The objective of this work is to optimize a shipyard facility layout through required departments' closeness conditions to minimize total material handling cost. In order to resolve this type ...facility layout problem, departments' closeness conditions must be respected when the manufacturing and material handling processes require it according to the supply and movement requirements throughout production flow, especially when the activity requires material handling equipment of common use between departments. As a result of this work the optimization is achieved through the implementation of a stochastic sequential algorithm, comprising the following steps: 1) Topological Optimization from a Genetic Algorithm, 2) Transferring the centroid coordinates of each department from the topological grid to the geometrical grid from a computational procedure, and 3) Geometrical Optimization from a Stochastic Growth Algorithm, with a fine-tuning of the solution achieved using the Electre Method and a Local Search Method. Computational experiments were performed to prove the effectiveness of the system and evaluate the performance of each algorithm listed in the scope of the proposed solution. We have proved that the proposed Sequential Structure of Algorithms can successfully solve the problem. Computational experiments results are also presented in the supplementary material of this work.
This study sought to understand the role of breast carcinoma-associated fibroblasts in the progression of cancer cells into lymph nodes. We compared fibroblasts of primary tumors and matched the ...involved lymph nodes to select fibroblast activation markers, namely α-smooth muscle actin (α-SMA), S100A4, and vimentin, as well as to determine the frequency of transforming growth factor β1, a pleiotropic cytokine that induces the differentiation of fibroblasts to myofibroblasts, and its downstream effectors: CXCR4 and p-AKT. We disposed samples of 80 primary invasive ductal carcinomas and matched the involved lymph nodes from 43 cases into 3 tissue microarrays, and analyzed stromal and tumor epithelial cells separately by immunohistochemistry. Control uninvolved lymph nodes were analyzed by whole-tissue sections. Cancer-associated fibroblast in lymph nodes with macrometastasis expressed similar profiles of vimentin, α-SMA, and S100A4 as those found in primary tumors. Cancer-associated fibroblast were uniformly estrogen receptor, progesterone receptor, HER-2, Ki-67, and p53 negative, but expressions of transforming growth factor β1 (TGFβ1), CXCR4, and p-AKT staining (62.3%, 52.4%, 65%, respectively) were equivalent between primary and lymph node metastasis (LNM) fibroblasts. A significant coexpression of TGFβ1 with p-AKT and CXCR4 in LNMs suggested the involvement of these proteins with TGFβ1 signaling. These biomarkers, including α-SMA and S100A4, were negative in fibroblasts of cancer-free lymph nodes, with the exception of vimentin. Our finding that expressions of biological markers were similar in fibroblasts of the primary tumors and in matched LNMs, but were absent in cancer-free lymph nodes, supports the assumption that the lymph node stroma mimics the microenvironment observed in primary tumors.
We describe an analysis comparing the p (p) over bar elastic cross section as measured by the D0 Collaboration at a center-of-mass energy of 1.96 TeV to that in pp collisions as measured by the TOTEM ...Collaboration at 2.76, 7, 8, and 13 TeVusing a model-independent approach. The TOTEM cross sections, extrapolated to a center-of-mass energy of root s = 1.96 TeV, are compared with the D0 measurement in the region of the diffractive minimum and the second maximum of the pp cross section. The two data sets disagree at the 3.4s level and thus provide evidence for the t-channel exchange of a colorless, C-odd gluonic compound, also known as the odderon. We combine these results with a TOTEM analysis of the same C-odd exchange based on the total cross section and the ratio of the real to imaginary parts of the forward elastic strong interaction scattering amplitude in pp scattering for which the significance is between 3.4s and 4.6s. The combined significance is larger than 5 sigma and is interpreted as the first observation of the exchange of a colorless, C-odd gluonic compound.
Tau-pair production in the process \(\ensuremath{\mathrm{e}^ + \mathrm{e}^- \rightarrow \mathrm{e}^ + \mathrm{e}^-\tau^ + \tau^-}\) was studied using data collected by the DELPHI experiment at LEP2 ...during the years 1997 - 2000. The corresponding integrated luminosity is 650 pb-1. The values of the cross-section obtained are found to be in agreement with QED predictions. Limits on the anomalous magnetic and electric dipole moments of the tau lepton are deduced.
