Gelation and Swelling Behavior of Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Network Hydrogels Based on Polyacrylamide and Poly(vinyl alcohol)

Novel semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Network (semi-IPN) hydrogels based on partially Hydrolyzed Polyacrylamide (HPAM) and Poly(Vinyl Alcohol) (PVA) were prepared by solution crosslinking using chromium triacetate. Effects of PVA content on the gelation process and swelling behavior in tap water and different electrolyte solutions were investigated. Study of the gelation behavior using dynamic rheometery showed that the limiting storage modulus of the semi-IPN gels decreased with increasing PVA content. It was also found that increasing the PVA content increases the loss factor, indicating that the viscous properties of this gelling system increase more strongly than the elastic properties. The swelling ratio of the semi-IPN gels in tap water decreased as the concentration of the PVA increased. However, the semi-IPN gels showed lower salt sensitivity factor in synthetic oil reservoir water as compared with HPAM gels. Therefore, they are potentially good candidates for enhanced oil recovery applications.     

Nil-Armendariz Rings Relative to a Monoid

For a monoid M, we introduce nil-Armendariz rings relative to M, which are a generalization of nil-Armendariz and M-Armendariz rings, and investigate their properties. First we show that semicommutative rings are nil-Armendariz relative to every unique product monoid M. Also it is shown that for a strictly totally ordered monoid M and an ideal I of R, if I is a semicommutative subrng of R and R/I nil-Armendariz relative to M, then R is nil-Armendariz relative to M. Then we show that if R is a semicommutative ring and nil-Armendariz relative to M, then R is nil-Armendariz relative to M × N, where N is a unique product monoid. As corollaries we obtain some results of [2] and [10].     

A simple route for the synthesis of novel N-alkyl-2-(alkylthio)-1H-imidazole derivatives

Novel $N$ -alkyl-2-(alkylthio)-1 $H$ -imidazole derivatives were synthesized in a single step by an efficient and simple method in high yields. Readily available starting materials, mild reaction conditions, operational simplicity and novelty are the key advantages of this method. Besides their novel structures, these compounds may have important biological activities and industrial applications.     

Thermodynamics and Phase Transition of Topological Dilatonic Lifshitz-Like Black Holes

It is known that scalar-tensor gravity models can be studied in Einstein and Jordan frames. In this paper, a model of scalar-tensor gravity in Einstein's frame is considered to calculate the Lifshitz-like black hole solutions with different horizon topologies. Thermodynamic properties and first order van der Waals-like phase transition are studied, and it is found that the Lifshitz parameter affects the phase structure. In addition, thermal stability is investigated by using the behavior of heat capacity and various methods of geometrical thermodynamics.     

Electrochemical behavior of Al2O3/Al composite coated Al electrodes through surface mechanical alloying in alkaline media

The behavior of $A{l}_2{O}_3/Al$ composite coated Al electrodes fabricated by surface mechanical alloying ‘SMA’ was studied. The work was accomplished using Cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) techniques in alkaline media $2MKOH$ were done at room temperature. Results show hydroxyl ions accumulate on the surface due to Al deformation micro cavities filling with $A{l}_2{O}_3$ until full charge blockage reached. A barrier cover layer development causing an increase of both resistance and capacitance as it becomes more stable and thinner with exposure time increase. Migrating hydroxyl ion inside micro cavity changed its composition from Al₂O₃ to stable tetrahedral $Al{\left(OH\right)}_4^{?}$ aluminate ions. Therefore future benefits could be reached by developing such surfaces having charge accumulation that enables environmental interaction.     

Induced secondary metabolites from the endophytic fungus Aspergillus versicolor through bacterial co-culture and OSMAC approaches

Two new cryptic 3,4-dihydronaphthalen-(2H)-1-one (1-tetralone) derivatives, aspvanicin A (1) and its epimer aspvanicin B (2), as well as several known cryptic metabolites (3–8), were obtained from the ethyl acetate extract of the co-culture of the endophytic fungus Aspergillus versicolor KU258497 with the bacterium Bacillus subtilis 168 trpC2 on solid rice medium. When A. versicolor was cultured axenically in liquid Wickerham medium supplemented with 3.5% DMSO, an additional three known secondary metabolites (9–11) were isolated that were lacking when the fungus was fermented on rice medium. The structures of the new compounds were elucidated using one- and two-dimensional NMR spectroscopy as well as HRESIMS. The relative and absolute configurations of 1 and 2 were determined by the combination of NMR and electronic circular dichroism (ECD) analysis aided by DFT conformational analysis and TDDFT-ECD calculations. The ECD calculations revealed that although the sign of the blue-shifted overlapping n-π¹ ECD transition follows the helicity rule of cyclic aryl ketones, the calculation of low-energy conformers and ECD spectra was necessary to determine the stereochemistry. All metabolites were assessed for their antibacterial and cytotoxic activities; one of the new diastereomers, compound 2, showed moderate cytotoxic activity against the mouse lymphoma cell line L5178Y.     

Sonication-assisted preparation of a nanocomposite consisting of reduced graphene oxide and CdSe quantum dots,and its application to simultaneous voltammetric determination of ascorbic acid,dopamine and uric acid

Microchimica Acta - Accurate detection of temperature and oxygen concentration at the cellular level is important in tumor diagnosis. Multifunctional nanocomposites are described that consist of...