Computational protein tertiary structure prediction has made significant progress over the past years. However, most of the existing structure prediction methods are not equipped with functionality to predict accuracy of constructed models. Knowing the accuracy of a structure model is crucial for its practical use since the accuracy determines potential applications of the model. Here we have d...

BACKGROUND The most important aspect in the diagnostic approach of thyroid nodule is identifying the malignancy Elastography is a newly technique that measures the elasticity of tissue, after applying a external force, standardized control. US elastography is currently used in differentiation of malignant from benign lesions. PATIENTS This prospective study included 69 patients, mean age 50.0...

This paper treats manufacturing flexibility, ways to achieve it and ways to evaluate flexibility using option pricing. Different ways to increase flexibility are considered from the point of view of two companies. Different types of flexibility are interpreted and modelled as options and ways to evaluate them are considered with respect to amongst other set-up cost and capacity constraints. A n...

We propose and evaluate an admission control paradigm for RTDBS, in which a transaction is submitted to the system as a pair of processes: a primary task, and a recovery block. The execution requirements of the primary task are not known a priori, whereas those of the recovery block are known a priori. Upon the submission of a transaction, an Admission Control Mechanism is employed to decide wh...

One of the main drawbacks of the LRTA* real-time heuristic search algorithm is slow convergence. Backtracking as introduced by SLA* is one way of speeding up the convergence, although at the cost of sacrificing first-trial performance. The backtracking mechanism of SLA* consists of back-propagating updated heuristic values to previously visited states while the algorithm retracts its steps. In ...

There has been an intensive amount of research conducted in scheduling real-time systems. Different scheduling policies use different attributes of the tasks within the system in deriving their scheduling decision(s). Since tasks in any time-critical system are associated with various levels of importance, many researchers tend to agree that the task’s level of importance should be a major attr...

This article explores opportunities to maximize the value of automated on-line film inspection. Examples are presented of implemented inspection systems that provide critical real time process and converting information to maximize yield, improve raw material quality, and strengthen customer relationships. A solution for automated rewind control for defect removal that increases converting thro...

OBJECTIVE The purpose of this study was to evaluate the changes in esophageal physiology that are produced after laparoscopic surgery in patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). METHODS From May 1996 until January 2000, 13 patients with GERD underwent antireflux laparoscopic surgery. In 8 patients, preoperative manometric studies showed motility disorders characterized by a decre...

s. The quantization of real value attributes is one of the main problem to be solved in synthesis of decision rules from data tables with real value attributes. We present an approach to this problem based on rough set methods and Boolean reasoning. The main result states that the problem of optimal quantization of real value attributes is polynomially reducible to the problem of minimal reduct...

This work presents the development of a methodology based on Monte Carlo Simulation, Fuzzy Numbers and in the Real Options Theory to determine the real options value under technical and market uncertainties. The objective of the proposed methodology is to substantially reduce the computational time involved, facilitating the decision taking process. The methodology involves: fuzzy numbers, to r...