The production of enantiomerically pure 1-phenylethanol by enzymatic kinetic resolution method using response surface methodology

As the enantiomers of 1-phenylethanol are valuable intermediates in several industries, the lipase catalyzed kinetic resolution of (R,S) -1-phenylethanol is a relevant research topic. In this study, the goal was to determine the optimum reaction parameters to produce enantiomerically pure 1-phenylethanol by lipase (Novozyme 435) catalyzed kinetic resolution using response surface methodology (RSM). Reactions were performed with 40–400 mM (R,S)-1-phenylethanol, 120–1200 mM vinyl acetate and 2–22 mg/mL biocatalyst concentrations (BC _L ), at 20–60 °C and with a stirring rate of 50–400 rpm for 5–120 min. The samples were analyzed using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with a Chiralcel OB column. Optimum reaction parameters to reach 100% enantiomeric excess for the substrate ( ee _s ) were determined as follows: substrate concentration (C _s ): 240 mM, BC _L : 11 mg/mL, at 42 °C with a reaction time of 75 min. Model validation was performed using these conditions and ee _s was calculated as 100%, which indicates the predicted model was efficient and accurate. When compared to the literature, it was observed that the reaction time decreased significantly. This is an important result considering the industrial scale perspective.     

On exact solutions for time-fractional Korteweg-de Vries and Korteweg-de Vries-Burger’s equations using homotopy analysis transform method

In this paper we consider the homotopy analysis transform method (HATM) to solve the time fractional order Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) and Korteweg-de Vries-Burger’s (KdVB) equations. The HATM is a combination of the Laplace decomposition method (LDM) and the homotopy analysis method (HAM). The fractional derivatives are defined in the Caputo sense. This method gives the solution in the form of a rapidly convergent series with h-curves are used to determine the intervals of convergent. Averaged residual errors are used to find the optimal values of h. It is found that the optimal h accelerates the convergence of the HATM, with the rate of convergence depending on the parameters in the KdV and KdVB equations. The HATM solutions are compared with exact solutions and excellent agreement is found.     

Estimation of cosmological parameters,stability analysis and energy conditions in viable modified gravity

In the present paper, we have investigated the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) model in viable f(R, T) gravity with f(R, T) function proposed as $f(R,T)=R+\xi T^{1/2},$ where ξ is an arbitrary constant, R is the scalar curvature and T is the trace of stress energy tensor. Defining the scale factor, the field equations are solved numerically and the energy conditions are analyzed. Further, determining Hubble parameter and deceleration parameter, their present values are estimated. Furthermore, 57 redshift data (42 redshift data from Supernova Cosmology project and 15 redshift data from Calán/ Tolono Supernova survey) are used to estimate the age of the universe and to find the best fit curves for luminosity distance and apparent magnitude.     

Towards a general framework for fast and feasible k-space trajectories for MRI based on projection methods

The design of feasible trajectories to traverse the k-space for sampling in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is important while considering ways to reduce the scan time. Over the recent years, non-Cartesian trajectories have been observed to result in benign artifacts and being less sensitive to motion. In this paper, we propose a generalized framework that encompasses projection-based methods to generate feasible non-Cartesian k-space trajectories. This framework allows to construct feasible trajectories from both random or structured initial trajectories, e.g., based on the traveling salesman problem (TSP). We evaluate the performance of the proposed methods by simulating the reconstruction of 128 × 128 and 256 × 256 phantom and brain MRI images in terms of structural similarity (SSIM) index and peak signal-to-noise ratio (PSNR) using compressed sensing techniques. It is observed that the TSP-based trajectories from the proposed projection method with constant acceleration parameterization (CAP) result in better reconstruction compared to the projection method with constant velocity parameterization (CVP) and this for a similar read-out time. Further, random-like trajectories are observed to be better than TSP-based trajectories as they reduce the read-out time while providing better reconstruction quality. A reduction in read-out time by upto 67% is achieved using the proposed projection with permutation (PP) method.     

A review on textile sonoprocessing: A special focus on sonosynthesis of nanomaterials on textile substrates

The chemical and physical effects of ultrasound with a frequency above 16 kHz, higher than the audible frequency of the human ear, have proven to be a useful tool for variety of systems ranging from the application of ultrasound in environmental remediation to the cooperation of ultrasound waves with chemical processing regarding as sonochemistry. Ultrasound opened up new advances in textile wet processing including desizing, scouring, bleaching, dyeing, printing and finishing and also nanoprocessing including nanopretreatment, nanodyeing, nanoprinting and nanofinishing. Use of ultrasound appears to be a promising alternative technique to reduce energy, chemicals and time involved in various operations. Over the past years there has been an enormous effort on using sonochemistry for the synthesis of nanomaterials on various textile materials. In situ sonosynthesis of nanoparticles and nanocomposites on different textiles is a pioneering approach driving future investigations. With such wide range of applications and vast ever increasing publications, the objective of this paper is presenting a comprehensive review on ultrasound application in textile from early time to now by the main emphasis on the sonosynthesis of nanomaterials outlining directions toward future research.