Approximation by Gamma type operators

In this study, we introduce newly defined Gamma operators which preserve constants and e^2μ·, μ>0 functions. In accordance with this purpose, we focus on their approximation properties such as uniform convergence, rate of convergence, asymptotic formula, and saturation results. Superior properties of introduced operators have been tested both theoretically and numerically in certain senses to highlight the performance of the new constructions of Gamma operators.     

Determination of atorvastatin in human plasma by magnetic solid-phase extraction combined with HPLC and application to a pharmacokinetic study

A simple and sensitive analytical procedure by solid-phase extraction method combined with high-performance liquid chromatography and using of graphene–magnetite nanomaterials as sorbent has been developed for the determination of atorvastatin in human plasma. A magnetic solid-phase extraction method as a simple, fast, and efficient extraction technique has been used for sample preparation. A solid nanocomposite material, graphene nanosheets decorated with magnetite nanoparticles, was used as a magnetic adsorbent and the adsorption process was optimized in this study. RP C18 column was used with mobile phase composed of acetonitrile–10?mM orthophosphoric acid by isocratic elution with the flow rate of 1?mL?min^?1. Fluorimetric detection was used by the excitation wavelength at 282?nm and the emission wavelength at 400?nm. It was found that the calibration curve was linear in the 30–150?ng?mL^?1. Limit of detection and limit of quantitation values were found to be 10 and 30?ng?mL^?1, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviation values were less than 5.27%. It has been concluded that the new developed method provides fast, simple, cost reduced, and sensitive assay for atorvastatin determination in human plasma. This method is also applied to a pharmacokinetic study.     

Determination of some trace metals in waters by flame atomic absorption spectrometry after preconcentration on Amberlite XAD-16 resin with sodium tetraborate

A method was described for the determination of the elements Cr, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, Cd, Pb, and Bi in waters by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) after separation and preconcentration on Amberlite XAD-16 resin with sodium tetraborate using a chromatographic column. Parameters influencing the analytical performance, including pH and the volume of sample, amount of analyte and interfering effect of co-existing ions, were studied in detail. The recovery values were quantitative (> or = 95%), and the relative standard deviation (RSD) and detection limit (DL) varied in the range of 1.1-2.4% (n=10) and 0.002-0.177 microg m(-1) (3s, n=20), respectively. After being optimized, the proposed method was applied to the drinking water, waste water and artificial sea water samples. Recovery values of the elements investigated, were quantitative for tap water and synthetic sea water, except for Mn, Co and Ni (including also Cd for synthetic sea water). Recovery values of Cd, Pb, Cu and Co were found to be 95, 102, < or = 87, and < or = 83%, respectively, for the waste water samples.     

Thiadiazoloquinoxaline and benzodithiophene bearing polymers for electrochromic and organic photovoltaic applications

Abstract

Two novel thiadiazoloquinoxaline and benzodithiophene (BDT) bearing copolymers were designed and synthesized. Different BDT units (alkoxy and thiophene substituted) were used as donor materials and the effect of alkoxy and thiophene substitution on the electrochemical, spectroelectrochemical and photovoltaic properties were investigated. Both polymers exhibited low oxidation potentials at around 0.90 V and low optical band gaps at around 1.00?eV due to the insertion of electron poor thiadiazoloquinoxaline unit into the polymer backbone. Both P1 (poly-6,7-bis(3,4-bis(decyloxy)phenyl)-4-(4,8-bis(nonan-3-yloxy)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophen-2-yl)-[1, 2, 5]thiadiazolo[3,4-g]quinoxaline) and P2 (poly- 4-(4,8-bis(5-(nonan-3-yl)thiophen-2-yl)benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b']dithiophen-2-yl)-6,7-bis(3,4-bis(decyloxy)phenyl)-[1, 2, 5]thiadiazolo[3,4-g]quinoxaline) exhibited multichromic behavior with different tones of greenish yellow and gray in the neutral and fully oxidized states, respectively. In addition, both polymers revealed very high optical contrasts (～87%) in the NIR region which make these promising polymers good candidates for NIR applications. Finally, in order to explore the organic photovoltaic performances, P1 and P2 were mixed with PC₇₁BM in the active layer of organic solar cells (OSCs) by conventional device structure. As a result P1 and P2 based devices revealed power conversion efficiencies (PCEs) of 0.33% and 0.60% respectively. However, the additive treatment enhanced PCE from 0.49 to 0.73% for P2 based devices.     

Syntheses,electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical characterization of benzothiadiazole and benzoselenadiazole based random copolymers

Three novel donor-acceptor-donor type random copolymers based on benzothiadiazole (BTh) and benzoselenadiazole (BSe) were synthesized via Pd (0) catalyzed Suzuki polycondensation reaction. The two acceptor units were coupled with electron rich moieties which are carbazole (CZ), fluorene (FL) and silafluorene (SiFL). Monomers were characterized using ¹H and ¹³C-NMR spectroscopy. The number and weight average molecular weights of the polymers were calculated using gel permeation chromatography (GPC). All three polymers were electrochemically and spectroelectrochemically characterized. PBThBSeCZ, PBThBSeFL and PBThBSeSiFL showed only p-dopable character and their doping/dedoping potentials were determined as 1.4 V/1.2 V, 1.53 V/1.27 V and 1.8 V/1.3 V, respectively. Corresponding HOMO energy levels were calculated as ?5.85 eV, ?6.05 eV and ?6.15 eV whereas LUMO energy levels were found to be ?3.67 eV, ?3.84 eV and ?3.77 eV, respectively. PBThBSeCZ had lower HOMO level and band gap than PBThBSeFL and PBThBSeSiFL due to its increased electron donating capability of nitrogen atom in carbazole unit.     

