Abstract:
The micro-solid phase extraction of haloacetic acids is a procedure that extracts haloacetic acids from aqueous solution using iron-modified rice husk silica as the stationary phase or sorbent. Rice husks provide an excellent source of silica. The sorbent is prepared by incinerating the husks to produce a powder that is treated with 1.0 M nitric acid for 24 hours to produce rice husk silica. The silica is washed with base, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide is added, and then titrated with a 10% Fe3+ solution to pH 5, which forms a gel. The gel is aged, filtered, dried, and calcined to produce a nitrate-free iron-modified rice husk sorbent. The sorbent is then packaged in porous, heat-sealed polypropylene membrane envelopes and used for extraction of HAAs from water. The HAA analytes are desorbed by ultrasonication in methanol for analysis and quantification.
Abstract:
A method for quantitative determination of nonisothermal thermooxidative degradation effects of a polyolefin material containing a residual catalyst. The method includes determining a first thermooxidative degradation by obtaining a thermogravimetric analysis spectrum of polyolefin, and then modifying the first thermooxidative degradation based on a structure of the residual catalyst to obtain final thermooxidative degradation properties of the polyolefin.
Abstract:
A zwitterionic monomer and corresponding cyclopolymerized polyzwitterion (±) (PZ) (i.e. poly(Z-alt-SO2). Phosophonate ester hydroloysis in PZ gave a pH-responsive polyzwitterionic acid (±) (PZA). The PZA under pH-induced transformation was converted into polyzwitterion/anion (±−) (PZAN) and polyzwitterion/dianion (±=) (PZDAN).
Abstract:
A method for Arabic and Farsi font recognition for determining the font of text using a nearest neighbor classifier, where the classifier uses a combination of features including: box counting dimension, center of gravity, the number of vertical and horizontal extrema, the number of black and white components, the smallest black component, the Log baseline position, concave curvature features, convex curvature features, direction and direction length features, Log-Gabor features, and segmented Log-Gabor features. The method is tested using various combination of features on various text fonts, sizes, and styles. It is observed the segmented Log-Gabor features produce a 99.85% font recognition rate, and the combination of all non-Log-Gabor features produces a 97.96% font recognition rate.
Abstract:
The dihydroquinone derivatives of piperidine and piperazine are 7-piperazinyl and 7-piperadinyl-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2(1H)-ones that exhibit D2 and 5-HT1A receptor binding affinities, making them suitable for use as the active ingredient of pharmaceuticals for the treatment of schizophrenia. The derivatives have the general formula: where X is carbon or nitrogen and R is a group selected from a through f having the formula: or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof. The piperazine compounds are prepared by condensing 4-bromo-2-nitro-benzonitrile with 1-Boc-piperazine (1-tert-butoxycarbonyl-piperazine) to form an intermediate that is converted to a piperazinyl-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2(1H)-one. Subsequent reductive amination with the biarylaldehydes a through f completes the synthesis of the 7-piperadinyl-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2(1H)-ones. The piperadinyl compounds are prepared from tert-butyl-4-(2-oxo-1,2,3,4-tetradihydroquinazolin-7-yl)piperidine-1-carboxylate, which is converted to 7-(piperidin-4-yl)-3,4-dihyroquinazolin-2(1H)-one. Subsequent reductive amination with the biarylaldehydes a through f completes the synthesis of the 7-piperidinyl-3,4-dihydroquinazolin-2(1H)-ones.
Abstract:
The cathodized gold nanoparticle graphite pencil electrode is a sensitive enzymeless electrochemical glucose sensor based on the cathodization of AuNP-GPE. Cyclic voltammetry shows that advantageously, the cathodized AuNP-GPE is able to oxidize glucose partially at low potential (around −0.27 V). Fructose and sucrose cannot be oxidized at
Abstract:
The catalytic composition for the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide is a metal oxide supported by multi-walled carbon nanotubes. The metal oxide may be nickel oxide (NiO) or tin dioxide (SnO2). The metal oxides form 20 wt % of the catalyst. In order to make the catalysts, a metal oxide precursor is first dissolved in deionized water to form a metal oxide precursor solution. The metal oxide precursor solution is then sonicated and the solution is impregnated in a support material composed of multi-walled carbon nanotubes to form a slurry. The slurry is then sonicated to form a homogeneous solid solution. Solids are removed from the homogeneous solid solution and dried in an oven for about 24 hours at a temperature of about 110° C. Drying is then followed by calcination in a tubular furnace under an argon atmosphere for about three hours at a temperature of 450° C.
Abstract:
The disposable palladium nanoparticle-modified graphite pencil electrode (PdNP-GPE) is a graphite pencil electrode having palladium nanoparticles disposed on the surface of the electrode. The electrode is prepared by adding ascorbic acid to an aqueous solution of ammonium tetrachloropalladate(II) [(NH4)2PdCl4] at room temperature to form the palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs), immersing a GPE in the aqueous solution of PdNPs, and heating the solution to about 75° C. to deposit the PdNPs on the GPE. The palladium nanoparticle modified graphite pencil electrode may be used in an electrochemical cell for quantitative analysis of hydrogen peroxide content in an unknown solution.
Abstract:
The peak detection method using blind source separation extracts true peaks from noisy peaks in a more robust way that does not require any a priori information. Information regarding true peak location is obtained by thresholding the output of a wavelet transform. The value of the threshold is dependent on noise variance. While noise variance is normally unknown, the present method implements a blind source separation technique to calculate the noise variance. The blind source separation technique does not require information of the incoming signal or the channel noise, and hence is suitable for CR (cognitive radio) peak detection.
Abstract:
A process for the preparation of thermal insulation sheets fashioned from certain unseparated mixtures of post-consumer plastic articles and the article, itself, is disclosed. The mixtures of such articles contain polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and polystyrene (PS) and optionally also articles made of high density polyethylene (HDPE). An unseparated mixture of such articles is provided. This mixture is crushed and shredded to form plastic flakes, and these plastic flakes are then homogenized. Homogenization of the flakes can be carried out either by melt-blending them or by further comminution to produce very fine particles of the mixed plastics. The resulting homogenized mixture of plastic types is then compression molded into sheets ranging in thickness from about 3 to 10 mm.