Sulfonation degree determination of polystyrene ionomers by using adiabatic bomb calorimeter

Sulfonation degree determination of sulfonated polystyrene and the corresponding ionomers are performed by adiabatic bomb calorimeter. The theoretical calculations from the band energies for the combustion enthalpy values (calorific values) and the experimental values are compared, and a linear relation between the values is found. Sulfonation and neutralization processes are examined by elemental sulfur analysis and atomic absorption spectroscopy (AAS). It was obvious that increasing sulfonation degree yields a decrease in the combustion enthalpy values, as it is expected from the theoretical calculations. In addition, metal ion incorporation to the structure deviates the experimental combustion enthalpy values especially for the ionomers which have higher sulfonation degrees. This is due to the formation of a higher degree aggregation. © Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 4684–4688, 2006     

Efficient integer programming formulations for optimum sink location and routing in heterogeneous wireless sensor networks

Sensors spend most of their limited battery energy on communicating the collected environmental information to sinks. Therefore, the determination of the optimal sink locations and sensor-to-sink information flow routes becomes important for the survivability of sensor networks. In this work, we address these important design issues using an integrated approach and propose new mixed-integer linear programming models to determine the optimal sink locations and information flow paths between sensors and sinks when sensor locations are given. The first group of proposed models is energy-aware and tries to minimize total routing energy, whereas the second group is financially driven with the objective of minimizing total cost. We do not only report computational results providing information on the solution efficiency of the new formulations, and the accuracy of their linear programming relaxations, but also propose and test new heuristics and lower bounding approaches for the most efficient formulation.     

Fixed diameter confidence ellipsoid in time-sequential models

In the context of life testing, when the objective is to estimate a parameter of the survival function, we wish to find a region R in k-dimensional Euclidean space such that P(θ ? R) = α and the maximum diameter of R ≤ 2d . This goal cannot be achieved by utilizing the accumulated data from a sample up to a fixed time t . Hence we will consider time-sequential procedure where we will observe the process up to a stopping time γ(E γ_d) and then construct the region R with maximum diameter 2d which includes θ with probability approximately equal to α.     

Lesions centered on the medial amygdala impair scent-marking and sex-odor recognition but spare discrimination of individual odors in female golden hamsters.

The medial amygdala (Me) has been implicated in various social behaviors that depend on chemosensory cues, but its precise role in discriminating and learning social odors is not known. Female golden hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) received electrolytic lesions of the Me or sham surgery and were tested for their ability to (a) discriminate between odors of individual males in a habituation–discrimination task, (b) show preferences for male over female odors in a Y maze, and (c) scent-mark in response to male and female odors. All females discriminated between scents of individual males. In contrast, Me lesions eliminated female preferences for male odors in a Y maze. Females with Me lesions also showed a substantial reduction in vaginal marking and virtually no flank marking in response to odors. Thus, the Me in female hamsters is critical for differential investigation of opposite-sex odors and for scent-marking behavior but is not involved in discrimination between odors of individuals. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Effectiveness of antenatal care on weight of infants attending underfive clinic

The present study examined whether a six-week resistance training program would influence the critical power (CP) function, time to exhaustion (TE) at CP and/or peak oxygen uptake (VO2 peak). The CP function is believed to provide an index of endurance ability (CP given by the slope), and anaerobic work capacity (the y-intercept). Eight healthy, untrained males undertook lower-body resistance training (90 min/day, 3-4 times/wk) for six weeks; eight controls refrained from resistance or endurance training for the same period. Before and immediately following the training period, subjects completed three trials to determine their CP function, a test of VO2 peak, a one-repetition maximum (1-RM) leg press test and TE at their CP. Training significantly increased both 1-RM leg press (28.6%, P < 0.05) and the y-intercept (34.9%, P < 0.05) while no changes in CP, VO2 peak or TE (p > 0.05) were found. Changes in the y-intercept following resistance training were negatively correlated with changes in the CP (r = -0.94, p < 0.05, N = 8). The present data show that the y-intercept of the CP function is sensitive to, and modified by, six weeks of resistance training. Given that resistance training had no significant influence on CP, TE at CP or VO2 peak, the present study has also shown that six weeks of resistance training will not alter indices of endurance ability. The negative relationship between changes in the y-intercept and CP exposes a potential limitation of the linear CP function when evaluating changes in endurance ability following an intervention which significantly alters the y-intercept.     

