Epistemic protocols for dynamic gossip

A gossip protocol is a procedure for spreading secrets among a group of agents, using a connection graph. In each call between a pair of connected agents, the two agents share all the secrets they have learnt. In dynamic gossip problems, dynamic connection graphs are enabled by permitting agents to spread as well the telephone numbers of other agents they know. This paper characterizes different distributed epistemic protocols in terms of the (largest) class of graphs where each protocol is successful, i.e. where the protocol necessarily ends up with all agents knowing all secrets

Dynamic temporary blood facility location-allocation during and post-disaster periods

The key objective of this study is to develop a tool (hybridization or integration of different techniques) for locating the temporary blood banks during and post-disaster conditions that could serve the hospitals with minimum response time. We have used temporary blood centers, which must be located in such a way that it is able to serve the demand of hospitals in nearby region within a shorter duration. We are locating the temporary blood centres for which we are minimizing the maximum distance with hospitals. We have used Tabu search heuristic method to calculate the optimal number of temporary blood centres considering cost components. In addition, we employ Bayesian belief network to prioritize the factors for locating the temporary blood facilities. Workability of our model and methodology is illustrated using a case study including blood centres and hospitals surrounding Jamshedpur city. Our results shows that at-least 6 temporary blood facilities are required to satisfy the demand of blood during and post-disaster periods in Jamshedpur. The results also show that that past disaster conditions, response time and convenience for access are the most important factors for locating the temporary blood facilities during and post-disaster periods

Revisiting herbage sample collection and preparation procedures to minimise risks of trace element contamination

A renewed interest in trace elements (TE), as micronutrients as well as potentially toxic elements, and new options for multi-element analysis has led to an increased number of scientists engaging in TE studies. Accreditation, certification and quality control of TE analyses often applies only to the last step in the sample chain when prepared samples are sent to the laboratory for digestion/extraction and subsequent analysis. However, all stages of the chain from initial sampling to final analysis require an understanding of the specific challenges involved in TE studies and an awareness of the contamination risks as well as approaches to limit these. Contamination can potentially be introduced during all stages of handling and preparation of plant samples, e.g. through dust and the materials that make up the different work surfaces, tools and containers used. Milling devices originally used during preparation of two sets of archived herbage samples were tested to indicate the degree of contamination that can arise from milling. For example, some of the milling devices tested showed effects on several TE concentrations while also increasing the variability between samples. A titanium knife mill which was included for comparison gave the best results, showing no measurable contamination by TE of primary interest, while it allowed a high throughput of samples. To enhance the quality of data on TE in bulky plant material such as herbage and to ensure future usability of newly archived samples, we suggest that field handbooks and sample preparation protocols (where needed) are revised to include precautions against TE contamination in all handling steps. This will ensure reliable data on concentrations of micronutrients and potential toxic TE in plant material

A process algebraic form to represent extensive games

In this paper, we introduce an agent-based representation of games, in order to propose a compact representation for multi-party games in game theory. Our method is inspired by concepts in process theory and process algebra. In addition, we introduce an algorithm whose input is a game in the form of process algebra (proposed in this paper) and as an output, the algorithm finds the Nash equilibrium of the game in linear space complexity

Designing New Financial Management System in Health Sector of Islamic Republic of Iran

"nBackground: In health system of any country, securing financial resources and management of the same is one of the most vital apprehensions in regards policy makers. This article expresses a part of the obstacles and threats present in the man­agement of the government financial resources of health sector and in assimilating this, the requirement for amendments in the financial system and designing new financial management system of health sector in Iran."nMethods: The authors conducted a case study based on interviews with government, and academic participants. Two meth­ods of data collection were used: retrospective analysis of official documents and in-depth interview."nResults: The root of the obstacles relevant to the management of financial resources in health sector in four intricate and fundamental modes of executing cash accounts in contrary to accrual accounts, where there is an intense weakness in the internal controls due to the lack of periodic reports, so as to define the source of deviations, the lack of a mechanized system and ultimately, the absence of a comprehensive monetary plan in the Country. Based on these obstacles, the new financial management system of health sector in Iran was designed including mission, objectives, structure, human resources and duties, processes and procedures, external environment."nConclusion: Designing new financial system in health sector of country is a way to effective and efficient management of financial resources and aid health system to achieve ultimate goals

A Mathematical Programming Model for Flow Shop Scheduling Problems for Considering Just in Time Production

In this paper, we consider a flow shop scheduling problem with bypass consideration for minimizing the sum of earliness and tardiness costs. We propose a new mathematical modeling to formulate this problem. There are several constraints which are involved in our modeling such as the due date of jobs, the job ready times, the earliness and the tardiness cost of jobs, and so on. We apply adapted genetic algorithm based on bypass consideration to solve the problem. The basic parameters of this meta-heuristic are briefly discussed in this paper. Also a computational experiment is conducted to evaluate the performance of the implemented methods. The implemented algorithm can be used to solve large scale flow shop scheduling problem with bypass effectively

A Mathematical Programming Model for Flow Shop Scheduling Problems for Considering Just in Time Production

In this paper, we consider a flow shop scheduling problem with bypass consideration for minimizing the sum of earliness and tardiness costs. We propose a new mathematical modeling to formulate this problem. There are several constraints which are involved in our modeling such as the due date of jobs, the job ready times, the earliness and the tardiness cost of jobs, and so on. We apply adapted genetic algorithm based on bypass consideration to solve the problem. The basic parameters of this meta-heuristic are briefly discussed in this paper. Also a computational experiment is conducted to evaluate the performance of the implemented methods. The implemented algorithm can be used to solve large scale flow shop scheduling problem with bypass effectively