Fitness based Differential Evolution

Differential Evolution (DE) is a well known and simple population based probabilistic approach for global optimization. It has reportedly outperformed a few Evolutionary Algorithms and other search heuristics like Particle Swarm Optimization when tested over both benchmark and real world problems. But, DE, like other probabilistic optimization algorithms, sometimes exhibits premature convergence and stagnates at suboptimal point. In order to avoid stagnation behavior while maintaining a good convergence speed, a new position update process is introduced, named fitness based position update process in DE. In the proposed strategy, position of the solutions are updated in two phases. In the first phase all the solutions update their positions using the basic DE and in the second phase, all the solutions update their positions based on their fitness. In this way, a better solution participates more times in the position update process. The position update equation is inspired from the Artificial Bee Colony algorithm. The proposed strategy is named as Fitness Based Differential Evolution ( $FBDE$ ). To prove efficiency and efficacy of $FBDE$ , it is tested over 22 benchmark optimization problems. A comparative analysis has also been carried out among proposed FBDE, basic DE, Simulated Annealing Differential Evolution and Scale Factor Local Search Differential Evolution. Further, $FBDE$ is also applied to solve a well known electrical engineering problem called Model Order Reduction problem for Single Input Single Output Systems.     

Hypochlorite‐Mediated Modulation of Photoinduced Electron Transfer in a Phenothiazine–Boron dipyrromethene Electron Donor–Acceptor Dyad: A Highly Water Soluble “Turn‐On” Fluorescent Probe for Hypochlorite

A highly water‐soluble phenothiazine (PTZ)–boron dipyrromethene (BODIPY)‐based electron donor–acceptor dyad ( WS‐Probe ), which contains BODIPY as the signaling antennae and PTZ as the OCl^? reactive group, was designed and used as a fluorescent chemosensor for the detection of OCl^?. Upon addition of incremental amounts of NaOCl, the quenched fluorescence of WS‐Probe was enhanced drastically, which indicated the inhibition of reductive photoinduced electron transfer (PET) from PTZ to ¹BODIPY*; the detection limit was calculated to be 26.7 nm . Selectivity studies with various reactive oxygen species, cations, and anions revealed that WS‐Probe was able to detect OCl^? selectively. Steady‐state fluorescence studies performed at varied pH suggested that WS‐Probe can detect NaOCl and exhibits maximum fluorescence in the pH range of 7 to 8, similar to physiological conditions. ESI‐MS analysis and ¹H NMR spectroscopy titrations showed the formation of sulfoxide as the major oxidized product upon addition of hypochlorite. More interestingly, when WS‐Probe was treated with real water samples, the fluorescence response was clearly visible with tap water and disinfectant, which indicated the presence of OCl^? in these samples. The in vitro cell viability assay performed with human embryonic kidney 293 (HEK 293) cells suggested that WS‐probe is non‐toxic up to 10 μm and implicates the use of the probe for biological applications.     

Amine-catalyzed direct assembly of indanedione-fused spirobenzo[a]carbazoles from α,α-dicyanomethylidenecarbazoles

An unprecedented amine-catalyzed stereoselective reaction of α,α-dicyanomethylidenecarbazoles with indane-1,3-dione and aryl/heteroaryl aldehydes afforded a series of indanedione-fused benzo[a]carbazoles. The plausible mechanism for the formation of the final products result from the above MCR is described based on successive Knoevenagel/Michael/nucleophilic reactions. The products were obtained in moderate to good yields without the use of any chromatographic techniques. The structures of the synthesized spirocycloadducts were confirmed by elemental analysis and spectral data (FT-IR, ¹H NMR, and 13C NMR).     

