Effect of borohydride as reducing agent on the structures and electrochemical properties of Pt/C catalyst

In this paper, we found that boron deposited on the surface of support when sodium borohydride used as reducing agent during the preparation of Pt/C catalyst. The deposition of boron markedly reduces particle size of Pt, raises electrochemical active surface (EAS) area of catalyst and electrochemical activity for hydrogen evolution or oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) compared with which prepared using other reducing agents (hydrogen and formaldehyde).     

Memory and a priori best strategy in complex adaptive systems

We employ an agent‐based model to show that memory and the absence of an a priori best strategy are sufficient for self‐segregation and clustering to emerge in a complex adaptive system with discrete agents that do not compete over a limited resource nor contend in a winner‐take‐all scenario. An agent starts from a corner of a two‐dimensional lattice and aims to reach a randomly selected site in the opposite side within the shortest possible time. The agent is isolated during the course of its journey and does not interact with other agents. Time‐bound obstacles appear at random lattice locations and the agent must decide whether to challenge or evade any obstacle blocking its path. The agent is capable of adapting a strategy in dealing with an obstacle. We analyze the dependence of strategy‐retention time with strategy for both memory‐based and memory‐less agents. We derive the equality spectrum to establish the environmental conditions that favor the existence of an a priori best strategy. We found that memory‐less agents do not polarize into two opposite strategy‐retention time distributions nor cluster toward a center distribution. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Complexity 9: 41–46, 2004     

THE COUPLING OF NATURAL BOUNDARY ELEMENT AND FINITE ELEMENT METHOD FOR 2D HYPERBOLIC EQUATIONS

In this paper, we investigate the coupling of natural boundary element and finite element methods of exterior initial boundary value problems for hyperbolic equations. The governing equation is first discretized in time, leading to a time-step scheme, where an exterior elliptic problem has to be solved in each time step. Second, a circular artificial boundary FR consisting of a circle of radius R is introduced, the original problem in an unbounded domain is transformed into the nonlocal boundary value problem in abounded subdomain. And the natural integral equation and the Poisson integral formula are obtained in the infinite domainΩ2 outside circle of radius R. The coupled variational formulation is given. Only the function itself, not its normal derivative at artificial boundary ΓR, appears in the variational equation, so that the unknown numbers are reducedand the boundary element stiffness matrix has a few different elements. Such a coupled method is superior to the one based on direct boundary element method. This paper discusses finite element discretization for variational problem and its corresponding numerical technique, and the convergence for the numerical solutions. Finally, the numerical example is presented to illustrate feasibility and efficiency of this method.     

Preparation and catalytic applications of partially fluorinated binaphthol ligands

New partially fluorinated binaphthols were obtained using a copper-catalyzed oxidative coupling. The corresponding enantiomerically pure compounds were prepared by fractional crystallization of the corresponding bis(menthyl)carbamates. Nucleophilic aromatic substitution using oxygen- and carbon-based nucleophiles resulted in functionalized derivatives without concomitant racemization. The titanium(IV) complexes of these ligands are catalytically active in the asymmetric oxidation of sulfides.     

氯代5-氟脲嘧啶卟啉的红外光谱特性的研究

本文对新合成的对位及间位两类氯代苯基 5 氟脲嘧啶卟啉的红外光谱吸收峰进行了归属和总结 ,讨论了其红外吸收频率随取代基位置变化的规律。指出了苯环上的取代基为电负性强的基团时 ,由于场效应的存在 ,使被测化合物的羰基伸缩振动吸收峰的相对强度发生改变。同时 ,表明了嘧啶环上N原子发生了取代 ,形成单、双取代 5 氟脲嘧啶卟啉化合物的红外光谱特性。     

Liouville theorem and coupling on negatively curved Riemannian manifolds

By using probabilistic approaches, Liouville theorems are proved for a class of Riemannian manifolds with Ricci curvatures bounded below by a negative function. Indeed, for these manifolds we prove that all harmonic functions (maps) with certain growth are constant. In particular, the well-known Liouville theorem due to Cheng for sublinear harmonic functions (maps) is generalized. Moreover, our results imply the Brownian coupling property for a class of negatively curved Riemannian manifolds. This leads to a negative answer to a question of Kendall concerning the Brownian coupling property.     

