Travel Time Reliability in Vehicle Routing and Scheduling with Time Windows

This paper presents calibration of the Vehicle Routing and scheduling Problems with Time Windows-Probabilistic (VRPTW-P) model which takes into account the uncertainty of travel times. Probe vehicle data of travel times were obtained from usual operation of pickup-delivery trucks in South Osaka area. The optimal solution of the VRPTW-P model resulted in reducing total cost, running times and CO₂, NOx and Particle Materials (PM) emissions compared with the usual operation. This is attributed to better routing of VRPTW-P to choose more reliable roads. Therefore, VRPTW-P can contribute to establish efficient and environmentally friendly delivery systems in urban area.     

COCOVILA – Compiler-Compiler for Visual Languages

A compiler-compiler for visual languages is presented. It has been designed as a framework for building visual programming environments that translate schemas into textual representation as well as into programs representing the deep meaning of schemas. The deep semantics is implemented by applying attribute grammars to schema languages; attribute dependencies are implemented as methods of Java classes. Unlike compiler-compilers of textual languages, a large part of the framework is needed for support of interactive usage of a visual language.     

Effect of Pressure on the Out-of-Plane Critical Current and T c of Bi-2201 and Bi-2212 Single Crystals

We used the hydrostatic pressure P <1 GPa as a tool to change the c-axis critical current (interlayer coupling) of Bi-2201 and Bi-2212 single crystals. The c-axis critical current drastically increases with pressure (up to 270 % GPa ^–1 ). The superconducting critical temperature, on the contrary, only slightly increases with a rate of 2-6 % GPa ^–1 . This implies that the CuO-interlayer coupling has little effect on T _c in Bi-compounds.     

High-resolution full-color LCD driven by OTFTs using novel passivation film

A full-color twisted-nematic type liquid crystal display (TN-LCD) of 1.4-in diagonal size driven by organic thin-film transistors (TFTs) has been fabricated. This TN-LCD has 80/spl times/80/spl times/3 (RGB) pixel arrays addressed by pentacene TFTs with a channel width of 50 /spl mu/m. The contact resistance between the pentacene film and the source/drain electrodes has been reduced by selecting the exposure condition of the photoresist in patterning the electrodes. In addition, a solution-processed passivation film with a novel structure, consisting of photosensitive polyvinylalcohol and organosiloxane glass resin, has been developed to protect the TFTs against degradation induced by integration with TN-LCD devices. Consequently, it has been confirmed that the organic-TFT-driven TN-LCD fabricated in this paper is capable of displaying full-color moving images at a resolution of 80 pixels per inch.     

Nucleotide sequencing analysis of the 146-kilobase segment around the IkBL and MICA genes at the centromeric end of the HLA class I region

The biomechanics of medialization laryngoplasty are not well understood. An excised canine larynx model was used to test the effects of various sized silicon implants. The vocal fold length, position, and tension were measured. Medialization laryngoplasty did not affect vocal fold length. At the mid-membranous vocal fold, larger shims resulted in greater medialization and tension. Medialization laryngoplasty neither medialized nor stiffened the vocal process to resist lateralizing forces. We conclude that medialization laryngoplasty provides bulk and support for defects of the membranous region of the vocal fold, but does not appear to close a posterior glottal gap. The selection of a surgical procedure to treat glottal incompetence should take into account the unique biomechanical properties of the anterior (membranous vocal folds) and posterior (cartilaginous portion) glottis.     

Chiral separation of amines by high-performance liquid chromatography after tagging with 4-(N,N-dimethylaminosulphonyl)-7-(2-chloroformylpyrrolidin-1-yl)- 2,1,3-benzoxadiazole

