Minimizing the object dimensions in circle and sphere packing problems

Given a fixed set of identical or different-sized circular items, the problem we deal with consists on finding the smallest object within which the items can be packed. Circular, triangular, squared, rectangular and also strip objects are considered. Moreover, 2D and 3D problems are treated. Twice-differentiable models for all these problems are presented. A strategy to reduce the complexity of evaluating the models is employed and, as a consequence, instances with a large number of items can be considered. Numerical experiments show the flexibility and reliability of the new unified approach. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Newton`s iterates can converge to non-stationary points

In this note we discuss the convergence of Newton`s method for minimization. We present examples in which the Newton iterates satisfy the Wolfe conditions and the Hessian is positive definite at each step and yet the iterates converge to a non-stationary point. These examples answer a question posed by Fletcher in his 1987 book Practical methods of optimization.

Software maintenance project delays prediction using Bayesian Networks

Managing software maintenance is rarely a precise task due to uncertainties concerned with resources and services descriptions. Even when a well-established maintenance process is followed, the risk of delaying tasks remains if the new services are not precisely described or when resources change during process execution. Also, the delay of a task at an early process stage may represent a different delay at the end of the process, depending on complexity or services reliability requirements. This paper presents a knowledge-based representation (Bayesian Networks) for maintenance project delays based on specialists experience and a corresponding tool to help in managing software maintenance projects. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Structured minimal-memory inexact quasi-Newton method and secant preconditioners for augmented Lagrangian optimization

Augmented Lagrangian methods for large-scale optimization usually require efficient algorithms for minimization with box constraints. On the other hand, active-set box-constraint methods employ unconstrained optimization algorithms for minimization inside the faces of the box. Several approaches may be employed for computing internal search directions in the large-scale case. In this paper a minimal-memory quasi-Newton approach with secant preconditioners is proposed, taking into account the structure of Augmented Lagrangians that come from the popular Powell-Hestenes-Rockafellar scheme. A combined algorithm, that uses the quasi-Newton formula or a truncated-Newton procedure, depending on the presence of active constraints in the penalty-Lagrangian function, is also suggested. Numerical experiments using the Cute collection are presented.

Improving ultimate convergence of an augmented Lagrangian method

Optimization methods that employ the classical Powell-Hestenes-Rockafellar augmented Lagrangian are useful tools for solving nonlinear programming problems. Their reputation decreased in the last 10 years due to the comparative success of interior-point Newtonian algorithms, which are asymptotically faster. In this research, a combination of both approaches is evaluated. The idea is to produce a competitive method, being more robust and efficient than its `pure` counterparts for critical problems. Moreover, an additional hybrid algorithm is defined, in which the interior-point method is replaced by the Newtonian resolution of a Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) system identified by the augmented Lagrangian algorithm. The software used in this work is freely available through the Tango Project web page:http://www.ime.usp.br/similar to egbirgin/tango/.

Augmented Lagrangian methods under the constant positive linear dependence constraint qualification

Two Augmented Lagrangian algorithms for solving KKT systems are introduced. The algorithms differ in the way in which penalty parameters are updated. Possibly infeasible accumulation points are characterized. It is proved that feasible limit points that satisfy the Constant Positive Linear Dependence constraint qualification are KKT solutions. Boundedness of the penalty parameters is proved under suitable assumptions. Numerical experiments are presented.

Reliability properties under a stopping time shift

Considering a series representation of a coherent system using a shift transform of the components lifetime T-i, at its critical level Y-i, we study two problems. First, under such a shift transform, we analyse the preservation properties of the non-parametric distribution classes and secondly the association preserving property of the components lifetime under such transformations. (c) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Elementary Petri net inside RFID distributed database (PNRD)

Usually, a Petri net is applied as an RFID model tool. This paper, otherwise, presents another approach to the Petri net concerning RFID systems. This approach, called elementary Petri net inside an RFID distributed database, or PNRD, is the first step to improve RFID and control systems integration, based on a formal data structure to identify and update the product state in real-time process execution, allowing automatic discovery of unexpected events during tag data capture. There are two main features in this approach: to use RFID tags as the object process expected database and last product state identification; and to apply Petri net analysis to automatically update the last product state registry during reader data capture. RFID reader data capture can be viewed, in Petri nets, as a direct analysis of locality for a specific transition that holds in a specific workflow. Following this direction, RFID readers storage Petri net control vector list related to each tag id is expected to be perceived. This paper presents PNRD cornerstones and a PNRD implementation example in software called DEMIS Distributed Environment in Manufacturing Information Systems.

