Locating replenishment stations for electric vehicles: application to Danish traffic data

Environment-friendly electric vehicles have gained popularity and increased attention in recent years. The deployment of a network of recharging stations is essential given their limited travel range. This paper considers the problem of locating electronic replenishment stations for electric vehicles on a traffic network with flow-based demand. The objective is to optimize the network performance, for example to maximize the flow covered by a prefixed number of stations or to minimize the number of stations needed to cover traffic flows. Two integer linear programming formulations are proposed to model the problem. These models are tested on real-life traffic data collected in Denmark.     

Distinguishing-Transversal in Hypergraphs and Identifying Open Codes in Cubic Graphs

The open neighborhood N(v) of a vertex v in a graph G is the set of vertices adjacent to v in G. A graph is twin-free (or open identifiable) if every two distinct vertices have distinct open neighborhoods. A separating open code in G is a set C of vertices such that \({N(u) \cap C \neq N(v) \cap C}\) for all distinct vertices u and v in G. An open dominating set, or total dominating set, in G is a set C of vertices such that \({N(u) \cap C \ne N(v) \cap C}\) for all vertices v in G. An identifying open code of G is a set C that is both a separating open code and an open dominating set. A graph has an identifying open code if and only if it is twin-free. If G is twin-free, we denote by \({\gamma^{\rm IOC}(G)}\) the minimum cardinality of an identifying open code in G. A hypergraph H is identifiable if every two edges in H are distinct. A distinguishing-transversal T in an identifiable hypergraph H is a subset T of vertices in H that has a nonempty intersection with every edge of H (that is, T is a transversal in H) such that T distinguishes the edges, that is, \({e \cap T \neq f \cap T}\) for every two distinct edges e and f in H. The distinguishing-transversal number \({\tau_D(H)}\) of H is the minimum size of a distinguishing-transversal in H. We show that if H is a 3-uniform identifiable hypergraph of order n and size m with maximum degree at most 3, then \({20\tau_D(H) \leq 12n + 3m}\) . Using this result, we then show that if G is a twin-free cubic graph on n vertices, then \({\gamma^{\rm IOC}(G) \leq 3n/4}\) . This bound is achieved, for example, by the hypercube.     

Perturbation bounds for theLDL H andLU decompositions

LetA andA+A be Hermitian positive definite matrices. Suppose thatA=LDL ^H and (A+A)=(L+L)(D+D)(L+L)^H are theLDL ^H decompositons ofA andA+A, respectively. In this paper upper bounds on |D| _F and |L| _F are presented. Moreover, perturbation bounds are given for theLU decomposition of a complexn ×n matrix.     

On-line coupling of supercritical fluid extraction with high-performance liquid chromatography for the determination of explosives in vapour phases

An investigation into the selectivity of an iminodiacetic acid (IDA) modified silica gel column for transition and heavy metal ions using non-chelating inorganic eluents has been carried out. A number of eluent parameters were investigated to determine the exact retention mechanism taking place and to control selectivity. The parameters studied were eluent ionic strength and the nature of the inorganic salt used, eluent pH and eluent temperature. The results obtained showed how despite certain metal ions exhibiting similar stability constants with the bonded IDA groups, careful control of each of the above parameters, in particular eluent chloride ion concentration and eluent temperature, could result in large changes in selectivity. Optimal conditions for the isocratic and gradient separation of Mg(II), Ca(II), Mn(II), Cd(II), Co(II), Zn(II) and Pb(II) were determined. An isocratic method using a 0.035 M KCl, 0.065 M KNO3 (pH 2.5) eluent was successfully applied to the determination of Mn(II), Cd(II), Co(II) and Zn(II) at concentrations between 20 and 121 microg/l in a freshwater certified reference material (NIST 1640).     

Engineering of highly efficient tetrahydroquinoline sensitizers for dye-sensitized solar cells

Four novel tetrahydroquinoline dyes by inserting isophorone and/or thiophene moieties as π bridge between the electron donating unit of substituted tetrahydroquinoline and the electron withdrawing unit of cyano carboxylic acid have been synthesized and successfully applied to dye-sensitized solar cells. Among them, DSCs sensitized by HYTIC, which shows the simplest molecular structure, exhibit improved efficiency of 7.0%. This by now is the highest efficiency for the reported tetrahydroquinoline sensitizers and comparable to the performance of N719-sensitized solar cells under the conditions employed here.     

