MEASURING QUALITY OBJECTIVELY AND NONDESTRUCTIVELY

Discusses the various tests currently used to measure quality of fruits and vegetables.Agribusiness,

An analysis of nearfield normal mode amplitude anomalies of the Landers Earthquake

The 1992 Landers earthquake (M_w=7.3) occurred in the middle of the TERRAscope network. Long-period Rayleigh waves recorded at the TERRAscope stations (Δ≤3°) after traveling around the Earth show large amplitude anomalies, one order of magnitude larger than spherical Earth predictions up to a period of about 600 s. The ground motions over the epicentral region at and after the arrival of R4–5 are in phase at all stations. These observations are inconsistent with the nearly vertical strike slip mechanism of the Landers earthquake. Synthetic seismograms for a rotating, elliptic and laterally heterogeneous Earth model calculated by the variational method agree well with the observed waveforms. Calculations for various 3D Earth models demonstrate that the amplitudes are very sensitive to the large scale aspherical structure in the crust and the mantle. The anomalies for modes shorter than 300 s period can be explained by lateral heterogeneity shallower than the upper mantle. Rotation of the Earth and lower mantle heterogeneity are required to explain mode amplitudes at longer periods. Current whole mantle seismic tomographic models can fully explain the observed amplitudes longer than 300 s. To assess the effect of the high order lateral heterogeneity in the mantle more precise estimate of the crustal correction is required

Formulation of linguistic regression model based on natural words

When human experts express their ideas and thoughts, human words are basically employed in these expressions. That is, the experts with much professional experiences are capable of making assessment using their intuition and experiences. The measurements and interpretation of characteristics are taken with uncertainty, because most measured characteristics, analytical result, and field data can be interpreted only intuitively by experts. In such cases, judgments may be expressed using linguistic terms by experts. The difficulty in the direct measurement of certain characteristics makes the estimation of these characteristics imprecise. Such measurements may be dealt with the use of fuzzy set theory. As Professor L. A. Zadeh has placed the stress on the importance of the computation with words, fuzzy sets can take a central role in handling words [12, 13]. In this perspective fuzzy logic approach is offten thought as the main and only useful tool to deal with human words. In this paper we intend to present another approach to handle human words instead of fuzzy reasoning. That is, fuzzy regression analysis enables us treat the computation with words. In order to process linguistic variables, we define the vocabulary translation and vocabulary matching which convert linguistic expressions into membership functions on the interval [0–1] on the basis of a linguistic dictionary, and vice versa. We employ fuzzy regression analysis in order to deal with the assessment process of experts from linguistic variables of features and characteristics of an objective into the linguistic expression of the total assessment. The presented process consists of four portions: (1) vocabulary translation, (2) estimation, (3) vocabulary matching and (4) dictionary. We employed fuzzy quantification theory type 2 for estimating the total assessment in terms of linguistic structural attributes which are obtained from an expert

Statistical Comparison of Architecture Driven Modernization with other Cloud Migration Frameworks and Formation of Clusters

Corporations are migrating their legacy software systems towards the cloud environment for amelioration, to avail benefits of the cloud. Long term success of modernizing a legacy software depends on the characteristics of the chosen cloud migration approach. Organizations must think over how strategically imperative is the chosen cloud migration framework to their business? Thus, the Object Management Group (OMG) has defined standards for the modernization process based on Architecture Driven Modernization (ADM) framework. ADM serves as a vehicle for facilitating the arrangement of information technology with business stratagem and its architecture. Until now, it seems that there is no systematic mapping among ADM and other cloud migration frameworks, highlighting the demanding features. This research aims to give an in-depth study of similar cloud migration frameworks. Thus, the researchers introduced the clusters containing cloud migration frameworks having similar features to ADM. This systematic mapping can be seen as a valuable asset for those who are interested in choosing the best migration framework from the pool of cloud modernization frameworks, according to their legacy software requirements. The clustering technique is used to appraise and compare ADM with some of the other cloud migration frameworks for highlighting the similarities and key differences. The quality of clusters is evaluated by the Rand index and Silhouette measurements. The study distills the record and yields a sound and healthy catalog for essential events and concerns that are communal in cloud migration frameworks. This research offers the one-stop-shop convenience that the industry desperately desires.

Systematic review and meta-analysis: the relationship between the Helicobacter pylori dupA gene and clinical outcomes

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In 2005, the first disease-specific <it>Helicobacter pylori </it>virulence factor that induced duodenal ulcer and had a suppressive action on gastric cancer has been identified, and was named duodenal ulcer promoting gene (<it>dupA</it>). However, the importance of the <it>dupA </it>gene on clinical outcomes is conflicting in subsequent studies. The aim of this study was to estimate the magnitude of the risk for clinical outcomes associated with <it>dupA </it>gene.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A meta-analysis of case-control studies which provided raw data on the infection rates with the <it>dupA</it>-positive <it>H. pylori </it>detected by polymerase chain reaction was performed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Seventeen studies with a total of 2,466 patients were identified in the search. Infection with the <it>dupA</it>-positive <it>H. pylori </it>increased the risk for duodenal ulcer by 1.41-fold (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.12-1.76) overall. Subgroup analysis showed that the summary odds ratio (OR) was 1.57 (95% CI, 1.19-2.06) in Asian countries and 1.09 (95% CI, 0.73-1.62) in Western countries. There was no association between the presence of the <it>dupA </it>gene and gastric cancer and gastric ulcer. Publication bias did not exist.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our meta-analysis confirmed the importance of the presence of the <it>dupA </it>gene for duodenal ulcer, especially in Asian countries.</p

An enhanced possibilistic programming model with fuzzy random confidence-interval for multi-objective problem

Mathematical models are established to represent real-world problems. Since the real-world faces various types of uncertainties, it makes mathematical model suffers with insufficient uncertainties modeling. The existing models lack of explanation in dealing uncertainties. In this paper, construction of mathematical model for decision making scenario with uncertainties is presented. Primarily, fuzzy random regression is applied to formulate a corresponding mathematical model from real application of a multi-objective problem. Then, a technique in possibilistic theory, known as modality optimization is used to solve the developed model. Consequently, the result shows that a well-defined multi-objective mathematical model is possible to be formulated for decision making problems with the uncertainty. Indeed, such problems with uncertainties can be solved efficiently with the presence of modality optimization