Role of Zr4+ cations in NO2 adsorption on Ce(1-x)Zr(x)O2 mixed oxides at ambient conditions

Mixed oxides Ce(1-x)Zr(x)O(2) prepared by slow coprecipitation in NaOH were tested for NO(2) adsorption in dynamic conditions at room temperature. The samples were characterized before and after exposure to NO(2) by XRD, N(2)-adsorption, thermal analysis, potentiometric titration, and FT-IR. Mixed oxides show a better NO(2) adsorption capacity than the parent materials (CeO(2) and Zr(OH)(4)). This effect is linked to the presence of reduced cerium and oxygen vacancies induced by the addition of Zr(4+) cations to the structure. The results indicate that NO(2) reacts with Ce(3+) to form nitrite and nitrate species on the surface. The NO retention increases with an increase in the Zr(OH)(4) content. A decrease in the density of -OH groups on the surface after the exposure to NO(2), suggests their involvement in reactive adsorption of NO and/or NO(2). From the structural point of view, no real difference was observed on the Ce(1-x)Zr(x)O(2) materials before and after exposure to NO(2).     

Silica-bonded N-propylsulfamic acid as a recyclable catalyst for the synthesis of 2,3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones

2,3-Dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one derivatives are synthesized via a one-pot,three component reaction of isatoic anhydride and an aromatic aldehyde with ammonium acetate or primary amine catalyzed by silica-bonded N-propylsulfamic acid(SBNPSA) in refluxing ethanol.     

SBA-15-functionalized TEMPO confined ionic liquid: an efficient catalyst system for transition-metal-free aerobic oxidation of alcohols with improved selectivity

A novel SBA-15-functionalized TEMPO confined ionic liquid [BMIm]Br was found to be a highly efficient and recyclable catalyst system for the transition-metal-free aerobic oxidation of a wide range of structurally diverse alcohols. Thanks to the strong physical confinement of the ionic liquid inside the mesochannels of SBA-15-supported TEMPO, the resulting solid catalyst showed improved selectivity in the aerobic oxidation of allylic alcohols. The catalyst can be recovered and re-used for at least 11 reaction runs without significant loss of either activity or confined IL.     

Comparative electrochemical study of new self-assembled monolayers of 2-{[(Z)-1-(3-furyl)methylidene]amino}-1-benzenethiol and 2-{[(2-sulfanylphenyl)imino]methyl}phenol for determination of dopamine in the presence of high concentration of ascorbic acid and uric acid

The comparative electrochemical behavior of self-assembled monolayers of two Schiff's bases, 2-{[(Z)-1-(3-furyl)methylidene]amino}-1-benzenethiol (FMAB) and 2-{[(2-sulfanylphenyl)imino]methyl}phenol (SIMP) on a bare gold electrode (Au FMAB SAM-modified electrode and Au SIMP SAM-modified electrode, respectively), was investigated by means of cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in a 0.1 mol L(-1) KCl solution that contains 5.0 × 10(-3) mol L(-1) [Fe(CN)(6)](3-/4-). The results revealed that the modified electrodes showed an electrocatalytic activity toward the anodic oxidation of dopamine by a marked enhancement in the current response and lower overpotential (60 and 90 mV for the Au FMAB and Au SIMP SAM-modified electrodes, respectively) in phosphate buffer solution at pH 6.0. The Au SIMP SAM-modified electrode was applied successfully to the determination of dopamine in the presence of a high concentration of ascorbic acid. Selective detection was realized in total elimination of ascorbic acid response-a method different from the ones based on the potential separations. The detection limit of dopamine was 5.0 × 10(-8) mol L(-1) in a linear range from 1.0 × 10(-6) to 1.2 × 10(-4) mol L(-1) in the presence of 1.0 × 10(-3) mol L(-1) ascorbic acid. The interference studies also showed that the Au SIMP SAM-modified electrode exhibited good selectivity in the presence of a large excess of uric acid and could be employed for the determination of dopamine in pharmaceutical formulations, plasma samples and human urine with adequate selectivity and precision.     

