Machine assignment in a nonlinear multi-product flowline

A group of machines for processing a set of jobs in a manufacturing system is often located in a serial line. An efficient strategy for locating these machines such that the total travel distance or the cost of transporting the jobs is minimized is desired. In this research, the assumption of a linear line with equally spaced machine location is relaxed. This research addressed problems of locating unique machines. It is found that the machine distances possess unique properties in this type of a problem. Utilizing these properties, heuristic strategies are proposed to obtain efficient solution where optimal methods are expected to be computationally prohibitive. A lower bound for the optimum solution is also proposed. Results are encouraging.     

Spectral Properties of Thioflavin T and Its Complexes with Amyloid Fibrils

Comparative analysis of the absorption and fluorescence spectra and fluorescence excitation spectra of thioflavin T (ThT) in various solvents and in the composition of amyloid fibrils has shown that ThT, when excited in the region of the long-wavelength absorption band, fluoresces in the spectral region with a maximum at 478–484 nm. The appearance in aqueous and alcohol solutions of a fluorescence band with a maximum near 440 nm has been attributed to the presence in the composition of the ThT preparations of an impurity with an absorption band in the 340–350-nm range. The literature data showing that in glycerol ThT has a wide fluorescence spectrum with two maxima are due to the artifact connected with the use of a high concentration of the dye. It has been suggested that the cause of the low quantum yield of ThT aqueous and alcohol solutions is the breakage of the system of conjugated bonds due to the reorientation of the benzothiozole and benzaminic rings of ThT in the excited state with respect to one another. The main factor determining the high quantum yield of fluorescence of ThT incorporated in fibrils is the steric restriction of the rotation of the rings about one another under these conditions. The suggestions made have been verified by the quantum-chemical calculation of the ThT molecule geometry in the ground and excited states.     

On the law of corresponding states for thermodynamic properties of a crystal

To study thermodynamic similarity of the properties of crystalline substances, we propose an approach connected with engaging of the metastable state region. Internal pressure and specific volume on the crystal’s stability boundary at T = 0 K are used as characteristic scales of thermodynamic variables. A semiempirical method of calculation of the stability boundary by the thermodynamic data related to the stable states region of a solid body is described. In the cases of argon and natrium, the stability boundary is calculated for a wide range of temperatures and pressures. Analysis of the properties of neon, argon, krypton, and xenon crystals in these variables indicates that the law of corresponding states holds for these substances.     

Roughness reduction in submicron waveguides by low-molecular weight development

Roughness reduction of a submicron waveguide profile in chemically amplified negative resist is here performed by proper selection of an alkali-based developer, taking into account that its smaller molecules lead to smoother resist surface by altering the developing mechanism of aggregate extraction performed with standard quaternary ammonium hydroxide. Roughness is then analyzed by means of classical Atomic Force Microscope inspection; furthermore, a non-invasive line edge roughness analysis approach based on top-down scanning electron microscope acquisition gives comparable results, in terms of standard deviation and molecular aggregate periodicity.     

Semideterministic Global Optimization Method: Application to a Control Problem of the Burgers Equation

This paper has two objectives. We introduce a new global optimization algorithm reformulating optimization problems in terms of boundary-value problems. Then, we apply this algorithm to a pointwise control problem of the viscous Burgers equation, where the control weight coefficient is progressively decreased. The results are compared with those obtained with a genetic algorithm and an LM-BFGS algorithm in order to check the efficiency of our method and the necessity of using global optimization techniques.     

On the theory of isentropic solutions of quasilinear conservation laws

This paper studies isentropic solutions of quasilinear first-order equations with two independent variables and a flux function that is only continuous. The isentropic solutions are characterized by the requirement that the S. N. Kruzhkov entropy conditions hold for these solution with the equality sign. It turns out that the existence of a nonconstant isentropic solution imposes rather strong restrictions on the nonlinearity. In particular, it is shown that on the minimal interval containing the essential image of the isentropic solution, the flux function satisfies the local Lipschitz condition, and its generalized derivative is a function of locally bounded variation. Also, it is proved that when the flux function is nonlinear, any isentropic solution is continuous on nondegenerate intervals. __________ Translated from Sovremennaya Matematika i Ee Prilozheniya (Contemporary Mathematics and Its Applications), Vol. 33, Suzdal Conference-2004, Part 1, 2005.     

Metric fluctuations,entropy, and the Wheeler-deWitt equation

Quantization using quantum potentials is described in terms of momentum fluctuations, and it is related to Fisher information and entropy. __________ Translated from Teoreticheskaya i Matematicheskaya Fizika, Vol. 152, No. 1, pp. 32–44, July, 2007.     

Object-oriented representation of hierarchical graphs

We introduce the concept of C₀-systems, which can be used to represent syntactic objects of graph-based formal systems with inheritance. __________ Translated from Fundamentalnaya i Prikladnaya Matematika, Vol. 10, No. 4, pp. 159–170, 2004.