Using agents for solving a multi-commodity-flow problem

We investigate a commodity trading problem in a flow network with arbitrary topology where sinks combine commodities into bundles in order to generate profits. Our focus is the profit maximization problem for the trading network under both central and distributed control. We compute solutions for the central control problem using an integer linear program while we compute solutions for the distributed case by implementing the nodes in the network as software-agents that exchange messages in order to establish profitable trades. We report on computational results using both methods and demonstrate that there is a connection between agent profits and a centrality measure developed for the problem. We also demonstrate that with our current agent strategy, there is a trade-off between the agents acting too quickly before enough information is available and waiting too long and thus giving each agent too much information and thus too much power over the outcome.     

Design and testing of a small-scale sublimation apparatus

In many areas of scientific research and development, for example in the pharmaceutical industry, it is important to prepare and to characterize crystals of pure organic compounds which are thermodynamically stable. The formation of crystals from the gas phase is technically less straightforward than crystallisation from solution, but sublimation techniques can have several important features. In the present paper we report the design and testing of a novel apparatus for small scale sublimation and fractional deposition of crystals. The instrument has been developed with special reference to the needs in the pharmaceutical industry. A few mg of the samples are enclosed, under reduced pressure, in thin-walled glass tubes, along which a well defined temperature gradient can be formed. During an experiment the substance will sublime from the hot end of the glass tube and crystals will be deposited along the temperature gradient. The applicability of the instrument has been verified by experiments with several test compounds. Results from experiments with carbamazepine, are reported in some detail. Carbamazepine single crystals of high quality were obtained and the transition temperature between the triclinic (Form I) and the monoclinic (Form III) crystal modifications agreed with literature values.     

Symmetry and structure of N–O shallow donor complexes in silicon

Shallow donors in silicon related to nitrogen–oxygen complexes have been investigated by piezospectroscopy of their hydrogenic transitions in the far infrared. Complete stress dependences up to 0.25 GPa were obtained for the 1s→2p₀ and 1s→2p_± transitions of the most prominent members of the (N, O)-family, N–O-3 and N–O-5. Very unusual for shallow donors in silicon, the symmetry of the ground state wave function is T₂-like. The lifting of orientational degeneracy for stress in the 〈1 0 0〉, 〈1 1 1〉, and 〈1 1 0〉 directions is compatible with a C_2v defect symmetry. Data from the other species of the (N, O)-family are indicative for the same symmetry. The microscopic structure of these centers, in part contradictory to present theoretical models, is discussed.     

Particle-yield modification in jetlike azimuthal dihadron correlations in Pb-Pb collisions at √s(NN)=2.76 TeV

The yield of charged particles associated with high-p(t) trigger particles (83 GeV/c on the away side drops to about 60% of that observed in pp collisions, while on the near side a moderate enhancement of 20%-30% is found.     

Photoredox-Enabled Self-(3+2) Cyclization of Vinyldiazo Reagents: Synthesis of Cyclopentenyl α-Diazo Compounds

A photocatalytic self-(3+2) cycloaddition of vinyldiazo compounds is described, which provides cyclopentene derivatives with conservation of one diazo functional group. Experimental insights and density functional theory indicate that the reaction is triggered by an unusual single electron oxidation of vinyldiazo compounds, while the photolysis for the generation of free carbene species is not involved. The synthetic applications of the resulting cyclopentenyl α-diazo compounds were demonstrated based on the rich chemistry of the diazo functional group.     

From the lab bench to the plant: how to commercialize a metallocene catalyst?

In order to apply metallocene catalysts for the polymerization of ethylene in the commercial “slurry loop process” it is necessary to heterogenize the homogeneous catalysts and to produce resins with attractive properties. A solution to these problems is the self‐immobilization of ω‐alkenyl functionalized catalysts that can produce polyethylenes with evenly distributed ethyl branches in the polymer chain without a comonomer. The new resin is produced at Chevron Phillips Company, USA, and has the trade name mPact.