On the empirical performance of (T, s, S) heuristics

The periodic (T,s,S)$(T\text{,}s\text{,}S)$ policies have received considerable attention from the academic literature. Determination of the optimal parameters is computationally prohibitive, and a number of heuristic procedures have been put forward. However, these heuristics have never been compared in an extensive empirical study. Such an investigation on 3055 SKUs is carried out in this paper. Our study provides insights into the performance of (T,s,S)$(T\text{,}s\text{,}S)$ heuristics, also in relation to demand forecasting. The results show that Naddor’s heuristic is best able to minimize the total cost. However, the normal and power approximations achieve more efficient solutions in that backorder volumes are smaller at the same inventory levels, indicating the potentially superior performance of these methods if the balancing of holding and backorder costs can be improved. The results also show that, for all heuristics, the SBA variant of the Croston forecasting method significantly outperforms Croston as well as Single Exponential Smoothing (SES).     

Scattering theory for a class of fermionic Pauli-Fierz models

The scattering theory for a class of fermionic Pauli-Fierz models is considered. We give a proof of the asymptotic completeness of the dynamics in the case of massive fermions. The result applied to the Hamiltonian of a quantized spin- Dirac particle interacting with an external field through a cutoff Yukawa interaction and to the Hamiltonian of a system of finitely many confined particles coupled to a fermionic field with a quadratic interaction.     

Synthesis,characterization, structures,and DFT study of zinc(II) complexes with tributylphosphine chalcogenides

Four new zinc(II) complexes of the type [ZnCl₂(n-Bu₃PE)₂] (E=O (1), S (2), Se (3), or Te (4)) have been synthesized from zinc(II) chloride and the ligands n-Bu₃PE giving yields of 56–88%. The adducts were characterized by multinuclear (³¹P, ¹³C, and ⁷⁷Se) NMR, conductivity, IR spectroscopy and by X-ray analyses. Zinc complexes 1–4 are compriseS of two ligands coordinated to the metal center in a distorted tetrahedral arrangement. The P=E bond lengths of 1.497(7) (E=O), 2.000(4) (E=S), and 2.178(2) Å (E=Se) in these complexes are slightly elongated compared to those in the free ligand. In addition, a DFT/B3LYP theoretical study on the geometry optimization of the title ligands and their zinc complexes has been carried out in order to support and complement the experimental data and to further investigate the nature of the chalcogenide-metal interaction. The results show good agreement between the experimental and theoretical data.     

Reaction of 1‐acylthiosemicarbazides with ethenetetracarbonitrile

1‐Acylthiosemicarbazides 9a‐d reacted with ethenetetracarbonitrile (TCNE, 2 ) in ethyl acetate with formation of N′‐(4‐amino‐5,6‐dicyano‐2H‐1,3‐thiazin‐2‐ylidene) substituted hydrazide 10a‐d , N′‐(5‐amino‐3,4‐dicyano‐2H‐pyrrol‐2‐ylidene)‐2‐substituted hydrazide 11a‐d and 2‐substituted imidazo[2,1‐b][1,3,4]‐oxadiazole‐5,6‐dicarbonitrile 12a‐d . Rationales for the conversions observed are presented.     

Benzothiophene Adsorptive Desulfurization onto trihexYl(tetradecyl)phosphonium Dicyanamide Ionic-Liquid-Modified Renewable Carbon: Kinetic,Equilibrium and UV Spectroscopy Investigations

The negative environmental and industrial impacts of the presence of sulfur compounds such as benzothiophene in fuels have led to a greater interest in desulfurization research. In this work, carbon from palm waste sources was modified with trihexYl(tetradecyl)phosphonium dicyanamide-ionic liquid and characterized by SEM, EDS, XRD and FTIR to assess surface properties. Then, the prepared carbon and carbon modified with ionic liquid were evaluated for the adsorption of benzothiophene by investigating the effects of time. The equilibrium occurred after 120 min, recording adsorption capacities of 192 and 238 mg/g for carbon and carbon modified with ionic liquid, respectively. The effect of the adsorbent dose on the adsorption of benzothiophene was evaluated, indicating that the maximum adsorption capacities were obtained using a dose of 1 g/L for both carbon and carbon modified with ionic liquid. The kinetic investigation for the adsorption of benzothiophene onto carbon and carbon modified with ionic liquid indicated that the second-order kinetic model is well fitted with the adsorption data rather than the first-order kinetic model. The equilibrium investigations for the adsorption of benzothiophene onto carbon and carbon modified with ionic liquid with Langmuir and Freundlich isotherm models reveals that the Freundlich model is the most suitable for describing the adsorption process, suggesting a multilayer adsorption mechanism. The desulfurization process showed a high impact on environmental safety due to the possibility of regenerating and reusing the prepared adsorbents with promising results up to five cycles.     

