Electrochemical Sensor Based on Thioether Oligomer Poly(N‐vinylpyrrolidone)‐modified Gold Electrode for Bisphenol A Detection

Presently, bisphenol A (BPA) has been added to the list of substances of very high concern as endocrine disruptors. According to the literature, exposure to bisphenol A even at low doses may result in adverse health effects. In this study, electrochemical sensor of Bisphenol A based on thioether DDT‐Poly(N‐vinylpyrrolidone) oligomer has been developed. The thioether oligomer, which is capable of recognizing BPA, was prepared and used for gold electrode modification. The characterization of the modified gold electrode and the synthesized thioether oligomer were carried out by cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), atomic force microscopy (AFM), Fourier‐transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), proton nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H NMR) and Size exclusion chromatography (SEC). Obtained results indicate that the modified electrode shows good electrochemical activity, good sensitivity and reproducibility for BPA detection. It exhibited a good linear relationship ranging from 1 to 20 pg/mL, and the detection limit was found to be 1.9 pg/mL at S/N=3. Several interfering species such as hydroquinone, phenol and resorcinol were used and their behaviors on the modified gold electrode were investigated.     

General Decay Rate for Nonlinear Thermoviscoelastic System with a Weak Damping and Nonlinear Source Term

Mediterranean Journal of Mathematics - In this paper, we consider a nonlinear system of thermoviscoelastic with a nonlinear boundary damping and nonlinear source, in a bounded domain Ω, under...     

Opto-electronic properties and molecular design of new materials based on pyrrole studied by DFT

In this work, we investigate oligopyrroles and derivatives, which serve as models for corresponding polymers. In order to discuss these materials, we carried out DFT calculations and used DFT methods to calculate ground state electronic structures. We are particularly interested in exploring the potential of several substituent groups as electron donors with numerous ties to electronic materials by exploring and comparing the energies of HOMO, LUMO, Gap energies, and structural properties. Results are discussed in comparison with the properties of the doped oligomers. The theoretical ground-state geometry and electronic structure of the studied molecules were obtained by the DFT method at B3LYP level with 6-31G(d) basis set. The opto-electronic properties of these materials were determined by ZINDO/s and TD//B3LYP/6-31G(d) calculations performed on the B3LYP/6-31(d) optimized geometries. The results of this study demonstrate how electronic properties can be tuned by the backbone ring or side group and suggest these compounds as good candidates for opto-electronic applications.     

Preparation and enantioseparation characteristics of three chiral stationary phases based on modified β-cyclodextrin for liquid chromatography

In order to study the effect of the nature and the length of the spacer, three mixed 10-undecenoate/phenylcarbamate derivatives of β-cyclodextrin have been prepared and linked to allylsilica gel by means of a radical reaction. The chiral recognition ability of the resulting materials, when used as liquid chromatography chiral stationary phases (CSPs), was evaluated using heptane and either 2-propanol or chloroform as organic mobile-phase modifiers. A large variety of racemic compounds have been separated successfully on these CSPs (mainly pharmaceuticals and herbicides). Optimization of these separations was discussed in terms of mobile-phase composition and structural patterns of the injected analytes. The efficiencies of the three prepared materials were compared to those of previously described perphenylated-β-cyclodextrin column and to analogous cellulose derivative-based CSPs. Schematic illustration of the b-cyclodextrin/mandelic acid inclusion complex     

An improved automated ultrasonic NDE system by wavelet and neuron networks

Despite of the widespread and increasing use of digitized signals, the ultrasonic testing community has not realized yet the full potential of the electronic processing. The performance of an ultrasonic flaw detection method is evaluated by the success of distinguishing the flaw echoes from those scattered by microstructures. So, de-noising of ultrasonic signals is extremely important as to correctly identify smaller defects, because the probability of detection usually decreases as the defect size decreases, while the probability of false call does increase. In this paper, the wavelet transform has been successfully experimented to suppress noise and to enhance flaw location from ultrasonic signal, with a good defect localization. The obtained result is then directed to an automatic Artificial Neuronal Networks classification and learning algorithm of defects from A-scan data. Since there is some uncertainty connected with the testing technique, the system needs a numerical modelling. So, knowing the technical characteristics of the transducer, we can preview which are the defects that experimental inspection should find. Indeed, the system performs simulation of the ultrasonic wave propagation in the material, and gives a very helpful tool to get information and physical phenomena understanding, which can help to a suitable prediction of the service life of the component.     

