Maximal Clique Scheduling: A Simple Algorithm to Bound Maximal Independent Graph Scheduling

In this paper, we consider interference networks where the connectivity is known globally while the channel gains are known up to a particular distance from each node. In this setting, we provide a new achievability, called Maximal Clique Scheduling (MCS), which is a special case of Maximal Independent Graph Scheduling (MIG Scheduling) proposed earlier. The strategy is evaluated using the notion of normalized sum rate which is a metric to evaluate performance of networks with mismatched knowledge. The achievable normalized sum rate of the proposed MCS strategy is easier to analyze for certain classes of networks and can be used to bound the normalized sum rate of MIG Scheduling. We investigate the normalized sum rate achieved by MCS for two classes of networks. The first class is formed by interference networks where each link is connected with probability $p$. The second class is derived from Wyner 1-D model of placements of base stations and mobile nodes. We find that increasing knowledge about the network leads to increasing normalized sum-rate. However, in a random network, the increase is slower as compared to Wyner network because most nodes are far away from a node and hence learning more helps less until the whole network is known

American business women, 1890-1930: Creating an identity

Between 1890 and 1930, many thousands of women in fields ranging from millinery, corset making and dressmaking trades to medicine, social work, and advertising called themselves business women. Organizations of business women and publications aimed at them helped create an identity for business women that served to acknowledge and inspire such women. Business women saw themselves as serious, ambitious, competitive, economically independent, career-oriented, and successful. They focused on gaining recognition for women\u27s achievements, opening new opportunities for women, and instilling high ethical values into business. These self-defined business women, most of whom were single, looked to like-minded women for economic, social, and professional support. Organizations of business women and publications aimed at them sought to alter public opinion and public policy to favor business women, even as they focused on the business woman\u27s more personal and social needs. These business women dealt with constraints of gender in a variety of ways, ultimately redefining both womanhood and business. . The sources used to explore the business woman\u27s identity include the 1889-1892 Business Woman\u27s Journal, the 1914-1915 Business Woman\u27s Magazine, career advice literature, novels about business women, and accounts about and records of groups such as the Colored Business Women\u27s Club, the National Council of Business Women\u27s Clubs, the National Federation of Business and Professional Women\u27s Clubs, and the Confederation of Zonta Clubs, along with the Zonta Club of Buffalo, New York, and the Portland, Maine, Business and Professional Women\u27s Club. BPW and Zonta are examined in detail, as are membership data of the two local clubs and the manuscript Fourteenth Census of Population for Portland and Buffalo. The close scrutiny of membership and examination of women\u27s own words about their occupational lives helps uncover the achievements of the business woman, which often have been obscured both by the census and by gendered interpretations of success. These women faced numerous limits and barriers, but still saw themselves as vital to business and as comparable to business men

The minimal structure containing the band 3 anion transport site. A 35Cl NMR study

35Cl NMR, which enables observation of chloride binding to the anion transport site on band 3, is used in the present study to determine the minimal structure containing the intact transport site. Removal of cytoskeletal and other nonintegral membrane proteins, or removal of the 40-kDa cytoskeletal domain of band 3, each leave the transport site intact. Similarly, cleavage of the 52-kDa transport domain into 17- and 35-kDa fragments by chymotrypsin leaves the transport site intact. Extensive proteolysis by papain reduces the integral red cell membrane proteins to their transmembrane segments. Papain treatment removes approximately 60% of the extramembrane portion of the transport domain and produces small fragments primarily in the range 3-7 kDa, with 5 kDa being most predominant. Papain treatment damages, but does not destroy, chloride binding to the transport site; thus, the minimal structure containing the transport site is composed solely of transmembrane segments. In short, the results are completely consistent with a picture in which the transport site is buried in the membrane where it is protected from proteolysis; the transmembrane segments that surround the transport site are held together by strong attractive forces within the bilayer; and the transport site is accessed by solution chloride via an anion channel leading from the transport site to the solution

Constraints on developing organic poultry production OF0128T

This study aimed to provide MAFF with an assessment of the potential for organic poultry production in England and Wales and, in particular, to identify likely constraints on the development of organic poultry production enterprises, including physical, financial and market factors. The study will e composed of 3 specific objectives outlines as follows, together with ways in which they might be achieved: 1. Definition of the physical production parameters for alternative poultry production to organic standards, with particular emphasis on free range and perchery systems and their respective input requirements and output potential. A detailed literature review will be conducted and consultations will be made with existing organic poultry producers. Direct experience with conventional free range and perchery production systems at the National Institute of Poultry Husbandry and other published information will be utilised to identify potential areas for improvement and/or future research; 2. Investigation of market opportunities for organic poulry meat and egg production in England and Wales, through an examination of the existing market structure and an appraisal of existing and potential marketing strategies. The market for organic poultry meat and eggs will be analysed for shape, size and future potential. Alternative marketing approaches for this sector will be considered and a desk study will be conducted involving a review of trade journals and poultry sector business reports, together with consultation with key players in the sector; and 3.Formulation of an appropriate farm business plan to illustrate the relative profitability of alternative systems of organic poultry production, including the projection of cash flows under given assumptions and the application of sensitivity analyses to key variables influencing profitability. The business plan will cover a wide range of areas, including: industry and market size; producer strategy; capital requirements,; marketing strategy; projected funds; and building, labour and statutory requirements

