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The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the 3-year outcomes regarding crestal bone level, clinical parameters, and patient satisfaction, following submerged and transmucosal implant placement for two-piece implants in the anterior maxilla and mandible.Patients requiring dental implants for single-tooth replacement in the anterior maxilla or mandible were enrolled in a randomized, controlled, multicenter clinical trial. The implants were randomized at placement to either submerged or transmucosal healing, with final restorations placed after 6 months. Radiographic and clinical parameters were recorded after 1, 2, and 3 years; a questionnaire was also used to assess patient satisfaction. A two-sided, unpaired T-test (significance level p ≤ .05) was used to statistically evaluate the differences between the two groups.A total of 106 patients were included in the 3-year analysis. The mean change in crestal bone level from implant placement to 3 years was 0.68 ± 0.98 mm (p .001) and 0.58 ± 0.77 mm (p .001) in the submerged and transmucosal groups, respectively; the differences between the groups were not significant. Clinical parameters remained stable throughout the study, with no significant differences between the groups, and patient satisfaction was good or excellent for over 90% of subjects in both groups.The results demonstrate excellent clinical and radiographic conditions after 3 years for implants supporting single-tooth restorations, regardless of whether a submerged or transmucosal surgical technique was used.

Population-based heuristics can be effective at optimizing difficult multi-modal problems. However, population size has to be selected correctly to achieve the best results. Searching with a smaller population increases the chances of convergence and the efficient use of function evaluations, but it also induces the risk of premature convergence. Larger populations can reduce this risk but can cause poor efficiency. This paper presents a new method specifically designed to work with very small populations. Computational results show that this new heuristic can achieve the benefits of smaller populations and largely avoid the risk of premature convergence.

During the search process of differential evolution (DE), each new solution may represent a new more promising region of the search space (exploration) or a better solution within the current region (exploitation). This concurrent exploitation can interfere with exploration since the identification of a new more promising region depends on finding a (random) solution in that region which is better than its target solution. Ideally, every sampled solution will have the same relative fitness with respect to its nearby local optimum - finding the best region to exploit then becomes the problem of finding the best random solution. However, differential evolution is characterized by an initial period of exploration followed by rapid convergence. Once the population starts converging, the difference vectors become shorter, more exploitation is performed, and an accelerating convergence occurs. This rapid convergence can occur well before the algorithm's budget of function evaluations is exhausted; that is, the algorithm can converge prematurely. In thresheld convergence, early exploitation is “held” back by a threshold function, allowing a longer exploration phase. This paper presents a new adaptive thresheld convergence mechanism which helps DE achieve large performance improvements in multi-modal search spaces.

In computer game software, the implementation of simulated urban crowds is widespread. Representation of pedestrians in computer games has, to date, lagged behind what has been shown possible in academic studies and simulation software. Primary reasons for this are the strict CPU budgets that game AI has to function under, and algorithm implementation which is frequently complex for even a baseline approach (i.e. before performance optimisations). This paper presents a novel lane-based approach to pedestrian AI which combines the verisimilitude of AI based on behavioural studies, with the intuitive implementation and minimal computation cost required for games development. To achieve this, each agent filters its surroundings into virtual lanes, and then sidesteps or continues forward as dictated by social convention.

We have tested the effect of spatial gradients in stellar mass-to-light ratio (Y) on measurements of black hole masses (MBH) derived from stellar orbit superposition models. Such models construct a static gravitational potential for a galaxy and its central black hole, but typically assume spatially uniform Y. We have modeled three giant elliptical galaxies with gradients alpha = d(log Y)/d(log r) from -0.2 to +0.1. Color and line strength gradients suggest mildly negative alpha in these galaxies. Introducing a negative (positive) gradient in Y increases (decreases) the enclosed stellar mass near the center of the galaxy and leads to systematically smaller (larger) MBH measurements. For models with alpha = -0.2, the best-fit values of MBH are 28%, 27%, and 17% lower than the constant-Y case, in NGC 3842, NGC 6086, and NGC 7768, respectively. For alpha = +0.1, MBH are 14%, 22%, and 17% higher than the constant-Y case for the three respective galaxies. For NGC 3842 and NGC 6086, this bias is comparable to the statistical errors from individual modeling trials. At larger radii, negative (positive) gradients in Y cause the total stellar mass to decrease (increase) and the dark matter fraction within one effective radius to increase (decrease)., 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table. To appear in ApJL

