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Search results for: FUNCTIONAL MATERIALS
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Mangiferin: A comprehensive review on its extraction, purification and uses in food systems
PublicationWith the target of fabricating healthier products, food manufacturing companies look for natural-based nutraceuticals that can potentially improve the physicochemical properties of food systems while being nutritive to the consumer and providing additional health benefits (biological activities). In this regard, Mangiferin joins all these requirements as a potential nutraceutical, which is typically contained in Mangifera indica...
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Electronic structure of intertwined kagome, honeycomb, and triangular sublattices of the intermetallics MCo2Al9 ( M = Sr, Ba)
PublicationIntermetallics are an important playground to stabilize a large variety of physical phenomena, arising from their complex crystal structure. The ease of their chemical tunabilty makes them suitable platforms to realize targeted electronic properties starting from the symmetries hidden in their unit cell. Here, we investigate the family of the recently discovered intermetallics MCo2Al9 (M=Sr, Ba) and we unveil their electronic structure....
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Maillard-reaction (glycation) of biopolymeric packaging films; principles, mechanisms, food applications
PublicationBackground The biodegradable, biocompatible, sustainable, and renewable nature of biomaterials has led to increased interest in developing biopolymeric food packaging films (BFPFs) with green ingredients and strategies. To enhance the performance of these films, biopolymer molecules can be modified or combined with additives like nanomaterials, cross-linkers, bioactive compounds, and other polymers, particularly with Maillard-reaction...
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Mechanochemically synthesized Mn3O4@β-cyclodextrin mediates efficient electron transfer process for peroxymonosulfate activation
PublicationThe rational surface engineering of heterogeneous catalysts is of great significance in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for eliminating refractory contaminants but remains challenging. In this study, β-cyclodextrin modified Mn3O4 (Mn3O4@β-CD) was prepared through a mechanochemical approach for peroxymonosulfate (PMS) activation, which achieved efficient bisphenol A (BPA) removal via electron transfer process (ETP). The reactive...
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RF Multi-Functional Input-Reflectionless Dispersive-Delay Structure With Sharp-Rejection Filtering Using Channelization Techniques
PublicationA class of RF multi-functional input-reflectionless dispersive-delay structure (DDS) with linear-type in-band groupdelay variation and sharp-rejection bandpass-filtering capability is reported. It exploits a two-branch-channelized/balanced-type circuit with similar low-order reflective DDS units inside its channels, which are connected through input/output 3-dB quadrature wideband couplers. The adopted DDS unit is based on a coupledresonator...
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The Way One Defines Specification Matters: On the Performance Criteria for Efficient Antenna Optimization in Aggregated Bi-Objective Setups
PublicationDesign of antenna structures for real-world applications is a challenging task that often involves addressing multiple design requirements at a time. Popular solution approaches to this class of problems include utilization of composite objectives. Although configuration of such functions has a significant effect on the cost and performance of the optimization, their specific structure is normally determined based on engineering...
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Anticarcinogenic and antioxidant activities of leaves and flowers hydroalcoholic extracts of Nerium oleander L.: PCA analysis and phytochemical content by FTIR spectroscopy
PublicationAims: The aim of this work is the evaluation the anticarcinogenic effect on HT29 cancer cells lines and antioxidant effect of three extracts from different morphological parts (leaves (LE), pink flowers (PFE) and white flowers (WFE)) of Nerium oleander lin. Methods: This research provides the anticarcinogenic activity of extracts from N. oleander white flowers. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied to estimate the relationship...
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Hierarchical predictive control of integrated wastewater treatment systems
PublicationThe paper proposes an approach to designing the control structure and algorithms for optimising control of integrated wastewater treatment plant-sewer systems (IWWTS) under a full range of disturbance inputs. The optimised control of IWWTS allows for significant cost savings, fulfilling the effluent discharge limits over a long period and maintaining the system in sustainable operation. Due to the specific features of a wastewater...
