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.     

VSculpt : a distributed virtual sculpting environment for collaborative design

A collaborative virtual sculpting system supports a team of geographically separated designers/engineers connected by networks to participate in designing three-dimensional (3D) virtual engineering tools or sculptures. It encourages international collaboration at a minimal cost. However, in order for the system to be useful, two factors need to be addressed: intuitiveness and real-time interaction. Although a lot of effort has been put into developing virtual sculpting environments, only limited work addresses collaborative virtual sculpting. This is because in order to support real-time collaborative virtual sculpting, many challenging issues need to be addressed. We propose a collaborative virtual sculpting framework, called VSculpt. Through adapting some techniques we developed earlier and integrating them with some techniques developed here, the proposed framework provides a real-time intuitive environment for collaborative design. In particular, it addresses issues on efficient rendering and transmission of deformable objects, intuitive object deformation using the CyberGlove and concurrent object deformation by multiple clients. We demonstrate and evaluate the performance of the proposed framework through a number of experiments.     

Direct slicing of STEP based NURBS models for layered manufacturing

Direct slicing of CAD models to generate process planning instructions for solid freeform fabrication may overcome inherent disadvantages of using stereolithography format in terms of the process accuracy, ease of file management, and incorporation of multiple materials. This paper will present the results of our development of a direct slicing algorithm for layered freeform fabrication. The direct slicing algorithm was based on a neutral, international standard (ISO 10303) STEP-formatted non-uniform rational B-spline (NURBS) geometric representation and is intended to be independent of any commercial CAD software. The following aspects of the development effort will be presented: (1) determination of optimal build direction based upon STEP-based NURBS models; (2) adaptive subdivision of NURBS data for geometric refinement; and (3) ray-casting slice generation into sets of raster patterns. The development also provides for multi-material slicing and will provide an effective tool in heterogeneous slicing processes.     

A grid middleware for distributed Java computing with MPI binding and process migration supports

“Grid” computing has emerged as an important new research field. With years of efforts, grid researchers have successfully developed grid technologies including security solutions,resource management protocols, information query protocols, and data management services. How-ever, as the ultimate goal of grid computing is to design an infrastructure which supports dynarnic,cross-organizational resource sharing, there is a need of solutions for efficient and transparent task re-scheduling in the grid. In this research, a new grid middleware is proposed, called G-JavaMPI. This middleware adds the parallel computing capability of Java to the grid with the support of a Grid-enabled message passing interface (MPI) for inter-process communication between Java processes executed at dif-ferent grid points. A special feature of the proposed G-JavaMPI is the support of Java process migration with post-migration message redirection. With these supports, it is possible to migrate executing Java process from site to site for continuous computation, if some site is scheduled to be turned down for system reconfiguration. Moreover, the proposed G-JavaMPI middleware is very portable since it requires no modification of underlying OS, Java virtual machine, and MPI package. Preliminary performance tests have been conducted. The proposed mechanisms have shown good migration efficiency in a simulated grid environment.     

Synthesis of novel tri- and tetrasubstituted C<Subscript>18</Subscript> furan fatty esters

A methylene-interrupted C₁₈ keto-acetylenic fatty ester (methyl 12-oxo-9-octadecynoate) was obtained from methyl ricinoleate by bromination-dehydrobromination followed by oxidation. Reaction of methyl 12-oxo-9-octadecynoate with bis(benzonitrile) palladium(II) chloride, allyl bromide, or methyl-allyl bromide furnished methyl 8-[5-hexyl-3-allyl-furan-2-yl]-octanoate (1, 56%) or methyl 8-[5-hexyl-3-(2-methyl-allyl)-furan-2-yl]-octanoate (2, 55%). Reaction of methyl 12-oxo-11-chloro-or 11-fluoro-9-octadeyynoate (prepared from methyl santalbate-methyl 11-E-9-octadecynoate, found in sandalwood, Santalum album, seed oil) with bis(benzonitrile) palladium(II) chloride gave methyl 8-(4-fluoro-5-hexyl-furan-2-yl)-octanoate (3, 50%) or methyl 8-(4-fluoro-5-hexyl-furan-2-yl)-octanoate (4, 50%), respectively. And when methyl 12-oxo-11-chloro- or 11-fluoro-9-octadecynoate was treated with a mixture of bis(benzonitrile) palladium(II) chloride, allyl bromide, or methyl-allyl bromide, the reaction yielded tetrasubstituted C₁₈ furan derivatives, viz, methyl 8-(3-allyl-4-chloro-5-hexyl-furan-2-yl)-octanoate (5, 54%), methyl 8-[4-chloro-5-hexyl-3-(2-methyl-allyl)-furan-2-yl)-octanoate (6, 54%), methyl 8-(3-allyl-4-fluoro-5-hexyl-furan-2-yl]-octanoate (7, 10%), and methyl 8-[4-fluoro-5-hexyl-3-(2-methyl-allyl)-furan-2-yl]-octanoate (8, 10%). The presence of a fluorine atom in the furan derivatives 4, 7, and 8 was readily characterized by the appearance of doublets for carbon nuclei, which were coupled to the fluorine atom in the ¹³C NMR spectra. All furan fatty derivatives from this work were characterized by NMR spectroscopic and mass spectrometric analyses. The yields of compounds 7 and 8 were very low (10%) despite attempts to improve the procedure by increasing the amounts of the reactants and catalyst.     

