Charged cylindrical collapse of anisotropic fluid

Following the scheme developed by Misner and Sharp, we discuss the dynamics of gravitational collapse. For this purpose, an interior cylindrically symmetric spacetime is matched to an exterior charged static cylindrically symmetric spacetime using the Darmois matching conditions. Dynamical equations are obtained with matter dissipating in the form of shear viscosity. The effect of charge and dissipative quantities over the cylindrical collapse are studied. Finally, we show that homogeneity in energy density and conformal flatness of spacetime are necessary and sufficient for each other.     

Kinetic Modeling of Solvent-Free Lipase-Catalyzed Partial Hydrolysis of Palm Oil

This work reports the experimental data and kinetic modeling of diacylglycerol (DAG) production from palm oil using a commercial immobilized lipase (Lipozyme RM IM) in a solvent-free medium. The experiments were performed in batch mode, at 55?°C and 400?rpm, and the effects of enzyme concentration (0.68?C2.04?wt% related to the mass of substrates), initial water concentration (5?C15?wt% related to the mass of oil), and reaction time were evaluated. A novel kinetic model is presented based on the ordered-sequential bi?Cbi mechanism considering hydrolysis and esterification steps, in which a correlation between water-in-oil solubility and surfactant molecules concentration in the oil allowed the model to describe the induction period in the beginning of the hydrolysis reaction. Moreover, mass transfer limitations related to the enzyme concentration in the system were also taken into account. The proposed model presented a very satisfactory agreement with the experimental data, thus allowing a better understanding of the reaction kinetics. The best conditions obtained for the product (partially hydrolyzed palm oil) in terms of DAG yield (35.91?wt%) were 2.87?wt% enzyme/substrate, 2.10?wt% water/oil, and 72?h of reaction.     

Tetramethylammonium hydroxide thermochemolysis for the analysis of cellulose and free carbohydrates in a peat bog

We have compared TMAH thermochemolysis with the classical method using acid hydrolysis for carbohydrates analysis in a peat core. Even if TMAH thermochemolysis does not analyse hemicellulosic carbohydrates and discriminate each individual carbohydrate sensu stricto, it allows the analysis of a cellulose pool hidden to acid hydrolysis and the specific analysis of free and terminal carbohydrates. Simple direct comparisons of thermochemolysis data with data generated from acid hydrolysis cannot be done because of the different mechanisms involved in each process. TMAH thermochemolysis must be viewed and used as a pertinent and complementary method for the analysis of carbohydrates protected and trapped by the organic matter in complex environmental systems.     

Enhanced radical scavenging activity of polyhydroxylated C<Subscript>60</Subscript> functionalized cellulose nanocrystals

A first demonstration of conjugated polyhydroxylated fullerene (C₆₀(OH)₃₀) on the surface of cellulose nanocrystals (CNC)s is reported. These nanohybrids display favourable antioxidant performance and are an attractive alternative to derivatized fullerene nanocages reported previously. UV–Vis measurements indicated that the C₆₀(OH)₃₀-CNC system scavenged 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radicals to a greater degree than C₆₀(OH)₃₀ alone, due to the nucleation of C₆₀(OH)₃₀ on the surface of CNC and high colloidal stability of the engineered nanohybrid. A mechanism for the 2-stage process of the radical reaction with C₆₀(OH)₃₀-CNC is proposed, and modelled by pseudo-first order kinetics. Successful grafting of C₆₀(OH)₃₀ on CNC was confirmed by FTIR, while TEM revealed the morphology of the system with a grafting degree of 20.8 % C₆₀(OH)₃₀. Zeta potential measurements of C₆₀(OH)₃₀-CNC in aqueous solution showed a high stability in the pH range 4.0-8.0, indicating functionality of the CNC based antioxidant system as a biocompatible and sustainable protocol with potential for use in personal care applications.     

LaTiOxNy Thin Film Model Systems for Photocatalytic Water Splitting: Physicochemical Evolution of the Solid–Liquid Interface and the Role of the Crystallographic Orientation

The size of the band gap and the energy position of the band edges make several oxynitride semiconductors promising candidates for efficient hydrogen and oxygen production under solar light illumination. Intense research efforts dedicated to oxynitride materials have unveiled the majority of their most important properties. However, two crucial aspects have received much less attention: One is the critical issue of compositional/structural surface modifications that occur during operation and how these affect photoelectrochemical performance. The second concerns the relation between electrochemical response and the crystallographic surface orientation of the oxynitride semiconductor. These are indeed topics of fundamental importance, since it is exactly at the surface where the visible‐light‐driven electrochemical reaction takes place. In contrast to conventional powder samples, thin films represent the best model system for these investigations. This study reviews current state‐of‐the‐art oxynitride thin film fabrication and characterization, before focusing on LaTiO₂N, selected as a representative photocatalyst. An investigation of the initial physicochemical evolution of the surface is reported. Then, it is shown that after stabilization the absorbed photon‐to‐current conversion efficiency of epitaxial thin films can differ by about 50% for different crystallographic surface orientations, and be up to 5 times larger than for polycrystalline samples.     

