716 research outputs found
Extreme-Point-based Heuristics for the Three-Dimensional Bin Packing problem
One of the main issues in addressing three-dimensional packing problems is finding an efficient and accurate definition of the points at which to place the items inside the bins, because the performance of exact and heuristic solution methods is actually strongly influenced by the choice of a placement rule. We introduce the extreme point concept and present a new extreme point-based rule for packing items inside a three-dimensional container. The extreme point rule is independent from the particular packing problem addressed and can handle additional constraints, such as fixing the position of the items. The new extreme point rule is also used to derive new constructive heuristics for the three-dimensional bin-packing problem. Extensive computational results show the effectiveness of the new heuristics compared to state-of-the-art results. Moreover, the same heuristics, when applied to the two-dimensional bin-packing problem, outperform those specifically designed for the proble
Steerable optical tweezers for ultracold atom studies
We report on the implementation of an optical tweezer system for controlled
transport of ultracold atoms along a narrow, static confinement channel. The
tweezer system is based on high-efficiency acousto-optical deflectors and
offers two-dimensional control over beam position. This opens up the
possibility for tracking the transport channel when shuttling atomic clouds
along the guide, forestalling atom spilling. Multiple clouds can be tracked
independently by time-shared tweezer beams addressing individual sites in the
channel. The deflectors are controlled using a multichannel direct digital
synthesizer, which receives instructions on a sub-microsecond time scale from a
field-programmable gate array. Using the tweezer system, we demonstrate
sequential binary splitting of an ultracold cloud into
clouds.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, 1 movie lin
Maximizing Maximal Angles for Plane Straight-Line Graphs
Let be a plane straight-line graph on a finite point set
in general position. The incident angles of a vertex
of are the angles between any two edges of that appear consecutively in
the circular order of the edges incident to .
A plane straight-line graph is called -open if each vertex has an
incident angle of size at least . In this paper we study the following
type of question: What is the maximum angle such that for any finite set
of points in general position we can find a graph from a certain
class of graphs on that is -open? In particular, we consider the
classes of triangulations, spanning trees, and paths on and give tight
bounds in most cases.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures. Apart of minor corrections, some proofs that
were omitted in the previous version are now include
Bounded-Angle Spanning Tree: Modeling Networks with Angular Constraints
We introduce a new structure for a set of points in the plane and an angle
, which is similar in flavor to a bounded-degree MST. We name this
structure -MST. Let be a set of points in the plane and let be an angle. An -ST of is a spanning tree of the
complete Euclidean graph induced by , with the additional property that for
each point , the smallest angle around containing all the edges
adjacent to is at most . An -MST of is then an
-ST of of minimum weight. For , an -ST does
not always exist, and, for , it always exists. In this paper,
we study the problem of computing an -MST for several common values of
.
Motivated by wireless networks, we formulate the problem in terms of
directional antennas. With each point , we associate a wedge of
angle and apex . The goal is to assign an orientation and a radius
to each wedge , such that the resulting graph is connected and its
MST is an -MST. (We draw an edge between and if , , and .) Unsurprisingly, the problem of computing an
-MST is NP-hard, at least for and . We
present constant-factor approximation algorithms for .
One of our major results is a surprising theorem for ,
which, besides being interesting from a geometric point of view, has important
applications. For example, the theorem guarantees that given any set of
points in the plane and any partitioning of the points into triplets,
one can orient the wedges of each triplet {\em independently}, such that the
graph induced by is connected. We apply the theorem to the {\em antenna
conversion} problem
Quenched invariance principle for random walks in balanced random environment
We consider random walks in a balanced random environment in ,
. We first prove an invariance principle (for ) and the
transience of the random walks when (recurrence when ) in an
ergodic environment which is not uniformly elliptic but satisfies certain
moment condition. Then, using percolation arguments, we show that under mere
ellipticity, the above results hold for random walks in i.i.d. balanced
environments.Comment: Published online in Probab. Theory Relat. Fields, 05 Oct 2010. Typo
(in journal version) corrected in (26
Comparative study on the uniform energy deposition achievable via optimized plasmonic nanoresonator distributions
Plasmonic nanoresonators of core-shell composition and nanorod shape were
optimized to tune their absorption cross-section maximum to the central
wavelength of a short pulse. Their distribution along a pulse-length scaled
target was optimized to maximize the absorptance with the criterion of minimal
absorption difference in between neighbouring layers. Successive approximation
of layer distributions made it possible to ensure almost uniform deposited
energy distribution up until the maximal overlap of two counter-propagating
pulses. Based on the larger absorptance and smaller uncertainty in absorptance
and energy distribution core-shell nanoresonators override the nanorods.
