Priority dispatching in a labor and machine limited production system

This study considers the effect of priority dispatching in a labor and machine limited production system. A simulation model of an actual shop is developed using GASP II. The shop is characterized as a flow shop with cycling in which lots are subject to stochastic yields and reworks. Five labor sections, each operating on three shifts, exist in the shop

Acclimation of the Global Transcriptome of the Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. Strain PCC 7002 to Nutrient Limitations and Different Nitrogen Sources

The unicellular, euryhaline cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. strain PCC 7002 is a model organism for laboratory-based studies of cyanobacterial metabolism and is a potential platform for biotechnological applications. Two of its most notable properties are its exceptional tolerance of high-light intensity and very rapid growth under optimal conditions. In this study, transcription profiling by RNAseq has been used to perform an integrated study of global changes in transcript levels in cells subjected to limitation for the major nutrients CO2, nitrogen, sulfate, phosphate, and iron. Transcriptional patterns for cells grown on nitrate, ammonia, and urea were also studied. Nutrient limitation caused strong decreases of transcript levels of the genes encoding major metabolic pathways, especially for components of the photosynthetic apparatus, CO2 fixation, and protein biosynthesis. Uptake mechanisms for the respective nutrients were strongly up-regulated. The transcription data further suggest that major changes in the composition of the NADH dehydrogenase complex occur upon nutrient limitation. Transcripts for flavoproteins increased strongly when CO2 was limiting. Genes involved in protection from oxidative stress generally showed high, constitutive transcript levels, which possibly explains the high-light tolerance of this organism. The transcriptomes of cells grown with ammonia or urea as nitrogen source showed increased transcript levels for components of the CO2 fixation machinery compared to cells grown with nitrate, but in general transcription differences in cells grown on different N-sources exhibited surprisingly minor differences

Transcription Profiling of the Model Cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. Strain PCC 7002 by Next-Gen (SOLiD™) Sequencing of cDNA

The genome of the unicellular, euryhaline cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 encodes about 3200 proteins. Transcripts were detected for nearly all annotated open reading frames by a global transcriptomic analysis by Next-Generation (SOLiD™) sequencing of cDNA. In the cDNA samples sequenced, ∼90% of the mapped sequences were derived from the 16S and 23S ribosomal RNAs and ∼10% of the sequences were derived from mRNAs. In cells grown photoautotrophically under standard conditions [38°C, 1% (v/v) CO2 in air, 250 μmol photons m−2 s−1], the highest transcript levels (up to 2% of the total mRNA for the most abundantly transcribed genes; e.g., cpcAB, psbA, psaA) were generally derived from genes encoding structural components of the photosynthetic apparatus. High-light exposure for 1 h caused changes in transcript levels for genes encoding proteins of the photosynthetic apparatus, Type-1 NADH dehydrogenase complex and ATP synthase, whereas dark incubation for 1 h resulted in a global decrease in transcript levels for photosynthesis-related genes and an increase in transcript levels for genes involved in carbohydrate degradation. Transcript levels for pyruvate kinase and the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex decreased sharply in cells incubated in the dark. Under dark anoxic (fermentative) conditions, transcript changes indicated a global decrease in transcripts for respiratory proteins and suggested that cells employ an alternative phosphoenolpyruvate degradation pathway via phosphoenolpyruvate synthase (ppsA) and the pyruvate:ferredoxin oxidoreductase (nifJ). Finally, the data suggested that an apparent operon involved in tetrapyrrole biosynthesis and fatty acid desaturation, acsF2–ho2–hemN2–desF, may be regulated by oxygen concentration

Planning for the Lifecycle Management and Long-Term Preservation of Research Data: A Federated Approach

Outcomes of the grant are archived here.The “data deluge” is a recent but increasingly well-understood phenomenon of scientific and social inquiry. Large-scale research instruments extend our observational power by many orders of magnitude but at the same time generate massive amounts of data. Researchers work feverishly to document and preserve changing or disappearing habitats, cultures, languages, and artifacts resulting in volumes of media in various formats. New software tools mine a growing universe of historical and modern texts and connect the dots in our semantic environment. Libraries, archives, and museums undertake digitization programs creating broad access to unique cultural heritage resources for research. Global-scale research collaborations with hundreds or thousands of participants, drive the creation of massive amounts of data, most of which cannot be recreated if lost. The University of Kansas (KU) Libraries in collaboration with two partners, the Greater Western Library Alliance (GWLA) and the Great Plains Network (GPN), received an IMLS National Leadership Grant designed to leverage collective strengths and create a proposal for a scalable and federated approach to the lifecycle management of research data based on the needs of GPN and GWLA member institutions.Institute for Museum and Library Services LG-51-12-0695-1

