Magnetic susceptibility of molybdenum trioxide,dioxide and some suboxides

Magnetic susceptibility measurements were done on MoO₃, MoO₂ and some suboxides in between. The mass susceptibilities ×10⁶ for MoO₃, Mo₁₃O₃₈, Mo₉O₂₆, Mo₈O₂₃, Mo₁₇O₄₇, Mo₄O₁₁ and MoO₂ were as follows 0·02, 0·055, 0·11, 0·160, 0·0937, 0·123 and 0·20 respectively. They were all feebly paramagnetic and attempts were made to interpret these data. The effect of temperature on the specific susceptibility was also studied.     

Computer-Assisted HPLC Method Development for Determination of Tolmetin and Possible Kinetic Modulators of Its Oxidative Metabolism in Vivo

Following administration of the acidic drug tolmetin (TOL) anaphylactic reactions occurred, which have been hypothesized to be related to the formation of reactive acyl glucuronides. Recently, glutathione adducts have been detected upon incubation of TOL with human liver microsomal preparations, which proved that oxidative activation might also be a pathway of formation of reactive—possibly toxic—glutathione metabolites of TOL. The aim of this work was to develop a new and robust HPLC method to investigate the in vivo effect of 2 coadministered drugs/nutritional supplements on the kinetics of TOL in rats (cimetidine; CIM) known to be a potent inhibitor of CYP3A4, an enzyme that catalyzes the oxidative metabolism and Quercetin; and QUE which induces UGT1A6, an enzyme involved in glucuronidation of acidic drugs. DryLab^®, a computer simulation software package, was used to assist in the development and optimization of the HPLC method used for separation of TOL and the two potential kinetic modulators together with three potential internal standards (zomepirac, carvedilol and fexofenadine). The method was validated in biological samples obtained from rats. Non-compartmental pharmacokinetic analysis of data obtained from plasma and rat liver tissue showed significantly higher concentrations of TOL in the presence of CIM; and significantly longer elimination half-life lives in presence of QUE, which implies that drugs or food components interacting with CYP3A4 cause alteration in the metabolic oxidative biotransformation of TOL in vivo leading to accumulation of TOL in the body through a decrease of its clearance. These findings might account for to the side-effects associated with TOL when co-administered with such kinetic modulators.

     

Peculiar reaction behavior of 1,3-oxathiolan-5-one toward various reagents: Molecular modeling studies and in vitro antioxidant and cytotoxicity evaluation

Chemical reactivity of 2-methyl-2-phenyl-1,3-oxathiolan-5-one (1) toward various reagents such as hydroxyaldehyde, ketone, α,β unsaturated carbonyl compounds, heterocyclic amine, hydrazine, and hydrazide to give unpredicative opened and fused heterocyclic systems was investigated. Moreover, treatment of compound 1 with bromoester to afford the respective fused system, 2-methyl-2-phenylfuro[3,2-d][1,3]oxathiol-5(6H)-one (6) was implemented. Besides, ¹H–¹H nuclear overhauser effect spectroscopy was used for full confirmation of the compound 19. In addition, the density functional theory modeling study outcomes were discussed and all of the new synthesized compounds were evaluated as antioxidants and cytotoxicity assay against hepatocellular carcinoma cell line.     

Mathematical programming approach to the Petri nets reachability problem

This paper focuses on the resolution of the reachability problem in Petri nets, using the mathematical programming paradigm. The proposed approach is based on an implicit traversal of the Petri net reachability graph. This is done by constructing a unique sequence of Steps that represents exactly the total behaviour of the net. We propose several formulations based on integer and/or binary linear programming, and the corresponding sets of adjustments to the particular class of problem considered. Our models are validated on a set of benchmarks and compared with standard approaches from IA and Petri nets community.     

A general variable neighborhood search variants for the travelling salesman problem with draft limits

In this paper, we present two general variable neighborhood search (GVNS) based variants for solving the traveling salesman problem with draft limits (TSPDL), a recent extension of the traveling salesman problem. TSPDL arises in the context of maritime transportation. It consists of finding optimal Hamiltonian tour for a given ship which has to visit and deliver products to a set of ports while respecting the draft limit constraints. The proposed methods combine ideas in sequential variable neighborhood descent within GVNS. They are tested on a set of benchmarks from the literature as well as on a new one generated by us. Computational experiments show remarkable efficiency and effectiveness of our new approach. Moreover, new set of benchmarks instances is generated.     

Fluid flow and heat transfer around circular cylinder – flat and curved plates combinations

Experimental studies were carried out to investigate the fluid flow and heat transfer around a heated circular cylinder which was placed at various distances of a wall boundary with different geometries (flat or curved plate) with subcritical Reynolds number ranging from 3.5×10³ to 10⁴. The effects of plate geometry (aspect ratio: W|H=1.0,1.5 and 2.0, and rim angle, φ=0°,60°,90°, and 120°) and gap ratio, (G|D=0.0,0.86,2.0,7.0,10.0) on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics (static pressure around cylinder surface, wake width, base pressure, pressure drag coefficients, velocity distribution, and both local and mean Nusselt numbers) were presented. Also flow visualization was carried out to illustrate the flow patterns around the cylinder at various gap ratios (G|D). It was found that the heat transfer and fluid flow characteristics are dependent on the plate geometry at all tested gap ratios, except for G|D=7.0 and 10.0, they are independent of the plate geometry.     

Some physico-chemical properties of pure and doped nickel oxide. Thermal analyses and X-ray diffraction studies

In this investigation pure and doped NiO with different concentrations of Al, Ga or In are thermally analysed. The results indicate the presence of two endothermic peaks at about 120 and 250°C which were attributed to the loss of adsorbed water and phase change, respectively. X-Ray data indicated that all samples belong to the cubic system. In the case of samples doped with high concentrations of Ga or In, a new line is observed which may be due to the formation of a spinel form. There is no systematic change between the calculated values of lattice parameters, α, of doped samples and the type or concentration of dopant. This change has been related to the difference in the values of the ionic radii of Ni²⁺ and those of dopant elements.     

One-level reformulation of the bilevel Knapsack problem using dynamic programming

In this paper, we consider the Bilevel Knapsack Problem (BKP), which is a hierarchical optimization problem in which the feasible set is determined by the set of optimal solutions for a parametric Knapsack Problem. We introduce a new reformulation of the BKP into a one-level integer programming problem using dynamic programming. We propose an algorithm that allows the BKP to be solved exactly in two steps. In the first step, a dynamic programming algorithm is used to compute the set of follower reactions to leader decisions. In the second step, an integer problem that is equivalent to the BKP is solved using a branch-and-bound algorithm. Numerical results are presented to show the performance of our method.     

Features of crystallization behavior of natural rubber/halloysite nanotubes composites using synchrotron wide-angle X-ray scattering

The correlation between the mechanical strength and the crystallization behavior of natural rubber (NR)/halloysite nanotubes (HNT) composites is discussed. The tensile strength of NR is improved with the addition of HNT. This improvement is attributed to the unique structure of HNT, which facilitates good dispersion and strong interfacial interaction. HNT also play an important role in assisting the strain-induced crystallization of NR. Crystallization under strain is observed using synchrotron wide-angle X-ray scattering. The stress–strain curves and the corresponding degree of crystallinity after straining provide further evidence. Based on these analyses, a mechanistic model for strain-induced crystallization and the evolution of the orientation of the network structure is proposed.