Detection of Dexamethasone Sodium Phosphate in Blood Plasma: Application of Hematite in Electrochemical Sensors

We studied sensor application of a graphene oxide and hematite (α‐Fe₂O₃/GO) composite electrode well‐characterized by the SEM and XRD. Through differential pulse voltammetry (DPV), oxidation of dexamethasone sodium phosphate (DSP) was studied at the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with graphene oxide nanosheets (GO) and the α‐Fe₂O₃/GO composite. The values of the transfer coefficient (α) and the diffusion coefficient (D) of DSP were 0.5961 and 4.71×10^?5 cm² s^?1 respectively. In the linear range of 0.1–50 μM, the detection limit (DL) was 0.076 μM. In the second step, a GCE was modified with α‐Fe₂O₃/GO composite and the DSP measurement step was repeated to analyzed and compare the effects of hematite nanoparticles present on graphene oxide surfaces. According to the results, α and D were 0.52 and 2.406×10^?4 cm² s^?1 respectively and the DL was 0.046 μM in the linear range of 0.1–10.0 μM. The sensor is simple, inexpensive and uses blood serum.     

The analysis of the orientation effect of non-linear flexible systems on performance of the pendulum absorber

In practical applications, many vibration absorbers are used to absorb oscillation of a structure, one of which is pendulum-type vibration absorbers. They are widely used in engineering applications where oscillations of a structure are constrained within a prescribed envelope. In this study, the primary structure consists of a flexible beam which has a single degree of freedom, and is subjected to a vertical sinusoidal base excitation. Non-linearity in the primary structure is due to large deflections. The rotation point of the pendulum-type absorber is attached to the tip of the primary structure. The primary structure and absorber together constitute a couple systems with two degrees of freedom. The primary objective of this study is to determine the effectiveness of pendulum-type passive vibration absorber attached to a primary structure whose orientation varies. In this study, the orientation at which the absorber is effective is established, and the factors that affect performance of the absorber are determined. The results are in good agreement with the experimental ones given in the literature.     

Investigation on the Use of Graphene Oxide as Novel Surfactant for Stabilizing Carbon Based Materials

The present work reported on the use of graphene oxide (GO) as effective dispersant to isolate different carbon allotropes. The nature of its chemical structure which consists of hydrophobic and hydrophilic components enables GO to behave as surfactant, paving routes for dissolution of graphitic materials and achieving surfactant free all-carbon solutions. Two additional carboneous materials under the family of fullerene (carbon nanofiber—CNF) and graphite (graphene nanoplatelets—GnP) were introduced within the present study to form a new GO based hybrid complexes on top of the commonly investigated carbon nanotube (CNT) based GO hybrid. Investigation on GO stability with respect to particle size and zeta potential measurements showed that the strength of its dispersibility was highly dependent on its morphological size and less affected by the pH. Rheological study revealed that GO shear–strain relationship is highly sensitive to the particle size. The GO viscosity experienced dramatic changes from Newtonian toward shear thinning behaviors as the particle size increases. Thermal conductivity measurement highlighted as high as 8% increase in magnitude with the addition of CNT, CNF, and GnP carbon constituents, indicating that the enhancement may be attributed to the much efficient thermal transport along the conducting path of pristine carbon allotropes.     

Normative KGP agents

We extend the logical model of agency known as the KGP model, to support agents with normative concepts, based on the roles an agent plays and the obligations and prohibitions that result from playing these roles. The proposed framework illustrates how the resulting normative concepts, including the roles, can evolve dynamically during the lifetime of the agent. Furthermore, we illustrate how these concepts can be combined with the existing capabilities of KGP agents in order to plan for their goals, react to changes in the environment, and interact with other agents. Our approach gives an executable specification of normative concepts that can be used directly for prototyping applications. Fariba Sadri is a senior lecturer at Imperial College London, from where she received her PhD. Her earlier work concentrated on integrity of deductive databases and temporal reasoning, in particular using the event calculus. In more recent years her work has been on agent technologies and multi-agent systems. She has worked on logic-based agent models, reasoning, dynamic belief revision, and inter-agent communication and negotiation for resources. She was co-awarded an EPSRC grant for research into logic-based multi-agents and was co-investigator in the EU SOCS project. Kostas Stathis is a senior lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London and he holds a PhD from Imperial College London. His research interests are in the area of computational intelligence in general and in the intersection of computational logic and cognitive systems for social computing applications in particular. His research interests include: representation of human-computer (or computer-computer) interaction as a game; cognitive & autonomous agents; artificial agent societies; agent communication; programmable agents and agent platforms. He is a co-investigator of the EU ArguGRID project and was a co-investigator of the EU SOCS project. Francesca Toni is a senior lecturer at Imperial College London, from where she received her PhD. Her earlier work focused on abductive reasoning. In more recent years, she focused on argumentation, agent models and multi-agent systems. She has worked on computational logic-based agent models, agent reasoning, dynamic belief revision, and inter-agent communication and negotiation for resources. She has been co-ordinator of the EU SOCS project, which developed the KGP model of agency, and is coordinator of the EU ArguGRID project, on the application of argumentative agents within grid systems.     

