Unequal Sizes Research Articles

A nonparametric test for the two-sample problem based on order statistics

We study a nonparametric test procedure based on order statistics for testing the null hypothesis of equality of two continuous distributions. The exact null distribution of the proposed test statistic is obtained using an enumeration method and a novel combinatorial argument. A recurrence relation for the probability generating function and a sequential approach for computing the mean and variance of the distribution are given. Critical values and characteristics of the distribution for selected small sample sizes are presented. For the Lehmann alternative family, the exact power function of the new test is derived, and its power performance is examined. We also study the power performance of the proposed test under the location-shift and scale-shift alternatives using Monte Carlo simulations and observe its superior performance when compared to commonly used nonparametric tests under various scenarios. A generalization of the proposed procedure for unequal sample sizes is discussed. An illustrative example and some concluding remarks are provided.

Hierarchical deposition and scale-free networks: A visibility algorithm approach.

The growth of an interface formed by the hierarchical deposition of particles of unequal size is studied in the framework of a dynamical network generated by a horizontal visibility algorithm. For a deterministic model of the deposition process, the resulting network is scale free with dominant degree exponent γ_{e}=ln3/ln2 and transient exponent γ_{o}=1. An exact calculation of the network diameter and clustering coefficient reveals that the network is scale invariant and inherits the modular hierarchical nature of the deposition process. For the random process, the network remains scale free, where the degree exponent asymptotically converges to γ=3, independent of the system parameters. This result shows that the model is in the class of fractional Gaussian noise through the relation between the degree exponent and the series' Hurst exponent H. Finally, we show through the degree-dependent clustering coefficient C(k) that the modularity remains present in the system.

Statistical Comparison of the Performance of Alternative Contracting Methods in Florida

This study empirically examines the performance of alternative contracting methods using data from 2,721 highway projects gathered from a Florida Department of Transportation database. Contracting methods can significantly influence the cost and time of highway projects, so it is essential to use appropriate contracting methods in highway projects, especially considering the huge current volume of work and great need for more lane miles and new bridges. The most widely used alternative contracting methods in horizontal construction include Design–Build Major, Design–Build Minor, Cost Plus Time, Incentive/Disincentive, Lump Sum, and No Excuse Bonus. These have been devised to overcome shortcomings of the conventional Design–Bid–Build (DBB) method; however, their actual performance in practice has not previously been rigorously studied. To fill this gap, we statistically analyze our sample of highway projects using the Shapiro–Wilk test, Levene’s test, Kruskal–Wallis test, Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test, and Dunn’s test for unequal sample sizes. Another unique contribution of this research is the analytical techniques employed, which led to more reliable results based on the large quantity of data gathered. We find that some contracting methods performed better than others in each cost category for cost and time, and based on average cost and time savings, but not all were confirmed statistically. All seven contracting methods performed better in achieving time reductions than cost reductions, and all methods were more effective in reducing the cost and time of projects worth less $20 million than those worth over $20 million.

Optimal test-control block designs with unequal block sizes and correlated errors

The purpose of the present article is to introduce theoretical and algorithmic approaches to address the problem of finding optimal test-control incomplete block designs with unequal block sizes where intra-block observations are correlated. Theoretical approach is used to find Etc -optimal designs analytically. In addition, due to the computational complexity of theoretical methods, in this article a two-phase optimization algorithm is proposed to construct ϕ -optimal or nearly ϕ -optimal designs. The effectiveness of the proposed algorithm is validated by comparing our results with optimal designs presented in several prior studies. Our algorithm has the advantages of being independent from the sizes of blocks, structure of correlation, and the optimality criteria. Moreover, it takes only a few minutes to obtain the optimal designs.

