Hierarchical multiscale mechanism development for methane partial oxidation and reforming and for thermal decomposition of oxygenates on Rh

A thermodynamically consistent C1 microkinetic model is developed for methane partial oxidation and reforming and for oxygenate (methanol and formaldehyde) decomposition on Rh via a hierarchical multiscale methodology. Sensitivity analysis is employed to identify the important parameters of the semiempirical unity bond index quadratic exponential potential (UBI-QEP) method and these parameters are refined using quantum mechanical density functional theory. With adjustment of only two pre-exponentials in the CH4 oxidation subset, the C1 mechanism captures a multitude of catalytic partial oxidation (CPOX) and reforming experimental data as well as thermal decomposition of methanol and formaldehyde. We validate the microkinetic model against high-pressure, spatially resolved CPOX experimental data. Distinct oxidation and reforming zones are predicted to exist, in agreement with experiments, suggesting that hydrogen is produced from reforming of methane by H2O formed in the oxidation zone. CO is produced catalytically by partial oxidation up to moderately high pressures, with water-gas shift taking place in the gas-phase at sufficiently high pressures resulting in reduction of CO selectivity.     

Radiological dose assessment of naturally occurring radioactive materials in concrete building materials

Previous studies have shown that the natural radioactivity contained in building materials have significantly influenced the dose rates in dwelling. Exposure to natural radiation in building has been of concerned since almost 80 % of our daily live are spend indoor. Thus, the aim of the study is to assess the radiological risk associated by natural radioactivity in soil based building materials to dwellers. A total of 13 Portland cement, 46 sand and 43 gravel samples obtained from manufacturers or bought directly from local hardware stores in Peninsular of Malaysia were analysed for their radioactivity concentrations. The activity concentrations of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K in the studied building materials samples were found to be in the range of 3.7–359.3, 2.0–370.8 and 10.3–1,949.5 Bq kg^?1 respectively. The annual radiation dose rates (μSv year^?1) received by dwellers were evaluated for 1 to 50 years of exposure using Resrad-Build Computer Code based on the activity concentration of ²²⁶Ra, ²³²Th and ⁴⁰K found in the studied building material samples. The rooms modelling were based on the changing parameters of concrete wall thickness and the room dimensions. The annual radiation dose rates to dwellers were found to increase annually over a period of 50 years. The concrete thicknesses were found to have significantly influenced the dose rates in building. The self-absorption occurred when the concrete thickness was thicker than 0.4 m. Results of this study shows that the dose rates received by the dwellers of the building are proportional to the size of the room. In general the study concludes that concrete building materials; Portland cements, sands, and gravels in Peninsular of Malaysia does not pose radiological hazard to the building dwellers.     

Zeaxanthin Production by Novel Marine Isolates from Coastal sand of India and its Antioxidant Properties

Zeaxanthin carotenoids are class of commercially important natural products and diverse biomolecules produced by plants and many microorganisms. Bacteria often produce a cocktail of polar and nonpolar carotenoids limiting their industrial applications. Marine members of the family Flavobacteriaceae are known to produce potential carotenoids such as astaxanthin and zeaxanthin. A few bacterial species have been reported for the predominant production zeaxanthin. Here, we report the molecular identification of the zeaxanthin as a major carotenoid produced by two novel bacteria (YUAB-SO-11 and YUAB-SO-45) isolated from sandy beaches of South West Coast of India and the effect of carbon sources on the production of zeaxanthin. The strains were identified based on the 16S rRNA gene sequencing as a member of genus Muricauda. The closest relatives of YUAB-SO-11 and YUAB-SO-45 were Muricauda aquimarina (JCM 11811^T) (98.9 %) and Muricauda olearia (JCM 15563^T) (99.2 %), respectively, indicating that both of these strains might represent a novel species. The highest level of zeaxanthin production was achieved (YUAB-SO-11, 1.20?±?0.11 mg g^?1) and (YUAB-SO-45, 1.02?±?0.13 mg g^?1) when cultivated in marine broth supplemented with 2 % NaCl (pH 7) and incubated at 30 °C. Addition of 0.1 M glutamic acid, an intermediate of citric acid cycle, enhanced the zeaxanthin production as 18 and 14 % by the strains YUAB-SO-11 and YUAB-SO-45 respectively. The zeaxanthin showed in vitro nitric oxide scavenging, inhibition of lipid peroxidation, and 2,2-diphenyl-1-picryl hydrazyl scavenging activities higher than the commercial zeaxanthin. The results of this study suggest that two novel strains YUAB-SO-11 and YUAB-SO-45 belonging to genus Muricauda produce zeaxanthin as a predominant carotenoid, and higher production of zeaxanthin was achieved on glutamic acid supplementation. The pigment showed good in vitro antioxidant activity, which can be exploited further for commercial applications.     

