Generating Dispatching Rules for the Interrupting Swap-Allowed Blocking Job Shop Problem Using Graph Neural Network and Reinforcement Learning

The interrupting swap-allowed blocking job shop problem (ISBJSSP) is a complex scheduling problem that is able to model many manufacturing planning and logistics applications realistically by addressing both the lack of storage capacity and unforeseen production interruptions. Subjected to random disruptions due to machine malfunction or maintenance, industry production settings often choose to adopt dispatching rules to enable adaptive, real-time re-scheduling, rather than traditional methods that require costly re-computation on the new configuration every time the problem condition changes dynamically. To generate dispatching rules for the ISBJSSP problem, we introduce a dynamic disjunctive graph formulation characterized by nodes and edges subjected to continuous deletions and additions. This formulation enables the training of an adaptive scheduler utilizing graph neural networks and reinforcement learning. Furthermore, a simulator is developed to simulate interruption, swapping, and blocking in the ISBJSSP setting. Employing a set of reported benchmark instances, we conduct a detailed experimental study on ISBJSSP instances with a range of machine shutdown probabilities to show that the scheduling policies generated can outperform or are at least as competitive as existing dispatching rules with predetermined priority. This study shows that the ISBJSSP, which requires real-time adaptive solutions, can be scheduled efficiently with the proposed method when production interruptions occur with random machine shutdowns.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures. Supplementary Material not include

Rapid Variability in the Japan/East Sea: Basin Oscillations, Internal Tides, and Near-Inertial Oscillations

Many processes contribute to the variations of currents, sea surface height (SSH), and thermocline depth in marginal seas. Energetic examples range broadly over time scales from slow mesoscale and interannual variations to rapid basin oscillations, internal tides, and near-inertial oscillations. Our measurement array in the Japan/East Sea (JES) offered a special opportunity to study these processes simultaneously, revealing important interconnections among them

Vaccinia-Related Kinase 2 Mediates Accumulation of Polyglutamine Aggregates via Negative Regulation of the Chaperonin TRiC

Misfolding of proteins containing abnormal expansions of polyglutamine (polyQ) repeats is associated with cytotoxicity in several neurodegenerative disorders, including Huntington's disease. Recently, the eukaryotic chaperonin TRiC hetero-oligomeric complex has been shown to play an important role in protecting cells against the accumulation of misfolded polyQ protein aggregates. It is essential to elucidate how TRiC function is regulated to better understand the pathological mechanism of polyQ aggregation. Here, we propose that vaccinia-related kinase 2 (VRK2) is a critical enzyme that negatively regulates TRiC. In mammalian cells, overexpression of wild-type VRK2 decreased endogenous TRiC protein levels by promoting TRiC ubiquitination, but a VRK2 kinase-dead mutant did not. Interestingly, VRK2-mediated downregulation of TRiC increased aggregate formation of a polyQ-expanded huntingtin fragment. This effect was ameliorated by rescue of TRiC protein levels. Notably, small interference RNA-mediated knockdown of VRK2 enhanced TRiC protein stability and decreased polyQ aggregation. The VRK2-mediated reduction of TRiC protein levels was subsequent to the recruitment of COP1 E3 ligase. Among the members of the COP1 E3 ligase complex, VRK2 interacted with RBX1 and increased E3 ligase activity on TRiC in vitro. Taken together, these results demonstrate that VRK2 is crucial to regulate the ubiquitination-proteosomal degradation of TRiC, which controls folding of polyglutamine proteins involved in Huntington's disease.open118Ysciescopu

The Quantity Theory of Money is Valid. The New Keynesians are Wrong!

We test the quantity theory of money (QTM) using a novel approach and a large new sample. We do not follow the usual approach of first differentiating the logarithm of the Cambridge equation to obtain an equation relating the growth rate of real GDP, the growth rate of money and inflation. These variables must then again be ‘integrated’ by averaging in order to obtain stable relationships. Instead we suggest a much simpler procedure for testing directly the stability of the coefficient of the Cambridge equation. For 125 countries and post-war data we find the coefficient to be surprisingly stable. We do not select for high inflation episodes as was done in most empirical studies; inflation rates do not even appear in our data set. Much work supporting the QTM has been done by economic historians and at the University of Chicago by Milton Friedman and his associates. The QTM was a foundation stone of the monetarist revolution. Subsequently belief in it waned. The currently dominant New Keynesian School, implicitly or explicitly denies the validity of the QTM. We survey this history and argue that the QTM is valid and New Keynesians are wrong

Type 2 diabetes genetic association database manually curated for the study design and odds ratio

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The prevalence of type 2 diabetes has reached epidemic proportions worldwide, and the incidence of life-threatening complications of diabetes through continued exposure of tissues to high glucose levels is increasing. Advances in genotyping technology have increased the scale and accuracy of the genotype data so that an association genetic study has expanded enormously. Consequently, it is difficult to search the published association data efficiently, and several databases on the association results have been constructed, but these databases have their limitations to researchers: some providing only genome-wide association data, some not focused on the association but more on the integrative data, and some are not user-friendly. In this study, a user-friend database of type 2 diabetes genetic association of manually curated information was constructed.</p> <p>Description</p> <p>The list of publications used in this study was collected from the HuGE Navigator, which is an online database of published genome epidemiology literature. Because type 2 diabetes genetic association database (T2DGADB) aims to provide specialized information on the genetic risk factors involved in the development of type 2 diabetes, 701 of the 1,771 publications in the type 2 Diabetes case-control study for the development of the disease were extracted.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>In the database, the association results were grouped as either positive or negative. The gene and SNP names were replaced with gene symbols and rsSNP numbers, the association p-values were determined manually, and the results are displayed by graphs and tables. In addition, the study design in publications, such as the population type and size are described. This database can be used for research purposes, such as an association and functional study of type 2 diabetes related genes, and as a primary genetic resource to construct a diabetes risk test in the preparation of personalized medicine in the future.</p

Highly malignant soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity with a delayed diagnosis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>To evaluate the characteristics of highly malignant soft tissue sarcoma of the extremity with a delayed diagnosis.</p> <p>Materials and methods</p> <p>The clinical and radiological characteristics of 18 cases of highly malignant soft tissue sarcomas of the extremity with a delayed diagnosis were determined.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Ten men and eight women of mean age 44.8 years (range, 15-79 years) were included in this study. Seven cases of synovial sarcoma, three cases each of alveolar soft part sarcoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma, two cases each of highly malignant leiomyosarcoma and myxofibrosarcoma, and one case of clear cell sarcoma were enrolled. Times from tumor detection to diagnosis ranged from 1 to 3 years in most cases; three of the seven synovial sarcoma cases took more than 10 years to diagnose. Of the seven cases of synovial sarcoma, five cases of small, superficial located masses were simply excised without a pre-surgical biopsy. Three cases of alveolar soft part sarcoma showed characteristic T1- and T2-weighted high signal intensities with signal voids in MR images. In addition, one synovial sarcoma patient and one alveolar soft part sarcoma patient showed evidence of calcification on plain radiographs. However, no general characteristic clinical findings were found to be common to the 18 cases.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Contrary to general expectations, some soft tissue tumors that grow slowly are painless, and those that occur in superficial limbs may be highly malignant. Thus, even when a slow growing, painless superficial mass is encountered in a limb, physicians should keep the possibility of highly malignant soft tissue sarcoma in mind.</p