A demand-driven approach for a multi-agent system in Supply Chain Management

This paper presents the architecture of a multi-agent decision support system for Supply Chain Management (SCM) which has been designed to compete in the TAC SCM game. The behaviour of the system is demand-driven and the agents plan, predict, and react dynamically to changes in the market. The main strength of the system lies in the ability of the Demand agent to predict customer winning bid prices - the highest prices the agent can offer customers and still obtain their orders. This paper investigates the effect of the ability to predict customer order prices on the overall performance of the system. Four strategies are proposed and compared for predicting such prices. The experimental results reveal which strategies are better and show that there is a correlation between the accuracy of the models' predictions and the overall system performance: the more accurate the prediction of customer order prices, the higher the profit. © 2010 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

FPT Algorithms for Plane Completion Problems

The Plane Subgraph (resp. Topological Minor) Completion problem asks, given a (possibly disconnected) plane (multi)graph Gamma and a connected plane (multi)graph Delta, whether it is possible to add edges in Gamma without violating the planarity of its embedding so that it contains some subgraph (resp. topological minor) that is topologically isomorphic to Delta. We give FPT algorithms that solve both problems in f(|E(Delta)|)*|E(Gamma)|^{2} steps. Moreover, for the Plane Subgraph Completion problem we show that f(k)=2^{O(k*log(k))}

DETERMINATION OF FAULT PLANE SOLUTIONS USING WAVEFORM AMPLITUDES AND RADIATION PATTERN

In the present work a modified version of the program FPFIT (Reasenberg and Oppenheimer, 1985) is developed, in order to improve the calculation of the fault plane solutions. The method is applied on selected earthquakes from short period waveform data in the Mygdonia basin (N. Greece) as recorded by the permanent network of the Seismological Station of Aristotle University of Thessaloniki during the period 1989-1999. The proposed modification of the FPFIT program was developed in order to minimize the derivation of multiple solutions, as well as the uncertainties in the location of Ρ and Τ axis of the determined fault plane solutions. Compared to the original version of FPFIT the modified approach takes also into account the radiation pattern of SV and SH waves. For each earthquake horizontal and vertical components of each station were used and the first arrivals of Ρ and S waves were picked. Using the maximum peak-to-peak amplitude of Ρ and S waves the ratio Pmax/(S/\/2max+SE2max)1/2 was estimated, where S/Vmax and SEmax are the maximum amplitudes of the two horizontal components (N-S, E-W) for the S waves and Pmax is the maximum amplitude of the vertical one for the P- waves. This ratio for the observed data, as well as the corresponding ratio Prad/iS/Aad+SlAad)1'2 of the synthetic data was used as a weight for the determination of the observed and theoretical P-wave polarities, respectively. The method was tested using synthetic data. A significant improvement of the results was found, compared to the original version of FPFIT. In particular, an improved approximation of the input focal mechanism is found, without multiple solutions and the best-estimated Ρ and Τ axes exhibit much smaller uncertainties. The addition of noise in the synthetic data didn't significantly change the results concerning the fault plane solutions. Finally, we have applied the modified program on a real data set of earthquakes that occurred in the Mygdonia basin

Partial Wave Analysis of Scattering with Nonlocal Aharonov-Bohm Effect and Anomalous Cross Section induced by Quantum Interference

Partial wave theory of a three dmensional scattering problem for an arbitray short range potential and a nonlocal Aharonov-Bohm magnetic flux is established. The scattering process of a ``hard shere'' like potential and the magnetic flux is examined. An anomalous total cross section is revealed at the specific quantized magnetic flux at low energy which helps explain the composite fermion and boson model in the fractional quantum Hall effect. Since the nonlocal quantum interference of magnetic flux on the charged particles is universal, the nonlocal effect is expected to appear in quite general potential system and will be useful in understanding some other phenomena in mesoscopic phyiscs.Comment: 6 figure

Copper/Zinc Superoxide Dismutase from the Crocodile Icefish Chionodraco hamatus: Antioxidant Defense at Constant Sub-Zero Temperature

In the present study, we describe the purification and molecular characterization of Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD) from Chionodraco hamatus, an Antarctic teleost widely distributed in many areas of the Ross Sea that plays a pivotal role in the Antarctic food chain. The primary sequence was obtained using biochemical and molecular biology approaches and compared with Cu,Zn SODs from other organisms. Multiple sequence alignment using the amino acid sequence revealed that Cu,Zn SOD showed considerable sequence similarity with its orthologues from various vertebrate species, but also some specific substitutions directly linked to cold adaptation. Phylogenetic analyses presented the monophyletic status of Antartic Teleostei among the Perciformes, confirming the erratic differentiation of these proteins and concurring with the theory of the "unclock-like" behavior of Cu,Zn SOD evolution. Expression of C. hamatus Cu,Zn SOD at both the mRNA and protein levels were analyzed in various tissues, highlighting the regulation of gene expression related to environmental stress conditions and also animal physiology. The data presented are the first on the antioxidant enzymes of a fish belonging to the Channichthyidae family and represent an important starting point in understanding the antioxidant systems of these organisms that are subject to constant risk of oxidative stress

Covering and packing pumpkin models

Let θr (the r-pumpkin) be the multi-graph containing two vertices and r parallel edges between them. We say that a graph is a a θr-model if it can be transformed into θr after a (possibly empty) sequence of contractions. We prove that there is a function g : N → N such that, for every two positive integers k and q, if G is a Kq-minor-free graph, then either G contains a set of k vertex-disjoint subgraphs (a θr-model-vertex-packing) each isomorphic to a θr-model or a set of g(r)·log q ·k vertices (a θr-modelvertex-cover) meeting all subgraphs of G that are isomorphic to a θr-model. Our results imply a O(log OP T )-approximation for the maximum (minimum) size of a θr-model packing (θr-model covering) of a graph G

Letters

by S Gee, S Cotter, D O’Flanagan, on behalf of the national incident management tea