Improved tabu search algorithm for the handling of route duration constraints in vehicle routing problems with time windows

This note introduces a refinement to a previously proposed tabu search algorithm for vehicle routing problems with time windows. This refinement yields new best known solutions on a set of benchmark instances of the multi-depot, the periodic and the site-dependent vehicle routing problems with time windows.     

Micelles of lipid-oligonucleotide conjugates: implications for membrane anchoring and base pairing

This report examines the organization properties of new fluorescent DNA-lipids, either alone in water or in interaction with 1-octyl-beta-d-glucopyranoside micelles or egg phosphatidylcholine vesicles. We first describe the design and the syntheses of the conjugates. Then, we use UV-Vis absorption, steady-state fluorescence emission, electron microscopy, and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy after two-photon excitation to show that these DNA-lipids form spherical micelles in aqueous solution and incorporate much better in micelles than in vesicles. We also investigate the significance of the lipophilic chains of these DNA-lipids on the melting behavior of the double-stranded hybrids: in water melting curves are broadened whereas in amphiphilic assemblies duplexes melt as the unconjugated controls. This work is expected to be useful for improving the rational design of antisense medicines.     

Unexpected differences in the alpha-halogenation and related reactivity of sulfones with perhaloalkanes in KOH-t-BuOH

Most alkyl phenyl sulfones are readily alpha-chlorinated with CCl(4) and alpha-brominated with CBrCl3 in KOH-t-BuOH via radical-anion radical pair (RARP) reactions. While isopropyl mesityl sulfone (4) is easily alpha-chlorinated with CCl(4), it was completely recovered when treated with the more reactive CBrCl3. Subsequent investigations showed the latter result to be due to the poor acidity of 4 together with the rapid depletion of CBrCl3 and KOH by their reaction with each other, and led to a variety of other important results. 4-Hydroxyphenyl isopropyl sulfone (6) is unreactive with either CCl4 or CBrCl3 in KOH-t-BuOH, its phenoxide anion strongly reducing the electronegativity of the sulfonyl group, thereby inhibiting alpha-anion formation. This effect is reversed by the electron-withdrawing influence of two alpha-phenyls, so that benzhydryl 4-hydroxyphenyl sulfone (8) is readily alpha-halogenated in KOH-t-BuOH with CCl4 or CBrCl3. On further contact with KOH-t-BuOH the alpha-halogenated sulfones from 8 are decomposed into benzophenone and phenol. While the alpha-halogenated derivatives of 4-methoxyphenyl benzhydryl sulfone (9) are stable to base, they are decomposed even under mildly acidic conditions into 4-methoxyphenyl 4-methoxybenzenethiolsulfonate (9c), phenol, and benzophenone. Mono-alpha-halogenation of benzyl phenyl sulfone (10) enhances the rate of the subsequent halogenation, so that alpha,alpha-dihalogenation is attained while much substrate is still present and the mono-alpha-halogenated product is not detected. The ease of reductive debromination of alpha-bromo sulfones with Cl3C- was correlated with the stability of the formed alpha-anions, explaining the success with alpha-bromobenzylic sulfones but failure with alpha-bromoalkyl sulfones. In the presence of air and the absence of competing halogenation, formation of the alpha-anions of alkyl aryl sulfones is quickly accompanied by oxidative cleavage by atmospheric O2, leading to the formation of arenesulfonyl alcohols, arenesulfonyl halides, and haloarenes.     

Quantification of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) in the picogram/liter range in water of the river Elbe

Sampling and determination of dissolved and particlebound PCBs and HCB in the river Elbe are described. A new filtration/adsorption unit for sampling of dissolved lipophilic contaminants was developed. The detection limit for dissolved PCBs and HCB was 5 pg/l. The data show that more than 98% of the PCBs and of HCB in the water of the river Elbe are particle-bound.     

Automatic classification of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis pictures by heuristic clustering analysis: a step toward machine learning

The interpretation of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DGE) profiles can be facilitated by artificial intelligence and machine learning programs. We have incorporated into our 2-DGE computer analysis system (termed MELANIE-Medical Electrophoresis Analysis Interactive Expert system) a program which automatically classifies 2-DGE patterns using heuristic clustering analysis. This program is a step toward machine learning. In this publication, we describe the classification method and the preliminary results obtained with liver biopsy electrophoretograms. Heuristic clustering is also compared to other classification techniques.     

Facile synthesis of potassium tetrathiooxalate – The “true” monomer for the preparation of electron-conductive poly(nickel-ethylenetetrathiolate)

Herein, aiming at optimization of the polymerization process leading to a family of hole- and electron-conducting 1,1,2,2-ethenetetrathiolate-based polymers, such as poly(nickel-1,1,2,2-ethenetetrathiolate), poly[K_x(Ni-ett)], we investigated transformations of the monomer precursor 1,3,4,6-tetrathiapentalene-2,5-dione (TPD) occurring under polymerization conditions. We found that only one ring of TPD opens upon its reaction with potassium methoxide under inert conditions at room temperature which leads to the formation of potassium 2-oxo-1,3-dithiol-4,5-dithiolate (K₂[3]). Heating of K₂[3] under reflux in methanol solution under inert conditions opens the second ring, however the resulting product is not potassium ethenetetrathiolate (K₄[2]), the product of an exhaustive methanolysis of TPD, but potassium tetrathiooxalate (K₂[4]), the product of the decarbonylation of K₂[3]. Preliminary experiments reveal that the involvement of K₂[4] in the polymerization process is beneficial for reproducible formation of high quality 1,1,2,2-ethenetetrathiolate-based polymers suitable for thermoelectric applications.     

Analysis of the quantum numbers J(PC) of the X(3872) particle

We present an analysis of angular distributions and correlations of the X(3872) particle in the exclusive decay mode X(3872)-->J/psipi+ pi- with J/psi-->mu+ mu-. We use 780 pb-1 of data from pp[over ] collisions at sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. We derive constraints on spin, parity, and charge conjugation parity of the X(3872) particle by comparing measured angular distributions of the decay products with predictions for different J(PC) hypotheses. The assignments J(PC)=1++ and 2-+ are the only ones consistent with the data.     

Measurement of the top-quark mass in all-hadronic decays in pp collisions at CDF II

We present a measurement of the top-quark mass Mtop in the all-hadronic decay channel tt-->W+bW-b-->q1q2bq3q4b. The analysis is performed using 310 pb-1 of sqrt[s]=1.96 TeV pp[over ] collisions collected with the CDF II detector using a multijet trigger. The mass measurement is based on an event-by-event likelihood which depends on both the sample purity and the value of the top-quark mass, using 90 possible jet-to-parton assignments in the six-jet final state. The joint likelihood of 290 selected events yields a value of Mtop=177.1+/-4.9(stat)+/-4.7(syst) GeV/c2.     

Generation of a magnetic field by dynamo action in a turbulent flow of liquid sodium

We report the observation of dynamo action in the von Kármán sodium experiment, i.e., the generation of a magnetic field by a strongly turbulent swirling flow of liquid sodium. Both mean and fluctuating parts of the field are studied. The dynamo threshold corresponds to a magnetic Reynolds number R(m) approximately 30. A mean magnetic field of the order of 40 G is observed 30% above threshold at the flow lateral boundary. The rms fluctuations are larger than the corresponding mean value for two of the components. The scaling of the mean square magnetic field is compared to a prediction previously made for high Reynolds number flows.