CHESS: A methodology for resolving scheduling and dispatch problems in FMSs

The objective of the research, presented herein, was to determine whether or not the makespan performance of an FMS could be improved by a methodology which draws parallels with the actions of a human chess player in resolving decision problems in an environment where optimal solutions were computationally intractable with current processing technologies. The methodology was given the acronym CHESS (Control Heuristic Embedded System Simulator) and provides a mechanism for using short-term simulation look-aheads to resolve contention problems. The research also sought to determine the relationship between performance improvement and “look-ahead distance.” The results of the research highlight the fact that the methodology could provide considerable reductions in the number of contentions and the makespan time for a given range of part types (approximately 20 percent for the test-case applications). The most pertinent results, however, are those that highlight the effectiveness of look-ahead distance in terms of improving system performance, and these may have a potential to provide a significant impact in a range of different areas.     

青藏铁路沿线生态环境敏感性评价GIS模型

GIS强大的空间分析功能对生态环境敏感性评价过程中的空间要素叠置分析具有明显优势.本文通过对传统生态环境敏感性评价方法的系统分析和逻辑完善,采用ArcGIS平台的Model Builder工具封装了可以进行多循环生态环境敏感性评价GIS模块;并选取青藏铁路沿线部分路段,测试了从环境问题分析、指标与权重确立、空间数据预处理到GIS模型运行的全过程.结果表明:在多重生态与环境要素累加效应影响下,青藏铁路生物通道的两侧高度敏感,且多个敏感区连成一个线性敏感带,铁路沿线生态环境敏感性区域的带状空间格局特征突出;通过与大量地面调查的评估结果相比较,验证了该GIS模型判断生态敏感区域的科学性和可靠性,从而为线性工程的生态环境敏感性快速评价提供技术支撑.     

Reframing the conception of nature conservation management by transdisciplinary methodology: From stakeholders to stakesharers

Nature conservation is concerned with human–nature interface problems. The aim of this article is to examine how the transdisciplinary methodology can help improve community-based conservation approaches. Transdisciplinarity is an extremely promising global movement that promotes a new approach to the creation of human knowledge. It includes dialogue among the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities as well as with civil society, where the problems of the world are lived out on a daily basis. The intent of taking down the walls between the disciplines and civil society is to enable new types of knowledge to emerge through complex and integrated, mutually learned insights. The four pillars (axioms) of the transdisciplinary methodology – multiple levels of Reality (ontology), the logic of the included middle, emergent complexity (epistemology) and integral value constellations (axiology) – are explained as is the role each plays in reframing our conception of the conservation of nature. A transdisciplinary methodology helps everyone involved in a community-based conservational approach feel as if they are stakesharers rather than stakeholders. Almost everyone is familiar with the term stakeholder, referring to someone who can affect, or can be affected by others’, decisions. To have a stake in something means people share or have an involvement in it. We coined the term stakesharer to reflect the idea that, within transdisciplinary work, people share ideas, solutions, threats and opportunities as they try to stake out their collective response to human–nature interface problems.     

Regional environmental simulation of African cattle herding societies

Regional analyses of the interaction between human populations and natural resources must integrate landscape scale environmental problems. An approach that considers human culture, environmental processes, and resource needs offers an appropriate methodology. With this methodology, we analyze problems of food availability in African cattle-keeping societies. The analysis interrelates cattle biomass, forage availability, milk and blood production, crop yields, gathering, food subsidies, population, and variable precipitation. While an excess of cattle leads to overgrazing, cattle also serve as valuable food storage mechanisms during low rainfall periods. Food subsidies support higher population levels but do not alter drought-induced population fluctuations. Variable precipitation patterns require solutions that stabilize year-to-year food production and also address problems of overpopulation.     

Screening life cycle impact assessment with weighting methodology based on simplified damage functions

The procedure of screening LCIA with weighting methodology and the result of a case study have been described. The weighting methodology incorporates the impacts related with input and output by the simplified damage functions. Through the dominant analysis by this methodology, we can detect the significant substances and environmental problems in life cycle of the product. With this result, LCA practitioners can concentrate on the analysis for these items to improve the reliability of investigation effectively in the following step. According to the result of case study, an imaginary copy machine, the primary consideration in the foreseeable study should put emphasis on the analysis of the consumption of natural gas and wood, and the emission of carbon dioxide.     

Synamorphy,monophyly, and cladistic analysis: A reply to Wilkinson

Wilkinson (1991) suggests that the problems of polarity decisions and homoplasy in a cladistic analysis may be solved if cladists simply accept plesiomorphy as a reliable indicator of monophyly. Here we argue that: (1) Wilkinson's argument is based on misapprehension of synapomorphy and the problem of homoplasy; (2) His proposed methodology fails to consider the full ramifications of rooting, polarity, and parsimony; and (3) His method does not solve the problems he raises. We demonstrate the limitations of this methodology by using Wilkinson's practical example. We find no justification for the assertion that plesiomorphy may reliably delimit monophyly and recommend against Wilkinson's suggested methodological revisions.     

