Irreducibility and emergence in complex systems and the quest for alternative insights

The scientist does not study nature because it is useful; he studies it because he delights in it, and he delights in it because it is beautiful. Henri Poincaré In this essay, we briefly survey the contemporary scientific and philosophical debates on emergence and conclude that this notion has become a dilemma. We argue that the reason for this dilemma is metaphysical. Subsequently, we investigate some fundamental philosophical methods in science, such as Cartesian reduction and objectivism, as the main sources of scientific drawbacks. Eventually, we suggest some refinements in philosophical methods for improvement of scientific insight and propose the method of transcendentionism as a metaphysical panacea to encounter the dilemma of emergence. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity, 17,10–18, 2011     

Application of artificial neural network to simultaneous potentiometric determination of silver(I), mercury(II) and copper(II) ions by an unmodified carbon paste electrode

The response characteristics and selectivity coefficients of an unmodified carbon paste electrode (CPEs) towards Ag⁺, Cu²⁺ and Hg²⁺ were evaluated. The electrode was used as an indicator electrode for the simultaneous determination of the three metal ions in their mixtures via potentiometric titration with a standard thiocyanate solution. A three-layered feed-forward artificial neural network (ANN) trained by back-propagation learning algorithm was used to model the complex non-linear relationship between the concentration of silver, copper and mercury in their different mixtures and the potential of solution at different volumes of the added titrant. The network architecture and parameters were optimized to give low prediction errors. The optimized networks were able to precisely predict the concentrations of the three cations in synthetic mixtures.     

Thermal Spin Squeezing as a Signature of Thermal Global Entanglement in Heisenberg Models

We study thermal spin squeezing (TSS) and thermal global entanglement (TGE) in a general Heisenberg spin chain, in the presence of Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction and an external magnetic field. We derive an inequality associating the squeezing parameter and the global concurrence, which establishes (TSS) as a signature of (TGE). The inequality reduces to equality for particular symmetric chains which also associates TSS with bipartite entanglement in such systems. We also check the results by presenting two numerical examples.     

Extension of an algorithm for product mix problems with fuzzy conditions

In the real world of production, there are some uncertain parameters such as capacity, profit, and processing time. On the other hand, the fuzzy sets theory is applied as a suitable tool for managing production where dynamicity of the production environment prevents from determining target function, constraints and other parameters of the model. In this paper, a genetic algorithm embedded in fuzzy revised theory of constraints is presented for product mix problems. Results of implementing the proposed algorithm show efficiency and flexibility of this algorithm.     

Imprinted polymer particles for selenium uptake: synthesis, characterization and analytical applications

This work reports the preparation of molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) particles for selective extraction and determination of selenium ions from aqueous media. Polymerization was achieved in a glass tube containing SeO₂, o-phenylenediamine, 2-vinylpyridine (VP), ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate (EDMA), 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile (AIBN). The polymer block obtained was ground and sieved (55-75 μm) and the Se-o-phenylenediamine complex was removed from polymer particles by leaching with 2 M of HCl, which leaves a cavity in the polymer particles. The polymer particles both prior to and after leaching have been characterized by IR and thermogravimetric (TG) studies. The effect of different parameters, such as pH, extraction time, type and least amount of eluent for elution of complex from polymer were evaluated. Extraction efficiencies >99% were obtained by elution of the polymers with 15 mL of methanol-acetonitrile mixture (1:2, v/v). The limit of detection of the proposed method followed by hydride generation atomic absorption spectroscopy (HG-AAS) was found to be 3.3 μg L⁻¹ and a dynamic linear range (DLR) of 10-200 μg L⁻¹ was obtained. The relative standard deviations (R.S.D.s) at 30.0 μg L⁻¹ of Se were below than 8.1%. The influence of various cationic interferences on percent recovery of complex was studied. The method was applied to the recovery and determination of selenium in different real samples.     