On Approximate KKT Condition and its Extension to Continuous Variational Inequalities

In this work, we introduce a necessary sequential Approximate-Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (AKKT) condition for a point to be a solution of a continuous variational inequality, and we prove its relation with the Approximate Gradient Projection condition (AGP) of Garciga-Otero and Svaiter. We also prove that a slight variation of the AKKT condition is sufficient for a convex problem, either for variational inequalities or optimization. Sequential necessary conditions are more suitable to iterative methods than usual punctual conditions relying on constraint qualifications. The AKKT property holds at a solution independently of the fulfillment of a constraint qualification, but when a weak one holds, we can guarantee the validity of the KKT conditions.

Guilherme de La Penha: uma história do seu itinerário intelectual em três dimensões

This study focuses on the central Brazilian historiography of science, focusing specifically on the life and work of a contemporaneous mathematician-physicist, and becomes part of the set of research results that investigate, organize and describe personal, intellectual and professional itineraries of Brazilian scientists and educators. The theme chosen for the study ran from seminars on Mathematics in Pará and is up to organize and describe the life history, education, professional experience and scientific production of William Mauricio Souza Marcos de La Penha (Guilherme de La Penha), considering their academic, professional and intellectual life history, so that their academic and intellectual production be spread over the Brazilian scientific and academic community. We adopted the historical research as theoretical and methodological base for the development of this study, rising arguments about the profile of Guilherme de La Penha to characterize him as a multiskill intellectual and to reveal that his thoughts about science, technology, training scientists and educators were in accordance with their writings and their professional practice in order to build a first story about the life and work of William de La Penha. In this sense, we took the theoretical aspects related to historical research, biographies, intellectual itineraries, files and inventories as sources and historical construction vehicles in order to point out the essential elements to form a profile of the transdisciplinary intellectual historians, ie a profile scientist who carries out the research, management and administration, as well as a committed educator to the on-going training and forming process. The results pointed in different directions, among which we highlight the creation of Seção Guilherme de La Penha at Universidade da Amazonia, producing several articles about the life and work of William de La Penha presented at national and international conferences and the proposal for documentary displays which could contribute to understanding the implementation of a scientific area in Pará State, an area that would not only be restricted to the production of knowledge, but more than that, it would include the spreading, which provides various means, primarily through education. Thus it was possible to ensure that La Penha has an intellectual profile that can be considered a multi-and transdisciplinary intellectual who defends the possibility of forming a scientist one and multiple, non-linear attitudes and dialogues with all other areas in order to be understood under a model scientist for the twenty-first century based on the model clearly inspired by the scientist authors with which he identified throughout their training and professional activities, like the three that stood out in their relationship science: Archimedes, Leonhard Euler and Cliford Ambrose Truesdell

River fisheries in Brazil: a review

Riverine fisheries in Brazil are reviewed. There is a broad description of the environment and the fish, and arguments for the high diversity of fish fauna diversity are examined. The country is divided into five large river basins and the fisheries are described in relation to the main fish species caught, the main gear employed, and the fishing strategies. Exotic species introduction is discussed along with strategies for fish stock management. Effects of dams on resident fish stocks and consequences for the small scale fisheries are discussed and compared with the effects of pollution. -Author

O plano de ações articuladas e a gestão educacional do município de Altamira-Pará

