A Web-Based Recommendation System for Mobile Phone Selection

Mobile phones have become indispensable in our everyday life. The fierce market competition characterized by rapid expansion of advanced functionality and feature is making consumers’ mobile phone selections increasingly complex and challenging. In this study, we use Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multiple criteria decision method, to build a recommendation system for mobile phones selection. AHP provides a structural and easily comprehensible model for making product choices. We empirically evaluate our recommendation system by conducting a controlled experiment that involved 244 mobile phone users. Our analysis results indicate that the use of the proposed system results in higher satisfaction than that associated with the rank-based and equal-weight based benchmark systems

Percolative phase separation induced by nonuniformly distributed excess oxygens

The zero-field $^{139}$La and $^{55}$Mn nuclear magnetic resonances were studied in $\rm La_{0.8}Ca_{0.2}MnO_{3+\delta}$ with different oxygen stoichiometry $\delta$. The signal intensity, peak frequency and line broadening of the $^{139}$La NMR spectrum show that excess oxygens have a tendency to concentrate and establish local ferromagnetic ordering around themselves. These connect the previously existed ferromagnetic clusters embedded in the antiferromagnetic host, resulting in percolative conduction paths. This phase separation is not a charge segregation type, but a electroneutral type. The magnetoresistance peak at the temperature where percolative paths start to form provides a direct evidence that phase separation is one source of colossal magnetoresistance effect.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure

Further investigations of linear trirhodium complexes: experimental and theoretical studies of Rh-3(dpa)(4)Cl-2 and Rh-3(dpa)(4)Cl-2 (BF4) dpa = bis(2-pyridyl)amido anion

The linear trirhodium compound, Rh-3(dpa)(4)Cl-2 (1), and its one-electron oxidation product, [Rh-3(dpa)(4)Cl-2]BF4 (2), have been synthesized and studied extensively. The magnetic measurement for compound 1 shows that it possesses one unpaired electron that is assigned to occupy the sigma(nb) orbital ((2)A(2)) by DFT calculations. Upon oxidation, a beta-spin electron of 1 is removed, that causes compound 2 to exhibit a triplet ground state. DFT calculations indicate that the two unpaired electrons of 2 occupy sigma(nb) and delta* orbitals (B-3(1)), which is supported by H-1 NMR spectrum. Unlike their isoelectronic analogues [Co-3(dpa)(4)Cl-2] (3) and [Co-3(dpa)(4)(Cl)(2)]BF4 (4), both compound 1 and 2 do not display the spin-crossover phenomenon. The reason may be attributed to the relative large energy gap between B-3(1) and open-shell singlet B-1(1) states

Green and efficient production of octyl hydroxyphenylpropionate using an ultrasound-assisted packed-bed bioreactor

A solvent-free system to produce octyl hydroxyphenylpropionate (OHPP) from p-hydroxyphenylpropionic acid (HPPA) and octanol using immobilized lipase (Novozym(A (R)) 435) as a catalyst in an ultrasound-assisted packed-bed bioreactor was investigated. Response-surface methodology (RSM) and a three-level-three-factor Box-Behnken design were employed to evaluate the effects of reaction temperature (x (1)), flow rate (x (2)) and ultrasonic power (x (3)) on the percentage of molar production of OHPP. The results indicate that the reaction temperature and flow rate were the most important variables in optimizing the production of OHPP. Based on a ridge max analysis, the optimum conditions for OHPP synthesis were predicted to consist of a reaction temperature of 65A degrees C, a flow rate of 0.05 ml/min and an ultrasonic power of 1.74 W/cm(2) with a yield of 99.25%. A reaction was performed under these optimal conditions, and a yield of 99.33 +/- A 0.1% was obtained

Current cosmological bounds on neutrino masses and relativistic relics

We combine the most recent observations of large-scale structure (2dF and SDSS galaxy surveys) and cosmic microwave anisotropies (WMAP and ACBAR) to put constraints on flat cosmological models where the number of massive neutrinos and of massless relativistic relics are both left arbitrary. We discuss the impact of each dataset and of various priors on our bounds. For the standard case of three thermalized neutrinos, we find an upper bound on the total neutrino mass sum m_nu < 1.0 (resp. 0.6) eV (at 2sigma), using only CMB and LSS data (resp. including priors from supernovae data and the HST Key Project), a bound that is quite insensitive to the splitting of the total mass between the three species. When the total number of neutrinos or relativistic relics N_eff is left free, the upper bound on sum m_nu (at 2sigma, including all priors) ranges from 1.0 to 1.5 eV depending on the mass splitting. We provide an explanation of the parameter degeneracy that allows larger values of the masses when N_eff increases. Finally, we show that the limit on the total neutrino mass is not significantly modified in the presence of primordial gravitational waves, because current data provide a clear distinction between the corresponding effects.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figure

