Effects of vitrification suppression on structure morphology, conductivity and dielectric properties of vanadium phosphate glasses

Vitrification suppression in the (V₂O₅)_1−x (P₂O₅)_x glasses where x=0.10, 0.15, 0.20, and 0.25 was controlled by changing the rate of quenching glasses. The structure variations occurring in the glasses were detected by differential thermal analysis and optical microscope. The results implied the separation and growth of V₂O₅ orthorhombic microcrystal in the samples with x=0.10 and 0.15 whereas other samples did not illustrate remarkable changes in their microstructure. However, in temperature range between 300 and 473 K a semiconducting behavior for all samples appears during the study of electrical conductivity-temperature dependence. A decrease in conductivity values accompanied with some variations in activation energies by reducing quenching rate was observed. The conductivity results suggested that the conduction occurs by the phonon assisted hopping of a small polaron between V⁴⁺ and V⁵⁺ states at relatively higher temperature range above θ_D/2. Whereas at relatively low temperatures the conduction may occur by electron jumping between filled and empty states at Fermi level in the disordered matrix besides polaronic conduction. Reasonable values for the density of localized states, carrier concentration and carrier mobility were estimated and discussed. Also, dielectric constant and dielectric loss were studied as a function of frequency at different temperatures confirming the structure variations in the glass system.     

A solution procedure for the discrete time, cost and quality tradeoff problem using electromagnetic scatter search

Decisions concerning a project’s expedition, traditionally involved considerations regarding time and cost tradeoff. It was recently suggested that the quality of a project should also be taken into considerations. In this paper, we propose a meta-heuristic solution procedure for the discrete time, cost and quality tradeoff problem. This problem involves the scheduling of project activities in order to minimize the total cost of the project while maximizing the quality of the project and also meeting a given deadline. We apply a so called electromagnetic scatter search to solve this problem. In this process, we initially generate a population of feasible solutions. In so doing, we use frequency memory to well sample the feasible region. A number of these solutions are then selected and improved locally. The improved solutions are then combined to generate new set of solutions. The combination process utilizes attraction–repulsion mechanisms borrowed from the electromagnetism theory. The whole process is stopped when no significant improvement in the set of solutions are observed. The validity of the proposed solution procedure is demonstrated, and its applicability is tested on a randomly generated large and complex problem having 19,900 activities.     

Cooperative Strategies for Solving the Bicriteria Sparse Multiple Knapsack Problem

For hard optimization problems, it is difficult to design heuristic algorithms which exhibit uniformly superior performance for all problem instances. As a result it becomes necessary to tailor the algorithms based on the problem instance. In this paper, we introduce the use of a cooperative problem solving team of heuristics that evolves algorithms for a given problem instance. The efficacy of this method is examined by solving six difficult instances of a bicriteria sparse multiple knapsack problem. Results indicate that such tailored algorithms uniformly improve solutions as compared to using predesigned heuristic algorithms.     

An Efficient and Facile Synthesis of Quinoxaline Derivatives Catalyzed by KHSO4 at Room Temperature

Summary. A facile synthesis of quinoxaline derivatives catalyzed by KHSO₄ in very high yields at room temperature is reported.     

Pyrrole studies part 41. Reactivity of 3,4-diformyl-2,5-dimethylpyrrole with diaminoalkanes. An unusual formation of 2-azafulvenes

3,4-Diformyl-2,5-dimethylpyrrole (1) reacts with ,ω-diamino-alkanes, NH₂(CH₂)_nNH₂t' to form either the potentially tautomeric 2:2 macrocyclic adduct (7a) (8), when N = 2, or the potentially tautomeric 1:1 bicyclic adduct (18) (19), when N = 4, 5, 6, and 12. ¹H and ¹³C N.m.r. spectral data indicate that the 2-azafulvene structures predominate for both types of cycloadducts. Only polymeric material was obtained when N = 3.     

De novo synthesis of 4'-ethoxy nucleoside analogues

Butenolides 5a and 13 were used as optically active templates in the de novo synthesis of 4'-disubstituted nucleoside analogues. The butenolides were reduced and acylated in situ to give acetates 10 and 14. Vorbrüggen coupling gave the protected nucleoside analogues 11 and 15. Reduction of 11 gave 4'-ethoxy-2',3'-dideoxythymidine (6) and deprotection of 15 gave 4'-ethoxy-2',3'-dideoxydidehydrothymidine (7). The cis-dihydroxylation of a variety of butenolides occurred with the major product formed from oxidation of the beta-face.     

Characterization of oligosaccharide moieties of intact glycoproteins by microwave-assisted partial acid hydrolysis and mass spectrometry

A method, which utilizes microwave-assisted partial acid hydrolysis and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOFMS), to elucidate oligosaccharide composition of intact glycoproteins is presented here. Glycoproteins, such as ribonuclease B, avidin, alpha1-acid glycoprotein, and fetuin, are used as model systems to demonstrate this technique. Partial cleavage of oligosaccharides from whole intact glycoproteins with trifluoroacetic acid was observed after a short exposure to microwaves. Due to the high-resolution mass spectra obtained by MALDI-TOFMS from glycoproteins with molecular weights less than 20 kDa, the compositions of oligosaccharides are readily derived for ribonuclease B and avidin. The data agree with the proposed oligosaccharide structures of ribonuclease B (five glycoforms) and avidin (eight glycoforms). Larger glycoproteins such as alpha1-acid glycoprotein (many glycoforms) and fetuin (many glycoforms) exhibited only broad peaks with no glycoform resolution. Nevertheless, this method can be used successfully for analysis of glycoproteins with molecular weights greater than 20 kDa to determine the presence or absence of glycosylation.