Warm tachyon inflation and swampland criteria

In this study, the scenario of a two-component warm tachyon inflation is considered, where the tachyon field plays the role of the inflaton by driving the inflation. During inflation, the tachyon scalar field interacts with the other component of the Universe, which is assumed to be photon gas, i.e., radiation. The interacting term contains a dissipation coefficient, and the study is modeled based on two different and familiar choices of the coefficient that were studied in the literature. By employing the latest observational data, the acceptable ranges for the free parameters of the model are obtained. For any choice within the estimated ranges, there is an acceptable concordance between the theoretical predictions and observations. Although the model is established based on several assumptions, it is crucial to verify their validity for the obtained values of the free parameters of the model. It is found that the model is not self-consistent for all values of the ranges, and for some cases, the assumptions are violated. Therefore, to achieve both self-consistency and agreement with the data, the parameters of the model must be constrained. Subsequently, we consider the recently proposed swampland conjecture, which imposes two conditions on the inflationary models. These criteria rule out some inflationary models; however, warm inflation is among those that successfully satisfy the swampland criteria. We conduct a precise investigation, which indicates that the proposed warm tachyon inflation cannot satisfy the swampland criteria for some cases. In fact, for the first case of the dissipation coefficient, in which, there is dependency only on the scalar field, the model agrees with observational data. However, it is in direct tension with the swampland criteria. Nevertheless, for the second case, wherein the dissipation coefficient has a dependency on both the scalar field and temperature, the model exhibits acceptable agreement with observational data, and suitably satisfies the swampland criteria.     

HFIP-Functionalized Co3O4 Micro-Nano-Octahedra/rGO as a Double-Layer Sensing Material for Chemical Warfare Agents

Semiconductor metal oxides (SMO)-based gas-sensing materials suffer from insufficient detection of a specific target gas. Reliable selectivity, high sensitivity, and rapid response–recovery times under various working conditions are the main requirements for optimal gas sensors. Chemical warfare agents (CWA) such as sarin are fatal inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase in the nerve system. So, sensing materials with high sensitivity and selectivity toward CWA are urgently needed. Herein, micro-nano octahedral Co₃O₄ functionalized with hexafluoroisopropanol (HFIP) were deposited on a layer of reduced graphene oxide (rGO) as a double-layer sensing materials. The Co₃O₄ micro-nano octahedra were synthesized by direct growth from electrospun fiber templates calcined in ambient air. The double-layer rGO/Co₃O₄-HFIP sensing materials presented high selectivity toward DMMP (sarin agent simulant, dimethyl methyl phosphonate) versus rGO/Co₃O₄ and Co₃O₄ sensors after the exposure to various gases owing to hydrogen bonding between the DMMP molecules and Co₃O₄-HFIP. The rGO/Co₃O₄-HFIP sensors showed high stability with a response signal around 11.8 toward 0.5 ppm DMMP at 125 °C, and more than 75 % of the initial response was maintained under a saturated humid environment (85 % relative humidity). These results prove that these double-layer inorganic–organic composite sensing materials are excellent candidates to serve as optimal gas-sensing materials.     

Redheffer type bounds for Bessel and modified Bessel functions of the first kind

In this paper our aim is to show some new inequalities of the Redheffer type for Bessel and modified Bessel functions of the first kind. The key tools in our proofs are some classical results on the monotonicity of quotients of differentiable functions as well as on the monotonicity of quotients of two power series. We also use some known results on the quotients of Bessel and modified Bessel functions of the first kind, and by using the monotonicity of the Dirichlet eta function we prove a sharp inequality for the tangent function. At the end of the paper a conjecture is stated, which may be of interest for further research.     

Phthalazine-1,4-dione derivatives as non-competitive AMPA receptor antagonists: design,synthesis, anticonvulsant evaluation,ADMET profile and molecular docking

Molecular Diversity - In view of the anticonvulsant activity reported for phthalazine derivatives as non-competitive AMPA receptor antagonists, a new series of phthalazine-1,4-diones (2–12)...     

Spatiotemporal patterns of stable isotopes and hydrochemistry in springs and river flow of the upper Karkheh River Basin,Iran

Karst springs of the Zagros Mountains contribute a significant amount to agricultural and human water demands of western and south-western Iran. For an adequate management of available water resources in semi-arid and arid regions, sufficient hydrological monitoring is needed, and hydro-chemical and isotope hydrological data provide important additional information. About 350 water samples were collected from precipitation, river water, and karst springs of the upper part of the Karkheh River Basin (20,895 km²) located between 33°35^′ and 34°55^′ North and 46°22^′ and 49°10^′ East with elevations ranging from 928 to 3563 m above sea level. Sampling was conducted in monthly time resolution from August 2011 to July 2012. All samples were analysed for hydro-chemical parameters (pH, electrical conductivity, and major ions) and stable isotopes (deuterium, oxygen-18). Isotope values of precipitation indicate a local meteoric water line (Zagros MWL δ²H=6.8 δ¹⁸O+10.1; R²=0.99) situated between the Mediterranean MWL and Global MWL. Spring and river water isotope values vary between?7.1 and?4.1 ‰, and?38 and?25 ‰ for δ¹⁸O and δ²H, respectively, responding to winter snowmelt and evaporation. This work implements stable isotopes and hydro-chemical information of springs and river water to understand hydrological and hydro-geological interrelations in karstic semi-arid areas and helps to improve the current water resources management practices of western Iran.     

