The berth allocation problem with stochastic vessel handling times

In this paper, the berth allocation problem with stochastic vessel handling times is formulated as a bi-objective problem. To solve the resulting problem, an evolutionary algorithm-based heuristic and a simulation-based Pareto front pruning algorithm is proposed. Computational examples show that the proposed approach provides solutions superior to the ones where the expected value of the vessel handling times is used.     

On stability and performance of highly c-oriented columnar AlPO4-5 and CoAPO-5 membranes

Continuous films comprised of highly c-oriented aluminophosphate AlPO₄-5 or cobalt-substituted AlPO₄-5 (CoAPO-5) were grown on porous supports and subjected to heat treatment in order to investigate the potential for membrane applications. A study in the early stages of in-plane crystalline intergrowth revealed a potential mechanism for flake-like crystal formation between the original oriented columnar crystals. Variations in metal substitution (AlPO₄-5, CoAPO-5), support (glass, silicon, porous alumina), and calcination method (conventional, rapid thermal processing) were chosen to examine the conditions by which structural integrity was compromised following secondary (or tertiary) growth, resulting in reduced membrane functionality. Through the use of rapid thermal processing, the structure debilitation could be partially avoided. The membrane quality was inspected through pervaporation measurements consisting of a liquid hydrocarbon feed of n-heptane and 1,3,5-triisopropylbenzene. By investigating the effect of template removal on the oriented, columnar crystalline structure, useful insight is provided into the potential for the membranes to participate in applications such as molecular separations, catalysis, or host-guest assemblies.     

From sentence to emotion: a real-time three-dimensional graphics metaphor of emotions extracted from text

This paper presents a novel concept: a graphical representation of human emotion extracted from text sentences. The major contributions of this paper are the following. First, we present a pipeline that extracts, processes, and renders emotion of 3D virtual human (VH). The extraction of emotion is based on data mining statistic of large cyberspace databases. Second, we propose methods to optimize this computational pipeline so that real-time virtual reality rendering can be achieved on common PCs. Third, we use the Poisson distribution to transfer database extracted lexical and language parameters into coherent intensities of valence and arousal—parameters of Russell’s circumplex model of emotion. The last contribution is a practical color interpretation of emotion that influences the emotional aspect of rendered VHs. To test our method’s efficiency, computational statistics related to classical or untypical cases of emotion are provided. In order to evaluate our approach, we applied our method to diverse areas such as cyberspace forums, comics, and theater dialogs.     

Adaptive smooth multicast protocol for multimedia transmission: Implementation details and performance evaluation

In this paper we propose a new single‐rate multicast congestion control scheme named Adaptive Smooth Multicast Protocol (ASMP), for multimedia transmission over best‐effort networks. The smoothness lays in the calculation and adaptation of the transmission rate, which is based on dynamic estimations of protocols' parameters and dynamic adjustment of the ‘smoothness factor’, as well. ASMP key attributes are: (a) TCP‐friendly behavior, (b) adaptive scalability to large sets of receivers, (c) high bandwidth utilization, and finally (d) smooth transmission rates, which are suitable for multimedia applications. We evaluate the performance of ASMP and investigate its behavior under various network conditions through extensive simulations conducted with the network simulator software (ns2). Simulation results show that ASMP can be regarded as a serious competitor of TFMCC and PGMCC. In many cases, ASMP outperforms TFMCC in terms of TCP‐friendliness and smooth transmission rates, while PGMCC presents lower scalability than ASMP. We have implemented ASMP on top of RTP/RTCP protocols in ns2 by adding all the RTP/RTCP protocol's attributes that are defined in RFC 3550 and related to quality of service metrics. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Identification of peptides in traditional and probiotic sheep milk yoghurt with angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE)-inhibitory activity

Two sets of traditional Greek sheep milk yoghurt were produced: the first one (YC) using normal yoghurt culture (Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus ?10.13 and Streptococcus thermophilus ?10.7) and the second (PR) with the same normal culture mixed with Lactobacillus paracasei subsp. paracasei DC412. YC and PR had similar physicochemical properties and proteolysis patterns throughout storage. Both products showed similar peptide profiles by RP-HPLC but quantitative differences were observed in respect to storage time. Single-strain cultures of the microorganisms used showed similar peptide profiles for both lactobacilli, yet L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus was the most proteolytic of all three microorganisms. The peptide content and the ACE-inhibitory activity of the water-soluble extracts of yoghurts, YC and PR, increased throughout storage. Major peptides were identified from yoghurt PR and from the separate cultures of L. delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and L. paracasei subsp. paracasei. Most of these peptides were derived from β-casein. A peptide, β-CN f114-121, with well-established ACE-inhibitory and opiate-like activity was identified in yoghurt PR. Further identified peptides were regarded as potential ACE-inhibitors according to their sequence.     

Reconfigurable ATM switch fabrics using traffic history

An ATM switch fabric which is capable of being reconfigured based on the statistics of a previous time period, is introduced. Taking under consideration the strong correlation between ports in a campus or LAN ATM switch, the proposed architecture exhibits improved performance. We prove the performance improvement, by applying data collected from a campus production ATM switch onto our proposed architecture     

Quality of offering on the world wide web

The definition of quality in a ‘life’ environment, such as that of the World Wide Web has proven to have many, often conflicting interpretations. Factors such as the point of view, the expertise and type of usage of the critic can influence dramatically such a definition and its results. Thus, the key point is to distance oneself from single perspectives and obtain a complete picture of the system as a single entity working towards a specific goal. This paper is an attempt at creating a general model of quality procedures. It will concentrate mainly in customer service, system viability and quality of offering evaluation. Some of the material mentioned is based on adapted classical models that can be used equally to apply and observe standards of offerings in the wider WEB community. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Intelligent Global Message Prioritization Algorithm for High-Performance Scheduling in WDM Star Networks

In this article we propose the Minimization of Probability and Size of scheduling Latency (MinPSL) protocol for remarkably efficient load balancing and scheduling of variable length messages in WDM star networks. Our EMPS protocol has been shown to noticeably increase the performance of practical networks with non-uniform destinations and non-negligible transceiver tuning latencies, while other well-known schemes like EATS and MSL seem to suffer under these realistic conditions. EMPS tries to balance the offered load by only considering the heads of the message queues maintained by the source nodes. As a result, its performance is degraded, especially for medium to high offered loads and for rather slowly tunable transceivers. The proposed MinPSL scheme, on the other hand, examines each source node’s message queue up to a certain depth and assigns higher priorities to messages intended for the least used destinations. In this way, MinPSL perfectly minimizes the probability of having to schedule two or more messages intended for the same destination simultaneously or at close times. Furthermore, it also minimizes the actual performance penalty incurred, when scheduling of consecutive messages with the same destination cannot be avoided. Extensive simulations are carried out in order to study the performance of MinPSL and compare it to the EMPS scheme under various conditions. The simulation results ascertain the fact that the proposed MinPSL protocol always brings about a considerable performance improvement.