Macros have a long-standing role in planning as a tool for representing repeating subsequences of operators. Macros are useful both for guiding search towards a solution and for representing plans compactly. In this paper we introduce automata plans which consist of hierarchies of finite state automata. Automata plans can be viewed as an extension of macros that enables parametrization and bran...

Purpose: The aim of this paper is constructing a performance evaluation model for service-oriented catering supply chain. Design/methodology/approach: With the research on the current situation of catering industry, this paper summarized the characters of the catering supply chain, and then presents the service-oriented catering supply chain model based on the platform of logistics and informat...

Formal asymptotic expansions have long been used to study the singularly perturbed Allen-Cahn type equations and reaction-diffusion systems, including in particular the FitzHugh-Nagumo system. Despite their successful role, it has been largely unclear whether or not such expansions really represent the actual profile of solutions with rather general initial data. By combining our earlier result...

We present an alternative derivation of the dynamical density functional theory for the one-body density profile of a classical fluid developed by Marconi and Tarazona [J. Chem. Phys. 110, 8032 (1999)]. Our derivation elucidates further some of the physical assumptions inherent in the theory and shows that it is not restricted to fluids composed of particles interacting solely via pair potentia...

Article history: Received 19 June 2013 Received in revised form 9 August 2013 Accepted 12 August 2013 Available online 14 September 2013

We develop a continuum description for the axial segregation of granular materials in a long rotating drum based on the dynamics of the thin near-surface granular flow coupled to bulk flow. The equations of motion are reduced to the one-dimensional system for two local variables only, the concentration difference and the dynamic angle of repose, or the average slope of the free surface. The par...

This progress report outlines the main reasons why Saaty’s Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP, see [17] and [18]) is not a valid methodology.

In this note we prove compactness for the Cahn-Hilliard functional without assuming coercivity of the multi-well potential.

OBJECTIVE The aim of the present study was to identify areas where allied health assistants (AHAs) are not working to their full scope of practice in order to improve the effectiveness of the allied health workforce. METHODS Qualitative data collected via focus groups identified suitable AHA tasks and a quantitative survey with allied health professionals (AHPs) measured the magnitude of work...