Characterization of polyoxometalate/polymer photo-composites: A toolbox for the photodegradation of organic pollutants

Different inorganic/organic photocomposites based on polyoxometalate (POM) nanoparticles have been developed for photocatalytic applications. Currently, polyoxometalate nanoparticles have been successfully in-situ embedded into an acrylate polymer network by photopolymerization upon mild visible light irradiation at 405 nm. The proposed POM/polymer photocomposites have been characterized using complementary techniques for a better understanding of their photocatalytic activity. Interestingly, the obtained photocomposites exhibit high rigidity, excellent thermal stability, a non-negligible porosity and new functionalities such as light reactivity and redox properties. Moreover, developed composites showed efficient catalytic activity for the color removal of aqueous solutions of erythrosine and rose Bengal under Light Emitting Diodes LED@375 nm irradiation reaching 80 and 90% as a final color removal, respectively.     

New Applications of the Lithiated Phosphinimine Ph3P=N-Li: Synthesis of α,β-Unsaturated Nitriles and P=N-P Linked Phosphinimines

Abstract

The reaction of Ph₃P-N-Li⁽¹²⁾ with various α,β-unsaturated esters gives access to new N-(α,β-unsaturated acyl) phosphinimines. which can undergo intramolecular aza-Wittig reaction (at 65 - 110°C) to afford the corresponding nitriles.     

A nonlinear inequality and application to global asymptotic stability of perturbed systems

The goal of this work is to present a new nonlinear inequality which is used in a study of the Lyapunov uniform stability and uniform asymptotic stability of solutions to time‐varying perturbed differential equations. New sufficient conditions for global uniform asymptotic stability and/or practical stability in terms of Lyapunov‐like functions for nonlinear time‐varying systems is obtained. Our conditions are expressed as relation between the Lyapunov function and the existence of specific function which appear in our analysis through the solution of a scalar differential equation. Moreover, an example in dimensional two is given to illustrate the applicability of the main result. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Feedback control design for Rössler and Chen chaotic systems anti-synchronization

The proposed anti-synchronization conditions of coupled chaotic systems are based, in this Letter, on the use of aggregation techniques for the stability study of the error dynamics. The schemes are, successfully, applied to coupled Rössler and Chen chaotic systems making the instantaneous characteristic matrix under the arrow form. Numerical simulations are performed to illustrate the efficiency of the proposed approach.     

Determination of Chromium (VI) in Airborne Particulate Matter by Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Hexavalent chromium Cr(VI) is a well-established carcinogen associated with lung, nasal, and sinus cancer. Cr(VI) threshold limit values in workroom air have been recently lowered. Consequently, the currently available analytical methods are insufficiently sensitive or high cost. In this paper, a simple, cost-effective, sensitive, and reproducible method using solid-phase extraction with electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry for determination of hexavalent chromium in airborne samples is reported. The method validation included selectivity, linearity, accuracy, and precision. Interferences from other ions likely to be present in airborne samples, including trivalent chromium, were tested and selectivity was demonstrated. The detection and quantification limits were, respectively, as low as 0.1 and 0.4?µg?L^?1. The linearity ranged from 0.5 to 50.0?µg?L^?1, with a regression coefficients exceeding 0.998. The extraction recovery exceeded 98%. The developed method was successfully compared with a reference spectrophotometric method. The performances achieved were similar to ion chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography approaches. The novel method was tested on airborne samples collected from the workplace. The method’s performance suggests that it may be an alternative to high-cost techniques for monitoring occupational exposure to hexavalent chromium.     

