We consider a one-warehouse-multiple-retailer inventory system where the retailers face stochastic customer demand, modelled as compound Poisson processes. Deliveries from the central warehouse to groups of retailers are consolidated using a time based shipment consolidation policy. This means that replenishment orders have to wait until a vehicle departures, which increases the lead time for the

This paper discusses adaptive synchronization control for complex networks interacted in an undirected weighted graph, and aims to provide a novel and general approach for the design of distributed update laws for adaptively adjusting coupling weights. The proposed updating laws are very general in the sense that they encompass most weight update laws reported in the literature as special cases, a

Asymmetric flow field-flow fractionation (AF4) is a separation technique in which a focusing/relaxation step is used after the sample is injected onto the separation channel. During the focusing/relaxation step, the sample is focused by two counter-directed flows. This allows sample components to establish a diffusion-dependent equilibrium concentration profile. The focusing step may, in some case

With advancing age, changes in the arterial wall contribute to what has been called vascular aging, and in some prematurely affected subjects even early vascular aging (EVA).1–5 Several years ago,1 we listed various components of EVA, including arteriosclerosis, atherosclerosis, and excess vasoconstriction, with their clinical expression: arterial stiffening and increased central pulse pressure, c

Modern society is increasingly dependent on a reliable supply of electricity. Depending on where an electricity outage occurs and who is affected the consequences may range from a mere nuisance to major economic losses or actual threats against the health and safety of citizens. The direct costs of power outages have been assessed in numerous studies, however electricity outages normally also enta

Type 1 diabetes is caused by the autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta cells. Here we show that administration of a human monoclonal antibody (b96.11) specific to the 65-kDa isoform of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD65) to prediabetic non-obese diabetic (NOD) mice significantly delays the onset of autoimmune diabetes. We found this effect to be epitope-specific, as only b96.11 showed this therape

Background: A pattern of major and minor congenital anomalies, facial dysmorphic features, and neurodevelopmental difficulties, including cognitive and social impairments has been reported in some children exposed to sodium valproate (VPA) during pregnancy. Recognition of the increased risks of in utero exposure to VPA for congenital malformations, and for the neurodevelopmental effects in particu

Over the past decades, the field of in vivo magnetic resonance (MR) has built up an impressive repertoire of data acquisition and analysis technologies for anatomical, functional, physiological, and molecular imaging, the description of which requires many book volumes. As such it is impossible for a few authors to have an authoritative overview of the field and for a brief article to be inclusive

Harold Bloom, in the Western Canon, selected only twenty-six sine qua non writers and, invoking Giambattista Vico’s New Science, where human history was distributed in three phases – Theocratic, Aristocratic, and Democratic – introduced another one, the Chaotic Age (represented by Freud, Proust, Joyce, and Kafka).1 Bloom did not expel this newly proposed Age, as it was also the container of beauty

The protein parkin, encoded by the PARK2 gene, is vital for mitochondrial homeostasis, and although it has been implicated in Parkinson’s disease (PD), the disease mechanisms remain unclear. We have applied mass spectrometry-based proteomics to investigate the effects of parkin dysfunction on the mitochondrial proteome in human isogenic induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons with and withou

Background Reliable epidemiological data for portal vein thrombosis are lacking. Aims To investigate the incidence, prevalence and survival rates for patients with portal vein thrombosis. Methods Retrospective multicentre study of all patients registered with the diagnosis of portal vein thrombosis between 1995 and 2004. Results A total of 173 patients (median age 57 years, 93 men) with portal vei

We investigated inflammatory biomarkers in plasma and in circulating monocytes obtained from patients with Crohn's disease and healthy individuals. Additionally, we assessed the effects of atorvastatin, 10 μM, ex vivo on monocytes cultured for 18 hours from the same subjects. Plasma and blood monocytes from eight patients with active Crohn's disease and eight healthy individuals were analyzed by e