Photometric determination of free cholesterol via cholesterol oxidase and carbon nanotube supported Prussian blue as a peroxidase mimic

Microchimica Acta - The authors describe a photometric method for the determination of free cholesterol based on the oxidation of cholesterol by the catalytic action of the enzyme...     

Effect of liquid oils on the properties of multiple emulsions containing liquid crystals

Recently, many cosmetic researchers have been focused on multiple emulsions due to better performance. Limited application of multiple emulsions has been attributed to their instability, which can be resolved by the presence of liquid crystals. Multiple emulsions containing liquid crystals are affected by various formulation parameters, such as liquid oils. In this paper, the influence of liquid oils on the formation mechanism was studied. Besides, stability, small-angle x-ray scattering (SAXS) spectra analysis, and rheological analysis of the emulsions were investigated as well. The results showed that when the gap of the polarity between inner oils and external liquid oils is greater, the multiple structures were more easily formed. Multiple emulsions containing liquid crystals were superior in stability to multiple emulsions prepared in the same way with liquid oils that did not form liquid crystals. SAXS indicated that the liquid crystal orientation was lamellar. Rheological analysis indicated that the different structure emulsions showed shear-thinning behavior. The presence of liquid crystal decreased the viscosity and resulted in pseudoplastic enhancement. Both the storage modulus (G′) and the loss modulus (G″) of multiple emulsions were slightly higher than those of O/W-type emulsions, implying the existence of multiple structures.     

A mod 2 index theorem for pin<Superscript>−</Superscript> manifolds

We establish a mod 2 index theorem for real vector bundles over 8k + 2 dimensional compact pin^? manifolds. The analytic index is the reduced η invariant of (twisted) Dirac operators and the topological index is defined through KO-theory. Our main result extends the mod 2 index theorem of Atiyah and Singer (1971) to non-orientable manifolds.     

Synthesis and Thermal Performance of Polyurea Microcapsulated Phase Change Materials by Interfacial Polymerization

Microencapsulated phase change materials with paraffin as the core material were synthesized by interfacial polymerization of isophorone diisocyanate with diethylene triamine. The particle size and particle size distribution, morphology, thermal performance and the encapsulation efficiency of the prepared materials were investigated. The results of Fourier transform infrared spectrometer and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy suggested that the paraffin core was well encapsulated by the polyurea resin. The particle size of the prepared materials decreased and its distribution became narrow with the increase of the emulsification time, stirring speed and emulsifier amount. The thermal gravimetric analysis indicated that the prepared materials exhibited good thermal stability, while the differential scanning calorimetry their high encapsulation efficiency.     

A Comparison of NO Reduction Over Mn–Cu/ZSM5 and Mn–Cu/MWCNTs Catalysts Assisted by Plasma at Ambient Temperature

Manganese–copper bimetal oxide catalysts supported on ZSM5 and acid-treated multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were produced by incipient wetness impregnation for selective catalytic reduction of NO with dielectric barrier discharge plasma. Plasma can activate molecules even at ambient temperature, generating active oxygen species such as O, O₃, and HO₂ radicals, which can oxidize NO to NO₂ effectively. The SCR activity of Mn–Cu/MWCNTs was studied and compared to that of the Mn–Cu/ZSM5. The obtained samples were characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, ICP, H₂-TPR, Raman spectroscopy, and XPS. The results show that Mn–Cu/MWCNTs catalyst possesses NO removal activity superior to that of the Mn–Cu/ZSM5 catalyst. MWCNTs-based catalyst attains NO removal efficiency of 88% at 480 J/L, while the ZSM5-supported catalyst achieves NO removal efficiency of 82% at the same energy density. The oxygen content increased from 3.33 to 19.07% on the nanotube surface after introducing Mn and Cu, which almost remained unchanged on ZSM5. The oxygen-containing functionalities are important for NO_x adsorption and removal. Moreover, the characterization revealed that CuO is the main phase of copper oxide, but copper dispersion decreases on Mn–Cu/ZSM5 surface because of the formation of copper dimer species. The manganese is well-dispersed on the catalysts, MnO₂ and Mn₂O₃ contents of Mn–Cu/MWCNTs are larger than that of Mn–Cu/ZSM5, MnO₂ is the predominant phase of manganese oxide.     