The aim of this book is to provide a strong theoretical support for understanding and analyzing the behavior of evolutionary algorithms, as well as for creating a bridge between probability, set-oriented numerics and evolutionary computation. The volume encloses a collection of contributions that were presented at the EVOLVE 2011 international workshop, held in Luxembourg, May 25-27, 2011, coming from invited speakers and also from selected regular submissions. The aim of EVOLVE is to unify the perspectives offered by probability, set oriented numerics and evolutionary computation. EVOLVE focuses on challenging aspects that arise at the passage from theory to new paradigms and practice, elaborating on the foundations of evolutionary algorithms and theory-inspired methods merged with cutting-edge techniques that ensure performance guarantee factors. EVOLVE is also intended to foster a growing interest for robust and efficient methods with a sound theoretical background. The chapters enclose challenging theoretical findings, concrete optimization problems as well as new perspectives. By gathering contributions from researchers with different backgrounds, the book is expected to set the basis for a unified view and vocabulary where theoretical advancements may echo in different domains.

Introduction. Previous work has shown a strong association between alterations in cochlear vasculature, aging, and the development of presbycusis. The important role of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and its receptors Flt-1 and Flk-1 in angiogenesis suggests a potential role for involvement in this process. The aim of this study was to characterize vascular structure and VEGF and its' receptors in young and old C57 Mice. Methods. Young (4 weeks, n = 14) and aged (32–36 weeks, n = 14) C57BL/6 mice were used. Hearing was evaluated using auditory brainstem response. Cochleas were characterized with qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, and gross histological quantification. Results. Old C57 mice demonstrated significantly decreased strial area, blood vessel number, luminal size, and luminal area normalized to strial area (vascularity). qRT-PCR showed a significant upregulation of Flt-1, a VEGF receptor, in older animals. No differences were found in VEGF-A or Flk-1. Immunohistochemistry did not show any differences in staining intensity or area with age or cochlear turn location. Conclusion. The marked deafness of aged C57 mice could be in part meditated by loss of vascular development and alterations in VEGF signaling.

A recent article (Gibbs, 1994) offers an excellent and alarming view of the state of software development, suggesting that software engineering, which is defined as the application of a systematic, disciplined, quantifiable approach to software development, operation, and maintenance, remains an aspiration. The vast majority of computer code is still handcrafted from second-generation programming languages by artisans using techniques that are neither measured nor repeatable. This article describes initiatives to address this software crisis and to create a software profession that embraces engineering disciplines.

Stochastic search techniques for multi-modal search spaces require the ability to balance exploration with exploitation. Exploration is required to find the best region, and exploitation is required to find the best solution (i.e. the local optimum) within this region. Compared to hill climbing which is purely exploitative, simulated annealing probabilistically allows “backward” steps which facilitate exploration. However, the balance between exploration and exploitation in simulated annealing is biased towards exploitation - improving moves are always accepted, so local (greedy) search steps can occur at even the earliest stages of the search process. The purpose of “thresheld convergence” is to have these early-stage local search steps “held” back by a threshold function. It is hypothesized that early local search steps can interfere with the effectiveness of a search technique's (concurrent) mechanisms for global search. Experiments show that the addition of thresheld convergence to simulated annealing can lead to significant performance improvements in multi-modal search spaces.

Differential evolution (DE) is a widely-effective population-based continuous optimiser that requires convergence to automatically scale its moves. However, once its population has begun to converge its ability to conduct global search is diminished, as the difference vectors used to generate new solutions are derived from the current population members' positions. In multi-modal search spaces DE may converge too rapidly, i.e., before adequately exploring the search space to identify the best region(s) in which to conduct its finer-grained search. Traditional crowding or niching techniques can be computationally costly or fail to compare new solutions with the most appropriate existing population member. This paper proposes a simple intervention strategy that compares each new solution with the population member it is most likely to be near, and prevents those moves that are below a threshold that decreases over the algorithm's run, allowing the algorithm to ultimately converge. Comparisons with a standard DE algorithm on a number of multi-modal problems indicate that the proposed technique can achieve real and sizable improvements.

