The comparison of different mathematical methods to determine the BOD parameters,a new developed method and impacts of these parameters variations on the design of WWTPs

One of the most common tests for the determination of strength and organic content of wastewater is the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD). This test is widely applied to define organic water pollution and to control the performance of wastewater treatment plants. Generally, BOD is standardized by the measurement of oxygen consumption in 5 days (BOD₅). But, determination of the ultimate biochemical oxygen demand (BOD_u), which is taken 28 days and the reaction rate constant (k) are necessary to understand the organic strength of the wastewater. In this study, the different mathematical methods in order to determine the BOD parameters (BOD_u, k) and two different BOD test method (respirometer and dilution method) are investigated comparatively. Also, a new method based on cubic spline method to estimate ultimate BOD values is developed. Moreover, the impacts of BOD parameters on the design of an activated sludge and aerated lagoon systems are analyzed by using a written user-friend program, which is developed for designing WWTPs by the mean of C++ programming language.     

New Amperometric Cholesterol Biosensors Using Poly(ethyleneoxide) Conducting Polymers

Accumulation of cholesterol in human blood can cause several health problems such as heart disease, coronary artery disease, arteriosclerosis, hypertension, cerebral thrombosis, etc. Therefore, simple and fast cholesterol determination in blood is clinically important. In this study, two types of amperometric cholesterol biosensors were designed by physically entrapping cholesterol oxidase in conducting polymers; thiophene capped poly(ethyleneoxide)/polypyrrole (PEO-co-PPy) and 3-methylthienyl methacrylate-co-p-vinyl benzyloxy poly(ethyleneoxide)/polypyrrole (CP-co-PPy). PEO-co-PPy and CP-co-PPy were synthesized electrochemically and cholesterol oxidase was immobilized by entrapment during electropolymerization. The amperometric responses of the enzyme electrodes were measured by monitoring oxidation current of H₂O₂ at +0.7 V in the absence of a mediator. Kinetic parameters, such as Km and Imax, operational and storage stabilities, effects of pH and temperature were determined for both entrapment supports. Km values were found as 1.47 and 5.16 mM for PEO-co-PPy and CP-co-PPy enzyme electrodes, respectively. By using these Km values, it can be observed that ChOx immobilized in PEO-co-PPy shows higher affinity towards the substrate.     

Effect of LiClO4 Salt on Dielectric Properties of Acrylonitrile-Methyl Methacrylate and Acrylonitrile-Isobutyl Methacrylate Copolymers

Poly(acrylonitrile-co-isobutyl methacrylate), PAN-co-PIBMA, and poly(acrylonitrile-co-methyl methacrylate), PAN-co-MMA copolymers are synthesized by emulsion polymerization. The structural characterization is done by FTIR and ¹H-NMR spectroscopy and thermal analyses are performed by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). After various amounts of LiClO₄ salt loading into copolymer films, the dielectric properties of these films at different temperatures and frequencies are determined. The effects of different methacrylate groups and salt content on the dielectric properties of copolymers are investigated. It is found that the dielectric constant increases systematically with increasing MMA and IBMA content in the copolymer. The samples with higher salt content show higher ac-conductivities.     

Upper rim-functionalized calix[4]arene-based l-proline as organocatalyst for direct asymmetric aldol reactions in water and organic media

The synthesis of upper rim-functionalized calix[4]arene-based l-proline was described, and its catalytic efficiency as organocatalyst for the enantioselective aldol reaction in water was investigated. The results showed that the nature of the hydrophobic cavity of calixarene is critical for catalytic activity in water. The products of the reaction between various ketones and aldehydes with anti-configuration were obtained in high yields (up to 94%) with high diastereo- (up to 95:5 dr) and enantioselectivities (up to 80% ee).     

Scattering of light from particles with semisoft boundaries

A three-dimensional multi-Gaussian function, being a finite sum of Gaussian functions, is adopted for modeling of a spherically symmetric scatterer with a semisoft boundary, i.e. such that has continuous and adjustable drop in the index of refraction. A Gaussian sphere and a hard sphere are the two limiting cases when the number of terms in multi-Gaussian distribution is one and infinity, respectively. The effect of the boundary's softness on the intensity distribution of the scattered wave is revealed. The generalization of the model to random scatterers with semisoft boundaries is also outlined.     

