Paradigms and Paradoxes: Fractional and Other Non-integer Charges in Chemistry—an Understanding of Aromaticity

Structural Chemistry - In the current study, the energetics of fractionally (and indeed arbitrary non-integer) charged species is explicitly discussed for the enhanced understanding of aromaticity...     

Borrowing hydrogen: iridium-catalysed reactions for the formation of C-C bonds from alcohols

Alcohols have been employed as substrates for C-C bond-forming reactions which involve initial activation by the temporary removal of hydrogen to form an aldehyde. The intermediate aldehyde is converted into an alkene via a Horner-Wadsworth-Emmons reaction, nitroaldol and aldol reactions. The 'borrowed hydrogen' is then returned to the alkene to form a C-C bond.     

A method for calculating rheological and morphological properties of constant-volume polymer blend models in inhomogeneous shear fields

We show how to formulate two-point boundary-value problems in order to compute fully-developed laminar channel and tube flow profiles for viscoelastic fluid models. The formulation is applied to Couette and pressure-driven flows separately, or a combination of both. The application of this methodology is illustrated analytically for the Upper-Convected Maxwell Model, and it is applied computationally for the Phan-Thien/Tanner and Giesekus Models. Numerical solutions exist for the last two models [J.Y. Yoo, H.C. Choi, On the steady simple shear flows of the one-mode Giesekus fluid, Rheol. Acta 28 (1989) 13–24; P.J. Oliveira, F.T. Pinho, Analytical solution for fully developed channel and pipe flow of Phan-Thien–Tanner fluids, J. Fluid Mech. 387 (1999) 271–280; M.A. Alves, F.T. Pinho, P.J. Oliveira, Study of steady pipe and channel flows of a single-mode Phan-Thien–Tanner fluid, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 101 (2001) 55–76], allowing verification of the computational technique. Subsequently, the computational algorithm is applied to the constant-volume polymer blend models of Maffettone and Minale [P.L. Maffettone, M. Minale, Equation of change for ellipsoidal drops in viscous flow, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 84 (1999) 105–106 (Erratum), J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 78 (1998) 227–241] and Dressler and Edwards [M. Dressler, B.J. Edwards, The influence of matrix viscoelasticity on the rheology of polymer blends, Rheol. Acta 43 (2004) 257–282; M. Dressler, B.J. Edwards, Rheology of polymer blends with matrix-phase viscoelasticity and a narrow droplet size distribution, J. Non-Newtonian Fluid Mech. 120 (2004) 189–205]. Rheological and morphological properties of the model blends are thus obtained as functions of the spatial position within the channel, applied pressure drop, and shear rate at the wall.     

A separation theorem for semicontinuous functions on preordered topological spaces

Suppose that X is a topological space with preorder , and that –g, f are bounded upper semicontinuous functions on X such that g(x) f(y) whenever x y. We consider the question whether there exists a bounded increasing continuous function h on X such that g h f, and obtain an existence theorem that gives necessary and sufficient conditions. This result leads to an extension theorem giving conditions that allow a bounded increasing continuous function defined on an open subset of X to be extended to a function of the same type on X. The application of these results to extremally disconnected locally compact spaces is studied.Received: 26 May 2004     

On the Neighbour-Distinguishing Index of a Graph

A proper edge colouring of a graph G is neighbour-distinguishing provided that it distinguishes adjacent vertices by sets of colours of their incident edges. It is proved that for any planar bipartite graph G with Δ(G)≥12 there is a neighbour-distinguishing edge colouring of G using at most Δ(G)+1 colours. Colourings distinguishing pairs of vertices that satisfy other requirements are also considered.     

A new approach to discretization applied to a continuous, nonlinear, sliding-mode-like control using nonsmooth analysis

This paper introduces a new approach to discretization of nonlinearcontrol laws with a Lipschitz property. The sampling time isdefined as a parameter, which must be selected sufficientlysmall so that the closed-loop system is stable. In contrastto similar results, the stabilizing effect of the control istaken into account. This can result in less conservative constraintson the minimum sampling frequency. The discretization techniquesare explained on a general nonlinear model and applied to thediscretization of a novel nonlinear, robust sliding-mode-likecontrol law. Similar robustness features as for continuous controlare demonstrated. Nonsmooth Lyapunov functions are used forthe discretized sliding-mode-like control introducing cone shapedregions of the state space. One of these cone shaped regionscoincides with a cone shaped layer around the sliding mode definedby the continuous sliding-mode-like control. A stability theoremusing nonsmooth Lyapunov functions is provided.     

The eigenvalues of four-dimensional rotations

Let X be an orthosymplectie Lie superalgebra of type B or D. The weight structure of the tensor product moduleW=? ^M V, of M-copies of the natural representation. V, of X is studied from a partition point of view. A combinatorial characterization of the dominant weights of W and the weights of W which are highest weights for the finite dimensional irreducible modules is given. This partition point of view allows us to prove that the dominant weights of W and the weights of W which are highest weights for the finite dimensional irreducible modules stabilize as the rank of X gets large.     

Some Experiences with the Teaching of Decision Support Systems to Management Students

There are essentially two schools of thought regarding the function of decision support systems. One is that the main purpose is to support the decision-maker in whatever style of decision-making he or she wishes. The other is that the support, while suiting the decision-maker's individual style, must also be based on an appropriate theoretical paradigm. The work with students of decision support systems reported here suggests that the latter, normative, view is not one which comes naturally to many of the students, even when working on an example where it seemed relatively easy to incorporate. Other conclusions are also presented, relating to the choice of software for decision support system development, the process of teaching about decision support systems, and group formation.