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Sample records for conducted studies surtos

  1. Surto epidêmico de sarampo na Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro, Brasil

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    Nelson A. Araújo Filho

    1980-12-01

    Full Text Available Os autores descrevem durante os meses de março e abril de 1976, a ocorrência de um surto de sarampo com 50 casos, em um povoado da Ilha Grande, Rio de Janeiro, situado a 17 km de distância do continente. A incidência sobre a população residente na área de 453 pessoas foi de 11,03%; na faixa entre um a 15 anos não ocorreram diferenças estatisticamentes significativas entre as taxas de incidência; nenhum caso acometeu menores de um ano, e três casos ocorreram em maiores de 15 anos; os autores acreditam que há muitos anos não ocorria sarampo na área, e que provavelmente daqui a cinco ou sete haverá novo surto; concluem também que apenas a imunização dos estudantes será suficiente para prevenir outros membros da comunidade de adquirirem sarampo, visto serem os estudantes responsáveis pela disseminação do surto através da escola primária da área.

  2. Surtos por Stomoxys calcitrans em gado de corte no Mato Grosso do Sul

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    Antonio Thadeu M Barros

    2010-11-01

    Full Text Available A expansão da indústria sucroalcooleira tem levado à instalação de usinas de álcool em áreas tradicionalmente ocupadas pela pecuária de corte na região Centro-Oeste do País. Surtos pela mosca-dos-estábulos (Stomoxys calcitrans em bovinos Nelore têm sido relatados nos últimos dois anos em Mato Grosso do Sul, associados a estas usinas. Visitas em propriedades pecuárias e usinas foram realizadas em meados de novembro 2009, ao final de surtos por S. calcitrans ocorridos nos municípios de Angélica e Ponta Porã, MS. Entrevistas, observações e coletas de imaturos de dípteros foram realizadas nos locais e o material entomológico coletado foi levado ao laboratório para posterior emergência. Elevadas infestações pela mosca-dos-estábulos e comportamento de agrupamento dos bovinos foram observados. Sítios de reprodução foram encontrados nos locais e a emergência de S. calcitrans foi constatada nas amostras coletadas tanto nas fazendas como nas usinas. O conjunto de informações, observações in loco e resultados das amostragens possibilitaram realizar uma abordagem epidemiológica preliminar sobre a dinâmica dos referidos surtos por S. calcitrans e discutir potenciais fatores de risco.

  3. Surto de peste bubônica na localidade de Jacocha, Huancabamba, Perú

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    Dávalos Victor Alva

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available As alterações climáticas produzidas no norte do Perú devidas ao Fenômeno El Niño (ENSO, ocasionaram variações no volume das safras, redistribuição do curso dos rios e provavelmente aumento da população de roedores. Em fevereiro de 1999, em uma comunidade indígena em Jacocha, Huancabamba, na serra de Piura, Perú, surgiu um surto de peste com cinco casos humanos, um dos quais faleceu. O diagnóstico foi confirmado pela sorologia (hemaglutinação passiva. A presença de anticorpos em cães de localidades próximas de Jacocha confirmaram a circulação da Yersinia pestis na área. O surto foi debelado pela rápida atuação das autoridades sanitárias locais. O episódio após silêncio epidemiológico por mais de quatro anos, mostrou a necessidade de reforçar o sistema de vigilância epidemiológica de peste nesta área.

  4. Estudo sobre a ocorrência de surtos alimentares em uma região do Vale do Jequitinhonha, Minas Gerais | Study on the occurrence of food outbreaks in a region of the Jequitinhonha Valley, Minas Gerais

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    Júnia Mariana Rodrigues dos Santos

    2017-08-01

    Full Text Available Introdução: A ocorrência de Doenças de Transmissão Hídrica e Alimentar é uma preocupação mundial na Saúde Pública. Objetivo: O objetivo deste trabalho foi caracterizar a ocorrência dos surtos alimentares em uma região do Vale do Jequitinhonha em Minas Gerais, entre os anos de 2008 a 2014, antes e após a intervenção do PET-Saúde/Vigilância em Saúde. Método: Os dados foram retirados de relatórios impressos e de fichas de notificações disponíveis nos sistemas de informação. Resultados: Foram investigados 76 surtos, destes, apenas 34,1% notificados oportunamente. As ações realizadas pela equipe PET-Saúde/Vigilância em Saúde entre 2010 e 2012 impactaram, positivamente, no aumento do número de notificações de surtos alimentares. A maioria destes surtos ocorreu em residências (47,4%, atingiu indivíduos adultos (30,4% e apresentou como manifestações clínicas: diarreia (29,5%, vômitos (23,5% e dores abdominais (16,3%. Na análise das notificações, 81,6% não apresentavam o fator causal e apenas 31,0% informaram o agente etiológico. Conclusões: A intervenção do PET-Saúde/Vigilância em Saúde representou um fator importante no fortalecimento da vigilância de surtos alimentares na região do Vale do Jequitinhonha estudada, contudo persistem dificuldades relacionadas a notificação tardia, a presença de falhas e de lacunas no registro dos dados e o baixo número de coletas clínicas e bromatológicas. ======================================== Introduction: The occurrence of water and food transmission diseases is a worldwide concern in Public Health. Objective: The objective of this study was to characterize the occurrence of food outbreaks in a region of the Jequitinhonha Valley in the State of Minas Gerais between 2008 and 2014, before and after the intervention of the PET-Health/Surveillance in Health. Method: Data were taken from printed reports and information sheets available in information systems

  5. Surto de doença transmitida por alimento em evento de massa de populações indígenas em Cuiabá, Mato Grosso, Brasil, no ano de 2013

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    Daniele Monteiro Nunes

    Full Text Available Resumo OBJETIVO: relatar a experiência da investigação do surto de doença diarreica aguda (DDA ocorrido nos XII Jogos dos Povos Indígenas, no município de Cuiabá, estado de Mato Grosso, Brasil, em 2013. MÉTODOS: foram coletados dados das fichas de atendimento dos casos de DDA, definidos como 'indivíduo participante dos Jogos, referindo episódio de diarreia e/ou vômito' no Posto Médico Avançado; foram calculadas a taxa de ataque de DDA, frequências relativas e medidas de tendência central das variáveis sociodemográficas e clínicas, das inspeções sanitárias e dos resultados de amostras bromatológicas. RESULTADOS: houve 384 (37% casos que atenderam a definição de DDA; os picos epidêmicos do surto corresponderam ao quarto e sétimo dias do evento, e a taxa de ataque da doença foi de 33,5%; a inspeção sanitária mostrou indícios de contaminação alimentar por Staphyloccocus coagulase-negativa, Bacillus cereus e coliformes termotolerantes. CONCLUSÃO: houve surto de DDA causado por contaminação alimentar.

  6. Surto de malária induzida entre usuários de drogas injetáveis Outbreak of malaria among injectable-drug users

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    Luiz Carlos Barradas Barata

    1993-02-01

    Full Text Available Em julho de 1990, foi registrado na cidade de Bauru, Estado de São Paulo, Brasil, um surto de malária envolvendo usuários de cocaína injetável. Uma ampla investigação epidemiológica, conduzida de 19 de julho a 13 de setembro, revelou que pelo menos 119 pessoas estavam envolvidas no surto, uma vez que haviam compartilhado seringas e agulhas com um ou mais casos confirmados nos 3 meses anteriores à ocorrência. Cento e duas dessas pessoas foram localizadas e entrevistadas, e destas, 99 foram submetidas a exame de gota espessa e 91 a exames sorológicos para malária. Foram confirmados por exame hemoscópico 21 casos de malária por P. vivax, e 3 outros tiveram exame sorológico positivo para P. vivax. O controle da transmissão foi obtido fornecendo-se cloroquina aos envolvidos no surto, numa dose inicial de 10 comprimidos, seguida de doses supressivas semanais de 2 comprimidos até que fosse identificado o último comunicante. Amostras de soro coletadas na ocasião revelaram, ao lado da malária, uma alta prevalência de infecções pelo HIV (58% e pelo vírus da hepatite B (40%. Foram discutidas as dificuldades para o controle do surto e a possibilidade da malária vir a se tornar uma doença endêmica entre usuários de drogas injetáveis, no Estado de São Paulo.Five cases of malaria were detected among cocaine users by the local health service in Bauru, a city with a population of 260,000, located 324 km from S. Paulo, Brazil, during the first three weeks of July 1990. Autochthonous malaria had not occurred in Bauru since 1978, and all the five cases denied having recently traveled to endemic areas. An extensive epidemiologic survey conducted from July 19 to September 13 revealed that the 5 cases were in fact part of a malaria outbreak among endovenous drug users. Moreover, at least 114 other people, who had in the last three months shared syringes and needles with one or more proved cases, were also involved in the outbreak. One

  7. Surto de intoxicação por sal em ovinos no estado do Pará

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    Marcos D. Duarte

    2014-11-01

    Full Text Available O presente trabalho relata um surto de intoxicação por sal em ovinos no Brasil, em uma propriedade no estado do Pará. De um total de 545 ovinos, oito animais adoeceram (1,46% e quatro destes morreram (50%. A avaliação das instalações e do manejo indicaram como fatores predisponentes a ingestão excessiva de mistura mineral e a restrição hídrica. Os principais sinais clínicos foram decúbito, diminuição ou ausência da sensibilidade cutânea, ausência dos reflexos de ameaça, palpebral e auricular, midríase, nistagmo, opistótono, espasticidade de membros, sonolência e estupor. Havia ainda, timpanismo, diarreia, taquipneia, taquicardia, desidratação e poliúria. A evolução do quadro clínico nos animais que morreram variou de duas horas e meia a 48 horas. As médias das concentrações séricas de sódio e de potássio de 31 ovinos do mesmo lote afetado pela intoxicação, em amostras colhidas durante o surto, revelaram hipernatremia (190mEq/l e hipercalemia (8,2mEq/l. À necropsia, observou-se em um animal, achatamento das circunvoluções cerebrais. Microscopicamente, neste animal, evidenciou-se vacuolização moderada do neurópilo, particularmente nas lâminas intermediárias do córtex cerebral, com aumento dos espaços perineural e perivascular. Nessas áreas foram observados ainda, acentuada tumefação e edema dos astrócitos e necrose neuronal aguda. A dosagem de sódio no encéfalo de um ovino, revelou-se elevada com valor de 3.513ppm. O diagnóstico foi realizado com base na epidemiologia, nos sinais clínicos, nas lesões macro e microscópicas e nas dosagens de sódio no soro e no encéfalo dos ovinos.

  8. Tétano em bovinos no sul do Rio Grande do Sul: estudo de 24 surtos

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    Pedro S. Quevedo

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available São descritos vinte e quatro surtos de tétano ocorridos no ano 2009 em bovinos de corte em propriedades situadas na região de influência do Laboratório Regional de Diagnóstico (LRD, sul do Rio Grande de Sul. Todos os rebanhos foram submetidos a procedimentos de vacinação e/ou aplicação de anti-helmíntico entre 8 e 25 dias antes do aparecimento dos primeiros sinais clínicos. O tempo de evolução variou de 12 horas até quatro dias. Os sinais clínicos observados foram: prolapso da terceira pálpebra, andar rígido, dificuldade de flexão dos membros e permanência em decúbito lateral com os membros estendidos e afastados do solo (paralisia espástica, pálpebras muito abertas, sialorréia, hiperexcitabilidade, orelhas eretas, trismo mandibular, acúmulo de alimento na cavidade oral e presença de espuma na boca e narinas em alguns casos. Alguns bovinos apresentavam área de necrose e edema hemorrágico circundada por exsudato purulento nos músculos onde havia sido aplicado algum medicamento. O soro sanguíneo e fragmentos de músculo com lesão de animais afetados foram coletados para posterior inoculação em camundongos. No exame histopatológico não foram evidenciadas alterações. O quadro clínico associado aos dados epidemiológicos e a ausência de lesões histológicas permitiram o diagnóstico de tétano. A infecção, provavelmente ocorreu durante o procedimento de vacinação, através injeções intramusculares utilizando agulhas contaminadas. Apesar do tétano não ser uma clostridiose importante na região fica evidenciado que surtos podem ocorrer em função de condições epidemiológicas adequadas e cuidados devem ser tomados para evitar perdas econômicas importantes como as que ocorreram no ano 2009 na região.

  9. Surges in low voltage distribution networks: some of conducted studies; Surtos em redes de baixa tensao: alguns estudos realizados

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1996-04-01

    This article presents an experience conducted by the Brazilian CELESC - Centrais Electricas de Santa Catarina, by installing two low voltage Si C lightning rods, one near of a batch of distribution transformers, and the other in the protection and measurement cabinet. That installation considered the high number of damages in transformers and meters in a region where 118 days of storm are detected. For the study, two regions presented similar climate characteristics and high number of damaged equipment. The low voltage lightning rods were installed only in one of the regions.

  10. Pseudo-outbreak of Clostridium difficile associated diarrhea (CDAD in a tertiary-care hospital Pseudo-surto de diarréia associada a Clostridium difficile (DACD em hospital terciário

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    M. Beatriz Souza Dias

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available The objective of this study was to describe a pseudo-outbreak of C. difficile in a hospital, following a change in the method used to detect the toxin. In February 2002, there were two cases of CDAD and in March 7 occurred, coinciding with a change of the test (from detection of toxin A to toxin A/B. An outbreak was suspected. Active surveillance and education of staff were started. A CDAD case was defined as a patient with acute onset of diarrhea (³ three episodes of liquid stools and a positive stool test. They were classified as hospital or community-acquired. Stool samples were also collected for C. difficile culture and isolates were typed using AP-PCR. From March 2002 through December 2003 there were 138 cases of CDAD: 70% were hospital-acquired and among the 30% with CDAD present on admission, most (81% came directly from the community (50% had no history of hospitalization. Fifty-two percent of hospital-acquired CDAD and 94% of cases on admission had already used antibiotics. The incidence of CDAD in hospitalized patients during surveillance was 3.3 per 1000 patient-admissions. The incidence of CDAD present on admission was 6.1/1000 patients. Sixteen isolates were typed and presented 13 different profiles. In conclusion, the CDAD increase in our study occurred due to change in diagnostic methods and not due to an outbreak, as suspected initially. The incidence in hospitalized patients was much lower than in reported outbreaks. There were 13 molecular types suggesting that an outbreak did not occur. CDAD was largely community-acquired.O objetivo deste estudo foi descrever um pseudo-surto de C. difficile em um hospital após a troca do método de detecção de toxina. Em fevereiro de 2002 houve dois casos de DACD e em março ocorreram sete casos, que coincidiram com a mudança de teste (que detectava apenas toxina A e passou a detectar toxinas A e B. Foi suspeitado que houvesse um surto e vigilância ativa e reforço educacional para os

  11. Outbreaks of rhinofacial and rhinopharyngeal zygomycosis in sheep in Paraíba, northeastern Brazil Surtos de zigomicose rinofacial e rinofaríngea em ovinos na Paraíba

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    Franklin Riet-Correa

    2008-01-01

    . Outbreaks of both forms of mycotic rhinitis are common in northeastern Brazil and in other regions of the country.Dois surtos de lesões rinofaciais e dois de lesões rinofaríngeas causadas por fungos com hifas filamentosas, raramente septadas, semelhantes às dos fungos entomophthorales, são descritos no Estado da Paraíba. Um surto da forma rinofacial afetou 5 ovinos durante a estação chuvosa. Outro surto desta forma clínica afetou um ovino de um grupo de 40, durante a época seca. Os sinais clínicos da forma rinofacial foram de corrimento serosanguinolento bilateral, com aumento de volume das narinas, lábio superior, e pele da face. Na necropsia, a mucosa nasal apresentava áreas ulceradas de cor marrom escuro, que se estendiam desde a região muco-cutánea até 10cm dentro do vestíbulo nasal. A mucosa do palato duro estava, também, ulcerada. A superfície de corte das narinas e palato apresentava-se marrom ou avermelhada de aspecto esponjoso e friável. Um surto de rinofaringite micótica ocorreu em uma plantação de coco irrigado, afetando 7 ovinos de um rebanho de 60 ovinos adultos. Outro surto desta forma da enfermidade afetou um único animal de um rebanho de 80, durante a época seca. Os animais apresentavam dispnéia, com respiração ruidosa devida ao bloqueio parcial das narinas, e corrimento nasal serosanguinolento. Seis dos oito animais afetados por esta forma da enfermidade apresentaram, em um olho, exoftalmia, ceratite e ulceração da córnea. Todos os ovinos morreram ou foram sacrificados após um curso clínico de 7-30 dias. Na necropsia exsudato amarelo consistente foi observado na região etmoidal, ossos turbinados, seios paranasais, palatos duro e mole, órbita, faringe, e músculos e linfonodos regionais. No estudo histológico, ambas as formas da doença mostraram granulomas multifocais com áreas necróticas eosinofílicas (material de Splendore-Hoeppli contendo hifas com 7-30mim de diâmetro, raramente septadas, semelhantes às dos fungos

  12. Study of a cutaneous leishmaniasis outbreak in General Vedia, Province of Chaco, 1996 Surto de leishmaniose cutânea em General Vedia, Provincia de Chaco, 1996

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    O. Daniel SALOMON

    2001-04-01

    Full Text Available Between March and July 1996, a focalized epidemic outbreak of cutaneous leishmaniasis in General Vedia, province of Chaco, associated to the gallery forest of the Oro river was verified. The incidence rate in the area, which was 0-2/000 cases in preceding years, reached 8/000 cases in 1996. The risk of symptomatic infection was similar between sexes, but was different when analizing the different age groups by sex, suggesting a greater relative importance of the peridomestic transmission for the females and of the transmission in the subtropical forest for the males. Specimens of Lutzomyia intermedia, a species already incriminated as a vector of Leishmaniasis in other provinces of northern Argentina, were captured and identified in the focus locality in May 1996. The possible causes of the outbreak related to the climatic variables and the vector abundance are analyzed and the results in the framework of possible preventive and control activities are discussed.Entre março e julho de 1996, foi verificado um surto epidêmico focalizado de leishmaniose cutânea na localidade de Geral Vedia, província de Chaco, associado com a floresta de galeria do rio de Oro. A taxa de incidência na área que era 0-2/000 casos em anos anteriores, alcançou 8/000 casos em 1996. O risco de infecção sintomática era semelhante entre sexos, mas era diferente quando foram analizados os grupos de idade diferentes segundo sexo, sugerindo maior importância relativa da transmissão na área peridoméstica nas mulheres e da transmissão na floresta subtropical nos homens. Espécimes de Lutzomyia intermedia, espécie já incriminada como vetor de Leishmaniose em outras províncias do norte da Argentina, foram capturadas e identificadas na localidade em maio de 1996. São analisadas as possíveis causas do surto relacionadas às variáveis climáticas e a abundância do vetor e os resultados são discutidas na estrutura de possíveis atividades de prevenção e

  13. Ocorrência de Mollicutes e Ureaplasma spp. em surto de doença reprodutiva em rebanho bovino no Estado da Paraíba

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    Sandra B. dos Santos

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Em março de 2012 foi diagnosticado um surto de doença reprodutiva em rebanho bovino no Estado da Paraíba, Brasil. Foram examinadas 32 vacas e dois touros da raça Girolando. As vacas apresentaram sinais de doença reprodutiva como repetição de cio, vulvovaginite granular, infertilidade e abortos. As amostras de suabes vaginais e prepuciais foram colhidas e submetidas a isolamento bacteriano e PCR. As reações da PCR para Mollicutes e Ureaplasma spp. foram realizadas com os iniciadores MGSO-GPO3 e UGP'F-UGP'R, respectivamente. Na Nested PCR para Ureaplasma diversum, os iniciadores usados foram UD1, UD2, UD3 e UD4. Para isolamento bacteriano, as amostras foram diluídas de 10-1 até 10-5, semeadas em meio "UB", líquido e placa, sendo incubadas por até 21 dias a 37ºC em jarra de microaerofilia. A frequência de Mollicutes detectada na PCR foi de 65,6% e para Ureaplasma spp. foi de 50,0%, enquanto que para U. diversum foi de 15,6%. No isolamento a frequência de Mollicutes foi de 57,1% e para Ureaplasma spp. foi de 28,6%. No ágar "UB" foi visualizado o crescimento misto de Mycoplasma spp. e Ureaplasma spp. em seis amostras. Foi confirmado o envolvimento de micro-organismos da Classe Mollicutes em surto de doença reprodutiva em vacas no sertão paraibano.

  14. Aspectos morfológicos de biópsias musculares em equinos com miopatia sob forma de surto

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    Rogério M. Amorim

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available As miopatias em equinos são classificadas de acordo com aspectos clínicos, morfológicos e moleculares, em três grandes grupos: não associadas ao exercício, associadas ao exercício e devido alteração da condução elétrica do sarcolema. Apesar dos avanços no diagnóstico, a literatura ainda relata surtos de miopatia em equinos sem etiologia esclarecida em diversos países. O objetivo desse estudo foi descrever as alterações histológicas e histoquímicas de biópsias musculares de equinos acometidos por miopatia. Sete equinos da raça Quarto de Milha, com 18-24 meses de idade, apresentaram sinais clínicos de miopatia. Dentre esses animais, cinco apresentaram sinais subagudos leves a moderados e dois apresentaram sinais hiperagudos severos e decúbito lateral. Foram realizadas biópsias musculares utilizando a técnica percutânea, por agulha tipo Bergström, no músculo glúteo médio em todos os animais acometidos. As amostras foram processadas por meio de técnicas histológicas (HE, Tricrômio de Gomori modificado e histoquímicas (PAS, NADH, ATPase. Nos quadros clínicos mais leves, a principal alteração encontrada foi a presença de fibras vermelhas rajadas do tipo I e IIA, que estão associadas às alterações do metabolismo oxidativo e das funções mitocondriais, como ocorrem nas miopatias mitocondriais. Também foram observadas fibras atróficas do tipo I e IIA, além da presença de agregados subsarcolemais. Nos quadros mais severos o tecido muscular apresentou infiltrado inflamatório, aumento de colágeno, fagocitose, necrose, calcificação e regeneração muscular. Diante dos achados morfológicos, da resposta à terapia com vitamina E e Se e da baixa mortalidade quando comparado aos relatos de miopatia atípica, conclui-se que esse surto foi desencadeado por lesões mitocondriais, caracterizadas pelas fibras musculares vermelhas rajadas, possivelmente devido uma quebra da homeostase de vitamina E e Se, sendo compat

  15. Surto de malária por Haemoproteus columbae em pombos An outbreak of malaria by Haemoproteus columbae in pigeons

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    J.S. Resende

    2001-06-01

    Full Text Available Relata-se um surto de malária por Haemoproteus columbae em pombos-correio (Columba livia, caracterizado por um quadro agudo com mortalidade de 3% ao dia em aves de aspecto saudável ou crônico com prostração e fraqueza. O exame clínico das aves doentes evidenciou sinusite e conjuntivite e à necropsia traqueíte hemorrágica, aerossaculite, esplenomegalia, nefromegalia e hepatomegalia com hemorragias. O díptero hematófago da família Hippoboscidae Pseudolynchia canariensis foi encontrado inserido entre as penas dos indivíduos. Esfregaços de sangue periférico e cardíaco e impressões de baço e fígado corados por Giemsa permitiram a visualização de inclusões intraeritrocitárias características de Haemoproteus columbae

  16. An outbreak of Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp equisimilis in a hospital in the south of Brazil Surto causado por Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp equisimilis, em um hospital, no Sul do Brasil

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    Rosângela Stadnick Lauth de Almeida Torres

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available The beta-hemolytic group C streptococci (Lancefield's group has been considered an emergent human pathogen, showing an important role as an opportunist agent, being responsible for nosocomial infections and outbreaks. This study is reporting the first outbreak of nosocomial infection caused by Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis in Brazil. From January, 2002, to December, 2004, S. equisimilis was isolated in 67/207 (32.37% samples from secretions of patients' infected wounds, interned at the Hospital of Sanitary Dermatology in the State of Paraná (HDSPR. The prevalence of this microorganism increased from 11/42 (26.19% in 2002, 14/65 (21.54% in 2003 to 42/100 (42.00% in 2004. This increase was statistically significant (p=0.024, and this microorganism became the most frequently isolated in these patients, overtaking the rates of isolation of Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The S. equisimilis grew in pure culture, as a unique microorganism, in six samples (2.9% out of 207. Fresh feces of 15 animals (horses and sheep living in the proximities of the hospital were also examined and three of them positive for S. equisimilis. The biochemical profile of the strains isolated from the patients and from the animals was the same. These animals might have been the source of the dissemination of the outbreak in the hospital. New studies will be necessary to confirm the genetic relationship between the strains isolated from patients and animals.O estreptococo beta-hemolítico do grupo C de Lancefield tem sido considerado patógeno humano emergente, mostrando importante papel como agente oportunista, implicado algumas vezes em infecções hospitalares e surtos. Este estudo está relatando o primeiro surto de infecção hospitalar causado pelos Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis no Brasil. De janeiro de 2002 a dezembro de 2004, isolou-se S. equisimilis em 67/207 (32,37% das amostras de secreções de lesões de feridas coletadas de pacientes

  17. Detecção de Salmonella spp. em alimentos e manipuladores envolvidos em um surto de infecção alimentar.

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    L. D. S. Teixeira

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available RESUMO: O estudo relata a ocorrência de um surto de infecção alimentar veiculado por uma refeição preparada e servida a funcionários de um hospital em Salvador- Ba, em outubro de 1997. Nesta refeição foram servidos: carne de sol, bolinho de peixe, arroz, feijão, aipim “sauté”, melancia e suco de maracujá. Foi realizado inquérito epidemiológico com a participação de 53 pessoas, sendo que destas, 47 apresentaram um quadro severo da doença. O período médio de incubação foi de 26 horas. As pesquisas laboratoriais para a identificação dos possíveis alimentos e microrganismos envolvidos no episódio e os resultados das análises revelaram a presença de Salmonella spp. nas amostras de feijão e aipim “sauté”. Através de coproculturas realizadas com amostras dos manipuladores, foi verificada a presença de microrganismos do gênero Salmonella, sendo quatro de Salmonella typhi, cinco S. enteritidis e uma de Salmonella spp. A análise do inquérito epidemiológico associado às pesquisas laboratoriais foi de grande importância para se identificar o alimento e microrganismos implicados. PALAVRAS CHAVE: Salmonella spp. ; toxinfecção alimentar; surto; higiene alimentar. SUMMARY: This study about Salmonella outbreak was realized in Salvador-Ba. Fifty three persons were involved, of which fourty seven showed severe symptons, that were developed in average of twenty six hours from the time of ingeston of food. The laboratories procedures to find out the microorganism and the food involved in this outbreak were done. The datas showed the presence of Salmonella spp in the samples of “sauté” manioca and beans. The coproculture of the food handlers was done and was verified the presence of Salmonella typhi in four of then, S. Enteritidis in five samples and Salmonella spp in only one. The analysis of the laboratorial researches

  18. First report of Trypanosoma vivax outbreak in dairy cattle in São Paulo state, Brazil Primeiro relato de surto por Trypanosoma vivax em vacas leiteiras no estado de São Paulo, Brasil

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    Fabiano Antonio Cadioli

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available This is the first description of a Trypanosoma vivax outbreak in the state of São Paulo (municipality of Lins. Fever, jaundice, decreased milk production, weight loss, profuse diarrhea, abortion, anemia, leukocytosis and hyperfibrinogenemia were observed in the affected animals. Thirty-one cows and calves died out of a total of 1080 in the herd. Three cows showed neurological symptoms like dysmetria, ataxia, muscle weakness, ptyalism, lymph node enlargement and submandibular edema. Flagellated hemoparasites were observed in blood smears. The species was diagnosed as T. vivax by means of PCR. This T.vivax strain showed resistance to diaminazene aceturate and the infection spread quickly at the herd. From the ELISA test, 599 serum samples (98.36% were positive for anti-T.vivax IgG antibodies. This outbreak occurred during a very dry period, which indicates that other factors were involved in the outbreak, such as absence of tabanids and large populations of Haematobia irritans and Stomoxys calcitrans. The increases in these populations may have been due to the use of biosolid waste from sugar and ethanol plants in the sugarcane plantations surrounding the dairy farm.Esta é a primeira descrição de um surto de Trypanosomavivax ocorrido no Estado de São Paulo, no município de Lins. Animais acometidos apresentaram febre, icterícia, diminuição da produção de leite, perda de peso, diarreia profusa, abortos, anemia, leucocitose e hiperfibrigenemia. Foram registrados 31 óbitos de vacas e bezerros em 1.080 bovinos no total. Três vacas apresentaram sintomatologia nervosa, como dismetria, ataxia e fraqueza muscular, além de ptialismo, aumento de linfonodos e edema submandibular. Hemoparasitas flagelados foram observados em esfregaços sanguíneos, e a espécie de tripanossomo foi diagnosticada como T.vivax por PCR. A cepa de T. vivax mostrou ser resistente ao tratamento com aceturato de diaminozeno e a infecção disseminou rapidamente no

  19. Surto alimentar por Salmonella Enteritidis no Noroeste do Estado de São Paulo, Brasil Outbreak of Salmonella Enteritidis in northwest of S. Paulo State, Brazil

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    M. Kaku

    1995-04-01

    Full Text Available Em 1993 ocorreu um surto alimentar em escola, com 211 afetados. Os dados epidemiológicos levantados por entrevista de amostragem de afetados e não afetados mostraram que os sintomas predominantes foram diarréia, febre (77,7%, dor abdominal (67,7%, vômito (65,8%, calafrios (54,5% e cefaléia (44,5%. A mediana de incubação foi de 17 horas, com limites entre 3 e 29 horas. A duração da doença foi de 3 a 4 dias. O alimento consumido foi um tipo de patê, mistura de molho de maionese preparada com ovos crus com batata cozida, passado em pão. A análise de material biológico (3 coproculturas e de restos de alimentos revelou a presença do mesmo microrganismo, a Salmonella Enteritidis. No caso dos alimentos, o número encontrado desta bactéria por gramo de produto era compatível com a quantidade de células necessária para desencadear a doença (10(4e 10(5/g. O antibiograma de todas as cepas isoladas revelou o mesmo padrão de sensibilidade. As falhas no preparo do alimento relacionadas com o levantamento indicam a possibilidade de contaminação endógena dos ovos; contaminação cruzada - o surto afetou três períodos escolares, sendo que para cada um o alimento foi preparado em separado - e as condições de manutenção do alimento após preparo e até o consumo. A observação por uma semana seguida das 3 merendeiras envolvidas, através de coprocultura, não indicaram que as mesmas fossem portadoras assintomáticas desta bactéria ou que tivessem sido envolvidas no surto em questão.A foodborne outbreak which affected 211 persons occurred, in a School, in 1993. The epidemiological data obtained by interviewing the affected and non affected persons sampled showed as predominant symptoms: diarrhoea, fever (77.7%, abdominal cramps (67.7%, vomiting (65.8%, hot-and-cold sensations (54.5% and headache (44.5%. The median incubation period was of 17 hours, the limits being 3 and 29 hours. The disease period was of from 3 to 4 days. The food

  20. Outbreak of persistent cutaneous abscesses due to Mycobacterium chelonae after mesotherapy sessions, Lima, Peru Surto de abscessos cutâneos persistentes por Mycobacterium chelonae pós-mesoterapia, Lima, Peru

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    César V Munayco

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Outbreaks of rapidly growing mycobacteria have been occasionally described. The article reports an outbreak of cutaneous abscesses due to Mycobacterium chelonae following mesotherapy in Lima, Peru. From December 2004 through January 2005, 35 subjects who had participated in mesotherapy training sessions presented with persistent cutaneous abscesses. Thirteen (37% of these suspected cases consented to underwent clinical examination. Skin punch-biopsies were collected from suspicious lesions and substances injected during mesotherapy were analyzed. Suspected cases were mainly young women and lesions included subcutaneous nodules, abscesses and ulcers. Mycobacterium chelonae was isolated from four patients and from a procaine vial. In conclusion, it is important to consider mesotherapy as a potential source of rapidly growing mycobacteria infections.Surtos de micobactérias de crescimento rápido têm sido relatados ocasionalmente. O estudo relata um surto de abscessos cutâneos por Mycobacterium chelonae após sessões de mesoterapia em Lima, Peru. De dezembro de 2004 a janeiro de 2005, 35 pessoas que haviam passado por sessões de mesoterapia apresentaram esses abscessos cutâneos. Treze (37% desses casos suspeitos concordaram em realizar exames clínicos. Foram realizadas biópsias de punção de pele de lesões suspeitas e examinadas substâncias injetadas durante a mesoterapia. Os casos suspeitos eram predominantemente mulheres jovens e as lesões incluíram nódulos subcutâneos, abscessos e úlceras. Mycobacterium chelonae foi isolada de quatro pacientes e de um frasco de procaína. Em conclusão, é importante considerar a mesoterapia como fonte potencial de infecções de micobactérias de crescimento rápido.

  1. Índices para estimar o tempo transcorrido entre o surto hemorrágico subaracnóideo e a colheita de líquido cefalorraqueano

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    José M. Marlet

    1973-12-01

    Full Text Available O autor simulou, experimentalmente, acidente vascular cerebral hemorrágico em cães injetando sangue do próprio animal no espaço subaracnóideo, colhendo amostras diárias de LCR durante 14 dias, sendo estudada a evolução das concentrações de oxiemoglobina e de bilirrubina, empregando métodos espectrofotométricos. Define um coeficiente hemoglobínico como a relação entre a concentração de oxiemoglobina e o total de pigmentos do LCR e um índice hemoglobina-bilirrubina como a relação entre as concentrações de oxiemoglobina e bilirrubina. Depois do tratamento estatístico, chega à conclusão de que ambos permitem estimar o tempo transcorrido desde o surto hemorrágico subaracnóideo e a colheita de LCR. São apresentadas sugestões quanto à aplicabilidade prática destes indicadores em Neurologia e Medicina Preventiva.

  2. Surto de compactação primária de abomaso em bovinos leiteiros associado ao consumo de silagem de girassol

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    Leonardo P. Mesquita

    2012-06-01

    Full Text Available Um surto de compactação primária de abomaso associada ao consumo de silagem de girassol ocorreu num rebanho bovino leiteiro do estado de Minas Gerais, do qual seis de 21 vacas secas em fase final de gestação e que recebiam silagem de girassol morreram. Os bovinos que adoeceram apresentaram distensão abdominal, fezes ressecadas e escassas e, nos bovinos que morreram, eram pastosas, escuras e fétidas; nesses havia também desidratação acentuada e palidez de mucosas. Três bovinos foram necropsiados e os achados patológicos eram constituídos principalmente por distensão acentuada do abomaso associada a grande quantidade de conteúdo alimentar ressecado coberto por coágulos de sangue. No abomaso havia úlceras, com perfuração da parede em um dos bovinos. A alimentação de bovinos de maior exigência nutricional com silagem de girassol de características indesejáveis como única fonte de volumoso foi o principal fator para a compactação de abomaso nos casos apresentados.

  3. Surto de pitiose cutânea em bovinos Outbreak of cutaneous pythiosis in cattle

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    Adriane L. Gabriel

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Setenta e seis bovinos, sem raça definida, jovens, de ambos os sexos, apresentaram lesões cutâneas multifocais nodulares, ulceradas e crostosas nas faces medial e lateral dos membros anteriores e posteriores, região ventral do pescoço, esterno e cauda. A doença ocorreu no verão e as lesões foram observadas nas regiões do corpo que ficavam grande tempo em contato com a água em canais de irrigação. Histologicamente observaram-se múltiplos granulomas e piogranulomas contendo escassas imagens negativas de hifas na área central, as quais foram melhor evidenciadas através da técnica de metenamina nitrato de prata de Grocott. O diagnóstico etiológico definitivo foi baseado na técnica de imuno-histoquímica com anticorpo policlonal anti-Pythium insidiosum. Adicionalmente, foi realizado o teste de ELISA indireto. Surtos de pitiose cutânea bovina são incomuns e, particularmente neste relato, todos os animais afetados tiveram cura espontânea das lesões dentro de duas a três semanas.Seventy-six young mixed breed cattle of both sexes, presented multifocal ulcerated nodular cutaneous lesions localized in the medial and lateral aspects of fore and hindlimbs, ventral neck, sternum, and tail. The disease occurred during summer and lesions were observed on areas of the body which were in contact with water of irrigation channels for long periods. Histologically, there were multiple granulomas and pyogranulomas with few negative profiles of hyphae, which were better visualized throughout Grocott methenamine silver stain. Definitive etiologic diagnosis was based on immuno-histochemistry with anti-Pythium insidiosum polyclonal antibody. Additionally, an indirect ELISA test was performed. Bovine cutaneous pythiosis outbreaks are uncommon and, particularly as occurred in the cattle of this report, all affected animals had spontaneous healing within two to three weeks.

  4. Surtos de intoxicação por salinomicina em chinchilas (Chinchilla lanigera

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    Ricardo B. Lucena

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Quatro surtos de intoxicação por salinomicina são descrito em chinchilas de três municípios do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. Uma semana após a ingestão de ração contendo 37 ppm de salinomicina, aproximadamente duas mil chinchilas de quatro fazendas expostas diminuíram o consumo da ração. Quatrocentos e vinte sete chinchilas demonstraram apatia. Dessas, duzentos e setenta e sete desenvolveram decúbito esternal e lateral, dispneia e coma, seguidos de morte. As primeiras mortes ocorreram oito dias após a ingestão da ração. A evolução dos sinais clínicos até a morte ou eutanásia foi de 2-5 dias. Os exames bioquímicos do soro sanguíneo em quatro chinchilas revelaram níveis aumentados da alanina aminotransferase, aspartato transaminase, fosfatase alcalina, creatina cinase, glicose, triglicerídeos e colesterol total. Quarenta e cinco chinchilas foram submetidas à necropsia. Os achados macroscópicos consistiam de marcada lipidose hepática em todas as chinchilas necropsiadas; fetos em estado de decomposição em doze chinchilas que estavam prenhes. Microscopicamente, múltiplas fibras musculares esqueléticas estavam hipereosinofílicas, tumefeitas e com perda das estriações. Nas chinchilas que sobreviveram por mais dias era possível observar segmentos fragmentados de miofibras afetadas (necrose flocular e regeneração de miofibras. No fígado foi observada marcada degeneração gordurosa. Não foram observadas anormalidades microscópicas nos demais órgãos analisados. Análises à procura de aflatoxinas, resíduos de pesticidas e isolamento bacteriano foram negativos. A análise da ração por cromatografia líquida revelou 37ppm de salinomicina na ração. A ração suspeita foi administrada a 12 chinchilas, três das quais (25% morreram apresentando lesões semelhantes às observadas nas chinchilas com a doença natural. O diagnóstico de intoxicação por salinomicina foi baseado na epidemiologia, lesões histol

  5. Surto psicótico pela possível interação medicamentosa de sibutramina com finasterida Psychotic episode induced by potential drug interaction of sibutramine and finasteride

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    Douglas Dogol Sucar

    2002-03-01

    Full Text Available É descrito um caso de interação medicamentosa em um paciente de 30 anos, que fazia com sucesso um tratamento antiobesidade com sibutramina. Esse medicamento é um saciogênico que inibe a recaptação da serotonina e da noradrenalina. Logo após a introdução da finasterida para tratamento da alopécia androgênica, o paciente passou a apresentar surto psicótico. Esse medicamento é um potente inibidor da 5-alfa-redutase do tipo II. A interação medicamentosa demonstra-se por meio de um rigoroso acompanhamento clínico e de uma aplicação do algoritmo de Naranjo. Também descrevem-se as condições clínicas gerais do paciente e sua evolução. Discutem-se os mecanismos prováveis que levaram à interação medicamentosa, com a conclusão de que a finasterida inibiu o metabolismo hepático da sibutramina. Esta deslocou a finasterida de seus pontos de ligações com as proteínas, aumentando sua fração livre plasmática e inibindo ainda mais o metabolismo da sibutramina. Com aumento de serotonina, noradrenalina e dopamina na fenda sináptica, desencadeia-se o surto psicótico.A case of drug interaction is here described in a 30-year patient undergoing a successful anti-obesity treatment with sibutramine. Sibutramine is a drug that inhibits serotonine and noradrenaline reuptake. Soon after the introduction of finasteride to treat his alopecia, a paranoid-psychotic behavior developed. Finasteride is a powerful 5-alpha-reductase type 2 inhibitor. Drug interaction is shown through a careful clinical follow-up and the application of Naranjo algorithm. The patient's general condition and clinical progression are also described. In addition, the most likely mechanisms of drug interaction are discussed. It seems that finasteride inhibited the hepatic metabolism of sibutramine that, by its turn, displaced finasteride from its plasma protein binding. This phenomenon resulted in higher plasma levels of finasteride and lower metabolism of

  6. Surto de aflatoxicose aguda em cães no município de Pelotas/RS

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    Karina Guterres

    Full Text Available RESUMO: As aflatoxinas pertencem ao grupo das micotoxinas e são substâncias sintetizadas durante a multiplicação de fungos que podem contaminar alimentos e rações animais, produzindo efeitos agudos ou crônicos naqueles que os consomem. Os cães são sensíveis aos efeitos tóxicos das aflatoxinas, havendo dificuldades de diagnóstico definitivo desta doença devido a fatores, como a inespecificidade dos sinais clínicos e o custo elevado da análise da presença de toxinas na alimentação. Desta forma, o objetivo deste artigo foi relatar um surto de aflatoxicose em dezoito caninos, no município de Pelotas - RS, no qual apenas um canino não veio a óbito, após a ingestão de quirelas de milho e arroz contaminadas. O diagnóstico definitivo de aflatoxicose aguda foi obtido através dos dados da anamnese, exames complementares, resultados de necropsia e histopatologia, além de análise da presença de toxinas na alimentação dos animais. Na necropsia observou-se degeneração e necrose hepática severa e na análise das amostras de alimento foi constatada a presença de aflatoxinas B1, B2, G1 e G2, em um somatório de 898,2μg/kg na quirela de milho e de 409,86μg/kg na de arroz. Assim sendo, medidas de conscientização acerca do controle e prevenção das micotoxicoses devem ser tomadas, salientando os possíveis danos à saúde dos animais. Além disto, métodos de identificação de micotoxinas, devem ser implementados na rotina hospitalar, incluindo a análise da ração oferecida, visto que a aflatoxicose, muitas vezes é subestimada.

