Several authorshavepointedout theneed to identify theoptimumoperatingconditions (OCs)of autothermal thermophilic aerobic digestion (ATAD). This study proves the hypothesis that the OCs have the potential to substantially improve the energy efficiency and plant capacity of established ATAD systems. As ATAD is a semi-batch process, its energy efficiency has to be optimized via dynamic optimizatio...

Due to its robust search mechanism, Gravitational algorithm (GSA) has achieved a lot of popularity in different research communities. However, stagnation reduces searchability towards global optima for rigid and complex multi-modal problems. This paper proposes GSA variant that incorporates chaos-embedded opposition-based learning into the basic stagnation-free search. Additionally, sine-cosine...

Given a simple graph G = (V,E), a subset S of the vertices is called a global defensive alliance if S is a dominating set and for every vertex v in S at least half of the vertices in the closed neighborhood of v are in S. Similarly, a subset S is called a global offensive alliance if S is a dominating set and for every vertex v not in S at least half of the vertices in the closed neighborhood o...

Worldwide, sepsis is one of the most common deadly diseases. It is one of the few conditions to strike with equal ferocity in resource-poor areas and in the developed world. Globally, 20 to 30 million patients are estimated to be afflicted every year. Every hour, about 1,000 people and each day around 24,000 people die from sepsis worldwide. Despite accounting for over 8 million lives lost annu...

Culik and Kari introduced the use of gener-alised stochastic automata (GSA) as a method of digital image compression. The construction of a GSA from an image is a kind of automaton acquisition, although with special characteristics because reproduction is not required to be lossless. In this view an image is a kind of-nite formal language. We detail experimental and theoretical results concerni...

Many smaller dialysis centers are turning to cooperative alliances as a strategy to confront a competitive environment that is characterized by blurring industry boundaries, fast-changing technologies, and global integration. According to Lambe et al. (2002), alliance is broadly defined as the “collaborative efforts between two or more firms in which the firms pool their resources in an effort ...

The ubiquitously expressed G protein a-subunit Gsamediates the intracellular cAMP response to glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) and other incretin hormones in pancreatic islet cells. We have shown previously that mice with b-cell-specific Gsa deficiency (bGsKO) develop severe early-onset insulindeficient diabetes with a severe defect in b-cell proliferation. We have now generated mice with Gsa def...

In infected humans, hepatitis C virus (HCV) exists as a quasispecies typically characterized by multiple nucleotide substitutions within the second envelope gene hypervariable region 1 (HVR1). In the current study, we used heteroduplex gel shift analysis (GSA) of HVR1 sequences amplified directly from patients' sera to define two patterns of HCV quasispecies: (i) simple quasispecies, which gave...

The ability of dopamine1 (D1) receptors to inhibit luminal Na -H exchanger (NHE) activity in renal proximal tubules and induce a natriuresis is impaired in spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR). However, it is not clear whether the defect is at the level of the D1 receptor, Gsa, or effector proteins. The coupling of the D1 receptor to Gsa and NHE3 was studied in renal brush border membranes (BB...

One of the most significant developments of 2009, indeed, medically speaking, of the millennium, has been the formation of the Global Alliance for Non-Communicable Diseases.[1] The Alliance has been established by agreement between the heads of the world’s top agencies directing publicly funded medical research: the US National Institutes of Health, the UK’s Medical Research Council (MRC), simi...