Introduction In the early 20 th century, a cartoonist named Rube Goldberg drew a series of cartoons that featured “absurd” machines. An archetypical Rube Goldberg Machine (RGM) performs a simple task such as flipping a light switch using as many intermediate steps as possible. These intermediate steps are linked together in a serial fashion, so that each preceding step triggers all subsequent s...

It is important for executives to predict the future trends. Otherwise, their companies cannot make profitable decisions and investments. The Bass diffusion model can describe the empirical adoption curve for new products and technological innovations. The Grey model provides shortterm forecasts using four data points. This study develops a combined model based on the rolling Grey model RGM and...

The binding energy of the six quark system with strangeness s=-3 is investigated under the chiral SU(3) constituent quark model in the framework of RGM. The calculations of the single NΩ channel with spin S=2 and the single ∆Ω channel with spin S=3 are performed. The results show that both systems could be dibaryons and the interaction induced by the chiral field plays a very important role on ...

We study the very recently discovered Θ+ (1540) at SPring-8, at ITEP and at CLASThomas Jefferson Lab. We apply the same RGM techniques that already explained with success the repulsive hard core of nucleon-nucleon, kaon-nucleon exotic scattering, and the attractive hard core present in pion-nucleon and pion-pion non-exotic scattering. We find that the K −N repulsion excludes the Θ+ as a K −N s-...

This paper presents a DSS aimed at helping decision makers reduce and improve their inconsistency in eliciting judgements when using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). The is designed for revising of pairwise comparison matrix row geometric mean (RGM) used as prioritisation procedure consistency index (GCI) measure. employed guarantees that both derived priority vector will be close to initi...

BACKGROUND Proton pump is an integral membrane protein that is ubiquitous ATP binding cassette (ABC) involved in many transport processes in all living organisms, among which a specialized form of pump, so called p-type proton pump, exists in the parietal cells of stomach. Though proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) are frequently prescribed to prevent nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)-ind...

BACKGROUND The incidence of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) infections is increasing worldwide, however formal evaluations of the epidemiology of NTM infections are limited. Understanding the trends and true prevalence of NTM is a major priority for optimizing infection control programmes and resources. The purpose of this study was to investigate the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, an...

In this study, gas-phase elemental mercury (Hg0) and related species (including inorganic reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) and particulate mercury (PHg)) were measured at Cheeka Peak Observatory (CPO), Washington State, in the marine boundary layer during 2001-2002. Air of continental origin containing anthropogenic pollutants from the urban areas to the east contained on average 5.3% lower Hg0 l...