  7. Outbreak of autochthonous canine visceral leishmaniasis in Santa Catarina, Brazil Surto autóctone de leishmaniose visceral canina no Estado de Santa Catarina

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    Mário Steindel

    2013-04-01

    Full Text Available The present study reports the first outbreak of autochthonous canine visceral leishmaniasis in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, southern Brazil. Following the report of two cases of CVL, the Control Center of Zoonotic Diseases conducted a serological survey by ELISA and IFAT assays in seven districts of the Santa Catarina Island. Eleven seropositive dogs of autochthonous transmission were used in the present study. Infection by Leishmania sp. was confirmed by parasitological examination of bone marrow, liver, spleen and lymph nodes, culture in Schneider's medium and PCR. Leishmania sp. isolates were characterized by PCR-RFLP and hybridization with specific probes, allowing for the identification of Leishmania infantum. Autochthonous transmission of this disease in an area with high tourist traffic presents a major public health concern and signifies the emergence of an important zoonosis in southern Brazil. Therefore, the implementation of surveillance and control measures is imperative to prevent the spread of the disease among the canine population as well as transmission to the human population.O presente estudo relata o primeiro surto autóctone de leishmaniose visceral canina (LCV em Florianópolis, Santa Catarina, Brasil. Durante levantamento soro-epidemiológico realizado pelo Centro de Controle de Doenças Zoonóticas (CCZ envolvendo 2.124 cães, 29 (1,37% foram soropositivos para VL (ELISA + RIFI. Onze cães positivos por transmissão autóctone foram utilizados no presente estudo. A confirmação da infecção por Leishmania sp. foi realizada pelo exame parasitológico da medula óssea, fígado, baço e linfonodos, cultura em meio Schneider e PCR. Os isolados de Leishmania sp. foram caracterizados por PCR-RFLP e hibridação com sondas específicas, permitindo a identificação de Leishmania infantum. A transmissão autóctone da LCV em uma área com grande fluxo turístico como Florianópolis representa um preocupante risco à saúde p

  8. Intoxicações por plantas diagnosticadas em ruminantes e equinos e estimativa das perdas econômicas na Paraíba Plant poisonings diagnosed in ruminants and horses and estimation of the economical losses in Paraíba

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    Tales S. Assis

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Foi realizado um levantamento dos surtos de intoxicações por plantas em ruminantes e equinos diagnosticados no Laboratório de Patologia Veterinária (LPV, do Hospital Veterinário da Universidade Federal de Campina Grande, Campus de Patos, Paraíba, no período de 2000-2007. Em bovinos 7,4% dos diagnósticos realizados pelo LPV foram intoxicações por plantas. Foram diagnosticadas intoxicações por Centhraterum brachylepis (um surto, Brachiaria spp. (um surto, Crotalaria retusa (dois surtos, Ipomoea batatas (um surto, Marsdenia sp. (um surto, gramíneas contendo nitratos e nitritos (um surto por Echinochloa polystachya e dois surtos por Pennisetum purpureum, Palicourea aeneofusca (um surto, Prosopis juliflora (três surtos, Nerium oleander (um surto e Mimosa tenuiflora (sete surtos. Na espécie ovina 13% dos diagnósticos foram intoxicações por plantas. Os surtos foram causados por Ipomoea asarifolia (quatro surtos, Brachiaria spp. (três surtos, Crotalaria retusa (dois surtos, Tephrosia cinerea (dois surtos, Panicum dichotomiflorum (um surto, Mascagnia rigida (um surto e malformações associadas à ingestão de Mimosa tenuiflora (20 surtos. Nos caprinos, 6,4% dos diagnósticos corresponderam à intoxicação por plantas. Sete surtos foram causados por Mimosa tenuiflora, um por Ipomoea asarifolia, um por Ipomoea carnea, um por Ipomoea riedelli, três por Prosopis juliflora, um por Arrabidaea corallina, dois por Aspidosperma pyrifolium, dois por Turbina cordata e um por Opuntia ficus-indica. Na espécie equina 14% das doenças diagnosticadas foram devidas a intoxicações por plantas, sendo 12 surtos por Crotalaria retusa e um por Turbina cordata. As perdas na Paraíba por plantas tóxicas são estimadas em 3.895 bovinos, 8.374 ovinos, 6.390 caprinos e 366 equinos, que representam uma perda econômica anual, por morte de animais, de R$ 2.733.097,00. São relatados alguns aspectos epidemiológicos, sinais clínicos e patologia de surtos de

  9. Surtos de dermatite ulcerativa causados por espinhos de Mimosa setosa, M. debilis e M. pudica (Fabaceae em equinos

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    Saulo A. Caldas

    Full Text Available RESUMO: Descrevem-se, na pele de equídeos, lesões de natureza mecânico-traumática causadas por espinhos de Mimosa spp. Dentre as três espécies da planta identificadas como responsáveis pelas lesões, M. setosa estava presente em maior quantidade (80% e M. debilis e M. pudica encontravam-se em menor proporção na pastagem. Ocorreram três surtos de dermatite ulcerativa em períodos chuvosos de abril a maio de 2013, dezembro de 2013 a fevereiro de 2014 e abril a maio deste mesmo ano. Vinte e cinco equinos do Setor de Reprodução Animal da Universidade Federal Rural do Rio de Janeiro apresentaram, na pele, lesões ulcerativas com contornos irregulares, exsudato hemorrágico, recobertas por crostas. As lesões localizavam-se sobretudo nas regiões de quartela, boleto, articulação escapulo-umeral, lábios superior e inferior, focinho, narinas, bochechas e chanfro. Sete animais foram biopsiados e o exame histopatológico revelou ulceração da epiderme e infiltrado inflamatório constituído por macrófagos e neutrófilos, delimitado por tecido de granulação subjacente. Em alguns casos, foram observados microespículos das referidas plantas (tricomas hirsutos em meio à reação inflamatória. O diagnóstico de dermatite cutânea causada pela ação traumática da planta baseou-se na presença de Mimosa spp. na pastagem, nas características e localização das lesões na pele dos equinos, nos achados histopatológicos e na recuperação após a retirada dos animais do pasto.

  10. Tremorgenic disease in ruminants and equidae in the Brazilian semiarid

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    Pessoa, Clarice R.M.; Medeiros, Rosane M.T.; Pessoa, André F.A.; Dantas, Antônio F.M.; Oliveira, Odaci F. de; Riet-Correa, Franklin

    2010-01-01

    Descrevem-se oito surtos de uma doença tremorgênica em bovinos, ovinos, equinos e muares na região do Cariri, semiárido da Paraíba. Sete surtos aconteceram de julho a dezembro de 2007, com maior frequência entre setembro e outubro. Outro surto foi observado em fevereiro de 2008. Todos os surtos ocorreram no período da seca. Os sinais observados foram tremores musculares, hipermetria, ataxia, aumento da base de sustentação, constante estado de alerta e, em alguns casos, decúbito. Quando retira...

  11. Doença tremorgênica em ruminantes e equídeos no semiárido da Paraíba

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    Pessoa,Clarice R.M.; Medeiros,Rosane M.T.; Pessoa,André F.A.; Dantas,Antônio F.M.; Oliveira,Odaci F. de; Riet-Correa,Franklin

    2010-01-01

    Descrevem-se oito surtos de uma doença tremorgênica em bovinos, ovinos, equinos e muares na região do Cariri, semiárido da Paraíba. Sete surtos aconteceram de julho a dezembro de 2007, com maior frequência entre setembro e outubro. Outro surto foi observado em fevereiro de 2008. Todos os surtos ocorreram no período da seca. Os sinais observados foram tremores musculares, hipermetria, ataxia, aumento da base de sustentação, constante estado de alerta e, em alguns casos, decúbito. Quando retira...

  12. Incidência dos genes eaeA E stx1 EM Escherichia coli isolada de carcaça suína abatida em frigoríficos comercais na região sul do Brasil

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    Machado, Luís Alberto Pereira

    2014-01-01

    A carne suína representa importante fonte de proteína animal para o mundo, porém vem sendo associada a surtos de toxinfecção alimentar. Uma das causas destes surtos é a contaminação por Escherichia coli (E. coli), encontrada no trato intestinal e ambiente dos suínos abatidos para produção de carnes in natura e industrializadas. No contexto de segurança alimentar, os surtos por Escherichia coli produtoras de toxina Shiga (STEC) são os melhores documentados. No mundo, diversos surtos causados p...

  13. Surto de leishmaniose tegumentar americana em Canoa, Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brasil An outbreak of American cutaneous leishmaniasis in Canoa, Santo Amaro, Bahia, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ivonise Follador

    1999-10-01

    Full Text Available Em 1993, um surto leishmaniose tegumentar americana (LTA foi detectado no povoado rural de Canoa, município de Santo Amaro, Bahia. Um estudo observacional prospectivo delineou-se, com objetivo de determinar as taxas de freqüência e caracterizar clinicamente a doença. Foram acompanhados 555 indivíduos, registrando-se 29 casos de LTA, 11 casos sugestivos de LTA pregressa e 529 sadios. Desses 529 sadios, 65 apresentaram reação de Montenegro positiva sem qualquer evidência presente ou passada de doença. A prevalência de LTA no período de estudo foi de 5,2% (29/555. A leishmania envolvida foi caracterizada como Leishmania braziliensis e o vetor, Lutzomyia intermedia. Foram detectados cães e equídeos infectados por leishmania O acometimento de crianças menores de 10 anos, o acometimento igual entre os sexos e um componente de agregação familiar sugerem um padrão de transmissão peri ou intradomiciliar.An outbreak of American cutaneous leishmaniasis (ACL was detected in the village of Canoa in 1993. A prospective observational study was outlined to determine the frequency rates and to clinically characterize the disease. A total of 555 people were followed up. There were 29 cases of ACL, 11 cases of probably previous ACL (scars and 529 healthy individuals. Of these 529 individuals, 65 had a positive Montenegro reaction without any present or past evidence of leishmaniasis. The prevalence of ACL during the two years was 5.2% (29/555. The leishmania involved was Leishmania braziliensis and the vector, Lutzomyia intermedia. Evidence of infection was detected in dogs and horses. The high frequency of the disease among children under ten years, the similar sex distribution of cases and a component of familial aggregation suggest a peri- or intra-domiciliary transmission.

  14. Prognostic value of non-reactive burst suppression EEG pattern associated to early neonatal seizures Valor prognóstico do EEG com padrão de surto-supressão não reativo associado a convulsões neonatais precoces

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    Magda Lahorgue Nunes

    2005-03-01

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Seizures are the most frequent neurological event in newborns and clinical data suggest that etiology is the dominant factor in long term outcome. However, there are consistent background EEG abnormalities associated to neonatal seizures that are usually related to unfavorable outcome as the burst - suppression pattern. OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to correlate clinical and EEG features associated to long - term outcome of newborns with non - reactive burst - suppression (BS EEG. METHOD: Newborns included in the study were selected from our database and had conceptional age (at the time of first EEG >37 weeks, EEG recordings with non - reactive BS available for review and clinical follow up. RESULTS: 12 newborns met inclusion criteria, 50% had seizures in the first day of life. Seizures became refractory to treatment in all of them. In 50% the etiology of seizures was considered cryptogenic, 33% had inborn errors of metabolism and 17% had clinical history and neuroimage suggestive of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy. The follow-up showed that 7/12 infants deceased, 3 during the first year of life, and one in the neonatal period. All the survivors had severe developmental delay and multifocal neurological impairment. 92% developed refractory epilepsy, 58% were latter diagnosed with West syndrome. CONCLUSION: The non-reactive BS pattern may appear related to many neonatal neurological disorders and is associated with early and refractory neonatal seizures. It is clearly associated with elevated morbidity and mortality and to the development of post-neonatal epilepsy.RESUMO Convulsões representam o evento neurológico mais freqüente no período neonatal e a etiologia das crises parece ser o aspecto clínico mais associado ao prognóstico a longo prazo. Entretanto, existem padrões anormais de EEG, que de forma consistente relacionam-se a prognóstico, entre eles o padrão de surto - supressão. OBJETIVO: Este estudo teve

  15. Estudos bacteriológicos e sorológicos de um surto de peste no Estado da Paraíba, Brasil Bacteriological and serological studies of a plague outbreak in the Paraíba state, Brazil

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    Alzira Maria Paiva Almeida

    1989-06-01

    Full Text Available Foram realizados estudos bacteriológicos e/ou sorológicos para diagnóstico da infecção pestosa, em material obtido de 452 pacientes (48 positivos, 1.938 roedores e outros pequenos mamíferos (75 positivos, 4.756 cães (141 positivos e 3.047 gatos (57 positivos, oriundos de 41 municípios localizados em toda a extensão da área paraibana do Planalto da Borborema. A infecção foi encontrada em 21 municípios. Foram isoladas 20 cepas de Yersinia pestis de amostras coletadas de três pacientes e 17 roedores. Estas cepas apresentam características bioquímicas, fatores de virulência, sensibilidade aos antibióticos e poder patogênico experimental semelhantes ao de cepas isoladas anteriormente. Pelos estudos realizados não foram observados, no surto de peste que eclodiu em setembro de 1986 na Paraíba, fatores diferentes dos observados nos outros focos do nordeste do Brasil.During a plague outbreak in the Borborema Plateu focus (Paraíba, bacteriological and serological studies were carryed out in material from 452 patients (48 positives, 1,938 rodents and other small mammals (75 positives, 4,756 dogs (141 positives and 2,047 cats (57 positives obtained from 41 counties (out of which, 21 produced positive samples. Twenty Yersinia pestis strains isolated from material from 3 patients ans 17 rodents, displayed biochemical reactions, virulence factors, antibiotic susceptibility and animal experimental pathogenicity similar to those observed in strains previously isolated. According to our findings this recent plague outbreak did not exhibite different factors from those observed during prior outbreaks in other plague foci in the northeast of Brazil.

  16. Espectro de agentes etiológicos associados a surtos de doenças transmitidas por alimentos em núcleos receptores turísticos de três regiões geográficas do Estado de São Paulo.

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    N. PIZZOLITTO

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available

    As doenças transmitidas por alimentos são causadas pelo consumo de alimento ou água contaminados por bactéria e/ou suas toxinas, vírus, parasitas ou substâncias químicas. O objetivo do presente estudo foi conhecer o espectro dos agentes associados a doenças transmitidas por alimentos em quinze núcleos receptores turísticos de três regiões geográficas do Estado de São Paulo. O estudo baseou-se em dados do Centro de Vigilância Epidemiológica (CVE, Secretaria Estadual de Saúde (SES do Estado de São Paulo, no período 2002 até 2005. Foram selecionados aleatoriamente núcleos receptores turísticos divididos em três regiões geográficas: Capital, Interior e Litoral, envolvendo o turismo histórico-cultural, agro-negócios; eventos; compras; urbano; gastronômico; saúde e lazer; sol e mar. Em relação às bactérias os resultados obtidos mostraram que Salmonella spp. foi o organismo mais associado aos surtos de doenças transmitidas por alimentos, seguidos por Shigella spp., E. coli enteropatogênica, Staphylococcus aureus, Clostridium perfringens, Bacillus cereus e Campylobacter spp. Os vírus (Rotavirus e da Hepatite A tiveram participação elevada ao passo que os parasitas e helmintos apresentaram baixa freqüência, nas doenças que ocorreram em núcleos receptores turísticos. Os alimentos mistos (arroz, feijão, fígado, batata, beterraba, churrasco, escarola e suco, peixe e carnes de aves foram os três alimentos mais relacionados com o surtos de doenças transmitidas por alimentos. Palavras-chave: toxinfecção alimentar; doença veiculada por alimentos; doença veiculada por água.

  17. Investigação de surto de sarampo no Estado do Pará na era da eliminação da doença no Brasil

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    Hiane Santos de Jesus

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Resumo Em 27 de julho de 2010, houve a notificação tardia de um resultado de IgM reagente para sarampo em Belém, Pará, Brasil, que gerou uma investigação epidemiológica e medidas de controle e prevenção. Foram encontrados mais dois casos confirmados, irmãos do primeiro caso, com clínica e período de incubação compatível com sarampo. Realizamos busca retrospectiva em hospitais e laboratórios, cujo caso suspeito fora o residente ou visitante do Pará, que entre 1o de maio de 2010 e 4 de agosto de 2010, tenha apresentado febre e exantema acompanhado de tosse e/ou coriza e/ou conjuntivite. Todos os casos identificados foram investigados via contato telefônico e/ou visitas domiciliares. Revisamos 183.854 fichas de atendimento, sendo identificados 56 (0,03% casos suspeitos. Aplicamos 2.535 doses de vacina tríplice viral distribuídas entre bloqueios e intensificações vacinais. Ocorreu um surto intradomiciliar de sarampo em Belém com detecção e isolamento de genótipo viral importado da Europa. Recomenda-se uma vigilância epidemiológica oportuna e sensível à detecção de casos suspeitos de sarampo e manutenção de coberturas vacinais altas.

  18. Determination of soluble ICAM-1 and TNFalphaR in the cerebrospinal fluid and serum levels in a population of Brazilian patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis Determinação dos níveis de ICAM-1 e TNFalfaR solúvel no líquido cefalorraqueano e soro numa população de pacientes brasileiros com esclerose múltipla forma surto-remissão

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    Soniza Vieira Alves-Leon

    2001-03-01

    Full Text Available Cytokines and adhesion molecules have been implicated in the pathogenesis of multiple sclerosis (MS, a chronic inflammatory disease of the central nervous system. In this study we analyzed intrathecal (CSF and serum levels of soluble intercellular adhesion molecule (ICAM-1 and TNFalphaR (60kD from 20 patients with clinically definite MS during acute relapse or stable disease. Comparing to control groups of healthy individuals and patients with intervertebral herniated disc, MS patients showed increased levels (pCitocinas e moléculas de adesão estão implicadas na patogênese da esclerose múltipla (EM, uma doença inflamatória crônica do sistema nervoso central. Neste estudo, nós determinamos os níveis solúveis da molécula de adesão intercelular (sICAM-1 e TNFalfaR (60kD no soro e líquido cefalorraqueano (LCR de 20 pacientes com EM clinicamente definida durante surto ou remissão. Os pacientes com EM apresentaram, em comparação com os grupos controle formados por indivíduos sadios e com hérnia de disco intervertebral submetidos a mielografia, níveis significativamente (p< 0.001 elevados de sICAM-1 e TNFalfaR tanto no soro como no LCR. Independente do estágio da doença, nenhuma diferença significativa foi encontrada entre os pacientes durante o surto (657±124.9 ng/ml ou na remissão (627±36.2 ng/ml. Um aumento consistente dos níveis de TNFalfaR no soro e LCR, apontam para a existência de processo inflamatório continuado no tecido cerebral dos pacientes com EM, a despeito da ausência de sinais clínicos de doença em atividade.

  19. Intoxicação por selênio em suínos no Sul do Brasil

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    Danilo C. Gomes

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available São descritos dois surtos de intoxicação por selênio em suínos na região Sul do Brasil. Foram acometidos leitões em fase de creche, entre 27 e 22 dias, com mortalidade variando de 16% a 15,3% (Surto 1 e 2 respectivamente. Os suínos apresentaram poliomielomalacia simétrica focal e lesões de casco, que inicialmente eram caracterizadas por uma linha avermelhada na borda coronária que evoluía nos suínos sobreviventes para desprendimento do casco. Os sinais clínicos iniciaram após seis dias (Surto 1 e 30 horas (Surto 2 da introdução da ração com alto teor de selênio. O surgimento dos sinais foi abrupto, caracterizado por andar cambaleante, com evolução para paralisia dos membros pélvicos e posteriormente tetraparesia. Macroscopicamente observaram-se focos circulares amarelados com áreas deprimidas mais escuras, restritas ao corno ventral da substância cinzenta em intumescências cervical e lombar. Microscopicamente essas áreas corresponderam à malacia da substância cinzenta, caracterizada por microcavitações, perda neuronal, cromatólise, neuronofagia, infiltrado de células Gitter, microgliose, astrócitos de Alzheimer tipo II e proliferação de células endoteliais evidenciadas na imunohistoquímica (IHQ para fator de von Willebrand. Ainda, no segundo surto, dois animais apresentaram vacuolização difusa do citoplasma de neurônios e em um suíno foram observados astrócitos gemistocíticos. Na IHQ para GFAP ficou evidenciada uma astrocitose e astrogliose. Além dessas alterações medulares, em dois suínos observou-se, polioencefalomalácia simétrica no tronco encefálico. Em amostras de ração, detectou-se 3,38ppm (Surto 1 e 154ppm (Surto 2 de Se/kg e em amostras de fígado foram encontradas dosagens superiores a 3,34ppm (variando de 3,34 até 10ppm. No Surto 2, após 44 dias da retirada da ração, foi realizada eutanásia de seis suínos para monitoramento de níveis hepáticos de selênio (dois su

  20. Brachiaria spp. poisoning in cattle in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    Souza, Roosevelt I.C.; Riet-Correa, Franklin; Brum, Karine B.; Fernandes, Carlos Eurico; Barbosa-Ferreira, Marcos; Lemos, Ricardo A. Amaral de

    2010-01-01

    Mediante a revisão dos arquivos das fichas de necropsia do Laboratório de Patologia Animal, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul, foram estudados a epidemiologia, o quadro clínico e a patologia de 29 surtos de intoxicação por Brachiaria spp., ocorridos em bovinos de corte, no Mato Grosso do Sul, de março de 1996 a novembro de 2009. Os surtos ocorreram em todas as épocas do ano, tanto na seca quanto na chuva. Em 24 dos 29 surtos o principal sinal clínico foi a fotossensibilização e em ci...

  1. Índices para estimar o tempo transcorrido entre o surto hemorrágico subaracnóideo e a colheita de líquido cefalorraqueano Appraisement of the time elapsed between cerebro-vascular accidents and cerebrospinal fluid examination. An experimental study

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    José M. Marlet

    1973-12-01

    Full Text Available O autor simulou, experimentalmente, acidente vascular cerebral hemorrágico em cães injetando sangue do próprio animal no espaço subaracnóideo, colhendo amostras diárias de LCR durante 14 dias, sendo estudada a evolução das concentrações de oxiemoglobina e de bilirrubina, empregando métodos espectrofotométricos. Define um coeficiente hemoglobínico como a relação entre a concentração de oxiemoglobina e o total de pigmentos do LCR e um índice hemoglobina-bilirrubina como a relação entre as concentrações de oxiemoglobina e bilirrubina. Depois do tratamento estatístico, chega à conclusão de que ambos permitem estimar o tempo transcorrido desde o surto hemorrágico subaracnóideo e a colheita de LCR. São apresentadas sugestões quanto à aplicabilidade prática destes indicadores em Neurologia e Medicina Preventiva.Hemorrhagic cerebro-vascular accidents were simulated in dogs by injecting their own blood in the subarachnoidal space. Gathering daily samples of cerebrospinal fluid during 14 days the evolution of the concentrations of oxyhemoglobin and bilirubin using the spectrosphotometric method was studied. The author defines hemoglobin coefficient as being the relatinship between the oxyhemoglobin concentration and the sum of the cerebrospinal fluid pigments and the hemoglobin-bilirubin index as the relationship between the oxyhemoglobin and the bilirubin concentration. After statistical treatment the author concludes that both permit to calculate the time span between the subarachnoidal hemorrhage and the examination of the cerebrospinal fluid. Some suggestions on the practical applicability of these indexes in Clinical Neurology and Preventive Medicine are discussed.

  2. Intoxicação em ovinos por Nierembergia veitchii: observações em quatro surtos Poisoning in sheep by Nierembergia veitchii: observations in four outbreaks

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    Daniel Ricardo Rissi

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Foram observados casos de morte súbita e doença crônica e caquetizante em ovinos provenientes de quatro rebanhos localizados em três municípios do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil, entre junho de 2001 e maio de 2006. De uma população total sob risco de 460 ovinos, 43 foram afetados, 29 morreram espontaneamente e 10 foram eutanasiados. Treze ovinos, provenientes dos Surtos 1 e 4, apresentaram morte súbita e grande quantidade de espuma branca na cavidade nasal e oral e 30 ovinos, provenientes dos Surtos 2 e 3, apresentaram doença crônica com perda de peso, relutância em se movimentar, andar rígido, abdômen retraído e cifose. Doze ovinos foram necropsiados. Lesões de necropsia incluíam má condição da carcaça, com depleção dos depósitos de gordura, e mineralização de vários tecidos. Havia evidente rigidez das grandes artérias, que apresentavam superfície intimal irregular e dura, com múltiplas placas irregulares brancas e opacas. Áreas semelhantes de mineralização também eram observadas no endocárdio valvar ou mural, nas serosas uterina, omasal, ruminal e reticular e no parênquima renal. Em seis ovinos havia moderado a acentuado edema pulmonar e em sete ovinos havia áreas multifocais ou coalescentes, brancas e duras, na superfície subpleural dos pulmões. Histologicamente havia mineralização sistêmica dos tecidos, caracterizada por fina granulação basofílica em vários órgãos. Nas artérias, a mineralização era observada principalmente na túnica média e freqüentemente havia proliferação intimal e ocasional metaplasia condróide ou óssea da média. Em sete ovinos foi observada mineralização dos vasos da rete mirabile carotídea. No miocárdio e no pulmão, podiam ser observados focos de calcificação e metaplasia óssea em cardiomiócitos e septos alveolares, respectivamente. Em cada uma das propriedades onde ocorreram os casos havia infestação da pastagem por Nierembergia veitchii.Sudden death and

  3. Surto de reações hemolíticas associado a residuais de cloro e cloraminas na água de hemodiálise Outbreak of hemolytic reactions associated with chlorine and chloramine residuals in hemodialysis water

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    Rachel VV Calderaro

    2001-10-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Relatar o processo de investigação da contaminação da água e a conseqüente avaliação do surto ocorrido no serviço de hemodiálise. MÉTODOS: Em setembro de 2000, 16 pacientes sob terapia de hemodiálise de um hospital em Minas Gerais apresentaram reações hemolíticas compatíveis a sintomas de intoxicação por cloro e cloramina em água. Foi feita a medição das concentrações de cloro e cloramina em amostras coletadas em diversos pontos do sistema de tratamento e distribuição de água do serviço inspecionado. A identificação dos casos ocorridos durante o período de estudo foi feita pela revisão das anotações de prontuários dos pacientes. Foi feita a revisão dos procedimentos da equipe técnica, médica e de enfermagem por meio de entrevistas. RESULTADOS: A taxa de sintomas foi significativamente alta (pOBJECTIVE: To investigate the process of water contamination and to assess the subsequent outbreak in the hemodialysis center. METHODS: In September 2000, sixteen patients undergoing chronic hemodialysis at a dialysis center in Minas Gerais, Brazil, experienced hemolytic reactions compatible with toxic symptoms due to chlorine and chloramine water contamination. Chlorine and chloramine concentrations in samples obtained from various sites of the dialysis center's water treatment and distribution system were measured. Case-patients were identified by reviewing medical records and nursing notes for all dialysis sessions carried out during the study period. Interviews with technicians, nursing and medical staff members were conducted. RESULTS: Reaction rate was significantly higher (p£0.5 mg/L for chlorine and £ 0.1 mg/L for chloramine. Individuals exposed to high chlorine and chloramine concentrations presented a relative risk of 2.58 (1.0-6.28 of having hemolytic reactions. CONCLUSION: There is a need to observe surveillance procedures to secure that the maximum allowable concentrations of regulated substances

  4. Proton Conductivity Studies on Biopolymer Electrolytes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harun, N. I.; Sabri, N. S.; Rosli, N. H. A.; Taib, M. F. M.; Saaid, S. I. Y.; Kudin, T. I. T.; Ali, A. M. M.; Yahya, M. Z. A.

    2010-01-01

    Proton conducting solid biopolymer electrolyte membranes consisting of methyl cellulose (MC) and different wt.% of ammonium nitrate (NH 4 NO 3 ) were prepared by solution cast technique. Impedance spectroscopy was carried out to study electrical characteristics of bulk materials. The ionic conductivity of the prepared samples was calculated using the bulk resistance (R b ) obtained from impedance spectroscopy plot. The highest ionic conductivity obtained was 1.17x10 -4 Scm -1 for the sample with composition ratio of MC(50): NH 4 NO 3 (50). To enhance the ionic conductivity, propylene carbonate (PC) and ethylene carbonate (EC) plasticizers were introduced. It was found that the ionic conductivity of polymer electrolyte membranes increased with the increase in plasticizers concentration. The ionic conductivities of solid polymer electrolytes based on MC-NH 4 NO 3 -PC was enhanced up to 4.91x10 -3 Scm -1 while for the MC-NH 4 NO 3 -EC system, the highest conductivity was 1.74x10 -2 Scm -1 . The addition of more plasticizer however decreases in mechanical stability of the membranes.

  5. Surtos de fotossensibilização primária em equídeos causados por Froelichia humboldtiana

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    Sheila Nogueira Ribeiro Knupp

    2014-12-01

    Full Text Available O presente trabalho foi conduzido com o objetivo de relatar surtos de fotossensibilização causados por Froelichia humboldtiana em equídeos no Estado do Rio Grande do Norte, Brasil. Foram examinados animais de três propriedades rurais, além de asininos abandonados nas estradas. Procedeu-se a coleta de amostras de sangue periférico de cinco jumentos e dois equinos para análise das atividades das enzimas hepáticas e concentrações de bilirrubina total, direta e indireta. Das áreas de pele com lesões de dois jumentos e de um equino foram realizadas biópsias. Constatou-se que 50 asininos, 18 equinos e duas mulas foram acometidos. Dos asininos acometidos, 45 eram jumentos criados soltos em margens de estradas. Relatou-se a morte de 30 jumentos em decorrência de miíases e debilidade. Os animais tinham histórico de apresentarem lesões de fotodermatite aproximadamente um mês após pastarem em áreas invadidas por F. humboldtiana e recuperavam-se das lesões 10 a 30 dias após serem retirados dessas áreas. Porém, o quadro de prurido e automutilação retornava em uma ou duas semanas quando os equídeos eram reintroduzidos nessas áreas. Ao exame clínico de asininos jovens e adultos, foram observadas feridas extensas, ulceradas, que drenavam exsudato seroso abundante. Todas essas feridas decorriam de traumas causados por automutilação secundária ao intenso prurido. Além disso, muitas das feridas apresentavam miíase. Os equinos e as mulas apresentavam lesões de fotodermatite somente nas áreas de pele despigmentadas, não sendo observadas lesões oculares. A avaliação histopatológica de biópsias de pele revelou inflamação perivascular na derme superficial. Na epiderme havia extensas úlceras, recobertas por fibrina associada a infiltrado neutrofílico e numerosos agregados bacterianos basofílicos superficiais. As atividades séricas de AST, GGT e as concentrações de bilirrubina no soro estavam dentro dos valores de refer

  6. Intoxicações por plantas em ruminantes e equídeos na região central de Rondônia Plant poisonings in ruminants and equidae in central region of Rondônia state, Northern Brazil

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    Sandro Vargas Schons

    2012-07-01

    Full Text Available Foi realizado um levantamento em 12 municípios da região central de Rondônia sobre a presença de plantas tóxicas e ocorrência de surtos de intoxicação em ruminantes e equídeos. O trabalho foi desenvolvido mediante a utilização de um questionário aplicado a médicos veterinários, agrônomos, zootecnistas e produtores rurais, com o objetivo de identificar as principais plantas tóxicas que ocorrem na região. Trinta e quatro entrevistados relataram casos de intoxicação por uma ou mais plantas comprovadamente tóxicas como: Palicourea marcgravii (12 surtos, Palicourea grandiflora e Enterolobium contortisiliquum (sete surtos cada e Palicourea juruana, Brachiaria radicans, Brachiaria brizantha e Manihot esculenta (dois surtos cada. Em ovinos, foram relatados dois surtos de fotossensiblização por Brachiaria decumbens e um surto de mortalidade por Palicourea grandiflora. Dos 34 surtos relatados em bovinos pelos entrevistados, 374 (8,9% animais foram afetados e 311 (7,4% morreram, de um total de 4.192 de ambos os sexos sob risco. De um total de 250 ovinos sob risco, três surtos de intoxicação por plantas foram relatados e afetaram 28 animais, dos quais 20 morreram. Amorimia sp., previamente desconhecida como tóxica, foi identificada como causa de morte súbita em 32% das propriedades. Quinze surtos de cólica em equídeos que pastavam cultivares de Panicum maximum ('Massai', 'Tanzânia' e 'Mombaça' durante o período das chuvas foram, também, observados. Os resultados do presente trabalho demonstram a importância significativa das intoxicações por plantas como causa de perdas econômicas para a pecuária da região central do Estado de Rondônia. Com a realização deste trabalho, o número de plantas tóxicas para ruminantes com a confirmação de ocorrência de surtos com mortalidade na região passou de um para nove, o que confirma que um trabalho sistemático de investigação é necessário para o conhecimento da import

  7. Tristeza parasitária bovina no Sertão da Paraíba

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    V.M.M. Costa

    2011-03-01

    Full Text Available Descrevem-se 24 surtos de tristeza parasitária bovina no sertão paraibano, sendo 18 de anaplasmose por Anaplasma margimale, dois de babesiose por Babesia bigemina, dois por Babesia não identificada e dois por infecção mista de A. marginale e Babesia sp. Os surtos ocorreram entre agosto de 2007 a outubro de 2009, porém, com uma concentração dos surtos no final do período chuvoso e início do período seco de cada ano, sendo 22 em animais adultos e dois em bezerros de aproximadamente 11 meses. Dois surtos ocorreram em bovinos da raça Nelore, um em animais da raça Gir e os 21 restantes ocorreram em animais das raças Holandês, Pardo Suiço e mestiços das mesmas com zebuínos. Conclui-se que no sertão da Paraíba há áreas de instabilidade enzoótica, ocorrendo surtos de tristeza no final da época de chuvas, principalmente nas áreas de planaltos e serras da região da Borborema e em áreas úmidas como a Bacia do Rio do Peixe, Rio Piranhas e Rio Espinharas em que há a formação de microclimas favoráveis à sobrevivência do carrapato.

  8. Serological studies on an outbreak of smallpox in the State of Bahia - Brazil in 1969

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eduardo de Azeredo Costa

    1972-01-01

    Full Text Available Four weeks after Containment Vaccination undertaken against the largest outbreak of smallpox occured in Brazil in 1969, that of the municipality of Utinga, Bahia, 99 samples of serum were collected from the local population. These samples were classified in four groups: a - Individuals with a history of variola prior to the beginning of present outbreak in town (15 sera; "Previous smallpox group"; b - Individuals with primary vaccination, with no record variola, at the time of containment measures (15 sera. "Primary vaccinated group"; c - Individuals with no previous record of variola revaccinated with "take" at the time of containment (15 sera0, "Revaccinated group"; d - Individuals who contracted variola in present outbreak (54 sera these were subdivided in four sub-groups, according to dates on which cases ocurred, "Variola in outbreak group". Serological study of samples was done by tests of hemagglutination inhibition, neutralization, and complement fixation. It was observed that HI titers were significantly lower in cases of previous smallpox than in other groups. Although they were slightly higher on revaccinated individuals than on primary vaccinated group and than in the group of variola in outbreak, this difference was not significant. Those same antibodies were present in all cases of variola in outbreak, and it was found that titers decreased in direct proportion to time elapsed from occurrence of cases. Neutralizing antibodies proved to be significantly higher on the revaccinated group than on variola in outbreak group, and higher on these than on primary vaccinated and on the previous smallpox groups. In cases from the variola in outbreak it was verified that neutralizing antibodies remained stable, although with great variation in titers. Tests of complement fixation could not be undertaken on all samples, because many of them proved to have anticomplementarity. However, it was found that complement fixing antibodies diminished

  9. Conducting Simulation Studies in Psychometrics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feinberg, Richard A.; Rubright, Jonathan D.

    2016-01-01

    Simulation studies are fundamental to psychometric discourse and play a crucial role in operational and academic research. Yet, resources for psychometricians interested in conducting simulations are scarce. This Instructional Topics in Educational Measurement Series (ITEMS) module is meant to address this deficiency by providing a comprehensive…

  10. Surto de reações hemolíticas associado a residuais de cloro e cloraminas na água de hemodiálise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Calderaro Rachel VV

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Relatar o processo de investigação da contaminação da água e a conseqüente avaliação do surto ocorrido no serviço de hemodiálise. MÉTODOS: Em setembro de 2000, 16 pacientes sob terapia de hemodiálise de um hospital em Minas Gerais apresentaram reações hemolíticas compatíveis a sintomas de intoxicação por cloro e cloramina em água. Foi feita a medição das concentrações de cloro e cloramina em amostras coletadas em diversos pontos do sistema de tratamento e distribuição de água do serviço inspecionado. A identificação dos casos ocorridos durante o período de estudo foi feita pela revisão das anotações de prontuários dos pacientes. Foi feita a revisão dos procedimentos da equipe técnica, médica e de enfermagem por meio de entrevistas. RESULTADOS: A taxa de sintomas foi significativamente alta (p<0,028 durante o período epidêmico em relação ao período pré-epidêmico. Os pacientes afetados fizeram hemodiálise com água tratada por osmose reversa e usaram capilares dialisadores reprocessados manualmente. A água e os capilares apresentaram, durante o período epidêmico, concentrações residuais acima dos padrões desejáveis impostos pela Portaria 82 do Ministério da Saúde/GM, que exige o máximo de 0,5 mg/l para cloro e 0,1 mg/l para cloramina. Risco relativo de 2,58 (1,06 a 6,28 caracteriza elevadas concentrações de cloro livre e cloramina quanto à apresentação dos sintomas nos expostos. CONCLUSÃO: A vigilância dos procedimentos é necessária para que a água utilizada no processo de hemodiálise atenda aos padrões mínimos recomendados.

  11. Surto de reações hemolíticas associado a residuais de cloro e cloraminas na água de hemodiálise

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rachel VV Calderaro

    2001-10-01

    Full Text Available OBJETIVO: Relatar o processo de investigação da contaminação da água e a conseqüente avaliação do surto ocorrido no serviço de hemodiálise. MÉTODOS: Em setembro de 2000, 16 pacientes sob terapia de hemodiálise de um hospital em Minas Gerais apresentaram reações hemolíticas compatíveis a sintomas de intoxicação por cloro e cloramina em água. Foi feita a medição das concentrações de cloro e cloramina em amostras coletadas em diversos pontos do sistema de tratamento e distribuição de água do serviço inspecionado. A identificação dos casos ocorridos durante o período de estudo foi feita pela revisão das anotações de prontuários dos pacientes. Foi feita a revisão dos procedimentos da equipe técnica, médica e de enfermagem por meio de entrevistas. RESULTADOS: A taxa de sintomas foi significativamente alta (p<0,028 durante o período epidêmico em relação ao período pré-epidêmico. Os pacientes afetados fizeram hemodiálise com água tratada por osmose reversa e usaram capilares dialisadores reprocessados manualmente. A água e os capilares apresentaram, durante o período epidêmico, concentrações residuais acima dos padrões desejáveis impostos pela Portaria 82 do Ministério da Saúde/GM, que exige o máximo de 0,5 mg/l para cloro e 0,1 mg/l para cloramina. Risco relativo de 2,58 (1,06 a 6,28 caracteriza elevadas concentrações de cloro livre e cloramina quanto à apresentação dos sintomas nos expostos. CONCLUSÃO: A vigilância dos procedimentos é necessária para que a água utilizada no processo de hemodiálise atenda aos padrões mínimos recomendados.

  12. Study of thermal conductivity of multilayer insulation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dutta, D.; Sundaram, S.; Nath, G.K.; Sethuram, N.P.; Chandrasekharan, T.; Varadarajan, T.G.

