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The global nature of businesses has increased the geographical dispersion of operations and has made the location decision an important strategic perspective for manufacturing firms. The consensus view is that three major plant location factors must be kept in mind: (1) access to low-cost manufacturing, (2) proximity to market, and (3) access to development competences. Two options for changing th

The present study investigates the significance of potential slip in the bracings of simply supported slender timber members. Three bracing configurations are considered. The first case is that of a timber beam braced at one point at mid-span, the second one braced at two points and the third one braced at three points. Possible slip in the bracing members can for example be due to joint deformati

The spatiotemporal stability of wild organisms, such as flower-visiting insects, is critical to guarantee high levels of biodiversity in agroecosystems. Whereas the proportion of semi-natural habitats in the landscapes has been shown to stabilize the species richness of flower visitors, the effect of farming intensity has not yet been studied. In this study, we compared the temporal and spatial st

This paper describes how MAX IV, the first Multi-Bend Achromat (MBA) Synchrotron Radiation Light Source, was developed and realized. It describes the process of defining the scientific case and the development of the accelerator concepts. This was a highly interactive and intense optimization process, which went on during a long time with tight communication between the laboratory and the various

We revise three common models accounting for water exchange in pulsed-gradient spin-echo measurements: a bi-exponential model with time-dependent water fractions, the Kärger model, and a modified Kärger model designed for restricted diffusion, e.g. inside cells. The three models are compared and applied to experimental data from yeast cell suspensions. The Kärger model and the modified Kärger mode

Sixty percent of stroke volume (SV) is generated by atrioventricular plane displacement (AVPD) in a healthy left ventricle (LV). The aims were to determine the effect of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) on AVPD and contribution of AVPD to SV and to study the relationship between AVPD and infarct size (IS) and location. Patients from CHILL-MI and MITOCARE studies with cardiovascular magne

An experimental campaign has been carried out with the aim of providing an insight into the fracture processes occurring during the cutting of different types of polymers, with features ranging from typically brittle to soft hyperelastic behaviour. The steady state of cutting is investigated using a sharp thin blade, and tracking the insertion force versus the penetration displacement. For soft, h

A frequent belief is that the rise of so-called “gig work” has led to the displacement of workers in a wide range of traditional jobs. This paper examines the impacts of the flagship of the gig economy—Uber—on workers employed in conventional taxi services. Our analysis exploits newly collected data on the staggered rollout of Uber across metropolitan areas in the United States and a difference-in

Objective: We aimed to explore the effect of occupation on familial risk of pleural mesothelioma in a nationwide cohort study design. Method: The nationwide Swedish Family-Cancer Database includes all Swedes born after 1931 and their biological parents, totalling 16.1 million individuals with about 2.3 million cancer patients. Hazards ratios (HRs) were calculated adjusting for age, sex and region

Introduction: The relationship between left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) and LV myocardial scar can identify potentially reversible causes of LV dysfunction. Left bundle branch block (LBBB) alters the electrical and mechanical activation of the LV. We hypothesized that the relationship between LVEF and scar extent is different in LBBB compared to controls. Methods: We compared the relat

Background: It remains unknown if bivalirudin compared to heparin confers any additional inhibition of platelet and coagulation activation during primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) after pretreatment with ticagrelor. Methods: In this substudy of VALIDATE-SWEDEHEART trial, 103 patients pretreated with ticagrelor were randomized before PPCI to heparin or bivalirudin. Blood samples wer

Differential evolution is a real value encoded evolutionary algorithm for global optimization. It has gained popularity due to its simplicity and efficiency. Use of special kind of mutation and crossover operators differentiates it from other evolutionary algorithms. In recent times, it has been widely used in different fields of science and engineering. Among recently developed various variants o

Background: Allergens are foreign proteins that stimulate the production of immunoglobulin E (IgE), when they come in contact with human body. These allergens after binding with IgE through FcεRI receptor, triggers the signal transduction reaction in mast cell and basophil cells, leading to allergic reactions by releasing some mediators. Four correctly written as surface-exposed tryptpphans Trp 87

Objective: Zea m1 is one of the most common aeroallergens, causing allergy. This pollen allergen, present in maize, is responsible for type I hypersensitivity reaction. Despite having available X ray crystal structure of this pollen allergen, no definite vaccine has been developed for allergic disorder in humans. Method: In our present study, an epitope-based peptide vaccine against Zea m 1 pollen

Computer science plays a major role in image segmentation and image processing applications. Despite the computational cost, PSO evaluated QCA approaches perform comparable to or better than their crisp counterparts. This novel approach, proposed in this chapter, has been found to enhance the functionality of the CA rule base and thus enhance the established potentiality of the fuzzy-based segment

Mixed-pixels classification in land-cover regions is a challenging task in remote sensing imagery. To classify mixed-pixels, vagueness is always the main characteristic by handling uncertainty. We propose a hybrid approach for pixel classification using Rough sets and Cellular automata models to solve this problem. Multiple belongingness and vagueness among data can be handled efficiently using Ro

Pixel classification of watershed satellite image is a challenging task in remote sensing. Uses of Particle Swarm Optimisation and Cellular Automata are significant methods in watershed image segmentation. This paper proposes a method of pixel classification using a new hybrid Particle Swarm Optimization-Cellular Automata approach. The proposed unsupervised method identifies clusters using 2-Dimen

Image segmentation among overlapping land cover areas in satellite images is a very crucial task. Detection of belongingness is the important problem for classifying mixed pixels. This paper proposes an approach for pixel classification using a hybrid approach of Fuzzy C-Means and Cellular automata methods. This new unsupervised method is able to detect clusters using 2-Dimensional Cellular Automa