The Effect of Carbon Fibers Modification on the Mechanical Properties of Polyamide Composites for Automobile Applications

Mechanics of Composite Materials - Carbon fiber (CF)/ polyamide (PA6) composites are one of the most promising thermoplastic materials for automobile applications. However, the interfacial...     

On Generalized Douglas–Weyl(α, β)-Metrics

In this paper, we study generalized Douglas–Weyl(α, β)-metrics. Suppose that a regular(α, β)-metric F is not of Randers type. We prove that F is a generalized Douglas–Weyl metric with vanishing S-curvature if and only if it is a Berwald metric. Moreover, by ignoring the regularity, if F is not a Berwald metric, then we find a family of almost regular Finsler metrics which is not Douglas nor Weyl. As its application, we show that generalized Douglas–Weyl square metric or Matsumoto metric with isotropic mean Berwald curvature are Berwald metrics.     

Eco‐friendly ionic liquid assisted capillary electrophoresis and α‐acid glycoprotein‐assisted liquid chromatography for simultaneous determination of anticancer drugs in human fluids

In the current work, two eco‐friendly analytical methods based on capillary electrophoresis (CE) and reversed phase liquid chromatography (RPLC) were developed for simultaneous determination of the most commonly used anticancer drugs for Hodgkin's disease: methotrexate (MTX), vinblastine, chlorambucil and dacarbazine. A background electrolyte (BGE) of 12.5 mmol/L phosphate buffer at pH 7.4 and 0.1 µmol/L 1‐butyl‐3‐methyl imidazolium bromide (BMImBr) ionic liquid (IL) was used for CE measurements at 250 nm detection wavelength, 20 kV applied voltage and 25 °C. The rinsing protocol was significantly improved to reduce the adsorption of IL on the interior surface of capillary. Moreover, RPLC method was developed on α‐1‐acid glycoprotein (AGP) column. Mobile phase was 10 mmol/L phosphate buffer at pH 6.0 (100% v/v) and flow rate at 0.1 mL/min. As AGP is a chiral column, it was successfully separated l ‐MTX from its enantiomer impurity d ‐MTX. Good linearity of quantitative analysis was achieved with coefficients of determinations (r²) >0.995. The stability of drugs measurements was investigated with adequate recoveries up to 24 h storage time under ambient temperature. The limits of detection were <50 and 90 ng/mL by CE and RPLC, respectively. The using of short‐chain IL as an additive in BGE achieved 600‐fold sensitivity enhancement compared with conventional Capillary Zone Electrophoresis (CZE). Therefore, for the first time, the proposed methods were successfully applied to determine simultaneously the analytes in human plasma and urine samples at clinically relevant concentrations with fast and simple pretreatments. Developed IL‐assisted CE and RPLC methods were also applied to measure MTX levels in patients’ samples over time. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Separation and analysis of triazine herbcide residues by capillary electrophoresis

Triazines are widely used in agriculture around the world as selective pre‐ and post‐emergence herbicides for the control of broad leaf and grassy weeds. With high toxicity and persistence, triazines can contaminate the environment and crops, so the development of rapid and sensitive methods for the determination of different triazines is necessary. Capillary electrophoresis comprises a group of techniques used to separate chemical mixtures. Analytical separation is based on different electrophoretic mobilities. This review focuses on the analysis of triazine herbicides with different modes of capillary electrophoresis, including capillary zone electrophoresis, micellar electrokinetic capillary electrophoresis, capillary electrochromatography and nonaqueous capillary electrophoresis. Determinations of triazines in various matrices such as surface water, groundwater, vegetables, soil and grains are emphasized. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Modified lattice Boltzmann solution for non-isothermal rarefied gas flow through microchannel utilizing BSR and second-order implicit schemes

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Thermal microscale gas flow was simulated into a coplanar microchannel was simulated at a broad range of Knudsen numbers. Attempts were made to improve...     

