Applicability of normal and shear stress cells embedded in cohesionless materials

A normal stress cell and a shear stress cell have been designed and tested under very varied conditions including permanent strain. Results pooled from nine different tests with the cells embedded in cohesionless materials (sand and wheat) showed that the coefficient of variation of the normal stress-cell sensitivity was 0.04, while it was 0.10 for the shear cell. The agreement between predicted and measured sensitivity was considered to be good for the normal stress cell and reasonably good for the shear stress cell. The shear cell showed a systematic dependence, within acceptable limits, of the total stress state in the surrounding material. A qualitative explanation of this phenomenon is given. Paper was presented at the SEM VI International Congress on Experimental Mechanics held in Portland, OR in June 6–10, 1988.     

Error analysis of the numerical solution of split differential equations

The operator splitting method is a widely used approach for solving partial differential equations describing physical processes. Its application usually requires the use of certain numerical methods in order to solve the different split sub-problems. The error analysis of such a numerical approach is a complex task. In the present paper we show that an interaction error appears in the numerical solution when an operator splitting procedure is applied together with a lower-order numerical method. The effect of the interaction error is investigated by an analytical study and by numerical experiments made for a test problem.     

Lot‐sizing policies for deterioration items under two‐level trade credit with partial trade credit to credit‐risk retailer and limited storage capacity

The main purpose of this article is to investigate the optimal wholesaler's replenishment decisions for deterioration items under two levels of the trade credit policy and two storage facilities in order to reflect the supply chain management situation within the economic order quantity framework. In this study, each of the following assumptions have been made: (1) The own warehouse with limited capacity always is not sufficient to store the order quantity, so that a rented warehouse is needed to store the excess units over the capacity of the own warehouse; (2) The wholesaler always obtains the partial trade credit, which is independent of the order quantity offered by the supplier, but the wholesaler offers the full trade credit to the retailer; (3) The wholesaler must take a loan to pay his or her supplier the partial payment immediately when the order is received and then pay off the loan with the entire revenue. Under these three conditions, the wholesaler can obtain the least costs. Furthermore, this study models the wholesaler's optimal replenishment decisions under the aforementioned conditions in the supply chain management. Two theorems are developed to efficiently determine the optimal replenishment decisions for the wholesaler. Finally, numerical examples are given to illustrate the theorems that are proven in this study, and the sensitivity analysis with respect to the major parameters in this study is performed. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Distribution-free monitoring of univariate processes

We consider statistical process control (SPC) of univariate processes when observed data are not normally distributed. Most existing SPC procedures are based on the normality assumption. In the literature, it has been demonstrated that their performance is unreliable in cases when they are used for monitoring non-normal processes. To overcome this limitation, we propose two SPC control charts for applications when the process data are not normal, and compare them with the traditional CUSUM chart and two recent distribution-free control charts. Some empirical guidelines are provided for practitioners to choose a proper control chart for a specific application with non-normal data.     

Scheduling Tasks on Unrelated Machines: Large Neighborhood Improvement Procedures

Two approximation algorithms are presented for minimizing the makespan of independant tasks assigned on unrelated machines. The first one is based upon a partial and heuristical exploration of a search tree, which is used not only to build a solution but also to improve it thanks to a post-optimization procedure. The second implements a new large neighborhood improvement procedure to an already existing algorithm. Computational experiments show that their efficiency is equivalent to the best local search heuristics.     

Extraction of cellulose and preparation of nanocellulose from sisal fibers

In this work a study on the feasibility of extracting cellulose from sisal fiber, by means of two different procedures was carried out. These processes included usual chemical procedures such as acid hydrolysis, chlorination, alkaline extraction, and bleaching. The final products were characterized by means of Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA), Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Diffraction (XRD), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM). The extraction procedures that were used led to purified cellulose. Advantages and disadvantages of both procedures were also analyzed. Finally, nanocellulose was produced by the acid hydrolysis of obtained cellulose and characterized by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM).     

Cost-optimal multistage sampling plans in statistical quality control

Multistage Bayesian decision procedures in statistical quality control are known from attribute sampling. In this paper they are introduced in a more general framework occuring in lot-control by using the theory of Bayesian sequentially planned decision procedures. We show that under sufficiency and transitivity assumptions and monotonicity properties concerning the distribution and cost set-up these Bayes-procedures have (z, c ^–,c ⁺)-structure which, on one hand, generalizes results of K.-H. Waldmann and, on the other hand, reduces computational effort significantly. Finally, examples taken from attribute sampling and life testing for an outgoing lot are presented.The theory presented in this paper is taken from [11].     

A modification of Armijo's step-size rule for negative curvature

Armijo's step-size procedure for function minimization is modified to include second derivative information. Accumulation points using this procedure are shown to be stationary points with positive semi-definite Hessian matrices.This research was supported by the United States Army Research Office.     

On the robustness of least squares procedures in regression models

The criterion robustness of the standard likelihood ratio test (LRT) under the multivariate normal regression model and also the inference robustness of the same test under the univariate set up are established for certain nonnormal distributions of errors. Restricting attention to the normal distribution of errors in the context of univariate regression models, conditions on the design matrix are established under which the usual LRT of a linear hypothesis (under homoscedasticity of errors) remains valid if the errors have an intraclass covariance structure. The conditions hold in the case of some standard designs. The relevance of C. R. Rao's (1967 In Proceedings Fifth Berkeley Symposium on Math. Stat. and Prob., Vol. 1, pp. 355–372) and G. Zyskind's (1967, Ann. Math. Statist.38 1092–1110) conditions in this context is discussed.     

The inventory models under conditional trade credit in a supply chain system

In several recent investigations dealing with the economic order quantity with permissible delay in payments, the following assumptions are made: