A Regularization Technique for a Class of Singular Integral Problems

We discuss here a method for the extraction of the singularparts of a variety of problems involving singular integrands.The method is based on the systematic use of a partial fractionidentity; we give here applications to numerical quadratureand to the solution of singular integral equations of variouskinds.     

Some natural aqueous extracts of plants as green inhibitor for carbon steel corrosion in 0.5 M sulfuric acid

The inhibiting impact of natural aqueous extracts of some plants such as curcumin, parsley and cassia bark extracts for the corrosion of carbon steel (C-steel) in 0.5 M H₂SO₄ solution was inspected utilizing some techniques such as galvanostatic and potentiodynamic anodic polarization and weight loss measurements. Outcomes indicated that the percentage inhibition efficiency increases with increasing the concentration of the extract due to its horizontal adsorption on the C-steel surface. The process of adsorption is followed by the Temkin isotherm. These natural extracts acted as pitting corrosion inhibitors by shifting the pitting potential to more noble values. The sequence of inhibition efficiency of the natural extracts decreases in the following order: cassia bark extract > parsley extract > curcumin extract. This arrangement is related to the molecular size of the major components of the three natural extracts used.     

Diffusion of dextran within poly(methacrylic acid) hydrogels

We describe an investigation of fluorescence correlation spectroscopy into the diffusion of fluorescein‐tagged dextran (FDEX) in a poly(methacrylic acid) (PMAA) hydrogel. The temperature dependence of FDEX diffusion is shown to follow Zimm behavior in pure water, and the decrease in the diffusion coefficient when in the PMAA hydrogel has been modeled. The addition of acid and alkali (HCl and NaOH, respectively) not only control the swelling and collapse of the hydrogel but also reveal a strong pH dependence of the dextran diffusion coefficient, which shows a (nonmonatonic) increase with pH. The addition of NaCl and CaCl₂ salts similarly showed evidence of network swelling, most notably at low salt concentration, but also that the diffusion coefficient within the gel at these low concentrations is larger than that in the equivalent solution without the hydrogel, indicating that the combination of hydrogel and salt works to increase the diffusion coefficient above that in pure water. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012     

Functional neural network analysis in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease using EEG and graph theory

Background  

Although a large body of knowledge about both brain structure and function has been gathered over the last decades, we still have a poor understanding of their exact relationship. Graph theory provides a method to study the relation between network structure and function, and its application to neuroscientific data is an emerging research field. We investigated topological changes in large-scale functional brain networks in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) by means of graph theoretical analysis of resting-state EEG recordings. EEGs of 20 patients with mild to moderate AD, 15 FTLD patients, and 23 non-demented individuals were recorded in an eyes-closed resting-state. The synchronization likelihood (SL), a measure of functional connectivity, was calculated for each sensor pair in 0.5–4 Hz, 4–8 Hz, 8–10 Hz, 10–13 Hz, 13–30 Hz and 30–45 Hz frequency bands. The resulting connectivity matrices were converted to unweighted graphs, whose structure was characterized with several measures: mean clustering coefficient (local connectivity), characteristic path length (global connectivity) and degree correlation (network 'assortativity'). All results were normalized for network size and compared with random control networks.     

Functionalized nanoparticles based solid‐phase membrane micro‐tip extraction and high‐performance liquid chromatography analyses of vitamin B complex in human plasma

Iron nanoparticles were prepared by a green method following functionalization using 1‐butyl‐3‐methylimidazolium bromide. 1‐Butyl‐3‐methylimidazole iron nanoparticles were characterized using FTIR spectroscopy, energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence, X‐ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. The nanoparticles were used in solid‐phase membrane micro‐tip extraction to separate vitamin B complex from plasma before high‐performance liquid chromatography. The optimum conditions obtained were sorbent (15 mg), agitation time (30 min), pH (9.0), desorbing solvent [water (5 mL) + methanol (5 mL) + sodium hydroxide (0.1 N) + acetic acid (d = 1.05 kg/L, pH 5.5), desorbing volume (10 mL) and desorption time (30 min). The percentage recoveries of all the eight vitamin B complex were from 60 to 83%. A high‐performance liquid chromatography method was developed using a PhE column (250 × 4.6 mm, 5.0 μm) and water/acetonitrile (95:5, v/v; pH 4.0 with 0.1% formic acid) mobile phase. The flow rate was 1.0 mL/min with detection at 270 and 210 nm. The values of the capacity, separation and resolution factor were 0.57–39.47, 1.12–6.00 and 1.84–26.26, respectively. The developed sample preparation and chromatographic methods were fast, selective, inexpensive, economic and reproducible. The developed method can be applied for analyzing these drugs in biological and environmental matrices.     