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Typology of low developed non-metropolitan sub-regions in the European Union
PublicationThis paper shows a typology of 319 NUTS-3 sub-regions in the European Union. The selected sub-regions are non-metropolitan sub-regions, whose gross domestic product per capita in 2011 was below 75% of the EU average. The objective of this typology was to recognize diversity in the examined sub-regions as a starting point for the selection of areas for future comparative research. The typology takes into account 24 variables related...
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The potential of imogolite nanotubes as (co-)photocatalysts: a linear-scaling density functional theory study
PublicationWe report a linear-scaling density functional theory (DFT) study of the structure, wall-polarization absolute band-alignment and optical absorption of several, recently synthesized, open-ended imogolite (Imo) nanotubes (NTs), namely single-walled (SW) aluminosilicate (AlSi), SW aluminogermanate (AlGe), SW methylated aluminosilicate (AlSi-Me), and double-walled (DW) AlGe NTs. Simulations with three different semi-local and dispersion-corrected...
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„Space, architecture and infrastructure “in-between cities”.
PublicationThe article presents contemporary city problems, like division of the city, infrastructural barriers, empty spaces, chaotic development, cuting-off areas, threatening the city image and functioning. These problems can be best observed in the areas in-between cities. One of the main questions for urban planners and architects seems thus to be: how to connect the city spaces instead of creating the barriers, how to create the areas...
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Novel Milk Substitute Based on Pea, Bean and Sunflower Seeds with Natural Bioactive Stabilisers
PublicationThe aim of this research was to create a plant-based beverage based on seeds of sunflower (Helianthus annuus), pea (Pisum sativum) and runner bean (Phaseolus multiflorus). The selection of the ingredients was based on the main objective to obtain the nutritional value and sensory characteristics of a formed product similar to cow's milk. The ingredient proportions were created by comparing the protein,...
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Activation of small molecules by ambiphilic NHC-stabilized phosphinoborenium cation: formation of boreniums with B–O–C, B–O–B, and B–O–P structural motifs
PublicationThe reactivity of the phosphinoborenium cation supported by a 1,3,4,5-tetramethylimidazolin-2-ylidene ligand toward small molecules was explored. The phosphinoborenium cation exhibited dual Lewis acid–base properties due to the presence of the Lewis acidic boron center and the Lewis basic phosphido ligand connected by a covalent bond. The reaction of the title cation with CO2 led to the insertion of a CO2 molecule into the P–B...
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Enhanced photocatalytic properties of lanthanide-TiO2 nanotubes: An experimental and theoretical study
PublicationA series of Er-, Yb-, Ho-, Tb-, Gd-, Pr-TiO2 nanotubes (RE-NTs) was prepared via an electrochemical method. The as-prepared photocatalysts were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), UV–vis absorption, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and luminescent spectroscopy. The experiments demonstrated that toluene in the gas phase was successfully degraded under visible light (LEDs λmax = 465...
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Hardware-Software Implementation of Basic Principles Simulator of Nuclear Reactor Processes
PublicationThe paper presents implementation process of basic principle simulators of a nuclear reactor processes. Simulators are based on point-models of processes: kinetics of neutrons, heat generation and exchange, poisoning and burning-up nuclear fuel. Reference simulator was developed in MATLAB/Simulink without taking into account real-time operation. Second simulator was built using the toolbox xPC with hard real-time requirements....
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Experimental and DFT insights into an eco-friendly photocatalytic system toward environmental remediation and hydrogen generation based on AgInS2 quantum dots embedded on Bi2WO6
PublicationBismuth tungstate (Bi2WO6) can work as a photocatalyst but suffers from rapid recombination of photogenerated charge carriers. Herein, density functional theory (DFT) simulations revealed that the formation of a thermodynamically stable AgInS2(112)/Bi2WO6(010) heterojunction could promote charge separation and enhance the photoactivity of Bi2WO6. To confirm these theoretical predictions, a new type of photocatalysts in the form...