    1994-01-01

    This paper presents experimental determination of the apparent thermal conductivity of multilayer insulation for a cryogenic system. The variation of thermal conductivity with residual gas pressure is studied and the optimum vacuum for good insulating performance is determined. Evaporation loss technique for heat-inleak determination is employed. (author)

  13. Study of thermal conductivity of multilayer insulation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Dutta, D; Sundaram, S; Nath, G K; Sethuram, N P; Chandrasekharan, T; Varadarajan, T G [Heavy Water Division, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai (India)

    1994-06-01

    This paper presents experimental determination of the apparent thermal conductivity of multilayer insulation for a cryogenic system. The variation of thermal conductivity with residual gas pressure is studied and the optimum vacuum for good insulating performance is determined. Evaporation loss technique for heat-inleak determination is employed. (author). 3 refs., 3 figs.

  14. Conductivity and transport studies of plasticized chitosan-based proton conducting biopolymer electrolytes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shukur, M. F.; Yusof, Y. M.; Zawawi, S. M. M.; Illias, H. A.; Kadir, M. F. Z.

    2013-11-01

    This paper focuses on the conductivity and transport properties of chitosan-based solid biopolymer electrolytes containing ammonium thiocyanate (NH4SCN). The sample containing 40 wt% NH4SCN exhibited the highest conductivity value of (1.81 ± 0.50) × 10-4 S cm-1 at room temperature. Conductivity has increased to (1.51 ± 0.12) × 10-3 S cm-1 with the addition of 25 wt% glycerol. The temperature dependence of conductivity for both salted and plasticized systems obeyed the Arrhenius rule. The activation energy (Ea) was calculated for both systems and it is found that the sample with 40 wt% NH4SCN in the salted system obtained an Ea value of 0.148 eV and that for the sample containing 25 wt% glycerol in the plasticized system is 0.139 eV. From the Fourier transform infrared studies, carboxamide and amine bands shifted to lower wavenumbers, indicating that chitosan has interacted with NH4SCN salt. Changes in the C-O stretching vibration band intensity are observed at 1067 cm-1 with the addition of glycerol. The Rice and Roth model was used to explain the transport properties of the salted and plasticized systems.

  15. INFECTIOUS KERATOCONJUNTIVITIS OUTBREAK IN OVINES DUE TO Moraxella spp IN STATE OF GOIÁS, BRAZIL SURTO DE CERATOCONJUNTIVITE INFECCIOSA EM OVINOS CAUSADA POR Moraxella spp. NO ESTADO DE GOIÁS, BRASIL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nilo Sérgio Troncoso Chaves

    2008-04-01

    Full Text Available

    This article reports an infectious keratoconjuntivitis outbreak in sheeps (OKC situated in Quirinopólis Goiás, where raised 140 ovines for slaughter and from these 100 became ill. Moraxela bovis isolation was done in culture medium in the Food Analysis Center and Microbiological Latoratory of Veterinary Medicine Department, both from the Veterinary College of Goiás Federal University. The disease focus control envolved the following protocol: 1. hygienics – animal quarantine in low luminosity ambient, rest and appropriate food; 2. medicamentous – eye washing with 0,9% sodium chloride solution followed by application oxytetracyclin chloridrate ophtalmic ointment and intramuscular injection of long-acting oxytetracyclin chloridrate in ill and healthy animals; 3. preventive – use of commercial vacine against OKC and fly control. Recovery of the great part of animals minimized the damages and avoid the disease spreading on this farm and others surrounding properties. In Brazil, there are few studies about OKC outbreaks. The incentive to carry out this study was the scarceness of data related to this serious ocular deasease caused by bacterium Moraxela spp. in ovines in state of Goiás.
    KEY  WORDS: Keratoconjuntivitis, Moraxella spp,.sheep.

    Este trabalho descreve um surto de ceratoconjuntivite infecciosa ovina (CCI, em 100 dos 140 ovinos existentes, no município de Quirinópolis, GO. O isolamento da Study on thermal conductive BN/novolac resin composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, Shasha; Qi, Shuhua; Liu, Nailiang; Cao, Peng

    2011-01-01

    Highlights: → Boron nitride (BN) particles were used to modify novolac resin. → BN particles were pretreated by γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane. → The thermal conductivity trend of composite almost agrees with the predicted data from the Maxwell-Eucken model. → At BN concentration of 80 wt.%, thermal conductivity value of composite is 4.5 times that of pure novolac resin. → Combined use of the larger and smaller particles with a mass ratio of 1:2 provides the composites with the maximum thermal conductivity among the testing systems. → The composite thermal property also increases with an increase in the BN concentration. - Abstract: In this study, γ-aminopropyltriethoxysilane-treated boron nitride (BN) particles were used to modify novolac resin. The effect of varying the BN concentration, particle size, and hybrid BN fillers with the binary particle size distribution on the thermal conductivity of the composites was investigated. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging showed homogeneously dispersed treated BN particles in the matrix. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity increased as the BN concentration was increased. This behavior was also observed when the filler size was increased. Experimentally obtained thermal conductivity values agree with the predicted data from the Maxwell-Eucken model well at less than 70 wt.% BN loading. A larger particle size BN-filled novolac resin exhibits a higher thermal conductivity than a smaller particle size BN-filled one. The combined use of 0.5 and 15 μm particles with a mass ratio of 2:1 achieved the maximum thermal conductivity among the testing systems. The thermal resistance properties of the composites were also studied.

  16. Studies on electrical conductivity of poly phenylene vinylene

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khattab, Asaad F.; Ahmad, Saddam M.

    2009-01-01

    Four Pp polymers have been synthesized through Wit ting reaction, 1 poly(p-phenylene vinylene), 2 = poly(p phenylene vinylene-co-m-phenylene vinylene), 3 = poly(p-phenylene vinylene-co-o-phenylene vinylene) and 4 poly(p-phenylene-1,5-hexadiene). Electrical conductivity measurements show that the conductivity of polymer 3 is higher than that of polymers 1 and 2. The dihedral angle measurements indicates that the irregularity of polymer chains is the main reason for this fact. The interruption of chain conjugation by aliphatic segments (polymer 4) will increase the conductivity by increasing the chain mobility.The electrical conductivity of the polymers is increased by doping with iodine and by raising the temperature. The effect of annealing with different temperatures on conductivity was studied; the results show that structural conformation of polymeric chain is the main factor affecting electrical conductivity. (author)

  17. Conductivity and transport studies of plasticized chitosan-based proton conducting biopolymer electrolytes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shukur, M F; Yusof, Y M; Zawawi, S M M; Illias, H A; Kadir, M F Z

    2013-01-01

    This paper focuses on the conductivity and transport properties of chitosan-based solid biopolymer electrolytes containing ammonium thiocyanate (NH 4 SCN). The sample containing 40 wt% NH 4 SCN exhibited the highest conductivity value of (1.81 ± 0.50) × 10 −4  S cm −1 at room temperature. Conductivity has increased to (1.51 ± 0.12) × 10 −3  S cm −1 with the addition of 25 wt% glycerol. The temperature dependence of conductivity for both salted and plasticized systems obeyed the Arrhenius rule. The activation energy (E a ) was calculated for both systems and it is found that the sample with 40 wt% NH 4 SCN in the salted system obtained an E a value of 0.148 eV and that for the sample containing 25 wt% glycerol in the plasticized system is 0.139 eV. From the Fourier transform infrared studies, carboxamide and amine bands shifted to lower wavenumbers, indicating that chitosan has interacted with NH 4 SCN salt. Changes in the C–O stretching vibration band intensity are observed at 1067 cm −1 with the addition of glycerol. The Rice and Roth model was used to explain the transport properties of the salted and plasticized systems. (paper)

  18. Blindagem eletromagnética, aterramento e proteção contra surtos de tensão em equipamentos para monitoramento automático do teor de água no solo Electromagnetic shielding, grounding and protection against voltage surges in equipments for automatic soil-water measurements

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Claudia F. A. Teixeira

    2004-04-01

    Full Text Available O objetivo do presente trabalho foi implementar um sistema de blindagem eletromagnética, aterramento e proteção contra surtos de tensão na instalação de instrumental para o monitoramento automático do teor de água no solo. O experimento foi instalado em Piracicaba, São Paulo, em que os equipamentos utilizados foram um testador de cabos marca Tektronix, que opera pelo princípio da reflectometria no domínio do tempo e um sistema de aquisição de dados marca Campbell Scientific Inc. (CSI, que controla e analisa as formas de onda produzidas pelo testador de cabos. A umidade volumétrica foi obtida indiretamente por meio de sensores inseridos no solo, os quais medem a constante dielétrica do mesmo. Utilizaram-se tubos galvanizados para a blindagem eletromagnética dos cabos e hastes "cooperweld", cordoalha de cobre e terminais bimetálicos para o sistema de aterramento. Para o sistema de proteção eletroeletrônica, utilizaram-se um disjuntor para a separação do circuito de alimentação, protetor de surtos, "no-breaks" e medidor de resistência de terra. Face aos resultados obtidos, pode-se concluir que o sistema proposto, ao utilizar material geralmente preexistente em locais de pesquisa agropecuária, apresentou uma proteção eficaz.The objective of this paper was to implement an electromagnetic shielding, grounding and voltage surge protection in equipments for automatic soil water monitoring. The experiment was carried out in Piracicaba, São Paulo State, Brazil, using a Tektronix Cable Tester (Model 1502 B that operates by time domain reflectometry (TDR and a datalogger (CR10X, Campbell Scientific Inc., CSI to control and analyze the waveforms produced by the cable tester. The water content was indirectly obtained by measuring the dielectric constant through probes inserted in the soil. For electromagnetic shielding the energy and signal cables were inserted in galvanized pipes, linked together by means of copper wire fixed in

  19. Terrain And Laboratory Conductivity Studies Of Flood Plains Of ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A shallow electromagnetic study (electrical conductivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements) and laboratory conductivity sampling of the flood plains of Oluwatuyi/Oshinle area of Akure have been undertaken. This is with the aim of correlating the terrain conductivity mapping with laboratory measurements to establish ...

  1. A bumblefoot outbreak and fatal septicemia in captive aquatic birds in Brazil Surto de esparavão e septicemia fatal em aves aquáticas cativas no Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcus Vinícius Romero Marques

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available A bumblefoot outbreak with different prognosis according to host species was studied in captive aquatic avian species. Six wood ducks (Aix sponsa, three scarlet-ibis (Eudocimus ruber, two black-swans (Cygnus atratus, five white-faced ducks (Dendrocygna viduata and two roseate spoonbills (Platalea ajaja were kept in a common pen with abrasive pavement pond margin, predisposing to podal skin wear. Incoordination and mortality occurred in the two roseate spoonbils and one black swan. Coagulase-positive penicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus was isolated from the synovial fluid and from the liver. All birds sharing the pen presented active or cicatricial foot lesions, indicating a possible challenge to the environmental Staphylococci. However, except for the roseate spoonbill and the black swan, which had fatal disease, for all other species the case did not evolve to a clinically debilitating or fatal disease. The different susceptibility to a fatal Staphylococcus aureus coagulase positive infection is discussed.Este trabalho relata um surto de esparavão em aves aquáticas cativas com prognóstico variado conforme a espécie de ave. Foram examinados um marreco carolina (Aix sponsa, três guarás (íbis vermelha (Eudocimus ruber, dois cisnes negros (Cygnus atratus, cinco marrecas piadeiras (Dendrocygna viduata e dois colhereiros (Platalea ajaja mantidos em recinto comunitário, em cativeiro e em criatório. No recinto, a piscina é margeada por borda de cimento abrasivo que possibilita a abrasão da pele podal. Todas as aves apresentaram erosões da pele na face de apoio dos pés, indicando fator predisponente (erosão similar e possível semelhante desafio infeccioso. Entretanto, incoordenação e mortalidade ocorreram em colhereiros e no cisne negro, mas não nas outras espécies. Staphylococcus aureus coagulase positivo e resistente à penicilina foi isolado do líquido sinovial e do fígado das aves recém-mortas e conservadas em geladeira

  2. Surto de aflatoxicose em bezerros no Rio Grande do Sul Outbreak of aflatoxicosis in calves in southern Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felipe Pierezan

    2010-05-01

    Full Text Available Um surto de aflatoxicose crônica é relatado em bezerros de raça leiteira. Quarenta bezerros holandeses machos de quatro meses de idade e aproximadamente 100kg eram mantidos em gaiolas individuais de 1,5 x 1,5m e alimentados com uma ração constituída por feno de alfafa, milho quebrado e substituto de leite. Seis bezerros (15% morreram após apresentar uma doença caracterizada por mau desenvolvimento geral, diarreia, pelagem áspera, dor abdominal, tenesmo, prolapso de reto e bruxismo. Alguns bezerros "deitavam e rolavam" no chão da gaiola. A duração do curso clínico, segundo observado pelos proprietários, foi de 2-3 dias; muitos terneiros desse lote que não morreram permaneceram pouco desenvolvidos. Três bezerros foram necropsiados. Os achados de necropsia incluíam fígado firme e castanho-claro, marcados hidrotórax e ascite, e edema do mesentério, mesocólon e das dobras da mucosa do abomaso. Os principais achados histopatológicos estavam restritos ao fígado e consistiam de fibrose, moderada megalocitose, hiperplasia de ductos biliares e lesão veno-oclusiva. A procura por contaminação de Senecio spp. no feno de alfafa resultou negativa. A análise do milho do alimento dos bezerros por cromatografia de camada delgada revelou 5.136ppb de aflatoxina B1. O diagnóstico de aflatoxicose foi feito baseado nos sinais clínicos e patologia característicos, na ausência de Senecio spp. na alimentação dos terneiros e na presença de altos níveis de aflatoxina no milho da alimentação dos bezerros.An outbreak of chronic aflatoxicosis is reported in dairy calves. Forty 4-month-old male Holstein calves of approximately 100kg were kept in individual cages of 1.5 x 1.5m and were fed a ration constituted by alfalfa hay, broken corn and milk substitute. Six calves (15% died after presenting a disease characterized by general unthriftiness, diarrhea, rough hair coats, abdominal pain, prolapsed rectum, grinding of teeth, and lying down

  3. Studies on conductivity and dielectric properties of polyaniline–zinc ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Unknown

    Abstract. In the present paper, we report electrical conductivity and dielectric studies on the composites of conducting polyaniline (PANI) with crystalline semiconducting ZnS powder, wherein PANI has been taken as inclusion and ZnS crystallites as the host matrix. From the studies, it has been observed that the value of.

  4. Structure-conductivity studies in polymer electrolytes containing multivalent cations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Aziz, M.

    1996-05-01

    Understanding the structure - conductivity relationship is of paramount importance for the development of polymer electrolytes. The present studies present the techniques found useful in the elucidation of structure - conductivity relationship in PEO n :ZnBr 2 (n = 8, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000) and PEO n :FeBr x (n= 8, 20 and 50; x = 2 and 3). Local structural studies have been undertaken using X-ray absorption fine structures (XAFS) which includes extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES). EXAFS provides interatomic distance and coordination numbers of the nearest neighbours and results from the EXAFS studies showed that high conductivity is associated with stretched M - O interatomic distance. In the studies on ultra dilute Zn samples it was found that the cation is highly solvated by the heteroatom forming a tightly bound environment which inhibits local segmental motion thus impeding ion migration. XANES studies on the PEO and modified PEO complexes of NiBr 2 revealed the sensitivity of XANES to the structural differences. XANES on Zn and Fe samples also revealed the sensitivity to changes in interatomic distances reflected in shifts of the white line. The complementary nature of EXAFS and XANES was reflected in the studies conducted. Morphological studies were undertaken employing differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), variable temperature polarising microscopy (VTPM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). DSC evidences helped to explain the texture of the iron samples during the drying process, and showed transitions between low melting, PEO and high melting spherulites, and VTPM is able to visualise the spherulites present in the samples. AFM has successfully imaged the as cast PEO 8 :FeBr 2 sample and the surface effect causing extra resistance in the impedance spectra could be seen. Conductivity studies were carried out using a.c. impedance spectra. Fe(ll) samples exhibit the typical semicircle

  5. Multi-channel grouping techniques for conducting reactor safety studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Waltar, A.E.; Wilburn, N.P.

    1975-01-01

    In conducting safety studies for postulated unprotected accidents in an LMFBR system, it is common practice to employ multi-channel coupled neutronics, thermal hydraulics computer programs such as SAS3A or MELT-III. The multichannel feature of such code systems is important if the natural fuel failure incoherencies and the resulting sodium void/fuel motion reactivity feedbacks--which have strong spatial variations--are to be properly modeled. Because of the large amounts of computer time associated with many channel runs, however, there is a strong incentive to conduct parametric studies with as few channels as possible. The paper presented is focused on methods successfully employed to accomplish this end for a study of the hypothetical unprotected transient overpower accident conducted for the FFTF

  6. Studying sustainable development at the intersection of conduct and counter-conduct

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Lindegaard, Laura Bang

    analyses how these documents are participating in the continuous negotiations of the governmental rationalities of global citizenship that are an inevitable part of the dispersed governing of sustainable development. In more detail, the paper analyses how the Danish transportation initiative is co......) that is sensitive to the subtle effects of counter-conduct. The paper reports on an empirical study that tracks the connections between the UN’s Agenda 21 and a ‘local’ Agenda 21 initiative in a rural Danish municipality aiming at ‘greening’ citizens’ everyday transportation practices, and, secondly, the paper...

  7. Proliferative enteropathy (Lawsonia intracellularis outbreak in rabbits in Brazil Surto de enteropatia proliferativa (Lawsonia intracellularis em coelhos no Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo V. Peixoto

    2008-10-01

    Full Text Available An outbreak of Lawsonia intracellularis infection in rabbits, which occurred in 1988 in Rio de Janeiro state, Brazil, is reported. The disease had an acute course (24-48 hours with clinical signs characterized by brownish or green diarrhea and dehydration. Occasionally, the animals died one day after the onset of diarrhea, without showing any other clinical signs. At necropsy, the ileum was prominent, firm and had a thickened wall; it was dilated in the caudal direction and had a somewhat reticulated appearance, perceptible through the serosa. The thickened mucous membrane had finely corrugated aspect and a shiny surface. The ileocecal valve and surrounding areas were slightly edematous and irregular. The Peyer's patches were sometimes more evident. There was moderate enlargement of the mesenteric lymph nodes. The histological examination revealed different degrees of hyperplasia of the epithelial cells of intestinal crypts consisting of poorly differentiated, hyperchromatic cells with high mitotic index, arranged in a pseudostratified layer which, in some cases, reached the apical portions of the villi. The inflammatory infiltrate between the hyperplastic epithelial cells was composed of lymphocytes, plasma cells, macrophages, some eosinophils and globular leukocytes. Silver impregnation revealed large numbers of bacteria with morphology of the genus Lawsonia in the apical pole of cryptal enterocytes. These bacteria reacted positively to a Lawsonia intracellularis polyclonal antibody by the avidin-biotin immunohistochemistry method.Descreve-se um surto de infecção por Lawsonia intracellularis em coelhos em Mendes, Estado do Rio de Janeiro. A doença manifestou-se, de forma aguda (24-48 horas, com sintomatologia caracterizada por diarréia marrom ou esverdeada, e desidratação. Ocasionalmente, os animais morriam um dia após o início da diarréia, sem apresentar outros sintomas. À necropsia verificou-se íleo proeminente, firme, com parede

  8. Considerations when conducting e-Delphi research: a case study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toronto, Coleen

    2017-06-22

    Background E-Delphi is a way to access a geographically dispersed group of experts. It is similar to other Delphi methods but conducted online. E-research methodologies, such as the e-Delphi method, have yet to undergo significant critical discussion. Aim To highlight some of the challenges nurse researchers may wish to consider when using e-Delphi in their research. Discussion This paper provides details about the author's approach to conducting an e-Delphi study in which a group of health literacy nurse experts (n=41) used an online survey platform to identify and prioritise essential health literacy competencies for registered nurses. Conclusion This paper advances methodological discourse about e-Delphi by critically assessing an e-Delphi case study. The online survey platform used in this study was advantageous for the researcher and the experts: the experts could participate at any time and place where the internet was available; the researcher could efficiently access a national group of experts, track responses and analyse data in each round. Implications for practice E-Delphi studies create opportunities for nurse researchers to conduct research nationally and internationally. Before conducting an e-Delphi study, researchers should carefully consider the design and methods for collecting data, to avoid challenges that could potentially compromise the quality of the findings. Researchers are encouraged to publish details about their approaches to e-Delphi studies, to advance the state of the science.

  9. Computational study of NMDA conductance and cortical oscillations in schizophrenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kubra eKomek Kirli

    2014-10-01

    Full Text Available N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA receptor hypofunction has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. The illness is also characterized by gamma oscillatory disturbances, which can be evaluated with precise frequency specificity employing auditory cortical entrainment paradigms. This computational study investigates how synaptic NMDA hypofunction may give rise to network level oscillatory deficits as indexed by entrainment paradigms. We developed a computational model of a local cortical circuit with pyramidal cells and fast-spiking interneurons (FSI, incorporating NMDA, α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazolepropionic (AMPA, and γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA synaptic kinetics. We evaluated the effects of varying NMDA conductance on FSIs and pyramidal cells, as well as AMPA to NMDA ratio. We also examined the differential effects across a broad range of entrainment frequencies as a function of NMDA conductance. Varying NMDA conductance onto FSIs revealed an inverted-U relation with network gamma whereas NMDA conductance onto the pyramidal cells had a more monotonic relationship. Varying NMDA vs. AMPA conductance onto FSIs demonstrated the necessity of AMPA in the generation of gamma while NMDA receptors had a modulatory role. Finally, reducing NMDA conductance onto FSI and varying the stimulus input frequency reproduced the specific reductions in gamma range (~40 Hz as observed in schizophrenia studies. Our computational study showed that reductions in NMDA conductance onto FSIs can reproduce similar disturbances in entrainment to periodic stimuli within the gamma range as reported in schizophrenia studies. These findings provide a mechanistic account of how specific cellular level disturbances can give rise to circuitry level pathophysiologic disturbance in schizophrenia.

  10. High pressure studies of ionic conductivity in solids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Samara, G.A.

    1979-01-01

    The pressure dependence of the ionic conductivity provides information about the volume relaxation associated with the formation of lattice defects as well as with the diffusive motion of these defects, and thereby helps elucidate the conduction process. Pressure results on a variety of crystals will be discussed with emphasis on recent results on crystals with large lattice polarizabilities and soft phonon modes. Pressure is shown to be an important--sometimes essential, variable in the study of ionic transport processes

  11. a.c. conductance study of polycrystal C60

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yan Feng; Wang Yening; Huang Yineng; Gu Min; Zhang Qingming; Shen Huimin

    1995-01-01

    The a.c. (1 60 polycrystal (grain size 30 nm) has been studied from 100 to 350 K. Below 150 K, the a.c. conductance is nearly proportional to the temperature and frequency. This is proposed to be due to the hopping of localized states around the Fermi level. Above 200 K, the a.c. conductance exhibits a rapid increase with temperature, and shows a thermally activated behaviour with an activation energy of 0.389 eV below a certain temperature and 0.104 eV above it. A frequency dependent conductance at a fixed temperature is also obtained with a power law σ similar ω s (s∼0.8). For a sample of normal grain size, we have measured a peak near 250 K and a much smaller conductance. These results indicate that the defective na ture of our sample (small grain size, disorder or impurities) plays an important role for the transport properties. The existence of nanocrystals in the sample may give rise to localized states and improve its a.c. conductance. The two activation energies can be attributed to the coexistence of the crystalline and amorphous phases of C 60 . ((orig.))

  12. Aspectos epidemiológicos da seneciose na região sul do Rio Grande do Sul Epidemiological aspects of seneciosis in southern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Sérgio Castilhos Karam

    2004-12-01

    Full Text Available Seneciose é a principal intoxicação por planta no sul do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil. Neste trabalho apresentam-se os dados de 24 surtos de seneciose em bovinos e de um em eqüinos, diagnosticados pelo Laboratório Regional de Diagnóstico (LRD da Universidade Federal de Pelotas, no período de 1998 a 2000. Adicionalmente são avaliados os dados epidemiológicos de 54 surtos ocorridos no período 1978-1997. Os dados epidemiológicos e clínicos do período 1998-2000 foram coletados em visitas às propriedades onde estavam ocorrendo os surtos. Em 11 (45,83% surtos os animais tinham até 3 anos de idade e, em 13 (54,16%, 3 anos ou mais. Quanto ao sexo, 9 (37,5% surtos atingiram fêmeas e 15 (62,5% afetaram machos. Em relação à época de ocorrência, 10 (41,66% surtos ocorreram na primavera, 4 (16,66% no verão, 5 (20,83% no outono, e 5 (20,83% no inverno. A morbidade foi estimada em 4,92% e a letalidade em 95,59%. As espécies de Senecio que predominaram nas propriedades visitadas foram S. brasiliensis em 12 (57,14%, S. selloi em 10 (47,61%, S. oxyphyllus em 6 (28,57%, S. heterotrichius em 3 (14,28%, e S. leptolobus em 1 (4,76% propriedade. Os sinais clínicos mais freqüentes foram emagrecimento progressivo, incoordenação, diarréia, tenesmo, prolapso retal e agressividade. O curso clínico da intoxicação, levando em consideração somente os animais necropsiados ou os observados durante as visitas às fazendas, foi de 24 a 96 horas em 4 (16,66% surtos, de 4 a 7 dias em 7 (29,16%, de 1 a 2 semanas em 4 (16,66%, de 2 a 3 semanas em 2 (8,33%, de 1 a 2 meses em 2 (8,33%, e de 2 a 3 meses em 1 (4,16% surto. Em quatro (16,66% surtos o período de manifestação clínica não foi observado. Nos surtos em que o curso clínico foi mais prolongado, alguns animais apresentaram fotossensibilização. Os achados de necropsia mais comuns foram fígado aumentado de tamanho e endurecido, vesícula biliar aumentada, edema no mesentério e abomaso e l

  13. AC Conductivity Studies of Lithium Based Phospho Vanadate Glasses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nagendra, K.; Babu, G. Satish; Gowda, Veeranna; Reddy, C. Narayana

    2011-01-01

    Glasses in the system xLi 2 SO 4 -20Li 2 O-(80-x) [80P 2 O 5 -20V 2 O 5 ](5≥x≥20 mol%) has been prepared by melt quenching method. Dc and ac conductivity has been studied over a wide range of frequency (10 Hz to 10 MHz) and temperature (298 K-523 K). The dc conductivity found to increase with increase of Li 2 SO 4 concentration. The ac conductivities have been fitted to the Almond-West type single power law equation σ(ω) = σ(0)+Aω s where 's' is the power law exponent. The ac conductivity found to increase with increase of Li 2 SO 4 concentration. An attempt is made to elucidate the enhancement of lithium ion conduction in phosphor-vanadate glasses by considering the expansion of network structure.

  14. Theoretical studies of ionic conductivity of crosslinked chitosan membranes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chavez, Ernesto Lopez [Programa de Ingenieria Molecular y Nuevos Materiales, Universidad Autonoma de la Ciudad de Mexico, Fray Servando Teresa de Mier 92, 1er. Piso, Col Centro, Mexico D.F. CP 06080 (Mexico); Oviedo-Roa, R.; Contreras-Perez, Gustavo; Martinez-Magadan, Jose Manuel [Instituto Mexicano del Petroleo, Eje Central Lazaro Cardenas Norte 152, Col. San Bartolo Atepehuacan, CP 07730 Mexico D.F. (Mexico); Castillo-Alvarado, F.L. [Escuela Superior de Fisica y Matematicas del Instituto Politecnico Nacional, Edificio 9 de la UPALM, Colonia Lindavista, Mexico D.F. CP 07738 (Mexico)

    2010-11-15

    Ionic conductivity of crosslinked chitosan membranes was studied using techniques of molecular modeling and simulation. The COMPASS force field was used. The simulation allows the description of the mechanism of ionic conductivity along the polymer matrix. The theoretical results obtained are compared with experimental results for chitosan membranes. The analysis suggests that the conduction mechanism is portrayed by the overlapping large Polaron tunneling model. In addition, when the chitosan membrane was crosslinked with an appropriate degree of crosslinking its ionic conductivity, at room temperature, was increased by about one order of magnitude. The chitosan membranes can be used as electrolytes in solid state batteries, electric double layer capacitors and fuel cells. (author)

  15. Ocorrência de Mollicutes e Ureaplasma spp. em surto de doença reprodutiva em rebanho bovino no Estado da Paraíba Occurrence of Mollicutes and Ureaplasma spp. in outbreak of reproductive disease in cattle herds, State of Paraíba, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra B. dos Santos

    2013-03-01

    Full Text Available Em março de 2012 foi diagnosticado um surto de doença reprodutiva em rebanho bovino no Estado da Paraíba, Brasil. Foram examinadas 32 vacas e dois touros da raça Girolando. As vacas apresentaram sinais de doença reprodutiva como repetição de cio, vulvovaginite granular, infertilidade e abortos. As amostras de suabes vaginais e prepuciais foram colhidas e submetidas a isolamento bacteriano e PCR. As reações da PCR para Mollicutes e Ureaplasma spp. foram realizadas com os iniciadores MGSO-GPO3 e UGP'F-UGP'R, respectivamente. Na Nested PCR para Ureaplasma diversum, os iniciadores usados foram UD1, UD2, UD3 e UD4. Para isolamento bacteriano, as amostras foram diluídas de 10-1 até 10-5, semeadas em meio "UB", líquido e placa, sendo incubadas por até 21 dias a 37ºC em jarra de microaerofilia. A frequência de Mollicutes detectada na PCR foi de 65,6% e para Ureaplasma spp. foi de 50,0%, enquanto que para U. diversum foi de 15,6%. No isolamento a frequência de Mollicutes foi de 57,1% e para Ureaplasma spp. foi de 28,6%. No ágar "UB" foi visualizado o crescimento misto de Mycoplasma spp. e Ureaplasma spp. em seis amostras. Foi confirmado o envolvimento de micro-organismos da Classe Mollicutes em surto de doença reprodutiva em vacas no sertão paraibano.In March of 2012 was investigated a reproductive disease outbreak in cattle herds from Paraíba State, Brazil. Were examined 32 cows and two bulls Giroland breed. The cows showed signs and symptoms of reproductive failure such as repeat breeding, granular vulvovaginitis, infertility and abortions. Vaginal and preputial mucous samples were collected for analysis by PCR and isolation. The PCR reactions for Mollicutes and Ureaplasma spp. were realized with primers MGSO and GPO3, and UGP'F and UGP'R respectively. The nested PCR assay for Ureaplasma diversum was realized with primers UD1, UD2, UD3 and UD4. For bacteriologic isolation, obtained samples were diluted up to 10-1 at 10-5, inoculated

  16. Avaliação do impacto da epizootia de Febre Amarela sobre as populações de primatas não humanos nas unidades de conservação do Rio Grande do Sul, Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcos de Souza Fialho

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7925.2012v25n3p217   A Febre Amarela (FA é uma doença infecciosa aguda. No Brasil, a FA tem caráter sazonal, ocorrendo frequentemente entre os meses de janeiro a abril, quando fatores ambientais propiciam o aumento da abundância dos vetores. Há diversos relatos sobre a mortalidade de primatas devido à FA, em especial os do gênero Alouatta, mas há escassa informação disponível para verificar e quantificar os danos causados às populações de primatas por eventos desta natureza. O presente estudo busca avaliar o impacto do surto de FA ocorrido entre 2008 e 2009 sobre as populações de primatas nas unidades de conservação (UC do Estado do Rio Grande do Sul. A presença dos primatas e a ocorrência do surto foram registradas por meio de observações diretas e entrevistas. Foram visitadas 11 UC e realizadas 52 entrevistas. Constatou-se que destas UC, três não abrigam primatas, três abrigam populações de Alouatta caraya e quatro de Alouatta guariba. Cebus nigritus está presente em três UC. A única unidade de conservação severamente impactada pelo surto de FA foi o Parque Estadual do Espigão Alto, embora relatos de óbitos durante o surto tenham sido obtidos para a zona de amortecimento ou entorno próximo de outras cinco UC.

  17. Statistical study of static gasket conductance; Etude statistique de la conductance d'un joint d'etancheite statique

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Flukiger, F

    2005-10-15

    This work is motivated by tightness technological problems associated with metallic gasket. The objective is a better understanding of leakage mechanisms, through the development of new computational tools. In this study, the aperture field between two rough surfaces in contact is described by a short correlated isotropic random Gaussian process. The system is studied as a set of independent elementary surfaces. Joint conductances are evaluated from a statistical study on those elementary surfaces. A computational code is developed using a network approach based on lubrication theory estimation of local conductances. The global conductance computation becomes analogous to an electrical problem for which the resistances are distributed on a random network. The network is built from the identification of the aperture field critical points. Maxima are linked through saddle points. Bond conductances are estimated at the aperture field saddle points. First, a purely plastic model of deformations is considered. Near percolation threshold the conductances display a power behaviour. Far from percolation threshold, numerical results are favourably compared with an effective medium approximation. Secondly, we study the impact of elastic deformations. A computational code based on Boussinesq approximation is coupled to the network approach. The results indicate a significant impact of elastic deformations on conductances. Finally, the network approach is adapted to simulate quasi-static drainage thanks to a classical invasion percolation algorithm. A good comparison between previous experiments and numerical predictions is obtained. (author)

  18. Conductive Education: Feasibility Study on Developing a National Curriculum Plan for Those Working in Conductive Education in New Zealand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wagner, Graham A.

    This study sought to determine whether there are national training needs among staff of conductive education programs in New Zealand. Conductive education is a unified system of education for children and adults with a motor disorder whose disability has been caused by damage to the central nervous system. The study, which focuses primarily on…

  19. Fundamental principles of conducting a surgery economic analysis study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kotsis, Sandra V; Chung, Kevin C

    2010-02-01

    The use of economic evaluation in surgery is scarce. Economic evaluation is used even less so in plastic surgery, in which health-related quality of life is of particular importance. This article, part of a tutorial series on evidence-based medicine, focuses on the fundamental principles of conducting a surgery economic analysis. The authors include the essential aspects of conducting a surgical cost-utility analysis by considering perspectives, costs, outcomes, and utilities. The authors also describe and give examples of how to conduct the analyses (including calculating quality-adjusted life-years and discounting), how to interpret the results, and how to report the results. Although economic analyses are not simple to conduct, a well-conducted one provides many rewards, such as recommending the adoption of a more effective treatment. For comparing and interpreting economic analysis publications, it is important that all studies use consistent methodology and report the results in a similar manner.

  20. Recovery from distal ulnar motor conduction block injury: serial EMG studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Montoya, Liliana; Felice, Kevin J

    2002-07-01

    Acute conduction block injuries often result from nerve compression or trauma. The temporal pattern of clinical, electrophysiologic, and histopathologic changes following these injuries has been extensively studied in experimental animal models but not in humans. Our recent evaluation of a young man with an injury to the deep motor branch of the ulnar nerve following nerve compression from weightlifting exercises provided the opportunity to follow the course and recovery of a severe conduction block injury with sequential nerve conduction studies. The conduction block slowly and completely resolved, as did the clinical deficit, over a 14-week period. The reduction in conduction block occurred at a linear rate of -6.1% per week. Copyright 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Nuclear Spin Lattice Relaxation and Conductivity Studies of the Non-Arrhenius Conductivity Behavior in Lithium Fast Ion Conducting Sulfide Glasses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Meyer, Benjamin Michael [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

    2003-01-01

    As time progresses, the world is using up more of the planet's natural resources. Without technological advances, the day will eventually arrive when these natural resources will no longer be sufficient to supply all of the energy needs. As a result, society is seeing a push for the development of alternative fuel sources such as wind power, solar power, fuel cells, and etc. These pursuits are even occurring in the state of Iowa with increasing social pressure to incorporate larger percentages of ethanol in gasoline. Consumers are increasingly demanding that energy sources be more powerful, more durable, and, ultimately, more cost efficient. Fast Ionic Conducting (FIC) glasses are a material that offers great potential for the development of new batteries and/or fuel cells to help inspire the energy density of battery power supplies. This dissertation probes the mechanisms by which ions conduct in these glasses. A variety of different experimental techniques give a better understanding of the interesting materials science taking place within these systems. This dissertation discusses Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) techniques performed on FIC glasses over the past few years. These NMR results have been complimented with other measurement techniques, primarily impedance spectroscopy, to develop models that describe the mechanisms by which ionic conduction takes place and the dependence of the ion dynamics on the local structure of the glass. The aim of these measurements was to probe the cause of a non-Arrhenius behavior of the conductivity which has been seen at high temperatures in the silver thio-borosilicate glasses. One aspect that will be addressed is if this behavior is unique to silver containing fast ion conducting glasses. more specifically, this study will determine if a non-Arrhenius correlation time, τ, can be observed in the Nuclear Spin Lattice Relaxation (NSLR) measurements. If so, then can this behavior be modeled with a new single

  2. Electrical conductivity study on polythiophenes films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Youm, I.; Cadene, M.

    1994-10-01

    The electrical conduction mechanism of two classes of polythiophenes: polythiophene (PT) and poly(3-methylthiophene) (PMT) films containing various levels of doping counter-ions was investigated. The temperature dependence of electrical conductivity obeys the Mott equation based on variable range hopping. The dimension of the variable range hopping is correlated with the structure of the conducting polymer. It seems for these polymers that carrier transport via mobile conjugational defects does not play a detectable role. (author). 17 refs, 3 figs, 1 tab

  3. Electrical spectroscopy studies of two new siloxanic proton conducting membranes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Di Noto, Vito; Vittadello, Michele; Zago, Vanni; Pace, Giuseppe; Vidali, Maurizio

    2006-01-01

    This contribution is focused on the conductivity study and the protonic transfer investigation of two new siloxanic membranes. The conductivity of the systems has been studied within the temperature range 5 deg. C ≤ T ≤ 145 deg. C, both for pristine and hydrated membranes. Membrane A has been hydrated up to 33.12% in weight, while in B up to 27.76%. The conductivity of these membranes has shown a temperature dependence of the Arrhenius type variable in the interval 1.6 x 10 -4 ≤ σ A ≤ 2.3 x 10 -3 S cm -1 and 1.3 x 10 -5 ≤ σ B ≤ 2.9 x 10 -4 S cm -1 , respectively, for A and B. In particular, conductivities of 2 x 10 -3 S cm -1 (A) and of 2 x 10 -4 S cm -1 (B) at 125 deg. C were observed. The conductivity mechanism was investigated by using broad band electrical spectroscopy in the region between 40 Hz and 10 MHz. This study, for both the materials has shown the presence at low frequencies (10 2 ≤ f β ≤ 10 4 Hz) of β relaxations related to the sulphonic side chain dynamics. The activation energy measured for this molecular dynamics is about ≅30 kJ mol -1 and corresponds to the typical interaction energy associated with hydrogen bonding. Furthermore, it was observed that the activation energies determined from the conductivity measurements are 12 and 14 kJ mol -1 , respectively, for A and B. This shows that the protonic conductivity is strongly influenced by the side chain dynamics and that the charge migration occurs through an ion hopping mechanism between different regions, consisting of micro-clusters of hydration water coordinated with the polar sulphonic groups of the side chains. The comparable activation energies and the values of the conductivity demonstrate that in these systems the conductivity is proportional to the concentration of the sulphonic groups. This shows also that these kinds of membranes, with a high concentration of SO 3 H are necessary in order to obtain materials with a high protonic conductivity with the capacity to

  4. Code of Conduct for wind-power projects - Feasibility study; Code of Conduct fuer windkraftprojekte. Machbarkeitsstudie - Schlussbericht

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Strub, P. [Pierre Strub, freischaffender Berater, Binningen (Switzerland); Ziegler, Ch. [Inter Act, Basel (Switzerland)

    2009-02-15

    This final report deals with the results of a feasibility study concerning the development of a Code of Conduct for wind-power projects. The aim is to strengthen the acceptance of wind-power by the general public. The necessity of new, voluntary market instruments is discussed. The urgency of development in this area is quoted as being high, and the authors consider the feasibility of the definition of a code of conduct as being proven. The code of conduct can, according to the authors, be of use at various levels but primarily in project development. Further free-enterprise instruments are also suggested that should help support socially compatible and successful market development. It is noted that the predominant portion of those questioned are prepared to co-operate in further work on the subject

  5. A Collection of Studies Conducted in Education about "Global Warming" Problem

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bozdogan, Aykut Emre

    2011-01-01

    The studies global warming problem conducted in education discipline in the world and in Turkey were analysed for this study. The literature was reviewed extensively especially through the articles in the indexed journals of Ebsco Host, Science Direct, Taylor and Francis and Web of Science databases and this study was conducted according to the…

  6. Paper use in research ethics applications and study conduct.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chakladar, Abhijoy; Eckstein, Sue; White, Stuart M

    2011-02-01

    Application for Research Ethics Committee (REC) approval and the conduct of medical research is paper intensive. This retrospective study examined all applications to a single REC in the south of England over one year. It estimated the mass of paper used, comparing the proportional paper consumption of different trial types and during different stages of the research process, quantifying the consumption in terms of carbon dioxide emissions. In 2009, 68 trials were submitted to the REC. Total paper consumption for the REC process and study conduct was 176,150 sheets of A4 paper (879 kg), equivalent to an estimated 11.5 million sheets (88 tonnes, 2100 trees) a year for the U.K.; the REC process accounted for 26.4%. REC applications and the conduct of approved trials generate considerable environmental impact through paper consumption contributing to the NHS's carbon footprint. Paper use might be reduced through the implementation of digital technologies and revised research methods, namely changing attitudes in both researchers and ethics committees.

