The overall design of an industrial crop production system should optimize the system's global parameters, such as total area required, intensity of cultivation and general production schedule. The key element is the optimal intensity of cultivation for the prevailing climatic and economic environments. A single-state-variable vegetative crop model (e.g. lettuce) was used to optimize a crop pro...

This paper introduces a novel automated camera control method for capturing desktop presentations. For this purpose, we first discuss typical features of shots and their cameraworks that frequently appear in TV programs. To realize those features in our automated video capturing system, we classify the purpose of a camerawork from two points of view: target and aspect-of-target. Then, we consid...

Studies over the last two decades have revealed profound immunomodulatory aspects of vitamin D on various aspects of the immune system. This review will provide an overview of Vitamin D metabolism, a description of dendritic cell subsets, and highlight recent advances on the effects of vitamin D on dendritic cell function, maturation, cytokine production and antigen presentation. The active for...

which dominates most of the economies in the region, relies heavily on the livestock subsector for its contribution to the gross domestic product (GDP), estimated at 32 percent in the last decades for the region as a whole (Winrock International 1992). The region's growing population relies heavily on livestock products for their daily dietary requirement. The provision of draught power and man...

Heijunka is the notion to level a production system by removing ups and downs in volume caused by batch processing and customer order fluctuation in order to reach a mixed model production system with a constant flow of parts. We show how to implement lean production principles in systems with unreliable production processes. Process unreliabilities occur because tool machines may have small ov...

A Visual BasicTM software program, PACCS, was developed to aid NASA engineers plan, design, and operate biomass production components for Advanced Life Support Systems. PACCS integrates mathematical crop models of simulated controlled environment hydroponic production of wheat, soybean, and white potato with scheduling and analysis tools. Analysis options allow for studies on the feasibility of...

In this paper we consider production economic and cost related yield rate in a JIT (Just in Time) system. Based on the traditional EPQ (Economic Production Quantity) model, we establish the relation between cost and yield rate. The geometric programming approach is applied in our model to solve this optimizing posynomials problem. A numerical example is carried out to verify the proposed model....

BACKGROUND Fucoidan is a highly sulfated glycosaminoglycan, which has a molecular structure similar to that of heparin. The antithrombotic effects of fucoidan in vitro have been widely reported, but its antithrombotic effects in vivo as well as its other biological properties in vitro have not been well investigated. METHODS This study investigated the effects and mechanism of fucoidan from F...