Multi-swarm systems base their search on multiple sub-swarms instead of one standard swarm. The use of diverse sub-swarms increases performance when optimizing multi-modal functions. However, new design decisions arise when implementing multi-swarm systems such as how to select the initial positions and initial velocities, and how to coordinate the different sub-swarms. Starting from the relatively simple multi-swarm system of locust swarms, ideas from differential evolution and estimation of distribution algorithms are used to address the new design considerations that are specific to multi-swarm systems. Experiments show that the new hybrid system can perform better than each of the individual components.

Circulating hormones influence multiple aspects of hypothalamic development and play a role in directing formation of neural circuits. Leptin is secreted by adipocytes and functions as a key developmental signal that promotes axon outgrowth from the arcuate nucleus (ARH) during a discrete developmental critical period. To determine the cellular mechanisms by which leptin impacts development of hypothalamic circuits, we examined roles for leptin receptor (LepRb) signals in neonatal mice. LepRb, ERK, and STAT3 signaling were required for leptin-stimulated neurite outgrowth from ARH explantsin vitro. Neonatal mice with disrupted LepRb→ERK signaling displayed impaired ARH projections but were able to compensate by adulthood. LepRb→STAT3 signaling also plays a role in early circuit formation and controls the ultimate architecture of POMC, but not AgRP, projections. Thus, the developmental actions of leptin on feeding circuits are dependent on LepRb, and distinct signaling pathways are responsible for directing formation of NPY and POMC projections.

Locating one or more components of the value chain offshore is now a common element of the global strategy of many firms. Strategic motives include cost reduction, enhancing efficiency, leveraging of competence-based advantages, geographic expansion and speed to market. However, there is little academic research which has explored the relative impact of different strategic motives on offshoring performance. Using primary data on 201 Australian organisations, the empirical results of partial least squares (PLS) structural equation models suggest that implementing offshoring to achieve better efficiency and/or growth will have significant positive direct effects on firm performance and that the strategic motive has moderating effects on the relationship between the degree of offshoring and firm performance.

We describe an algorithm that explores potential energy surfaces (PES) and finds approximate reaction paths and transition states. A few (≈6) evolving atomic configurations ("climbers") start near a local minimum M1 of the PES. The climbers seek a shallow ascent, low energy, path toward a saddle point S12, cross over to another valley of the PES, and climb down to a new minimum M2 that was not known beforehand. Climbers use both energy and energy derivatives to make individual decisions, and they use relative fitness to make team-based decisions. In sufficiently long runs, they keep exploring and may go through a sequence M1-S12-M2-S23-M3 ... of minima and saddle points without revisiting any of the critical points. We report results on eight small test systems that highlight advantages and disadvantages of the method. We also investigated the PES of Li(8), Al(7)(+), Ag(7), and Ag(2)NH(3) to illustrate potential applications of this new method.

Standard particle swarm optimization cannot guarantee convergence to the global optimum in multi-modal search spaces, so multiple swarms can be useful. The multiple swarms all need initial positions and initial velocities for their particles. Several simple strategies to select initial positions and initial velocities are presented. A series of experiments isolates the effects of these selected initial positions and velocities compared to random initial positions and velocities. A first set of experiments shows how locust swarms benefit from "scouting" for initial positions and the use of initial velocities that "launch away" from the previous optimum. A second set of experiments show that the performance of WoSP (Waves of Swarm Particles) can be improved by using new search strategies to select the initial positions and initial velocities for the particles in its sub-swarms.

