Production of Poly (3-Hydroxybutyric Acid) by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Ralstonia eutropha</Emphasis> in a Biocalorimeter and its Thermokinetic Studies

Bioplastic production from microbial sources is an emerging area which provides opportunities even to convert the wastes into bioplastics. Poly (3-hydroxybutyric acid), commonly called as PHB, is a bioplastic, which is stored as intracellular cytoplasmic inclusions in microorganisms. The objectives of this study are to calorimetrically monitor the PHB production and evaluate the thermokinetic data in a bioreaction calorimeter (BioRC1e). Thus, a well-known PHB-producing bacteria Ralstonia eutropha was selected for batch process in a bioreaction calorimeter. The metabolic heat generated was found to be correlated with the biomass, substrate consumption, oxygen uptake rate (OUR), carbon dioxide evolution rate (CER) and PHB production. The OUR pattern explained the oxidative metabolism of the strain R. eutropha. The heat yields due to biomass and glucose consumption during PHB production were found to be 12.56 and 13.56 kJ/g, respectively. The oxycalorific value obtained for the PHB production was 443.80 kJ/mol of O₂. The concentration of PHB obtained in BioRC1e was 4.33 g/L with a production rate of 0.09 g/L/h. The chemical structure of the extracted PHB by R. eutropha was confirmed using fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analysis.     

Study of mesomorphism and laterally substituted nitro group

A novel thermotropically mesomorphic, meta-substituted nitro group of chalconyl ester series, RO-C₆H₄-COO-C₆H₃-(NO₂)-CO-CH=CH-C₆H₄OC₁₂H₂₅(n) (para) is synthesized and studied with an aim to establish the relation between molecular structure and the mesomorphism with reference to changing molecular flexibility in presence of nitro lateral group. Novel homologous series consist of thirteen homologs (C₁–C₁₈) whose mesomorphism commences from C₅ homolog as enantiotropic nematogenic with absence of smectic property, even in the monotropic condition. Transition temperatures of novel substances were determined by an optical polarizing microscope, equipped with a heating stage (POM). Textures of a nematic phase are threaded or Schlieren. N-I transition curve exhibited narrow, sharp and short odd-even effect; with deviating trend in a phase diagram. Analytical, spectral and thermal data confirmed the molecular structures of homologs. Thermal stability for nematic is 182.89°C, whose mesophase lengths minimum to maximum ranges from 17°C to 45°C and it is an upper middle ordered melting type series. Group efficiency order for nematic is series 1 > series Y > series X, as derived from comparative study of structurally similar analogous series.     

1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine decomposition and chemisorption on Al(111) surface: first-principles molecular dynamics study

We have investigated the decomposition and chemisorption of a 1,3,5-trinitro-1,3,5-triazine (RDX) molecule on Al(111) surface using molecular dynamics simulations, in which interatomic forces are computed quantum mechanically in the framework of the density functional theory (DFT). The real-space DFT calculations are based on higher-order finite difference and norm-conserving pseudopotential methods. Strong attractive forces between oxygen and aluminum atoms break N-O and N-N bonds in the RDX and, subsequently, the dissociated oxygen atoms and NO molecules oxidize the Al surface. In addition to these Al surface-assisted decompositions, ring cleavage of the RDX molecule is also observed. These reactions occur spontaneously without potential barriers and result in the attachment of the rest of the RDX molecule to the surface. This opens up the possibility of coating Al nanoparticles with RDX molecules to avoid the detrimental effect of oxidation in high energy density material applications.     

Quantum Phase Properties of Photon Added and Subtracted Displaced Fock States

Quantum phase properties of photon added and subtracted displaced Fock states (and their limiting cases) are investigated from a number of perspectives, and it is shown that the quantum phase properties are dependent on the quantum state engineering operations performed. Specifically, the analytic expressions for quantum phase distributions and angular Q distribution as well as measures of quantum phase fluctuation and phase dispersion are obtained. The uniform phase distribution of the initial Fock states is observed to be transformed by the unitary operation (i.e., displacement operator) into non‐Gaussian shape, except for the initial vacuum state. It is observed that the phase distribution is symmetric with respect to the phase of the displacement parameter and becomes progressively narrower as its amplitude increases. The non‐unitary (photon addition/subtraction) operations make it even narrower in contrast to the Fock parameter, which leads to broadness. The photon subtraction is observed to be a more powerful quantum state engineering tool in comparison to the photon addition. Further, one of the quantum phase fluctuation parameters is found to reveal the existence of antibunching in both the engineered quantum states under consideration. Finally, the relevance of the engineered quantum states in the quantum phase estimation is also discussed.     

