Allocation of advertising budget between multiple channels to support sales in multiple markets

We consider the allocation of a limited marketing budget between multiple channels in order to promote sales at multiple markets. The channels differ in their type, level of targetability (or reach), and costliness. We incorporate the “threshold effect” from each market in our resource allocation which requires some positive advertising investment in each market before much sales impact can be observed from it. The increased number of channels in recent years with the advent of digital advertising, along with the added complexity created by the threshold effect, necessitates the development of new allocation approaches. In this paper, we formulate the firm’s resource allocation decision as a nonlinear and nonseparable knapsack problem. We develop a branch and cut solution method which is enhanced by a heuristic approach. A set of numerical experiments illustrate the performance of our methods and evaluate the usefulness of two rule-of-thumb strategies commonly used in practice.     

Cascade process for direct synthesis of indeno[1,2-b]furans and indeno[1,2-b]pyrroles from diketene and ninhydrin

Molecular Diversity - Novel and efficient multicomponent reactions (MCRs) involving diketene, ninhydrin (indane-1,2,3-trione) and one primary amine (3CR) or two different primary amines (4CR) were...     

Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Via the Spatially Resolved Technique Using Non-Gated Detector

We present a simple setup for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy using the spatially resolved technique (SRLIBS). We show that, without any need for time-gated ICCD and pulse generator, the signal-to-background ratio is enhanced. We develop a homemade spectrograph with a movable slit located at its entrance to detect different parts of the plasma emission. For optimizing the position of the slit, we use the shadowgraphy technique to study the plasma expansion. In this low cost setup, with nanosecond laser pulses, we perform SRLIBS experiments on the plasma induced in air and iron. Our results show that the signal-to-background ratio for iron and air is enhanced up to 15 and 8 times, respectively.     

Applications of Knoevenagel condensation reaction in the total synthesis of natural products

Monatshefte für Chemie - Chemical Monthly - The Knoevenagel condensation reaction is a prominent organic reaction commonly being utilized in the total synthesis of natural and biologically...     

Photophysical Properties and Kinetic Studies of 2-Vinylpyridine-Based Cycloplatinated(II) Complexes Containing Various Phosphine Ligands

A series of cycloplatinated(II) complexes with general formula of [PtMe(Vpy)(PR₃)], Vpy = 2-vinylpyridine and PR₃ = PPh₃ (1a); PPh₂Me (1b); PPhMe₂ (1c), were synthesized and characterized by means of spectroscopic methods. These cycloplatinated(II) complexes were luminescent at room temperature in the yellow–orange region’s structured bands. The PPhMe₂ derivative was the strongest emissive among the complexes, and the complex with PPh₃ was the weakest one. Similar to many luminescent cycloplatinated(II) complexes, the emission was mainly localized on the Vpy cyclometalated ligand as the main chromophoric moiety. The present cycloplatinated(II) complexes were oxidatively reacted with MeI to yield the corresponding cycloplatinated(IV) complexes. The kinetic studies of the reaction point out to an S_N2 mechanism. The complex with PPhMe₂ ligand exhibited the fastest oxidative addition reaction due to the most electron-rich Pt(II) center in its structure, whereas the PPh₃ derivative showed the slowest one. Interestingly, for the PPhMe₂ analog, the trans isomer was stable and could be isolated as both kinetic and thermodynamic product, while the other two underwent trans to cis isomerization.     

Analysis of Co-Tunneling Current in Fullerene Single-Electron Transistor

Single-electron transistors (SETs) are nano devices which can be used in low-power electronic systems. They operate based on coulomb blockade effect. This phenomenon controls single-electron tunneling and it switches the current in SET. On the other hand, co-tunneling process increases leakage current, so it reduces main current and reliability of SET. Due to co-tunneling phenomenon, main characteristics of fullerene SET with multiple islands are modelled in this research. Its performance is compared with silicon SET and consequently, research result reports that fullerene SET has lower leakage current and higher reliability than silicon counterpart. Based on the presented model, lower co-tunneling current is achieved by selection of fullerene as SET island material which leads to smaller value of the leakage current. Moreover, island length and the number of islands can affect on co-tunneling and then they tune the current flow in SET.     

Dissipation of carbendazim and its metabolites in cucumber using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry

Currently, there is growing interest in the degradation pathways of organic contaminants such as pesticides. In the case of pesticides, the determination of metabolites in agricultural products and environment is necessary as some of them could present similar toxicity to or even higher toxicity than the parent compound. The development of analytical methodology for the identification and quantification of carbendazim fungicide and its metabolites in cucumber was studied. Cucumber (cucumis sativus) is a global food in terms of economic importance and nutritional quality. Careful optimisation of the liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC-MS)/MS parameters was achieved in order to attain a fast separation with the best sensitivity. The detection was carried out on an Ion-Trap tandem mass spectrometer (MS/MS) by electrospray ionisation in positive ion mode (ESI+) with multiple reaction monitoring (MRM).     

Tautomerization equilibria in aqueous micellar solutions: a spectrophotometric and factor-analytical study

The keto-enol equilibria of benzoylacetone (BZA) as a model for 1,3-dicarbonyl compounds are studied in aqueous acid and cationic micellar solution. Evolving factor analysis (EFA), multivariate curve resolution-alternating least-squares (MCR-ALS), and rank annihilation factor analysis (RAFA) are used for complete resolving of measured spectrophotometric data. The acidity constants of the enolic, KaE, and ketonic, KaK, forms of BZA and also the tautomerization constant, Kt, and its related thermodynamic parameters have been determined by using EFA and MCR-ALS methods and spectral variation of BZA solutions in various pHs and temperatures. The concentration and spectral profiles of all species were calculated without any assumption about chemical models. The spectral variation of BZA solutions as a function of cationic micelle concentration sufficiently beyond its critical micelle concentration is analyzed according to the partition model for distribution between water and micellar pseudo-phase and RAFA. The outputs of using RAFA on measured rank deficient data are the spectrum of enolic form in the micellar pseudo-phase, free from contribution of the enolic form in the aqueous phase, the partition coefficient of enolic form, KdE, between the micelle and water phases, and the tautomerization constant in the micellar pseudo-phase, Ktm.     

A theoretical investigation of hydrogen bonding effects on oxygen and hydrogen chemical shielding tensors of aspirin

A computational investigation was carried out to characterize the ¹⁷O and ¹H chemical shielding (CS) tensors in crystalline aspirin. It was found that O–H⋯O and C–H⋯O hydrogen bonds around the aspirin molecule in the crystal lattice have a different influence on the calculated ¹⁷O and ¹H CS eigenvalues and their orientations in the molecular frame of axes. The calculations were performed with the BLYP, B3LYP, and M06 functionals employing 6-311++G(d,p) standard basis set. Calculated CS tensors were used to evaluate the ¹⁷O and ¹H chemical shift isotropy (δ_iso) and anisotropy (Δσ) in crystalline aspirin, which are in reasonable agreement with available experimental data. The difference between the calculated NMR parameters of the monomer and molecular clusters shows how much hydrogen-bonding interactions affect the CS tensors of each nucleus.