Isocyanide-based multicomponent reactions: synthesis of alkyl-2-(1-(alkylcarbamoyl)-2,2-dicyanoethyl)benzoate and isochromeno[3,4-b]pyrrole derivatives

A novel four-component reaction between 2-formylbenzoic acids, malononitrile, isocyanides, and alcohols has been developed for a highly efficient preparation of alkyl-2-(1-(alkylcarbamoyl)-2,2-dicyanoethyl)benzoate derivatives. This high atom economy reaction led to the construction of two carbon-carbon bonds, one amide, and one ester group in a single synthetic step. Furthermore, a three-component reaction between 2-formylbenzoic acids, malononitrile, and isocyanides in dichloromethane for the preparation of isochromeno[3,4-b]pyrroles has been reported.     

Mixed mode axisymmetric annular cracks in a finite layer: Off angle crack initiation

The solutions of axisymmetric Volterra type climb and glide edge dislocations are obtained in a layer by means of the Hankel transforms. Utilizing the same procedure, Green’s function solution is obtained for a layer under self-equilibration normal ring traction. The distributed dislocation technique is used to construct integral equations for a system of co-axial annular cracks where the layer is under axisymmetric normal loads. These equations are solved numerically to obtain dislocation density on the cracks surfaces. The results are employed to determine stress intensity factors for annular and penny-shaped cracks and the interaction between two co-axial penny-shaped cracks is studied. Moreover, the stress intensity factors of the interacting cracks are determined such that they can be further used in conjunction with strain energy density (SED) failure criterion to obtain the possible direction of crack initiation that may not be apparent under mixed mode conditions.     

Continuous and discrete flows over time

Network flows over time form a fascinating area of research. They model the temporal dynamics of network flow problems occurring in a wide variety of applications. Research in this area has been pursued in two different and mainly independent directions with respect to time modeling: discrete and continuous time models. In this paper we deploy measure theory in order to introduce a general model of network flows over time combining both discrete and continuous aspects into a single model. Here, the flow on each arc is modeled as a Borel measure on the real line (time axis) which assigns to each suitable subset a real value, interpreted as the amount of flow entering the arc over the subset. We focus on the maximum flow problem formulated in a network where capacities on arcs are also given as Borel measures and storage might be allowed at the nodes of the network. We generalize the concept of cuts to the case of these Borel Flows and extend the famous MaxFlow-MinCut Theorem.     

On fail‐safe systems under random shocks

In practical situations, systems often suffer shocks from external stressing environments, stressing the system at random. These random shocks may have non‐ignorable effects on the system's reliability. In this paper, we provide sufficient (and necessary) conditions on components' lifetimes and their surviving probabilities from random shocks for comparing the lifetimes of two fail‐safe systems by means of the usual stochastic, hazard rate, and likelihood ratio orderings. Numerical examples are presented to highlight these theoretical results as well.     

On the Schröder–Bernstein property for modules

The well known Schröder–Bernstein Theorem states that any two sets with one to one maps into each other are isomorphic. The question of whether any two (subisomorphic or) direct summand subisomorphic algebraic structures are isomorphic, has long been of interest. Kaplansky asked whether direct summands subisomorphic abelian groups are always isomorphic? The question generated a great deal of interest. The study of this question for the general class of modules has been somewhat limited. We extend the study of this question for modules in this paper. We say that a module Msatisfies the Schröder–Bernstein property (S-B property) if any two direct summands of M which are subisomorphic to direct summands of each other, are isomorphic. We show that a large number of classes of modules satisfy the S-B property. These include the classes of quasi-continuous, directly finite, quasi-discrete and modules with ACC on direct summands. It is also shown that over a Noetherian ring R, every extending module satisfies the S-B property. Among applications, it is proved that the class of rings R for which every R-module satisfies the S-B property is precisely that of pure-semisimple rings. We show that over a commutative domain R, any two quasi-continuous subisomorphic R-modules are isomorphic if and only if R is a PID. We study other conditions related to the S-B property and obtain characterizations of certain classes of rings via those conditions. Examples which delimit and illustrate our results are provided.     

Stability of multiobjective NLP problems with fuzzy parameters in the objectives and constraints functions

This paper deals with the stability of multiobjective nonlinear programming problems with fuzzy parameters in the objectives and constraints functions. These fuzzy parameters are characterized by fuzzy numbers. The existing results concerning the qualitative analysis of the notions (solvability set, stability sets of the first kind and of the second kind) in parametric nonlinear programming problems are reformulated to study the stability of multiobjective nonlinear programming problems under the concept of α-pareto optimality. An algorithm for obtaining any subset of the parametric space which has the same corresponding α-pareto optimal solution is also presented. An illustrative example is given to clarify the obtained results.