Solving the irregular strip packing problem via guided local search for overlap minimization

The irregular strip-packing problem (ISP) requires a given set of non-convex polygons to be placed without overlap within a rectangular container having a fixed width and a variable length, which is to be minimized. As a core sub-problem to solve ISP, we consider an overlap minimization problem (OMP) whose objective is to place all polygons into a container with given width and length so that the total amount of overlap between polygons is made as small as possible. We propose to use directional penetration depths to measure the amount of overlap between a pair of polygons, and present an efficient algorithm to find a position with the minimum overlap for each polygon when it is translated in a specified direction. Based on this, we develop a local search algorithm for OMP that translates a polygon in horizontal and vertical directions alternately. Then we incorporate it in our algorithm for OMP, which is a variant of the guided local search algorithm. Computational results show that our algorithm improves the best-known values of some well-known benchmark instances.     

Electrokinetic microslit experiments to analyse the charge formation at solid/liquid interfaces

Electrokinetic effects play an important role in microfluidics and nanofluidics. Although the related phenomena are often utilized to control fluid flow and sample transport in lab-on-a-chip devices, their dependency on the surface charges on the channel walls often remain enigmatic. This is mainly due to the lack of adequate experimental methods to analyse the electrical charging of solid/liquid interfaces of interest. To address this need, an experimental set-up—designated as microslit electrokinetic set-up (MES)—has been recently developed and applied for the investigation of charge formation processes at planar solid/liquid interfaces. The device permits to perform streaming potential and streaming current measurements across a rectangular streaming channel formed by two parallel sample carriers (20×10×3 mm³) at variable distance allowing for the determination of the surface conductivity. Utilizing the MES, charge characteristics can be determined for a wide variety of materials prepared as thin films on top of planar glass substrates. Streaming potential and streaming current data permit to investigate the mechanisms of charge formation while surface conductivity data provide information about mobile charge carriers located in different zones at the interface. The applicability of this advanced experimental approach is demonstrated with examples obtained for surfaces with different levels of complexity:

1. Preferential ion adsorption onto unpolar fluoropolymer (Teflon^® AF) films was characterized in simple electrolyte solutions; the results were quantitatively evaluated with respect to interfacial ion concentrations.
2. Interrelation of charge density and conformation of grafted poly(L-glutamic acid layers) were unravelled from the determination of pH-depended variations of surface conductivity and layer thickness.
3. The impact of spatial confinements of surface functional groups on their acid–base behaviour was studied with self-assembled monomolecular films of alkanethiols chemisorbed on gold.
4. Charging of and ion mobility within poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) brushes prepared by a Langmuir–Blodgett technique were analysed at varied pH and ionic strength.
5. Interfacial modes of adsorbed proteins were distinguished at two polymer surfaces with varied hydrophobicity/charge density.

     

Comparisons of optimal release policies for software systems

In a software product management, it is an important problem to determine the optimal release timing which minimizes the total expected cost incurred in both testing and operation phases. In this paper, we compare the performance between two kinds of software release methods, which are referred to as the T-policy and the N-policy. Based on the existing software reliability growth models, we formulate the expected cost functions and derive analytically the optimal policies under these control methods. Also, we derive a criterion for which control methods should be adopted. Finally, in numerical examples, we calculate the optimal release policies for several cost parameters.     

Processing of nanolitre liquid plugs for microfluidic cell-based assays

Plugs, i.e. droplets formed in a microchannel, may revolutionize microfluidic cell-based assays. This study describes a microdevice that handles nanolitre-scale liquid plugs for the preparation of various culture setups and subsequent cellular assays. An important feature of this mode of liquid operation is that the recirculation flow generated inside the plug promotes the rapid mixing of different solutions after plugs are merged, and it keeps cell suspensions homogeneous. Thus, serial dilutions of reagents and cell suspensions with different cell densities and cell types were rapidly performed using nanolitres of solution. Cells seeded through the plug processing grew well in the microdevice, and subsequent plug processing was used to detect the glucose consumption of cells and cellular responses to anticancer agents. The plug-based microdevice may provide a useful platform for cell-based assay systems in various fields, including fundamental cell biology and drug screening applications.     

Effect of Water on Extractive Desulfurization of Simulated FCC Gasoline Using Ionic Liquid NMP-FeCl_3-H_2O

A series of novel aqueous ionic liquids(NMP-FeCl_3-nH_2O) were prepared and the effects of water in the aqueous ionic liquids on desulfurization rate and selectivity of simulated FCC gasoline were investigated. The results showed that adding a small amount of water into the ionic liquid NMP-FeCl3 could effectively improve the desulfurization rate and selectivity, and the optimal amount of water was equal to 5%―10% of NMP. Finally, the possible desulfurization mechanism activated by a small amount of water was proposed.     

A NEW METHOD OF DOPPLER CENTROID ESTIMATION FOR SPACEBORNE SAR-AMPLITUDE CORRELATION METHOD

The linear relationship between Doppler centroid and range walking in spaceborne SAR data is analyzed, and a new method to estimate Doppler centroid is proposed, which is so called amplitude correlation method. Compared with clutter-lock method which is widely used now, the new method has much less computation burden and is able to give higher estimation accuracy for a quasi-homogeneous scene or a non-homogeneous scene. This is clearly verified by the experimental results of estimating Doppler centroid for SEASAT-A raw data.     

改进的任意基FFT整序算法

本文提出了一种改进的适合于任意基ＦＦＴ变换的整序算法,改进整序算法采用循环嵌套结构,减少了运算量,实验结果表明,改进整序算法的运算时间较其它整序算法少。     

BER Performance of Frequency Domain Differential Demodulation OFDM in Flat Fading Channel

A closed form expression for the bit error rate (BER) performance of frequency domaindifferential demodulation(FDDD) for orthogonal frequency division multiplexing system in flat fadingchannel is derived.The performance is evaluated by computer simulation and compared with the timedomain differential demodulation(TDDD).The results indicate that the performance of FDDD is betterthan that of TDDD,and the lower band of BER in the former is lower than that of the latter.