The warehouse scheduling problem: formulation and algorithms

The Warehouse Scheduling Problem is a deterministic multi-item inventory problem with a restriction on warehouse floor space available. We formulate a mixed integer nonlinear programming problem for the objective of minimizing long run inventory holding and order costs per unit of time. We integrate algorithms for staggering orders, described in companion papers, with a heuristic to choose the order sequences. The result is called Sequenced Staggering. We describe a new algorithm to generate order frequencies, called the powers-of-two-factor-of-three technique, as a generalization of Roundy's roundoff technique for powers-of-two policies. We report on a computational study of four hybrid algorithms for solving the warehouse scheduling problem, including the competing algorithm of Gallego, Queyranne, and Simchi-Levi. Based on these results, we recommend the combination of powers-of-two frequencies with Sequenced Staggering.     

Fourier-transform-limited pulses from gain-switched distributed-Bragg-reflector lasers using simultaneous modulation of gain and phase sections

Fourier-transform-limited pulses ( Delta tau . Delta nu approximately=0.35) have been obtained from a microwave-modulated DBR laser at 1.56 mu m. The chirp of the gain-switched pulse is compensated for by applying a fraction of the microwave signal to the phase section, thereby creating an instantaneous frequency shift of opposite sign. The generation of short coherent pulses from such a monolithic source can be of great interest for long haul soliton transmission.<>     

Dynamic arrays for fast, efficient, data manipulation during image analysis: a new software tool for exploratory data analysis.

Memory reallocation is used to construct a run-time data structure for fast/efficient storage of information during collection and analysis. The data structure presented uses dynamic memory but does not require the use of pointers to link nodes of information together. It allows for simple and efficient access to data via array indexing rather than through the use of lists or tree structures and it provides flexibility for competing storage requirements that are determined dynamically. The data structure is developed in the C programming language and a suite of ANSI standard C subroutines that make up a run-time data structure management system is provided.     

Organized media for fluorescence analysis of complex samples: comparison of bile salt and conventional detergent micelles in coal liquids.

Accurate quantitative determinations are often difficult to obtain from fluorescence analysis of complex samples due to sample matrix effects and intermolecular interactions between solutes. Organized media can be used to minimize these unwanted processes without physical separation or extraction of the analytes from the sample matrix by isolating the analyte molecules in a uniform microenvironment within the sample. The advantages of bile salt micellar media over conventional detergent micelles are demonstrated for analysis of coal liquids. The bile salt media is shown to increase the sensitivity and dynamic range of fluorescence measurements relative to simple ethanolic solutions, without promoting gound-state and excited-state interactions that occur in the detergent micellar media.     

New possibilities of chemical beneficiation of synnirites

Institute of Geology Siberian Branch, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Novosibirsk. Translated from Fiziko-Tekhnicheskie Problemy Razrabotki Poleznykh Iskopaemykh, No. 1, pp. 106–109, January-February, 1992.     

Carrier multiplication in submicrometre pMOS transistors operated at cryogenic temperatures

The temperature and bias dependence of the carrier multiplication M(I/sub bulk//I/sub drain/) in submicrometre pMOS transistors has been characterised and studied over the temperature range of 30-300 K. In addition, a model which reproduces the bias dependence of M over the measured range of temperature can be extrapolated down to 4.2 K to predict the internal bulk potential and its related 'kink effect'. The agreement between data and the prediction of the model confirms that the gate voltage and temperature dependence of the mean free path plays the key role in determining the carrier multiplication characteristics of submicrometre pMOS transistors, operating in the temperature range of 4.2-300 K.<>     

Gradient interpenetrating polymer networks

The methods of synthesis and properties of gradient interpenetrating polymer networks (IPN) are discussed based on literature and authors' own experimental data. Gradient IPN can be treated as a sequence of an infinite number of layers of IPNs, whose composition and properties vary gradually from the surface to the core of specimens. These are analysed the most important properties of gradient IPNs: temperature transitions, thermodynamic and physico-mechanical characteristics and the main direction of practical application of gradient IPN-based materials.