A Dual-based Heuristic for the Simple Facility Location Problem With Stochastic Demand

This paper deals with a stochastic version of the simple facility location problem where the demands of customers are random variables. Under the assumption of step function type distribution of demands, the problem is shown to be approximated by a mixed 0-1 linear programming problem. A heuristic procedure is developed to solve the problem, which successfully extends the well known dual-based approach by Bilde & Krarup, and Erlenkotter. Computational results with 20 test problems are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed heuristic.     

Atmospheric Dependence on Dielectric Loss of 1/6Ba5Nb4O15· 5/6BaNb2O6 Ceramics

Samples of 1/6Ba₅Nb₄O₁₅·5/6BaNb₂O₆ along with the pure end members, Ba₅Nb₄O₁₅ and BaNb₂O₆, were sintered under low oxygen partial pressure. The degradation mechanisms of dielectric loss in this reducing atmosphere have been studied. We found that the degradation occurred primarily due to the formation of oxygen vacancies caused by the reduction of Nb⁵⁺. This was determined by measuring the electrical conductivity, and through X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. More importantly, the dielectric loss of 1/6Ba₅Nb₄O₁₅·5/6BaNb₂O₆ samples with higher temperature stability was further decreased on sintering in a reducing atmosphere. This observation has been explained by considering the increased porosity and formation of a reduced second phase, Ba_0.65NbO₃.     

Effect of Mn substitution on the oxidation/adsorption abilities of iron(III) oxyhydroxides

In this study, divalent manganese ions [Mn(II)] were substituted a part of divalent iron ions [Fe(II)] present in Fe oxyhydroxides to prepare novel composites (Mn@Feox). The composites were prepared by (1) simultaneous hydrolysis of Fe(II) and Mn(II), and (2) rapid oxidation with H₂O₂. The resulting Mn@Feox prepared with different molar ratios of Fe and Mn was characterized and evaluated for their abilities to adsorb arsenic species [As(III) and As(V)] in aqueous solution. X-ray diffraction and field emission transmission electron microscope analyses revealed Mn@Feox has a δ-(Fe_1?x, Mn_x)OOH-like structure with their mineralogical properties resembling those of feroxyhyte (δ-FeOOH). The increase in Mn substitution in Mn@Feox enhanced the oxidative ability to oxidize As(III) to As(V), but it decreased the adsorption capacity for both arsenic species. The optimal Mn/Fe molar ratio that could endow oxidation and magnetic capabilities to the composite without significantly compromising As adsorption capability was determined to be 0.1 (0.1Mn@Feox). The adsorption of As(III) on 0.1Mn@Feox was weakly influenced by pH change while As(V) adsorption showed high dependence on pH, achieving nearly complete removal at pH?<?5.7 but gradual decrease at pH?>?5.7. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms of As(III) and As(V) showed good conformity to pseudo-second-order kinetics model and Freundlich model, respectively.     

Microwave Dielectric Properties of Low-Fired ZnNb2O6 Ceramics with BiVO4 Addition

The BiVO₄ additive was found effective for low-temperature firing of ZnNb₂O₆ polycrystalline ceramics below 950°C in air without a serious degradation in their microwave dielectric properties. Dense BiVO₄-doped ZnNb₂O₆ samples of a relative sintered density over 95% could be prepared even at 925°C. An optimally processed specimen exhibited excellent microwave dielectric properties of Q · f = 55000 GHz, ɛ_r= 26, and τ_f=−57 ppm/°C. With increasing BiVO₄ addition up to 20 mol% relative to ZnNb₂O₆, while the quality factor Q · f was gradually decreased, the relative dielectric constant, ɛ_r, was linearly increased and the temperature coefficient of resonant frequency, τ_f, was slightly increased. The variations in Q · f and ɛ_r are surely attributable to the residual BiVO₄ in the ZnNb₂O₆ matrix. An unexpected slight increase in τ_f is probably due to the formation of the Bi(V,Nb)O₄-type solid solution.     

A column generation approach to the heterogeneous fleet vehicle routing problem

We consider a vehicle routing problem with a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles having various capacities, fixed costs and variable costs. An approach based on column generation (CG) is applied for its solution, hitherto successful only in the vehicle routing problem with time windows. A tight integer programming model is presented, the linear programming relaxation of which is solved by the CG technique. A couple of dynamic programming schemes developed for the classical vehicle routing problem are emulated with some modifications to efficiently generate feasible columns. With the tight lower bounds thereby obtained, the branch-and-bound procedure is activated to obtain an integer solution. Computational experience with the benchmark test instances confirms that our approach outperforms all the existing algorithms both in terms of the quality of solutions generated and the solution time.     

