Inventory strategies for systems with fast remanufacturing

We describe hybrid manufacturing/remanufacturing systems with a long lead time for manufacturing and a short lead time for remanufacturing. We review the classes of inventory strategies for hybrid systems in the literature. These are all based on equal lead times. For systems with slow manufacturing and fast remanufacturing, we propose a new class. An extensive numerical experiment shows that the optimal strategy in the new class almost always performs better and often much better than the optimal strategies in all other classes.     

A Tandem Queue with Coupled Processors: Computational Issues

In Resing and Örmeci [16] it is shown that the two-stage tandem queue with coupled processors can be solved using the theory of boundary value problems. In this paper we consider the issues that arise when calculating performance measures like the mean queue length and the fraction of time a station is empty. It is assumed that jobs arrive at the first station according to a Poisson process and require service at both stations before leaving the system. The amount of work that a job requires at each of the stations is an independent, exponentially distributed random variable. When both stations are nonempty, the total service capacity is shared among the stations according to fixed proportions. When one of the stations becomes empty, the total service capacity is given to the nonempty station. We study the two-dimensional Markov process representing the numbers of jobs at the two stations. The problem of finding the generating function of the stationary distribution can be reduced to two different Riemann-Hilbert boundary value problems, where both problems yield a complete analytical solution. We discuss the similarities and differences between the two problems, and relate them to the computational aspects of obtaining performance measures.     

A New Modal Lindström Theorem

We prove new Lindstr?m theorems for the basic modal propositional language, and for some related fragments of first-order logic. We find difficulties with such results for modal languages without a finite-depth property, high-lighting the difference between abstract model theory for fragments and for extensions of first-order logic. In addition we discuss new connections with interpolation properties, and the modal invariance theorem. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): Primary 03B45; Secondary 03C95     

Fluid-fluid phase separation in colloid-polymer mixtures studied with small angle light scattering and light microscopy

Mixtures of colloidal silica spheres and polydimethylsiloxane in cyclohexane with a colloid-polymer size ratio of about one were found to phase separate into two fluid phases, one which is colloid-rich and one which is colloid-poor. In this work the phase separation kinetics of this fluid-fluid phase separation is studied for different compositions of the colloid-polymer mixtures, and at several degrees of supersaturation, with small angle light scattering and with light microscopy. The small angle light scattering curve exhibits a peak that grows in intensity and that shifts to smaller wave vector with time. The characteristic length scale that is obtained from the scattering peak is of the order of a few μm, in agreement with observations by light microscopy. The domain size increases with time as , which might be an indication of coarsening by diffusion and coalescence, like in the case of binary liquid mixtures and polymer blends. For sufficiently low degrees of supersaturation the angular scattering intensity curves satisfy dynamical scaling behavior.     

Gasdynamic aspects of a modified expansion-shock tube for nucleation and condensation studies

A modified expansion-shock tube for nucleation and condensation studies in a supersaturated vapour is described. An analysis is made of the gas-dynamical properties of the new tube configuration and numerical simulations with the Random Choice Method are compared with experiments. It is shown that with the modified configuration one single nucleation pulse can be realized.