Differential Evolutions Research Articles

Productive Efficiency and Territorial Externalities in Small and Medium‐Sized Industrial Firms: A Dynamic Analysis of the District Effect

ABSTRACTA series of works have analysed differential behaviour in terms of productive efficiency between companies inside a hypothetical industrial district and those outside the district. This objective has been addressed using measures of technical efficiency. The results obtained provide valuable information for quantifying the district effect at a given moment in time. However, constant changes in the market and business behaviour mean that it is worthwhile studying the business district effect from a dynamic point of view. In this study, we provide this new vision through the use of Malmquist productivity indices. This methodology enables us to analyse possible differential evolutions by comparing the productive efficiency of companies inside and outside a district over a period of time. An empirical application has been made on a set of small and medium‐sized Spanish ceramic producers during the period of economic expansion between 1996 and 2007.

Cellular Differential Evolution for Optimization

This paper is to illustrate the Cellular Differential Evolution with the cellular structure originated from Cellular automata. Cellular neighbor local search has been designed; base vector or global best in mutation operator is substituted by neighborhood-best, which overcomes the weakness of single selection relating to global best, and balances the contradiction of local and global search, and improves the diversity of population. In addition, cellular structure ensures information exchange, inheritance and diffusion. Finally, a specific algorithm has been implemented: compared with similar variants of DE, the simulation results on 9 benchmark functions demonstrate that cellular differential evolutions are provided with obvious advantages in the solution-quality, stability and speed. <b></b>

Lewandowsky and lutz dysplasia: Report of two cases in a family

Lewandowsky and Lutz dysplasia, also known as epidermodysplasia verruciformis (EV), is an inherited disorder in which there is widespread and persistent infection with human papilloma virus, defect in cell-mediated immunity and propensity for malignant transformation. Differential clinical and histopathologic evolutions of lesions in two cases of familial EV are compared and discussed in detail. Cases were followed up for 7 years. Detailed history, clinical features and investigations, including skin biopsy from different sites at different times, were examined. Generalized pityriasis versicolor like hypopigmented lesions in both the cases, together with variable pigmented nodular actinic keratosis like lesions on sun-exposed areas, were present. Multiple skin biopsies done from various sites on different occasions revealed features typical of EV along with lesions, i.e., actinic keratosis, Bowen's disease, basal and squamous cell carcinoma, in the elder sibling. However, skin biopsy of the other sibling showed features of EV and seborrheic keratosis only till date. This study reveals that the disease progression is variable among two individuals of the same family. Malignant lesions were seen only on sun-exposed areas and may be associated with other skin lesions or infections such as angiokeratoma of Fordyce and tinea cruris, as seen in this report.

Superimposed Neoarchaean and Paleoproterozoic tectonics in the Terre Adélie Craton (East Antarctica): Evidence from Th–U–Pb ages on monazite and 40Ar/ 39Ar ages

In order to understand the tectonic behaviour of a stabilized Neoarchaean continental crust during subsequent tectonic activity, we investigated the composite metamorphic basement along the Terre Adélie and George Vth Land coastline, also known as the Terre Adélie Craton (East Antarctica). Two domains are recognized: (1) a Neoarchaean basement, composed of granulite rocks to the east and overlain to the west by amphibolites, and (2) two Paleoproterozoic detrital basins overly the Neoarchaean crust and extend further west. New geochronological data from the Terre Adélie Craton define a tectonic evolution with three major peaks’ activity. Th–U–Pb electron probe analyses of monazite from the Neoarchaean granulites constrain the main structuration event at ca. 2.45 Ga in agreement with zircon ages from throughout the Neoarchaean domain. Local resetting together with low temperature recrystallization of monazites occurred at ca. 1.7 Ga along hydrated anastomozing metre-scale shear zones. New 40Ar/ 39Ar ages obtained by stepwise heating techniques on amphibole, biotite and muscovite from both the Neoarchaean basement and the Paleoproterozoic basins, illustrate the differential evolutions of basement and its sedimentary cover during the major 1.7 Ga transpressive event. A final event at ca. 1.55–1.50 Ga is only recognized close to the Mertz Shear Zone (145°E) bounding the Terre Adélie Craton to the East. The new data allow us to propose detailed geological pictures of the Terre Adélie Craton geodynamic evolution, from the Neoarchaean to the Mesoproterozoic.

