Titrimetric estimation of phosphate, molybdate, tungstate and sulphate with lead nitrate solution, using 1,2-naphthoquinone-2-semicarbazone-4-sulphonic acid (NQS-4S) and 1,2-naphthoquinone-2-thiosemicarbazone-4-sulphonic acid (NQTS-4S) as visual indicators

The use of 1,2-naphthoquinone-2-semicarbazone-4-sulphonic acid and 1,2-naphtho-quinone-2-thiosemicarbazone-4-sulphoic acid as indicators in the titrimetric estimation of phosphate, molybdate, tungstate and sulphate with lead has been examined. The precision, accuracy and applicability of the methods have been evaluated.     

La méthode de Kikuchi appliquée aux équations de von Karman

Resumé Le but de cet article est l'étude de l'approximation numérique des solutions non-triviales des équations de Von Karman pour le flambage d'une plaque mince encastrée. S'inspirant de la méthode de Kikuchi pour des problèmes quasi-linéaires du second ordre, on propose une méthode itérative d'éléments finis qui donne des approximations des solutions de norme «petite» qui bifurquent de la solution triviale au voisinage d'une valeur propre simple du problème linéarisé. On démontre la convergence et on obtient des estimations de l'erreur.

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Application of Kikuchi's method to the von Karman equations

Summary The aim of this article is to study the numerical approximation of non-trivial solutions of the Von Karman equations for the buckling of a thin elastic clamped plate. Following Kikuchi's method for second order quasilinear problems, we propose an iterative finite element method which produces approximations of non-trivial solutions of small norm which bifurcate from the trivial solution near simple eigenvalues of the linearised problem. The convergence is proved and error estimates are obtained.

     

Lithium ion conduction and ion-polymer interaction in poly（vinyl pyrrolidone） based electrolytes blended with different plasticizers

Poly（ethylene oxide）, poly（vinyl pyrrolidone）（PEO/PVP）, lithium perchlorate salt（Li Cl O4） and different plasticizer based, gel polymer electrolytes were prepared by the solvent casting technique. XRD results show that the crystallinity decreases with the addition of different plasticizers. Consequently, there is an enhancement in the amorphousity of the samples responsible for the process of ion transport. FTIR spectroscopy is used to characterize the structure of the polymer and confirms the complexation of plasticizer with host polymer matrix. The ionic conductivity has been calculated using the bulk impedance obtained through impedance spectroscopy. Among the various plasticizers, the ethylene carbonate（EC） based complex exhibits a maximum ionic conductivity value of the order of2.7279 10 4S cm 1. Thermal stability of the prepared electrolyte films shows that they can be used in batteries at elevated temperatures. PEO（72%）/PVP（8%）/Li Cl O4（8%）/EC（12%） has the maximum ionic conductivity value which is supported by the lowest optical band gap and lowest intensity in photoluminescence spectroscopy near 400–450 nm. Two and three dimensional topographic images of the sample having a maximum ionic conductivity show the presence of micropores.     

Biomolecular docking,antimicrobial and cytotoxic studies on new bidentate schiff base ligand derived metal (II) complexes

Three new metal complexes [Cu(L)₂] (1), [Co(L)₂] (2) and [Zn(L)₂] (3) have been prepared by the reaction of hydrated salts of metal (II) acetate with new Schiff base ligand HL, [2‐((4‐(dimethylamino)phenylimino)methyl)‐4,6‐di‐t‐butylphenol] and characterized by different physico‐chemical analyses such as elemental analysis, single XRD, ¹H NMR, FTIR and UV–Vis spectroscopic techniques. Their biomolecular docking, antimicrobial and cytotoxicity studies have also been demonstrated. The proposed structure of Schiff base ligand HL and complex 2 are confirmed by Single crystal X‐ray crystallography study. This analysis revealed that metal (II) complexes remain in distorted tetrahedral coordination environments. The electronic properties such as HOMO and LUMO energies are carried out by gaseous phase DFT/B3LYP calculations using Gaussian 09 program. Complex 1 showed a good binding propensity to the DNA and HSA, during the assessment of docking studies. Schiff base ligand HL and its metal (II) complexes, 1–3 screened for their in vitro antimicrobial activities using the disc diffusion method against selected microbes. Complex 1 shows higher antimicrobial activity than complexes 2, 3 and Schiff base ligand HL. According to the results obtained from the cytotoxic studies, Schiff base ligand HL and its metal (II) complexes 1–3 have better cytotoxicity against MCF‐7 cell lines with potency higher than the currently used chemotherapeutic agent cyclophosphamide.     