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Neural Approximators for Variable-Order Fractional Calculus Operators (VO-FC)
PublicationThe paper presents research on the approximation of variable-order fractional operators by recurrent neural networks. The research focuses on two basic variable-order fractional operators, i.e., integrator and differentiator. The study includes variations of the order of each fractional operator. The recurrent neural network architecture based on GRU (Gated Recurrent Unit) cells functioned as a neural approximation for selected...
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The imidazoacridinone C-1311 induces p53-dependent senescence or p53-independent apoptosis and sensitizes cancer cells to radiation
PublicationC-1311 is a small molecule, which has shown promise in a number of preclinical and clinical studies. However, the biological response to C-1311 exposure is complicated and has been reported to involve a number of cell fates. Here, we investigated the molecular signaling which determines the response to C-1311 in both cancer and non-cancer cell lines. For the first time we demonstrate that the tumor suppressor, p53 plays a key role...
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Cognitive motivations and foundations for building intelligent decision-making systems
PublicationConcepts based on psychology fit well with current research trends related to robotics and artificial intelligence. Biology-inspired cognitive architectures are extremely useful in building agents and robots, and this is one of the most important challenges of modern science. Therefore, the widely viewed and far-reaching goal of systems research and engineering is virtual agents and autonomous robots that mimic human behavior in...
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Physics augmented classification of fNIRS signals
PublicationBackground. Predictive classification favours performance over semantics. In traditional predictive classification pipelines, feature engineering is often oblivious to the underlying phenomena. Hypothesis. In applied domains such as functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS), the exploitation of physical knowledge may improve the discriminative quality of our observation set. Aims. Give exemplary evidence that intervening the...
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Flow cytometric approach to evaluate the impact of hydro-technical concrete compounds’ release to the freshwater microbiome
PublicationThe aim of this research was to test the potential of applying a flow cytometric procedure to evaluate the impact of concrete compounds’ release to the freshwater microbiome. Cells from the collected samples were stained with a fluorogenic redox indicator dye that measures the redox potential of microbial cells. This novel approach was combined with the assessment of microorganisms’ penetration into the internal structures of concrete...
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Deep eutectic solvents based highly efficient extractive desulfurization of fuels – Eco-friendly approach
PublicationThe developed process is based on alternative, green and cheap solvents for efficient desulfurization of fuels. Several deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were successfully synthesized and studied as extraction solvents for desulfurization of model fuel containing thiophene (T), benzothiophene (BT) and dibenzothiophene (DBT). The most important extraction parameters (i.e. kind of DES, DES: fuel volume ratio, hydrogen bond acceptor:...
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Simulation-driven size-reduction-oriented design of multi-band antennas by means of response features
PublicationThis study addresses the problem of explicit size reduction of multi-band antennas by means of simulation-driven optimisation. The principal difficulty of electromagnetic (EM)-based miniaturisation of multi-band antennas is that several resonances have to be controlled independently (both in terms of their frequency allocation and depth) while attempting to reduce physical dimensions of the structure at hand. The design method...
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‘Acridines’ as New Horizons in Antifungal Treatment
PublicationFrequent fungal infections in immunocompromised patients and mortality due to invasive mycosis are important clinical problems. Opportunistic pathogenic Candida species remain one of the leading causes of systemic mycosis worldwide. The repertoire of antifungal chemotherapeutic agents is very limited. Although new antifungal drugs such as lanosterol 14α-demethylase and β-glucan synthase inhibitors have been introduced into clinical...
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Extractive detoxification of feedstocks for the production of biofuels using new hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents – Experimental and theoretical studies
PublicationThe paper presents a synthesis of novel hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) composed of natural components, which were used for removal of furfural (FF) and 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) from lignocellulosic hydrolysates. The main physicochemical properties of DESs were determined, followed by explanation of the DES formation mechanism, using 1H NMR, 13C NMR and FT-IR analysis and density functional theory (DFT). The most...
