The lower central and derived series of the braid groups of the projective plane

In this paper, we determine the lower central and derived series for the braid groups of the projective plane. We are motivated in part by the study of Fadell-Neuwirth short exact sequences, but the problem is interesting in its own right. The n-string braid groups B(n)(RP(2)) of the projective plane RP(2) were originally studied by Van Buskirk during the 1960s. and are of particular interest due to the fact that they have torsion. The group B(1)(RP(2)) (resp. B(2)(RP(2))) is isomorphic to the cyclic group Z(2) of order 2 (resp. the generalised quaternion group of order 16) and hence their lower central and derived series are known. If n > 2, we first prove that the lower central series of B(n)(RP(2)) is constant from the commutator subgroup onwards. We observe that Gamma(2)(B(3)(RP(2))) is isomorphic to (F(3) X Q(8)) X Z(3), where F(k) denotes the free group of rank k, and Q(8) denotes the quaternion group of order 8, and that Gamma(2)(B(4)(RP(2))) is an extension of an index 2 subgroup K of P(4)(RP(2)) by Z(2) circle plus Z(2). As for the derived series of B(n)(RP(2)), we show that for all n >= 5, it is constant from the derived subgroup onwards. The group B(n)(RP(2)) being finite and soluble for n <= 2, the critical cases are n = 3, 4. We are able to determine completely the derived series of B(3)(RP(2)). The subgroups (B(3)(RP(2)))((1)), (B(3)(RP(2)))((2)) and (B(3)(RP(2)))((3)) are isomorphic respectively to (F(3) x Q(8)) x Z(3), F(3) X Q(8) and F(9) X Z(2), and we compute the derived series quotients of these groups. From (B(3)(RP(2)))((4)) onwards, the derived series of B(3)(RP(2)), as well as its successive derived series quotients, coincide with those of F(9). We analyse the derived series of B(4)(RP(2)) and its quotients up to (B(4)(RP(2)))((4)), and we show that (B(4)(RP(2)))((4)) is a semi-direct product of F(129) by F(17). Finally, we give a presentation of Gamma(2)(B(n)(RP(2))). (C) 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

A compound class of Weibull and power series distributions

In this paper we introduce the Weibull power series (WPS) class of distributions which is obtained by compounding Weibull and power series distributions where the compounding procedure follows same way that was previously carried out by Adamidis and Loukas (1998) This new class of distributions has as a particular case the two-parameter exponential power series (EPS) class of distributions (Chahkandi and Gawk 2009) which contains several lifetime models such as exponential geometric (Adamidis and Loukas 1998) exponential Poisson (Kus 2007) and exponential logarithmic (Tahmasbi and Rezaei 2008) distributions The hazard function of our class can be increasing decreasing and upside down bathtub shaped among others while the hazard function of an EPS distribution is only decreasing We obtain several properties of the WPS distributions such as moments order statistics estimation by maximum likelihood and inference for a large sample Furthermore the EM algorithm is also used to determine the maximum likelihood estimates of the parameters and we discuss maximum entropy characterizations under suitable constraints Special distributions are studied in some detail Applications to two real data sets are given to show the flexibility and potentiality of the new class of distributions (C) 2010 Elsevier B V All rights reserved

Ion pair stabilization effects on a series of procaine structural analogs

In this work, a series of 10 structural procaine analogs have been synthesized in order to investigate the structural features affecting the stability of ion pair formation and its influence on the lipophilicity of ionizable compounds. The structural variation within this series was focused on the terminal nitrogen substituents and on the intermediate chain linkage nature. The hydrophobic parameters log P(n) and log P(i) (partition coefficient of the neutral and ionic species, respectively), as well as the ionization constants pK(a) and pK(a)(oct), were obtained from log D-pH profiles measured at pH values ranging from 2 to 12. The difference between log P(i) and log P(n) values (i.e. difflog P) of each prepared compound was considered a measure of the stability of ion pair formation. In this set, the difflog P values varied nearly over one log unit, ranging from -2.40 to -3.37. It has been observed that the presence of hydrogen bonding groups (especially donor) and low steric hindrance around the terminal amine ionizable group increases the relative lipophilicity of the ionic species as compared to the corresponding neutral species. These results were interpreted as due to the increased stability of ion pairs of the compounds bearing these structural features. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Stabilizing Nonstationary Electrochemical Time Series

Electrochemical systems are ideal working-horses for studying oscillatory dynamics. Experimentally obtained time series, however, are usually associated with a spontaneous drift in some uncontrollable parameter that triggers transitions among different oscillatory patterns, despite the fact that all controllable parameters are kept constant. Herein we present an empirical method to stabilize experimental potential time series. The method consists of applying a negative galvanodynamic sweep to compensate the spontaneous drift and was tested for the oscillatory electro-oxidation of methanol on platinum. For a wide range of applied currents, the base system presents spontaneous transitions from quasi-harmonic to mixed mode oscillations. Temporal patterns were stabilized by galvanodynamic sweeps at different rates. The procedure resulted in a considerable increase in the number of oscillatory cycles from 5 to 20 times, depending on the specific temporal pattern. The spontaneous drift has been associated with uncompensated oscillations, in which the coverage of some adsorbed species are not reestablished after one cycle; i.e., there is a net accumulation and/or depletion of adsorbed species during oscillations. We interpreted the rate of the galvanodynamic sweep in terms of the time scales of the poisoning processes that underlies the uncompensated oscillations and thus the spontaneous slow drift.

