Collision-Induced Dissociation of Multiply-Charged Anions

Electrospray ionization has proven to be a powerful method for the study of multiply-charged-anions (MCA) in the gas-phase. Stability of the MCA toward ionic fragmentation and electron detachment has attracted wide interest. The stability of dianions is due to the “repulsive Coulomb barrier” to the addition or removed of an excess electron to a negative ion. The repulsive Coulomb barrier (RCB) is primarily the result of a long-range Coulomb repulsion and the short-range polarizibility attraction between an electron and a negative ion. The RCB can render unbound MCAs metastable or add stability to bound MCAs. In this dissertation, a collision-induced dissociation (CID) technique has been applied to investigate the stability of dianions produced in the gas-phase. In this work collision-induced dissociation of salt clusters is investigated in order to examine the role of the repulsive Coulomb barrier in the stability of these dianions against ionic fragmentation and electron detachment. In addition, the CID technique is performed to estimate the heights of inner and outer RCB for a group of dicarboxylate and disulfonic dianions with respect to electron detachment and ionic fragmentation. Furthermore, the decay pathways of these dianions are investigated experimentally and theoretically. The importance of the collision-induced dissociation method in measuring the bond dissociation energies of singly-charged anions will also be emphasized. In this context, the bond dissociation energy of NaCl2- ion into NaCl and Cl- ion is determined employing the CID technique. Experimental value of the bond dissociation energy is compared with theoretical values

On Scaling Robust Feedback Control and State Estimation Problems in Power Networks

Many mainstream robust control/estimation algorithms for power networks are designed using the Lyapunov theory as it provides performance guarantees for linear/nonlinear models of uncertain power networks but comes at the expense of scalability and sensitivity. In particular, Lyapunov-based approaches rely on forming semi-definite programs (SDPs) that are (i) not scalable and (ii) extremely sensitive to the choice of the bounding scalar that ensures the strict feasibility of the linear matrix inequalities (LMIs). This paper addresses these two issues by employing a celebrated non-Lyapunov approach (NLA) from the control theory literature. In lieu of linearized models of power grids, we focus on (the more representative) nonlinear differential algebraic equation (DAE) models and showcase the simplicity, scalability, and parameter-resiliency of NLA. For some power systems, the approach is nearly fifty times faster than solving SDPs via standard solvers with almost no impact on the performance. The case studies also demonstrate that NLA can be applied to more realistic scenarios in which (i) only partial state data is available and (ii) sparsity structures are imposed on the feedback gain. The paper also showcases that virtually no degradation in state estimation quality is experienced when applying NLA.Comment: In Pres

Effectiveness of Teaching Moral Concepts in Family through Islamic-based Storytelling on Coping Style and Mental Health of Teenage Girls

For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Background and Objective: Family is the main center to form fundamental moral concepts. This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of teaching moral concepts in family via Islamic-based storytelling on coping style and mental health of female teenagers.Method: This semi-experimental study had a pretest-posttest design. The population consisted of all female students of the secondary schools in Kerman in 2015 and 2016. Through convenience sampling method, 42 students were selected and randomly assigned to control and experimental groups (21 participants in each group). Folkman and Lazarus coping style (WOCQ) and Schutte mental health (DASS-21) were used for data collection. In the experimental group, participants received nine weekly sessions of teaching moral concepts in family through storytelling method while the control group received no treatment. Eventually, the collected data were analyzed using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA). All ethical issues were observed in this research and the researchers declared no conflict of interests.Results: The findings indicated a significant and positive difference between post-test scores of the experimental and control groups in terms of problem-focused coping style and  mental health (P<0/001). The emotion-oriented coping styles in the experimental group was significantly lower than the control group (P<0/001). In other words, teaching moral concepts in family through storytelling method based on Islamic concepts led to reduction in emotion-oriented coping style, increase in problem-focused coping style and also mental health of teenage girls.Conclusion: Given the importance of emotional control and mental health in adolescents, teaching moral concepts in the family through Islamic-based storytelling can be used to enhance problem-focused copying style and mental health of female teenagers.For downloading the full-text of this article please click here.Please cite this article as: Esmaeelbeigi M, Rezapour MirsalehY, Behjati Ardakani F, NiaziSH. Effectiveness of Teaching Moral Concepts in Family through Islamic-based Storytelling on Coping Style and Mental Health of  Teenage Girls. J Res Relig Health. 2018; 4(3): 70- 82

Mindfulness for female outpatients with chronic primary headaches: an internet-based bibliotherapy

