Supported Vanadium Oxide Catalysts: Quantitative Spectroscopy, Preferential Adsorption of V^4+/5+, and Al2O3 Coating of Zeolite Y

A series of supported vanadium oxide catalysts were prepared by the incipient wetness method as a function of the support composition (Al2O3, SiO2, and USY), the metal oxide loading (0-1 wt %), and the impregnation salt (vanadyl sulfate and ammonium vanadate). These catalysts have been studied by combined DRS-ESR spectroscopies in order to quantify the amount of V^4+ and V^5+ and to unravel their coordination geometries. These spectroscopic fingerprints have been used to study the preferential adsorption of V^4+/5+ ions on SiO2, Al2O3, and USY. Both V^4+ and V^5+ were preferentially adsorbed on Al2O3 and showed a much smaller pref-erence for USY and SiO2. The observed preference orders are discussed in relation with the properties of the support. In addition, a novel method is proposed to coat the external surface of USY with a thin film of Al2O3. The method is based on the deposition of USY with the so-called Keggin ion, [Al13O4(OH)24(H2O)12]7+ , which is too big to enter the USY channels or pores. The obtained Al2O3/USY material showed a preferential adsorption of V^4+ onto the Al2O3 film, suggesting that this method could be useful for vanadium passivation of FCC catalysts

Dependence of Physical Parameters of Compound Semiconductors on Refractive Index

Interesting relationships have been found between refractive index, plasmon energy, electronic polarisability, bond length, microhardness, bulk modulus, force constants and lattice energy. An attempt has been made for the first time to correlate only one physical parameter with others. The calculated values are in good agreement with the experimental values as well as with the values reported in the literature. Refractive index data is the only one parameter required to estimate all the above parameters

Bianchi Type I Cosmology in Generalized Saez-Ballester Theory via Noether Gauge Symmetry

In this paper, we investigate the generalized Saez-Ballester scalar-tensor theory of gravity via Noether gauge symmetry (NGS) in the background of Bianchi type I cosmological spacetime. We start with the Lagrangian of our model and calculate its gauge symmetries and corresponding invariant quantities. We obtain the potential function for the scalar field in the exponential form. For all the symmetries obtained, we determine the gauge functions corresponding to each gauge symmmetry which include constant and dynamic gauge. We discuss cosmological implications of our model and show that it is compatible with the observational data.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in 'European Physical Journal C

Chirality of internal metallic and semiconducting carbon nanotubes

We have assigned the chirality of the internal tubes of double walled carbon nanotubes grown by catalytic chemical vapor deposition using the high sensitivity of the radial breathing ~RB! mode in inelastic lightscattering experiments. The deduced chirality corresponds to several semiconducting and only two metallic internal tubes. The RB modes are systematically shifted to higher energies when compared to theoretical values. The difference between experimental and theoretical energies of the RB modes of metallic tubes and semiconducting tubes are discussed in terms of the reduced interlayer distance between the internal and the external tube and electronic resonance effects. We find several pairs of RB modes corresponding to different diameters of internal and external tubes

Random field sampling for a simplified model of melt-blowing considering turbulent velocity fluctuations

In melt-blowing very thin liquid fiber jets are spun due to high-velocity air streams. In literature there is a clear, unsolved discrepancy between the measured and computed jet attenuation. In this paper we will verify numerically that the turbulent velocity fluctuations causing a random aerodynamic drag on the fiber jets -- that has been neglected so far -- are the crucial effect to close this gap. For this purpose, we model the velocity fluctuations as vector Gaussian random fields on top of a k-epsilon turbulence description and develop an efficient sampling procedure. Taking advantage of the special covariance structure the effort of the sampling is linear in the discretization and makes the realization possible

Engineering Privacy in Public: Confounding Face Recognition

The objective of DARPA’s Human ID at a Distance (HID) program is to develop automated biometric identification technologies to detect, recognize and identify humans at great distances. While nominally intended for security applications, if deployed widely, such technologies could become an enormous privacy threat, making practical the automatic surveillance of individuals on a grand scale. Face recognition, as the HID technology most rapidly approaching maturity, deserves immediate research attention in order to understand its strengths and limitations, with an objective of reliably foiling it when it is used inappropriately. This paper is a status report for a research program designed to achieve this objective within a larger goal of similarly defeating all HID technologies

A New Class of Bianchi Type-I Cosmological Models in Scalar-Tensor Theory of Gravitation and Late Time Acceleration

