Core-level photoemission study of 2D ordered Bi/Si(100) interfaces

A high resolution core-level photoemission investigation of 2D ordered Bi layers grown on Si(100)-(2×1) is presented. We study the Si 2p and Bi 5d core-levels at room temperature as a function of coverage and in the reconstructed phases. The different Bi structural configurations around the monolayer coverage and in the (2×n)-reconstructed phase are derived from the core-level lineshape evolution. By following the Fermi level pinning, the presence of Bi-induced occupied electronic states close to the Si mid-gap is suggested.     

2D constrained Navier–Stokes equations

We study 2D Navier–Stokes equations with a constraint forcing the conservation of the energy of the solution. We prove the existence and uniqueness of a global solution for the constrained Navier–Stokes equation on ${\mathbb{R}}^2$ and ${\mathbb{T}}^2$, by a fixed point argument. We also show that the solution of the constrained equation converges to the solution of the Euler equation as the viscosity ν vanishes.     

Study of a Tritrophic Food Chain Model with Non-differentiable Functional Response

We study a model of three interacting species in a food chain composed by a prey, an specific predator and a generalist predator. The capture of the prey by the specific predator is modelled as a modified Holling-type II non-differentiable functional response. The other predatory interactions are both modelled as Holling-type I. Moreover, our model follows a Leslie-Gower approach, in which the function that models the growth of each predator is of logistic type, and the corresponding carrying capacities depend on the sizes of their associated available preys. The resulting model has the form of a set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations which includes a non-differentiable term. By means of topological equivalences and suitable changes of parameters, we find that there exists an Allee threshold for the survival of the prey population in the food chain, given, effectively, as a critical level for the generalist predator. The dynamics of the model is studied with analytical and computational tools for bifurcation theory. We present two-parameter bifurcation diagrams that contain both local phenomena (Hopf, saddle-node transcritical, cusp, Bogdanov-Takens bifurcations) and global events (homoclinic and heteroclinic connections). In particular, we find that two types of heteroclinic cycles can be formed, both of them containing connections to the origin. One of these cycles is planar involving the absence of the specific predator. In turn, the other heteroclinic cycle is formed by connections in the full three-dimensional phase space.

     

Chaotic artificial immune approach applied to economic dispatch of electric energy using thermal units

The economic dispatch problem (EDP) is an optimization problem useful in power systems operation. The objective of the EDP of electric power generation, whose characteristics are complex and highly non-linear, is to schedule the committed generating unit outputs so as to meet the required load demand at minimum operating cost while satisfying system constraints. Recently, as an alternative to the conventional mathematical approaches, modern heuristic optimization techniques have been given much attention by many researchers due to their ability to find an almost global optimal solution in EDPs. As special mechanism to avoid being trapped in local minimum, the ergodicity property of chaotic sequences has been used as optimization technique in EDPs. Based on the chaos theory, this paper discusses the design and validation of an optimization procedure based on a chaotic artificial immune network approach based on Zaslavsky’s map. The optimization approach based on chaotic artificial immune network is validated for a test system consisting of 13 thermal units whose incremental fuel cost function takes into account the valve-point loading effects. Simulation results and comparisons show that the chaotic artificial immune network approach is competitive in performance with other optimization approaches presented in literature and is also an attractive tool to be used on applications in the power systems field.     

A novel chaotic particle swarm optimization approach using Hénon map and implicit filtering local search for economic load dispatch

Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a population-based swarm intelligence algorithm driven by the simulation of a social psychological metaphor instead of the survival of the fittest individual. Based on the chaotic systems theory, this paper proposed a novel chaotic PSO combined with an implicit filtering (IF) local search method to solve economic dispatch problems. Since chaotic mapping enjoys certainty, ergodicity and the stochastic property, the proposed PSO introduces chaos mapping using Hénon map sequences which increases its convergence rate and resulting precision. The chaotic PSO approach is used to produce good potential solutions, and the IF is used to fine-tune of final solution of PSO. The hybrid methodology is validated for a test system consisting of 13 thermal units whose incremental fuel cost function takes into account the valve-point loading effects. Simulation results are promising and show the effectiveness of the proposed approach.     

