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.     

High-spin states in189Hg

High-spin levels in¹⁸⁹Hg have been populated via the¹⁷⁵Lu(¹⁹F, 5n) reaction. A rotation-aligned band built on a 13/2⁺ state originating from theνi _13/2 subshell is identified which is interpreted within the framework of “quasiparticle+rotor” models. A negative parity band built on a 21/2^? state which can be accounted for by a three quasi-particle state is also observed.     

Van der waerden and ramsey type games

Let us consider the following 2-player game, calledvan der Waerden game. The players alternately pick previously unpicked integers of the interval {1, 2, ...,N}. The first player wins if he has selected all members of ann-term arithmetic progression. LetW*(n) be the least integerN so that the first player has a winning strategy. By theRamsey game on k-tuples we shall mean a 2-player game where the players alternately pick previously unpicked elements of the completek-uniform hypergraph ofN verticesK _N ^k , and the first player wins if he has selected allk-tuples of ann-set. LetR _k*(n) be the least integerN so that the first player has a winning strategy. We prove (W* (n))¹/n → 2,R ₂*(n)<(2+ε) ⁿ andR _k ^* n<2 ^nk / ^k! fork ≧3.     

WITCH: A Penning Trap Retardation Spectrometer Combination for Precision Studies of the Weak Interaction

We present data from three seasons of experimental field work designed to recreate ancient Andean coastal ceramic firing techniques. Based on the recent discovery of two different archaeological ceramic production sites in the La Leche river valley of northern coastal Peru, the opportunity arose to apply Mössbauer spectroscopy and other analytical methods to reconstruct ancient firing procedures. Two sets of firings took place in 1993 and 1997 in Batán Grande using a partially restored Formative kiln from about 800 BC, local hardwood and cow dung as fuel. A third experiment followed in 2000 after the discovery of a Middle Sicán ceramics workshop in use between ca. AD 950 and 1050 at Huaca Sialupe, where an exact replica of an ancient kiln was built from local clay, and fired with local wood and cow dung. Additionally, inverted urns found at Huaca Sialupe were tested for their potential use as furnaces for metal working. Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to compare the physical and chemical state of specimens produced in the field experiments with ancient ceramics and with specimens produced in controlled laboratory experiments.     

Nonconcave Entropies in Multifractals and the Thermodynamic Formalism

We discuss a subtlety involved in the calculation of multifractal spectra when these are expressed as Legendre-Fenchel transforms of functions analogous to free energy functions. We show that the Legendre-Fenchel transform of a free energy function yields the correct multifractal spectrum only when the latter is wholly concave. If the spectrum has no definite concavity, then the transform yields the concave envelope of the spectrum rather than the spectrum itself. Some mathematical and physical examples are given to illustrate this result, which lies at the root of the nonequivalence of the microcanonical and canonical ensembles. On a more positive note, we also show that the impossibility of expressing nonconcave multifractal spectra through Legendre-Fenchel transforms of free energies can be circumvented with the help of a generalized free energy function, which relates to a recently introduced generalized canonical ensemble. Analogies with the calculation of rate functions in large deviation theory are finally discussed. PACS numbers: 05.45.Df, 64.60.Ak, 65.40.Gr     

MAFF — The Munich accelerator for fission fragments

At the new high flux reactor FRM-II in Munich the accelerator MAFF (Munich accelerator for fission fragments) is under design. In the high neutron flux of 10¹⁴ n/cm² s up to 10¹⁴ neutron-rich fission fragments per second are produced in the 1 g U-235 target. Ions with an energy of 30 keV are extracted from the ion source. In the mass separator two isotopes can be selected. One of the beams is used for low energy experiments, the other one is injected into an ECRIS (or EBIS) for charge breeding to a q/A≥0.16. A gas filled RFQ cooler is used for emittance improvement. The subsequent LINAC delivers beams with an energy ranging from 3.7 MeV/u to 5.9 MeV/u. New IH structures are being developed at the Munich tandem laboratory. A small storage ring is planned in a further stage to recycle the fission fragments. A thin target foil can be placed into this ring, e.g., for synthesis of super-heavy elements. The through-going beam tube has been installed in the heavy water tank of the reactor. Tests of the target ion source in a special oven to test long term stability and safety tests were in progress.