Social distancing mediated generalized model to predict epidemic spread of COVID-19

Nonlinear Dynamics - The extensive proliferation of recent coronavirus (COVID-19), all over the world, is the outcome of social interactions through massive transportation, gatherings and...     

Magnetic resonance tensors in Uracil: Calculation of 13C, 15N, 17O NMR chemical shifts, 17O and 14N electric field gradients and measurement of 13C and 15N chemical shifts

The experimental ¹³C NMR chemical shift components of uracil in the solid state are reported for the first time (to our knowledge), as well as newer data for the ¹⁵N nuclei. These experimental values are supported by extensive calculated data of the ¹³C, ¹⁵N and ¹⁷O chemical shielding and ¹⁷O and ¹⁴N electric field gradient (EFG) tensors. In the crystal, uracil forms a number of strong and weak hydrogen bonds, and the effect of these on the ¹³C and ¹⁵N chemical shift tensors is studied. This powerful combination of the structural methods and theoretical calculations gives a very detailed view of the strong and weak hydrogen bond formation by this molecule. Good calculated results for the optimized cluster in most cases (except for the EFG values of the ¹⁴N3 and ¹⁷O4 nuclei) certify the accuracy of our optimized coordinates for the hydrogen nuclei. Our reported RMSD values for the calculated chemical shielding and EFG tensors are smaller than those reported previously. In the optimized cluster the 6-311+G** basis set is the optimal one in the chemical shielding and EFG calculations, except for the EFG calculations of the oxygen nuclei, in which the 6-31+G** basis set is the optimal one. The optimal method for the chemical shielding and EFG calculations of the oxygen and nitrogen nuclei is the PW91PW91 method, while for the chemical shielding calculations of the ¹³C nuclei the B3LYP method gives the best results.     

Spline R-Function and Applications in FEM

R-function is a widely used tool when considering objects obtained through the Boolean operations start from simple base primitives. However, there is square root operation in the representation. Considering that the use of splines will facilitate the calculations within the CAD system, in this paper, we propose a system of R-functions represented in spline form called Spline R-function (SR). After transforming the function ranges of two base primitives to a new coordinate system, a series of sign constraints following a specific Boolean operation are derived and the spline R-function can be formulated as a piecewise function. Representation of SR in both Bézier form and B-spline form have been given. Among which the Bézier ordinates are determined with the help of the B-net method through setting up a series of relations according to the sign constraints and properties of R-functions. The construction processes for both Boolean intersection and union operations with different smoothness are discussed in detail. Numerical experiments are conducted to show the potential of the proposed spline R-function.     

Reliability of a consecutive (r, s)-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system with conditions on the number of failed components in the system

A consecutive(r, s)-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system which is defined as a two-dimensional version of a consecutive k-out-of-n:F system is used as a reliability evaluation model for a sensor system, an X-ray diagnostic system, a pattern search system, etc. This system consists of m × n components arranged like an (m, n) matrix and fails iff the system has an (r, s) submatrix that contains all failed components. In this paper we deal a combined model of a k-out-of-mn:F and a consecutive (r, s)-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system. Namely, the system has one more condition of system down, that is the total number of failed components, in addition to that of a consecutive (r, s)-out-of-(m, n):F lattice system. We present a method to obtain reliability of the system. The proposed method obtains the reliability by using a combinatorial equation that does not depend on the system size. Some numerical examples are presented to show the relationship between component reliability and system reliability.     

Hybrid co-evolutionary particle swarm optimization and noising metaheuristics for the delay constrained least cost path problem

This paper presents a co-evolutionary particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm, hybridized with noising metaheuristics, for solving the delay constrained least cost (DCLC) path problem, i.e., shortest-path problem with a delay constraint on the total “cost” of the optimal path. The proposed algorithm uses the principle of Lagrange relaxation based aggregated cost. It essentially consists of two concurrent PSOs for solving the resulting minimization-maximization problem. The main PSO is designed as a hybrid PSO-noising metaheuristics algorithm for efficient global search to solve the minimization part of the DCLC-Lagrangian relaxation by finding multiple shortest paths between a source-destination pair. The auxiliary/second PSO is a co-evolutionary PSO to obtain the optimal Lagrangian multiplier for solving the maximization part of the Lagrangian relaxation problem. For the main PSO, a novel heuristics-based path encoding/decoding scheme has been devised for representation of network paths as particles. The simulation results on several networks with random topologies illustrate the efficiency of the proposed hybrid algorithm for the constrained shortest path computation problems.     

Particular solutions to equations of sine-Gordon type

We present a direct method for finding particular solutions of equations of sine-Gordon type, including single sinh-Gordon equation, single sine-Gordon equation, double sinh-Gordon and double sine-Gordon equations.     

Biocoacervation extraction combined with dispersive solid phase extraction using a reversed-phase core–shell magnetic molecularly imprinted sorbent for 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid prior to its determination by HPLC

In this study, efficient preconcentration method has been developed for the determination of 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) using biosorption based on microassemblies combined with core–shell magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (mag-MIP) nanoparticles followed by high-performance liquid chromatography. The method involves three steps: (1) The bioaggregates is added to the sample. The analyte is extracted into the colloidal phase formed by aggregation of the rhamnolipid. (2) Mag-MIPs are added in order to selectively extract 2,4-D from the bioaggregate. (3) The mag-MIPs are then collected from the solution by a strong magnet placed underneath the test tube, and 2,4-D is desorbed from the surface of the mag-MIP with an acetonitrile: methanol mixture. This material has a high adsorption capacity and yields high upconcentrations, which is reusable and chemically stable. Under optimum conditions, the enrichment factor was 265. The linear dynamic range and limit of detection are 0.16–40 and 0.053 µg L^?1, respectively. The relative standard deviations for six replicate measurements are 5.2 %.