FORECASTING AUTOMOBILE WARRANTY PERFORMANCE IN PRESENCE OF ‘MATURING DATA＇ PHENOMENA USING MULTILAYER PERCEPTRON NEURAL NETWORK

Automobile companies that spend billions of dollars annually towards warranty cost, give high priority to warranty reduction programs. Forecasting of automobile warranty performance plays an important role towards these efforts. The forecasting process involves prediction of not only the specific months-in-service (MIS) warranty performance at certain future time, but also at future MIS values. However, ‘maturing data‘ (also called warranty growth) phenomena that causes warranty performance at specific MIS values to change with time, makes such a forecasting task challenging. Although warranty forecasting methods such as log-log plots and dynamic linear models appear in literature, there is a need for applications addressing the well recognized issue of ‘maturing data‘. In this paper we use an artificial neural network for the forecasting of warranty performance in presence of ‘maturing data‘ phenomena. The network parameters are optimized by minimizing the training and testing errors using response surface methodology. This application shows the effectiveness of neural networks in the forecasting of automobile warranty performance in the presence of the ‘maturing data‘ phenomena.     

Evolution of genes and genomes on the Drosophila phylogeny

Comparative analysis of multiple genomes in a phylogenetic framework dramatically improves the precision and sensitivity of evolutionary inference, producing more robust results than single-genome analyses can provide. The genomes of 12 Drosophila species, ten of which are presented here for the first time (sechellia, simulans, yakuba, erecta, ananassae, persimilis, willistoni, mojavensis, virilis and grimshawi), illustrate how rates and patterns of sequence divergence across taxa can illuminate evolutionary processes on a genomic scale. These genome sequences augment the formidable genetic tools that have made Drosophila melanogaster a pre-eminent model for animal genetics, and will further catalyse fundamental research on mechanisms of development, cell biology, genetics, disease, neurobiology, behaviour, physiology and evolution. Despite remarkable similarities among these Drosophila species, we identified many putatively non-neutral changes in protein-coding genes, non-coding RNA genes, and cis-regulatory regions. These may prove to underlie differences in the ecology and behaviour of these diverse species.     

水文模拟的熵理论

借助Shannon熵和最大熵原理提出了熵理论,并基于此理论,提出了一种水文模拟方法,结合两个实例阐述了该方法在下渗和流速分布模拟中的应用.     

Level of marker enzymes in spermatogenesis on administration of PGF2a in rats

Summary Intrapertioneal administration of PGF_2a in rats significantly increased testicular acid phosphatase (p<0.05), decreased hyaluronidase (p<0.05), whereas the activities of 5-nucleotidase, N-acetyl-B-glucosaminidase, B-galactosidase and uridine diphosphatase remained unaffected.Acknowledgment. We are grateful to Dr D. Sundaresan, for his interest in the study and to Mr B. M. Sharma for technical assistance.     

Intracellular forms of Epstein-Barr virus DNA in human tumour cells in vivo.

Tumour biopsies from Burkitt lymphoma patients, as well as human nasopharyngeal carcinoma cells growing in athymic mice, contain Epstein-Barr virus DNA as covalently closed circular DNA. In addition integrated viral DNA sequences seem to be present.     

On the contribution of boundaries towards strength in oxygen free high conductivity copper subjected to repetitive upsetting–extrusion

Oxygen free high conductivity (OFHC) copper was subjected to 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 cycles of repetitive upsetting and extrusion (RUE) process at room temperature. Microstructure and microhardness in the RUE processed material were evaluated at specific locations and correlated with the equivalent plastic strain. The microhardness of the material was found to be independent of strain or number of RUE cycles at certain locations whereas it exhibited strain softening behaviour at certain locations even though significant grain refinement was achieved. This difference in behaviour is attributed to the varied strength contribution from different types of boundaries present in the material after deformation.     

A human ortholog of archaeal DNA repair protein Hef is defective in Fanconi anemia complementation group M

Fanconi anemia is a genetic disease characterized by genomic instability and cancer predisposition. Nine genes involved in Fanconi anemia have been identified; their products participate in a DNA damage-response network involving BRCA1 and BRCA2 (refs. 2,3). We previously purified a Fanconi anemia core complex containing the FANCL ubiquitin ligase and six other Fanconi anemia-associated proteins. Each protein in this complex is essential for monoubiquitination of FANCD2, a key reaction in the Fanconi anemia DNA damage-response pathway. Here we show that another component of this complex, FAAP250, is mutant in individuals with Fanconi anemia of a new complementation group (FA-M). FAAP250 or FANCM has sequence similarity to known DNA-repair proteins, including archaeal Hef, yeast MPH1 and human ERCC4 or XPF. FANCM can dissociate DNA triplex, possibly owing to its ability to translocate on duplex DNA. FANCM is essential for monoubiquitination of FANCD2 and becomes hyperphosphorylated in response to DNA damage. Our data suggest an evolutionary link between Fanconi anemia-associated proteins and DNA repair; FANCM may act as an engine that translocates the Fanconi anemia core complex along DNA.     

MHC antigens in urine as olfactory recognition cues

The classical class I antigens of the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) are cell-surface glycoproteins which were originally discovered because they cause rapid rejection of cells or tissues grafted between unrelated individuals. These molecules are encoded by the K, D and L loci of the mouse MHC (and analogous loci in other species) which show extreme species polymorphism and a large number of alleles. In an outbreeding population 3.6 X 10(9) unique MHC class I phenotypes can be encoded by the 100 alleles at each of the K and D loci and the 6 alleles at the L locus. This level of polymorphism ensures that the cells and tissues of each unrelated individual are uniquely identified by their class I membrane-bound antigens. Like other membrane bound proteins, these class I molecules are anchored in the lipid bilayer by a hydrophobic domain encoded by exon 5. However, there have been reports of the occurrence of classical class I molecules in true solution in the blood of humans, mice, and rats. We report here that classical polymorphic class I molecules in normal rats are constitutively excreted in the urine and that untrained rats can distinguish the smell of urine samples taken from normal donors that differ only at the class I MHC locus and therefore excrete different allelomorphs of class I molecules in their urine.     

Hot-corrosion behavior of Cr_2O_3–CNT-coated ASTM-SA213-T22 steel in a molten salt environment at 700°C

The present work investigates the hot-corrosion behavior of carbon nanotube(CNT)-reinforced chromium oxide coatings on boiler steel in a molten salt(Na_2SO_4–60 wt%V_2O_5) environment at 700°C under cyclic conditions. The coatings were deposited via the high-velocity oxygen fuel process. The uncoated and coated steel samples were subjected to hot corrosion in a silicon tube furnace at 700°C for 50 cycles. The kinetics of the corrosion behavior was analyzed through mass-gain measurements after each cycle. The corrosion products were analyzed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, and energy-dispersive X-ray analysis techniques. The results revealed that uncoated steel suffered spallation of scale because of the formation of nonprotective Fe_2O_3 scale. The coated steel samples exhibited lower mass gains with better adhesiveness of oxide scale with the steel alloy until the end of exposure. The CNT-reinforced coatings were concluded to provide better corrosion resistance in the hot-corrosion environment because of the uniform dispersion of CNTs in the coating matrix and the formation of protective chromium oxides in the scale.