Countercurrent reactor design and flowsheet for iodine-sulfur thermochemical water splitting process

A conceptual design is presented for the I/S process for the production of hydrogen using a high-temperature nuclear heat source to split water. The process includes a countercurrent reactor being developed by CEA within the framework of an international collaboration (I-NERI project) with DOE at General Atomics (San Diego, CA). A ProsimPlus? model of the flowsheet indicates 600 kJ high-temperature heat and 69 kJ electric power are consumed per mole of H₂ product (with an assumed pressure of 120 bars). The net thermal efficiency would be 38% (HHV basis) if electric power is available at a conversion efficiency of 45%.     

Social class, education, and smoking cessation: Long-term follow-up of patients treated at a smoking cessation unit.

Our objective was to examine social class and educational differences in long-term smoking cessation success among a cohort of smokers attending a specialized smoking clinic. We studied sustained abstinence after cessation among 1,516 smokers (895 men and 621 women) treated for smoking cessation between 1995 and 2001 at a university teaching hospital in the metropolitan area of Barcelona, Spain. We calculated 1-year and long-term (up to 8-year) abstinence probabilities by means of Kaplan-Meier curves and the hazard ratio of relapse by means of Cox regression, after adjusting for other predictors of relapse. Overall abstinence probability was .277 (95% CI = .254-.301). Men and women in social classes IV-V had significant hazard ratios of relapse after long-term follow-up (men: 1.36, 95% CI = 1.07-1.72; women: 1.60, 95% CI = 1.24-2.06), as compared with patients in social classes I-II. The same independent effect was observed for education: Men and women with primary or less than primary studies had higher hazard ratios of relapse (men: 1.75, 95% CI = 1.35-2.25; women: 1.92, 95% CI = 1.51-2.46), as compared with patients with a university degree. Similar estimates were obtained after adjustment for stage of change, Fagerstr?m score for nicotine dependence, and type of treatment. Patients of lower socioeconomic status are at higher risk of relapse, and this association is independent of other well-known predictors of relapse. Social differences have to be taken into account in the clinical setting when tailoring specific actions to treat smoking dependence.     

Performance of antireflecting coating-AlGaAs window layer couplingfor terrestrial concentrator GaAs solar cells

In this paper, we present the performance of optical coating systems coupled with AlGaAs window layers over GaAs solar cells. Single, double, and triple antireflecting coatings and window layers with constant and graded aluminum content are considered. Comparison between constant and graded window layers is established. To better represent reality, practical factors such as absorption of materials even for antireflecting coatings and the oxidation at window layer surface due to its high aluminum content are also included in the calculations. The design criteria to determine the optimum thickness of each layer is the achievement of maximum photogenerated current density. For this purpose and to account for terrestrial concentrator GaAs solar cells, the inclusion of direct terrestrial solar spectrum together with the internal spectral response of the device are taken into account. Finally, the best antireflecting coating/AlGaAs window layer couplings for different cases are presented     

Anti‐HIV Small‐Molecule Binding in the Peptide Subpocket of the CXCR4:CVX15 Crystal Structure

The CXC chemokine receptor 4 (CXCR4) is involved in chemotaxis and serves as a coreceptor for T‐tropic HIV‐1 viral entry, thus making this receptor an attractive drug target. Recently, crystal structures of CXCR4 were reported as complexes with the small molecule IT1t and the CVX15 peptide. Follow‐up efforts to model different antagonists into the small molecule CXCR4:IT1t crystal structure did not generate poses consistent with either the X‐ray crystal structure or site‐directed mutagenesis (SDM). Here, we compare the binding pockets of the two CXCR4 crystal structures, revealing differences in helices IV, V, VI, and VII, with major differences for the His203 residue buried in the binding pocket. The small molecule antagonist AMD11070 was docked into both CXCR4 crystal structures. An AMD11070 pose identified from the CXCR4:CVX15 model presented interactions with Asp171, Glu288, Trp94, and Asp97, consistent with published SDM data, thus suggesting it is the bioactive pose. A CXCR4 receptor model was optimized around this pose of AMD11070, and the resulting model correlated HIV‐1 inhibition with MM‐GBSA docking scores for a congeneric AMD11070‐like series. Subsequent NAMFIS NMR results successfully linked the proposed binding pose to an independent experimental structure. These results strongly suggest that not all small molecules will bind to CXCR4 in a similar manner as IT1t. Instead, the CXCR4:CVX15 crystal structure may provide a binding locus for small organic molecules that is more suitable than the secondary IT1t site. This work is expected to provide modeling insights useful for future CXCR4 antagonist and X4‐tropic HIV‐1 based drug design efforts.     

