The microwave-assisted synthesis and structural characterization of novel,dithia-bridged polymeric phthalocyanines containing a substituted thiophenylamine Schiff base

Novel polymeric metal-free and metallo(Cu(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Zn(II) and Pb(II))–phthalocyanine complexes were synthesized using microwave irradiation and the products were purified by several (crystallization and preparative thin layer) techniques. The newly prepared compounds were characterized by a combination of elemental analyses, IR, ¹H/¹³C NMR, ¹H–¹H COSY, MS and UV–Vis spectroscopy. In order to better understand the spectroscopy data (especially for ¹H/¹³C NMR and ¹H–¹H COSY techniques), computational calculations were used for characterization at DFT/6-31G(d) level. The electronic spectra exhibited an intense π → π* transition with characteristic Q and B bands of the phthalocyanine core.     

A new method based on the dispersion of weights in data envelopment analysis

One of the drawbacks of the data envelopment analysis (DEA) is the problem of lack of discrimination among efficient decision making units (DMUs) and hence yielding many numbers of DMUs as efficient. The main purpose of this study is to overcome this inability. In the case in which the minimization of the coefficient of variation (CV) for input–output weights is added to the DEA model, more reasonable and more homogeneous input–output weights are obtained. For this new proposed model based on the CV it is observed that the number of efficient DMUs is reduced, improving the discrimination power. When this new approach is applied to two well-known examples in the literature, and a real-world data of OECD countries, it has been seen that the new model yielded a more balanced dispersion of input–output weights and reduced the number of efficient DMUs. In addition, the applicability of the new model is tested by a simulation study.     

Supercritical CO2 extraction of accumulated capsidiol from biotic elicitor‐activated Capsicum annuum L fruit tissues

This work investigates the supercritical CO₂ extraction of capsidiol from pepper fruit tissues activated with Alternaria alternate (Fr) Keissler suspension culture as a biotic elicitor. Capsidiol production in the fruit tissue was markedly increased by the treatment with a biotic elicitor and reached its maximum level after 4 days of elicitation. The effects of separation parameters such as temperature, pressure, supercritical solvent flow rate, particle diameter and also initial capsidiol concentration were investigated on solubility, initial extraction rate and extraction yield. The optimal extraction conditions were obtained at the temperature of 40 °C, the pressure of 400 bar, the supercritical CO₂ flow rate of 2 cm³ min^?1, and the average particle diameter of 116 µm. The results showed that the ratio of the supercritical CO₂ extraction yield to the organic solvent extraction yield was changed from 84 to 97 wt‐% depending on the initial capsidiol concentration. Copyright © 2004 Society of Chemical Industry     

Normal forms and nonlocal chaotic behavior in Sprott systems

The Sprott systems are used as benchmarks for investigating the applicability of the normal form transformation in estimating nonlocal properties of attractors such as positive and zero Liapunov exponents. Possibility of a relation between complex conjugate eigenvalue pairs and zero Liapunov exponents; conditions under which the normal form expansion can represent the attractor; an averaging relation for the largest Liapunov exponent based on this representation are studied. Nonlinear transformations that can change the order of a resonance are considered. In spite of their convergence problems, it is seen that the normal form approach can give reasonable estimates of nonlocal properties of attractors near Hopf bifurcations.     

Correction of anaemia in haemodialysis patients with recombinant human erythropoietin

The binding and degradation of radiolabelled immune complexes by cultured rat glomerular mesangial cells were measured and compared with the binding and degradation by thioglycollate-elicited rat peritoneal macrophages. Mesangial cells are generally considered to be a modified pericyte with smooth muscle-like properties, but they were able to bind and degrade soluble immune complexes at rates comparable to those of the macrophages. In a second study, the ability of cultured mesangial cells to bind and degrade immune complexes of varying molecular weight was assessed. Very large, insoluble complexes were found to bind to mesangial cells more avidly than small soluble complexes, but unlike the small complexes, the large complexes did not appear to undergo degradation. These findings support a role for the intrinsic mesangial cell in the elimination of small soluble immune complexes as they arrive in the glomerulus. They also provide a possible explanation for the paradox that large immune complexes--i.e., electron-dense deposits--can persist in the mesangium next to the intrinsic mesangial cells without being rapidly destroyed.     

Crack growth kinetics of 7050-T73651 aluminium alloy under constant load at 150°C

Crack growth tests at 150°C under constant load conditions were performed on compact tension specimens of 7050-T73651 aluminium alloy. The d.c. potential drop method was employed to monitor crack lengths throughout the tests. Fracture mechanics parameters such as the stress intensity factor (K) and energy-rate line integral (C ^*) were used to establish correlation with the crack propagation rates. As a result of experiments it was found that crack growth rates (da/dt) versus K, over discrete ranges of rates, can be described as a power-law equation in the form da/dt = AK ⁿ. The parameter C ^* appears to correlate well with the crack propagation rates through a single power law over a wide range of rates.     

Language Change Quantification Using Time-separated Parallel Translations

We introduce a systematic approach to language change quantificationby studying unconsciously used language features in time-separatedparallel translations. For this purpose, we use objective stylemarkers such as vocabulary richness and lengths of words, wordstems and suffixes, and employ statistical methods to measuretheir changes over time. In this study, we focus on the changein Turkish in the second half of the twentieth century. To obtainword stems, we first introduce various stemming techniques andshow that they are highly effective. Our statistical analysesshow that over time, for both text and lexicon, the length ofTurkish words has become significantly longer, and word stemshave become significantly shorter. We also show that suffixlengths have become significantly longer for types and the vocabularyrichness based on word stems has shrunk significantly. Theseobservations indicate that in contemporary Turkish one woulduse more suffixes to compensate for the fewer stems to preservethe expressive power of the language at the same level. Ourapproach can be adapted for quantifying the change in otherlanguages.     

Cross-language transfer of phonological awareness.

Investigated the factors influencing the English word identification performance of Spanish-speaking beginning readers. Beginning readers were administered tests of letter naming, Spanish phonological awareness, Spanish and English word recognition, and Spanish and English oral proficiency. Multiple-regression analyses revealed that the readers' performance on English word and pseudoword recognition tests was predicted by the levels of both Spanish phonological awareness and Spanish word recognition, thus indicating cross-language transfer. In contrast, neither English nor Spanish oral proficiency affected word-identification performance. Results suggest a specific way in which 1st-language learning and experience can aid children in the beginning stages of reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Chronic nonspecific endometritis

To assess the proliferative activity of glands and stroma in nonspecific chronic endometritis (NCE), we evaluated the plasma and morphologic features. We examined 25 endometrial sections that were coded as inactive for the morphologic features of NCE other than plasma cells and 25 proliferative endometria (PE) as controls. Furthermore, the sections were stained with methyl green pyronin (MGP) to demonstrate plasma cells and proliferative cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) for proliferative activity. The number of plasma cells and the grade of proliferative activity were determined by a semiquantitative scale. The results were compared by using the Mann-Whitney-U-test. Of the 25 inactive endometria cases, 11 were NCE and 14 were either early proliferative endometria (seven cases), lower uterine segments (five cases), or under hormone effect (two cases). The number of plasma cells in NCE was significantly higher than in PE. However, there were cases of NCE without plasma cells and cases of PE containing plasma cells. Proliferative activity was significantly lower in NCE cases than in the PE group (p < 0.05). The diagnosis of NCE should rely more on morphologic abnormalities than on plasma cell criteria. Identification of plasma cells may be useful for diagnosis.