To test whether or not transmucosal healing at two-piece implants is as successful as submerged placement regarding crestal bone levels and patient satisfaction.Adults requiring implants in the anterior maxilla or mandible in regions 21-25, 11-15, 31-35 or 41-45 (WHO) were recruited for this randomized, controlled multi-center clinical trial of a 5-year duration. Randomization was performed at implantation allowing for either submerged or transmucosal healing. Final reconstructions were seated 6 months after implantation. Radiographic interproximal crestal bone levels and peri-implant soft tissue parameters were measured at implant placement (IP) (baseline), 6 and 12 months. Patient satisfaction was assessed by a questionnaire. A two-sided t-test (80% power, significance level α=0.05) was performed on bone-level changes at 6 and 12 months.One hundred and twenty-seven subjects were included in the 12-month analysis (submerged [S]: 52.5%, transmucosal [TM]: 47.2%). From IP to 6 months, the change in the crestal bone level was -0.32 mm (P0.001) for the S group and -0.29 mm (P0.001) for the TM group. From IP to 12 months, bone-level changes were statistically significant in both groups (S -0.47 mm, P0.001; TM -0.48 mm, P0.001). The mean differences of change in the bone levels between the two groups were not statistically significant at either time point, indicating the equivalence of both procedures. For both groups, very good results were obtained for soft tissue parameters and for patient satisfaction.Transmucosal healing of two-piece implants is as successful as the submerged healing mode with respect to tissue integration and patient satisfaction within the first 12 months after IP.

Each particle in a swarm maintains its current position and its personal best position. It is useful to think of these personal best positions as a population of attractors --- updates to current positions are based on attractions to these personal best positions. If the population of attractors has high diversity, it will encourage a broad exploration of the search space with particles being drawn in many different directions. However, the population of attractors can converge quickly --- attractors can draw other particles towards them, and these particles can update their own personal bests to be near the first attractor. This convergence of attractors can be reduced by having a particle update the attractor it has approached rather than its own attractor/personal best. This simple change to the update procedure in particle swarm optimization incurs minimal computational cost, and it can lead to large performance improvements in multi-modal search spaces.

Particle swarm optimization cannot guarantee convergence to the global optimum on multi-modal functions, so multiple swarms can be useful. One means to coordinate these swarms is to use a separate search mechanism to identify different regions of the solution space for each swarm to explore. The expectation is that these independent sub-swarms can each perform an effective search around the region where it is initialized. This regional focus means that sub-swarms will have different goals and features when compared to standard (single) swarms. A comprehensive study of these differences leads to a new set of general guidelines for the configuration of sub-swarms in multi-swarm systems.

Recent high-profile accounting scandals involving major companies like Enron, WorldCom, Parmalat and Satyam, along with recent outcries over excessive CEO remuneration, have raised questions about the relationship between ethical leadership, financial incentives, and financial misreporting (Perel, 2003). One view is based on the assumption that the problem lies with the character and integrity of those CEOs who have been motivated by personal financial gain resulting from performance bonuses. According to this view, these scandals have occurred because the individual leaders concerned have lacked integrity, and have deliberately misled investors in order to protect high bonuses linked to company share price performance. Proponents of this view argue that this shows a need to reform the morals of CEOs in order to prevent such scandals in future (Bragues, 2008).

A key parameter affecting the operation of differential evolution (DE) is the crossover rate Cr ∊ [0, 1]. While very low values are recommended for and used with separable problems, on non-separable problems, which include most real-world problems, Cr = 0.9 has become the de facto standard, working well across a large range of problem domains. Recent work on separable and non-separable problems has shown that lower-dimensional searches can play an important role in the performance of search techniques in higher-dimensional search spaces. However, the standard value of Cr = 0.9 implies a very high-dimensional search, which is not effective for other search techniques. An analysis of Cr across its range [0, 1] provides insight into how its value affects the performance of DE and suggests how low values may be used to improve the performance of DE. This new understanding of the operation of DE at high and low crossover rates is useful for analysing how adaptive parameters affect DE performance and leads to new suggestions for how adaptive DE techniques might be developed.