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Evaluation of Selected Heavy Metal Contaminants as Well as Nitrates and Nitrites in the Microgreens of Nigella (Nigella sativa L.), Safflower (Carthamus tinctorius L.), and Camelina (Camelina sativa L.) at Different Stages of Vegetation
PublicationMicrogreens are a new, rapidly growing group of foodstuffs. The decorative function of these is often accompanied by their use in traditional dishes. As microgreens are eaten at very early stages, when the development of the epidermis is at its minimum, the bioavailability of minerals will be found to be higher in microgreens then in mature vegetables. So, microgreens can be an excellent functional food, especially for mineral-deficient...
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Religious social action and its organizational profiles
PublicationPurpose Social action implemented by the Church via its affiliated entities, foundations and associations may be viewed as a uniform activity. In reality, however, several organizational profiles exist that depend on the origin of these organizations (lay or religious), the scope of their activities (local or general) and their dependence on resources (whether from public administration or civil society). The paper aims to discuss...
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Tailoring optical constants of few-layer black phosphorus coatings: Spectroscopic ellipsometry approach supported by ab-initio simulation
Publication2D black phosphorus (BP) has attracted extensive attention as an anisotropic platform for novel optoelectronic and polarizing optics applications. Insight into the factors that tune the optical and polarizing properties of 2D BP reveals their essential influence on BP-based photonic and optoelectronic devices. In this work, studies of the optical constants of few-layer black phosphorus coatings are studied and discussed, with particular...
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Deep Eutectic Solvents or Eutectic Mixtures? Characterization of Tetrabutylammonium Bromide and Nonanoic Acid Mixtures
PublicationDeep eutectic solvents have quickly attracted the attention of researchers because they better meet the requirements of green chemistry and thus have the potential to replace conventional hazardous organic solvents in some areas. To better understand the nature of these mixtures, as well as expand the possibilities of their use in different industries, a detailed examination of their physical properties, such as density, viscosity,...
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Evolutionary Sets of Safe Ship Trajectories Within Traffic Separation Schemes
PublicationThe paper presents the continuation of the author's research on Evolutionary Sets of Safe Ship Trajectories (ESoSST) methodology. In an earlier paper (Szlapczynski, 2011) the author described the foundations of this methodology, which used Evolutionary Algorithms (EA) to search for an optimal set of safe trajectories for all the ships involved in an encounter. The methodology was originally designed for open waters or restricted...
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A Novel Ru(II) Polypyridine Black Dye Investigated by Resonance Raman Spectroscopy and TDDFT Calculations
PublicationThe optical properties of a new(bipyridine)2Ru(4H-imidazole) complex presenting a remarkablebroad absorption in the visible range are investigated. Thestrong overlap of the absorption with the solar radiationspectrum renders the studied complex promising as a blackabsorber and hence as a starting structure for applications inthe field of dye-sensitized solar cells. The correlations betweenstructural and electronic features for...
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Synthesis, spectroscopy and computational studies of some novelphosphorylated derivatives of quinoline-5,8-diones
PublicationThe neutral phosphorus nucleophiles such as R2P(=Y)M allowed the radical addition to 2-methyl-5,8-dioxo-5,8-dihydroquinoline-7-amine and N-(2-methyl-5,8-dioxo-5,8-dihydroquinolin-7-yl)acetamide giving exclusively O-phosphorylated products. All products were quantitatively prepared and characterized by microanalysis, and multinuclear NMR spectroscopy. Seven of them, have been characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction method....
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Yerba Mate - A Long but Current History
PublicationBearing in mind the growing interest in Yerba Mate, a comprehensive study has been prepared containing the most important aspects and possibilities of its use. The introduction of the work contains the species characteristics of Yerba Mate, as well as information about the origin and places of cultivation. The next part focuses on the analysis of the composition, pointing to purine alkaloids, polyphenols, saponins, and minerals...
