Thermal dry reforming of methane over La2O3 co-supported Ni/MgAl2O4 catalyst for hydrogen-rich syngas production

Research on Chemical Intermediates - The excess emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as CO2 and CH4 is posing an acute threat to the environment, and efficient ways are being sought to utilize...     

Effect on Landau damping rates for non-Maxwellian distribution function consisting of two electron populations

In many physical situations where a laser or electron beam passes through a dense plasma, hot low-density electron populations can be generated, resulting in a particle distribution function consisting of a dense cold population and a small hot population. Presence of such low-density electron distributions can alter the wave damping rate. Kinetic model is employed to study the Landau damping of Langmuir waves when a small hot electron population is present in the dense cold electron population with non-Maxwellian distribution functions. Departure of plasma from Maxwellian distributions significantly alters the damping rates as compared to the Maxwellian plasma. Strong damping is found for highly non-Maxwellian distributions as well as plasmas with higher dense and hot electron population. Existence of weak damping is also established when the distribution contains broadened flat tops at the low energies or tends to be Maxwellian. These results may be applied in both experimental and space physics regimes.     

Hybrid Quinoline-Thiosemicarbazone Therapeutics as a New Treatment Opportunity for Alzheimer’s Disease‒Synthesis,In Vitro Cholinesterase Inhibitory Potential and Computational Modeling Analysis

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder and the leading cause of dementia worldwide. The limited pharmacological approaches based on cholinesterase inhibitors only provide symptomatic relief to AD patients. Moreover, the adverse side effects such as nausea, vomiting, loss of appetite, muscle cramps, and headaches associated with these drugs and numerous clinical trial failures present substantial limitations on the use of medications and call for a detailed insight of disease heterogeneity and development of preventive and multifactorial therapeutic strategies on urgent basis. In this context, we herein report a series of quinoline-thiosemicarbazone hybrid therapeutics as selective and potent inhibitors of cholinesterases. A facile multistep synthetic approach was utilized to generate target structures bearing multiple sites for chemical modifications and establishing drug-receptor interactions. The structures of all the synthesized compounds were fully established using readily available spectroscopic techniques (FTIR, ¹H- and ¹³C-NMR). In vitro inhibitory results revealed compound 5b as a promising and lead inhibitor with an IC₅₀ value of 0.12 ± 0.02 μM, a 5-fold higher potency than standard drug (galantamine; IC₅₀ = 0.62 ± 0.01 μM). The synergistic effect of electron-rich (methoxy) group and ethylmorpholine moiety in quinoline-thiosemicarbazone conjugates contributes significantly in improving the inhibition level. Molecular docking analysis revealed various vital interactions of potent compounds with amino acid residues and reinforced the in vitro results. Kinetics experiments revealed the competitive mode of inhibition while ADME properties favored the translation of identified inhibitors into safe and promising drug candidates for pre-clinical testing. Collectively, inhibitory activity data and results from key physicochemical properties merit further research to ensure the design and development of safe and high-quality drug candidates for Alzheimer’s disease.     

Effect on Landau damping rates for a non-Maxwellian distribution function consisting of two electron populations

In many physical situations where a laser or electron beam passes through a dense plasma,hot low-density electron populations can be generated,resulting in a particle distribution function consisting of a dense cold population and a small hot population.Presence of such low-density electron distributions can alter the wave damping rate.A kinetic model is employed to study the Landau damping of Langmuir waves when a small hot electron population is present in the dense cold electron population with non-Maxwellian distribution functions.Departure of plasma from Maxwellian distributions significantly alters the damping rates as compared to the Maxwellian plasma.Strong damping is found for highly nonMaxwellian distributions as well as plasmas with a higher density and hot electron population.Existence of weak damping is also established when the distribution contains broadened flat tops at the low energies or tends to be Maxwellian.These results may be applied in both experimental and space physics regimes.     

Higher Order Nonuniform Grids for Singularly Perturbed Convection-Diffusion-Reaction Problems

Computational Mathematics and Mathematical Physics - In this paper, a higher order nonuniform grid strategy is developed for solving singularly perturbed convection-diffusion-reaction problems with...     

