Kinetics and thermodynamics investigations of efficient and eco-friendly removal of alizarin red S from water via acid-activated Dalbergia sissoo leaf powder and its magnetic iron oxide nanocomposite.

The present work aimed to highlight an efficient, readily accessible, and cost-effective adsorbent derived from Dalbergia sissoo (DS) leaf powder for removing the environmentally hazardous dye "alizarin red S" (ARS) from hydrous medium. A variant of the adsorbent is activated via sulfuric acid and composited with magnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (DSMNC). Both adsorbents are thoroughly characterized using techniques such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, point of zero charge, energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and scanning electron microscopy, which show that they have a porous structure rich in active sites. Different adsorption conditions are optimized with the maximum removal efficiency of 76.63% for DS and 97.89% for DSMNC. The study was highlighted via the application of various adsorption isotherms, including Freundlich, Langmuir, Temkin, and Dubinin-Radushkevich, to adsorption data. Pseudo-first-order, pseudo-second-order, and intra-particle diffusion models were utilized to investigate the kinetics and mechanism of adsorption. The Freundlich model and pseudo-second-order kinetics exhibited the best fit, suggesting a combination of physical interactions, as confirmed by the D-R and Temkin models. The dominant adsorbate-adsorbent interactive interactions responsible for ARS removal were hydrogen bonding, dispersion forces, and noncovalent aromatic ring adsorbent pi-interactions. Thermodynamic parameters extracted from adsorption data indicated that the removal of the mutagenic dye "ARS" was exothermic and spontaneous on both DS and DSMNC, with DSMNC exhibiting higher removal efficiency.

The relationship between political instability and stock market performance: An analysis of the MSCI index in the case of Pakistan.

The stock market is the barometer of the economy that reflects the overall health and direction of the economic development and is affected by different factors including social, environmental and political. It is important to investigate the effect of the political instability on the stock market performance, especially on emerging economies. Therefore, we aim to study the relationship between political instability and stock market performance in Pakistan. To meet our objectives, we used past data from 1996 to 2021. Data are collected from the DataStream data base. MSCI indices are used as the proxy for the Stock market performance of the selected country. World governance six indicators are used in the study as the explanatory variable concentrating the political instability index as the main explanatory variable. Regression analysis is used but two-way robustness analysis was done for the accuracy of the findings through GMM methods and taking GDP as another endogenous variable. Our findings shows that the political stability has significant positive impact on the stock market performance while, political instability has negative impact on stock market performance. Moreover, other governance indicators has a significant positive impact on performance. However, political instability disrupts the operations and economical activities that leads to decrease the investor confidence and also decrease the foreign investment with the increment of the risk in the country. Moreover, our study has some implications for investors to develop the diversified portfolio to minimize the risk and policy makers can increase their foreign direct investment within the economy by controlling the political instability.

Synthesis of novel fluorescent cyclohexenone derivatives and their partitioning study in ionic micellar media.

An approach is demonstrated toward the synthesis of four novel cyclohexenone derivatives (CDs) via a convenient route of Michael addition of ethyl acetoacetate. The molecular structures of CDs were confirmed by means of FT-IR, (1)H NMR, EIMS, UV and also by X-ray single crystal structure analysis. CDs are strongly fluorescent compounds and their fluorescent spectra exhibits intense violet fluorescence. To model the binding to biological membranes the behavior of CDs in micellar solutions of a cationic surfactant, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) and an anionic surfactant, sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) has also been examined. The characteristics of partition and binding interactions of CDs with CTAB and SDS were investigated by UV-Visible and fluorescence spectroscopic techniques. Higher values of all mentioned interactions in case of CTAB, compared to SDS, indicate that there are greater interactions between the CDs and CTAB than with SDS.