Characterization of essential oil components of Iranian geranium oil using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry combined with chemometric resolution techniques

The essential oil components of geranium oil cultivated in center of Iran were identified and determined using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry data combined with the chemometric resolution techniques. A total of 61 components accounting for 91.51% were identified using similarity searches between the mass spectra and MS database. This number was extended to 85 components using chemometric techniques. Various chemometric methods such as morphological scores, simplified Borgen method (SBM) and fixed size moving window evolving factor analysis (FSMWEFA) were used for determining the number of components, pure variables, zero concentration and selective regions. Then the overlapping peak clusters were resolved into pure chromatograms and pure mass spectra using heuristic evolving latent projections (HELP) method. A characteristic feature of the Iranian geranium oil is the absence of 10-epi-gamma-eudesmol in its constituents compared with the oil from northern and southern parts of India. The results of this work show that combination of hyphenated chromatographic methods and resolution techniques provide a complementary method for accurate analysis of essential oils.     

Complexes of Diquat with Dibenzo-24-Crown-8

The complexation between dibenzo‐24‐crown‐8 ( 1 ) and diquat ( 2 ) was investigated in detail by NMR, MS and X‐ray analysis. It was found that dibenzo‐24‐crown‐8 and diquat formed a 1:1 complex 1 · 2 in acetone with K_a=2.0×10² L·mol^?1, but, as shown by X‐ray analysis, a crystalline 2:1 host:guest inclusion complex 1 ₂· 2 was isolated, in which a single molecule of diquat is enclosed in the concave cavity provided by two dibenzo‐24‐crown‐8 host molecules. Both results are different from the previously assumed stoichiometry of the complexation between dibenzo‐24‐crown‐8 and diquat. This result enriches the range of host‐guest complexes based on dibenzo‐24‐ crown‐8 and provides new opportunities for developing more complicated structures and chemosensors for diquat.     

Modeling thermodynamic properties of natural gas mixtures using perturbed-chain statistical associating fluid theory

Perturbed-Chain Statistical Associating Fluid Theory (PC-SAFT) was employed for predicting thermodynamic properties of natural gas mixture. Thermodynamic properties like density, isobaric and isochoric heat capacity, enthalpy, entropy, and internal energy were calculated with the PC-SAFT. Results are validated against experimental data for natural gas and mixtures similar to natural gas. The validation show that the Average Absolute Deviation (AAD) for density is 1.10% for binary mixture and 1.08% for mixtures similar to natural gas. Also AAD value for enthalpy is 1.42%, for internal energy, 0.77, for entropy, 0.43, for isochoric heat capacity, 1.26%, and for isobaric heat capacity, 2.66%. Results show PC-SAFT to be able to predict all the thermodynamics properties of natural gas and mixtures similar to natural gas with high accuracy in a wide range of temperature and pressure.     

Hydrogen production via CO2-reforming of methane over Cu and Co doped Ni/Al2O3 nanocatalyst: impregnation versus sol–gel method and effect of process conditions and promoter

In this study, Cu and Co doped Ni/Al₂O₃ nanocatalyst was synthesized via impregnation and sol–gel methods. The physiochemical properties of nanocatalyst were characterized by XRD, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), particle size distribution, BET, fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), TG–DTA and energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) analysis. The samples were employed for CO₂-reforming of methane in atmospheric pressure, temperature range from 550 to 850 °C, under various mixture of CH₄/CO₂ and different gas hourly space velocity. XRD patterns besides indicating the decline of the peaks intensity in sol–gel method, proved the potential of this procedure in diminishing the crystal size and preventing the NiAl₂O₄ spinel formation. Moreover, high surface area might derive of smaller particle size and uniform morphology of sol–gel prepared ones, confirmed by FESEM and BET analysis. TG–DTG analysis as well supported the higher surface area for sol–gel made ones, represented the proper calcination temperature (approximately 600 °C). Also, presence of the active phases and elemental composition of nanocatalysts determine via EDX analysis. Promoting the basicity and the adsorption rate of CO₂, is attributed to the higher amount of OH groups for sol–gel prepared samples, proved by FTIR. Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ due to the synergetic effect of sol–gel method and cobalt addition depicted excellent characterization such as higher surface area, smaller particle size, supplying more stable support and enhanced morphology. Therefore, this nanocatalyst represented the best products yield (H₂ = 98.21 and CO = 95.64), H₂/CO close to unit (0.92–1.05) and stable conversion during 1,440 min stability test. So, Ni–Co/Al₂O₃ among all of the prepared nanocatalysts demonstrated the best catalytic performance and presented it as a highly efficient catalyst for dry reforming of methane. Despite of the stable yield of Ni–Cu/Al₂O₃, it depicted the lower catalytic activity and H₂/CO ratio than the unprompted nanocatalysts.     

