Sequestration of Aqueous Lead(II) Using Modified and Unmodified Red Onion Skin

The efficacy of onion skins, both unmodified and chemically modified with thioglycolic acid, was investigated as alternative low-cost adsorbents for the sequestration of aqueous lead(II) ions from aqueous solution. The adsorbents were characterised using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy – energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Adsorption experiments were performed using batch sorption processes. The effects of contact time, pH, initial Pb(II) concentration, adsorbent dose, and temperature were investigated. Optimum sorption conditions were found at pH 4 and a 150?min equilibrium time for the modified onion skin and unmodified onion skin. The Langmuir, Freundlich, Dubinin-Radushkevich and Temkin models were used to characterize the equilibrium experimental results. The equilibrium process was best described by the Freundlich isotherm. The maximum adsorption capacities of 4.878 and 6.173?mg/g were obtained for modified and unmodified adsorbents, respectively, using the Langmuir model. Kinetic studies indicated that the sorption of Pb(II) ions followed a pseudo-second-order model. Thermodynamic parameters such as standard enthalpy change (ΔH°), entropy change (ΔS°), and free energy change (ΔG°) were evaluated from the sorption experimental measurements. The results showed that the sorption process of Pb(II) ions on unmodified and modified onion skins was feasible and exothermic under the conditions used in this study. The sorption process followed the mechanism of physisorption.     

Simultaneous extraction and determination of trace amounts of diclofenac from whole blood using supported liquid membrane microextraction and fast Fourier transform voltammetry

A novel, simple, and inexpensive analytical technique based on flat sheet supported liquid membrane microextraction coupled with fast Fourier transform stripping cyclic voltammetry on a reduced graphene oxide carbon paste electrode was used for the extraction and online determination of diclofenac in whole blood. First, diclofenac was extracted from blood samples using a polytetrafluoroethylene membrane impregnated with 1‐octanol and then into an acceptor solution, subsequently it was oxidized on a carbon paste electrode modified with reduced graphene oxide nanosheets. The optimal values of the key parameters influencing the method were as follows: scan rate, 6 V/s; stripping potential, 200 mV; stripping time, 5 s; pH of the sample solution, 5; pH of the acceptor solution,7; and extraction time, 240 min. The calibration curves were plotted for the whole blood samples and the method was found to have a good linearity within the range of 1–25 μg/mL with a determination coefficient of 0.99. The limits of detection and quantification were 0.1 and 1.0 μg/mL, respectively. Using this coupled method, the extraction and determination were merged into one step. Accordingly, the speed of detection for sensitive determination of diclofenac in complex samples, such as blood, increased considerably.     

A twistor correspondence and Penrose transform for odd-dimensional hyperbolic space

For odd-dimensional hyperbolic space , we construct transforms between the cohomology of certain line bundles on (a twistor space for ) and eigenspaces of the Laplacian and of the Dirac operator on . The transforms are isomorphisms. As a corollary we obtain that every eigenfunction of or on extends as a holomorphic eigenfunction of the corresponding holomorphic operator on a certain region of the complexification of . We also obtain vanishing theorems for the cohomology of a class of line bundles on .

     

Optimal Upper and Lower Bounds for the Upper Tails of Compound Poisson Processes

A compound Poisson process is of the form where Z, Z ₁, Z ₂, are arbitrary i.i.d. random variables and N is an independent Poisson random variable with parameter . This paper identifies the degree of precision that can be achieved when using exponential bounds together with a single truncation to approximate . The truncation level introduced depends only on and Z and not on the overall exceedance level a.     

Tauberian theorems and stability of solutions of the Cauchy problem

Let be a bounded, strongly measurable function with values in a Banach space , and let be the singular set of the Laplace transform in . Suppose that is countable and uniformly for , as , for each in . It is shown that

as , for each in ; in particular, if is uniformly continuous. This result is similar to a Tauberian theorem of Arendt and Batty. It is obtained by applying a result of the authors concerning local stability of bounded semigroups to the translation semigroup on , and it implies several results concerning stability of solutions of Cauchy problems.

     

Fast algorithms for discrete polynomial transforms

Consider the Vandermonde-like matrix , where the polynomials satisfy a three-term recurrence relation. If are the Chebyshev polynomials , then coincides with . This paper presents a new fast algorithm for the computation of the matrix-vector product in arithmetical operations. The algorithm divides into a fast transform which replaces with and a subsequent fast cosine transform. The first and central part of the algorithm is realized by a straightforward cascade summation based on properties of associated polynomials and by fast polynomial multiplications. Numerical tests demonstrate that our fast polynomial transform realizes with almost the same precision as the Clenshaw algorithm, but is much faster for .

     

An orthogonal family of polynomials on the generalized unit disk and ladder representations of

Inner product structures are given for realizations of the positive spin ladder representations over the generalized unit disk . This is accomplished by combining previous results of the author with the construction of a family of holomorphic polynomials on . These polynomials, which play a crucial role in the present work, are shown to be orthogonal with respect to Lebesgue measure, and their norms are computed. The orthogonal family is then used to invert a certain integral transform, giving the desired inner product structures.

     

Noncommutative Berezin transforms and multivariable operator model theory

In this paper, we initiate the study of a class of noncommutative domains of n-tuples of bounded linear operators on a Hilbert space H, where m?2, n?2, and p is a positive regular polynomial in n noncommutative indeterminates. These domains are defined by certain positivity conditions on p, i.e.,

     

Duality and interpolation of anisotropic Triebel–Lizorkin spaces

We study properties of anisotropic Triebel–Lizorkin spaces associated with general expansive dilations and doubling measures on using wavelet transforms. This paper is a continuation of (Bownik in J Geom Anal 2007, to appear, Trans Am Math Soc 358:1469–1510, 2006), where we generalized the isotropic methods of dyadic -transforms of Frazier and Jawerth (J Funct Anal 93:34–170, 1990) to non-isotropic settings. By working at the level of sequence spaces, we identify the duals of anisotropic Triebel–Lizorkin spaces. We also obtain several real and complex interpolation results for these spaces. The author was partially supported by the NSF grants DMS-0441817 and DMS-0653881. The author wishes to thank Michael Frazier and Dachun Yang for valuable comments and discussions on this work.