Reconstruction of Solar Spectral Surface UV Irradiances Using Radiative Transfer Simulations

UV radiation exerts several effects concerning life on Earth, and spectral information on the prevailing UV radiation conditions is needed in order to study each of these effects. In this paper, we present a method for reconstruction of solar spectral UV irradiances at the Earth's surface. The method, which is a further development of an earlier published method for reconstruction of erythemally weighted UV, relies on radiative transfer simulations, and takes as input (1) the effective cloud optical depth as inferred from pyranometer measurements of global radiation (300–3000 nm); (2) the total ozone column; (3) the surface albedo as estimated from measurements of snow depth; (4) the total water vapor column; and (5) the altitude of the location. Reconstructed daily cumulative spectral irradiances at Jokioinen and Sodankylä in Finland are, in general, in good agreement with measurements. The mean percentage difference, for instance, is mostly within ±8%, and the root mean square of the percentage difference is around 10% or below for wavelengths over 310 nm and daily minimum solar zenith angles (SZA) less than 70°. In this study, we used pseudospherical radiative transfer simulations, which were shown to improve the performance of our method under large SZA (low Sun).     

Control of oral closure in lingual stop consonant production

Previous work has shown that the lips are moving at a high velocity when the oral closure occurs for bilabial stop consonants, resulting in tissue compression and mechanical interactions between the lips. The present experiment recorded tongue movements in four subjects during the production of velar and alveolar stop consonants to examine kinematic events before, during, and after the stop closure. The results show that, similar to the lips, the tongue is often moving at a high velocity at the onset of closure. The tongue movements were more complex, with both horizontal and vertical components. Movement velocity at closure and release were influenced by both the preceding and the following vowel. During the period of oral closure, the tongue moved through a trajectory of usually less than 1 cm; again, the magnitude of the movement was context dependent. Overall, the tongue moved in forward-backward curved paths. The results are compatible with the idea that the tongue is free to move during the closure as long as an airtight seal is maintained. A new interpretation of the curved movement paths of the tongue in speech is also proposed. This interpretation is based on the principle of cost minimization that has been successfully applied in the study of hand movements in reaching.     

Environmental exposure assessment framework for nanoparticles in solid waste

Information related to the potential environmental exposure of engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) in the solid waste management phase is extremely scarce. In this paper, we define nanowaste as separately collected or collectable waste materials which are or contain ENMs, and we present a five-step framework for the systematic assessment of ENM exposure during nanowaste management. The framework includes deriving EOL nanoproducts and evaluating the physicochemical properties of the nanostructure, matrix properties and nanowaste treatment processes as well as transformation processes and environment releases, eventually leading to a final assessment of potential ENM exposure. The proposed framework was applied to three selected nanoproducts: nanosilver polyester textile, nanoTiO₂ sunscreen lotion and carbon nanotube tennis racquets. We found that the potential global environmental exposure of ENMs associated with these three products was an estimated 0.5–143 Mg/year, which can also be characterised qualitatively as medium, medium, low, respectively. Specific challenges remain and should be subject to further research: (1) analytical techniques for the characterisation of nanowaste and its transformation during waste treatment processes, (2) mechanisms for the release of ENMs, (3) the quantification of nanowaste amounts at the regional scale, (4) a definition of acceptable limit values for exposure to ENMs from nanowaste and (5) the reporting of nanowaste generation data.     

These are the differentials of order

We answer P.-A. Meyer's question ``Qu'est ce qu'une différentielle d'ordre ?'. In fact, we present a general theory of higher order differentials based upon a construction of universal objects for higher order differentials. Applied to successive tangent spaces on a differentiable manifold, our theory gives the higher order differentials of Meyer as well as several new results on differentials on differentiable manifolds. In addition our approach gives a natural explanation of the quite mysterious multiplicative structure on higher order differentials observed by Meyer. Applied to iterations of the first order Kähler differentials our theory gives an algebra of higher order differentials for any smooth scheme. We also observe that much of the recent work on higher order osculation spaces of varieties fits well into the framework of our theory.

     

A novel catalyst of WO2 nanorod for the counter electrode of dye-sensitized solar cells

Tungsten dioxide (WO(2)) nanorods were synthesized, which showed excellent catalytic activity for the reduction of triiodide to iodide. The dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC) using WO(2) as a counter electrode (CE) reached a high energy conversion efficiency of 7.25%, which can match the performance of the DSC based on a Pt CE.