Solving fuzzy shortest path problems by neural networks

In this paper, we introduce the neural networks for solving fuzzy shortest path problems. The penalization of the neural networks is realized after transforming into crisp shortest path model. The procedure and efficiency of this approach are shown with numerical simulations.     

Increase in adhesion molecules on CD4+ cells and CD4+ cell subsets in synovial fluid from patients with rheumatoid arthritis

OBJECTIVE: To elucidate the role of adhesion molecules in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: We evaluated their expression and that of an activation marker on CD4+ cell populations and CD4+ cell subsets in specimens of peripheral blood (PB) and synovial fluid (SF) obtained from 10 patients with RA and 7 with osteoarthritis (OA). A 2 or 3-color immunofluorescent method was used for analysis. RESULTS: The SF from both groups of patients showed a greater density of adhesion molecules including LFA-1 alpha, LFA-1 beta, CD2, VLA-4 alpha and VLA-5 alpha on CD4+ cells, and a higher percentage of CD4+HLA-DR+ cells compared with their PB. IN PB-CD4+ cell subsets from the arthritic and healthy subjects, the CD4+CD45RO+ cell population showed an increased expression of adhesion molecules compared with CD4+CD45RA+ cell population. The expression of adhesion molecules on circulating CD4+ cell population and CD4+ cell subsets from the patients with RA and OA was comparable to that from healthy subjects. SF from both groups of patients showed a higher percentage of CD4+CD45RO+ cells and a lower percentage of CD4+CD45RA+ cells. In SF-CD4+ cell subsets from patients with RA, the CD4+CD45RO+ cell population had an increased expression of VLA-4 alpha compared to the CD4+CD45RA+ cell population; however, there was no significant difference in other adhesion molecule expression and the percentage of HLA-DR+ cells between the 2 cell subsets. Furthermore, the expression of VLA-4 alpha on the CD4+CD45RO+ cell population in SF from patients with RA was significantly higher than that in matched PB. In CD4+CD45RA+ cell population from both groups of patients, SF showed an enhanced expression of adhesion molecules and an increased percentage of HLA-DR+ cells compared with matched PB. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that increased expression of adhesion molecules and increased percentage of HLA-DR+ cells on CD4+ cells in SF may be responsible for cellular interactions between these cells and synovial cells or extracellular matrix.     

3.21 ps ECL gate using InP/InGaAs DHBT technology

A new circuit configuration for an emitter-coupled logic (ECL) gate that can reduce propagation delay time has been demonstrated. Nineteen-stage ring oscillators were fabricated using InP/InGaAs double-heterojunction bipolar transistors (DHBTs) with cutoff frequency f/sub T/ and maximum oscillation frequency f/sub max/ of about 232 and 360 GHz, respectively, to evaluate the speed performance of the proposed ECL gate. The minimum propagation delay is 3.21 ps/gate. The proposed ECL gate is about 8% faster than the conventional ECL gate.     

Appearance of fosfomycin resistant Rahnella aquatilis clinically isolated in Japan

Among recent clinical isolates in Japan, strain CU264 was discovered which formed unusual colonies. This strain was identified as Rahnella aquatilis which is usually found in water. The antibiotic susceptibilities against tetracycline, carbenicillin, chloramphenicol, streptomycin, kanamycin, gentamicin, sulphonamide, neomycin, fosfomycin, rifampicin, norfloxacin and nalidixic acid, were investigated. The result demonstrated that the strain was highly resistant to fosfomycin only. It was further shown that this resistance was transmissible with low frequency to Serratia marcescens whereas it was not transmissible to Escherichia coli.     

