Sonication-Assisted Synthesis of Bimetallic Hg/Pd Alloy Nanoparticles for Catalytic Reduction of Nitrophenol and its Derivatives

In this article, we report a facile approach for the synthesis of an inexpensive catalyst of bimetallic Hg/Pd alloys comprising nanoparticles with various structures using a unique ultrasonic reaction that is conducted without the use of any reducing agent. The nanoparticles of Hg/Pd alloys (HgPd and Hg₂Pd₅) were achieved for the first time by sonicating an aqueous solution of Palladium (II) nitrate with metallic liquid mercury, as evidenced by XRD. EDS further confirmed the presence of Pd and Hg elements in the alloy. The surface morphology and structure of the nanoparticles have been systematically investigated by HRSEM, HRTEM and SAED pattern. In order to explore the catalytic activity of the as-synthesized nanoalloys, the catalytic reduction of 4-nitrophenol and a few other nitrophenol derivatives were investigated. Excellent catalytic activity was obtained for Hg/Pd (1:1) alloy, and the rate constant for the reduction of 4-NP with Hg/Pd at room temperature was found to be 58.4 × 10⁻³ s⁻¹, which is possibly the highest ever reported. The catalyst exhibited superior stability and reusability when compared with those reported in the literature for other catalysts based on noble metals.     

Synthesis of Au nanorods via autocatalytic growth of Au seeds formed by sonochemical reduction of Au(I): Relation between formation rate and characteristic of Au nanorods

The sonochemical formation of Au seeds and their autocatalytic growth to Au nanorods were investigated in a one-pot as a function of concentration of HAuCl₄, AgNO₃, and ascorbic acid (AA). The effects of ultrasonic power and irradiation time were also investigated. In addition, the formation rate of Au nanorods was analyzed by monitoring the extinction at 400 nm by UV–Vis spectroscopy and compared with the growth behavior of Au seeds to nanorods. Most of the reaction conditions affected the yield, size, and shape of Au nanorods formed. It was confirmed that the concentration balance between HAuCl₄ and AA was important to proceed the formation of Au seeds and nanorods effectively. The formation rate became faster with increasing AA concentration and dog-bone shaped nanorods were formed at high AA concentration. It was also confirmed a unique phenomenon that the shape of Au nanorods changed even after the completion of the reduction of Au(I) in the case of short-time ultrasonic irradiation for Au seed formation.     

Noise Reduction in Spur Gear Systems

This article lists some tips for reducing gear case noise. With this aim, a static analysis was carried out in order to describe how stresses resulting from meshing gears affect the acoustic emissions. Different parameters were taken into account, such as the friction, material, and lubrication, in order to validate ideas from the literature and to make several comparisons. Furthermore, a coupled Eulerian–Lagrangian (CEL) analysis was performed, which was an innovative way of evaluating the sound pressure level of the aforementioned gears. Different parameters were considered again, such as the friction, lubrication, material, and rotational speed, in order to make different research comparisons. The analytical results agreed with those in the literature, both for the static analysis and CEL analysis—for example, it was shown that changing the material from steel to ductile iron improved the gear noise, while increasing the rotational speed or the friction increased the acoustic emissions. Regarding the CEL analysis, air was considered a perfect gas, but its viscosity or another state equation could have also been taken into account. Therefore, the above allowed us to state that research into these scientific fields will bring about reliable results.     

Higher‐Dimensional Unification with continuous and fuzzy coset spaces as extra dimensions

We first review the Coset Space Dimensional Reduction (CSDR) programme and present the best model constructed so far based on the , 10‐dimensional E₈ gauge theory reduced over the nearly‐Kähler manifold with the additional use of the Wilson flux mechanism. Then we present the corresponding programme in the case that the extra dimensions are considered to be fuzzy coset spaces and the best model that has been constructed in this framework too. In both cases the best model appears to be the trinification GUT .     