Chiral tagging reagents, 4-(N,N-dimethylaminosulphonyl)-7-(2-chloroformylpyrrolidin-1 -yl)-2,1,3- benzoxadiazole (R(+)-DBD-Pro-COCl and S(-)-DBD-Pro-COCl), react with mirror image enantiomers of amines to produce corresponding diastereomers in the presence of pyridine as a catalyst. The maximal excitation and emission wavelengths of the resulting diastereomers were ca. 450 nm and 560 nm, respectively. The diastereomers derived from some aliphatic amines were resolved by a reversed-phase chromatography with water-acetonitrile or normal-phase chromatography with n-hexane-ethyl acetate as the eluent. The reactivities of both enantiomers of DBD-Pro-COCl to chiral amines were almost comparable, whereas a slight difference of fluorescence intensity was observed with S(-)-DBD-Pro-COCl. When (S-)-DBD-Pro-COCl was used as the derivatization reagent, amines corresponding to S-configuration were eluted faster than R-configuration. The opposite elution order was obtained with the use of R(+)-DBD-Pro-COCl, instead of S(-)-DBD-Pro-COCl. The Rs values obtained from 1-cyclohexylethylamine (CEA) having aliphatic ring structure was larger than those of amines (1-(1-naphthyl)ethylamine (NEA) and 1-phenylethylamine (PEA)) having aromatic ring structures.     

In situ morphology of fetal aortic isthmus following ductal constriction in rats

Obese female subjects with binge eating disorder BED; (N = 107) completed the Beck Depression Inventory, Symptom Checklist-90, Inventory of Interpersonal Problems, and Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale. Subjects were divided into moderate or severe binger on the basis of scores on the Binge Eating Scale, and grouped into moderately or severely obese by performing a median split on their weights. Spearman correlational analyses were performed to determine the relationship between psychopathology and obesity and psychopathology and binge eating. Analyses of variance (ANOVAs) were then performed using scores on the psychological measures with subjects grouped both by severity of obesity and severity of binge eating. The results indicated that in our sample, obesity and scores on the measures of psychiatric symptomatology were unrelated. However, a significant positive relationship was found between binge eating severity and degree of psychiatric symptomatology. We suggest that binge eating may account for the observed relationship between obesity and psychopathology reported in previous studies. We discuss the importance of assessing BED when conducting research with obese individuals.     

Performance of a-WO3/LiClO4-PC electrochromic displays

This paper deals with the improvements in response time and reliability of the aWO₃/LiClO₄-PC (propylene carbonate) electrochromic display. Response time was improved by adopting the highly porous a-WO₃ film, the porous reflector and the high surface area non-polarizable counter-electrode. Results from the reliability tests indicated that the ECD had a sufficient lifetime for practical applications such as in watches, clocks and calculators. The mechanism of performance drift upon cycling the display is investigated using ESCA, AES and atomic absorption methods.     

Experimental Facsimile Communication System on Packet Switched Data Network

The use of the public data network for facsimile communication has remarkable advantages with regard to high speed and reliable transmission and, in addition, it is well applicable to provide value added facilities for future service extension. The Research and Development Laboratories of Kokusai Denshin Denwa (KDD) Company, Ltd. have developed an experimental facsimile communication system on the packet switched data network (PSDN). The system is composed of packet switching exchanges (PSE), high speed digital facsimile terminal equipment, a facsimile communication processor (FCP), and facsimile packet assembly/ disassembly equipment (FAX-PAD). The facsimile equipment in the system adopts a two-dimensional modified READ code and has the interface protocol to the PSDN. The FCP provides the store-and-forward facilities to provide such services as delayed delivery, multiaddress delivery, and mailbox service. The FAX-PAD realizes the interworking between facsimile equipments on the public switched telephone network (PSTN) and those on PSDN. After various experiments including international field tests, it was confirmed that the system is useful for future advanced facsimile service.     

Optical properties and photovoltaic device applications of InSe films

Films were formed by alternately evaporating InSe and Selenium from separate evaporation sources onto glass substrates kept at temperatures below 150°C with subsequent thermal annealing.The effects of the additional selenium on the properties of the films were investigated by structural investigations and photoconductivity measurements. It is found from the results of the present measurements that compositional changes occur in the films with increasing selenium/InSe ratio and that single-phase films containing only InSe are obtained at a certain critical ratio.The refractive indices and absorption coefficients of amorphous and crystalline InSe films in the spectral range 0.6–2.5 μm are determined by spectrophotometric reflectance and transmittance measurements. The minimum optical energy gap obtained from measurements of the absorption spectrum for the crystalline films is close to the value for single crystals.A heterostructure diode using crystalline InSe films as “window layers” was prepared and the fundamental photovoltaic properties were investigated. An absolute quantum efficiency of about 18% is obtained in the wavelength range 1.1–1.25 μm.