Time-Cost Trade-Off Analysis in Some Constrained Assignment Problems

Several variations of two-dimensional (workers x jobs) and three-dimensional (workers x jobs x machines) time- as well as cost-minimizing assignment problems, which arise owing to (i) precedence relations of some form among the jobs or (ii) capacity restrictions on workers/machines imposed by the requirement that the surplus resources have to be fully employed, have been considered in the literature. In this paper, an algorithm is presented for time-cost trade-off analysis which is applicable to any general pair of such constrained problems. The algorithm is also illustrated by a numerical example.     

Synthesis and thermal behaviour of salicylaldimine-based liquid crystalline symmetrical dimers

A series of symmetrical dimers consisting of salicylaldimine moieties connected by flexible alkylene central spacer via ether linkages has been synthesized. In order to validate the empirical rule suggested by Date et al. to account for the smectic behaviour of such dimers, the chain length of the terminal alkoxy chain has been kept constant (C₈) while the number of methylene units in the central spacer was varied from C₃ to C₁₁. Another aim of the present investigation was to understand structure-property relationship in these dimers in which the salicylaldimine mesogenic segment has been used for the first time in dimers. The mesomorphic behaviour of these dimers was evaluated using optical microscopy and differential scanning calorimetry and the structure of some of the mesophases has been further investigated with the help of X-ray diffraction. Our studies reveal that the dimers consisting of 3 to 8 methylene units in the flexible spacer show only smectic (smectic C and smectic A) phases. For the dimers containing 4, 6 and 8 methylene units in the central spacer, a unique filament growth pattern has been observed in the smectic A phase while cooling from the isotropic phase. The dimers containing of C₉ to C₁₁ methylene groups exhibit the nematic phase in addition to smectic modifications. This observation indicates that when the terminal chains are shorter than the spacer, the tendency to form smectic phases is not fully extinguished but is perhaps reduced.     

Higher order symplectic RK and RKN methods using perturbed collocation

In this paper, we derive a one-parameter family of symplectic Runge-Kutta-Nyström methods of order 2s-1 and a two-parameter family of symplectic Runge-Kutta methods of order 2s-2.     

A transannular reaction during the base catalysed rearrangement of bicyclo(4.3.0)-2β-hydroxy-2α-vinyl-1β-Methyl-8-oxo-Δ6,7-nonene

Synthesis and rearrangement of bicyclo(4.3.0) - 2β - hydroxy - 2α - vinyl - 1β - methyl - 8 - oxo - Δ⁶ - nonene was observed to yield a transannular reaction product tricycio - (6.3.0.0^1,8) - 2 - methyl - 8α - hydroxy - 4 - oxo - Δ² - undecene 16. Spectral evidence supports the assigned structure.     

High performance liquid chromatographic studies on lanthanides, uranium and thorium on amide modified reversed phase supports

The retention behavior of uranium, thorium and lanthanides has been investigated with amide modified reversed phase C₁₈ supports using α-hydroxy isobutyric acid (α-HIBA) as the mobile phase. Four structurally different amide moieties namely, 4-hydroxy-N,N-dihexyl butyramide (4HHBA), 4-hydroxy-N,N-di-2-ethylhexylhexanamide (4HEHHA), bis(N,N,N′,N′-2-ethylhexyl)malonamide (B2EHM) and N-methyl-tris(dihexylcarbamoyl-3-methoxy)pivolamide (MTDCMPA) have been synthesized and studied. Among the various amide coated columns, the supports modified with 4HHBA, B2EHM and MTDCMPA exhibit an interesting retention for uranium and thorium, which is different from 4HEHHA modified support. The retention time for uranium and thorium increases with increasing amide concentration for 4HHBA, B2EHM and MTDCMPA supports, while the same decreases with increasing 4HEHHA content. However, the separation factor for uranium and thorium is greater on a 4HEHHA support, compared to an unmodified C₁₈ column, reflecting the amide's preferential complexation of uranium over thorium.Columns modified with 4HHBA, B2EHM and MTDCMPA exhibit relatively higher retentions for lanthanides. However, MTDCMPA modified support shows a different elution profile for lanthanides compared to 4HHBA, and B2EHM modified columns. Individual separations of heavier lanthanides, i.e., from gadolinium to lutetium also have been achieved using 4HHBA and B2EHM modified supports.The influence of modifier content, mobile phase concentration and its pH on the retention of metal ions has also been studied. Based on these investigations, an efficient high performance liquid chromatographic method (HPLC) has been developed for the rapid separation of uranium from thorium as well as for the individual separation of heavier lanthanides.     

