A periodic review production and maintenance model with random demand,deteriorating equipment,and binomial yield

In many environments, product yield is heavily influenced by equipment condition. Despite this fact, previous research has either focused on the issue of maintenance, ignoring the effect of equipment condition on yield, or has focused on the issue of production, omitting the possibility of actively changing the machine state. We formulate a Markov decision process model of a single-stage production system in which demand is random. The product yield has a binomial distribution that depends on the equipment condition, which deteriorates over time. The objective is to choose simultaneously the equipment maintenance schedule as well as the quantity to produce in a way that minimizes the sum of expected production, backorder, and holding costs. After proving some results about the structural properties of the optimal policy, numerical problems are used to compare this method to the typical approach of solving the maintenance and production problems sequentially. The results show that the simultaneous solution provides substantial gains over the sequential approach. In the cases studied, the proposed method resulted in an average cost savings of approximately 18%.     

Some functional equations originating from number theory

We will introduce new functional equations (3) and (4) which are strongly related to well-known formulae (1) and (2) of number theory, and investigate the solutions of the equations. Moreover, we will also study some stability problems of those equations.     

Enhanced Binding in Non-Relativistic QED

 We consider a spinless particle coupled to a photon field and prove that even if the Schr?dinger operator p ² +V does not have eigenvalues the system can have a ground state. We describe the coupling by means of the Pauli-Fierz Hamiltonian and our result holds in the case where the coupling constant α is small. Received: 7 January 2002 / Accepted: 8 November 2002 Published online: 13 January 2003     

The focusing problem for the Eikonal equation

We study the focusing problem for the eikonal equation¶¶ ?_tu=| ?u| ², \partial _{t}u=\left| \nabla u\right| ^{2}, ¶¶i.e., the initial value problem in which the support of the initial datum is outside some compact set in R^d \mathbf{R}^{d} . The hole in the support will be filled in finite time and we are interested in the asymptotics of the hole as it closes. We show that in the radially symmetric case there are self-similar asymptotics, while in the absence of radial symmetry essentially any convex final shape is possible. However in R² \mathbf{R}^2 , for generic initial data the asymptotic shape will be either a vanishing triangle or the region between two parabolas moving in opposite directions (a closing eye). We compare these results with the known results for the porous medium pressure equation which approaches the eikonal equation in the limit as m? 1 m\rightarrow 1 .     

Optimized Method for the Determination of Prednisolone, Zn-Bacitracin and Phenylephrine in Local Pharmaceutical Preparations by Micellar Electrokinetic Capillary Chromatography

Summary A new, rapid and simple method is described and applied to resolve and quantify mixtures of prednisolone, Zn-bacitracin and phenylephrine. The determination was accomplished by MEKC. The separation was carried out at 25 °C and 30 kV, using a 5 mM phosphate-5 mM borate buffer (pH=8.2), 40 mM SDS as background electrolyte. Under these conditions, the run time was 6.6 min and the limits of quantification were about 1.0 mg L^–1 for every component. Repeatability and reproducibility studies were achieved showing no significant differences at 95% confidence level. The MEKC method has been applied for quantifying these compounds in different commercials pharmaceuticals products, without separations steps.     

Une méthode de calcul des coefficients de réflexion et de transmission d'une houle bidimensionnelle en milieu confinéA new method for the calculation of transmission and reflection coefficients for water waves in a small basin

This paper presents a method to estimate reflected and transmitted wave amplitude spectra in a bounded domain such as a wave tank, when available data signals must be shortened due to interferences and wall effects. This paper extends the well known Goda and Suzuki two-probe method to three probes. The paper also suggests solutions to compute reliable transmission and reflection coefficients in spite of problems linked to higher harmonics and to the interference between different wave trains propagating in the tank. To cite this article: G. Duclos, A.H. Clément, C. R. Mecanique 331 (2003).     

WITCH: A Penning Trap Retardation Spectrometer Combination for Precision Studies of the Weak Interaction

We present data from three seasons of experimental field work designed to recreate ancient Andean coastal ceramic firing techniques. Based on the recent discovery of two different archaeological ceramic production sites in the La Leche river valley of northern coastal Peru, the opportunity arose to apply Mössbauer spectroscopy and other analytical methods to reconstruct ancient firing procedures. Two sets of firings took place in 1993 and 1997 in Batán Grande using a partially restored Formative kiln from about 800 BC, local hardwood and cow dung as fuel. A third experiment followed in 2000 after the discovery of a Middle Sicán ceramics workshop in use between ca. AD 950 and 1050 at Huaca Sialupe, where an exact replica of an ancient kiln was built from local clay, and fired with local wood and cow dung. Additionally, inverted urns found at Huaca Sialupe were tested for their potential use as furnaces for metal working. Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to compare the physical and chemical state of specimens produced in the field experiments with ancient ceramics and with specimens produced in controlled laboratory experiments.     

Enhancement of the emission yield of silicon nanocrystals in silica due to surface passivation

The ability of surface passivation to enhance the photoluminescence (PL) emission of Si nanocrystals in SiO₂ has been investigated. Silicon precipitation in implanted samples takes place in a time scale of few minutes at 1100°C. For longer annealing at the same temperature, the PL intensity of the Si nanocrystals increases and eventually reaches saturation, while it correlates inversely with the amount of Si dangling bonds at the Si–SiO₂ interface (P_b centers), as measured by electron spin resonance. This combined behavior is independent on the silica matrix properties, implantation profiles and annealing atmosphere and duration. The observation that the light emission enhancement is directly related to the annealing of P_b centers is confirmed by treatment in forming gas. This mild hydrogenation at much lower temperature (450°C) leads to a complete passivation of the P_b defects, increasing at the same time the PL yield and the lifetime.