Superior diffusion kinetics and electrochemical properties of α/β–type NaMn0.89Co0.11O2 as cathode for sodium-ion batteries

Journal of Solid State Electrochemistry - Sodium-ion batteries have emerged as an exciting alternative to commercially dominant lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles and other applications....     

Synthesis and evaluation of a novel natural-based phosphine antioxidant for the thermal stabilization of polyethylene

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - A new phosphine-type potential secondary stabilizer was synthesized successfully with large natural raw material content. The stabilizer is a waxy...     

Amorphous alloys and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - A remarkable number of scientific papers are available in the literature about the bulk amorphous alloys and metallic glasses. Today, DSC is an...     

Effectiveness of Photodynamic Therapy in Elimination of HPV‐16 and HPV‐18 Associated with CIN I in Mexican Women

This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of photodynamic therapy (PDT), using δ‐aminolevulinic acid (5‐ALA), in the elimination of premalignant cervical lesions in Mexican patients with human papillomavirus (HPV) infection and/or cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN). Thirty women diagnosed with CIN I and/or positive for HPV participated in the study. Topical 6% 5‐ALA in gel form was applied to the uterine cervix; after 4 h, the lesion area was irradiated with a light dose of 200 J cm^?2 at 635 nm. This procedure was performed three times at 48‐h intervals. Clinical follow‐up was performed at 3, 6, and 12 months after the initial PDT administration, by colposcopy, cervical cytology, histopathological analysis, polymerase chain reaction, and hybrid capture. Of HPV‐infected patients without evidence of CIN I, 80% cleared the infection, while HPV associated with CIN I was eliminated in 83% of patients (P < 0.05). At 12 months, CIN I had regressed in 57% of patients, although this response was not statistically significant. PDT using 6% 5‐ALA is concluded to be effective in eliminating HPV infection associated or not with CIN I.     

Inorganic Elements in Mytilus galloprovincialis Shells: Geographic Traceability by Multivariate Analysis of ICP-MS Data

The international seafood trade is based on food safety, quality, sustainability, and traceability. Mussels are bio-accumulative sessile organisms that need regular control to guarantee their safe consumption. However, no well-established and validated methods exist to trace mussel origin, even if several attempts have been made over the years. Recently, an inorganic multi-elemental fingerprint coupled to multivariate statistics has increasingly been applied in food quality control. The mussel shell can be an excellent reservoir of foreign inorganic chemical species, allowing recording long-term environmental changes. The present work investigates the multi-elemental composition of mussel shells, including Al, Cu, Cr, Zn, Mn, Cd, Co, U, Ba, Ni, Pb, Mg, Sr, and Ca, determined by inductively-coupled plasma mass-spectrometry in Mytilus galloprovincialis collected along the Central Adriatic Coast (Marche Region, Italy) at 25 different sampling sites (18 farms and 7 natural banks) located in seven areas. The experimental data, coupled with chemometric approaches (principal components analysis and linear discriminant analysis), were used to create a statistical model able to discriminate samples as a function of their production site. The LDA model is suitable for achieving a correct assignment of >90% of individuals sampled to their respective harvesting locations and for being applied to counteract fraud.     

Multivariate statistical analysis approach to assess groundwater quality in two selected mandals of Vizianagaram district,Andhra Pradesh,India

Groundwater quality is the major concern all over the world. Natural processes and manmade activities are the prime reasons for the contamination of available water resources. It is crucial to assess the quality of groundwater in areas surrounded by various industries. The present study was carried out to assess the groundwater quality during pre-monsoon and post monsoon seasons of 2016, in two mandals of Vizianagaram district of Andhra Pradesh via multivariate statistical analysis and water quality index method. The present work gains importance in light of the construction of proposed international airport at Bhohapuram and the existence of various industries in Pusapatirega mandal. A total of thirty-seven villages, eighteen from Bhogapuram mandal and seventeen from Pusapatirega mandal were selected for the present study. Factor analysis, linear regression analysis, correlation matrix analysis and cluster analysis tools were used to emphasize the parameters influencing quality of water in the chosen study area. From the analysis reports, it was found that the groundwater of the two mandals under investigation was strongly influenced by EC, TDS, total hardness(TH), Ca⁺², Mg⁺² and K⁺. During the two seasons under study, the water quality index value was found to be greater than 100 indicating that the water is unfit for human consumption. Concentration of Ca⁺², Mg⁺² and K⁺ were found to be beyond the permissible limits prescribed by BIS (2012). Dissolution of calcium and magnesium bearing minerals, mixing of industrial and household wastes may be the reasons for elevated concentration levels of these parameters.     

NMR spectroscopic characterization of new 2,3‐dihydro‐1,3,4‐thiadiazole derivatives

The ¹H and ¹³C NMR resonances of twenty‐seven 2,2‐dimethyl‐5‐(2‐nitrophenyl‐5‐substituted)‐2,3‐dihydro‐1,3,4‐thiadiazoles, and twenty‐seven 3‐acyl‐5‐(2‐amino‐5‐substituted)‐2,2‐dimethyl‐2,3‐dihydro‐1,3,4‐thiadiazoles were assigned completely using the concerted application of one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional experiments (DEPT, HMQC and HMBC). NOESY experiments, X‐ray crystallography and conformational analysis confirm the preferred conformation of these compounds. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Small D–π–A Systems with o‐Phenylene‐Bridged Accepting Units as Active Materials for Organic Photovoltaics

Donor–acceptor (D–π–A) systems that combine triarylamine donor blocks and dicyanovinyl (DCV) acceptor groups have been synthesized. Starting from the triphenylamine (TPA)? thiophene? DCV compound ( 1 ) as a reference system, various synthetic approaches have been developed for controlling the light‐harvesting properties and energy levels of the frontier orbitals in this molecule. Thus, the introduction of methoxy groups onto TPA, the replacement of one phenyl ring of TPA by a thiophene ring, or the extension of the π‐conjugating spacer group lead to the modulation of the HOMO level. On the other hand, the fusion of the DCV group onto the vicinal thiophene ring by an ortho‐phenylene bridge allows for a specific fine‐tuning of the LUMO level. The electronic properties of the molecules were analyzed by using UV/Vis spectroscopy and cyclic voltammetry and the compounds were evaluated as donor materials in basic bilayer planar heterojunction solar cells by using C₆₀ as acceptor material. The relationships between the electronic properties of the donors and the performance of the corresponding photovoltaic devices are discussed. Bilayer planar heterojunction solar cells that used reference compound 1 and C₇₀ afforded power‐conversion efficiencies of up to 3.7 %.     

Landau theory for isotropic,nematic, smectic-A,and smectic-C phases

ABSTRACT

We use the Landau theory of phase transitions to describe the phase diagram of a liquid crystal displaying the isotropic (i), nematic (N), smectic-A and smectic-C phases. The order parameter of the smectic-C phase is defined as the projection of the director on the plane of the smectic layers, vanishing in the smectic-A phase. We present a detailed phase diagram that shows transition between any two of these phases, containing a triple point INA, a Lifshitz point NAC, a tricritical at the NA line, and a critical end point IAC. As one approaches the NC line from the smectic-C phase, the tilt angle approaches a nonzero value, but if the AC line is approached, the tilt angle vanishes according to the distance to the AC line to the power 1/2.