Clustering for routing in densely populated areas

This paper introduces a new approach for generating school bus routes in a dense urban area. First, a districting algorithm is used to determine clusters including appropriate numbers of students. Then, for each cluster, a route and the stops along this route are determined. Numerical results are reported and compared with those obtained previously. Although the algorithm has been developped and tested in a specific context, it could easily be extended to more general vehicle routing problems.     

Nonlinear competition between asters and stripes in filament-motor systems

A model for polar filaments interacting via molecular motor complexes is investigated which exhibits bifurcations to spatial patterns. It is shown that the homogeneous distribution of filaments, such as actin or microtubules, may become either unstable with respect to an orientational instability of a finite wave number or with respect to modulations of the filament density, where long-wavelength modes are amplified as well. Above threshold nonlinear interactions select either stripe patterns or periodic asters. The existence and stability ranges of each pattern close to threshold are predicted in terms of a weakly nonlinear perturbation analysis, which is confirmed by numerical simulations of the basic model equations. The two relevant parameters determining the bifurcation scenario of the model can be related to the concentrations of the active molecular motors and of the filaments, respectively, which both could be easily regulated by the cell.     

Selecting distances in arrangements of hyperplanes spanned by points

In this paper we consider a problem of distance selection in the arrangement of hyperplanes induced by n given points. Given a set of n points in d-dimensional space and a number k, , determine the hyperplane that is spanned by d points and at distance ranked by k from the origin. For the planar case we present an O(nlog²n) runtime algorithm using parametric search partly different from the usual approach [N. Megiddo, J. ACM 30 (1983) 852]. We establish a connection between this problem in 3-d and the well-known 3SUM problem using an auxiliary problem of counting the number of vertices in the arrangement of n planes that lie between two sheets of a hyperboloid. We show that the 3-d problem is almost 3SUM-hard and solve it by an O(n²log²n) runtime algorithm. We generalize these results to the d-dimensional (d4) space and consider also a problem of enumerating distances.     

Boosted leave-many-out cross-validation: the effect of training and test set diversity on PLS statistics

It is becoming increasingly common in quantitative structure/activity relationship (QSAR) analyses to use external test sets to evaluate the likely stability and predictivity of the models obtained. In some cases, such as those involving variable selection, an internal test set – i.e., a cross-validation set – is also used. Care is sometimes taken to ensure that the subsets used exhibit response and/or property distributions similar to those of the data set as a whole, but more often the individual observations are simply assigned `at random.' In the special case of MLR without variable selection, it can be analytically demonstrated that this strategy is inferior to others. Most particularly, D-optimal design performs better if the form of the regression equation is known and the variables involved are well behaved. This report introduces an alternative, non-parametric approach termed `boosted leave-many-out' (boosted LMO) cross-validation. In this method, relatively small training sets are chosen by applying optimizable k-dissimilarity selection (OptiSim) using a small subsample size (k = 4, in this case), with the unselected observations being reserved as a test set for the corresponding reduced model. Predictive errors for the full model are then estimated by aggregating results over several such analyses. The countervailing effects of training and test set size, diversity, and representativeness on PLS model statistics are described for CoMFA analysis of a large data set of COX2 inhibitors.     

Universal Margin Factors and Selection Criteria in Variable Environment

For nonautonomous dynamical systems, the principle of inheriting local properties by global Poincaré maps is developed. Using this method, a selection criterion for systems of close competitors is found: to gain competitive advantage, it suffices to outproduce other populations with a margin. The margin factor in question remains uniformly bounded as the number of competitors in the community grows.     

On Vector Quasi-Equilibrium Problems with Set-Valued Maps

In this paper, we introduce a new class of vector quasi-equilibrium problems with set-valued maps. Almost all the vector equilibrium models of the Blum-Oettli type in the literature are special cases of our new class of equilibrium problems under consideration. Moreover, a number of C-diagonal quasiconvexity properties are proposed for set-valued maps, which are natural generalizations of the -diagonal quasiconvexity for real functions. Together with an application of continuous selection and fixed-point theorems, these conditions enable us to prove unified existence results of solutions for such vector equilibrium problems.     

Whitney's extension problem for multivariate -functions

We prove that the trace of the space to an arbitrary closed subset is characterized by the following ``finiteness' property. A function belongs to the trace space if and only if the restriction to an arbitrary subset consisting of at most can be extended to a function such that

The constant is sharp.

The proof is based on a Lipschitz selection result which is interesting in its own right.

     

Lipschitz Kernel of a Closed Set-Valued Map

This paper deals with Lipschitz selections of set-valued maps with closed graphs. First, we characterize Lipschitzianity of a closed set-valued map in the differential games framework in terms of a discriminating property of its graph. This allows us to consider the -Lipschitz kernel of a given set-valued map as the largest -Lipschitz closed set-valued map contained in the initial one, to derive an algorithm to compute the collection of Lipschitz selections, and to extend the Pasch–Hausdorff envelope to set-valued maps.     

NorTRACK product tracking system—development and implementation

This paper presents the experience gained by developers and users with implementation and operation of NorTRACK^TM, a real-time computerized product tracking system. A Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) collects and transfers data in real time to NorTRACK’s Oracle^TM database on a Windows NT^TM server network. After extensive development and Beta testing at MDS Nordion’s Canadian Irradiation Centre in Montreal, Canada, NorTRACK was installed in January 1997 with a new irradiation facility in Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc.’s Albuquerque plant in the United States. NorTRACK communicates with the irradiator control and safety system, the plant's central manufacturing database, an innovative pallet staging and tote loading robot, and an automated dosimetry reading system. This integrated system allows the sterilization facility to monitor the irradiator operation and the flow of many products, through varied processing modes, continuously and reliably. As a result of operating with NorTRACK, both MDS Nordion’s CIC facility and the Endo-Surgery manufacturing site, are beginning to realize unique benefits in their respective operations. MDS Nordion is also initiating several future product enhancements and additional productivity modules. This paper describes the NorTRACK system, the various stages of the development project and Beta tests, and the experience of the users to date in their operations.