Inelastic effect of electron–phonon interactions in tunnelling magnetoresistance of a single metallofullerene

The effects of elastic and inelastic electron–phonon interactions on current–voltage characteristic and tunnelling magnetoresistance (TMR) of Li@C₅₉X (X = N, B) molecule that is coupled to two ferromagnetic electrodes was investigated using the non-equilibrium Green's function (NEGF) method. Our results by taking also into consideration spin degrees of freedom (excluding spin-mixing effects) indicate that the presence of inelastic electron–phonon interaction polaron formation increases current and shifts the TMR behaviour to higher values. Also, an increase of two orders of magnitude observed in current for Li@C₅₉B compared to C₆₀.     

Effects of Ag or Si on precipitation in the alloy Al-2.5 mass% Cu-1.5 mass% Mg

Calorimetric measurements and electron microscopy observations were performed on Al-2.5?mass% Cu-1.5?mass% Mg alloys containing also 0.4, 1 or 2% Ag or 0.5% Si, in order to improve understanding of the relationships between precipitation processes and age hardening. The analogous behaviour of calorimetric and hardness data confirms that the first hardening stage is initiated in all alloys by GPB zone formation which occurs via a nucleation and growth controlled mechanism. The vacancy-trapping effect of Mg is increased by Ag and Si additions and leads to slower precipitation kinetics. Consequently, refined GPB zones sizes are obtained leading to an increase in hardness with respect to the ternary alloy. During the second hardening stage, the formation of the more stable S′ phase increases the total amount of strengthening precipitates in the ternary alloy. Phases typical for binary Al–Cu alloys form additionally in the Si-containing alloy. In the Ag-bearing alloys, precipitation of the hardening X′ phase occurs the earlier the higher the Ag content; it is followed by S′ precipitation. During heating of the ternary alloy, the S′ phase forms after substantial dissolution of GPB zones and of the S′′ phase identified by high resolution electron microscopy; this contradicts the concept of a continuous precipitation sequence.     

Formation of a percolating cluster in films prepared by cathodic electrodeposition of a mixture of lower and higher molecular weight epoxy-amine adducts

The electrodeposition behavior of blends of primary dispersions of a lower and a higher molecular weight epoxy-amine adduct has been investigated. The throwing power of the above-mentioned blends showed a voltage-dependent critical composition at which the throwing power dropped to a much lower value. This was assigned to the formation of an infinite conducting cluster, the extension of which is dependent on the rate of the electrocoagulation process at the cathode boundary. The random resistor network approach of Stauffer (RRNS) and the random resistor network approach of Miller and Abrahams (RRNMA) were applied to the experimental data with high correlations (r2=0.9314 and 0.9699). The percolating cluster formed within the film, however, gave a critical exponent of conductivity equal to 1.1028, much less than expected from a classical three-dimensional lattice (i.e., 1.5-2.0). This discrepancy was explained in terms of the changed behavior of the film resulting from the bubbles formed near the cathode and its effect on the infinite conducting cluster.     

Détermination Directe de la Stéréochimie de l'Addition de Carbènes aux Oléfines Bicycliques par RMN du Carbone-13

The ¹³C chemical shift data of some tricyclic derivatives prepared by carbene addition to bicyclo-alkenes are presented and compared with the shifts observed in the parent olefins. The shielding induced at the C-7 atom can be used to determine the stereochemistry of the carbene addition.     

An improved method for ranking alternatives in multiple criteria decision analysis

Scoring rules are an important disputable subject in data envelopment analysis (DEA). Various organizations use voting systems whose main object is to rank alternatives. In these methods, the ranks of alternatives are obtained by their associated weights. The method for determining the ranks of alternatives by their weights is an important issue. This problem has been the subject at hand of some authors. We suggest a three-stage method for the ranking of alternatives. In the first stage, the rank position of each alternative is computed based on the best and worst weights in the optimistic and pessimistic cases, respectively. The vector of weights obtained in the first stage is not a singleton. Hence, to deal with this problem, a secondary goal is used in the second stage. In the third stage of our method, the ranks of the alternatives approach the optimistic or pessimistic case. It is mentionable that the model proposed in the third stage is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) model and there are several methods for solving it; we use the weighted sum method in this paper. The model is solved by mixed integer programming. Also, we obtain an interval for the rank of each alternative. We present two models on the basis of the average of ranks in the optimistic and pessimistic cases. The aim of these models is to compute the rank by common weights.     

Multi-objective assembly permutation flow shop scheduling problem: a mathematical model and a meta-heuristic algorithm

This study is devoted to schedule a three-stage manufacturing system including machining, assembly and batch processing stages. The system is supposed to be capable of manufacturing a variation of products. At the first stage, the need for machining raw parts causes the manufacturer to deal with a flow shop scheduling problem. In the next stage, processed parts should be assembled together in order to form desired products. It is noteworthy that several operations are not allowed to be executed simultaneously on the same machine. Second stage should be considered as a single-assembly line or a single team of operators, and finally the manufacturing processing stage. The considered objectives are to minimize completion time of all products (makespan) and sum of the earliness and tardiness costs, simultaneously. First, the proposed scheduling problem is formulated into a mixed-integer mathematical model, and then owing to the NP-hardness of the concluded model a meta-heuristic approach is applied. A hybrid algorithm is modified to create a powerful method in searching the discrete solution space of this problem by taking advantage of superiorities of both Genetic Algorithm and Particle Swarm Optimization methods. Numerical experiments are designed to evaluate the performance of the proposed algorithm.     

Extremal values of augmented eccentric connectivity index of V-phenylenic nanotorus

A topological index of a molecular graph G is a numeric quantity related to G which is invariant under symmetry properties of G. Let G be a molecular graph. The augmented eccentric connectivity index, ξ ^A (G) is defined as ξ ^A (G)=Σ _u∈V(G) M(u)/ε(u) where M(u) denotes the product of degrees of all neighbors of vertex u and ε(u) is the largest distance between u and any other vertex v of G. In this paper the exact formulas for the augmented eccentric connectivity index of V-phenylenic nanotorus together with its extremal values are given.