Free convection of a dusty‐gas flow along a semi‐infinite vertical cylinder

An analysis is performed to study the free convection of a dusty‐gas flow along a semi‐infinite isothermal vertical cylinder. The governing equations of the flow problem are transformed into non‐dimensional form and the resulting nonlinear, coupled parabolic partial differential equations have been solved numerically using an implicit finite difference scheme of Crank–Nicholson type. The flow variables such as gas–velocity, dust‐particle velocity and temperature, shearing stress and heat transfer coefficients are calculated numerically for various parameters occurring in the problem. It is observed that due to the presence of dust particles, the gas velocity is found to decrease. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Induction of decision trees using genetic programming for modelling ecotoxicity data: adaptive discretization of real-valued endpoints

Recent literature has demonstrated the applicability of genetic programming to induction of decision trees for modelling toxicity endpoints. Compared with other decision tree induction techniques that are based upon recursive partitioning employing greedy searches to choose the best splitting attribute and value at each node that will necessarily miss regions of the search space, the genetic programming based approach can overcome the problem. However, the method still requires the discretization of the often continuous-valued toxicity endpoints prior to the tree induction. A novel extension of this method, YAdapt, is introduced in this work which models the original continuous endpoint by adaptively finding suitable ranges to describe the endpoints during the tree induction process, removing the need for discretization prior to tree induction and allowing the ordinal nature of the endpoint to be taken into account in the models built.     

Quantitative prediction of biodegradability,metabolite distribution and toxicity of stable metabolites

An evaluation of the capability of organic chemicals to mineralize is an important factor to consider when assessing their fate in the environment. Microbial degradation can convert a toxic chemical into an innocuous one, and vice versa , or alter the toxicity of a chemical. Moreover, primary biodegradation can convert chemicals into stable products that can be difficult to mineralize. In this paper, we present some new results obtained on the basis of a recently developed probabilistic approach to modeling biodegradation based on microbial transformation pathways. The metabolic transformations and their hierarchy were calibrated by making use of the ready biodegradability data from the MITI-I test and expert knowledge for the most probable transformation pathways. A model was developed and integrated into an expert software system named CATABOL that is able to predict the probability of biodegradation of organic chemicals directly from their structure. CATABOL simulates the effects of microbial enzyme systems, generates the most plausible transformation pathways, and quantitatively predicts the persistence and toxicity of the biodegradation products. A subset of 300 organic chemicals were selected from Canada's Domestic Substances List and subjected to CATABOL to compare predicted properties of the parent chemicals with their respective first stable metabolite. The results show that most of the stable metabolites have a lower acute toxicity to fish and a lower bioaccumulation potential compared to the parent chemicals. In contrast, the metabolites appear to be generally more estrogenic than the parent chemicals.     

Knowledge-Based Expert Systems for Toxicity and Metabolism Prediction: DEREK,StAR and METEOR

Abstract

It has long been recognised that the ability to predict the metabolic fate of a chemical substance and the potential toxicity of either the parent compound or its metabolites are important in novel drug design. The popularity of using computer models as an aid in this area has grown considerably in recent years.

LHASA Limited has been developing knowledge-based expert systems for toxicity and metabolism prediction in collaboration with industry and regulatory authorities. These systems, DEREK, StAR and METEOR, use rules to describe the relationship between chemical structure and either toxicity in the case of DEREK and StAR, or metabolic fate in the case of METEOR.

The rule refinement process for DEREK often involves assessing the predictions for a novel set of compounds and comparing them to their biological assay results as a measure of the system's performance. For example, 266 non-congeneric chemicals from the National Toxicology Program database have been processed through the DEREK mutagenicity knowledge base and the predictions compared to their Salmonella typhimurium mutagenicity data. Initially, 81 of 114 mutagens (71%) and 117 of 152 non-mutagens (77%) were correctly identified. Following further knowledge base development, the number of correctly identified mutagens has increased to 96 (84%). Further work on improving the predictive capabilities of DEREK, StAR and METEOR is in progress.     

