API-based two-dimensional dispatching decision-making approach for semiconductor wafer fabrication with operation due date–related objectives

<p>This paper presents an adjacent pairwise interchanges (API)-based two-dimensional dispatching decision-making approach for semiconductor wafer fabrication with operation due date-related objectives. Each time when a machine becomes idle, the proposed dispatcher chooses a target processing job from the competing jobs and assigns it a start time. Giving the operation due date information of each competing job, we formulate this dispatcher as the mean absolute deviation problem to keep the jobs finished around their operation due dates in a proactive way. Dominance properties of this problem are established using proof by APIs. Then, a heuristic comprised of job selection within candidate set, movement of job cluster and local search is designed to solve this problem more efficiently. Numerical experiments validate the efficiency of the proposed heuristic in a single-machine environment as well as in a simulated wafer fab abstracted from practice. In comparison with four most referenced due date-related dispatching rules, the simulation study reveals the benefits brought by the two-dimensional dispatching decision with different due date tightness taken into account.</p

Mathematical model and exact algorithm for the home care worker scheduling and routing problem with lunch break requirements

<p>Home health care or home care (HHC/HC) refers to the delivery of social, medical and paramedical services to clients in their own homes. Each day, care workers start from the HHC/HC centre, visit some clients and return to the centre. During the service delivery process, there is usually a lunch break for each worker. In this paper, we address a real-life home care worker scheduling and routing problem with the consideration of lunch break requirements. A three-index mathematical model is constructed for the problem. The problem is decomposed into a master problem and several pricing sub-problems, and is optimally solved by a branch-and-price (B&P) algorithm. Specifically, a sophisticated label-correcting algorithm is designed to address lunch break constraints in pricing sub-problems; some cutting-edge acceleration strategies are applied during the column generation process. Experimental results show that the proposed B&P algorithm is able to produce satisfied solutions within an acceptable runtime and outperforms the mixed integer programming solver CPLEX.</p

Baseline general characteristics of the discovery and validation cohorts of patients.

<p><b>Note</b>: Continuous variable values were expressed as Mean±SD. Categorical variables were expressed as n(%). BMI, body mass index; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; PMI, postoperative myocardial infarction.</p

Inserted DNA sequence in positive peptide phage clones.

<p>After 3 rounds of biopanning, 20 peptide phage clones were randomly picked and reacted with sera IgG from patients with PMI after coronary artery bypass grafting. Phage clones were considered positive when their absorbance values in phage ELISA were above the cutoff value (0.494), which was set to 2 times of the absorbance value of the negative control (NC, black bar) at 450 nm. C1, C2, C5, C7, C10, C12, C13, C15, C16, C18 and C19 positive phage clones (green bars) had the same inserted DNA sequence 5′-GGC GTA ATC ATG GTC ATA GCT GTT TCC TGT GTG AAA-3′. The corresponding peptide sequence was GVIMVIAVSCVF (named PMI-1). C4, C8, C11 and C20 positive phage clones (blue bars) had the same inserted DNA sequence 5′-GGG TCC TTA GTG ATG TTG GTG TTC GGT TAC ATG GGC-3′. The corresponding peptide sequence was GSLVMLVFGYMG (named PMI-2). The negative phage clones were shown in red bars. The two single positive phage clones were shown in white bars.</p

Serum cardiac troponin I (cTnI) levels after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in the discovery and validation cohorts of patients.

<p>Serum cTnI levels were determined at baseline (within 72 hours before CABG) and at 1, 6, 12 and 24 hours after CABG in (A) the discovery (n = 20 each for the PMI and the non-PMI groups) and (B) the validation (n = 50 each for the PMI and the non-PMI groups) cohorts of patients. PMI, postoperative myocardial infarction.</p

Baseline disease characteristics and mortality outcomes of the discovery and validation cohorts of patients.

<p><b>Note</b>: Continuous variable values were expressed as Mean±SD. Categorical variables were expressed as n(%). ARB, angiotensin II receptor blocker; CPB, cardiopulmonary bypass; LM, left main; PMI, postoperative myocardial infarction.</p

Phage ELISA in healthy controls and the validation cohort of patients.

<p><b>Note</b>: All continuous variables were expressed as Mean±SD. Comparisons of means among multiple groups were performed with one-way ANOVA followed by <i>post hoc</i> pairwise comparisons using Tukey's tests. Categorical variables were compared with Chi-square tests. PMI, postoperative myocardial infarction;</p>a<p><i>p</i><0.05 vs. Healthy control;</p>b<p><i>p</i><0.05 vs. Non-PMI.</p