Recent developments in the statistical processing of textual data

Statisticians are accustomed to processing numerical, ordinal or nominal data. In many circumstances, such as socio-economic, epidemiologic sample surveys and documentary data bases, this data is juxtaposed with textual data (for example, responses to open questions in surveys). This article presents a series of language-independent procedures based upon applying multivariate techniques (such as correspondence analysis and clustering) to sets of generalized lexical profiles. The generalized lexical profile of a text is a vector whose components are the frequencies of each word (graphical form) or ‘repeated segment’ (sequence of words appearing with a significant frequency in the text). The processing of such large (and often sparse) vectors and matrices requires special algorithms. The main outputs are the following: (1) printouts of the characteristic words and characteristic responses for each category of respondent (these categories are generally derived from available nominal variables); (2) graphical displays of the proximities between words or segments and categories of respondents; (3) when analysing a combination of several texts: graphical displays of proximities between words or segments and each text, or between words or segments and groupings of texts. The systematic use of ‘repeated segments’ provides a valuable help in interpreting the results from a semantic point of view.     

Synthesis and antibacterial activities of water‐soluble methacrylate polymers containing quaternary ammonium compounds

New water‐soluble methacrylate polymers with pendant quaternary ammonium (QA) groups were synthesized and used as antibacterial materials. The polymers with pendant QA groups were obtained by the reaction of the alkyl halide groups of a previously synthesized functional methacrylate homopolymer with various tertiary alkyl amines containing 12‐, 14‐, or 16‐carbon alkyl chains. The structures of the functional polymer and the polymers with QA groups were confirmed with Fourier transform infrared and ¹H and ¹³C NMR. The degree of conversion of alkyl halides to QA sites in each polymer was determined by ¹H NMR to be over 90% in all cases. The number‐average molecular weight and polydispersity of the functional polymer were determined by size exclusion chromatography to be 32,500 g/mol and 2.25, respectively. All polymers were thermally stable up to 180 °C according to thermogravimetric analysis. The antibacterial activities of the polymers with pendant QA groups against Staphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli were determined with broth‐dilution and spread‐plate methods. All the polymers showed excellent antibacterial activities in the range of 32–256 μg/mL. The antibacterial activity against S. aureus increased with an increase in the alkyl chain length for the ammonium groups, whereas the antibacterial activity against E. coli decreased with increasing alkyl chain length. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 5965–5973, 2006     

SIMPLE TECHNIQUES FOR DETERMINING THE SMALL-SIGNAL EQUIVALENT CIRCUIT OF MESFET’s

Simple techniques for determining the broadband small signal equivalent circuit (SSEC) of MESFETs are presented in this paper. The intrinsic elements are calculated using two-dimensional method from the Y parameters, which are obtained from the Fourier analysis of the device transient response to voltage-step perturbations at the drain and gate electrodes. Whereas, the parasitic external elements are determined by simple approximations used in transmission line modeling. In addition, a new technique is also proposed to determine the source and drain series resistances. A comparison of the SSEC of three different MESFETs technologies shows that the MESFETs on GaN and 4H-SiC are suitable for high power applications. The method used to determine the intrinsic elements is validated with simulated data obtained by Monte Carlo method.     

Adaptive control and synchronization of a coupled dynamo system with uncertain parameters

This paper treats the adaptive control and synchronization of the coupled dynamo system with unknown parameters. Based on the Lyapunov stability technique, an adaptive control laws are derived such that the coupled dynamo system is asymptotically stable and the two identical dynamo systems are asymptotically synchronized. Also the update rules of the unknown parameters are derived. Finally, numerical simulation of the controlled and synchronized systems are presented.     

Transient creep during transformation in Cd-Zn alloys

Transient creep of Cd-2 wt. % Zn and Cd-17·4 wt. % Zn alloys has been studied under different constant stresses ranging from 6·4 MPa to 12·7 MPa near the transformation temperature. The results of both compositions showed two transient deformation regions, the low temperature region (below 483 K) and the high temperature region (above 483 K). From the transient creep described by the equation _tr=Bt ⁿ, where _tr andt are the transient creep strain and time. The parametersB andn were calculated. The parameterB was found to change with the applied stress from 0·3×10^–4 to 3×10^–4 and from 0·6×10^–4 to 18×10^–4 for Cd-2 wt. % Zn and Cd-17·4 wt. % Zn, respectively. The exponentn was found to change from 0·8 to 0·95 for both alloys. The parameterB was related to the steady state creep rate through the equation , the exponent was found to be 0·5 for Cd-2 wt. % Zn and 0·6 for the eutectic composition. The activation energies of transient creep in the vicinity of the transformation regions (above 483 K) were found to be 50·2 kJ/mole for Cd-2 wt. % Zn and 104·7 kJ/mole for the eutectic composition characterizing the mechanisms of grain boundary diffusion and volume diffusion in Cd, respectively.     

Spectrofluorimetric determination of guanethidine sulphate,guanfacine hydrochloride,guanoclor sulphate and guanoxan sulphate in tablets and biological fluids,using benzoin

A sensitive and rapid Spectrofluorimetric method for the determination of guanethidine sulphate, guanfacine hydrochloride, guanoclor sulphate and guanoxan sulphate in tablets and spiked human serum and urine samples is described. The method is based on the reaction of monosubstituted guanidino compounds in an aqueous potassium hydroxide solution with benzoin, in the presence of -mercaptoethanol and sodium sulphite. Highly fluorescent derivatives were obtained, with excitation and emission maximum wavelengths around 325 and 430 nm, respectively. In optimal reaction conditions, the linearity ranges were 0.04–0.28 g/ml, with relative standard deviations less than 2%. The method has been successfully applied to the determination of these drugs in tablets. The results are highly correlated with the B.P. method. Chloroform (or for guanoxan dichloromethane) was used to extract the drugs from serum and urine at basic pH, followed by the proposed fluorimetric method. The limit of detection is 0.02 g/ml for the selected drugs.     

Ungewöhnliche Bildung und Struktur eines O‐Sulfinato‐Zinkkomplexes

Unusual Formation and Structure of a O‐Sulfinato Zinc Complex Whereas the reaction between hydrotris[(N‐xylyl)‐thioimidazolyl]borato‐zinc perchlorate ([ L· Zn‐OClO₃]) and ethanethiolate under an inert atmosphere leads to the thiolate complex [ L· Zn‐SC₂H₅], the same reaction in air produces the sulfinato complex [ L· Zn‐O‐S(O)‐C₂H₅] ( 1 ). 1 is the first fully characterized sulfinato‐zinc complex. Its structure determination has confirmed the unusual coordination of the sulfinato ligand via one of its oxygen atoms.