High Pressure Conductivity and Photoconductivity of Polyveratrole

Summary Electropolymerization of o-(CH₃O)₂C₆H₄ (Veratrole) in dry acetonitrile/tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate at platinum electrode, yields a green polymeric conducting solid. As the pressure is increased, the material becomes more conductive, but sharp changes towards lower conductivity occur at 4.2 and 6.2 metric tons pressure, probably due to phase transitions. The photoconductivity shows an exponential increase as temperature is increased, but it shows reversible changes at 200 K, 225 K and 250 K during slow warming, also attributable to phase transitions. Photoconductivity of Polyveratrole increases with the radiation frequency, being higher under blue light than under red of infrared radiation and there is a linear increase of photoconductivity with radiation density. Conductivity transients show that the conductivity increases exponentially with time to the saturation point within few minutes, and it also decreases exponentially when the light is turned off and the circuit is open. This behaviour can be explained by formation and encounter of electron and hole as current carriers. A preliminary study indicates a piezoelectric effect for the material. absorption spectroscopy allowed the measurements of the material band gap.     

Simultaneous sulfide and acetate oxidation under denitrifying conditions using an inverse fluidized bed reactor

BACKGROUND: Simultaneous removal of sulfur, nitrogen and carbon compounds from wastewaters is a commercially important biological process. The objective was to evaluate the influence of the CH₃COO^?/NO₃^? molar ratio on the sulfide oxidation process using an inverse fluidized bed reactor (IFBR). RESULTS: Three molar ratios of CH₃COO^?/NO₃^? (0.85, 0.72 and 0.62) with a constant S^2?/NO₃^? molar ratio of 0.13 were evaluated. At a CH₃COO^?/NO₃^? molar ratio of 0.85, the nitrate, acetate and sulfide removal efficiencies were approximately 100%. The N₂ yield (g N₂ g^?1 NO₃^?‐N consumed) was 0.81. Acetate was mineralized, resulting in a yield of 0.65 g inorganic‐C g^?1 CH₃COO^?‐C consumed. Sulfide was partially oxidized to S⁰, and 71% of the S^2? consumed was recovered as elemental sulfur by a settler installed in the IFBR. At a CH₃COO^?/NO₃^? molar ratio of 0.72, the efficiencies of nitrate, acetate and sulfide consumption were of 100%, with N₂ and inorganic‐C yields of 0.84 and 0.69, respectively. The sulfide was recovered as sulfate instead of S⁰, with a yield of 0.92 g SO₄^2?‐S g^?1 S^2? consumed. CONCLUSIONS: The CH₃COO^?/NO₃^? molar ratio was shown to be an important parameter that can be used to control the fate of sulfide oxidation to either S⁰ or sulfate. In this study, the potential of denitrification for the simultaneous removal of organic matter, sulfide and nitrate from wastewaters was demonstrated, obtaining CO₂, S⁰ and N₂ as the major end products. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry     

Grouped Approach for the Design of H.264/AVC Motion Estimation Architectures

This letter presents a novel approach for organizing computational resources into groups within H.264/AVC motion estimation architectures, leading to reductions of up to 75% in the equivalent gate count with respect to state‐of‐the‐art designs.     

Ventilatory response to severe acute hypoxia in guinea-pigs and rats with high hemoglobin-oxygen affinity induced by cyanate

Laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection has been applied as a minimally invasive staging technique for men with prostate cancer. This procedure has been shown to shorten markedly postoperative hospitalization, decrease analgesic requirements and shorten convalescence period compared to open pelvic node dissection. However, the laparoscopic procedure takes longer to perform and many disposable instruments are used, thus increasing the cost. We determine the overall cost of laparoscopic versus open pelvic lymph node dissection. Between January 1989 and April 1992, 61 men underwent only staging pelvic lymph node dissection for cancer of the prostate at a single university teaching hospital. Of these patients 11 and 50 underwent open and laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection, respectively. Information from the hospital business office was reorganized into preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative expenses. All individual charges were transformed up or down to the dollar amounts of the 1990 to 1991 fiscal year so as to correct for inflationary changes. Preoperative costs were not significantly different between the 2 operative approaches. Intraoperative expenses were 52% greater if laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection was performed and can be explained by the longer operative times and use of disposable instrumentation. However, the postoperative period lasted an average of 1.61 days following laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection. Postoperative nursing and analgesic requirements were significantly more for patients undergoing open pelvic lymph node dissection. The overall postoperative costs following open pelvic lymph node dissection were 280% more expensive than for the laparoscopic procedure. The overall total costs were approximately $1,250 more for laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection. Wages lost or earned during this period and rapid return to normal activity following laparoscopic pelvic lymph node dissection would, in our opinion, justify this additional cost.     

Molecular structure and stereoelectronic properties of sarmazenil--a weak inverse agonist at the omega modulatory sites (benzodiazepine receptors): comparison with bretazenil and flumazenil

X-ray diffraction and ab initio MO theoretical calculations were used in order to investigate the structural and electronic properties of sarmazenil, a weak inverse agonist at the omega modulatory sites (benzodiazepine receptors). This compound was compared to bretazenil, a partial agonist, and to the antagonist flumazenil on the basis of structural and electronic data. The conformational and theoretical properties (interatomic pi overlap populations, molecular electrostatic potential (MEP), the topology of frontier orbitals, and proton affinity) of these three imidazobenzodiazepinones were determined in order to analyse the stereoelectronic properties in relation with their distinct intrinsic efficacies at the omega modulatory sites.     

Central motor conduction evaluation in glycogenosis type III

We report a 20-year-old man affected by glycogenosis type III with distal muscle weakness, more severe in distal leg muscles. The electromyogram showed myopathic features. Nerve conduction studies and central motor conduction after magnetic stimulation of the brain were normal. Our results suggest that there is no involvement of central motor pathways in this disease.