Kinetics and mechanism of the oxidation of n-acetyl l-cysteine by 2,6-dichloroindophenol in methanol–water medium

The principal reactants interact in a molar ratio of 2:1 forming dihydroindophenol and the corresponding disulfide. The order of reaction is unity with respect to each reactant, namely, N-acetyl L-cysteine and indophenol. The rate shows an inverse linear relation with hydroxyl ions. It is not influenced by the variation in the initial concentration of indophenol. The rate increases on adding the salts possessing a cholinergic effect and the neutral electrolytes, as well as on increasing the dielectric constant of the medium. The products, namely, N-acetyl L-cystine (disulfide) and the leuco dye, do not influence the rate. A low energy and a highly negative entropy of activation (4.11 kcal/mol and -60.49 e.u., respectively) suggest the formation of an outer sphere complex as the rate-determining step.     

Acoustic NMR in spin-1 systems

Acoustic magnetic resonance, both pulsed and continuous has been discussed in terms of the Bloch-Wangsness-Redfield formulation of the magnetic resonance phenomenon. The quadrupolar mechanism has been taken for the spin-phonon coupling and the mutual interaction has been treated in the ‘effective field approximation’. The expressions for the power absorbed both for Δm=±1 and Δm=±2 have been obtained. It is found that from the measurements of the relaxation parameters for Δm=±1 and Δm=±2 it is possible to estimate the non-secular contributions to the line-width. The power absorbed in pulse excitation comes out to be small for short pulse (short compared to the relaxation parameter) and it reduces to the value obtained in continuous excitation for a long pulse. It is seen that for a given pulse-width the signal decreases with the increase of the relaxation parameter and this happens as temperature is lowered. The saturation of electromagnetic signal in presence of the acoustic excitation has also been studied. The analysis indicates that the relaxation parameter obtained from the plot of the relative signal (〈〉_ω/〈〉₀) vs the acoustic frequency ω, is always less than its true value which can be determined by observing the frequency dependence of the relative fractional signal defined as [(〈〉₀?〈〉_ω)/〈〉_ω]/[(〈〉₀?〈〉_2ω0)/〈〉_2ω0].     

Neutron diffraction investigation of the magnetic ordering of TiBe2

A neutron diffraction measurement on a polycrystalline sample of TiBe₂ did not reveal any onset of antiferromagnetic ordering at temperatures as low as 1.4 K. The maximum value of the ordered magnetic moment on titanium which might have gone undetected in the present experiment is shown to be 0.2 Bohr magnetons for a transverse spin density wave of arbitrary periodicity.     

On the robustness of least squares procedures in regression models

The criterion robustness of the standard likelihood ratio test (LRT) under the multivariate normal regression model and also the inference robustness of the same test under the univariate set up are established for certain nonnormal distributions of errors. Restricting attention to the normal distribution of errors in the context of univariate regression models, conditions on the design matrix are established under which the usual LRT of a linear hypothesis (under homoscedasticity of errors) remains valid if the errors have an intraclass covariance structure. The conditions hold in the case of some standard designs. The relevance of C. R. Rao's (1967 In Proceedings Fifth Berkeley Symposium on Math. Stat. and Prob., Vol. 1, pp. 355–372) and G. Zyskind's (1967, Ann. Math. Statist.38 1092–1110) conditions in this context is discussed.     

Effects on mass transfer of atomization and dispersion of liquids in the presence of ultrasound

By applying ultrasound at different frequencies and intensities through the bottom of a narrow tube containing liquids of varying physical properties, followed by critical analysis of the experimental data, a systematic study of the effect of these parameters on enhancement in rate of mass transfer has been made and a correlation has been proposed for prediction of such enhancement.     

An investigation of FeCoCrO4 by Mossbauer spectroscopy

The spinel FeCoCrO₄ has been studied between 4.2 and 538°K. Characteristic Mossbauer spectra of paramagnetic, magnetic and electronic relaxation types have been observed. The Mossbauer parameters for Fe³⁺ ions situated at tetrahedral (A) and octahedral (B) sites have been calculated. The cation distribution in magnetic and paramagnetic phases is found to be approximately Fe_0.5³⁺Co_0.5²⁺[Co_0.5²⁺Fe_0.5³⁺Cr³⁺]O₄. The Neel temperature been determined by the temperature scanning method to be 310±5°K.     

Steady laminar boundary layer of a viscous incompressible fluid in a convergent channel with distributed suction at the wall

In this paper an attempt has been made to find the solution of the boundary layer equations for two-dimensional laminar steady motion of a viscous incompressible fluid in a convergent channel (sink flow) with suction at the wall. Suction velocity v₀ (x) ～ 1/x has been imposed at the wall and an approximate solution has been obtained with the help of similarity transformation. A solution valid at a large distance from the wall and a series solution valid near the wall have been obtained and the two solutions have been joined at a suitable point. It is seen that the boundary layer thickness diminishes as the value of the suction parameter\(\lambda ( = v_0 x/\sqrt {u_1 v} )\) increases. The velocity profile and the boundary layer parameters for solid wall (λ = 0) obtained from this solution are found to be in close agreement with the profile and the parameters calculated from the known exact solution for the solid wall problem.     

Resonantly enhanced off-specular X-ray scattering from polymer/polymer interfaces<Superscript>⋆</Superscript>

We have used measurements of the absolute intensity of diffuse X-ray scattering to extract the interfacial tension of a buried polymer/polymer interface. Diffuse scattering was excited by an X-ray standing wave whose phase was adjusted to have a high intensity at the polymer/polymer interface and simultaneously a node at the polymer/air interface. This method permits the capillary-wave-induced roughness of the interface, and hence the interfacial tension, to be measured independently of the polymer/polymer interdiffusion.     

Real-time evolution of the distribution of nanoparticles in an ultrathin-polymer-film-based waveguide

We report a novel application of an ultrathin-polymer-film-based, resonance-enhanced x-ray waveguide as a real-time nanoprobe for elucidating dilute, yet disordered, gold nanoparticles embedded in the polymer matrix. This nanoprobe promises a sensitivity enhancement of several orders of magnitude, hence revealing in real time the lateral nanoparticle distribution with subnanometer spatial resolution. We observed that the motion of the nanoparticles is strongly anisotropic, with in-plane coalescence taking place more rapidly than out-of-plane diffusion, which can ultimately facilitate the formation of two-dimensional structures.     

Level structure of 22Mg: implications for the 21Na(p,gamma)22Mg astrophysical reaction rate and for the 22Mg Mass

The level structure of (22)Mg has been studied with high-sensitivity gamma-ray spectroscopy techniques. A complete level scheme is derived incorporating all subthreshold states and all levels in the energy region relevant for novae burning. The excitation energy of the most important astrophysical resonance is measured with improved accuracy and found to differ from previous values. Combining the present result with a recent resonance energy measurement of this state leads to a derived (22)Mg mass excess of -400.5(13) keV.