Degradation of phenol using a combination of ultrasonic and UV irradiations at pilot scale operation

In the present work, combination of ultraviolet (UV) irradiations (using 8 W UV tube) with ultrasonic (US) irradiations (rated power 1 kW and frequency of 25 kHz) has been investigated for the degradation of phenol at pilot scale of operation. Different modes of operation viz. UV alone, US alone, UV/US, UV/TiO₂ (photocatalysis), UV/H₂O₂, UV/NaCl, UV/US/TiO₂ (sonophotocatalysis) and H₂O₂ assisted sonophotocatalysis have been investigated with an objective of maximizing the extent of phenol degradation. Effect of presence of hydrogen peroxide and sodium chloride at a concentration of 10 g/l and TiO₂ over a range of 0.5–2.5 g/l has been investigated. It has been observed that 2.0 g/l of TiO₂ is the optimum concentration, beyond which a decrease in the extent of degradation is observed. Maximum extent of degradation of phenol was 37.75% for H₂O₂ assisted photosonocatalysis at pH of 2. The present work is first of its kind to report the use of combined ultrasonic and UV irradiations at pilot scale operation and obtained results should induce some degree of certainty in proposed industrial applications of sonochemical reactors for wastewater treatment.     

Hydrogenic impurity in a quantum dot: Comparison between the variational and strong perturbation methods

A comparison is given between the variational and strong perturbation techniques. It has been shown that the variational method gives, in general, better results. Also, a new formulation is presented for the strong perturbation technique that depends on a simpler equivalent form of the perturbed part of the Hamiltonian. Moreover, common expressions which are valid for both treatments have been obtained. The results are applied to calculate the binding energy for a hydrogenic impurity placed in a finite confining potential spherical quantum dot in the states (1s), (2p) and (2s). The results obtained hitherto for a central impurity by using the strong perturbation technique are deduced in a much simpler way. As regards the off-central impurity some new expressions have been derived in both treatments. The numerical results for the two states (1s) and (2p) have also been investigated.     

Equivalence relations among inequalities for some relative operator entropies

Positivity - The relative operator entropy has properties like operator means. In addition, the relative operator entropy has entropy-like properties. In this paper, we prove a Loewner–Heinz...     

Normal Subgroups of Hecke Groups <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">λ</Emphasis>)

Let λ ≥ 2 and let H(λ) be the Hecke group associated to λ. Also let H(λ)\U be the Riemann surface associated to the Hecke group H(λ). In this article, we study the even subgroup H _e (λ) and the power subgroups H ^m (λ) of the Hecke groups H(λ). We also study some genus 0 normal subgroups of finite index of H(λ). Finally, we discuss free normal subgroups of H(λ).     

1-Soliton solution of the generalized KP equation with generalized evolution

This paper obtains the 1-soliton solution of three variants of the generalized KP equation with generalized evolution. The solitary wave ansatz is used to carry out the integration of such equations. The parameter domain is also identified in the process. The numerical simulations are also obtained in this paper.     

A cryptosystem based on elementary cellular automata

Based on elementary cellular automata, a new image encryption algorithm is proposed in this paper. In this algorithm, a special kind of periodic boundary cellular automata with unity attractors is used. From the viewpoint of security, the number of cellular automata attractor states are changed with respect to the encrypted image, and different key streams are used to encrypt different plain images. The cellular neural network with chaotic properties is used as the generator of a pseudo-random key stream. Theoretical analysis and experimental results have both confirmed that the proposed algorithm possesses high security level and good performances against differential and statistical attacks. The comparison with other existing schemes is given, which shows the superiority of the proposal scheme.     

Heavy Vacuum Gas Oil Upregulates the Rhamnosyltransferases and Quorum Sensing Cascades of Rhamnolipids Biosynthesis in Pseudomonas sp. AK6U

We followed a comparative approach to investigate how heavy vacuum gas oil (HVGO) affects the expression of genes involved in biosurfactants biosynthesis and the composition of the rhamnolipid congeners in Pseudomonas sp. AK6U. HVGO stimulated biosurfactants production as indicated by the lower surface tension (26 mN/m) and higher yield (7.8 g/L) compared to a glucose culture (49.7 mN/m, 0.305 g/L). Quantitative real-time PCR showed that the biosurfactants production genes rhlA and rhlB were strongly upregulated in the HVGO culture during the early and late exponential growth phases. To the contrary, the rhamnose biosynthesis genes algC, rmlA and rmlC were downregulated in the HVGO culture. Genes of the quorum sensing systems which regulate biosurfactants biosynthesis exhibited a hierarchical expression profile. The lasI gene was strongly upregulated (20-fold) in the HVGO culture during the early log phase, whereas both rhlI and pqsE were upregulated during the late log phase. Rhamnolipid congener analysis using high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry revealed a much higher proportion (up to 69%) of the high-molecularweight homologue Rha–Rha–C₁₀–C₁₀ in the HVGO culture. The results shed light on the temporal and carbon source-mediated shifts in rhamonlipids’ composition and regulation of biosynthesis which can be potentially exploited to produce different rhamnolipid formulations tailored for specific applications.