Antibacterial, Anti-Chlamydial, and Cytotoxic Activities of a Marine Snail (Hexaplex trunculus) Phospholipase A2: an In Vitro Study

In order to report pharmacological characterization of marine snail (Hexaplex trunculus) hepatopancreatic phospholipase A₂ (mSDPLA₂), we have talked for the first time the antimicrobial activity against different pathogenic bacterial strains, anti-chlamydial activity as well as its cytotoxic activity against McCoy cell lines. mSDPLA₂, showed a high level of activity towards Gram-positive bacteria as Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis. Whereas Gram-negative bacteria, unfortunately, exhibited a higher resistance, mSDPLA₂ was also found to have a strong cytotoxic activity, causing significant morphological alterations of the McCoy cell lines surfaces and to be a hinder to the proliferation. Moreover, mSDPLA₂ proved to have a very potent anti-chlamydial activity. Over 95?% inhibition of chlamydial inclusions were obtained at a concentration of 10???g/ml of mSDPLA₂ after 24?h postinfection. Interestingly, at a concentration of 10???g/ml of mSDPLA₂, the proliferation of McCoy cells was not affected. Approximately 50?% inhibition of cell growth was obtained with a concentration of 37???g/mL of mSDPLA₂. mSDPLA₂ could be considered as an excellent candidate for the development of a new anti-infective agent. This enzyme showed significant antimicrobial activities.     

NMR spectroscopic characterization of new 2,3‐dihydro‐1,3,4‐thiadiazole derivatives

The ¹H and ¹³C NMR resonances of twenty‐seven 2,2‐dimethyl‐5‐(2‐nitrophenyl‐5‐substituted)‐2,3‐dihydro‐1,3,4‐thiadiazoles, and twenty‐seven 3‐acyl‐5‐(2‐amino‐5‐substituted)‐2,2‐dimethyl‐2,3‐dihydro‐1,3,4‐thiadiazoles were assigned completely using the concerted application of one‐dimensional and two‐dimensional experiments (DEPT, HMQC and HMBC). NOESY experiments, X‐ray crystallography and conformational analysis confirm the preferred conformation of these compounds. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Chemical composition and antioxidant activity of essential oil from aerial parts of Teucrium flavum L. subsp. flavum growing spontaneously in Tunisia

The objectives of this study were to chemically characterise and evaluate the antioxidant potential of the essential oil from Teucrium flavum L. subsp. flavum growing spontaneously in Tunisia. The volatile oil was extracted by hydrodistillation of the aerial parts in a Clevenger type apparatus. Forty constituents were identified via GC and GC-MS analysis. β-caryophyllene (32.5%) and α-humulene (17.8%) were the most abundant components. The evaluation of free radical scavenging activity using stable DPPH free radical showed that the volatile oil exhibits a moderate antioxidant activity and reduces DPPH to 50% at EC₅₀ value of 1230 μg mL^? 1.     

Genetic diversity and haplotype structure of 21 Y‐STRs,including nine noncore loci,in South Tunisian Population: Forensic relevance

Y chromosome STRs (Y‐STRs) are being used frequently in forensic laboratories. Previous studies of Y‐STR polymorphisms in different groups of the Tunisian population identified low levels of diversity and discrimination capacity (DC) using various commercial marker sets. This definitely limits the use of such systems for Y‐STRs genotyping in Tunisia. In our investigation on South Tunisia, 200 unrelated males were typed for the 12 conventional Y‐STRs included in the PowerPlex® Y System. Additional set of nine noncore Y‐STRs including DYS446, DYS456, DYS458, DYS388, DYS444, DYS445, DYS449, DYS710, and DYS464 markers were genotyped and evaluated for their potential in improving DC. Allele frequency, gene diversity, haplotype diversity (HD), and DC calculation revealed that DYS464 was the most diverse marker followed by DYS710 and DYS449 markers. The standard panel of 12 Y‐STRs (DC = 80.5%) and the nine markers were combined to obtain DC of 99%. Among the 198 different haplotypes observed, 196 haplotypes were unique (HD = 99.999). Out of the nine noncore set, six Y‐STRs (DYS458, DYS456, DYS449, DYS710, DYS444, and DYS464) had the greatest impact on enhancing DC. Our data provided putative Y‐STRs combination to be used for genetic and forensic applications.     

Asymptotic Behavior of a Class of Perturbed Differential Equations

Ukrainian Mathematical Journal - We consider the problem of stability of nonlinear differential equations with perturbations. Sufficient conditions for global uniform asymptotic stability in terms...