Insights into the Molecular Requirements for the Anti-obesity Activity of a Series of CB1 Ligands

Two-dimensional and 3D quantitative structure-activity relationships studies were performed on a series of diarylpyridines that acts as cannabinoid receptor ligands by means of hologram quantitative structure-activity relationships and comparative molecular field analysis methods. The quantitative structure-activity relationships models were built using a data set of 52 CB1 ligands that can be used as anti-obesity agents. Significant correlation coefficients (hologram quantitative structure-activity relationships: r 2 = 0.91, q 2 = 0.78; comparative molecular field analysis: r 2 = 0.98, q 2 = 0.77) were obtained, indicating the potential of these 2D and 3D models for untested compounds. The models were then used to predict the potency of an external test set, and the predicted (calculated) values are in good agreement with the experimental results. The final quantitative structure-activity relationships models, along with the information obtained from 2D contribution maps and 3D contour maps, obtained in this study are useful tools for the design of novel CB1 ligands with improved anti-obesity potency.

Financial time series analysis : Chaos and neurodynamics approach

This work aims at combining the Chaos theory postulates and Artificial Neural Networks classification and predictive capability, in the field of financial time series prediction. Chaos theory, provides valuable qualitative and quantitative tools to decide on the predictability of a chaotic system. Quantitative measurements based on Chaos theory, are used, to decide a-priori whether a time series, or a portion of a time series is predictable, while Chaos theory based qualitative tools are used to provide further observations and analysis on the predictability, in cases where measurements provide negative answers. Phase space reconstruction is achieved by time delay embedding resulting in multiple embedded vectors. The cognitive approach suggested, is inspired by the capability of some chartists to predict the direction of an index by looking at the price time series. Thus, in this work, the calculation of the embedding dimension and the separation, in Takens‘ embedding theorem for phase space reconstruction, is not limited to False Nearest Neighbor, Differential Entropy or other specific method, rather, this work is interested in all embedding dimensions and separations that are regarded as different ways of looking at a time series by different chartists, based on their expectations. Prior to the prediction, the embedded vectors of the phase space are classified with Fuzzy-ART, then, for each class a back propagation Neural Network is trained to predict the last element of each vector, whereas all previous elements of a vector are used as features.

Do crude oil price changes affect economic growth of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh? : A multivariate time series analysis

This paper analyzes empirically the effect of crude oil price change on the economic growth of Indian-Subcontinent (India, Pakistan and Bangladesh). We use a multivariate Vector Autoregressive analysis followed by Wald Granger causality test and Impulse Response Function (IRF). Wald Granger causality test results show that only India’s economic growth is significantly affected when crude oil price decreases. Impact of crude oil price increase is insignificantly negative for all three countries during first year. In second year, impact is negative but smaller than first year for India, negative but larger for Bangladesh and positive for Pakistan.

Forecasting with Vector Nonlinear Time Series Models

This work concerns forecasting with vector nonlinear time series models when errorsare correlated. Point forecasts are numerically obtained using bootstrap methods andillustrated by two examples. Evaluation concentrates on studying forecast equality andencompassing. Nonlinear impulse responses are further considered and graphically sum-marized by highest density region. Finally, two macroeconomic data sets are used toillustrate our work. The forecasts from linear or nonlinear model could contribute usefulinformation absent in the forecasts form the other model.

