Development and validation of a multiresidue method for determination of 37 pesticides in soil using GC-NPD

In this study, a multiresidue analytical method for the detection of 37 pesticides in a soil matrix was developed and validated. The soil sample was fortified with a known quantity of pesticides at two different concentration levels (0.1 and 0.01 µg/g) and the analytes were extracted via a liquid–solid extraction method. The pesticides were separated on an HP5 capillary column and were analyzed with a gas chromatograph coupled to a nitrogen–phosphorous detector (GC‐NPD). Method validation was accomplished with good linearity (r² = 0.994–0.999) within a considerable range of concentrations. Satisfactory recoveries (70.5–110.4%) were obtained with 32 pesticides at both spiking concentration levels, whereas five pesticides—dimepiperate, buprofezin, prometryn, pirimicarb, and fludioxonil—were recovered at relatively low levels (43.6–61.8%). The applicability of the method was demonstrated by analyzing field samples collected from 24 different sites around Yeongsan and Sumjin rivers in the Republic of Korea. No residues of the selected pesticides were detected in any of the samples. The developed method could be employed as a simple and cost‐effective method for the routine detection and analysis of 37 pesticides in soil samples. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chalcogenophilicity of mercury

Density-functional theory (DFT) calculations have been carried out to investigate the chalcogenophilicity of mercury (Hg) reported recently [J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2010, 132, 647-655]. Molecules of different sizes have been studied including ME, [M(EH)(4)](n), M(SH)(3)EH (M = Cd, Hg; E = S, Se, Te; n = 0, 2+) and [Tm(Y)]MEZ complexes (Tm = tris(2-mercapto-1-R-imidzolyl)hydroborato; Y = H, Me, Bu(t); M = Zn, Cd, Hg; E = S, Se, Te; Z = H, Ph). The bonding of Cd and Hg in their complexes depends on the oxidation state of the metal and nature of the ligands. More electronegative ligands form bonds of ionic type with Cd and Hg while less electronegative ligands form bonds that are more covalent. The Cd-ligand bond distances are shorter for the ionic type of bonding and longer for the covalent type of bonding than those of the corresponding Hg-ligand bonds. The variation of this Cd/Hg bonding is in accordance with the ionic and covalent radii of Cd and Hg. The experimentally observed (shorter) Hg-Se and Hg-Te bond distances in [Tm(Bu(t))]HgEPh (E = S, Se, Te) are due to the lower electronegativity of Se and Te, crystal packing, and the presence of a very bulky group. The bond dissociation energy (BDE) for Hg is the highest for Hg-S followed by Hg-Se and Hg-Te regardless of complex type.     

Kinetics of low pH-induced lamellar to bicontinuous cubic phase transition in dioleoylphosphatidylserine∕monoolein

Recently, it has been well recognized that the modulation of electrostatic interactions due to surface charges can induce transitions between lamellar liquid-crystalline (L(α)) and inverse bicontinuous double-diamond cubic (Q(II)(D)) phases in biological lipids. To reveal their kinetic pathway and mechanism, we investigated the low pH-induced L(α) to Q(II)(D) phase transitions in 20%-dioleoylphosphatidylserine (DOPS)/80%-monoolein (MO) using time-resolved small-angle x-ray scattering and a rapid mixing method. At a final pH of 2.6-2.9, the L(α) phase was transformed completely into the hexagonal II (H(II)) phase within 2-10 s after mixing a low pH buffer with a suspension of multilamellar vesicles of 20%-DOPS∕80%-MO (the initial step). Subsequently, the H(II) phase slowly converted into the Q(II)(D) phase and completely disappeared within 15-30 min (the second step). The rate constants of the second step were obtained using the singular value decomposition analysis. On the basis of these data, we discuss the underlying mechanism of the kinetic pathway of the low pH-induced L(α) to Q(II)(D) phase transitions.     

High gain double-pass L-band EDFA with dispersion compensation as feedback loop

We demonstrate an efficient double-pass L-band erbium-doped fiber amplifier (EDFA) incorporating chirped fiber Bragg grating (CFBG). The amplifier structure exploits the characteristics of CFBG to reflect the amplified signal back into the gain medium, filter out the recycled forward amplified spontaneous emission and block the residual 1480 nm pump power. The amplifier configuration has high gain and low noise figures as compared to double-pass EDFA using broadband mirror. The demonstrated amplifier has gain of more than 48 dB and low noise figure of less than 4 dB at low input signal power of −40 dBm.     

Fabrication methods of 3D periodic metallic nano/microstructures for photonics applications

Periodic metallic nano/microstructures have received a great a deal of attention in the photonics research community over the last few decades due to their intriguing optical properties. Three‐dimensional metallic nano/microstructures such as metallic photonic crystals, metamaterials, and plasmonic devices possess unique characteristics of tailored thermal radiation, negative refraction and deep subwavelength confinement of light. In this article, the recent progress on the experimental methods for the realisation of three‐dimensional periodic metallic and thin metal film coated dielectric nano/microstructures operating from optical to mid‐infrared frequencies has been reviewed. Advancement of the state‐of‐the‐art nanofabrication methods over the last few decades have led to the development of metallic nano/microstructures of diverse geometries, high resolution features and large scale production. The recent progress in the novel fabrication methods have inspired the development of functional and exciting photonic devices based on periodic metallic nano/microstructures with various applications in photonics including communications, photovoltaics, and biophotonics.     

The Euler class group of a polynomial algebra with coefficients in a line bundle

Let $A$ be a commutative Noetherian ring and $P$ be a projective $A$ -module of rank $=(\text {dim}(A)-1)$ . An intriguing open question is to find the precise obstruction for $P$ to split as: $P\simeq Q\oplus A$ for some $A$ -module $Q$ . In this paper we settle this question when $A=R[T]$ for some ring $R$ containing the field of rationals and $P$ is a projective $A$ -module of rank $=\text {dim}(R)$ .     

Structural insight into the anion–water cluster: stabilised by alcohol and carboxylic acid containing tripodal ligand

A new flexible N-bridged, unsymmetrical, water-soluble tripodal ligand (L) bearing alcohol and carboxylic acid groups has been synthesised and its solid-state interaction with anions has been investigated. The fully deprotonated ligand encapsulates a sodium cation in a half cryptand bowl-shaped cavity (1). The chloride complex 2, contains a cyclohexane-like water cluster incorporating ligand OH groups. However, complexes with bromide and nitrate (3 and 4) are dimeric. Tetrahedral clusters containing two water molecules and two anions were found in complexes 3 and 4. Perchlorate complex 5 forms perchlorate–methanol adducts. Complex 1 forms a hydrophilic cation–water channel and complexes 2–4 form anion–water channels between the hydrophobic layers of the naphthalene moieties. Complexes 2, 5 and 3, 4 are isostructural in nature having similar packing structures.     

Novel localized waves and interaction solutions for a dimensionally reduced (2 + 1)-dimensional Boussinesq equation from N-soliton solutions

Nonlinear Dynamics - The Boussinesq equation has been of considerable interest in coastal and ocean engineering models for simulating surface water waves in shallow seas and harbors, tsunami wave...     

Genetic algorithmic approach to find the maximum weight independent set of a graph

In this paper, Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to find the Maximum Weight Independent Set (MWIS) of a graph. First, MWIS problem is formulated as a 0-1 integer programming optimization problem with linear objective function and a single quadratic constraint. Then GA is implemented with the help of this formulation. Since GA is a heuristic search method, exact solution is not reached in every run. Though the suboptimal solution obtained is very near to the exact one. Computational result comprising an average performance is also presented here.