Synthesis and characterization of phi-type zeolites LZ-276 and LZ-277: faulted members of the ABC-D6R family of zeolites

A new zeolite, LZ-276, was synthesized in an organic (TEAOH) system by varying the crystallization temperature in the procedure used by Jacobs and Martens for the synthesis of zeolite phi. LZ-276 (with SiO₂/Al₂O₃=7.8) is more siliceous than phi. Another silicon-rich zeolite, LZ-277 (SiO₂/Al₂O₃=6.6), was synthesized in a totally inorganic system. The similar chemical and physical properties of LZ-276 and LZ-277 are compared with those of zeolite phi described by Grose and Flanigen, and others. TEM [100] selected area diffraction patterns of LZ-277 can be indexed on a hexagonal unit cell with a=13.8 and c=15 Å. Twin spots and considerable streaking parallel to {00l} indicate mirror faulting along c. High resolution images on selected crystals of LZ-277 show that the most closely spaced mirror faults occur approximately every 18 Å. The bulk X-ray sample of LZ-276 is less faulted. A close match between the experimental synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction pattern of LZ-276 and one simulated by the DIFFaX program (with faulting probability=10%) indicates that the structures of these materials can be described as a chabazite (CHA) topology with faulting along c, the stacking direction in these ABC double six-ring (D6R) materials. The distribution of interior cages, including new larger cages that result from faulting, is presented.     

Ruthenium(II)‐ or Rhodium(III)‐Catalyzed Grignard‐Type Addition of Indolines and Indoles to Activated Carbonyl Compounds

The ruthenium(II)‐ or rhodium(III)‐catalyzed pyrimidinyl‐directed Grignard‐type C−H additions of N‐heterocycles with activated aldehydes and ketones are described. A cationic ruthenium catalyst and sodium acetate additive in dichloroethane as solvent were found to be optimal catalytic system for the construction of C‐7 alkylated indolines. In sharp contrast, a cationic rhodium complex allows the generation of C‐2 alkylated indoles and pyrroles as well as C‐1 alkylated carbazoles. The site‐selective C−H functionalization of these heterocyclic scaffolds could be an important asset towards the development of novel bioactive compounds.

     

Amino‐functionalised mesoporous silica microspheres for immobilisation of Candida antarctica lipase B – application towards greener production of 2,5‐furandicarboxylic acid

In the present study, amino‐functionalised mesoporous silica microspheres were utilised as support for the covalent immobilisation of Candida antarctica lipase B (CaLB) for the subsequent production of 2,5‐furandicarboxylic acid (FDCA) from 2,5‐diformylfuran (DFF). Under the optimised operating conditions of pH 6.5, particle/enzyme ratio of 1.25:1.0 and glutaraldehyde concentration of 4 mM, a maximum CaLB immobilisation yield of 82.4% on silica microspheres was obtained in 12.25 h. The immobilised CaLB was used for the synthesis of alkyl esters, which were utilised along with hydrogen peroxide for FDCA synthesis. The biocatalytic conversion of 30 mM DFF dictated a 77–79% FDCA in 48 h at 30°C; where the turnover number and turnover frequency of immobilised CaLB were 6220.73 mol mol⁻¹ and 129.59 h⁻¹, respectively, for ethyl acetate, against 6297.65 mol mol⁻¹ and 131.2 h⁻¹, respectively, for ethyl butyrate. Upon examining the operational stability, the immobilised CaLB exhibited high stability till five cycles of FDCA production.Inspec keywords: mesoporous materials, organic compounds, biotechnology, silicon compounds, renewable materials, catalysis, catalysts, enzymes, thermal stability, biofuelOther keywords: FDCA production, amino‐functionalised mesoporous silica microspheres, greener production, 2,5‐furandicarboxylic acid, covalent immobilisation, 2,5‐diformylfuran, CaLB immobilisation, Candida antarctica lipase B immobilisation, ethyl butyrate, time 48.0 hour, temperature 30.0 degC, time 12.25 hour     

Stability analysis of double-diffusive solar ponds with non-constant temperature and salinity gradients

In this communication, the stability of the double-diffusive solar ponds with non-uniform temperature and salinity gradients has been investigated. This is a further generalization of our approach to this problem initiated in Ref. [7]. Using a stochastic approach, the linearized system of basic equations of motion is reduced to a single integro-differential equation. For convective motion, this equation reduces to a time-independent Schrödinger equation for a particle moving in a potential field ƒ(Z) characterized by the non-uniform temperature and salinity gradients. This equation can, in general, be solved (exactly or approximately depending on the form of the gradient profile) by methods commonly used in quantum mechanics.

In the Appendix, we show that, for a quadratic gradient profile, the above equation has an analytical solution similar to that obtained by Zangrando using numerical computations.     

