Kinetics of the Oxidative Dehydrogenation of Propane over a VMgO Catalyst

The reaction kinetics of the oxidative dehydrogenation of propane was studied at 475-550℃ over a VMgO catalyst. Vanadium-magnesium-oxides are among the most selective and active catalysts for the dehydrogenation of propane to propylene. Selectivity to propylene up to about 60% was obtained at 10% conversion, but the selectivity decreased with increasing conversion. No oxygenates were detected, the only by-products were CO and CO2. The reaction rate of propane was found to be first order in propane and close to zero order in oxygen, which is in agreement with a Mars van Krevelen mechanism with the activation of the hydrocarbon as the rate determining step. The activation energy of the conversion of propane was found to be 122±6 kJ/mol.     

Inhibition of Quorum Sensing,Motility and Biofilm Formation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa by Copper Oxide Nanostructures

Quorum sensing (QS) is the communication between bacterial cells governed by their population density and regulated by the genes controlling virulence factors and biofilm formation. Multiple mechanisms of biofilms are resistive to antimicrobial chemotherapy; therefore novel strategies are required to overcome its limitations. Here, we report the effect of various copper oxide nanostructures (CuO-NSs) on quorum sensing inhibition. The two-dimensional CuO-NSs such as interlaced nanodiscs, nanodiscs and leaf-shaped nanosheets are prepared via a simple chemical method. The Quorum sensing inhibition (QSI) activity of all the CuO-NS are examined using reporter strain Chromobacterium violaceum CV026 and Escherichia coli pSB1142. We found that the CuO-interlaced nanodisc structures exhibit better QSI activity than nanodiscs and leaf-shaped sheets. The interlaced nanodisc structures are inhibited various long-chain N-acyl homoserine lactones (AHLs) mediated QS individually and confirmed by other QS-associated phenomena for Pseudomonas aeruginosa, including biofilm inhibition, inhibition of virulence factors such as pyocyanin, protease production and swarming motility. Thus QSI activity of CuO-NSs is solely dependent on specific shape offering large surface area and more active sites. The CuO-NS is effective quorum sensing inhibitors, which has potential clinical applications in the management of P. aeruginosa associated infections.

     

Synthesis and characterization of LaB6 thin films on tungsten, rhenium, silicon and other substrates and their investigations as?field emitters

The paper deals with the comparative study of nanocrystalline Lanthanum hexaboride (LaB₆) thin films grown on various substrates by Pulsed laser deposition and Arc plasma method. Field emission studies were carried out on LaB₆ films deposited on various substrates show metallic behavior of the emitters. The high value of field enhancement factors, indicating that the electron emission from LaB₆ nanoscale protrusions deposited on emitter surface. The post field emission surface morphology of the emitters showed no significant erosion of the films during continuous operation. The observed behavior indicates that it is linked with the growth of LaB₆ films on substrate crystal structure. The LaB₆ nanocrystallites/nanowires films were synthesized using arc plasma method shows good emission current stability. The LaB₆ micro/nanocrystallites were also obtained by picosecond laser irradiation which gives high enhancement β factor, and good emission current stability along with high current density. The results reveal that nanocrystalline LaB₆ films, exhibit high resistance to ion bombardment and excellent structural stability and are more promising emitters for practical applications in field emission based new generation devices.     

Synthesis of 7‐acetyloxy‐3,7‐dimethy1‐7,8‐dihydro‐6H‐isochromene‐6,8‐dione and its analogues

7‐Alkanoyloxy‐3,7‐dimefhyl‐7,8‐dihydro‐6H‐isochromene‐6,8‐diones 12‐15 were synthesized in 69‐16% yields from the reaction of 2,4‐dihydroxy‐3‐methyl‐6‐(2‐oxopropyl)benzaldehyde 11 with p‐toluenesulfonic acid in various carboxylic acids such as acetic acid, propionic acid, butyric acid and heptanoic acid followed by oxidation with lead tetraacetate. On the other hand, (±)‐daldinin A 5 (oleate) was not obtained using oleic acid as a medium. In the cases of heptanoic acid and oleic acid, esters 16 and 17 were produced in 23 and 9% yields, respectively. 6,8‐Dihydroxy‐3,7‐dimethyl‐2‐benzopyrylium p‐toluenesulfonate 31 is considered as the intermediate for the production of 12‐15. Overall yields of isochromenes 12‐15 were 26‐6% starting from 2‐methylresorcinol for seven steps.     

Effects of liquid superheat during solidification of pure metals in a square cavity

Numerical investigations on the effects of liquid superheat during solidification of a pure metal (tin) in a square cavity have been performed. Natural convection in the melt is established in a small time compared to the duration of solidification. At high degrees of superheat (ΔT _sup>0.5) the average Nusselt number at the hot wall is practically invariant with time and is correlated by . Multi-cellular flow structure with peaks in the Nusselt number is predicted in the narrow melt for low values of ΔT _sup. A modified superheat parameter, , suggested in the present study for the estimation of solidified volume has been found to be satisfactory. Correlations for the evolution of solid volume with time have been developed.     

Vectorial Approach to Fast Correlation Attacks

A new, vectorial approach to fast correlation attacks on binary memoryless combiners is proposed. Instead of individual input sequences or their linear combinations, the new attack is targeting subsets of input sequences as a whole thus exploiting the full correlation between the chosen subset and the output sequence. In particular, the set of all the input sequences can be chosen as the target. The attack is based on a novel iterative probabilistic algorithm which is also applicable to general memoryless combiners over finite fields or finite rings. To illustrate the effectiveness of the introduced approach, experimental results obtained for random balanced combining functions are presentedMost of this work was done while he was with Rome CryptoDesign Center, Gemplus, Italy     

On the Motion of a Dynamic System with Minimal Dissipation

The motion of a holonomic scleronomic non-conservative mechanicalsystem with minimal dissipation is considered. As applicationsof the theory several problems are studied in detail.     

Arc plasma synthesized LaB<Subscript>6</Subscript> nanocrystallite film on various substrates as a field emitter

Lanthanum hexaboride (LaB₆) nanocrystallites/nanowires have been successfully synthesized using gas phase condensation in arc plasma. Our results show that the LaB₆ nanowires have ~20 nm diameter and length of several micrometers. The as-synthesized LaB₆ nanocrystallites and nanowires are crystalline in nature. Field emission studies were carried out on as synthesized LaB₆ nano-powder deposited on W and Re tips and foils, and also on Si foil substrates under ultra high vacuum. The Fowler–Nordheim plots obtained from the current–voltage characteristics are found to be linear in accordance with the quantum mechanical tunneling phenomenon. High value of field enhancement factor (8177) is observed for LaB₆ on Re substrate, indicating that the electron emission is from the nanometric features of the LaB₆. Our results show that the arc plasma synthesized LaB₆ nanocrystalline film exhibits good emission stability as emitter without severe deviations from the initial set value and also a strong ability to withstand the ion bombardment, which is useful for low operation voltage vacuum micro/nano electronic devices.