  7. Electrodiagnosis and nerve conduction studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Posuniak, E A

    1984-08-01

    The use of electrodiagnostic techniques in evaluation of complaints in the lower extremities provides an objective method of assessment. A basic understanding of principles of neurophysiology, EMG and NCV methodology, and neuropathology of peripheral nerves greatly enhances physical diagnosis and improves the state of the art in treatment of the lower extremity, especially foot and ankle injuries. Familiarity with the method of reporting electrodiagnostic studies and appreciation of the electromyographer's interpretation of the EMG/NCV studies also reflects an enhanced fund of knowledge, skills, and attitudes as pertains to one's level of professional expertise. Information regarding the etiology of positive sharp waves, fibrillation potentials, fasciculation, and normal motor action potentials and conduction studies serves as a sound basis for the appreciation of the categories of nerve injury. Competence in understanding the degree of axonal or myelin function or dysfunction in a nerve improve one's effectiveness not only in medical/surgical treatment but in prognostication of recovery of function. A review of the entrapment syndromes in the lower extremity with emphasis on tarsal tunnel syndrome summarizes the most common nerve entrapments germane to the practice of podiatry. With regard to tarsal tunnel syndrome, the earliest electrodiagnostic study to suggest compression was reported to be the EMG of the foot and leg muscles, even before prolonged nerve latency was noted.

  8. a.c. conductance study of polycrystal C{sub 60}

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yan Feng [Nanjing Univ. (China). Nat. Lab. of Solid State Microstructure; Wang Yening [Nanjing Univ. (China). Nat. Lab. of Solid State Microstructure; Huang Yineng [Nanjing Univ. (China). Nat. Lab. of Solid State Microstructure; Gu Min [Nanjing Univ. (China). Nat. Lab. of Solid State Microstructure; Zhang Qingming [Nanjing Univ. (China). Nat. Lab. of Solid State Microstructure; Shen Huimin [Nanjing Univ. (China). Nat. Lab. of Solid State Microstructure

    1995-06-05

    The a.c. (1conductance of a C{sub 60} polycrystal (grain size 30 nm) has been studied from 100 to 350 K. Below 150 K, the a.c. conductance is nearly proportional to the temperature and frequency. This is proposed to be due to the hopping of localized states around the Fermi level. Above 200 K, the a.c. conductance exhibits a rapid increase with temperature, and shows a thermally activated behaviour with an activation energy of 0.389 eV below a certain temperature and 0.104 eV above it. A frequency dependent conductance at a fixed temperature is also obtained with a power law {sigma} similar {omega}{sup s} (s{approx}0.8). For a sample of normal grain size, we have measured a peak near 250 K and a much smaller conductance. These results indicate that the defective na ture of our sample (small grain size, disorder or impurities) plays an important role for the transport properties. The existence of nanocrystals in the sample may give rise to localized states and improve its a.c. conductance. The two activation energies can be attributed to the coexistence of the crystalline and amorphous phases of C{sub 60}. ((orig.)).

  9. Electrical spectroscopy studies of two new siloxanic proton conducting membranes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Di Noto, Vito [Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Universita di Padova, Via Marzolo 1, I-35135 Padova (Italy)]. E-mail: vito.dinoto@unipd.it; Vittadello, Michele [Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Universita di Padova, Via Marzolo 1, I-35135 Padova (Italy); Zago, Vanni [Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Universita di Padova, Via Marzolo 1, I-35135 Padova (Italy); Pace, Giuseppe [Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Universita di Padova, Via Marzolo 1, I-35135 Padova (Italy); Vidali, Maurizio [Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche, Universita di Padova, Via Marzolo 1, I-35135 Padova (Italy)

    2006-01-20

    This contribution is focused on the conductivity study and the protonic transfer investigation of two new siloxanic membranes. The conductivity of the systems has been studied within the temperature range 5 deg. C {<=} T {<=} 145 deg. C, both for pristine and hydrated membranes. Membrane A has been hydrated up to 33.12% in weight, while in B up to 27.76%. The conductivity of these membranes has shown a temperature dependence of the Arrhenius type variable in the interval 1.6 x 10{sup -4} {<=} {sigma} {sub A} {<=} 2.3 x 10{sup -3} S cm{sup -1} and 1.3 x 10{sup -5} {<=} {sigma} {sub B} {<=} 2.9 x 10{sup -4} S cm{sup -1}, respectively, for A and B. In particular, conductivities of 2 x 10{sup -3} S cm{sup -1} (A) and of 2 x 10{sup -4} S cm{sup -1} (B) at 125 deg. C were observed. The conductivity mechanism was investigated by using broad band electrical spectroscopy in the region between 40 Hz and 10 MHz. This study, for both the materials has shown the presence at low frequencies (10{sup 2} {<=} f {sub {beta}} {<=} 10{sup 4} Hz) of {beta} relaxations related to the sulphonic side chain dynamics. The activation energy measured for this molecular dynamics is about {approx_equal}30 kJ mol{sup -1} and corresponds to the typical interaction energy associated with hydrogen bonding. Furthermore, it was observed that the activation energies determined from the conductivity measurements are 12 and 14 kJ mol{sup -1}, respectively, for A and B. This shows that the protonic conductivity is strongly influenced by the side chain dynamics and that the charge migration occurs through an ion hopping mechanism between different regions, consisting of micro-clusters of hydration water coordinated with the polar sulphonic groups of the side chains. The comparable activation energies and the values of the conductivity demonstrate that in these systems the conductivity is proportional to the concentration of the sulphonic groups. This shows also that these kinds of membranes, with a high

  10. Electronic conductivity studies on oxyhalide glasses containing TMO

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Vijayatha, D. [R& D Center, Bharatiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu (India); Department of Physics, Gurunanak Institute of Technology, Hyderabad -040 (India); Viswanatha, R. [Solid State and Structural Chemistry Unit, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012 (India); Sujatha, B. [Department of Electronics and Communcation, MSRIT, Bangalore 560054 (India); Narayana Reddy, C., E-mail: nivetejareddy@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Sree Siddaganga College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Tumkur 572102 (India)

    2016-05-06

    Microwave-assisted synthesis is cleaner, more economical and much faster than conventional methods. The development of new routes for the synthesis of solid materials is an integral part of material science and technology. The electronic conductivity studies on xPbCl{sub 2} – 60 PbO – (40-x) V{sub 2}O{sub 5} (1 ≥ x ≤ 10) glass system has been carried out over a wide range of composition and temperature (300 K to 423 K). X-ray diffraction study confirms the amorphous nature of the samples. The Scanning electron microscopic studies reveal the formation of cluster like morphology in PbCl{sub 2} containing glasses. The d.c conductivity exhibits Arrhenius behaviour and increases with V{sub 2}O{sub 5} concentration. Analysis of the results is interpreted in view Austin-Mott’s small polaron model of electron transport. Activation energies calculated using regression analysis exhibit composition dependent trend and the variation is explained in view of the structure of lead-vanadate glass.

  11. Whole plantar nerve conduction study with disposable strip electrodes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hemmi, Shoji; Kurokawa, Katsumi; Nagai, Taiji; Okamoto, Toshio; Murakami, Tatsufumi; Sunada, Yoshihide

    2016-02-01

    A new method to evaluate whole plantar nerve conduction with disposable strip electrodes (DSEs) is described. Whole plantar compound nerve action potentials (CNAPs) were recorded at the ankle. DSEs were attached to the sole for simultaneous stimulation of medial and lateral plantar nerves. We also conducted medial plantar nerve conduction studies using an established method and compared the findings. Whole plantar CNAPs were recorded bilaterally from 32 healthy volunteers. Mean baseline to peak amplitude for CNAPs was 26.9 ± 11.8 μV, and mean maximum conduction velocity was 65.8 ± 8.3 m/s. The mean amplitude of CNAPs obtained by our method was 58.2% higher than that of CNAPs obtained by the Saeed method (26.9 μV vs. 17.0 μV; P < 0.0001). The higher mean amplitude of whole plantar CNAPs obtained by our method suggests that it enables CNAPs to be obtained easily, even in elderly people. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Intoxicação espontânea e experimental por Pterodon emarginatus (Fabaceae Faboideae) em bovinos e experimental em ovinos

    OpenAIRE

    Cruz, Raquel A.S.; Oliveira, Leonardo P. de; Caldeira, Flavio H.B.; Mendonça, Fábio S.; Bacha, Flávia B.; Pott, Arnildo; Lemos, Ricardo A.A.; Colodel, Edson M.

    2012-01-01

    Relatam-se mortalidades de bovinos nos Estados de Mato Grosso e Mato Grosso do Sul relacionadas ao consumo de folhas de Pterodon emarginatus. Três surtos ocorreram no período de seca na região Centro-Oeste, após a queda de árvores devido a ventos fortes ou após serem derrubadas para aproveitamento da madeira. Morreram 40 bovinos em três diferentes surtos. A intoxicação foi reproduzida com administração de folhas de P. emarginatus; a dose tóxica mínima foi 20g/kg para ovinos e 6g/kg para bovin...

  13. Hepatogenous photosensitization in cattle in Southern Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    OpenAIRE

    Motta, Adriana Costa da; Rivero, Gabriela Riet-Correa; Schild, Ana Lucia; Riet-Correa, Franklin; Méndez, Maria del Carmen; Ferreira, João Luiz

    2000-01-01

    São descritos aspectos epidemiológicos e patológicos de 19 surtos de fotossensibilização observados em bovinos na região sul do Rio Grande do Sul, no período entre 1984 e 1997. A doença ocorre, principalmente, nos meses de outono e primavera com morbidade de 0,08% a 64% e mortalidade de 0 a 14%. Todas as categorias são afetadas e as áreas onde ocorrem os surtos se caracterizam por campos planos e baixos, freqüentemente utilizados para o plantio de arroz irrigado ou pastagens de azevém, trevo ...

  14. Tristeza parasitária bovina na região sul do Rio Grande do Sul: estudo retrospectivo de 1978-2005 Tick fever in southern Brazil: a retrospective study of 1978-2005

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milton Begeres de Almeida

    2006-12-01

    Full Text Available Foi realizado um estudo retrospectivo dos casos de tristeza parasitária bovina (TPB ocorridos no sul do Rio Grande do Sul, área de influência do Laboratório Regional de Diagnóstico (LRD da Faculdade de Veterinária da Universidade Federal de Pelotas entre 1978 e 2005. De um total de 4.884 materiais de bovinos provenientes de necropsias realizadas e órgãos ou sangue enviados ao laboratório 231 (4,7% tiveram o diagnóstico de TPB. Desses 231 surtos foram resgatados os dados de 221 diagnósticos dos quais 91 (41,1% foram causados por Babesia bovis, 11 (4,9% por Babesia bigemina, e 65 (29,41% por Anaplasma marginale. Em outros 33 (14,93% surtos de babesiose não foi informada a espécie de Babesia e em 21 (9,5% surtos foi detectada infecção mista por Babesia sp e A. marginale. Os índices gerais médios de morbidade, mortalidade e letalidade, resgatados em 149 dos 221 surtos da doença, foram de 11,17%, 6,81% e 70,04%, respectivamente. Verificou-se que, na região estudada, a maioria dos surtos ocorre durante os meses de verão e outono, e que os animais com um a três anos de idade são os mais afetados. Os sinais clínicos nos surtos caracterizaram-se por apatia, orelhas caídas, debilidade, febre, anorexia e emagrecimento. Os valores de hematócrito eram baixos. Hemoglobinúria foi frequentemente observada nos casos de babesiose. Sinais neurológicos estavam presentes nos casos de babesiose por B. bovis e se caracterizaram por transtornos da locomoção, tremores musculares, agressividade e quedas com movimentos de pedalagem. As lesões macroscópicas principais relatadas nos casos de babesiose foram esplenomegalia, hepatomegalia, fígado amarelo, hemoglobinúria, icterícia, hemorragias cardíacas e bile espessa. Congestão do córtex cerebral foi relatada nos casos de babesiose por B. bovis. Nesta região, com população de bovinos de aproximadamente 2.630.000 cabeças as perdas anuais por morte de bovinos pela enfermidade podem ser

  15. Experimental study of effective thermal conductivity of stainless steel fiber felt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Li, W.Q.; Qu, Z.G.

    2015-01-01

    An experimental apparatus was designed to measure the effective thermal conductivity of porous stainless steel fiber felt under different operating pressures. The total effective thermal conductivity was studied by analyzing matrix heat conduction, air natural convection, and matrix thermal radiation at ambient pressure. The contribution of air natural convection was experimentally obtained by changing the ambient pressure to vacuum condition and the solid matrix heat conduction was evaluated using a theoretical model. The ratios of the three mechanisms to the total effective thermal conductivity were approximately 40%, 37.9%, and 22.1%, respectively. In addition, the effects of fiber diameter and porosity on the three mechanisms and on the total effective thermal conductivity were studied. The air natural convection was found to gradually intensify when the operating pressure increases from vacuum condition (15 Pa) to ambient pressure (1.0 × 10 5  Pa). With an increase in fiber diameter under fixed porosity, the solid matrix heat conduction remained unchanged, and air natural convection and thermal radiation decreased, thereby resulting in reduced effective thermal conductivity. With an increase in porosity under fixed fiber diameter, the air natural convection was almost unchanged, and solid matrix heat conduction and thermal radiation were reduced, thereby resulting in reduced effective thermal conductivity. - Highlights: • Matrix conduction, radiation and air convection were in the same order of magnitude. • Air natural convection was suppressed by reducing operating pressure. • Intensity of air convection was more sensitive to fiber diameter than porosity. • Surface area and permeability was comparable in air convection as fiber diameter fixed. • Interfacial area exerted dominant role in radiation and air convection as porosity fixed

  16. Code of Conduct for wind-power projects - Feasibility study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Strub, P.; Ziegler, Ch.

    2009-02-01

    This final report deals with the results of a feasibility study concerning the development of a Code of Conduct for wind-power projects. The aim is to strengthen the acceptance of wind-power by the general public. The necessity of new, voluntary market instruments is discussed. The urgency of development in this area is quoted as being high, and the authors consider the feasibility of the definition of a code of conduct as being proven. The code of conduct can, according to the authors, be of use at various levels but primarily in project development. Further free-enterprise instruments are also suggested that should help support socially compatible and successful market development. It is noted that the predominant portion of those questioned are prepared to co-operate in further work on the subject

  17. Study of the thermal conductivity of ZnO nanowires/PMMA composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Igamberdiev, Kh. T.; Yuldashev, Sh. U.; Cho, H. D.; Kang, T. W.; Rakhimova, Sh. M.; Akhmedov, T. Kh.

    2012-01-01

    From thermal conductivity measurements on ZnO nanowires (NWs)/poly(methyl methacrylate) PMMA composites, the thermal conductivities of the ZnO nanowires were determined. The thermal conductivity of a ZnO NW decreases considerably with decreasing nanowire diameter, and for a ZnO nanowire with a diameter of 250 nm, the thermal conductivity at room temperature is approximately two times lower than that of bulk ZnO at the same temperature. The results of this study show that the thermal conductivity of a ZnO NW is mainly determined by increased phonon-surface boundary scattering. These results could be useful for the design of ZnO-nanowire-based devices.

  18. Intoxicação de bovinos por Tetrapterys multiglandulosa (Malpighiaceae em Mato Grosso do Sul

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carvalho Nilton M.

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available São descritos dois surtos da intoxicação espontânea por Tetrapterys multiglandulosa em bovinos e a reprodução experimental da toxicose em ovinos. Os dois surtos espontâneos ocorreram na mesma fazenda localizada no município de Bataiporã, Mato Grosso do Sul. O primeiro surto ocorreu em julho-outubro de 2004 e envolveu uma população bovina sob risco de 290 vacas prenhes que haviam sido introduzidas em um pasto de 60 hectares onde havia uma área de reserva legal, altamente infestada por T. multiglandulosa. Dessas, 230 vacas (79,3% abortaram, pariram natimortos ou bezerros fracos que morreram alguns dias após o nascimento. Sete vacas adultas morreram. Uma vaca e um bezerro de 10 dias foram necropsiados. O segundo surto ocorreu em setembro-outubro de 2005, 40 dias após 285 novilhas de dois anos de idade terem sido introduzidas no mesmo pasto infestado por T. multiglandulosa onde ocorrera o primeiro surto no ano anterior. Nove novilhas adoeceram e morreram; três foram necropsiadas. Os sinais clínicos dos bovinos afetados, incluindo um bezerro de 10 dias de idade, consistiam de acentuada letargia, emagrecimento com distensão do abdômen (ascite, edema subcutâneo de declive, ingurgitamento e pulso venoso da jugular, dispnéia e arritmia cardíaca. Os achados de necropsia incluíam corações globosos e com câmaras cardíacas dilatadas, áreas brancas e firmes no miocárdio e alterações relacionadas a insuficiência cardíaca como edemas cavitários, fígado de noz-moscada, edema pulmonar e grande coágulo no ventrículo esquerdo. As alterações histopatológicas incluíam necrose e fibrose do miocárdio, congestão centrolobular passiva crônica do fígado, edema pulmonar e degeneração esponjosa da substância branca do encéfalo. Os ovinos do experimento morreram 29 (Ovino 1 e 35 (Ovino 2 dias após terem recebido as folhas de T. multiglandulosa nas doses médias diárias de 14 g/kg (Ovino 1 e 7,5 g/kg (Ovino 2. O aparecimento

  19. Phonon studies of intercalated conductive polymers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Prassides, K; Bell, C J [School of Chemistry and Molecular Sciences, Univ. of Sussex, Brighton (United Kingdom); Dianoux, A J [Inst. Laue-Langevin, 38 - Grenoble (France); Chunguey, Wu; Kanatzidis, M G [Dept. of Chemistry, Michigan State Univ., East Lansing (United States)

    1992-06-01

    The phonon density-of-states of FeOCl, the conductive form of polyaniline and the intercalation compound (polyaniline)[sub 0.20]FeOCl(I) have been measured by the neutron time-of-flight technique. The results are discussed in the light of the conducting and structural properties of the materials. Compound I is oxidised by standing in air and the neutron measurements reveal substantial changes in the inorganic host skeleton. (orig.).

  20. Electrical studies on silver based fast ion conducting glassy materials

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rao, B. Appa; Kumar, E. Ramesh; Kumari, K. Rajani; Bhikshamaiah, G.

    2014-01-01

    Among all the available fast ion conductors, silver based glasses exhibit high conductivity. Further, glasses containing silver iodide enhances fast ion conducting behavior at room temperature. Glasses of various compositions of silver based fast ion conductors in the AgI−Ag 2 O−[(1−x)B 2 O 3 −xTeO 2 ] (x=0 to1 mol% in steps of 0.2) glassy system have been prepared by melt quenching method. The glassy nature of the compounds has been confirmed by X-ray diffraction. The electrical conductivity (AC) measurements have been carried out in the frequency range of 1 KHz–3MHz by Impedance Analyzer in the temperature range 303–423K. The DC conductivity measurements were also carried out in the temperature range 300–523K. From both AC and DC conductivity studies, it is found that the conductivity increases and activation energy decreases with increasing the concentration of TeO 2 as well as with temperature. The conductivity of the present glass system is found to be of the order of 10 −2 S/cm at room temperature. The ionic transport number of these glasses is found to be 0.999 indicating that these glasses can be used as electrolyte in batteries

  1. Studies on conductance of uranyl soaps

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mehrotra, K.N.; Sharma, M.; Gahlaut, A.S.

    1987-01-01

    Specific conductance of uranyl soaps in dimethylformamide indicates two critical micelle concentrations CMC(I) and CMC(II). The value of CMC(II) decreases with the increase in chain length of the soap, whereas CMC(I) does not vary at all. The results show that the soaps behave as simple electrolyte. The major conductance at infinite dilution (μsub(o)) and dissociation constant (K) of these soaps have been evaluated. (author). 12 refs

  2. Thermal design studies in superconducting rf cavities: Phonon peak and Kapitza conductance

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    A. Aizaz

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Thermal design studies of superconducting radio frequency (SRF cavities involve two thermal parameters, namely the temperature dependent thermal conductivity of Nb at low temperatures and the heat transfer coefficient at the Nb-He II interface, commonly known as the Kapitza conductance. During the fabrication process of the SRF cavities, Nb sheet is plastically deformed through a deep drawing process to obtain the desired shape. The effect of plastic deformation on low temperature thermal conductivity as well as Kapitza conductance has been studied experimentally. Strain induced during the plastic deformation process reduces the thermal conductivity in its phonon transmission regime (disappearance of phonon peak by 80%, which may explain the performance limitations of the defect-free SRF cavities during their high field operations. Low temperature annealing of the deformed Nb sample could not recover the phonon peak. However, moderate temperature annealing during the titanification process recovered the phonon peak in the thermal conductivity curve. Kapitza conductance measurements for the Nb-He II interface for various surface topologies have also been carried out before and after the annealing. These measurements reveal consistently increased Kapitza conductance after the annealing process was carried out in the two temperature regimes.

  3. Synthesis, characterization and DC conductivity studies of conducting polyaniline/PVA/Fly ash polymer composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Revanasiddappa, M.; Swamy, D. Siddalinga; Vinay, K.; Ravikiran, Y. T.; Raghavendra, S. C.

    2018-05-01

    The present work is an investigation of dc conduction behaviour of conducting polyaniline/fly ash nano particles blended in polyvinyl Alcohol (PANI/PVA/FA) synthesized via in-situ polymerization technique using (NH4)2S2O8 as an oxidising agent with varying fly ash cenosphere by 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 wt%. The structural characterization of the synthesised polymer composites was examined using FT-IR, XRD and SEM techniques. Dc conductivity as a function of temperature has been measured in the temperature range from 302K - 443K. The increase of conductivity with increasing temperature reveals semiconducting behaviour of the composites and shows an evidence for the transport properties of the composites.

  4. Conducting feasibilities in clinical trials: An investment to ensure a good study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Viraj Rajadhyaksha

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Conducting clinical trial feasibility is one of the first steps in clinical trial conduct. This process includes assessing internal and environmental capacity, alignment of the clinical trial in terms of study design, dose of investigational product, comparator, patient type, with the local environment and assessing potential of conducting clinical trial in a specific country. A robust feasibility also ensures a realistic assessment and capability to conduct the clinical trial. For local affiliates of pharmaceutical organizations, and contract research organizations, this is a precursor to study placement and influences the decision of study placement. This article provides details on different types of feasibilities, information which is to be included and relevance of each. The article also aims to provide practical hands-on suggestions to make feasibilities more realistic and informative.

  5. Conducting feasibilities in clinical trials: an investment to ensure a good study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rajadhyaksha, Viraj

    2010-07-01

    Conducting clinical trial feasibility is one of the first steps in clinical trial conduct. This process includes assessing internal and environmental capacity, alignment of the clinical trial in terms of study design, dose of investigational product, comparator, patient type, with the local environment and assessing potential of conducting clinical trial in a specific country. A robust feasibility also ensures a realistic assessment and capability to conduct the clinical trial. For local affiliates of pharmaceutical organizations, and contract research organizations, this is a precursor to study placement and influences the decision of study placement. This article provides details on different types of feasibilities, information which is to be included and relevance of each. The article also aims to provide practical hands-on suggestions to make feasibilities more realistic and informative.

  6. Intoxicação em suínos pela ingestão de sementes de Aeschynomene indica (Leg.Papilionoideae)

    OpenAIRE

    Oliveira,Fabiano N.; Rech,Raquel R.; Rissi,Daniel R.; Barros,Ricardo R.; Barros,Claudio S.L.

    2005-01-01

    Relata-se um surto espontâneo de intoxicação em suínos pela ingestão de sementes de Aeschynomene indica e a reprodução da doença nessa espécie animal. O surto espontâneo ocorreu numa propriedade de criação de suínos localizada na região central do Rio Grande do Sul. Nessa propriedade havia 100 suínos (20 matrizes e 80 suínos jovens de várias categorias). Os suínos eram alimentados com uma ração feita na propriedade pela mistura de 50% farelo de milho, 25% de farelo de soja, 5% de um suplement...

  7. Conductivity studies on commercially available proton-conducting membranes with different equivalent weight

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Huslage, J; Buechi, F N; Scherer, G G [Paul Scherrer Inst. (PSI), Villigen (Switzerland)

    1999-08-01

    Two perfluorosulfonic acid membranes, Nafion{sup R} 105 and Nafion{sup R} 115 with the same thickness but different equivalent weights (EW = 1000 g/eq. resp. 1100 g/eq.) were characterised by conductivity measurements at different water vapour activities in the temperature range of 25-70{sup o}C. The results demonstrate that a lower membrane equivalent weight opens the possibility to obtain the needed proton conductivity at lower water vapour activity. This is especially important for those fuel cell applications, in which the cell is operated without external humidification of the fuel gases. (author) 5 figs., 5 refs.

  8. Thermal conductivity of sedimentary rocks - selected methodological, mineralogical and textural studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Midttoemme, Kirsti

    1997-12-31

    The thermal conductivity of sedimentary rocks is an important parameter in basin modelling as the main parameter controlling the temperature within a sedimentary basin. This thesis presents measured thermal conductivities, mainly on clay- and mudstone. The measured values are compared with values obtained by using thermal conductivity models. Some new thermal conductivity models are developed based on the measured values. The values obtained are less than most previously published values. In a study of unconsolidated sediments a constant deviation was found between thermal conductivities measured with a needle probe and a divided bas apparatus. Accepted thermal conductivity models based on the geometric mean model fail to predict the thermal conductivity of clay- and mudstone. Despite this, models based on the geometric mean model, where the effect of porosity is taken account of by the geometric mean equation, seem to be the best. Existing models underestimate the textural influence on the thermal conductivity of clay- and mudstone. The grain size was found to influence the thermal conductivity of artificial quartz samples. The clay mineral content seems to be a point of uncertainty in both measuring and modelling thermal conductivity. A good universal thermal conductivity model must include many mineralogical and textural factors. Since this is difficult, different models restricted to specific sediment types and textures are suggested to be the best solution to obtain realistic estimates applicable in basin modelling. 243 refs., 64 figs., 31 tabs.

  9. Experimental and modeling study of forest fire effect on soil thermal conductivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kathleen M. Smits; Elizabeth Kirby; William J. Massman; Scott Baggett

    2016-01-01

    An understanding of soil thermal conductivity after a wildfire or controlled burn is important to land management and post-fire recovery efforts. Although soil thermal conductivity has been well studied for non-fire heated soils, comprehensive data that evaluate the long-term effect of extreme heating from a fire on the soil thermal conductivity are limited....

  10. Conductivity, XRD, and FTIR studies of New Mg2+-ion-conducting solid polymer electrolytes: [PEG: Mg(CH3COO)2

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Polu, Anji Reddy; Kumar, Ranveer; Causin, Valerio; Neppalli, Ramesh

    2011-01-01

    Solid polymer electrolytes based on poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG) doped with Mg(CH 3 COO) 2 have been prepared by using the solution-casting method. The X-ray diffraction patterns of PEG with Mg(CH 3 COO) 2 salt indicated a decrease in the degree of crystallinity with increasing concentration of the salt. The complexation of Mg(CH 3 COO) 2 salt with the polymer was confirmed by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) studies. The ionic conductivity was measured for the [PEG: Mg(CH 3 COO) 2 ] system in the frequency range 50 Hz - 1 MHz. The addition of Mg salt was found to improve the ionic conductivity significantly. The 15-wt-% Mg(CH 3 COO) 2 -doped system had a maximum conductivity of 1.07 x 10 -6 S/cm at 303 K. The conductance spectrum shows two distinct regions: a dc plateau and a dispersive region. The temperature dependence of the ionic conductivity reveals the conduction mechanism to be an Arrhenius-type thermally activated process.

  11. Heat conduction in multifunctional nanotrusses studied using Boltzmann transport equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dou, Nicholas G.; Minnich, Austin J.

    2016-01-01

    Materials that possess low density, low thermal conductivity, and high stiffness are desirable for engineering applications, but most materials cannot realize these properties simultaneously due to the coupling between them. Nanotrusses, which consist of hollow nanoscale beams architected into a periodic truss structure, can potentially break these couplings due to their lattice architecture and nanoscale features. In this work, we study heat conduction in the exact nanotruss geometry by solving the frequency-dependent Boltzmann transport equation using a variance-reduced Monte Carlo algorithm. We show that their thermal conductivity can be described with only two parameters, solid fraction and wall thickness. Our simulations predict that nanotrusses can realize unique combinations of mechanical and thermal properties that are challenging to achieve in typical materials

  12. Contextualising case studies in entrepreneurship: A tandem approach to conducting a longitudinal cross-country case study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chetty, S. K.; Partanen, J.; Rasmussen, Erik Stavnsager

    2014-01-01

    Using predictive and effectuation logics as a framework, this research note explains how case study research was conducted to demonstrate rigour and relevance. The study involves a longitudinal cross-country case study on small and medium-sized firm growth and networks undertaken by research teams...... in three countries (Finland, Denmark and New Zealand) involving 33 firms. This research note outlines the implications of this research and provides valuable guidance and reflections upon opportunities for future research regarding the conduct of contextual studies in entrepreneurship without compromising...

  13. Nerve conduction in relation to vibration exposure - a non-positive cohort study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nilsson Tohr

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Peripheral neuropathy is one of the principal clinical disorders in workers with hand-arm vibration syndrome. Electrophysiological studies aimed at defining the nature of the injury have provided conflicting results. One reason for this lack of consistency might be the sparsity of published longitudinal etiological studies with both good assessment of exposure and a well-defined measure of disease. Against this background we measured conduction velocities in the hand after having assessed vibration exposure over 21 years in a cohort of manual workers. Methods The study group consisted of 155 male office and manual workers at an engineering plant that manufactured pulp and paper machinery. The study has a longitudinal design regarding exposure assessment and a cross-sectional design regarding the outcome of nerve conduction. Hand-arm vibration dose was calculated as the product of self-reported occupational exposure, collected by questionnaire and interviews, and the measured or estimated hand-arm vibration exposure in 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002, and 2008. Distal motor latencies in median and ulnar nerves and sensory nerve conduction over the carpal tunnel and the finger-palm segments in the median nerve were measured in 2008. Before the nerve conduction measurement, the subjects were systemically warmed by a bicycle ergometer test. Results There were no differences in distal latencies between subjects exposed to hand-arm vibration and unexposed subjects, neither in the sensory conduction latencies of the median nerve, nor in the motor conduction latencies of the median and ulnar nerves. Seven subjects (9% in the exposed group and three subjects (12% in the unexposed group had both pathological sensory nerve conduction at the wrist and symptoms suggestive of carpal tunnel syndrome. Conclusion Nerve conduction measurements of peripheral hand nerves revealed no exposure-response association between hand-arm vibration exposure and

  14. Study of the Pyrrol/Diphenylamine Copolymer by FT-IR spectroscopy and conductivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Alberto Perez

    2004-01-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of this study was to analyze the physical properties of the copolymer formed by the electrochemical deposition of the polydiphenylamine (PDPA on polypyrrole (Ppy and Ppy on PDPA, in different conditions, through the characterization of the materials formed by the resonant Raman, FT-IR and conductivity techniques. The interactions among the species which are present in the new copolymer structure and the changes in electronic conductivity, were verified. The copolymer was also synthesized electrochemically in the presence of iodide species and the material was characterized by FT-IR spectroscopy and conductivity. The role of the dopant was studied in the process of charge transfer between the copolymer-dopant, acting in the stabilization of the species in the polymer backbone and the increase of the electronic conductivity.

  15. Comparative study of electron conduction in azulene and naphthalene

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Wintec

    tional or electronic devices. Recent advances in experi- mental techniques have allowed ... stimulates us to study the electronic conduction in azulene molecule and to compare that with its isomer, naphthalene. ..... ernment of India, for funding and (SD) acknowledges CSIR,. Government of India, for a research fellowship.

  16. Phrenic nerve conduction studies: normative data and technical aspects

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Analucia Abreu Maranhão

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: The aim of the present study was to define normative data of phrenic nerve conduction parameters of a healthy population. Methods: Phrenic nerve conduction studies were performed in 27 healthy volunteers. Results: The normative limits for expiratory phrenic nerve compound muscle action potential were: amplitude (0.47 mv - 0.83 mv, latency (5.74 ms - 7.10 ms, area (6.20 ms/mv - 7.20 ms/mv and duration (18.30 ms - 20.96 ms. Inspiratory normative limits were: amplitude (0.67 mv - 1.11 mv, latency (5.90 ms - 6.34 ms, area (5.62 ms/mv - 6.72 ms/mv and duration (13.77 ms - 15.37 ms. Conclusion: The best point of phrenic nerve stimulus in the neck varies among individuals between the medial and lateral border of the clavicular head of the sternocleidomastoid muscle and stimulation of both sites, then choosing the best phrenic nerve response, seems to be the appropriate procedure.

  17. Phrenic nerve conduction studies: normative data and technical aspects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maranhão, Analucia Abreu; Carvalho, Sonia Regina da Silva; Caetano, Marcelo Ribeiro; Alamy, Alexandre Hofke; Peixoto, Eduardo Mesquita; Filgueiras, Pedro Del Esporte Peçanha

    2017-12-01

    The aim of the present study was to define normative data of phrenic nerve conduction parameters of a healthy population. Phrenic nerve conduction studies were performed in 27 healthy volunteers. The normative limits for expiratory phrenic nerve compound muscle action potential were: amplitude (0.47 mv - 0.83 mv), latency (5.74 ms - 7.10 ms), area (6.20 ms/mv - 7.20 ms/mv) and duration (18.30 ms - 20.96 ms). Inspiratory normative limits were: amplitude (0.67 mv - 1.11 mv), latency (5.90 ms - 6.34 ms), area (5.62 ms/mv - 6.72 ms/mv) and duration (13.77 ms - 15.37 ms). The best point of phrenic nerve stimulus in the neck varies among individuals between the medial and lateral border of the clavicular head of the sternocleidomastoid muscle and stimulation of both sites, then choosing the best phrenic nerve response, seems to be the appropriate procedure.

  18. Study of conduction aphasia by positron emission tomography

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shoji, Mikio; Harigawa, Yasuo; Kawarabayashi, Takeshi; Hirai, Shunsaku; Tamada, Junpei.

    1988-04-01

    We reported two cases of conduction aphasia with distinctive language disorder from early stage of stroke, as well as their cerebral blood flow and oxygen consumption investigated with PET. The case was a 72-year-old right handed man whose speech disturbance began acutely. On admission, neurological examination revealed hand pronation sign on the right and speech disturbance. Other neurological findings including cortical functions were normal. Brain CT scan showed low density area in the white matter of the left supramarginal gyrus. The diagnosis was cerebral infarction. The case 2 was a 64-year-old right handed man. He suffered right hemiparesis 2 months before. Neurological examination revealed mild right hemiparesis and speech disturbance. Other cortical functions were noncontributory. Brain CT scan showed old subcortical infarction of the left frontal lobe and new cerebral infarction. with supramarginal gyrus. The low density area of the supramarginal cortex extended into the subcortical white matter. The language performances in these two cases were similar. Two patients were definitely fluent, but the verbal output was contaminated by paraphasias which were predominantly literal. They performed poorly when attempting to repeat despite good comprehension. Thus, the primary characteristics of conduction aphasia were present. PET studies resulted as follows. 1) rCBF reduced 36 % in the supramarginal cortex, 50 % in the white matter. 2) rCMRO/sub 2/ reduced 37 % in the supramarginal cortex, 45 % in the white matter. 3) The CBF and the CMRO/sub 2/ images indicated that cerebral blood flow and oxygen consumption reduced in wider range of area than that shown by brain CT. These results indicated that not only the cortex but also the white matter were damaged in conduction aphasia and several methods including PET should be used to determine the locus of abnormality in conduction aphasia.

  19. 42 CFR 90.7 - Decision to conduct health effects study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-01

    ... occurred, and any possible health effects resulting from such exposure. (b) Should ATSDR decide, in its... 42 Public Health 1 2010-10-01 2010-10-01 false Decision to conduct health effects study. 90.7... ASSESSMENTS AND HEALTH EFFECTS STUDIES OF HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES RELEASES AND FACILITIES ADMINISTRATIVE...

  20. O surto de peste suína africana ocorrido em 1978 no município de Paracambi, Rio de Janeiro The outbreak of African swine fever which ocurred in 1978 in the county of Paracambi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Hubinger Tokarnia

    2004-12-01

    caracterização do virus, bem como na ausência de dados sobre epidemiologia, sinais clínicos e patologia nesses outros supostos focos, pode-se concluir que o surto de Paracambi constitui a única ocorrência de PSA no Brasil, comprovada por isolamento, identificação do vírus e determinação de sua patogenicidade, e que a doença manteve-se confinada a esse local, provavelmente em função do diagnóstico precoce e da rápida adoção de eficientes medidas de controle pelas autoridades sanitárias; o abate dos suínos desse rebanho iniciou-se 10 dias depois da primeira morte e 3 dias após o diagnóstico presuntivo.Due to doubts which still persist 25 years after the outbreak of African swine fever (ASF which ocurred in the county of Paracambi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1978, the results obtained through the studies to establish and confirm the diagnosis are presented. These include data on the epidemiology, clinic-pathological aspects, bacteriological, virological and ultramicroscopic examinations, the experimental reproduction of the disease and cross immunity tests with classical swine fever virus performed in Brazil, and on the confirmation with isolation of the virus and determination of its identity at the Plum Island Animal Disease Center, New York, USA. The pigs of the affected herd had been fed untreated remains of meals from airplanes of international lines flying to Brazil from Portugal and Spain where ASF was occurring at the time. According to publication by the Ministry of Agriculture, after the diagnosis of the outbreak of ASF described in this paper, 223 additional outbreaks were reported in Brazil between 1978 and 1979, in all the Brazilian regions (North, Northeast, Central-West, Southeast and South. Further outbreaks were reported in 1981, but their number is not known. The last case was reported to have occurred on November 15, 1981, and on December 5, 1984, Brazil was declared free of ASF. For the diagnosis of ASF 54,002 samples were examined by

  1. Gum ghatti based novel electrically conductive biomaterials: A study of conductivity and surface morphology

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Kalia

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Gum ghatti-cl-poly(acrylamide-aniline interpenetrating network (IPN was synthesized by a two-step aqueous polymerization method, in which aniline monomer was absorbed into the network of gum ghatti-cl-poly(acrylamide and followed by a polymerization reaction between aniline monomers. Initially, semi-IPN based on acrylamide and gum ghatti was prepared by free-radical copolymerization in aqueous media with optimized process parameters, using N,N'-methylenebis-acrylamide, as cross-linker and ammonium persulfate, as an initiator system. Optimum reaction conditions affording maximum percentage swelling were: solvent [mL] =12, Acrylamide (AAm [mol•L–1] = 1.971, Ammonium peroxydisulfate (APS [mol•L–1] = 0.131•10–1, N,N'-methylene-bis-acrylamide (MBA [mol•L–1] = 0.162•10–1, reaction time [min] = 210, temperature [°C] = 100 and pH = 7.0. The resulting IPN was doped with different protonic acids. The effect of the doping has been investigated on the conductivity and surface morphology of the IPN hydrogel. The maximum conductivity was observed with 1.5N HClO4 concentration. The morphological, structural and electrical properties of the candidate polymers were studied using scanning electron micrscopy (SEM, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy FTIR and two-probe method, respectively.

  2. Conductivity studies of PEG based polymer electrolyte for applications as electrolyte in ion batteries

    Science.gov (United States)

    Patil, Ravikumar V.; Praveen, D.; Damle, R.

    2018-05-01

    Development of lithium ion batteries employing solid polymer electrolytes as electrolyte material has led to efficient energy storage and usage in many portable devices. However, due to a few drawbacks like lower ionic conductivity of solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs), studies on SPEs for improvement in conductivity still have a good scope. In the present paper, we report the conductivity studies of a new SPE with low molecular weight poly ethylene glycol (PEG) as host polymer in which a salt with larger anion Lithium trifluro methane sulphonate (LTMS). XRD studies have revealed that the salt completely dissociates in the polymer giving a good stable electrolyte at lower salt concentration. Conductivity of the SPEs has been studied as a function of temperature and we reiterate that the conductivity is a thermally activated process and follows Arrhenius type behavior.

