Loading aircraft for military operations

In this paper, we describe an aircraft loading problem submitted by the French military agency (DGA) as part of a more general military airlift planning problem. It can be viewed as a kind of bi-dimensional bin-packing problem, with heterogeneous bins and several additional constraints. We introduce two-phase methods for solving this NP-hard problem. The first phase consists in building good initial solutions, thanks to two fast algorithms: a list-based heuristic and a loading pattern generation method. Both algorithms call a constraint-based subroutine, able to determine quickly if the items already loaded can be reshuffled to accommodate a new object. The second phase improves these preliminary solutions using local search techniques. Results obtained on real data sets are presented.     

An Overview of Scheduling Problems Arising in Satellite Communications

Satellite communications, like batches of work in a job shop, need to be scheduled in order to use their resources as efficiently as possible. The most common satellite communications system in use today is known as Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), in which data from earth stations is buffered before being transmitted to the appropriate receiver on a satellite. Cycles of transmission are fixed for all stations. Since the same satellite will be used for routeing data in several different ways, a schedule must be devised to use the receivers, repeaters and transmitters on board to minimize the time needed for completion of a batch of work. This paper is a survey of current scheduling algorithms used for optimizing satellite communications resources. Apart from telecommunications, the methods presented here could be applied to more general scheduling problems with renewable resources but without precedence constraints.     

Effective synthesis of ortho-substituted triphenol amines via reductive amination

An efficient synthesis of ortho-substituted triphenolamines via reductive amination is reported. This approach allows access to this increasingly important class of ligands in a structurally systematic way using either commercially or easily synthesizable building blocks.     

Viskoelastische Eigenschaften von Polyisobutylenen in verdünnten Lösungen

Zusammenfassung Die Speicher- und VerlustmodulnG undG verdünnter Lösungen (2–4%) dreier Isobutylenpolymerisate mit den Molekulargewichten 0,63, 1,29 und 11×10⁵ wurden in der Apparatur vonBirnboim undFerry über einen Frequenzbereich von 0,4–400 Hz und einen Temperaturbereich von –17,5 bis 25,0° bestimmt. Für die scharf fraktionierten Polymerisate von niederem Molekulargewicht ergab die Frequenzabhängigkeit der Moduln eine ausgezeichnete Übereinstimmung mit der Theorie vonZimm. Die aus den experimentell erhaltenen Kurven ermittelten Molekulargewichte und größten Relaxationszeiten waren von der erwarteten Größenordnung. Für das Polymerisat mit höherem Molekulargewicht entsprach die Frequenzabhängigkeit vonG undG – _s jedoch der Theorie vonRouse. Der Einfluß der hydrodynamischen Wechselwirkung in der Bewegung der Knäuelsegmente, in welchem der Unterschied zwischen den beiden Theorien besteht, erscheint als von der Größe des Molekulargewichts abhängig.

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Summary The storage and loss moduliG andG of dilute (2–4%) solutions of three polyisobutylenes of molecular weight 0.63, 1.29, and 11×10⁵ were determined in the apparatus ofBirnboim andFerry over a frequency range of 0.4 to 400 cps, and a temperature range of –17.0 to 25.0°. The sharply fractionated polymers of low molecular weight showed a frequency dependence in excellent agreement with the theory ofZimm. The experimentally determined molecular weights and terminal relaxation times were of the expected order of magnitude. The frequency dependence of the polymer of highest molecular weight, however, conformed more closely to the theory ofRouse. The influence of the hydrodynamic interaction on the motion of the coil segments, which constitutes the difference in the two theories, appears to depend on the magnitude of the molecular weight.

     

Fully automated determination of eserine N-oxide in human plasma using on-line solid-phase extraction with liquid chromatography coupled with electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometry

A sensitive and entirely automated solid-phase extraction/liquid chromatography/electrospray ionization tandem mass spectrometric (SPE/LC/ESI-MS/MS) method was developed and validated for the determination of eserine N-oxide (ENO), a cholinesterase inhibitor-like physostigmine in human plasma, for use in pharmacokinetic studies. ENO is light-sensitive and the use of a fully on-line process increased the reliability of the assay. Plasma samples previously mixed with neostigmine bromide to prevent in vitro degradation, and tacrine as internal standard (IS), were directly injected into the SPE/LC/ESI-MS/MS system. MS software piloted the overall system. MS/MS detection of ENO and the IS was performed in the positive ion ESI mode using multiple reaction monitoring. The linear calibration curve for ENO ranged from 25 pg ml(-1) to 12.5 ng ml(-1). The limit of quantitation was 25 pg ml(-1) with 250 microl of plasma injected. Precision, accuracy and stability tests were within the acceptable range and just one analyst is required to analyze 50 unknown samples a day five days per week, from the preparation of the samples (i.e. thawing and centrifugation) to data processing. A pilot pharmacokinetic study in three healthy volunteers treated with 4.5 mg of ENO (Génésérine3((R))) showed that the method was suitable for pharmacokinetic studies in humans.     

Determination of teicoplanin in human plasma and urine by affinity and reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography

A sensitive, highly selective and simple high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the determination of teicoplanin, a novel glycopeptide antibiotic, composed of six components, in human plasma and urine is described. After an isolation step by affinity chromatography, the antibiotic substances were chromatographed on a Nucleosil C18 column with phosphate buffer-acetonitrile according to a gradient profile. All the components were detected by their UV absorption at 240 nm. The concentration of teicoplanin was determined by using the external standard procedure. This method was applied to the sum of the six major components as well as to each of them separately. The linearity of the method was checked between 0.5 and 50 micrograms/ml for plasma and between 2 and 50 micrograms/ml for urine. The limit of detection was 0.1 microgram/ml for both biological fluids. The coefficients of variation of the between-day assays did not exceed 8.6 and 8.9% in plasma and urine, respectively. The application of the method to a pharmacokinetic study of teicoplanin after a single intravenous therapeutic dose in a patient is reported. This rapid technique also appears to be suitable for drug monitoring.     

Transport studies in boron-ion implanted type II<Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis> diamond

We have investigated low-temperature electrical transport mechanisms in the surface layer of a type IIa diamond which has been heavily implanted with boron-ions at low temperatures and then annealed at high temperatures. The boron atoms occupy substitutional sites giving rise to a heavily doped wide-bandgap semiconductor. The dc-conductivity results suggest that for the maximum boron doping that has been achieved, the diamond sample is close to the insulator-metal transition. A model to account for the observed increase in activated boron centres with ion dose is presented. On the insulating side of the transition, the data are interpreted in terms of variable-range hopping laws.