Availability-based simulation and optimization modeling framework for open-pit mine truck allocation under dynamic constraints

We present a novel system productivity simulation and optimization modeling framework in which equipment availability is a variable in the expected productivity function of the system. The framework is used for allocating trucks by route according to their operating performances in a truck–shovel system of an open-pit mine, so as to maximize the overall productivity of the fleet. We implement the framework in an originally designed and specifically developed simulator–optimizer software tool. We make an application on a real open-pit mine case study taking into account the stochasticity of the equipment behavior and environment. The total system production values obtained with and without considering the equipment reliability, availability and maintainability (RAM) characteristics are compared. We show that by taking into account the truck and shovel RAM aspects, we can maximize the total production of the system and obtain specific information on the production availability and productivity of its components.     

2,3-Dihydrohomofarnesal: Female Sex Attractant Pheromone Component of Callosobruchus rhodesianus (Pic)

Callosobruchus rhodesianus (Pic) (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae: Bruchinae) is a pest of stored legumes through the Afro-tropical region. In laboratory bioassays, males of C. rhodesianus were attracted to volatiles collected from virgin females. Collections were purified by various chromatographic techniques, and the biologically active component isolated using gas chromatographic-electroantennographic detection analysis. Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry and NMR analyses suggested that the active compound was 2,3-dihydrohomofarnesal, i.e., 7-ethyl-3,11-dimethyl-6,10-dodecadienal. The structure was confirmed by non-stereoselective and enantioselective total synthesis. Using chiral gas chromatography, the absolute configuration of the natural compound was confirmed as (3S,6E)-7-ethyl-3,11-dimethyl-6,10-dodecadienal. Y-tube olfactomter assays showed that only the (S)-enantiomer attracted males of C. rhodesianus. The (R)-enantiomer and racemate did not attract males, suggesting that the (R)-enantiomer inhibits the activity of the natural compound. In combination with previous reports about sex attractant pheromones of congeners, we suggest that a saltational shift of the pheromone structure arose within the genus Callosobruchus.     

Reaction time and EMG measurement applied to human control modeling

The final goal of this research is to analyze the human visual and force sensory feedback integration related to a manipulation task and build a control model of a human operator. In this primary work the reaction time and the EMG was measured to determine the time lag constant of each subject. The onset time, EMG-RT and the EMD delay was measured and compared to the time lag estimated from step response identification. Although a small discrepancy was found between the directly measured time lag and the estimated one, the system identification method showed a prominent and methodological approach to model the human control system.     

上海交响乐团音乐厅

建筑形式取决于空间功能,这一点在交响乐音乐厅的设计中更加重要。音乐厅不单单是一个建筑,一种空间功能的容器,从音响的角度上它更是一个大的乐器。该项目设计围绕着建设一个具有世界级水准音响效果的上海交响乐团专属音乐厅的目标,在克服基地条件不利的影响下,在建筑美学与理想的音响效果之间摸索其平衡点。     

A learning method for dynamic Bayesian network structures using a multi-objective particle swarm optimizer

In this article, we present a multi-objective discrete particle swarm optimizer (DPSO) for learning dynamic Bayesian network (DBN) structures. The proposed method introduces a hierarchical structure consisting of DPSOs and a multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA). Groups of DPSOs find effective DBN sub-network structures and a group of MOGAs find the whole of the DBN network structure. Through numerical simulations, the proposed method can find more effective DBN structures, and can obtain them faster than the conventional method.     

Dynamic structures of motor proteins myosin and kinesin, and switch protein troponin as detected by SDSL-ESR

We have studied biological nano-machines, motor and switch proteins operating as supramolecular complexes by electron spin resonance (ESR) and found key features of their molecular movements. In all the systems, the specific movements of elements or domains were detected and quite dynamic at nanometer scale. We have observed two broad but distinct orientations, separated by a 25 degrees axial rotation, of a spin label attached specifically to the light chain (LC) domain of myosin motor in the muscle fibers. The distribution became only narrower upon muscle activation. ESR spectrum from the spin label of the neck-linker of dimeric kinesin motor consisted of immobilized and mobilized components and did not exhibit nucleotide-dependent mobility change. The distance between two labels of kinesin dimer was also measured by spin dipole-dipole interaction, showing a broad distribution and a nucleotide-dependent change on the nanometer scale (>1.5 nm). These results suggest that two LC domains of myosin and two neck linkers of kinesin play a similar role for sliding movement using two conformations. The spin label of the skeletal (Tn)-I regulatory domain (TnIreg) showed a large mobility change by Ca2+ ion suggesting a Ca-induced switch movement of TnIreg. Spin dipole-dipole interaction showed that in reconstituted muscle fibers both skeletal and cardiac TnC undergo Ca2+-induced structural change that is thought to be essential for TnIreg movement. We also succeeded in fixing the newly-synthesized bifunctional spin label rigidly on the TnC molecule in solution, indicating that we can determine the precise coordinate of the spin principal axis of troponin on the oriented filament.     

Microcrack nucleation and growth in elastic lamellar solids

The nucleation and growth of microcracks in elastic lamellar microstructures is studied numerically. The analyses are carried out within a framework where the continuum is characterized by two constitutive relations: one relating the stress and strain in the bulk material and the other relating the traction and separation across a specified set of cohesive surfaces. In such a framework, fracture initiation and crack growth, including micro-crack nucleation ahead of the main crack, arise naturally as a consequence of the imposed loading, without any additional assumptions concerning criteria for crack growth, crack path selection or micro-crack nucleation. Full transient analyses are carried out and plane strain conditions are assumed. The specific problem analyzed is a compact tension specimen with two regions of differing lamellar orientation separated by a fracture resistant layer of finite width d, which is small compared to the physical dimensions of the specimen. An initial crack, normal to the applied loading, is assumed to exist in the first region whose lamellar orientation is fixed. The lamellar orientation of the second region, , is varied, as is the thickness of the fracture resistant layer. It is found that microcrack nucleation in the second region is highly sensitive to the lamellar orientation in that region for small values of d. However, microcrack nucleation becomes rather insensitive to with increasing d. It is also shown that a linear elastic fracture mechanics model with one adjustable parameter gives good agreement with the numerical results for fracture initiation.