Polyaniline-supported acid as an efficient and reusable catalyst for a one-pot synthesis of β-acetamido ketones via a four-component condensation reaction

Polyaniline-supported acid salts such as polyaniline-hydrochloride, polyaniline-sulfate and polyaniline-nitrate were prepared by oxidation of aniline using ammonium persulfate as oxidizing agents. Polyaniline salts were used as catalyst for the preparation of β-acetamido ketones. Polyaniline-sulfate salt was found to be the best catalyst for the preparation of β-acetamido ketones. Present methodology offers several advantages, such as cheaper process, easy synthesis of stable catalyst, simple work-up procedure, and excellent activity with less amount of catalyst and in addition, the catalyst can be easily recovered after completion of the reaction and reusable without affecting its activity.     

Modélisation des lignes microrubans supraconductrices couplées déposées sur des substrats diélectriques bianisotropes

In this paper, we model high temperature superconducting coupled microstrip lines printed on bi-anisotropic substrates by the spectral domain Galerkin method. Hence, we have determined the behavior of the effective permittivity for the odd and even modes and the coupling coefficient as a function of several parameters characterizing superconductivity and bi-anisotropy and the geometry of this structure, such as the superconductor material temperature, the distance between the two lines and the optical deviation angles of the dielectric substrates. The validation of the numerical results has been carried out by comparisons with the bibliographic results.     

Sufficient LMI stability conditions for Lur’e type systems governed by a control law designed on their Euler approximate model

In this paper, the stability issue of Lur’e systems governed by a control law stabilising their forward Euler approximate model is investigated. More specifically, the considered control law is obtained by exploiting the advantages of a new Lur’e type Lyapunov function with disconnected level sets. This Lyapunov function is adapted to discrete-time Lur’e systems and to the structure of the forward Euler approximate model. The main result consists of linear matrix inequality conditions allowing to guarantee that the continuous-time Lur’e system associated with the proposed digital control law is globally asymptotically stable. The relevance of this approach is illustrated using a numerical example.     

Pre-Coding for MIMO Systems in Frequency-Selective Fading Channels

Multiple input multiple output (MIMO) systems showed good utilization of channel characteristics. In MIMO systems multiple signals are transmitted using multiple antenna system. This provides each receiver the combined signals and hence, array processing techniques helps in reducing the effects of interference among them. In this paper we devise the use of pre-coded MIMO system to reduce the effects of frequency selectivity and hence, enhance the systems capacity and/or reduce the bit error rate. In this technique we introduce a temporal pre-coder on each antenna signal; this creates a deterministic multi-path signals similar to signals received when the channel is multi-path fading channel. The same antenna signal will arrive at each receiver forming orthogonal sub-space and the receiver will be simple add and delay of the received signals. Ant colony optimization is used in this paper to select the best pre-code. Results showed that we can diagonalize the channel matrix and practically eliminate the interference for frequency selective fading channel. Simulation of two transmitting two receiving antennas pre-coded MIMO system showed that the capacity can be doubled.     

Dielectric,ferroelectric, and energy storage properties in dysprosium doped sodium bismuth titanate ceramics

In this work, Na_0.5(Bi_1-xDy_x)_0.5TiO₃ (0?≤?x?≤?15%) ceramics were prepared via solid state reaction method and were characterized. A stable and pure perovskite phase was revealed by X-ray diffraction analysis for all compositions and a symmetry change from rhombohedral to orthorhombic phase was detected beyond 10% of Dy substitution. The incorporation of Dy³⁺ into Sodium Bismuth Titanate (Na_0.5Bi_0.5TiO₃) matrix allows a substantial decrease of the coercive field, an increase in the resistivity, and leads to a high stability of the dielectric permittivity (??/?_(150?°C) ≤?±?15%) over a wide temperature range. Furthermore, this system was found to exhibit improved energy storage properties at high temperatures with a maximum energy density of 1.2?J/cm³ obtained for 2%Dy composition at 200?°C. The obtained results are very promising for energy storage capacitors operating at high temperatures.     