However, optimization of both nanoresonator distributions has potential
applications, where efficient and uniform energy deposition is crucial,
including phase transitions and even fusion
Road traffic and landscape characteristics predict the occurrence of native halophytes on roadside verges
Road management practices, such as winter de-icing create ideal habitats and competitive advantage for salt-tolerant species. We aimed to map the occurrences of halophytes along roads in Hungary. Furthermore, we tested factors that might play a role in the roadside occurrences of five chosen native halophytes from rare to common, we encountered during our field surveys. These were Festuca pseudovina, Limonium gmelinii subsp. hungaricum, Podospermum canum, Puccinellia distans and Spergularia media. We found, that at least one halophyte species was documented in 71% of the total sampling points. Germination experiments indicated that substrate salt concentration significantly decreased germination rates in each of the five species, but in case of L. gmelinii subsp. hungaricum, or P. distans germination occurred on extremely high salt concentrations. Traffic intensity, the presence of other halophytes at the sampling point and the presence of a given species in the surrounding landscape had a significant positive effect on the occurrence of four of the five model species. Our results suggest that the studied species are mostly in the early stage of their roadside spread, colonizing roadsides close to their native distribution ranges. The possibility of a future range expansion along roads cannot be excluded
Realistic Earth escape strategies for solar sailing
With growing interest in solar sailing comes the requirement to provide a basis for future detailed planetary escape mission analysis by drawing together prior work, clarifying and explaining previously anomalies. Previously unexplained seasonal variations in sail escape times from Earth orbit are explained analytically and corroborated within a numerical trajectory model. Blended-sail control algorithms, explicitly independent of time, which providenear-optimal escape trajectories and maintain a safe minimum altitude and which are suitable as a potential autonomous onboard controller, are then presented. These algorithms are investigated from a range of initial conditions and are shown to maintain the optimality previously demonstrated by the use of a single-energy gain control law but without the risk of planetary collision. Finally, it is shown that the minimum sail characteristic acceleration required for escape from a polar orbit without traversing the Earth shadow cone increases exponentially as initial altitude is decreased
Uncertainties in Precipitation and Their Impacts on Runoff Estimates
Water balance calculations are becoming increasingly important for earth-system studies. Precipitation is one of the most critical input variables for such calculations because it is the immediate source of water for the land surface hydrological budget. Numerous precipitation datasets have been developed in the last two decades, but these datasets often show marked differences in their spatial and temporal distribution of this key hydrological variable. This paper compares six monthly precipitation datasetsâClimate Research Unit of University of East Anglia (CRU), WillmottâMatsuura (WM), Global Precipitation Climate Center (GPCC), Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP), Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), and NCEPâDepartment of Energy (DOE) Atmospheric Model Intercomparison Project (AMIP-II) Reanalysis (NCEP-2)âto assess the uncertainties in these datasets and their impact on the terrestrial water balance. The six datasets tested in the present paper were climatologically averaged and compared by calculating various statistics of the differences. The climatologically averaged monthly precipitation estimates were applied as inputs to a water balance model to estimate runoff and the uncertainties in runoff arising directly from the precipitation estimates. The results of this study highlight the need for accurate precipitation inputs for water balance calculations. These results also demonstrate the need to improve precipitation estimates in arid and semiarid regions, where slight changes in precipitation can result in dramatic changes in the runoff response due to the nonlinearity of the runoff-generation processes
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