A case of homicidal poisoning involving several drugs

Accidental or suicidal poisonings due to benzodiazepines have been previously reported. A case of fatal, homicidal poisoning with benzodiazepines, antipyretic analgesics (anti-inflammatory drugs), and beer is described here. In this homicidal poisoning, the drugs and beer were given to the decedent by his wife. Autopsy findings showed no clinically significant macroscopic findings except for slight postmortem change. Capillary gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry was employed to quantitate the drugs in biological fluids and stomach contents. Six drugs (brotizolam, triazolam, ibuprofen, dihydrocodeine, phenylpropanolamine, and chlorpheniramine) were identified and quantitated in blood, urine, and stomach contents. Although each drug was present in a very small quantity, the cause of death was determined to be the combination of these drugs and alcohol poisoning.     

Interpolation Errors in Rectangular and Diamond Characteristic Grids

Analytical predictions of numerical errors in method of characteristics analyses using time-line interpolation in a rectangular grid are obtained for (1) both time-line and space-line interpolation and (2) both rectangular and diamond grids. Amplitude and frequency errors are investigated for each of these four cases using purpose-developed polynomial transfer matrices. Both semiinfinite and finite pipes are investigated. The time-line analysis permits reach back in time and the space-line analysis permits reach out in space. A common definition is adopted for the Courant number in the four cases and it is shown why stability can be achieved in reach-out analyses with Courant numbers greater than 1. In contrast with most work on error estimation, the predicted errors are obtained analytically, not numerically. This is made possible by restricting the analysis to special, but important, cases such as liquid-filled pipes in which the waves may be assumed to propagate at constant speed. Furthermore, the development is restricted to inviscid flows, thereby enabling interpolation errors to be assessed in the absence of complicating influences of discretization errors. In contrast with the latter, it is found that interpolation errors are more sensitive to the shape of numerical grids (i.e., Courant number and rectangular versus diamond grid) than to the size of the numerical time step.     

Performances of Randomization Test for Comparing Longitudinal Ordered Categorical Outcome

In this paper, we consider methods to analyse longitudinal ordered categorical data. Several methods for analysing such data have been proposed, but they are often limited in their ranges of application. We propose to treat the ordered categorical data as if they are continuous ones by scoring ordered categories, and to apply randomization test to them. In addition, we recommend joint use of time continuous type method (Zerbe, 1979) and time-discrete type method (Raz, 1989) when both treatment main effect and treatment-by-time interaction are to be tested by the randomization test. By a simulation study, we evaluated performances of our recommending approach for the tests of treatment main effect and treatment-by-time interaction based on longitudinal ordered categorical data. We defined effects of these two factors on an underlying continuous scale in the simulation study. As a result, it was found that the performances of these two tests are satisfactory with respect to type I error rate and power. However, in the case where extremely large (or small) score was given to the maximum (or the minimum) category, the powers of these two tests were slightly low.

     

Extraction of Rare Earth Elements as Oxides from a Neodymium Magnetic Sludge

We propose a simple method for separating rare earth elements as oxides from a neodymium magnetic sludge by focusing on the affinity of oxygen for the rare earth elements (Nd, Dy, and Pr) and Fe. We have conducted separation experiments with a carbon crucible as contact material to confirm that carbon maintains the oxygen potential in the coexistence region of rare earth oxides and metallic Fe. In this work, the oxide phase of the rare earth elements and the alloy phase that primarily consists of Fe were separated clearly when the magnetic sludge in the carbon crucible was kept at 1823?K (1550?°C) under an Ar atmosphere. The purity of the rare earth oxide phase was high and only a small amount of rare earth elements were contained in the alloy phase. We found that the melting temperature of the rare earth oxides is a crucial factor for separation efficiency in our proposed method.     

Preparation of high-modulus and high-strength isotactic polypropylene fiber by zone-annealing method

The zone-annealing method was utilized to prepare a high-modulus and high-strength fiber from isotactic polypropylene. The dynamic storage modulus at room temperature of the fiber obtained reached 21 times; 10¹⁰ dyn/cm², which corresponded to 51% of the crystal modulus along the molecular chains, 41.2 × 10¹⁰ dyn/cm². The relationships between mechanical properties and superstructure were investigated based on results of measurements of orientation, crystallinity, tensile properties, and dynamic viscoelasticity. It was found that the excellent mechanical properties were directly attributed to the large number of tie molecules and to the high orientation of the amorphous chains. Further, the characteristics of this method were discussed compared with the results obtained by other investigators.     

PARTICLE DEPOSITION CONTROL FOR VARIOUS WAFER SURFACES IN ACIDIC SOLUTION WITH SURFACTANT

Particle deposition control for various substrate surfaces was studied using acidic solution with surfactant. It has been demonstrated that particle deposition onto the various substrate surfaces in the chemicals depends on the zeta potential of particle and of the substrate surface. An anionic surfactant addition is found to make both particles and the substrate surface negatively charged, while a cationic surfactant addition is found to make both of them positively charged. The surfactant addition, therefore, can suppress particle deposition onto the substrate surface even when some particles remain in the chemicals.

When some chemical is carried over to the subsequent ultrapure water rinsing bath, this chemical carry-over triggers particle deposition in the ultrapure water rinsing stage when a cationic surfactant is used or when a hydrophilic surface is used. However, this phenomena is not observed when an anionic surfactant is used.

These results suggest that an anionic surfactant is effective in suppressing particle deposition onto the various wafer surfaces in acidic solutions.     

Improvement of performance of disk MHD generator with argon by introduction of swirl

An experimental study of performance of the disk MHD generator with argon was carried out using a shock‐tube driven facility. An inlet swirl was introduced in the MHD channel in order to improve the enthalpy extraction and the isentropic efficiency. The experimental results were compared with those of the disk MHD generator without the inlet swirl. A high enthalpy extraction of 25.7% was obtained and the highest isentropic efficiency for argon was achieved at the same time in the present experiment. The measured static pressure in the MHD channel was kept lower than that without the inlet swirl. This has suggested that the introduction of the inlet swirl reduces the retarding force for the flow and that the increase of the enthalpy extraction is ascribed to the increase of the flow velocity and of the electrical efficiency. Furthermore, the flow without shock wave was observed at low seed fractions and low load resistances. At the same time, it was found for the first time that when there was no shock wave, the isentropic efficiency became higher than that with the shock wave. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 141(1): 18–25, 2002; Published online in Wiley InterScience ( www.interscience.wiley.com ). DOI 10.1002/eej.10045