Lagrangian heuristic for a class of the generalized assignment problems

A Lagrangian based heuristic is proposed for many-to-many assignment problems taking into account capacity limits for task and agents. A modified Lagrangian bound studied earlier by the authors is presented and a greedy heuristic is then applied to get a feasible Lagrangian-based solution. The latter is also used to speed up the subgradient scheme to solve the modified Lagrangian dual problem. A numerical study is presented to demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed approach. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Comparison of Lagrangian Bounds for One Class of Generalized Assignment Problems

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Bayesian estimation of generalized exponential distribution under noninformative priors

The generalized exponential distribution, proposed by Gupta and Kundu (1999), is a good alternative to standard lifetime distributions as exponential, Weibull or gamma. Several authors have considered the problem of Bayesian estimation of the parameters of generalized exponential distribution, assuming independent gamma priors and other informative priors. In this paper, we consider a Bayesian analysis of the generalized exponential distribution by assuming the conventional non-informative prior distributions, as Jeffreys and reference prior, to estimate the parameters. These priors are compared with independent gamma priors for both parameters. The comparison is carried out by examining the frequentist coverage probabilities of Bayesian credible intervals. We shown that maximal data information prior implies in an improper posterior distribution for the parameters of a generalized exponential distribution. It is also shown that the choice of a parameter of interest is very important for the reference prior. The different choices lead to different reference priors in this case. Numerical inference is illustrated for the parameters by considering data set of different sizes and using MCMC (Markov Chain Monte Carlo) methods.

Crystal structure of a novel myotoxic Arg49 phospholipase A(2) homolog (zhaoermiatoxin) from Zhaoermia mangshanensis snake venom: Insights into Arg49 coordination and the role of Lys122 in the polarization of the C-terminus

The venom of Zhaoermia mangshanensis, encountered solely in Mt Mang in China's Hunan Province, exhibits coagulant, phosphodiesterase, L-amino acid oxidase, kallikrein, phospholipase A(2) and myotoxic activities. The catalytically inactive PLA(2) homolog referred to as zhaoermiatoxin is highly myotoxic and displays high myonecrotic and edema activities. Zhaoermiatoxin possesses a molecular weight of 13,972 Da, consists of 121 amino-acid residues crosslinked by seven disulfide bridges and shares high sequence homology with Lys49-PLA(2)s from the distantly related Asian pitvipers. However, zhaoermiatoxin possesses an arginine residue at position 49 instead of a lysine, thereby suggesting a secondary Lys49 -> Arg substitution which results in a catalytically inactive protein. We have determined the first crystal structure of zhaoermiatoxin, an Arg49-PLA(2), from Zhaoermia mangshanensis venom at 2.05 A resolution, which represents a novel member of phospholipase A(2) family. In this structure, unlike the Lys49 PLA(2)s, the C-terminus is well ordered and an unexpected non-polarized state of the putative calcium-binding loop due to the flip of Lys122 towards the bulk solvent is observed. The orientation of the Arg-49 side chain results in a similar binding mode to that observed in the Lys49 PLA(2)s; however, the guadinidium group is tri-coordinated by carbonyl oxygen atoms of the putative calcium-binding loop, whereas the N zeta atom of lysine is tetra-coordinated as a result of the different conformation adopted by the putative calcium-binding loop. (c) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Generalized soldering of +/- 2 helicity states in D=2+1

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Analytical optimization of spread and change of exponential decay of generalized Wannier functions in one dimension

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

GENERALIZED HEAVISIDE FUNCTIONS IN THE COLOMBEAU THEORY CONTEXT

We defined generalized Heaviside functions for a variable x in R-n, and for variables (x, t) in R-n x R-m. Then study properties such as: composition, invertibility, and association relation (the weak equality). This work is developed in the Colombeau generalized functions context.

Contribution of an extrinsic mechanism for the electrical polarization in BiMn2O5 ceramics

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Squeezed states, generalized Hermite polynomials and pseudo-diffusion equation

We show that the wavefunctions 〈pq; λ|n〈, of the harmonic oscillator in the squeezed state representation, have the generalized Hermite polynomials as their natural orthogonal polynomials. These wavefunctions lead to generalized Poisson Distribution Pn(pq;λ), which satisfy an interesting pseudo-diffusion equation: ∂Pnp,q;λ) ∂λ= 1 4 [ ∂2 ∂p2-( 1 λ2) ∂2 ∂q2]P2(p,q;λ), in which the squeeze parameter λ plays the role of time. Th entropies Sn(λ) have minima at the unsqueezed states (λ=1), which means that squeezing or stretching decreases the correlation between momentum p and position q. © 1992.

On non-linear W-infinity symmetry of generalized Liouville and conformal Toda models

Invariance under non-linear Ŵ∞ algebra is shown for the two-boson Liouville type of model and its algebraic generalizations, the extended conformal Toda models. The realization of the corresponding generators in terms of two boson currents within KP hierarchy is presented.

Hamiltonian quantization of the non-anomalous generalized Schwinger model

We quantize a generalized version of the Schwinger model, where the two chiral sectors couples with different strengths to the U(1) gauge field. Starting from a theory which includes a generalized Wess-Zumino term, we obtain the equal time commutation relation for physical fields, both the singular and non-singular cases are considered. The photon propagators are also computed in their gauge dependent and invariant versions. © 1995 Springer-Verlag.