Applicability of anthracite filtration‒micro electrolysis‒sand filtration for the treatment of surface waters containing high turbidity

The effect of combined filtration efficiency on the performance of anthracite filtration?micro electrolysis?sand filtration (AMS) was investigated. Impact of different operating parameters, such as iron?carbon ratio of micro electrolytic units, filtration velocity of AMS, were studied. It was found that when iron?carbon ratio was 6: 4, the AMS’s average turbidity removal rate was 96.75% at the filtration velocity of 3 m h^?1. The results showed that when the filtration rate was 3?9 m h^?1 and iron?carbon ratio was 6: 4, the turbidity removal efficiency was over 94%, and the turbidity of the effluent was less than 1 NTU in effective filtration cycle. The effective filtration cycle can last for more than 5 h or longer. Meanwhile, the removal rate of UV₂₅₄ was above 33%, and the concentration of iron ions in the effluent is less than 0.15 mg L^?1. Turbidity and iron indicators have reached the national drinking water standards. It was also found the mechanism of iron?carbon micro electrolytic enhanced filtration by infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. And It was also speculated the reasons for the reaction passivation.     

Effect of ultraviolet absorption reagent for determination of piperidinium ionic liquid cations by ion pair chromatography with indirect ultraviolet detection

Indirect ultraviolet detection method is a simple and effective method for the determination of ionic liquid cations without ultraviolet absorption group. This paper focused on the influence of different background ultraviolet absorption reagents on the determination of piperidinium ionic liquid cations by ion pair chromatography with indirect ultraviolet detection. Ultraviolet absorption reagents are divided into cationic (4-aminophenol hydrochloride, 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, and N-ethylpyridinium tetrafluoroborate), anionic (potassium biphthalate and 5-sulfosalicylic acid), and amphiprotic (p-aminobenzoic acid). The results showed that piperidinium cations can be separated and detected by cationic and anionic ultraviolet absorption reagents. In general, the cationic ultraviolet absorption reagents have the best effect for separation and detection of the piperidinium cations by ion pair chromatography with indirect ultraviolet detection.     

Electrolyte-cathode interactions in 5-V lithium-ion cells

The electrolyte/electrode interactions on the anode side of a lithium-ion cell and the formation of the solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) have been investigated intensively in the past and are fairly well understood. Present knowledge about the reactions on the cathode side and the resulting cathode electrolyte interphase (CEI) is less detailed. In this study, the electrolyte/electrode interactions on the surface of the high-voltage cathode material LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ (LNMO), both bare and FePO₄-coated, were investigated. The gases evolving upon first time charging of the system were investigated using a GC/MS combination. The degradation products included THF, dimethyl peroxide, phosphor trifluoride, 1,3-dioxolane and dimethyl difluor silane, formed in the GC’s column as its coating reacts with HF from the experiments. Although these substances and their formation are in themselves interesting, the absence of many degradation products which have been mentioned in the existing literature is of equal interest. Our results clearly indicate that coating a cathode material can have a major influence on the amount and composition of the gaseous decomposition products in the formation phase.     

Some evaluation of q-analogues of Euler sums

In this paper, we discuss the analytic representations of q-Euler sums which involve q-harmonic numbers through q-polylogarithms, either linearly or nonlinearly, and give explicit formulae for several classes of q-Euler sums in terms of q-polylogarithms and q-special functions. Furthermore, we develop new closed form representations of sums of quadratic and cubic parametric q-Euler sums. Finally, we can find that the q-Euler sums are reducible to the classical Euler sums when q approaches 1.     

Admissibility of linear estimators with respect to inequality constraints under some loss functions

In this paper, we study the issue of admissibility of linear estimated functions of parameters in the multivariate linear model with respect to inequality constraints under a matrix loss and a matrix balanced loss. Under the matrix loss, when the model is not constrained, the results in the class of non-homogeneous linear estimators [Xie, 1989, Chinese Sci. Bull., 1148–1149; Xie, 1993, J. Multivariate Anal., 1071–1074] showed that the admissibility under the matrix loss and the trace loss is equivalent. However, when the model is constrained by the inequality constraints, we find this equivalency is not tenable, our result shows that the admissibility of linear estimator does not depend on the constraints again under this matrix loss, but it is contrary under the trace loss [Wu, 2008, Linear Algebra Appl., 2040–2048], and it is also relative to the constraints under another matrix loss [He, 2009, Linear Algebra Appl., 241–250]. Under the matrix balanced loss, the necessary and sufficient conditions that the linear estimators are admissible in the class of homogeneous and non-homogeneous linear estimators are obtained, respectively. These results will support the theory of admissibility on the linear model with inequality constraints.