Collaborative bargaining solution in tandem supply chain through cooperative game theoretical approach

There are many studies about negotiation procedures for contract problems in supply chains. Several recent papers have considered a new negotiation procedure for a repurchase contract problem in a supply chain consisting of a manufacturer and a retailer. There, usually, are some wholesalers between a manufacturer and a retailer. Therefore, a supply chain including some wholesalers in addition to a manufacturer and a retailer should be considered. In this study, we call the supply chain in which three or more members are arranged in series the tandem supply chain. We, firstly, address a negotiation problem for a contract about wholesale and repurchase prices in the tandem supply chain in which three members, that is, a manufacturer, a wholesaler and a retailer are arranged in series. The whole contract in the tandem supply chain is composed of two contracts dependent mutually, i.e., the contract between the manufacturer and wholesaler and the contract between the wholesaler and retailer. The collaborative bargaining solution in the tandem supply chain consisting of three members is discussed. This paper, finally, formulates the tandem supply chain including several wholesalers

Ant Colony Optimization Using Common Social Information and Self-Memory

Ant colony optimization (ACO), which is one of the metaheuristics imitating real ant foraging behavior, is an effective method to ?nd a solution for the traveling salesman problem (TSP). The rank-based ant system (AS(rank)) has been proposed as a developed version of the fundamental model AS of ACO. In the AS(rank), since only ant agents that have found one of some excellent solutions are let to regulate the pheromone, the pheromone concentrates on a specific route. As a result, although the AS(rank) can find a relatively good solution in a short time, it has the disadvantage of being prone falling into a local solution because the pheromone concentrates on a specific route. This problem seems to come from the loss of diversity in route selection according to the rapid accumulation of pheromones to the specific routes. Some ACO models, not just the AS(rank), also suffer from this problem of loss of diversity in route selection. It can be considered that the diversity of solutions as well as the selection of solutions is an important factor in the solution system by swarm intelligence such as ACO. In this paper, to solve this problem, we introduce the ant system using individual memories (ASIM) aiming to improve the ability to solve TSP while maintaining the diversity of the behavior of each ant. We apply the existing ACO algorithms and ASIM to some TSP benchmarks and compare the ability to solve TSP

The interpretation of metonymy by Japanese learners of English

Figurative language can present both difficulties and opportunities in cross-linguistic and cross-cultural communication. Previous studies have focused on difficulties in metaphor comprehension by speakers of different languages, but metonymy comprehension is a relatively under-researched area. In this paper, we describe a two-part study exploring metonymy comprehension by Japanese learners of English. In the first part of the study, ten Japanese learners of English were asked to explain the meanings of twenty expressions instantiating a range of metonymy types. Comprehension problems included: the missing of, or misuse of, contextual clues; positive and negative interference from Japanese; ‘underspecification’; and a tendency to interpret metonyms as if they were metaphors. The second part of the study focused on the functions performed by metonymy. Twenty-two Japanese learners of English were asked to interpret a set of twenty metonyms, each of which performed a particular function. Metonyms involving humour and irony appeared to be more difficult to understand than ones serving other functions, such as indirect reference and evaluation.</jats:p

Characterization of Ascaris from Ecuador and Zanzibar

To shed light on the epidemiology of ascariasis in Ecuador and Zanzibar, 177 adult worms retrieved by chemo-expulsion from either people or pigs were collected, measured and subjected to polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) analysis of the ribosomal internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region. Upon double digestion with RsaI and HaeIII, PCR-RFLP analysis revealed the presence of A. lumbricoides in people and A. suum in pigs in Ecuador. In contrast, while there are no pigs on Zanzibar, of the 56 worms obtained from people, one was genotyped as A. suum. No additional genetic variation was detected upon further PCR-RFLP analysis with several other restriction enzymes. Upon measurement, worm mass and length differed by location and by species, A. suum being lighter and longer. While there is no evidence to suggest zoonotic transmission in Ecuador, an enduring historical signature of previous zoonotic transmission remains on Zanzibar

Potential Use of Folate-polyethylene glycol (PEG)-Appended Dendrimer (G3) Conjugate with alpha-Cyclodextrin as DNA Carriers to Tumor Cells