A new high‐performance blue to transmissive electrochromic material and use of silver nanowire network electrodes as substrates

Synthesis of a novel, high‐performance blue to transmissive switching electrochromic material is described. The polymer (P1) was prepared by both electrochemical ( P1E ) and chemical ( P1C ) means from the corresponding monomer. The electrochemically synthesized polymer ( P1E ) revealed 64% optical contrast change (on ITO) in the visible region and very fast switching times of 0.32 s (coloration) and 0.90 s (bleaching). On the other hand, the chemically synthesized, solution processable polymer ( P1C ) also showed a high optical contrast value (49%, on ITO) with very fast switching times of 0.86 s for coloration and 0.57 s for bleaching. These high optical contrast values coupled with fast switching times place these materials along with high‐performance blue to transmissive electrochromic polymers. Significantly, these improved characteristics were achieved by side chain engineering of a known, inferior blue to transmissive polymer, PBEBT. Towards fabrication of flexible electrochromic devices, the performance of P1C was also tested on silver nanowire network electrodes. Even though the full potential of the material could not be demonstrated, a good optical contrast of 24% was achieved using these electrodes. Under the same potential range allowed by silver nanowire network electrodes, P1C on ITO showed an optical contrast of 30%. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55, 1680–1686     

M/C2/c/K queuing model and optimization for a geriatric care center

Queuing systems with finite buffers are reasonable models for many manufacturing, telecommunication, and healthcare systems. Although some approximations exist, the exact analysis of multi‐server and finite‐buffer queues with general service time distribution is unknown. However, the phase‐type assumption for service time is a frequently used approach. Because the Cox distribution, a kind of phase‐type distribution, provides a good representation of data with great variability, it has a vast area of application in modeling service times. The research focus is twofold. First, a theoretical structure of a multi‐server and finite‐buffer queuing system in which the service time is modeled by the two‐phase Cox distribution is studied. It is focused on finding an efficient solution to the stationary probabilities using the matrix‐geometric method. It is shown that the stationary probability vector can be obtained with the matrix‐geometric method by using level‐dependent rate matrices, and the mean queue length is computed. Second, an empirical analysis of the model is presented. The proposed methodology is applied in a case study concerning the geriatric patients. Some numerical calculations and optimizations are performed by using geriatric data. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and electrocoating of indole-thiophene comonomer on carbon fiber microelectrode, and surface topography by AFM

5,2-Thiophenylindole(5,2 In-Th) comonomer is synthesized by means of palladium catalyzed Stille cross-coupling reaction with an aim of obtaining extensively conjugated, low oxidation potential comonomer relative to its corresponding monomer. The comonomer is characterized by UV-Visible, FTIR, and NMR spectroscopic techniques, and the resulting conjugated copolymer exhibited the properties of both polyindole and polythiophene (having low oxidation potential and high conductivity).5,2 In-Th comonomer was electropolymerized onto carbon fiber microelectrodes. The copolymer was electrochemically coated (grafted) onto micron size carbon fiber by constant potential electrolysis and cyclic voltammetry (CV) and the resulting nanosize thin films of polymers were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM), and FTIR spectroscopy. The efficiency of the electrocopolymerization process on the carbon fiber surfaces under preparative constant current electrolysis and potentiodynamic conditions, was evaluated in order to ascertain the effects of copolymer thickness, dopant and morphology.     

Synthesis of bistriphenylamine‐ and benzodithiophene‐based random conjugated polymers for organic photovoltaic applications

In this study, donor–acceptor random polymers containing benzotriazole acceptor and bistriphenylamine and benzodithiophene donors, P1 and P2 , were successfully synthesized by Stille coupling polymerization. The effect of bistriphenylamine moiety and thiophene π‐conjugated linker on electrochemical, spectroelectrochemical, and optical behaviors of the polymers were investigated. Optoelectronic properties and photovoltaic performance of the polymers were examined under the illumination of AM 1.5G, 100 mW cm^?2. The polymers were characterized by cyclic voltammetry, UV‐Vis‐NIR absorption spectroscopy, gel permeation chromatography. HOMO/LUMO energy levels of P1 and P2 were calculated as ?5.47 eV/–3.41 eV and ?5.43 eV/–3.27 eV, respectively. Bulk heterojunction type solar cells were constructed using blends of the polymers (donor) and [6,6]‐phenyl C₇₁ butyric acid methyl ester (PC₇₁BM) (acceptor). Photovoltaic studies showed that the highest power conversion efficiency of these photovoltaic devices were recorded as 3.50% with open circuit voltage; 0.79 V, short circuit current; 9.45 mA cm^?2, fill factor; 0.53 for P1 :PC₇₁BM (1:2, w/w) in 3% o‐dichlorobenzene (o‐DCB) solution and 3.15% with open circuit voltage; 0.75 V, short circuit current; 8.59 mA cm^?2, fill factor; 0.49 for P2 :PC₇₁BM (1:2, w/w) in 2% chlorobenzene (CB) solution. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2017 , 55 , 3705–3715     

Existence of positive solutions for fractional boundary value problems

In this paper, by introducing a new operator, improving and generating a p-Laplace operator for some $p > 1$, we discuss the existence and multiplicity of positive solutions to the four point boundary value problems of nonlinear fractional differential equations. Our results extend some recent works in the literature.