Machine assignment in a nonlinear multi-product flowline

A group of machines for processing a set of jobs in a manufacturing system is often located in a serial line. An efficient strategy for locating these machines such that the total travel distance or the cost of transporting the jobs is minimized is desired. In this research, the assumption of a linear line with equally spaced machine location is relaxed. This research addressed problems of locating unique machines. It is found that the machine distances possess unique properties in this type of a problem. Utilizing these properties, heuristic strategies are proposed to obtain efficient solution where optimal methods are expected to be computationally prohibitive. A lower bound for the optimum solution is also proposed. Results are encouraging.     

Spectral Properties of Thioflavin T and Its Complexes with Amyloid Fibrils

Comparative analysis of the absorption and fluorescence spectra and fluorescence excitation spectra of thioflavin T (ThT) in various solvents and in the composition of amyloid fibrils has shown that ThT, when excited in the region of the long-wavelength absorption band, fluoresces in the spectral region with a maximum at 478–484 nm. The appearance in aqueous and alcohol solutions of a fluorescence band with a maximum near 440 nm has been attributed to the presence in the composition of the ThT preparations of an impurity with an absorption band in the 340–350-nm range. The literature data showing that in glycerol ThT has a wide fluorescence spectrum with two maxima are due to the artifact connected with the use of a high concentration of the dye. It has been suggested that the cause of the low quantum yield of ThT aqueous and alcohol solutions is the breakage of the system of conjugated bonds due to the reorientation of the benzothiozole and benzaminic rings of ThT in the excited state with respect to one another. The main factor determining the high quantum yield of fluorescence of ThT incorporated in fibrils is the steric restriction of the rotation of the rings about one another under these conditions. The suggestions made have been verified by the quantum-chemical calculation of the ThT molecule geometry in the ground and excited states.     

Some remarks on general commutators theorems

The paper proves some general facts on commutators that refer to Fuglede-Putnam classical theorem in the spectral theory of not necessarily selfadjoint operators.     

On the law of corresponding states for thermodynamic properties of a crystal

To study thermodynamic similarity of the properties of crystalline substances, we propose an approach connected with engaging of the metastable state region. Internal pressure and specific volume on the crystal’s stability boundary at T = 0 K are used as characteristic scales of thermodynamic variables. A semiempirical method of calculation of the stability boundary by the thermodynamic data related to the stable states region of a solid body is described. In the cases of argon and natrium, the stability boundary is calculated for a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Analysis of the properties of neon, argon, krypton, and xenon crystals in these variables indicates that the law of corresponding states holds for these substances.     

Constructing Space for Science at the Royal Institution of Great Britain

Those who have worked in the Royal Institution of Great Britain have, since its foundation in 1799, made significant contributions to scientific knowledge, to its practical application, and to its communication to a wide variety of audiences. Such work cannot be carried out in an architectural vacuum, and in this paper we examine how the buildings of the Royal Institution, 20 and 21 Albemarle Street in central London, have shaped the work undertaken within its walls and how, on a number of occasions, the buildings have been reconfigured to take account of the evolving needs of scientific research and communication. This paper is based on the Conservation Plan of the Royal Institution that we wrote during 2003. The Conservation Plan did not examine the land owned by the Royal Institution to the north (i.e., 22 and 23 Albemarle Street; for this area see Richard Garnier, “Grafton Street, Mayfair,” Georgian Group Journal 13 (2003), 210–272), but it did discuss 18 and 19 Albemarle Street. In this paper we concentrate on the core Royal Institution buildings at 20 and 21 Albemarle Street. Other studies of the relationship of architecture,space, and science include Crosbie Smith and Jon Agar, ed., Making Space for Science: Territorial Themes in the Shaping of Knowledge (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 1997); Peter Galison and Emily Thompson, ed., The Architecture of Science (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1999); and Sophie Forgan,“The architecture of science and the idea of a university,” Studies in History and Philosophy of Science 20 (1989), 405–434. Frank A.J.L. James is Professor of the History of Science at the Royal Institution; he has written widely on the history of nineteenth-century science in its social and cultural contexts and is editor of the Correspondence of Michael Faraday. He is President of the British Society for the History of Science. Anthony Peers is an Associate of Rodney Melville and Partners where he works in the field of building conservation as an architectural historian. He is a Council member of the Ancient Monument Society.     

Roughness reduction in submicron waveguides by low-molecular weight development

Roughness reduction of a submicron waveguide profile in chemically amplified negative resist is here performed by proper selection of an alkali-based developer, taking into account that its smaller molecules lead to smoother resist surface by altering the developing mechanism of aggregate extraction performed with standard quaternary ammonium hydroxide. Roughness is then analyzed by means of classical Atomic Force Microscope inspection; furthermore, a non-invasive line edge roughness analysis approach based on top-down scanning electron microscope acquisition gives comparable results, in terms of standard deviation and molecular aggregate periodicity.     

Symplectic Yang–Mills theory,Ricci tensor,and connections

A Yang–Mills theory in a purely symplectic framework is developed. The corresponding Euler–Lagrange equations are derived and first integrals are given. We relate the results to the work of Bourgeois and Cahen on preferred symplectic connections.     

Hospital Waiting List Management Models

This paper describes work carried out with hospital consultants in Lancaster District Health Authority to develop and use computerized waiting list management models. The ‘what if?’ models produced have been found to be a very useful tool in the constructive debate about problems faced by consultants and managers, and of the options available to them.     

Engel Values in Residually Finite Groups

The following theorem is proved. Let n be a positive integer and q a power of a prime p. There exists a number m = m(n, q) depending only on n and q such that if G is any residually finite group satisfying the identity ([x _1,n y ₁] ⋯ [x _m,n y _m ])^q ≡ 1, then the verbal subgroup of G corresponding to the nth Engel word is locally finite.