A fuzzy goal programming method with imprecise goal hierarchy

Two most widely used approaches to treating goals of different importance in goal programming (GP) are: (1) weighted GP, where importance of goals is modelled using weights, and (2) preemptive priority GP, where a goal hierarchy is specified implying infinite trade-offs among goals placed in different levels of importance. These approaches may be too restrictive in modelling of real life decision making problems. In this paper, a novel fuzzy goal programming method is proposed, where the hierarchical levels of the goals are imprecisely defined. The imprecise importance relations among the goals are modelled using fuzzy relations. An additive achievement function is defined, which takes into consideration both achievement degrees of the goals and degrees of satisfaction of the fuzzy importance relations. Examples are given to illustrate the proposed method.     

Selective and periodic inventory routing problem for waste vegetable oil collection

We consider a biodiesel production company that collects waste vegetable oil from source points that generate waste in large amounts. The company uses the collected waste as raw material for biodiesel production. The manager of this company needs to decide which of the present source points to include in the collection program, which of them to visit on each day, which periodic routing schedule to repeat over an infinite horizon and how many vehicles to operate such that the total collection, inventory and purchasing costs are minimized while the production requirements and operational constraints are met. For this selective and periodic inventory routing problem, we propose two different formulations, compare them and apply the better performing one on a real-world problem with 36 scenarios. We generate lower bounds using a partial linear relaxation model, and observe that the solutions obtained through our model are within 3.28% of optimality on the average. Several insights regarding the customer selection, routing and purchasing decisions are acquired with sensitivity analysis.     

The design of Helmholtz resonator based acoustic lenses by using the symmetric Multi-Level Wave Based Method and genetic algorithms

Sonic crystals can be used as acoustic lenses in certain frequencies and the design of such systems by creating vacancies and using genetic algorithms has been proven to be an effective method. So far, rigid cylinders have been used to create such acoustic lens designs. On the other hand, it has been proven that Helmholtz resonators can be used to construct acoustic lenses with higher refraction index as compared to rigid cylinders, especially in low frequencies by utilizing their local resonances. In this paper, these two concepts are combined to design acoustic lenses that are based on Helmholtz resonators. The Multi-Level Wave Based Method is used as the prediction method. The benefits of the method in the context of design procedure are demonstrated. In addition, symmetric boundary conditions are derived for more efficient calculations. The acoustic lens designs that use Helmholtz resonators are compared with the acoustic lens designs that use rigid cylinders. It is shown that using Helmholtz resonator based sonic crystals leads to better acoustic lens designs, especially at the low frequencies where the local resonances are pronounced.     

Synthesis and characterizations of N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis (diphenylphosphino)ethylendiamine derivatives: Use of palladium(II) complex as pre-catalyst in Suzuki coupling and Heck reactions

Oxidation of N,N,N′,N′-tetrakis(diphenylphosphino)ethylendiamine (1) with elemental sulfur and selenium gives the corresponding sulfide and selenide, respectively, [(Ph₂P(E))₂NCH₂CH₂N(P(E)Ph₂)₂] (E: S 1a, Se 1b). Complexes of 1 [(M₂Cl₄){(Ph₂P)₂NCH₂CH₂N(PPh₂)₂}] (M: Ni(II) 1c, Pd(II) 1d, Pt(II) 1e) were prepared by the reaction of 1 with NiCl₂ or [MCl₂(COD)] (M = Pd, Pt). The new compounds were characterized by NMR, IR spectroscopy and elemental analysis. The catalytic activity of Pd(II) complex 1d was tested in the Suzuki coupling reaction and Heck reaction. The palladium complex 1d catalyses the Heck reaction between styrene and aryl bromides as well as Suzuki coupling reaction between phenylboronic acid and arylbromides affording stilbenes and biphenyls in high yield, respectively.     

Incorporation of an allene unit into 1,4-dihydronaphthalene: generation of 1,2-benzo-1,4,5-cycloheptatriene and its dimerization

1-Bromo-1-fluoro-[1a,2,7,7a]-tetrahydro-1H-cyclopropa[b]naphthalene (19) has been prepared by the addition of bromofluorocarbene to 1,4-dihydronaphthalene (18). Treatment of a solution of 19 in dry ether with MeLi afforded the tricyclic hydrocarbon 17, resulting from the intramolecular C-H insertion of carbene 16, and two dimerization products, the head-to-head 20 and head-to-tail 21 allene dimers, confirming the formation of title cycloallene 15 as a reactive intermediate. B3LYP/6-31G(d) calculation predicts the activation barriers for insertion product 17 and allene product 15 as 3.70 and 9.52 kcal/mol, respectively. This prediction was in good agreement with our experimental results.     