A key challenge for many heuristic search techniques is scalability — techniques that work well on low-dimension problems may perform poorly on high-dimension problems. To the extent that some problems/problem domains are separable, this can lead to a benefit for search techniques that can exploit separability. The standard algorithm for particle swarm optimization does not provide opportunities to exploit separable problems. However, the design of locust swarms involves two phases (scouts and swarms), and “dimension reductions” can be easily implemented during the scouts phase. This ability to exploit separability in locust swarms leads to large performance improvements on separable problems. More interestingly, dimension reductions can also lead to significant performance improvements on non-separable problems. Results on the Black-Box Optimization Benchmarking (BBOB) problems show how dimension reductions can help locust swarms perform better than standard particle swarms — especially on high-dimension problems.

The following protocols provide a rapid approach for establishing good working conditions for transfecting siRNAs for specific gene knockdown. By first using microscopy to evaluate efficient transfection of an inexpensive, fluorescent oligonucleotide, the researcher can later proceed with more expensive Western blot or quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) methods. Thus, the main culprit of ineffective knockdown, poor transfection, can be eliminated before engaging in tedious and time-consuming approaches for troubleshooting siRNA knockdown experiments.

Although there is substantial agreement on the importance of firm networks and social capital for new startup firms, there has been little work examining how they develop in an emerging industry and how they change over time. To answer these questions, we examine changes in the firm networks of a sample of leading US Internet firms over the period 1990-2000. Our results suggest that new firms exploit structural holes during early phase of industry but that social capital becomes increasingly important as the industry matures.

The number of observations is limited by budgetary and other constraints, but the collected data must be sufficient to meet a wide range of monitoring objectives. The process of determining an efficient temporal water quality monitoring design has been formulated as an optimization problem. In the problem, a target level of acceptable uncertainty for a given indicator is specified, and the resultant solution is the smallest set of observation dates sufficient to achieve this level. Solution robustness can be improved by adding a sliding window – a maximum range in deviations of the observation dates that still provide the acceptable level of uncertainty. Application of the proposed approach to a real-world case study suggested an iterative procedure for the improvement of monitoring designs.

Economic models attempt to represent the aggregate behaviour of individual actors engaged in an economic activity. To ensure tractability in the subsequent mathematics, restrictive assumptions on the modelled phenomena are often required. Economic features that cannot be modelled mathematically can be difficult to verify experimentally. The hybrid multi-agent model developed here starts as an exact representation of a mathematics-based, multi-agent economics model, and then a more qualitative feature is added. Unlike purely qualitative studies, the effects of this additional feature can then be observed within an environment that has been experimentally demonstrated to be quantitatively accurate. The hybrid model is thus able to integrate both rigid mathematical assumptions and intuitive qualitative features, and the presented experimental data provides new insight into the potential role of social investors during market manias and bubbles.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting is not mandatory in most countries, but has been adopted by many large companies from around the world. The terms corporate social responsibility, global citizenship and sustainability can now be found in the corporate reports and websites of large and small corporations from around the world. However, considerable variation exists among firms worldwide. While some companies (e.g. Henkel, BHP, Johnson and Johnson) have a long-standing tradition in reporting information and have created separate internet sites to show all facets of their corporate responsibility and sustainability, other companies provide only limited information, in many cases related to corporate giving and sponsorship, or in some cases no information at all.

An inherent assumption in many search techniques is that information from existing solution(s) can help guide the search process to find better solutions. For example, memetic algorithms can use information from existing local optima to effectively explore a globally convex search space, and genetic algorithms assemble new solution candidates from existing solution components. At the extreme, the quality of a random solution may even be used to identify promising areas of the search space to explore. The best of several random solutions can be viewed as a "smart" start point for a greedy search technique, and the benefits of "smart" start points are demonstrated on several benchmark and real-world optimization problems. Although limitations exist, "smart" start points are most likely to be useful on continuous domain problems that have expensive solution evaluations.

An unusual case of localized giant bullous emphysema with placental histologic features (also known as placental transmogrification of lung) was seen in a patient with bullae admitted for a tension pneumothorax. This report evaluates the clinical, pathologic, and surgical aspects of this unusual histologic subtype of bullous emphysema. Thus far, 12 case reports documenting 23 cases have been identified in the English literature.