The synthesized 2-(2-fluorophenyl)-6,7-methylenedioxyquinolin-4-one (CHM-1) promoted G2/M arrest through inhibition of CDK1 and induced apoptosis through the mitochondrial-dependent pathway in CT-26 murine colorectal adenocarcinoma cells

In this study, we investigated the effects of 2-(2-fluorophenyl)-6,7-methylenedioxyquinolin-4-one (CHM-1) on cell viability, cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in CT-26 murine colorectal adenocarcinoma cells. For determining cell viability, the MTT assay was used. CHM-1 promoted G2/M arrest by PI staining and flow cytometric analysis. Apoptotic cells were evaluated by DAPI staining. We used CDK1 kinase assay, Western blot analysis and caspase activity assays for examining the CDK1 activity and proteins correlated with apoptosis and cell cycle arrest. The in vivo anti-tumor effects of CHM-1-P were evaluated in BALB/c mice inoculated with CT-26 cells orthotopic model. CHM-1 induced CT-26 cell viability inhibition and morphologic changes in a dose-dependent and time-dependent manner and the approximate IC(50) was 742.36 nM. CHM-1 induced significant G2/M arrest and apoptosis in CT-26 cells. CHM-1 inhibited the CDK1 activity and decreased CDK1, Cyclin A, Cyclin B protein levels. CHM-1 induced apoptosis in CT-26 cells and promoted increasing of cytosolic cytochrome c, AIF, Bax, BAD, cleavage of pro-caspase-9, and -3. The significant reduction of caspase-9 and -3 activity and increasing the viable CT-26 cells after pretreated with caspase-9 and -3 inhibitor indicated that CHM-1-induced apoptosis was mainly mediated a mitochondria-dependent pathway. CHM-1-P improved mice survival rate, and enlargement of the spleen and liver metastasis were significantly reduced in groups treated with either 10 mg/kg and 30 mg/kg of CHM-1-P and 5-FU in comparison to these of CT-26/BALB/c mice. Taken together, CHM-1 acted against colorectal adenocarcinoma cells in vitro via G2/M arrest and apoptosis, and CHM-1-P inhibited tumor growth in vivo

Manipulation of electronic structure via supporting ligands: a charge disproportionate model within the linear metal framework of asymmetric nickel string Ni-7(phdptrany)(4)Cl (PF6)

This paper describes the synthesis and physical properties of an uniquely asymmetric heptanickel string complex exhibiting a charge disproportionate model along the linear nickel framework

Evidence of the Purely Leptonic Decay B- --> tau- nu_tau-bar

We present the first evidence of the decay B- --> tau- nu_tau-bar using 414 fb^-1 of data collected at the Upsilon(4S) resonance with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric-energy e+e- collider. Events are tagged by fully reconstructing one of the B mesons in hadronic modes. We detect the signal with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations including systematics, and measure the branching fraction to be Br(B- --> tau- nu_tau-bar) = (1.79 +0.56-0.49(stat) +0.46-0.51(syst))*10^-4. This implies that f_B = 0.229 +0.036-0.031(stat) +0.034-0.037(syst) GeV and is the first direct measurement of this quantity.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, to appear in Physical Review Letter

Search for tau -> e gamma decay at Belle

We have searched for the lepton-flavor-violating decay tau -> e gamma using a data sample of 86.7/fb collected with the Belle detector at the KEKB asymmetric e^+ e^- collider. No evidence for a signal is obtained, and we set an upper limit for the branching fraction Br(tau -> e gamma) < 3.9 x 10^-7 at the 90% C.L.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, ReVTeX4, eps

Measurement of the gamma gamma -> pi+ pi- and gamma gamma -> K+ K- processes at energies of 2.4 - 4.1 GeV

We have measured pi+pi- and K+K- production in two-photon collisions using 87.7 /fb of data collected with the Belle detector at the asymmetric energy e+e- collider KEKB. The cross sections are measured to high precision in the two-photon center-of-mass energy (W) range between 2.4 GeV < W < 4.1 GeV and angular region |cos theta^{*}| < 0.6. The cross section ratio sigma(gammagamma->K+K-)/sigma(gammagamma->pi+pi-) is measured to be 0.89 +- 0.04(stat) +- 0.15(syst) in the range of 3.0 GeV < W < 4.1 GeV, where the ratio is energy independent. We observe a sin^{-4} theta^{*} behavior of the cross section in the same W range. Production of chi_{c0} and chi_{c2} mesons is observed in both gammagamma -> pi+pi- and gammagamma -> K+K- modes.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys. Lett. B, errors relative to the two-photon decay width correcte