This paper proposes an effective multi-objective differential evolution algorithm (MDES) to solve a permutation flow shop scheduling problem (PFSSP) with modified Dejong's learning effect. The proposed algorithm combines the basic differential evolution (DE) with local search and borrows the selection operator from NSGA-II to improve the general performance.  First the problem is encoded with a...

OBJECTIVE To estimate quality of life, prevalence, and risk factors associated with symptomatic pelvic organ prolapse (POP) among middle-aged women. METHODS This was a cross-sectional study. A questionnaire was mailed to 3,114 women aged 50-61 years in the GAZEL cohort; 2,640 (85%) returned it. Symptomatic POP was defined by feeling a bulge from the vagina (sometimes, often, or all the time c...

OBJECTIVES Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a major cause of morbidity in Nepal, particularly affecting women in the rural communities. Women with POP in Nepal may suffer from symptoms for decades. At present, the Government of Nepal advocates surgical intervention but access to surgical care is inadequate. This report evaluated the feasibility of a non-surgical public health programme in rural N...

This paper presents the first numerical implementation and tests of the Lagrangianaveraged Navier-Stokes-alpha (LANS-α) turbulence model in a primitive equation ocean model. The ocean model in which we work is the Los Alamos Parallel Ocean Program (POP); we refer to POP and our implementation of LANS-α as POP-α. Two versions of POP-α are presented: the full POP-α algorithm is derived from the L...

Detection of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) from redshifts z ∼> 7 would open a new window into the earliest epoch of cosmic star formation. We construct separate star formation histories at high redshifts for normal (Pop I and II) stars, and for predominantly massive (Pop III) stars. Based on these separate histories, we predict the GRB redshift distribution to be observed by the Swift mission. Regard...

Over the last few years, there have been an increasing number of gaming operators that have incorporated on-screen pop-up messages while gamblers play on slot machines and/or online as one of a range of tools to help encourage responsible gambling. Coupled with this, there has also been an increase in empirical research into whether such pop-up messages are effective, particularly in laboratory...

Pop-refinement is an approach to stepwise refinement, carried out inside an interactive theorem prover by constructing a monotonically decreasing sequence of predicates over deeply embedded target programs. The sequence starts with a predicate that characterizes the possible implementations, and ends with a predicate that characterizes a unique program in explicit syntactic form. Compared to ex...

BACKGROUND Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) brings major health issues for women, affecting 40% of postmenopausal women, and directly affects bladder and bowel function, as well as quality of life. In light of the projected growth in demand for care for pelvic floor disorders, determining the etiology and progression of POP has important public health implications. MATERIAL AND METHODS Uterosacral l...

Current evidence suggests a multifactorial etiology to pelvic organ prolapse (POP), including genetic predisposition. We conducted a genome-wide association study of POP in African American (AA) and Hispanic (HP) women from the Women's Health Initiative Hormone Therapy study. Cases were defined as any POP (grades 1-3) or moderate/severe POP (grades 2-3), while controls had grade 0 POP. We perfo...

BACKGROUND Lung cancer patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have a high risk of developing postoperative pneumonia (POP). This study aims to investigate the impact of COPD on POP and the trends for perioperative bronchial colonisation by micro-organisms. METHODS A retrospective chart review was made for 626 patients who underwent lung cancer surgeries at the Chiba Univer...