Despite many years of research, empirical studies of the relationship between internationalization and performance of firms have given conflicting results. Contractor, Kundu, and Hsu (2003) and Lu and Beamish (2004) have recently proposed a three-stage theory of international expansion that attempts to reconcile the conflicting findings. However, other studies suggest that there are good reasons to believe that firms from less-developed countries (LDCs) differ in their internationalization from firms in developed countries. Furthermore, little research has been conducted on service firms in LDCs. This paper aims to fill some of this gap by testing the internationalization–performance relationship in a sample of service firms in the Asia-Pacific region. The study confirms the three-stage model but adds two new dimensions. First, the results show that the internationalization–performance relationship varies significantly depending on whether internationalization is intra-regional or extra-regional. Extra-regional sales/total sales showed significant and positive relationships with return on assets (ROA) in all three models but combined foreign sales/total sales showed no significant relationships with ROA and surprisingly intra-regional sales showed a significant relationship only in the quadratic model.

Continuum Probe Designer™ by Acoustic Ideas Inc. is a tool that can help design the "best" phased array ultrasonic transducer for a given inspection task. Given a specific surface geometry for the ultrasonic transducer, one component of Continuum Probe Designer™ can determine the number of elements, and the required size and shape of each element to meet a list of ultrasonic inspection goals. Using the number of elements as a cost function, an optimization problem to find the best surface geometry for the transducer is created. Previous work has demonstrated that a (1+λ)-evolution strategy (ES) can be a very effective search technique for this problem. The performance of this ES was improved by starting it from "smart" (i.e. better than random) start points. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) can be used to improve the "smart" start points, and the overall PSO-ES hybrid is capable of finding feasible transducer designs from all of the start points in a benchmark test suite. This level of performance is an important step towards the use of Continuum Probe Designer™ as a fully automated tool for the design of phased array ultrasonic transducers.

This study examines to what extent Internet firms have globalized and the key factors that have enabled some firms to globalize more than others. Contrary to arguments that Internet-based firms automatically benefit from a global market, this study shows that most Internet firms serve regional markets, consistent with Rugman's (2000) findings for firms in the FT500. However, there are a few notable exceptions. In these cases a combination of early mover advantages, unique product, technology standards and complementary products and services have created a ‘winner-takes-all’ market in which a few firms dominate markets worldwide. Implications for globalization theories are discussed.

FAM-labeled oligo dT (FAMdT) was utilized as a means to gauge efficient transfection of small nucleic acids into mouse embryonic stem cell (mESC) colonies. Using colonies grown overnight, transfection was restricted largely to the periphery of the colonies with only a 40% decrease in Oct-3/4 RNA transcript levels following cognate Oct-3/4, small interfering RNA (siRNA) delivery. However, transfection of mESC 4 h after seeding gave greater than 90% cells being successfully transfected based on quantitative real-time PCR detection of approximately 90% Oct-3/4 RNA transcript knockdown. This method provides an economical and efficient means by which to determine effective transfection conditions, and establish efficient siRNA knockdown of reportedly difficult to transfect cell lines such as mESC.

Primary involvement of the musculoskeletal system with tuberculosis is rare. We present a case of a young, immunocompetent woman with primary sternal tuberculosis. The disease led to destruction of the manubrium and a portion of the gladiolus and required extensive debridement and partial sternectomy, followed by musculocutaneous flap closure. Long-term postoperative management included four-drug antitubercular therapy.

Existing models of financial market prices typically assume that investors are informed with economic data and that wealth maximization motivates them. This paper considers the social dimensions of investing and the effect that this additional motivation has on the evolution of prices in a multi-agent model of an equity market. Agents in this model represent both economically informed investors and socially motivated investors who base their decision to invest solely on the popularity of the investment activity itself. The new model captures in a primitive but important way the notion of frenzy associated with speculative manias and panics, and it offers further insight into such anomalies as market bubbles and crashes.