Development of a fluidized bed thermogravimetric analyzer

A new fluidized bed thermogravimetric analyzer (FB‐TGA) was developed that introduces two major particularities: the pseudo variation of the weight of the reactor and the special strategy for gas flow rate adjustment according to temperature. A momentum balance was performed on the reactor and the pseudo variation of the reactor weight was evaluated by measuring the pressure drop through the gas distributor and filter. The real weight loss of the reactor was obtained by subtracting the pseudo variation of the weight from the total weight loss measured by the load cell. In addition, a special program for the gas flow rate as a function of temperature was developed and used; so the minimum fluidization regime is maintained throughout all of the experiments. The validation test of the FB‐TGA was carried out on calcium hydroxide decomposition, and the results were compared with those obtained from the conventional TGA. Diffusion control was suppressed by the application of the FB‐TGA, which was confirmed by the x‐ray diffraction analysis on the treated samples. © 2014 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 84–89, 2015     

Nanomechanical and tribological behavior of hydroxyapatite reinforced ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene nanocomposites for biomedical applications

A hydroxyapatite (HA) particulate reinforced ultrahigh molecular weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) nanocomposite is fabricated by internal mixer at 180°C and using of paraffin oil as a processing aid to overcome the high viscosity of melted UHMWPE. The reinforcing effects of nano‐HA are investigated on nanomechanical properties of HA/UHMWPE nanocomposites by nanoindentation and nanoscratching methods. Results show that the nanocomposite with 50 wt % nano‐HA exhibits a Young's modulus and hardness of 362.5% and 200% higher, and a friction coefficient of 38.86% lower than that of pure UHMWPE, respectively. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42052.     

Electrochemical investigations of pitting corrosion behaviour of type UNS S31603 stainless steel in thiosulfate-chloride environment

The pitting corrosion behaviour of type UNS S31603 stainless steel (316L SS) in 0.01, 0.05 and 0.1 M thiosulfate ion (S₂O₃ ^2–) in the absence and presence of various concentrations of chloride ion (Cl^–) was studied using the cyclic potentiodynamic polarization method. The influence of major factors which affect pitting corrosion such as pH and temperature, were also investigated. It was found that both the pitting potential (E _pit) and the repassivation potential (E _rp) decreased with increase in Cl^– concentration and solution temperature and a more pronounced difference in E _pit values for various concentrations of S₂O₃ ^2– in 1.0 M Cl^– was obtained at lower temperatures. The effect of pH on E _pit, E _corr and E _rp values for different concentrations of S₂O₃ ^2– in the presence of 1.0 M Cl^– was also determined.     

Thermally exfoliated graphene oxide reinforced fluorinated pentablock poly(l‐lactide‐co‐ε‐caprolactone) electrospun scaffolds: Insight into antimicrobial activity and biodegradation

Three‐dimensional fluorinated pentablock poly(l ‐lactide‐co‐ε‐caprolactone)‐based scaffolds were successfully produced by the incorporation of thermally exfoliated graphene oxide (TEGO) as an antimicrobial agent with an electrospinning technique. In a ring‐opening polymerization, the fluorinated groups in the middle of polymer backbone were attached with a perfluorinated reactive stabilizer having oxygen‐carrying ability. The fiber diameter and its morphologies were optimized through changes in TEGO amount, voltage, polymer concentration, and solvent type to obtain an ideal scaffold structure. Instead of the widely used graphene oxide synthesized by Hummer's method, TEGO sheets having a low amount of oxygen produced by thermal expansion were integrated into the fiber structure to investigate the effect of the oxygen functional groups of TEGO sheets on the degradation and antimicrobial activity of the scaffolds. There was no antimicrobial activity in TEGO‐reinforced scaffolds in the in vitro tests in contrast to the literature. This study confirmed that a low number of oxygen functional groups on the surface of TEGO restricted the antimicrobial activity of the fabricated composite scaffolds. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2016 , 133, 43490.     

High dielectric permittivity and percolative behavior of polyvinyl alcohol/potassium dihydrogen phosphate composites

A new kind of anhydrous, transparent, and flexible potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KH₂PO₄ or KDP)/polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) composite in the form of film (0.10 mm) has been prepared by solution casting technique. KDP is well dispersed in the polymer matrix as observed from the microstructural studies. Frequency and temperature dependent dielectric properties of the composites have been studied with varying KDP concentrations. The PVA/KDP composite films exhibited extraordinarily high relative permittivity ε′ ∼ 430 (80 times higher compared with pure PVA and even higher than KDP) near the percolation threshold (ϕ_C = 2.5 wt % KDP) with low dielectric losses (∼ 0.15) at 1 kHz and room temperature. Such flexible, low loss and high dielectric permittivity material has enormous importance for application in devices. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2012