Real-World First-Line Treatment and Outcomes of Patients with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) Treated with Bruton Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor (BTKi) or B-Cell Lymphoma 2 (BCL2) Therapy

Introduction: Recent therapeutic advancements in CLL have shifted the treatment landscape, providing expanded options for patients receiving systemic treatment. Notably, targeted therapies have become key therapeutic strategies in the first-line setting. BTK-inhibitors such as ibrutinib or acalabrutinib, and the BCL2-inhibitor venetoclax, have been shown to improve outcomes compared to the prior standard of care. However, with the evolving treatment landscape comes a need to understand the performance of these therapies in the real-world setting. Currently, there are no head-to-head comparisons for these novel therapies in the frontline setting. Real-world data (RWD) is a valuable tool to investigate important clinical questions outside of clinical trials. We sought to use a real-world cohort of patients to characterize the clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients treated with first-line BCL2- or BTK-inhibitor therapies. Methods: This study was a retrospective, observational cohort study utilizing the COTA real-world database. The COTA database is a de-identified database of curated longitudinal electronic health record (EHR) data pertaining to the diagnosis, clinical management, and outcomes of patients with cancer. Included patients met the following study criteria: age ≥ 18 years, diagnosed CLL/SLL, and initiated 1L treatment of BTKi or BCL2-inhibitor on/after January 1st, 2016, when the FDA approved ibrutinib for use in treatment-naive patients with CLL. Patients were excluded if they had missing or imprecise dates on critical study events including date of diagnosis, date of last visit, or date of death. Descriptive analyses were conducted to summarize patient demographic and clinical characteristics. Progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were calculated using the Kaplan-Meier (KM) method. The index date for time-to-event analyses was the initiation of first-line treatment. Results: A total of N=909 patients were identified in the COTA database to meet the study criteria and received venetoclax (N=94) or BTKi (N=815) as first-line treatment. Within the BTKi cohort, most patients received ibrutinib (84.7%), followed by acalabrutinib (14.5%). A small proportion of patients received both ibrutinib and acalabrutinib, or zanubrutinib (0.8%). Nearly all patients treated with venetoclax also received concomitant anti-CD20 therapy (97.9%), as compared to only 9.9% of patients treated with BTKi therapy. Patient characteristics by treatment are shown in Table 1. The overall study population had a median age of 66 years and were predominantly white (79.8%), male (60.5%), and treated in the community setting (88.3%). Patients receiving venetoclax were more likely to be younger with a median age of 63 compared to 67 in the BTKi cohort. Venetoclax treated patients were also more recently diagnosed (2019-2021). High-risk molecular abnormalities were similar between the cohorts, although most patients did not undergo risk factor testing prior to treatment. Patients treated with BTKi had a slightly higher proportion of Trisomy 12 positivity (20.9%) as compared to patients treated with venetoclax (11.7%). Patients receiving venetoclax had a shorter median (IQR) follow up time from 1L as compared to the BTKi cohort, 15.9 months (10.7, 22.7) vs. 24.4 (13.4, 39.7), respectively. The 3-year PFS (95% CI) was greater for patients receiving venetoclax (87.8% (79.6, 96.8)) as compared to BTKi therapy (61.4% (57.3, 65.6)). The KM curve of PFS by treatment is shown in Figure 1. Similarly, the 3-year OS (95% CI) was greater for patients receiving venetoclax (86.7% (78.1, 96.4)) as compared to BTKi therapy (77.7% (74.1, 81.5)). Conclusions: In our real-world cohort of patients treated with venetoclax or BTKi therapy in the first-line setting, patients receiving venetoclax tended to be younger and diagnosed more recently compared to those receiving BTKi treatment. We found 3-year PFS and OS to be longer for patients receiving first-line venetoclax-based therapy as compared to BTKi, though future research will conduct efficacy assessment in a matched population. Key limitations of our study include unequal cohort sizes, variable follow up time, and potential selection bias of patients in the two treatment groups. Additional future research will explore treatment sequencing post-venetoclax or BTKi to further characterize the evolving treatment landscape. Figure 1View largeDownload PPTFigure 1View largeDownload PPT Close modal

Structural and Electric Properties of Ba-Fe-Ta-Na-Bi-Ti-O Ceramic System

The X-ray diffraction, microstructure, impedance, electric modulus, and ac-conductivity of Ba(Fe1/2Ta1/2)O3–(Na1/2Bi1/2)TiO3 solid-solutions were studied utilising a traditional high-temperature mixed-oxide technique. The phase-formations of the solid-solutions were determined utilising X-ray data, while SEM micrographs revealed a non-uniform dispersion of grains in the sample of unequal size (~1 – 20 mm). In all of the developed solid-solutions, the frequency (1Hz - 1MHz) dependence of imaginary and real parts of electric impedance in the temperature region of 50 and 500°C showed the NTCR character and hopping type of electrical conduction. The modulus spectrum variation was intrigued by the hopping mechanism for charge transport (temperature-dependent) in the samples with non-Debye type of behaviour. Besides, the low electrical conductivity of these solid-state solutions makes them ideal for industrial applications, particularly as capacitors.