On the Theory of Two-Temperature Thermoelasticity with Two Phase-Lags

The present paper is concerned with the theory of two temperature thermoelasticity with two phase-lags in which the theory of heat conduction in deformable bodies depends on two distinct temperatures – the conductive temperature and the thermodynamic temperature. A generalized heat conduction law with dual-phase-lag effects was proposed by Tzou (1995) for the purpose of considering the delayed response in times due to the microstructural interactions in the heat transport mechanism. Recently, Quintanilla (2008) has proposed to combine this constitutive equation with a two temperature heat conduction theory and has proved that a dual-phase-lag theory with two temperatures is a well-posed problem. In the present work we consider the basic equations concerning this dual-phase lag theory of two temperature thermoelasticity and make an attempt to establish some important theorems in this context. A uniqueness theorem has been established for a homogeneous and isotropic body. An alternative characterization of mixed boundary initial value problem is formulated and a variational principle as well as reciprocal principle have been established.     

Physical demands analysis of occupational tasks in neighborhood pubs

This paper describes a case study of a neighborhood pub in British Columbia, Canada. This case study is an examination of three common pub occupations-bartending, waitressing and cooking (n = 17). The aims of this study are to determine the biomechanical loads of job tasks identified as physically demanding for the three occupations analyzed, to assess the potential risk of musculoskeletal injury in these job tasks, and to recommend injury prevention measures. Risk of musculoskeletal injury was assessed with four validated methods (RULA, NIOSH lifting equation, Shoaf pulling model, 3D Static Strength prediction program). Tasks commonly and frequently performed were observed to pose some risk to the working populations and require investigation and changes soon as indicated by the upper extremity and low-back assessment procedures used. Mean combined compression at the lumbrosacral disc in common tasks have been demonstrated to exceed the action limit described by NIOSH. Ligament strain was observed to reach as high as 18% at the lumbosacral joint.     

Unusual changes observed in the photoluminescence of annealed InxGa1 − xN/GaN quantum wells explained

In_xGa_1 − xN/GaN heterostructures and quantum wells (QWs) are particularly important in the application of III-V nitride materials for light emitting diodes and laser diodes. The photoluminescence (PL) emissions from In_xGa_1 − xN/GaN QW structures have been reported, where, for successive annealing operations, the PL peak suffers a primary red shift, followed by a blue shift. The observed phenomenon remains unexplained because of its complexity. This paper is intended towards a proper explanation of the observed experimental results through suitable quantum mechanical models and computations, whether the band gap of InN is 1.95 eV or 0.7 eV.     

A study of the synthesis,kinetics, and characterization of reactive graft copolymers of poly(vinyl imidazole) and cellulose for use as supports in enzyme immobilization and metal ion uptake

In continuation to our earlier work to use bioresource for developing alternate materials for use at the interface of biotechnology and polymer science, we have utilized pine needles as a renewable stock of cellulose to synthesize graft copolymers of vinyl imidazole. Kinetics of N‐VIm by simultaneous γ‐irradiation method has been investigated as a function of total dose, monomer concentration, and amount of water. Effect of water–methanol solvent composition on graft yields and polymerization kinetics has also been studied at the optimum grafting conditions of the total dose and monomer concentration. Effect of some additives such as ZnCl₂, Mohr salt, tetramethylethylene diamine, potassium persulfate, ammonium persulfate as grafting accelerators and promoters has also been studied. Graft copolymers have been characterized by elemental analysis, FTIR, and swelling studies. The graft copolymers have been used as supports for metal ions sorption, enzyme immobilization, and as potential biomimicking catalysts. Sorption behavior of Fe²⁺ ions and Cu²⁺ ions and the immobilization of bovine serum albumin and protease as a function of graft yield has been reported. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 1522–1530, 2006     

Iterative decoding for partial response (PR), equalized,magneto-optical (MO) data storage channels

Turbo codes and low-density parity check (LDPC) codes with iterative decoding have received significant research attention because of their remarkable near-capacity performance for additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channels. Previously, turbo code and LDPC code variants are being investigated as potential candidates for high-density magnetic recording channels suffering from low signal-to-noise ratios (SNR). We address the application of turbo codes and LDPC codes to magneto-optical (MO) recording channels. Our results focus on a variety of practical MO storage channel aspects, including storage density, partial response targets, the type of precoder used, and mark edge jitter. Instead of focusing just on bit error rates (BER), we also study the block error statistics. Our results for MO storage channels indicate that turbo codes of rate 16/17 can achieve coding gains of 3-5 dB over partial response maximum likelihood (PRML) methods for a 10^-4 target BER. Simulations also show that the performance of LDPC codes for MO channels is comparable to that of turbo codes, while requiring less computational complexity. Both LDPC codes and turbo codes with iterative decoding are seen to be robust to mark edge jitter