Using Simulated Annealing to Solve the Daily Drayage Problem with Hard Time Windows

Drayage is the stage of the intermodal transport that deals with transport of freight on trucks among the intermodal terminal, and customers and suppliers that are located in its hinterland. This work proposes an algorithm based on simulated annealing heuristics to solve the operations of drayage. This algorithm has been used to solve battery problems, demonstrating the validity and suitability of its results, which were compared with exact method

Ecologies, synergies, and biological systems shaping human milk composition—a report from “Breastmilk Ecology: Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN)” Working Group 2

Human milk is universally recognized as the preferred food for infants during the first 6 mo of life because it provides not only essential and conditionally essential nutrients in necessary amounts but also other biologically active components that are instrumental in protecting, communicating important information to support, and promoting optimal development and growth in infants. Despite decades of research, however, the multifaceted impacts of human milk consumption on infant health are far from understood on a biological or physiological basis. Reasons for this lack of comprehensive knowledge of human milk functions are numerous, including the fact that milk components tend to be studied in isolation, although there is reason to believe that they interact. In addition, milk composition can vary greatly within an individual as well as within and among populations. The objective of this working group within the Breastmilk Ecology: Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN) Project was to provide an overview of human milk composition, factors impacting its variation, and how its components may function to coordinately nourish, protect, and communicate complex information to the recipient infant. Moreover, we discuss the ways whereby milk components might interact such that the benefits of an intact milk matrix are greater than the sum of its parts. We then apply several examples to illustrate how milk is better thought of as a biological system rather than a more simplistic “mixture” of independent components to synergistically support optimal infant health

Troponin elevation pattern and subsequent cardiac and non-cardiac outcomes: Implementing the Fourth Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction and high-sensitivity troponin at a population level

Background: The Fourth Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction (MI) differentiates MI from myocardial injury. We characterised the temporal course of cardiac and non-cardiac outcomes associated with MI, acute and chronic myocardial injury. Methods: We included all patients presenting to public emergency departments in South Australia between June 2011–Sept 2019. Episodes of care (EOCs) were classified into 5 groups based on high-sensitivity troponin-T (hs-cTnT) and diagnostic codes: 1) Acute MI [rise/fall in hs-cTnT and primary diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome], 2) Acute myocardial injury with coronary artery disease (CAD) [rise/fall in hs-cTnT and diagnosis of CAD], 3) Acute myocardial injury without CAD [rise/fall in hs-cTnT without diagnosis of CAD], 4) Chronic myocardial injury [elevated hs-cTnT without rise/fall], and 5) No myocardial injury. Multivariable flexible parametric models were used to characterize the temporal hazard of death, MI, heart failure (HF), and ventricular arrhythmia. Results: 372,310 EOCs (218,878 individuals) were included: acute MI (19,052 [5.12%]), acute myocardial injury with CAD (6,928 [1.86%]), acute myocardial injury without CAD (32,231 [8.66%]), chronic myocardial injury (55,056 [14.79%]), and no myocardial injury (259,043 [69.58%]). We observed an early hazard of MI and HF after acute MI and acute myocardial injury with CAD. In contrast, subsequent MI risk was lower and more constant in patients with acute injury without CAD or chronic injury. All patterns of myocardial injury were associated with significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality and ventricular arrhythmia. Conclusions: Different patterns of myocardial injury were associated with divergent profiles of subsequent cardiac and non-cardiac risk. The therapeutic approach and modifiability of such excess risks require further research

Propagation of Reactions in Thermally-damaged PBX-9501

A thermally-initiated explosion in PBX-9501 (octahydro-1,3,5,7-tetranitro-1,3,5,7-tetrazocine) is observed in situ by flash x-ray imaging, and modeled with the LLNL multi-physics arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian code ALE3D. The containment vessel deformation provides a useful estimate of the reaction pressure at the time of the explosion, which we calculate to be in the range 0.8-1.4 GPa. Closely-coupled ALE3D simulations of these experiments, utilizing the multi-phase convective burn model, provide detailed predictions of the reacted mass fraction and deflagration front acceleration. During the preinitiation heating phase of these experiments, the solid HMX portion of the PBX-9501 undergoes a {beta}-phase to {delta}-phase transition which damages the explosive and induces porosity. The multi-phase convective burn model results demonstrate that damaged particle size and pressure are critical for predicting reaction speed and violence. In the model, energetic parameters are taken from LLNL's thermochemical-kinetics code Cheetah and burn rate parameters from Son et al. (2000). Model predictions of an accelerating deflagration front are in qualitative agreement with the experimental images assuming a mode particle diameter in the range 300-400 {micro}m. There is uncertainty in the initial porosity caused by thermal damage of PBX-9501 and, thus, the effective surface area for burning. To better understand these structures, we employ x-ray computed tomography (XRCT) to examine the microstructure of PBX-9501 before and after thermal damage. Although lack of contrast between grains and binder prevents the determination of full grain size distribution in this material, there are many domains visible in thermally damaged PBX-9501 with diameters in the 300-400 {micro}m range

Solid-state-concentration effects on the optical absorption and emission of poly(p-phenylene vinylene)-related materials

We present measurements of the optical absorption and emission properties of poly(p-phenylene vinylene) (PPV)-related materials focusing on the differences between molecules isolated by dispersion in an inert host and concentrated molecular films. Optical absorption spectra, photoluminescence (PL) spectra, PL efficiency, and time-resolved PL spectra of dilute blends of PPV oligomers with 2-5 phenylene-phenyl rings are compared with those of dense oligomer and polymer films. In dilute oligomer-poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) blends with high PL efficiency, the PL decay is exponential, independent of both temperature and oligomer length. This implies that the fundamental radiative lifetime of PPV oligomers is essentially independent of oligomer length. Concentrated spin-cast oligomer films and polymers have a faster and strongly temperature-dependent PL decay that approaches that of the dilute oligomer results at low temperature. The differences in PL decay correspond to changes in PL efficiency. The efficiency of the oligomer-PMMA blend is high and only weakly temperature dependent, whereas that of concentrated films is lower and strongly temperature dependent, decreasing by more than a factor of 3 from 10 to 350 K. The quenching of the PL efficiency in concentrated films is due to migration to extrinsic, impurity related centers as opposed to an intrinsic intermolecular recombination process. The PL spectrum of a dilute oligomer blend redshifts substantially, both as the excitation energy is decreased and as the emission time increases. This spectral redshift is due to disorder-induced site-to-site variation and not to diffusion to lower-energy sites. In contrast, no spectral shift with excitation energy or emission time was observed for dense oligomer films

user centered design approaches and methods for p5 ehealth

As seen throughout this book, eHealth informed by P5 approach gives full recognition to patients' contexts, needs, desires, and personal characteristics. These aspects should not only be considered as cornerstones for technology evaluation, but as fundamental guidelines for design in the first place. This relates to User-Centered Design, that is, any technology/service design where final users influence how the design itself takes place. In other words, eHealth development should be based on research data gathered among final users about their needs and contexts of use, in order to be specifically tailored on final users even before the realization of low-level prototypes. This methodological contribution presents a critical presentation, description, and evaluation of research tools to be employed not to evaluate technology's results and effectiveness, but the specific characteristics of users in order to orient design and development. Such an approach should be considered the "gold standard" of P5 eHealth solutions