  3. Study of growth mechanism of conducting polymers by pulse radiolysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Coletta, Cecilia

    2016-01-01

    Today conductive polymers have many applications in several devices. For these reasons they have received much attention in recent years. Despite intensive research, the mechanism of conducting polymers growth is still poorly understood and the methods of polymerization are limited to two principal ways: chemical and electrochemical synthesis. On the other hand, the complex properties of polymers can be controlled only if a good knowledge of polymerization process is acquired. In this case, it is possible to control the process during the synthesis (functionalization, hydrophilicity, chain length, doping level), and consequently to improve the conductive properties of the synthesized polymers. Water radiolysis represents an easy and efficient method of synthesis comparing to chemical and electrochemical polymerization routes. It enables the polymerization under soft conditions: ambient temperature and pressure, without any external dopant. Among all conductive polymers, poly(3, 4-ethylenedioxy-thiophene) (PEDOT, a derivative of poly-thiophene) and poly-Pyrrole (PPy) have gained some large scale applications for their chemical and physical proprieties. The aim of the present work was the synthesis of PEDOT and PPy in aqueous solution and the study of their growth mechanism by pulsed radiolysis. Thanks to the electron accelerator ELYSE, the use of pulsed radiolysis coupled with time-resolved absorption spectroscopy allowed to study the kinetics of polymerization. The first transient species involved in the mechanism were identified by time resolved spectroscopy and the rate constants were determined. First, the reaction of hydroxyl radicals onto EDOT and Py monomers was studied, as well as the corresponding radiation induced polymerization. Then, the study was transposed to others oxidizing radicals such as CO3 .- , N 3 . and SO 4 .- at different pHs. This approach allowed to check and to highlight the influence of oxidizing species onto the first transient species

  4. SURTO DE SARNA CORIÓPTICA EM CAPRINOS NA CIDADE DE GRAVATÁ, REGIÃO AGRESTE DO ESTADO DE PERNAMBUCO OUTBREAK OF CHORIOPTIC MANGE IN GOATS IN THE CITY OF GRAVATÁ IN PERNAMBUCO´S AGRESTE REGION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Isabel de Souza

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available

    A sarna corióptica é de rara ocorrência em caprinos, no entanto trata-se de uma enfermidade cutânea importante, resultando em perdas econômicas decorrentes do retardo no desenvolvimento dos animais, da perda de peso e do prejuízo à indústria de couro. Desse modo, o objetivo do presente artigo é relatar a ocorrência de um surto de sarna corióptica em um rebanho caprino criado no município de Gravatá (Lat. 08° 12’ 04’’ S e Long. 35° 33’ 53’’ O, região Agreste do estado de Pernambuco. Os animais apresentavam extensas áreas de alopecia, eritema, crostas e espessamento da pele na região das axilas, peito, ventre e as faces caudal e craniomedial dos membros posteriores, além de intenso prurido. Foi realizado raspado cutâneo e identificado o ácaro Chorioptes bovis spp.

    PALAVRAS-CHAVES: Caprinos, Chorioptes spp, sarna.

    Chorioptic mange is of rare occurrence in goats, although it is an important skin disease resulting in economic loss due to the delay in the development of the animals, weight loss and economic losses to the leather industry. Thus, the aim of the present article was to report the occurrence of an outbreak of chorioptic mange in a goat flock reared in the city of Gravatá, (Lat. 08° 12’ 04’’ S and Long. 35° 33’ 53’’ W in Pernambuco´s Agreste region. The animals showed wide alopecia areas, erythema, crusts and skin thickness in the following areas: armpits, sternum, ventral abdomen, caudal and cranium-medial facets of the hind legs and severe scratching. Chorioptes bovis spp was identified in skin scrapings.

    KEY WORDS: Chorioptes spp, goats, mange.

  5. Feasibility study of injection mouldable conductive plastic for the hearing aid applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Merca, Timea D.den; Lindberg, Torbjörn; Islam, Aminul

    2016-01-01

    Electrically conductive polymers can combine the advantage of plastic processing with the unique electrical properties which are usually found in metals. This article presents a feasibility study of an electrically conductive plastic for hearing aid antennas. Focus will be placed to critically......) 3D measuring system in comparison with an ideal copper antenna at 2.4 GHz. An analysis of the association between the conductive plastic processing parameters in regards to its electrical performance is discussed and evaluated....

  6. Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics (MD Simulation Study of Thermal Conductivity of Graphene Nanoribbon: A Comparative Study on MD Potentials

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asir Intisar Khan

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available The thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs has been investigated using equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD simulation based on Green-Kubo (GK method to compare two interatomic potentials namely optimized Tersoff and 2nd generation Reactive Empirical Bond Order (REBO. Our comparative study includes the estimation of thermal conductivity as a function of temperature, length and width of GNR for both the potentials. The thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbon decreases with the increase of temperature. Quantum correction has been introduced for thermal conductivity as a function of temperature to include quantum effect below Debye temperature. Our results show that for temperatures up to Debye temperature, thermal conductivity increases, attains its peak and then falls off monotonically. Thermal conductivity is found to decrease with the increasing length for optimized Tersoff potential. However, thermal conductivity has been reported to increase with length using 2nd generation REBO potential for the GNRs of same size. Thermal conductivity, for the specified range of width, demonstrates an increasing trend with the increase of width for both the concerned potentials. In comparison with 2nd generation REBO potential, optimized Tersoff potential demonstrates a better modeling of thermal conductivity as well as provides a more appropriate description of phonon thermal transport in graphene nanoribbon. Such comparative study would provide a good insight for the optimization of the thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbons under diverse conditions.

  7. Studies on conducting polymer and conducting polymerinorganic composite electrodes prepared via a new cathodic polymerization method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, Nikhilendra

    A novel approach for the electrodeposition of conducting polymers and conducting polymer-inorganic composite materials is presented. The approach shows that conducting polymers, such as polypyrrole (PPy) and poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) can be electrodeposited by the application of a cathodic bias that generates an oxidizing agent, NO+, via the in-situ reduction of nitrate anions. This new cathodic polymerization method allows for the deposition of PPy and PEDOT as three dimensional, porous films composed of spherical polymer particles. The method is also suitable for the co-deposition of inorganic species producing conducting polymer-inorganic composite electrodes. Such composites are used as high surface area electrodes in Li-ion batteries, electrochemical hydrogen evolution and in the development of various other conducting polymer-inorganic composite electrodes. New Sn-PPy and Sb-PPy composite electrodes where Sn and Sb nanoparticles are well dispersed among the PPy framework are reported. These structures allow for decreased stress during expansion and contraction of the active material (Sn, Sb) during the alloying and de-alloying processes of a Li-ion battery anode, significantly alleviating the loss of active material due to pulverization processes. The new electrochemical synthesis mechanism allows for the fabrication of Sn-PPy and Sb-PPy composite electrodes directly from a conducting substrate and eliminates the use of binding materials and conducting carbon used in modern battery anodes, which significantly simplifies their fabrication procedures. Platinum (Pt) has long been identified as the most efficient catalyst for electrochemical water splitting, while nickel (Ni) is a cheaper, though less efficient alternative to Pt. A new morphology of PPy attained via the aforementioned cathodic deposition method allows for the use of minimal quantities of Pt and Ni dispersed over a very high surface area PPy substrate. These composite electrodes

  8. Conductivity-limiting bipolar thermal conductivity in semiconductors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Shanyu; Yang, Jiong; Toll, Trevor; Yang, Jihui; Zhang, Wenqing; Tang, Xinfeng

    2015-01-01

    Intriguing experimental results raised the question about the fundamental mechanisms governing the electron-hole coupling induced bipolar thermal conduction in semiconductors. Our combined theoretical analysis and experimental measurements show that in semiconductors bipolar thermal transport is in general a “conductivity-limiting” phenomenon, and it is thus controlled by the carrier mobility ratio and by the minority carrier partial electrical conductivity for the intrinsic and extrinsic cases, respectively. Our numerical method quantifies the role of electronic band structure and carrier scattering mechanisms. We have successfully demonstrated bipolar thermal conductivity reduction in doped semiconductors via electronic band structure modulation and/or preferential minority carrier scatterings. We expect this study to be beneficial to the current interests in optimizing thermoelectric properties of narrow gap semiconductors. PMID:25970560

  9. Tunneling Conductivity and Piezoresistivity of Composites Containing Randomly Dispersed Conductive Nano-Platelets

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oskouyi, Amirhossein Biabangard; Sundararaj, Uttandaraman; Mertiny, Pierre

    2014-01-01

    In this study, a three-dimensional continuum percolation model was developed based on a Monte Carlo simulation approach to investigate the percolation behavior of an electrically insulating matrix reinforced with conductive nano-platelet fillers. The conductivity behavior of composites rendered conductive by randomly dispersed conductive platelets was modeled by developing a three-dimensional finite element resistor network. Parameters related to the percolation threshold and a power-low describing the conductivity behavior were determined. The piezoresistivity behavior of conductive composites was studied employing a reoriented resistor network emulating a conductive composite subjected to mechanical strain. The effects of the governing parameters, i.e., electron tunneling distance, conductive particle aspect ratio and size effects on conductivity behavior were examined. PMID:28788580

  10. Initial study on in vivo conductivity mapping of breast cancer using MRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shin, Jaewook; Kim, Min Jung; Lee, Joonsung; Nam, Yoonho; Kim, Min-Oh; Choi, Narae; Kim, Sooyeon; Kim, Dong-Hyun

    2015-08-01

    To develop and apply a method to measure in vivo electrical conductivity values using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in subjects with breast cancer. A recently developed technique named MREPT (MR electrical properties tomography) together with a novel coil combination process was used to quantify the conductivity values. The overall technique was validated using a phantom study. In addition, 90 subjects were imaged (50 subjects with previously biopsy-confirmed breast tumor and 40 normal subjects), which was approved by our institutional review board (IRB). A routine clinical protocol, specifically a T2 -weighted FSE (fast spin echo) imaging data, was used for reconstruction of conductivity. By employing the coil combination, the relative error in the conductivity map was reduced from ~70% to 10%. The average conductivity values in breast cancers regions (0.89 ± 0.33S/m) was higher compared to parenchymal tissue (0.43 S/m, P conductivity compared to benign cases (0.56 S/m, n = 5) (P conductivity compared to in situ cancers (0.57 S/m) (P conductivity mapping of breast cancers is feasible using a noninvasive in vivo MREPT technique combined with a coil combination process. The method may provide a tool in the MR diagnosis of breast cancer. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  11. Conductivity studies on microwave synthesized glasses

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    It has been found that conductivity in these glasses changes from the predominantly 'ionic' to predominantly 'electronic' depending upon the chemical composition. ... Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore 560012, India; Department of Physics, Sree Siddaganga College of Arts, Science and Commerce, Tumkur University, ...

  12. Intoxicação por nitratos e nitritos em bovinos por ingestão de Echinochloa polystachya (capim-mandante e Pennisetum purpureum (capim-elefante no sertão da Paraíba Nitrate and nitrite poisoning in cattle caused by the ingestion of Echinochloa polystachya and Pennisetum purpureum in the semiarid region of the state of Paraíba

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosane M.T. Medeiros

    2003-01-01

    Full Text Available Descrevem-se três surtos de intoxicação por nitratos e nitritos em bovinos na região semi-árida do estado da Paraíba, nordeste do Brasil. O primeiro surto foi causado por Echinochloa polystachya (capim-mandante e os demais por Pennisetum purpureum (capim-elefante e ocorreram após um período prolongado de seca, após o início das primeiras chuvas. Em um dos surtos causado por Pennisetum purpureum, uma parte da área onde estava o pasto que continha níveis altos de nitratos havia sido fertilizada com esterco de bovino. No primeiro surto morreram 5 bovinos de um total de 11, no segundo morreram 21 de um total de 81 e no terceiro morreram 3 de um total de 19 bovinos. Os sinais clínicos se caracterizaram por anorexia, dispnéia, ranger de dentes, depressão ou hiperexitabilidade, tremores, contrações abdominais, salivação, corrimento nasal, andar cambaleante, mucosas cianóticas e, finalmente, decúbito. A presença de nitratos e nitritos foi detectada no sangue dos animais e nos pastos por meio da prova de difenilamina. Parece que o principal fator que determinou a concentração de altos níveis de nitratos nas plantas foi a ocorrência de chuvas depois de um longo período de seca. Outro fator importante no surto causado por Pennisetum purpureum foi a fertilização do solo com esterco.Three outbreaks of nitrate poisoning are reported from the semiarid region of the state of Paraíba, northeastern Brazil. One outbreak caused by Echinochloa polystachya (capim-mandante and two others caused by Pennisetum purpureum (capim-elefante occurred at the end of the dry season, after the first rains. In one of the outbreaks caused by Pennisetum purpureum part of the pasture had been fertilized with cattle manure. Five out of 11 cattle died on one farm, 27 out of 81 on another, and 3 out of 9 on a third one. Clinical signs were anorexia, respiratory distress, teeth grinding, depression or hyperexitability, tremors, abdominal contractions

  13. Nerve conduction and excitability studies in peripheral nerve disorders

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Krarup, Christian; Moldovan, Mihai

    2009-01-01

    counterparts in the peripheral nervous system, in some instances without peripheral nervous system symptoms. Both hereditary and acquired demyelinating neuropathies have been studied and the effects on nerve pathophysiology have been compared with degeneration and regeneration of axons. SUMMARY: Excitability......PURPOSE OF REVIEW: The review is aimed at providing information about the role of nerve excitability studies in peripheral nerve disorders. It has been known for many years that the insight into peripheral nerve pathophysiology provided by conventional nerve conduction studies is limited. Nerve...... excitability studies are relatively novel but are acquiring an increasingly important role in the study of peripheral nerves. RECENT FINDINGS: By measuring responses in nerve that are related to nodal function (strength-duration time constant, rheobase and recovery cycle) and internodal function (threshold...

  14. A study on nanocomposites made of a conducting polymer and metallic nanoparticles

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mohammed Ahmed Khalil, Rania [Nanochemistry and Nanoengineering, Institute for Materials Science, Faculty of Engineering, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (Germany); Multicomponent Materials, Institute for Materials Science, Faculty of Engineering, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (Germany); Abdelaziz Mahmoud Abdelaziz, Ramzy [Nanochemistry and Nanoengineering, Institute for Materials Science, Faculty of Engineering, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (Germany); Strunkus, Thomas; Faupel, Franz [Multicomponent Materials, Institute for Materials Science, Faculty of Engineering, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (Germany); Elbahri, Mady [Nanochemistry and Nanoengineering, Institute for Materials Science, Faculty of Engineering, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel (Germany); Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht GmbH, Institute of Polymer Research, Nanochemistry and Nanoengineering (Germany)

    2011-07-01

    Conducting polymers offer a unique combination of properties that makes them attractive materials for many electronic applications. PEDOT:PSS is one of the most successful conductive materials which is considered to be highly stable and resisting degradation under typical ambient conditions. In this study, we have prepared two sets of conducting polymer nano-composites. The first set is composed of PEDOT:PSS doped with different aspect ratios of gold nanorod and the other one is PEDOT:PSS doped with different sizes of gold nanosphere. The chemical reduction method was used for preparing the nano-particles. Indeed, gold nanorods and nanosphere which exhibit tunable absorption as a function of their size and aspect ratio, respectively, have tuned the absorption coefficient for PEDOT: PSS. The nature of the dopant as well as the degree of doping has played a significant role in the improvement of the electrical conductivity of conducting polymer.

  15. Quantitative study of bundle size effect on thermal conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotubes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Ya; Inoue, Taiki; An, Hua; Xiang, Rong; Chiashi, Shohei; Maruyama, Shigeo

    2018-05-01

    Compared with isolated single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), thermal conductivity is greatly impeded in SWNT bundles; however, the measurement of the bundle size effect is difficult. In this study, the number of SWNTs in a bundle was determined based on the transferred horizontally aligned SWNTs on a suspended micro-thermometer to quantitatively study the effect of the bundle size on thermal conductivity. Increasing the bundle size significantly degraded the thermal conductivity. For isolated SWNTs, thermal conductivity was approximately 5000 ± 1000 W m-1 K-1 at room temperature, three times larger than that of the four-SWNT bundle. The logarithmical deterioration of thermal conductivity resulting from the increased bundle size can be attributed to the increased scattering rate with neighboring SWNTs based on the kinetic theory.

  16. Fibroblast proliferation alters cardiac excitation conduction and contraction: a computational study*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhan, He-qing; Xia, Ling; Shou, Guo-fa; Zang, Yun-liang; Liu, Feng; Crozier, Stuart

    2014-01-01

    In this study, the effects of cardiac fibroblast proliferation on cardiac electric excitation conduction and mechanical contraction were investigated using a proposed integrated myocardial-fibroblastic electromechanical model. At the cellular level, models of the human ventricular myocyte and fibroblast were modified to incorporate a model of cardiac mechanical contraction and cooperativity mechanisms. Cellular electromechanical coupling was realized with a calcium buffer. At the tissue level, electrical excitation conduction was coupled to an elastic mechanics model in which the finite difference method (FDM) was used to solve electrical excitation equations, and the finite element method (FEM) was used to solve mechanics equations. The electromechanical properties of the proposed integrated model were investigated in one or two dimensions under normal and ischemic pathological conditions. Fibroblast proliferation slowed wave propagation, induced a conduction block, decreased strains in the fibroblast proliferous tissue, and increased dispersions in depolarization, repolarization, and action potential duration (APD). It also distorted the wave-front, leading to the initiation and maintenance of re-entry, and resulted in a sustained contraction in the proliferous areas. This study demonstrated the important role that fibroblast proliferation plays in modulating cardiac electromechanical behaviour and which should be considered in planning future heart-modeling studies. PMID:24599687

  17. Comparison study of different head model structures with homogeneous/inhomogeneous conductivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wen, P.; Li, Y.

    2001-01-01

    Most of the human head models used in dipole localisation research, which have been reported in the literature to date, assume a simplified cranial structure wherein the head is modelled as a set of distinct homogenous tissue compartments. The inherent inhomogeneity of the tissues has so far been ignored in these models due to the difficulties involved in obtaining the conductivity characteristics with sufficiently high enough spatial resolution throughout the head. A technique for developing an inhomogeneous head model based on the generation of pseudo-conductivity values from the existing but sparse conductivity values is proposed in this paper. Comparative studies are conducted on different model structures and different mechanisms for generating the pseudo conductivities. An evaluation of the results of these studies as reported in this paper, shows that contrary to current simplifying assumptions, tissue inhomogeneity has a major influence on the computation of electrical potential distributions in the head. Brain electrical activity is spatially distributed in three dimensions in the head and evolves with time. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a widely used noninvasive technique which measures the potential distribution on the scalp caused by the brain electrical activity. A number of interesting correlations between features of the recorded EEG waveforms and various aspects of attention memory and linguistic tAS/Ks have been discovered. These correlations are estimated by comparing, for a given brain function, the recorded EEGs against the scalp potentials obtained from the computation of an electric field model of the head. The accuracy of these estimates depends not only on such factors as EEG measured errors but also, more importantly, on how closely the head model approximates the physiological head. This has spurred interest in the use of a more realistic head geometry with more accurate conductivity values which would use the detailed anatomical

  18. Conducting Simulation Studies in the R Programming Environment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallgren, Kevin A

    2013-10-12

    Simulation studies allow researchers to answer specific questions about data analysis, statistical power, and best-practices for obtaining accurate results in empirical research. Despite the benefits that simulation research can provide, many researchers are unfamiliar with available tools for conducting their own simulation studies. The use of simulation studies need not be restricted to researchers with advanced skills in statistics and computer programming, and such methods can be implemented by researchers with a variety of abilities and interests. The present paper provides an introduction to methods used for running simulation studies using the R statistical programming environment and is written for individuals with minimal experience running simulation studies or using R. The paper describes the rationale and benefits of using simulations and introduces R functions relevant for many simulation studies. Three examples illustrate different applications for simulation studies, including (a) the use of simulations to answer a novel question about statistical analysis, (b) the use of simulations to estimate statistical power, and (c) the use of simulations to obtain confidence intervals of parameter estimates through bootstrapping. Results and fully annotated syntax from these examples are provided.

  19. A study of conduction aphasia by positron emission tomography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shoji, Mikio; Harigawa, Yasuo; Kawarabayashi, Takeshi; Hirai, Shunsaku; Tamada, Junpei.

    1988-01-01

    We reported two cases of conduction aphasia with distinctive language disorder from early stage of stroke, as well as their cerebral blood flow and oxygen consumption investigated with PET. The case was a 72-year-old right handed man whose speech disturbance began acutely. On admission, neurological examination revealed hand pronation sign on the right and speech disturbance. Other neurological findings including cortical functions were normal. Brain CT scan showed low density area in the white matter of the left supramarginal gyrus. The diagnosis was cerebral infarction. The case 2 was a 64-year-old right handed man. He suffered right hemiparesis 2 months before. Neurological examination revealed mild right hemiparesis and speech disturbance. Other cortical functions were noncontributory. Brain CT scan showed old subcortical infarction of the left frontal lobe and new cerebral infarction. with supramarginal gyrus. The low density area of the supramarginal cortex extended into the subcortical white matter. The language performances in these two cases were similar. Two patients were definitely fluent, but the verbal output was contaminated by paraphasias which were predominantly literal. They performed poorly when attempting to repeat despite good comprehension. Thus, the primary characteristics of conduction aphasia were present. PET studies resulted as follows. 1) rCBF reduced 36 % in the supramarginal cortex, 50 % in the white matter. 2) rCMRO 2 reduced 37 % in the supramarginal cortex, 45 % in the white matter. 3) The CBF and the CMRO 2 images indicated that cerebral blood flow and oxygen consumption reduced in wider range of area than that shown by brain CT. These results indicated that not only the cortex but also the white matter were damaged in conduction aphasia and several methods including PET should be used to determine the locus of abnormality in conduction aphasia. (author)

  20. Advantages of a cohort study on cardiac arrest conducted by nurses

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cássia Regina Vancini Campanharo

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available AbstractOBJECTIVEIdentifying factors associated to survival after cardiac arrest.METHODAn experience report of a cohort study conducted in a university hospital, with a consecutive sample comprised of 285 patients. Data were collected for a year by trained nurses. The training strategy was conducted through an expository dialogue lecture. Collection monitoring was carried out by nurses via telephone calls, visits to the emergency room and by medical record searches. The neurological status of survivors was evaluated at discharge, after six months and one year.RESULTSOf the 285 patients, 16 survived until hospital discharge, and 13 remained alive after one year, making possible to identify factors associated with survival. There were no losses in the process.CONCLUSIONCohort studies help identify risks and disease outcomes. Considering cardiac arrest, they can subsidize public policies, encourage future studies and training programs for CPR, thereby improving the prognosis of patients.

  1. Linfogranuloma venério: aumento na incidência sugere surto mundial da doença Lymphogranuloma venereum: increased incidence suggests diseases world outbreak

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bruno de Lucia Hernani

    2007-06-01

    Full Text Available O Linfogranuloma venéreo (LGV é uma doença sexualmente transmissível (DST causada pelos sorotipos L1, L2 ou L3 da bactéria intracelular Chlamydia trachomatis. Possui caráter endêmico em partes da África, Ásia, América do Sul e Caribe, e é rara em países industrializados. No entanto, vários casos foram diagnosticados em homossexuais masculinos, na Holanda, e desde 2004, essa doença vem sendo notificada por outros países da Europa, da América do Norte e Austrália. Esse aumento da incidência tem características de surto, e tem acometido homens brancos com menos de 35 anos que mantém relações sexuais com outros homens e apresentam infecções anorretais com diversos sintomas, que incluem dor retal, tenesmo e constipação. A maior parte dos pacientes (>70% também está co-infectada pelo HIV. Depois das primeiras notificações, muitos países passaram a fazer buscas ativas em suas populações. Pela falta de um teste diagnóstico rápido e de uso difundido, os doentes com quadros sugestivos devem receber terapia antimicrobiana durante pelo menos três semanas. Há autores fazendo a mesma recomendação nas retites observadas durante a retoscopia, na presença de mais de 10 leucócitos por campo nas amostras colhidas com swab e nos doentes HIV-positivo.20 Acreditamos que o número de casos esteja também aumentando no Brasil e, por desconhecimento sobre a doença, a mesma não venha sendo diagnosticada. Sugerimos que a hipótese diagnóstica de LGV, seja afastada nos doentes que pratiquem sexo anal e apresentem úlceras na região ou quadros de retite.Lymphogranuloma venereum (LGV is a sexually transmitted disease (STD caused by L1, L2 L3 sorovars of the intracellular bacteria Chlamydia trachomatis. It has endemic features in parts of Africa, Asia, South America and Caribbean, and is rare in developed countries. Meanwhile, many cases were diagnosed, mainly in men who have sex with men (MSM, in the Netherlands, and since 2004

  2. Conducting Simulation Studies in the R Programming Environment

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kevin A. Hallgren

    2013-10-01

    Full Text Available Simulation studies allow researchers to answer specific questions about data analysis, statistical power, and best-practices for obtainingaccurate results in empirical research. Despite the benefits that simulation research can provide, many researchers are unfamiliar with available tools for conducting their own simulation studies. The use of simulation studies need not be restricted toresearchers with advanced skills in statistics and computer programming, and such methods can be implemented by researchers with a variety of abilities and interests. The present paper provides an introduction to methods used for running simulationstudies using the R statistical programming environment and is written for individuals with minimal experience running simulation studies or using R. The paper describes the rationale and benefits of using simulations and introduces R functions relevant for many simulation studies. Three examples illustrate different applications for simulation studies, including (a the use of simulations to answer a novel question about statistical analysis, (b the use of simulations to estimate statistical power, and (c the use of simulations to obtain confidence intervals of parameter estimates throughbootstrapping. Results and fully annotated syntax from these examples are provided.

  3. Dielectric and electrical conductivity studies of bulk lead (II) oxide (PbO)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Darwish, A.A.A., E-mail: aaadarwish@gmail.com [Department of Physics, Faculty of Education at Al-Mahweet, Sana’a University, Al-Mahwit (Yemen); Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, P.O. Box 741, Tabuk 71491, Tabuk (Saudi Arabia); El-Zaidia, E.F.M.; El-Nahass, M.M. [Department of Physics, Faculty of Education, Ain Shams University, Rorxy, Cairo 11757 (Egypt); Hanafy, T.A. [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, P.O. Box 741, Tabuk 71491, Tabuk (Saudi Arabia); Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Fayoum University, 63514 El Fayoum (Egypt); Al-Zubaidi, A.A. [Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, University of Tabuk, P.O. Box 741, Tabuk 71491, Tabuk (Saudi Arabia)

    2014-03-15

    Highlights: • The AC measurements of PbO were measured at temperature range 313–523 K. • The dielectric constants increased with temperature. • The mechanism responsible for AC conduction is electronic hopping. -- Abstract: The dielectric properties, the impedance spectroscopy and AC conductivity of bulk PbO have been investigated as a function of frequency and temperature. The measurements were carried out in the frequency range from 40 to 5 × 10{sup 6} Hz and in temperature range from 313 to 523 K. The frequency response of dielectric constant, ε{sub 1}, and dielectric loss index, ε{sub 2}, as a function of temperature were studied. The values of ε{sub 1} and ε{sub 2} were found to decrease with the increase in frequency. However, they increase with the increase in temperature. The presence of a single arc in the complex modulus spectrum at different temperatures confirms the single-phase character of the PbO. The AC conductivity exhibited a universal dynamic response: σ{sub AC} = Aω{sup s}. The AC conductivity was also found to increase with increasing temperature and frequency. The correlation barrier hopping (CBH) model was found to apply to the AC conductivity data. The calculated values of s were decreased with temperature. This behavior reveals that the conduction mechanism for PbO samples is CBH. The activation energy for AC conductivity decreases with increasing frequency. This confirms that the hopping conduction to the dominant mechanism for PbO samples.

  4. On the etiology of an outbreak of winter dysentery in dairy cows in Brazil Sobre a etiologia de um surto de disenteria de inverno em vacas leiteiras no Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo E. Brandão

    2007-10-01

    Full Text Available Winter dysentery (WD is a seasonal infectious disease described worldwide that causes a marked decrease in milk production in dairy cows. In the Northern hemisphere, where the disease is classically recognized, bovine coronavirus (BCoV has been assigned as a major etiologic agent of the disease. Nonetheless, in the Southern hemisphere, an in-deep etiological survey on WD cases had not been carried out. This study aimed to survey for BCoV by nested-RT-PCR, rotavirus by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE and ELISA, bacteria by classical bacteriological methods and PCR for virulence factors and parasites by sugar flotation test on fecal samples of 21 cows from a farm during an outbreak of WD in São Paulo state, Southeastern Brazil. BCoV was detected in all 21 samples, while rotavirus was detected in two symptomatic cows. Escherichia coli, Yersinia intermedia, Providencia rustigianii Proteus penneri, Klebsiella terrigena and Enterobacter aglomerans were detected in samples from both asymptomatic and healthy cows in different associations. The study of E. coli virulence factors revealed that the strains isolated were all apathogenic. Cysts of Eimeria sp. and eggs of Strongyloidea were detected at low numbers in four of the symptomatic cows, with one co-infestation. These results suggest BCoV as the main etiologic agent of the cases of WD in Brazil, a conclusion that, with the clinical and epidemiological patterns of the disease studied herein, match those already described elsewhere. These findings give basis to the development of preventive measures and contribute to the understanding of the etiology of WD.Em vacas leiteiras, a disenteria de inverno (DI é uma doença infecciosa sazonal mundialmente relatada que ocasiona uma marcada queda na produção de leite; no hemisfério Norte, onde a doença é classicamente reconhecida, o coronavirus bovino (BCoV tem um importante papel como agente etiológico. Entretanto, no hemisfério Sul

  5. Contribution to the study of the conductivity of high purity water

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nens, Ch.

    1964-01-01

    In this work a study is made more particularly of two points: the production of high purity water and the estimation of this purity by means of conductivity measurements. As far as water purification is concerned it is observed that the de-ionisation produced by ion exchange resins in mixed beds leads to a water having a lower conductivity than that obtained by distillation. This low conductivity however, measured at the column exit before the water comes into contact with air is not stable. In fact the carbon dioxide in the water gives rise to an equilibrium with production of the ions HCO 3 - , CO 3 -- . These ions are retained during the passage of the water through the resins. They reappear again at the column exit as a result of the displacement of the hydration equilibrium of CO 2 ; because of this the conductivity of the water increases with time. The water obtained by successive distillations does not behave in the same way because no carbon dioxide is present. Distillation is however a costly purification process on an industrial scale, especially if large quantities of water have to be treated. The measurement of these low conductivities is very delicate. The method employed makes use of a direct current and gives reproducible results if care is taken to exclude interfering electric fields by screening the apparatus. (author) [fr

  6. Transport and solid state battery characteristic studies of silver based super ion conducting glasses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jayaseelan, S.; Muralidharan, P.; Venkateswarlu, M.; Satyanarayana, N.

    2005-01-01

    Silverarsenotellurite (SAT), silverphosphotellurite (SPT) and silvervanadotellurite (SVT) quaternary glass systems were prepared with various formers compositions by a melt quenching method. Glass nature, glass transition temperature (T g ) and structure of the prepared glasses were identified respectively by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) technique. Electrical conductivity studies were carried out by impedance measurement in the frequency range 40 Hz to 100 KHz at different temperatures for all three sets of AgI-Ag 2 O-[TeO 2 -M 2 O 5 ] (M 2 O 5 = As 2 O 5 , P 2 O 5 , V 2 O 5 ) glasses. The high conducting compositions of SAT, SPT and SVT glass samples were fixed from the results of total conductivity (σ t ). Electronic conductivity (σ e ) studies were made on high conducting composition of each glass system by Wagner's polarization method. Total current (i t ) is due to ion and electron. Electronic current (i e ) due to electron were estimated through mobility studies. Ionic conductivity (σ i ) and ionic current (i i ) were calculated respectively using the conductivity (σ t and σ e ) and current (i t and i e ) results for the SAT, SPT and SVT glasses. Transport numbers due to ion (t i ) and electron (t e ) were calculated using the conductivity and mobility results for each glass system. The high conducting composition of the SAT, SPT and SVT glasses were used as solid electrolytes with silver metal as an anode and iodine:graphite (I:C) as a cathode for the fabrication of solid state batteries (SSBs). All the fabricated batteries were characterized by measuring the open circuit voltage (OCV) and polarization properties and estimated the batteries performances

  7. Heat conduction in graphene: experimental study and theoretical interpretation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ghosh, S; Nika, D L; Pokatilov, E P; Balandin, A A

    2009-01-01

    We review the results of our experimental investigation of heat conduction in suspended graphene and offer a theoretical interpretation of its extremely high thermal conductivity. The direct measurements of the thermal conductivity of graphene were performed using a non-contact optical technique and special calibration procedure with bulk graphite. The measured values were in the range of ∼3000-5300 W mK -1 near room temperature and depended on the lateral dimensions of graphene flakes. We explain the enhanced thermal conductivity of graphene as compared to that of bulk graphite basal planes by the two-dimensional nature of heat conduction in graphene over the whole range of phonon frequencies. Our calculations show that the intrinsic Umklapp-limited thermal conductivity of graphene grows with the increasing dimensions of graphene flakes and can exceed that of bulk graphite when the flake size is on the order of a few micrometers. The detailed theory, which includes the phonon-mode-dependent Gruneisen parameter and takes into account phonon scattering on graphene edges and point defects, gives numerical results that are in excellent agreement with the measurements for suspended graphene. Superior thermal properties of graphene are beneficial for all proposed graphene device applications.

  8. Convective and conduction heat transfer study on a mig-type electron gun

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Patire Junior, H.; Barroso, J.J.

    1996-01-01

    A convective and conducting heat transfer study of a magnetron injection electron gun has been made to minimize the temperature distribution in the gun elements while keeping the required operating temperature at 1000 0 C of the emitter. Appropriate materials were selected to reduce thermal losses and to improve the gun design from a constructional point of view aiming at extending the capabilities of the electron gun. A thermal probe to determine the air velocity and the convective heat transfer coefficient has been constructed to determine the external boundary condition of the ceramic shell and external flanges. A study the contact resistance for all the gun elements has been made to minimize the conduction thermal losses. A software has been used to simulate a thermal model considering the three processes of thermal transfer, namely, conduction, convection and radiation and the influence of the physical properties of the materials used. (author). 7 refs., 5 figs., 1 tab

  9. Conducting a Grounded Theory Study in a Language Other Than English

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Intansari Nurjannah

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Translation can be a problem area for researchers conducting qualitative studies in languages other than English who intend to publish the results in an English-language journal. Analyzing the data is also complex when the research team consists of people from different language backgrounds. Translation must be considered as an issue in its own right to maintain the integrity of the research, especially in a grounded theory study. In this article, we offer guidelines for the process of translation for data analysis in a grounded theory study in which the research was conducted in a language other than English (Indonesian. We make recommendations about procedures to choose when, who, and how to translate data. The translation procedure is divided into four steps which are as follows: translation in the process of coding, translation in the process of team discussion, translation in the process of advanced coding, and ensuring the accuracy of translation.

  10. A case study to estimate thermal conductivity of ABS in Cold Climate Chamber

    OpenAIRE

    Mughal, Umair Najeeb; Makarova, Marina; Virk, Muhammad Shakeel; Polanco Pinerez, Geanette

    2015-01-01

    Open Access (Romeo Green journal), publishers version / PDF may be used http://www.scirp.org/journal/wjet/ Non steady state thermal conductivity of ABS was estimated using an analytical approach in a Cold Climate Chamber at ?10?C and ?14?C. Two hollow cylinders of ABS of varying thickness were used to estimate the conductivity. The material was porous but the porosity was unknown. This paper is a case study to understand, if it is reasonable to estimate the thermal conductivity using th...

  11. Peripheral nervous system maturation in preterm infants: longitudinal motor and sensory nerve conduction studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lori, S; Bertini, Giovanna; Bastianelli, M; Gabbanini, S; Gualandi, D; Molesti, E; Dani, C

    2018-04-10

    To study the evolution of sensory-motor nerves in the upper and lower limbs in neurologically healthy preterm infants and to use sensory-motor studies to compare the rate of maturation in preterm infants at term age and full-term healthy neonates. The study comprised 26 neurologically normal preterm infants born at 23-33 weeks of gestational age, who underwent sensory nerve conduction and motor nerve conduction studies from plantar medial and median nerves and from tibial and ulnar nerves, respectively. We repeated the same neurophysiological studies in 19 of the preterm infants every 2 weeks until postnatal term age. The data from the preterm infants at term was matched with a group of ten full-term babies a few days after birth. The motor nerve conduction velocity of the tibial and ulnar nerves showed progressive increases in values in relation to gestational age, but there was a decrease of values in distal latencies and F wave latencies. Similarly, there was a gradual increase of sensory nerve conduction velocity values of the medial plantar and median nerves and decreases in latencies in relation to gestational age. At term age, the preterm infants showed significantly lower values of conduction velocities and distal latencies than the full-term neonates. These results were probably because the preterm infants had significantly lower weights, total length and, in particular, distal segments of the limbs at term age. The sensory-motor conduction parameters were clearly related to gestational age, but extrauterine life did not affect the maturation of the peripheral nervous system in the very preterm babies who were neurologically healthy.

  12. Conductivity study of thermally stabilized RuO2/polythiophene nanocomposites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hebbar, Vidyashree; Bhajantri, R. F.

    2018-04-01

    The polymer nanocomposites of Ruthenium oxide (RuO2) filled polythiophene (PT) were synthesized by polymerization using chemical method. The purity of the synthesized polymer composite is verified using X-Ray diffraction (XRD). The structural discrepancies of the RuO2 filled PT composites are studied by Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy. The phase transition and thermal stability of the prepared composite is revised by thermal characterization such as differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The DC conductivity of RuO2 filled PT composite in the form of pellets is calculated using current-voltage (I-V) characterization by two-probe method. The enhancement in conductivity with increased RuO2 content in PT matrix is examined, which is the required property for electrical and electronic applications in supercapacitors.

  13. Electrical conduction studies in ferric-doped KHSO 4 single crystals

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sharon, M.; Kalia, A. K.

    1980-03-01

    Direct-current conductivity of ferric-doped (138, 267, and 490 ppm) single crystals of KHSO 4 has been studied. The mechanism for the dc conduction process is discussed. It is observed that the ferric ion forms a (Fe 3+-two vacancies) complex and the enthaply for its formation is 0.09 ± 0.01 eV. It is proposed that each ferric ion removes two protons from each HSO 4 dimer. The conductivity plot shows the presence of intrinsic and extrinsic regions. It is proposed that in the intrinsic region the dimer of HSO -4 breaks reversibly to form a long-chain monomer-type structure. The conductivity in the KHSO 4 crystal is proposed to be controlled by the rotation of HSO -4 tetrahedra along the axis which contains no hydrogen atom. Isotherm calculation for the trivalent-doped system is applied to this crystal and the results are compared with Co 2+-doped KHSO 4 crystal. The distribution coefficient of ferric ion in the KHSO 4 single crystal is calculated to be 4.5 × 10 -1. Ferric ion causes tapering in the crystal growth habit of KHSO 4 and it is believed to be due to the presence of (Fe 3+-two vacancies) complex. The enthalpy values for the various other processes are as follows: enthalpy for the breakage of HSO -4 dimer ( Hi) = 1.28 ± 0.01 eV; enthalpy for the rotation of HSO -4 tetrahedron ( Hm) = 0.58 ± 0.01 eV.

  14. Oxidation of clean silicon surfaces studied by four-point probe surface conductance measurements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, Christian Leth; Grey, Francois; Aono, M.

    1997-01-01

    We have investigated how the conductance of Si(100)-(2 x 1) and Si(111)-(7 x 7) surfaces change during exposure to molecular oxygen. A monotonic decrease in conductance is seen as the (100) surfaces oxidizes. In contract to a prior study, we propose that this change is caused by a decrease in sur...

  15. A model study of tunneling conductance spectra of ferromagnetically ordered manganites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Panda, Saswati; Kar, J. K.; Rout, G. C.

    2018-02-01

    We report here the interplay of ferromagnetism (FM) and charge density wave (CDW) in manganese oxide systems through the study of tunneling conductance spectra. The model Hamiltonian consists of strong Heisenberg coupling in core t2g band electrons within mean-field approximation giving rise to ferromagnetism. Ferromagnetism is induced in the itinerant eg electrons due to Kubo-Ohata type double exchange (DE) interaction among the t2g and eg electrons. The charge ordering (CO) present in the eg band giving rise to CDW interaction is considered as the extra-mechanism to explain the colossal magnetoresistance (CMR) property of manganites. The magnetic and CDW order parameters are calculated using Zubarev's Green's function technique and solved self-consistently and numerically. The eg electron density of states (DOS) calculated from the imaginary part of the Green's function explains the experimentally observed tunneling conductance spectra. The DOS graph exhibits a parabolic gap near the Fermi energy as observed in tunneling conductance spectra experiments.

