Evaluating nonlinear variability of mental fatigue behavioral indices during long‐term attentive task

This study investigates the behavioral indices of attention. A simple repetitive attentive task that resulted in mental fatigue was used consecutively in four trials. In the first step, reaction time and error responses were recorded to evaluate differences among trials. During the task, subjects showed different responses to stimulations. In the second part, to recognize the strategies, multiple clustering methods such as k‐means and fuzzy c‐means were performed in which behavioral indices and nonlinear features were used. In the last section, mental behavior was identified as a result of the chaotic properties of variations in reaction time. Therefore, the Lyapunov exponent of reaction times was evaluated. Results revealed that behavioral indices could distinguish attention from the occurrence of mental fatigue in trials. In addition, the three strategies used by subjects during the test protocol were assessed. Finally, variation of indices extracted from nonlinear analysis, that is, decrease in degree of chaotic behavior determined the transition from attention to mental fatigue. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity, 2012     

Parametric resonance and jump analysis of a beam subjected to periodic mass transition

Nonlinear Dynamics - In this paper, the dynamic stability of a simply supported beam excited by the transition of circulating masses is investigated by preserving nonlinear terms in the analysis....     

The effect of porosity on the laser induced damage threshold of TiO2 and ZrO2 single layer films

Monolayer ZrO₂ and TiO₂ films were prepared on BK7 glass by physical vapor deposition (PVD) and were subsequently annealed for 1 h at 300 °C. By using the transmission spectra of two samples and the envelope method, the refractive index dispersion and extinction coefficients have been calculated. Laser induced damage threshold (LIDT) measurement shows that despite slight differences between the extinction coefficients of the two samples, the LIDT parameter of the ZrO₂ film is greater than that of the TiO₂ film. This fact leads us to consider thermal conductivity as an important parameter for interpreting the LIDT difference. According to our theoretical analysis, as a consequence of increase in the number of thermal barriers along poorer film, its thermal conductivity, and hence LIDT, decreased, which is in agreement with our experimental results. The measured porosity of the two samples shows higher porosity for TiO₂ single layer, which is in agreement with atomic force (AFM) images. The gradual and smooth damage morphology of ZrO₂ observed in optical images implies higher thermal conductivity than TiO₂.     

Dirichlet and Neumann problems for Poisson equation in half lens

In this article, the Green and Neumann functions are given for a half lens and the Dirichlet and Neumann problems for Poisson equation are solved. All formulas are given in explicit form.     

Oxidation and determination of Gabapentin on nanotubes of nickel oxide-modified carbon paste electrode

The electrooxidation of Gabapentin was studied on nanotubes of nickel oxide-modified carbon paste electrode for the first time. Cyclic voltammetry was employed to investigate the electrooxidation process. A simple, sensitive, and efficient amperometric method was developed for the analysis of the drug, and the corresponding analytical parameters were reported. For Gabapentin, a detection limit of 0.3 μM was obtained in a linear range of 2.4–50 μM. The proposed amperometric method was also applied to the analysis of commercial capsules, and the results were in good agreement with the declared values. Also, the applicability of the method to the direct assay of the drug in human serum and urine was described.     

Polyelectrolyte Nanocomposite Membranes Using Imidazole-Functionalized Nanosilica for Fuel Cell Applications

The preparation and characterization of a new type of nanocomposite polyelectrolyte membrane, based on DuPont Nafion/imidazole-modified nanosilica (Im-Si), for direct methanol fuel cell applications is described. Related to the interactions between the protonated imidazole groups, grafted on the surface of nanosilica, and negatively charged sulfonic acid groups of Nafion, new electrostatic interactions can be formed in the interface of Nafion and Im-Si which result in both lower methanol permeability and also higher proton conductivity. Physical characteristics of these manufactured nanocomposite membranes were investigated by scanning electron microscopy, thermogravimetry analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, water uptake, methanol permeability, and ion-exchange capacity, as well as proton conductivity. The Nafion/Im-Si membranes showed higher proton conductivity, lower methanol permeability and, as a consequence, higher selectivity parameter in comparison to the neat Nafion or Nafion/silica membranes. The obtained results indicated that the Nafion/Im-Si membranes could be utilized as promising polyelectrolyte membranes for direct methanol fuel cell applications.     

An improved ensemble learning machine for biological activity prediction of tyrosine kinase inhibitors

Boosting is one of the most important strategies in ensemble learning because of its ability to improve the stability and performance of weak learners. It is nonparametric, multivariate, fast and interpretable but is not robust against outliers. To enhance its prediction accuracy as well as immunize it against outliers, a modified version of a boosting algorithm (AdaBoost R2) was developed and called AdaBoost R3. In the sampling step, extremum samples were added to the boosting set. In the robustness step, a modified Huber loss function was applied to overcome the outlier problem. In the output step, a deterministic threshold was used to guarantee that bad predictions do not participate in the final output. The performance of the modified algorithm was investigated with two anticancer data sets of tyrosine kinase inhibitors, and the mechanism of inhibition was studied using the relative weighted variable importance procedure. Investigating the effect of base learner's strength reveals that boosting is only successful using the classification and regression tree method (a weak to moderate learner) and does not have a significant effect using the radial basis functions partial least square method (a strong base learners). Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Trimethylsilylation of Alcohols and Phenols,and Direct Acetylation of Silyl Ethers Catalyzed by Fe(ClO4)3.6H2O

In this article, a mild and efficient protocol for the trimethylsilylation of various aliphatic and benzylic alcohols and phenols with trimethylsilyl chloride using a catalytic amount of ferric perchlorate at room temperature and relatively short reaction times in good to excellent yields is reported. Direct acetylation of trimethylsilyl ethers catalyzed with Fe(ClO ₄ ) ₃ .6H ₂ O(0.02 mmol)/Fe(ClO ₄ ) ₃ SiO ₂ (0.2 g) using acetic anhydride at ambient temperature is also reported.