New heuristics for over-constrained flight to gate assignments

We consider the over-constrained Airport Gate Assignment Problem where the number of flights exceed the number of gates available, and where the objectives are to minimize the number of ungated flights and the total walking distances. The problem is formulated as a binary quadratic programming problem. We design a greedy algorithm and use a Tabu Search meta-heuristic to solve the problem. The greedy algorithm minimizes ungated flights while we devise a new neighbourhood search technique, the Interval Exchange Move, which allows us flexibility in seeking good solutions, especially when flight schedules are dense in time. Experiments conducted give good results.     

Analysis of end point vibrations of a two-link manipulator by integrated CAD/CAE procedures

In this work, the effect of flexibility on the trajectory of a planar two-link manipulator is studied using integrated computer-aided design/analysis (CAD/CAE) procedures. The solid models and finite element models of the parts of the manipulator are created by using the CAD/CAE software I-DEAS. The assembly is defined, and knowing the payload and the end point trajectory, the velocities and accelerations of the parts, joint forces and driving torques are calculated using the rigid body dynamics. All the time dependent nodal forces acting on the parts including distributed gravity and inertia forces are created in files with the I-DEAS program file format. The finite element vibration analysis of the parts is performed by I-DEAS. The end point vibrations and the deviations from the rigid-body trajectory are analyzed for different types of end point acceleration curves. A circular trajectory is considered as an example. It is observed that the precision of the manipulator can be increased by testing different end point acceleration curves without changing the trajectory and the duration of the end point work. The procedure explained in this work can be used for this purpose successfully.     

The Best Lower Bound for the Permanent of a Correlation Matrix of Rank Two

If 1≤k≤n, then Cor(n,k) denotes the set of all n×n real correlation matrices of rank not exceeding k. Grone and Pierce have shown that if A∈Cor (n, n-1), then per(A)≥n/(n-1). We show that if A∈Cor(n,2), then , and that this inequality is the best possible.     

Three-dimensional structure of Saccharomyces cerevisiae inorganic pyrophosphatase complexed with cobalt and phosphate ions

Crystals of Saccharomyces cerevisiae inorganic pyrophosphatase suitable for X-ray diffraction study were grown by cocrystallization of the enzyme with cobalt chloride and imidodiphosphate. Saccharomyces cerevisiae is a metal-dependent enzyme which catalyzes hydrolysis of inorganic pyrophosphate to orthophosphate. The three-dimensional structure of this enzyme was solved by the molecular-replacement method and refined at 1.8 Å resolution to an R factor of 19.5%. Cobalt and phosphate ions were revealed in the active centers of both identical subunits (A and B) of the pyrophosphatase molecule. In subunit B, a water molecule was found between two cobalt ions. It is believed that this water molecule acts as an attacking nucleophile in the enzymatic cleavage of the pyrophosphate bond. It was demonstrated that cobalt ions and a phosphate group occupy only part of the potential binding sites (two chemically identical and crystallographically independent subunits have different binding sites). The arrangement of ligands and the structure of the nucleophile-binding site are discussed in relation to the mechanism of action of the enzyme and the nature of the metal activator.     

Retardation characteristics and birefringence of a multiple-order crystalline quartz plate

A crystalline quartz plate of thickness 1.070 mm is calibrated between 370 and 794 nm. Throughout this spectral interval, the retardance varied by 32π and the plate introduced quarterwave retardance 16 times at different wavelengths. The birefringence (n_e−n_o) of crystalline quartz was calculated as a single quantity and varied from 0.00971 at 370 nm to 0.00891 at 794 nm. All measurements were carried out at 23°C.     

Hutchinson's shear coefficient for anisotropic beams

Timoshenko's theory of vibrating beams requires a shear correction factor to correctly take into account the effects of shear deformation for different beam cross-sections. This correction is crucial for a precise determination of the shear modulus from the resonant frequencies. Hutchinson's beam theory is used to derive a new shear correction coefficient for anisotropic materials. A comparison is made with other shear coefficients for anisotropic materials published in the literature. Computer-simulated spectra are used to validate the new anisotropic shear correction coefficient.     

Refraction holodiagrams and Snell's law

The refraction holodiagram RHD is analyzed here with respect to the law of refraction. Particularly, we study the surface that exactly conjugates by refraction a virtual point source with a real image or conversely. By using the total optical path as a parameter we build a diagram that consists in a family of Descartes ovals of the apple type that contains the Pascal's limaçon as a particular extreme case and the spherical surface with the Weierstrass points as another. These representations permit the straightforward application of Fermat's principle in the case of arbitrary refracting surfaces and show the shape of generalized Fresnel's zones in the intersections with any surface. Snell's law is applied to rays incident on the apple type surfaces to find out the conditions for exact conjugation. Sensitivity to optical path variations is also discussed. The RHD curves family can be represented in a Cartesian way where the ovals appear as equally spaced straight lines.