Extension of multigrid methodology to supersonic/hypersonic 3-D viscous flows

A multigrid acceleration technique developed for solving the three-dimensional Navier–Stokes equations for subsonic/transonic flows has been extended to supersonic/hypersonic flows. An explicit multistage Runge–Kutta type of time-stepping scheme is used as the basic algorithm in conjunction with the multigrid scheme. Solutions have been obtained for a blunt conical frustum at Mach 6 to demonstrate the applicability of the multigrid scheme to high-speed flows. Computations have also been performed for a generic High-Speed Civil Transport configuration designed to cruise at Mach 3. These solutions demonstrate both the efficiency and accuracy of the present scheme for computing high-speed viscous flows over configurations of practical interest.     

Enhanced ethanol sensing properties of WO3 modified TiO2 nanorods

Pristine and WO₃ decorated TiO₂ nanorods (NRs) were synthesised to investigate n-n-type heterojunction gas sensing properties. TiO₂ NRs were fabricated via hydrothermal method on fluorine-doped tin oxide coated glass (FTO) substrates. Then, tungsten was sputtered on the TiO₂ NRs and thermally oxidised to obtain WO₃ nanoparticles. The heterostructure was characterised by X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and energy-dispersive X-ray (EDX) spectroscopy. Fabricated sensor devices were exposed to VOCs such as toluene, xylene, acetone and ethanol, and humidity at different operation temperatures. Experimental results demonstrated that the heterostructure has better sensor response toward ethanol at 200 °C. Enhanced sensing properties are attributed to the heterojunction formation by decorating TiO₂ NRs with WO₃.     

Flowerlike hybrid horseradish peroxidase nanobiocatalyst for the polymerization of guaiacol

In this study, the catalytic activity and stability of flowerlike hybrid horseradish peroxidase (HRP) nanobiocatalyst (HRP-Cu ²⁺ ) obtained from Cu ²⁺ ions and HRP enzyme in the polymerization reaction of guaiacol were analyzed. We demonstrated that HRP-Cu ²⁺ and hydrogen peroxide (H ₂ O ₂ ) initiator showed significantly increased catalytic activity and stability on the polymerization of guaiacol compared to that of free HRP enzyme. Poly(guaiacol) was observed with quite high yields (88%) and molecular weights (38,000 g/mol) under pH 7.4 phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) conditions at 60 °C with 5 weight% of HRP-Cu ²⁺ loading. HRP-Cu ²⁺ also shows very high thermal stability and works even at 70 °C reaction temperature; free HRP enzyme denatures at that temperature. Furthermore, HRP-Cu ²⁺ provided considerable repeated use and showed some degree of catalytic activity, even after the fourth recycle, in the polymerization of guaiacol.     

Chemical composition,antimicrobial, and lipase enzyme activity of essential oil and solvent extracts from Serapias orientalis subsp. orientalis

The volatile components of essential oil (EO), SPME, and SPME of solvent extracts ( n -hexane, methanol, and water) obtained from fresh Serapias orientalis subsp. orientalis ( Soo ) were analyzed by GC-FID/MS. EO of Soo gave 11 compounds in the percentage of 99.97%; capronaldehyde (37.01%), 2-( E )-hexenal (23.19%), and n -nonanal (19.05%) were found to be major constituents. SPME GC-FID/MS analyses of fresh plant and solvent extracts of Soo revealed 7, 12, 7, and 4 compounds within the range of 99.7% to 99.9%. Limonene (76.5%, 41.7%, and 61.3%) was the major compound in SPMEs of the n -hexane and methanol extracts. α -Methoxy- p -cresol (52.9%) was the main component in its water extract. The antimicrobial activity of EO and the solvent extracts of Soo were screened against 9microorganisms. EO showed the best activity against Mycobacterium smegmatis , with 79.5 µg/mL MIC value. The n -hexane, methanol, and water extracts were the most active against the Staphylococcus aureus within the range of 81.25–125.0 µg/mL (MIC). IC ₅₀ values for the lipase enzyme inhibitory activity of EO and solvent extracts ( n -hexane, methanol, and water) were determined to be 59.87 µg/mL, 64.03 µg/mL, 101.91 µg/mL, and 121.24 µg/mL, respectively.     

Preparation of highly crystalline blue emitting MVO4:Tm (M=Gd, Y) spherical nanoparticles: Effects of activator concentration and annealing temperature on luminescence, lifetime and quantum yield

Highly crystalline spherical nanoparticles of MVO₄:Tm³⁺ (M=Gd, Y) having a size of 20–45 nm were prepared using ethylene glycol as both capping agent and reaction medium. X-ray diffraction study shows linear decrease in the unit cell volume with an increase in Tm³⁺ concentrations in MVO₄ (M=Gd, Y; Tm³⁺=0, 2, 5, 7, 10, 15, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100 at%), indicative of quantitative substitution of Gd³⁺/Y³⁺ lattice sites by Tm³⁺ ions in MVO₄. Blue light emission at 475 nm is observed after excitation at 310 nm due to energy transfer from VO₄³⁻ absorption band to Tm³⁺. Emission intensity and average decay lifetime increase with an increase in heat treatment from 500 to 900 °C. This has been attributed to an extent of reduction in non-radiative process arising from surface. The emission intensity of Tm³⁺ in GdVO₄ host is higher than that in YVO₄ and thus the former host is better. Quantum yield increases with increase in heat-treatment temperature. This material will be the alternative blue light emitter.     