Synthesis,characterization, and catalytic application of ecofriendly Ca-bridged aminoclay

A novel ecofriendly Ca nanoparticle bridged aminoclay (AC) catalyst was prepared for the reduction of hazardous pollutants to treat the industrial wastewater. It was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy, UV-visible spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectrum (EDX), differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and thermogravimetry (TG) techniques. Water contact angle (WCA) measurement was used to confirm the hydrophobicity of AC after the structural modification reaction. Disappearance of free N−H stretching in the FT-IR spectrum confirmed the chemical modification of AC by Ca nanoparticle. The above-synthesized Ca nanoparticle bridged AC was used as a catalyst for the reduction of p-nitrophenol (NP), chromium (VI) and fluorescein (fluor) dye and also for oxidative Schiff base formation. The UV-visible spectrum confirmed the complex formation between chromium (VI) and NP by noting a peak at 390 nm. The k_app value was computed to assess the efficiency of the catalyst toward the reduction of hazardous pollutants in the industrial effluents. The catalytic reduction of a tricomponent system is disturbed due to the change in pH and complex formation between the pollutants, etc. The present catalyst system reduced the two-step reaction into a single-step reaction for the Schiff base formation.     

Nonlinear Landau damping of high frequency waves in non-Maxwellian plasmas

Space plasmas often possess non-Maxwellian distribution functions which have a significant effect on the plasma waves.When a laser or electron beam passes through a dense plasma,hot low density electron populations can be generated to alter the wave damping/growth rate.In this paper,we present theoretical analysis of the nonlinear Landau damping for Langmuir waves in a plasma where two electron populations are found.The results show a marked difference between the Maxwellian and non-Maxwellian instantaneous damping rates when we employ a non-Maxwellian distribution function called the generalized(r,q)distribution function,which is the generalized form of the kappa and Maxwellian distribution functions.In the limiting case of r=0 and q→∞,it reduces to the classical Maxwellian distribution function,and when r=0 and q→κ+1,it reduces to the kappa distribution function.     

Classification of Spherically Symmetric Static Spacetimes According to Their Matter Collineations

The spherically symmetric static spacetimes are classified according to their matter collineations. These are investigated when the energy-momentum tensor is degenerate and also when it is non-degenerate. We have found a case where the energy-momentum tensor is degenerate but the group of matter collineations is finite. For the non-degenerate case, we obtain either four, five, six or ten independent matter collineations in which four are isometries and the rest are proper. We conclude that the matter collineations coincide with the Ricci collineations but the constraint equations are different which on solving can provide physically interesting cosmological solutions.     

Shape‐controlled synthesis of cerium oxide nanoparticles for efficient dye photodegradation and antibacterial activities

Herein, two‐shaped cerium oxide nanoparticles (NPs), that is, spherical and cubical, were synthesized through hydrothermal approach by tuning reaction temperatures. The morphology and structural and chemical composition of both samples were characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high‐resolution TEM (HRTEM), X‐ray diffraction (XRD), and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), respectively. Both types of NPs were subjected to photodegradation of industrial dye, methylene blue, under dark, sunlight, and UV irradiation, and their recyclability and reusability were also assessed. Besides, the effect of pH, concentration of NPs, and dye on degradability was also analyzed. The cubical‐shaped NPs demonstrated superior degradation of ~70% under UV irradiation than the spherical ones (<50%). The antibacterial activities of both NPs were also examined, and cubical‐shaped NPs were found to exhibit superior antimicrobial potential (zone of inhibition [ZOI]: 25.75 ± 0.25, 18.83 ± 0.76, 15.75 ± 0.66, and 15.75 ± 0.25 mm) in comparison with the spherical ones (ZOI: 19.41 ± 0.94, 14.25 ± 0.66, 12.58 ± 1.01, and 9.91 ± 1.01 nm) for Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis, and Staphylococcus aureus respectively with reduced growth and viable count. This difference in performance may be attributed to the higher surface areas of cubical‐shaped NPs and higher content of oxygen vacancies. The results presented in this study suggest that cubical NPs are excellent candidates for treating industrial wastewater with greater reproducibility. Moreover, they can be used as active growth inhibitors against different microorganisms and thus can be extremely useful in developing medical devices and to design various antimicrobial systems.