heuristic, a genetic algorithm-based solution procedure is also presented. Benchmark instances in the literature are solved by using the proposed mathematical programming formulation. It has been seen that only some of the small-size instances can be solved optimally by this way. So the efficiency of the proposed heuristic method is verified in small-size instances whose optimal solutions are found. For medium- and big-size instances, heuristics’ results and CPU times are demonstrated. A comparative evaluation with a branch and bound algorithm that can be found in the literature is also carried out, and results are presented.