Weather and our food supply

The steep rate of increase in yield of grain crops in the United States since the mid-1950\u27s has resulted in the use of the term explosion in technology. Surplus grains piled up to such proportions after the 1960 · harvest that acreage control appeared. to be in order. But despite substantial reductions in acreages after 1960 the increased output per acre has just about compensated for acreage reductions. During this period of rapid increase in output per acre there has been a growing tendency to believe that technology has reduced the influence of weather on grain production so that we no longer need to fear shortages due to unfavorable weather. There is also a popular belief that acreage control$ fail to achieve the objective of production control, and that public funds are being wasted in storing surplus grains which we don\u27t need. There is increasing evidence, however, that a period of favorable weather interacted with technology to produce our recent high yields, and that perhaps half of the increase in yield per acre since 1950 has been due to a change to more favorable weather for grain crops. These findings have important implications in continued support for research in production technology and in the way in which we look at our surplus stocks of feed and food grains. If a period of favorable weather has been responsible for half of the increase in yields since 19501 then what can we expect if the weather trend reverses itself for a few years? Do we have periodicity in weather, and have we just passed through a run of favorable years that might be followed by a run of unfavorable years? Should we treat our surplus grains as reserves? How does our rate of growth in grain output compare with the needs of a growing world population? And of course I in the background of these questions is one big question -- how much of our recent high yields is really due to weather? To answer these important questions the Center for Agriculture and Economic Development invited outstanding authorities to present their ideas under three main headings: (1) Techniques for Evaluation of Weather Variables in Agricultural Production I (2) Periodicity in Weather Patterns: Implications in Agriculture I and (3) Weather Considerations in Agricultural Policy. The papers have been assembled in the order of their presentation under the general outline above.https://lib.dr.iastate.edu/card_reports/1021/thumbnail.jp

Standalone vertex finding in the ATLAS muon spectrometer

A dedicated reconstruction algorithm to find decay vertices in the ATLAS muon spectrometer is presented. The algorithm searches the region just upstream of or inside the muon spectrometer volume for multi-particle vertices that originate from the decay of particles with long decay paths. The performance of the algorithm is evaluated using both a sample of simulated Higgs boson events, in which the Higgs boson decays to long-lived neutral particles that in turn decay to bbar b final states, and pp collision data at √s = 7 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2011

Measurements of Higgs boson production and couplings in diboson final states with the ATLAS detector at the LHC

Measurements are presented of production properties and couplings of the recently discovered Higgs boson using the decays into boson pairs, H →γ γ, H → Z Z∗ →4l and H →W W∗ →lνlν. The results are based on the complete pp collision data sample recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider at centre-of-mass energies of √s = 7 TeV and √s = 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of about 25 fb−1. Evidence for Higgs boson production through vector-boson fusion is reported. Results of combined fits probing Higgs boson couplings to fermions and bosons, as well as anomalous contributions to loop-induced production and decay modes, are presented. All measurements are consistent with expectations for the Standard Model Higgs boson

Measurement of the top quark-pair production cross section with ATLAS in pp collisions at \sqrt{s}=7\TeV

A measurement of the production cross-section for top quark pairs(\ttbar) in $pp$ collisions at \sqrt{s}=7 \TeV is presented using data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Events are selected in two different topologies: single lepton (electron $e$ or muon $\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least four jets, and dilepton ($ee$, $\mu\mu$ or $e\mu$) with large missing transverse energy and at least two jets. In a data sample of 2.9 pb-1, 37 candidate events are observed in the single-lepton topology and 9 events in the dilepton topology. The corresponding expected backgrounds from non-\ttbar Standard Model processes are estimated using data-driven methods and determined to be $12.2 \pm 3.9$ events and $2.5 \pm 0.6$ events, respectively. The kinematic properties of the selected events are consistent with SM \ttbar production. The inclusive top quark pair production cross-section is measured to be \sigmattbar=145 \pm 31 ^{+42}_{-27} pb where the first uncertainty is statistical and the second systematic. The measurement agrees with perturbative QCD calculations.Comment: 30 pages plus author list (50 pages total), 9 figures, 11 tables, CERN-PH number and final journal adde