  16. Thermal conductivity model for powdered materials under vacuum based on experimental studies

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    N. Sakatani

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The thermal conductivity of powdered media is characteristically very low in vacuum, and is effectively dependent on many parameters of their constituent particles and packing structure. Understanding of the heat transfer mechanism within powder layers in vacuum and theoretical modeling of their thermal conductivity are of great importance for several scientific and engineering problems. In this paper, we report the results of systematic thermal conductivity measurements of powdered media of varied particle size, porosity, and temperature under vacuum using glass beads as a model material. Based on the obtained experimental data, we investigated the heat transfer mechanism in powdered media in detail, and constructed a new theoretical thermal conductivity model for the vacuum condition. This model enables an absolute thermal conductivity to be calculated for a powder with the input of a set of powder parameters including particle size, porosity, temperature, and compressional stress or gravity, and vice versa. Our model is expected to be a competent tool for several scientific and engineering fields of study related to powders, such as the thermal infrared observation of air-less planetary bodies, thermal evolution of planetesimals, and performance of thermal insulators and heat storage powders.

  17. Conductivity studies of Chitosan doped with different ammonium salts: Effect of ion size

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mohan, C. Raja; Senthilkumar, M.; Jayakumar, K.

    2015-06-01

    In the present investigation influence of ion size on the electrical properties of various ammonium salts of various concentrations doped with Chitosan liquid electrolyte has been studied. The attachment of ammonium salts with Chitosan has been confirmed through FTIR Spectrum. Polarizability is calculated from the refractive index data. Addition of ammonium salts increases the conductivity. It is also observed that increase in ion size, increases the ionic conductivity due to increase in amorphous nature of the material. Increase in concentration leads to increase in conductivity due to the presence of more number of free ions.

  18. Recommendations for designing and conducting veterinary clinical pathology biologic variation studies

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Freeman, Kathleen P; Baral, Randolph M; Dhand, Navneet K

    2017-01-01

    The recent creation of a veterinary clinical pathology biologic variation website has highlighted the need to provide recommendations for future studies of biologic variation in animals in order to help standardize and improve the quality of published information and to facilitate review......). These recommendations provide a valuable resource for clinicians, laboratorians, and researchers interested in conducting studies of biologic variation and in determining the quality of studies of biologic variation in veterinary laboratory testing....

  19. Experimental study on thermal conductivity of He-Ar binary mixture at low temperatures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nesterov, N.A.

    1977-01-01

    The results of the experimental and theoretical investigation of helium-argon mixture thermal conductivity for three concentrations of helium (25,50 and 75%) in the 90-273 K temperature range at 1 atm. pressure are presented. At the calculation of the thermal conductivity coefficients corrections for the heat removal from the heater ends, for radiation and temperature drop in the wall of a glass tube and a measuring cell have been considered. On the basis of the thermal conductivity coefficient values the empiric concentration dependences of the mixture thermal conductivity are obtained by the method of least squares at different temperatures. Experimental data have been compared with theoretical values of thermal conductivity, calculated according to the molecular-kinetic theory. The results of this investigation can be used for determining potential energy of interparticle interaction and studying heat exchange processes at the external flow over body

  20. Electrical conductivity of conductive carbon blacks: influence of surface chemistry and topology

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pantea, Dana; Darmstadt, Hans; Kaliaguine, Serge; Roy, Christian

    2003-01-01

    Conductive carbon blacks from different manufacturers were studied in order to obtain some insight into the relation between their electrical conductivity and their surface properties. The surface chemistry was studied by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and static secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS), whereas the topology of the carbon black surface was investigated using low-pressure nitrogen adsorption. All these techniques yield information on the graphitic character of the surface. In general, the electrical conductivity of the conductive blacks increases with the graphitic character of the surface. For low surface area conductive blacks, the electrical conductivity correlates well with the surface chemistry. In the case of the XPS and SIMS data, this correlation is also valid when other types of carbon blacks such as thermal and furnace blacks are included, confirming the determining influence of the carbon black surface chemistry on the electrical conductivity

  1. Experimental studies of microwave interaction with a plasma-covered planar conducting surface

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Destler, W.W.; Rodgers, J.; DeGrange, J.E.; Segalov, Z.

    1990-01-01

    The authors present experimental studies of the reflection and absorption of microwave radiation from a plasma-covered planar conducting surface. In the experiments, microwave radiation from both highpower, short pulse (10 GHz, 100 MW, 30 ns) and low power (10 GHz, 10 mW, CW) sources is radiated at a 30 cm diameter conducting plate. A time-varying plasma is created on the surface of the conductor by 19 coaxial plasma guns embedded in the surface of the plate and discharged using a fast-rise capacitor bank. The plasma density distribution on the conducting surface is a function of time and the charging voltage on the capacitor bank. Incident and reflected microwave radiation has been measured for a wide variety of experimental conditions

  2. Electrochemical and Thermal Studies of Prepared Conducting Chitosan Biopolymer Film

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hlaing Hlaing Oo; Kyaw Naing; Kyaw Myo Naing; Tin Tin Aye; Nyunt Wynn

    2005-09-01

    In this paper, chitosan based conducting bipolymer films were prepared by casting and solvent evaporating technique. All prepared chitosan films were of pale yellow colour, transparent, and smooth. Sulphuric acid was chosen as the cross-linking agent. It enhanced conduction pathway in cross-linked chitosan films. Mechanical properties, solid-state, and thermal behavior of prepared chitosan fimls were studied by means of a material testing machine, powder X-ray diffractometry (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis (TG-DTG), and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). By the XRD diffraction pattern, high molecular weight of chitosan product indicates the semi-crystalline nature, but the prepared chitosan film and doped chitosan film indicate significantly lower in crystallinity prove which of the amorphous characteristics. In addition, DSC thermogram of pure chitosan film exhibited exothermic peak around at 300 C, indicating polymer decomposition of chitosan molecules in chitosan films. Furthermore, these DSC thermograms clearly showed that while pure chitosan film display exothermal decomposition, the doped chitosan films mainly endothermic characteristics. The ionic conductivity of doped chitosan films were in the order of 10 to 10 S cm , which is in the range of semi-conductor. These results showed that cross-linked chitoson films may be used as polymer electrolyte film to fabricate solid state electrochemical cells

  3. Molecular dynamics study on interfacial thermal conductance of unirradiated and irradiated SiC/C

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wang, Qingyu; Wang, Chenglong; Zhang, Yue; Li, Taosheng

    2014-01-01

    SiC f /SiC composite materials have been considered as candidate structural materials for several types of advanced nuclear reactors. Both experimental and computer simulations studies have revealed the degradation of thermal conductivity for this material after irradiation. The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of SiC/graphite interface structure and irradiation on the interfacial thermal conductance by using molecular dynamics simulation. Five SiC/graphite composite models were created with different interface structures, and irradiation was introduced near the interfaces. Thermal conductance was calculated by means of reverse-NEMD method. Results show that there is a positive correlation between the interfacial energy and interfacial C–Si bond quantity, and irradiated models showed higher interfacial energy compared with their unirradiated counterparts. Except the model with graphite atom plane parallel to the interface, the interfacial thermal conductance of unirradiated and irradiated (1000 eV) models, increases as the increase of interfacial energy, respectively. For all irradiated models, lattice defects are of importance in impacting the interfacial thermal conductance depending on the interface structure. For the model with graphite layer parallel to the interface, the interfacial thermal conductance increased after irradiation, for the other models the interfacial thermal conductance decreased. The vibrational density of states of atoms in the interfacial region was calculated to analyze the phonon mismatch at the interface

  4. Correction: Experimental and theoretical studies of nanofluid thermal conductivity enhancement: a review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kleinstreuer Clement

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Correction to Kleinstreuer C, Feng Y: Experimental and theoretical studies of nanofluid thermal conductivity enhancement: a review. Nanoscale Research Letters 2011, 6:229.

  5. Conductivity in insulators due to implantation of conducting species

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prawer, S.; Kalish, R.

    1993-01-01

    Control of the surface conductivity of insulators can be accomplished by high dose ion implantation of conductive species. The use of C + as the implant species is particularly interesting because C can either form electrically insulating sp 3 bonds or electrically conducting sp 2 bonds. In the present work, fused quartz plates have been irradiated with 100 keV C + ions to doses up to 1 x 10 17 ions/cm 2 at room temperature and at 200 deg C. The ion beam induced conductivity was monitored in-situ and was found to increase by up to 8 orders to magnitude for the ion dose range studied. Xe implantations over a similar range did not induce any changes in the conductivity showing that the increase in conductivity is caused by the presence of the C in the fused quartz matrix and not by damage. The dependence of the conductivity on implantation temperature and on post implantation annealing sheds light on the clustering of the C implants. The temperature dependence of the conductivity for the highest doses employed (1 x 10 17 C + /cm 2 ) can be described very well by lnσ α T. This is considered to be a peculiar dependence which does not comply with any of the standard models for conduction. 9 refs., 1 tab., 6 figs

  6. Study of dielectric relaxation and AC conductivity of InP:S single crystal

    Science.gov (United States)

    El-Nahass, M. M.; Ali, H. A. M.; El-Shazly, E. A.

    2012-07-01

    The dielectric relaxation and AC conductivity of InP:S single crystal were studied in the frequency range from 100 to 5.25 × 105 Hz and in the temperature range from 296 to 455 K. The dependence of the dielectric constant (ɛ1) and the dielectric loss (ɛ2) on both frequency and temperature was investigated. Since no peak was observed on the dielectric loss, we used a method based on the electric modulus to evaluate the activation energy of the dielectric relaxation. Scaling of the electric modulus spectra showed that the charge transport dynamics is independent of temperature. The AC conductivity (σAC) was found to obey the power law: Aωs. Analysis of the AC conductivity data and the frequency exponent showed that the correlated barrier hopping (CBH) model is the dominant mechanism for the AC conduction. The variation of AC conductivity with temperature at different frequencies showed that σAC is a thermally activated process.

  7. Communication: Minimum in the thermal conductivity of supercooled water: A computer simulation study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bresme, F., E-mail: f.bresme@imperial.ac.uk [Chemical Physics Section, Department of Chemistry, Imperial College, London SW7 2AZ, United Kingdom and Department of Chemistry, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim 7491 (Norway); Biddle, J. W.; Sengers, J. V.; Anisimov, M. A. [Institute for Physical Science and Technology, and Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742 (United States)

    2014-04-28

    We report the results of a computer simulation study of the thermodynamic properties and the thermal conductivity of supercooled water as a function of pressure and temperature using the TIP4P-2005 water model. The thermodynamic properties can be represented by a two-structure equation of state consistent with the presence of a liquid-liquid critical point in the supercooled region. Our simulations confirm the presence of a minimum in the thermal conductivity, not only at atmospheric pressure, as previously found for the TIP5P water model, but also at elevated pressures. This anomalous behavior of the thermal conductivity of supercooled water appears to be related to the maximum of the isothermal compressibility or the minimum of the speed of sound. However, the magnitudes of the simulated thermal conductivities are sensitive to the water model adopted and appear to be significantly larger than the experimental thermal conductivities of real water at low temperatures.

  8. Communication: Minimum in the thermal conductivity of supercooled water: A computer simulation study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bresme, F.; Biddle, J. W.; Sengers, J. V.; Anisimov, M. A.

    2014-01-01

    We report the results of a computer simulation study of the thermodynamic properties and the thermal conductivity of supercooled water as a function of pressure and temperature using the TIP4P-2005 water model. The thermodynamic properties can be represented by a two-structure equation of state consistent with the presence of a liquid-liquid critical point in the supercooled region. Our simulations confirm the presence of a minimum in the thermal conductivity, not only at atmospheric pressure, as previously found for the TIP5P water model, but also at elevated pressures. This anomalous behavior of the thermal conductivity of supercooled water appears to be related to the maximum of the isothermal compressibility or the minimum of the speed of sound. However, the magnitudes of the simulated thermal conductivities are sensitive to the water model adopted and appear to be significantly larger than the experimental thermal conductivities of real water at low temperatures

  9. Thermal conductivity at the nanoscale: A molecular dynamics study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lyver, John W., IV

    With the growing use of nanotechnology and nanodevices in many fields of engineering and science, a need for understanding the thermal properties of such devices has increased. The ability for nanomaterials to conduct heat is highly dependent on the purity of the material, internal boundaries due to material changes and the structure of the material itself. Experimentally measuring the heat transport at the nanoscale is extremely difficult and can only be done as a macro output from the device. Computational methods such as various Monte Carlo (MC) and molecular dynamics (MD) techniques for studying the contribution of atomic vibrations associated with heat transport properties are very useful. The Green--Kubo method in conjunction with Fourier's law for calculating the thermal conductivity, kappa, has been used in this study and has shown promise as one approach well adapted for understanding nanosystems. Investigations were made of the thermal conductivity using noble gases, modeled with Lennard-Jones (LJ) interactions, in solid face-centered cubic (FCC) structures. MC and MD simulations were done to study homogeneous monatomic and binary materials as well as slabs of these materials possessing internal boundaries. Additionally, MD simulations were done on silicon carbide nanowires, nanotubes, and nanofilaments using a potential containing two-body and three-body terms. The results of the MC and MD simulations were matched against available experimental and other simulations and showed that both methods can accurately simulate real materials in a fraction of the time and effort. The results of the study show that in compositionally disordered materials the selection of atomic components by their mass, hard-core atomic diameter, well depth, and relative concentration can change the kappa by as much as an order of magnitude. It was found that a 60% increase in mass produces a 25% decrease in kappa. A 50% increase in interatomic strength produces a 25% increase in

  10. Early conduct problems, school achievement and later crime: findings from a 30-year longitudinal study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Jakobsen, Ida Skytte; Fergusson, David; Horwood, John L.

    2012-01-01

    This study used dato from a 30-year longitudinal study to esamine the associations between early conduct problems, school achievement and later crime. The analysis showed that, even following extensive adjustment for confounding, both early conduct problems and later educational achievement made...... experimental research is required to ascertain the extent that: a) the educational achievement of young people with early-onset conduct problems can be improved; and b) the extent to which any such improvements translate into reductions in subsequent antisocial behviour....

  11. Interpreting equilibrium-conductivity and conductivity-relaxation measurements to establish thermodynamic and transport properties for multiple charged defect conducting ceramics.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Huayang; Ricote, Sandrine; Coors, W Grover; Kee, Robert J

    2015-01-01

    A model-based interpretation of measured equilibrium conductivity and conductivity relaxation is developed to establish thermodynamic, transport, and kinetics parameters for multiple charged defect conducting (MCDC) ceramic materials. The present study focuses on 10% yttrium-doped barium zirconate (BZY10). In principle, using the Nernst-Einstein relationship, equilibrium conductivity measurements are sufficient to establish thermodynamic and transport properties. However, in practice it is difficult to establish unique sets of properties using equilibrium conductivity alone. Combining equilibrium and conductivity-relaxation measurements serves to significantly improve the quantitative fidelity of the derived material properties. The models are developed using a Nernst-Planck-Poisson (NPP) formulation, which enables the quantitative representation of conductivity relaxations caused by very large changes in oxygen partial pressure.

  12. Thermal conductivity and thermal rectification in graphene nanoribbons: a molecular dynamics study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Jiuning; Ruan, Xiulin; Chen, Yong P

    2009-07-01

    We have used molecular dynamics to calculate the thermal conductivity of symmetric and asymmetric graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) of several nanometers in size (up to approximately 4 nm wide and approximately 10 nm long). For symmetric nanoribbons, the calculated thermal conductivity (e.g., approximately 2000 W/m-K at 400 K for a 1.5 nm x 5.7 nm zigzag GNR) is on the similar order of magnitude of the experimentally measured value for graphene. We have investigated the effects of edge chirality and found that nanoribbons with zigzag edges have appreciably larger thermal conductivity than nanoribbons with armchair edges. For asymmetric nanoribbons, we have found significant thermal rectification. Among various triangularly shaped GNRs we investigated, the GNR with armchair bottom edge and a vertex angle of 30 degrees gives the maximal thermal rectification. We also studied the effect of defects and found that vacancies and edge roughness in the nanoribbons can significantly decrease the thermal conductivity. However, substantial thermal rectification is observed even in the presence of edge roughness.

  13. A study of frequency effects on conductivity measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nurul Ain Ahmad Latif; Mahmood Dollah; Mohd Khidir Kamaron; Suaib Ibrahim

    2010-01-01

    In eddy current testing (ET), different measurement can be carry out through the selection of the test frequency. In conductivity measurement, the selection of eddy current test frequencies permits to select the specific material properties to be measured. The test frequency selected should be sufficient high that eddy current penetration is limited only to fraction of the test material thickness. This paper describes the effects of test frequency on the conductivity measurement. This experiment done by applying different values of test frequency which is 20 kHz, 100 kHz and 1 MHz. (author)

  14. Solid-state ionics: Studies of lithium-conducting sulfide glasses and a superconducting oxide compound

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ahn, Byung Tae.

    1989-01-01

    The first part of this work studies lithium-conducting sulfide glasses for battery applications, while the second part studies the thermodynamic properties of a superconducting oxide compound by using an oxide electrolyte. Lithium conducting glasses based on the SiS 2 -Li 2 S system are possible solid electrolytes for high-energy-density lithium batteries. The foremost requirement for solid electrolytes is that they should have high ionic conductivities. Unfortunately, most crystalline lithium conductors have low ionic conductivities at room temperature. However, glass ionic conductors show higher ionic conductivities than do crystalline forms of the same material. In addition to higher ionic conductivities, glasses appear to have several advantages over crystalline materials. These advantages include isotropic conductivity, absence of grain boundary effects, ease of glass forming, and the potential for a wide range of stability to oxidizing and reducing conditions. Using pyrolitic graphite-coated quartz ampoules, new ternary compounds and glasses in the SiS 2 -Li 2 S system were prepared. Several techniques were used to characterize the materials: powder x-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis, differential scanning calorimetry, and AC impedance spectroscopy. The measured lithium conductivity of the sulfide glasses was one of the highest among the known solid lithium conductors. Measuring the equilibrium open circuit voltages assisted in determining the electrochemical stabilities of the ternary compounds and glasses with respect to pure Li. A solid-state ionic technique called oxygen coulometric titration was used to measure the thermodynamic stability, the oxygen stoichiometry, and the effects of the oxygen stoichiometry, and the effects of the oxygen stoichiometry and the cooling rate on superconductivity of the YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-x compound were investigated

  15. Quasiparticle relaxation in Heavy Fermions studied using Inverse Fourier Transform of optical conductivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dordevic, S.V.

    2012-01-01

    Inverse Fourier Transform of optical conductivity is used for studies of quasiparticle relaxation in Heavy Fermions in time domain. We demonstrate the usefulness of the procedure on model spectra and then use it to study quasiparticle relaxation in two Heavy Fermions YbFe 4 Sb 12 and CeRu 4 Sb 12 . Optical conductivity in time domain reveals details of quasiparticle relaxation close to the Fermi level, not readily accessible from the spectra in the frequency domain. In particular, we find that the relaxation of heavy quasiparticles does not start instantaneously, but typically after a few hundred femto-seconds.

  16. Studies of natural and 60Co gamma radio-induced conduction in metaphosphate glasses and silica

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mengual Gil, M.A.

    1977-01-01

    A study of natural and 60 Co gamma radio-induced conduction in metaphosphate glasses and silica is presented. The experimental study of natural conduction current in metaphosphate glasses in function of temperature enables to observe two different values of the activation energies in the respective temperature ranges T>223K and T [fr

  17. Development of conductivity probe and temperature probe for in-situ measurements in hydrological studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chandra, U.; Galindo, B.J.; Castagnet, A.C.G.

    1981-05-01

    A conductivity probe and a temperature probe have been developed for in-situ measurements in various hydrological field studies. The conductivity probe has platinum electrodes and is powered with two 12 volt batteries. The sensing element of the temperature probe consists of a resistor of high coefficient of temperature. Response of the conductivity probe is measured in a milliampere mater while the resistance of the thermistor is read by a digital meter. The values of conductivity and temperature are derived from respective calibration. The probes are prototype and their range of measurement can be improved depending upon the requirement of the field problem. (Author) [pt

  18. Location and social context does matter when conducting consumer studies!

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Andersen, Barbara Vad; Kraggerud, Hilde; Bruun Brockhoff, Per

    2015-01-01

    an adequate level of research conducted in realistic eating contexts. In the aim to study how location and social context affected consumers’ feeling of food satisfaction and physical well-being a study was set up with, combined yoghurt with muesli products in two settings; a) in a sensory lab facility (n...... of food satisfaction. Test products were two variants of yoghurt (differing in protein content) and two variants of muesli (a berry and a nut variant) eaten as combined products. An effect of location context (lab- vs. natural context) was found for immediate post intake rating of hunger, fullness...

  19. Studying the influence of substrate conductivity on the optoelectronic properties of quantum dots langmuir monolayer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Al-Alwani, Ammar J.; Chumakov, A. S.; Begletsova, N. N.; Shinkarenko, O. A.; Markin, A. V.; Gorbachev, I. A.; Bratashov, D. N.; Gavrikov, M. V.; Venig, S. B.; Glukhovskoy, E. G.

    2018-04-01

    The formation of CdSe quantum dots (QDs) monolayers was studied by Langmuir Blodgett method. The fluorescence (PL) spectra of QD monolayers were investigated at different substrate type (glass, silicon and ITO glass) and the influence of graphene sheets layer (as a conductive surface) on the QDs properties has also been studied. The optoelectronic properties of QDs can be tuned by deposition of insulating nano-size layers of the liquid crystal between QDs and conductive substrate. The monolayer of QDs transferred on conductive surface (glass with ITO) has lowest intensity of PL spectra due to quenching effect. The PL intensity of QDs could be tuned by using various type of substrates or/and by transformed high conductive layer. Also the photooxidation processes of CdSe QDs monolayer on the solid surface can be controlled by selection of suitable substrate. The current-voltage (I–V) characteristics of QDs thin film on ITO surface was studied using scanning tunneling microscope (STM).

  20. Electronic and ionic conductivity studies on microwave synthesized glasses containing transition metal ions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Basareddy Sujatha

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Glasses in the system xV2O5·20Li2O·(80 − x [0.6B2O3:0.4ZnO] (where 10 ≤ x ≤ 50 have been prepared by a simple microwave method. Microwave synthesis of materials offers advantages of efficient transformation of energy throughout the volume in an effectively short time. Conductivity in these glasses was controlled by the concentration of transition metal ion (TMI. The dc conductivity follows Arrhenius law and the activation energies determined by regression analysis varies with the content of V2O5 in a non-linear passion. This non-linearity is due to different conduction mechanisms operating in the investigated glasses. Impedance and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR spectroscopic studies were performed to elucidate the nature of conduction mechanism. Cole–cole plots of the investigated glasses consist of (i single semicircle with a low frequency spur, (ii two depressed semicircles and (iii single semicircle without spur, which suggests the operation of two conduction mechanisms. EPR spectra reveal the existence of electronic conduction between aliovalent vanadium sites. Further, in highly modified (10V2O5 mol% glasses Li+ ion migration dominates.

  1. Conductivity study of nitrogen-doped calcium zinc oxide prepared by spray pyrolysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hsu, Yu-Ting; Lan, Wen-How; Huang, Kai-Feng; Lin, Jia-Ching; Chang, Kuo-Jen

    2016-01-01

    In this study, the spray pyrolysis method was used to prepare unintentionally doped and nitrogen-doped calcium zinc oxide films by using zinc acetate, calcium nitrate precursor, and ammonium acetate precursor. Morphological and structural analyses were conducted using scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction. The results indicated that film grain size decreased as the nitrogen doping was increased. Both calcium oxide and zinc oxide structures were identified in the unintentionally doped calcium zinc oxide. When nitrogen doping was introduced, the film mainly exhibited a zinc oxide structure with preferred (002) and (101) orientations. The concentration and mobility were investigated using a Hall measurement system. P-type films with a mobility and concentration of 10.6 cm"2 V"−"1 s"−"1 and 2.8×10"1"7 cm"−"3, respectively, were obtained. Moreover, according to a temperature-dependent conductivity analysis, an acceptor state with activation energy 0.266 eV dominated the p-type conduction for the unintentionally doped calcium zinc oxide. By contrast, a grain boundary with a barrier height of 0.274–0.292 eV dominated the hole conduction for the nitrogen-doped calcium zinc oxide films.

  2. Public summaries of feasibility studies conducted for the trinidad LNG project. Export trade information

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1995-04-01

    The study, conducted by The M. W. Kellog Company, was funded by the U.S. Trade and Development Agency on behalf of the National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago. It shows the results of Project Definition Phase which was implemented as a follow-up to two previous feasibility studies which were conducted for a LNG plant in Trinidad. The objective of this report is to develop a project design basis and implementation plan plus a cost estimate. The study is divided into the following sections: (1) Introduction; (2) Project Design Basis; (3) Seismic Hazard Assessment; (4) Geotechnical; and (5) Environmental Assessment.

  3. Electrical conductivity of metal (hydr)oxide–activated carbon composites under compression. A comparison study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Barroso-Bogeat, A., E-mail: adrianbogeat@unex.es [Department of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Extremadura, Avda. de Elvas s/n, E-06006 Badajoz (Spain); Alexandre-Franco, M.; Fernández-González, C. [Department of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Extremadura, Avda. de Elvas s/n, E-06006 Badajoz (Spain); Sánchez-González, J. [Department of Mechanical, Energetic and Materials Engineering, University of Extremadura, Avda. de Elvas s/n, E-06006 Badajoz (Spain); Gómez-Serrano, V. [Department of Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, Faculty of Sciences, University of Extremadura, Avda. de Elvas s/n, E-06006 Badajoz (Spain)

    2015-02-15

    From a granular commercial activated carbon (AC) and six metal (hydr)oxide precursors, including Al(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}, Fe(NO{sub 3}){sub 3}, SnCl{sub 2}, TiO{sub 2}, Na{sub 2}WO{sub 4} and Zn(NO{sub 3}){sub 2}, a broadly varied series of metal (hydr)oxide–AC composites were prepared by wet impregnation and subsequent oven-drying at 120 °C. Here, the electrical conductivity of the resulting products was studied under moderate compression. The influence of the applied pressure, sample volume, mechanical work, and density of the hybrid materials was thoroughly investigated. The dc electrical conductivity of the compressed samples was measured at room temperature by the four-probe method. Compaction assays show that the mechanical properties of the composites are largely determined by the carbon matrix. Both the decrease in volume and the increase in density under compression were very small and only significant at pressures lower than 100 kPa for AC and most composites. By contrast, the bulk electrical conductivity of the hybrid materials was strongly influenced by the nature, content and intrinsic conductivity of the supported metal phases, which act as insulating thin layers thereby hindering the effective electron transport between AC cores of neighbouring sample particles in contact under compression. Conductivity values for the composites were lower than for the raw AC, all of them falling in the range of typical semiconductor materials. The patterns of variation of the electrical conductivity with pressure and mechanical work were slightly similar, thus suggesting the predominance of the pressure effects rather than the volume ones. - Highlights: • Pressure-dependent conductivity is studied for metal (hydr)oxide–AC composites. • Mechanical properties of the composites are essentially determined by AC. • Supported metal (hydr)oxides determine the bulk conductivity of the composites. • Metal (hydr)oxides act as insulating thin layers hindering the

  4. Conducting polymers doped with a mineral phase: structural and electrical study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    González, C P; Montaño, A M; Estrada, S; Ortiz, C

    2013-01-01

    This work reports the results obtained of a series of novel doped conducting polymers (CPs) of polyaniline/hematite (PANI/HEM), which were synthesized in acidic aqueous solution by the in situ chemical oxidative polymerization, using ammonium peroxydisulfate as oxidant reagent. The synthesis was carried out with 20, 40 y 60 % (weight percent) contents of hematite (HEM) at 8 and 14 h of polymerization times (tP). These composites were structurally characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). An electrochemical analysis was made by Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). Results of this study allow to evaluate the influence of hematite on the improvement of the structural properties and in the increase of the electric conductivity (sac) of the doped polymers compared to CPs without dopant agents

  5. Comparing the similarity of responses received from studies in Amazon's Mechanical Turk to studies conducted online and with direct recruitment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bartneck, Christoph; Duenser, Andreas; Moltchanova, Elena; Zawieska, Karolina

    2015-01-01

    Computer and internet based questionnaires have become a standard tool in Human-Computer Interaction research and other related fields, such as psychology and sociology. Amazon's Mechanical Turk (AMT) service is a new method of recruiting participants and conducting certain types of experiments. This study compares whether participants recruited through AMT give different responses than participants recruited through an online forum or recruited directly on a university campus. Moreover, we compare whether a study conducted within AMT results in different responses compared to a study for which participants are recruited through AMT but which is conducted using an external online questionnaire service. The results of this study show that there is a statistical difference between results obtained from participants recruited through AMT compared to the results from the participant recruited on campus or through online forums. We do, however, argue that this difference is so small that it has no practical consequence. There was no significant difference between running the study within AMT compared to running it with an online questionnaire service. There was no significant difference between results obtained directly from within AMT compared to results obtained in the campus and online forum condition. This may suggest that AMT is a viable and economical option for recruiting participants and for conducting studies as setting up and running a study with AMT generally requires less effort and time compared to other frequently used methods. We discuss our findings as well as limitations of using AMT for empirical studies.

  6. Transition conductivity study of high temperature superconductor compounds: the role of fluctuations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pagnon, V.

    1991-04-01

    This memory subject is the transition conductivity study of high temperature superconductors in corelation with their anisotropy. Systematic conductivity measurements were made on YBaCuO and BaSrCaCuO in relation with temperature from 4.2 K to 1200 K, and with a magnetic field up to 8 T in several directions. Oxygen order has an effect on the characteristics at YBaCuO transition conductivity. The activation energy for oxygen absorption is about 0.5eV. One method of analysis of the conductivity fluctuations about the transition temperature is proposed. Two separate rates are noticeable in YBaCuO compound. The 3 D fluctuations rate in the immediate neighbourghood of the transition lets place to the 2 D fluctuations rate at high temperature. Transitions temperatures governing each rate are different, that's incompatible with the formula proposed by Lawrence and Doniach. On the other hand, the analogy with quasi-2 D magnetic systems seems more relevant. A magnetic field application or a lowering of oxygen concentration removes the 3 D fluctuations rate. Non ohmic effects observed at the transition conductivity foot are analysis as a non-linear 2 D excitation manifestation of the supraconductive phase. Finally, by measurements on strontium doped YBaCuO crystals, we confirm a metal-insulator transition along the C-Axe when oxygen concentration reduces. This is connected with the specific heat jump. All these results uplighten the fundamental bidimensional character of high transition temperature superconductivity [fr

  7. Study on thermal conductivity of HTR spherical fuel element matrix graphite

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Kaihong; Liu Xiaoxue; Zhao Hongsheng; Li Ziqiang; Tang Chunhe

    2014-01-01

    Taking the spherical fuel element matrix graphite ball samples as an example, this paper introduced the principle and method of laser thermal conductivity meter, as well as the specific heat capacity, and analyzed the effects of different test methods and sampling methods on the thermal conductivities at 1000 ℃ of graphite material. The experimental results show that the thermal conductivities of graphite materials tested by synchronous thermal analyzer combining with laser thermal conductivity meter were different from that directly by laser thermal conductivity meter, the former was more reliable and accurate than the later; When sampling from different positions, central samples had higher thermal conductivities than edging samples, which was related to the material density and porosity at the different locations; the thermal conductivities had obvious distinction between samples from different directions, which was because the layer structure of polycrystalline graphite preferred orientation under pressure, generally speaking, the thermal conductivities perpendicular to the molding direction were higher than that parallel to the molding direction. Besides this, the test results show that the thermal conductivities of all the graphite material samples were greater than 30 W/(m (K), achieving the thermal performance index of high temperature gas cooled reactor. (authors)

  8. Mixed conductivity studies in silver oxide based barium vanado-tellurite glasses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pant, Meenakshi; Kanchan, D.K.; Sharma, Poonam; Jayswal, Manish S.

    2008-01-01

    The dc conductivity and frequency dependent ac conductivity of the quaternary glass system x(BaO:1.5 Ag 2 O)-(95 - x)V 2 O 5 -5TeO 2 , are reported in the frequency range 1 Hz to 32 MHz in the temperature range from room temperature to 433 K. The dc conductivity measured in high temperature range increased with transition metal oxide content while the activation range decreased. The conductivity arises mainly from polaron hopping between V 4+ and V 5+ ions. High temperature conductivity data satisfy Mott's small polaron hopping model. It is found that a mechanism of non-adiabatic hopping is the most appropriate conduction model for these glasses. A power law behavior σ(ω) = σ dc + Aω n (with 0 < n < 1) is well exhibited by the ac conductivity data of the glasses. The activation energy calculated from both the relaxation time and dc conductivity is found to be nearly same in both the cases. A scaling of the conductivity spectra with respect to temperature and composition is attempted and it is observed that the relaxation dynamics of charge carriers in the present glasses is independent of temperature and composition

  9. Thermal conductivity of catalyst layer of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Part 1 - Experimental study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahadi, Mohammad; Tam, Mickey; Saha, Madhu S.; Stumper, Jürgen; Bahrami, Majid

    2017-06-01

    In this work, a new methodology is proposed for measuring the through-plane thermal conductivity of catalyst layers (CLs) in polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. The proposed methodology is based on deconvolution of bulk thermal conductivity of a CL from measurements of two thicknesses of the CL, where the CLs are sandwiched in a stack made of two catalyst-coated substrates. Effects of hot-pressing, compression, measurement method, and substrate on the through-plane thermal conductivity of the CL are studied. For this purpose, different thicknesses of catalyst are coated on ethylene tetrafluoroethylene (ETFE) and aluminum (Al) substrates by a conventional Mayer bar coater and measured by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The through-plane thermal conductivity of the CLs is measured by the well-known guarded heat flow (GHF) method as well as a recently developed transient plane source (TPS) method for thin films which modifies the original TPS thin film method. Measurements show that none of the studied factors has any effect on the through-plane thermal conductivity of the CL. GHF measurements of a non-hot-pressed CL on Al yield thermal conductivity of 0.214 ± 0.005 Wṡm-1ṡK-1, and TPS measurements of a hot-pressed CL on ETFE yield thermal conductivity of 0.218 ± 0.005 Wṡm-1ṡK-1.

  10. Describing Case Study Method and Identifying the Factors that Contribute to the Successful Conduct of Case Studies

    OpenAIRE

    Ahmad H. Juma'h; Mustafa Cavus

    2001-01-01

    This article has attempted to describe case study, the limitations and critiques on case study methodology and how the proponents have responded to these. Our special focus have been on the debate on theory building from case study research, and a framework for conducting case study research as well as the factors for a successful case study research. The overall conclusion is that the case study has been inappropriately used to generate theories.

  11. Studies on the under ground heating in greenhouse. Measuring of thermal conductivity of soil

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Iwao, Toshio; Takeyama, Koichi

    1987-12-21

    The underground heating system is an effective method of heating a greenhouse, because the system controls directly the temperature of soil near the roots. The thermal conductivity of soil was measured by the steady-state method, and the heat transfer characteristics in soil were examined in this study. In measuring the thermal conductivity through experiments, firstly the thermal conductivity of a reference plate was measured by the steady-state method, then on the basis of the above mentioned result, the thermal conuctivity of soil was obtained by the comparative method. Toyoura standard sands with particle size of 0.21-0.25mm were used as the sample. As the experiment result, the relations between the thermal conductivity of the reference plate (glass) and temperature was made clear, furthermore through the measurements using these relations, it was clarified that the apparent thermal conductivity is influenced by soil water content. It seems that the difference between the apparent thermal conductivity and the real one is caused mainly by a migration of latent heat with a migration of steam. (10 figs, 7 refs)

  12. Theoretical study of optical conductivity of graphene with magnetic and nonmagnetic adatoms

    Science.gov (United States)

    Majidi, Muhammad Aziz; Siregar, Syahril; Rusydi, Andrivo

    2014-11-01

    We present a theoretical study of the optical conductivity of graphene with magnetic and nonmagnetic adatoms. First, by introducing an alternating potential in a pure graphene, we demonstrate a gap formation in the density of states and the corresponding optical conductivity. We highlight the distinction between such a gap formation and the so-called Pauli blocking effect. Next, we apply this idea to graphene with adatoms by introducing magnetic interactions between the carrier spins and the spins of the adatoms. Exploring various possible ground-state spin configurations of the adatoms, we find that the antiferromagnetic configuration yields the lowest total electronic energy and is the only configuration that forms a gap. Furthermore, we analyze four different circumstances leading to similar gaplike structures and propose a means to interpret the magneticity and the possible orderings of the adatoms on graphene solely from the optical conductivity data. We apply this analysis to the recently reported experimental data of oxygenated graphene.

  13. Study of temperature-dependent charge conduction in silicon-nanocrystal/SiO{sub 2} multilayers

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mavilla, Narasimha Rao; Chavan, Vinayak [National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE), Powai, Mumbai 400 076 (India); Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076 (India); Solanki, Chetan Singh [National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE), Powai, Mumbai 400 076 (India); Department of Energy Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076 (India); Vasi, Juzer [National Centre for Photovoltaic Research and Education (NCPRE), Powai, Mumbai 400 076 (India); Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076 (India)

    2016-08-01

    Silicon-nanocrystals (Si-NCs) realized by SiO{sub x} {sub <} {sub 2}/SiO{sub 2} multilayer (ML) approach have shown promise for realizing tightly-controlled dimensions, thus efficiently exploiting the size-dependent quantum effects for device applications. Unfortunately, the confining insulating barriers (SiO{sub 2} sublayers), instrumental for realizing quantum size effects in Si-NC MLs, can also hinder the charge conduction which is crucial for device applications including Si-NC based tandem solar cells and multi-exciton solar cells. Owing to this, a comprehensive study of conduction mechanisms has been carried out using a thorough analysis of temperature-dependent dark I-V measurements of SiO{sub 2} thin film and Si-NC multilayer samples fabricated by Inductively Coupled Plasma CVD (ICPCVD). As the ML samples consisted of interleaved SiO{sub 2} sublayers, current in SiO{sub 2} thin film has initially been studied to understand the conduction properties of bulk ICPCVD SiO{sub 2}. For 21 nm thick SiO{sub 2} film, conduction is observed to be dominated by Fowler–Nordheim (FN) tunneling for higher electric fields (> 8 MV/cm; independent of temperature), while for lower electric fields (5–8 MV/cm) at higher temperatures, the trap-related Generalized Poole–Frenkel (GPF) is dominant. This signified the role of traps in modifying the conduction in bulk ICPCVD SiO{sub 2} films. We then present the conduction in ML samples. For multilayer samples with SiO{sub 2} sublayer thickness of 1.5 nm and 2.5 nm, Direct Tunneling (DT) is observed to be dominant, while for SiO{sub 2} sublayer thickness of 3.5 nm, Space Charge Limited Conduction (SCLC) with exponential trap distribution is found to be the dominant conduction mechanism. This signifies the role of traps in modifying the conduction in Si-NC multilayer samples and SiO{sub 2} sublayer thickness dependence. - Highlights: • Electrical conduction in SiO{sub 2} film & Si-nanocrystal layers (Si-NCs) is reported. • Si

  14. Sonography-guided recording for superficial peroneal sensory nerve conduction study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Ki Hoon; Park, Byung Kyu; Kim, Dong Hwee; Kim, Yuntae

    2018-04-01

    We sought to establish the optimal recording position for antidromic conduction of the superficial peroneal nerve (SPN) by using ultrasonography (USG). The sensory nerve action potentials (SNAPs) of the intermediate dorsal cutaneous nerve (IDCN) and medial dorsal cutaneous nerve (MDCN) in 64 limbs of 32 healthy participants were recorded (nerve conduction study [NCS]-1). Both nerves were identified by using USG, and the SNAPs were obtained from the USG-guided repositioned electrodes (NCS-2). The IDCN and MDCN were located at 29.3% ± 5.1% and 43.9% ± 4.9% of the intermalleolar distance from the lateral malleolus, respectively. Significantly greater amplitude was shown for SNAPs of both nerves in NCS-2 versus NCS-1. The optimal recording position is likely to be lateral, one-third from the lateral malleolus for the IDCN, and just lateral to the midpoint of the intermalleolar line for the MDCN. When the SPN response is unexpectedly attenuated, USG-guided repositioning of the electrodes should be considered. Muscle Nerve 57: 628-633, 2018. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. Fotossensibilização em ovinos associada à ingestão de Brachiaria brizantha no estado do Pará Photosensitization of sheep kept on Brachiaria brizantha pasture in the state of Pará

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tatiane Teles Albernaz

    2010-09-01

    que não receberam foram semelhantes, já os valores de creatinina, AST e bilirrubinas foram menores nos animais que receberam fluido ruminal em comparação aos que não receberam. Foram determinados dois tipos de saponinas nas amostras de B. brizantha dos surtos e do experimento, a metilprotodioscina e a protodioscina. O nível de saponina no surto 01 e 02 foi 0,92% e 0,88%, respectivamente. Os níveis de saponinas no experimento variaram de 1,13% a 1,62%. A quantidade de Pithomyces chartarum, tanto nos surtos quanto no experimento, foi insignificante. Na necropsia foi verificada icterícia generalizada, fígado com consistência aumentada de coloração amarelada e com padrão lobular acentuado. Nos rins foi observada coloração amarelo-esverdeado e aumento de tamanho. As alterações histológicas ocorreram principalmente no fígado e consistiram de leve proliferação das vias biliares nos espaços porta, presença de hepatócitos binucleados, presença de macrófagos espumosos, necrose incipiente de hepatócitos isolados, colangite, presença de cristais em macrófagos e hepatócitos.Two outbreaks of photosensitization by Brachiaria brizantha were studied and an experiment was performed in Santa Inês and Dorper crossbred sheep, two to three months old, on a farm in Santa Luzia do Pará municipality. These animals were kept from birth until about two months of age in a suspended stall floor, fed purple elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum cv. purple, and had minerals and water ad libitum. After this period they were placed into a paddock of B. brizantha. At the time of the outbreaks and the experimental studies, the farm was visited for epidemiological assessment and clinical examination of the sheep, collection of blood samples for measurement of gamma glutamyltransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, conjugated bilirubin, unconjugated bilirubin, urea, and creatinine. Pasture samples were collected for saponin determination and count of Pithomyces chartarum

  16. Thermal conductivity improvement in carbon nanoparticle doped PAO oil: An experimental study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shaikh, S.; Lafdi, K.; Ponnappan, R.

