Iterative computational method for the rapid analysis of iron and plutonium by controlled potential coulometry and some interesting observations on the coulogram of the Pu(III) /Pu(IV/ couple

An iterative computational method for the determination of metal ions in aqueous solutions which form reversible couples such as Fe(II)/Fe(III), Pu(III)/Pu(IV) etc. by controlled potential coulometry has been developed. The method involves carrying out the electrolysis to about 95–97% and calculating the total amount present in the sample by an iterative computational method. The method utilizes the direct application of the Nernst equation. The important criterion to be met is that the coulogram of the couple should strictly obey the Nernst equation. The validity of the method has been checked by analyzing about 50 samples of a standard iron solution. Results of analysis of mixtures of Pu and Fe by the iterative technique show that the interference of Fe can almost entirely be eliminated. However, analysis of Pu samples by this procedure gives results about 2–3% lower than the expected value. A careful examination of the experimental coulograms of Pu in lM HClO₄ indicates a slight deviation from the theoretical coulogram, where as those of Fe match exactly.     

A cationic tetrahedral chromophore for amplified DNA detection

The tetrahedral cationic chromophore, tetrakis [4-(9,9-bis(6′-(N,N,N-trimethylammonium)hexyl)-2-fluorenyl)phenyl]methane (1) shows better fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to the fluorescein (Fl) attached to the 5′-terminus of double-stranded DNA (dsDNA-Fl) as compared to the linear oligomers 2 and 3 and also provides efficient DNA hybridization detection.     

Effects of target-masker contextual similarity on the multimasker penalty in a three-talker diotic listening task

In many multitalker listening tasks, the degradation in performance that occurs when the number of interfering talkers increases from one to two is much larger than would be predicted from the corresponding decrease in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). In this experiment, a variety of contextually-relevant speech maskers, contextually-irrelevant speech maskers and non-speech maskers were used to examine the impact that the characteristics of the interfering sound sources have on the magnitude of this "multimasker penalty." The results show that a significant multimasker penalty only occurred in cases where two specific conditions were met: 1) the stimulus contained at least one contextually-relevant masker that could be confused with the target; and 2) the signal-to-noise ratio of the target relative to the combined masker stimulus was less than 0 dB. Remarkably, in cases where one masker was contextually relevant, the specific characteristics of the second masker had virtually no impact on the size of the multimasker penalty. Indeed, when the results were corrected for random guessing, there was essentially no difference in performance between conditions with three contextually-relevant talkers and those with two contextually-relevant talkers and one irrelevant talker. The results of a second experiment suggest that the listeners are generally able to hear keywords spoken by all three talkers even in situations where the multimasker penalty occurs, implying that the primary cause of the penalty is a degradation in the listener's ability to use prosodic cues and voice characteristics to link together words spoken at different points in the target phrase.     

1-Chloro-2-deoxy-3,5-di-p-toluoyl-D-erythro-pentosyl Chloride - A Versatile Synthetic Intermediate

Syntheses of 1b-d is described using 1-chloro-2-deoxy-3,5-di-p-toluoyl-D-erythro-pentosyl chloride.     

Accretion onto a Kerr black hole in the presence of a dipole magnetic field

We analyze the accretion of charged matter onto a rotating black hole immersed in an aligned dipolar magnetic field. We specialize to motion in the equatorial plane and calculate the ‘Keplerian’ angular momentum distribution, the marginally stable and marginally bound orbits, and the efficiency of mass-to-energy conversion as functions of the angular momentum of the black hole and of the product of the dipole moment and the charge of the infalling matter. Although the detailed results are quite different from those previously obtained in the case of an uniform magnetic field, the astrophysically relevant results are very similar; when hydrodynamical accretion is considered, these effects of the magnetic field are always very small. But for test particles the efficiency can be significantly increased for limited ranges of the parameters.     

Use of the augmented penalty function in mathematical programming problems,part 1

In this paper, the problem of minimizing a functionf(x) subject to a constraint (x)=0 is considered. Here,f is a scalar,x ann-vector, and aq-vector, withq<n. The use of the augmented penalty function is explored in connection with theordinary gradient algorithm. The augmented penalty functionW(x, ,k) is defined to be the linear combination of the augmented functionF(x, ) and the constraint errorP(x), where theq-vector is the Lagrange multiplier and the scalark is the penalty constant.The ordinary gradient algorithm is constructed in such a way that the following properties are satisfied in toto or in part: (a) descent property on the augmented penalty function, (b) descent property on the augmented function, (c) descent property on the constraint error, (d) constraint satisfaction on the average, or (e) individual constraint satisfaction. Properties (d) and (e) are employed to first order only.With the above considerations in mind, two classes of algorithms are developed. For algorithms of Class I, the multiplier is determined so that the error in the optimum condition is minimized for givenx; for algorithms of Class II, the multiplier is determined so that the constraint is satisfied to first order.Algorithms of Class I have properties (a), (b), (c) and include Algorithms (I-) and (I-). In the former algorithm, the penalty constant is held unchanged for all iterations; in the latter, the penalty constant is updated at each iteration so as to ensure satisfaction of property (d).Algorithms of Class II have properties (a), (c), (e) and include Algorithms (II-) and (II-). In the former algorithm, the penalty constant is held unchanged for all iterations; in the latter, the penalty constant is updated at each iteration so as to ensure satisfaction of property (b).Four numerical examples are presented. They show that algorithms of Class II exhibit faster convergence than algorithms of Class I and that algorithms of type () exhibit faster convergence than algorithms of type (). Therefore, Algorithm (II-) is the best among those analyzed. This is due to the fact that, in Algorithm (II-), individual constraint satisfaction is enforced and that descent properties hold for the augmented penalty function, the augmented function, and the constraint error.This research was supported by the National Science Foundation, Grant No. GP-27271. The authors are indebted to Dr. J. N. Damoulakis for analytical and numerical assistance. Discussions with Professor H. Y. Huang are acknowledged.