Highway noise barriers: new shapes

This paper describes the relative acoustical performances established by scale model testing of a number of relatively novel noise barriers in typical highway situations. The various barriers were thin, wide, T-profiled, cylindrically topped, corrugated, inclined, Y-profiled, arrow-profiled and of the thnadner principle, and some were treated with sound absorptive material. The highway situations involved a single barrier with a protected receiver (i.e., a receiver behind the barrier), a single barrier with a receiver on the opposite side of the highway, and parallel barriers, one on each side of the highway. In the single barrier, protected receiver case, higher noise reduction was found for wide top barriers, especially those of T-profile, and especially T-profile absorptive top barriers with cap widths of 0·6 m (2 ft) or more and of small cap thickness. Absorptive side treatment was effective in reducing a small, but measurable sound increase found when a reflective sided barrier is installed on the opposite side of the highway to receivers, and in reducing the degradation in performance that occurs when there is a barrier on each side of the highway rather than on just one.     

The Acidity of Malondialdehyde and the Stability of its Complexes with Nickel(II) and Copper(II)

The acidity of malondialdehyde as well as the stability of its 1 :1-complexes with Ni^II and Cu^II have been determined (Table). In comparison with the enolates of aliphatic β-dike-tones the anion C₃H₃O₂? has not only a strikingly reduced basicity, but is also a grossly inferior ligand for metal cations.     

A periodic DFT study of water and ammonia adsorption on anatase TiO2 (001) slab

Water and ammonia adsorption mechanisms on anatase TiO₂ (001) slab surface are investigated by means of periodic DFT approach. Molecular and dissociative adsorption energies for water are calculated to be ? 15 kcal/mol and ? 32 kcal/mol, respectively. Similarly, molecular and dissociative adsorption energies of ammonia on the same surface are found as ? 25 kcal/mol and ? 20 kcal/mol. A reverse result in this order is reached for the previous case of ONIOM cluster study (? 23 kcal/mol and ? 37 kcal/mol, respectively). The vibration frequency values are computed for the optimized geometries of adsorbed water and ammonia molecules on anatase TiO₂ (001) slab surface and compared with the values reported in the literature.     

Approximation by Gamma type operators

In this study, we introduce newly defined Gamma operators which preserve constants and e^2μ·, μ>0 functions. In accordance with this purpose, we focus on their approximation properties such as uniform convergence, rate of convergence, asymptotic formula, and saturation results. Superior properties of introduced operators have been tested both theoretically and numerically in certain senses to highlight the performance of the new constructions of Gamma operators.     

Optimal production in a competitive market under yield uncertainty

Motivated by the U.S. influenza vaccine market, we study the impact of random yield and production capacity on the number of firms, total supply, consumer surplus and social welfare in a market with identical suppliers. We formulate a two-stage game with endogenous entry, where each entering firm aims to maximize its profit under yield uncertainty subject to a production capacity constraint. We show that if firms produce full capacity in the equilibrium, then there are fewer firms in the equilibrium compared to the social optimum even for small levels of yield uncertainty. Furthermore, we prove that if firms do not produce full capacity in the equilibrium, they will not produce full capacity in the social optimum.     

Cutting plane algorithms for 0-1 programming based on cardinality cuts

We present new valid inequalities for 0-1 programming problems that work in similar ways to well known cover inequalities. Discussion and analysis of these cuts is followed by their revision and use in integer programming as a new generation of cuts that excludes not only portions of polyhedra containing noninteger points, also parts with some integer points that have been explored in search of an optimal solution. Our computational experimentations demonstrate that this new approach has significant potential for solving large scale integer programming problems.     

Labelling,Fractionation and Toxicity of Scorpion (Leiurus quinquestriatus H and E) Venom,using 125I, 131I and Gel-Filtration Technique

Labelling the venom of scorpion was achieved by means of a technique previously published by the author. The radioisotopes, used were both ¹²⁵I and ¹³¹I in a nascent form. Fractionation was done by the use of Sephadex G-100. Both the radioactivity and the extinction curves denoted the presence of three well defined peaks. The toxicity of the first fraction was found to be the most lethal. While the second peak was in the magnitude of 20 percent of the first, the third peak proved to be nontoxic to mice up to a concentration of 6 mg/kg body weight.     

γ-irradiation effect on the spectroscopic and electrical properties of K2SO4—Na2SO4 mixed system

Abstract

Measurements of electron paramagnetic resonance, infrared and electrical properties were carried out for the K₂SO₄—Na₂SO₄ mixed system before and after γ-irradiation. EPR measurements revealed the presence of a quartet of lines characterized by an isotropic g-value of 2.0034. These lines are mainly attributed to the formation of a SO^? ₃ center which results from the interaction of γ-rays with the sulfate ion. A decrease in the absorption intensity of the Infrared radiation was observed after γ-irradiation due to radiation damage in the sulfate group. The electrical conductivity, σ, was measured for the K₂SO₄—Na₂SO₄ system before and after γ-irradiation in the temperature range from 30 up to 430°C. A considerable decrease in the conductivity value accompanied by an increase in the activation energy was observed after γ-irradiation. The energy of formation of Frenkel defects was estimated to be 2.94eV. The current-voltage characteristics were measured at different temperatures in order to estimate the type of conduction in the samples. Isothermal annealing kinetics was investigated at different temperatures before and after γ-irradiation. The electrical conductivity decreases with increasing time of annealing and the annealing process is dominated by a unique rate process.     

Generating sets of finite singular transformation semigroups

J.M. Howie proved that $\operatorname {Sing}_{n}$ , the semigroup of all singular mappings of {1,…,n} into itself, is generated by its idempotents of defect 1 (in J. London Math. Soc. 41, 707–716, 1966). He also proved that if n≥3 then a minimal generating set for $\operatorname {Sing}_{n}$ contains n(n?1)/2 transformations of defect 1 (in Gomes and Howie, Math. Proc. Camb. Philos. Soc. 101. 395–403, 1987). In this paper we find necessary and sufficient conditions for any set for transformations of defect 1 in $\operatorname {Sing}_{n}$ to be a (minimal) generating set for $\operatorname {Sing}_{n}$ .