A new class of a spatially homogeneous and anisotropic Bianchi type-I cosmological models of the universe for perfect fluid distribution within the framework of scalar-tensor theory of gravitation proposed by Saez and Ballester (Phys. Lett. 113:467, 1986) is investigated. To prevail the deterministic solutions we choose the different scale factors which yield time-dependent deceleration parameters (DP) representing models which generate a transition of the universe from the early decelerated phase to the recent accelerating phase. Three different physically viable models of the universe are obtained in which their anisotropic solutions may enter to some isotropic inflationary era. The modified Einstein's field equations are solved exactly and the models are found to be in good concordance with recent observations. Some physical and geometric properties of the models are also discussed.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Optimal measures and Markov transition kernels

We study optimal solutions to an abstract optimization problem for measures, which is a generalization of classical variational problems in information theory and statistical physics. In the classical problems, information and relative entropy are defined using the Kullback-Leibler divergence, and for this reason optimal measures belong to a one-parameter exponential family. Measures within such a family have the property of mutual absolute continuity. Here we show that this property characterizes other families of optimal positive measures if a functional representing information has a strictly convex dual. Mutual absolute continuity of optimal probability measures allows us to strictly separate deterministic and non-deterministic Markov transition kernels, which play an important role in theories of decisions, estimation, control, communication and computation. We show that deterministic transitions are strictly sub-optimal, unless information resource with a strictly convex dual is unconstrained. For illustration, we construct an example where, unlike non-deterministic, any deterministic kernel either has negatively infinite expected utility (unbounded expected error) or communicates infinite information.Comment: Replaced with a final and accepted draft; Journal of Global Optimization, Springer, Jan 1, 201

Reactivity with Water and Bulk Ruthenium Redox of Lithium Ruthenate in Basic Solutions

The reactivity of water with Li rich layered Li2RuO3 and partial exchange of Li2O with H2O within the structure has been studied under aqueous electro chemical conditions. Upon slow delithiation in water over long time periods, micron size Li2RuO3 particles structurally transform from an O3 structure to an O1 structure with a corresponding loss of 1.25 Li ions per formula unit. The O1 stacking of the honeycomb Ru layers is imaged using high resolution HAADF STEM, and the resulting structure is solved from X ray powder diffraction and electron diffraction. In situ X ray absorption spectroscopy suggests that reversible oxidation reduction of bulk Ru sites is realized on potential cycling between 0.4 VRHE and 1.25 VRHE in basic solutions. In addition to surface redox pseudocapacitance, the partially delithiated phase of Li2RuO3 shows high capacity which can be attributed to bulk Ru redox in the structure. This work demonstrates that the interaction of aqueous electrolytes with Li rich layered oxides, can result in the formation of new phases with electro chemical properties that are distinct from the parent material. This understanding is important for the design of aqueous batteries, electrochemical capacitors and chemically stable cathode materials for Li ion batterie

Screening, production and biochemical characterization of a new fibrinolytic enzyme produced by Streptomyces sp. (Streptomycetaceae) isolated from Amazonian lichens

Thrombosis is a pathophysiological disorder caused by accumulation of fibrin in the blood. Fibrinolytic proteases with potent thrombolytic activity have been produced by diverse microbial sources. Considering the microbial biodiversity of the Amazon region, this study aimed at the screening, production and biochemical characterization of a fibrinolytic enzyme produced by Streptomyces sp. isolated from Amazonian lichens. The strain Streptomyces DPUA1576 showed the highest fibrinolytic activity, which was 283 mm2. Three variables at two levels were used to assess their effects on the fibrinolytic production. The parameters studied were agitation (0.28 - 1.12 g), temperature (28 - 36 ºC) and pH (6.0 - 8.0); all of them had significant effects on the fibrinolytic production. The maximum fibrinolytic activity (304 mm2) was observed at 1.12 g, 28 ºC, and pH of 8.0. The crude extract of the fermentation broth was used to assess the biochemical properties of the enzyme. Protease and fibrinolytic activities were stable during 6 h, at a pH ranging from 6.8 to 8.4 and 5.8 to 9.2, respectively. Optimum temperature for protease activity ranged between 35 and 55 °C, while the highest fibrinolytic activity was observed at 45 ºC. Proteolytic activity was inhibited by Cu2+ and Co2+ ions, phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride (PMSF) and pepstatin A, which suggests that the enzyme is a serine protease. Enzymatic extract cleaved fibrinogen at the subunits A-chain, A-chain, and -chain. The results indicated that Streptomyces sp. DPUA 1576 produces enzymes with fibrinolytic and fibrinogenolytic activity, enzymes with an important application in the pharmaceutical industry.The authors grateful acknowledge the financial support of Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Pernambuco (FACEPE, Pernambuco, Brazil, N. 0158-2.12/11), CNPq/ RENORBIO (National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development, N.55146/2010-3) and National Council for the Improvement of Higher Education (CAPES, Brazil) for the scholarship. The author thanks editor and reviewers for their review and comments.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio