The behaviour of cationic NanoFibrillar Cellulose in aqueous media

This paper deals, with cationically modified NanoFibrillar Cellulose (cat NFC), obtained by reacting a dissolving pulp with 2,3-epoxypropyl trimethylammonium chloride (EPTMAC). The cat NFC was thoroughly characterized in terms of morphology and physical properties. The dimensions of individual cellulose nanofibrils were determined by atomic force microscopy (AFM) imaging in water and in air. Fibrils as thin as 0.8–1.2 nm were observed in water. The fibril diameter changed upon drying and the average size was further quantified by image analysis. The experiments showed the importance of characterizing nanocellulosic materials in situ before drying. The fibril size in air was confirmed by cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), and it was found to be 2.6–3.0 nm. Smooth ultrathin films of cationic NFC were prepared by spincoating on silica substrates. The effect of electrolyte concentration and pH on swelling of the cationic NFC film was studied using a quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation. The results showed that at pH = 8 the cat NFC film was insensitive to electrolyte changes while at pH = 4.5, the water content of the film decreased with increasing ionic strength. The electrophoretic mobility measurements showed a cationic zeta potential for the cat NFC that decreased at increasing pH, verifying the swelling behaviour.     

Condensation in Nongeneric Trees

We study nongeneric planar trees and prove the existence of a Gibbs measure on infinite trees obtained as a weak limit of the finite volume measures. It is shown that in the infinite volume limit there arises exactly one vertex of infinite degree and the rest of the tree is distributed like a subcritical Galton-Watson tree with mean offspring probability m<1. We calculate the rate of divergence of the degree of the highest order vertex of finite trees in the thermodynamic limit and show it goes like (1−m)N where N is the size of the tree. These trees have infinite spectral dimension with probability one but the spectral dimension calculated from the ensemble average of the generating function for return probabilities is given by 2β−2 if the weight w _n of a vertex of degree n is asymptotic to n ^−β .     

Environmentally conscious optimization of supply chain networks

The optimization of supply chain structures considering both economic and environmental performances is nowadays an important research topic. However, enterprises are commonly faced with the competing issues of reduced cost, improved customer service and increased environmental factors as a multi-faceted trade-off problem when designing supply chains. Hence, this paper proposes an environmentally conscious optimization model of a supply chain network with a broader and more comprehensive objective function that considers not just the transportation costs, but also the costs for the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, fuel consumption, transportation times, noise and road roughness. The paper sheds light on the trade-offs between various parameters such as vehicle speed, fuel, time, emissions, noise and their total cost, and offers managerial insights on economies of environmentally conscious supply chain optimization. An integer non-linear programming model is developed to help decision makers find the optimal solution under mentioned considerations. The proposed model is validated through the solution of an example, where its applicability to supply chain problems is demonstrated for managerial insights.     

Splitting tendency of cellulosic fibers. Part 3: splitting tendency of viscose and modal fibers

The splitting tendency of viscose and modal fibers in aqueous alkali solutions of LiOH, NaOH, KOH and TMAH was investigated. The viscose fibers splitted up to 5–7 fibrils, whereas modal fibers splitted up to 2–4 fibrils depending on alkali type and concentration. The fibrillar structure of lyocell enables it to split more (15–20 fibrils) than viscose and modal fibers. Splitting occurs where internal stress of fiber is high due to different alkali or void distribution inside fiber. The splitting test couldn’t be achieved for viscose and modal fibers between 1 and 5 M concentration of NaOH and TMAH solutions due to breakage of fibers during test. Above 5 M concentration, no split can be observed due to even distribution of alkali inside fiber. Paper presented at the 7th World Textile Conference, AUTEX 2007, Tampere, Finland, 26–28 June 2007. Christian-Doppler Laboratory of Textile and Fiber Chemistry of Cellulosics is a Member of European Polysaccharide Network of Excellence (EPNOE), www.epnoe.org     

Energies,Landé <Emphasis Type="Italic">g</Emphasis>-factors,and lifetimes for some excited levels of doubly ionized lanthanum

Using the relativistic Hartree-Fock (HFR) method developed by Cowan, we calculated the energy levels, Landé g-factors, and lifetimes for nd (n = 5–25), ns (n = 6–24), ng (n = 5–25), nf (n = 4–22), and np (n = 6–25) excited levels of doubly ionized lanthanum (La III, Z = 57). We compared the results with previously reported calculations and experiments.     

Synthesis of some azacrown derivatives and fabrication of their nanofilms on the glassy carbon surface

The modification of N-phenyl-aza-15-crown-5 (PA15C5) and N-(4-aminophenyl)-aza-15-crown-5 (4APA15C5) on glassy carbon (GC) electrode was performed by the electrochemical oxidation of the corresponding azacrown derivatives in anhydrous acetonitrile media. The electrochemical behavior of the resulting modified GC electrode was investigated in the presence of electroactive redox probes and these results, together with the X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and reflection-absorption infrared spectroscopy were used to confirm the attachment of these molecules onto the GC surface. The ellipsometric thicknesses of PA15C5 and 4APA15C5 films at the GC surface was obtained around 9.28 ± 0.40 and 10.50 ± 1.10 nm, respectively. Azacrown modified nanoscale surfaces serve as alkali metal sensor specific for their cavity in the crown ring.     

Synthesis of ruthenium(II) N-heterocyclic carbene complexes and their catalytic activities in transfer hydrogenation of ketones

Three RuCl₂(η⁶-arene, η¹-carbene) and two RuCl₂(NHC)(arene) complexes have been prepared by the reaction of bis(1,3-dialkylperhydrobenzimidazol-2-ylidene) (1) and bis(1,3-dialkyl-4-methylzimidazolin-2-ylidene) (3) with [RuCl₂(arene)]₂ in toluene and characterized by elemental analysis, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and IR spectroscopy. The catalytic activities of these complexes were examined in the transfer hydrogenation of aromatic ketones using 2-propanol as hydrogen source.     

Portfolio selection in stochastic markets with exponential utility functions

We consider the optimal portfolio selection problem in a multiple period setting where the investor maximizes the expected utility of the terminal wealth in a stochastic market. The utility function has an exponential structure and the market states change according to a Markov chain. The states of the market describe the prevailing economic, financial, social and other conditions that affect the deterministic and probabilistic parameters of the model. This includes the distributions of the random asset returns as well as the utility function. The problem is solved using the dynamic programming approach to obtain the optimal solution and an explicit characterization of the optimal policy. We also discuss the stochastic structure of the wealth process under the optimal policy and determine various quantities of interest including its Fourier transform. The exponential return-risk frontier of the terminal wealth is shown to have a linear form. Special cases of multivariate normal and exponential returns are disussed together with a numerical illustration.     

Synthesis,Crystal Structure and Spectroscopic Characterization of {6-[2-(2-chlorophenyl)-1,3-thiazol-4-yl]-2-oxo-1,3-benzothiazol-3(2<Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>)-yl}acetic acid

Abstract  

The title compound {6-[2-(2-chlorophenyl)-1,3-thiazol-4-yl]-2-oxo-1,3-benzothiazol-3(2H)-yl}acetic acid was prepared and characterized by elemental analyses, FT-IR, ¹H NMR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction. A quantum-chemical calculation was performed using the CNDO method. In the title compound, C₁₈H₁₁ClN₂O₃S₂, the crystal structure is stabilized by intermolecular hydrogen bonds (C–H···O=C) to form centrosymmetric R₂² R_{2}^{2} (16) dimers and the C–H···O, O–H···N, and C–H···N interactions generating the graph set motifs R₂² R_{2}^{2} (9) and R₂² R_{2}^{2} (22).