Deposition of carbon nitride films by filtered cathodic vacuum arc combined with radio frequency ion beam source

Atomically smooth carbon nitride films were deposited by an off-plane double bend filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) technique. A radio frequency nitrogen ion source was used to supply active nitrogen species during the deposition of carbon nitride films. The films were characterized by atomic force microscopy (AFM), XPS and Raman spectroscopy. The internal stress was measured by the substrate bending method. The influence of nitrogen ion energy (0–1000 eV) on the composition, structure and properties of the carbon nitride films was studied. The nitrogen ion source greatly improves the incorporation of nitrogen in the films. The ratio of N/C atoms in the films increases to 0.40 with an increase in the ion beam energy to 100 eV. Further increase in the ion beam energy leads to a slight decrease in the N/C ratio. XPS results show that nitrogen atoms in the films are chemically bonded to carbon atoms as C---N, C=N, and CN bonds, but most of nitrogen atoms are bonded to sp² carbon. The increase in nitrogen ion energy leads to a decrease in the content of nitrogen atoms bonded to sp² carbon, and an increase in the content of nitrogen atoms bonded to sp³ and sp¹ carbon. Raman spectra indicate an increase in the sp² carbon phase in carbon nitride films with an increase in nitrogen ion energy. The increase in sp² carbon fraction is attributed to the decrease in internal stress with increasing nitrogen ion energy.     

Structural and Rheological Properties of Aerated High Sugar Systems Containing Egg Albumen

ABSTRACT: Structural and rheological properties have been investigated for an aerated system containing a high content of invert sugar and 2 to 10 wt% egg albumen. The specific gravity and the overrun were found to be influenced by the protein concentration and the whipping time. The systems exhibited rheopexy and shear-thinning at high shear rate, with flow data fitted to a power-law model. At small deformations, viscous character was found to dominate over elastic character over the frequency range 10⁻² to 10 Hz. Images taken from confocal microscopy indicated that mean bubble size and concentration varied systematically with protein concentration and whipping time, and that more protein accumulated on the bubble surfaces as whipping proceeded. The study of this model system illustrates how the texture of a high sugar content aerated food depends on protein content and whipping conditions.     

Application of Matrix Solid-Phase Dispersion and Liquid Chromatography–Ion Trap Mass Spectrometry for the Analysis of Pesticide Residues in Fruits

This study presents an application of rapid and sensitive multiresidue method for the analysis of acephate, acetamipride, atrazine, carbendazim, carbaryl, carbofuran, dimethoate, imidacloprid, linuron, malathion, monocrotophos, monuron, propazine, simazine, and tebufenozide in fruits. The method involves an extraction procedure based on matrix solid-phase dispersion using diatomaceous earth as a dispersant and dichloromethane as the eluent. The target pesticides were determined using liquid chromatography–ion trap mass spectrometry. Quantification of the analytes was carried out using the most sensitive ion transition. Ion trap parameters, like activation q and time, were found to have a prominent influence on method sensitivity for some pesticides and they were optimized accordingly. The confirmation of residues detected in real samples was performed by repeated injection and acquiring additional ion transitions besides the ones used for quantification. The method was validated for accuracy, linearity, reproducibility, and sensitivity. Mean values for recoveries were in the range of 70–120 % for all tested matrices. Repeatability of the method, expressed as the relative standard deviation, was in general lower than 20 %. The applicability of the method to routine analysis was tested in real fruit samples with good performance.