Structure, Properties, and Glass Forming Ability of Melt-Spun Fe-Zr-B-Cu Alloys with Different Zr/B Ratios

Melt-spun ribbons of Fe_99–x–y Zr _x B _y Cu₁ alloys with x + y = 11 and x + y = 13 were prepared under similar experimental conditions and characterized for structure and soft magnetic properties. Substitution of Zr by B changes the structure of as-spun ribbons from completely amorphous to cellular bcc solid solution coexisting with the amorphous phase at intercellular regions and then to completely dendritic solid solution. The glass forming ability (GFA) of the Fe-Zr-B-Cu system, evaluated from thermodynamic properties such as enthalpy of mixing and mismatch entropy, is found to be in good agreement with the experimental observations. Annealing of all ribbons leads to the precipitation of nanocrystalline bcc α-Fe phase from both amorphous phase and already existing bcc solid solution. A window of alloy compositions that exhibit the best combination of soft magnetic properties (high saturation magnetization and low coercivity) was identified.     

Chemistry and medicinal properties of the Bakul (Mimusops elengi Linn): A review

India is one of the world's biodiversity hotspots and reports confirm that a great variety of fruiting trees are indigenous to this region of the world. Mimusops elengi Linn (family Sapotaceae) commonly known as Bakul is one such tree native to the Western Ghat region of the peninsular India. However, today this tree is also found growing in other parts of the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. The tree is of religious importance to the Hindus and finds mention in various mythological texts. The stem, barks, leaves and fruits are used in various Ayurvedic and folk medications to treat various ailments. In the prehistoric days the ripe fruits were an important source of diet but today no one knows of its dietary use as it is seldom used. Studies suggest the tree contains medicinally-important chemicals, particularly the triterpenes and alkaloids. Preclinical studies in the past five years have shown that the extracts prepared from Bakul possess antibacterial, antifungal, anticariogenic, free radical scavenging, antihyperglycemic, antineoplastic, gastroprotective, antinociceptive and diuretic effects, thus lending pharmacological support to the tree's ethnomedicinal uses in Ayurveda. In this review for the first time attempt is made at addressing the chemical constituents, medicinal uses and validated pharmacological observations of Bakul.     

Striped nanowires and nanorods from mixed SAMS

We investigate the use of mixed self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) for creating nanoscale striped patterns on nanowires and nanorods. Our simulations predict that SAMs comprised of an equal composition of length-mismatched, thermodynamically incompatible surfactants adsorbed on nanowire surfaces self-organize into equilibrium stripes of alternating composition always perpendicular, rather than parallel, to the nanowire axis. We support the simulation results with preliminary experimental investigations of gold nanorods coated with binary mixtures of ligand molecules, which show stripes roughly perpendicular to the rod axis in all cases.     

Synthesis and Structure Determination of the Adducts of Dibenzo[a,l]pyrene Diol Epoxides and Deoxyadenosine or Deoxyguanosine

Abstract

(±)?Syn?dibenzo[a,l]pyrene diol epoxide (DB[a,l]PDE) and (±)?anti?DB[a,l]PDE were reacted with deoxyadenosine (dA) or deoxyguanosine (dG) in dimethylformamide at 100 °C for 30 min. The crude products were purified by reverse phase HPLC under gradient and isocratic conditions. The structure of each adduct was assigned by 1D and 2D NMR spectra and by fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry. Five adducts were isolated from the reaction of (±)?syn?DB[a,l]PDE and dA: syn?DB[a,l]PDE?N⁶dA?1, syn?DB[a,l]PDE?N⁶dA?2, syn?DB[a,l]PDE?N⁶dA?3, syn?DB[a,l]PDE?N⁶dA?4 and syn?DB[a,l]PDE?N7Ade. Four adducts were isolated from the reaction of (±)?anti?DB[a,l]PDE and dA: anti?DB[a,l]PDE?N⁶dA?1, anti?DB[a,l]PDE?N⁶dA?2, anti?DB[a,l]PDE?N⁶dA?3 and anti?DB[a,l]PDE?N⁶dA?4. Two adducts were isolated from the reaction of (±)?syn?DB[a,l]PDE and dG: (±)?11,12,13?trihydroxy?tetrahydroDB[a,l]P?14?N²dG and (±)?11,12,13?trihydroxy?tetrahydroDB[a,l]P?14?N7Gua. Two adducts were isolated from the reaction of (±)?anti?DB[a,l]PDE and dG: (±)?11,12,13?trihydroxy?tetrahydroDB[a,l]P?14?N²dG and (±)?11,12,13?trihydroxy?tetrahydroDB[a,l]P?14?N7Gua.     

