Hyperon production in pp interactions at √s = 53 and 62 GeV

Inclusive measurements of Λ⁰, $\text{Λ}$⁰, Ξ^?, Σ(1385)^±) production in the forward direction at the CERN intersecting storage rings are presented. A signal for simulataneous Λ⁰$\text{Λ}$⁰ production is also observed with total $\text{x > 0.6, 2.3 < M}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>\Lambda </mtext><mtext>\Lambda </mtext>}}\text{< 2.5}\text{GeV}$ and with a cross section of (1.7 ± 0.2) μb.     

Flow injection determination of catechol based on polypyrrole–carbon nanotube–tyrosinase biocomposite detector

A flow injection catechol biosensor based on tyrosinase entrapped in carbon nanotube modified polypyrrole biocomposite film on a glassy carbon surface has been developed. Amperometric response was measured as a function of concentration of catechol, at a fixed bias voltage of −50 mV at a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The proposed biosensor exhibited impressive analytical performance such as a linear range between 3 and 50 μM, a short response time (10 s), a detection limit of 0.671 μM and an excellent operational (with a relative standard deviation of 0.54%) and long-term stability (85% remained after 10th week). A comparison of the analytical parameters of the developed biosensor with polypyrrole/tyrosinase film electrode was performed in the study. CNT was shown to enhance the electron transfer between the electrode and enzyme and capable to carry higher bioactivity owing to its intensified surface area.     

An integrated approach for scheduling health care activities in a hospital

To effectively utilise hospital beds, operating rooms (OR) and other treatment spaces, it is necessary to precisely plan patient admissions and treatments in advance. As patient treatment and recovery times are unequal and uncertain, this is not easy. In response, a sophisticated flexible job-shop scheduling (FJSS) model is introduced, whereby patients, beds, hospital wards and health care activities are respectively treated as jobs, single machines, parallel machines and operations. Our approach is novel because an entire hospital is describable and schedulable in one integrated approach. The scheduling model can be used to recompute timings after deviations, delays, postponements and cancellations. It also includes advanced conditions such as activity and machine setup times, transfer times between activities, blocking limitations and no wait conditions, timing and occupancy restrictions, buffering for robustness, fixed activities and sequences, release times and strict deadlines. To solve the FJSS problem, constructive algorithms and hybrid meta-heuristics have been developed. Our numerical testing shows that the proposed solution techniques are capable of solving problems of real world size. This outcome further highlights the value of the scheduling model and its potential for integration into actual hospital information systems.     

Development An Amperometric Microbial-enzyme Hybrid Cholesterol Biosensor Based On Ionic Liquid MWCNT Carbon Paste Electrode

In this study we report the development of an amperometric cholesterol biosensor based on cholesterol oxidase from Pseudomonas sp. and catalase immobilized in carbon paste electrode (CPE) modified with multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) and ionic liquid (IL). The working electrode (CPE/MWCNT-IL/Microorganism (MO)-Catalase) was characterized by impedance spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry at different stages of its construction. This proposed cholesterol biosensor performed linear relationship in the range of 5–600 μM with a low detection limit of 1.52 μM. The biosensor showed good sensitivity and high selectivity and it was successfully applied for the measurement of cholesterol levels in lyophilized serum samples.     

Essential oil composition,antioxidant activity and phenolic content of endemic Teucrium alyssifolium Staph. (Lamiaceae)

The present study was designed to examine the chemical composition of the essential oil, in vitro antioxidant activity and total phenolic and flavonoid content of extracts from plant parts (leaf, flower and stem) of Teucrium alyssifolium. The principle components of the essential oil were trans-β-caryophyllene (16.87%), ar-curcumene (11.43%) and bisabolene (11.06%), representing 39.36% of the oil. The total phenolic contents ranged between 13.99 and 41.54 mg of GAE/g of extract. The concentrations of flavonoids varied from 16.82 to 49.52 mg of Ru/g of extract. Antioxidant activity was determined in vitro using DPPH reagent and expressed as concentration of each extract required to inhibit radical by 50% (IC₅₀) values that ranged from 13.52 to 132.55 μg/ml. Our results have indicated that water extract of T. alyssifolium (part leaf) with a total content of polyphenols (41.54 mg of GAE/g) and an IC₅₀ of 13.52 μg/ml is more antioxidant.     