近红外无创伤血糖测量的组织光学基础研究

人体血糖浓度无创伤测量是当今学术界和医学界普遍关注的课题。在分析了血糖浓度无创伤测量的意义、现有的测量方法及其进展后,从组织光学角度分析血糖浓度无创伤测量中包含的研究内容,并根据当前的研究现状,提出血糖浓度无创伤测量所存在的问题。通过组织光学角度对血糖浓度无创伤测量方法的剖析,更加明确血糖测量的研究任务,有望促使其更进一步的发展以及血液中其他成分的无创测量。     

Ecological fundamentals and methodology for selection and introduction of new species into an aquaculture

The present article gives an overview of problems related to the selection and introduction into the aquaculture of freshwater organisms that may be used for the purposes of fish farming, toxicological regulation and biotesting. The demands made on potential subjects of cultivation are discussed, and the reasons limiting the widening of such species are analyzed. The ecological fundamentals and methodology for selection and introduction into the aquaculture of new species are stated. The practical use of proposed methodology is demonstrated on the example of a cladoceran Bosmina longirostris O.F. Müller.     

Dipolar couplings as a probe of molecular dynamics and structure in solution.

The introduction of residual dipolar coupling methodology has increased the scope of structural biological problems that can be addressed by NMR spectroscopy. Conformational changes, the relative orientation of domains, and intermolecular complexes can now be characterized accurately and rapidly using NMR. The development of residual dipolar coupling methodology for the rapid recognition of homologous protein folds and for studies of submillisecond timescale dynamics has also seen considerable progress.     

On Some Prospects of Research on Sense-Based Formations of the Personality

The editorial board of the journal Voprosy psikhologii [Problems of Psychology] organized a round-table discussion, in April 1988, on all the problems in restructuring [perestroika] psychological science.

The present issue publishes articles submitted to the editorial board on problems of perestroika in educational psychology, a discussion of problems in the methodology of psychological science, materials analyzing progressive pedagogical experience, and a selection of short talks given at sessions of the round-table organizing committee.     

Ciclograma: a tool for detection of rhythmicities in sleep/wake cycles

The Fourier spectral analysis of binary time series (or rectangular signals) causes methodological problems, due to the fact that it is based on sinusoidal functions. We propose a new tool for the detection of periodicities in binary time series, focusing on sleep/wake cycles. This methodology is based on a weighted histogram of cycle durations. In this paper, we compare our methodology with the Fourier spectral analysis on the basis of simulated and real binary data sets of various lengths. We also provide an approach to statistical validation of the periodicities determined with our methodology. Furthermore, we analyze the discriminating power of both methods in terms of standard deviation. Our results indicate that the Ciclograma is much more powerful than Fourier analysis when applied on this type of time series.     

CICLOGRAMA: A TOOL FOR DETECTION OF RHYTHMICITIES IN SLEEP/WAKE CYCLES

The Fourier spectral analysis of binary time series (or rectangular signals) causes methodological problems, due to the fact that it is based on sinusoidal functions. We propose a new tool for the detection of periodicities in binary time series, focusing on sleep/wake cycles. This methodology is based on a weighted histogram of cycle durations. In this paper, we compare our methodology with the Fourier spectral analysis on the basis of simulated and real binary data sets of various lengths. We also provide an approach to statistical validation of the periodicities determined with our methodology. Furthermore, we analyze the discriminating power of both methods in terms of standard deviation. Our results indicate that the Ciclograma is much more powerful than Fourier analysis when applied on this type of time series.     

Bacterial evolution

The deliberate application of the methodology of contemporary molecular genetics to problems in bacterial systematics has led to a broad new understanding of the evolutionary history of both prokaryotes and eukaryotes. In this review, I discuss some of the major conclusions of this endeavour and try to predict future directions.     

Semiparametric mixed-scale models using shared Bayesian forests

This paper demonstrates the advantages of sharing information about unknown features of covariates across multiple model components in various nonparametric regression problems including multivariate, heteroscedastic, and semicontinuous responses. In this paper, we present a methodology which allows for information to be shared nonparametrically across various model components using Bayesian sum-of-tree models. Our simulation results demonstrate that sharing of information across related model components is often very beneficial, particularly in sparse high-dimensional problems in which variable selection must be conducted. We illustrate our methodology by analyzing medical expenditure data from the Medical Expenditure Panel Survey (MEPS). To facilitate the Bayesian nonparametric regression analysis, we develop two novel models for analyzing the MEPS data using Bayesian additive regression trees—a heteroskedastic log-normal hurdle model with a “shrink-toward-homoskedasticity” prior and a gamma hurdle model.     