Normative KGP agents

We extend the logical model of agency known as the KGP model, to support agents with normative concepts, based on the roles an agent plays and the obligations and prohibitions that result from playing these roles. The proposed framework illustrates how the resulting normative concepts, including the roles, can evolve dynamically during the lifetime of the agent. Furthermore, we illustrate how these concepts can be combined with the existing capabilities of KGP agents in order to plan for their goals, react to changes in the environment, and interact with other agents. Our approach gives an executable specification of normative concepts that can be used directly for prototyping applications. Fariba Sadri is a senior lecturer at Imperial College London, from where she received her PhD. Her earlier work concentrated on integrity of deductive databases and temporal reasoning, in particular using the event calculus. In more recent years her work has been on agent technologies and multi-agent systems. She has worked on logic-based agent models, reasoning, dynamic belief revision, and inter-agent communication and negotiation for resources. She was co-awarded an EPSRC grant for research into logic-based multi-agents and was co-investigator in the EU SOCS project. Kostas Stathis is a senior lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London and he holds a PhD from Imperial College London. His research interests are in the area of computational intelligence in general and in the intersection of computational logic and cognitive systems for social computing applications in particular. His research interests include: representation of human-computer (or computer-computer) interaction as a game; cognitive & autonomous agents; artificial agent societies; agent communication; programmable agents and agent platforms. He is a co-investigator of the EU ArguGRID project and was a co-investigator of the EU SOCS project. Francesca Toni is a senior lecturer at Imperial College London, from where she received her PhD. Her earlier work focused on abductive reasoning. In more recent years, she focused on argumentation, agent models and multi-agent systems. She has worked on computational logic-based agent models, agent reasoning, dynamic belief revision, and inter-agent communication and negotiation for resources. She has been co-ordinator of the EU SOCS project, which developed the KGP model of agency, and is coordinator of the EU ArguGRID project, on the application of argumentative agents within grid systems.     

Mechanism of DNA-drug interactions

Over the last two decades many strategies have been planned to design specific drugs for rare diseases to target their action at the DNA level. Advancements in our understanding of the interactions of small nonpeptide molecules with DNA have opened the doors for “rational” drug design. Special methods have now been developed to give accurate account of the precise location of ligand-DNA adducts on target DNA. We are now in a position to think of designing ligands that recognize particular sequences of base pairs. This work will allow us to enter into a new era of gene therapy for diseases like Cystic fibrosis, Alzheimer’s disease and many related disorders at genetic level. These ligands can also be employed in the treatment of various types of cancers. They may also be useful as highly specific probes to locate particular sequences in the genomic DNA.     

Intravascular and Intracellular Hepatic Relaxivities of Superparamagnetic Particles: An Isolated and Perfused Organ Pharmacokinetics Study

The relative contributions of intravascular and intracellular compartments to the proton transverse relaxation of the isolated and excised rat liver were determined during the phagocytosis of superparamagnetic particles. The evolution of the proton transverse magnetization of the organ perfused with increasing doses of starch-coated magnetic microspheres was followed up using a Carr–Purcell–Meiboom–Gill sequence with various echo times. From the multiexponential fit of the echo train, the amplitudes and the relaxation ratesR₂of the liver tissue were obtained. The results clearly indicate that shortly after contrast medium administration, an internalization takes place which can be followed by the rapid and biphasic evolution of the transverse relaxation rate of the water protons. A very fast decaying component looking like an initial loss of the magnetization is observed together with an increase of the relaxation rate of the remaining water tissue. This regime is strongly dependent on both the echo time and the iron concentration, a behavior characteristic of the agglomeration of magnetic particles. The examination of the liver tissues by electron microscopy shows that this clustering arises in cytoplasmic vacuoles.