A hybrid heuristic for a multi-objective real-life car sequencing problem with painting and assembly line constraints

We address a multi-objective version of the car sequencing problem, which consists in sequencing a given set of cars to be produced in a single day, minimizing the number of violations of assembly constraints and the number of paint color changes in the production line. We propose a set of heuristics for approximately solving this problem, based on the paradigms of the VNS and ILS metaheuristics, to which further intensification and diversification strategies have been added. Computational results on real-life test instances are reported. The work presented in this paper obtained the second prize in the ROADEF challenge 2005 sponsored by Renault.     

Hydrogen electrosorption in nanocrystalline Ti-based alloys

The electrochemical behavior in alkaline solution (1 M NaOH) of nanocrystalline Ti:Ru:Fe:O (2:1:1:2) prepared by high-energy ball milling was studied over its whole electroactivity domain, with a particular emphasis on the hydrogen evolution reaction (her). Comparison has also been made with nanocrystalline Ti:Ru:Fe (2:1:1) and a mixture of Ti:TiO:Ru:Fe₂O₃ (3/2:1/2:1:1/2). It was shown by cyclic voltammetry, open circuit potential decay and chronopotentiometry measurements that hydrogen absorption in the electrode material occurs during hydrogen discharge. The electrochemical behavior of nanocrystalline Ti:Ru:Fe:O (2:1:1:2) closely follows that of Ti:Ru:Fe (2:1:1), but differs radically from that of Ti:TiO:Ru:Fe₂O₃ (3/2:1/2:1:1/2). This is due to the fact that the former two compounds contain a significant fraction of B2 phase (59 and 97 wt.%, respectively), while the latter does not. In steady state conditions, the ratio H/B2 phase in nanocrystalline Ti:Ru:Fe:O (2:1:1:2) is 0.15, about 1.6 times less than that for the O-free nanocrystalline compound. The coefficient of diffusion of hydrogen in nanocrystalline Ti:Ru:Fe:O (2:1:1:2) is 2.6×10⁻¹³ cm² s⁻¹, more than three times less than that in nanocrystalline Ti:Ru:Fe (2:1:1). The difference between the hydrogen absorption characteristics of both nanocrystalline compounds are tracked down to the fact that their B2 phases have different stoichiometries.     

Application of microbioreactors in fermentation process development: a review

Biotechnology process development involves strain testing and improvement steps aimed at increasing yields and productivity. This necessitates the high-throughput screening of many potential strain candidates, a task currently mainly performed in shake flasks or microtiter plates. However, these methods have some drawbacks, such as the low data density (usually only end-point measurements) and the lack of control over cultivation conditions in standard shake flasks. Microbioreactors can offer the flexibility and controllability of bench-scale reactors and thus deliver results that are more comparable to large-scale fermentations, but with the additional advantages of small size, availability of online cultivation data and the potential for automation. Current microbioreactor technology is analyzed in this review paper, focusing on its industrial applicability, and directions for future research are presented.     

Minimal cutwidth linear arrangements of abelian Cayley graphs

We find the minimal cutwidth and bisection width values for abelian Cayley graphs with up to 4 generators and present an algorithm for finding the corresponding optimal ordering. We also find minimal cuts of each order.     

Constrained cost-coupled stochastic games with independent state processes

We study non-cooperative constrained stochastic games in which each player controls its own Markov chain based on its own state and actions. Interactions between players occur through their costs and constraints which depend on the state and actions of all players. We provide an example from wireless communications.     

Cosmological Acceleration from Virtual Gravitons

Intrinsic properties of the space itself and quantum fluctuations of its geometry are sufficient to provide a mechanism for the acceleration of cosmological expansion (dark energy effect). Applying Bogoliubov–Born–Green–Kirkwood–Yvon hierarchy approach to self-consistent equations of one-loop quantum gravity, we found exact solutions that yield acceleration. The permanent creation and annihilation of virtual gravitons is not in exact balance because of the expansion of the Universe. The excess energy comes from the spontaneous process of graviton creation and is trapped by the background. It provides the macroscopic quantum effect of cosmic acceleration.     

The analysis of elliptic families

In this paper we specialize the results obtained in [BF1] to the case of a family of Dirac operators. We first calculate the curvature of the unitary connection on the determinant bundle which we introduced in [BF1].We also calculate the odd Chern forms of Quillen for a family of self-adjoint Dirac operators and give a simple proof of certain results of Atiyah-Patodi-Singer on êta invariants.We finally give a heat equation proof of the holonomy theorem, in the form suggested by Witten [W 1, 2].     

Numerical simulation of power law and yield stress fluid flows in double concentric cylinder with slotted rotor and vane geometries

In our previous report, we showed that a rheometer equipped with a double concentric cylinder geometry with slotted rotor could effectively reduce wall slip effects and thus it could be used as an alternative to a rheometer with a vane geometry in yield stress measurements. Here, we use three-dimensional CFD simulation to compare these two geometries for rheological measurements of power law and yield stress fluids. Our results indicate that the double concentric cylinder rheometer with slotted rotor (DCCR/SR) is able to accurately measure rheological properties of a wider spectrum of test fluids than a vane rheometer because of significant reduction of the end and secondary flow effects.     

NMR analysis of multiple samples using parallel coils: improved performance using reference deconvolution and multidimensional methods

Improvements in the Multiplex Sample NMR method are investigated to explore its capabilities of analyzing multiple samples simultaneously. Issues of quantitation and resolution in the multiple-coil probe are examined in one- and two-dimensional experiments. Improvements in quantitation are shown to result from the use of reference deconvolution for one-dimensional experiments, while the use of two-dimensional methods has much improved resolution and shows the potential for significantly increased parallelism. A multiplicative scheme is shown to be an easily implemented, effective method for generating individual sub-spectra from individual samples.