On Poincaré's and J.L. Lions' lemmas

Let Ω be a bounded, connected and simply connected open subset of ${\mathbb{R}}^N$ with a Lipschitz continuous boundary. It is shown that an irrotational vector field whose components are in $H^{\mathrm{?1}}(\Omega )$ is the gradient of a function in $L^2(\Omega )$. It is also shown that this generalization of a classical lemma of Poincaré is equivalent to a well-known lemma of J.L. Lions. To cite this article: S. Kesavan, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 340 (2005).     

AN EXPERIMENTAL TECHNIQUE TO STUDY IMPULSE- WAVE PROPAGATION IN MATERIALS

A reliable experimental technique designed to study impulse-wave propagation in materials is described. This technique uses a mechanical shaker to subject vertically mounted cylindrical specimens to impulsive forces. The method is applicable to the study of impulse-wave propagation in cylindrical specimens when the length of the pulse is great compared to the diameter of the specimen, and the material is not stressed beyond its proportional elastic limit. The procedure is particularly suited for biomechanical measurements in which the specimen is to be subjected to repeated impulsive loading. Shockabsorption capacity of bone joints can be studied with this setup. The apparatus can also be used for modal analysis.     

Toward the molecular flashlight: preparation,properties, and photophysics of a hypericin-luciferin tethered molecule

The synthesis of a molecule containing hypericin and luciferin moieties joined by a tether is reported. The light-induced (in vitro) antiviral activity as well as the photophysical properties of this new compound are measured and compared with those of the parent compounds, hypericin and pseudohypericin. This tethered molecule exhibits excited-state behavior that is very similar to that of its parent compounds and antiviral activity that is identical, within experimental error, to that of its more closely related parent compound, pseudohypericin. The implications for a photodynamic therapy that is independent of external light sources are discussed.     

New formulations of linearized elasticity problems,based on extensions of Donati's theorem

The classical Donati theorem is used for characterizing smooth matrix fields as linearized strain tensor fields. In this Note, we give several generalizations of this theorem, notably to matrix fields whose components are only in $H^{\mathrm{?1}}$. We then show that our extensions of Donati's theorem allow to reformulate in a novel fashion linearized three-dimensional elasticity problems as quadratic minimization problems with the strains as the primary unknowns. To cite this article: C. Amrouche et al., C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 342 (2006).     

Chemical synthesis,characterization and evaluation of antimicrobial properties of Cu and its oxide nanoparticles

Cu nanoparticles were synthesized using low-temperature aqueous reduction method at pH 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11 in presence of ascorbic acid and polyvinylpyrrolidone. The nanoparticles were characterized using transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction techniques. Results demonstrated a strong dependence of synthesis pH on the size, shape, chemical composition and structure of Cu nanoparticles. While lower pH conditions of 3 and 5 produced Cu⁰, higher pH levels (more than 7) led to the formation of Cu₂O/CuO nanoparticles. The reducing capacity of ascorbic acid, capping efficiency of PVP and the resulting particle sizes were strongly affected by solution pH. The results of in vitro disk diffusion tests showed excellent antimicrobial activity of Cu₂O/CuO nanoparticles against a mixture of bacterial strains (Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa), indicating that the size as well as oxidation state of Cu contributes to the antibacterial efficacy. The results indicate that varying synthesis pH is a strategy to tailor the composition, structure and properties of Cu nanoparticles.