Grafting of temperature sensitive PNIPAAm on hydrophilised polysulfone UF membranes

Poly(N-isopropyl acrylamide) (PNIPAAm) was grafted on a polysulfone UF membrane. The changes of permeability as well as retention of PEG (35 kg/mol) and Dextran (500 kg/mol) between 23 and 60 °C were determined for both grafted and unmodified membranes. The results showed that the viscosity corrected water permeability and solute retention were almost constant for the unmodified membranes within the measured temperature range, the permeability of the grafted membranes increased and the retention of Dextran and PEG decreased with temperature. The variation of changes was most obvious in the temperature range 27–37 °C for the modified membranes due to the lower critical solution temperature (LCST) of PNIPAAm. The location and profile of PNIPAAm inside and on the surface of the membrane were analysed by SEM and FTIR. Depth profile calculation for FTIR spectra showed that PNIPAAm was mostly placed inside the membrane (at a depth of 1.06–1.10 μm from the surface) rather than on the surface. The amount of grafted PNIPAAm was low and did not significantly affect the morphology of the membrane. Therefore, a difference in SEM pictures of modified and unmodified membranes could not be seen. The modified membrane exhibited a clearly different thermal response compared to the unmodified one.     

BTX Removal from Polluted Water Through Bioleaching Processes

In this study, benzene, toluene, and xylenes (BTX) removal from contaminated water by physical, chemical, and biological processes was studied. Results showed that air sparging in polluted water can reduce monoaromatic compounds from 140,000 to about 5 microg/l in only 1 h process with a gassing rate of 0.33 VVM. This method cannot be considered as a green technology as pollutants are only transferred from the liquid phase to the gas phase The ultimate objective of this research was thus to evaluate the efficiency of a strategy involving BTX adsorption by granular-activated charcoal (GAC) and subsequent regeneration of this support by a bioleaching process. Analysis of such processes requires the building of analytical tools able to accurately determine the contents of the contaminants in samples containing biomass to make possible the calculation of reliable material balances. Current investigation showed that BTX are readily trapped by GAC particles with low further release in the liquid medium whereas they remain at least partially available for in situ biodegradation. BTX adsorption onto the GAC was shown to reach maximum solute retention close to 350, 250, and 150 (as mg/g GAC) for xylenes, toluene, and benzene, respectively. This approach, which could afford efficient biological active carbon regeneration, is very promising for the removal of BTX compounds from water without any further environment damage.     

The strong persistence property and symbolic strong persistence property

Czechoslovak Mathematical Journal - Let I be an ideal in a commutative Noetherian ring R. Then the ideal I has the strong persistence property if and only if (Ik+1: RI) = Ik for all k, and I has...     

γ‐Fe2O3@Cu3Al‐LDH‐TUD as a new Amphoteric,Highly Efficient and Recyclable Heterogeneous Catalyst for the Solvent‐free Synthesis of Dihydropyrano[3,2‐c]pyrazoles and dihydropyrano[3,2‐c]chromens

Thiourea dioxide was immobilized on γ‐Fe₂O₃@Cu₃Al‐LDH magnetic nanoparticles to prepare the γ‐Fe₂O₃@Cu₃Al‐LDH‐TUD MNPs. The structure and properties of these magnetic nanoparticles were established by FT‐IR, EDX, SEM, XRD, and hystogram of particle size analytical methods. The results obtained from these analytical methods confirmed the successful immobilization of the thiourea dioxide onto the magnetic support. The synthesized magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) exhibited high catalytic activity in one‐pot three‐component reactions under mild and solvent‐free conditions for the synthesis of diverse ranges of dihydropyrano[3,2‐c]pyrazoles and dihydropyrano[3,2‐c]chromens. All the reactions proceeded smoothly to furnish the respective products in excellent yields. Simple isolation of the products, avoidance of harmful organic solvents, versatility of the catalyst and its easy magnetic separation and reusability with no significant loss of activity are the main advantages of the present method.     

