Detection of biological contamination protozoa in drinking water using surface plasmon resonance-based technique

Optical Review - Water is one of the fundamental needs for human life on earth. Different kinds of contaminants that exist in the drinking water may cause serious health issues, affect body organs,...     

Strong curvature naked singularities in non-self-similar gravitational collapse

It is shown that strong curvature naked singularities form in a non-self-similar gravitational collapse of radiation. The imploding radiation space-times with a general form of mass function are analyzed and we show that a strong curvature property holds along all families of non-spacelike geodesies terminating at the singularity in past. In view of the strength of singularity and the non-self-similar nature of space-time, we believe this is a very serious counter-example which must be taken into account for any possible formulation of the cosmic censorship hypothesis.This essay received the fourth award from the Gravity Research Foundation, 1991 — Ed.     

Hydrogen bonding of water, hydrogen sulphide and related acceptors with electron donors

Properties of hydrogen bonds formed by 1:1 interaction of H₂O with oxygen, nitrogen, sulphur and other electron donors have been evaluated by extended Hückel and CNDO methods and the results are discussed in relation to the experimental data. A detailed analysis of the variation of the dissociation energies and charge densities with bond distances is presented for the amine-water system. 1:2 complexes of water with donors are found to contain weaker hydrogen bonds than 1:1 complexes. Results of molecular orbital calculations on the hydrogen bonding of H₂S and CH₃SH with some donors are presented. The theoretical value of hydrogen bond dissociation energy varies linearly with the overlap population, and stretching force constant of the hydrogen bond as well as with the experimental O—H frequency shift.     

Semiempirical molecular orbital calculations for ketene dimers

The semiempirical molecular orbital method known as symmetrically orthogonalised intermediate neglect of differential overlap (sindo) has been employed to determine the geometry, bonding, binding energy, ionisation potential, dipole moment and net charges of diketene and cyclobutane-1,3-dione molecules. Results obtained have been compared with available experimental data.     

The formation of glassy alloys by irradiation with intense proton beams

Using a 50 ns pulse of an intense proton beam 1.5 J cm^–2 of energy was deposited in a 1 m thick surface layer of glass forming alloys. In Fe₈₀B₂₀, the formation of a glassy surface layer of 1.9 m thickness was observed by x-ray diffraction. Etching experiments performed with alloys containing phosphorus yielded similar results. Applying a mask technique amorphous and crystalline zones were structured with a resolution of better than 2 m.On leave from Central Electronics Engineering Research Institute, Pilani, Rajasthan, India     

Picone’s identity for biharmonic operators on Heisenberg group and its applications

In this paper, we establish a nonlinear analogue of Picone’s identity for biharmonic operators on Heisenberg group. As an applications of Picone’s identity, we obtain Hardy-Rellich type inequality, Morse index, Caccioppoli inequality, Picone inequality for biharmonic operators on Heisenberg group.     

Microplasma Ionization of Volatile Organics for Improving Air/Water Monitoring Systems On-Board the International Space Station

Low molecular weight polar organics are commonly observed in spacecraft environments. Increasing concentrations of one or more of these contaminants can negatively impact Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) systems and/or the health of crew members, posing potential risks to the success of manned space missions. Ambient plasma ionization mass spectrometry (MS) is finding effective use as part of the analytical methodologies being tested for next-generation space module environmental analysis. However, ambient ionization methods employing atmospheric plasmas typically require relatively high operation voltages and power, thus limiting their applicability in combination with fieldable mass spectrometers. In this work, we investigate the use of a low power microplasma device in the microhollow cathode discharge (MHCD) configuration for the analysis of polar organics encountered in space missions. A metal-insulator-metal (MIM) structure with molybdenum foil disc electrodes and a mica insulator was used to form a 300 μm diameter plasma discharge cavity. We demonstrate the application of these MIM microplasmas as part of a versatile miniature ion source for the analysis of typical volatile contaminants found in the International Space Station (ISS) environment, highlighting their advantages as low cost and simple analytical devices.

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X-ray characterization of Te(S2CNC5H10)2 and TeI2[(C13H10N2S)2] · 4C4H8TeI2; the first Te–C bond cleaved products obtained in the substitution reactions of organo(heterocyclic)tellurium(IV) derivatives

The reaction of organo(heterocyclic)tellurium(IV) derivative: C₈H₈TeI₂(1,3-dihydro-2λ⁴-benzotellurole-2,2-diyl diiodide) with NH₄S₂CNC₅H₁₀ (ammonium piperidine dithiocarbamate) gives C₈H₈Te(S₂CNC₅H₁₀)₂ (1) and Te(S₂CNC₅H₁₀)₂ (2) or C₈H₈TeI(S₂CNC₅H₁₀) (5) according to the reaction conditions. In such type of metathetical reactions, the formation of 2 is unprecedented and it corresponds to the first Te–C cleaved product. The reaction of 2 with CH₃I, yields the oxidative addition product, CH₃TeI(S₂CNC₅H₁₀)₂ (8). The formation of 2 is also supported through Quantum Chemical calculations. Another Te–C bond cleaved product TeI₂[(C₁₃H₁₀N₂S)₂] · 4C₄H₈TeI₂ (9) is obtained in the reaction of C₄H₈TeI₂ (1,1,2,3,4,5-hexahydro-1,1-diiodotellurophene) with NH₄S₂CNHC₆H₅ (ammonium aniline dithiocarbamate). The reaction of 1,1,2,3,4,5,6-heptahydro-1-iodo-1-(morpholine dithiocarbamato) tellurane [C₅H₁₀TeI(S₂CNC₄H₈O)] (10) with 1,10-phenanthroline gives an unusual product C₁₂H₈N₂ · C₄H₁₀INO (11). The structures of the new complexes 2, 8, 9, 10 and 11 have been determined by the X-ray analysis.