Optimal production control of a dynamic two-product manufacturing system with setup costs and setup times

This paper deals with the optimal control of a one-machine two-product manufacturing system with setup changes, operating in a continuous time dynamic environment. The system is deterministic. When production is switched from one product to the other, a known constant setup time and a setup cost are incurred. Each product has specified constant processing time and constant demand rate, as well as an infinite supply of raw material. The problem is formulated as a feedback control problem. The objective is to minimize the total backlog, inventory and setup costs incurred over a finite horizon. The optimal solution provides the optimal production rate and setup switching epochs as a function of the state of the system (backlog and inventory levels). For the steady state, the optimal cyclic schedule is determined. To solve the transient case, the system's state space is partitioned into mutually exclusive regions such that with each region, the optimal control policy is determined analytically.     

The communication complexity of private value single-item auctions

This paper is concerned with information revelation in single-item auctions. We compute how much data needs to be transmitted in three strategically equivalent auctions—the Vickrey auction, the English auction and the recently proposed bisection auction—and show that in the truth-telling equilibrium the bisection auction is the best performer.     

Chemometric approaches in environmental problems concerning PCDD and PCDF. Data interpretation and source correlation. Mechanisms of formation and destruction in MSW combustion process

Summary The role of multivariate analysis methods in evaluating, rationalizing, and working out complex environmental problems is discussed. The discussion is organized in two sections; a literature analysis of the application of chemometric methods to PCDD/PCDF data interpretation and source correlation and a review of the role of chemometric methods in analysing the results obtained by the Authors studying PCDD/PCDF formation and destruction mechanisms in MSW combustion processes.     

Limonene concentration in lemon (Citrus volkameriana) peel oil as a function of ripeness

The dependence of the limonene content of lemon (Citrus volkameriana) peel oil on the degree of ripeness of the fruit has been studied by using steam distillation and cold pressing to extract the oils from lemon fruit peel at different stages of maturation (green, greenish-yellow, and yellow-orange peel coloration). Samples of essential oils were analyzed by high resolution GC and GC-MS, using tetradecane as internal standard for quantitation. Forty components were detected; thirty eight were positively identified by comparison of their mass spectra (El, 70 eV) and Kováts retention indexes (determined using a non-logarithmic scale on capillary columns coated with both polar (DB-Wax) and non-polar (DB-1) stationary phases) with those of standards and with data reported in the literature. The limonene concentration reached a maximum level of 79.4% when the fruit was in the intermediate maturation stage characterized by greenish-yellow coloration.     

Energy and momentum losses in the process of neutrino scattering on plasma electrons in the presence of a magnetic field

The neutrino-electron scattering in a dense degenerate magnetized plasma under the conditions μ ² > 2eB ≫ μE is investigated. The volume density of the neutrino energy and momentum losses due to this process are calculated. The results we have obtained demonstrate that plasma in the presence of an external magnetic field is more transparent for neutrino than for non-magnetized plasma. It is shown that neutrino scattering under conditions considered does not lead to the neutrino force acting on plasma.     

The diastereoselective synthesis of functionalised isoxazolidines using a Cope elimination/intramolecular nitrone cycloaddition strategy

Functionalised hydroxylamine derivatives of (S)-prolinol prepared by a Cope elimination have been found to undergo oxidation to the nitrone either in the presence of air or a catalytic quantity of TPAP. These undergo intramolecular cycloaddition to give tricyclic isoxazolidines with high diastereoselectivity.     

A new method for the reduction of nitronyl nitroxides

Reduction of nitronyl nitroxides using hexamethylenetetramine is a very convenient method for preparing the corresponding imino nitroxides and 2-imidazoline N-oxides.     

Phenomenological πN→ππN amplitude and the modelling of the Olsson–Turner and Chew–Low approaches

The phenomenological amplitude for the reaction πN→ππN fixed by fittings to the experimental data in the energy region 0.300 ≤P _Lab≤ 500 MeV/c is used for modelling the Chew–Low extrapolation and Olsson–Turner threshold approach. It is shown that the uncritical application of the former results in enermous theoretical errors, the extracted values being in fact random numbers. The results of the Olsson–Turner method are characterized by significant systematic errors coming from unknown details of the isobar physics. Received: 10 December 1997