Population aspects of forensic genetics

The paper presents the methodology of forensic genetics as a synthesis of population genetics and forensic medicine. Main population genetic problems, appearing in calculation of probability statistics and interpretation of the results of forensic genetic investigations, are discussed in detail.     

Population aspects of forensic genetics

The paper presents the methodology of forensic genetics as a synthesis of population genetics and forensic medicine. Main population genetic problems, appearing in calculation of probability statistics and interpretation of the results of forensic genetic investigations, are discussed in detail.     

Biostatistical collaboration in medical research

There has been an explosive growth in the development of statistical methodology over the past several decades. Research in both medicine and public health, in which the involvement of biostatisticians has increased dramatically during this period, has been both a beneficiary of this new methodology as well as a source of new problems. The contributions of statistical methodology in design, implementation, and analysis as they relate to the role that biostatistics and biostatisticians now play in the field of medical research are addressed. We comment on: (1) the acceptance by the medical community that biostatistical concepts are an integral part of sound medical research; (2) the sometimes unrealistic expectations placed on biostatistics and biostatisticians given limited resources and/or limited control; (3) some controversies among biostatisticians; and (4) the need for emphasizing the design and implementation phases of medical investigations.     

Vascular proteomics and subtractive antibody expression cloning

The cloning of genes expressing proteins that are differentially expressed in the organ microvasculature has the potential to address a variety of problems ranging from the analysis of disease pathogenesis to drug targeting for particular tissues. This study describes a methodology designed to analyze differential protein expression in the brain microvasculature. The method can be applied to other organs and is particularly suited to the cloning of cDNAs encoding membrane proteins. The technology merges a tissue-specific polyclonal antiserum with a cDNA library expression cloning system. The tissue-specific antiserum is subtracted with protein extracts from control tissues to remove those antibodies that recognize common antigenic proteins. Then, the depleted antiserum is used to expression clone tissue-specific proteins from a cDNA library expressed in mammalian cells. The methodology was evaluated with a rabbit polyclonal antiserum prepared against purified bovine brain capillaries. The antiserum was absorbed with acetone powders of liver and kidney and then used to screen a bovine brain capillary cDNA library in COS cells. The initial clone detected with this expression methodology was the Lutheran membrane glycoprotein, which is specifically expressed at the brain microvasculature compared with liver and kidney tissues. This subtractive expression cloning methodology provides a new approach to "vascular proteomics" and to the detection of proteins specifically expressed at the microvasculature, including membrane proteins.     

Dynamic optimization of distributed biological systems using robust and efficient numerical techniques

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Systems biology allows the analysis of biological systems behavior under different conditions through in silico experimentation. The possibility of perturbing biological systems in different manners calls for the design of perturbations to achieve particular goals. Examples would include, the design of a chemical stimulation to maximize the amplitude of a given cellular signal or to achieve a desired pattern in pattern formation systems, etc. Such design problems can be mathematically formulated as dynamic optimization problems which are particularly challenging when the system is described by partial differential equations. This work addresses the numerical solution of such dynamic optimization problems for spatially distributed biological systems. The usual nonlinear and large scale nature of the mathematical models related to this class of systems and the presence of constraints on the optimization problems, impose a number of difficulties, such as the presence of suboptimal solutions, which call for robust and efficient numerical techniques. RESULTS: Here, the use of a control vector parameterization approach combined with efficient and robust hybrid global optimization methods and a reduced order model methodology is proposed. The capabilities of this strategy are illustrated considering the solution of a two challenging problems: bacterial chemotaxis and the FitzHugh-Nagumo model. CONCLUSIONS: In the process of chemotaxis the objective was to efficiently compute the time-varying optimal concentration of chemotractant in one of the spatial boundaries in order to achieve predefined cell distribution profiles. Results are in agreement with those previously published in the literature. The FitzHugh-Nagumo problem is also efficiently solved and it illustrates very well how dynamic optimization may be used to force a system to evolve from an undesired to a desired pattern with a reduced number of actuators. The presented methodology can be used for the efficient dynamic optimization of generic distributed biological systems.     

Theoretical studies on animal orientation. I. Methodological appraisal of classifications

Research on animal orientation shows a persistent lack of integration. Theories entertained in different “schools” are couched in incommensurable terms. The underlying definitions mostly do not satisfy elementary canons of methodology, and this results in a confusion of empirical and conceptual problems. Application of basic methodology shows that current classifications of orientation patterns are logically incomplete.Moreover, allegedly distinct kinds of orientation wrongly show logical dependencies resulting from poor definitions. Reference to physiological mechanisms, beyond stimuli and responses, must be omitted from definitions for orientation patterns. Likewise, orientation must not be made functional (adaptive) by definition. Vagueness is to some extent unavoidable in general theories.