The problem of the distribution of dairy products, which is classified as a combinatorial optimization problem, cannot be solved in polynomial time. In this paper, an algorithm based on Ant Colony Hybrid meta-heuristic system and Geographic Information System (GIS) was used to find a near-optimal solution to this problem. Using the former method, the nearest neighbor heuristic algorithm was use...

This paper presents a robust hybrid improved dolphin echolocation and ant colony optimization algorithm (IDEACO) for optimization of truss structures with discrete sizing variables. The dolphin echolocation (DE) is inspired by the navigation and hunting behavior of dolphins. An improved version of dolphin echolocation (IDE), as the main engine, is proposed and uses the positive attributes of an...

Long-term carcinogenicity studies were carried out in male Sprague-Dawley rats maintained on vitamin A-sufficient (SLO+) and vitamin A-deficient (SLO-) diets and treated with tobacco extract (TE). Three-week-old rats received by gavage a total dose of 860 mg of TE at a daily dose of 3 mg/rat over a period of 21 months. Besides tumorigenicity, drug-metabolizing phase I and phase II enzymes in lu...

BACKGROUND Intermedilysin (ILY) is a human-specific cytolysin secreted from Streptococcus intermedius. In this study, the dynamic structure of ILY, StreptolysinO (SLO) and their 12mer substituted mutants for 500 ps was analyzed. Several parameters, such as dipole moment and electrostatic potential, were determined to elucidate the molecular mechanism of membrane binding. MATERIALS AND METHODS...

A highly sensitive and rapid method for the determination of substance P (SP) and streptolysin O (SLO) in human serum is described. The assay is based on enriching the analyte by agglutination/precipitation of immuno-liposomes and enhancing the fluorescence intensity by gramicidin A channels. A mixture of the immuno-liposomes encapsulating a pH-sensitive fluorescence dye BCECF, gramicidin A and...

Na(+)-activated potassium channels (K(Na)) have been identified in cardiomyocytes and neurons where they may provide protection against ischemia. We now report that K(Na) is encoded by the rSlo2 gene (also called Slack), the mammalian ortholog of slo-2 in C. elegans. rSlo2, heterologously expressed, shares many properties of native K(Na) including activation by intracellular Na(+), high conduct...

PURPOSE We reviewed various methodologies for studying leukocyte-retinal endothelial interactions in vivo, and summarized the information obtained from studies employing these methods. PROCEDURES Fluorescence dye-enhanced scanning laser ophthalmoscopy facilitates study of leukocyte-cell interactions in the retinal microcirculation. RESULTS Various methods such as adaptive optics scanning la...

We discuss the geometrical interpretation of a well-known smoothing operator applied to the Molecular Distance Geometry Problem, and we then describe a heuristic approach based on Variable Neighbourhood Search on the smoothed and original problem. This algorithm often manages to find solutions having higher accuracy than other methods. This is important as small differences in the objective fun...

the aim of this paper is to present an efficient method for a rail freight car fleet sizing problem. this problem is modeled mathematically as a multi-period, dynamic and multi-objective, in which the rail freight wagons are assumed to be heterogeneous. demands for different wagons and all travel times are assumed deterministic. in order to increase the utilization of the available wagons in th...