Romanian Academy

About: Romanian Academy is a archive organization based out in Bucharest, Romania. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Nonlinear system. The organization has 3662 authors who have published 10491 publications receiving 146447 citations. The organization is also known as: Academia Română & Societatea Literară Română.

Adsorption studies of Cr(III) ions from aqueous solutions by DEHPA impregnated onto Amberlite XAD7 – Factorial design analysis

Abstract: The present paper investigates the adsorption of Cr(III) ions using the SIR, prepared by impregnation of Amberlite XAD7 with di-(2-ethylhexyl)-phosphoric acid (DEHPA), which has been chosen as an extractant for the purpose of this study. The Amberlite XAD7–DEHPA resin was impregnated with DEHPA and ethylic alcohol as solvent trough dynamic column impregnation method. The influence of different physicochemical parameters (pH, resin dosage, initial concentration of Cr(III) ions, contact time and temperature) upon the adsorption capacity of XAD7–DEHPA, in the Cr(III) ions removal process from aqueous solution, has been investigated. The pH for Cr(III) ions adsorption was found as 3.0 for this material. The results showed that the adsorption equilibrium was reached after 45 min. The adsorption process is best described by the pseudo-second order kinetic model. Langmuir adsorption isotherm gave a satisfactory fit of the equilibrium data. The maximum adsorption capacity is ∼3 mg Cr(III) ions/g SIR. The thermodynamic studies allowed us to determine the thermodynamic parameters Δ G °, Δ H ° and Δ S °. In this paper the factorial design of experiments was used to study the performance of the adsorption process.

Phyto-mediated metallic nano-architectures via Melissa officinalis L.: synthesis, characterization and biological properties.

Abstract: The development of methods for obtaining new materials with antimicrobial properties, based on green chemistry principles has been a target of research over the past few years. The present paper describes the phyto-mediated synthesis of metallic nano-architectures (gold and silver) via an ethanolic extract of Melissa officinalis L. (obtained by accelerated solvent extraction). Different analytic methods were applied for the evaluation of the extract composition, as well as for the characterization of the phyto-synthesized materials. The cytogenotoxicity of the synthesized materials was evaluated by Allium cepa assay, while the antimicrobial activity was examined by applying both qualitative and quantitative methods. The results demonstrate the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (average diameter 13 nm) and gold nanoparticles (diameter of ca. 10 nm); the bi-metallic nanoparticles proved to have a core-shell flower-like structure, composed of smaller particles (ca. 8 nm). The Ag nanoparticles were found not active on nuclear DNA damage. The Au nanoparticles appeared nucleoprotective, but were aggressive in generating clastogenic aberrations in A. cepa root meristematic cells. Results of the antimicrobial assays show that silver nanoparticles were active against most of the tested strains, as the lowest MIC value being obtained against B. cereus (approx. 0.0015 mM).

Repetitive occurrence of explosive events at a coronal hole boundary

Abstract: SUMER/SoHO data taken at a coronal hole boundary show a repetitive explosive event occurrence rate of around 3 min increasing to over 5 min towards the end of the activity. We suggest that the neighbouring oppositely directed closed and open field lines at the coronal hole boundary undergo repetitive reconnection seen as a sequence of explosive events. The repetitive reconnection may be triggered by transverse oscillations of the flux tubes in the closed field line region. These oscillations periodically separate and bring together the closed and open field lines on the two sides of the coronal hole boundary. An important indicator favouring the interpretation in terms of a kink mode is the observed increase in the oscillation period.