Modeling the Behavior of a Vessel under Runaway Conditions

Reactive chemicals may proceed into uncontrolled chemical reactions with significant evolutions in temperature and pressure due to vapor/gas production. This happens when there is loss of control of the temperature of the system, and self-heating occurs, thereby leading to a runaway reaction. The overpressurization of the vessel following the runaway may lead to an industrial accident, a thermal explosion, resulting in damages to people, property and the environment. Emergency relief systems (ERS) act as a last line of defense against vessel overpressure. It is therefore critical to the safe operation of chemical processes that they are adequately sized. Much effort is needed to overcome the limitations presented by the current ERS sizing method used. Also, reliance solely on experimental work can prove to be time consuming and provide difficulties during scale-up to industrial scale. Thus, there is a need to employ a comprehensive dynamic model that describes the vessel behavior throughout the reaction, during depressurization and relief action. This involves the understanding of the phenomenological links between thermodynamics, kinetic and fluid dynamics inside the vessel from the onset of the runaway until the end of the venting through an ERS. These outputs of this model could then to be used to enhance ERS sizing methods and consequence analysis. This work represents a step forward in this direction. It proposes a model that takes all these factors into account, with the exception of level swell. To achieve this, this work includes: (i) an experimental study of the reactive system using calorimetric techniques; (ii) determination of the kinetic rate expression for the reactive system; (iii) formulation of dynamic lumped model; (iv) dynamic simulations of a closed vessel and partial experimental validation; (v) a sensitivity analysis of the effects of ERS area and ERS set pressure on vessel behavior. This approach was carried out through the evaluation of the decomposition of di-tert-butyl peroxide in toluene, a potentially hazardous reactive system

Developing a Framework for Dynamic Risk Assessment Using Bayesian Networks and Reliability Data

PresentationProcess Safety in the oil and gas industry is managed through a robust Process Safety Management (PSM) system that involves the assessment of the risks associated with a facility in all steps of its life cycle. Risk levels tend to fluctuate throughout the life cycle of many processes due to several time varying risk factors (performances of the safety barriers, equipment conditions, staff competence, incidents history, etc.). While current practices for quantitative risk assessments (e.g. Bow-tie analysis, LOPA, etc.) have brought significant improvements in the management of major hazards, they are static in nature and do not fully take into account the dynamic nature of risk and how it improves risk-based decision making In an attempt to continually enhance the risk management in process facilities, the oil and gas industry has put in very significant efforts over the last decade toward the development of process safety key performance indicators (KPI or parameters to be observed) to continuously measure or gauge the efficiency of safety management systems and reduce the risks of major incidents. This has increased the sources of information that are used to assess risks in real-time. The use of such KPIs has proved to be a major step forward in the improvement of process safety in major hazards facilities. Looking toward the future, there appears to be an opportunity to use the multiple KPIs measured at a process plant to assess the quantitative measure of risk levels at the facility on a time-variant basis. ExxonMobil Research Qatar (EMRQ) has partnered with the Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Center – Qatar (MKOPSC-Q) to develop a methodology that establishes a framework for a tool that monitors in real time the potential increases in risk levels as a result of pre-identified risk factors that would include the use of KPIs (leading or lagging) as observations or evidence using Bayesian Belief Networks (BN). In this context, the paper presents a case study of quantitative risk assessment of a process unit using BN. The different steps of the development of the BN are detailed, including: translation of a Bowtie into a skeletal BBN, modification of the skeletal BN to incorporate KPIs (loss of primary containment (LOPC), equipment, management and human related), and testing of the BBN with forward and backward inferences. The outcomes of the dynamic modeling of the BN with real time insertion of evidence are discussed and recommendation for the framework for a dynamic risk assessment tool are made

Open-label, proof-of-concept study of brexanolone in the treatment of severe postpartum depression

Preclinical evidence indicates that rapid changes in levels of allopregnanolone, the predominant metabolite of progesterone, confer dramatic behavioral changes and may trigger postpartum depression (PPD) in some women. Considering the pathophysiology of PPD (i.e., triggered by reproductive steroids), the need for fast‐acting, efficacious treatments and the negative consequences of untreated PPD, there is an increasing focus on developing PPD therapies. Brexanolone (USAN; formerly SAGE‐547 Injection), a proprietary injectable allopregnanolone formulation, was evaluated as a treatment for severe PPD in a proof‐of‐concept, open‐label study

The X1Σ+^1\Sigma^+ and a3Σ+^3\Sigma^+ states of LiCs studied by Fourier-transform spectroscopy

We present the first high-resolution spectroscopic study of LiCs. LiCs is formed in a heat pipe oven and studied via laser-induced fluorescence Fourier-transform spectroscopy. By exciting molecules through the X$^1\Sigma^+$-B$^1\Pi$ and X$^1\Sigma^+$-D$^1\Pi$ transitions vibrational levels of the X$^1\Sigma^+$ ground state have been observed up to 3cm^{-1} below the dissociation limit enabling an accurate construction of the potential. Furthermore, rovibrational levels in the a$^3\Sigma^+$ triplet ground state have been observed because the excited states obtain sufficient triplet character at the corresponding excited atomic asymptote. With the help of coupled channels calculations accurate singlet and triplet ground state potentials were derived reaching the atomic ground state asymptote and allowing first predictions of cold collision properties of Li + Cs pairs.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures. Submitted for publicatio