Influence of the interaction of capillary waves on the dynamics of two drops falling side-by-side on a liquid pool

We experimentally examine the coalescence dynamics of two ethanol drops of equal and unequal size, impacting a deep ethanol pool at low impact velocity using a high-speed shadowgraph. By altering the separation distance between the drops and their size ratios, different coalescence outcomes, such as total coalescence, interacting partial coalescence, and non-interacting partial coalescence, have been observed. Two distinct dynamics have been identified, namely, (i) when the primary drops coalesce first before the resulting conglomerate coalesces into the liquid pool and (ii) when the drops coalesce in the liquid pool separately, resulting in capillary waves interaction and affecting the coalescence outcomes. We also observe another fascinating phenomenon for certain parameters as the satellite drops coalesce as they ascend from the liquid pool. It is found that the coalescence time delay between the drops influences the size of the secondary drops by changing the dynamics from the interacting to non-interacting partial coalescence behavior at the coalescence time delay of 1.31. Our results also indicate that when the normalized separation distance between the dispensing needles is greater than 3.2, the capillary waves produced from both the drops do not interact, and the drops exhibit a usual partial coalescence like two single individual drops.

METAbolomics data Balancing with Over-sampling Algorithms (META-BOA): an online resource for addressing class imbalance.

Class imbalance, or unequal sample sizes between classes, is an increasing concern in machine learning for metabolomic and lipidomic data mining, which can result in overfitting for the over-represented class. Numerous methods have been developed for handling class imbalance, but they are not readily accessible to users with limited computational experience. Moreover, there is no resource that enables users to easily evaluate the effect of different over-sampling algorithms. METAbolomics data Balancing with Over-sampling Algorithms (META-BOA) is a web-based application that enables users to select between four different methods for class balancing, followed by data visualization and classification of the sample to observe the augmentation effects. META-BOA outputs a newly balanced dataset, generating additional samples in the minority class, according to the user's choice of Synthetic Minority Over-sampling Technique (SMOTE), Borderline-SMOTE (BSMOTE), Adaptive Synthetic (ADASYN) or Random Over-Sampling Examples (ROSE). To present the effect of over-sampling on the data META-BOA further displays both principal component analysis and t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding visualization of data pre- and post-over-sampling. Random forest classification is utilized to compare sample classification in both the original and balanced datasets, enabling users to select the most appropriate method for their further analyses. META-BOA is available at https://complimet.ca/meta-boa. Supplementary data are available at Bioinformatics online.

NEW SPECIES OF ALIPPISTRONGYLUS (TRICHOSTRONGYLINA: NIPPOSTRONGYLINAE) FROM THE ELEGANT RICE RAT, EURYORYZOMYS NITIDUS, OF LA CONVENCIÓN, PERU.

A new species of AlippistrongylusDigiani and Kinsella, 2014, was found in the intestines of the elegant rice rat, Euryoryzomys nitidus, collected in the Amazon rainforest. These mammals were preserved in alcohol and archived in the Colección Científica de Mamíferos del Museo de Historia Natural de la Universidad Mayor de San Marcos and accessed for the observation and investigation for the diversity of their endo-parasites. A total of 857 worms were recovered from the 3 individuals examined. Morphological investigations and comparisons with the only known species of the genus indicate that this is an undescribed species. These nematodes feature the diagnostic characteristic of the genus, being a bifurcated posterior end that consists of a tail and a conical appendage near the level of the vulva and uninterrupted ridges in the synlophe of unequal size. However, the orientation of this conical appendage on the female tail, features of the synlophe, and shape of the copulatory bursa warrant the proposal of an amended diagnosis to include character variability detected in the new species.

