Bicriteria scheduling on a single batching machine with job transportation and deterioration considerations

We study a single batching machine scheduling problem with transportation and deterioration considerations arising from steel production. A set of jobs are transported, one at a time, by a vehicle from a holding area to the single batching machine. The machine can process several jobs simultaneously as a batch. The processing time of a job will increase if the duration from the time leaving the holding area to the start of its processing exceeds a given threshold. The time needed to process a batch is the longest of the job processing times in the batch. The problem is to determine the job sequence for transportation and the job batching for processing so as to minimize the makespan and the number of batches. We study four variations (P1, P2, P3, P4) of the problem with different treatments of the two criteria. We prove that all the four variations are strongly NP‐hard and further develop polynomial time algorithms for their special cases. For each of the first three variations, we propose a heuristic algorithm and analyze its worst‐case performance. For P4, which is to find the Pareto frontier, we provide a heuristic algorithm and an exact algorithm based on branch and bound. Computational experiments show that all the heuristic algorithms perform well on randomly generated problem instances, and the exact algorithm for P4 can obtain Pareto optimal schedules for small‐scale instances. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics 61: 269–285, 2014     

An Analysis of the Threat of Malicious Chemical Use by Nonstate Actors: Questioning the State-based Approach to Chemical Nonproliferation

ABSTRACT

This study seeks to evaluate the threat of malicious chemical use by non-state actors. It finds that non-state actors have primarily turned to ready-to-use crude chemical weapons (CW) instead of traditional CW agents. Interestingly, the worst crude CW attacks have been more destructive than those employing traditional CW. Scenarios for catastrophic consequences exist, but chemical attacks have typically been used to accomplish tactical goals, which leverage psychological and economic impacts. Therefore, successful efforts to counter CW proliferation by non-state actors must be substantially different from those targeting states.     

Reading the Riot Act: Toward a More Comprehensive Ban on Chemical Weapons

ABSTRACT

The recent use of chemicals in warfare in Syria and Iraq illustrates that, despite the important work of the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), the world has not yet been totally successful in stopping the use of indiscriminate toxic agents in conflicts, either by states or non-state actors. Michael Crowley's excellent and timely new book, Chemical Control, analyzes the use of “riot control agents” (RCAs) and “incapacitating chemical agents” (ICAs), including launch and dispersal systems, by police, paramilitary, and military forces over the last decades and raises the challenging question about where the red line might be drawn between banned and permitted uses of chemicals. He discusses this problem not only in the context of the CWC, which allows use of RCAs for civilian riot control, but also in the context of international law, human rights, and criminal justice, including the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention and other disarmament and abolition regimes. He proposes a “holistic, three-stage approach” to addressing this issue “for effective regulation or prohibition of the weapon or weapon-related technology of concern.” As we approach the global abolition of a whole class of weapons of mass destruction in the next decade or even sooner, Chemical Control is helpful in better understanding and solving the dilemma of what's actually banned or permitted under international law, and precluding states undermining the chemical weapons ban.     

Gas,power, and norms: competing logics for the declining use of chemical warfare

ABSTRACT

What restrains states from employing chemical weapons during modern war? Despite widespread and consistent efforts by the international community to outlaw chemical weapons in the twentieth century, major deviations from this goal occur. Two of the strongest explanations that exist for this trend are the logics of deterrence and norms that consider the use of chemical weapons to be a taboo. We test these theories using factor analysis and find that norms provide a better explanation of non-use in the twentieth century among states with a chemical-weapon capability. We then conclude with avenues for future research in this burgeoning field of study, which includes closer qualitative examination of norms, as well as the expansion of the dataset to include intrastate warfare and non-state warfare.     

基于非负矩阵分解的电磁超声系统优化研究

针对孤立脉冲群电磁超声系统信号特征容易被噪声淹没的问题,提出基于改进的非负矩阵分解（INMF）优选特征的支持向量机（SVM）方法．首先,用3种不同的方法提取高维特征;其次,用NMF方法实现特征降维,并保证降维结果的唯一性,避免对特征的直接选择;最后,应用支持向量机方法对降维特征进行分类．对孤立脉冲群电磁超声系统采集的4种信号特征进行提取、选择和分类,实验结果表明：INMF方法能有效提取微弱信号的特征,减少运算量,提高电磁超声系统特征采集的准确率．     

Review of the ordered and proportionate flow shop scheduling research

Ordered flow shop models have appeared in the literature since the mid‐1970s and proportionate flow shop models have appeared since the early 1980s. We provide a detailed review of these models along with some analysis and potential topics for future research. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2013     

虚拟维修仿真数据编辑系统研究

为有效解决虚拟维修系统中仿真数据编辑技术不通用的问题,在深入研究虚拟维修数据模型、交互任务分析、仿真数据管理等关键技术的基础上,设计开发了具有工程应用价值的虚拟维修仿真数据编辑系统.在分析系统设计需求的基础上,设计了系统总体结构,基于S1000D设计了虚拟维修数据模型,基于UML分析了维修样机编辑和维修规程编辑过程中的交互任务,基于XML实现了仿真数据的编辑、存储与发布.该系统应用于某型复杂装备虚拟维修,验证了系统的各项功能和应用效果.     

一种新型CVD铁涂层吸波纤维

利用Fe(CO)5受热分解,以CVD方法在SiC纤维表面涂覆单质铁的涂层。研究表明,涂层的引入对SiC纤维力学性能基本没有损伤;纤维依靠涂层导电,其电阻率显著降低;改变工艺条件,可以在较大范围内调节涂层纤维的介电常数,同时也引入了磁损耗机制;采用较低的沉积温度和较高的载气流速,可以提高介电常数和磁导率,同时有好的频散效应。     

An FPTAS for scheduling a two‐machine flowshop with one unavailability interval

We study a deterministic two‐machine flowshop scheduling problem with an assumption that one of the two machines is not available in a specified time period. This period can be due to a breakdown, preventive maintenance, or processing unfinished jobs from a previous planning horizon. The problem is known to be NP‐hard. Pseudopolynomial dynamic programming algorithms and heuristics with worst case error bounds are given in the literature to solve the problem. They are different for the cases when the unavailability interval is for the first or second machine. The existence of a fully polynomial time approximation scheme (FPTAS) was formulated as an open conjecture in the literature. In this paper, we show that the two cases of the problem under study are equivalent to similar partition type problems. Then we derive a generic FPTAS for the latter problems with O(n⁵/ε⁴) time complexity. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004.     

Proactive release procedures for just‐in‐time job shop environments,subject to machine failures

In this paper, we consider just‐in‐time job shop environments (job shop problems with an objective of minimizing the sum of tardiness and inventory costs), subject to uncertainty due to machine failures. We present techniques for proactive uncertainty management that exploit prior knowledge of uncertainty to build competitive release dates, whose execution improves performance. These techniques determine the release dates of different jobs based on measures of shop load, statistical data of machine failures, and repairs with a tradeoff between inventory and tardiness costs. Empirical results show that our methodology is very promising in comparison with simulated annealing and the best of 39 combinations of dispatch rules & release policies, under different frequencies of breakdowns. We observe that the performance of the proactive technique compared to the other two approaches improves in schedule quality (maximizing delivery performance while minimizing costs) with increase in frequency of breakdowns. The proactive technique presented here is also computationally less expensive than the other two approaches. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Naval Research Logistics, 2004