Flux line lattice symmetries in the borocarbide superconductor LuNi2B2C

We compare the results of small angle neutron scattering on the flux line lattice (FLL) obtained in the borocarbide superconductor LuNi₂B₂C with the applied field along the c- and a-axes. For H‖c the temperature dependence of the FLL structural phase transition from square to hexagonal symmetry was investigated. Above 10 K the transition onset field. H ₂(T), rises sharply, bending away from H _c2(T) in contradiction to theoretical predictions of the two merging. For H‖a a first order FLL reorientation transition is observed at H _tr=3–3.5 kOe. Below H _tr the FLL nearest neighbor direction is parallel to the b-axis, and above H _tr to the c-axis. This transition cannot be explained using nonlocal corrections to the London model.     

A new approach to response surface development for detailed gas‐phase and surface reaction kinetic model optimization

We propose a new method for constructing kinetic response surfaces used in the development and optimization of gas‐phase and surface reaction kinetic models. The method, termed as the sensitivity analysis based (SAB) method, is based on a multivariate Taylor expansion of model response with respect to model parameters, neglecting terms higher than the second order. The expansion coefficients are obtained by a first‐order local sensitivity analysis. Tests are made for gas‐phase combustion reaction models. The results show that the response surface obtained with the SAB method is as accurate as the factorial design method traditionally used in reaction model optimization. The SAB method, however, presents significant computational savings compared to factorial design. The effect of including the partial and full third order terms was also examined and discussed. The SAB method is applied to optimization of a relatively complex surface reaction mechanism where large uncertainty in rate parameters exists. The example chosen is laser‐induced fluorescence signal of OH desorption from a platinum foil in the water/oxygen reaction at low pressures. We introduce an iterative solution mapping and optimization approach for improved accuracy. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Chem Kinet 36: 94–106, 2004     

Dynamics of Ligand Binding to a Rigid Glycosidase**

The single-domain GH11 glycosidase from Bacillus circulans (BCX) is involved in the degradation of hemicellulose, which is one of the most abundant renewable biomaterials in nature. We demonstrate that BCX in solution undergoes minimal structural changes during turnover. NMR spectroscopy results show that the rigid protein matrix provides a frame for fast substrate binding in multiple conformations, accompanied by slow conversion, which is attributed to an enzyme-induced substrate distortion. A model is proposed in which the rigid enzyme takes advantage of substrate flexibility to induce a conformation that facilitates the acyl formation step of the hydrolysis reaction.     

Direct use of unassigned resonances in NMR structure calculations with proxy residues

We present a method that significantly enhances the robustness of (automated) NMR structure determination by allowing the NOE data corresponding to unassigned NMR resonances to be used directly in the calculations. The unassigned resonances are represented by additional atoms or groups of atoms that have no interaction with the regular protein atoms except through distance restraints. These so-called "proxy" residues can be used to generate NOE-based distance restraints in a similar fashion as for the assigned part of the protein. If sufficient NOE information is available, the restraints are expected to place the proxies at positions close to the correct atoms for the unassigned resonance, which can facilitate subsequent assignment. Convergence can be further improved by supplying additional information about the possible identities of the unassigned resonances. We have implemented this approach in the widely used automated assignment and structure calculation protocols ARIA and CANDID. We find that it significantly increases the robustness of structure calculations with regard to missing assignments and yields structures of higher quality. Our approach is still able to find correctly folded structures with up to 30% randomly missing resonance assignments, and even when only backbone and beta resonances are present! This should be of significant value to NMR-based structural proteomics initiatives.     

发光玻璃在X射线实时成像系统中的应用

介绍了以铽（Ｔｂ）激活的高密度发光玻璃和光导纤维发光玻璃的特性。它应用在Ｘ射线实时成像系统中,可大大改善空间分辨能力。用它做的转换屏比一般晶粒状荧光物质做的厚得多,特别适合用于高能Ｘ射线实时成像系统