We present the first measurement of dijet angular distributions in pp collisions at s=1.96 TeV at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider. The measurement is based on a dataset corresponding to an integrated ...luminosity of 0.7 fb(-1) collected with the D0 detector. Dijet angular distributions have been measured over a range of dijet masses, from 0.25 TeV to above 1.1 TeV. The data are in good agreement with the predictions of perturbative QCD and are used to constrain new physics models including quark compositeness, large extra dimensions, and TeV(-1) scale extra dimensions. For all models considered, we set the most stringent direct limits to date.
We report the results of a search for associated production of charginos and neutralinos using a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.3 fb(-1) collected with the Demptyset ...experiment during Run II of the Tevatron proton-antiproton collider. Final states containing three charged leptons and missing transverse energy are probed for a signal from supersymmetry with four dedicated trilepton event selections. No evidence for a signal is observed, and we set limits on the product of production cross section and leptonic branching fraction. Within minimal supergravity, these limits translate into bounds on m(0) and m(1/2) that are well beyond existing limits.
Searches for neutral Higgs bosons produced at LEP in association with Z bosons, in pairs and in the Yukawa process are presented in this paper. Higgs boson decays into b quarks, \(\tau\) leptons, or ...other Higgs bosons are considered, giving rise to four-b, four-b + jets, six-b and four-\(\tau\) final states, as well as mixed modes with b quarks and \(\tau\) leptons. The whole mass domain kinematically accessible at LEP in these topologies is searched. The analysed data set covers both the LEP1 and LEP2 energy ranges and exploits most of the luminosity recorded by the DELPHI experiment. No convincing evidence for a signal is found, and results are presented in the form of mass-dependent upper bounds on coupling factors (in units of model-independent reference cross-sections) for all processes, allowing interpretation of the data in a large class of models.
A search for pair-produced charged Higgs bosons was performed in the data collected by the DELPHI detector at LEP II at centre-of-mass energies from 189 GeV to 209 GeV. Five different final states, ...\(\tau^ + \nu_{\tau}\tau^- \bar{\nu}_{\tau}\), \(\mathrm{c}\bar{\mathrm{s}}\bar{\mathrm{c}}\mathrm{s}\), \(\mathrm{c}\bar{\mathrm{s}}{\tau^- \bar{\nu}_{\tau}}\), \(\mathrm{W}^*\!\mathrm{A}\mathrm{W}^*\!\mathrm{A}\) and \(\mathrm{W}^*\!\mathrm{A}\tau^- \bar{\nu}_{\tau}\) were considered, accounting for the major expected decays in type I and type II Two Higgs Doublet Models. No significant excess of data compared to the expected Standard Model processes was observed. The existence of a charged Higgs boson with mass lower than 76.7 GeV/c2 (type I) or 74.4 GeV/c2 (type II) is excluded at the 95% confidence level, for a wide range of the model parameters. Model independent cross-section limits have also been calculated.
We present a measurement of the differential cross section for t (t) over bar events produced in p (p) over bar collisions at root s = 1.96 TeV as a function of the transverse momentum (p(T)) of the ...top quark. The selected events contain a high-p(T) lepton (l), a large imbalance in p(T). four or more jets with at least one candidate for a b jet, and correspond to 1 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity recorded with the D0 detector. Objects in the event are associated through a constrained kinematic fit to the t (t) over bar -> WbW (b) over bar -> lvbq (q) over bar' (b) over bar process. Results from next and next-to-next-to-leading-order perturbative QCD calculations agree with the measured differential cross section. Comparisons are also provided to predictions from Monte Carlo event generators using QCD calculations at different levels of precision.
This paper presents DELPHI measurements and interpretations of cross-sections, forward-backward asymmetries, and angular distributions, for the process for centre-of-mass energies above the Z ...resonance, from -207 GeV at the LEP collider. The measurements are consistent with the predictions of the Standard Model and are used to study a variety of models including the S-Matrix ansatz for scattering and several models which include physics beyond the Standard Model: the exchange of Z′ bosons, contact interactions between fermions, the exchange of gravitons in large extra dimensions and the exchange of in R-parity violating supersymmetry.This paper is dedicated to the memory of Alan Segar.
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