Cellular immunity in experimental Echinococcus multilocularis infection. II. Sequential and comparative phenotypic study of the periparasitic mononuclear cells in resistant and sensitive mice

Cellular immune responses have been shown to be associated with differential evolutions of E. multilocularis infection in intermediate hosts. A relationship between course of delayed-type hypersensitivity (DTH) against parasitic antigens and receptivity of murine strains has been demonstrated recently. The aim of this study was to correlate resistance and sensitivity to E. multilocularis infection with the phenotypic patterns of cells within the periparasitic granuloma. Evolution of the ratios, macrophages/T lymphocyte and Ly1/Ly2 T lymphocytes, was associated with the receptivity of the strains. Persistence of numerous L3T4 + T lymphocytes and low numbers of macrophages and Ly2 + T lymphocytes were observed in the 'resistant' C57BL.10 mice. Comparison of the results with course of the DTH against E. multilocularis antigens showed that the particular phenotypic pattern observed in resistant mice was associated with a particular profile of DTH after infection. These results and similar observations in human alveolar echinococcosis suggest that cell composition of the periparasitic granuloma might be of crucial importance in controlling the spontaneous development of E. multilocularis larvae in the intermediate host.

Projective-type differential invariants and geometric curve evolutions of KdV-type in flat homogeneous manifolds

In this paper we describe moving frames and differential invariants for curves in two different |1|-graded parabolic manifolds G/H, G=O(p+1,q+1) and G=O(2m,2m), and we define differential invariants of projective-type. We then show that, in the first case, there are geometric flows in G/H inducing equations of KdV-type in the projective-type differential invariants when proper initial conditions are chosen. We also show that geometric Poisson brackets in the space of differential invariants of curves in G/H can be reduced to the submanifold of invariants of projective-type to become Hamiltonian structures of KdV-type. The study is based on the use of Fels and Olver moving frames. In the second case we classify differential invariants and we show that for some choices of moving frames we can find geometric evolutions inducing a decoupled system of KdV equations on the projective-type differential invariants, if proper initial values are chosen. We describe the differences between this case and the Lagrangian Grassmannian case in detail.

The new faces of total quality in Europe and the US

Total quality management (TQM), which started in Western countries about 15 years ago, generated great interest in most firms. The paper deals with this approach, which has known ups and downs, and develops the elements contributing to its evolution, the difficulties encountered through its implementation and the shifts of the processes of guiding change. The firms' cultural and organizational specificities have led to differential evolutions that are partially explained by managerial paradigm differences between the US and Europe. In particular, 'business process re-engineering', which is analyzed in relationship with total quality, can be interpreted as an American adaptation of TQM; while certain European features (like the French ones) seem to fit better the usual requirements of TQM.

On the direct correlation of mechanical and chemical forces

Here, the differential macromolecular evolutions and the structural defects in various TDCs (tectonically deformed coals) were profoundly investigated utilizing the 13C NMR, FTIR, Raman, and DFT (density function theory) calculations. The increasing aromatics provides evidences for advance evolution for aromatic clusters induced by dynamic metamorphism. The variations of fal∗ (non-protonated carbons) and falH (CH or CH2) indicates that the brittle could promote the aliphatic carbon diversifications while ductile deformation could significantly promote the loss of aliphatic carbons. The I2 (=A900–700/A3000–2800) gradually increases while the I3 (=A1703+1745/A1618) decreases. The comparisons of the D1 peak in TDCs with those in perfect- and defective graphene indicated the existences of the structural defects in TDCs. The ductile TDCs have the lowest D1 peak positions, indicating that ductile deformation can promote the macromolecular disorder degrees to the maximum extent. The gradual increase of ID1/IG and the good linear relationship (R2 = 0.90) between ID1/IG and AD1/AG indicated the gradual increasing content of structural defects with the enhancement of the tectonic deformation. The geological conditions and the Raman results indicated the existences of the Stone-Wales defect (SW) and vacancy-like defects, including the single vacancy (SV), double vacancies (DV), and multi vacancies (MV1 and MV2) in TDCs. The evolution paths of DV (formation energy, Ef: 11.68 eV) → MV1 (Ef: 9.74 eV) → MV2 (Ef: 18.34 eV) and initial structures → SW defects have witnessed the increasing defects and disorder degrees with the enhancement of the tectonic deformation without damaging the continuity of coal matrix structures, which macroscopically manifests as ductile deformation. However, the evolution paths of initial structure → DV (Ef: 11.68 eV) and initial structure → SV (Ef: 9.08 eV) have damaged the continuity by missing carbons, which are consistent with the brittle TDCs.