Unsteady boundary layer flow of a nanofluid over a stretching sheet with variable fluid properties in the presence of thermal radiation

In this paper, we investigated numerically an unsteady boundary layer flow of a nanofluid over a stretching sheet in the presence of thermal radiation with variable fluid properties. Using a set of suitable similarity transformations, the governing partial differential equations are reduced into a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations. System of the nonlinear ordinary differential equations are then solved by the Keller-box method. The physical parameters taken into consideration for the present study are: Prandtl number Pr, Lewis number Le, Brownian motion parameter N _b, thermophoresis parameter N _t, radiation parameter N _r, unsteady parameter M. In addition to these parameters, two more new parameters namely variable thermophoretic diffusion coefficient parameter e and variable Brownian motion diffusion coefficient parameter β have been introduced in the present study. Effects of these parameters on temperature, volume fraction of the nanoparticles, surface heat and mass transfer rates are presented graphically and discussed briefly. To validate our method, we have compared the present results with some previously reported results in the literature. The results are found to be in a very good agreement.     

A multilevel programming approach to decentralized (or hierarchical) resource allocation systems

In many decision processes there is a hierarchy of decision-makers and decisions are taken at different levels in this hierarchy. In business (and many other practical activities) decision making has changed over the last decades. From a single person (the boss!) and a single criterion (e.g. profit), decision environments have developed increasingly to become multi-person and multi-criteria and even multi-level (or hierarchical) situations. In organization with hierarchical decision systems, the sequential and preemptive nature of the decision process makes the problem of selecting an optimum strategy and action very different from the usual operations research methods. Therefore, a multilevel programming approach is considered in modeling such problems. In particular a three-level mathematical programming model has been proposed for an optimal resource allocation problem in Ethiopian universities. (© 2008 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Deterministic solution approach for some classes of nonlinear multilevel programs with multiple followers

In this paper we investigate multilevel programming problems with multiple followers in each hierarchical decision level. It is known that such type of problems are highly non-convex and hard to solve. A solution algorithm have been proposed by reformulating the given multilevel program with multiple followers at each level that share common resources into its equivalent multilevel program having single follower at each decision level. Even though, the reformulated multilevel optimization problem may contain non-convex terms at the objective functions at each level of the decision hierarchy, we applied multi-parametric branch-and-bound algorithm to solve the resulting problem that has polyhedral constraints. The solution procedure is implemented and tested for a variety of illustrative examples.     

Multilevel multi-leader multiple-follower games with nonseparable objectives and shared constraints

Computational Management Science - Multi-leader multi-follower (MLMF) games are hierarchical games in which a collection of players in the upper-level, called leaders, compete in a Nash game...     

Immune Modulatory Activities of Arginyl-Fructose (AF) and AF-Enriched Natural Products in In-Vitro and In-Vivo Animal Models

The immune system plays an important role in maintaining body homeostasis. Recent studies on the immune-enhancing effects of ginseng saponins have revealed more diverse mechanisms of action. Maillard reaction that occurs during the manufacturing processes of red ginseng produces a large amount of Amadori rearrangement compounds (ARCs), such as arginyl-fructose (AF). The antioxidant and anti-hyperglycemic effects of AF have been reported. However, the possible immune enhancing effects of non-saponin ginseng compounds, such as AF, have not been investigated. In this study the effects of AF and AF-enriched natural product (Ginofos, GF) on proliferation of normal mouse splenocytes were evaluated in vitro and male BALB/c mice models. The proliferation of splenocytes treated with mitogens (concanavalin A, lipopolysaccharide) were further increased by addition of AF (p < 0.01) or GF (p < 0.01), in a dose dependent manner. After the 10 days of oral administration of compounds, changes in weights of spleen and thymus, serum immunoglobulin, and expression of cytokines were measured as biomarkers of immune-enhancing potential in male BALB/c mice model. The AF or GF treated groups had higher weights of the thymus (0.94 ± 0.25 and 0.86 ± 0.18, p < 0.05, respectively) than that of cyclophosphamide treated group (0.59 ± 0.18). This result indicates that AF or AF-enriched extract (GF) increased humoral immunity against CY-induced immunosuppression. In addition, immunoglobulin contents and expression of cytokines including IgM (p < 0.01), IgG (p < 0.05), IL-2 (p < 0.01), IL-4 (p < 0.01), IL-6 (p < 0.01), and IFN-γ (p < 0.05) were also significantly increased by supplementation of AF or GF. These results indicate that AF has immune enhancing effects by activation of adaptive immunity via increase of expression of immunoglobulins and cytokines such as IgM, IgG, IL-2, IL-4, IL-6 and thereby proliferating the weight of thymus. Our findings provide a pharmacological rationale for AF-enriched natural products such as ginseng and red ginseng that can possibly have immune-enhancement potential and should be further evaluated.     

Oscillatory hyper Hilbert transforms along general curves

We consider the oscillatory hyper Hilbert transform H _γ,α,β f(x) = ∫ ₀ ^∞ f(x - Γ(t))e^it-β t^-(1+α)dt; where Γ(t) = (t, γ(t)) in ?² is a general curve. When γ is convex, we give a simple condition on γ such that H _γ,α,β is bounded on L ² when β > 3α, β > 0: As a corollary, under this condition, we obtain the L ^p -boundedness of H _γ,α,β when 2β/(2β - 3α) < p < 2β/(3α). When Γ is a general nonconvex curve, we give some more complicated conditions on γ such that H _γ,α,β is bounded on L ²: As an application, we construct a class of strictly convex curves along which H _γ,α,β is bounded on L ² only if β > 2α > 0.