A Scheduling Technique Wireless Personal for Bandwidth Communication Allocation in Networks

Future generation wireless personalcommunication networks (PCN) are expected to providemultimedia capable wireless extensions of fixedATM/B-ISDN. This paper presents a scheduling techniquefor PCN based on TDMA and the leaky bucket regulator, thewell known bandwidth enforcement mechanism for fixedATM. The main objective of the proposed technique is toensure fair and efficient treatment of various types oftraffic on the air interface, includingconstant-bit-rate (CBR) voice and variable-bit-rate(VBR) video. Two alternative priority mechanisms areintroduced and their performance is evaluated. Theperformance comparison of the alternatives reveals aninteresting tradeoff between fairness and quality ofservice (QoS).     

Global supply chain planning for pharmaceuticals

The shortening of patent life periods, generic competition and public health policies, among other factors, have changed the operating context of the pharmaceutical industry. In this work we address a dynamic allocation/planning problem that optimises the global supply chain planning of a pharmaceutical company, from production stages at primary and secondary sites to product distribution to markets. The model explores different production and distribution costs and tax rates at different locations in order to maximise the company's net profit value (NPV).Large instances of the model are not solvable in realistic time scales, so two decomposition algorithms were developed. In the first method, the supply chain is decomposed into independent primary and secondary subproblems, and each of them is optimised separately. The second algorithm is a temporal decomposition, where the main problem is separated into several independent subproblems, one per each time period. These algorithms enable the solution of large instances of the problem in reasonable time with good quality results.     

Synthetic Peroxides Promote Apoptosis of Cancer Cells by Inhibiting P-Glycoprotein ABCB5

This article discloses a new horizon for the application of peroxides in medical chemistry. Stable cyclic peroxides are demonstrated to have cytotoxic activity against cancer cells; in addition a mechanism of cytotoxic action is proposed. Synthetic bridged 1,2,4,5-tetraoxanes and ozonides were effective against HepG2 cancer cells and some ozonides selectively targeted liver cancer cells (the selectivity indexes for compounds 11 b and 12 a are 8 and 5, respectively). In some cases, tetraoxanes and ozonides were more selective than paclitaxel, artemisinin, and artesunic acid. Annexin V flow-cytometry analysis revealed that the active ozonides 22 a and 23 a induced cell death of HepG2 by apoptosis. Further study showed that compounds 22 a and 23 a exhibited a strong inhibitory effect on P-glycoprotein (P-gp/ABCB5)-overexpressing HepG2 cancer cells. ABCB5 is a key player in the multidrug-resistant phenotype of liver cancer. Peroxides failed to demonstrate a direct correlation between oxidative potential and their biological activity. To our knowledge this is the first time that peroxide diastereoisomers have been found to show stereospecific antimalarial action against the chloroquine-sensitive 3D7 strain of Plasmodium falciparum. Stereoisomeric ozonide 12 b is 11 times more active than stereoisomeric ozonide 12 a (IC₅₀=5.81 vs 65.18 μm ). Current findings mean that ozonides merit further investigation as potential therapeutic agents for drug-resistant hepatocellular carcinoma.     

Corrosion in alkanolamine used for acid gas removal: From natural gas processing to CO2 capture

The aim of this paper is to review some of the parameters influencing the corrosivity of alkanolamine solvents used for natural gas purification or for CO₂ capture. In the light of literature data and of new experimental results, the influences of temperature and of acid gas loading are discussed. These two parameters appear to have a strong impact on corrosion rates of carbon steel, with extrapolated corrosion rates of several tens of mm/year for the highest temperature and acid gas loading condition. It is then proposed to discuss about similarities and differences between natural gas processing and CO₂ capture from flue gas. For both applications, alkanolamine processes are used. Still, differences can be found in operating parameters. The most significant gap concerns the lean amine sections. In acid gas treatment, the regeneration of the solvent is often performed down to zero loading. Under these conditions, an extremely low corrosivity of the lean solvent is expected. On the contrary, CO₂ capture from flue gas requires only a partial stripping of the CO₂ in the regeneration section, due to energy efficiency reasons. Then, the lean solvent still contains some acid gas, and subsequently a higher corrosivity. Finally, the general principles for material selection for the different parts of acid gas removal units are discussed, considering both cases of natural gas processing or CO₂ capture.     