Dinuclear gold (I)-di-N-heterocyclic carbene complexes: syntheses,structure, density functional theory calculation and photoluminescence study

The synthesis and characterizations for a series of dinuclear gold (I)-di-NHC complexes, 1–8 through the trans-metalation method of their respective silver (I)-di-NHC complexes, i–viii are reported (where NHC = N-heterocyclic carbene). The successful complexation of a series of unusual non-symmetrical and symmetrical di-NHC ligands, 3,3'-(ethane-1,2-diyl)-1-alkylbenzimidazolium-1'-butylbenzimidazolium (with alkyl = methyl, ethyl, propyl, butyl, pentyl, hexyl, heptyl, benzyl) with the gold (I) ions are suggested by elemental analysis, Fourier transform-infrared, ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR data. The ¹³C-NMR spectra of 1–8 show a singlet sharp peak in the range of 190.00–192.00 ppm, indicating the presence of a carbene carbon that bonded to the gold (I) ion. From single crystal X-ray diffraction data, the structure of complex 6 with the formula of [di-NHC-Au (I)]₂·2PF₆ is obtained [where NHC = 3,3'-(ethane-1,2-diyl)-1-hexylbenzimidazolium-1'-butylbenzimidazolium]. The photophysical study in solid state of 6 displays an intense photoluminescence with a strong emission maxima, λ_em = 480 nm, upon excitation at 340 nm at room temperature. Interestingly, the emission maximum at 77 K shows a structural character with a strong peak at 410 nm, a medium at 433 nm and a weak at 387 nm, accompanied by a tail band to about 500 nm.     

Novel halogenated cyclopentasilylene-2,4-dienes via DFT

In view of immense importance of silylenes and the fact that their properties undergo significant changes on substitution with halogens, here, we have used B3LYP/6-311++G** level of theory to access the effects of 1–4 halogens (X = F, Cl, Br, and I) on four unprecedented sets of cyclopentasilylene-2,4-dienes; with the following formulas: SiC₄H₃X ( 1 _X ), SiC₄H₂X₂ ( 2 _X ), SiC₄HX₃ ( 3 _X ), and SiC₄X₄ ( 4 _X ). In going down from F to I, the singlet (s)-triplet (t) energy gap (ΔE_s-t, a possible indication of stability), and band gap (ΔE_H-L) decrease while nucleophilicity (N), chemical potential (μ), and proton affinity (PA) increase. The overall order of N, μ, and PA for each X is 2 _X > 1 _X > 3 _X > 4 _X . Precedence of 2 _X over 1 _X is attributed to the symmetric cross conjugation in the former. The highest and lowest N are shown by 2 _I and 4 _F . The trend of divalent angle () for each X is 4 _X > 1 _X > 3 _X > 2 _X . The results show that in going from electron withdrawing groups (EWGs) to electron donating groups (EDGs), the ΔE_s-t and ΔE_H-L decrease while N, μ, and PA increase. Also, rather high N of our scrutinized silylenes may suggest new promising ligands in organometallic chemistry.     

Periodicity and convergence for xn+1=|xn−xn−1|

Each solution {x_n} of the equation in the title is either eventually periodic with period 3 or else, it converges to zero—which case occurs depends on whether the ratio of the initial values of {x_n} is rational or irrational. Further, the sequence of ratios {x_n/x_n−1} satisfies a first-order difference equation that has periodic orbits of all integer periods except 3. p-cycles for each p≠3 are explicitly determined in terms of the Fibonacci numbers. In spite of the non-existence of period 3, the unique positive fixed point of the first-order equation is shown to be a snap-back repeller so the irrational ratios behave chaotically.     

Spectrophotometric and AAS determination of trace amounts of cobalt after preconcentration by using alpha-benzilmonoxime-microcrystalline naphthalene.

The formed cobalt-a-benzilmonoxime complex was adsorbed onto microcrystalline naphthalene. Then it was determined by zero and first derivative spectrophotometry and by atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) after dissolving into chloroform and methylisobutylketone (MIBK), respectively. Under optimum conditions, cobalt in the range of 1.0 - 20.0, 0.4 - 30.0 and 2.5 - 50.0 microg could be determined by spectrophotometry, first derivative spectrophotometry and AAS method, respectively. By the method, a preconcentration factor equal to approximately 30 for cobalt was obtained. The effect of diverse ions on the determination of 5.0 microg cobalt was also studied. The method was successfully applied to some pharmaceuticals and synthetic alloy samples.     

On the Linear Complexity Profile of Nonlinear Congruential Pseudorandom Number Generators with Dickson Polynomials

Linear complexity and linear complexity profile are important characteristics of a sequence for applications in cryptography and Monte-Carlo methods. The nonlinear congruential method is an attractive alternative to the classical linear congruential method for pseudorandom number generation. Recently, a weak lower bound on the linear complexity profile of a general nonlinear congruential pseudorandom number generator was proven by Gutierrez, Shparlinski and the first author. For most nonlinear generators a much stronger lower bound is expected. Here, we obtain a much stronger lower bound on the linear complexity profile of nonlinear congruential pseudorandom number generators with Dickson polynomials.