Similar antibodies are produced in the serum of patients infected with the pathogenic treponemes T. pallidum and T. pertenue, and for this reason sera from persons with syphilis or yaws react similarly in the conventional tests for syphilis and in the Treponema pallidum immobilization (TPI) and fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption (FTAABS) tests. In the TPI and FTA-ABS tests T. pallidum i...

This paper considers a technique for calculating the unconditional failure intensity of any given non-coherent fault tree. Conventional Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) techniques involve the evaluation of lengthy series expansions and approximations are unavoidable even for moderate sized fault trees. The Binary Decision Diagram (BDD) technique overcomes some of the shortfalls of conventional FTA tec...

The size and complexity of industrial chemical plants, together with the nature of the products handled, means that an analysis and control of the risks involved is required. This paper presents a methodology for risk analysis in chemical and allied industries that is based on a combination of HAZard and OPerability analysis (HAZOP) and a quantitative analysis of the most relevant risks through...

China Train Control System (CTCS-3) is a safety critical computer system that features large-scale, complex structure, and redundant configuration. CTCS-3 and as well as the equipment and technologies related to it can ensure the safety and reliability running of highspeed trains, and so the assessment on its reliability becomes very important. Generally, the two elements such as common cause f...

The current study aims to investigate the effect of chitosan derivatives on the intestinal absorption and bioavailabilities of forsythoside A (FTA) and Chlorogenic acid (CHA), the major active components in Flos Lonicerae-Fructus Forsythiae herb couple. Biopharmaceutics and pharmacokinetics properties of the two compounds have been characterized in vitro, in situ as well as in rats. Based on th...

In the present paper we show that given a tree series S, which is accepted by (a) a deterministic bottom-up finite state weighted tree automaton (for short: bu-w-fta) or (b) a non-deterministic bu-w-fta over a locally finite semiring, there exists for every input tree t ∈ supp(S) a decomposition t = C′[C[s]] into contexts C, C′ and an input tree s as well as there exist semiring elements a, a′,...

In the FTA project in Nijmegen we have formalized a constructive proof of the Fundamental Theorem of Algebra. In the formalization, we have first defined the (constructive) algebraic hierarchy of groups, rings, fields, etcetera. For the reals we have then defined the notion of real number structure, which is basically a Cauchy complete Archimedean ordered field. This boils down to axiomatizing ...

The increasing complexity of the e-business systems urges the improvement of existing methods of system analysis in order to reduce the likelihood that important threats remain unidentified. Such an improvement can be achieved by combining risk analysis methodologies with the architecture centric system design process. Existing methods are inherently deficient as far as vulnerability analysis f...

When the failure probability of a system is extremely small or necessary statistical data from the system is scarce, it is very difficult or impossible to evaluate its reliability and safety with conventional fault tree analysis (FTA) techniques. New techniques are needed to predict and diagnose such a system’s failures and evaluate its reliability and safety. In this paper, we first provide a ...

During 1982-5 the 19S (IgM) fluorescent treponemal antibody absorption (19S (IgM) FTA-ABS) test gave positive results in 19 children. The parental histories were analysed. As five of the children were adopted, 14 pregnancies were evaluated. Mothers of foreign origin and extramarital pregnancies were found to be over-represented. Of 13 women who attended for pregnancy checkup, three were not ser...