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Electronic structure and charge distribution in DyBa2Cu3O7: The ab initio approach
PublicationW pracy wykonano obliczenia kwantowomechaniczne struktury elektronowej nadprzewodzącego materiału DyBa2Cu3O7 (Dy123) metodą FP-LAPW (full potential - linearized augmented plane wave) w ramach formalizmu DFT (density functional theory) stosując przybliżenie GGA (generalized gradient approximation). Ze względu na silne oddziaływania korelacyjne elektronów 4f w atomie Dy zastosowano dodatkowo poprawkę kulombowską U w ramach modelu...
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Mechanical characteristics of welded joints between different stainless steels grades
Publicationnvestigation of mechanical characteristics of welded joints is one of the most important tasks that allow determining their functional properties. Due to the very high, still rising, cost of some stainless steels it is justified, on economic grounds, welding austenitic stainless steel with steels that are corrosion-resistant like duplex ones. According to forecasts the price of...
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Performance of extended Lagrangian schemes for molecular dynamics simulations with classical polarizable force fields and density functional theory
PublicationIterative energy minimization with the aim of achieving self-consistency is a common feature of Born-Oppenheimer molecular dynamics (BOMD) and classical molecular dynamics with polarizable force fields. In the former, the electronic degrees of freedom are optimized, while the latter often involves an iterative determination of induced point dipoles. The computational effort of the self-consistency procedure can be reduced by re-using...
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Untargeted Lipidomics Analysis of the Cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803: Lipid Composition Variation in Response to Alternative Cultivation Setups and to Gene Deletion
PublicationCyanobacteria play an important role in several ecological environments, and they are widely accepted to be the ancestors of chloroplasts in modern plants and green algae. Cyanobacteria have become attractive models for metabolic engineering, with the goal of exploring them as microbial cell factories. However, the study of cyanobacterial lipids’ composition and variation, and the assessment of the lipids’ functional and structural...
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Self-assembly, stability and conductance of amphotericin B channels: bridging the gap between structure and function
PublicationAmphotericin B (AmB), one of the most powerful but also toxic drugs used to treat systemic mycoses, is believed to selectively permeabilize fungal cell membranes to ions in a sterol-dependent manner. Unfortunately, the structure of the biologically active AmB channels has long eluded researchers, obstructing the design of safer alternatives. Here, we investigate the structural and thermodynamic aspects of channel formation, stability,...
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Interaction of 4-nitrothiophenol with low energy electrons: Implications for plasmon mediated reactions
PublicationThe reduction of 4-nitrothiophenol (NTP) to 4-4′-dimercaptoazobenzene (DMAB) on laser illuminated noble metal nanoparticles is one of the most widely studied plasmon mediated reactions. The reaction is most likely triggered by a transfer of low energy electrons from the nanoparticle to the adsorbed molecules. Besides the formation of DMAB, dissociative side reactions of NTP have also been observed. Here, we present a crossed electron-molecular...
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Study of pH and temperature effect on lipophilicity of catechol-containing antioxidants by reversed phase liquid chromatography
PublicationLipophilicity of selected antioxidant phytochemicals, including flavonoids, phenolic acids and xanthonoids, was determined by reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography with UV detection (RP-HPLC-UV). The analyses run at different temperature and pH conditions in isocratic mode suggested that lipophilicity as distribution coefficient (logD) between aqueous and organic phase decreases with increasing temperature. For...
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Deep eutectic solvents – based green absorbents for effective volatile organochlorine compounds removal from biogas
PublicationVolatile organochlorine compounds (VOXs) presented in biogas can cause many technological and environmental problems. During the combustion of biogas containing VOXs, the corrosion of installation, as well as the formation of toxic by-products (polyhalogenated dioxins and furans) and further emission to the atmosphere, may occur. Therefore, in this study, a new procedure based on physical absorption was developed. In order to meet...
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Enzymatic and Chemical Cross-Linking of Bacterial Cellulose/Fish Collagen Composites—A Comparative Study
PublicationThis article compares the properties of bacterial cellulose/fish collagen composites (BC/Col) after enzymatic and chemical cross-linking. In our methodology, two transglutaminases are used for enzymatic cross-linking—one recommended for the meat and the other proposed for the fish industry—and pre-oxidated BC (oxBC) is used for chemical cross-linking. The structure of the obtained composites is characterized by scanning electron...
