Viability of part cargoes in tramp shipping company’s routing and scheduling decisions

Operational excellence of individual tramp shipping companies is important in today’s market, where competition is intense, freight revenues are modest and capital costs high due to global financial crisis, and tighter regulatory framework is generating additional costs and challenges to the industry. This thesis concentrates on tramp shipping, where a tramp operator in a form of an individual case company, specialized in short-sea shipping activities in the Baltic Sea region, is searching ways to map their current fleet operations and better understand potential ways to improve the overall routing and scheduling decisions. The research problem is related to tramp fleet planning where several cargoes are carried on board at the same time, which are here systematically referred to as part cargoes. The purpose is to determine the pivotal dimensions and characteristics of these part cargo operations in tramp shipping, and offer both the individual case company and wider research community better understanding of potential risks and benefits related to utilization of part cargo operations. A mixed method research approach is utilized in this research, as the objectives are related to complex, real-life business practices in the field of supply chain management and more specifically, maritime logistics. A quantitative analysis of different voyage scenarios is executed, including alternative voyage legs with varying cost structure and customer involvement. An on-line-based questionnaire designed and prepared by case company’s decision group again provides desired data of predominant attitudes and views of most important industrial customers regarding the part cargo-related operations and potential future utilization of this business model. The results gained from these quantitative methods are complied with qualitative data collection tools, along with suitable secondary data sources. Based on results and logical analysis of different data sources, a framework for characterizing the different aspects of part cargo operations is developed, utilizing both existing research and empirical investigation of the phenomenon. As conclusions, part cargoes have the ability to be part of viable fleet operations, and even increase flexibility among the fleet to a certain extent. Naturally, several hinderers for this development is recognized as well, such as potential issues with information gathering and sharing, inefficient port activities, and increased transit times.

Multiple Public Goods and Lexicographic Preferences Replacement Principle.

We study the problem of locating two public goods for a group of agents with single-peaked preferences over an interval. An alternative specifies a location for each public good. In Miyagawa (1998), each agent consumes only his most preferred public good without rivalry. We extend preferences lexicographically and characterize the class of single-peaked preference rules by Pareto-optimality and replacement-domination. This result is considerably different from the corresponding characterization by Miyagawa (2001a).

The effect of ram replacement and sex ratio on the sexual response of anoestrous ewes

It is accepted that an important source of variation in the response of anoestrous ewes, to the introduction of rams, is the intensity of male stimulation. The aim of this study was to investigate strategies capable of increasing the impact and transmission of the ram stimuli. In Experiment 1, two groups of seven ewes (Bluefaced Leicester male x Swaledale female) were individually penned with one ram and for the next 6 h the rams either remained in the pen or were replaced hourly. Blood samples revealed no difference in the pattern of plasma LH secretion. In Experiment 2, three groups of 16 ewes were either introduced to one ram, individually (H) or in groups of 8 (L), or remained isolated. Ram introduction increased the plasma LH pulsatility (P < 0.001). H ewes displayed more (nine versus six) male-induced LH pulses (pulses occurring within the first 45 min) and more pulses per 8 h intervals than the L group of ewes (1.9 +/- 0.3 versus 1.3 +/- 0.3), but these differences were not significant. It was concluded that (i) frequent replacement of rams within a few hours following ram introduction to ewes does not further improve the response of ewes, especially if the ram:ewe ratio is high; (ii) the characterization of the plasma LH secretion parameters during a period of 6-8 h does not seem to be an effective method to detect small differences in the intensity of stimulation received by the ewes when exposed to rams; (iii) North Country Mule ewes (Bluefaced Leicester male x Swaledale female) in the UK respond to the presence of rams in spring (late oestrous/early anoestrous season) with an elevation in plasma LH secretion. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Replacement of saturated with unsaturated fats had no impact on vascular function but beneficial effects on lipid biomarkers, E-selectin and blood pressure: results from the randomized, controlled Dietary Intervention and VAScular function (DIVAS) study

Background: Public health strategies to lower cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk involve reducing dietary saturated fatty acid (SFA) intake to ≤10% of total energy (%TE). However, the optimal type of replacement fat is unclear. Objective: We investigated the substitution of 9.5-9.6%TE dietary SFA with either monounsaturated (MUFA) or n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) on vascular function and other CVD risk factors. Design: Using a randomized, controlled, single-blind, parallel group dietary intervention, 195 men and women aged 21-60 y with moderate CVD risk (≥50% above the population mean) from the United Kingdom followed one of three 16-wk isoenergetic diets (%TE target compositions, total fat:SFA:MUFA:n-6 PUFA): SFA-rich (36:17:11:4, n = 65), MUFA-rich (36:9:19:4, n = 64) or n-6 PUFA-rich (36:9:13:10, n = 66). The primary outcome measure was flow-mediated dilatation (%FMD); secondary outcome measures included fasting serum lipids, microvascular reactivity, arterial stiffness, ambulatory blood pressure, and markers of insulin resistance, inflammation and endothelial activation. Results: Replacing SFA with MUFA or n-6 PUFA did not significantly impact on %FMD (primary endpoint) or other measures of vascular reactivity. Of the secondary outcome measures, substitution of SFA with MUFA attenuated the increase in night systolic blood pressure (-4.9 mm Hg, P = 0.019) and reduced E-selectin (-7.8%, P = 0.012). Replacement with MUFA or n-6 PUFA lowered fasting serum total cholesterol (TC; -8.4% and -9.2%, respectively), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (-11.3% and -13.6%) and TC to high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (-5.6% and -8.5%) (P ≤ 0.001). These changes in low-density lipoprotein cholesterol equate to an estimated 17-20% reduction in CVD mortality. Conclusions: Substitution of 9.5-9.6%TE dietary SFA with either MUFA or n-6 PUFA did not impact significantly on %FMD or other measures of vascular function. However, the beneficial effects on serum lipid biomarkers, blood pressure and E-selectin offer a potential public health strategy for CVD risk reduction.

