272 research outputs found
The optimisation of a strategic business process
The optimisation of a Tendering Process for Warship Refit Contracts is presented. The Pre Contract Award process (PCA) involves all the activities needed to successfully win a Refit Contract, e.g. estimating, planning, tendering and negotiation. Process activities and information flows have been modelled using Integrated computer aided manufacturing DEFinition methodology (IDEF0) and a Design Structure Matrix (DSM) with optimisation performed via a Genetic Algorithm (DSM-GA) search technique [1]. The aim of the DSM-GA is to provide the user with an enhanced sequence of performing process activities. A new process was extracted from the optimised solution, showing an improved sequence with reduced iteration and planned activity concurrency based on carefully considered information requirements. This is of practical benefit to enhance understanding and to provide a guide to implementation. The approach suggests an enhanced sequence of process activities, based on information requirements, and can lead to improved business practice. This Paper discusses the potential benefits and limitations of this approach in a practical setting
The optimisation of the estimating and tendering process in warship refit - a case study
The optimisation of a tendering process for warship refit contracts is presented. The tendering process, also known as the pre-contract award process (PCA), involves all the activities needed to be successfully awarded a refit contract. Process activities and information flows have been modelled using Integrated Definition Language IDEF0 and a Dependency Structure Matrix (DSM) with optimisation performed via a Genetic Algorithm (DSM-GA) search technique. By utilising this approach the process activities were re-sequenced in such an order that the number and size of rework cycles were reduced. The result being a 57% reduction in a criterion indicating 're-work' cycles
Neutrino-Deuteron Scattering in Effective Field Theory at Next-to-Next-to Leading Order
We study the four channels associated with neutrino-deuteron breakup
reactions at next-to-next to leading order in effective field theory. We find
that the total cross-section is indeed converging for neutrino energies up to
20 MeV, and thus our calculations can provide constraints on theoretical
uncertainties for the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory. We stress the importance of
a direct experimental measurement to high precision in at least one channel, in
order to fix an axial two-body counterterm.Comment: 32 pages, 14 figures (eps
Resumming the color-octet contribution to e+ e- -> J/psi + X
Recent observations of the spectrum of J/psi produced in e+ e- collisions at
the Upsilon(4S) resonance are in conflict with fixed-order calculations using
the Non-Relativistic QCD (NRQCD) effective field theory. One problem is that
leading order color-octet mechanisms predict an enhancement of the cross
section for J/psi with maximal energy that is not observed in the data.
However, in this region of phase space large perturbative corrections (Sudakov
logarithms) as well as enhanced nonperturbative effects are important. In this
paper we use the newly developed Soft-Collinear Effective Theory (SCET) to
systematically include these effects. We find that these corrections
significantly broaden the color-octet contribution to the J/psi spectrum. Our
calculation employs a one-stage renormalization group evolution rather than the
two-stage evolution used in previous SCET calculations. We give a simple
argument for why the two methods yield identical results to lowest order in the
SCET power counting.Comment: 27 pages, 7 figure
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Use of Z-pinch radiation sources for high-pressure shock wave studies
The authors are developing a new shock wave diagnostic using Z pinch sources for high-pressure equation of state (EOS) measurements. Specifically, they are employing VISAR interferometry to measure the particle velocity of shocked materials and fiber optic probes to measure the shock speed. Combination of these measurements will allow absolute EOS data with Z accelerators. This report is a progress report on the development of this new approach to EOS measurements; however, preliminary data obtained with the diagnostics are encouraging. With further development of Z pinch sources, it is envisioned that a variety of EOS and constitutive property measurements can be made. Time-resolved wave profile measurements will then provide a variety of EOS and material property data, such as isentropic EOS, initial compressive strength and shock-induced compressive strength, dynamic tensile strength, kinetics of phase transitions, and surface stability studies
Associated Production of Bottomonia and Higgs Bosons at Hadron Colliders
We study the associated production of bottomonia and Higgs bosons at hadron
colliders within the factorization formalism of nonrelativistic quantum
chromodynamics providing all contributing partonic cross sections in analytic
form. While such processes tend to be suppressed in the standard model, they
may have interesting cross sections in its minimal supersymmetric extension,
especially at large values of tan(beta), where the bottom Yukawa couplings are
enhanced. We present numerical results for the processes involving the lighter
CP-even h^0 boson and the CP-odd A^0 boson appropriate for the Fermilab
Tevatron and the CERN LHC.Comment: 33 pages, 7 figures, Latex, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Colossal dielectric constants in transition-metal oxides
Many transition-metal oxides show very large ("colossal") magnitudes of the
dielectric constant and thus have immense potential for applications in modern
microelectronics and for the development of new capacitance-based
energy-storage devices. In the present work, we thoroughly discuss the
mechanisms that can lead to colossal values of the dielectric constant,
especially emphasising effects generated by external and internal interfaces,
including electronic phase separation. In addition, we provide a detailed
overview and discussion of the dielectric properties of CaCu3Ti4O12 and related
systems, which is today's most investigated material with colossal dielectric
constant. Also a variety of further transition-metal oxides with large
dielectric constants are treated in detail, among them the system La2-xSrxNiO4
where electronic phase separation may play a role in the generation of a
colossal dielectric constant.Comment: 31 pages, 18 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J. for publication in
the Special Topics volume "Cooperative Phenomena in Solids: Metal-Insulator
Transitions and Ordering of Microscopic Degrees of Freedom
Separation of early afterdepolarizations from arrhythmogenic substrate in the isolated perfused hypokalaemic murine heart through modifiers of calcium homeostasis
In human type 1 diabetes (T1D) and in its murine model, the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class II molecules, human leukocyte antigens (HLA)-DQ and -DR and their murine orthologues, IA and IE, are the major genetic determinants. In this report, we have ranked HLA class II molecule-associated T1D risk in a two-sided gradient from very high to very low. Very low risk corresponded to dominant protection from T1D. We predicted the protein structure of DQ by using the published crystal structures of different allotypes of the murine orthologue of DQ, IA. We discovered marked similarities both within, and cross species between T1D protective class II molecules. Likewise, the T1D predisposing molecules showed conserved similarities that contrasted with the shared patterns observed between the protective molecules. We also found striking inter-isotypic conservation between protective DQ, IA allotypes and protective DR4 subtypes. The data provide evidence for a joint action of the class II peptide-binding pockets P1, P4 and P9 in disease susceptibility and resistance with a main role for P9 in DQ/IA and for P1 and P4 in DR/IE. Overall, these results suggest shared epitope(s) in the target autoantigen(s), and common pathways in human and murine T1D
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