A new heuristic and an exact approach for a production planning problem

Central European Journal of Operations Research - We deal with a very complex and hard scheduling problem. Two types of products are processed by a heterogeneous resource set, where resources have...     

Book Reviews

Ultraviolet Spectroscopy and UV Lasers, Edited by P. Misra and M. A. Dubinskii Supercritical Fluid Technology in materials Science and Engineering (Syntheses, Properties and Applications), Edited by Ya-Ping Sun This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

On the selection of subdivision directions in interval branch-and-bound methods for global optimization

This paper investigates the influence of the interval subdivision selection rule on the convergence of interval branch-and-bound algorithms for global optimization. For the class of rules that allows convergence, we study the effects of the rules on a model algorithm with special list ordering. Four different rules are investigated in theory and in practice. A wide spectrum of test problems is used for numerical tests indicating that there are substantial differences between the rules with respect to the required CPU time, the number of function and derivative evaluations, and the necessary storage space. Two rules can provide considerable improvements in efficiency for our model algorithm.The work has been supported by the Grants OTKA 2879/1991, and MKM 414/1994.     

On the monotonity of incomplete factorization

Summary The Meijerink, van der Vorst type incomplete decomposition uses a position set, where the factors must be zero, but their product may differ from the original matrix. The smaller this position set is, the more the product of incomplete factors resembles the original matrix. The aim of this paper is to discuss this type of monotonity. It is shown using the Perron Frobenius theory of nonnegative matrices, that the spectral radius of the iteration matrix is a monotone function of the position set. On the other hand no matrix norm of the iteration matrix depends monotonically on the position set. Comparison is made with the modified incomplete factorization technique.     

Abietanes and a Novel 20‐Norabietanoid from Plectranthus cyaneus (Lamiaceae)

Antioxidative‐activity‐guided fractionation of extracts of the aerial parts of the title plant yielded the two novel abietanoid diterpenoids 11,20‐dihydroxysugiol (=11,12,20‐trihydroxyabieta‐8,11,13‐trien‐7‐one; 3 ) and 1,11‐epoxy‐6,12‐dihydroxy‐20‐norabieta‐1(10),5,8,11,13‐pentaen‐7‐one ( 4 ) in addition to 11‐hydroxysugiol (=12‐O‐demethylcryptojaponol=11,12‐dihydroxyabieta‐8,11,13‐trien‐7‐one; 2 ) and the main constituent carnosolon (=6,20‐epoxy‐6,11,12‐trihydroxyabieta‐8,11,13‐trien‐7‐one; 1 ). The structures were established on the basis of spectroscopic, chiroptic, and X‐ray crystallographic evidence.     

Aptasensor for Thrombin Based on Carbon Nanotubes‐Methylene Blue Composites

The amperometric and EQCM aptasensors based on DNA aptamers immobilized by avidin‐biotin method or by electrostatic adsorption onto multiwalled carbon nanotube layer contained methylene blue (MB) have been developed and examined for thrombin detection in buffer and in spiked blood serum. The presence of MB increases the binding capacity of the surface layer and enhances the range of thrombin concentrations to be determined. This results in significant improvement of analytical characteristics of thrombin detection. The EQCM aptasensors allowed us to detect 0.3–100 nM and amperometric aptasensors 10–1000 nM of thrombin.     

Simultaneous determination of 3,4-dimethoxybenzaldehyde and 3,4-dimethoxyphenylacetone in industrial waste waters by high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection

The environmental pollutants 3,4-dimethoxybenzaldehyde (DMB) and 3,4-dimethoxyphenylacetone (DMPA) were separated and quantitatively determined in treated and untreated industrial waste waters on a porous graphitized carbon column using HPLC with diode array detection (DAD). It was established that the detector response is linear in a wide range of injected quantities for both pollutants, and the logarithm of the capacity factor depends linearly on the concentration of acetonitrile in the eluent. The relative standard deviation of the retention time, peak height and peak area was lower than 1% in the normal and lower than 3% in the lowest concentration range. Peak purity tests indicated that the method separates well DMB and DMPA from other impurities present in the waste waters. Both aerobic and anaerobic treatments markedly decreased the concentration of DMB and DMPA in industrial waters and HPLC combined with DAD proved to be an adequate analytical procedure to follow such changes.     

Structural studies on 9-hydrazono-6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-4-oxo-4H-pyrido[1,2-a]pyrimidines by 1H, 13C and 15N NMR spectroscopy

¹H, ¹³C and ¹⁵N NMR studies demonstrated that 9-hydrazono-6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-4-oxo-4H-pyrido-[1,2-a] pyrimidlnes exist as an equilibrium mixture of Z-E isomers in the hydrazono–imino tautomeric form having an exocyclic double bond. Proton-catalysed Z-E interconversion is fast. Substituent and solvent effects revealed that the decisive factors controlling the Z:E ratio are internal hydrogen bonding in the Z-isomer, stabilization by solvation and steric interaction.