Numeric kinetic energy operators for molecules in polyspherical coordinates

Generalized curvilinear coordinates, as, e.g., polyspherical coordinates, are in general better adapted to the resolution of the nuclear Schro?dinger equation than rectilinear ones like the normal mode coordinates. However, analytical expressions of the kinetic energy operators (KEOs) for molecular systems in polyspherical coordinates may be prohibitively complicated for large systems. In this paper we propose a method to generate a KEO numerically and bring it to a form practicable for dynamical calculations. To examine the new method we calculated vibrational spectra and eigenenergies for nitrous acid (HONO) and compare it with results obtained with an exact analytical KEO derived previously [F. Richter, P. Rosmus, F. Gatti, and H.-D. Meyer, J. Chem. Phys. 120, 6072 (2004)]. In a second example we calculated π → π* photoabsorption spectrum and eigenenergies of ethene (C(2)H(4)) and compared it with previous work [M. R. Brill, F. Gatti, D. Lauvergnat, and H.-D. Meyer, Chem. Phys. 338, 186 (2007)]. In this ethene study the dimensionality was reduced from 12 to 6 by freezing six internal coordinates. Results for both molecules show that the proposed method for obtaining an approximate KEO is reliable for dynamical calculations. The error in eigenenergies was found to be below 1 cm(-1) for most states calculated.     

A new numerical method for delay and advanced integro-differential equations

A general formulation is constructed for Jacobi operational matrices of integration, product, and delay on an arbitrary interval. The main purpose of this study is to improve Jacobi operational matrices for solving delay or advanced integro–differential equations. Some theorems are established and utilized to reduce the computational costs. All algorithms can be used for both linear and nonlinear Fredholm and Volterra integro-differential equations with delay. An error estimator is introduced to approximate the absolute error when the exact solution of a given problem is not available. The error of the proposed method is less compared to other common methods such as the Taylor collocation, Chebyshev collocation, hybrid Euler–Taylor matrix, and Boubaker collocation methods. The reliability and efficiency of the proposed scheme are demonstrated by some numerical experiments.     

Analysis of a laminar boundary layer flow over a flat plate with injection or suction

An analysis is performed to study a laminar boundary layer flow over a porous flat plate with injection or suction imposed at the wall. The basic equations of this problem are reduced to a system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations by means of appropriate transformations. These equations are solved analytically by the optimal homotopy asymptotic method (OHAM), and the solutions are compared with the numerical solution (NS). The effect of uniform suction/injection on the heat transfer and velocity profile is discussed. A constant surface temperature in thermal boundary conditions is used for the horizontal flat plate.     

Modified Lyapunov exponent,new measure of dynamics

Lyapunov exponents, defined as exponential divergent or convergent rate of initially infinitely close solution trajectories, have been widely used for diagnosing chaotic systems, as well for stability analysis of nonlinear systems. Although calculated from the evolution of disturbance vectors associated with the flow, Lyapunov exponents are not associated with any specific directions, and such evolutions are driven by the dynamics in all directions in the state space. It is desirable to explore the asymptotic behaviors of the dynamic systems along certain specific directions and the specific dynamics driving such behaviors. In this paper, the Lyapunov exponents are modified. The modified Lyapunov exponents can indicate the exponential divergent or convergent rates in certain directions, which are driven by the dynamics in the same directions. The existence and the invariance to the initial conditions of the proposed modified exponents are proven mathematically. The algorithm for calculating the modified Lyapunov exponents from mathematical models is also developed. A wide range of case studies, from classical nonlinear dynamic systems to engineering systems, are presented to demonstrate the proposed modified Lyapunov exponents, and the indications of the modified exponents are also discussed. The proposed modified Lyapunov exponents can reveal additional insights into the system dynamics to the conventional Lyapunov exponents. Such information can be instrumental for stability control design.