Hybrid Evolutionary Metaheuristics for Concurrent Multi-Objective Design of Urban Road and Public Transit Networks

This paper addresses a bi-modal multi-objective discrete urban road network design problem with automobile and bus flow interaction. The problem considers the concurrent urban road and bus network design in which the authorities play a major role in designing bus network topology. The road network design deals with the decision making for new street constructions, lane additions to existing streets, lane allocations for two-way streets, and the orientations and locations of one-way streets. The bus network design is performed by keeping the terminal stations of the existing bus lines unchanged and redesigning the forth and back routes of each line. Four measures, namely user benefit, the demand coverage of the bus network, the demand share of the bus mode, and the average travel generalized cost of bus passengers, are used to evaluate the network design scenarios. The problem is formulated as a multi-objective optimization model in which a modal-split/assignment model is included to depict the mode and route choice behaviors of travelers. The model is solved by the hybrid genetic algorithm and the hybrid clonal selection algorithm. The performance of these algorithms is presented and investigated by solving a number of test networks.     

Plasmonic Au islands on polymer nanopillars

The refractive index sensitivity of localized surface plasmon resonance sensors can be improved by placing the plasmonic metal particles on pillars instead of on a planar substrate. In this paper, a simple and versatile colloidal lithography method for the fabrication of plasmonic Au islands on top of polymer nanopillars is described. The pillar height is controlled by varying the thickness of the initial polymer film. An increased pillar height results in a blue shift of the absorption spectrum of the Au islands. This is explained by a decreased effective refractive index around the islands. For pillars higher than approximately 40 nm no further blue shift is observed, in agreement with the decay length of the electromagnetic field around the islands. Pillar-supported Au islands were also fabricated on a flexible foil, demonstrating the potential of the method described here for the fabrication of flexible plasmonic substrates. Benefits and limitations of the method and of using polymers as the pillar material are discussed.     

Safety stock placement problem in capacitated supply chains

Today's highly competitive business environment forces supply chain managers to maintain high service levels while keeping inventory-related costs as low as possible. Therefore, placing the right amount of safety stock at the right places in the supply chain is an important aspect of effective inventory management. This safety stock placement problem, for which some solution strategies have been proposed in the case of uncapacitated supply chains, becomes much more complicated when, in addition to the variability of the demand, capacity constraints also come into play. In this paper we propose a model to locate safety stocks in a capacitated supply chain with the objective of maintaining the required service level. The underlying relationships linking excess capacity, demand variability, and service levels are analysed to gain deeper understanding of the safety stock placement problem in capacitated supply chains. Based on these relationships a solution approach for the problem is proposed and is tested with Monte Carlo simulation.     

Human scFv SIgA expressed on Lactococcus lactis as a vector for the treatment of mucosal disease

The gastrointestinal tract is a complex niche and the main port of entry of many pathogens that trigger a wide range of diseases like inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colon cancer. Antibodies are effective for treating such diseases, but a system capable of local delivery at the site of the pathology, thus avoiding systemic side effects, is not yet available. Here we report a novel recombinant scFvSIgA1 protein produced by Lactococcus lactis, anchored to the bacterial membrane, which retains its full immuno-recognizing potential. This scFv fragment employed was specific for a colon cancer epitope, epithelial glycoprotein protein-2 (EGP-2). Accordingly L. lactis expressing this chimeric protein was capable of binding cells expressing this epitope. Expression of specific antibodies on bacteria may allow local delivery of anticancer agents produced by such bacteria in conjunction with the antibody and provides a new avenue in the quest for targeted drug delivery.     

