Multicomponent polymer coating to block photocatalytic activity of TiO2 nanoparticles

Chemical grafting of anti-oxidant molecules with an additional hydrophobic polymer coating directly onto TiO(2) particle surfaces, using sonochemistry, is found to eliminate photocatalytic degradation enabling highly effective screening against UV radiation.     

Cu-catalyzed tandem C-N bond formation for the synthesis of pyrroles and heteroarylpyrroles

A highly efficient Cu-catalyzed tandem C-N bond-forming reaction of 1,4-dihalo-1,3-dienes has been developed. The transformation allows the synthesis of pyrroles and heteroarylpyrroles with a wide variety of functional groups and substitution patterns from readily available precursors.     

Estimation and correction of matrix effects in gas chromatographic pesticide multiresidue analytical methods with a nitrogen-phosphorus detector

The assessment of matrix effects in the quantification of organophosphorus pesticides in fruit and vegetables by GC-NPD, were studied applying ANCOVA. Calibration curves prepared in solvent were compared with calibration curves prepared in a blank matrix extract for eight different commodities, establishing whether the matrix induces systematic or proportional errors in the quantification of the pesticides. In such cases correction functions were obtained and validated by quantifying spiked samples using solvent calibrations and applying the correction functions to the data obtained. The results were compared with those obtained by quantification using matrix-matching calibrations and with those from 100% recovery experiments. It was found that the matrix effects can be avoided using the correction functions. Finally the contribution of the correction functions to the uncertainty of the results was estimated as well as their stability during a four month period.     

Residual‐based stabilization of the finite element approximation to the acoustic perturbation equations for low Mach number aeroacoustics

The acoustic perturbation equations (APE) are suitable to predict aerodynamic noise in the presence of a non‐uniform mean flow. As for any hybrid computational aeroacoustics approach, a first computational fluid dynamics simulation is carried out from which the mean flow characteristics and acoustic sources are obtained. In a second step, the APE are solved to get the acoustic pressure and particle velocity fields. However, resorting to the finite element method (FEM) for that purpose is not straightforward. Whereas mixed finite elements satisfying an appropriate inf–sup compatibility condition can be built in the case of no mean flow, that is, for the standard wave equation in mixed form, these are difficult to implement and their good performance is yet to be checked for more complex wave operators. As a consequence, strong simplifying assumptions are usually considered when solving the APE with FEM. It is possible to avoid them by resorting to stabilized formulations. In this work, a residual‐based stabilized FEM is presented for the APE at low Mach numbers, which allows one to deal with the APE convective and reaction terms in its full extent. The key of the approach resides in the design of the matrix of stabilization parameters. The performance of the formulation and the contributions of the different terms in the equations are tested for an acoustic pulse propagating in sheared‐solenoidal mean flow, and for the aeolian tone generated by flow past a two‐dimensional cylinder. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A mass‐conservative staggered immersed boundary model for solving the shallow water equations on complex geometries

In this work, an approach is proposed for solving the 3D shallow water equations with embedded boundaries that are not aligned with the underlying horizontal Cartesian grid. A hybrid cut‐cell/ghost‐cell method is used together with a direction‐splitting implicit solver: Ghost cells are used for the momentum equations in order to prescribe the correct boundary condition at the immersed boundary, while cut cells are used in the continuity equation in order to conserve mass. The resulting scheme is robust, does not suffer any time step limitation for small cut cells, and conserves fluid mass up to machine precision. Moreover, the solver displays a second‐order spatial accuracy, both globally and locally. Comparisons with analytical solutions and reference numerical solutions on curvilinear grids confirm the quality of the method. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spectral image cathodoluminescence,photoluminescence and Raman study of GaAs layers grown on Si substrates

GaAs layers grown on Si substrates by the conformal method were investigated by means of Raman, photoluminescence and cathodoluminescence spectroscopies. The combination of these optical techniques allows a better knowledge of the properties of these layers, with special emphasis on the stress distribution and the incorporation of dopants. In particular, samples intentionally doped, with alternate doped and undoped fringes, have been analyzed. The effective incorporation of Si atoms in the GaAs structure to produce n-type layers and the formation of Si complexes are determined by Raman and cathodoluminescence data. The lateral quasi-periodic stress distribution, typically observed in these layers, is shown to affect the Si incorporation.     

Three-body hadronic structure of low-lying 1/2+ Σ and Λ resonances⋆

We discuss the dynamical generation of some low-lying 1/2⁺ Σ 's and Λ 's in two-meson one-baryon systems. These systems have been constructed by adding a pion in the S -wave to the ˉN pair and its coupled channels, where the 1/2^- Λ(1405) -resonance gets dynamically generated. We solve Faddeev equations in the coupled-channel approach to calculate the T -matrix for these systems as a function of the total energy and the invariant mass of one of the meson-baryon pairs. This squared T -matrix shows peaks at the energies very close to the masses of the strangeness -1 , 1/2⁺ resonances listed in the particle data book.     

Synthesis and antibacterial activity of silver nanoparticles with different sizes

Silver nanoparticles with different sizes (7, 29, and 89 nm mean values) were synthesized using gallic acid in an aqueous chemical reduction method. The nanoparticles were characterized using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), dynamic light scattering (DLS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and ultraviolet–visible (UV–Vis) absorption spectroscopy; the antibacterial activity was assessed using the standard microdilution method, determining the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) according to the National Committee for Clinical Laboratory Standards. From the microscopies studies (TEM) we observed that silver nanoparticles have spherical (7 and 29 nm) and pseudospherical shape (89 nm) with a narrow size distribution. The sizes of the silver nanoparticles were controlled by varying some experimental conditions. It was found that the antibacterial activity of the nanoparticles varies when their size diminishes.