Theoretical and experimental investigations for geometrical error during hemispherical cavity machining on CO2 laser

CO2 laser material processing has become popular due to its unique advantages such as high productivity, ease of automation, non-contact processing, greater material utilization, and minimum heat-affected zone. Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) is found to be one of the most suitable thermoplastics for CO2 laser machining due to its higher melting point and higher absorptivity at the CO2 laser wavelength. The scope of the present work deals with geometrical error analysis during machining of the three-dimensional spherical cavity with the help of a 2D setup of the laser. The influence of process parameters like power, cutting speed, and the number of passes of laser probe on cusp height is examined. The cusp height is measured after machining equal and unequal step size on PMMA. The experiments were performed for profile controlled approach for equal step size and accuracy approach for unequal step size. An algorithm is proposed for predicting unequal step diameter with a constant value of cusp height. It was observed that higher power, lower speed, and more number of passes of laser probe leads to minimum cusp height. Hence, the proposed algorithm for predicting unequal step diameter for a constant cusp height leads to a reduction in staircase effect, thereby, producing a smoother curve as compared to the profile controlled (equal step diameter) approach.

An adjusted scale binomial Beta H-Likelihood estimation method for unbalanced clustered

In practice, clustered binary responses are very prevalent, where binary data is naturally grouped by sampling techniques. Clusters are often unequal in size in some areas of studies, such as medicine, education and others. The most suitable models for binary data clusters of unbalanced sizes are the Hierarchical Generalized Linear Model (HGLM), where the random term over-dispersion counts; and it is k known as clustered binary data. Current techniques for estimating parameters in (HGLM) are many, but these techniques do not allow over dispersion to be distinct from cluster to cluster. Where clustered binary data resulted in over-variation, that reasonable to conclude the unequal size of clustered binary data may have been distinct variations for distinct clusters. By ignoring the chance of shifting over variability between clusters, test statistics may be inflated in the Type I error rates. In this paper, the binomial beta (BB) (HGLM) method has been altered to account for distinct variations across separate clusters. In order to explore whether the Adjusted Scale Binomial Beta (ASBB) method is more suitable than the (BB) technique for dealing with over-dispersion for unequal cluster binary data models, the author was used simulation, the adjusted method was compared to the original "existing" technique in terms of, Type I error rate, estimator standard errors and power. (ASBB) h-likelihood “adjusted” method was comparable to BB "existing" technique, as it has a less standard error and the Type I error was acceptable. Moreover, Type I error inflated in “exist method” (BB) h-likelihood.

An evaluation of RNA-seq differential analysis methods.

RNA-seq is a high-throughput sequencing technology widely used for gene transcript discovery and quantification under different biological or biomedical conditions. A fundamental research question in most RNA-seq experiments is the identification of differentially expressed genes among experimental conditions or sample groups. Numerous statistical methods for RNA-seq differential analysis have been proposed since the emergence of the RNA-seq assay. To evaluate popular differential analysis methods used in the open source R and Bioconductor packages, we conducted multiple simulation studies to compare the performance of eight RNA-seq differential analysis methods used in RNA-seq data analysis (edgeR, DESeq, DESeq2, baySeq, EBSeq, NOISeq, SAMSeq, Voom). The comparisons were across different scenarios with either equal or unequal library sizes, different distribution assumptions and sample sizes. We measured performance using false discovery rate (FDR) control, power, and stability. No significant differences were observed for FDR control, power, or stability across methods, whether with equal or unequal library sizes. For RNA-seq count data with negative binomial distribution, when sample size is 3 in each group, EBSeq performed better than the other methods as indicated by FDR control, power, and stability. When sample sizes increase to 6 or 12 in each group, DESeq2 performed slightly better than other methods. All methods have improved performance when sample size increases to 12 in each group except DESeq. For RNA-seq count data with log-normal distribution, both DESeq and DESeq2 methods performed better than other methods in terms of FDR control, power, and stability across all sample sizes. Real RNA-seq experimental data were also used to compare the total number of discoveries and stability of discoveries for each method. For RNA-seq data analysis, the EBSeq method is recommended for studies with sample size as small as 3 in each group, and the DESeq2 method is recommended for sample size of 6 or higher in each group when the data follow the negative binomial distribution. Both DESeq and DESeq2 methods are recommended when the data follow the log-normal distribution.

Novel multiplier bootstrap tests for high-dimensional data with applications to MANOVA

New bootstrap tests are proposed for linear hypotheses testing of high-dimensional means. In particular, they handle multiple-sample one- and two-way MANOVA tests with unequal cell sizes and unequal unknown cell covariances, as well as contrast tests in elegant and unified way. New tests are compared theoretically and on simulations studies with existing popular contemporary tests. They enjoy consistency, computational efficiency, very mild moment/tail conditions. They avoid the estimation of correlation or precision matrices, and allow the dimension to grow with sample size exponentially. Additionally, they allow the number of groups and the sparsity to grow with the sample size exponentially, thus broadening their applicability.