降低轴流风机噪声的两种方法

本文对轴流风机的噪声源进行了理论和实验分析,对降低风机噪声的方法进行了总结。在此基础上,研究了降低风机噪声的两种新方法——叶片不等距分布方法和叶片穿孔方法。理论分析和实验结果表明,这两种方法为降低轴流风机噪声提供了新的途径。     

考虑互耦的半波振子线阵辐射和散射方向图综合

对于半波振子阵列天线,可用感应电动势法算得其阻抗矩阵,依据等效电路原理计入单元间的互耦计算辐射场.将其推广至考虑互耦的散射场计算,基于此辐射场和散射场的计算公式,提出一种考虑互耦同时综合半波振子阵列天线辐射和散射方向图的新方法.运用粒子群优化算法,通过优化振子的间距,同时综合指定辐射和散射方向图.运用该方法,通过对中心工作频率处的辐射和散射特性以及在威胁角度给定频带内的散射特性优化,有效降低半波振子阵在中心工作频率处的辐射和散射方向图的副瓣电平,并减小其在威胁角度给定频带内的雷达散射截面.计算结果与FEKO仿真结果吻合良好,验证方法的正确性.     

Dynamic bifurcation of a modified Kuramotoben Sivashinsky equation with higher-order nonlinearity

Under the periodic boundary condition, dynamic bifurcation and stability in the modified Kuramoto—Sivashinsky equation with a higher-order nonlinearity μ(u_x)^pu_xx are investigated by using the centre manifold reduction procedure. The result shows that as the control parameter crosses a critical value, the system undergoes a bifurcation from the trivial solution to produce a cycle consisting of locally asymptotically stable equilibrium points. Furthermore, for cases in which the distances to the bifurcation points are small enough, one-order approximations to the bifurcation solutions are obtained.     

Effect of the structure of nitroxyl radicals on the kinetics of their acid‐catalyzed disproportionation

Acid‐catalyzed disproportionation of cyclic nitroxyl radicals R₂NO^? includes the half‐reactions of their oxidation to oxoammonium cations R₂NO⁺ and reduction to hydroxylamines R₂NOH. For many nitroxyl radicals, this reaction is characterized by its ~100% reversibility. Quantitative characteristics of acid–base and redox properties of the whole redox triad may be obtained from research of kinetics and equilibrium of this reaction. Here, we have examined the kinetics for the disproportionation of twenty piperidine‐, pyrroline‐, pyrrolidine‐, and imidazoline nitroxyl radicals in aqueous H₂SO₄, and interpreted it in terms of the excess acidity function X. The rate‐limiting step of this reaction is R₂NO^? oxidation by its protonated counterpart R₂NOH^+?. Kinetic stability of R₂NO^? in acidic media depends on the basicity of nitroxyl group. This basicity is influenced predominantly by protonation of another, more basic group in radical structure, and its proximity to nitroxyl group. The discovered estimates of pK values for radical cations R₂NOH^+? (from ?5.8 to ?12.0) indicate a very low basicity of nitroxyl groups in all commonly used R₂NO^?. For the first time, a linear correlation is obtained between the one‐electron reduction potentials of oxoammonium cations and the basicity of nitroxyl groups of related radicals. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

On a Recent Proposal of Faster than Light Quantum Communication

In a recent paper, A.Y. Shiekh has discussed an experimental set-up which, in his opinion, should make possible faster-than-light communication using the collapse of the quantum wave function. Contrary to the many proposals which have been presented in the past, he does not resort to an entangled state of two systems but he works with a single particle in a superposition of two states—corresponding to its propagation in opposite directions—one of which goes through an appropriate interferometer. The possibility for an observer near the interferometer to introduce or not, at his free will, a phase shifter along one of the paths should allow to change instantaneously the probability of finding the particle in the far-away region corresponding to the other state of the superposition and, correspondingly, to change the intensity of a beam of particles reaching a distant observer. In this paper we show a flaw in the argument: once more, as it has been proved in full generality a long time ago, the process of wave packet reduction cannot be used for superluminal communication.