Analytical Solution of a Wave Equation in Cosmology

In this paper we derive a wave equation based on a cosmological model of the universe expansion in the four-dimensional space-velocity. An analytical solution of this equation is obtained using Nikiforov-Uvarov mathematical method. In this procedure we use the solutions of the Einstein gravitational field equations for the perfect fluid energy-momentum tensor.     

A new multi objective optimization approach in distribution systems

This paper presents a multi objective optimal location of AVRs in distribution systems at the presence of distributed generators based on modified teaching-learning-based optimization (MTLBO) algorithm. In the proposed MTLBO algorithm, teacher and learner phases are modified. The proposed objective functions are energy generation costs, electrical energy losses and the voltage deviations. The proposed algorithm utilizes several teachers and considers the teachers as an external repository to save found Pareto optimal solutions during the search process. Since the objective functions are not the same, a fuzzy clustering method is used to control the size of the repository. The proposed technique allows the decision maker to select one of the Pareto optimal solutions (by trade-off) for different applications. The performance of the suggested algorithm on a 70-bus distribution network in comparison with other evolutionary methods such as GA, PSO and TLBO, is extraordinary.     

Competitive 7Li NMR Study on the Mn2+, Zn2+ and Cd2+ Complexes of Two New Branched Hexadentate (N6) Amines Containing the Pyridine Moiety in Nitromethane and Acetonitrile Solutions

Lithium-7 NMR spectroscopy was used to investigate the stoichiometry and stability of a Li⁺ complex with two new branched amines, 4,7-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)-4,7-diazadecane-1,10-diamine (L¹) and 4,8-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)-4,8-diazaundecane-1,11-diamine (L²), in acetonitrile and nitromethane. A competitive ⁷Li NMR method was also employed to probe the complexation of Mn²⁺, Zn²⁺ and Cd²⁺ ions with L¹ and L² in the same solvent systems. The formation constants of the resulting complexes were evaluated from computer fitting of the mole ratio data with an equation that relates the observed chemical shifts to the formation constant. In both solvents, the stability of the resulting 1:1 complexes was found to vary in the order Cd²⁺ > Zn²⁺ > Mn²⁺ > Li⁺.     

Determination of lewisite metabolite 2-chlorovinylarsonous acid in urine by use of dispersive derivatization liquid-liquid microextraction followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

The purpose of this study was to develop a sensitive and simple method, based on dispersive derivatization liquid-liquid microextraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (DDLLME–GC–MS) in scanning and selected-ion-monitoring (SIM) modes, for detection of 2-chlorovinylarsonous acid (CVAA) as a hydrolysis product and urinary metabolite of lewisite in urine samples. Chloroform (65 μL), methanol (500 μL), and ethanedithiol (10 μL) were used as extraction solvent, dispersive solvent, and derivatizing reagent, respectively. Critical conditions of the proposed method were optimized. The nucleophilic reactions of dithiol and monothiol compounds with CVAA were also studied using a competitive method. In view of the high affinity of trivalent arsenic for sulfhydryl groups, the interaction between CVAA and bis(2-chlorovinyl)arsonous acid (BCVAA) and free cysteine (Cys) was also investigated using liquid chromatography–electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (LC–ESI-MS). The interference of Cys, present in human urine, with the detection of CVAA was evaluated using dithiol and monothiol chemicals as derivatization agents. The developed method provided a preconcentration factor of 250, and limits of detection of 0.015 and 0.30 μg L^?1 in SIM and scanning modes, respectively. The calibration curves were linear over the concentration range of 1–400 μg L^?1 in full-scan mode. The relative standard deviation (RSD) values were calculated to be 5.5 and 3.2 % at concentrations of 20 and 100 μg L^?1, respectively. Collision-induced dissociation studies of the major electron-impact (EI) ions were performed to confirm the proposed fragment structure of CVAA-dithiols derivatives. Results indicated that the developed method for analysis of CVAA is suitable not only for verification of human exposure to lewisite, but also for quantification of CVAA in urine samples.