Direct dissolution of intact UO<Subscript>2</Subscript> pellet and in situ extraction by organic solutions of TBP-HNO<Subscript>3</Subscript> at atmospheric pressure: role of solvate composition

Recently authors demonstrated direct dissolution of g-level PHWR UO₂ fuel pellet fragments and in situ extraction by TBP-HNO₃ and TiAP-HNO₃ solutions at atmospheric pressures. Extending the work, similar studies were performed on intact unirradiated PHWR UO₂ fuel pellets (~15 g U) with varying compositions of organic solvate of tri-n-butyl phosphate (TBP). It was observed that extent of dissolution was a strong function of organic solution composition TBP·(HNO₃) _x (H₂O) _y . Complete dissolution of intact UO₂ pellet in a reasonable time was observed only in case of a particular solvate composition.     

QM/MM study of the structure, energy storage, and origin of the bathochromic shift in vertebrate and invertebrate bathorhodopsins

By comparing the results from a hybrid quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics method (SORCI+Q//B3LYP/6-31G*:Amber) between vertebrate (bovine) and invertebrate (squid) visual pigments, the mechanism of molecular rearrangements, energy storage, and origin of the bathochromic shift accompanying the transformation of rhodopsin to bathorhodopsin have been evaluated. The analysis reveals that, in the presence of an unrelaxed binding site, bathorhodopsin was found to carry almost 27 kcal/mol energy in both visual pigments and absorb (λ(max)) at 528 nm in bovine and 554 nm in squid. However, when the residues within 4.0 ? radius of the retinal are relaxed during the isomerization event, almost ～16 kcal/mol energy is lost in squid compared to only ～8 kcal/mol in bovine. Loss of a larger amount of energy in squid is attributed to the presence of a flexible binding site compared to a rigid binding site in bovine. Structure of the squid bathorhodopsin is characterized by formation of a direct H-bond between the Schiff base and Asn87.     

Nonuniform Sampling and Recovery of?Multidimensional Bandlimited Functions by?Gaussian Radial-Basis Functions

Let S⊂ℝ ^d be a bounded subset with positive Lebesgue measure. The Paley-Wiener space associated to S, PW _S , is defined to be the set of all square-integrable functions on ℝ ^d whose Fourier transforms vanish outside S. A sequence (x _j :j∈ℕ) in ℝ ^d is said to be a Riesz-basis sequence for L ₂(S) (equivalently, a complete interpolating sequence for PW _S ) if the sequence (e^-iáx_j,·?:j ? \mathbb N)(e^{-i\langle x_{j},\cdot \rangle }:j\in \mathbb {N}) of exponential functions forms a Riesz basis for L ₂(S). Let (x _j :j∈ℕ) be a Riesz-basis sequence for L ₂(S). Given λ>0 and f∈PW _S , there is a unique sequence (a _j ) in ℓ ₂ such that the function

Impact of yttria stabilized zirconia coating on diesel engine performance and emission characteristics fuelled by lemon grass oil biofuel

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The aim of present work is to improve the efficiency and reduce the harmful exhaust emissions from diesel engines. Neat lemongrass oil was selected as...     

Identification of potential inhibitors of coronavirus hemagglutinin-esterase using molecular docking,molecular dynamics simulation and binding free energy calculation

Molecular Diversity - The pandemic outbreak of the Corona viral infection has become a critical global health issue. Biophysical and structural evidence shows that spike protein possesses a high...     

Antimicrobial effects of vanillin-based pyridyl-benzylidene-5-fluoroindolins

In this study, the antimicrobial effect and DNA gyrase inhibitor potential of vanillin-based pyridyl–substituted fluoro-indolines were evaluated. These compounds are synthesized and established through green-chemistry approaches. The inhibition effect on both DNA gyrase A and B was evaluated in silico and in vitro. Agar well diffusion method–based antimicrobial activity against Gram-ve Pseudomonas aeruginosa (MTCC 424) and Escherichia coli (MTCC 443), Gram+ve Streptococcus pyogenes (MTCC 442) and Staphylococcus aureus (MTCC 96), and a clinical isolate of Candida albicans (Fungi) was evaluated. The cytotoxicity of the compounds was assessed over macrophages using the MTT assay. In the results, the target compounds exhibited a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against both bacterial types and fungal.     

Laser drilling of thick material using femtosecond pulse with a focus of dual-frequency beam

Laser drilling is one of the basic, most frequently performed, material removal processes. The drilling aspect ratio is theoretically limited by the size and the focal depth of the machining laser spot. The aspect ratio can be improved by using dual focus. In this paper we describe a focus of two different frequencies based on the longitudinal chromatic aberration arisen when polychromatic collimated light is incident on a positive lens element. In the experiments, a Ti:Sapphire laser of 800 nm wavelength and 150 fs pulse duration was used as a source. Two tightly focused laser spots few hundred micrometers apart from each other were formed by focusing a combined collimated laser beam which contains the fundamental optic frequency and the second harmonic optic frequency. The focus of dual-frequency beam was used to drill a 3 mm thick PMMA plate. The drilling aspect ratio of a dual-frequency beam was compared to that of a focus of single frequency beam. Experimental results reveal that dual-frequency beam increases the aspect ratio and improves the drilling quality in terms of profile of the produced features.