Our aim was to investigate effectiveness of mindfulness by bibliotherapy on disability, distress, perceived pain and mindfulness in women with tension headaches and migraines. Primary headaches have been of great interest to mental health researchers because of the high prevalence, as well as significant disability and distress in the affected people. Despite the promising results of in-person treatment and some limitations that such interventions may cause, patients may be encountered with problems when using health care services. The present study is a quasi-experimental randomized design with pre-test, post-test, and control group. The study population consisted of 1396 women with migraine headache referring to headache clinic of Baqiyatallah Hospital in Tehran. Of these, 30 patients (including tboh experimental and control group) were selected by objective sampling method and were randomly assigned to the two groups. The experimental group, in addition to medical treatment as usual, was treated for a period of 8 sessions by Mindfulness-based Stress Reduction Internet-based Bibliotherapy, but the control group used only the medical treatment. The sample had no attritions. Data were collected by the four scales of (DASS-21), Migraine Disability Assessment Test (MIDAS), McGill's Short Form Questionnaire (MPQ-SF), and Mindfulness Inventory (MAAS). We used covariance analysis to analyze the findings in the measured scales. MBSR-IBB treatment had no significant effect on pain sensory dimension (P<0.44), despite improvement of mindfulness (P<0.0001). In contrast, the greatest effect was on the level of disability (P<0.0001). We observed also a significant improvement in distress (P<0.0001). In conclusion, in spite of the presence of headaches, the mindfulness improved the quality of life and reduced the level of mental distress. In addition, using the Internet-based bibliotherapy method, these services can be used with easier access, lower cost, and more flexibility

Action spectroscopy of gas-phase carboxylate anions by multiple photon IR electron detachment/attachment

We report on a form of gas-phase anion action spectroscopy based on infrared multiple photon electron detachment and subsequent capture of the free electrons by a neutral electron scavenger in a Fourier Transform Ion Cyclotron Resonance (FTICR) mass spectrometer. This method allows one to obtain background-free spectra of strongly bound anions, for which no dissociation channels are observed. The first gas-phase spectra of acetate and propionate are presented using SF6 as electron scavenger and a free electron laser as source of intense and tunable infrared radiation. To validate the method, we compare infrared spectra obtained through multiple photon electron detachment/attachment and multiple photon dissociation for the benzoate anion. In addition, different electron acceptors are used, comparing both associative and dissociative electron capture. The relative energies of dissociation (by CO2 loss) and electron detachment are investigated for all three anions by DFT and CCSD(T) methods. DFT calculations are also employed to predict vibrational frequencies, which provide a good fit to the infrared spectra observed. The frequencies of the symmetric and antisymmetric carboxylate stretching modes for the aliphatic carboxylates are compared to those previously observed in condensed-phase IR spectra and to those reported for gas-phase benzoate, showing a strong influence of the solution environment and a slight substituent effect on the antisymmetric stretch.Comment: Revised version, Submitted to J Phys Chem

Electron stimulated desorption of anions containing Oxygen and Nitrogen from self-assembled monolayers of DNA

The electron stimulated desorption of anions from self-assembled monolayers of double stranded DNA is reported. Desorption of the oxygen and nitrogen containing anions O−, OH−, CN−, OCN−, and OCNH− is induced by the impact of 0.1−20 eV electrons. The anion desorption yields, measured as a function of incident electron energy exhibit pronounced maxima that can be attributed to dissociative electron attachment (DEA) to basic DNA units. Above 15 eV, desorption is attributed to dipolar dissociation (DD). This study further indicates that electrons with energy as low as 2.5 ± 0.3 eV can not only cause damage to DNA but also produce fragments with considerable kinetic energy

Sparsity-Promoting Optimal Controller Design

Considering the class of linear time-invariant (LTI) systems and utilizing the various mathematical tools, for diverse scenarios, we design sparsity-promoting feedback controllers while attaining a reasonable performance loss. Diverse scenarios can be classified as follows: (i) feedback controller sparsification subject to attain a similar frequency behavior for the case without/with parametric uncertainty (Chapters 2 and 4) (ii) improvement on sparsity in time domain in addition to sparsity promotion in feedback controller (Chapters 3 and 8) (iii) sparse feedback controller design for uncertain time-delay systems (Chapter 5) (iv) row-column (r, c)-sparse feedback controller design (Chapter 6) (v) feedback controller sparsification for large-scale systems (Chapters 7 and 9). Sparsity promotion in feedback controller is done via several techniques including ℓ1-relaxation, a notion of non-fragility, and quasi-norms. Sparsity improvement in time domain is obtained via periodic time-triggered and self-triggered control. In Chapters 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, the non-convexity arisen by Lyapunov stability condition is handled utilizing the bi-linear rank penalty technique. In Chapters 7 and 9, stability is provided by means of continuity of maximum real part of eigenvalue of the closed-loop system. In Chapter 8, stability is imposed by a performance-based condition which consists of a quadratic cost-to-go and a Lyapunov function