Efficient synthesis of spirooxindole-pyrrolizidines and dispirooxindole-piperazines

A simple and efficient approach for the construction of spirooxindole-pyrrolizidines and dispirooxindole-piperazines by cycloaddition reaction of azomethine ylide generated by isatin and proline has been demonstrated successfully. The formation of two different types of frameworks by two different modes of cycloaddition is explored. The developed protocol highlights simple reaction conditions, easy workup processes, and very good yields of products.     

Residence time distribution study in a pilot-scale gas–solid fluidized bed reactor using radiotracer technique

This paper describes a radiotracer study carried out to measure residence time distribution (RTD) of coal particles in a pilot-scale gas–solid fluidized bed reactor (FBR). Gold-198 labelled on coal particles was used as radiotracer. RTD measurements were conducted for selected operating conditions and mean residence times (MRTs) of the coal particles were determined. Gamma function model was used to simulate the measured RTD data and mixing of coal particles in the reactor was investigated. Based on the results, the performance of the air distributor used in the reactor was evaluated.     

Polymer microcantilever biochemical sensors with integrated polymer composites for electrical detection

Micro fabricated sensors based on nanomechanical motion with piezoresistive electrical readout have become a promising biochemical sensing tool. The conventional microcantilever materials are mostly silicon-based. The sensitivity of the sensor depends on Young's modulus of the structural material, thickness of the cantilever as well as on the gauge factor of the piezoresistor. UV patternable polymers such as SU-8 have a very low Young's modulus compared to the silicon-based materials. Polymer cantilevers with a piezoresistive material having a large gauge factor and a lower Young's modulus are therefore highly suited for sensing applications. In this work, a spin coatable and photopatternable mixture of carbon black (CB) and SU-8, with proper dispersion characteristics, has been demonstrated as a piezoresistive thin film for polymer microcantilevers. Results on percolation experiments of SU-8/CB composite and fabrication of piezoresistive SU-8 microcantilevers using this composite are presented. With our controlled dispersion experiments, we could get a uniform piezoresistive thin film of thickness less than 1.2 μm and resistivity of 2.7 Ω cm using 10 wt% of CB in SU-8. The overall thickness of the SU-8/composite/SU-8 is approximately 3 μm. We further present results on the electromechanical characterization and biofunctionalization of the cantilever structures for biochemical sensing applications. These cantilevers show a deflection sensitivity of 0.55 ppm/nm. Since the surface stress sensitivity is 4.1 × 10⁻³ [N/m]⁻¹, these cantilevers can well be used for detection of protein markers for pathological applications.     

Experimental Determination of NH3 Solubility in Toluene at Pressures up to 340 kPa at 398 K

Journal of Solution Chemistry - The solubility of ammonia in toluene has been measured at 398 K and at pressures up to 340 kPa using a static, synthetic and isochoric technique....     

Cathodo-luminescence spectra of alkali halides

Cathodo-luminescence spectra of fourteen alkali halides and of some mixed crystals of NaCl and KCl have been studied. The spectra show broad structureless bands. In some ten halides it is possible to find a strong band whose peak position shifts towards longer wavelengths as the inter-atomic distance increases. For pottasium halides the relationship λ_max=1380d, where “d” is the inter-atomic distance, holds approximately but is not generally true. A mechanism of cathodo-luminescence in alkali halides has been postulated, and an interpretation of the above band and of some NaCl bands has been made on that basis.     

Crystallization of aqueous ammonium sulfate particles internally mixed with soot and kaolinite: crystallization relative humidities and nucleation rates

Using optical microscopy, we investigated the crystallization of aqueous ammonium sulfate droplets containing soot and kaolinite, as well as the crystallization of aqueous ammonium sulfate droplets free of solid material. Our results show that soot did not influence the crystallization RH of aqueous ammonium sulfate particles under our experimental conditions. In contrast, kaolinite increased the crystallization RH of the aqueous ammonium sulfate droplets by approximately 10%. In addition, our results show that the crystallization RH of aqueous ammonium sulfate droplets free of solid material does not depend strongly on particle size. This is consistent with conclusions made previously in the literature, based on comparisons of results from different laboratories. From the crystallization results we determined the homogeneous nucleation rates of crystalline ammonium sulfate in aqueous ammonium sulfate droplets and the heterogeneous nucleation rates of crystalline ammonium sulfate in aqueous ammonium sulfate particles containing kaolinite. Using classical nucleation theory and our experimental data, we determined that the interfacial tension between an ammonium sulfate critical nucleus and an aqueous ammonium sulfate solution is 0.064 +/- 0.003 J m(-2) (in agreement with our previous measurements), and the contact angle between an ammonium sulfate critical nucleus and a kaolinite surface is 59 +/- 2 degrees. On the basis of our results, we argue that soot will not influence the crystallization RH of aqueous ammonium sulfate droplets in the atmosphere, but kaolinite can significantly modify the crystallization RH of atmospheric ammonium sulfate droplets. As an example, the CRH50 (the relative humidity at which 50% of the droplets crystallize) ranges from about 41 to 51% RH when the diameter of the kaolinite inclusion ranges from 0.1 to 5 microm. For comparison, the CRH50 of aqueous ammonium sulfate droplets (0.5 microm diameter) free of solid material is approximately 34.3% RH under atmospheric conditions.     

