Verification of solar irradiance probabilistic forecasts

International audienceWe propose a framework for evaluating the quality of solar irradiance probabilistic forecasts. The verification framework is based on visual diagnostic tools and a set of scoring rules mostly originating from the weather forecast verification community. Two types of probabilistic forecasts are used as a basis to illustrate the application of these verification approaches. The first one consists in ensemble forecasts commonly provided by national or international meteorological centres. The second one originates from statistical methods and produces a set of discrete quantile forecasts, the nominal proportions of which span the unit interval. These probabilistic forecasts are evaluated for two selected sites that experience very different climatic conditions. The first site is located in the continental US while the second one is situated on La Réunion Island. Although visual diagnostic tools can help identify deficiencies in generated forecasts, it is recommended that a set of numerical scores be used to assess the quality of probabilistic forecasts. In particular, the Continuous Ranked Probability Score (CRPS) seems to have all the features needed to evaluate a probabilis-tic forecasting system and, as such, may become a standard for verifying solar irradiance probabilistic forecasts and by extension probabilistic forecasts of solar power generation

Solving an integrated Job-Shop problem with human resource constraints

This paper investigates the integration of the employee timetabling and production scheduling problems. At the first level, we have to manage a classical employee timetabling problem. At the second level, we aim at supplying a feasible production schedule for a job-shop scheduling problem (NP-hard problem). Instead of using a hierarchical approach as in the current practice, we here integrate the two decision stages and propose two exact methods for solving the resulting problem. The former is similar to the cut generation algorithm proposed in Guyon et. al. 2010) for a problem integrating a classical employee timetabling problem and a polynomially solvable production scheduling problem. The latter is based on a Branch-And-Cut process that exploits the same feasibility cuts than the first approach. Preliminar experimental results on instances proposed in (Artigues et al. 2009) reveal a real interest for the approaches described here

Planification d'agents et ordonnancement de production : règles d'élimination et heuristique

Nous nous intéressons à l'optimisation des systèmes de production avec d'un côté l'ordonnancement de production, dont le but est d'affecter dans le temps des ressources à des tâches à réaliser, et d'un autre côté la gestion du personnel visant généralement à minimiser les coûts de main d'œuvre. Bien qu'il soit admis que, pour obtenir l'optimum global, il faille prendre en compte simultanément ces deux problématiques, en pratique le problème global est souvent résolu dans un processus de décision à deux niveaux. Dans cette étude, nous intégrons ces deux phases de décision et proposons différentes méthodes pour résoudre le problème résultant

Branch and Bound hybride pour un problème de job-shop soumis à des contraintes de ressources humaines

National audienceNous considérons un problème couplant ordonnancement de production et planification d'agents. On se place ainsi dans un atelier où la production à réaliser requiert divers types de machines dans des séquences variées de type job-shop. Chaque machine nécessite pour son utilisation la présence d'un employé qualifié à son pilotage. Les ressources humaines sont assujetties à des contraintes légales restreignant leur disponibilité. La production doit être entièrement ordonnancée et le critère d'optimisation retenu est la minimisation des coûts salariaux. Pour résoudre ce problème, nous avons développé une méthode exacte hybridant approche arborescente de type Procédure de Séparation et Evaluation Séquentielle et technique de génération de coupes de réalisabilité. Cette méthode exploite la décomposition naturelle du problème global en deux sous-problèmes : un problème de planification d'agents et un problème de job-shop à contraintes de disponibilité. Des méthodes de génération d'inégalités valides en pré-process (notamment du probing) ont en outre été étudiées. Notre approche s'avère particulièrement adaptée à la problématique ; ses résultats dominent en effet ceux obtenus avec l'un des meilleurs solveurs commerciaux actuels (Ilog Cplex 12.1) et ceux obtenus avec les méthodes décrites dans la littérature

Solving an integrated job-shop problem with human resource constraints

International audienceWe propose two exact methods to solve an integrated employee-timetable and job-shop-scheduling problem. The problem is to find a minimum cost employee-timetable, where employees have different competences and work during shifts, so that the production, that corresponds to a job-shop with resource availability constraints, can be achieved. We introduce two new exact procedures: (1) a decomposition and cut generation approach and (2) a hybridization of a cut generation process with a branch and bound strategy. We also propose initial cuts that strongly improve these methods as well as a standard MIP approach. The computational performances of those methods on benchmark instances are compared to that of other methods from the literature

Cut generation for an integrated employee timetabling and production scheduling problem

International audienceThis paper investigates the integration of the employee timetabling and production scheduling problems. At the first level, we manage a classical employee timetabling problem. At the second level, we aim at supplying a feasible production schedule for a set of interruptible tasks with qualification requirements and time-windows. Instead of hierarchically solving these two problems as in the current practice, we try here to integrate them and propose two exact methods to solve the resulting problem. The former is based on a Benders decomposition while the latter relies on a specific decomposition and a cut generation process. The relevance of these different approaches is discussed here through experimental results

Couplage planification/ordonnancement : une approche par décomposition et génération de coupes.