Synthesis of some new five membered heterocycles,a facile synthesis of oxazolidinones

The synthesis and structural properties of two kinds of thiosemicarbazide derivatives ( 2a‐c and 3a‐c ) and one kind of semicarbazide derivatives ( 4a, 4b ) have been described. These compounds were synthesized by treating 2‐(4‐amino‐3‐alkyl‐5‐oxo‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐1‐yl)acetohydrazides ( 1a‐c ) with benzyl isothiocyanate, 3‐florophenyl isothiocyanate and benzylisocyanate, respectively. The synthesis of 4‐amino‐3‐alkyl‐1‐[(4‐alkyl‐5‐mercapto(or 5‐oxo)‐4H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐3‐yl)methyl]‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐5‐ones ( 5a‐c, 6a‐c and 7 ) have been performed from the reaction with sodium hydroxide. On the other hand, the acidic treatment of compounds 2b, 3b and 4b has afforded 4‐amino‐3‐(4‐chlorobenzyl)‐1‐[(5‐alkylamino‐1,3,4‐thidazol(or 1,3,4‐oxazol)‐2‐yl)methyl]‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐5‐ones ( 8, 9 and 10 ). The condensation of thiosemi(or semi)carbazide derivatives ( 2a‐c, 3c and 4b ) with 4‐chlorophenacylbromide have resulted in the formation of 2‐[4‐amino‐3‐alkyl‐5‐oxo‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐1‐yl]‐N′‐(3,4‐dialkyl‐1,3‐thiazol(or oxazol)‐2(3H)‐yliden]acetohydrazides ( 11a‐c, 12, 13 ), while their condensation with chloroacetic acid has produced 2‐[4‐amino‐3‐alkyl‐5‐oxo‐4,5‐dihydro‐1H‐1,2,4‐triazol‐1‐yl]‐N′‐[3‐(3‐alkyl)]‐4‐oxo‐1,3‐thiazolidin(or oxazolidin)‐2‐yliden}acetohydrazides ( 14, 15 and 16 ). The spectral data and elemental analyses have support the proposed structures.     

Trait-based heterogeneous populations plus (TbHP+ ) genetic algorithm

This study developed a variant of genetic algorithm (GA) model called the trait-based heterogeneous populations plus (TbHP+). The developed TbHP+ model employs a memory concept in the form of immunity and instinct to provide the populations with a more efficient guidance. Also, it has an ability to vary the number of individuals during the search process, thus allowing an automatic determination of the size of the population based on the individual qualities such as character fitness and credit for immunity. The algorithm was tested against the classical GA model in convergence and minimum error performance. For this purpose, 5 different mathematical functions from the literature were employed. The selected functions have different topological characteristics, ranging from simple convex curves with 2 variables to complex trigonometric ones having several hilly shapes with more than 2 variables. The developed model and the classical GA model were applied to finding the global minima of the functions. The comparison of the results revealed that the developed TbHP+ model outperformed the classical GA in faster convergence and minimum errors, which may be explained by the adaptive nature of the new paradigm.     

Pricing American options for jump diffusions by iterating optimal stopping problems for diffusions

We approximate the price of the American put for jump diffusions by a sequence of functions, which are computed iteratively. This sequence converges to the price function uniformly and exponentially fast. Each element of the approximating sequence solves an optimal stopping problem for geometric Brownian motion, and can be numerically computed using the classical finite difference methods. We prove the convergence of this numerical scheme and present examples to illustrate its performance.