Sequential Isotopic Determination of Strontium, Thorium, Plutonium, Uranium, and Americium in Bioassay Samples

A procedure is presented to provide sequential determination of isotopic strontium, thorium, plutonium, uranium, and americium in a single biological sample. The method begins with digestion and dissolution of the sample. Tracers and/or carriers are added to the sample for the purpose of chemical yield monitoring. Strontium is first separated from the actinides and from most of the interfering constituents of the sample by precipitation as carbonates. Strontium isotopes are purified, and ⁸⁹Sr and ⁹⁰Sr are measured by gas proportional counting. Actinides are separated and purified by ion exchange chromatography, co-precipitated with neodymium fluoride, filtered, and counted by alpha-particle spectrometry.     

Physical Properties of III-Antiminodes -- a First Principles Study

A comprehensive first principles study of III-Antimonide binary compounds is hardly found in literature. We report a broad study of structural and electronic properties of boron antimonide （BSb）, aluminium antimonide （AlSb）, gallium antimonide （GaSb） and indium antimonide （InSb） in zineblende phase based on density functional theory （DFT）. Our calculations are based on Full-PotentiM Lineaxized Augmented Plane wave plus local orbitals （FP- L（APWq-lo）） method. Different forms of exchange-correlation energy functional and corresponding potential are employed for structural and electronic properties. Our computed results for lattice parameters, bulk moduli, their pressure derivatives, and cohesive energy are consistent with the available experimental data. Boron antimonide is found to be the hardest compound of this group. For band structure calculations, in addition to LDA and GGA, we used GGA-EV, an approximation employed by Engel and Vosko. The band gap results with GGA-EV are of significant improvement over the earlier work.     

Measurement of permethrin,deltamethrin and malathion pesticide residues in the wheat flour and breads and probabilistic health risk assessment: a case study in Kermanshah,Iran

ABSTRACT

This study was conducted to investigate the residues of pyrethroid and organophosphorus pesticide in flour and breads which were collected from local markets in Kermanshah province, Iran. Four different types of breads and two types of flour samples with high distribution were taken from market and their residues of pesticides were measured. A simple dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) method with solidification of floating organic drop was developed for the measurement. The health risk of these pesticides on adults and children health was assessed by target hazard quotient (THQ) using Monte Carlo simulation (MCS) method. About, 15% and 11.1% of total samples contained detectable levels of deltamethrin and malathion, respectively. None of the tested samples showed any permethrin residue. The results from all samples showed that none of the pesticides exceeded the maximum residue limits (MRLs). About 85% of pesticide residue detections were observed in tropical and mild weather area which is due to high consumption rate of insecticides in these areas. The percentile 95% of THQ is due to bread ingestion content of deltamethrin which was 0.033 and 0.070 for the adults and children, respectively, while this value for malathion was found to be, 0.015 and 0.030, respectively. In the adults and children for both deltamethrin and malathion, the percentile 95% of THQ value were lower than 1 (acceptable level). The non-carcinogenic health risk assessment indicated that bread consumers in Kermanshah province are not at a considerable risk because of deltamethrin and malathion.     

Antimicrobial Activity and Physical Characterization of Silver Nanoparticles Green Synthesized Using Nitrate Reductase from Fusarium oxysporum

Nanostructures from natural sources have received major attention due to wide array of biological activities and less toxicity for humans, animals, and the environment. In the present study, silver nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using a fungal nitrate reductase, and their biological activity was assessed against human pathogenic fungi and bacteria. The enzyme was isolated from Fusarium oxysporum IRAN 31C after culturing on malt extract-glucose-yeast extract-peptone (MGYP) medium. The enzyme was purified by a combination of ultrafiltration and ion exchange chromatography on DEAE Sephadex and its molecular weight was estimated by gel filtration on Sephacryl S-300. The purified enzyme had a maximum yield of 50.84 % with a final purification of 70 folds. With a molecular weight of 214 KDa, it is composed of three subunits of 125, 60, and 25 KDa. The purified enzyme was successfully used for synthesis of silver nanoparticles in a way dependent upon NADPH using gelatin as a capping agent. The synthesized silver nanoparticles were characterized by X-ray diffraction, dynamic light scattering spectroscopy, and transmission and scanning electron microscopy. These stable nonaggregating nanoparticles were spherical in shape with an average size of 50 nm and a zeta potential of ?34.3. Evaluation of the antimicrobial effects of synthesized nanoparticles by disk diffusion method showed strong growth inhibitory activity against all tested human pathogenic fungi and bacteria as evident from inhibition zones that ranged from 14 to 25 mm. Successful green synthesis of biologically active silver nanoparticles by a nitrate reductase from F. oxysporum in the present work not only reduces laborious downstream steps such as purification of nanoparticle from interfering cellular components, but also provides a constant source of safe biologically-active nanomaterials with potential application in agriculture and medicine.     

Synthesis of Cyano‐pyrrolo[1,2‐a][1,10]phenanthroline Derivatives Using a Multicomponent Condensation

1,10‐Phenanthroline reacts with malonitrile and aldehydes in the presence of isocyanides as domino‐Knoevenagel‐nucleophilic cycloaddition for generation of a new class of 10‐(aryl)‐11‐(alkyl‐ or arylamino‐)pyrrolo[1,2‐a][1,10]phenanthroline‐9‐carbonitrile compounds in excellent yield. All compounds are fully characterized with one structurally authenticated by a single X‐ray diffraction study.     