Handling uncertainties in toxicity modelling using a fuzzy filter

A fundamental concern in the Quantitative Structure-Activity Relationship approach to toxicity evaluation is the generalization of the model over a wide range of compounds. The data driven modelling of toxicity, due to the complex and ill-defined nature of eco-toxicological systems, is an uncertain process. The development of a toxicity predicting model without considering uncertainties may produce a model with a low generalization performance. This study presents a novel approach to toxicity modelling that handles the involved uncertainties using a fuzzy filter, and thus improves the generalization capability of the model. The method is illustrated by considering a data set dealing with the fathead minnow (Pimephales promelas) toxicity of 568 organic compounds.     

Functionalization of short multi-walled carbon nanotubes with creatinine and aromatic aldehydes via microwave and thermal methods and their influence on the MKN45 and MCF7 cancer cells

The chemical functionalization of carboxylated short multi-walled carbon nanotubes (Sh–MWCNT–COOH) by creatinine (Sh–MWCNT–amide) and later modification with aromatic aldehydes for producing 2-amino-5-arylidene-1-methyl-1H–imidazol-4(5H)-one (Sh–MWCNT–imidazols) via thermal and microwave methods have been investigated. All the products were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscope, elemental analysis, thermogravimetric analysis, derivative thermogravimetric and cellular investigations. These functionalizations have been chosen due to the active sites of CC and carbonyl groups in Sh–MWCNT–imidazols, which might be used as functional materials in the future. MTT assay was used to examine the behavior of cell proliferation after 72 h of cell culture experiments. Cellular investigations were performed for two kinds of cells, human breast and gastric cancer cells. Cellular results showed high toxicity of modified Sh–MWCNTs on the gastric cancer cells compared to breast cells.     

PH2X与五元杂环体系磷键相互作用的理论研究

用MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ方法计算了PH2X(X=H,F,Cl,Br)与五元杂环化合物(吡咯、呋喃、噻吩)的相互作用,经完全均衡校正法校正基组重叠误差.在MP2/aug-cc-pVDZ优化基础上采用Gaussian 03程序包中的NBO程序计算了二级微扰稳定化能(ΔE2),并运用AIM 2000程序对其AIM性质进行了计算.为了进一步加强对该类相互作用的认识,应用约化密度梯度(RDG)填色等值面图和电子密度差图对代表性的体系进行了图形化分析.研究表明:PH3与三个五元杂环化合物形成的是P—H…π氢键相互作用;PH2X(X=F,Cl,Br)与五元杂环化合物形成磷键相互作用,这些磷键体系存在π型和n型两种形式的磷键相互作用,前者形成复合物的稳定性高于后者,并且相互作用大小与磷原子到杂环质心的矢量和P—X方向矢量的夹角密切相关.作为比较,我们对PCl3与这三种杂环化合物之间的相互作用也进行了研究,结果发现,PCl3分子中沿Cl—P键的P端出现了三个正的静电势区域或称作"σ-hole",因此其与杂环化合物形成的是分子间多磷键复合物.AIM拓扑分析表明磷键相互作用的本质属于闭壳层静电相互作用,且电子密度与复合物稳定性呈正相关.RDG图形化分析揭示了磷键相互作用所在的空间位置以及相对强度.DDF分析表明,磷键相互作用的存在使磷原子端基的电子密度减少,而沿着P—X轴以及五元杂环分子的电子密度增加,从而直观地体现了形成复合物后电子密度的重排情况.     

An inverse coefficient problem for a quasilinear parabolic equation with periodic boundary and integral overdetermination condition

In this paper, the inverse problem of finding the time‐dependent coefficient of heat capacity together with the solution periodic boundary and integral overdetermination conditions is considered. Under some natural regularity and consistency conditions on the input data, the existence, uniqueness, and continuous dependence upon the data of the solution are shown. Some considerations on the numerical solution for this inverse problem are presented with an example. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Periodic solutions for fourth-order nonlinear functional difference equations

By using the critical point method, some new criteria are obtained for the existence and multiplicity of periodic solutions for fourth-order nonlinear functional difference equations. The proof is based on the linking theorem in combination with variational technique. Recent results in the literature are generalized and significantly improved. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

广义sine-Gordon方程高精度隐式紧致差分方法

本文研究一类二维非线性的广义sine-Gordon(简称SG)方程的有限差分格式.首先构造三层时间的紧致交替方向隐式差分格式,并用能量分析法证明格式具有二阶时间精度和四阶空间精度.然后应用改进的Richardson外推算法将时间精度提高到四阶.最后,数值算例证实改进后的算法在空间和时间上均达到四阶精度.