A reinvestigation of the bamberger-ham phenazine. Synthesis: A limitation

The Bamberger-Ham condensation of 4-substituted nitrosobenzenes in concentrated sulfuric acid reported as a method of synthesis for phenazine N-oxides has been found to be limited to electron donating substituents. Methyl 4-nitrosobenzoale has been found to react under these conditions to give dimethyl 2-nitrodiphenylamine-4, 5-diearboxylate ( 2 ). Compounds of unknown structure previously reported to arise from acid treatment of 4-bromo- and 4-chloronilrosobenzene have been shown to be 4, 5-dibromo-2-nitrosophenylamine ( 10 ) and the analogous dichloro compound. Treatment under stronger acidic conditions (oleum) converted 10 but not 2 into the corresponding phenazine N-oxide. Mechanistic implications are discussed.     

Studies on the interaction of Eu(III) with lawsone (2-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone), lapachol (2-hydroxy-3-(3-methyl-2-butenyl)-1,4-naphthoquinone), juglone (5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone) and plumbagin (2-methyl-5-hydroxy-1,4-naphthoquinone)

pH-metric studies show that one mole of Eu(III) interacts with three molecules of each of juglone, plumbagin, lawsone and lapachol in solution. The stability and thermodynamics of these systems (50% aqueous acetone, 0.1 M KNO₃ ionic strength) are discussed and explained.     

Mössbauer studies of some iron(II) complexes of cyclohexanonesemicarbazone

Summary Mössbauer studies of high-spin iron(II) complexes of the type FeL₂X₂ [L = cyclohexanonesemicarbazone (CHSC); X = Cl, NO₃, 0.5 SO₄, NCS] have been carried out at room and at liquid nitrogen temperature. The results reveal doublet ground states for Fe(CHSC)₂Cl₂ and Fe(CHSC)₂(NO₃)₂ and singlet ground states for Fe(CHSC)₂SO₄ and Fe(CHSC)₂(NCS)₂.     

The regiospecific synthesis of N-substituted pyrazoles. I. 1- and 2-substituted indeno[1,2-c]pyrazol-4(1H)-ones

The reaction of the enaminoketones ( 2 or 5 ) of 2-acyl-1,3-indandiones with unsymmetrical hydrazines results in the regiospecific synthesis of 1,3- or 2,3-disubstituted indeno[1,2-c]pyrazol-4(1H)-ones ( 4 or 7 ). The synthesis of the enaminoketones ( 2 or 5 ) is accomplished by way of amine addition to the 2-acyl-1,3-indandiones 8a-c or by reduction of the indenoisoxazole 9 . The structural assignment of the isomeric indenopyrazoles 4 and 7 is based upon ¹H-nmr chemical shifts.     

On the discrepancy between two Zagreb indices

We examine the quantity

$S\left(G\right)=\sum _{uv\in E\left(G\right)}min(degu,degv)$

over sets of graphs with a fixed number of edges. The main result shows the maximum possible value of $S\left(G\right)$ is achieved by three different classes of constructions, depending on the distance between the number of edges and the nearest triangular number. Furthermore we determine the maximum possible value when the set of graphs is restricted to be bipartite, a forest, or to be planar given sufficiently many edges. The quantity $S\left(G\right)$ corresponds to the difference between two well studied indices, the irregularity of a graph and the sum of the squares of the degrees in a graph. These are known as the first and third Zagreb indices in the area of mathematical chemistry.     

Minimizing flow time in cyclic schedules for identical jobs with acyclic precedence: the bottleneck lower bound

This paper studies minimizing the flow time of a cyclic schedule for repeated identical jobs, where one job is started/completed in each cycle, subject to the schedule achieving maximum throughput. We propose a branch and bound method for a single machine problem, and use this method to derive an improved lower bound for the multiple machine problem.     

Reinforcement learning for joint pricing,lead-time and scheduling decisions in make-to-order systems

The paper investigates a problem faced by a make-to-order (MTO) firm that has the ability to reject or accept orders, and set prices and lead-times to influence demands. Inventory holding costs for early completed orders, tardiness costs for late delivery orders, order rejection costs, manufacturing variable costs, and fixed costs are considered. In order to maximize the expected profits in an infinite planning horizon with stochastic demands, the firm needs to make decisions from the following aspects: which orders to accept or reject, the trade-off between price and lead-time, and the potential for increased demand against capacity constraints. We model the problem as a Semi-Markov Decision Problem (SMDP) and develop a reinforcement learning (RL) based Q-learning algorithm (QLA) for the problem. In addition, we build a discrete-event simulation model to validate the performance of the QLA, and compare the experimental results with two benchmark policies, the First-Come-First-Serve (FCFS) policy and a threshold heuristic policy. It is shown that the QLA outperforms the existing policies.     

Airline crew scheduling from planning to operations

Crew scheduling problems at the planning level are typically solved in two steps: first, creating working patterns, and then assigning these to individual crew. The first step is solved with a set covering model, and the second with a set-partitioning model. At the operational level, the (re) planning period is considerably smaller than during the strategic planning phase. We integrate both models to solve time critical crew recovery problems arising on the day of operations. We describe how pairing construction and pairing assignment are done in a single step, and provide solution techniques based on simple tree search and more sophisticated column generation and shortest-path algorithms.