Genomic Comparative Analysis of Cordyceps pseudotenuipes with Other Species from Cordyceps.

The whole genome of Cordyceps pseudotenuipes was sequenced, annotated, and compared with three related species to characterize the genome. The antibiotics and Secondary Metabolites Analysis Shell (antiSMASH) and local BLAST analysis were used to explore the secondary metabolites (SMs) and biosynthesis gene clusters (BGCs) of the genus Cordyceps. The genome-wide basic characteristics of C. pseudotenuipes, C. tenuipes, C. cicadae, and C. militaris revealed unequal genome size, with C. cicadae as the largest (34.11 Mb), followed by C. militaris (32.27 Mb). However, the total gene lengths of C. pseudotenuipes and C. tenuipes were similar (30.1 Mb and 30.06 Mb). The GC contents of C. pseudotenuipes, C. tenuipes, C. cicadae, and C. militaris genomes differed slightly (51.40% to 54.11%). AntiSMASH and local BLAST analysis showed that C. pseudotenuipes, C. tenuipes, C. cicadae, and C. militaris had 31, 28, 31, and 29 putative SM BGCs, respectively. The SM BGCs contained different quantities of polyketide synthetase (PKS), nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS), terpene, hybrid PKS + NRPS, and hybrid NRPS + Other. Moreover, C. pseudotenuipes, C. tenuipes, C. cicadae, and C. militaris had BGCs for the synthesis of dimethylcoprogen. C. pseudotenuipes, C. tenuipes, and C. cicadae had BGCs for the synthesis of leucinostatin A/B, neosartorin, dimethylcoprogen, wortmanamide A/B, and beauvericin. In addition, the SM BGCs unique to C. pseudotenuipes were clavaric acid, communesin, and deoxynivalenol. Synteny analysis indicated that the scaffolds where the SM BGC was located were divided into more than 70 collinear blocks, and there might be rearrangements. Altogether, these findings improved our understanding of the molecular biology of the genus Cordyceps and will facilitate the discovery of new biologically active SMs from the genus Cordyceps using heterologous expression and gene knockdown methods.

ARCOTHERES SP., A NEW REPORT ON PEA CRABS (CRUSTACEA: PINNOTHERIDAE) IN BIVALVES FROM THE SETIU WETLAND LAGOON, MALAYSIA

Pea crab infestations reduce the quality of bivalves, decreasing their market value and may result in consignment rejection during exportation in the bivalve aquaculture industry. This study investigates the prevalence of pea crabs in four different species of bivalves collected in habitats in the Setiu Wetland Lagoon, Terengganu. A total of 771 samples of bivalves including Geloina expansa (Mousson, 1849), Meretrix meretrix (Linnaeus, 1758), Anadara cornea (Reeve, 1844) and Magallana bilineata (Röding, 1798) were collected during low tide, with shell length measurements of 5.44 ± 1.3, 2.67 ± 0.6, 3.96 ± 0.6 and 0.00 ± 0.0, respectively. No length measurement was recorded for M. bilineata due to the unequal sizes of the shells. A total of 30 pea crabs were harboured with single colonisation and all of them were females. The pea crabs were identified to be from the genus Arcotheres sp. Manning, 1993 with carapace subcircular and invisible eyes in the dorsal view, chela slender, half of the palm length dactylus, palm slender, dactylus and pollex straight, propodus spatulate with apex rounded, dorsally and distally setose, slender exopod, dorsally and ventrally unarmed ambulatory legs, and relative length of meri P3>P2=P4>P5, P2 and P3 dactyl less than half of the propodal length. The prevalence of pea crabs was higher in G. expansa (P: 9.73%), followed by M. bilineata (P: 1.59%) and M. meretrix (P: 1.12%) which were highly influenced by the host size. No pea crab infestation was found in A. cornea probably due to muddy and strong waves area. Overall, the present study revealed that host size and habitat were the main factors affecting the colonisation of pea crabs in bivalves from the Setiu Wetland Lagoon, Terengganu.

