Oxidative degradation of levofloxacin by water-soluble manganese dioxide in aqueous acidic medium: a kinetic study

Pharmaceuticals, especially fluoroquinolone antibiotics, have received increasing global concern, due to their intensive use in the environment and potential harm to ecological system as well as human health. Degradation of antibiotics, such as oxidative degradation by metal oxides, often plays an important role in the elimination of antibiotics from the environment. The kinetics of oxidation of levofloxacin by water-soluble manganese dioxide has been studied in aqueous acidic medium at 25 °C temperature. The stoichiometry for the reaction indicates that the oxidation of 1 mol of levofloxacin requires 1 mol of manganese dioxide. The reaction is second order, that is first order with respect to manganese dioxide and levofloxacin. The rate of reaction increases with the increasing [H⁺] ion concentration. A probable reaction mechanism, in agreement with the observed kinetic results, has been proposed and discussed. The energy and enthalpy of activation have been calculated to be 30.54 and 28.07 kJ mol^?1, respectively.     

Biosynthesis of Indigo Dye by Newly Isolated Naphthalene-Degrading Strain <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas s</Emphasis>p. HOB1 and its Application in Dyeing Cotton Fabric

Indigo is one of the oldest dyes manufactured chemically and is mostly used in textile, food, and pharmaceutical industries. However, owing to the environmental hazards posed by the chemical production, the present scenario in the field stipulates a biosynthesis alternative for indigo production. The present study describes an indigenously isolated naphthalene-degrading strain Pseudomonas sp. HOB1 producing a blue pigment when indole was added in the growth medium. This blue pigment was analyzed by high-pressure thin-layer chromatography and other spectroscopic techniques which revealed it to be the indigo dye. Pseudomonas sp. HOB1 showed ability to produce 246 mg indigo liter⁻¹ of the medium. The K _m for the enzyme naphthalene dioxygenase which is involved in indigo formation is 0.3 mM, and V _max was as high as 50 nmol min⁻¹ mg dry biomass⁻¹. The bacterial indigo dye was further successfully applied for dyeing cotton fabrics. The high indigo productivity of Pseudomonas sp. HOB1 using naphthalene as growth substrate and its applicability on cotton fabrics, therefore, stems the probability of using this culture for commercial indigo production.     

Recovery of plutonium from aqueous waste solutions using porous zirconia spherical particles

Based on the Linssi database and UniSampo/Shaman software, an automated analysis platform has been setup for the analysis of large amounts of gamma-spectra from the primary coolant monitoring systems of a CANDU reactor. Thus, a database inventory of gaseous and volatile fission products in the primary coolant of a CANDU reactor has been established. This database is comprised of 15,000 spectra of radioisotope analysis records. Records from the database inventory were retrieved by a specifically designed data-mining module and subjected to further analysis. Results from the analysis were subsequently used to identify the reactor coolant half-life of ¹³⁵Xe and ¹³³Xe, as well as the correlations of ¹³⁵Xe and ⁸⁸Kr activities.     

233Pa(2nth, f ) cross-section determination using a fission track technique

The νp process is a primary nucleosynthesis process which occurs in core-collapse supernovae. An essential role in this process is being played by electron antineutrinos. They generate, by absorption on protons, a supply of neutrons which, by (n, p) reactions, allow to overcome waiting point nuclei with rather long beta-decay and proton-capture lifetimes. The synthesis of heavy elements by the νp process depends sensitively on the $\bar \nu _e$ luminosity and spectrum. As has been shown recently, the latter are affected by collective neutrino flavor oscillations which can swap the $\bar \nu _e$ and $\bar \nu _{\mu ,\tau }$ spectra above a certain split energy. Assuming such a swap scenario, we have studied the impact of collective neutrino flavor oscillations on the νp-process nucleosynthesis. Our results show that the production of light p-nuclei up to mass number A = 108 is very sensitive to collective neutrino oscillations.     

Magnetic, magnetocaloric, and magnetotransport properties of RCo1.8Mn0.2 (R=Er, Ho, Dy, and Tb) compounds

The magnetic, magnetocaloric, and magnetotransport properties of RCo_1.8Mn_0.2 (R=Er, Ho, Dy, and Tb) were studied by room temperature X-ray diffraction, magnetization, and resistivity measurements at a temperature interval of 5-400 K and magnetic fields up to 5 T. The Curie temperature of RCo₂ was found to increase significantly when 10% Mn was substituted for Co. The effective paramagnetic moments were found to be in reasonable agreement with their theoretical values. A large magnetoresistance (MR) of Δρ/ρ_o≈−13.5% for R=Ho at T≈153 K for ΔH=5 T has been observed. The maximum relative cooling capacities vary from 467 J/kg at low temperature for R=Er to 202 J/kg at the near room temperature for R=Tb.     

N-Iodosaccharin (NISac): a new reusable catalyst for formal [2+4] cycloaddition of imines and enones

The first example of N-iodosaccharin (NISac)-catalyzed step, pot and atom economic synthesis of 1,3-oxazines via formal [2+4] cycloaddition of imines and enones has been reported. No by-product formation, operational simplicity, ambient temperature and high yields (85-95%) are the salient features of the present synthetic protocol. After isolation of the product, the catalyst NISac can be easily recovered and reused without any loss of efficiency.     

Two source emission behavior of projectile fragments alpha in 84Kr interactions at around 1 GeV per nucleon

The emission of projectile fragments alpha has been studied in ⁸⁴Kr interactions with nuclei of the nuclear emulsion detector composition at relativistic energy below 2 GeV per nucleon. The angular distribution of projectile fragments alpha in terms of transverse momentum could not be explained by a straight and clean-cut collision geometry hypothesis of Participant — Spectator (PS) Model. Therefore, it is assumed that projectile fragments alpha were produced from two separate sources that belong to the projectile spectator region differing drastically in their temperatures. It has been clearly observed that the emission of projectile fragments alpha are from two different sources. The contribution of projectile fragments alpha from contact layer or hot source is a few percent of the total emission of projectile fragments alphas. Most of the projectile fragments alphas are emitted from the cold source.