Replacement of the arginine biosynthesis operon in Xanthomonadales by ateral gene transfer

The role of lateral gene transfer (LGT) in prokaryotes has been shown to rapidly change the genome content, providing new gene tools for environmental adaptation. Features related to pathogenesis and resistance to strong selective conditions have been widely shown to be products of gene transfer between bacteria. The genomes of the gamma-proteobacteria from the genus Xanthomonas, composed mainly of phytopathogens, have potential genomic islands that may represent imprints of such evolutionary processes. In this work, the evolution of genes involved in the pathway responsible for arginine biosynthesis in Xanthomonadales was investigated, and several lines of evidence point to the foreign origin of the arg genes clustered within a potential operon. Their presence inside a potential genomic island, bordered by a tRNA gene, the unusual ranking of sequence similarity, and the atypical phylogenies indicate that the metabolic pathway for arginine biosynthesis was acquired through LGT in the Xanthomonadales group. Moreover, although homologues were also found in Bacteroidetes (Flavobacteria group), for many of the genes analyzed close homologues are detected in different life domains (Eukarya and Archaea), indicating that the source of these arg genes may have been outside the Bacteria clade. The possibility of replacement of a complete primary metabolic pathway by LGT events supports the selfish operon hypothesis and may occur only under very special environmental conditions. Such rare events reveal part of the history of these interesting mosaic Xanthomonadales genomes, disclosing the importance of gene transfer modifying primary metabolism pathways and extending the scenario for bacterial genome evolution.

BEE COLONIES APPLIED TO MULTIPROCESSOR SCHEDULING

In order to achieve the high performance, we need to have an efficient scheduling of a parallelprogram onto the processors in multiprocessor systems that minimizes the entire executiontime. This problem of multiprocessor scheduling can be stated as finding a schedule for ageneral task graph to be executed on a multiprocessor system so that the schedule length can be minimize [10]. This scheduling problem is known to be NP- Hard.In multi processor task scheduling, we have a number of CPU’s on which a number of tasksare to be scheduled that the program’s execution time is minimized. According to [10], thetasks scheduling problem is a key factor for a parallel multiprocessor system to gain betterperformance. A task can be partitioned into a group of subtasks and represented as a DAG(Directed Acyclic Graph), so the problem can be stated as finding a schedule for a DAG to beexecuted in a parallel multiprocessor system so that the schedule can be minimized. Thishelps to reduce processing time and increase processor utilization. The aim of this thesis workis to check and compare the results obtained by Bee Colony algorithm with already generatedbest known results in multi processor task scheduling domain.

Crystallization, preliminary X-ray analysis and molecular-replacement solution of haemoglobin-II from the fish matrinxa (Brycon cephalus)

Haemoglobins constitute a set of proteins with interesting structural and functional properties, especially when the two large animal groups reptiles and fishes are focused on. Here, the crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of haemoglobin-II from the South American fish matrinxa (Brycon cephalus) is reported. X-ray diffraction data have been collected to 3.0 Angstrom resolution using synchrotron radiation (LNLS). Crystals were determined to belong to space group P2(1) and preliminary structural analysis revealed the presence of two tetramers in the asymmetric unit. The structure was determined using the standard molecular-replacement technique.

Group Sequential Communication (GSC): Especificação e Análise de Desempenho de umMecanismo de Comunicação de Tempo Real Compatível ao Padrão IEEE 802.11/11e Aplicado à Automação Industrial

This thesis proposes the specification and performance analysis of a real-time communication mechanism for IEEE 802.11/11e standard. This approach is called Group Sequential Communication (GSC). The GSC has a better performance for dealing with small data packets when compared to the HCCA mechanism by adopting a decentralized medium access control using a publish/subscribe communication scheme. The main objective of the thesis is the HCCA overhead reduction of the Polling, ACK and QoS Null frames exchanged between the Hybrid Coordinator and the polled stations. The GSC eliminates the polling scheme used by HCCA scheduling algorithm by using a Virtual Token Passing procedure among members of the real-time group to whom a high-priority and sequential access to communication medium is granted. In order to improve the reliability of the mechanism proposed into a noisy channel, it is presented an error recovery scheme called second chance algorithm. This scheme is based on block acknowledgment strategy where there is a possibility of retransmitting when missing real-time messages. Thus, the GSC mechanism maintains the real-time traffic across many IEEE 802.11/11e devices, optimized bandwidth usage and minimal delay variation for data packets in the wireless network. For validation purpose of the communication scheme, the GSC and HCCA mechanisms have been implemented in network simulation software developed in C/C++ and their performance results were compared. The experiments show the efficiency of the GSC mechanism, especially in industrial communication scenarios.

