Guest Editorial. Special Issue: Temporal logic in engineering

Logic-based models are thriving within artificial intelligence. A great number of new logics have been defined, and their theory investigated. Epistemic logics introduce modal operators for knowledge or belief; deontic logics are about norms, and introduce operators of deontic necessity and possibility (i.e., obligation or prohibition). And then we have a much investigated class—temporal logics—to whose application to engineering this special issue is devoted. This kind of formalism deserves increased widespread recognition and application in engineering, a domain where other kinds of temporal models (e.g., Petri nets) are by now a fairly standard part of the modelling toolbox.

Two-machine open shop scheduling with special transportation times

The paper considers a problem of scheduling n jobs in a two-machine open shop to minimise the makespan, provided that preemption is not allowed and the interstage transportation times are involved. In general, this problem is known to be NP-hard. We present a linear time algorithm that finds an optimal schedule if no transportation time exceeds the smallest of the processing times. We also describe an algorithm that creates a heuristic solution to the problem with job-independent transportation times. Our algorithm provides a worst-case performance ratio of 8/5 if the transportation time of a job depends on the assigned processing route. The ratio reduces to 3/2 if all transportation times are equal.

Acknowledgement [Special Issue - Formal Approaches to Legal Evidence]

This Acknowledgement refers to the special issue "Formal Approaches to Legal Evidence" of the Artificial Intelligence and Law, September 2001, Vol. 9, Issue 2-3, which was guest edited by Ephraim Nissan.

Editorial: context, content and aims [Special Issue - Formal Approaches to Legal Evidence]

This special issue "Formal Approaches to Legal Evidence" of the Artificial Intelligence and Law, September 2001, Vol. 9, Issue 2-3, which was guest edited by Ephraim Nissan.

Preface [Special Issue: International Symposium on Combinatorial Optimisation (CO2000)]

Preface [Special Issue containing a selection of papers presented at the International Symposium on Combinatorial Optimisation (CO2000) held at the University of Greenwich, London, from 12-14 July 2000.

A two dimensional unstructured staggered mesh method with special treatment of tangential velocity

A two dimensional staggered unstructured discretisation scheme for the solution of fluid flow problems has been developed. This scheme stores and solves the velocity vector resolutes normal and parallel to each cell face and other scalar variables (pressure, temperature) are stored at cell centres. The coupled momentum; continuity and energy equations are solved, using the well known pressure correction algorithm SIMPLE. The method is tested for accuracy and convergence behaviour against standard cell-centre solutions in a number of benchmark problems: The Lid-Driven Cavity, Natural Convection in a Cavity and the Melting of Gallium in a rectangular domain.

Back to the bad old days?

Reviews the Court of Appeal decision in James v Thomas that a cohabitee had not acquired an equitable interest in a property registered in her former partner's sole name through a constructive trust, based on express or inferred common intention, or by proprietary estoppel. Highlights the inconsistent approach of the courts to cohabitee disputes. Outlines the Law Commission's proposals in its 2007 report, Cohabitation: The Financial Consequences of Relationship Breakdown, notes the factors to be taken into account by the courts, and speculates on the case's outcome if the proposals were applied. [From Legal Journals Index]