Preconcentration and determination of five antidepressants from human milk and urine samples by stir bar filled magnetic ionic liquids using liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction-high-performance liquid chromatography

A sensitive and straightforward liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction method was developed to preconcentrate and cleanup antidepressants, including mirtazapine, venlafaxine, escitalopram, fluoxetine, and fluvoxamine, from biological samples before analyzing with high-performance liquid chromatography. The essential novelty of this study is using magnetic ionic liquids as the extraction phase in the lumen of hollow fiber and preparing a liquid magnetic stir bar. In this method, polypropylene hollow fiber was utilized as the permeable membrane for the analyte extraction. Six magnetic ionic liquids consisting of the transition metal and rare earth compounds were synthesized and then hollow fiber lumen was injected as acceptor phase to extract the antidepressants. Besides, 3-pentanol as a water-immiscible solvent was impregnated in the hollow fiber wall pores. The effective factors in the method were optimized with the central composition design. The resultant calibration curves were linear over the concentration range of 0.8–400.0 ng mL⁻¹ (R² ≥ 0.996). The method displayed the proper detection limit (0.11–0.24 ng mL⁻¹), the reasonable limit of quantification (≤0.79 ng mL⁻¹), wide linear ranges, high preconcentration factors (≥294.3), and suitable relative standard deviation (2.31–5.47%) for measuring antidepressant medications. Analysis of human milk and urine samples showed acceptable recoveries of 96.5–103.8% with excellent relative standard deviations lower than 5.95%.     

Fej\'{e}r type inequalities for Harmonically-convex functions with applications

In this paper, a new weighted identity involving harmonically symmetric functions and differentiable functions is established. By using the notion of harmonic symmetricity, harmonic convexity and some auxiliary results, some new Fej\''{e}r type integral inequalities are presented. Applications to special means of positive real numbers are given as well.     

Hydrogen atom and its energy level shifts in de Sitter universe

We investigate the influence of a cosmological constant on the energy levels of a one-electron atom in Fermi normal coordinates. The non-relativistic nS, nP energy levels and the relativistic 1S _1/2, 2S _1/2, 2P _1/2, 2P _3/2 energy levels are calculated in terms of the Riemann tensor. These energy level shifts are non-zero which indicate that the first order gravitational perturbations can partly remove the degeneracy of the studied states in de Sitter space. We show that it is not possible to use the hydrogen atom as a probe of background curvature of the universe. In the second order of perturbation, for 1S state, an upper limit for the energy shifts is obtained.     

Nonlinear vibration of micromachined asymmetric resonators

In this paper, the nonlinear dynamics of a beam-type resonant structure due to stretching of the beam is addressed. The resonant beam is excited by attached electrostatic comb-drive actuators. This structure is modeled as a thin beam-lumped mass system, in which an initial axial force is exerted to the beam. This axial force may have different origins, e.g., residual stress due to micro-machining. The governing equations of motion are derived using the mode summation method, generalized orthogonality condition, and multiple scales method for both free and forced vibrations. The effects of the initial axial force, modal damping of the beam, the location, mass, and rotary inertia of the lumped mass on the free and forced vibration of the resonator are investigated. For the case of the forced vibration, the primary resonance of the first mode is investigated. It has been shown that there are certain combinations of the model parameters depicting a remarkable dynamic behavior, in which the second to first resonance frequencies ratio is close to three. These particular cases result in the internal resonance between the first and second modes. This phenomenon is investigated in detail.     

Gelation Rheology and Water Absorption Behavior of Semi-Interpenetrating Polymer Networks of Polyacrylamide and Carboxymethyl Cellulose

Gelation rheology and swelling behavior of novel semi-interpenetrating polymer network (semi-IPN) hydrogels based on polyacrylamide are described. These hydrogels were prepared by solution cross-linking of partially hydrolyzed polyacrylamide and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), using chromium triacetate. Effects of CMC content on the gelation process and swelling behavior in tap water and different electrolyte solutions were investigated. Study of the gelation behavior using dynamic rheometery showed that the limiting storage modulus of the semi-IPN gels increased with increasing CMC content. Enhancement of storage modulus was more than two times for the semi-IPN gels containing 50 wt% CMC. It was also found that increasing the CMC content decreased the loss factor, indicating that the elastic properties of this gelling system increase more strongly than the viscous properties. The swelling ratio of the semi-IPN gels in tap water, NaCl and CaCl₂ solutions, and synthetic oil reservoir water slightly decreased as the concentration of the CMC increased. The improved storage modulus and slightly decreased swelling capacity in oil reservoir water make these semi-IPN hydrogels potentially good candidates for excess water treatment in oil recovery applications.     

