Evaluation of Co/SSZ-13 Zeolite Catalysts Prepared by Solid-Phase Reaction for NO-SCR by Methane

Co/SSZ-13 zeolites were prepared by heating the finely dispersed mixture of NH₄-SSZ-13 and different cobalt salts up to 550 °C. Investigations by thermogravimetry – differential scanning calorimetry – mass spectrometry provided new insight into details of the solid-state reaction. Formation of Co carrying hydrate melt or volatile species was shown to proceed from chloride, nitrate, or acetylacetonate Co precursor salts upon thermal treatment. This phase change allows the transport of the Co species into the zeolite pores. The reaction of the NH₄⁺ or H⁺ zeolite cations and the mobile Co precursors generates vapor or gas products, readily leaving the zeolite pores, and cobalt ions in lattice positions suggesting that solid-state ion-exchange is the prevailing process. The obtained catalysts are of good activity and N₂ selectivity in the CH₄/NO-SCR reaction. The thermal treatment of acetate or formate salts give solid intermediates that are unable to get in contact and react with the cations in the zeolite micropores. These catalysts contain mainly Co-oxide clusters located on the outer surface of the zeolite crystallites and have poor catalytic performance.     

A Novel Screen-Printed and Carbon Paste Electrodes for Potentiometric Determination of Uranyl(II) Ion in Spiked Water Samples

Four new ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) based on poly-(1-4)-2-amino-2-deoxy-β-D-glucan (chitosan) ionophore were constructed for determination of uranyl ion (UO₂(II)) over wide concentration ranges. The linear concentration range for carbon paste electrodes (CPEs) was 1 × 10^–6–1 × 10^–2 mol/L with a detection limit of 1 × 10^–6 mol/L and that for the screen-printed electrode (SPEs) was 1 × 10^–5–1 × 10^–1 mol/L with a detection limit of 8 × 10^–6 mol/L. The slopes of the calibration graphs were 29.90 ± 0.40 and 29.10 ± 0.60 mV/decade for CPEs with dibutylphthalate (DBP) (electrode I) and o-nitrophenyloctylether (o-NPOE) (electrode II) as plasticizers, respectively. Also, the SPEs showed good potentiometric slopes of 29.70 ± 0.30 and 28.20 ± 1.20 mV/decade with DBP (electrode III) and o-NPOE (electrode IV), respectively. The electrodes showed stable and reproducible potential over a period of 54, 62, 101 and 115 days for electrodes I, II, III, and IV, respectively. The electrodes manifested advantages of low resistance, very fast response and, most importantly, good selectivities relative to a wide variety of other cations except Ce(III) ion which interfere seriously. The results obtained compared well with those obtained using atomic absorption spectrometry.     

Efficiencies of Low-Level Laser Therapy (LLLT) and Gabapentin in the Management of Peripheral Neuropathy: Diabetic Neuropathy

Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is the highly occurred complication of diabetes mellitus; it has been defined as an event of peripheral nerve dysfunction characterized by pain, allodynia, hyperalgesia, and paraesthesia. The current study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) in the management of neuropathy in diabetic rats. The used animals were divided into the following groups: negative control, streptozotocin-induced diabetic rats, and diabetic rats with peripheral neuropathy (DNP) and DNP treated with gabapentin or with LLLT. Behavioral tests were carried out through hotplate test for the determination of pain sensations and the Morris water maze test for spatial reference memory evaluation. Blood samples were collected at the end of treatment for biochemical determinations. In the current study, the latency of hind-paw lick decreased significantly when DNP are treated with gabapentin or LLLT. The Morris water maze test showed that LLLT treatment improved memory that deteriorated in DNP more than gabapentin do. The results of the biochemical study revealed that LLLT could not affect the level of beta-endorphin that decreased in DNP but significantly decreased S100B that rose in DNP. PGE2 and cytokines IL-1β, IL-10, and TNF-α showed significant increase in DNP compared with control group. The gabapentin administration or LLLT application significantly reversed the levels of the mentioned markers towards the normal values of the controls. Levels of serum MDA and nitric oxide increased significantly in the DNP but rGSH showed significant decrease. These markers were improved significantly when the DNP were treated with gabapentin or LLLT. The treatment with gabapentin or LLLT significantly decreased the raised level in total cholesterol in DNP but could not decrease the elevated level of triglycerides, while LDL cholesterol decreased significantly in DNP treated with gabapentin but not affected by LLLT. Values of serum alanine aminotransferase (ALAT), aspartate aminotransferase (ASAT), urea, and creatinine increased significantly in the DPN and diabetic rats without peripheral neuropathy (PN) compared with control group. The treatment of DNP with gabapentin induced significant increases in ALAT and ASAT activities but LLLT treatment induced significant decreases in ALAT and ASAT activities as compared with DNP group. Neither gabapentin nor LLLT could improve the elevated levels of serum urea and creatinine in the DNP. It could be concluded that LLLT is more safe and effective than gabapentin in the management of neuropathy in diabetic rats.     

