A multiobjective model for locating undesirable facilities

In this paper, we develop a multiobjective model to depict the tradeoffs involved when locating one or more undesirable facilities to service a region. We assume that the region requires a certain capacity of service, and that this capacity can be met by building a combination of different-sized facilities. Examples could include sanitary landfills, incinerators, and power-generating stations. Our objectives are to minimize the total cost of the facilities located, the total opposition to the facilities, and the maximum disutility imposed on any individual. Opposition and disutility are assumed to be nonlinearly decreasing functions of distance, and increasing functions of facility size. We formulate our model as a multiobjective mixed-integer program, and generate the set of efficient solutions using an enumeration algorithm. Our code can solve realistically sized problems on a microcomputer. We give an example to illustrate the tradeoffs between the three objectives, which are inevitable in such a location problem.This research was supported by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada (OGP 25481), and by the Nova Fellowship of the Faculty of Business, University of Alberta.     

Ant Colony Optimisation for Machine Layout Problems

Flexible machine layout problems describe the dynamic arrangement of machines to optimise the trade-off between material handling and rearrangement costs under changing and uncertain production environments. A previous study used integer-programming techniques to solve heuristically reduced versions of the problem. As an alternative, this paper introduces an ant colony optimisation (ACO) algorithm to generate good solutions. Experimental results are presented, with ACO obtaining better solutions than the reduction heuristic.     

Synthesis,characterization, and photophysical properties of paraben substituted cyclotriphosphazenes with hydrophilic side groups

Abstract

In this study, five new paraben substituted cyclotriphosphazene compounds containing hydrophilic glycol groups were successfully synthesized. All synthesized cyclotriphosphazene compounds 1-10 were fully characterized via general spectroscopic techniques such as ¹H, ³¹P NMR and MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. In addition, the investigations of the UV-vis absorption and fluorescence emission properties of the 1-10 carried out via absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies in different solvents. The absorbance bands of the all synthesized compounds 1-10 were observed at about 230–300?nm in all solvents studied. Furthermore, the highest fluorescence emission intensity of the compounds 1-10 was observed in tetrahydrofuran at about 312?nm and the lowest emission intensity was observed in chloroform. The synthesized molecules can be used as custom designed molecules to investigate the DNA binding properties in automatic biosensor device in our laboratories, since they carry hydrophilic glycol units for water solubility and paraben derivatives for DNA effecting properties.     

On the Continuity of Stochastic Exit Time Control Problems

We determine a weaker sufficient condition than that of Theorem 5.2.1 in Fleming and Soner (2006) for the continuity of the value functions of stochastic exit time control problems.     

Synthesis of a series of triple-bridged cyclotriphosphazene hexa-alkoxy derivatives and investigation of their structural and mesomorphic properties

Triple diamino-bridged cyclotriphosphazene (1) was reacted in a 1:8 stoichiometry with the sodium derivatives of long-chain diols [1-octanol, 1-decanol, 1-dodecanol, 1-hexadecanol] tetrahydrofuran (THF) at room temperature to form hexa-substituted cyclotriphosphazene derivatives (2, 3, 4 and 5, respectively), whose mesomorphic behaviours were investigated for their possible applications as liquid crystals. The cylindrical-type cyclotriphosphazene derivatives (2–5) were characterised by mass and elemental analyses and by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), ¹H and ³¹P {¹H} NMR spectroscopies. The thermal and mesomorphic properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry and by polarising optical microscopy, respectively. It was found that liquid crystal materials could be obtained from compounds 3 and 4 with alkoxy chains rather than using aromatic ring(s) as mesogens as published previously.     

The synthesis and electrochemical behaviour of carbazole-substituted phthalocyanines

The syntheses of new cobalt and zinc phthalocyanine complexes containing carbazole (Cz) substituents at the peripheral positions are reported (CzCoPc and CzZnPc). The reaction of Cz with 4-iodophthalonitrile in the presence of a catalytic amount of copper(I) oxide and potassium carbonate led to the formation of 4-(9H-carbazol-9-yl) phthalonitrile. Furthermore, by heating the dinitrile and anhydrous metal salts (CoCl₂, Zn(CH₃COO)₂) at 160 °C in n-hexanol in the presence of DBU, the phthalocyanines were obtained. They were characterised by ¹H NMR, FT-IR, UV-Vis and MS spectroscopic data. Aggregation behaviours of Pcs were investigated in THF. Electrochemical redox behaviour of CzCoPc was investigated by cyclic voltammetry depending on the potential range, and the oxidation and reduction products were followed by UV-Visible absorption measurements. Polymerisation of CzCoPc was carried out by potentiodynamic methods on glassy carbon electrode, and the catalytic activity of resulting polymer (P[CzCoPc]) was tested comparatively with polycarbazole (PCz)-coated electrode for dopamine and better response was obtained for P[CzCoPc] modified electrode.     

Isothermal Entropy Change for the Spin-1 Blume-Capel Model on the Bethe Lattice

The isothermal entropy change of spin-1 Blume-Capel (BC) is investigated on the Bethe lattice (BL) with the variations of coordination numbers (q), crystal field (D) and external magnetic field (H) in the vicinity of critical temperatures, i.e. about the second- and first-order phase transition temperatures. The calculation is carried on the BL in terms of exact recursion relations. It is found that the peaks of the isothermal entropy variation obtained for both magnetization and quadrupole moments are observed to be increasing with increasing values of H for given D and q, decreasing with the increasing q for fixed D and H and also decreasing with the increasing values of D for constant q and H. The peaks of the curves for the quadrupole moment is less sharper then the ones obtained for the magnetization.

     

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.     

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.     

The temperature-dependent phase diagrams of the spin-3/2 Ising model on a FM/AFM two-layer lattice with a crystal field

The temperature-dependent phase diagrams of the spin-3/2 Ising model on a two-layer Bethe lattice with ferromagnetic (FM)/antiferromagnetic (AFM) intra-layer and either FM or AFM type inter-layer interactions are investigated under a constant magnetic field (H) and in the presence of a crystal field (D) by using exact recursion equations in a pairwise approach for coordination numbers q=3,4 and 6, in detail. In the light of the ground-state (GS) phase diagrams, the temperature-dependent phase diagrams of the model are obtained by studying the thermal variations of the order parameters, response functions and free energy. Then, they are illustrated on the (kT/J₁,J₃/J₁) and (kT/J₁,J₂/J₁) planes for the given system parameters. It is observed that the system exhibits first- and second-order phase transitions for all q values, and hence, in some cases, tricritical points. The existence of critical-end points and that of isolated points are also observed. The re-entrant behavior owes its presence to the two Néel temperatures, T_N, that are present for all q.