An Enantioselective Recyclable Polystyrene‐Supported Threonine‐Derived Organocatalyst for Aldol Reactions

A series of primary amino acids covalently supported onto polystyrene through alkyne–azide cycloaddition reactions has been synthesized and evaluated as catalysts in asymmetric aldol reactions. A polymer‐supported threonine behaves as an easily recyclable, highly reactive and stereoselective (up to 99% ee) catalyst in the aldol reaction of both cyclic and acyclic ketone donors with aromatic aldehydes in aqueous environments. While cyclic ketones react with anti diastereoselectivity, syn adducts are predominantly obtained with acyclic substrates. The heterogenized threonine catalyst has been used for the sequential synthesis of a small library of enantiopure aldol products.

     

Optimizing TCP and RLC interaction in the UMTS radio access network

TCP, the dominant transport protocol for Internet applications, suffers severe performance degradation due to packet losses when a wireless link is present in the end-to-end path. For this reason, the 3G specification entity, 3GPP, has defined a reliable link layer protocol, RLC, to support packet switched services over UMTS. RLC provides error recovery in the radio access network by means of an ARQ algorithm. Early studies supported the benefit of using a reliable link protocol, while more recent studies outline new problems arising from RLC and TCP interaction and how to overcome them. This article describes the most relevant issues concerning TCP-RLC interaction and evaluates the most practical enhancement approaches, based on optimum parameter configuration at the transport and link layers. We devote special attention to RLC, whose specific configuration decisions are left to operators, and provide specific guidelines for setting its parameters. In addition, we propose two operational changes for enhancing the buffer management strategy, one of the main drawbacks of RLC.     

Management of acute otitis media caused by resistant pneumococci in infants

OBJECTIVES: To assess the clinical outcome and risk of failure after oral vs. intravenous treatment in otitis media caused by penicillin-resistant pneumococci. To determine the possible correlations between pneumococcal minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) to penicillin and clinical outcome. DESIGN: Retrospective study of 156 cases collected between 1993 and 1995. Mean follow-up: 5 months. Setting. Two tertiary academic medical centers in Paris, France. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Pneumococcus was isolated from 191 of 570 ear samples obtained from children with otitis media and shown to be penicillin-resistant in 156. Medical history, antibiotic therapy during the previous 3 months and day-care center attendance were reviewed. For the current episode microbiologic characteristics of the isolated strains, type of treatment, therapy efficacy and clinical outcome were analyzed. Patients were predominantly young (76.3% were <1 year old) and bacteriologic samples were taken mainly because of previous treatment failure. RESULTS: Among 156 children with pneumococcal penicillin-resistant otitis media, 72.2% attended day-care centers, 71.8% had been previously treated with aminopenicillin and 52.5% with cephalosporins. Failure of previous empirical oral therapy was noted in 84% (one-third of these had been receiving amoxicillin-clavulanate). Patients treated intravenously had had a more protracted otitis but no greater number of previous episodes of acute otitis media than those receiving oral therapy. Acute mastoiditis occurred in 4 infants resulting in mastoidectomy. Oral treatment (mainly with high dose amoxicillin,120 to 150 mg/kg/day) and intravenous therapy (cephalosporin or glycopeptide) had been used in 59 and 41%, respectively. Mean duration of therapy was 10.7 days. Three failures (1.9%) and 10 recurrences (6.4%, average 28 days) occurred. No statistical difference was found between intravenous and oral therapy with respect to risk of recurrence. A high penicillin MIC value was correlated with previous antibiotic treatment but not with clinical outcome. CONCLUSIONS: Oral therapy appears to be as effective as intravenous therapy for the treatment of penicillin-resistant pneumococcal otitis media. Intravenous treatment should not necessarily be dictated by the penicillin susceptibility value but should be considered in cases of failure to thrive, persistent otitis or other complications.     

Contribution to the study of the band structure of amorphous selenium

From a study of the conductivity and photoconductivity of amorphous Se layers we are able to propose a model for the electronic states in the band gap.