Chemical alterations to murine brain tissue induced by formalin fixation: implications for biospectroscopic imaging and mapping studies of disease pathogenesis

Understanding biochemical mechanisms and changes associated with disease conditions and, therefore, development of improved clinical treatments, is relying increasingly on various biochemical mapping and imaging techniques on tissue sections. However, it is essential to be able to ascertain whether the sampling used provides the full biochemical information relevant to the disease and is free from artefacts. A multi-modal micro-spectroscopic approach, including FTIR imaging and PIXE elemental mapping, has been used to study the molecular and elemental profile within cryofixed and formalin-fixed murine brain tissue sections. The results provide strong evidence that amino acids, carbohydrates, lipids, phosphates, proteins and ions, such as Cl(-) and K(+), leach from tissue sections into the aqueous fixative medium during formalin fixation of the sections. Large changes in the concentrations and distributions of most of these components are also observed by washing in PBS even for short periods. The most likely source of the chemical species lost during fixation is the extra-cellular and intra-cellular fluid of tissues. The results highlight that, at best, analysis of formalin-fixed tissues gives only part of the complete biochemical "picture" of a tissue sample. Further, this investigation has highlighted that significant lipid peroxidation/oxidation may occur during formalin fixation and that the use of standard histological fixation reagents can result in significant and differential metal contamination of different regions of tissue sections. While a consistent and reproducible fixation method may be suitable for diagnostic purposes, the findings of this study strongly question the use of formalin fixation prior to spectroscopic studies of the molecular and elemental composition of biological samples, if the primary purpose is mechanistic studies of disease pathogenesis.     

Electrochemical study of the corrosion inhibition ability of “smart” coatings applied on AA2024

Smart epoxy coatings modified with different additives were applied on AA2024. The following three different systems were studied: a reference consisting of an epoxy coating containing chromate active pigments and two “smart” coatings modified with containers loaded with corrosion inhibitor—layered double hydroxides filled with mercaptobenzothiazole and tubular halloysites (HS) filled with 8-hydroxyquinoline. The thickness of the coatings was determined by scanning electron microscopy. The barrier properties and the average corrosion resistance were assessed by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The long-term corrosion repair ability of the various coatings was confirmed by EIS measurements carried for a period of 3 weeks in scratched samples. The ability of the smart additives to inhibit corrosion over defects with different sizes and geometry was studied at the microscale by using localized impedance spectroscopy (LEIS) and the scanning vibrating electrode technique. The results demonstrate that the additives provide effective corrosion inhibition on defects of various sizes. Moreover, the LEIS measurements give some important highlights concerning the mechanisms and kinetics of inhibition of each system.     

Mécanismes de Formation d'α-Aminophosphonates

When di-n-decylphosphonate 1a or di-benzylphosphite 1b are reacted with furan imine 2a or thiophenic imine 2b , the reaction leads to an f -aminophosphonate: 3a , 3b , or 3c following an ion- or radical-based reaction.     

Removal of Cu(II), Cd(II) and Cr(III) ions from aqueous solution by dam silt

The removal of heavy metals, such as Cu(II), Cd(II) and Cr(III) from aqueous solution was studied using Chorfa silt material (Mascara, Algeria). The main constituents of silt sediment are quartz, calcite and mixture of clays. The experimental data were described using Freundlich, Langmuir, Dubinin–Radushkevich (D–R) and Langmuir–Freundlich models. The adsorbed amounts of chromium and copper ions were very high (95% and 94% of the total concentration of the metal ions), whereas cadmium ion was adsorbed in smaller (55%) amounts. The Langmuir–Freundlich isotherm model was the best to describe the experimental data. The maximum sorption capacity was found to be 26.30, 11.76 and 0.35 mg/g for Cr³⁺, Cu²⁺ and Cd²⁺, respectively. The results of mean sorption energy, E (kJ/mol) calculated from D–R equation, confirmed that the adsorption of copper, chromium and cadmium on silt is physical in nature.