A heuristic for the label printing problem

Label printing finds many applications in industry. However, this task is still labor intensive in many printing factories. Since each template can only accommodate a fixed number of labels, an important task is to work out the compositions of templates by allocating suitable labels to each template in order to fulfill the order requirements effectively. The template design could be rather arbitrary, which usually ends up with a lot of excessive printed labels. Enhancing the template design will significantly improve the efficiency of the printing process, and, at the same time, reduce the waste of resources. This motivates the study of more automatic design methods. In this paper, the problem is first formulated as a nonlinear integer programming problem. The main variables in the formulation are the compositions and the printing frequencies of templates. For practical purpose, each type of label is confined to one template only which allows automated packing and handling. The structure of the problems is carefully analyzed and a new algorithm is proposed. Numerical results show that the proposed method is a simple but effective way of generating good template designs.     

Critical issues of wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) withemphasis on cost analysis and solder joint reliability

Some of the critical issues of wafer level chip scale package (WLCSP) are mentioned and discussed in this investigation. Emphasis is placed on the cost analysis of WLCSP through the, important parameters such as wafer-level redistribution, wafer-bumping, and wafer-level underfilling. Useful and simple equations in terms of these parameters are also provided. Furthermore, the effects of microvia build-up layer on the solder joint reliability of WLCSP on printed circuit board (PCB) through the creep responses such as the deformation, hysteresis loops, and stress and strain are presented. Only solder-bumped with pad-redistribution WLCSPs are considered in this study     

A theoretical framework for gain scheduling

The weighted incremental norm approach was originally introduced as a natural framework for extending well‐known H_∞ linear control concepts into the nonlinear context. In this paper, we investigate the numerous links between this new approach and the classical gain‐scheduling technique. Although based on heuristic rules, gain‐scheduled control is probably the most widespread nonlinear technique. In this paper, we point out that the control objectives of the gain‐scheduled controller design can be expressed as the weighted incremental norm minimization of a nonlinear operator. The result interest is twofold: it first provides a rigorous mathematical formulation of the gain‐scheduling problem. Furthermore, existing gain‐scheduling techniques can be interpreted as approximate solutions to the weighted incremental norm minimization of a nonlinear operator. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

CONTROL OF COKE FORMATION FROM HYDROCRACKED ATHABASCA BITUMEN

The mechanism of formation of carbonaceous deposits from hydrocracked Athabaca bitumen is shown to result in both isotropic and anisotropic solids. The formation of mesophase spheres present as a separate liquid phase has been observed in the laboratory High severity results in the formation of an increased amount of anisotropic solid which is observed in both laboratory and commercial samples. The formation of these deposits in the downstream separators of a commercial plant has occurred and is a hindrance to reliable operation. A strategy to reduce the formation of these deposits in a commercial plant was evaluated in a series of laboratory experiments. The use of process-derived gas oils can be used as quench oil to lower the temperature of the commercial separators. There was no increase in the rate of toluene insoluble formation as a result of the use of quench oils, which allowed the full advantage of the temperature decrease to be achieved. A qualitative comparison of the build-up of deposits in the commercial separators is provided from separator vessel monitoring.     

Richard Lester Solomon (1918–1995): Obituary.

Memorializes Richard Solomon, one of the major learning theorists of the 2nd half of the 20th century. Solomon was named the 1st James M. Skinner University Professor of Science in 1975, was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and was awarded, among other honors, the Warren Medal for research by the Society of Experimental Psychologists, the American Psychological Association Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award, and the American Psychological Foundation's Award for Distinguished Teaching in Experimental Psychology. He conducted research on a broad array of topics such as word frequency and perceptual defense, children's estimation of the size of tokens, hoarding behaviors in rats, and personality ratings and sociometric patterns. His work made a major contribution to the exploration of Pavlovian conditioning. Other topics of research focused on in Solomon's laboratories included avoidance learning, learned helplessness, punishment, and the opponent-process theory of acquired motivation. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Performance analysis of adaptive interleaving for OFDM systems

We proposed a novel interleaving technique for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), namely adaptive interleaving, which can break the bursty channel errors more effectively than traditional block interleaving. The technique rearranges the symbols according to instantaneous channel state information of the OFDM subcarriers so as to reduce or minimize the bit error rate (BER) of each OFDM frame. It is well suited to OFDM systems because the channel state information (CSI) values of the whole frame could be estimated at once when transmitted symbols are framed in the frequency dimension. Extensive simulations show that the proposed scheme can greatly improve the performance of the coded modulation systems utilizing block interleaving. Furthermore, we show that the adaptive interleaving out performs any other static interleaving schemes, even in the fast fading channel (with independent fading between symbols). We derived a semi-analytical bound for the BER of the adaptive interleaving scheme under correlated Rayleigh fading channels. Furthermore, we discussed the transmitter-receiver (interleaving pattern) synchronization problem     

Semiautomatic implementation of protocols using an Estelle-Ccompiler

The basic ideas underlying an Estelle-C compiler, which accepts an Estelle protocol specification and produces a protocol implementation in C, are presented. The implementation of the ISO (International Organization for Standardization) class-2 transparent protocol, using the semiautomatic approach, is discussed. A manual implementation of the protocol is performed and compared to the semiautomatic implementation. The semiautomatic approach to protocol implementation offers several advantages over the conventional manual one, including correctness and modularity in protocol implementation code, conformance to the specification, and reduction in implementation time. Finally, ongoing development of a new Estelle-C compiler is presented     

Effect of magnesium on the composition,microstructure and mechanical properties of carbon fibres

This work was undertaken in order to provide more detailed information on the chemical and mechanical behaviour of carbon fibres during the elaboration of graphite-magnesium composite materials. For this purpose, PAN-based T300, pitch-based P55 and P100 carbon fibres were isothermally heat treated, at temperatures ranging from 450 to 700 °C, under a saturated vapour pressure of magnesium. The composition, microstructure and tensile strength of the resulting samples were characterized by chemical and electron probe microanalysis, Raman spectrometry, X-ray diffraction and mechanical test of single filaments. From the results obtained, it has been concluded that highly graphitized fibres such as pitch-based P55 or P100 are not affected by long-time annealing in the presence of magnesium vapour, whereas impure and disorded fibres such as PAN-based T300 undergo some chemical and microstructural modifications decreasing their mechanical properties.