A comparison of local search methods for flow shop scheduling

Local search techniques are widely used to obtain approximate solutions to a variety of combinatorial optimization problems. Two important categories of local search methods are neighbourhood search and genetic algorithms. Commonly used neighbourhood search methods include descent, threshold accepting, simulated annealing and tabu search. In this paper, we present a computational study that compares these four neighbourhood search methods, a genetic algorithm, and a hybrid method in which descent is incorporated into the genetic algorithm. The performance of these six local search methods is evaluated on the problem of scheduling jobs in a permutation flow shop to minimize the total weighted completion time. Based on the results of extensive computational tests, simulated annealing is found to generate better quality solutions than the other neighborhood search methods. However, the results also indicate that the hybrid genetic descent algorithm is superior to simulated annealing.     

Use of threshold activation technique in estimating energy distributions of accelerator produced neutrons

A study of effective implementation of threshold activation technique for neutron spectral analysis in the environment of an alpha-cyclotron target is presented. The activation data are analysed using LOUHI-82 code. Optimal choices of the regularization parameters of the code are studied and discussed. Energy distribution of neutrons emitted from thick targets of Be, C and Ta irradiated by 40–45 MeV alphas is discussed.     

XOR-based Visual Cryptography Schemes

A recent publication introduced a Visual Crypto (VC) system, based on the polarisation of light. This VC system has goodresolution, contrast and colour properties.Mathematically, the VC system is described by the XOR operation (modulo two addition). In this paper we investigate Threshold Visual Secret Sharing schemes associated to XOR-based VC systems. Firstly, we show that n out of n schemes with optimal resolution and contrast exist, and that (2,n) schemes are equivalent to binary codes. It turns out that these schemes have much better resolution than their OR-based counterparts. Secondly, we provide two explicit constructions for general k out of n schemes. Finally, we derive bounds on the contrast and resolution of XOR-based schemes. It follows from these bounds that for k<n, the contrast is strictly smaller than one. Moreover, the bounds imply that XOR-based k out of n schemes for even k are fundamentally different from those for odd k.AMS Classification: 94A60     

Data on subglottal pressure and SPL at varied vocalloudness and pitch in 8- to 11-year-old children

Phonation threshold pressure has been defined as the minimum subglottalpressure to generate phonation. Previous research has indicated that children may habitually employ higher subglottal pressures than adults. In the present investigation sound pressure level (SPL) and subglottal pressures at different pitch levels were measured at and above phonation threshold in nine children. Phonation threshold values were scattered in reasonable agreement with Titzes' prediction, although a discrepancy was noted regarding the frequency dependence in some voices. At normal conversational loudness and loudest level of phonation the children's PS values were between two to four and four to eight times the predicted threshold values, respectively. At normal conversational loudness and habitual pitch subglottal pressures were lower than those previously observed for children, but similar to those found for female adults. The SPL in softest and loudest phonation were somewhat lower as compared to previous phonetogram data for children and for female adults. At normal loudness and habitual pitch the SPL values were similar to those of female adults. For a doubling of P_s mean SPL increased by 10.5 dB on the average.     

Leading logarithmic large-x resummation of off-diagonal splitting functions and coefficient functions

We analyze the iterative structure of unfactorized partonic structure functions in the large-x   limit, and derive all-order expressions for the leading-logarithmic off-diagonal splitting functions Pgq$P_{\mathrm{gq}}$ and Pqg$P_{\mathrm{qg}}$ and the corresponding coefficient functions C_?,q$C_{?,\mathrm{q}}$ and C_2,g$C_{2,\mathrm{g}}$ in Higgs- and gauge-boson exchange deep-inelastic scattering. The splitting functions are given in terms of a new function not encountered in perturbative QCD so far, and vanish maximally in the supersymmetric limit CA−CF→0$C_A-C_F\to 0$. The coefficient functions do not vanish in this limit, and are given by simple expressions in terms of the above new function and the well-known leading-logarithmic threshold exponential. Our results also apply to the evolution of parton fragmentation functions and semi-inclusive e⁺e⁻$e^{+}{e}^{-}$ annihilation.     

