RELAXED ELASTIC LINES OF SECOND KIND ON ORIENTED SURFACE IN MINKOWSKI SPACE

The relaxed elastic line of second kind on an oriented surface in the Minkowski space was defined and for the relaxed elastic line of second kind which is lying on an oriented surface the Euler-Lagrange equations were derived. Furthermore, whether these curves lie on a curvature line or not was investigated and some applications were given.     

On embodied memetic evolution and the emergence of behavioural traditions in Robots

This paper describes ideas and initial experiments in embodied imitation using e-puck robots, developed as part of a project whose aim is to demonstrate the emergence of artificial culture in collective robot systems. Imitated behaviours (memes) will undergo variation because of the noise and heterogeneities of the robots and their sensors. Robots can select which memes to enact, and—because we have a multi-robot collective—memes are able to undergo multiple cycles of imitation, with inherited characteristics. We thus have the three evolutionary operators: variation, selection and inheritance, and—as we describe in this paper—experimental trials show that we are able to demonstrate embodied movement-meme evolution.     

Proton conducting composite membranes based on poly(1-vinyl-1,2,4-triazole) and nitrilotri (methyl triphosphonic acid)

Polymer electrolyte composite membranes based on poly(1-vinyl-1,2,4-triazole) (PVTRI) and nitrilotri(methyl triphosphonic acid) (TPA) were investigated. PVTRI was produced by free radical polymerization of 1-vinyl-1,2,4-triazole. The polymer PVTRI was doped with TPA at various molar ratios x=0.125, x=0.25, and x=0.5. The proton transfer from TPA to the triazole rings was proved with Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). Thermogravimetry (TG) analysis showed that the samples are thermally stable up to approximately 250 °C. DSC results illustrated the homogeneity of the materials as well as the softening effect of the dopant. Cyclic voltammetry results illustrated that the electrochemical stability domain of the dopant extends over 1.5 V. The maximum proton conductivity has been measured for PVTRITPA-0.25 as 8.5×10⁻⁴ S cm⁻¹ at 150 °C.     

Preparation and characterization of surface modified γ-Fe2O3 (maghemite)-silica nanocomposites used for the purification of benzaldehyde lyase

γ-Fe₂O₃ (maghemite)-silica nanocomposite particles were synthesized using a sol-gel method. The condensation products of 3-glycidoxy propyltrimethoxy silane (GPTMS) and nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) were introduced onto the surfaces of the γ-Fe₂O₃-silica nanocomposite particles and subsequently, these modified surfaces were complexed with cobalt (Co⁺²) metal ions. A possibility of using these surface modified γ-Fe₂O₃-silica particles for the purification of 6×histidine tagged recombinant benzaldehyde lyase (BAL, EC 4.1.2.38) based on magnetic separation was investigated. X-ray diffraction (XRD), thermal analysis, and vibrating sample magnetometry (VSM) methods were used to characterize the surface modified superparamagnetic γ-Fe₂O₃ (maghemite)-silica nanoparticles. XRD (Scherer's equation) results indicate that the primary particle size of maghemite was around 11 nm. Magnetic characterization results confirmed that the γ-Fe₂O₃ (maghemite)-silica nanoparticles were superparamagnetic. According to sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) results, these superparamagnetic nanoparticles specifically capture 6×His-tagged BAL from crude extract of Escherichia coli (E. coli) BL21(DE3)pLysS/BAL_HIS. This study shows that the surface modified γ-Fe₂O₃ (maghemite)-silica nanoparticles are eligible for immobilized metal-ion affinity adsorption for histidine tagged recombinant proteins with its high capacity (3.16±0.4 mg/g) and selectivity.     