We previously reported that polyamidoamine STARBURST dendrimer (generation 3, G3) (dendrimer) conjugate with alpha-cyclodextrin (alpha-CyD) having an average degree of substitution of 2.4 of alpha-CyD (alpha-CDE) provided remarkable aspects as novel carriers for DNA and siRNA. To develop novel alpha-CDE derivatives with tumor cell specificity, we prepared folate-appended alpha-CDEs (Fol-alpha-CDEs) and folate-polyethylene glycol (PEG)-appended alpha-CDEs (Fol-PalphaCs) with the various degrees of substitution of folate (DSF), and evaluated in vitro and in vivo gene transfer activity, cytotoxicity, cellular association and physicochemical properties. In vitro gene transfer activity of Fol-alpha-CDEs (G3, DSF 2, 5 or 7) was lower than that of &#x3b1;-CDE (G3) in KB cells, folate receptor (FR)-overexpressing cancer cells. Of the three Fol-PalphaCs (G3, DSF 2, 5 or 7), Fol-PalphaC (G3, DSF 5) had the highest gene transfer activity in KB cells. The activity of Fol-PalphaC (G3, DSF 5) was significantly higher than that of alpha-CDE (G3) in KB cells, but not in A549 cells, FR-negative cells. Negligible cytotoxicity of the pDNA complex with Fol-PalphaC (G3, DSF 5) was observed in KB cells or A549 cells up to a charge ratio of 100/1 (carrier/pDNA). The cellular association of the pDNA complex with Fol-PalphaC (G3, DSF 5) could be mediated by FR on KB cells, resulting in its efficient cellular uptake. Fol-PalphaC (G3, DSF 5) had higher binding affinity with folate binding protein (FBP) than alpha-CDE (G3), although the physicochemical properties of pDNA complex with Fol-PalphaC (G3, DSF 5) were almost comparable to that with alpha-CDE (G3), although the onset charge ratio and the compaction ability of Fol-PalphaC (G3, DSF 5) were slightly different. Fol-PalphaC (G3, DSF 5) tended to show higher gene transfer activity than alpha-CDE (G3) 12 h after intratumoral administration in mice. These results suggest that Fol-PalphaC (G3, DSF 5), not Fol-alpha-CDEs, could be potentially used as a FR-overexpressing cancer cell-selective DNA carrier

Diphyllobothriasis Associated with Eating Raw Pacific Salmon

This tapeworm disease is changing from one of rural populations to one of urban populations worldwide

Induction of zinc metallothionein by calcium ionophore in vivo and in vitro

AbstractThe calcium ionophore, A23187, can induce rat hepatic metallothionein (MT) when administered in vivo (5.8-fold, 5.0 μM, 11 h) and rat hepatocyte MT when administered in vitro (10.70-fold, 1.0 μM, 24 h). Several rat hepatoma cell lines (2M, 4.55-fold; JM2, 12.29-fold; EC3, 14.12-fold; HTC, 7.99-fold) and a normal rat liver cell line (Clone 9, 39.67-fold) were tested for their inducibility of MT mRNA by Cd2+ (10 μM, 8 h). Quantitatively, JM2 and 2M made the most MT mRNA, while HTC made the least. A23187 (0.1–7.0 μM) was studied as an inducer of MT mRNA in these cell lines (except for HTC) and in HeLa. A variety of responses and tolerances were seen with inductions ranging up to 32.11-fold. Quantitatively, the best responding cell lines were EC3 and 2M. A combination induction experiment, using TPA, a protein kinase C activator, and A23187 in EC3 cells revealed an additive effect of the two inducers on MT mRNA levels: TPA (10 nM), 11.71-fold; A23187 (3.0μM), 6.71-fold; and TPA + A23187, 20.00-fold. These studies have implicated perturbations in cytosolic calcium ion concentrations, caused by the ionophore A23187, as being involved in the complicated signaling systems which can lead to induction of MT mRNA and protein

Linear optical quantum computation with frequency-comb qubits and passive devices

We propose a linear optical quantum computation scheme using time-frequency degree of freedom. In this scheme, a qubit is encoded in single-photon frequency combs, and manipulation of the qubits is performed using time-resolving detectors, beam splitters, and optical interleavers. This scheme does not require active devices such as high-speed switches and electro-optic modulators and is robust against temporal and spectral errors, which are mainly caused by the detectors' finite resolution. We show that current technologies almost meet the requirements for fault-tolerant quantum computation.Comment: 6+3 pages, 3 figure

Reversible Transitions in a Cellular Automata-Based Traffic Model with Driver Memory

Here, we develop a new cellular automata-based traffic model. In this model, individual vehicles cannot estimate global traffic flows but can only detect the vehicle ahead. Each vehicle occasionally adjusts its velocity based on the distance to the vehicle in front. Our model generates reversible phase transitions in the vehicle flux over a wide range of vehicle densities, and the traffic system undergoes scale-free evolution with respect to the flux. We thus believe that our model reveals the relationship between the macro-level flows and micro-level mechanisms of multi-agent systems for handling traffic congestion, and illustrates how drivers’ decisions impact free and congested flows. Document type: Articl

Jogos pedagógicos no processo de aprendizagem : modelos para ensinar genética

Orientador : Vanessa Kava CordeiroMonografia (especialização) - Universidade Federal do Paraná, Setor de Ciências Biológicas, Curso de Especialização em Genética para Professores do Ensino Médio.Inclui referência