Aluminium exchanged Indian clay as an efficient reusable green catalyst for synthesis of 2, 3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one derivatives

Aluminium exchanged Indian clay (Al³⁺-ExIC) catalyzed synthesis of 2, 3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one derivatives in good to excellent yields has been reported. The catalyst has been characterized for its physico-chemical properties. Effects of solvent, molar ratio, amount of catalyst and reaction time on the yield of 2-phenyl-2, 3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one and recyclability of the catalyst have been investigated. Various 2, 3-dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-one derivatives have been obtained in good to excellent yields.     

Architecture Considerations for Multi-Format Programmable Video Processors

Many different video processor architectures exist. Its architecture gives a processor strength for a particular application. Hardwired logic yields the best performance/cost, but a programmable processor is important for applications that support multiple coding standards, proprietary functions, or future changes to application requirements. Programmable video processor architectures achieve best performance through the use of parallelism at the data (SIMD), instruction (VLIW), and multiprocessor level, and optimally sized ALU, multiplier, and load/store datapaths. Because low-cost memory architectures are not optimized for the random access patterns of video processing, the performance of video processors is often limited by memory bandwidth rather than processing resources. Careful data organization alleviates memory bandwidth limitations. When choosing a video processor it is important to consider many factors, particularly performance, cost, power consumption, programmability, and peripheral support.

Differentiation of group I and group II strains of Clostridium botulinum by focal plane array Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy

A method was developed for whole-organism fingerprinting of Clostridium botulinum isolates by focal plane array Fourier transform infrared (FPA-FTIR) spectroscopy. A database of 150,000 infrared spectra of 44 strains of C. botulinum was acquired using a FPA-FTIR imaging spectrometer equipped with a 16 x 16 array detector to evaluate the ability of FTIR spectroscopy to differentiate the 44 strains. The database contained strains from C. botulinum groups I and II producing botulinum neurotoxin of serotypes A, B, E, and F. All strains were grown on each of three agar media (brain heart infusion, McClung Toabe agar base, and universal) prior to spectral acquisition. Given the dependence of the infrared spectra of microorganisms on the composition of the growth medium, the spectra were initially separated into three subsets corresponding to the three growth media employed. However, the replicate spectra of all strains, regardless of growth medium, were properly clustered by hierarchical cluster analysis based on differences in their infrared spectral profiles in three narrow spectral regions (1,428 to 1,412, 1,296 to 1,284, and 1,112 to 1,100 cm(-1)). The dendrogram generated from the FTIR data revealed complete separation between group I and group II strains. The spectral differences between group I and group II strains allowed accurate classification of C. botulinum strains at the group level in two blind validation studies (n = 40). These results demonstrate that FPA-FTIR spectroscopy has the potential for rapid discrimination of group I and group II C. botulinum strains in less than 3 min per sample.     

Simultaneous excitation of propagating and localized surface plasmon resonance in nanoporous gold membranes

Materials multifunctionality for optical sensing of adsorbates has obvious advantages-in addition to the potential for greater sensitivity, the different length scales associated with a variety of optical phenomena allow a greater variety of adsorption characteristics to be examined. Here, we show that ultrathin (approximately 100 nm) nanoporous gold membranes possess features of both planar metal films that exhibit propagating SPR excitations and nanofeatured metals that exhibit localized SPR excitations. This is the first report of such multifunctionality in an optically active metal. We give illustrative examples of using this material to probe biorecognition reactions and to probe the structure evolution of a layer-by-layer deposition of charged dendrimers. Our results are consistent with the very different lengths of the tail of the evanescent field decays associated with each of these plasmon excitation modes.     

Energy Variability and Produced Water: Two Challenges, One Synergistic Management Approach Using Pumped Hydroelectric Energy Storage

A number of compounding issues currently encourage a different management strategy of produced water from oil, gas, and coal bed methane. Environmental and economic constraints make it desirable to deploy water and energy resources efficiently and effectively to meet the demands of our populace while maintaining and supporting environmental resources. The following paper will outline one strategy to put some of the onshore produced water to beneficial uses. In this approach, the produced water is first cleaned and then used to supply water for pumped hydroelectric energy storage (PHS) to deploy electric energy on demand, and finally release that water back to the watershed or appropriate application. The primary purpose of this work is to suggest that produced water and PHS may complement each other. Additionally, it is suggested that revenue from energy storage can help provide for the cost of treatment of produced water. Once treated produced water could be put to additional uses with the potential to also bring in revenue.     

INTERPOLATION BETWEEN TWO EXCESS GIBBS FREE ENERGY-COMPOSITION ISOTHERMS

It is shown in this paper how to interpolate a required excess Gibbs free energy-composition isotherm between two such given isotherms.

Efectively, our procedure employs semi-empirical equations for the excess Gibbs free energy, whose adjustable parameters can be identified with infinite dilution properties, and still be made to give close fits, to experimental data. Prediction of these infinite dilution properties is achieved through the use of a linear correlation between them and certain pure component properties. Thus in addition to the two given isotherms, the input into our theory consists of the Antoine vapor pressure constants, critical constants and acentric factors for the pure components.

Our theory has been tested against experimental data for four binary systems ranging from moderately non-ideal to highly non-ideal; the agreement is very good.

The successful execution of the present program highlights the possibility of predicting (g^E-x) isotherms, given limiting activity coefficients (determined chromatographically or otherwise), and a single data point for the equi-molar mixture.     

The effects of introducing or lowering legal per se blood alcohol limits for driving: an international review

In this review evidence on the impact of introducing or lowering legal blood alcohol limits on traffic safety measures is examined. There is substantial variability in the types and rigour of methods used to evaluate these legislative measures, and thus not surprisingly there is variability in the results observed. In most but not all cases where an evaluation of an introduced or lowered legal limit has been conducted, some beneficial effect on traffic safety measures has been reported. These effects are in some cases relatively small, and in other cases may be temporary. In some jurisdictions, lasting reductions in collision rates have been reported. Available evidence suggests that where beneficial effects are observed they are due to general deterrence, and not restricted only to drivers at blood alcohol concentrations (BAC) specifically affected by the legal change.     

Comparison of nonrespondents and respondents in a roadside survey of driver impairment

Drivers refusing to provide a breath sample (N = 483) in a roadside survey were compared with drivers agreeing to provide a sample (N = 9745) on a number of survey variables to determine whether the former were more likely to be impaired by alcohol than the latter. Significant differences in nonresponse rate as a function of time of interview, age, sex and seat belt use were observed. With the exception of sex, these differences suggested that the nonrespondents were more likely to be impaired than the respondents. The assumption of equivalent BAC distributions for respondents and nonrespondents was not supported by the present results. Methods for estimating the BAC's of nonrespondents are discussed.