A dominant subset of V-shaped sequences for a class of single machine sequencing problems

In this note we define a subset of V-shaped sequences, ‘V-shaped about T’, which generalize ‘V-shaped about d’ sequences. We derive a condition under which this subset contains an optimal sequence for a class of single machine sequencing problems. Cost functions from the literature are used to illustrate our results.     

Formation of hierarchical ZnO nanostructures “nanocombs”: Growth mechanism, structural and optical properties

ZnO nanocombs have been fabricated in high yield via a thermal evaporation process on Si(1 1 1) substrate by using metallic zinc powder and oxygen as source materials for zinc and oxygen, respectively, without the use of catalyst or additives at low-temperature. Morphological investigations revealed that the nanocombs were grown in high density over the whole substrate surface. The branches (teeth) of the nanocombs are uniform and nicely attached along one side of the ribbon-like stem and are arranged in a proper manner. X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed that the grown nanostructures were single-crystalline and possessed a wurtzite hexagonal phase. Room-temperature photoluminescence (PL) spectrum of the grown nanostructures is exhibit a dominant, sharp and strong UV emission with a suppressed deep-level emission indicating good crystallinity and optical properties for the as-grown ZnO nanocombs.     

A New Dimeric Secoiridoid Glycoside from the Leaves of Olea ferruginea Royle

A new dimeric secoiridoid glycoside, trivially named oleferrugine B ( 1 ), has been isolated from the AcOEt‐soluble part of the MeOH extract of leaves of Olea ferruginea Royle . The structure of the isolated compound was established on the basis of ESI‐MS fragmentation patterns, and 1D‐ and 2D‐NMR techniques, including ¹H‐ and ¹³C‐NMR, HSQC, ¹H,¹H‐COSY, HMBC, and NOESY experiments, and by comparison with literature data.     

Phloroglucinol as a Potential Candidate against Trypanosoma congolense Infection: Insights from In Vivo,In Vitro,Molecular Docking and Molecular Dynamic Simulation Analyses

Sub-Saharan Africa is profoundly challenged with African Animal Trypanosomiasis and the available trypanocides are faced with drawbacks, necessitating the search for novel agents. Herein, the chemotherapeutic potential of phloroglucinol on T. congolense infection and its inhibitory effects on the partially purified T. congolense sialidase and phospholipase A₂ (PLA₂) were investigated. Treatment with phloroglucinol for 14 days significantly (p < 0.05) suppressed T. congolense proliferation, increased animal survival and ameliorated anemia induced by the parasite. Using biochemical and histopathological analyses, phloroglucinol was found to prevent renal damages and splenomegaly, besides its protection against T. congolense-associated increase in free serum sialic acids in infected animals. Moreover, the compound inhibited bloodstream T. congolense sialidase via mixed inhibition pattern with inhibition binding constant (Ki) of 0.181 µM, but a very low uncompetitive inhibitory effects against PLA₂ (Ki > 9000 µM) was recorded. Molecular docking studies revealed binding energies of −4.9 and −5.3 kcal/mol between phloroglucinol with modeled sialidase and PLA₂ respectively, while a 50 ns molecular dynamics simulation using GROMACS revealed the sialidase-phloroglucinol complex to be more compact and stable with higher free binding energy (−67.84 ± 0.50 kJ/mol) than PLA₂-phloroglucinol complex (−77.17 ± 0.52 kJ/mol), based on MM-PBSA analysis. The sialidase-phloroglucinol complex had a single hydrogen bond interaction with Ser453 while none was observed for the PLA₂-phloroglucinol complex. In conclusion, phloroglucinol showed moderate trypanostatic activity with great potential in ameliorating some of the parasite-induced pathologies and its anti-anemic effects might be linked to inhibition of sialidase rather than PLA₂.     

