Predictive, Stochastic and Dynamic Extensions to Aversion Dynamics Scheduling

Schedulers' decisions in real factories deal with perceived risks and impacts. They proactively anticipate and reactively mitigate risky events by altering what would be considered a normal schedule to minimize associated impacts. These risk mitigation concepts are called aversion dynamics (AD). Aversion dynamics describes the aversion that jobs exhibit to impacts resulting from risky events in dynamic and unstable production environments. The aversion manifests itself in either advancing or delaying the work to avoid the risky period. This paper extends the first AD heuristic, Averse-1, to capture additional real-world dynamics and to make the heuristic predictive (proactive) as to when the perceived risky event may happen. In particular, predictive and stochastic elements are incorporated within a dynamic job arrival framework to create an extended heuristic called Averse-2.     

Grammar-based Genetic Programming: a survey

Grammar formalisms are one of the key representation structures in Computer Science. So it is not surprising that they have also become important as a method for formalizing constraints in Genetic Programming (GP). Practical grammar-based GP systems first appeared in the mid 1990s, and have subsequently become an important strand in GP research and applications. We trace their subsequent rise, surveying the various grammar-based formalisms that have been used in GP and discussing the contributions they have made to the progress of GP. We illustrate these contributions with a range of applications of grammar-based GP, showing how grammar formalisms contributed to the solutions of these problems. We briefly discuss the likely future development of grammar-based GP systems, and conclude with a brief summary of the field.     

Growth of fermentative and non-fermentative yeasts in natural yoghurt, stored in polystyrene cartons.

Permeation of oxygen through polystyrene packaging is a factor in the growth of yeasts in natural yoghurt. Diffusion of oxygen through the packaging material can permit the growth of non-fermentative yeasts in yoghurt stored at refrigeration temperatures. Yarrowia lipolytica, a non-fermentative yeasts which does not utilize lactose was isolated from yoghurt. The growth in natural yoghurt of Yarrowia lipolytica and the lactose-fermenting yeast Kluyveromyces marxianus was investigated. Both yeasts grew in yoghurt with reduced fat content. Storage of yoghurt in an anaerobic atmosphere eliminated growth of Yarrowia lipolytica but permitted fermentative growth of Kluyveromyces marxianus.     

Equilibrium adsorption isotherms for basic dyes onto lignite

The adsorption of two basic dyes in aqueous solutions onto lignite is reported. The adsorption equilibrium isotherms are recorded for the dyes in single component solution. The isotherms are plotted to obtain the Freundlich constants, the Langmuir constants, and the Redlich-Peterson constants.     

Long-term test-retest reliability of personality disorder diagnoses in opiate dependent patients

Continuous wave Doppler methods have been widely used clinically for evaluating the severity of aortic regurgitation; however, there have been no studies comparing these continuous wave Doppler methods with a strictly quantifiable reference for regurgitant severity. The purpose of this study was to test the applicability of continuous wave Doppler methods (deceleration slope and pressure half-time) for evaluation of chronic aortic regurgitation in an animal model. Eight sheep were studied 8 to 20 weeks after surgery to create chronic aortic regurgitation. Twenty-nine hemodynamically different states were obtained pharmacologically. A Vingmed 775 system was used for recording continuous wave Doppler traces with a 5 MHz annular array transducer directly placed on the heart near the apex. The aortic regurgitation was quantified as peak and mean regurgitant flow rates, regurgitant stroke volumes and regurgitant fractions determined with pulmonary and aortic electromagnetic flow probes and meters balanced against each other. Peak regurgitant flow rates varied from 1.8 to 13.6 L/min (6.3 +/- 3.2 L/min) (mean +/- SD), mean regurgitant flow rates varied from 0.7 to 4.9 L/min (2.7 +/- 1.3 L/min), regurgitant stroke volume varied from 7.0 to 48.0 ml/beat (26.9 +/- 12.2 ml/beat), and regurgitant fraction varied from 23% to 78% (53% +/- 16%). Only marginal correlations were obtained between reference indexes and continuous wave Doppler deceleration slope and pressure half-time (r = 0.55 to 0.74). A deceleration slope greater than 3 m/sec2 and pressure half-time less than 400 msec did, however, provide 100% specificity for detecting severe AR (regurgitant fraction > 50%). Our study shows that the continuous wave Doppler deceleration slope and pressure half-time methods have limited use for quantifying aortic regurgitation.     

Performance of smart lightwave receivers with linear equalization

Signal processing techniques can be used to reduce linear and nonlinear distortion in high-speed lightwave systems caused by fiber dispersion and nonideal responses of optoelectronic and electronic components. The improvement in the performance of 2.5 and 10 Gb/s intensity modulation, direct detection systems is assessed for receivers which utilize an analog taped delay line equalizer to compensate for signal distortion. Synchronous and fractionally spaced equalizers are evaluated. Smart receivers that jointly optimize the decision time, decision threshold, and equalizer tap weights under a minimum bit error ration criterion are considered. This yields the optimum system performance and allows consideration of both reduced distortion and enhanced noise arising from the signal processing. The effectiveness of the equalization is determined as a function of several important system parameters. Three-tap and five-tap synchronous equalizers yield virtually the same improvement in receiver sensitivity. Depending on the system, a five-tap fractionally spaced equalizer with half-bit-period tap spacing may or may not be significantly more effective than a three-tap synchronous equalizer     

Surface mass transfer processes during colour removal from effluent using silica

The effects of several variables on the initial rate of Astrazone Blue (Basic) dye removal have been investigated. The surface mass transfer coefficients have been determined and correlated as the dimensionless mass transfer term Sh/Sc^0.33, as a function of agitation, initial dye concentration, silica particle size and temperature.     

The removal of acid dye from effluent using natural adsorbents—II Wood

The ability of wood to adsorb Telon Blue (Acid Blue 25) has been investigated. The effects of contact time, particle size and adsorption capacity have been studied. In addition a series of fixed bed experiments were performed to study the flow system in an attempt to simulate industrial conditions on a small scale.