Development and validation of SuperDEM for non-spherical particulate systems using a superquadric particle method

This article presents the development and validation of the Superquadric Discrete Element Method(SuperDEM) for non-spherical particle simulation using a superqu...     

Microwave-Induced One - Pot Synthesis of some new Spiro [Indoline-3,2′-Thiazolidine]-2,4′(1H)-Diones and Bis [Spiro [Indoline -3,2′-Thiazolidine]-2,4′(1H)-Diones]

The title compounds have been obtained thermally and under microwave irradiation by condensation of isatin, aromatic amines and mercaptoacetic acid in good to excellent yields without isolating the imine intermediates.     

Theoretical studies of 1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxamides as possible inhibitors of Mycobacterium tuberculosis enoyl reductase

Abstract  

The binding affinity of some novel 1,4-dihydropyridine-3,5-dicarboxamides to enoyl-ACP reductase (InhA) from M. tuberculosis was studied by the docking method. A molecular dynamics simulation lasting 230 ns in total was performed for 19 ligand–enzyme complexes to calculate the binding free energies of these ligands to the enzyme. All of the studied compounds stayed in the active site. An energetics analysis revealed that the van der Waals share is more important than electrostatic in binding of all ligands to the active site.     

Thermodynamic Study of Poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) in Water/Dimethyl Sulfoxide Solutions by Viscometry

In this work, the intrinsic viscosities of poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) with a molar mass of 58?kg?mol^?1 were measured in water?Cdimethyl sulfoxide solutions at temperatures from (298.15 to 318.15)?K. The expansion factors of the polymer chains were calculated from the intrinsic viscosity data. The thermodynamic parameters (entropy of dilution parameter, the heat of dilution parameter, theta temperature, polymer?Csolvent interaction parameter and second osmotic virial coefficient) were derived by the temperature dependence of the polymer chain expansion factor. The thermodynamic parameters indicate that mixtures of water/dimethyl sulfoxide become poorer solvents for poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) as the temperature is increased. Also, the thermodynamic parameters indicate that water/dimethyl sulfoxide mixtures become better solvents for poly(vinyl pyrrolidone) by increasing the volume fractions of dimethyl sulfoxide.     

Falling film flow of a viscoelastic fluid along a wall

In this paper, we study the heat transfer in the fully developed flow of a viscoelastic fluid, a slag layer, down a vertical wall. A new constitutive relation for the stress tensor of this fluid is proposed, where the viscosity depends on the volume fraction, temperature, and shear rate. For the heat flux vector, we assume the Fourier's law of conduction with a constant thermal conductivity. The model is also capable of exhibiting normal stress effects. The governing equations are non‐dimensionalized and numerically solved to study the effects of various dimensionless parameters on the velocity, temperature, and volume fraction. The effect of the exponent in the Reynolds viscosity model is also discussed. The different cases of shear‐thinning and shear‐thickening, cooling and heating, are compared and discussed. The results indicate that the viscous dissipation and radiation (at the free surface) cause the temperature to be higher inside the flow domain. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Preparation and characterization of polyurethane electrical insulating coatings derived from novel soybean oil‐based polyol

As a viable alternative to the petrochemical polyols in polyurethanes (PUs), a new soybean oil‐based polyol (PSBO) with high functionality of hydroxyl groups and built‐in (preformed) urethane bonds was introduced. At first, a facile and improved method was developed for the transformation of epoxidized soybean oil (ESBO) to carbonated soybean oil (CSBO). Then ring‐opening reaction of carbonated oil with ethanolamine (ETA) led to the polyol. After characterization by conventional spectroscopic and analytical methods, PSBO was used for the formulation of novel one‐pack PU electroinsulating wire enamels. Tunable mechanical, thermal, and electrical properties for the final PUs were achieved by replacing 10 wt% of PSBO with poly(propylene glycol) (PPG) at different number average molecular weights of 725, 1000, 2000, 4000. Investigation of the results showed that these soy‐based PUs offer excellent thermal and electrical insulating properties. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.