Nucleophile Substitutionen an Kohlensäurederivaten. XIX. Alkoholyse und Hydrolyse des Bis(trichlormethyl)carbonates

Nucleophilic Substitutions at Carbonic Acid Derivatives. XIX. Alcoholysis and Hydrolysis of Bis(trichloromethyl)carbonate The rate constants of hydrolysis and alcoholysis of bis(trichlormethyl)carbonate in xan have been determinated conductometrically. The effects of the water and alcohol concentrations, the temperature and deuterium have been studied. By the hydrolysis and alcoholysis of bis(trichlormethyl)carbonate the nucleophilic attack of water and alcohol is the rate-determining step, followed by a fast elimination of unstable trichloro-methanol.     

An active hybrid parallel robot for minimally invasive surgery

During the last years, there has been an increase in research in the field of medical robots. This trend motivated the development of a new robotics field called “robotic-assisted minimally invasive surgery”. The paper presents the kinematic and dynamic behavior of a parallel hybrid surgical robot PARASURG-9M. The robot consists of two subsystems: a surgical robotic arm, PARASURG 5M with five motors, and an active robotized surgical instrument PARASIM with four motors. The methodology for the robot kinematics is presented and the algorithm for robot workspace generation is described. PARASURG-9M inverse dynamic simulation is performed using MSC Adams and finally some numerical and simulation results of the developed experimental model with its system control are also described.     

Dependability evaluation of an air traffic control computing system

As air traffic over France is growing rapidly, the existing air traffic control (ATC) system has to evolve to satisfy the increasing demand. The selection of the new automated computing system (denoted CAUTRA) is based, among other things, on dependability evaluation. This paper is devoted to the dependability evaluation of the CAUTRA, however, emphasis is put on a subset: the regional control center (RCC). Starting from the analysis of the impact of CAUTRA failures on air traffic safety, five levels of service degradation are defined for the global system grading the effects of these failures on the service delivered to the controllers to ensure traffic safety. The RCC failure modes leading to these degradation levels are then defined and evaluated using stochastic Petri nets. The modeling approach consists in modeling the system as a set of modules interconnected via coupling mechanisms. The system model is constructed in several steps according to an incremental approach. Each step integrates the failure and recovery assumptions of an additional component and updates the model of the previous step by accounting for the impact of the new component on the behavior of those already included in the model. The application of this approach to the CAUTRA allowed us to analyze several configurations of the CAUTRA architecture and to identify improvement areas to minimize the impact of CAUTRA failures on air traffic safety.     

Photosensitive micelles based on polysiloxanes containing azobenzene moieties

Photosensitive micelles based on amphiphilic azo-polysiloxanes were obtained and characterized. The amphiphilic polymers were synthesized in a two-step reaction, starting from a polysiloxane containing chlorobenzyl groups in the side chain. In the first step, the polysiloxane was modified with azo-aromatic groups (35–45% substitution degree) and in the second step the unreacted chlorobenzyl groups were quaternized, using different tertiary amines. The structure of the polysiloxanes and their aggregation/disaggregation capacity were evaluated by 1H-NMR, DSC, fluorescence and UV–VIS spectroscopy, dynamic light scattering and transmission electron microscopy. All the amphiphilic polysiloxanes are capable of generating micelles, the critical concentration of the aggregation values being situated in the range 10⁻³–10⁻² g/L. As a function of the ternary amine structure used in the quarterisation reaction, the micellar aggregation process is different, individual micelles or micellar clusters being obtained. The clusters' dimension cannot be controlled, the polydispersity index having high values. The disaggregation processes of the micelles under UV irradiation reveal that the polymer chemical structure influences the aggregates stability. A total micelles disaggregation was obtained for the polysiloxane modified with azophenol and amine containing a long hydrocarbon segment. In the other cases, only a partially disaggregation process takes place.     

Magnetic and dielectric properties of Co–Zn ferrite

Nanocrystalline powders of Co substituted Zn ferrite with the chemical formula Co_xZn_1−xFe₂O₄ (x = 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8, 1) were synthesized by sol–gel autocombustion method using tartaric acid as fuel agent. The samples were sintered in static air atmosphere for 7 h at 773 K, 7 h at 973 K and 10 h at 1173 K. The organic phase extinction and the spinel phase formation were monitored by means of Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The X-ray diffraction patterns analysis confirmed the spinel single phase accomplishment. Crystallite size, average grains size, lattice parameter and cation distribution were estimated. Magnetic behavior of the as-obtained samples by means of M-H hysteresis measurements was studied at room temperature. Permeability and dielectric permittivity at room temperature versus frequency was the subject of a comparative study for the Co_xZn_1−xFe₂O₄ series. In agreement with the proposed cation distribution the sample with Co_0.8Zn_0.2Fe₂O₄ formula exhibits the optimal magnetic and dielectric properties.     