Influence of Support Type and Metal Loading in Methane Decomposition over Iron Catalyst for Hydrogen Production

Natural gas resources, stimulate the method of catalytic methane decomposition. Hydrogen is a superb energy carrier and integral component of the present energy systems, while carbon nanotubes exhibit remarkable chemical and physical properties. The reaction was run at 700 °C in a fixed bed reactor. Catalyst calcination and reduction were done at 500 °C. MgO, TiO₂ and Al₂O₃ supported catalysts were prepared using a co‐precipitation method. Catalysts of different iron loadings were characterized with BET, TGA, XRD, H₂‐TPR and TEM. The catalyst characterization revealed the formation of multi‐walled nanotubes. Alternatively, time on stream tests of supported catalyst at 700 °C revealed the relative profiles of methane conversions increased as the %Fe loading was increased. Higher %Fe loadings decreased surface area of the catalyst. Iron catalyst supported with Al₂O₃ exhibited somewhat higher catalytic activity compared with MgO and TiO₂ supported catalysts when above 35% Fe loading was used. CH₄ conversion of 69% was obtained utilizing 60% Fe/Al₂O₃ catalyst. Alternatively, Fe/MgO catalysts gave the highest initial conversions when iron loading below 30% was employed. Indeed, catalysts with 15% Fe/MgO gave 63% conversion and good stability for 1 h time on stream. Inappropriateness of Fe/TiO₂ catalysts in the catalytic methane decomposition was observed.     

Ultra high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry method for the simultaneous determination of phenolic constituents in honey from various floral sources using multiwalled carbon nanotubes as extraction sorbents

An ultra high performance liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry method has been developed for the simultaneous separation, identification and determination of 22 phenolic constituents in honey from various floral sources from Yemen. Solid‐phase extraction was used for extraction of the target phenolic constituents from honey samples, while multiwalled carbon nanotubes were used as solid‐phase adsorbent. The chromatographic separation of all phenolic constituents was performed on a BEH C₁₈ column using a linear gradient elution with a binary mobile phase mixture of aqueous 0.1% formic acid and methanol. The quantitation was carried out in selected ion reaction monitoring acquisition mode. The total amount of phenolic acids, flavonoids and other phenols in each analyzed honey was found in the range of 338–3312, 122–5482 and 2.4–1342 μg/100 g of honey, respectively. 4‐Hydroxybenzoic acid was found to be the major phenolic acid. The main detected flavonoid was chrysin, while cinnamic acid was found to be the major other phenol compound. The regeneration of solid phase adsorbent to be reused and recovery results confirm that the proposed method could be potentially used for the routine analysis of phenolic constituents in honey extract.     

Electronic excitations of C(60) aggregates

Excitation properties of the isolated C(60) and (C(60))(N) model clusters (N = 2, 3, 4, 6 and 13) are studied using an a priori parameterized and self-consistent Hamiltonian, the Complete Neglect of Differential Overlap considering the l azimuthal quantum number method. This method properly describes electron excitations of the isolated C(60) after the configuration interaction of singles (CIS) procedure, when those are compared with experimental data in n-hexane solution and in a molecular beam. Geometry models of (C(60))(N) clusters to model the effect of aggregation were obtained from the fullerene fcc crystal. Some peaks in the low energy edge of the absorption spectrum appear corresponding to clustering effects, as well as small increases of bandwidths in the strong bands at the UV region. An analysis of the theoretical absorption spectrum for dimer models has been carried out, taking into account the influence of the distance between fullerene centers. The density of states of CIS for fullerene clusters in the range from 2.0 to 6.5 eV shows the possibility of electron transitions as functions of the size of the clusters.     

Similarity measures between excited singlet and triplet electron densities in linear acenes: an application to singlet fission

A theoretical framework for modelling the electronic structure of absorbing molecules that may contribute to explain and even predict phenomena where a singlet exciton is converted to triplet is reported. The pathway is suggested to occur when the excited singlet and triplet electron density maps are similarly shaped at Frank Condon states. Calculations were carried for some linear acene excitons from their multielectronic wave functions and corresponding charge maps after a configuration interaction of singly excited determinants. For cases where the singlet fission effect has been reported, charge maps of certain higher energy singlet excitons show a relevant shape similarity with the corresponding lowest triplet. This method could enlighten the way for predicting transit between singlets and triplets of very big systems and also may help to explain experimental phenomena at femto and even attosecond scales.