The effect of demineralization and torrefaction consequential pre-treatment on energy characteristic of palm empty fruit bunches

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The refined pitch (1#) and impregnating pitch (2#) were obtained under certain conditions with the modified pitch as the raw materials. The data of...     

Atomic force microscopy study on blend morphology and clay dispersion in polyamide‐6/polypropylene/organoclay systems

The phase structure and clay dispersion in polyamide‐6(PA6)/polypropylene(PP)/organoclay (70/30/4) systems with and without an additional 5 parts of maleated polypropylene (MAH‐g‐PP) as a compatibilizer were studied with atomic force microscopy (AFM). AFM scans were taken from the polished surface of specimens that were chemically and physically etched with formic acid and argon ion bombardment, respectively. The latter technique proved to be very sensitive to the blend morphology, as PP was far more resistant to ion bombardment than PA6. In the absence of the MAH‐g‐PP compatibilizer, the organoclay is located in the PA6 phase; this finding is in line with transmission electron microscopic results. Further, the PP is coarsely dispersed in PA6 and the adhesion between PA6 and PP is poor. The addition of MAH‐g‐PP resulted in a markedly finer PP dispersion and good interfacial bonding between PA6 and PP. In this blend, the organoclay was likely dispersed in the PA6‐grafted PP phase. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 43:1198–1204, 2005     

Modelling with the Novel INAR(1)-PTE Process

Methodology and Computing in Applied Probability - In this paper, the first-order non-negative integer-valued autoregressive process with Poisson-transmuted exponential innovations is introduced....     

Fixed point and common fixed point theorems on ordered cone metric spaces

In the present work, some fixed point and common fixed point theorems for self-maps on ordered cone metric spaces, where the cone is not necessarily normal, are proved.     

Spectroscopic characterization of Cu(II) complex of l-phenylalanine and d,l-tryptophan

In this work, the reactions involving l-phenylalanine and d,l-tryptophan in the presence of Cu(II) ion were studied. Optimum conditions for the reactions were established as pH 7 and λ = 641 nm. When the reaction was kinetic, it was observed that the following rate formula was found as dA/Aⁿ = k dt and k = 3.2 × 10^?4 s^?1, according to absorbance measurements. Using a perpetual change curve, the ratio of [Cu]/[Cu] + l-phenylalanine + [d,l-tryptophan] was found 1:1:1. According to this result, one molecule of l-phenylalanine and one molecule of d,l-tryptophan react with one molecule Cu(II) ion.     

MHD boundary-layer flow of a micropolar fluid past a wedge with constant wall heat flux

The steady laminar magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) boundary-layer flow past a wedge with constant surface heat flux immersed in an incompressible micropolar fluid in the presence of a variable magnetic field is investigated in this paper. The governing partial differential equations are transformed into a system of ordinary differential equations using similarity variables, and then they are solved numerically by means of an implicit finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-box method. Numerical results show that micropolar fluids display drag reduction and consequently reduce the heat transfer rate at the surface, compared to the Newtonian fluids. The opposite trends are observed for the effects of the magnetic field on the fluid flow and heat transfer characteristics.     

Systematic QM/MM investigation of factors that affect the cytochrome P450-catalyzed hydrogen abstraction of camphor

The hydrogen abstraction reaction of camphor in cytochrome P450(cam) has been investigated in the native enzyme environment by combined quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical (QM/MM) calculations and in the gas phase by density functional calculations. This work has been motivated by contradictory published QM/MM results. In an attempt to pinpoint the origin of these discrepancies, we have systematically studied the factors that may affect the computed barriers, including the QM/MM setup, the optimization procedures, and the choice of QM region, basis set, and protonation states. It is found that the ChemShell and QSite programs used in the published QM/MM calculations yield similar results at given geometries, and that the discrepancies mainly arise from two technical issues (optimization protocols and initial system preparation) that need to be well controlled in QM/MM work. In the course of these systematic investigations, new mechanistic insights have been gained. The crystallographic water 903 placed near the oxo atom of Compound I lowers the hydrogen abstraction barrier by ca. 4 kcal/mol, and thus acts as a catalyst for this reaction. Spin density may appear at the A-propionate side chain of the heme if the carboxylate group is not properly screened, which might be expected to happen during protein dynamics, but not in static equilibrium situations. There is no clear correlation between the computed A-propionate spin density and the hydrogen abstraction barrier, and hence, no support for a previously proposed side-chain mediated transition state stabilization mechanism. Standard QM/MM optimizations yield an A-propionate environment close to the X-ray structure only for protonated Asp297, and not for deprotonated Asp297, but the computed barriers are similar in both cases. An X-ray like A-propionate environment can also be obtained when deprotonated Asp297 is included in the QM region and His355 is singly protonated, but this Compound II-type species with a closed-shell porphyrin ring has a higher hydrogen abstraction barrier and should thus not be mechanistically relevant.     

Similarity solutions for mixed convection boundary layer flow over a permeable horizontal flat plate

The effects of suction and injection on steady laminar mixed convection boundary layer flow over a permeable horizontal flat plate in a viscous and incompressible fluid is investigated in this paper. The similarity solutions of the governing boundary layer equations are obtained for some values of the suction and injection parameter f₀, the constant exponent n of the wall temperature as well as the mixed convection parameter λ. The resulting system of nonlinear ordinary differential equations is solved numerically for both assisting and opposing flow regimes using a finite-difference scheme known as the Keller-box method. Numerical results for the reduced skin friction coefficient, the reduced local Nusselt number, and the velocity and temperature profiles are obtained for various values of the parameters considered. Dual solutions are found to exist for the opposing flow.