Interaction thermodynamics of rutin (vitamin P) with basic L-amino acids at physiological pH: the effect of temperature on the affinity order

The interactions between a flavonoid, rutin (Rt), and basic L-amino acids (BAAs) were studied at physiological pH (7.40) by UV-Visible spectroscopy and voltammetric techniques. The binding stoichiometries and constants (K) at different temperatures were measured by voltammetric method. So, the thermodynamic parameters ΔH ^○, ΔG ^○, ΔS ^○ were calculated and the results indicate that the binding reaction is mainly entropy-driven and hydrophobic forces played major role in the interactions of arginine and lysine with rutin as compared to that of histidine. Whereas, the histidine binding reaction, including with the negative enthalpy and entropy changes is entalpy-driven and this interaction primarily arise from hydrogen-bonding and van der Waals interactions. Finally, it was also observed that the affinity (that is binding constant) of hydrogen-bonding and van der Waals interactions between Rt and arginine or lysine decreased, but the stability of hydrophobic interaction of Rt with histidine increased when the temperature was raised.     

Synthesis and Characterization of New Thebaine Derivatives as Potential Opioid Agonists and Antagonists: 2‐[N‐(1H‐Tetrazol‐5‐yl)‐6,14‐endo‐etheno‐6,7,8,14‐tetrahydrothebaine‐7α‐yl]‐5‐phenyl‐1,3,4‐oxadiazoles

In this study, we report the synthesis a series of novel 2‐[N‐(1H‐tetrazol‐5‐yl)‐6,14‐endo‐etheno‐6,7,8,14‐tetrahydrothebaine‐7α‐yl]‐5‐phenyl‐1,3,4‐oxadiazole derivatives ( 7a – e ) which have potential opioid antagonist and agonist. The substitution reaction of 6,14‐endo‐ethenotetrahydrothebaine‐7α‐carbohydrazide with corresponding benzoyl chlorides gave diacylhydrazine compounds 4a – e in good yields. The treatment of compounds 4a – e with POCl₃ caused the conversion of side‐chain of compounds 5a – e into 1,3,4‐oxadiazole ring at C(7) position; thus, compounds 5a – e were obtained. Subsequently, cyanamides ( 6a – e ) were prepared from compounds 5a – e and then compounds 7a – e were synthesized by the azidation of 6a – e with NaN₃. The structures of the compounds were established on the basis of their IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C APT, 2D‐NMR (COSY, NOESY, HMQC, HMBC) and high‐resolution mass spectral data.     

Neural Computation of Wide Aperture Dimension of Optimum Gain Pyramidal Horn

A new method based on the multilayered perceptron neural network architecture for computing the wide aperture dimension of the pyramidal horn is presented. The computed wide aperture dimension is used in successfully designing optimum gain pyramidal horn. The other design parameters of the horn are determined from the simple and explicit analytical formulas. These formulas do not need the application of the iterative methods, and are not restricted to the high gain horn designs. The gain of a designed pyramidal horn is determined with no path length error approximation. Better accuracy with respect to the previous design methods is obtained for various pyramidal horn design examples.     

Solving the Likelihood Equations

Given a model in algebraic statistics and data, the likelihood function is a rational function on a projective variety. Algebraic algorithms are presented for computing all critical points of this function, with the aim of identifying the local maxima in the probability simplex. Applications include models specified by rank conditions on matrices and the Jukes–Cantor models of phylogenetics. The maximum likelihood degree of a generic complete intersection is also determined.     

Fixed points of non-Newtonian contraction mappings on non-Newtonian metric spaces

The study of non-Newtonian calculi was started in 1972 by Grossman and Katz. These calculi provide an alternative to the classical calculus and they include the geometric, anageometric and bigeometric calculi, etc. Recently, Çakmak and Ba?ar (2002) have studied the concept of non-Newtonian metric. Also they have given the triangle and Minkowski’s inequalities in the sense of non-Newtonian calculus. In this paper, we introduce a fixed point theory by defining some topological structures of the relevant non-Newtonian metric space.