Application of Novel Zn‐Ferrite Modified Glassy Carbon Paste Electrode as a Sensor for Determination of Cd(II) in Waste Water

This paper describes the preparation of a new sensor based on Zn‐ferrite modified glassy carbon paste electrode and its electrochemical application for the determination of trace Cd(II) ions in waste waters using differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry (DPASV). Different Zn/Ni ferrite nanoparticles were synthesized and characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X‐ray powder diffraction (XRPD). The prepared ferrite nanoparticles were used for the preparation of Zn‐ferrite‐modified glassy carbon paste electrode (ZnMGCPE) for determination of Cd(II) at nanomolar levels in waste water at pH 5. The different parameters such as conditions of preparation, Zn²⁺/Ni²⁺/Fe²⁺ ratio and electrochemical parameters, percentage of modifier, accumulation time, pH and accumulation potential were investigated. Besides, interference measurements were also evaluated under optimized parameters. The best voltammetric response was observed for ZnFe₂O₄ modifier, when the percentage of modifier was 3 %, accumulation time 9 min, pH of supporting electrolyte 5 and accumulation potential ?1.05 V. Thus prepared electrode displays excellent response to Cd(II) with a detection limit of 0.38 ppb, and selective detection toward Cd(II) was achieved.     

X-ray structural analysis and antitumor activity of new salicylic acid derivatives

Tetrakis-, tris-, bis-, and mono salicylic acid derivatives 1–4 were synthesized by reaction of methyl 2-hydroxy benzoate (methyl salicylate) with 2,2-bis (hydroxymethyl) propane-1,3-diol (pentaerythritol) in the presence of sodium. Yields of different salicyloyloxy derivatives were changed by varying the molar ratios of reactants. For compounds 2 and 3, X-ray structure analysis was performed, as well as molecular energy minimization, to define their conformation in terms of their energy minima. Comparison of crystal and energy minimized structures for these two compounds (2 and 3) revealed that the intramolecular hydrogen bonds play an important role, stabilizing conformation of the most part of the molecule. The antioxidant activity and cytotoxicity of the synthesized derivatives were evaluated in a series of in vitro tests, as well as 17β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase type 2 inhibition potency. Tetrakis salicyloyloxy derivative 1 expressed the highest antioxidant potency, tris salicyloyloxy derivative 2 was the best inhibitor of 17βHSD2 enzyme, while bis salicyloyloxy derivative 3 showed strong cytotoxicity against prostate and breast cancer cells with no cytotoxicity against healthy cells.     

Electrochemical Oxidation of Donepezil and Its Voltammetric Determination at Gold Electrode

The oxidative ability of donepezil, a frequently prescribed drug for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease is reported for the first time at a gold electrode. It was oxidized by cyclic voltammetry and determined by square wave voltammetry in phosphate buffer electrolyte. Electrochemical degradation of donepezil was carried out by long term potential cycling. The identification and characterization of the major product, isolated by preparative high performance liquid chromatography, was performed by high resolution mass spectrometry and 1D and 2D nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Donepezil hydroxy derivative was identified as the major electrochemical oxidation product from donepezil.     

A First-Passage Kinetic Monte Carlo algorithm for complex diffusion–reaction systems

We develop an asynchronous event-driven First-Passage Kinetic Monte Carlo (FPKMC) algorithm for continuous time and space systems involving multiple diffusing and reacting species of spherical particles in two and three dimensions. The FPKMC algorithm presented here is based on the method introduced in Oppelstrup et al. [10] and is implemented in a robust and flexible framework. Unlike standard KMC algorithms such as the n-fold algorithm, FPKMC is most efficient at low densities where it replaces the many small hops needed for reactants to find each other with large first-passage hops sampled from exact time-dependent Green’s functions, without sacrificing accuracy. We describe in detail the key components of the algorithm, including the event-loop and the sampling of first-passage probability distributions, and demonstrate the accuracy of the new method. We apply the FPKMC algorithm to the challenging problem of simulation of long-term irradiation of metals, relevant to the performance and aging of nuclear materials in current and future nuclear power plants. The problem of radiation damage spans many decades of time-scales, from picosecond spikes caused by primary cascades, to years of slow damage annealing and microstructure evolution. Our implementation of the FPKMC algorithm has been able to simulate the irradiation of a metal sample for durations that are orders of magnitude longer than any previous simulations using the standard Object KMC or more recent asynchronous algorithms.     

On the riemann zeta-function and the divisor problem II

Let Δ(x) denote the error term in the Dirichlet divisor problem, and E(T) the error term in the asymptotic formula for the mean square of . If E ^*(t)=E(t)-2πΔ^*(t/2π) with , then we obtain

Unexpected density fluctuations in jammed disordered sphere packings

We computationally study jammed disordered hard-sphere packings as large as a million particles. We show that the packings are saturated and hyperuniform, i.e., that local density fluctuations grow only as a logarithmically augmented surface area rather than the volume of the window. The structure factor shows an unusual nonanalytic linear dependence near the origin, S(k) approximately |k|. In addition to exponentially damped oscillations seen in liquids, this implies a weak power-law tail in the total correlation function, h(r) approximately -r(-4), and a long-ranged direct correlation function c(r).     

1-Homogeneous Graphs with Cocktail Party μ-Graphs

Let be a graph with diameter d 2. Recall is 1-homogeneous (in the sense of Nomura) whenever for every edge xy of the distance partition{{z V() | (z, y) = i, (x, z) = j} | 0 i, j d}is equitable and its parameters do not depend on the edge xy. Let be 1-homogeneous. Then is distance-regular and also locally strongly regular with parameters (v,k,,), where v = k, k = a ₁, (v – k – 1) = k(k – 1 – ) and c ₂ + 1, since a -graph is a regular graph with valency . If c ₂ = + 1 and c ₂ 1, then is a Terwilliger graph, i.e., all the -graphs of are complete. In [11] we classified the Terwilliger 1-homogeneous graphs with c ₂ 2 and obtained that there are only three such examples. In this article we consider the case c ₂ = + 2 3, i.e., the case when the -graphs of are the Cocktail Party graphs, and obtain that either = 0, = 2 or is one of the following graphs: (i) a Johnson graph J(2m, m) with m 2, (ii) a folded Johnson graph J¯(4m, 2m) with m 3, (iii) a halved m-cube with m 4, (iv) a folded halved (2m)-cube with m 5, (v) a Cocktail Party graph K _{m × 2} with m 3, (vi) the Schläfli graph, (vii) the Gosset graph.     

Nonexistence of some Antipodal Distance-regular Graphs of Diameter Four

We find an inequality involving the eigenvalues of a regular graph; equality holds if and only if the graph is strongly regular. We apply this inequality to the first subconstituents of a distance-regular graph and obtain a simple proof of the fundamental bound for distance-regular graphs, discovered by Juri i , Koolen and Terwilliger. Using this we show that for distance-regular graphs with certain intersection arrays, the first subconstituent graphs are strongly regular. From these results we prove the nonexistence of distance-regular graphs associated to 20 feasible intersection arrays from the book Distance-Regular Graphs by Brouwer, Cohen and Neumaier .