The three mechanisms of crossover are transmission, assortment, and respect. Of these three mechanisms, assortment (i.e. recombination) is traditionally viewed as the primary feature and key advantage of crossover. However, respect (the preservation of common components) is also a feature that is unique to multi-parent operators like crossover - it takes two (or more) parents to have/identify common components. The effects of respect are isolated from all other aspects of genetic algorithms by using a parallel implementation of simulated annealing. In this implementation, the preservation of common components is used to focus the search process and this focus has improved the performance of simulated annealing on the TSP. Since only the mechanism of respect is transferred from genetic algorithms to simulated annealing, these experiments isolate and demonstrate the benefits of respect.

The preservation of common components has been recently isolated as a beneficial feature of genetic algorithms. One interpretation of this benefit is that the preservation of common components can direct the search process to focus on the most promising parts of the search space. If this advantage can be transferred from genetic algorithms, it may be possible to improve the overall effectiveness of other heuristic search techniques. To identify common components, multiple solutions are required - like those available from a set of parallel searches. Results with simulated annealing and the Traveling Salesman Problem show that the sharing of common components can be an effective method to coordinate parallel search.

Rat alveolar epithelial type II cells grown on polycarbonate filters form high-resistance monolayers and concurrently acquire many phenotypic properties of type I cells. Treatment with EGF has previously been shown to increase transepithelial resistance across alveolar epithelial cell (AEC) monolayers. We investigated changes in claudin expression in primary cultured AEC during transdifferentiation to the type I cell-like phenotype ( days 0, 1, and 8), and on day 5 in culture ± EGF (10 ng/ml) from day 0 or day 4. Claudins 4 and 7 were increased, whereas claudins 3 and 5 were decreased, on later compared with earlier days in culture. Exposure to EGF led to increases in claudins 4 and 7 and decreases in claudins 3 and 5. Claudin 1 was only faintly detectable in freshly isolated type II cells and remained unchanged over time in culture and after exposure to EGF. These results suggest that increases in transepithelial resistance accompanying AEC transdifferentiation and/or EGF exposure are mediated, at least in part, by changes in the pattern of expression of specific claudin isoforms.

This paper presents a new improved tool monitoring methodology using product wafers for high effectiveness and significant cost savings that is being implemented at Powerchip Semiconductor 300 mm production line. CompassPro inspection tool's on-the-fly function inspects the wafer, identifies and classifies defects at production speed with no impact on throughput. Using CompassPro a new model is developed for performing tool monitoring using product wafers. This part of tool monitoring is embedded into the production process. By implementing the new method in thin film, furnace and dry etch modules in the Powerchip 300 mm fab, the fab was able to save over USD$13 million in bare wafer cost.

Suggests another dimension of research in, and application of, knowledge management. This theoretical paper adopts a conceptual, multi‐disciplinary approach. First, knowledge can be stored and transmitted via institutions. Second, knowledge “subnetworks” or smaller groupings within larger networks can become key repositories of knowledge. The concept of knowledge “subnetworks” needs to be tested against empirical evidence, which should include a cross‐national comparison of knowledge‐based cities. The paper provides some insights to policy makers in designing or developing global cities. It is one of the few papers that discusses the connection between knowledge management and growth of global cities.

When dealing with object classification, each object is defined by a set of features (characteristics) that classify the object to a particular class. The problem is how to choose the best subset of characteristics that provide an accurate classification. Previous research has shown that decision tables are as accurate as C4.5 for classification purposes. Two different genetic search techniques, CHC and CF/RSC, are applied to this problem. Results shows that CF/RSC and decision tables are a very good combination when dealing with large feature spaces. Results also suggest that CHC is better when used for problems with noise added to the features.

"Survival of the fittest" is often seen as the driving force behind adaptation and evolution. For sure, all evolutionary algorithms use fitness based selection. However, it is not necessary to know where you are, to know where you are going. Similarly, it is not necessary to know the fitness of a solution, to find a better solution. The GENIE algorithm uses random parent selection and a non-elitist generational replacement scheme. Experiments on a non-trivial instance of the Traveling Salesman Problem show that heuristic operators in GENIE can converge to the optimal solution without evaluating fitness.