A Hybrid Approach to Scheduling with Earliness and Tardiness Costs

A hybrid technique using constraint programming and linear programming is applied to the problem of scheduling with earliness and tardiness costs. The linear model maintains a set of relaxed optimal start times which are used to guide the constraint programming search heuristic. In addition, the constraint programming problem model employs the strong constraint propagation techniques responsible for many of the advances in constraint programming for scheduling in the past few years. Empirical results validate our approach and show, in particular, that creating and solving a subproblem containing only the activities with direct impact on the cost function and then using this solution in the main search, significantly increases the number of problems that can be solved to optimality while significantly decreasing the search time.     

Thiol–norbornene materials: Approaches to develop high Tg thiol–ene polymers

The ability to prepare high T_g low shrinkage thiol–ene materials is attractive for applications such as coatings and dental restoratives. However, thiol and nonacrylated vinyl materials typically consist of a flexible backbone, limiting the utility of these polymers. Hence, it is of importance to synthesize and investigate thiol and vinyl materials of varying backbone chemistry and stiffness. Here, we investigate the effect of backbone chemistry and functionality of norbornene resins on polymerization kinetics and glass transition temperature (T_g) for several thiol–norbornene materials. Results indicate that T_gs as high as 94 °C are achievable in thiol–norbornene resins of appropriately controlled chemistry. Furthermore, both the backbone chemistry and the norbornene moiety are important factors in the development of high T_g materials. In particular, as much as a 70 °C increase in T_g was observed in a norbornene–thiol specimen when compared with a sample prepared using allyl ether monomer of analogous backbone chemistry. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 45: 5686–5696, 2007     

Perturbations of Banach Frames and Atomic Decompositions

Banach frames and atomic decompositions are sequences that have basis-like properties but which need not be bases. In particular, they allow elements of a Banach space to be written as linear combinations of the frame or atomic decomposition elements in a stable manner. In this paper we prove several functional — analytic properties of these decompositions, and show how these properties apply to Gabor and wavelet systems. We first prove that frames and atomic decompositions are stable under small perturbations. This is inspired by corresponding classical perturbation results for bases, including the Paley — Wiener basis stability criteria and the perturbation theorem el kato. We introduce new and weaker conditions which ensure the desired stability. We then prove quality properties of atomic decompositions and consider some consequences for Hilbert frames. Finally, we demonstrate how our results apply in the practical case of Gabor systems in weighted L² spaces. Such systems can form atomic decompositions for L²_w(IR), but cannot form Hilbert frames but L²_w(IR) unless the weight is trivial.     

Assessment of the Formant Frequencies in Normal and Laryngectomized Individuals Using Linear Predictive Coding

The objective of this study was to assess the difference in voice quality as defined by acoustical analysis using sustained vowel in laryngectomized patients in comparison with normal volunteers. This was designed as a retrospective single center cohort study. An adult tertiary referral unit formed the setting of this study. Fifty patients (40 males) who underwent total laryngectomy and 31 normal volunteers (18 male) participated. Group comparisons with the first three formant frequencies (F1, F2, and F3) using linear predictive coding (LPC) (Laryngograph Ltd, London, UK) was performed. The existence of any significant difference of F1, F2, and F3 between the two groups using the sustained vowel /i/ and the effects of other factors namely, tumor stage (T), chemoradiotherapy, pharyngectomy, cricothyroid myotomy, closure of pharyngoesophageal segment, and postoperative complication were analyzed. Formant frequencies F1, F2, and F3 were significantly different in male laryngectomees compared to controls: F1 (P<0.001, Mann-Whitney U test), F2 (P<0.001, Student's t test), and F3 (P=0.008, Student's t test). There was no significant difference between females in both groups for all three formant frequencies. Chemoradiotherapy and postoperative complications (pharyngocutaneous fistula) caused a significantly lower formant F1 in men, but showed little effect in F2 and F3. Laryngectomized males produced significantly higher formant frequencies, F1, F2, and F3, compared to normal volunteers, and this is consistent with literature. Chemoradiotherapy and postoperative complications significantly influenced the formant scores in the laryngectomee population. This study shows that robust and reliable data could be obtained using electroglottography and LPC in normal volunteers and laryngectomees using a sustained vowel.     

Muonium adduct radicals from vinyl-aromatic compounds

During irradiation of liquid samples of 1-vinylimidazole, 2-vinylnaphthalene, 2-vinylpyridine, 4-vinylpyridine and 1,1-diphenylethene with positive muons, radicals of the type MuCH₂ĊHAr (Ar=the appropriate aromatic group), and the MuCH₂ĊPh₂ radical were observed by transverse field μSR; the muon hyperfine couplings are considered in the context of the effectiveness of the aryl groups in delocalising the unpaired electron.     

3‐(3‐Oxo‐1,3‐dihydroisobenzofuran‐1‐ylidene)pentane‐2,4‐dione

In the title compound, C₁₃H₁₀O₄, prepared by the condensation reaction between phthalic anhydride and pentane‐2,4‐dione, one of the acetyl groups in the pentane‐2,4‐dione fragment is almost coplanar with the isobenzofuran ring system, while the other group is twisted out of this plane by almost 80°. The corresponding C—C and C—O distances in the two acetyl units are consistent with dipolar delocalization into the coplanar unit only. There is no supramolecular aggregation of the molecules, but a number of rather short intermolecular contacts of C—H...O, O...O and O...C types occur.     

Zero-temperature Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in a two-dimensional quantum system

We construct a local interacting quantum dimer model on the square lattice, whose zero-temperature phase diagram is characterized by a line of critical points separating two ordered phases of the valence bond crystal type. On one side, the line of critical points terminates in a quantum transition inherited from a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition in an associated classical model. We also discuss the effect of a longer-range dimer interaction that can be used to suppress the line of critical points by gradually shrinking it to a single point. Finally, we propose a way to generalize the quantum Hamiltonian to a dilute dimer model in presence of monomers and we qualitatively discuss the phase diagram.     

On the sensitivity of the LU factorization

This paper gives sensitivity analyses by two approaches forL andU in the factorizationA=LU for general perturbations inA which are sufficiently small in norm. By the matrix-vector equation approach, we derive the condition numbers for theL andU factors. By the matrix equation approach we derive corresponding condition estimates. We show how partial pivoting and complete pivoting affect the sensitivity of the LU factorization. The material presented here is a part of the first author's PhD thesis under the supervision of the second author. This research was supported by NSERC of Canada Grant OGP0009236.