New sensitivity-enhancing scheme for a fibre-optic interferometerutilising two optical loops

To improve the sensitivity or dynamic range of fibre-optic interferometer systems a new scheme utilising two optical loops is presented. The validity of the scheme is also experimentally confirmed by a tentative bulk-optic configuration     

Epitopes fused to F-pilin are incorporated into functional recombinant pili

Blue crabs mate immediately after the female's final moult. We tested the influence of female moult stage, sex ratio and male size on the pre-mating behaviour of both sexes, and the ability of males to pair with females and aggressively compete for access to females. We observed crabs in field enclosures and surveyed pre-copulatory mate-guarding patterns in the field. Female behaviour changed as they progressed through the final moult cycle, such that early moult-stage females avoided males, but late moult-stage females initiated pair formation. The changes in female behaviour influenced both the behaviour and pairing capability of males. Males courted and paired with late moult-stage females on their first attempt, but pursued early moult-stage females because their first attempts to pair often failed. In the field, early moult-stage females were paired less often than late moult-stage females. The pre-mating behaviour of both sexes also varied with sex ratio; when males were abundant, males traded courtship for forced capture and females courted less. Large males were more successful at take-overs, but did not pair more often with late moult-stage females, suggesting that large males do not consistently guard for less time than small males. The changes in female behaviour are consistent with the female's need to avoid the costs of guarding and suggest that females influence how pre-copulatory mate guarding occurs in this species.Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour Copyright 1998 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.     

Solution of linear equations for small computer systems

A solution technique, based on Gauss elimination, is described which can solve symmetric or unsymmetric matrices on computers with small core and disk requirement capabilities. The method is related to frontal techniques in that renumbering of the nodes, such as in a finite element mesh, is not required, and the elimination is performed immediately after the equations for a particular node have been fully summed. Only two rows of the matrix need be on core at any step of the solution, but for more efficiency, the program presented here requires all the equations associated with two nodes to be on core. Minimum disk storage is achieved by storing only nonzero entries of the matrix, a single pointing vector for each node, regardless of the number of degrees-of-freedom, and the use of a single sequential file. Special care is taken of the boundary nodes where only the diagonal and the right-hand-side vector are stored. Assembly and elimination for these nodes are avoided completely. The performance of the program is compared with both symmetric and nonsymmetric frontal routines and is shown to be acceptable. The major merit of the method lies in the fact that it can be implemented on small minicomputers. The reduction of core and disk storage inevitably increases the solution time, but the decrease in the output file size also makes the back-substitution and resolution processes more efficient. In some cases, the total solution time can be shorter than for the frontal method due to this property.     

Gasification reactivities of metallurgical cokes with carbon dioxide,steam and their mixtures

Gasification reactivities of cokes with carbon dioxide, steam and their mixtures at 1200 °C were investigated, using seven single cokes made in a laboratory furnace from single coals of different properties, and also one commercial coke. The reactivity with steam was significantly higher than that with carbon dioxide. The reactivities of the mixture increased proportionally with increasing steam content above 10%; however, the reactivity below 10% steam content was smaller than that with pure carbon dioxide, the minimum reactivity being observed at a steam content of 2–4%. The reactivities of the compounds corresponding to optical texture were determined by analysing the coke microscopically before and after gasification. In general, except for one coke, the inert texture was the most reactive. Increasing size of the optical unit decreased the gasification reactivity, fibrous and leaflet textures were the least reactive. Gasification with steam developed pores within the inner region of the coke, whereas carbon dioxide reacted with the coke at or near the surface, producing a relatively smooth surface. Some proposals are suggested for better coke production.     

Software package for large-scale 0–1 linear programming on Unix system: GUB technique

Recently, a multiple criteria decision making (MCDM) has been well established as a practical approach to seek a satisfactory solution to a decision making problem. Linear programming (LP) is one of the most widely used OR/MS/IE techniques for solving MCDM problems. In the realistic decision making problems, many LP problems are involved a large number of 0–1 decision variables and a special type of system structures. So much kind of the large-scale 0–1 LP problems are simply too large fit into a microcomputer/workstation.

In this paper, we develop a software package micro 0–1LP(GUB) for solving LP problems with a generalized upper bounding (GUB) structure as large-scale 0–1LP problems on UNIX systems. From the views of the computational experience and storage requirement, micro 0–1LP(GUB) using the C programming language is implemented an efficient method in which the GUB structure would be effectively handled.

As a real-world large-scale 0–1LP problem with the GUB structures by the micro 0–1LP (GUB) software package developed here, we demonstrate an optimization problem of system reliability for selecting the allocating the components on an UNIX system, Sanyo/Icon MPS 020.