International audienceCette étude porte sur un problème couplant les deux phases décisionnelles, dans un processus de production, que sont la planification d'agents et l'ordonnancement de production. D'un côté, nous devons gérer au moindre coût les emplois du temps d'un ensemble d'opérateurs (planification d'agents) et de l'autre, nous nous attelons à fournir un plan de production réalisable, compte tenu des ressources disponibles déduites de la phase de planification, et qui vise à satisfaire une certaine demande fournie en entrée (ordonnancement de production). Contrairement à la plupart des articles de la littérature, nous proposons ici des techniques de résolution résolvant simultanément ces deux problèmes. Deux approches exactes ont été étudiées : l'une d'elles est fondée sur une décomposition de Benders et l'autre est basée sur un processus spécifique de génération de coupes. L'intérêt de ces méthodes est discuté ici au travers de résultats expérimentaux

Positive autoregulation of the transcription factor Pax6 in response to increased levels of either of its major isoforms, Pax6 or Pax6(5a), in cultured cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Pax6 is a transcription factor essential for normal development of the eyes and nervous system. It has two major isoforms, Pax6 and Pax6(5a), and the ratios between their expression levels vary within narrow limits. We tested the effects of overexpressing either one or other isoform on endogenous Pax6 expression levels in Neuro2A and NIH3T3 cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We found that both isoforms caused an up-regulation of endogenous Pax6 expression in cells with (Neuro2A) or without (NIH3T3) constitutive Pax6 expression. Western blots showed that cells stably transfected with constructs expressing either Pax6 or Pax6(5a) contained raised levels of both Pax6 and Pax6(5a). Quantitative RT-PCR confirmed an increase in levels of <it>Pax6(5a) </it>mRNA in cells containing Pax6-expressing constructs and an increase in levels of <it>Pax6 </it>mRNA in cells containing Pax6(5a)-expressing constructs. The fact that the introduction of constructs expressing only one isoform increased the cellular levels of not only that isoform but also the other indicates that activation of the endogenous <it>Pax6 </it>locus occurred. The ratio between the levels of the two isoforms was maintained close to physiological values. The overexpression of either isoform in neuroblastoma (Neuro2A) cell lines also promoted morphological change and an increase in β-III-tubulin expression, indicating an increase in neurogenesis.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Our results demonstrate that Pax6 can up-regulate production of Pax6 protein from an entire intact endogenous <it>Pax6 </it>locus in its genomic environment. This adds to previous studies showing that Pax6 can up-regulate reporter expression driven by isolated <it>Pax6 </it>regulatory elements. Furthermore, our results suggest that an important function of positive feedback might be to stabilise the relative levels of Pax6 and Pax6(5a).</p

Regulation of the Pax6 : Pax6(5a) mRNA ratio in the developing mammalian brain

BACKGROUND: Early in mammalian brain development cell proliferation generates a population of progenitor cells whose subsequent divisions produce increasing numbers of postmitotic neurons. Pax6 affects both processes and it has been suggested that this changing role is due at least in part to changes in the relative concentrations of its two main isoforms, (i) Pax6 and (ii) Pax6(5a), created by insertion of a 42 bp exon (exon 5a) into one of the two DNA-binding domains. Crucially, however, no previous study has determined whether the ratio between Pax6 and Pax6(5a) transcripts alters during mammalian neurogenesis in vivo. RESULTS: Using RNase protection assays, we show that Pax6 transcripts are 6–10 times more prevalent than Pax6(5a) transcripts early in neurogenesis in the murine telencephalon, diencephalon and hindbrain and that the ratio later falls significantly to about 3:1 in these regions. CONCLUSION: These changes in vivo are similar in magnitude to those shown previously to alter target gene activity in vitro and might, therefore, allow the single mammalian Pax6 gene to carry out different functions at different times in mammalian brain development

Behaviour of New Zealand ironsand during iron ore sintering

Titanium-bearing burdens are commonly introduced into blast furnaces to protect the hearlh because the so-called titanium bear which is a precipitate of carbide, nitride and carbonitride of titanium may form in the blast furnace hearth if Ti02 is present in the feed [1 , 2J. New Zealand ironsand is a titanomagnetite, containing around 60 wt.% iron, 8 wt.% titanium and other substances such as silica, phosphorus and lime [3, 4]. Since it is competitive in price, introduction of the ironsand into the ferrous feed can reduce the production cost and potentially increase blast furnace campaign life. An appropriate method of inlroduction of ironsand is as a component of the sinter as the small size of ironsand precludes direct charging into the blast furnace. Although the effect of introducing titanomagnetite into iron ore blends has been investigated [1,,2, §],little is known about the detailed sintering mechanism. The present study is aimed at identifying the sintering behaviour of New Zealand ironsand as well as the interaction between New Zealand ironsand and CaO to gain better understanding of sintering mechanism of titanomagnetite