P04-05 Testing muscle strength and dynamic balance in older recreational golfers and healthy sedentary non-golfers in community settings

BackgroundRegular physical activity is known to reduce premature mortality, and help prevent and manage chronic diseases. Despite this, older people are not sufficiently active. Playing golf is associated with better aerobic fitness and mental wellbeing but evidence of a relationship with strength and balance is lacking. If the physical demands of golf are sufficient to meet the World Health Organisation recommendations for strength and balance, golf may qualify for exercise on prescription/social prescribing for people with long-term conditions. The hypothesis of this ongoing study is that playing recreational golf will be associated with better strength and balance in older people. Data are presented for grip strength and dynamic balance in golfers and sedentary older adults, tested using simple techniques suitable in community settings.MethodsSeventy nine healthy older participants (aged 65-79 years) have been studied: 62 golfers (n = 31 females, 31 males) and 17 sedentary non golfers (9 males, 8 females). Difficulties in recruiting sedentary participants and then the outbreak of Covid-19 explain the discrepancy between group sizes. Golfers played 18 holes at least once a week for minimum of two years. Grip strength was tested for the right hand using the MIE hand-grip dynamometer, with results normalized to body weight. Dynamic balance was assessed using the Y-balance test, with reaching distance normalized to lower-limb length. Non-parametric statistics were used due to unequal group sizes.ResultsGrip strength was significantly greater in golfers than non-golfers (median and interquartile range); males and females combined; golfers 4.3±1.2; non-golfers 3.3±1.9 (p=0.039*; Mann-Whitney). The Y-balance performance was also significantly better in golfers than non-golfers (p=0.002*: Mann-Whitney). Normalised composite reach distance data (3 directions) for the right side were greater in golfers (81.7±13.3) than non-golfers (74.2±17.2).ConclusionsThese preliminary data indicate that playing recreational golf at least once a week is associated with greater grip strength and better dynamic balance in older golfers compared to sedentary non-golfers. These findings support further data collection (when permitted) to produce reference data. This will allow parametric statistical analysis to determine whether conclusive evidence will support the hypothesis, forming the basis of a randomised controlled trial.

Should the two-trial paradigm still be the gold standard in drug assessment?

Two significant pivotal trials are usually required for a new drug approval by a regulatory agency. This standard requirement is known as the two-trial paradigm. However, several authors have questioned why we need exactly two pivotal trials, what statistical error the regulators are trying to protect against, and potential alternative approaches. Therefore, it is important to investigate these questions to better understand the regulatory decision-making in the assessment of drugs' effectiveness. It is common that two identically designed trials are run solely to adhere to the two-trial rule. Previous work showed that combining the data from the two trials into a single trial (one-trial paradigm) would increase the power while ensuring the same level of type I error protection as the two-trial paradigm. However, this is true only under a specific scenario and there is little investigation on the type I error protection over the whole null region. In this article, we compare the two paradigms by considering scenarios in which the two trials are conducted in identical or different populations as well as with equal or unequal size. With identical populations, the results show that a single trial provides better type I error protection and higher power. Conversely, with different populations, although the one-trial rule is more powerful in some cases, it does not always protect against the type I error. Hence, there is the need for appropriate flexibility around the two-trial paradigm and the appropriate approach should be chosen based on the questions we are interested in.

Effect of variable capsule size distribution for unstructured packed bed encapsulated phase change material system

Packed bed encapsulated phase change material (PCM) energy storage systems have considerable potential for energy storage applications involved in renewable energy systems. In this paper, a 3D unstructured packed bed system consisting of spherical encapsulated phase change material with varying sizes of spheres is modelled. The main novelty of the work is that the geometry of the capsules and the flow between the capsules are resolved, even with unequal capsule sizes arranged in an irregular manner. The size of the spheres is varied by changing the radius of the spheres following specified normal distribution curves. Then, by changing the mean and standard deviation values, different size distributions of spheres are generated which are arranged in unstructured packed bed form. The model incorporates the flow of heat transfer fluid (HTF) through the gaps between the capsules, the heat transfer in both the HTF and the PCM capsules, the melting of PCM in each capsule, and the natural convection in the melted PCM. Based on the simulations, important parameters such as the melting time and energy storage rates are compared for different size distributions. It is found that for a normal distribution of capsule radius, increasing the mean radius by 2 times while keeping the standard deviation constant increases the melting rate considerably with an increase in melting time by 29.4%. The effect of standard deviation of radius was found to be significantly less as compared to that of the mean radius.

