This paper designs a bidding and supplier evaluation model focused on strategic product procurement, and develops their respective evaluation knowledge bases. The model is built using the most relevant variables cited in the reviewed procurement literature and allows to compare two evaluation methods: a factor weighting method (WM) and a fuzzy inference system (FIS). By consulting an expert pan...

The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between Facebook involvement and internet addiction. We sampled 577 university students in Taiwan and administered a survey of Facebook usage, Facebook involvement scale (FIS), and internet addiction scale. The FIS comprises three factors (salience, emotional support, and amusement). Results showed that the Facebook involvement scale had ...

This work substantiates novel perspectives and tools for analysis and design of Fuzzy Inference Systems (FIS). It is shown rigorously that the cardinality of the set F of fuzzy numbers equals א1, hence a FIS can implement “in principle” א2 functions, where א2 = 2א1>א1 and א1 is the cardinality of the set R of real numbers; furthermore a FIS is endowed with a capacity for local generalization. A...

As widespread, continuous instrumental Earth surface air temperature records are available only for the last hundred fifty years, indirect reconstructions of past temperatures are obtained by analyzing "proxies". Fluid inclusions (FIs) present in virtually all rock minerals including exogenous rocks are routinely used to constrain formation temperature of crystals. The method relies on the pres...

We propose a false-negative approach to approximate the set of frequent itemsets (FIs) over a sliding window. Existing approximate algorithms use an error parameter, ǫ, to control the accuracy of the mining result. However, the use of ǫ leads to a dilemma. A smaller ǫ gives a more accurate mining result but higher computational complexity, while increasing ǫ degrades the mining accuracy. We add...

It is increasingly recognised that epigenetic modifications — mitotically or meiotically heritable changes in gene function that do not result from alterations in DNA sequence — are important in development. In plants and animals, the Polycomb-group (Pc-G) genes mediate a wide variety of epigenetic phenomena, including X chromosome inactivation, genomic imprinting and transgene silencing [1]. T...

labyrinth spillway is an appropriate option to pass pmf discharge. the most advantages of this type of spillway are higher discharge capacity, easy aeration as well as low fluctuations of flow surface. it is essential to find the optimum geometry considering the maximum passing discharge under specific hydraulic conditions with minimum construction cost. in this study, fuzzy inference system (f...

The use of fluorescence as an analytical technique has been growing over the last 20 years. A major factor in inhibiting more rapid growth has been the inability to make comparable fluorescence intensity measurements across laboratories. NIST recognizes the need to develop and provide primary fluorescence intensity standard (FIS) reference materials to the scientific and technical communities i...

The term approximate reasoning (AR) refers to methods and methodologies that enable reasoning with imprecise inputs to obtain meaningful outputs. AR schemes involving fuzzy sets are one of the best known applications of fuzzy logic in the wider sense. Fuzzy Inference Systems (FIS) have many degrees of freedom, viz., the underlying fuzzy partition of the input and output spaces, the fuzzy logic ...

BipA is a highly conserved protein with global regulatory properties in Escherichia coli. We show here that it functions as a translation factor that is required specifically for the expression of the transcriptional modulator Fis. BipA binds to ribosomes at a site that coincides with that of elongation factor G and has a GTPase activity that is sensitive to high GDP:GTP ratios and stimulated b...