    2007-03-01

    The present work involves a study on the thermal conductivity of nanoparticle-oil suspensions for three types of nanoparticles, namely, carbon nanotubes (CNTs), exfoliated graphite (EXG), and heat treated nanofibers (HTT) with PAO oil as the base fluid. To accomplish the above task, an experimental analysis is performed using a modern light flash technique (LFA 447) for measuring the thermal conductivity of the three types of nanofluids, for different loading of nanoparticles. The experimental results show a similar trend as observed in literature for nanofluids with a maximum enhancement of approximately 161% obtained for the CNT-PAO oil suspension. The overall percent enhancements for different volume fractions of the nanoparticles are highest for the CNT-based nanofluid, followed by the EXG and the HTT. The findings from this study for the three different types of carbon nanoparticles can have great potential in the field of thermal management.

  17. An experimental study on thermal conductivity and viscosity of nanofluids containing carbon nanotubes

    Science.gov (United States)

    2014-01-01

    Recently, there has been considerable interest in the use of nanofluids for enhancing thermal performance. It has been shown that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are capable of enhancing the thermal performance of conventional working liquids. Although much work has been devoted on the impact of CNT concentrations on the thermo-physical properties of nanofluids, the effects of preparation methods on the stability, thermal conductivity and viscosity of CNT suspensions are not well understood. This study is focused on providing experimental data on the effects of ultrasonication, temperature and surfactant on the thermo-physical properties of multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNT) nanofluids. Three types of surfactants were used in the experiments, namely, gum arabic (GA), sodium dodecylbenzene sulfonate (SDBS) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). The thermal conductivity and viscosity of the nanofluid suspensions were measured at various temperatures. The results showed that the use of GA in the nanofluid leads to superior thermal conductivity compared to the use of SDBS and SDS. With distilled water as the base liquid, the samples were prepared with 0.5 wt.% MWCNTs and 0.25% GA and sonicated at various times. The results showed that the sonication time influences the thermal conductivity, viscosity and dispersion of nanofluids. The thermal conductivity of nanofluids was typically enhanced with an increase in temperature and sonication time. In the present study, the maximum thermal conductivity enhancement was found to be 22.31% (the ratio of 1.22) at temperature of 45°C and sonication time of 40 min. The viscosity of nanofluids exhibited non-Newtonian shear-thinning behaviour. It was found that the viscosity of MWCNT nanofluids increases to a maximum value at a sonication time of 7 min and subsequently decreases with a further increase in sonication time. The presented data clearly indicated that the viscosity and thermal conductivity of nanofluids are influenced by the

  18. Studies on normal-conducting coils for Wendelstein VII-X

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harmeyer, E.; Kisslinger, J.; Rau, F.; Sapper, J.; Wobig, H.

    1990-08-01

    For Wendelstein VII-X, the next step stellarator experiment at IPP Garching, a Helias configuration has been chosen. The goals of Wendelstein VII-X are to continue the development of the modular stellarator and to demonstrate the reactor capability of this stellarator line. The main data of the selected HS5-10 configuration with five field periods are: major radius R 0 = 5.5 m, magnetic induction B 0 = 3 T and stored magnetic energy W ≅ 0.6 GJ. For comparison with the superconducting coil system which is foreseen for Wendelstein VII-X, a pulsed water-cooled normal-conducting version has been designed in order to explore the limitations and restrictions of this approach. Limitations are the high ohmic power dissipated in the coils and the electric energy currently available at IPP. Normal-conducting coils would allow to apply the well-known techniques in manufactoring these coils, as successful in use in the Wendelstein VII-AS experiment. But these techniques are applicable also for the conductor proposed for the superconducting coils of Wendelstein VII-X. In this report the time-dependent current and resistance of the coil system circuit is considered; the electric power needed, the total dissipated energy, and the temperature rise of the coil copper is calculated. Scaling laws are derived and parameter studies are made by varying the geometrical dimensions of the system. (orig.)

  19. Comparing the similarity of responses received from studies in Amazon's Mechanical Turk to studies conducted online and with direct recruitment.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christoph Bartneck

    Full Text Available Computer and internet based questionnaires have become a standard tool in Human-Computer Interaction research and other related fields, such as psychology and sociology. Amazon's Mechanical Turk (AMT service is a new method of recruiting participants and conducting certain types of experiments. This study compares whether participants recruited through AMT give different responses than participants recruited through an online forum or recruited directly on a university campus. Moreover, we compare whether a study conducted within AMT results in different responses compared to a study for which participants are recruited through AMT but which is conducted using an external online questionnaire service. The results of this study show that there is a statistical difference between results obtained from participants recruited through AMT compared to the results from the participant recruited on campus or through online forums. We do, however, argue that this difference is so small that it has no practical consequence. There was no significant difference between running the study within AMT compared to running it with an online questionnaire service. There was no significant difference between results obtained directly from within AMT compared to results obtained in the campus and online forum condition. This may suggest that AMT is a viable and economical option for recruiting participants and for conducting studies as setting up and running a study with AMT generally requires less effort and time compared to other frequently used methods. We discuss our findings as well as limitations of using AMT for empirical studies.

  20. Multiple sclerosis outcome and morbi-mortality of a Brazilian cohort patients Caracteristicas clínico-evolutivas e morbi-mortalidade de uma coorte de pacientes brasileiros com esclerose múltipla

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Soniza Vieira Alves-Leon

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available We studied the clinical and evolution characteristics of multiple sclerosis (MS patients followed since the onset of HUCFF/UFRJ in 1978. The diagnosis of MS was based on Poser's et al. and MC Donald's et al. criteria. From 188 patients, 122 were included. Eighty-five were females. The mean age onset was 32.2 years-old (range 6.0 to 61.0±10.3, mainly Caucasians (82/67%. The relapsing-remitting course (MSRR was more frequent (106/86.8%. Monosymptomatic onset was significantly more frequent in Caucasians than in Afro-Brazilians (pEstudamos as características clínico-evolutivas de pacientes com esclerose múltipla (EM acompanhados no HUCFF-UFRJ desde 1978. Foram usados critérios de Poser et al. e MC Donald et al. para o diagnóstico de EM. De 188, 122 foram incluídos. Oitenta e cinco eram mulheres. A média de idade de início foi 32,2 anos (6,0-61,0±10,3, predominando caucasianos (n=82/67%. A forma recorrente-remitente (EMRR foi mais freqüente (n=106/86,8%. Formas mono-sintomáticas no primeiro surto foram significativamente mais freqüentes em caucasianos do que em afro-brasileiros (p<0,05. Dezessete pacientes apresentavam a forma benigna (13,9% e 43 a grave (35,2%. A forma benigna foi associada com a EMRR (p=0,01. A taxa de letalidade 2,12% (4 óbitos. Nossos resultados são semelhantes aos de outras séries brasileiras no que se refere ao sexo e idade, e falta de correlação entre EDSS e número de surtos; confirmamos gradiente sul-sudeste de distribuição afro-descendente, associação significativa entre primeiro surto mono-sintomático e caucasianos e menor freqüência de formas benignas.

  1. Impedance and ac conductivity studies of Ba (Pr1/2Nb1/2) O3 ceramic

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Home; Journals; Bulletin of Materials Science; Volume 36; Issue 4. Impedance and a.c. conductivity studies of ... Abstract. Impedance and electrical conduction studies of Ba(Pr1/2Nb1/2)O3 ceramic prepared through conventional ceramic fabrication technique are presented. The crystal symmetry, space group and unit cell ...

  2. The Validity of Graduate Management Admission Test Scores: A Summary of Studies Conducted from 1997 to 2004

    Science.gov (United States)

    Talento-Miller, Eileen; Rudner, Lawrence M.

    2008-01-01

    The validity of Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT) scores is examined by summarizing 273 studies conducted between 1997 and 2004. Each of the studies was conducted through the Validity Study Service of the test sponsor and contained identical variables and statistical methods. Validity coefficients from each of the studies were corrected…

  3. Synthesis, characterization and AC conductivity studies of silver doped conducting polyaniline/graphene/SrTiO3 composites

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vinay, K.; Shivakumar, K.; Ravikiran, Y. T.; Revanasiddappa, M.

    2018-05-01

    The present work is an investigation of ac conduction behaviour and dielectric response of Polyaniline/Ag/Graphene/SrTiO3 (PAGS) composite prepared by in-situ chemical oxidative interfacial polymerization using (NH4)2S2O8 as an oxidising agent at 0-5°C. The structural characterization of the samples was examined using FT-IR and XRD techniques. The ac conductivity and dielectric response of synthesized polymer composites were investigated at room temperature in the frequency range varying from 5 × 101 - 5 × 106 Hz using HIOKI make 3532-50 LCR Hi-tester. The ac conductivity increases with increase in frequency and follows the regular trend, the real dielectric constant (ɛ') and imaginary dielectric constant (ɛ'') decreases with increase in frequency and exhibits almost zero dielectric loss at higher frequencies, which suggests that the composite is a lossless material at frequencies beyond 3Hz.

  4. Comparative study of ion conducting pathways in borate glasses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hall, Andreas; Swenson, Jan; Adams, Stefan

    2006-01-01

    The conduction pathways in metal-halide doped silver, lithium, and sodium diborate glasses have been examined by bond valence analysis of reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) produced structural models of the glasses. Although all glass compositions have basically the same short-range structure of the boron-oxygen network, it is evident that the intermediate-range structure is strongly dependent on the type of mobile ion. The topography of the pathways and the coordination of the pathway sites differ distinctly between the three glass systems. The mobile silver ions in the AgI-doped glass tend to be mainly iodine-coordinated and travel in homogeneously distributed pathways located in salt-rich channels of the borate network. In the NaCl-doped glass, there is an inhomogeneous spatial distribution of pathways that reflects the inhomogeneous introduction of salt ions into the glass. However, since the salt clusters are not connected, no long-range conduction pathways are formed without including also oxygen-rich regions. The pathways in the LiCl-doped glass are slightly more evenly distributed compared to the NaCl-doped glass (but not as ordered as in the AgI-doped glass), and the regions of mainly oxygen-coordinated pathway sites are of higher importance for the long-range migration. In order to more accurately investigate how these differences in the intermediate-range order of the glasses affect the ionic conductivity, we have compared the realistic structure models to more or less randomized structures. An important conclusion from this comparison is that we find no evidence that a pronounced intermediate-range order in the atomic structure or in the network of conduction pathways, as in the AgI-doped glass, is beneficial for the dc conductivity

  5. Community Violence Exposure and Conduct Problems in Children and Adolescents with Conduct Disorder and Healthy Controls

    OpenAIRE

    Linda Kersten; Noortje Vriends; Martin Steppan; Nora M. Raschle; Martin Praetzlich; Helena Oldenhof; Robert Vermeiren; Lucres Jansen; Katharina Ackermann; Anka Bernhard; Anne Martinelli; Karen Gonzalez-Madruga; Ignazio Puzzo; Amy Wells; Jack C. Rogers

    2017-01-01

    Exposure to community violence through witnessing or being directly victimized has been associated with conduct problems in a range of studies. However, the relationship between community violence exposure (CVE) and conduct problems has never been studied separately in healthy individuals and individuals with conduct disorder (CD). Therefore, it is not clear whether the association between CVE and conduct problems is due to confounding factors, because those with high conduct problems also te...

  6. Techniques for Conducting Effective Concept Design and Design-to-Cost Trade Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Di Pietro, David A.

    2015-01-01

    Concept design plays a central role in project success as its product effectively locks the majority of system life cycle cost. Such extraordinary leverage presents a business case for conducting concept design in a credible fashion, particularly for first-of-a-kind systems that advance the state of the art and that have high design uncertainty. A key challenge, however, is to know when credible design convergence has been achieved in such systems. Using a space system example, this paper characterizes the level of convergence needed for concept design in the context of technical and programmatic resource margins available in preliminary design and highlights the importance of design and cost evaluation learning curves in determining credible convergence. It also provides techniques for selecting trade study cases that promote objective concept evaluation, help reveal unknowns, and expedite convergence within the trade space and conveys general practices for conducting effective concept design-to-cost studies.

  7. Published research studies conducted amongst Indian medical undergraduate students: Bibliometric Analysis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandeep Sachdeva

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Evaluation of published original research conducted amongst Indian medical undergraduate students. Methodology: A systematic review was undertaken using keywords “MBBS students” or “medical students” or “health students” or “university students” and “India” through search engines, PUBMED and Google scholar. Considering feasibility, time frame of published original research article was restricted to one-year only i.e. 2016. Research domain, research design, author and other bibliometric details of research manuscript were captured using check-list and analysis carried out using descriptive statistics. Results: A total of 99 suitable original research articles were identified under certain criteria and considered in present analysis. With regard to thematic research domain, highest, 29 (29.2% articles were related to teaching and learning process followed by 13 (13.1% to mental health (depression, anxiety, sleep, spirituality of students; 07 (7.0% were based on physical fitness/ exercise/yoga; and substance abuse (6.0% amongst medical students etc. Nearly, 86 (86.8% of articles were cross-sectional descriptive based studies while 13 (13.1% had intervention based research design. A total of 34 (34.3% research articles could be labeled as “KAP” (knowledge, attitude and practice survey. Department wise detail of corresponding author was largely dominated by faculty from pre and para-clinical departments. Highest was community medicine in (35.3% articles, pharmacology (23.2%, physiology (17.1%, microbiology (6.0%, and biochemistry (4.0% etc. The studies covered an average sample size of 188.8 MBBS students (20-360, range; 57.5% of research article covered students from only one professional year. However, in 42 (42.4% articles there was no further mention of gender based sample information. Out of all the references used in research articles, only 57.3% were of recent (2005-2015 origin while the rest were from older

  8. Electrical conductivity studies of anatase TiO2 with dominant highly reactive {0 0 1} facets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pomoni, K.; Sofianou, M.V.; Georgakopoulos, T.; Boukos, N.; Trapalis, C.

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► Anatase TiO 2 with reactive {0 0 1} facets were synthesized by a solvothermal method. ► The structure and the electrical conductivity were studied. ► Different conduction mechanisms act at different temperature regions. ► Environment and calcination influence significantly the conductivity. - Abstract: Nanostructured powders of titanium dioxide anatase nanoplates with dominant highly reactive {0 0 1} facets were fabricated using a solvothermal method. Two kinds of samples, as prepared and calcinated at 600 °C, were studied using X-ray diffraction (XRD), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and electrical conductivity in vacuum and in air. The dependence of the conductivity versus the inverse of temperature in the temperature range 150–440 K indicated the contribution of at least two conduction mechanisms in vacuum. The electron transport was controlled by partially depleted of charge carriers grains and adiabatic small polaron conduction in the high temperature regime and by Mott variable-range hopping (VRH) at lower temperatures. The environment was found from the experimental results to influence significantly the electrical conductivity values and its temperature dependence. A decrease with temperature in air is observed in the ranges 290–370 and 285–330 K for the as prepared and the calcinated sample respectively. Potential barriers caused by partial depletion of carriers at grain boundaries control the electrical conductivity behavior in air at high temperatures and VRH in the lower temperature regime.

  9. IRSN methodological guide to conducting workplace studies in compliance with French regulations

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Donadille, L.; Rehel, J. L.; Deligne, J. M.; Queinnec, F.; Aubert, B.; Bottollier-Depois, J. F.; Clairand, I.; Jourdain, J. R.; Rannou, A.

    2007-01-01

    Under French regulations governing radiation protection of workers, dosimetric workplace studies are mandatory. However, their practical implementation is not described. IRSN has developed a guide to help stakeholders in the radiological protection of workers conduct such studies. It proposes a general methodology applicable to most cases and 'workplace sheets', which apply this methodology to specific occupational settings. At present, two sheets are available: Conventional radiology and interventional radiology. (authors)

  10. Surto de babesiose cerebral em bovinos no Estado do Rio Grande do Sul Cerebral babesiosis outbreak in bovines in the State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadia Aline Bobbi Antoniassi

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available Descreve-se um surto de mortalidade em bovinos por Babesia bovis em abril de 2007, no Município de Picada Café, Rio Grande do Sul. Em um rebanho com 55 novilhas, 28 (50,9% morreram em cinco dias. A doença iniciou vinte dias após o ingresso dos bovinos na propriedade. Os sinais clínicos incluíam febre, incoordenação, agressividade, anemia, petéquias nas mucosas e morte 1 á 2 dias após. Em 4 animais necropsiados, observaram-se palidez de mucosas, hemorragias múltiplas, esplenomegalia, fígado aumentado e alaranjado, vesícula biliar com parede edemaciada e contendo bile grumosa. Os rins estavam vermelho-escuros e a bexiga continha urina cor de vinho tinto. O encéfalo apresentou cor róseo-cereja externamente e ao corte, mais marcado no córtex telencefálico, cerebelo e corpo estriado, contrastando com a cor branca da substância branca. Na histologia havia nefrose hemoglobinúrica, necrose hepática paracentral, bilestase canalicular, congestão esplênica, além de congestão com grande quantidade de eritrócitos parasitados por estruturas compatíveis com Babesia bovis na região cortical do encéfalo, também observadas em esfregaços teciduais dessas regiões. A morte de 28 bovinos em 5 dias deveu-se, provavelmente, à falta de imunidade contra o parasito. O tratamento foi realizado com dipropionato de imidocarb nos demais animais, havendo recuperação dos bovinos que apresentavam sinais iniciais leves e não ocorrência de novos casos durante um período de dois meses, quando foram enviados para abate.An outbreak of cattle mortality due to Babesia bovis infection in the county of Picada Café, Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil, in April 2007 is described. Twenty eight heifers (50.9% died, out of a herd of 55 animals, in five days. The disease occurred approximately 20 days after heifers were transferred to this farm. The clinical signs included fever, anemia, aggressiveness, incoordination, petechiae in the mucous membranes

  11. Composition and conductance distributions of single GeSi quantum rings studied by conductive atomic force microscopy combined with selective chemical etching.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Y; Cui, J; Jiang, Z M; Yang, X J

    2013-02-15

    Atomic force microscopy imaging combined with selective chemical etching is employed to quantitatively investigate three-dimensional (3D) composition distributions of single GeSi quantum rings (QRs). In addition, the 3D quantitative composition distributions and the corresponding conductance distributions are simultaneously obtained on the same single GeSi QRs by conductive atomic force microscopy combined with selective chemical etching, allowing us to investigate the correlations between the conductance and composition distributions of single QRs. The results show that the QRs' central holes have higher Ge content, but exhibit lower conductance, indicating that the QRs' conductance distribution is not consistent with their composition distribution. By comparing the topography, composition and conductance profiles of the same single QRs before and after different etching processes, it is found that the conductance distributions of GeSi QRs do not vary with the change of composition distribution. Instead, the QRs' conductance distributions are found to be consistent with their topographic shapes, which can be supposed to be due to the shape determined electronic structures.

  12. Study of the electrical conductivity at finite temperature in 2D Si- MOSFETs

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Limouny, L., E-mail: kaaouachi21@yahoo.fr; Kaaouachi, A. El, E-mail: kaaouachi21@yahoo.fr; Tata, O.; Daoudi, E.; Errai, M.; Dlimi, S. [Research Group ESNPS, Physics Department, University Ibn Zohr, Faculty of Sciences, B.P 8106, Hay Dakhla, 80000 Agadir (Morocco); Idrissi, H. El [Faculté des Sciences et Techniques de Mohammedia, Département de physique. B.P 146 Quartier Yasmina Mohammedia (Morocco); Zatni, A. [Laboratoire MSTI, Ecole Supérieure de Technologie d' Agadir, B.P: 33/S Agadir (Morocco)

    2014-01-27

    We investigate the low temperature density dependent conductivity of two dimensional electron systems in zero magnetic field for sample Si-15 MOSFETs. The first purpose of this paper is to establish that the knee of the conductivity σ{sub 0} (σ{sub 0} is the T = 0.3 conductivity obtained by linear extrapolation of the curves of σ (T) for different values of electron density, n{sub s}) as a function of the carrier densities n{sub s} for T = 0.3 K, observed by Lai et al. and Limouny et al. in previous work for two different samples, is independent of temperature. The second aim is the determination of the critical density, n{sub c}, of the metal-insulator transition. Many methods are used in this investigation of n{sub c} which have been already used for other samples. The motivation behind this last study is the observation of many values of n{sub c} that have been obtained from different methods and that are slightly different. We will use in this study three methods with the intention to infer which one is more appropriate to obtain n{sub c}.

  13. Studies on phase evolution and electrical conductivity of barium doped gadolinium aluminate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sinha, Amit; Sharma, B.P.; Gopalan, P.

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Barium doped GdAlO 3 compositions were prepared from citrate gel derived powders. ► The solid solubility of barium in GdAlO 3 was less than 4 mol%. ► The un-dissolved barium precipitated in the form of BaAl 2 O 4 phase. ► The conductivity of Ba-doped GdAlO 3 increased with increasing amounts of Ba. ► In Gd 1−x Ba x AlO 3−δ system, specimen with x = 0.02 exhibited maximum conductivity. - Abstract: The phase evolution and electrical conductivity of barium doped GdAlO 3 samples have been investigated. The Ba- doped compositions of GdAlO 3 were prepared through citrate gel process. Analysis of the phases was carried out using X-ray diffraction (XRD). The morphology of the calcined powders was studied by scanning electron microscopy. The electrical conductivity of Gd 1−x Ba x AlO 3−δ (x = 0–0.04) was measured using ac impedance spectroscopy as a function of temperature ranging from 300 to 1000 °C under air. The solid solubility of barium in GdAlO 3 was found to be less than 4 mol%. The undissolved barium precipitated in the form of BaAl 2 O 4 phase. The barium doped GdAlO 3 powders obtained after calcination at 1000 °C was found to be porous agglomerate composed of nanocrystalline grains. The total electrical conductivity of Ba-doped GdAlO 3 increased with increasing amounts of barium up to 2 mol% doping.

  14. Experimental study of thermal conductivity of pyrolysised materials by means of a flat layer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vaniushkin, V. D.; Popov, S. K.; Sidenkov, D. V.

    2017-11-01

    Recycling of tires is currently a very important task. One of the areas of recycling tires is their low-temperature pyrolysis to produce marketable products - liquid fraction and a solid coke residue. For the development of the pyrolysis installation it is important to know the thermal conductivity of the coke residue at different temperatures of pyrolysis of initial material. As a property of matter, thermal conductivity depends in general on temperature and pressure. For materials with some structure, such as porous materials, the thermal conductivity depends on the characteristics of the structure. The thermal conductivity of the porous coke residue at pyrolysis temperatures of 300 0C, 400 0C, 500 0C and atmospheric pressure was studied experimentally at the laboratory unit of the department of “Theoretical basis of heat engineering” using the method of the flat layer in the temperature range 5…100 0C. Experimentally proved temperature dependencies of the coefficient of thermal conductivity of the coke residue are built to improve the accuracy of calculations of constructive and regime parameters of the pyrolysis installation.

  15. Surto de mastite bovina causada por Arcanobacterium pyogenes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R.G. Motta

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available An uncommon outbreak of mastitis caused by Arcanobacterium pyogenes in 26 cows is reported. The epidemiological findings, clinical signs, microbiological exams, somatic cell count, in vitro susceptibility profile of strains, efficacy of intramammary treatment and control measures were discussed. Florfenicol (96.2%, cefoperazona (92.3%, cefaloxin (84.6% and ceftiofur (84.6% were the most effective antimicrobials, and neomicin (27.0% and enrofloxacin (17.4% the least effective antimicrobials.

  16. Recommendations for designing and conducting veterinary clinical pathology biologic variation studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Freeman, Kathleen P; Baral, Randolph M; Dhand, Navneet K; Nielsen, Søren Saxmose; Jensen, Asger L

    2017-06-01

    The recent creation of a veterinary clinical pathology biologic variation website has highlighted the need to provide recommendations for future studies of biologic variation in animals in order to help standardize and improve the quality of published information and to facilitate review and selection of publications as standard references. The following recommendations are provided in the format and order commonly found in veterinary publications. A checklist is provided to aid in planning, implementing, and evaluating veterinary studies on biologic variation (Appendix S1). These recommendations provide a valuable resource for clinicians, laboratorians, and researchers interested in conducting studies of biologic variation and in determining the quality of studies of biologic variation in veterinary laboratory testing. © 2017 American Society for Veterinary Clinical Pathology.

  17. Neurological Assessment and Nerve Conduction Study Findings in 22 Patients with Alkaptonuria from Jordan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alrawashdeh, Omar; Alsbou, Mohammad; Alzoubi, Hamed; Al-Shagahin, Hani

    2016-11-02

    Alkaptonuria is a rare metabolic disease characterised by accumulative deposition of homogentisic acid in the connective tissue of the body. This results in early degeneration of tendons, cartilages, heart valves, and other tissues. The main objective of the study is to examine the possibility of the nervous system involvement in patients with alkaptonuria The sample consists of two groups; 22 patients with AKU and 20 controls. A neurological assessment has been carried out including detailed medical history, neurological examination, and a nerve conduction study of the nerves of the dominant hand. The prevalence of any abnormality was compared between the two groups using chi square test. The mean values of the nerve conduction study were compared between the two groups using student t-test. There was a higher prevalence of low back pain, hearing problems and tinnitus, numbness and neuropathic pain in alkaptonuria patients. There was no significant difference between the two groups in other conditions such as seizures, headache, and syncope. The values of the nerve conduction study did not show significant difference between the two groups. Neurologically related symptoms in alkaptonuria mostly represent complications of the connective tissue degeneration rather than direct involvement of the nervous system. This has been supported further by the normal findings of the neurophysiology study in patients with alkaptonuria.

  18. Neurological assessment and nerve conduction study findings in 22 patients with alkaptonuria from Jordan

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Omar Alrawashdeh

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Alkaptonuria is a rare metabolic disease characterised by accumulative deposition of homogentisic acid in the connective tissue of the body. This results in early degeneration of tendons, cartilages, heart valves, and other tissues. The main objective of the study is to examine the possibility of the nervous system involvement in patients with alkaptonuria The sample consists of two groups; 22 patients with AKU and 20 controls. A neurological assessment has been carried out including detailed medical history, neurological examination, and a nerve conduction study of the nerves of the dominant hand. The prevalence of any abnormality was compared between the two groups using chi square test. The mean values of the nerve conduction study were compared between the two groups using student t-test. There was a higher prevalence of low back pain, hearing problems and tinnitus, numbness and neuropathic pain in alkaptonuria patients. There was no significant difference between the two groups in other conditions such as seizures, headache, and syncope. The values of the nerve conduction study did not show significant difference between the two groups. Neurologically related symptoms in alkaptonuria mostly represent complications of the connective tissue degeneration rather than direct involvement of the nervous system. This has been supported further by the normal findings of the neurophysiology study in patients with alkaptonuria.

  19. A Computational and Theoretical Study of Conductance in Hydrogen-bonded Molecular Junctions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wimmer, Michael

    This thesis is devoted to the theoretical and computational study of electron transport in molecular junctions where one or more hydrogen bonds are involved in the process. While electron transport through covalent bonds has been extensively studied, in recent work the focus has been shifted towards hydrogen-bonded systems due to their ubiquitous presence in biological systems and their potential in forming nano-junctions between molecular electronic devices and biological systems. This analysis allows us to significantly expand our comprehension of the experimentally observed result that the inclusion of hydrogen bonding in a molecular junction significantly impacts its transport properties, a fact that has important implications for our understanding of transport through DNA, and nano-biological interfaces in general. In part of this work I have explored the implications of quasiresonant transport in short chains of weakly-bonded molecular junctions involving hydrogen bonds. I used theoretical and computational analysis to interpret recent experiments and explain the role of Fano resonances in the transmission properties of the junction. In a different direction, I have undertaken the study of the transversal conduction through nucleotide chains that involve a variable number of different hydrogen bonds, e.g. NH˙˙˙O, OH˙˙˙O, and NH˙˙˙N, which are the three most prevalent hydrogen bonds in biological systems and organic electronics. My effort here has focused on the analysis of electronic descriptors that allow a simplified conceptual and computational understanding of transport properties. Specifically, I have expanded our previous work where the molecular polarizability was used as a conductance descriptor to include the possibility of atomic and bond partitions of the molecular polarizability. This is important because it affords an alternative molecular description of conductance that is not based on the conventional view of molecular orbitals as

  20. Analysis of the Air Force ISO 14001 Pilot Study Conducted by DoD

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Harris, Rodney

    2000-01-01

    The Department of Defense (DoD) conducted an ISO 14001 pilot study with the primary goal of determining how ISO 14001 could help DoD organizations reduce risks, improve compliance with environmental regulations, enhance stewardship...

  1. [Conduct disorders in seven-year-old children--results of ELSPAC study 1. Co-morbidity].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kukla, L; Hrubá, D; Tyrlík, M; Matejová, H

    2008-01-01

    The interest of experts in conduct disorders (CD) research is growing during the last two decades. The research areas include the diagnostics, ethiopathogenesis and treatment and also the comorbidity, especially with the hyperkinetic syndrome incidence (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder--ADHD). This paper intends to describe the conduct disorder occurrence and its other manifestations of divergence found during the investigation of children followed in the prospective longitudinal study ELSPAC in seven, respectively eight years of their age. Data of 6100 seven-year-old children characterizing their behaviour was collected from mothers and attending physicians. In the school year during which this investigation phase took place 2518 of the children reached eight years of age and their behaviour, temperament and school results were also evaluated by their teachers. The children were divided into three groups according to the presence or absence of the symptoms, which characterize conduct disorders (found by physicians): "stubborn negativistic behaviour", "inability to pay attention", "aggressiveness" and "inadequacy of reactions". The presence of two of these symptoms was found in 3%, presence of all four symptoms in additional 1.4% of children. Parents and teachers more often indicated various symptoms of hyperactivity in children with conduct disorders. In almost 5% of the ELSPAC cohort children in seven years of their age those symptoms were diagnosed, which match the Conduct Disorder criteria and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) criteria. In agreement with similar studies these frequent comorbidities were found: sleep disorders, psychomotor development disorders and laterality changes. The cognitive abilities evaluated by mothers and also teachers based on schoolwork results were more often worsened in children with conduct disorders. Various data indicating their worse social adaptability (which significantly disturbed the class) occurred

  2. A Morphology Study of Nanofiller Networks in Polymer Nanocomposites: Improving Their Electrical Conductivity through Better Doping Strategies

    KAUST Repository

    Mora, Angel

    2018-02-01

    Over the past years, research efforts have focused on adding highly conductive nanoparticles, such as carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and graphene nanoplatelets (GNPs), into polymers to improve their electrical conductivity or to tailor their piezoresistive behavior. Resultant materials are typically described by the weight or volume fractions of their nanoparticles. The weight/volume fraction alone is a very global quantity, making it a poor evaluator of a doping configuration. Knowing which particles actually participate in improving electrical conductivity can optimize the doping strategy. Additionally, conductive particles are only capable of charge transfer over a very short range, thus most of them do not form part of the conduction path. Thus, understanding how these particles are arranged is necessary to increase their efficiency. First, this work focuses on polymers loaded with CNTs. A computational modeling strategy based on a full morphological analysis of the CNT network is presented to systematically analyze conductive networks and show how particles are arranged. A definition of loading efficiency is provided based on the results obtained from this morphology analysis. This study provides useful guidelines for designing these types of materials based on important features, such as representative volume element, nanotube tortuosity and length, tunneling cutoff distance, and efficiency. Second, a computational approach is followed to study the conductive network formed by hybrid particles in polymer nanocomposites. These hybrid particles are synthesized by growing CNTs on the surfaces of GNPs. The objective of this study is to show that the higher electrical conductivity of these composites is due to the hybrids forming a segregated structure. Polymers loaded with hybrid particles have shown a higher electrical conductivity compared with classical carbon fillers: only CNTs, only GNPs or mixed CNTs and GNPs. This is done to understand and compare the doping

  3. Kindergarten Teachers' Perspectives on Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP): A Study Conducted in Mumbai (India)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hegde, Archana V.; Cassidy, Deborah J.

    2009-01-01

    A qualitative study examining teachers' beliefs regarding developmentally appropriate practices was conducted in the city of Mumbai, India. Twelve kindergarten teacher's were interviewed for this study, and a constant comparative method was used to analyze the interviews. Six themes were identified within this study. The themes highlighted…

  4. Numerical study for enhancing the thermal conductivity of phase change material (PCM) storage using high thermal conductivity porous matrix

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mesalhy, Osama; Lafdi, Khalid; Elgafy, Ahmed; Bowman, Keith

    2005-01-01

    In this paper, the melting process inside an irregular geometry filled with high thermal conductivity porous matrix saturated with phase change material PCM is investigated numerically. The numerical model is resting on solving the volume averaged conservation equations for mass, momentum and energy with phase change (melting) in the porous medium. The convection motion of the liquid phase inside the porous matrix is solved considering the Darcy, Brinkman and Forchiemer effects. A local thermal non-equilibrium assumption is considered due to the large difference in thermal properties between the solid matrix and PCM by applying a two energy equation model. The numerical code shows good agreement for pure PCM melting with another published numerical work. Through this study it is found that the presence of the porous matrix has a great effect on the heat transfer and melting rate of the PCM energy storage. Decreasing the porosity of the matrix increases the melting rate, but it also damps the convection motion. It is also found that the best technique to enhance the response of the PCM storage is to use a solid matrix with high porosity and high thermal conductivity

  5. Conductivity ageing studies on 1M10ScSZ (M4+=Ce, Hf)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Omar, Shobit; Bin Najib, Waqas; Bonanos, Nikolaos

    2011-01-01

    The long-term conductivity stability is tested on zirconia based electrolyte materials for solid oxide fuel cell applications. The ageing studies have been performed on the samples of ZrO2 co-doped with 10mol% of Sc2O3 and 1mol% MO2, where M = Ce or Hf (denoted respectively 1Ce10ScSZ and 1Hf10Sc......SZ) in oxidising and reducing atmospheres, at 600°C for 3000h. At 600°C, these compositions show initial conductivity of around 9–12mS∙cm−1 in air. After 3000h of ageing, no phase transitions are observed in any of the samples. For the first 1000h, the degradation rate is higher than in the subsequent 2000h......; thereafter, conductivity degrades linearly with time for all samples. In air, the loss in the conductivity is lower than in reducing conditions. The 1Ce10ScSZ shows the highest degradation rate of 3.8%/1000h in wet H2/N2 after the first 1000h of ageing. A colour change of the 1Ce10ScSZ sample from white...

  6. Authoritarian parenting attitudes as a risk for conduct problems Results from a British national cohort study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thompson, Anne; Hollis, Chris; Dagger, David Richards

    2003-04-01

    This study examines the associations, and possible causal relationship, between mothers' authoritarian attitudes to discipline and child behaviour using cross-sectional and prospective data from a large population sample surveyed in the 1970 British Cohort Study. Results show a clear linear relationship between the degree of maternal approval of authoritarian child-rearing attitudes and the rates of conduct problems at age 5 and age 10. This association is independent of the confounding effects of socio-economic status and maternal psychological distress. Maternal authoritarian attitudes independently predicted the development of conduct problems 5 years later at age 10. The results of this longitudinal study suggest that authoritarian parenting attitudes expressed by mothers may be of significance in the development of conduct problems.

  7. The Connoisseurship of Conducting: A Qualitative Study of Exemplary Wind Band Conductors

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barry, Nancy; Henry, Daniel

    2015-01-01

    This study aimed to gain an in-depth perspective through examining how the conducting pedagogy of three selected exemplary high school and college instrumental music conductors function within the context of an actual rehearsal. A typical rehearsal was video recorded, followed by a "think-aloud" session in which the conductor viewed the…

  8. First-principles study of lattice thermal conductivity in ZrTe5 and HfTe5

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Cong; Wang, Haifeng; Chen, Y. B.; Yao, Shu-Hua; Zhou, Jian

    2018-05-01

    Recently, the layered transition-metal pentatellurides ZrTe5 and HfTe5 have attracted increasing attention because of their interesting topological electronic properties. Nevertheless, some of their other good physical properties seem to be ignored now. Actually, both ZrTe5 and HfTe5 have high electric conductivities (>105 Ω-1 m-1) and Seebeck coefficients (> 100 μV/K) at room temperature, thus making them promising thermoelectric materials. However, the disadvantage is that the thermal conductivities of the two materials are relatively high according to the few available experiments; meanwhile, the detailed mechanism of the intrinsic thermal conductivity has not been studied yet. Based on the density functional theory and the Boltzmann transport theory, we present here the theoretical study of the intrinsic lattice thermal conductivities of ZrTe5 and HfTe5, which are found to be in the range of 5-8 W/mṡK at room temperature and well consistent with the experimental results. We also find that the thermal conductivities of the two materials are anisotropic, which are mainly caused by their anisotropic crystal structures. Based on the detailed analysis, we proposed that the thermal conductivities of the two materials could possibly be reduced by different kinds of structural engineering at the atomic and mesoscopic scales, such as alloying, doping, nano-structuring, and polycrystalline structuring, which could make ZrTe5 and HfTe5 good thermoelectric materials for room temperature thermoelectric applications.

  9. Conducting model ecosystem studies in tropical climate zones: Lessons learned from Thailand and way forward

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Daam, Michiel A., E-mail: mdaam@isa.utl.pt [Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Technical University of Lisbon, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017 Lisbon (Portugal); Van den Brink, Paul J., E-mail: Paul.vandenbrink@wur.nl [Alterra, Wageningen University and Research centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen (Netherlands); Wageningen University, Department of Aquatic Ecology and Water Quality Management, Wageningen University and Research centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen (Netherlands)

    2011-04-15

    Little research has been done so far into the environmental fate and side effects of pesticides in the tropics. In addition, those studies conducted in tropical regions have focused almost exclusively on single species laboratory tests. Hence, fate and effects of pesticides on higher-tier levels have barely been studied under tropical conditions. To address this lack of knowledge, four outdoor aquatic model ecosystem experiments using two different test systems were conducted in Thailand evaluating the insecticide chlorpyrifos, the herbicide linuron and the fungicide carbendazim. Results of these experiments and comparisons of recorded fate and effects with temperate studies have been published previously. The present paper discusses the pros and cons of the methodologies applied and provides indications for i) possible improvements; ii) important aspects that should be considered when performing model ecosystem experiments in the tropics; iii) future research. - Research highlights: > Methodologies used overall seemed adequate to evaluate pesticide stress. > Identification and sampling of tropical macroinvertebrates should be improved. > Additional studies needed for different compounds and greater geographical scale. > Different exposure regimes and ecosystem types should be simulated. > Trophic interrelationship and recovery potential need to be evaluated. - Methodologies for conducting model ecosystem studies in the tropics.

  10. Comparative studies of the structure, morphology and electrical conductivity of polyaniline weakly doped with chlorocarboxylic acids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Gmati, Fethi; Fattoum, Arbi; Bohli, Nadra; Dhaoui, Wadia; Mohamed, Abdellatif Belhadj

    2007-01-01

    We report the results of studies on two series of polyaniline (PANI), doped with dichloroacetic (DCA) and trichloroacetic (TCA) acids, respectively, at various doping rates and obtained by the in situ polymerization method. Samples were characterized by x-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and conductivity measurements. The direct current (dc) and alternating current (ac) electrical conductivities of PANI salts have been investigated in the temperature range 100-310 K and frequency range 7-10 6 Hz. The results of this study indicate better chain ordering and higher conductivity for PANI doped with TCA. The dc conductivity of all samples is suitably fitted to Mott's three-dimensional variable-range hopping (VRH) model. Different Mott parameters such as characteristic temperature T 0 , density of states at the Fermi level (N(E F )), average hopping energy (W) and the average hopping distance (R) have been evaluated. The dependence of such values on the dopant acid used is discussed. At high frequencies, the ac conductivity follows the power law σ ac (ω,T) A(T)ω s(T,ω) , which is characteristic for charge transport in disordered materials by hopping or tunnelling processes. The observed increase in the frequency exponent s with temperature suggests that the small-polaron tunnelling model best describes the dominant ac conduction mechanism. A direct correlation between conductivity, structure and morphology was obtained in our systems

  11. A conductivity study of preferential solvation of lithium ion in acetonitrile-dimethyl sulfoxide mixtures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mozhzhukhina, Nataliia; Longinotti, M. Paula; Corti, Horacio R.; Calvo, Ernesto J.