Research of Flexible Assembly Job-Shop Batch-Scheduling Problem Based on Improved Artificial Bee Colony.

This study examined the flexible assembly job-shop scheduling problem with lot streaming (FAJSP-LS), common in multivariety and small-batch production, such as household electrical appliances. In FAJSP-LS, an assembly stage is appended to the flexible job shop, and jobs in the first stage are processed in a large batch to reduce switching costs, while leading to more waiting time, especially during the assembly stage. This article considered splitting the batch into a few sub-batches of unequal and consistent sizes to allow jobs to efficiently pass the two-stage system. With this objective, the problem was modeled as a mixed-integer linear program comprising the following two subproblems: batch splitting and batch scheduling. As the integrated problem is NP-hard, the improved bioinspired algorithm based on an artificial bee colony was proposed, including a four-layer chromosome–encoding structure to describe the solution, as well as an optimization strategy utilizing different bee colonies to synchronously solve this two-stage problem. To examine the algorithm’s efficiency, a benchmark case was used to show that better solutions can be acquired with the improved algorithm regardless of whether the batch was split into equal or unequal sizes. To promote practical implementation, the algorithm was applied to a real case refrigerator workshop and showed better performance on time efficiency when jobs were split into unequal sizes compared to jobs without splitting or splitting into equal sizes.

Multivalvulidan myxosporeans from marine fishes in Nha Trang Bay, Vietnam, with descriptions of Kudoa igori n. sp. and Kudoa borimiri n. sp. from mullets.

In March and April 2018, we carried out a survey of myxosporean parasites in coastal fishes collected from Nha Trang Bay in Vietnam's East Sea. Of the 159 fish specimens, 18 fish species were represented, belonging to 10 families. In 8 host species, 7 myxosporean species were found, representing the genera Kudoa and Unicapsula. Two of these species were new to science: Kudoa igori n. sp. from the gallbladder of Longarm mullet Osteomugil cunnesius (Valenciennes, 1836) (prevalence 10%) and Kudoa borimiri n. sp. from skeletal muscles of Longarm mullet and Longfinned mullet Osteomugil perusii (Valenciennes, 1836) (prevalence 30% and 60%, respectively). Vegetative stages were not found. Spores of K. igori n. sp. were small, orbicular to quadrate in apical view, and with four equal valves. In lateral view, spores were shallowly ovoid with a slightly protruding anterior pole. The 4 polar capsules were slightly unequal sizes and were oriented toward the apex of the spore. Dimensions were as follows: spore length 4.56 ± 0.22 (4.18-4.56), thickness 4.42 ± 0.39 (3.55-5.13), width 5.74 ± 0.46 (4.66-6.50), length of biggest polar capsule 1.38 ± 0.14 (1.1-1.65), middle 1.28 ± 0.12 (1.03-1.53), smallest 1.13 ± 0.11 (0.94-1.30), width of biggest polar capsule 1.03 ± 0.14 (0.83-1.4), middle 0.92 ± 0.12 (0.76-1.08), smallest 0.74 ± 0.12 (0.55-0.94). Spores of K. borimiri n. sp. had four equal valves with slightly rounded ends and were quadrate in apical view. In lateral view, spores were broadly deltoid. Four equal-sized polar capsules opened at the apex of the spore. In O. cunnesius, spore dimensions were as follows: length 3.51 ± 0.15 (3.34-3.92), thickness 3.65 ± 0.38 (2.79-4.21), width 4.97 ± 0.37 (4.13-5.97), length of the polar capsules 1.23 ± 0.18 (0.99-1.57), width 0.88 ± 0.07 (0.70-1.00). Overlapping dimensions for K. borimiri n. sp. spores were also found in O. perusii. Other known myxozoan species we encountered were Kudoa thyrsites and Kudoa whippsi, which had not previously been reported from the East Sea and Vietnam. We also encountered Kudoa monodactyli, which had not previously been reported from Nha Trang Bay. In addition, we report 2 additional species, a Kudoa sp. and a Unicapsula sp., that were not attributable to previously described myxozoans and need further investigation to completely characterize.