Crystal Structure and Hirshfeld Surface Analysis of Bis(3-thienoyl) Disulfide

The spectroscopic characterization (¹H, ¹³C{¹H} NMR, UV–Vis) and single-crystal X-ray diffraction (scXRD) analysis accomplished by inspection of the Hirshfeld surface of bis(3-thienoyl) disulfide (1) is described. The title compound 1 crystallizes in the monoclinic space group P2₁/n. The unit cell parameters are a?=?7.9959(3) Å, b?=?6.4348(3) Å, c?=?22.4924(9) Å, β?=?100.108(4)°, V?=?1139.32(8) ų, Z?=?4, R_gt(F)?=?0.0278, wR_ref(F²)?=?0.0667. The packing of 1 is dominated by S?O and S?S interactions, giving a 2D layer structure parallel to (101). The X‐ray crystal structure analysis revealed the packing of 1 is dominated by S?O and S?S interactions, giving a 2D layer structure parallel to (101). The intermolecular interactions in 1 were analyzed using the Hirshfeld surface method including 2D fingerprint plots and enrichment ratios (E), which shows that the most favored intermolecular contacts are the O?H and C?S indicated by E values above 1.30. The interaction energies between molecular pairs revealed the importance of the weak O?H and C?S interactions in stabilizing the molecular structure of 1.

Graphic Abstract

Single crystal X-ray structure analysis, DFT calculations and Hirshfeld surface analysis to identify intermolecular interactions within the solid state structure of bis(3-thienoyl) disulfide (1).

     

Cation behavior at an artificial cell interface: binding distinguished by ion hydration energetics and size

The unique molybdenum oxide-based nucleophilic porous capsule/artificial cell [{(MoVI)MoVI5O21(H2O)6}12{MoV2O4(SO4)30}]72-, according to an X-ray crystallographic study, traps [Al(H2O)6]3+ complexes above the pores while interacting with the latter via hydrogen bonds; this is supported by 27Al NMR studies of the interaction of the capsule with hydrated Al3+ cations in aqueous solution.     

Construction of novel simple phosphate screen-printed and carbon paste ion-selective electrodes

The construction and performance characteristics of different phosphate ion-selective electrodes are described. Three types of electrodes are demonstrated, namely screen-printed, carbon paste and the conventional PVC membrane electrodes. The cited electrodes are based on bisthiourea ionophores and show a considerable selectivity towards hydrogenphosphate with Nernstian slopes depending on the type of the electrode and the ionophore used. Matrix compositions of each electrode are optimised on the basis of effects of type and concentration of the ionophore as well as influence of the selected plasticizers. The screen-printed electrodes work satisfactorily in the concentration range 10⁻⁵ to 10⁻² mol L⁻¹ with anionic Nernstian compliance (32.8 mV/decade activity) and detection limit 4.0 × 10⁻⁶ mol L⁻¹. The screen-printed electrodes show fast response time of about 2.2 s and exhibit adequate shelf-life (4 months). The fabricated electrodes can be also successfully used in the potentiometric titration of HPO₄²⁻ with Ba²⁺.     

Implementations of two-dimensional liquid chromatography

Today scientists must deal with complex samples that either cannot be adequately separated using one-dimensional chromatography or that require an inordinate amount of time for separation. For these cases we need two-dimensional chromatography because it takes far less time to generate a peak capacity n(c) twice in a row than to generate a peak capacity n(c)(2) once. Liquid chromatography has been carried out successfully on thin layers of adsorbents and along tubes filled with various adsorbents. The first type of separation sorts out the sample components in a physical separation space that is the layer of packing material. The analysis time is the same for all the components of the sample while their migration distance increases with decreasing retention. The resolution between two components having a certain separation factor (alpha) increases with increasing migration distance, i.e., from the strongly to the weakly retained compounds. In the second type of separation, the sample components are eluted from the column and separated in the time space, their migration distances are all the same while their retention times increase from the unretained to the strongly retained compounds. Separation efficiency varies little with retention, as long as the components are eluted from the column. We call these two types of separation the chromatographic separations in space (LC(x)) and the chromatographic separations in time (LC(t)), respectively. In principle, there are four ways to combine these two modes and do two-dimensional chromatographic separations, LC(t)xLC(t), LC(x)xLC(t), LC(t)xLC(x), and LC(x)xLC(x). We review, discuss and compare the potential performance of these combinations, their advantages, drawbacks, problems, perspectives and results. Currently, column-based combinations (LC(t)xLC(t)) are the most actively pursued. We suggest that the combination LC(x)xLC(t) shows exceptional promise because it permits the simultaneous second-dimension separations of all the fractions separated in the first-dimension, thus providing remarkable time saving.