Mechanical properties of sisal fibre-reinforced polymer composites: a review

There has been a growing interest in the utilization of sisal fibres as reinforcement in the production of polymeric composite materials. Natural fibres have gained recognition as reinforcements in fibre polymer–matrix composites because of their mechanical properties and environmental friendliness. The mechanical properties of sisal fibre-reinforced polymer composites have been studied by many researchers and a few of them are discussed in this article. Various fibre treatments, which are carried out in order to improve adhesion, leading to improved mechanical properties, are also discussed in this review paper. This review also focuses on the influence of fibre content and fabrication methods, which can significantly affect the mechanical properties of sisal fibre-reinforced polymer composites.     

Development and analysis of a malaria transmission mathematical model with seasonal mosquito life-history traits

In this paper, we develop and analyze a malaria model with seasonality of mosquito life-history traits: periodic-mosquitoes per capita birth rate, -mosquitoes death rate, -probability of mosquito to human disease transmission, -probability of human to mosquito disease transmission, and -mosquitoes biting rate. All these parameters are assumed to be time dependent leading to a nonautonomous differential equation system. We provide a global analysis of the model depending on two threshold parameters and (with ). When , then the disease-free stationary state is locally asymptotically stable. In the presence of the human disease-induced mortality, the global stability of the disease-free stationary state is guarantied when . On the contrary, if , the disease persists in the host population in the long term and the model admits at least one positive periodic solution. Moreover, by a numerical simulation, we show that a sub-critical (backward) bifurcation is possible at . Finally, the simulation results are in accordance with the seasonal variation of the reported cases of a malaria-epidemic region in Mpumalanga province in South Africa.     

An enhanced two-quantile Wilks methodology for engineering uncertainty analysis

Complex computational engineering uncertainty analyses have become more prevalent. When input parameters of such engineering models are uncertain, the output metric's uncertainty distribution is of an unknown parametric form. Since Wilks' method, named after the seminal paper by SS Wilks in 1941 entitled “Determination of sample sizes for setting tolerance limits”, is a nonparametric statistical procedure, it has received renewed interest, in particular in nuclear and chemical safety engineering. Unfortunately, the prevailing Wilks' method applied relies on arbitrary specification of order statistics' ranks with undue influence on the sample size recommendations that follow. Herein, a novel modification of Wilks' method involving two quantiles is proposed resolving that arbitrary rank selection. Together with a confidence level to be exceeded, these quantiles uniquely determine the parameters of an order statistics' beta distribution which drive the selection of symmetric tolerance limits. The modified procedure is demonstrated in two illustrative engineering uncertainty analysis examples drawn from the nuclear and chemical engineering domains.     

Accurate predictions of the energetics of silicon compounds using the multireference correlation consistent composite approach

Theoretical studies, using the multireference correlation consistent composite approach (MR-ccCA), have been carried out on the ground and lowest lying spin-forbidden excited states of a series of silicon-containing systems. The MR-ccCA method is the multireference equivalent of the successful single reference ccCA method that has been shown to produce chemically accurate (within ±1.0 kcal mol(-1) of reliable, well-established experiment) results. The percentage contributions of the SCF configurations to complete active space self-consistent field wave functions together with the Frobenius norm of the t(1) vectors and related D(1) diagnostics of the coupled-cluster single double wave function with the cc-pVTZ basis set have been utilized to illustrate the multi-configurational characteristics of the compounds considered. MR-ccCA incorporates additive terms to account for relativistic effects, atomic spin-orbit coupling, scalar relativistic effects, and core-valence correlation. MR-ccCA has been utilized to predict the atomization energies, enthalpies of formation, and the lowest energy spin-forbidden transitions for Si(n)X(m) (2 ≤ n + m ≥ 3 where n ≠ 0 and X = B, C, N, Al, P), silicon hydrides, and analogous compounds of carbon. The energetics of small silicon aluminides and phosphorides are predicted for the first time.     

Synthesis of louisianin C

The synthesis of louisianin C (3), a member of a small family of 3,4,5-trisubstituted pyridyl natural products, is achieved in six steps and 11% overall yield starting from commercially available 3,5-dibromopyridine. The key step is a fluoride-induced desilylation-cyclization to afford carbinol 12.     

N-arylation of carbamate-protected glycine derivatives via palladium catalysis

A synthesis of N-aryl and N-heteroaryl amino acid derivatives using palladium catalysis is described. Several carbamate-protected glycine derivatives react with aryl and heteroaryl halides using a palladium/Xantphos catalyst system to access the desired synthons.     

Oxidative addition of the Cα-Cβ bond in β-O-4 linkage of lignin to transition metals using a relativistic pseudopotential-based ccCA-ONIOM method

A multi-level multi-layer QM/QM method, the relativistic pseudopotential correlation-consistent composite approach within an ONIOM framework (rp-ccCA-ONIOM), was applied to study the oxidative addition of the C(α)-C(β) bond in an archetypal arylglycerol β-aryl ether (β-O-4 linkage) substructure of lignin to Ni, Cu, Pd and Pt transition metal atoms. The chemically active high-level layer is treated using the relativistic pseudopotential correlation-consistent composite approach (rp-ccCA), an efficient methodology designed to reproduce an accuracy that would be obtained using the more computationally demanding CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pCV∞Z-PP, albeit at a significantly reduced computational cost, while the low-level layer is computed using B3LYP/cc-pVTZ. The thermodynamic and kinetic feasibilities of the model reactions are reported in terms of enthalpies of reactions at 298 K (ΔH°(298)) and activation energies (ΔH-act). The results obtained from the rp-ccCA:B3LYP hybrid method are compared to the corresponding values using CCSD(T) and several density functionals including B3LYP, M06, M06 L, B2PLYP, mPWPLYP and B2GP-PLYP. The energetics of the oxidative addition of C?C bond in ethane to Ni, Cu, Pd and Pt atoms are also reported to demonstrate that the rp-ccCA method effectively reproduces the accuracy of the CCSD(T)/aug-cc-pCV∞Z method. Our results show that in the catalytic activation of the C(α)-C(β) bond of β-O-4, the use of platinum metal catalysts will lead to the most thermodynamically favored reaction with the lowest activation barrier.