Prioritized channel assignment in a cellular radio network

Dimensioning procedures for prioritized channel assignment in a cellular radio network are considered. Under the cutoff priority discipline, the prioritized channel assignment procedures for a single cell and multicell system are formulated as nonlinear discrete capacity allocation problems. Exact incremental algorithms which efficiently solve the proposed problems are devised. They are based on the properties of the blocking probabilities of new calls and handoff calls. Given the number of available frequency channels together with the arrival rates and the grade of service (GOS) for both types of calls in each cell, algorithm SP1 generates an optimal channel assignment which ensures priority for handoff calls. Given the arrival rates and distinct GOSs for new and handoff calls, algorithm SP2 finds the minimum number of channels required in each cell. Algorithm MP extends algorithm SP1 to a multicell system and provides the prioritized channel assignment for all calls in the system. The algorithms are very fast and are appropriate for the fair allocation of frequency channels among cells     

Spectrum-efficient call control in a dual-mode TDMA cellular system

This study deals with a call control strategy in a dual-mode time-division multiple access (TDMA) cellular system, which provides services both to analog and digital calls. Since analog calls consume the frequency resource several times as much as digital calls, we consider a call control strategy of the threshold type that the number of active analog calls is restricted within a prespecified level. Given the arrival rates and the grade of service (GOS) for both types of calls in the cells, two nonlinear integer optimization problems are considered for a multicell system as well as for a single cell system. One problem is to find the threshold parameters for optimizing the relevant objective measures. The other is to obtain the minimum numbers of required channels in the cells satisfying the GOS of both types of calls. The solution methods for the two kinds of optimization problems are devised based on the properties of the objective function and the blocking probabilities of both call types. The efficiency of the proposed algorithms is verified by extensive computational experiments with realistic input data     

Opportunistic packet scheduling algorithm for non-real-time service with a soft QoS requirement in a mobile broadband wireless access system

In this paper, we present a packet scheduling algorithm for a non-real-time service, with soft QoS requirements, which allows for degrading the QoS level, e.g., typically the packet delay, whenever necessary, in mobile broadband wireless Internet access systems. This algorithm is designed to properly trade off system throughput and delay performance, which can improve the system capacity by relaxing the delay constraint with respect to the underlying soft QoS requirement. This is as opposed to most of the existing packet scheduling algorithms for non-real-time service which are simply designed to maximize the system throughput without a delay constraint. The proposed adaptive exponential scheduling algorithm intentionally introduces additional delay to some users, especially under bad channel conditions, opportunistically allowing for serving users only under good channel conditions, as long as the resulting QoS degradation is acceptable for non-real-time service users. The results from a system-level simulation demonstrate that the system capacity can be significantly increased over existing algorithms, by as much as 65%, using the adaptive exponential scheduling algorithm while satisfying the given QoS-level requirements.     

Highly active and stable electrocatalytic transition metal phosphides (Ni2P and FeP) nanoparticles on porous carbon cloth for overall water splitting at high current density

Highly active and stable hydrogen production at high current densities is required for practical application of electrocatalytic water splitting. In this study, highly active self-supporting electrodes with excellent durability were designed and developed for high-performance overall water splitting at a high current density. First, a colloid-based dip-coating method using porous carbon cloth (PCC) was introduced to obtain uniformly coated Ni and Fe nanoparticles on a conductive substrate. Then, the desired phase transitions of Ni and Fe to Ni₂P and FeP, respectively, proceeded by thermal phosphidation at optimum temperature. The uniformly interconnected Ni₂P layers on the PCC substrate (Ni₂P@PCC) and FeP layers on the PCC substrate (FeP@PCC) exhibited outstanding oxygen and hydrogen evolution reactions, respectively. When each electrode was adopted as an anode and a cathode for the overall water splitting cell, excellent performance was achieved, with a low operational voltage of 1.76 V and high durability for 100 hours at a high current density of 50 mA cm⁻².     

Erratum to: Cobalt phosphide nanoarrays with crystalline-amorphous hybrid phase for hydrogen production in universal-pH

Nano Research - The contributions of the first two authors were unfortunately misrepresented on the first page and the first page of the ESM.