Staffing Rosters with Breaks — A Case Study

A complex manual rostering system for directory assistance, telephone operators has been rationalized and the technique of integer programming used to automatically generate staff rosters. These rosters can be generated by relatively unskilled clerical staff. They result in operator costs comparable to manually generated rosters and can be produced in a fraction of the time taken to produce their manual counterparts. Implementation is reported.     

Ab initio potential energy surface and pressure broadening coefficients for the He-CH3F complex

Symmetry-adapted perturbation theory has been applied to compute the He-CH₃F potential with the CH₃F molecule assumed rigid. The potential has a global minimum of −48.9 cm⁻¹ at the center of mass separation of 7.2 bohr with the helium atom lying along the C-F bond on the hydrogen’s side. The computed points were fitted to an analytic energy surface with a correct asymptotic behaviour. This potential has been used to compute the pressure broadening (PB) coefficients for the (j, k) = (0, 0) → (1, 0) and (1, 0) → (2, 0) rotational transitions of CH₃F perturbed by helium for a wide range of temperatures. Close-coupling results are compared with the experimental data of Willey et al. [J. Chem. Phys. 97 (1992) 4723], Beaky et al. [J. Mol. Struct. 352/353 (1995) 245] and infinite order sudden results are compared with those of Grigoriev et al. [J. Mol. Struct. 186 (1997) 48] for the ν₆ band of CH₃F perturbed by helium at room temperature. To our knowledge, present work is the first attempt of making fully ab initio calculations of collisional cross-sections and pressure broadening coefficients for this simple symmetric top system at low and room temperature.     

Dimensionally and thermally stable polymer,containing disordered graphitic structure and adamantane

In an attempt to develop a low‐k interlayer dielectric, adamantane‐diphenyldiethynyl moiety containing oligomer is prepared. Oligomerization of 1,3,5,7‐tetrakis[3/4‐ethynylphenyl]adamantane ( 4 ) is accomplished by a Glaser–Hay oxidative coupling with 1,3,5‐triethynylbenzene and phenylacetylene end‐capping agent. The CHCl₃ soluble oligomer is then thermally treated by step‐curing at 200, 300, 380, and 450 °C for 30 min at each temperature under nitrogen flow to render a shiny void‐free black polymer. TGA analysis indicates that the polymer is stable under nitrogen up to 500 °C with a marginal decomposition up to 800 °C. Solid‐state ¹³C NMR, Raman scattering, and FTIR are used to characterize the structure of the polymer. The polymer consists of amorphous carbon networks with the adamantane moieties and nanosized graphitic regions (clusters), which are generated from the thermal crosslinking of the diphenyldiethynyl units. It shows a remarkably low linear coefficient of thermal expansion (～25 ppm/°C), presumably due to the presence of the disordered graphitic structure. Its high density (～1.21 g/cm³), refractive index (～1.80 at 632 nm), and Young's modulus (～17.0 GPa) are also consistent with the interpretation. This study reveals important details about the effect of microscopic structure on the macroscopic properties of the highly crosslinked polymer. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 6909–6925, 2006     

Selection and Scheduling of Advanced Missions for NASA Using 0-1 Integer Linear Programming

A 0-1 integer linear programme for the selection and scheduling of US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) missions over a long planning horizon is presented. This model was formulated to allow a higher-level user-interaction with an advanced missions database currently being developed. The model implicitly considers the multi-objective nature of the problem, which results from the desire to maximize benefits in several categories as well as from the desire to minimize cost. In addition, the model allows the planner much flexibility in the selection process. This is accomplished by allowing the planner the ability to specify long- or short-term budget constraints, precursor/follow-on mission requirements, or any number of other idiosyncratic constraints which might be of importance in the decision process. Small example problems are solved in order to illustrate the approach, and areas for further research are discussed.     

The influence of the oxygen exposure on the thermal faceting of W[1 1 1] tip

The oxygen induced faceting of the macroscopic W[1 1 1] tip has been studied for oxygen exposures in the range 0.5-31 L and annealing temperatures 800-1800 K using the field ion microscopy (FIM) technique. After annealing at temperatures lower than 800 K, higher than 1850 K or for exposures lower than 0.5 L faceting was not observed. For exposures 0.5-1.9 L and annealing temperatures 800-1600 K well developed {1 1 2} facets with sharp edges formed. For exposures higher than 2.0 L edges of the {1 1 2} facets were broadening and disappearing, what has been attributed to the formation of three-dimensional tungsten oxides. The oxides could be easily removed by annealing the tip at 1700 K, what leads to formation of sharp facet edges. On the basis of these results a modified procedure of the ultrasharp tip fabrication has been proposed.     

On false branch points of incompressible branched immersions

We prove that a branched immersion of a surface with boundary into a differentiable manifold has no false branch points (in fact, no ramified points) if the immersion induces an isomorphism of fundamental groups and some other natural hypotheses are satisfied. This result has immediate applications to Plateau's problem.Work done while the first author was a visiting member of the Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik at Bonn. Both authors acknowledge the support of Max-Planck-Institut für Mathematik, Bonn and Schwerpunkt Geometrie at Mathematisches Institut, University of Heidelberg     

Differential form methods in the theory of variational systems and Lagrangian field theories

This paper will attempt to unify diverse material from physics and engineering in terms of differential forms on manifolds. A variational system will be defined by means of a scalar-valued differential form on a manifold and an ideal in the Grassmann algebra of differential forms on that manifold to serve as constraints. Two types of extremal submanifolds will be defined. The first-called the Euler-Lagrange extremals-will be defined by a method that is the generalization of the classical methods in the calculus of variations. The second—a generalization of a method used by Cartan in his treatise Leçons sur les invariants intégraux-will define extremals as integral submanifolds of an exterior differential system invariently attached to the variational system. As examples, the variational systems attached to string theories in Riemannian manifolds and Yang-Mills fields will be discussed from this differential form point of view. Finally, as application, the differential geometric properties and definition of energy will be presented from the differential form point of view.This work was supported by a grant from the Applied Mathematics program of the National Science Foundation.