Common Features in Vector Nonlinear Time Series Models

This thesis consists of four manuscripts in the area of nonlinear time series econometrics on topics of testing, modeling and forecasting nonlinear common features. The aim of this thesis is to develop new econometric contributions for hypothesis testing and forecasting in these area. Both stationary and nonstationary time series are concerned. A definition of common features is proposed in an appropriate way to each class. Based on the definition, a vector nonlinear time series model with common features is set up for testing for common features. The proposed models are available for forecasting as well after being well specified. The first paper addresses a testing procedure on nonstationary time series. A class of nonlinear cointegration, smooth-transition (ST) cointegration, is examined. The ST cointegration nests the previously developed linear and threshold cointegration. An Ftypetest for examining the ST cointegration is derived when stationary transition variables are imposed rather than nonstationary variables. Later ones drive the test standard, while the former ones make the test nonstandard. This has important implications for empirical work. It is crucial to distinguish between the cases with stationary and nonstationary transition variables so that the correct test can be used. The second and the fourth papers develop testing approaches for stationary time series. In particular, the vector ST autoregressive (VSTAR) model is extended to allow for common nonlinear features (CNFs). These two papers propose a modeling procedure and derive tests for the presence of CNFs. Including model specification using the testing contributions above, the third paper considers forecasting with vector nonlinear time series models and extends the procedures available for univariate nonlinear models. The VSTAR model with CNFs and the ST cointegration model in the previous papers are exemplified in detail,and thereafter illustrated within two corresponding macroeconomic data sets.

An analysis of linkage between foreign direct investment and GDP per Capita in Pakistan : A time series analysis

This study aims to investigate the relation between foreign direct investment (FDI) and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) in Pakistan. The study is based on a basic Cobb-Douglas production function. Population over age 15 to 64 is used as a proxy for labor in the investigation. The other variables used are gross capital formation, technological gap and a dummy variable measuring among other things political stability. We find positive correlation between GDP per capita in Pakistan and two variables, FDI and population over age 15 to 64. The GDP gap (gap between GDP of USA and GDP of Pakistan) is negatively correlated with GDP per capita as expected. Political instability, economic crisis, wars and polarization in the society have no significant impact on GDP per capita in the long run.

DDR: an index method for large time-series datasets

The tree index structure is a traditional method for searching similar data in large datasets. It is based on the presupposition that most sub-trees are pruned in the searching process. As a result, the number of page accesses is reduced. However, time-series datasets generally have a very high dimensionality. Because of the so-called dimensionality curse, the pruning effectiveness is reduced in high dimensionality. Consequently, the tree index structure is not a suitable method for time-series datasets. In this paper, we propose a two-phase (filtering and refinement) method for searching time-series datasets. In the filtering step, a quantizing time-series is used to construct a compact file which is scanned for filtering out irrelevant. A small set of candidates is translated to the second step for refinement. In this step, we introduce an effective index compression method named grid-based datawise dimensionality reduction (DRR) which attempts to preserve the characteristics of the time-series. An experimental comparison with existing techniques demonstrates the utility of our approach.

Competitive interactions between the Australian native fish Galaxiasmaculatus and the exotic mosquitofish Gambusiaholbrooki,in a series of laboratory experiments

Competitive interactions between Galaxias maculatus, native to southeastern Australia, and Gambusia holbrooki, an exotic pest, were examined in relation to two types of artificial cover and a food source. Experiments were performed in an 800 l tank using photographic techniques. The relative distance of G. maculatus from cover or food source before and after the introduction of G. holbrooki were compared. Also, the proportions of the species were altered to examine the effects of unequal numbers on dominance behaviour. It was found that G. holbrooki was unable to out compete G. maculatus for either cover or food. The distance of G. maculatus from a food source was seen to increase following the introduction of G. holbrooki, when they outnumbered G. maculatus by 3 to 1. Although the distance from the food of G.maculatus increased following the introduction of G. holbrooki, in all cases the mean distance of G.␣maculatus from cover or food was less than that of G. holbrooki. Significant intra-species competition appeared to occur between G. maculatus and it may be that this competition had a greater effect than the competitive pressure G. holbrooki was able to place on the natives. This study revealed that the exotic pest species, G. holbrooki, could not out compete a small native Australian fish species.

Modifying the bitterness of selected oral pharmaceuticals with cation and anion series of salts

Purpose. NaCl has proven to be an effective bitterness inhibitor, but the reason remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of a variety of cations and anions on the bitterness of selected oral pharmaceuticals and bitter taste stimuli: pseudoephedrine, ranitidine, acetaminophen, quinine, and urea.
Method. Human psychophysical taste evaluation using a whole mouth exposure procedure was used.
Results. The cations (all associated with the acetate anion) inhibited bitterness when mixed with pharmaceutical solutions to varying degrees. The sodium cation significantly (P < 0.003) inhibited bitterness of the pharmaceuticals more than the other cations. The anions (all associated with the sodium cation) also inhibited bitterness to varying degrees. With the exception of salicylate, the glutamate and adenosine monophosphate anions significantly (P < 0.001) inhibited bitterness of the pharmaceuticals more than the other anions. Also, there were several specific inhibitory interactions between ammonium, sodium and salicylate and certain pharmaceuticals.
Conclusions. We conclude that sodium was the most successful cation and glutamate and AMP were the most successful anions at inhibiting bitterness. Structure forming and breaking properties of ions, as predicted by the Hofmeister series, and other physical-chemical ion properties failed to significantly predict bitterness inhibition.