Ruthenium‐Catalyzed One‐Pot Tandem Isomerization–Transfer Hydrogenation Reactions of γ‐Trifluoromethylated Allylic Alcohols and β‐Trifluoromethylated Enones

The ruthenium–2‐propanol combination was found to transform γ‐trifluoromethylated allylic alcohols and β‐trifluoromethylated enones into the corresponding saturated alcohols in excellent yields via a one‐pot tandem process involving isomerization and transfer hydrogenation(s). High stereospecificity was demonstrated and evidence for two mechanistic pathways is provided. The method was applied to a rapid synthesis of trifluoromethylated citronellol.     

Monitoring pitting corrosion of AISI 316L austenitic stainless steel by acoustic emission technique: Choice of representative acoustic parameters

This experimental work was aimed at investigating the monitoring of pitting corrosion by the acoustic emission (AE) technique, for pits developed by potentiostatic or galvanostatic polarization on two types of 316L austenitic stainless steels, in a 3% NaCl solution acidified to pH 2. The study of the evolution of AE global activity during the test showed the existence of a time delay before pits became emissive. This time delay and the AE events number rate measured during the propagation step of the pits are closely correlated with the sensitivity of the material towards pitting and with the polarization procedure. Moreover, the evolution of cumulative % of AE signals number versus selected acoustic parameters shows that rise time and counts number of signals appear to be discriminating acoustic parameters for monitoring pitting corrosion of austenitic stainless steels by acoustic emission technique in our experimental conditions, whatever the polarization procedure and the type of tested steel.     

Pure Chitosan Biomedical Textile Fibers from Mixtures of Low- and High-Molecular Weight Bidisperse Polymer Solutions: Processing and Understanding of Microstructure–Mechanical Properties’ Relationship

Natural polymers, as extracted from biomass, may exhibit large macromolecular polydispersity. We investigated the impact of low molar mass chitosan (LMW, DP_w~115) on the properties of chitosan fibers obtained by wet spinning of chitosan solutions with bimodal distributions of molar masses. The fiber crystallinity index (CrI) was assessed by synchrotron X-ray diffraction and the mechanical properties were obtained by uniaxial tensile tests. The LMW chitosan showed to slightly increase the crystallinity index in films which were initially processed from the bimodal molar mass chitosan solutions, as a result of increased molecular mobility and possible crystal nucleating effects. Nevertheless, the CrI remained almost constant or slightly decreased in stretched fibers at increasing content of LMW chitosan in the bidisperse chitosan collodion. The ultimate mechanical properties of fibers were altered by the addition of LMW chitosan as a result of a decrease of entanglement density and chain orientation in the solid state. An increase of crystallinity might not be expected from LMW chitosan with a still relatively high degree of polymerization (DPw ≥ 115). Instead, different nucleation agents—either smaller molecules or nanoparticles—should be used to improve the mechanical properties of chitosan fibers for textile applications.     

Stability properties of the Discontinuous Galerkin Material Point Method for hyperbolic problems in one and two space dimensions

In this paper, stability conditions are derived for the Discontinuous Galerkin Material Point Method (DGMPM) on the scalar linear advection equation for the sake of simplicity and without loss of generality for linear problems. The discrete systems resulting from the application of the DGMPM discretization in one and two space dimensions are first written. For these problems, a second-order Runge-Kutta and the forward Euler time discretizations are respectively considered. Moreover, the numerical fluxes are computed at cell faces by means of either the Donor-Cell Upwind or the Corner Transport Upwind methods for multidimensional problems. Second, the discrete scheme equations are derived assuming that all cells of a background grid contain at least one particle. Although a Cartesian grid is considered in two space dimensions, the results can be extended to regular grids. The von Neumann linear stability analysis then allows the computation of the critical Courant number for a given space discretization. Although the DGMPM is equivalent to the first-order finite volume method if one particle lies in each element, so that the Courant number can be set to unity, other distributions of particles may restrict the stability region of the scheme. The study of several configurations is then proposed.     

Vision-based micro-manipulations in simulation

Microsystem Technologies - Manipulating micro-objects is needed in various applications such as micro-assembly, minimally invasive surgery and micro-organism manipulation, which refers to...     