Kinetic and Mechanistic Insights into the Pathway Leading to Cyclic Crystalline Phosphorus Ylide Formation in the Presence of 3‐Chloropentane‐2,4‐dione: Theoretical and Stopped‐Flow Approaches

In this work, three speculative mechanisms of the reaction between triphenylphosphine and dimethyl acetylendicarboxylate in the presence of 3‐chloropentane‐2,4‐dione were energetically and thermodynamically developed using quantum mechanical calculations and were profoundly compared with stopped‐flow and UV spectrophotometry approaches. The third speculative mechanism that led to the five‐membered ring structure was experimentally and theoretically favorable. The five‐membered ring structure of product was characterized by X‐ray crystallographic data. Also, steps 1 and 2 of the third mechanism were determined as fast and rate‐determining steps, respectively. The experimental kinetic evidence of the formation and decay of intermediate in steps 1 and 2 (fast and rate‐determining steps, respectively) was compatible with theoretical data. Experimental kinetic data were recognized for overall reaction along with activation parameters for fast and rate‐determining steps of the reaction. Theoretical kinetic data (k and E_a) and activation parameters (ΔG^≠, ΔS,^≠ and ΔH^≠) were calculated for each step and overall reactions.     

Low Reynolds unsteady flow simulation around NACA0012 airfoil with active flow control

This research numerically elucidates the effects of suction and blowing on the enhancement of unsteady aerodynamic characteristics of flows and their corresponding impact on stall delay over the well-known NACA0012 airfoil at various angles of attack (\( 12 \le {\text{AOA}} \le 20 \)) under low Reynolds numbers. For this purpose, an in-house solver written in C++ is developed. The numerical code utilizes the Jameson’s cell-centered finite volume numerical method accompanied by a progressive power-law preconditioning approach to suppress the stiffness of the governing equations. Many numerical simulations are performed over the suction-blowing control parameters, namely, the slot location (\( L_{j} \)), suction/blowing amplitudes (\( A_{j} \)), and suction/blowing angle (\( \theta_{j} \)). Most of the analyses are based on the measurements of the unsteady aerodynamic characteristics behaviors (such as lift, drag, moment coefficients, and stall phenomena) over the airfoil. The numerical results confirm that the unsteady behavior of the flow (vortex shedding) is weakened or approximately removed when suction is used, especially near the leading edge. In all of the test cases, the ratio of the average lift coefficient to the average drag coefficient increases with increasing suction and blowing amplitudes, except in the case of perpendicular blowing. Furthermore, the blowing is more sensitive to the blowing angle compared to the suction. From the suction and blowing results, it is concluded that the former has a more positive impact on the lift and drag characteristics, especially in the case of incompressible flow at Low-Reynolds regimes.     

Band structure and optical properties of antimony-sulfobromide: density functional calculation

The electronic structure, linear, and non-linear optical properties of ferroelectric-semiconductor SbSBr are investigated in the non-polar (paraelectric) and polar (ferroelectric) phase, using the density functional methods in the generalized gradient approximation. The electronic band structure obtained shows that SbSBr has an indirect forbidden gap of 2.16 and 2.21 eV in the paraelectric and ferroelectric phase, respectively. The linear photon-energy dependent dielectric functions and some optical functions, such as absorption and extinction coefficients, refractive index, energy-loss function, reflectivity, and optical conductivity in both phases and photon-energy dependent second-order susceptibilities in the ferroelectric phase are calculated. Moreover, some important optical parameters, such as the effective number of valence electrons and the effective optical dielectric constant, are calculated in both phases.      

Intensified electrochemical hydrogen storage capacity of multi-walled carbon nanotubes supported with Ni nanoparticles

The electrochemical hydrogen storage properties of Ni-supported multi-walled carbon nanotube (Ni/MWCNT) electrodes were investigated using charge/discharge (C&D) and cyclic voltammetry (CV) techniques. Nickel NPs were deposited on the MWCNT surface, which was first chemically oxidized by H₂SO₄ and HNO₃ (3:1, v/v). Hydrogen storage was carried out by using the Ni/MWCNT electrode as the working electrode in the electrochemical cell. A set of various current densities were applied to the cell to produce (C&D) cycles, and it became optimum corresponding to 1.5 mA current. According to the electrochemical test results, the highest electrochemical discharge capacity of 1625 mAh g^?1 was obtained for the electrode with ratio of 4:1 (MWCNTs to Ni) in the initial cycle, which corresponded to 6.07 wt% H₂. The storage capacity was increased and reached to 4909 mAh g^?1 (18.34 wt% H₂) after 20 cycles, and the electrode maintained the specific capacity as cycling continued. Thus, the Ni/MWCNT electrode displays an excellent cycle stability and a high capacity reversibility. CV measurements also showed that the electrochemical adsorption and desorption amount of hydrogen was increased by Ni loading onto the CNTs and indicated that the electrochemical hydrogen adsorption of the electrode has an activated period.