Synthesis, structural, spectroscopic characterization, and structural comparison of 3-hydroxybenzoate and nicotinamide/N,N-diethylnicotinamide mixed ligand complexes with Zn(II)

The mixed-ligand 3-hydroxybenzoic acid complex of Zn(II) with nicotinamide and N,N-diethylnicotinamide were synthesized and characterized (colorless single crystals, [Zn(3-hba)₂(H₂O)₂(na)₂] and [Zn(3-hba)₂(H₂O)₂(dena)₂]). The chemical, FT-IR, thermal, mass spectral analyses, and X-ray data results revealed that both of the compounds contain two water molecules, two 3-hydroxybenzoate (3-hba) and two nicotinamide (na) or two N,N-diethylnicotinamide (dena) ligands per formula unit. 3-hba and na or dena ligands bind to the Zn(II) ion monodentately through their acidic oxygen and pyridinic nitrogen atoms, respectively. The coordination of metal atoms are completed by two molecules of aqua ligands. The charge balance of complexes is accommodated by two molecules of 3-hba ions. The unit cell has two molecules coordination molecules and each of them was as settled to four surfaces of unit cell cage in na complex. There is one mole molecule that was occupied to center of unit cell cage in dena complex. The two dimensional network structure of the complex is like a hexagonal for na and square plane for dena complexes. The thermal decomposition takes place in three steps; first, dehydration of the two aqua ligands, second, elimination of the two nicotinamide ligands, finally, burning of the two benzoate ion ligands.     

Adaptive image enhancement based on clustering of wavelet coefficients for infrared sea surveillance systems

Most of the techniques developed for infrared (IR) image enhancement (IE) depend heavily on the scene, environmental conditions, and the properties of the imaging system. So, with a set of predefined scenario properties, a content-based IR-IE technique can be developed for better situational awareness. This study proposes an adaptive IR-IE technique based on clustering of wavelet coefficients of an image for sea surveillance systems. Discrete wavelet transform (DWT) of an image is computed and feature vectors are constructed from subband images. Clustering operation is applied to group similar feature vectors that belong to different scene components such as target or background. Depending on the feature vectors, a weight is assigned to each cluster and these weights are used to compute gain matrices which are used to multiply wavelet coefficients for the enhancement of the original image. Enhancement results are presented and a comparison of the performance of the proposed algorithm is given through subjective tests with other well known frequency and histogram based enhancement techniques. The proposed algorithm outperforms previous ones in the truthfulness, detail visibility of the target, artificiality, and total quality criteria, while providing an acceptable computational load.     

Macrocycle-Derived Functional Xanthenes and Progress Towards Concurrent Detection of Glucose and Fructose

The detection of saccharides in biological media is of great current importance for the monitoring of disease states. We have previously reported that solutions of boronic acid-functionalized macrocycles form acyclic oligomeric materials in situ. The oligomers contain fluorescent xanthene moieties. Current efforts are aimed at modulating the spectroscopic responses of these materials for the analysis of specific sugars. We describe conditions whereby the xanthene boronic acids exhibit high colorimetric fructose selectivity. In contrast, at physiological levels selective glucose monitoring can be achieved via fluorescence. Additionally, we describe a method which exhibits promise for detecting both glucose and fructose at dual wavelengths in the UV-Vis region. Mechanistic rationale for each of these findings is presented.     

Synthesis,crystal structure and biological activity of the nickel(II) complex of 2,6-diacetylpyridinedihydrazone

A complex of Ni^II with 2,6-diacetylpyridinedihydrazone (L) towards nickel(II) has been prepared and characterized by means of elemental analyses, IR, electronic spectra and single crystal X-ray analyses. [NiL₂](NO₃) was crystallized in the tetragonal space group P-4 21 c. The complex exhibits the expected coordination sphere with six nitrogen atoms coordinated to the central Ni^II with a deformation from pseudo-octahedral geometry. Antimicrobial activities of the ligand and its complex were investigated.     

The synthesis and structural characterization of transition metal coordination complexes of coumarilic acid

The coumarilate (coum^?) complexes of Co^II(1), Ni^II(2) Cu^II(3) and Zn^II(4) were synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, magnetic susceptibility, solid-state UV–Vis, FTIR spectra, thermoanalytical TG–DTG/DTA and single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. It was found that all of the complex structures have 2 mol (coum^?) ligand bonded as monoanionic monodentate in the structures of 1 and 2 while they were coordinated to metal cations as monoanionic bidentate in the complexes 3 and 4. There was not any hydrate water in the metal complexes. The complexes of 1 and 2 have four moles of aqua ligand, and the other complexes have two moles. Thermal decomposition of each complex starts with dehydration, and then the decomposition of organic parts goes. The thermal dehydration of the complexes takes place in one (for the compounds of 2, 3, 4) or two (for the compound 1) steps. The decomposition mechanism and the thermal stability of the complexes under investigation were determined on the basis of their structures. Metal oxides were obtained as the final decomposition product.