When does coarsening occur in the dynamics of one-dimensional fronts?

Dynamics of a one-dimensional growing front with an unstable straight profile are analyzed. We argue that a coarsening process occurs if and only if the period lambda of the steady-state solution is an increasing function of its amplitude A. This statement is rigorously proved for two important classes of conserved and nonconserved models by investigating the phase diffusion equation of the steady pattern. We further provide clear numerical evidence for the growth equation of a stepped crystal surface.     

Synthesis and characterization of uranium (IV) complexes with various amino acids

Complexes of uranium in its IV oxidation state, using cysteine, glycine, serine and aspartic acid as ligands, have been synthesized. Semi-microanalysis of the complexes indicate 1:1 metal to ligand ratio for all the synthesized complexes. Infrared spectra of solid complexes have been employed to establish the groups, coordinated to the metal ion. Effective magnetic moment of the complexes were also estimated.     

Solution to the MHD flow over a non-linear stretching sheet by homotopy perturbation method

In this study,by means of homotopy perturbation method(HPM) an approximate solution of the magnetohydrodynamic(MHD) boundary layer flow is obtained.The main feature of the HPM is that it deforms a difficult problem into a set of problems which are easier to solve.HPM produces analytical expressions for the solution to nonlinear differential equations.The obtained analytic solution is in the form of an infinite power series.In this work,the analytical solution obtained by using only two terms from HPM soluti...     

Dielectric properties of anodic films on sputter-deposited Ti-Si porous columnar films

For electrolytic capacitor application of the single-phase Ti alloys containing supersaturated silicon, which form anodic oxide films with superior dielectric properties, porous Ti-7 at% Si columnar films, as well as Ti columnar films, have been prepared by oblique angle magnetron sputtering on to aluminum substrate with a concave cell structure to enhance the surface area and hence capacitance. The deposited films of both Ti and Ti-7 at% Si have isolated columnar morphology with each column revealing nanogranular texture. The distances between columns are ∼500 nm, corresponding to the cell size of the textured substrate and the gaps between columns are 100-200 nm. When the porous Ti-7 at% Si film is anodized at a constant current density in ammonium pentaborate electrolyte, the growth of a uniform amorphous oxide film continues to ∼35 V, while it is limited to less than 6 V on the porous Ti film. The maximum voltage of the growth of uniform amorphous oxide films on the Ti-7 at% Si films is similar for both the flat and porous columnar films, suggesting little influence of surface roughness on the amorphous-to-crystalline transition of growing anodic oxide under the high electric field. Due to the suppression of crystallization to sufficiently high voltages, the anodic oxide films formed on the porous Ti-7 at% Si film shows markedly improved dielectric properties, in comparison with those on the porous Ti film.     

Synthesis,characterization, electrochemistry and evaluation of biological activities of some ferrocenyl Schiff bases

Synthesis of ferrocenyl Schiff bases ( 1–6 ) was carried out by the condensation reaction of 4‐ferrocenyl aniline with different substituted aromatic aldehydes and acetyl acetone. Compounds were characterized by physical measurements, elemental analysis, FT‐IR, ¹H‐NMR and ¹³C‐NMR spectroscopy. Single crystal X‐ray analysis of compound 2 showed the co‐planarity of both aromatic rings connected by a C–N double bond. Compounds demonstrated reversible one‐electron redox behavior and their peak currents were found to increase linearly with the square root of the sweep rate ν^1/2. The overall electrode processes were found to be diffusion controlled. Compounds 1 and 4 showed low cytotoxicity and appreciable antifungal, antioxidant and DNA protection activities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis and characterisation of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) Zr(IV) monothiophosphate composite cation exchanger: analytical application in the selective separation of lead metal ions

In this study, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) zirconium(IV) monothiophosphate composite cation exchanger was prepared by sol–gel precipitation method. The presence of sulphur in the cation exchanger enhances affinity towards the heavy metal ions which can improve the selectivity of the material. The selectivity studies showed that the material is selective towards Pb(II) ions. To characterise the material, several physicochemical properties were also studied which includes X-ray, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy studies. The ion-exchange behaviour of this cation exchanger was studied by using some of the selected properties like ion-exhange capacity for various metal ions, elution, effect of eluent concentration, thermal effect on ion-exchange capacity (IEC). The results of IEC and physicochemical properties revealed that the material is nanocomposite, crystalline, chemically, mechanically and thermally stable. The analytical ability of this cation exchanger was demonstrated in binary separation of Pb(II) ions from a mixture of other metal ions. The recovery is qualitative and the separations are reproducible.     

Structural characterization of polybenzyls by high field 13C-NMR spectroscopy

¹³C-NMR Spectroscopy has been used for the structural characterization of polybenzyls synthesized from the polymerization of benzyl chloride catalyzed by arene chromium tricarbonyls. The ¹³C-chemical shifts for various mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted phenyl groups in a polybenzyl have been calculated by the use of additivity parameters and compared with their observed shifts. Although from a theroetical point of view, polysubstitution on a phenyl ring gives rise to a number of isomers, the results indicate the preferential formation of only a few of them due to steric and electronic considerations. Based on quantitative ¹³C-NMR data, several important structural parameters including the percentage of mono-, di-, tri-, and tetrasubstituted phenyl rings in the polybenzyl can be calculated. The extent of branching in a number of polybenzyls prepared under different experimental conditions was determined. The results indicate an increase in branching with the increase in reaction temperature.     

Analytical Approach to Space- and Time-Fractional Burgers Equations

A scheme is developed to study numerical solution of the space- and time-fractional Burgers equations under initial conditions by the homotopy analysis method. The fractional derivatives are considered in the Caputo sense. The solutions are given in the form of series with easily computable terms. Numerical solutions are calculated for the fractional Burgers equation to show the nature of solution as the fractional derivative parameter is changed.