Green Synthesis of BPL-NiONPs Using Leaf Extract of Berberis pachyacantha: Characterization and Multiple In Vitro Biological Applications

An eco-friendly biogenic method for the synthesis of nickel oxide nanoparticles (NiONPs) using phytochemically rich Berberis pachyacantha leaf extract (BPL) was established. To achieve this purpose, 80 mL of BPL extract was used as a suitable reducing and capping agent for the synthesis of NiONPs. The synthesis of BPL-based nickel oxide nanoparticles (BPL@NiONPs) was confirmed using different microscopic and spectroscopic techniques: UV Visible spectroscopy (UV-Vis), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), dynamic light scattering (DLS) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Spectroscopically, BPL-NiONPs was found with a pure elemental composition (oxygen and nickel), average size (22.53 nm) and rhombohedral structure with multiple functional groups (-OH group and Ni-O formation) on their surface. In the next step, the BPL extract and BPL@NiONPs were further investigated for various biological activities. As compared to BPL extract, BPL@NiONPs exhibited strong biological activities. BPL@NiONPs showed remarkable antioxidant activities in terms of 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (76.08%) and total antioxidant capacity (68.74%). Antibacterial action was found against Pseudomonas aeruginosa (27 mm), Staphylococcus aureus (20 mm) and Escherichia coli (19.67 mm) at 500 µg/mL. While antifungal potentials were shown against Alternaria alternata (81.25%), Fusarium oxysporum (42.86%) and Aspergillus niger (42%) at 1000 µg/mL. Similarly, dose-dependent cytotoxicity response was confirmed against brine shrimp with IC50 value (45.08 µg/mL). Additionally, BPL@NiONPs exhibited stimulatory efficacy by enhancing seed germination rate at low concentrations (31.25 and 62.5 µg/mL). In conclusion, this study depicted that BPL extract has important phytochemicals with remarkable antioxidant activities, which successfully reduced and stabilized the BPL@NiONPs. The overall result of this study suggested that BPL@NiONPs could be used as nanomedicines and nanofertilizers in biomedical and agrarian fields.     

Metaheuristic Algorithms Based on Compromise Programming for the Multi-Objective Urban Shipment Problem

The Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) and its variants are found in many fields, especially logistics. In this study, we introduced an adaptive method to a complex VRP. It combines multi-objective optimization and several forms of VRPs with practical requirements for an urban shipment system. The optimizer needs to consider terrain and traffic conditions. The proposed model also considers customers’ expectations and shipper considerations as goals, and a common goal such as transportation cost. We offered compromise programming to approach the multi-objective problem by decomposing the original multi-objective problem into a minimized distance-based problem. We designed a hybrid version of the genetic algorithm with the local search algorithm to solve the proposed problem. We evaluated the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm with the Tabu Search algorithm and the original genetic algorithm on the tested dataset. The results show that our method is an effective decision-making tool for the multi-objective VRP and an effective solver for the new variation of VRP.     

Synthesis of Mn-doped TiO2 by novel route and photocatalytic mineralization/intermediate studies of organic pollutants

Research on Chemical Intermediates - The doping of TiO2 particles with various manganese (Mn) concentrations (0.25–1.0%) were synthesized using simple sol–gel and modified sol–gel...     

Effect of polydispersity on the bulk‐heterojunction morphology of P3HT:PCBM solar cells

Bulk heterojunctions (BHJs) based on semiconducting electron–donor polymer and electron–acceptor fullerene have been extensively investigated as potential photoactive layers for organic solar cells (OSCs). In the experimental studies, poly‐(3‐hexyl‐thiophene) (P3HT) polymers are hardly monodisperse as the synthesis of highly monodisperse polymer mixture is a near impossible task to achieve. However, the majority of the computational efforts on P3HT: phenyl‐C61‐butyric acid methyl ester (P3HT:PCBM)‐based OSCs, a monodisperse P3HT is usually considered. Here, results from coarse‐grained molecular dynamics simulations of solvent evaporation and thermal annealing process of the BHJ are shared describing the effect of variability in molecular weight (also known as polydispersity) on the morphology of the active layer. Results affirm that polydispersity is beneficial for charge separation as the interfacial area is observed to increase with higher dispersity. Calculations of percolation and orientation tensors, on the other hand, reveal that a certain polydispersity index ranging between 1.05 and 1.10 should be maintained for optimal charge transport. Most importantly, these results point out that the consideration of polydispersity should be considered in computational studies of polymer‐based OSCs. © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2019 , 57, 895–903     

Modelling the viscosity of carbon-based nanomaterials dispersed in diesel oil: a machine learning approach

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The viscosity of a nanofluid is one of its fundamental thermophysical properties, and it is an important consideration in heat transfer applications....