Nucleation studies and characterization of potassium thiocyanate added KDP crystals grown by seed rotation technique

The effect of the addition of potassium thiocyanate on potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystals, grown from aqueous solution by the temperature lowering method using a microcontroller based seed rotation technique has been studied. As part of nucleation studies, metastable zone width, induction period and crystal growth rate of additive added KDP are determined and analyzed with the pure system. Dielectric measurements were carried out on pure and doped crystals at various temperatures ranging from 313 to 423 K and compared. The crystalline perfection of the grown crystal was studied by the high resolution X-ray diffraction analysis. The crystal grown from additive added solution was subjected to structural, optical transmission, second harmonic generation and hardness studies and the effect of additive on pure system is investigated.     

Synthesis, spectroscopic, redox, catalytic and antimicrobial properties of some ruthenium(II) Schiff base complexes

A new series of mixed ligand semicarbazone or thiosemicarbazone complexes of Ru(II) having the general formula [RuCO(EPh₃)(B)L] (where E = P or As; B = PPh₃, AsPh₃ or Pyridine; L = dibasic tridentate ligand derived by the condensation of ethylacetoacetate/methylacetoacetate and thiosemicarbazide/semicarbazide) have been synthesized and characterized by physico-chemical, spectroscopic and electrochemical studies. A comparative study on the catalysis of oxidation of benzyl alcohol, cyclohexanol, cinnamyl alcohol, n-butanol, n-propanol and iso-butyl alcohol has been done with N-methylmorpholine-N-oxide and molecular oxygen as co-oxidants. Catalytic activity studies of the complexes in coupling reactions have been carried out. The antibacterial properties of the complexes have also been examined.     

Demonstration of high‐precision continuous measurements of water vapor isotopologues in laboratory and remote field deployments using wavelength‐scanned cavity ring‐down spectroscopy (WS‐CRDS) technology

This study demonstrates the application of Wavelength‐Scanned Cavity Ring‐Down Spectroscopy (WS‐CRDS) technology which is used to measure the stable isotopic composition of water. This isotopic water analyzer incorporates an evaporator system that allows liquid water as well as water vapor to be measured with high precision. The analyzer can measure HO, HO and HD¹⁶O content of the water sample simultaneously. The results of a laboratory test and two field trials with this analyzer are described. The results of these trials show that the isotopic water analyzer gives precise, accurate measurements with little or no instrument drift for the two most common isotopologues of water. In the laboratory the analyzer has a precision of 0.5 per mil for δD and 0.1 per mil for δ¹⁸O which is similar to the precision obtained by laboratory‐based isotope ratio mass spectrometers. In the field, when measuring vapor samples, the analyzer has a precision of 1.0 per mil for δD and 0.2 per mil for δ¹⁸O. These results demonstrate that the isotopic water analyzer is a powerful tool that is appropriate for use in a wide range of applications and environments. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

An Extremal Eigenvalue Problem for a Two-Phase Conductor in a Ball

The pioneering works of Murat and Tartar (Topics in the mathematical modeling of composite materials. PNLDE 31. Birkhäuser, Basel, 1997) go a long way in showing, in general, that problems of optimal design may not admit solutions if microstructural designs are excluded from consideration. Therefore, assuming, tactilely, that the problem of minimizing the first eigenvalue of a two-phase conducting material with the conducting phases to be distributed in a fixed proportion in a given domain has no true solution in general domains, Cox and Lipton only study conditions for an optimal microstructural design (Cox and Lipton in Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 136:101–117, 1996). Although, the problem in one dimension has a solution (cf. Kre?n in AMS Transl. Ser. 2(1):163–187, 1955) and, in higher dimensions, the problem set in a ball can be deduced to have a radially symmetric solution (cf. Alvino et al. in Nonlinear Anal. TMA 13(2):185–220, 1989), these existence results have been regarded so far as being exceptional owing to complete symmetry. It is still not clear why the same problem in domains with partial symmetry should fail to have a solution which does not develop microstructure and respecting the symmetry of the domain. We hope to revive interest in this question by giving a new proof of the result in a ball using a simpler symmetrization result from Alvino and Trombetti (J. Math. Anal. Appl. 94:328–337, 1983).     

Superficial wrinkles in stretched, drying gelatin films

When a thin film of initially hydrated gelatin is allowed to dry from the surface, superficial changes in the structure of the material affect the local mechanical properties of the drying region. If the film is simultaneously subjected to large strain deformation (above 20%), a periodic pattern of wrinkles appears on the surface of the gelatin along the length of the sample in the direction of the applied force. These wrinkles are uniformly distributed on the surface of the gelatin with a wavelength that is much smaller than the sample thickness, which changes with sample composition, aging time, and deformation rate. We investigate these patterns via in situ environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM) and provide a theory for their origin.