Influence of acid catalysts on the structural and magnetic properties of nanocrystalline barium ferrite prepared by sol–gel method

BaFe₁₂O₁₉ powders with nanocrystalline size were prepared by sol–gel techniques. Nitric, hydrochloric, acetic and stearic acid were used to improve the magnetic properties. Amorphous gels were formed with Fe/Ba molar ratio of 10.5. Then powders were obtained by subsequent heat treatment at 800–1000 °C for 1 h. Barium ferrite powder was also synthesized by solid state reaction at 1210 °C. X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments were conducted to evaluate structural properties of the samples. The value of the effective magnetic susceptibility was measured. The results show that the magnetoplumbite structure was formed in all of the powders. The TEM observation showed that the minimum particle size (20 nm) was produced with the stearic acid catalyst. The highest value of the effective magnetic susceptibility was achieved also using stearic acid.     

Multi‐responses optimization of simultaneous adsorption of methylene blue and malachite green dyes in binary aqueous system onto Ni:FeO(OH)‐NWs‐AC using experimental design: derivative spectrophotometry method

In this research, response surface methodology (RSM) approach using Central Composite Design (CCD) coupled by derivative spectrophotometry method was applied to develop mathematical model and optimize process parameters for simultaneous adsorption of methylene blue (MB) and malachite green (MG) from aqueous solution using Ni:FeO(OH) ‐ NWs‐AC. The optimal conditions to adsorption of MB and MG in binary mixture solution from aqueous solution were found at pH 8.0, MB concentration 20 mg L^‐1, MG concentration 20 mg L^‐1, adsorbent dosage 0.033 g and contact time 40 min. At these conditions, high adsorption efficiency (99.39% and 100.0% for MB and MG, respectively) was achieved. Among experimental equilibrium, Langmuir isotherm model fitted well with maximum monolayer adsorption capacity of 28.6 and 29.8 mg g^‐1 for MB and MG, respectively. The adsorption kinetic data followed pseudo second‐order kinetics for MB and MG dyes.     

Introducing the theory of successful settling in order to evaluate and optimize the sedimentation tanks

A rectangular settling tank in full scale is investigated using the Fluent software to increase its efficiency. First, the pure water is simulated in the absence of particles. Then particles are injected into the flow field and tracked by means of the discrete phase model. Three methods are presented to optimize the settling tank: (1) adding a baffle which is mounted in the bottom and is extended up to the near of free surface, (2) adding a baffle which is mounted in the free surface and is extended up to the near of the tank bottom and (3) install a bi-directional baffle which is mounted in the free surface and is extended up to the near of the bottom. These three suggestions are checked using the short-circuiting phenomenon and the successful settling theory. The successful settling theory states that a particle can be accounted as a “trapped” particle if (1) settled particle stays static and stable in the tank bottom and (2) settled particle doesn’t return to purified sewage. Although the second method provided higher efficiency, the third method was selected as the most appropriate method in order to optimize the settling tank.     

Sintering of dental ceramic/sol–gel-derived bioactive glass mixtures for dental applications: the study of microstructural,biological, and thermal properties

Journal of Sol-Gel Science and Technology - Although dental ceramic restorations are biocompatible, they are not necessarily bioactive. They can be modified by bioactive glasses to exhibit...     

Electron acceleration below quarter-critical density in CO2 laser-produced plasmas

We present detailed characteristics of heated electron distributions in long-scale-length underdense plasmas irradiated by intense nanosecond CO₂ laser radiation. Below n_c/4, the heated electron distributions are consistent with heating by Raman instability.