Technical and radiological characterisation of fly ash and bottom ash from thermal power plant

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - Huge quantities of fly ash and bottom ash are generated from thermal power plants and it presents great concern for country, mainly due...     

Active 3-D microscaffold system with fluid perfusion for culturing in vitro neuronal networks

This work demonstrated the design, fabrication, packaging, and characterization of an active microscaffold system with fluid perfusion/nutrient delivery functionalities for culturing in vitro neuronal networks from dissociated hippocampal rat pup neurons. The active microscaffold consisted of an 8 x 8 array of hollow, microfabricated, SU-8 towers (1.0 mm or 1.5 mm in height), with integrated, horizontal, SU-8 cross-members that connect adjacent towers, thus forming a 3-D grid that is conducive to branching, growth, and increased network formation of dissociated hippocampal neurons. Each microtower in the microscaffold system contained a hollow channel and multiple fluid ports for media delivery and perfusion of nutrients to the in vitro neuronal network growing within the microscaffold system. Additionally, there were two exposed Au electrodes on the outer wall of each microtower at varying heights (with insulated leads running within the microtower walls), which will later allow for integration of electrical stimulation/recording functionalities into the active microscaffold system. However, characterization of the stimulation/recording electrodes was not included in the scope of this paper. Design, fabrication, fluid packaging, and characterization of the active microscaffold system were performed. Furthermore, use of the active microscaffold system was demonstrated by culturing primary hippocampal embryonic rat pup neurons, and characterizing cell viability within the microscaffold system.     

Chiral lutetium benzamidinate complexes

Enantiomerically pure lutetium complexes were synthesized as the first rare earth metal complexes containing a chiral amidinate ligand. The catalytic activity and the enantioselectivity in hydroamination reactions were studied.     

Asymptotic analysis of Emden-Fowler differential equations in the framework of regular variation

Sufficient conditions are established for the existence of slowly varying solution and regularly varying solution of index 1 of the second-order nonlinear differential equation $$x^{\prime\prime}(t)+q(t)|x(t)|^{\gamma}\,{\rm sgn}\, x(t)=0, \quad \quad (A)$$ where γ is a positive constant different from 1 and q : [a, ∞) → (0, ∞) is a continuous integrable function. We show how an application of the theory of regular variation gives the possibility of determining the precise asymptotic behavior of solutions of both superlinear and sublinear equation (A).     

Theoretical study on diffusion mechanism of fluorine atom adsorbed on Si(111) reconstructed surface

We study diffusion mechanisms of fluorine atom adsorbed on Si(111) reconstructed surface by means of the first-principles density functional calculation. Recently, it was revealed experimentally that the fluorine diffusion is assisted by extra silicon atoms diffusing freely on the surface, whereas the detailed mechanism of the Si assist has not been understood. We first investigate F atom adsorption structures with and without a Si atom and find that extra Si atoms do not affect them. Next, we investigate the diffusion mechanism, considering four models in which extra silicon atoms act a different role, and find that SiF-complex diffusion model with activation energy of 1.34 eV is appropriate to explain the experiment. In this model, the Si–F bond is kept during diffusion, while in the others, it repeats breaking and re-bonding. This diffusion mechanism is also understood as the Si diffusion with carrying an F atom. We analyze why this diffusion mechanism is preferable to the others and find that two important features play roles. One is the strong Si-F bond that favors to keep the complex form, and the other is the existence of an extra silicon atom, which takes over the adatom position to passivate dangling bonds left behind after the SiF-complex removal.     

Adsorption of nicotine from aqueous solution onto hydrophobic zeolite type USY

The isothermal adsorption of nicotine from an aqueous solution onto zeolite type USY was investigated. The adsorption isotherms of nicotine onto the zeolite at different temperatures ranging from 298 to 322 K were determined. It was found that the adsorption isotherms can be described by the model of Freundlich adsorption isotherm. Based on the adsorption isotherms the changes of adsorption heat, free energy and entropy with adsorption degree were determined. The determined decrease of adsorption heat with adsorption degree can be explained by the presence of the adsorption centers of different energy and concentration on interface of zeolite-nicotine solution. It was found that the probability function of density distribution of the heat of adsorption (DDF) has exponential form. It was concluded that the possibility of fitting the adsorption isotherms of nicotine onto the zeolite by Freundlich adsorption isotherm was a direct consequence of that. The determined increase in entropy with the increase in adsorption degree can be explained with the change of phase state of adsorbed nicotine.     

First electrochemical investigation of organophosphorus pesticide azametiphos and its quantification using electroanalytical approach

ABSTRACT

In this work, the electrochemical behaviour and the subsequent development of an analytical procedure for quantification of pesticide azamethiphos, using boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrode are reported for the first time. It was found that azamethiphos electrochemical behaviour is irreversible oxidation at the potential of around 1.70 V, in 1 M nitric acid (pH 0). Also, it was found that potential of this oxidation was not pH dependent which can be attributed to the no proton involvement in electrochemical reaction on the electrode surface. The square wave voltammetric method was most appropriate for azamethiphos quantification. Under optimised experimental conditions, linear working range from 2 to 100 µM was estimated with the detection limit of 0.45 µM. Negligible effect of the possible interfering compound was observed. The obtained results show that the developed analytical methodology can be an adequate replacement for the, up to date, used methods for detection of organophosphorous pesticide.     

Optimization of Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction of Phenolics from Sideritis raeseri Using Response Surface Methodology

In this study we define the optimal conditions for ultrasound-assisted extraction of bioactive polyphenols from S. raeseri aerial parts using response surface methodology. The influence of ethanol concentration (10–90%), extraction temperature (20–80 °C), extraction time (10–60 min), and solid-to-solvent ratio (1:10–1:50) on total phenolic content as well as on content of individual flavonoids, and hypolaetin and isoscutellarein derivatives was studied. For the experimental design, a central composite design was chosen. In the obtained extracts, the following ranges of targeted compounds were detected: total phenol from 19.32 to 47.23 mg GAE/g dw, HYP from 1.05 to 11.46 mg/g dw, ISC 1 from 0.68 to 10.68 mg/g dw, and ISC 2 from 0.74 to 15.56 mg/g dw. The optimal extraction conditions were set as: ethanol concentration of 65%, extraction time of 50 min, extraction temperature of 63 °C, and solid-to-solvent ratio of 1:40. Contents of TP, HYP, ISC 1, and ISC 2 in optimal extracts were 47.11 mg GAE/g dw, 11.73 mg/g dw, 9.54 mg/g dw, and 15.40 mg/g dw, respectively. Experimentally set values were in good agreement with those predicted by the response surface methodology model, indicating suitability of the used model, as well as the success of response surface methodology in optimizing the conditions of the extraction.     

Helical nuclear spin order in a strip of stripes in the quantum Hall regime

We investigate nuclear spin effects in a two-dimensional electron gas in the quantum Hall regime modeled by a weakly coupled array of interacting quantum wires. We show that the presence of hyperfine interaction between electron and nuclear spins in such wires can induce a phase transition, ordering electrons and nuclear spins into a helix in each wire. Electron-electron interaction effects, pronounced within the one-dimensional stripes, boost the transition temperature up to tens to hundreds of millikelvins in GaAs. We predict specific experimental signatures of the existence of nuclear spin order, for instance for the resistivity of the system at transitions between different quantum Hall plateaus.