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Advanced oxidation processes for the removal of mono and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons – A review
PublicationAromatic hydrocarbons (AHs) are toxic environmental contaminants presented in most of the environmental matrices. Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) for the removal of AHs in the account of complete mineralization from various environmental matrices have been reviewed in this paper. An in-depth discussion on various AOPs for mono (BTEX) and polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their derivatives is presented. Most of the AOPs were...
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The correlation between nutritional and health potential and antioxidant properties of raw edible oils from cultivated and wild plants
PublicationThe nutritional properties and health potential of oils from 15 various cultivated and wild plants were investigated on the basis of the fatty acids profiles, total carotenoids and tocopherols content, antioxidant properties and health potential indexes such as atherogenicity index (AI). The oil contents of the plants varied between 0.9 g/100 g for lychee seeds and 29.7 g/100 g for borage seeds. The tocopherol content in oils ranged...
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Atmospheric degradation mechanism of anthracene initiated by OH•: A DFT prediction
PublicationDensity functional theory (DFT) calculations at the M06-2X/def2-TZVP level have been employed to investigate the atmospheric oxidation mechanism of anthracene (ANT) initiated by HO•. Direct hydrogen atom abstraction from the ANT using HO• takes place hardly at ambient conditions while the addition of HO• to the C1, C2, and C4 sites are thermodynamically and kinetically more advantageous. The addition reactions are controlled by...
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Computational Study of Molecular Interactions in ZnCl2(urea)2 Crystals as Precursors for Deep Eutectic Solvents
PublicationDeep eutectic solvents (DESs) are now enjoying an increased scientific interest due to their interesting properties and growing range of possible applications. Computational methods are at the forefront of deciphering their structure and dynamics. Type IV DESs, composed of metal chloride and a hydrogen bond donor, are among the less studied systems when it comes to their understanding at a molecular level. An important example...
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Excited states of mono- and biruthenium(II) complexes adsorbed on nanocrystalline titanium dioxide studied by electroabsorption spectroscopy
PublicationComprehensive characterization of the lowest energy electronic excited states for mono- and binuclear Ru(II) complexes containing bipyridine ligands has been performed by electroabsorption (EA) spectroscopy. The EA spectra of Ru complexes sensitizing a TiO2 semiconductor were compared with the spectra of these complexes in the form of solid neat films, both of which parametrized within the Liptay theory. The extracted values of...
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Neural Graph Collaborative Filtering: Analysis of Possibilities on Diverse Datasets
PublicationThis paper continues the work by Wang et al. [17]. Its goal is to verify the robustness of the NGCF (Neural Graph Collaborative Filtering) technique by assessing its ability to generalize across different datasets. To achieve this, we first replicated the experiments conducted by Wang et al. [17] to ensure that their replication package is functional. We received sligthly better results for ndcg@20 and somewhat poorer results for...
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Band Gap Engineering toward Semimetallic Character of Quinone-Rich Polydopamine
PublicationSemiconductor|melanin interfaces have received increasingly more attention in the fields of photocatalysis and applied electrochemistry because of their facile synthesis, unique electrical properties, and strong capability toward photosensitization. In this work, we describe the electropolymerization of quinone-rich polydopamine (PDA) on the surface of hydrogenated TiO2 nanotubes with enhanced photoactivity in the visible spectrum....
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Removal of Arsenic from Wastewater Using Hydrochar Prepared from Red Macroalgae: Investigating Its Adsorption Efficiency and Mechanism
PublicationArsenic (As) is a prominent carcinogen component produced via both geogenic and anthropogenic processes, posing serious risks to human health. This study aimed to investigate the potential of hydrochar prepared from red macroalgae for removing As from synthetic wastewater. The hydrochar was produced through 5 h hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) treatment at 200 °C, and then, chemically activated with ferric chloride hexahydrate...