Preparation and chromatographic properties of a multimodal chiral stationary phase based on phenyl-carbamate-propyl-beta-CD for HPLC

A phenylcarbamate derivative of 2-hydroxypropyl-beta-CD bonded stationary phase was prepared by a previously described method. Its enantiomeric recognition abilities were evaluated as chiral stationary phase (CSP) in normal, polar organic and RP conditions by HPLC. The relevant structural features of the prepared stationary phase which make it an effective chiral selector are discussed. This material seems to have an excellent enantioselectivity for a variety of racemic analytes in the three modes. Hence it can be considered a highly effective multimodal column. Retention factor (k), selectivity (alpha) and resolution (R(s)) were the chosen parameters to describe the column performance. Optimization of these separations was discussed in terms of mobile phase composition, flow rate and structural patterns of the injected analytes.     

A New Group Decision-Making Technique under Picture Fuzzy Soft Expert Information

As an extension of intuitionistic fuzzy sets, the theory of picture fuzzy sets not only deals with the degrees of rejection and acceptance but also considers the degree of refusal during a decision-making process; therefore, by incorporating this competency of picture fuzzy sets, the goal of this study is to propose a novel hybrid model called picture fuzzy soft expert sets by combining picture fuzzy sets with soft expert sets for dealing with uncertainties in different real-world group decision-making problems. The proposed hybrid model is a more generalized form of intuitionistic fuzzy soft expert sets. Some novel desirable properties of the proposed model, namely, subset, equality, complement, union and intersection, are investigated together with their corresponding examples. Two well-known operations AND and OR are also studied for the developed model. Further, a decision-making method supporting by an algorithmic format under the proposed approach is presented. Moreover, an illustrative application is provided for its better demonstration, which is subjected to the selection of a suitable company of virtual reality devices. Finally, a comparison of the initiated method is explored with some existing models, including intuitionistic fuzzy soft expert sets.     

Optical isomer separation of flavanones and flavanone glycosides by nano-liquid chromatography using a phenyl-carbamate-propyl-β-cyclodextrin chiral stationary phase

In this paper a phenyl-carbamate-propyl-β-cyclodextrin stationary phase was employed for the enantioseparation of several flavonoids, including flavanones and methoxyflavanones by using nano-liquid chromatography (nano-LC). The same stationary phase was also used for the diastereoisomeric separation of two flavanone glycosides. The compounds: flavanone, 2′-hydroxyflavanone, 4′-hydroxyflavanone, 6-hydroxyflavanone, 7-hydroxyflavanone, 4′-methoxyflavanone, 6-methoxyflavanone, 7-methoxyflavanone, hesperetin, hesperidin, naringenin and naringin were studied using reversed, polar organic and normal elution modes. The effect of the nature and composition of the mobile phase (organic modifier type, buffer and water content in the reversed phase mode) on the enantioresolution (R_s), retention factor (k) and enantioselectivity (α) were investigated. Baseline resolution of all studied flavonoids, with the exception of 2′-hydroxyflavanone and naringin, was achieved in reversed phase mode using a mixture of MeOH/H₂O at different ratios as mobile phase. Good results, in terms of peak efficiency and short analysis time, were obtained adding 1% triethylammonium acetate pH 4.5 buffer to MeOH/H₂O mixture. The separation of the studied compounds was also performed in polar organic mode. By using 100% of MeOH as mobile phase, the resolution was achieved for the studied analytes, except for 7-hydroxyflavanone, 2′-hydroxyflavanone, naringenin, hesperidin and naringin. Normal mode was tested employing a mixture of EtOH/hexane/TFA as mobile phase achieving the enantiomeric and diastereomeric separation of only hesperetin and hesperidin, respectively. The use of nano-LC technique for the resolution of flavanones optical isomers allowed to achieve good resolutions in shorter analysis time compared to the results reported in literature with conventional HPLC.