Photoactive Titania Float for Disinfection of Water; Evaluation of Cell Damage by Bioanalytical Techniques

A photoactive float was fabricated with the modified titania to cause a feasible disinfection of water, contaminated with E. coli. The commercially available titania was doped with neodymium by pulverization technique to enhance its activity in sunlight and a multiapproach technique was used to evaluate the extended efficiency of the doped sample. X‐ray diffraction patterns depicted the retention of anatase phase on doping and the existence of neodymium was confirmed by the energy dispersive atomic X‐ray analysis and the X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Transmission electron microscopy and Bruner–Emmett–Teller analysis depicted a marginal increase in the particle size and a decrease in the surface area, respectively. Doping induces semiconductor behavior with lower band energy that could respond to visible light and exhibit better disinfection activity. The “f” and “d” transitions of the lanthanide in doped sample caused new electronic behavior of trapping/detrapping effect together with bandgap narrowing. The amount of malondialdehyde, protein, DNA and RNA released on destruction of E. coli was observed to be 0.915 × 10^?3 μg mL^?1, 859.912 μg mL^?1, 20.173 μg mL^?1 and 1146.073 μg mL^?1, respectively. The above analytical methods along with standard plate count method substantiated the enhanced disinfection efficiency of the doped sample in sunlight.     

Comparative study on heat pipe performance using aqueous solutions of alcohols

This paper deals with the performance characterization of heat pipes using an aqueous solution of long chain alcohols like n-Butanol, n-Pentanol, n-Hexanol and n-Heptanol as working mediums. These solutions are called as self-rewetting fluids, since these fluid mixtures possess a non-linear dependence of the surface tension with temperature. A cylindrical heat pipe made up of copper with two layers of wrapped screen is used as a wick material and partially filled with the self-rewetting fluid water mixture and tested for its heat transport capability like thermal efficiency and thermal resistance at different inclinations and input power levels. A number of tests have been performed with heat pipes, filled with various aqueous solutions of alcohols with a concentration of 2?ml/l in de-ionized water (DI water) on volume basis. The results obtained for heat pipes using self rewetting fluids show improved performances, when compared to DI water heat pipes.     

Magnetic nanoparticle‐tethered Schiff base–palladium(II): Highly active and reusable heterogeneous catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura cross‐coupling and reduction of nitroarenes in aqueous medium at room temperature

As a continuation of our efforts to develop new heterogeneous nanomagnetic catalysts for greener reactions, we identified a Schiff base–palladium(II) complex anchored on magnetic nanoparticles (SB‐Pd@MNPs) as a highly active nanomagnetic catalyst for Suzuki–Miyaura cross‐coupling reactions between phenylboronic acid and aryl halides and for the reduction of nitroarenes using sodium borohydride in an aqueous medium at room temperature. The SB‐Pd@MNPs nanomagnetic catalyst shows notable advantages such as simplicity of operation, excellent yields, short reaction times, heterogeneous nature, easy magnetic work up and recyclability. Characterization of the synthesized SB‐Pd@MNPs nanomagnetic catalyst was performed with various physicochemical methods such as attenuated total reflectance infrared spectroscopy, UV–visible spectroscopy, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy, energy‐dispersive X‐ray spectroscopy, field‐emission scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, powder X‐ray powder diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller surface area analysis.