Long-Lived Triplet Excited State Accessed with Spin–Orbit Charge Transfer Intersystem Crossing in Red Light-Absorbing Phenoxazine-Styryl BODIPY Electron Donor/Acceptor Dyads

Orthogonal phenoxazine-styryl BODIPY compact electron donor/acceptor dyads were prepared as heavy atom-free triplet photosensitizers (PSs) with strong red light absorption (ϵ=1.33×10⁵ M⁻¹ cm⁻¹ at 630 nm), whereas the previously reported triplet photosensitizers based on the spin-orbit charge transfer intersystem crossing (SOCT-ISC) mechanism show absorption in a shorter wavelength range (<500 nm). More importantly, a long-lived triplet state (τ_T=333 μs) was observed for the new dyads. In comparison, the triplet state lifetime of the same chromophore accessed with the conventional heavy atom effect (HAE) is much shorter (τ_T=1.8 μs). Long triplet state lifetime is beneficial to enhance electron or energy transfer, the primary photophysical processes in the application of triplet PSs. Our approach is based on SOCT-ISC, without invoking of the HAE, which may shorten the triplet state lifetime. We used bisstyrylBodipy both as the electron acceptor and the visible light-harvesting chromophore, which shows red-light absorption. Femtosecond transient absorption spectra indicated the charge separation (109 ps) and SOCT-ISC (charge recombination, CR; 2.3 ns) for BDP-1 . ISC efficiency of BDP-1 was determined as Φ_T=25 % (in toluene). The dyad BDP-3 was used as triplet PS for triplet-triplet annihilation upconversion (upconversion quantum yield Φ_UC=1.5 %; anti-Stokes shift is 5900 cm⁻¹).     

Optimal pricing for tandem queues with finite buffers

We consider optimal pricing for a two-station tandem queueing system with finite buffers, communication blocking, and price-sensitive customers whose arrivals form a homogeneous Poisson process. The service provider quotes prices to incoming customers using either a static or dynamic pricing scheme. There may also be a holding cost for each customer in the system. The objective is to maximize either the discounted profit over an infinite planning horizon or the long-run average profit of the provider. We show that there exists an optimal dynamic policy that exhibits a monotone structure, in which the quoted price is non-decreasing in the queue length at either station and is non-increasing if a customer moves from station 1 to 2, for both the discounted and long-run average problems under certain conditions on the holding costs. We then focus on the long-run average problem and show that the optimal static policy performs as well as the optimal dynamic policy when the buffer size at station 1 becomes large, there are no holding costs, and the arrival rate is either small or large. We learn from numerical results that for systems with small arrival rates and no holding cost, the optimal static policy produces a gain quite close to the optimal gain even when the buffer at station 1 is small. On the other hand, for systems with arrival rates that are not small, there are cases where the optimal dynamic policy performs much better than the optimal static policy.

     

On some new type generalized difference sequence spaces

In this paper we introduce a new type of difference operator Δ _m ⁿ for fixed m, n ∈ ℕ. We define the sequence spaces ℓ_∞(Δ _m ⁿ ), c(Δ _m ⁿ ) and c ₀(Δ _m ⁿ ) and study some topological properties of these spaces. We obtain some inclusion relations involving these sequence spaces. These notions generalize many earlier existing notions on difference sequence spaces.      

Synthesis of corrosion preventive long-chain N -alkyl-2-(phenylthio)-acetohydrazides and 2-oxo-2-phenylethyl-2-alkanoylhydrazinecarbodithioates

Long-chain N-alkyl-2-(phenylthio)acetohydrazides were synthesized via the reactions of 2-(phenylthio)acetohydrazide with long-straight-chain aldehydes and then reduction with sodium borohydride. The reactions of long-straight-chain hydrazides with carbon disulfide in alkaline media give the corresponding carbodithioate salts. Heating of potassium 2-alkanoylhydrazinecarbodithioates with phenacyl bromide do not yield cyclization and failed to give the corresponding long-chain thiazolidine-2-thiones, but gave the corresponding 2-oxo-2-phenylethyl-2-alkanoylhydrazinecarbodithioates via nucleophilic substitution reaction. In addition, the synthesized compounds were tested for their corrosion prevention capabilities in acidic or in mineral oil media.