Lumped parameter analytic modeling and behavioral simulation of a 3-DOF MEMS gyro-accelerometer

A new analytical model of a 3-degree-of-freedom(3-DOF) gyro-accelerometer system consisting of a 1-DOF drive and 2-DOF sense modes is presented. The model constructs lumped differential equations associated with each DOF of the system by vector analysis. The coupled differential equations thus established are solved analytically for their responses in both the time and frequency domains. Considering these frequency response equations, novel device design concepts are derived by forcing the sense phase to zero, which leads to a certain relationship between the structural frequencies, thereby causing minimization of the damping effect on the performance of the system. Furthermore, the feasibility of the present gyro-accelerometer structure is studied using a unique discriminatory scheme for the detection of both gyro action and linear acceleration at their events. This scheme combines the formulated settled transient solution of the gyro-accelerometer with the processes of synchronous demodulation and filtration, which leads to the in-phase and quadrature components of the system's output signal. These two components can be utilized in the detection of angular motion and linear acceleration. The obtained analytical results are validated by simulation in a MATLAB/Simulink environment, and it is found that the results are in excellent agreement with each other.     

Organoboron(III) and organolead(IV) complexes as antimicrobial and antimycobacterial agents: Synthetic,structural, and biological aspects

Phenylboron(III) and triorganolead(IV) derivatives of the types PhB(OH)(DTCZ), PhB(DTCZ)₂, and Ph₃Pb(DTCZ) (where DTCZ⁻ is the anion of a S-benzyldithiocarbazate ligand) have been synthesized by the substitution reactions of phenylboronic acid and triphenyllead chloride with S-benzyldithiocarbazate. The resulting complexes have been characterized by elemental analyses, molecular weight determinations, and conductivity measurements. The mode of bonding has been established on the basis of infrared and ¹H, ¹³C, and ¹¹B NMR spectroscopic studies. Probable tetrahedral and trigonal bipyramidal structures for the resulting derivatives have been proposed. The X-ray powder diffraction study of the compound [PhB(OH)(L¹)] was carried out in order to have an idea about the molecular symmetry of the compound. The results show that the compound belongs to the orthorhombic crystal system. In the quest for better fungicides and bactericides, the studies were conducted to assess the growth inhibiting potential of the synthesized complexes against various fungal and bacterial strains. The studies demonstrate the concentration reached levels which are sufficient to inhibit and kill the pathogens. The antimycobacterial effects of the organolead(IV) compounds were also examined. The results obtained indicated that the compounds display antimycobacterial activity. The article is published in the original.     

Langmuir-Blodgett film based on MEH-PPV for cholesterol biosensor

Cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) has been immobilized onto conducting poly[2-methoxy,5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] (MEH-PPV)/stearic acid (SA) Langmuir-Blodgett film transferred onto octadecanethiol (ODT) modified gold plate. The ChOx/MEH-PPV/SA LB film bioelectrode exhibits has been characterized by FT-IR, contact angle, and atomic force microscopy. The response of the ChOx/MEH-PPV/SA LB film bioelectrode carried out using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) studies reveal linearity from 1.29 to 12.91 mM of cholesterol concentration and response time as 30 s. This ChOx/MEH-PPV/SA bioelectrode exhibits values of correlation coefficient as 0.9939, standard deviation as 0.0029 μA and limit of detection as 1.66 mM. UV-visible spectrophotometer studies reveal that 5.2 × 10⁻³ U of ChOx are actively working per cm² area of ChOx/MEH-PPV/SA LB film bioelectrode and this bioelectrode is thermally stable upto 55 °C with reusability of about 60 times.     

Application of octadecanethiol self-assembled monolayer to cholesterol biosensor based on surface plasmon resonance technique

Octadecanethiol (ODT) self-assembled monolayer (SAM) prepared onto gold-coated glass plate has been modified by using nitrene reaction of 1-fluoro-2-nitro-4-azidobenzene (FNAB) that further covalently binds to cholesterol oxidase (ChOx) via thermal reaction. FNAB acts as a bridge (cross-linker) between SAM and ChOx. The ChOx/FNAB/ODT/Au electrode thus fabricated has been characterized using contact angle (CA) measurements, UV-vis spectroscopy, electrochemical techniques and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) technique, respectively. This ChOx/FNAB/ODT/Au bioelectrode has been utilized for estimation of cholesterol in solution using surface plasmon resonance (SPR) technique. This SPR based cholesterol biosensor has linearity from 50 to 500 mg/dl of cholesterol in solution with lower detection limit of 50 mg/dl and shelf life of about 2 months when stored at 4 °C.