Agave sisalana,a biosorbent for the adsorption of Reactive Red 120 from aqueous solution

The textile industry is one of the largest producers of dye effluent. Treatment of these effluents has to be cost effective hence a number of precursors have been studied as a viable alternative adsorbent. Sisal fibre was converted to activated carbon by chemical methods. Sisal fibre was activated with different activating agents such as H₃PO₄, HCl, HNO₃, NaOH and KOH. The adsorption of Reactive Red 120 (RR 120) dye onto sisal fibre activated carbon (SFAC) from aqueous solution was investigated. Adsorption experiments were carried out at different dye concentrations, initial solution pH and carbon dosage. Batch adsorption studies were carried out using activated carbon produced using phosphoric acid yielded better carbon as it good results in terms of Methylene Blue number and Iodine number. These carbons were used to study the batch adsorption studies. Methylene Blue number and Iodine number of SFAC were found to be 240 mg/g and 855 mg/g, respectively. The BET surface area of the carbon was 885 m²/g. The batch experiments adsorption isotherm studies fitted well to Langmuir isotherm and the adsorption capacity was found to be 110 mg/g. Adsorption kinetics data were tested using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models. Kinetic studies showed that the adsorption data followed a pseudo-second-order reaction.     

Biological,Chemical, and Electronic Applications of Nanofibers

With their high‐surface‐to‐volume ratio, nanofibers have been postulated to increase interactions between nanofibrous materials and targeted substrates, which are helpful to overcome many obstacles and enhance the efficiency in a diverse number of applications. Over the past decade, many studies have been published on the fabrication of nanofibers and their applications in various fields. In this review, novel biological, chemical, and electrical characteristics of nanofibers as well as their recent status and achievements in medicine, chemistry, and electronics are analyzed. It is found that nanofibers can induce fast regeneration of many tissues/organs in medical applications and improve the efficiency of many chemical and electronics applications.

     

Analysis of Acoustic Events in Speech Signals Using Bessel Series Expansion

In this paper, we propose an approach for the analysis and detection of acoustic events in speech signals using the Bessel series expansion. The acoustic events analyzed are the voice onset time (VOT) and the glottal closure instants (GCIs). The hypothesis is that the Bessel functions with their damped sinusoid-like basis functions are better suited for representing the speech signals than the sinusoidal basis functions used in the conventional Fourier representation. The speech signal is band-pass filtered by choosing the appropriate range of Bessel coefficients to obtain a narrow-band signal, which is decomposed further into amplitude modulated (AM) and frequency modulated (FM) components. The discrete energy separation algorithm (DESA) is used to compute the amplitude envelope (AE) of the narrow-band AM-FM signal. Events such as the consonant and vowel beginnings in an unvoiced stop consonant vowel (SCV) and the GCIs are derived by processing the AE of the signal. The proposed approach for the detection of the VOT using the Bessel expansion is shown to perform better than the conventional Fourier representation. The performance of the proposed GCI detection method using the Bessel series expansion is compared against some of the existing methods for various noise environments and signal-to-noise ratios.     

Friction of Rubber with Surfaces Patterned with Rigid Spherical Asperities

This paper reports on the frictional properties of smooth rubber substrates sliding against rigid surfaces covered with various densities of colloidal nano-particles (average diameter 77 nm). Friction experiments were carried out using a transparent poly(dimethyl siloxane) (PDMS) rubber contacting a silica lens with silica nano-particles sintered onto its surface. Using a previously described methodology (Nguyen et al., J Adhesion 87:235?C250, 2011), surface shear stress and contact-pressure distribution within the contact were determined from a measurement of the displacement field at the surface of the PDMS elastomer. Addition of silica nano-particles results in a strong, pressure-independent enhancement of the frictional shear stress as compared to the smooth lens. The contribution of viscoelastic losses to these increased frictional properties is analyzed in the light of a numerical model that solves the contact problem between the rubber and the rough surface. An order-of-magnitude agreement is obtained between experimental and theoretical results, the latter showing that the calculation of viscoelastic dissipation within the contact is very sensitive to the details of the topography of the rigid asperities.     

Mg-composition induced effects on the physical behavior of sprayed Zn1−xMgxO films

Thin films of Zn_1 − xMg_xO, with Mg compositions in the range, 0 < x < 0.4, have been deposited onto soda-lime glass substrates using chemical spray pyrolysis. The effects of altering the alloy composition on the chemical and physical properties of the layers were investigated using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, atomic force microscopy, Raman, optical and electrical measurements. The data shows systematic shifts in the properties of the layers with Mg-content. In particular, the optical absorption data showed that the influence of Mg-content on the energy gap of Zn_1 − xMg_xO films is significant. Layers with x = 0.24 had an optical energy band gap, E_g = 3.87 eV. The best layers produced had properties appropriate for application as Cd-free buffer layers in copper indium gallium selenide (CIGS) solar cells.