A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming Model for Transportation Planning in the Full Truck Load Strategy to Supply Products with Unbalanced Demand in the Just in Time Context: A Case Study

[EN] Growing awareness in cutting transport costs and minimizing the environmental impact means that companies are increasingly interested in using the full truck load strategy in their supply tasks. This strategy consists of filling trucks completely with one product type or a mixture of products from the same supplier. This paper aims to propose a mixed-integer linear programming model and procedure to fill trucks which considers limitations of stocks, stock levels and unbalanced demand and minimization of the total number of trucks used in the full truck load strategy. The results obtained from a case study are presented and are exported in a conventional spreadsheet available for a company in the automotive industry.Maheut ., JP.; García Sabater, JP. (2013). A Mixed-Integer Linear Programming Model for Transportation Planning in the Full Truck Load Strategy to Supply Products with Unbalanced Demand in the Just in Time Context: A Case Study. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology. 397:576-583. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-40361-3_73S576583397Bitran, G.R., Haas, E.A., Hax, A.C.: Hierarchical production planning: a single stage system. Operations Research 29, 717–743 (1981)Sun, H., Ding, F.Y.: Extended data envelopment models and a practical tool to analyse product complexity related to product variety for an automobile assembly plant. International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management 6, 99–112 (2010)Boysen, N., Fliedner, M.: Cross dock scheduling: Classification, literature review and research agenda. Omega 38, 413–422 (2010)Garcia-Sabater, J.P., Maheut, J., Garcia-Sabater, J.J.: A two-stage sequential planning scheme for integrated operations planning and scheduling system using MILP: the case of an engine assembler. Flexible Services and Manufacturing Journal 24, 171–209 (2012)Ben-Khedher, N., Yano, C.A.: The Multi-Item Replenishment Problem with Transportation and Container Effects. Transportation Science 28, 37–54 (1994)Cousins, P.D.: Supply base rationalisation: myth or reality? European Journal of Purchasing Supply Management 5, 143–155 (1999)Kiesmüller, G.P.: A multi-item periodic replenishment policy with full truckloads. International Journal of Production Economics 118, 275–281 (2009)Goetschalckx, M.: Transportation Systems Supply Chain Engineering, vol. 161, pp. 127–154. Springer, US (2011)Liu, R., Jiang, Z., Fung, R.Y.K., Chen, F., Liu, X.: Two-phase heuristic algorithms for full truckloads multi-depot capacitated vehicle routing problem in carrier collaboration. Computers Operations Research 37, 950–959 (2010)Arunapuram, S., Mathur, K., Solow, D.: Vehicle Routing and Scheduling with Full Truckloads. Transportation Science 37, 170–182 (2003

A straw drift chamber spectrometer for studies of rare kaon decays

We describe the design, construction, readout, tests, and performance of planar drift chambers, based on 5 mm diameter copperized Mylar and Kapton straws, used in an experimental search for rare kaon decays. The experiment took place in the high-intensity neutral beam at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron of Brookhaven National Laboratory, using a neutral beam stop, two analyzing dipoles, and redundant particle identification to remove backgrounds

Search for Rare and Forbidden 3-body Di-muon Decays of the Charmed Mesons D+ and Ds+

Using a high statistics sample of photo-produced charm particles from the FOCUS experiment at Fermilab, we report results of a search for eight rare and Standard-Model-forbidden decays: D+, Ds+ > h+/- muon-/+ muon+ (with h=pion or Kaon). Improvement over previous results by a factor of 1.7--14 is realized. Our branching ratio upper limit D+ > pion+ muon- muon+ of 8.8E-6 at the 90% C.L. is below the current MSSM R-Parity violating constraint.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure file

Study of Hadronic Five-Body Decays of Charmed Mesons Involving KS0K_S^0

We study the decay of $D^0$ and $D^+_s$ mesons into five-body final states including a $K_S^0$ and report the discovery of the decay mode $D_s^+\to K_S^0 K_S^0\pi^+\pi^+\pi^-$. The branching ratio for the new mode is {${\Gamma(D_s^+\to K_S^0K_S^0\pi^+\pi^-\pi^+)} \over {\Gamma(D_s^+\to K_S^0K^-\pi^+\pi^+)}$} = 0.102$\pm0.029\pm$0.029. We also determine the branching ratio of {${\Gamma(D^0\to K_S^0\pi^+\pi^+\pi^-\pi^-)} \over {\Gamma(D^0 \to K_S^0\pi^+\pi^-)}$} = 0.095$\pm0.005\pm$0.007 as well as an upper limit for {${\Gamma(D^0\to K_S^0K^-\pi^+\pi^+\pi^-)} \over {\Gamma(D^0\to K_S^0\pi^+\pi^+\pi^-\pi^-)}$} $<$ 0.054 (90% CL). An analysis of the resonant substructure for $D^0 \to K_S^0\pi^+\pi^+\pi^-\pi^-$ is also performed

Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06 +/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of isolated photon production in pp and PbPb collisions at sqrt(sNN) = 2.76 TeV

Isolated photon production is measured in proton-proton and lead-lead collisions at nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energies of 2.76 TeV in the pseudorapidity range |eta|<1.44 and transverse energies ET between 20 and 80 GeV with the CMS detector at the LHC. The measured ET spectra are found to be in good agreement with next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD predictions. The ratio of PbPb to pp isolated photon ET-differential yields, scaled by the number of incoherent nucleon-nucleon collisions, is consistent with unity for all PbPb reaction centralities.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters

Search for a pentaquark decaying to Cascade- pi-

We present a search for a pentaquark decaying strongly to $\Xi^-\pi^-$ in $\gamma N$ collisions at a center-of-mass energy up to 25 GeV/c^2. Finding no evidence for such a state in the mass range of 1480 MeV/c^2 to 2400 MeV/c^2, we set limits on the yield and on the cross section times branching ratio relative to $\Xi^*(1530)^0$.Comment: Accepted by Physics Letters