Solving a multi-objective simulation model using a hybrid response surface method and lexicographical goal programming approach—a case study on integrated circuit ink-marking machines

In an integrated circuit (IC) packaging plant, the ink-marking machine has a significantly higher throughput than the other processing machines. When periodic demand surges result in backlog orders or in lost customers, there is a need to increase system throughput. To resolve this problem, the purchase of a new machine often results in excess capacity in addition to added operation and acquisition costs. Therefore, the productivity improvement effort has priority over the machine purchase decision. This paper seeks to optimize both throughput and cycle time performance for IC ink-marking machines. While throughput increase is the primary objective, there is an acceptable cycle time limit for a feasible solution. It is a multi-objective problem. The proposed solution methodology constructed a simulation metamodel for the ink-marking operation by using a fractional factorial experimental design and regression analysis. It is then solved by a hybrid response surface method and lexicographical goal programming approach. Solution results illustrated a successful application.     

Improved ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatographic method for the quantification of a wide variety of nucleotides and sugar-nucleotides in animal cells.

An improved method including extraction procedures is presented for the analysis of nucleotides in suspension-cultivated animal cells. Quantification was performed by ion-pair high-performance liquid chromatography after perchloric acid extraction. It was found that the amount of perchloric acid taken for extraction influenced the yield and that cell washing procedures caused deterioration of the analysis results for triphosphates. More than thirty nucleotides and sugar-nucleotides were separated within 25 min using a Supelcosil reversed-phase column (3 microns) with tetrabutylammonium hydrogensulphate as pairing agent and methanol-pH gradient elution. Cultivated hybridoma cells showed variations in intracellular nucleotide concentrations as well as relative amounts during different growth phases, which could reflect the physiological state of a cell culture.     

Single-molecule single crystals

Various approaches to the preparation and verification of single-molecule single crystals are discussed for polyethylene and poly (oxyethylene). Analytic tools are electron microscopy, electron diffraction, and differential scanning calorimetry. The main difficulty in producing a single-molecule single crystal is to keep crystals from joining during growth.     

Early experiments with slow positrons in atomic physics

The major steps in the evolution of techniques for producing positron beams of well defined energies over the last 25 years are reviewed. Developments in the methods of using these beams for experiments in atomic physics are then traced historically     

Special features of the radiative capture of ultracold neutrons by thin and thick layers of matter

The radiative capture of ultracold neutrons traversing thin and thick homogeneous layers of matter is analyzed. The applicability range of the formulas for the probabilities of reflection, transmission, and capture in thick layers (under certain conditions, they admit a simple interpretation—it is often quoted in the literature—that is based on the effective capture cross section, which is in inverse proportion to the velocity of a neutron in matter) is investigated, along with the conditions under which there arises the effective capture cross section.     

Stability of translating solutions to mean curvature flow

We prove stability of rotationally symmetric translating solutions to mean curvature flow. For initial data that converge spatially at infinity to such a soliton, we obtain convergence for large times to that soliton without imposing any decay rates. The authors are members of SFB 647/B3 “Raum – Zeit – Materie: Singularity Structure, Long-time Behaviour and Dynamics of Solutions of Non-linear Evolution Equations”.     

Some Recent Progress and Applications in Graph Minor Theory

In the core of the seminal Graph Minor Theory of Robertson and Seymour lies a powerful theorem capturing the ``rough' structure of graphs excluding a fixed minor. This result was used to prove Wagner's Conjecture that finite graphs are well-quasi-ordered under the graph minor relation. Recently, a number of beautiful results that use this structural result have appeared. Some of these along with some other recent advances on graph minors are surveyed. Research partly supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research, Grant number 16740044, by Sumitomo Foundation, by C & C Foundation and by Inoue Research Award for Young Scientists Supported in part by the Research Grant P1–0297 and by the CRC program On leave from: IMFM & FMF, Department of Mathematics, University of Ljubljana, Ljubljana, Slovenia     

A characterization of certain irreducible symplectic 4-folds

 We give a characterization of irreducible symplectic fourfolds which are given as Hilbert scheme of points on a K3 surface. Received: 26 June 2002 / Revised version: 9 September 2002 Published online: 14 February 2003 Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): Primary 14J32, Secondary 32Q20     

Dielectronic Recombination of Very Heavy Lithiumlike Ions

Hyperfine Interactions - An overview of measurements of dielectronic recombination (DR) with the heaviest lithiumlike ions is presented. The experiments have been carried out at the heavy ion...     

A proof of Culter’s theorem on the existence of periodic orbits in polygonal outer billiards

We prove a recent theorem by C. Culter every polygonal outer billiard in the affine plane has a periodic trajectory.