Scheduling Three-Operation Jobs in a Two-Machine Flow Shop to Minimize Makespan

This paper considers a variant of the classical problem of minimizing makespan in a two-machine flow shop. In this variant, each job has three operations, where the first operation must be performed on the first machine, the second operation can be performed on either machine but cannot be preempted, and the third operation must be performed on the second machine. The NP-hard nature of the problem motivates the design and analysis of approximation algorithms. It is shown that a schedule in which the operations are sequenced arbitrarily, but without inserted machine idle time, has a worst-case performance ratio of 2. Also, an algorithm that constructs four schedules and selects the best is shown to have a worst-case performance ratio of 3/2. A polynomial time approximation scheme (PTAS) is also presented.     

Single-machine and two-machine flowshop scheduling with general learning functions

We show that the O(n log n) (where n is the number of jobs) shortest processing time (SPT) sequence is optimal for the single-machine makespan and total completion time minimization problems when learning is expressed as a function of the sum of the processing times of the already processed jobs. We then show that the two-machine flowshop makespan and total completion time minimization problems are solvable by the SPT sequencing rule when the job processing times are ordered and job-position-based learning is in effect. Finally, we show that when the more specialized proportional job processing times are in place, then our flowshop results apply also in the more general sum-of-job-processing-times-based learning environment.     

Liquid water fade margin requirements for infrared and millimeter wave runway imaging sensors in fog

Liquid water content and particle size distribution at each ten meters in the vertical for a deep advection fog and a shallow radiation fog are analyzed to determine the liquid water loss at millimeter and infrared wavelengths. The liquid water fade margin is calculated along a three degree glideslope in each fog from the current height above the runway to the touchdown point. Millimeter wave fade margin requirements are calculated from the vertical distribution of bulk liquid water content and infrared fade margin requirements are predicted from the vertical distribution of dropsize. Fog dropsize distributions for both fog layers are well fitted to a gamma distribution with a median drop diameter of approximately 9 microns. Millimeter wave imaging sensors operating in a shallow radiation fog are shown to require less than 1 dB of one-way liquid water fade margin. In the deep advection fog, one-way liquid water fade margin requirements at 8.6 mm, 6.8 mm, and 3.2 mm are predicted to be 1, 2, and 6.7 dB respectively. In comparison, the one-way liquid water fade margin requirements at near, middle, and far infrared wavelengths are two orders of magnitude greater than at millimeter wavelengths and indicate the fog layers are opaque to infrared imaging sensors even near the touchdown point. The specific attenuations predicted in the two fogs are consistent with previously reported values.     

On the Geometry of the 7-Sphere

A sphere of dimension 4n+3 admits three Sasakian structures and it is natural to ask if a submanifold can be an integral submanifold for more than one of the contact structures. In the 7-sphere it is possible to have curves which are Legendre curves for all three contact structures and there are 2 and 3-dimensional submanifolds which are integral submanifolds of two of the contact structures. One of the results here is that if a 3-dimensional submanifold is an integral submanifold of one of the Sasakian structures and invariant with respect to another, it is an integral submanifold of the remaining structure and is a principal circle bundle over a holmophic Legendre curve in complex projective 3-space.     

Minimum weight pseudo-triangulations

We consider the problem of computing a minimum weight pseudo-triangulation of a set of n points in the plane. We first present an -time algorithm that produces a pseudo-triangulation of weight which is shown to be asymptotically worst-case optimal, i.e., there exists a point set for which every pseudo-triangulation has weight , where is the weight of a minimum weight spanning tree of . We also present a constant factor approximation algorithm running in cubic time. In the process we give an algorithm that produces a minimum weight pseudo-triangulation of a simple polygon.     

A note on the two-stage assembly flow shop scheduling problem with uniform parallel machines

We study the problem of minimizing the makespan in a two-stage assembly flow shop scheduling problem with uniform parallel machines. This problem is a generalization of the assembly flow shop problem with concurrent operations in the first stage and a single assembly operation in the second stage. We propose a heuristic with an absolute performance bound which becomes asymptotically optimal as the number of jobs becomes very large. We show that our results slightly improve earlier results for the simpler assembly flow shop problem (without uniform machines) and for the two-stage hybrid flow shop problem with uniform machines.     

Pulse propagation in a nonlinear dielectric slab waveguide

The evolution of an optical pulse in a single-mode, step index dielectric slab waveguide which is characterized by an intensity dependent dielectric function in the core and cladding regions is treated by means of differential equation techniques. A cubic order non-linearity is considered. The electromagnetic field distribution in the slab waveguide region satisfies a non-linear wave equation. This field can be represented in terms of even TE guided modes with a slowly varying envelope amplitude function.Then using the well known approximation, based on the slowly varying character of the amplitude function, a non linear partial differential equation is obtained for the amplitude function. As the coefficients of this equation depend on the distance across the transverse direction X, an averaging technique over x is applied to reduce the nonlinear partial differential equation into a form that is easily transformed to the so-called non-linear Scroedinger differential equation.This equation is then attacked by means of the well known Inverse Scattering method in the case of reflection less potentials. The single and double soliton solutions are obtained explicitly for a single-mode slab waveguide. Finally numerical results are presented in the time domain.     

Three stage tandem queue with blocking

An analysis is given of the state and first-come, first-served waiting time processes for a three stage queueing system with no waiting space between stages, but with limited space before the first. Although the basic processes are exponential, no detailed analysis in this generality appears to have been made before; the nearest analyses entail the simplifying assumption that the first stage is never empty. A sufficient condition is derived easily for equilibrium to exist and it can be asserted with virtual certainty that it is also necessary; the complexity of calculation has so far excluded a proper proof, though this is in principle a possibility.The objective is to provide a theoretical framework easily adaptable for a numerical assessment of system performance to be made. Some typical tables with comments are given.