Supply chain design and multilevel planning—An industrial case

In this paper we address a case study, inspired by a real agrochemicals supply chain, with two main objectives, structured in two stages. In the first stage we redesign the global supply chain network and optimise the production and distribution plan considering a time horizon of 1 year, providing a decision support tool for long term investments and strategies. The output decisions from the first stage, mainly the supply chain configuration and allocation decisions, are the input parameters for the second stage where a short term operational model is used to test the accuracy of the derived design and plan. The outputs of this stage are detailed production and distribution plans and an assessment of the customer service level.At the operational level, failure to meet on time the demand fulfilment targets established at the planning stage is usually caused by allocation of too many products/customers to the same resource in the first stage, especially to those surrounding the system bottlenecks. This introduces idle periods in the planning of the bottleneck resources, preventing the whole system from operating at its maximum capacity. An analytical methodology was developed to use the information gathered in the second step to improve the supply chain design and plan by enforcing a more distributed allocation of products/customers to the available resources in each time period.     

Evaluation of the mechanical properties of conventionally-cast Al matrix composites reinforced by quasicrystalline Al-Cu-Fe particles using continuous ball indentation technique

Room temperature mechanical properties of the Al/(AlCuFe)_p and Al₉₆Cu₄/(AlCuFe)_p cast composites were estimated from uniaxial compressive test and continuous ball indentation technique. Values of the Young’s modulus and yield stress determined from continuous ball indentation tests were slightly overestimated, suggesting a surface effect on the mechanical properties. However, it was shown that the Al-Cu-Fe particles provided a significant increase of the elastic modulus, yield stress, and strain hardening, especially in the range up to 10% volume fraction of reinforcements. Also, determination of the hardness by continuous-ball-indentation tests revealed a strong influence of the matrix strength on the mechanical properties of the conventionally cast composites.     

Globulization mechanism of the primary Al of Al−15Cu alloy during slurry preparation for rheoforming

Semisolid slurries of Al-15Cu alloy were produced for rheoforming by a low temperature pouring technique. To investigate the morphological change of the slurry in terms of the particle mean diameter and the roundness factor, samples were extracted during the continuous cooling and the isothermal holding stage of the slurry by a simple technique of interrupt quenching. Results demonstrated that the fine-grained equiaxed dendritic structure, which formed during low temperature pouring, is changed to a globular structure when held at a semisolid temperature for sufficiently long holding time. With regard to the globulization mechanism of the primary α-phase, local melting is considered to take place at the neck of equiaxed dendrites, leading to the separation of small new particles during continuous cooling. These newly formed particles eventually grow during isothermal holding in the semisolid temperature by obeying theD ³=Kt kinetic law, which suggests coarsening by Ostwald ripening.     

Modelling electricity storage systems management under the influence of demand‐side management programmes

Electricity storage systems (ESS) for bulk energy storage are principally used for load levelling purposes or for relieving the intermittency of renewables. Another use is electricity arbitrage through the rule of ‘buy low, sell high’. This operation tracks the market‐clearing price (MCP) profiles and produces profit by exploiting the differences between peak and off‐peak prices. The profits made in this way depend on technology characteristics and the market competition level. We investigate the influence of demand‐side management (DSM) on ESS profitability when the only income is from provision of electricity arbitrage services, by optimizing the time allocation of the charge and discharge operations. Two scenarios of DSM in the market have been selected for two management periods (MP): 1 day and 3 days. The longer MP is examined in order to investigate the potential for higher economic value when energy transfer to the next day is permitted. The key finding is that a very small load shifting from peaks to off‐peaks, due to DSM, significantly affects the ESS profit. The significant profit losses the ESS showed are a result of the high capital costs and the small difference of the peak and off‐peak electricity prices in the Greek market. Therefore, under the assumptions we have made for this research, any attempt to use ESS in ‘buy low, sell high’ operation is not profitable. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.