An Operational Strategy for Throughput Maximization and Bottleneck Control in an Assembly Line System: By Selection of the Processing Rates

In this paper, an optimal operational strategy is developed to optimize the system utilization while controlling the bottleneck problem in a finite capacity integrated assembly line system (consisting of a set of tandem workstations, a set of inspection stations, a loading station and an unloading station, linked by a set of transporter stations). To develop the proposed operational strategy, a stochastic optimization model is developed for selecting the optimal processing rates of the workstations and the transporter stations, such that the total throughput rate from the system is maximized while the resulting probability of finding either a workstation or a transporter station blocked is sufficiently close to zero.     

Response of Makrofol polycarbonate plastic track detector to 1.1 MeV/N 54 132 Xe-ion

Makrofol polycarbonate plastic track detectors have been exposed to ₅₄ ¹³² Xe -ions of energy 1.1 MeV/N from the cyclotron beam. The bulk etch rate and track etch rate are measured for different temperatures and the activation energies are calculated. The maximum etched track length is compared with the theoretically computed range. The critical energy loss is (dE/dx) _c =5 MeV cm² mg⁻¹ for this detector material.     

Deriving some quantum optical identities using the general ordering theorem

Using the newly introduced general ordering theorem by Shhandeh and Bazrafkan,we derive and generalize some quantum optical identities and give their applications.     

Local order in the Ni-Ta system

Short-range order in the Ni -Ta system is studied both experimentally (by diffuse scattering of x rays) and theoretically (by the pseudopotential method). The existence of local order is found in the alloy Ni-7 at. % Ta. The short-range order parameter calculated by the pseudopotential method, using Animalu form factors, coincided in sign with that observed experimentally.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 12, pp. 21–25, December, 1976.In conclusion the authors thank Prof. A. A. Katsnel'son for valuable advice and discussions of the results.     

Thermal equilibrium of high- and low-spin forms of cytochrome P450 BM-3: repositioning of the substrate?

We demonstrate that cytochrome P450 BM-3 in complex with N-palmitoylglycine undergoes a spin state change between room temperature, where optimal activity is seen, and low temperatures, where X-ray diffraction characterization has been carried out. On the basis of NMR measurements of the full-length protein, this spin state change is likely to be accompanied by a general structural rearrangement in the enzyme pocket. The substrate remains bound at all temperatures. We propose that the substrate may "slide" from a position directly atop the heme (thus displacing the ligating water) to the more distant position (thus restoring the ligating water) as the temperature is lowered. This proposal is evaluated on the basis of computational modeling of the protein-ligand complex, using a novel induced fit methodology. We thereby generate a structure with the ligand in close contact with the heme, similar in energy to the experimental structure. With this combination of theory and experiment we provide a specific proposal of how ligands may be positioned for chemistry for this enzyme.