ABSTRACT: This researpch discusses the role of Articulated Action Plan (AAP) in education management and present as object of study the implications of AAP in the management of Altamira-PA education, with respect to the democratic management. The investigation seems to clarify se with the implementation of the AAP there was progress in the democratization of education management in Altamira-PA. We pointed as well as general objective: analyze the implications of AAP for educational management Altamira from 2007 to 2012. The research investigation bases made themselves with the literature of contribution on the issues of the state and education politic, the democratic management of education and Articulated Action Plan, as well as official documents available in SEMED and other sources. Having as part of a research management, considered in the analysis of the educational context dimension 1 (one) of the AAP. So in addition to statistical data on municipal education, we analyzed financial data for the transfer of federal funds, and qualitative data on the participation of research subjects (education secretaries, counselors, teachers and teaching coordination). The investigation revealed that it is still fragile the field of democratization of education in Altamira. Of the analyzed aspects contained in the AAP, including the functioning of the councils (School Boards, City Board of Education, CACS-Fundeb and CAE), providing of the position of directors and the construction of the Municipal Education Plan (MEP) show progress and setbacks regarding the democratic management: existence of all the advice of social control and monitoring; reactivation of CME but this still can not coordinate discussions on the educational politic of the municipality; little participation in the School Boards; creation of Law No. 3,085/2012 establishing the Municipal school system, but still no installation; transfers under the AAP of federal funds for schools; lack of MEP and privilege of the IAS Target Plan. Finally, it is concluded that even if the resistance fronts for the construction and consolidation of democratic management of education and there are historical in Altamira, the construction of educational politic with the participation of all is frustrated by the centrality of the decision-making power in the Government’s hands.

Is production the core competence for the internationalization of emerging country firms?

The rise of new multinationals in countries like Brazil provides an opportunity to revisit and carefully construct theories of how firms internationalize, a topic on which extant theory is weak. Brazilian firms are "infant multinationals", unlike developed country firms that are "mature multinationals". They are also internationalizing in a very different global context, and can do so on the basis of different competitive advantages than multinationals that came before. Therefore, this study aims at creating subsidies for theory building about early-stage internationalization. Emerging country firms have Production competences as main competitive asset to internationalize, what reflects their competitive positioning in home markets and their entry strategy in international markets. In the case of early-entrants - Western multinationals in the 1950s and Japanese in the 1980s - the Production competence played a key role for successful internationalization. Thus, the focus of the study is the role that the Production competence plays in the internationalization of late-entrants, the emerging country multinationals. The research design considers not only the position of the headquarters but also the initiatives of the subsidiaries and the dynamic interplay between both. The paper allows a better understanding of internationalization processes and the role of Production, when firms start building their own international networks. It brings relevant insights about the paths that are being followed by emerging country multinationals, the difficulties they find, the solutions they develop. These are important inputs not only for new theory building but also for managerial practice. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Two extensions for the ALWABP: Parallel stations and collaborative approach

In this article, we introduce two new variants of the Assembly Line Worker Assignment and Balancing Problem (ALWABP) that allow parallelization of and collaboration between heterogeneous workers. These new approaches suppose an additional level of complexity in the Line Design and Assignment process, but also higher flexibility; which may be particularly useful in practical situations where the aim is to progressively integrate slow or limited workers in conventional assembly lines. We present linear models and heuristic procedures for these two new problems. Computational results show the efficiency of the proposed approaches and the efficacy of the studied layouts in different situations. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

An extension of the invariance principle for dwell-time switched nonlinear systems

In this paper, we propose an extension of the invariance principle for nonlinear switched systems under dwell-time switched solutions. This extension allows the derivative of an auxiliary function V, also called a Lyapunov-like function, along the solutions of the switched system to be positive on some sets. The results of this paper are useful to estimate attractors of nonlinear switched systems and corresponding basins of attraction. Uniform estimates of attractors and basin of attractions with respect to time-invariant uncertain parameters are also obtained. Results for a common Lyapunov-like function and multiple Lyapunov-like functions are given. Illustrative examples show the potential of the theoretical results in providing information on the asymptotic behavior of nonlinear dynamical switched systems. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.