Photorefractive keratectomy for hyperopia and aphakia with a scanning spot excimer laser

OBJECTIVE: To study the safety, efficacy, predictability, and stability of photorefractive keratectomy (PRK) for hyperopia and aphakia. METHODS: Fifteen eyes of 15 patients (mean age, 33 +/- 5.95 yrs) were enrolled in the study and divided into three groups. The first group was comprised of six eyes that had hyperopia ranging from +1.75 to +4.75 D; the second group had seven hyperopic eyes ranging from +5.00 to +9.75 D; the third group included two eyes of two aphakic patients. All eyes had PRK with a 193 nm argon fluoride excimer laser (Chiron-Technolas, Keracor 116) with a 10 Hz repetition rate and a fluence of 120 mJ/cm2. The total follow-up time in all eyes was 12 months. RESULTS: In the lower hyperopia group, 0% eyes were within +/- 0.50 D and 66% (N = 4) of eyes were within +/- 1.00 D of emmetropia with the other two eyes between +1.00 and +2.00 D at 1 year after PRK. In the higher hyperopia group, all eyes had at least +3.00 D of hyperopia at 1 year. In the aphakic group, both eyes achieved less than 50% of the target correction of +10.00 D at 1 year. Final uncorrected visual acuity ranged from 20/20 to 20/30 in the lower hyperopia group, 20/30 to 20/50 in the higher hyperopia group, and count fingers in the aphakic group. CONCLUSIONS: PRK is a relatively safe, stable, and effective procedure with reasonably good predictability for eyes with less than +5.00 D of baseline hyperopia, and poor predictability for eyes with more than +5.00 D of baseline hyperopia. PRK is ineffective in the correction of aphakia.     

Electropolymerization of a new 4‐(2,5‐Di‐2‐thiophen‐2‐yl‐pyrrol‐1‐yl)‐tetra substituted nickel phthalocyanine derivative

A new tetrakis 4‐(2,5‐di‐2‐thiophen‐2‐yl‐pyrrol‐1‐yl) substituted nickel phthalocyanine (NiPc‐SNS) was synthesized and characterized by elemental analysis, Fourier Transform Infrared (FT‐IR), and UV–vis spectroscopies. The electrochemical polymerization of this newly synthesized NiPc‐SNS was performed in dichloromethane (DCM)/tetrabutylammonium perchlorate (TBAP) solvent/electrolyte couple. An insoluble film was deposited on the electrode surface, both during repetitive cycling and constant potential electrolysis at 0.85 V. Resulting polymer film, P(NiPc‐SNS), was characterized utilizing UV–vis and FT‐IR spectroscopic techniques and its electrochemical behavior was investigated via cyclic voltammetry (CV). Spectroelectrochemical behavior of the polymer film on indium tin oxide (ITO) working electrode was investigated by recording the electronic absorption spectra, in situ, in monomer‐free electrolytic solution at different potentials and it is found that the P(NiPc‐SNS) film can be reversibly cycled between 0.0 and 1.1 V and exhibits electrochromic behavior; dark olive green in the neutral and dark blue in the oxidized states with a switching time of 1.98 s. Furthermore, the band gap of P(NiPc‐SNS) was calculated as 2.27 eV from the onset of π–π* transition of the conjugated backbone. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011     

Customer loyalty programs to sustain consumer fidelity in mobile telecommunication market

Companies realized the importance of well-managing their relationships with their customers. Customer Relationship Management (CRM) allows companies to manage their marketing strategies and deliver specific services to clients with different values. The mobile telecommunication market is a very competitive market where the customers are tended to move from one company to another easily. Mobile telecommunication companies should carry on specific programs and services to their customers in order to keep them satisfied and thus ensure their fidelity with the company. In this article our objective is to provide companies a model that facilitates to decide what kind of customer loyalty programs they should address to their clients from different segments. In order to do that we present a fuzzy based Hungarian method that allow assigning different loyalty programs to customers with different characteristics.     

A leader-follower game in competitive facility location

We address the problem of locating new facilities of a firm or franchise that enters a market where a competitor operates existing facilities. The goal of the new entrant firm is to decide the location and attractiveness of its new facilities that maximize its profit. The competitor can react by opening new facilities, closing existing ones, and adjusting the attractiveness levels of its existing facilities, with the aim of maximizing its own profit. The demand is assumed to be aggregated at certain points in the plane and the new facilities of both the firm and the competitor can be located at predetermined candidate sites. We employ the gravity-based rule in modeling the behavior of the customers where the probability that a customer visits a certain facility is proportional to the facility attractiveness and inversely proportional to the distance between the facility site and demand point. We formulate a bilevel mixed-integer nonlinear programming model where the firm entering the market is the leader and the competitor is the follower. We propose heuristics that combine tabu search with exact solution methods.