Monolithic integration of optoelectronic devices with reactivematching networks for microwave applications

Microwave impedance matching networks have been, for the first time, monolithically integrated with GaInAs p-i-n photodiodes and GaInAsP buried ridge stripe structure lasers (λ=1.3 μm), both on a semi-insulating InP substrate. The microwave power transfer optical links were compared using matched and unmatched devices. Compared to an unmatched link, an improvement of 11.4 dB at 5.6 GHz (600 MHz bandwidth) is obtained for the totally matched one; this result corresponds quite well to the theoretical prediction (12 dB at 6 GHz)     

Sputum eosinophilia is more closely associated with airway responsiveness to bradykinin than methacholine in asthma

OBJECTIVE: We investigated the change in the plasma concentration of asymmetric dimethylarginine, an endogenous inhibitor of nitric oxide synthase, in early-, mid-, and late-gestation normotensive pregnancies and in gestational age-matched preeclamptic pregnancies and compared the observed changes with changes in blood pressure. STUDY DESIGN: Blood pressure and peripheral plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine concentrations were measured in 20 nonpregnant and 145 pregnant women (33 first-trimester, 50 second-trimester, and 44 third-trimester normotensive pregnancies and 18 third-trimester pregnancies complicated by preeclampsia). In 23 normotensive pregnancies serial plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine concentrations were measured. Statistical analysis was by analysis of variance and linear regression. RESULTS: The blood pressures recorded throughout normal pregnancy were significantly lower than in nonpregnant subjects (p < 0.0001). The mean systolic, diastolic, and average blood pressures were significantly higher in the second-trimester groups than in the first-trimester groups, whereas in the third trimester average and diastolic blood pressures were significantly higher than in the second trimester. The mean (+/-SD) systolic and diastolic blood pressures in third-trimester preeclamptic patients was 157.7 +/- 11.2 and 110.9 +/- 8.5 mm Hg. The mean plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine concentration in nonpregnant women was 0.82 +/- 0.31 micromol/L (significantly higher than in normotensive pregnancy, p < 0.0001). The plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine concentration was also significantly higher in second-trimester than in first-trimester normotensive groups (respectively, 0.52 +/- 0.20 micromol/L and 0.40 +/- 0.15 micromol/L, p = 0.001) and was higher in third-trimester normotensive pregnancy 0.56 +/- 0.23 micromol/L than it was in the second trimester. The asymmetric dimethylarginine concentration in third-trimester preeclamptic patients was 1.17 +/- 0.42 micromol/L (p < 0.0001 vs normotensive third-trimester subjects). CONCLUSIONS: It is well recognized that blood pressure falls in early normal pregnancy and rises again toward term. These studies show that the early fall in blood pressure is accompanied by a significant fall in the plasma asymmetric dimethylarginine concentration. Later in pregnancy circulating concentrations increase and, when pregnancy is complicated by preeclampsia, concentrations are higher than in the nonpregnant state. Our data support a role for both asymmetric dimethylarginine and nitric oxide in the changes in blood pressure seen in both normal and preeclamptic pregnancy.     

Daily generation scheduling optimization with transmissionconstraints: a new class of algorithms

The authors describe a novel class of algorithm dealing with the daily generation scheduling (DGS) problem. These algorithms have been designed by adding artificial constraints to the original optimization problem; handling these artificial constraints by using a dual approach; using an augmented Lagrangian technique rather than a standard Lagrangian relaxation technique; and applying the auxiliary problem principle which can cope with the nonseparable terms introduced by the augmented Lagrangian. To deal with the DGS optimization problem these algorithms are shown to be more effective than classical ones. They are well suited to solve this DGS problem taking into account transmission constraints     

Codage algébrique de la parole : prédiction linéaire à excitation par code ternaire

This article presents new speech coding methods for real time application (telephone, videophone) or offline applications (storage). Speech quality is in the classical telephone range, with a 4 kHz bandwidth and a sampling at 8 kHz. An elementary approach leads to a 16 kbit/s codec and a 24 kbit/s codec, using integer codebooks and fast computations. The speech quality of the two codecs has been measured in comparison with more complex ones and in realistic conditions, with noisy telecommunication channels. The elementary approach is completed by a synthetic model, with a systematic generalization of the algorithms (e.g. for a generalized vselp). Some methods for channel protection, which are already known by the speech coding researchers, are summed up in the Appendix. A change of representation for low density codes (less than 1 bit/sample) is proposed.