Concentration Problems for Bandpass Filters in Communication Theory over Disjoint Frequency Intervals and Numerical Solutions

The concentration problem of maximizing signal strength of bandlimited and timelimited nature is important in communication theory. In this paper we consider two types of concentration problems for the signals which are bandlimited in disjoint frequency-intervals, which constitute a band-pass filter. For the first type the problem is to determine which members of L ²(−∞,∞) lose the smallest fraction of their energy when first timelimited and then bandlimited. For the second type the problem is to determine which bandlimited signals lose the smallest fraction of their energy when restricted to a given time interval. For both types of problems, basic theoretical properties and numerical algorithms for solution and convergence theorems are given. Orthogonality properties of analytically extended eigenfunctions over L ²(−∞,∞) are also proved. Numerical computations are carried out which corroborate the theory. Relationship between eigenvalues of these two types of problems is also established. Several properties of eigenvalues of both types of problems are proved.     

Mössbauer study of pelitic rocks from Ligurian Alps

Pelitic rocks of Val Lavagna and M. Antola formations (Lavagna and Graveglia Valley, Ligurian Alps) have been studied to investigate the behaviour of clay minerals at different metamorphic conditions using Mössbauer spectroscopy of⁵⁷Fe.     

Synthesis of 1-acyl-5-pyrazolones and pyrrolidino[2,3-c]pyrazol-3-ones

The reactivity of acetamidrazones I in strong basicity conditions was examined. When compounds I are reacted with equivalent quantities of α-haloketones in sodium alcoholate, the pyrrolidino[2,3-c]pyrazol-3-ones IV were obtained by intermediate formation of 1-acyl-3-amino-5-pyrazolones III .     

Protein-Based Biosensors for Diabetic Patients

In this article we show the recent progress in the field of glucose sensing based on the utilization of enzymes and proteins as probes for stable and non-consuming fluorescence biosensors. We developed a new methodology for glucose sensing using inactive forms of enzymes such as the glucose oxidase from Aspergillus niger, the glucose dehydrogenase from the thermophilic microorganism Thermoplasma acidophilum, and the glucokinase from the thermophilic eubacterium Bacillus stearothermophilus. Glucose oxidase was rendered inactive by removal of the FAD cofactor. The resulting apo-glucose oxidase still binds glucose as observed from a decrease in its intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence. 8-Anilino-1-naphthalene sulfonic acid was found to bind spontaneously to apo-glucose oxidase as seen from an enhancement of the ANS fluorescence. The steady state intensity of the bound ANS decreased 25% upon binding of glucose, and the mean lifetime of the bound ANS decreased about 40%. These spectral changes occurred with a midpoint from 10 to 20 mM glucose, which is comparable to the KD of holo-glucose oxidase. The ANS-labeled apo-glucose dehydrogenase from Thermoplasma acidophilum also displayed an approximate 25% decrease in emission intensity upon binding glucose. This decrease can be also used to measure the glucose concentration. The thermophilic apo-glucose dehydrogenase was also stable in the presence of organic solvents, allowing determination of glucose in the presence of acetone. The third enzyme used for glucose sensing was the glucokinase from Bacillus stearothermophilus. A fluorescence competitive assay for the determination of glucose was developed based on the utilization of this thermostable enzyme. Taken together, our results show that enzymes which use glucose as their substrate can be used as reversible and non-consuming glucose biosensors in the absence of required co-factors. Moreover, the possibility of using inactive apo-enzymes for a reversible sensor greatly expands the range of proteins which can be used as sensors, not only for glucose, but for a wide variety of biochemically relevant analytes.     

HREELS investigation of the first stage of interaction of atomic hydrogen with GaAs(1 1 0) surfaces

The interaction of atomic hydrogen with a cleaved GaAs(1 1 0) surface has been investigated by high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy. This technique, which is extremely surface sensitive, enables the detection of very small amounts of adsorbate and the indication of the adsorption sites. We have exposed a GaAs(1 1 0) surface to atomic hydrogen in the 10-10⁴ L range. This upper limit corresponds to the onset of the monolayer coverage. The effect of the H exposure is detected in the region of phonon-plasmon losses already at an exposure of 10 L, indicating the occurrence of a band bending. The three layer model for the dielectric function of the GaAs(1 1 0) surface had to be adopted to account for the results. At higher loss energies the stretching vibrations of Ga-H and As-H are also detected from the lowest exposures. The possibility that the As-H signal is given by a double loss (Ga-H + phonon) is ruled out for this surface, therefore, it comes out that from the first stage of interaction H bonds to both Ga and As. The intensity of both Ga-H and As-H signal increases faster than the expected number of adsorbed H atoms suggesting that the dynamical dipole drops drastically with increasing exposure.