Synthesis and crystal structure of Na1.28Ni0.86Fe2(PO4)3

A new monophosphate Na_1.28Ni_0.86Fe₂(PO₄)₃ has been synthesized by a flux method and structurally characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. The compound crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Ibmm with the parameters: a = 6.438(2) Å, b = 10.515(3) Å, c = 13.166(3) Å, Z = 4. The structure is built up from Fe₂O₁₀ units of edge-sharing FeO₆ octahedra, which are connected through the corners of MO₆ (M = Ni²⁺ or a vacancy) octahedra and PO₄ tetrahedra to form a three-dimensional framework analogous to that of -CrPO₄. Of the two crystallographically distinct Na⁺ sites contained in this structure, one is totally filled whereas the other is 28% occupied.     

Mixed Wavelet Leaders Multifractal Formalism in a Product of Critical Besov Spaces

In this paper, we will prove (resp. study) the Baire generic validity of the upper-Hölder (resp. iso-Hölder) mixed wavelet leaders multifractal formalism on a product of two critical Besov spaces \(B_{t_{1}}^{\frac{m}{t_{1}},q_{1}}(\mathbb {R}^m) \times B_{t_{2}}^{\frac{m}{t_{2}},q_{2}}(\mathbb {R}^m)\), for \(t_1,t_2>0\), \(q_1 \le 1\) and \(q_2 \le 1\). Contrary to product spaces \(B_{t_{1}}^{s_{1},\infty }(\mathbb {R}^m) \times B_{t_{2}}^{s_{2},\infty }(\mathbb {R}^m) \) with \(s_{1} > \frac{m}{t_{1}}\) and \(s_{2} >\frac{m}{t_{2}}\) (Ben Slimane in Mediterr J Math, 13(4):1513–1533, 2016) and \((B_{t_{1}}^{s_{1},\infty }(\mathbb {R}^m) \cap C^{\gamma _{1}}(\mathbb {R}^m)) \times (B_{t_{2}}^{s_{2},\infty }(\mathbb {R}^m) \cap C^{\gamma _{2}}(\mathbb {R}^m)\) with \(0<\gamma _{1}<s_{1}<\frac{m}{t_{1}}\) and \(0<\gamma _{2}<s_{2}<\frac{m}{t_{2}}\) (Ben Abid et al. in Mediterr J Math, 13(6):5093–5118, 2016), all pairs of functions in the obtained generic set are not uniform Hölder. Nevertheless, the characterization of the upper bound of the Hölder exponent by decay conditions of local wavelet leaders suffices for our study.     

On the Calderón problem in periodic cylindrical domain with partial Dirichlet and Neumann data

We consider the Calderón problem in an infinite cylindrical domain, whose cross section is a bounded domain of the plane. We prove log–log stability in the determination of the isotropic periodic conductivity coefficient from partial Dirichlet data and partial Neumann boundary observations of the solution. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The Foldy‐Lax approximation of the scattered waves by many small bodies for the Lamé system

We are concerned with the linearized, isotropic and homogeneous elastic scattering problem by many small rigid obstacles of arbitrary, Lipschitz regular, shapes in 3D case. We prove that there exist two constants a₀ and c₀, depending only on the Lipschitz character of the obstacles, such that under the conditions and on the number M of the obstacles, their maximum diameter a and the minimum distance between them d, the corresponding Foldy‐Lax approximation of the farfields is valid. In addition, we provide the error of this approximation explicitly in terms of the three parameters and d. These approximations can be used, in particular, in the identification problems (i.e. inverse problems) and in the design problems (i.e. effective medium theory).     

A low cost implementation of the Phillips model in solid–liquid flow modeling

The interpolation requirements for the loosely coupled finite element solution of the Navier–Stokes equations and Phillips shear‐induced particle diffusion model are discussed. It is shown that a second‐order approximation of the fluid velocity field is required to adequately capture the spatial derivatives of the rate‐of‐strain tensor. To circumvent this limitation, a shear‐rate smoothing procedure is introduced, thereby allowing the use of lower‐order approximations for the fluid phase. Numerical experiments comparing the convergence and CPU cost of the different tetrahedral interpolation bases are presented. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Electrical characterization and modeling of Au/MEH-PPV/porous n+-GaAs/n+-GaAs heterojunction in direct and alternating current mode

Assembled heterojunction was fabricated by spin-coating poly[2-methoxy-5-(2′-ethyl-hexyloxy)-1,4-phenylene-vinylene)] (MEH-PPV) thin layers on straight and porous n⁺-GaAs substrates. The current–voltage and capacitance–voltage studies have shown an abrupt junction behavior with current conduction governed by SCLC and thermionic modes. Andersons' rules were used to determine depletion width and balance bands discontinuities for both heterojunctions. Capacitance and conductance vs. frequency techniques were used to evaluate the density of interface states. Density values obtained from both techniques were in a good agreement.     

The effect of thiourea as a complexing agent on the separation of metallic ions through cation exchange membranes by Donnan dialysis

Donnan dialysis has been investigated in this work in the order to exhibit the influence of the composition of solution on the performance of commercial cation exchange membrane toward metallic ions. Transference fluxes have been determined either as experimental values or calculated according to theoretical models. A good agreement between theoretical and experimental flows has been obtained principally in the case of CMV membrane which presents a lower thickness. It has been demonstrated that addition of thiourea causes an increase of separation properties of membrane. The separation is mainly due to the complex formation between Ag⁺ and Cu⁺ ions and thiourea. Monovalent copper ion is obtained after reduction of Cu²⁺ and oxidation of thiourea and formation of bisulfide of formamidine which constitute a barrier to monovalent complex transference.