Estimating forest variables from top-of-atmosphere radiance satellite measurements using coupled radiative transfer models

Traditionally, it is necessary to pre-process remote sensing data to obtain top of canopy (TOC) reflectances before applying physically-based model inversion techniques to estimate forest variables. Corrections for atmospheric, adjacency, topography, and surface directional effects are applied sequentially and independently, accumulating errors into the TOC reflectance data, which are then further used in the inversion process. This paper presents a proof of concept for demonstrating the direct use of measured top-of-atmosphere (TOA) radiance data to estimate forest biophysical and biochemical variables, by using a coupled canopy-atmosphere radiative transfer model. Advantages of this approach are that no atmospheric correction is needed and that atmospheric, adjacency, topography, and surface directional effects can be directly and more accurately included in the forward modelling.In the case study, we applied both TOC and TOA approaches to three Norway spruce stands in Eastern Czech Republic. We used the SLC soil-leaf-canopy model and the MODTRAN4 atmosphere model. For the TOA approach, the physical coupling between canopy and atmosphere was performed using a generic method based on the 4-stream radiative transfer theory which enables full use of the directional reflectance components provided by SLC. The method uses three runs of the atmosphere model for Lambertian surfaces, and thus avoids running the atmosphere model for each new simulation. We used local sensitivity analysis and singular value decomposition to determine which variables could be estimated, namely: canopy cover, fraction of bark, needle chlorophyll, and dry matter content. TOC and TOA approaches resulted in different sets of estimates, but had comparable performance. The TOC approach, however, was at its best potential because of the flatness and homogeneity of the area. On the contrary, the capacities of the TOA approach would be better exploited in heterogeneous rugged areas. We conclude that, having similar performance, the TOA approach should be preferred in situations where minimizing the pre-processing is important, such as in data assimilation and multi-sensor studies.     

An enriched model for the integrated berth allocation and quay crane assignment problem

Given the increasing pressure to improve the efficiency of container terminals, a lot of research efforts have been devoted to optimizing container terminal operations. Most papers deal with either the berth allocation problem (BAP) or the (quay) crane assignment problem (CAP). In the literature on the BAP, handling times are often simplified to be berth dependent or proportional to vessel size, so the CAP can be ignored when scheduling vessels. This is unsatisfactory for real-life applications because the handling time primarily depends on the number of containers to be handled and the number of cranes deployed. Only a limited number of papers deals with the combination of berth allocation and crane assignment. In these papers however, authors often have resorted to algorithmic simplifications that limit the practical use of the models. This paper presents a MILP model for the integrated BAP–CAP taking into account vessel priorities, preferred berthing locations and handling time considerations. The model is used in a hybrid heuristic solution procedure that is validated on real-life data illustrating the potential to support operational and tactical decision-making.     

Energy efficiency of femtocell deployment in combined wireless/optical access networks

Optical/wireless convergence has become of particular interest recently because a combined radio wireless and optical wired network has the potential to provide both mobility and high bandwidth in an efficient way. Recent developments of new radio access technologies such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) and introduction of femtocell base stations open new perspectives in providing broadband services and applications to everyone and everywhere, but the instantaneous quality of radio channel varies in time, space and frequency and radio communication is inherently energy inefficient and susceptible to reflections and interference. On the other hand, optical fiber-based networks do not provide mobility, but they are robust, energy efficient, and able to provide both an almost unlimited bandwidth and high availability.In this paper, we analyze the energy efficiency of combined wireless/optical access networks, in which LTE technology provides ubiquitous broadband Internet access, while optical fiber-based technologies serve as wireless backhaul and offer high-bandwidth wired Internet access to business and residential customers. In this contest, we pay a particular attention to femtocell deployment for increasing both access data rates and area coverage. The paper presents a novel model for evaluating the energy efficiency of combined optical/wireless networks that takes into account the main architectural and implementational aspects of both RF wireless and optical parts of the access network. Several hypothetical network deployment scenarios are defined and used to study effects of femtocell deployment and power saving techniques on network’s energy efficiency in urban, suburban and rural areas and for different traffic conditions.     

光源的光谱与低照明水平——中间视觉的基础

在诸如道路等需要低亮度水平照明的场合,采用什么样的灯的光谱（色温,显色性）对视觉有利？这一问题不仅在我国而且在世界范围内都是非常热门的议题。现在,LED正受到照明界的重视,而采用LED可以产生各种光色以及各种不同色调的白光,所以这一讨论显得尤为重要。CIE前任主席Van Bommel教授为了引导讨论沿着正确的方向进行,专门撰写了这篇论文。文章深入浅出地介绍了中间视觉的基本概念,纠正了某些不太科学的认识。这篇论文将在世界主要照明杂志上发表。我们将它介绍给读者,希望对大家有所帮助。