Fabrication of highly porous poly (ɛ-caprolactone) fibers for novel tissue scaffold via water-bath electrospinning

A non-toxic route was used for the preparation of silver nanoparticles using tryptophan (Trp) as reducing/stabilizing agent in the presence of cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB). Role of water soluble neutral polymer poly(vinylpyrrolidone) (PVP) has been studied on the growth of yellow colour silver nanoparticle formation. The synthesized nanostructures were characterized by UV–Visible absorption spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) by observing the size and distribution of silver nanoparticles. As the reaction proceeded, particles grew up to about 10 and 20 nm in the presence and absence of PVP, respectively, as determined by TEM. The formed nanoparticles showed the highest absorption plasmon band at 425 nm. Rate of silver sol formation increases with the [Trp], [CTAB] and [PVP], reaching a limiting value and then decreases with the increase in concentrations of these reagents. It was observed that nanoparticles are spherical, aggregated and poly dispersed in the absence and presence of PVP, respectively. On the basis of kinetic data, a suitable mechanism is proposed and discussed for the silver sol formation.     

A critical remark on “Fixed point theorems for occasionally weakly compatible mappings”

In the present paper, we show that under contractive conditions, the existence of a common fixed point and occasional weak compatibility are equivalent conditions. We also show that contractive conditions employed by Jungck and Rhoades [Fixed point theorems for occasionally weakly compatible mappings, Fixed Point Theory 7(2) (2006) 287–296; Fixed Point Theory 9 (2008) 383–384 (erratum)] do not provide a nontrivial setting for the application of occasional weak compatible mappings. Finally, we improve the results of Jungck and Rhoades by employing a proper setting.     

An Exact Solution of Perfect Fluid in Isotropic Coordinates, Compatible with Relativistic Modeling of Star

We present a spherically symmetric solution of the general relativistic field equations in isotropic coordinates for perfect fluid, compatible with a super dense star modeling. The solution is well behaved for all the values of u lying in the range 0<u≤0.12. Further, we have constructed a super-dense star model with all degree of suitability and by assuming the surface density ρ _b =2×10¹⁴ g/cm³. Corresponding to u=0.12, the resulting well behaved model has maximum mass M=0.912M _Θ with radius R _b ≈11.27 km and Moment of inertia 0.97×10⁴⁵ gm?cm². The good matching of our results for Vela pulsars show the stoutness of our model.     

Computational investigations of the coupling between transient flame dynamics and thermo-acoustic instability in a self-excited resonance combustor

Combustion instability due to thermo-acoustic interactions is a critical combustion problem that requires a thorough understanding because of its adverse impact on stable and reliable operation of combustors in high-speed propulsion devices like gas turbines and rockets. This work conducts computational investigations of the coupling between the transient flame dynamics such as the ignition delay and local extinction and the thermo-acoustic instability developed in a self-excited resonance combustor to gain deep insights into the mechanisms of thermo-acoustic instability. A 2D modelling framework that employs different flamelet models (the steady flamelet model and the flamelet/progress variable approach) is developed to enable the examination of the effect of the transient flame dynamics caused by the strong coupling of the turbulent mixing and finite-rate chemical kinetics on the occurrence of thermo-acoustic instability. The models are validated by using the available experimental data for the pressure signal. Parametric studies are performed to examine the effect of the occurrence of the transient flame dynamics, the effect of artificial amplification of the Damköhler number, and the effect of neglecting mixture fraction fluctuations on the predictions of the thermo-acoustic instability. The parametric studies reveal that the occurrence of transient flame dynamics has a strong influence on the onset of the thermo-acoustic instability. Further analysis is then conducted to localise the effect of a particular flame dynamic event, the ignition delay, on the thermo-acoustic instability. The reverse effect of the occurrence of the thermo-acoustic instability on the transient flame dynamics in the combustor is also investigated by examining the temporal evolution of the local flame events in conjunction with the pressure wave propagation. The above observed two-way coupling between the transient flame dynamics (the ignition delay) and the thermo-acoustic instability provides a plausible mechanism of the self-excited and sustained thermo-acoustic instability observed in the combustor despite the fact that the results are obtained from 2D simulations. The same analysis is expected to be extensible to fully 3D simulations.