Evaluation of mammographic density and Tc-99m-sestamibi scintimammographic uptake in postmenopausal women on hormone replacement therapy

Objective: To evaluate changes in mammographic density and Tc-99m-sestamibi scintimammographic uptake in postmenopausal women on hormone replacement therapy (HRT).Methods: Seventy-five postmenopausal women were prospectively studied and allocated into three groups: 50 women were randomized to either Group 1 (G1, n = 25), which received 2 mg of 17 beta-oestradiol continuously combined with 1 mg of norethisterone acetate (E-2/NETA, Kliogest (R), Medley) or Group 2 (G2), which received 2.5 mg/day of tibolone (Livial (R), Organon). The remaining 25 women, who were asymptomatic and had no desire to undergo HRT, constituted the control group (G3). Each patient was submitted to both mammography and scintimammography at baseline and after six months. Mammographic density was evaluated by using the BI-RADS classification system. The classification system of Barros et al. was used in the interpretation of scintimammography. For statistical analysis, the Chi-square test, ANOVA and Pearson's correlation were used.Results: At six months, increased mammographic density was observed in 48% of G1, 12% of G2 and 16% of G3 patients (p < 0.001). The increase in sestamibi uptake was 56% in G1, 28% in G2 and 24% in G3 (p < 0.001). Increases in both density and uptake were significantly higher in the group on E-2/NETA than among tibolone users and the controls.Conclusion: In postmenopausal women, HRT with E-2/NETA was associated with increased mammographic density and increased Tc-99m-sestamibi scintimammographic uptakes, suggesting greater mithochondrial activity in the cells of the mammary duct. This was not observed in users of 2.5 mg of tibolone, demonstrating that the effects on the breast were reduced. The same was observed in the control group. (c) 2005 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.

Improvement of embryo production by the replacement of the last two doses of porcine follicle-stimulating hormone with equine chorionic gonadotropin in Sindhi donors

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Ultrastructural and proliferative features of the ventral lobe of the prostate in non-obese diabetic mice (NOD) following androgen and estrogen replacement associated to insulin therapy

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Benefits of soy germ isoflavones in postmenopausal women with contraindication for conventional hormone replacement therapy

Objective: To evaluate the effects of isoflavones on vasomotor symptoms and blood lipids in postmenopausal women with contraindication for conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT). Methods: This prospective, double-blind and placebo-controlled study included 50 postmenopausal women randomly divided into two groups: 25 women on soy germ isoflavones (60 mg per day, capsules) and 25 women on placebo. Inclusion criteria included: non-vegetarian, non-asian women whose last menstruation dated at least 12 months prior to the beginning of the study, With FSH > 40 mIU/ml, hot flushes and contraindication for HRT, not using tamoxifen or antibiotic and no disease of the gastrointestinal tract. For 6 months, the Kupperman menopausal index (KMI), the vaginal cytological maturation value (MV) and both hormonal and lipid profiles were assessed. The t-test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were employed to compare the two groups. Results: In both groups, a decreased KI rate was observed. However, isoflavone was significantly superior to placebo in reducing hot flushes (44% versus 10%, respectively) (P < 0.05). After 6 months, the isoflavone group showed increased estradiol levels with unchanged FSH, LH, and vaginal cytology, and a reduction of 11.8% in LDL and an increase of 27.3% in HDL (P < 0.05). In the placebo group, just a reduction in MV was observed after 6 months (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Soy germ isoflavone exerted favorable effects on vasomotor symptoms and lipid profile, showing itself to be an interesting alternative therapy for the postmenopausal women with contraindication for conventional HRT. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V.. All rights reserved.

Crystallization, preliminary X-ray analysis and molecular-replacement solution of the carboxy form of haemoglobin I from the fish Brycon cephalus

Haemoglobin, the 'honorary enzyme' [Brunori (1999), Trends Biochem. Sci. 24, 158-161], constitutes a prime prototype for allosteric models. Here, the crystallization and preliminary X-ray analysis of haemoglobin I from the South American fish Brycon cephalus are reported. X-ray diffraction data have been collected to 2.5 Angstrom resolution using synchrotron radiation (LNLS). Crystals were determined to belong to the space group P6(1)22 and preliminary structural analysis revealed the presence of one dimer (alpha beta) in the asymmetric unit. The structure was determined using standard molecular-replacement techniques.