A pulsed, optically-pumped rubidium laser at high pump intensity

A rubidium laser operating at 795 nm is optically pumped by a pulsed titanium sapphire laser to investigate the dynamics of Diode Pumped Alkali Lasers (DPALs). Linear scaling of output intensity for longitudinal excitation at intensities of 1.3-43 kW/cm² and as much as 32 times threshold is observed. The slope efficiency depends directly on the number of absorbed photons for alkali concentrations of 0.8-2.0 × 10¹³ atoms/cm³ with no evidence for second order kinetics. The effective absorption cross section is reduced in part by the broad spectral width of the pump source relative to the pressure broadened lineshape. Spin orbit relaxation between the pumped and upper laser levels is sufficiently fast at 550 Torr of methane to prevent bottlenecking at all but the highest intensities. Comparison of laser characteristics with a quasi-two level analytic model suggests performance near the ideal steady-state limit, with the exception of modest mode matching.     

An adjustable approach to fuzzy soft set based decision making

Molodtsov’s soft set theory was originally proposed as a general mathematical tool for dealing with uncertainty. Recently, decision making based on (fuzzy) soft sets has found paramount importance. This paper aims to give deeper insights into decision making based on fuzzy soft sets. We discuss the validity of the Roy-Maji method and show its true limitations. We point out that the choice value designed for the crisp case is no longer fit to solve decision making problems involving fuzzy soft sets. By means of level soft sets, we present an adjustable approach to fuzzy soft set based decision making and give some illustrative examples. Moreover, the weighted fuzzy soft set is introduced and its application to decision making is also investigated.     

A Hessian Regularized Nonlinear Time Series Model

We introduce a nonparametric nonlinear time series model. The novel idea is to fit a model via penalization, where the penalty term is an unbiased estimator of the integrated Hessian of the underlying function. The underlying model assumption is very general: it has Hessian almost everywhere in its domain. Numerical experiments demonstrate that our model has better predictive power: if the underlying model complies with an existing parametric/semiparametric form (e.g., a threshold autoregressive model (TAR), an additive autoregressive model (AAR), or a functional coefficient autoregressive model (FAR)), our model performs comparably; if the underlying model does not comply with any preexisting form, our model outperforms in nearly all simulations. We name our model a Hessian regularized nonlinear model for time series (HRM). We conjecture on theoretical properties and use simulations to verify. Our method can be viewed as a way to generalize splines to high dimensions (when the number of variates is more than three), under which an analogous analytical derivation cannot work due to the curse of dimensionality. Supplemental materials are provided, and will help readers reproduce all results in the article.     

Analytical modeling and simulation of subthreshold characteristics of back-gated SSGOI and SSOI MOSFETs: A comparative study

The Silicon–Germanium-on-Insulator (SGOI) and Silicon-on-Insulator (SOI) based MOS structures are spearheading the strained-Si technology. The present work compares the subthreshold characteristics of two short-channel back-gated (BG) strained-Si-on-SGOI (SSGOI) and BG strained-Si-on-Insulator (SSOI) MOSFETs, and provides some solutions to overcome the degradation in subthreshold characteristics with the unrelenting downscaling of the devices. Subthreshold behaviors of the MOS structures are based on surface potential model which is determined by solving the 2D Poisson's equation with suitable boundary conditions by evanescent mode analysis for both of the MOS structures. The closed form expressions for threshold voltage, subthreshold current and subthreshold swing have been derived for symmetrical as well as independent gate operation (IGO). In addition, the Electrostatic integrity (EI) factors for SSOI and SSGOI MOS structures have been estimated and compared with Double-Gate (DG) MOSFET. The numerical simulation results, obtained by ATLAS?, a 2D device simulator from Silvaco, have been used to assess the validity of the models.