Scheduling aircraft landings - the static case

This is the publisher version of the article, obtained from the link below.In this paper, we consider the problem of scheduling aircraft (plane) landings at an airport. This problem is one of deciding a landing time for each plane such that each plane lands within a predetermined time window and that separation criteria between the landing of a plane and the landing of all successive planes are respected. We present a mixed-integer zero–one formulation of the problem for the single runway case and extend it to the multiple runway case. We strengthen the linear programming relaxations of these formulations by introducing additional constraints. Throughout, we discuss how our formulations can be used to model a number of issues (choice of objective function, precedence restrictions, restricting the number of landings in a given time period, runway workload balancing) commonly encountered in practice. The problem is solved optimally using linear programming-based tree search. We also present an effective heuristic algorithm for the problem. Computational results for both the heuristic and the optimal algorithm are presented for a number of test problems involving up to 50 planes and four runways.J.E.Beasley. would like to acknowledge the financial support of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, Australia

Gravity in the Local Universe : density and velocity fields using CosmicFlows-4

This article publicly releases three-dimensional reconstructions of the local Universe gravitational field below z=0.8 that were computed using the CosmicFlows-4 catalog of 56,000 galaxy distances and its sub-sample of 1,008 type Ia supernovae distances. The article also provides measurements of the growth rate of structure using the pairwise correlation of radial peculiar velocities f sigma8 = 0.38(+/-0.04) (ungrouped CF4), f sigma8 = 0.36(+/-0.05) (grouped CF4), f sigma8 = 0.30(+/-0.06) (SNIa) and of the bulk flow in the 3D reconstructed Local Universe of 230 +/- 136 km s-1 at 300 Mpc of distance from the observer. The exploration of 10,000 reconstructions gives that the distances delivered by the Cosmicflows-4 catalog are compatible with a Hubble constant of H0 = 74.5 +/- 0.1 (grouped CF4), H0 = 75.0 +/- 0.35 (ungrouped CF4) and H0 = 75.5 +/- 0.95 (CF4 SNIa subsample).Comment: Submitted A&A Oct 31st, 2022 / (AA/2022/45331) / Accepted January 2023 All Figures and values updated after the december 2022 major correction in CF4 catalo

Milk isotopic values demonstrate that nursing fur seal pups are a full trophic level higher than their mothers †

RATIONALE: In mammals including humans, mother-to-offspring transfer of nutrients has been the focus of several isotopic studies. Measurement of δ N values of milk, the exclusive food of newborns. Surprisingly, little isotopic information is available on milk and its biochemical components (lipids and proteins). METHODS: Paired blood and milk samples from 10 lactating females and their pups were collected from two otariid species, the Antarctic and subantarctic fur seals. Tissue δ 13 C and δ 15 N values were measured using continuous-flow isotope ratio mass spectrometry (CFIRMS) on maternal and offspring blood, and on whole milk, lipid-free milk and milk lipids, thus allowing the calculation and comparison of apparent (maternal blood to offspring blood) and real (lipid-free milk to offspring blood) Δ 13 C and Δ 15 N values. RESULTS: In both fur seal species, the apparent Δ 13 C values averaged~0.0 ‰. Lipid-free milk was slightly 13 C-depleted compared with both maternal and pup blood and it was strongly 13 C-enriched (~6.3 ‰) compared with milk lipids. In contrast, the apparent and real Δ 15 N values averaged 1.2-1.4 and 2.6-3.0 ‰, respectively, the differences being explained by the~1.5 ‰ lower milk δ 15 N values than those of maternal blood. CONCLUSIONS: In fur seals, the low apparent Δ 15 N translated into a higher real Δ 15 N value, amounting to a full trophic level, which is in agreement with the almost never verified hypothesis that 15 N differences between mothers and their offsprings should reflect one complete trophic level. The study highlights the need to measure milk isotopic values to disentangle the nutritional mother-to-offspring relationships

Big data analyses reveal patterns and drivers of the movements of southern elephant seals

The growing number of large databases of animal tracking provides an opportunity for analyses of movement patterns at the scales of populations and even species. We used analytical approaches, developed to cope with big data, that require no a priori assumptions about the behaviour of the target agents, to analyse a pooled tracking dataset of 272 elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in the Southern Ocean, that was comprised of >500,000 location estimates collected over more than a decade. Our analyses showed that the displacements of these seals were described by a truncated power law distribution across several spatial and temporal scales, with a clear signature of directed movement. This pattern was evident when analysing the aggregated tracks despite a wide diversity of individual trajectories. We also identified marine provinces that described the migratory and foraging habitats of these seals. Our analysis provides evidence for the presence of intrinsic drivers of movement, such as memory, that cannot be detected using common models of movement behaviour. These results highlight the potential for big data techniques to provide new insights into movement behaviour when applied to large datasets of animal tracking.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 6 supplementary figure

Isospin diffusion in semi-peripheral 58Ni^{58}Ni + 197Au^{197}Au collisions at intermediate energies (I): Experimental results

Isospin diffusion in semi-peripheral collisions is probed as a function of the dissipated energy by studying two systems $^{58}Ni$ + $^{58}Ni$ and $^{58}Ni$ + $^{197}Au$, over the incident energy range 52-74\AM. A close examination of the multiplicities of light products in the forward part of phase space clearly shows an influence of the isospin of the target on the neutron richness of these products. A progressive isospin diffusion is observed when collisions become more central, in connection with the interaction time

Nuclear multifragmentation time-scale and fluctuations of largest fragment size

Distributions of the largest fragment charge, Zmax, in multifragmentation reactions around the Fermi energy can be decomposed into a sum of a Gaussian and a Gumbel distribution, whereas at much higher or lower energies one or the other distribution is asymptotically dominant. We demonstrate the same generic behavior for the largest cluster size in critical aggregation models for small systems, in or out of equilibrium, around the critical point. By analogy with the time-dependent irreversible aggregation model, we infer that Zmax distributions are characteristic of the multifragmentation time-scale, which is largely determined by the onset of radial expansion in this energy range.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters on 8/4/201

Constrained caloric curves and phase transition for hot nuclei

Simulations based on experimental data obtained from multifragmenting quasi-fused nuclei produced in central $^{129}$Xe + $^{nat}$Sn collisions have been used to deduce event by event freeze-out properties in the thermal excitation energy range 4-12 AMeV [Nucl. Phys. A809 (2008) 111]. From these properties and the temperatures deduced from proton transverse momentum fluctuations, constrained caloric curves have been built. At constant average volumes caloric curves exhibit a monotonic behaviour whereas for constrained pressures a backbending is observed. Such results support the existence of a first order phase transition for hot nuclei.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted in Physics Letters

Isospin Diffusion in 58^{58}Ni-Induced Reactions at Intermediate Energies

Isospin diffusion is probed as a function of the dissipated energy by studying two systems $^{58}$Ni+$^{58}$Ni and $^{58}$Ni+$^{197}$Au, over the incident energy range 52-74\AM. Experimental data are compared with the results of a microscopic transport model with two different parameterizations of the symmetry energy term. A better overall agreement between data and simulations is obtained when using a symmetry term with a potential part linearly increasing with nuclear density. The isospin equilibration time at 52 \AM{} is estimated to 130$\pm$10 fm/$c$