ZnO nanoparticles and poly(acrylic) acid-based polymer gel electrolyte for photo electrochemical cell

This work presents a photo electrochemical cell based on zinc oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles and poly(acrylic) acid (PAA) doped with sodium iodide (NaI) and iodine (I₂) polymer gel electrolyte. The ZnO powders were synthesized by sol–gel storage and sol–gel centrifugation. The ZnO powder synthesized via sol–gel centrifugation showed the optimal structural properties, with largest crystallite sizes of 58 nm, average particles size between 20 and 80 nm and indirect band gap energy of 3.20 eV. The highest conductivity [(8.0 ± 0.1) × 10^?2 S cm^?1] was obtained for PAA + 0.8 M NaI + 0.02 M I₂. This sample achieved the lowest activation energy (0.029 eV) and electrochemical stability at 1.6 V. The ZnO powder synthesized via sol–gel centrifugation and PAA + 0.8 M NaI + 0.02 M I₂ was fabricated as a Cu–ZnO/PAA + 0.8 M NaI + 0.02 M I₂/C-ITO photo electrochemical cell.     

Algorithms for range restricted iterative methods for linear discrete ill-posed problems

Range restricted iterative methods based on the Arnoldi process are attractive for the solution of large nonsymmetric linear discrete ill-posed problems with error-contaminated data (right-hand side). Several derivations of this type of iterative methods are compared in Neuman et al. (Linear Algebra Appl. in press). We describe MATLAB codes for the best of these implementations. MATLAB codes for range restricted iterative methods for symmetric linear discrete ill-posed problems are also presented.     

Antibacterial Activity of a Novel Oligosaccharide from Streptomyces californics against Erwinia carotovora subsp. Carotovora

The present study aims to characterize and predict models for antibacterial activity of a novel oligosaccharide from Streptomyces californics against Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora using an adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system and an artificial neural network. The mathematical predication models were used to determine the optimal conditions to produce oligosaccharide and determine the relationship between the factors (pH, temperature, and time). The characteristics of the purified antibacterial agent were determined using ultraviolet spectroscopy (UV/Vis), infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (¹H- and ¹³C-NMR), and mass spectrometry (MS). The best performances for the model were 39.45 and 35.16 recorded at epoch 1 for E. carotovora Erw₅ and E. carotovora EMCC 1687, respectively. The coefficient (R²) of the training was more than 0.90. The highest antimicrobial production was recorded after 9 days at 25 °C and a pH of 6.2, at which more than 17 mm of the inhibition zone was obtained. The mass spectrum of antimicrobial agent (peak at R.T. = 3.433 of fraction 6) recorded two molecular ion peaks at m/z = 703.70 and m/z = 338.30, corresponding to molecular weights of 703.70 and 338.30 g/mol, respectively. The two molecular ion peaks matched well with the molecular formulas C₂₉H₅₃NO₁₈ and C₁₄H₂₆O₉, respectively, which were obtained from the elemental analysis result. A novel oligosaccharide from Streptomyces californics with potential activity against E. carotovora EMCC 1687 and E. carotovora Erw₅ was successfully isolated, purified, and characterized.     

Synthesis of vinylcyclopentanes via samarium(II) mediated tandem reactions

In the presence of either visible light or HMPA, SmI₂ reacts with some carbohydrate derived ω-iodoallylic alcohols, and their acetylated derivatives, to give vinylcyclopentanediol and vinylcyclopentanetriol derivatives.     

Protein matrix elasticity determined by fluorescence anisotropy of its tryptophan residues

Rotational motions of Trp residues embedded within human hemoglobin matrix have been measured by using their steady-state fluorescence anisotropy. The mean square angular displacement theta2 of Trp residues, depending on the temperature, can be expressed by W = 1/2Ctheta2 where W is the thermal energy acting on the Trp residues and C the resilient torque constant of the protein matrix. To study the external medium influencing the protein dynamics, comparative experiments were made with protein in aqueous buffer and in the presence of 32% glycerol. The data show that between 5 degrees C and 25 degrees C, external medium acts on the protein matrix elasticity.     

LU implementation of the modified minimal polynomial extrapolation method for solving linear and nonlinear systems

We give an efficient implementation of the modified minimalpolynomial extrapolation (MMPE) method for solving linear andnonlinear systems. We will show how to choose the auxiliaryvectors in the MMPE method such that the resulting approximationsare always defined. This new implementation, which is basedon an LU factorization with a pivoting strategy, is inexpensiveboth in time and storage as compared with other extrapolationmethods.     

Reactivity of ionic liquids with kaolinite: melt intersalation of ethyl pyridinium chloride in an urea-kaolinite pre-intercalate

This paper reports a new route for the intercalation of an ionic liquid, namely 1-ethyl pyridinium chloride, into the interlamellar spaces of kaolinite. The intercalation was achieved using a kaolinite-urea intercalate as a starting material. The results of the XRD, FTIR, and TGA analyses confirmed the intercalation of ethyl pyridinium in the interlamellar spaces of kaolinite. 13C CP/MAS spectra indicated the complete displacement of urea by ethyl pyridinium. 29Si and 27Al NMR spectra of the starting materials and the products are also discussed as well as the results of the elemental analysis of the produced nanohybrid material.     

Divisor spaces on punctured Riemann surfaces

In this paper, we study the topology of spaces of -tuples of positive divisors on (punctured) Riemann surfaces which have no points in common (the divisor spaces). These spaces arise in connection with spaces of based holomorphic maps from Riemann surfaces to complex projective spaces. We find that there are Eilenberg-Moore type spectral sequences converging to their homology. These spectral sequences collapse at the term, and we essentially obtain complete homology calculations. We recover for instance results of F. Cohen, R. Cohen, B. Mann and J. Milgram, The topology of rational functions and divisors of surfaces, Acta Math. 166 (1991), 163-221. We also study the homotopy type of certain mapping spaces obtained as a suitable direct limit of the divisor spaces. These mapping spaces, first considered by G. Segal, were studied in a special case by F. Cohen, R. Cohen, B. Mann and J. Milgram, who conjectured that they split. In this paper, we show that the splitting does occur provided we invert the prime two.