On the Landau-Levich transition

We discuss here the nature of the Landau-Levich transition, that is, the dynamical transition that occurs when drawing a solid out of a bath of a liquid that partially wets this solid. Above a threshold velocity, a film is entrained by the solid. We measure the macroscopic contact angle between the liquid and the solid by different methods, and conclude that this angle might be discontinuous at the transition. We also present a model to understand this fact and the shape of the meniscus as drawing the solid.     

Trace determination of EDTA from water samples using dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction coupled with HPLC-DAD

Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) in conjunction with high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) has been applied to the extraction and determination of EDTA in sediments and water samples. The effect of extraction, nature and volume of disperser solvent, pH value of sample solution, extraction time and extraction temperature were investigated. Under the optimal conditions the analytical range of EDTA was from 3.0 to 50.0 μg L^?1 with a correlation coefficient of 0.9982 and a detection limit of 1.7 μg L^?1. The relative standard deviation (RSD) was less than 5.4% (n?=?5), and the recovery values were in the range of 89–95%. The simplicity, high enrichment, high recovery and good repeatability are the main advantages of the method presented. The DLLME-HPLC-DAD method was successfully applied to the analysis of EDTA in aqueous samples.     

Electrodeposited Silver Nanoparticles on Carbon Ionic Liquid Electrode for Electrocatalytic Sensing of Hydrogen Peroxide

Silver nanoparticles (narrowly dispersed in diameter) were electrodeposited on carbon ionic liquid electrode (CILE) surface using a two‐step potentiostatic method. Potentiostatic double pulse technique was used as a suitable and simple method for controlling the size and morphologies of silver nanoparticles electrodeposited on CILE. The obtained silver nanoparticles deposited on CILE surface showed excellent electrocatalytic activity (low overpotential of ?0.35 V vs. Ag/AgCl) towards reduction of hydrogen peroxide. A linear dynamic range of 2–200 μM with an experimental detection limit of 0.7 μM (S/N=3) and reproducibility of 4.1% (n=5) make the constructed sensor suitable for peroxide determination in aqueous solutions.     

Indirect determination of hexavalent chromium ion in complex matrices by adsorptive stripping voltammetry at a mercury electrode

A sensitive method for the determination of chromium ion(VI) in complex matrices such as crude oil and sludge is presented based on the decreasing effect of Cr(VI) on cathodic adsorptive stripping peak height of Cu-adenine complex. Under the optimum experimental conditions (pH 7.5 Britton-Robinson buffer, 5 × 10⁻⁵ M copper, 8 × 10⁻⁶ M adenine and accumulation potential −250 mV versus Ag/AgCl), a linear decrease of the peak current of Cu-adenine was observed, when the chromium(VI) concentration was increased from 5 μg L⁻¹ to 120 μg L⁻¹. Detection limit of 2 μg L⁻¹ was achieved for 120 s accumulation time. The relative standard deviations (R.S.D., %) were 1.8% and 4% for chromium(VI) concentrations of 18 μg L⁻¹ and 100 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The method was applied to the determination of chromium(VI) in the presence of high levels of chromium(III), in various real samples such as crude oil, crude oil tank button sludge, waste water and tap water samples. Effects of foreign ions and surfactants on the voltammetric peak and the influences of instrumental and analytical parameters were investigated in detail. The accuracy of the results was checked by ICP and/or AA.     

Morphology-dependent photonic circuit elements

We theoretically propose and experimentally demonstrate the design of a novel one-dimensional ringlike macroscopic optical circuit element. The similarity between morphologies of an optical planar waveguide and a whispering-gallery axially symmetric solid-state resonator is used.     

Transient response of laminated plates with arbitrary laminations and boundary conditions under general dynamic loadings

The dynamic analysis of laminated plates with various loading and boundary conditions is presented employing generalized differential quadrature (GDQ) method. The first-order shear deformation theory is considered to model the transient response of the plate. The GDQ technique together with Newmark integration scheme is employed to solve the system of transient equations governing dynamics of the plate. Different symmetric and asymmetric lamination sequences together with various combinations of clamped, simply supported, and free boundary conditions are considered. Particular interest of this study regards to asymmetric orthotropic plates having free edge and mixed boundary conditions. It is shown that the method provides reasonably accurate results with relatively small number of grid points. Comparison of the results with those of other methods demonstrates a very good agreement. It is also revealed that the present method offers similar order of accuracy for all variables including displacements and stress resultants.     

Quantum correlations of helicity entangled states in non-inertial frames beyond single mode approximation

A helicity entangled tripartite state is considered in which the degree of entanglement is preserved in non-inertial frames. It is shown that Quantum Entanglement remains observer independent. As another measure of quantum correlation, Quantum Discord has been investigated. It is explicitly shown that acceleration has no effect on the degree of quantum correlation for the bipartite and tripartite helicity entangled states. Geometric Quantum Discord as a Hilbert–Schmidt distance is computed for helicity entangled states. It is shown that living in non-inertial frames does not make any influence on this distance, either. In addition, the analysis has been extended beyond single mode approximation to show that acceleration does not have any impact on the quantum features in the limit beyond the single mode. As an interesting result, while the density matrix depends on the right and left Unruh modes, the Negativity as a measure of Quantum Entanglement remains constant. Also, Quantum Discord does not change beyond single mode approximation.     

Improving anti-reflectivity and laser damage threshold of \hbox {SiO}_{2}/\hbox {ZrO}_{2} thin films by laser shock peening at 1064 nm

In this study, anti-reflection (AR) \(\hbox {SiO}_{2}/ \hbox {ZrO}_{2}\) thin films with 3-layers were designed and fabricated by the essential Macleod software and physical vapor deposition, respectively. In order to improve the optical and physical properties of the prepared samples, laser shock peening (LSP) technique was applied. For this purpose, an Argon Fluoride Excimer laser \((\lambda =193 \,\text {nm})\) with 110 and 240 mJ energies and 1 Hz frequency at different pulses was used. The effect of LSP method in improving transmissions and laser damage thresholds of the prepared samples was proved by using UV–Vis–IR spectroscopy in the wavelength range of 400–1200 nm and international standard ISO11254 at 1064 nm. In addition, scanning electron microscopy was used to check the effect of applying LSP.     

Determination of δ‐[L‐α‐aminoadipyl]‐L‐cysteinyl‐D‐valine in cell extracts of Penicillium chrysogenum using ion pair‐RP‐UPLC‐MS/MS

δ‐[L ‐α‐Aminoadipyl]‐L ‐cysteinyl‐D ‐valine (ACV) is a key intermediate in the biosynthesis pathway of penicillins and cephalosporins. Therefore, the accurate quantification of ACV is relevant, e.g. for kinetic studies on the production of these β‐lactam antibiotics. However, accurate quantification of ACV is a challenge, because it is an active thiol compound which, upon exposure to air, can easily react with other thiol compounds to form oxidized disulfides. We have found that, during exposure to air, the oxidation of ACV occurs both in aqueous standard solutions as well as in biological samples. Qualitative and quantitative determinations of ACV and the oxidized dimer bis‐δ‐[L ‐α‐aminoadipyl]‐L ‐cysteinyl‐D ‐valine have been carried out using ion pair reversed‐phase ultra high‐performance liquid chromatography, hyphenated with tandem mass spectrometry (IP‐RP‐UPLC‐MS/MS) as the analytical platform. We show that by application of tris(2‐carboxy‐ethyl)phosphine hydrochloride (TCEP) as the reducing reagent, the total amount of ACV can be determined, while using maleimide as derivatizing reagent enables to quantify the free reduced form only.