Effects of the Lipid Profile,Type 2 Diabetes and Medication on the Metabolic Syndrome—Associated Gut Microbiome

Metabolic syndrome (MetSyn) is a major health problem affecting approximately 25% of the worldwide population. Since the gut microbiota is highly connected to the host metabolism, several recent studies have emerged to characterize the role of the microbiome in MetSyn development and progression. To this end, our study aimed to identify the microbiome patterns which distinguish MetSyn from type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). We performed 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing on a cohort of 70 individuals among which 40 were MetSyn patients. The microbiome of MetSyn patients was characterised by reduced diversity, loss of butyrate producers (Subdoligranulum, Butyricicoccus, Faecalibacterium prausnitzii) and enrichment in the relative abundance of fungal populations. We also show a link between the gut microbiome and lipid metabolism in MetSyn. Specifically, low-density lipoproteins (LDL) and high-density lipoproteins (HDL) display a positive effect on gut microbial diversity. When interrogating the signature of gut microbiota in a subgroup of patients harbouring both MetSyn and T2DM conditions, we observed a significant increase in taxa such as Bacteroides, Clostridiales, and Erysipelotrichaceae. This preliminary study shows for the first time that T2DM brings unique signatures of gut microbiota in MetSyn patients. We also highlight the impact of metformin treatment on the gut microbiota. Metformin administration was linked to changes in Prevotellaceae, Rickenellaceae, and Clostridiales. Further research focusing on the microbiome-metabolome patterns is needed to clarify the exact association of various gut microbial communities with the progression of T2DM and the occurrence of various complications in MetSyn patients.     

Emissions of a diesel engine using B20 and effects of hydrogen addition

The blended biodiesel with up to 20% biodiesel in petroleum diesel (B20) is considered nowadays as available in production. Previous studies investigating the effect of B20 on engine emissions led to some contradictory results. The present study continued the investigation on B20, 20% biodiesel (rapeseed methyl esters) blend effects and was also extended on B20 enriched with hydrogen. It was conducted on a conventional tractor diesel engine running alternatively with B20 and petroleum diesel at various speeds and full load and then, with the same fuels enriched with hydrogen, at 60% load and two speeds.     

The study of the vapor-liquid interfacial polycondensation of the cyclohexylphosphonic dichloride with bisphenol AThe influence of temperature, reaction time, base concentration and molar ratio on yield, inherent viscosity and molecular weight

Summary Polyphosphonate esters of molecular weights ∼ 10⁴ were synthesized by base promoted liquid-vapor polycondensation of cyclohexylphosphonic dichloride with bisphenol A. The effect of temperature, reaction time, base concentration and molar ratio of reagents on yield, inherent viscosity and molecular weight of the obtained polymer was studied. A second order, central composite, rotatable experimental design was used to find domain experimental field for optimal yields and high inherent viscosities. Received: 4 August 2000/Revised version: 14 February 2001/Accepted: 5 March 2001     

Prediction of Total Antioxidant Capacity of Fruit Juices Using FTIR Spectroscopy and PLS Regression

The total antioxidant capacity (TAC) of 23 fruit juice samples was determined using the TEAC assay, and also, it was predicted by FTIR–PLS, the plot of measured and predicted values showing a good correlation (R = 0.97). Thus, FTIR spectroscopy is a promissory technique for rapid screening of TAC of fruit juices.     

ITO thin films deposited by advanced pulsed laser deposition

Indium tin oxide thin films were deposited by computer assisted advanced PLD method in order to obtain transparent, conductive and homogeneous films on a large area. The films were deposited on glass substrates. We studied the influence of the temperature (room temperature (RT)-180 °C), pressure (1-6 × 10^− 2 Torr), laser fluence (1-4 J/cm²) and wavelength (266-355 nm) on the film properties. The deposition rate, roughness, film structure, optical transmission, electrical conductivity measurements were done. We deposited uniform ITO thin films (thickness 100-600 nm, roughness 5-10 nm) between RT and 180 °C on a large area (5 × 5 cm²). The films have electrical resistivity of 8 × 10^− 4 Ω cm at RT, 5 × 10^− 4 Ω cm at 180 °C and an optical transmission in the visible range, around 89%.