On subset-resilient hash function families

Designs, Codes and Cryptography - In this paper, we analyze the security of subset-resilient hash function families, which is first proposed as a requirement of a hash-based signature scheme called...     

Mesophilic alcohol dehydrogenase behavior in imidazolium based ionic liquids

The use of ionic liquids to replace organic solvents in biocatalytic processes has recently gained much attention. Despite the wide applications of oxidoreductases, there are few reports of their catalyzed reaction in ionic liquid. We have investigated the influence of four water miscible ionic liquids on the activity, stability and structure of the mesophilic alcohol dehydrogenase from yeast. Upon changes in ionic liquids concentration, both activity and stability of the enzyme were affected. As the concentration of ionic liquids increased, K_m increased while k_cat decreased. Associated conformational changes caused by ILs (150 mM) were monitored using fluorescence technique. Finally, the effects of ILs cations and anions on the enzyme activity and stability in aqueous IL mixtures were discussed.     

Convergence analysis of an iterative algorithm to solve system of nonlinear stochastic Itô-Volterra integral equations

In this paper, an efficient and accurate numerical iterative algorithm based on the linear spline interpolation for solving the system of nonlinear stochastic Itô-Volterra integral equations is presented. The most important merit of this method is that it does not need to solve any system of nonlinear algebraic equations. An upper bound for the linear spline approximation of the stochastic function is provided. Using this upper bound and under the Lipschitz and linear growth conditions, the convergence analysis of the suggested method is studied. Finally, to verify the efficiency of the proposed scheme, some problems in the finance, physics, and biology are investigated, and the obtained results are compared with the stochastic $\theta$-method.     

Extensions and isomorphisms for the generalized Fourier algebras of a locally compact group

It is shown that for amenable groups, all finite-dimensional extensions of A_p(G) algebras split strongly. Furthermore, each extension of A_p(G) which splits algebraically also splits strongly. We also show that if G is an almost connected locally compact group, or a subgroup of GL_n(V) (V being a finite-dimensional vector space), and if for a fixed p∈(1,∞), all finite-dimensional singular extensions of A_p(G) split strongly, then G is amenable. Continuous order isomorphisms for the pointwise order of A_p(G) algebras, are characterized as weighted composition maps. Similarly, order isomorphisms for the pointwise order of B_p(G) algebras, are characterized as ∗-algebra isomorphisms followed by multiplication by an invertible positive multiplier. In addition, it is shown that for amenable groups, an order isomorphism for the pointwise order between A_p(G) algebras that preserve cozero sets is necessarily continuous, and hence induces an algebra isomorphism.     

Spurious Signal Response of Broadband Solid–State Frequency Multipliers at Millimeter and Submillimeter Wavelengths

Heterodyne instruments at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths often use wideband fixed-tuned frequency multipliers, in conjunction with broadband power amplifiers driven by frequency synthesizers, as the local oscillator (LO) source. At these frequencies the multipliers use Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) based Schottky varactor diodes as the nonlinear element, and like most other harmonic generators are susceptible to spurious signal interference. The state-of-the-art LO sources at these wavelengths use high power MMIC amplifiers at the initial stages, and are used to drive the subsequent multiplier stages to have enough LO power to pump the mixers. Because of the high input power environment and the presence of noise in the system, the multipliers become vulnerable to spurious signal interference. As the spurious signals propagate through the receiver system, they generate inter-modulation products which might fall in the passband of the heterodyne instrument and seriously degrade its performance. In this paper spurious signal response of solid-state frequency multipliers at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths is investigated. Results of numerical harmonic balance simulations and laboratory experiments, which were found to show good agreement, are presented here.     

Base-free green synthesis of copper(II) oxide nanoparticles using highly cross-linked poly(curcumin) nanospheres: synergistically improved antimicrobial activity

Research on Chemical Intermediates - Antimicrobial activity of metal containing formulas has drawn attention and been widely investigated. In this research, CuO/hc-pCUR nanocomposite composed of...