Intermittent demand: Linking forecasting to inventory obsolescence

The standard method to forecast intermittent demand is that by Croston. This method is available in ERP-type solutions such as SAP and specialised forecasting software packages (e.g. Forecast Pro), and often applied in practice. It uses exponential smoothing to separately update the estimated demand size and demand interval whenever a positive demand occurs, and their ratio provides the forecast of demand per period. The Croston method has two important disadvantages. First and foremost, not updating after (many) periods with zero demand renders the method unsuitable for dealing with obsolescence issues. Second, the method is positively biased and this is true for all points in time (i.e. considering the forecasts made at an arbitrary time period) and issue points only (i.e. considering the forecasts following a positive demand occurrence only). The second issue has been addressed in the literature by the proposal of an estimator (Syntetos-Boylan Approximation, SBA) that is approximately unbiased. In this paper, we propose a new method that overcomes both these shortcomings while not adding complexity. Different from the Croston method, the new method is unbiased (for all points in time) and it updates the demand probability instead of the demand interval, doing so in every period. The comparative merits of the new estimator are assessed by means of an extensive simulation experiment. The results indicate its superior performance and enable insights to be gained into the linkage between demand forecasting and obsolescence.     

Application of R.O.P. in polymerization of furanic oligoesters with cyclic esters: Synthesis,characterization and degradation

Furano-Aliphatic copolyesters, such as poly(propylene furanic)-co-(polycaprolactone) (PPF-co-PCL), Poly(propylene furanic)-co-(polylactide) (PPF-co-PLA) and Poly(propylene furanic)-co-(polyglycolide) (PPF-co-PGA) were prepared by ring opening polymerization (R.O.P.) using monomers derived from renewable resources. These copolyesters were characterized by ¹H-NMR, DSC and TGA. The degree of randomness determined by ¹H-NMR is close to 1, reflecting a random distribution, sometimes less than one. This indicates that these polyesters have a character to block. The hydrolytic degradation of polymers was performed at pH 4.35 at 37°C over a period of four weeks. The oxidative degradation proved a mass loss of about 50%.     

Asymptotic Completeness for a Renormalized Nonrelativistic Hamiltonian in Quantum Field Theory: The Nelson Model

Scattering theory for the Nelson model is studied. We show Rosen estimates and we prove the existence of a ground state for the Nelson Hamiltonian. Also we prove that it has a locally finite pure point spectrum outside its thresholds. We study the asymptotic fields and the existence of the wave operators. Finally we show asymptotic completeness for the Nelson Hamiltonian.     

Synthesis of New 3-Carboxamidine Iminocoumarins and Benzopyrano[2,3-d]pyrimidines

A new approach to synthesis of a series of 3-carboxamidine iminocoumarins derivatives and substituted benzopyrano[2,3-d]pyrimidines was developed. The chemical structure of all the compounds was investigated by infrared, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, mass, and elemental analysis. The anticholinesterase activity of compound 12 was evaluated according to the modified Ellman’s method.     

Convenient Synthesis of a New Series of 3-Triazolonyl Iminocoumarins

3-Cyano-7-diethylamino-N-ethoxycarbonyl-iminocoumarin reacted with different hydrazines as N-nucleophiles to afford, in one step, a new series of 2-N-substituted 3-triazolonyl-iminocoumarins in good yields. In two cases, N-unsubstituted derivatives were also obtained. The structures of all the products obtained were confirmed by infrared, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, and elemental analysis. The optical properties of three of these compounds in dichloromethane and ethanol were reported.