Development of an HPLC method for determination of pentachloronitrobenzene, hexachlorobenzene and their possible metabolites

Background

Pentachloronitrobenzene (PCNB) and hexachlorobenzene (HCB) are highly toxic and widespread in every environmental compartment. Some of metabolic products such as amino/nitro containing chlorinated aromatic compounds can be determined by gas chromatography coupled with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). However, it is difficult to identify some of chlorophenolic and chloroquinolic intermediates produced from PCNB and HCB by the above mentioned technique. Therefore, for analysis of these compounds and their metabolites, we have developed a high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) based method.

Results

The extraction of PCNB and HCB from soil and minimal salt medium was carried out with ethyl acetate and hexane respectively with good recoveries (98% for PCNB and 97% for HCB). The validation of the proposed extraction and HPLC method was done by analysis of PCNB and HCB biodegradation and their metabolites identification from anaerobic enriched soil samples.

Conclusion

A rapid, sensitive and simple HPLC based analytical method was developed for the analysis of PCNB, HCB and their possible intermediates.     

Cobalt nanoparticles doped emaraldine salt of polyaniline: A promising room temperature magnetic semiconductor

Incorporation of magnetic nanoparticles in polymers with organic functional groups working as semiconducting substrate is of immense interest in the field of dilute magnetic semiconductors (DMS) and spintronics. In this article we report on synthesis and evaluation of dilutely doped (0-10 wt%) cobalt nanoparticles in emaraldine salt (ES) of polyaniline in the presence of dodecyl benzene sulfonic acid (DBSA) and p-toluene sulfonic acid (p-TSA) using a sonochemical-assisted-reduction approach as a possible DMS candidate. The X-ray diffraction pattern and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) image show the ES to be polycrystalline, in which 10 nm sized Co nanoparticles get embedded in its FCC structural form. From Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) and UV-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy studies, it is predicted that cobalt particles get electrostatically bound to the specific ion sites of ES, thereby modifying torsional degrees of freedom of the system. The applied field dependent magnetization study shows that the sample exhibits hysteresis loop with a minimal doping of 3 wt% of Co nanoparticles and increases with the amount of Co nanoparticles in ES due to dipolar interaction. The electron transport data show that with increase in Co wt% there is a gradual shift from ohmic to non-ohmic response to the sample bias, accompanied by opening of electrical hysteresis and an increased resistance. The non-linear response of higher doped systems has been attributed to the combination of direct and Fowler-Nordheim tunneling phenomena in these systems. Persistence of optical and transport properties of the polymer, with an introduction of magnetic moment in the system, envisages the system to be a fine magnetic semiconductor.     

Decay rates of solutions to thermoviscoelastic plates with memory

We consider the thermoelastic plate under the presence of along range memory. We find uniform rates of decay (in time)of the energy, provided that suitable assumptions on the relaxationfunctions are given. Namely, if the relaxation decays exponentiallythen the first order energy also decays exponentially. Whenthe relaxation g satisfies -c₁g(t)^1+1/_p g'(t) -c_og(t)^1+1/_p; and g,g^1-1/_p L¹ (R) withp > 2 then the energy decays as 1/(1+t)^p. A new Liapunov functionalis built for this problem.     

Calculations of Isoelectronic Series of He Using Noninteger n‐Slater Type Orbitals in Single and Double Zeta Approximations

Using integer and noninteger n-Slater type orbitals in single- and double-zeta approximations, the Hartree-Fock-Roothaan calculations were performed for the ground states of first ten cationic members of the isoelectronic series of He atom. All the noninteger parameters and orbital exponents were fully optimized. In the case of noninteger n-Slater type orbitals in double zeta basis sets, the results of calculations obtained are more close to the numerical Hatree-Fock values and the average deviations of our ground state energies do not exceed 2×10^－6 hartrees of their numerical results.     

Wavelength-dependent Coulomb explosion in carbon disulphide (CS2) clusters: generation of energetic multiply charged carbon and sulphur ions

A gigawatt laser-induced Coulomb explosion has been observed in carbon disulphide (CS(2)) clusters generating energetic, multiply charged [C](m+) (m = 1-4) and [S](n+) (n = 1-6) atomic ions of carbon and sulphur. The Coulomb explosion shows wavelength dependence. Comparison of these results with our earlier work shows that the polarizability and dipole moment might help in energy absorption from the laser field but they are not mandatory conditions for this low-intensity Coulomb explosion. The results show that in a field of 10(9) W/cm(2), absorption of 266 and 355 nm laser radiation by CS(2) clusters leads to multiphoton dissociation/ionization whereas at 532 nm the whole cluster explodes generating multiply charged atomic ions.