Radiation effect studies in single crystal of Trifluoroacetyl-α-Aminoisobutyric acid

In this study, electron paramagnetic resonance of γ-irradiated single crystals of N-Trifluoroacetyl-α-amino isobutyric acid (F₃Ac-Aib-OH) was investigated at room temperature and analyzed for different orientations of the crystal in the magnetic field. The paramagnetic species in N-Trifluoroacetyl-α-aminoisobutyric acid was attributed to the ?F₂-R radical (R= CONHC(CH₃)COOH). Hyperfine coupling constants and g value were also determined. In addition, the single crystal of F₃Ac-Aib-OH was UV-irradiated and paramagnetic species formed was studied at room temperature. The effects of gamma irradiation on fluoroamino acid and stability were discussed.     

FT-IR spectra, vibrational assignments, and density functional calculations of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine molecule and its Zn(II) halide complexes

The geometry, frequency, and intensity of the vibrational bands of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine (which is abbreviated as impy) were obtained by the density functional theory (DFT) calculations with BLYP, B3LYP, and B3PW91 functionals and 6-31G(d) basis set. The optimized geometric bond lengths and bond angles are in good agreement with the available X-ray data. The infrared spectrum of imidazo[1,2-a]pyridine was computed by the DFT method in order to reproduce the vibrational wavenumbers and intensities with an accuracy, which allows reliable vibrational assignments. Total energy distribution and isotopic shifts have been calculated in order to help for the perfect assignment of the vibrational modes. The zinc halide complexes Zn(impy)₂X₂ [X = Cl, Br, and I] have also been synthesized. The compounds were characterized using the elemental analysis, FT-IR spectra, and quantum chemical calculations. The geometry optimization of Zn(impy)₂X₂ yields distorted tetrahedral environment around Zn ion.     

Variable neighborhood search for minimum cost berth allocation

The berth allocation problem is to allocate space along the quayside to incoming ships at a container terminal in order to minimize some objective function. We consider minimization of total costs for waiting and handling as well as earliness or tardiness of completion, for all ships. We assume ships can arrive at any given time, i.e., before or after the berths become available. The resulting problem, which subsumes several previous ones, is expressed as a linear mixed 0–1 program. As it turns out to be too time-consuming for exact solution of instances of realistic size, a Variable Neighborhood Search (VNS) heuristic is proposed, and compared with Multi-Start (MS), a Genetic Search algorithm (GA) and a Memetic Search algorithm (MA). VNS provides optimal solutions for all instances solved to optimality in a previous paper of the first two authors and outperforms MS, MA and GA on large instances.     

Determination of radioactive pollution from an open landfill

Summary This paper presents a case study of radioactive pollution of groundwater caused by leachate from an open landfill. Alpha- and beta-radioactivity analysis of the leachate from different points in the region and associated fountain water from a village down stream were carried out during four seasons. The alpha- and beta-radioactivity concentrations were under the detection limit in all samples and ranged between 0.07 and 2.17 Bq/l, respectively. The beta-radioactivity concentration from ¹²⁹I, ¹³⁷Cs and ⁹⁰Sr individual radioisotopes were determined and their annual effective dose was calculated.     

Scintillation properties of dark hollow beams in a weak turbulent atmosphere

The on-axis scintillation index for a circular dark hollow beam (DHB) propagating in a weak turbulent atmosphere is formulated, and the scintillation properties of a DHB are investigated in detail. The scintillation index for a DHB reduces to the scintillation index for a Gaussian beam, an annular beam and a flat-topped beam under certain conditions. It is found that the scintillation index of a DHB is closely related to the beam parameters and can be lower than that of a Gaussian beam, an annular beam and a flat-topped beam in a weak turbulent atmosphere at smaller waist sizes and longer propagation lengths. PACS 42.25.Bs; 42.68.Ay     

Backtracking and exchange of information: Methods to enhance a beam search algorithm for assembly line scheduling

Beam search (BS) is used as a heuristic to solve various combinatorial optimization problems, ranging from scheduling to assembly line balancing. In this paper, we develop a backtracking and an exchange-of-information (EOI) procedure to enhance the traditional beam search method. The backtracking enables us to return to previous solution states in the search process with the expectation of obtaining better solutions. The EOI is used to transfer information accumulated in a beam to other beams to yield improved solutions.     

Stationary State Entanglement of Two Atoms Inside an Optical Cavity under Noise

In this paper, the entanglement properties of a system of two atoms inside an optical cavity in a stochastic interaction with field are studied by the Jaynes-Cummings Model. The phase telegraph noise is considered as a noise term and an exact solution to the model is obtained. The solution reveals the resulting decoherence effects of the noise on the entanglement properties of the system. It shows that under the noise the individual atoms do not entangle with the cavity field. However, a strong atom-atom entanglement is observed in a stationary state. It is seen that a relatively strong noise is cooperative in the construction of the steady state atom-atom entanglement.     

Novel metal complexes containing 6-methylpyridine-2-carboxylic acid as potent α-glucosidase inhibitor: synthesis,crystal structures,DFT calculations,and molecular docking

Molecular Diversity - The World Health Organization (WHO) report shows that diabetes mellitus (DM) will be one of the ten deadly diseases in the near future. The best way to prevent DM is to...