Optimal allocation and processing time decisions on non-identical parallel CNC machines: ϵ-constraint approach

When the processing times of jobs are controllable, selected processing times affect both the manufacturing cost and the scheduling performance. A well known example for such a case that this paper specifically deals with is the turning operation on a CNC machine. Manufacturing cost of a turning operation is a nonlinear convex function of its processing time. In this paper, we deal with making optimal machine-job assignments and processing time decisions so as to minimize total manufacturing cost while the makespan being upper bounded by a known value, denoted as ?-constraint approach for a bicriteria problem. We then give optimality properties for the resulting single criterion problem. We provide alternative methods to compute cost lower bounds for partial schedules, which are used in developing an exact (branch and bound) algorithm. For the cases where the exact algorithm is not efficient in terms of computation time, we present a recovering beam search algorithm equipped with an improvement search procedure. In order to find improving search directions, the improvement search algorithm uses the proposed cost bounding properties. Computational results show that our lower bounding methods in branch and bound algorithm achieve a significant reduction in the search tree size that we need to traverse. Also, our recovering beam search and improvement search heuristics achieve solutions within 1% of the optimum on the average while they spent much less computational effort than the exact algorithm.     

Steps towards a practical synthesis of macrocyclic bisbenzylisoquinolines

There are more than 400‐reported bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloids, many with interesting biological activity, but the reported syntheses are long and low yielding. As a result, there have been no systematic attempts at exploitation of the potential therapeutic applications. The concept of a sulfur ‘stitch’, restricting the conformational freedom of intermediates in the synthesis, will potentially allow analogues of the natural products to be prepared using relatively efficient routes. The synthesis of intermediate sulfur heterocycles is reported, based on 2,8‐dimethylphenoxathiin, leading via 2,8‐bis(bromomethyl)phenoxathiin‐10,10‐dioxide to a synthesis of 3,4,8,9‐tetrahydro‐13‐oxa‐6‐thia‐2,10‐diazapentacene, a key potential intermediate on the route to a variety of macrocyclic bisbenzylisoquinolines.     

Elastoplastic analysis of nonlinearly hardening variable thickness annular disks under external pressure

Based on von Mises’ yield criterion, deformation theory of plasticity and Swift’s hardening law, elasto-plastic deformation of variable thickness annular disks subjected to external pressure is studied. A nonlinear shooting method using Newton’s iterations with numerically approximated tangent is designed for the solution of the problem. Considering a thickness profile in the form of a general parabolic function, the condition of occurrence of plastic deformation at the inner and outer edges of the annular disk is investigated. A critical disk profile is determined and the corresponding elastic–plastic stresses as well as the residual stress distribution upon removal of the applied pressure are computed and discussed.     

Printable Bioelectronics To Investigate Functional Biological Interfaces

Thin‐film transistors can be used as high‐performance bioelectronic devices to accomplish tasks such as sensing or controlling the release of biological species as well as transducing the electrical activity of cells or even organs, such as the brain. Organic, graphene, or zinc oxide are used as convenient printable semiconducting layers and can lead to high‐performance low‐cost bioelectronic sensing devices that are potentially very useful for point‐of‐care applications. Among others, electrolyte‐gated transistors are of interest as they can be operated as capacitance‐modulated devices, because of the high capacitance of their charge double layers. Specifically, it is the capacitance of the biolayer, being lowest in a series of capacitors, which controls the output current of the device. Such an occurrence allows for extremely high sensitivity towards very weak interactions. All the aspects governing these processes are reviewed here.     

Thermal and neutron shielding properties of 10B containing UV cured hybrid coatings

¹⁰B containing organic–inorganic hybrid coating material based on a UV-curable formulation was prepared via anhydrous sol–gel technique. UV curable coatings were applied on Plexiglas (PMMA) substrates. The molecular structure of the coating material was analyzed by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy technique. The characterization of the UV-curable coating was evaluated by various techniques such as gel content, abrasion resistance, chemical resistance, pencil hardness, pendulum hardness, MEK rubbing test, contact angle, cross-cut test, gloss, transmittance test, neutron absorption, Limiting Oxygen Index and stress–strain tests. Hybrid coatings showed a significant enhancement in radiation shielding properties. The thermal behavior of coatings was also evaluated. It is observed that the thermal stability of coatings mainly depends on their boron and silicate contents. Results of all analysis conducted on hybrid films, and coatings were discussed.     

New antidepressant drug candidate: Hypericum montbretti extract

This study was designed to investigate possible antidepressant-like effects of the extract prepared from the flowers of Hypericum montbretti Spach. (Guttiferae, Clusiaceae). Phytochemical constituents of the methanolic extract were analysed by HPLC method. The main flavonoid component was detected as rutin, and another highly concentrated phenolic compound was quercitrin. Antidepressant activity of the extract was examined by tail suspension and modified forced swimming tests, whereas the motor coordination of the animals was tested by the Rota-Rod apparatus. Reboxetine at a dose of 20 mg?kg?1 was used as a reference drug. Dose-dependent antidepressant activity was observed in both tests following the administration of extract at 100 and 250 mg?kg?1 doses. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study reporting the antidepressant activity of H. montbretti extract. Additionally, the results of this work support previous papers reporting the antidepressant activity of rutin.     

Radially symmetric weighted extended b-spline model

In this paper, the weighted extended basis splines approach in the finite element method is applied to the electrostatic, electromagnetic wave and bioheat problems for inhomogeneous boundary conditions and radially symmetric structures. This new method, which does not need mesh generation, overcomes some of the drawbacks of using meshes and piecewise-uniform or linear trial functions. Two-dimensional radially symmetric electrostatic and electromagnetic wave equations are evaluated. We also attempt to propose a three-dimensional radially symmetric unexposed human eye model for simulating changes in corneal temperature using these new finite elements in conjunction with linear, quadratic and cubic b-splines. Our findings indicate that weighted extended basis spline solutions improve the standard finite element method. The simulation results which are verified using the values reported in the literature, point out to better efficiency in terms of the accuracy level.     

Synthesis, crystal structure and intermolecular magnetic interactions of a new N-TEMPO-3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylaldimine radical

A new N-TEMPO-3,5-di-tert-butylsalicylaldimine radical (1) has been synthesized and characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analysis, IR, UV–vis, and EPR spectroscopy and temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility. X-ray diffraction revealed that H-atoms of γ-CH in TEMPO and CH₃ in salicylaldimine moieties, are located in close contact with the neighboring N–O radical group in crystal 1. The temperature dependence of the magnetic susceptibility (χ_m) of 1 has been fitted by the Curie–Weiss law with θ = −0.3 K within 10–300 K, suggesting the presence of a weak intermolecular antiferromagnetic interaction between radical centers at T < 10 K. It has been demonstrated that radical 1 possesses crystal structure involving co-existence of antiferromagnetic and ferromagnetic interactions through C–H?O–N contacts of γ-CH and ^tBu groups hydrogen atoms, in which the former path dominates over the latter.