    2015-01-01

    The electrical mobility of LiPF 6 in acetonitrile–dimethyl sulfoxide (ACN–DMSO) mixtures, a potential electrolyte in oxygen cathodes of lithium-air batteries, has been studied using a very precise conductance technique, which allowed the determination of the infinite dilution molar conductivity and association constant of the salt in the whole composition range. In the search for preferential Li + ion solvation, we also measured the electrical conductivity of tetrabutylammonium hexafluorophosphate (TBAPF 6 ), a salt formed by a bulky cation, over the same composition range. The results show a qualitative change in the curvature of the LiPF 6 molar conductivity composition dependence for ACN molar fraction (x ACN ) ∼ 0.95, which was not observed for TBAPF 6 . The dependence of the measured Li/Li + couple potential with solvent composition also showed a pronounced change around the same composition. We suggest that these observations can be explained by Li + ion preferential solvation by DMSO in ACN–DMSO mixtures with very low molar fractions of DMSO

  12. Note: Optimization of the numerical data analysis for conductivity percolation studies of drying moist porous systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Moscicki, J. K.; Sokolowska, D.; Dziob, D.; Nowak, J. [Smoluchowski Institute of Physics, Jagiellonian University, Reymonta 4, 30-059 Krakow (Poland); Kwiatkowski, L. [Department of Econometrics and Operations Research, Cracow University of Economics, Rakowicka 27, 31-510 Krakow (Poland)

    2014-02-15

    A simplified data analysis protocol, for dielectric spectroscopy use to study conductivity percolation in dehydrating granular media is discussed. To enhance visibility of the protonic conductivity contribution to the dielectric loss spectrum, detrimental effects of either low-frequency dielectric relaxation or electrode polarization are removed. Use of the directly measurable monofrequency dielectric loss factor rather than estimated DC conductivity to parameterize the percolation transition substantially reduces the analysis work and time.

  13. Evaluation of atrophy of foot muscles in diabetic neuropathy -- a comparative study of nerve conduction studies and ultrasonography

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Severinsen, Kaare; Andersen, Henning

    2007-01-01

    OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the relation between the findings at nerve conduction studies and the size of small foot muscles determined by ultrasonography. METHODS: In 26 diabetic patients the size of the extensor digitorum brevis muscle (EDB) and of the muscles between the first and second metatarsal...... related to the size of the small foot muscles as determined by ultrasonography. SIGNIFICANCE: In diabetic patients motor nerve conduction studies can reliably determine the size of small foot muscles. Udgivelsesdato: 2007-Oct....... RESULTS: Seventeen patients fulfilled the criteria for diabetic neuropathy. The cross-sectional area of the EDB muscle and the thickness of the MIL muscle were 116 +/- 65 mm2 and 29.6 +/- 8.2 mm, respectively. Close relations were established between muscle size and the amplitude of the CMAP...

  14. Scanning tunneling spectroscopy study of DNA conductivity

    Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

    Kratochvílová, Irena; Král, Karel; Bunček, M.; Nešpůrek, Stanislav; Todorciuc, Tatiana; Weiter, M.; Navrátil, J.; Schneider, Bohdan; Pavluch, J.

    2008-01-01

    Roč. 6, č. 3 (2008), s. 422-426 ISSN 1895-1082 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR KAN401770651; GA MŠk OC 137; GA AV ČR KAN400720701; GA AV ČR KAN200100801 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z10100520; CEZ:AV0Z40500505; CEZ:AV0Z40550506 Keywords : molecular electronics * DNA * scanning tunneling microscopy * conductivity * charge carrier transport Subject RIV: BM - Solid Matter Physics ; Magnetism Impact factor: 0.448, year: 2008

  15. Risk of Suicide Attempt among Adolescents with Conduct Disorder: A Longitudinal Follow-up Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Han-Ting; Lan, Wen-Hsuan; Hsu, Ju-Wei; Bai, Ya-Mei; Huang, Kai-Lin; Su, Tung-Ping; Li, Cheng-Ta; Lin, Wei-Chen; Chen, Tzeng-Ji; Chen, Mu-Hong

    2016-10-01

    To assess the independent or comorbid effect of conduct and mood disorders on the risk of suicide. The Taiwan National Health Insurance Research Database was used to derive data for 3711 adolescents aged 12-17 years with conduct disorder and 14 844 age- and sex-matched controls between 2001 and 2009. The participants were followed up to the end of 2011, and those who attempted suicide during the follow-up period were identified. Adolescents with conduct disorder had a higher incidence of suicide (0.9% vs 0.1%; P suicide at a younger age (17.38 ± 2.04 vs 20.52 ± 1.70 years of age) than did the controls. The Cox proportional hazards regression model, after adjustment for demographic data and psychiatric comorbidities, determined that conduct disorder was an independent risk factor for subsequent suicide attempts (hazard ratio, 5.17; 95% CI, 2.29-11.70). The sensitivity after those with other psychiatric comorbidities were excluded revealed a consistent finding (hazard ratio, 10.32; 95% CI, 3.71-28.71). Adolescents with conduct disorder had an increased risk of suicide attempts over the next decade. Future studies are required to clarify the underlying pathophysiology and elucidate whether prompt intervention for conduct disorder could reduce this risk. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Conducting everyday life

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Juhl, Pernille

    , they are involved in preventive interventions. I conducted participatory observations with the children in their everyday life. Overall, the study stresses that even small children must be perceived as active participants who act upon and struggle with different conditions and meaning making processes across......In the paper I discuss how small children (0-4 year) develop through ‘conducting everyday life’ across contexts (Holzkamp 2013). I discuss how this process of conducting everyday life is essential when discussing the ‘good life for children’ from a child perspective. These issues are addressed...... contexts (home, day care, part-time foster family) and in relation to other co-participants....

  17. FUTURE MUSIC TEACHERS’ PROFESSIONAL AND INDIVIDUAL DEVELOPMENT WHILE STUDYING CONDUCTING AND CHORAL DISCIPLINES

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alla Kozyr

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The article deals with the problem of professional and individual development of Art Institute students. The aim of the article is to disclose the effectiveness of organising future music teachers’ methodological training which causes their professional and individual development. There is an urgent necessity of implementing integrated knowledge system in musical and pedagogical education which requires greater coordination of the disciplines. The article gives a detailed analysis of future music teachers ‘theoretic and methodological training in the course of conducting and choral disciplines that takes place during the whole period of studying at Art Institutes and at Music and Pedagogics Faculties of Pedagogical Universities. The author claims that the course of conducting and choral disciplines helps overcome drawbacks of future teachers’ training to practice. But this course should be combined with vocal and instrumental training, the unity of these components promote to forming performance skills. It is shown that the main task of learning conducting and choral disciplines at Art Institutes and at Music and Pedagogics Faculties of Pedagogical Universities is directing students to the constant acmeological self-development. The basis for this is future teachers’ independent work that is supervised by tutors. Tutors should encourage students to have responsible attitude to the author’s text. The future conductor should have a habit of accurate reading of author’s text which is one of the preconditions of successful performance. In the article much attention is given to getting basic professional skills that involves training the leaders of school choral groups according to the following trends: studying music and theoretical materials thoroughly; mastering conducting techniques; learning vocal and choral technique and methodology of working with the choir. The author concludes that mastering the main professional skills means

  18. Primeiro episódio da esquizofrenia e assistência de enfermagem Primer episodio de la esquizofrenia y asistencia de enfermería First episode of schizophrenia and nursing care

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bianca Cristina Ciccone Giacon

    2006-06-01

    Full Text Available A esquizofrenia é um dos principais problemas de saúde da atualidade, exigindo considerável investimento do sistema de saúde. A intervenção no primeiro episódio do transtorno oferece uma oportunidade única no tratamento da esquizofrenia, influenciando no curso da doença. O presente artigo consiste em uma revisão crítica de literatura cujos objetivos são examinar o conhecimento sobre o primeiro surto de esquizofrenia e discutir a contribuição da enfermagem na assistência. Foi utilizada pesquisa bibliográfica em índice informatizado de referências. Os dados obtidos permitiram organizar informações sobre o conceito geral de esquizofrenia, seu primeiro surto, tipos de intervenções e a atuação de enfermagem. Observamos que existe pouca literatura brasileira relacionada ao primeiro surto esquizofrênico, na área da enfermagem, poucos serviços especializados e disponíveis e poucos recursos sociais. Tal condição mostra a necessidade de estudos relacionados ao primeiro surto.La esquizofrenia es uno de los principales problemas de salud de la actualidad, exigiendo considerable inversión del sistema de salud. La intervención en el primer episodio del trastorno ofrece oportunidad única en el tratamiento de la esquizofrenia, influyendo en el curso de la enfermedad. El presente artículo consiste en una revisión crítica de la literatura cuyos objetivos son examinar el conocimiento sobre el primer episodio de esquizofrenia y discutir acerca de la contribución de la enfermería en la asistencia. Fue utilizada la investigación bibliográfica en índice informatizado de referencias. Los datos obtenidos permitieron organizar informaciones sobre el concepto general de esquizofrenia, su primer episodio, tipos de intervenciones y la actuación de enfermería. Observamos que existe poca literatura brasileña relacionada a la primera aparición de signos de esquizofrenia, en el área de la enfermería, pocos servicios especializados

  19. A study of phonon anisotropic scattering effect on silicon thermal conductivity at nanoscale

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bong, Victor N-S; Wong, Basil T.

    2015-01-01

    Previous studies have shown that anisotropy in phonon transport exist because of the difference in phonon dispersion relation due to different lattice direction, as observed by a difference in in-plane and cross-plane thermal conductivity. The directional preference (such as forward or backward scattering) in phonon propagation however, remains a relatively unexplored frontier. Our current work adopts a simple scattering probability in radiative transfer, which is called Henyey and Greenstein probability density function, and incorporates it into the phonon Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the effect of directional scattering in phonon transport. In this work, the effect of applying the anisotropy scattering is discussed, as well as its impact on the simulated thermal conductivity of silicon thin films. While the forward and backward scattering will increase and decrease thermal conductivity respectively, the extent of the effect is non-linear such that forward scattering has a more obvious effect than backward scattering

  20. A study of phonon anisotropic scattering effect on silicon thermal conductivity at nanoscale

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bong, Victor N-S; Wong, Basil T. [Swinburne Sarawak Research Centre for Sustainable Technologies, Faculty of Engineering, Computing & Science, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus, 93350 Kuching, Sarawak (Malaysia)

    2015-08-28

    Previous studies have shown that anisotropy in phonon transport exist because of the difference in phonon dispersion relation due to different lattice direction, as observed by a difference in in-plane and cross-plane thermal conductivity. The directional preference (such as forward or backward scattering) in phonon propagation however, remains a relatively unexplored frontier. Our current work adopts a simple scattering probability in radiative transfer, which is called Henyey and Greenstein probability density function, and incorporates it into the phonon Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the effect of directional scattering in phonon transport. In this work, the effect of applying the anisotropy scattering is discussed, as well as its impact on the simulated thermal conductivity of silicon thin films. While the forward and backward scattering will increase and decrease thermal conductivity respectively, the extent of the effect is non-linear such that forward scattering has a more obvious effect than backward scattering.

  1. ZnO based transparent conductive oxide films with controlled type of conduction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zaharescu, M., E-mail: mzaharescu@icf.ro [Institute of Physical Chemistry “Ilie Murgulescu”, Romanian Academy, 202 Splaiul Independentei, 060021 Bucharest (Romania); Mihaiu, S., E-mail: smihaiu@icf.ro [Institute of Physical Chemistry “Ilie Murgulescu”, Romanian Academy, 202 Splaiul Independentei, 060021 Bucharest (Romania); Toader, A. [Institute of Physical Chemistry “Ilie Murgulescu”, Romanian Academy, 202 Splaiul Independentei, 060021 Bucharest (Romania); Atkinson, I., E-mail: irinaatkinson@yahoo.com [Institute of Physical Chemistry “Ilie Murgulescu”, Romanian Academy, 202 Splaiul Independentei, 060021 Bucharest (Romania); Calderon-Moreno, J.; Anastasescu, M.; Nicolescu, M.; Duta, M.; Gartner, M. [Institute of Physical Chemistry “Ilie Murgulescu”, Romanian Academy, 202 Splaiul Independentei, 060021 Bucharest (Romania); Vojisavljevic, K.; Malic, B. [Institute Jožef Stefan, Ljubljana (Slovenia); Ivanov, V.A.; Zaretskaya, E.P. [State Scientific and Production Association “Scientific-Practical Materials Research Center of the National Academy of Science Belarus, P. Brovska str.19, 220072, Minsk (Belarus)

    2014-11-28

    The transparent conductive oxide films with controlled type of conduction are of great importance and their preparation is intensively studied. In our work, the preparation of such films based on doped ZnO was realized in order to achieve controlled type of conduction and high concentration of the charge carriers. Sol–gel method was used for films preparation and several dopants were tested (Sn, Li, Ni). Multilayer deposition was performed on several substrates: SiO{sub 2}/Si wafers, silica-soda-lime and/or silica glasses. The structural and morphological characterization of the obtained films were done by scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy respectively, while spectroscopic ellipsometry and transmittance measurements were done for determination of optical properties. The selected samples with the best structural, morphological and optical properties were subjected to electrical measurement (Hall and Seebeck effect). In all studied cases, samples with good adherence and homogeneous morphology as well as monophasic wurtzite type structure were obtained. The optical constants (refractive index and extinction coefficient) were calculated from spectroscopic ellipsometry data using Cauchy model. Films with n- or p-type conduction were obtained depending on the composition, number of deposition and thermal treatment temperature. - Highlights: • Transparent conductive ZnO based thin films were prepared by the sol–gel method. • Controlled type of conduction is obtained in (Sn, Li) doped and Li-Ni co-doped ZnO films. • Hall and Seebeck measurements proved the p-type conductivity for Li-Ni co-doped ZnO films. • The p-type conductivity was maintained even after 4-months of storage. • Influence of dopant- and substrate-type on the ZnO films properties was established.

  2. Study of gap conductance model for thermo mechanical fully coupled finite element model

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hyo Cha; Yang, Yong Sik; Kim, Dae Ho; Bang, Je Geon; Kim, Sun Ki; Koo, Yang Hyun

    2012-01-01

    accurately, gap conductance model for thermomechanical fully coupled FE should be developed. However, gap conductance in FE can be difficult issue in terms of convergence because all elements which are positioned in gap have different gap conductance at each iteration step. It is clear that our code should have gap conductance model for thermo-mechanical fully coupled FE in three-dimension. In this paper, gap conductance model for thermomechanical coupled FE has been built using commercial FE code to understand gap conductance model in FE. We coded commercial FE code using APDL because it does not have iterative gap conductance model. Through model, convergence parameter and characteristics were studied

  3. Electrical conductivity of activated carbon-metal oxide nanocomposites under compression: a comparison study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barroso-Bogeat, A; Alexandre-Franco, M; Fernández-González, C; Macías-García, A; Gómez-Serrano, V

    2014-12-07

    From a granular commercial activated carbon (AC) and six metal oxide (Al2O3, Fe2O3, SnO2, TiO2, WO3 and ZnO) precursors, two series of AC-metal oxide nanocomposites were prepared by wet impregnation, oven-drying at 120 °C, and subsequent heat treatment at 200 or 850 °C in an inert atmosphere. Here, the electrical conductivity of the resulting products was studied under moderate compression. The influence of the applied pressure, sample volume, mechanical work, and density of the hybrid materials was thoroughly investigated. The DC electrical conductivity of the compressed samples was measured at room temperature by the four-probe method. Compaction assays suggest that the mechanical properties of the nanocomposites are largely determined by the carbon matrix. Both the decrease in volume and the increase in density were relatively small and only significant at pressures lower than 100 kPa for AC and most nanocomposites. In contrast, the bulk electrical conductivity of the hybrid materials was strongly influenced by the intrinsic conductivity, mean crystallite size, content and chemical nature of the supported phases, which ultimately depend on the metal oxide precursor and heat treatment temperature. The supported nanoparticles may be considered to act as electrical switches either hindering or favouring the effective electron transport between the AC cores of neighbouring composite particles in contact under compression. Conductivity values as a rule were lower for the nanocomposites than for the raw AC, all of them falling in the range of semiconductor materials. With the increase in heat treatment temperature, the trend is toward the improvement of conductivity due to the increase in the crystallite size and, in some cases, to the formation of metals in the elemental state and even metal carbides. The patterns of variation of the electrical conductivity with pressure and mechanical work were slightly similar, thus suggesting the predominance of the pressure

  4. Nanoscale electrical property studies of individual GeSi quantum rings by conductive scanning probe microscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Yi; Cui, Jian; Jiang, Zuimin M; Yang, Xinju

    2012-11-29

    The nanoscale electrical properties of individual self-assembled GeSi quantum rings (QRs) were studied by scanning probe microscopy-based techniques. The surface potential distributions of individual GeSi QRs are obtained by scanning Kelvin microscopy (SKM). Ring-shaped work function distributions are observed, presenting that the QRs' rim has a larger work function than the QRs' central hole. By combining the SKM results with those obtained by conductive atomic force microscopy and scanning capacitance microscopy, the correlations between the surface potential, conductance, and carrier density distributions are revealed, and a possible interpretation for the QRs' conductance distributions is suggested.

  5. A Fractal Study on the Effective Thermal Conductivity of Porous Media

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qin, X.; Cai, J.; Wei, W.

    2017-12-01

    Thermal conduction in porous media has steadily received attention in science and engineering, for instance, exploiting and utilizing the geothermal energy, developing the oil-gas resource, ground water flow in hydrothermal systems and investigating the potential host nuclear wastes, etc. The thermal conductivity is strongly influenced by the microstructure features of porous media. In this work, based on the fractal characteristics of the grains, a theoretical model of effective thermal conductivity is proposed for saturated and unsaturated porous media. It is found that the proposed effective thermal conductivity solution is a function of geometrical parameters of porous media, such as the porosity, fractal dimension of granular matrix and the thermal conductivity of the grains and pore fluid. The model predictions are compared with existing experimental data and the results show that they are in good agreement with existing experimental data. The proposed model may provide a better understanding of the physical mechanisms of thermal transfer in porous media than conventional models.

  6. Conduct Disorder and Neighborhood Effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jennings, Wesley G; Perez, Nicholas M; Reingle Gonzalez, Jennifer M

    2018-05-07

    There has been a considerable amount of scholarly attention to the relationship between neighborhood effects and conduct disorder, particularly in recent years. Having said this, it has been nearly two decades since a comprehensive synthesis of this literature has been conducted. Relying on a detailed and comprehensive search strategy and inclusion criteria, this article offers a systematic and interdisciplinary review of 47 empirical studies that have examined neighborhood effects and conduct disorder. Described results suggest that there are generally robust linkages between adverse neighborhood factors and conduct disorder and externalizing behavior problems, as 67 of the 93 (72.04%) effect sizes derived from these studies yielded statistically significant neighborhood effects. The review also identifies salient mediating and moderating influences. It discusses study limitations and directions for future research as well.

  7. XPS/NEXAFS spectroscopic and conductance studies of glycine on AlGaN/GaN transistor devices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Myers, Matthew; Khir, Farah Liyana Muhammad; Home, Michael A.; Mennell, Christopher; Gillbanks, Jeremy; Tadich, Anton; Baker, Murray V.; Nener, Brett D.; Parish, Giacinta

    2018-03-01

    We report on a study using a combination of XPS/NEXAFS and conductivity measurements to develop a fundamental understanding of how dipolar molecules interact with the heterostructure device surface and affect the device conductivity of AlGaN/GaN heterostructure-based transistors. In such structures, which are increasingly being investigated for chemical and biological sensing, a 2-dimensional electron gas spontaneously forms at the layer interface that is sensitive to the charge characteristics of the exposed surface. Glycine, chosen for this study because it is the simplest of the amino acids and is known to form a zwitterionic configuration when stabilized through intermolecular interactions, was evaporated under ultra-high vacuum conditions onto the device surface and subsequently both XPS/NEXAFS and conductivity measurements were conducted. NEXAFS spectra show a preferential orientation for the Glycine molecules on the surface and evidence for both neutral and zwitterionic species on the surface. In situ conductivity measurements suggest that the negatively charged carboxylate group is closest to the surface. These results are a unique and pivotal contribution to the previous and at times conflicting literature on the zwitterionic nature of Glycine.

  8. Mechanistic interaction study of thin oxide dielectric with conducting organic electrode

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sharma, Himani; Sethi, Kanika; Raj, P. Markondeya; Gerhardt, R.A.; Tummala, Rao

    2012-01-01

    Highlights: ► Thin film-oxide dielectric-organic electrode interface studies for investigating the leakage mechanism. ► XPS to elucidate chemical-structural changes on dielectric oxide surface. ► Correlates structural characterization data with capacitor leakage current and impedance spectroscopy characteristics. - Abstract: This paper aims at understanding the interaction of intrinsic conducting polymer, PEDT, with ALD-deposited Al 2 O 3 and thermally oxidized Ta 2 O 5 dielectrics, and the underlying mechanisms for increase in leakage currents in PEDT-based capacitors. Conducting polymers offer several advantages as electrodes for high surface area capacitors because of their lower resistance, self-healing and enhanced conformality. However, capacitors with in situ polymerized PEDT show poor electrical properties that are attributed to the interfacial interaction between the organic electrode and the oxide dielectric. This study focuses on characterizing these interactions. A combination of compositional, structural and electrical characterization techniques was applied to polymer-solid-state-capacitor to understand the interfacial chemical behavior and dielectric property deterioration of alumina and tantalum-oxide films. XPS and impedance studies were employed to understand the stiochiometric and compositional changes that occur in the dielectric film on interaction with in situ deposited PEDT. Based on the observations from several complimentary techniques, it is concluded that tantalum-pentoxide has more resistance towards chemical interaction with in situ polymerized PEDT. The thermally oxidized Ta 2 O 5 -PEDT system showed leakage current of 280 nA μF −1 at 3 V with a breakdown voltage of 30 V. On the other hand, Al 2 O 3 -PEDT capacitor showed leakage current of 50 μA μF −1 and a breakdown voltage of 40 V. The study reports direct evidence for the mechanism of resistivity drop in alumina dielectric with in situ polymerized PEDT electrode.

  9. Guidelines for Conducting Positivist Case Study Research in Information Systems

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Graeme Shanks

    2002-11-01

    Full Text Available The case study research approach is widely used in a number of different ways within the information systems community. This paper focuses on positivist, deductive case study research in information systems. It provides clear definitions of important concepts in positivist case study research and illustrates these with an example research study. A critical analysis of the conduct and outcomes of two recently published positivist case studies is reported. One is a multiple case study that validated concepts in a framework for viewpoint development in requirements definition. The other is a single case study that examined the role of social enablers in enterprise resource planning systems implementation. A number of guidelines for successfully undertaking positivist case study research are identified including developing a clear understanding of key concepts and assumptions within the positivist paradigm; providing clear and unambiguous definitions of the units and interactions when using any theory; carefully defining the boundary of the theory used in the case study; using hypotheses rather than propositions in the empirical testing of theory; using fuzzy or probabilistic propositions in recognising that reality can never be perfectly known; selecting case studies carefully, particularly single case studies; and recognising that generalisation from positivist, single case studies is inherently different from generalisation from single experiments. When properly undertaken, positivist, deductive case study research is a valuable research approach for information systems researchers, particularly when used within pluralist research programs that use a number of different research approaches from different paradigms.

  10. Matrix diffusion studies by electrical conductivity methods. Comparison between laboratory and in-situ measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ohlsson, Y.; Neretnieks, I.

    1998-01-01

    Traditional laboratory diffusion experiments in rock material are time consuming, and quite small samples are generally used. Electrical conductivity measurements, on the other hand, provide a fast means for examining transport properties in rock and allow measurements on larger samples as well. Laboratory measurements using electrical conductivity give results that compare well to those from traditional diffusion experiments. The measurement of the electrical resistivity in the rock surrounding a borehole is a standard method for the detection of water conducting fractures. If these data could be correlated to matrix diffusion properties, in-situ diffusion data from large areas could be obtained. This would be valuable because it would make it possible to obtain data very early in future investigations of potentially suitable sites for a repository. This study compares laboratory electrical conductivity measurements with in-situ resistivity measurements from a borehole at Aespoe. The laboratory samples consist mainly of Aespoe diorite and fine-grained granite and the rock surrounding the borehole of Aespoe diorite, Smaaland granite and fine-grained granite. The comparison shows good agreement between laboratory measurements and in-situ data

  11. A molecular dynamics study of liquid layering and thermal conductivity enhancement in nanoparticle suspensions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paul, J.; Madhu, A. K.; Jayadeep, U. B.; Sobhan, C. B.; Peterson, G. P.

    2018-03-01

    Liquid layering is considered to be one of the factors contributing to the often anomalous enhancement in thermal conductivity of nanoparticle suspensions. The extent of this layering was found to be significant at lower particle sizes, as reported in an earlier work by the authors. In continuation to that work, an investigation was conducted to better understand the fundamental parameters impacting the reported anomalous enhancement in thermal conductivity of nanoparticle suspensions (nanofluids), utilizing equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations in a copper-argon system. Nanofluids containing nanoparticles of size less than 6 nm were investigated and studied analytically. The heat current auto-correlation function in the Green-Kubo formulation for thermal conductivity was decomposed into self-correlations and cross-correlations of different species and the kinetic, potential, collision and enthalpy terms of the dominant portion of the heat current vector. The presence of liquid layering around the nanoparticle was firmly established through simulations that show the dominant contribution of Ar-Ar self-correlation and the trend displayed by the kinetic-potential cross-correlation within the argon species.

  12. Doença tremorgênica em ruminantes e equídeos no semiárido da Paraíba Tremorgenic disease in ruminants and equidae in the Brazilian semiarid

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Clarice R.M. Pessoa

    2010-07-01

    Full Text Available Descrevem-se oito surtos de uma doença tremorgênica em bovinos, ovinos, equinos e muares na região do Cariri, semiárido da Paraíba. Sete surtos aconteceram de julho a dezembro de 2007, com maior frequência entre setembro e outubro. Outro surto foi observado em fevereiro de 2008. Todos os surtos ocorreram no período da seca. Os sinais observados foram tremores musculares, hipermetria, ataxia, aumento da base de sustentação, constante estado de alerta e, em alguns casos, decúbito. Quando retirados das pastagens os animais recuperavam-se em 3-4 dias a duas semanas, porém quando retornavam ao pasto de origem adoeciam novamente. Um ovino foi necropsiado e não foram observadas lesões macroscópicas ou microscópicas. Em seis propriedades a doença ocorreu em cultivos de palma invadidos por gramíneas e em duas em áreas de caatinga desmatada invadidas pelas mesmas gramíneas. Diversas gramíneas, incluindo Digitaria bicornis, Enteropogon mollis, Chloris virgata e Chloris barbata foram encontradas nos piquetes onde ocorreu a doença. Dois equinos foram alimentados por sete dias com gramíneas secas provenientes de fazendas onde haviam acontecido surtos da doença. Um dos equinos apresentou sinais leves da doença no quinto dia de ingestão, mas recuperou-se no dia seguinte. Esses resultados sugerem que a doença está associada à ingestão de alguma gramínea, possivelmente Chloris spp. Relatos anteriores mencionam a ocorrência de uma intoxicação semelhante, entre 1956 e 1962, no Agreste Pernambucano, em pastagens de Chloris orthonothon.Eight outbreaks of a tremorgenic disease are reported in ruminants and equidae in the semiarid region of the Brazilian state of Paraíba. Seven outbreaks occurred from July to December 2007, with highest frequency in September and October. Another outbreak was observed in February 2008. All outbreaks occurred during the dry season. The disease affected horses, mules, cattle and sheep. Clinical signs

  13. Study of the ionic conduction mechanism based on carboxymethyl cellulose biopolymer electrolytes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Samsudin, A. S.; Isa, M. I. N. [Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Terengganu (Mali)

    2014-11-15

    Biodegradable carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) doped with various compositions of NH{sub 4}Br biopolymer electrolytes (BE) were successfully prepared via a solution-cast technique. The ionic conductivity for the CMC-NH{sub 4}Br BE system was measured by using impedance spectroscopy, and the highest ambient temperature conductivity was observed to be 1.12 x 10{sup -4} S cm{sup -1} for the sample containing 25-wt.% NH{sub 4}Br. The temperature dependence of the ionic conductivity revealed that the BE system followed an Arrhenius behavior. Jonscher's universal power law was applied to analyze the AC conductivity of the highest conducting sample in the BE system, and the results indicate that the conduction is due to small polaron hopping (SPH) caused by a non-adiabatic mechanism.

  14. Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy for Studying Biological Samples

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Irmgard D. Dietzel

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Scanning ion conductance microscopy (SICM is a scanning probe technique that utilizes the increase in access resistance that occurs if an electrolyte filled glass micro-pipette is approached towards a poorly conducting surface. Since an increase in resistance can be monitored before the physical contact between scanning probe tip and sample, this technique is particularly useful to investigate the topography of delicate samples such as living cells. SICM has shown its potential in various applications such as high resolution and long-time imaging of living cells or the determination of local changes in cellular volume. Furthermore, SICM has been combined with various techniques such as fluorescence microscopy or patch clamping to reveal localized information about proteins or protein functions. This review details the various advantages and pitfalls of SICM and provides an overview of the recent developments and applications of SICM in biological imaging. Furthermore, we show that in principle, a combination of SICM and ion selective micro-electrodes enables one to monitor the local ion activity surrounding a living cell.

  15. Electrical conductivity measurement and thermogravimetric study of chromium-doped uranium dioxide

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Matsui, Tsuneo; Naito, Keiji

    1986-01-01

    The electrical conductivity and nonstoichiometric composition of (Usub(1-y)Crsub(y))Osub(2+x) (y=0.001 and 0.05) were measured in the range 1173 -17 2 ) -2 Pa by the four inserted wires method and thermogravimetry, respectively. The electrical conductivities of (Usub(1-y)Crsub(y))Osub(2+x) (y=0.01 and 0.05) were about one-order lower than that of UOsub(2+x), probably due to the presence of the chromium ion as an electron donor. The activation energies of (Usub(0.99)Crsub(0.01))Osub(2+x) and (Usub(0.95)Crsub(0.05))Osub(2+x) for the extrinsic conduction in the low oxygen partial pressure region were calculated to be 24.7+-1.3 and 25.9+-1.0 kJ.mol -1 , respectively from the Arrhenius plots of the electrical conductivities. These small values of the activation energy of (Usub(1-y)Crsub(y))Osub(2+x) may suggest the presence of the hopping mechanism for hole conduction, similarly to the case of UOsub(2+x). From the oxygen partial pressure dependences of both the electrical conductivity and the deviation x in (Usub(1-y)Crsub(y))Osub(2+x), the defect structure was discussed with the complex defect model consisting of oxygen vacancies and two kinds of interstitial oxygens. (orig.)

  16. Electrical conduction studies of hot wall deposited CdSe{sub x}Te{sub 1-x} thin films

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muthukumarasamy, N. [Department of Physics, Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore 641014 (India); Balasundaraprabhu, R.; Jayakumar, S.; Kannan, M.D. [Department of Physics, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore (India)

    2008-08-15

    CdSe{sub x}Te{sub 1-x} thin films of different compositions have been deposited on cleaned glass substrates using the hot wall deposition technique under conditions very close to thermodynamical equilibrium with minimum loss of material. The electrical conductivity of the deposited films has been studied as a function of temperature. All the films showed a transition from phonon-assisted hopping conduction through the impurity band to grain-boundary-limited conduction in the conduction/valence band at temperature around 325 K. The conductivity has been found to vary with composition; it varied from 0.0027 to 0.0198 {omega}{sup -1} cm{sup -1} when x changed from 0 to 1. The activation energies of the films of different compositions determined at 225 and 400 K have been observed to lie in the range 0.0031-0.0098 and 0.0285-0.0750 eV, respectively. The Hall-effect studies carried out on the deposited films revealed that the nature of conductivity (p or n-type) was dependent on film composition; films with composition x=0 and 0.15 have been found to be p-type and the ones with composition x=0.4, 0.6, 0.7, 0.85 and 1 have been observed to exhibit n-type conductivity. The carrier concentration has been determined and is of the order of 10{sup 17} cm{sup -3}. The majority of carrier mobilities of the films have been observed to vary from 0.032 to 0.183 cm{sup 2} V{sup -1} s{sup -1} depending on film composition. The study of the mobility of the charge carriers with temperature in the range of 300-450 K showed that the mobility increased with 3/2 power of temperature indicating that the type of scattering mechanism in the studied temperature range is the ionized impurity scattering mechanism. (author)

  17. Study of the Kinetics of an S[subscript N]1 Reaction by Conductivity Measurement

    Science.gov (United States)

    Marzluff, Elaine M.; Crawford, Mary A.; Reynolds, Helen

    2011-01-01

    Substitution reactions, a central part of organic chemistry, provide a model system in physical chemistry to study reaction rates and mechanisms. Here, the use of inexpensive and readily available commercial conductivity probes coupled with computer data acquisition for the study of the temperature and solvent dependence of the solvolysis of…

  18. Transport and dielectric studies on silver based molybdo-tungstate quaternary superionic conducting glasses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Prasad, P.S.S.; Radhakrishna, S.

    1988-01-01

    The molybdo-tungstate (MoO 3 -WO 3 ) combination of glass formers with silver oxide (Ag 2 O) as glass modifier and silver iodide (AgI) as ionic conductor were prepared to study the transport and dielectric properties of 60% AgI-40% (x Ag 2 O-y(WO 3 -MoO 3 )) for x/y=0.33 to 3.0 and establish the feasibility of using these glasses as electrolytes in the fabrication and characterisation of solid state batteries and potential memory devices. The details of the preparation of glasses and methods of measurement of their capacitance, dielectric loss factor and ac conductivity in the frequency range 100 Hz - 100 kHz from 30-120 C have been reported. The electronic contribution to the total conductivity, the ionic and electronic transport numbers were determined using Wagners dc polarisation technique. The observed high ionic and low electronic conductivities were attributed to the formation of ionic clusters in the glass and the effect of mixing two glass formers. The observed total ionic conductivity and its temperature dependence was explained using Arrhenius relation σ=σ 0 /T exp(-E/RT) and the measured dielectric constant and dielectric loss were explained on the basis of Jonschers theory. The frequency dependence of dielectric constant obeys the theory based on the polarisation of ions. 25 refs.; 8 figs

  19. Global surveillance of emerging diseases: the ProMED-mail perspective Vigilância global de doenças emergentes: a perspectiva da ProMED-mail

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    John P. Woodall

    2001-01-01

    Full Text Available The Internet is changing the way global disease surveillance is conducted. Countries and international organizations are increasingly placing their outbreak reports on the Internet, which speeds up distribution and therefore prevention and control. The World Health Organization (WHO has recognized the value of nongovernmental organizations and the media in reporting outbreaks, which it then attempts to verify through its country offices. However, WHO and other official sources are constrained in their reporting by the need for bureaucratic clearance. ProMED-mail has no such constraints, and posts outbreak reports 7 days a week. It is moderated by infectious disease specialists who add relevant comments. Thus, ProMED-mail complements official sources and provides early warning of outbreaks. Its network is more than 20,000 people in over 150 countries, who place their computers and time at the network's disposal and report on outbreaks of which they have knowledge. Regions and countries could benefit from adopting the ProMED-mail approach to complement their own disease surveillance systems.A Internet está mudando a condução da vigilância global de doenças. Cada vez mais, os países e as organizações internacionais estão divulgando seus informes na Internet, o que acelera não apenas a distribuição desta informação, como também, consequentemente, a prevenção e controle das doenças. A Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS já reconheceu a importância das ONGs e da imprensa na notificação de surtos, que procura verificar posteriormente através de suas agências locais. Entretanto, a OMS e outras fontes oficiais sofrem restrições em seus relatórios pela obrigatoriedade da autorização burocrática, além de só publicarem informes nos dias úteis. A ProMED-mail não está sujeita a tais restrições. A rede é moderada por especialistas em doenças infecciosas, que acrescentam comentários relevantes. Assim, a Pro

  20. Febre amarela ll - Estudo histopatológico do fígado

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Leon Cardeman

    1976-04-01

    Full Text Available Ao curso de um surto epizoótico de febre amarela acontecido no ano de 1973 nas regiões norte e centro-oeste do Brasil, foram feitos exames histopatológicos de material de fígado de casos suspeitos, retirados por viscerotomia e necropsias. Foram diagnosticados 57 casos positivos. Os exames histopatológicos demonstraram que não existe diferença da doença entre os casos da África e da América do Sul. O diagnóstico histopatológico continua baseado no fígado, na lesão de Councilman, na hiperplasia e hipertrofia das células de Kupfer, nas inclusões nucleares de Magarino Torres, no sinal de Eudoro Villela nos casos de longa duração. Não houve diferença histológica entre os casos descritos nas epidemias de F.A. urbana e os surtos epidêmicos e enzoóticos de F.A. silvestre nos últimos 43 anos.

  1. Studies on Enhancing Transverse Thermal Conductivity Carbon/Carbon Composites

    National Research Council Canada - National Science Library

    Manocha, Lalit M; Manocha, Satish M; Roy, Ajit

    2007-01-01

    The structure derived potential properties of Graphite such as high stiffness coupled with high thermal conductivity and low coefficient of thermal expansion have been better achieved in Carbon fibers...

  2. [Conduct disorders in seven-year-old children--results of ELSPAC study. 2. Risk factors].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kukla, L; Hrubá, D; Tyrlík, M; Matejová, H

    2008-01-01

    Conduct disorders related to hyperactivity and significant attention deficit are caused by several types of risk factors-genetic, biological, environmental and psychosocial. A cohort of children was followed longitudinally in a prospective study during the pregnancy and childhood (ELSPAC). In the age of 7 years, marked behavioural divergences were described in 4,4% of children by their attending physicians. These children were also more often afflicted by other pathological symptoms (hyperactivity, sleep and psychomotor disorders). From the data collected from parents and physicians in the previous phases of investigation we selected possible risk factors which affect the prenatal and postnatal periods: prenatal exposure of children to smoking, alcohol, chemical substances, prenatal development complications, the level of education of parents, family dysfunction, alcoholism of both parents, conflicts with the police, mother's disturbed mental health. In the sample of 3752 children from the city of Brno, no behavioural divergence was found in 96.5% of cases. The presence of one or two of the four observed divergences occurred in 3.2% and 3 to 4 conduct disorder symptoms occurred in 0.3% children, significantly more often in boys. The children with conduct disorders compared to the children with no symptoms had significantly lower average birthweight, lower head circumference, their mothers had more often lower education, smoked and had psychological problems in childhood and as adults and the fathers had more often conflicts with the law. The ELSPAC study did not have the methodological possibility of studying the genetic-environmental interactions; nevertheless it contributes to the evidence supporting that some factors can negatively effect the foetal development and the unfavourable family environment can participate in the development of conduct disorders which can progress during lifetime.

  3. [Nationwide Survey on Informed Consent and Ethical Review at Hospitals Conducting Post-marketing Studies Sponsored by Pharmaceutical Companies].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urushihara, Hisashi; Murakami, Yuka; Matsui, Kenji; Tashiro, Shimon

    2018-01-01

     Under the Japanese drug regulatory system, post-marketing studies (PMS) must be in compliance with Good Post-marketing Study Practice (GPSP). The GPSP Ordinance lacks standards for the ethical conduct of PMSs; although only post-marketing clinical trials are subject to Good Clinical Practice. We conducted a web-based questionnaire survey on the ethical conduct of PMSs in collaboration with the Japanese Society of Hospital Pharmacists and pharmacists belonging to the Society. 1819 hospitals around Japan answered the questionnaire, of which 503 hospitals had conducted company-sponsored PMSs in 2015. 40.2% of the hospitals had obtained informed consent from participating patients in at least one PMS conducted in 2015, the majority of which was in written form. The first and second most frequent reasons for seeking informed consent in PMSs were to meet protocol requirements, followed by the requirement to meet institutional standard operational procedures and the request of the ethical review board of the hospital. Ethical review of PMSs was conducted in 251 hospitals. Despite a lack of standards for informed consent and ethical review in PMSs, a considerable number of study sites employed informed consent and ethical review for PMSs. While company policies and protocols are likely to be major determinants of the ethical conduct of PMSs, the governmental regulatory agency should also play a significant role in implementing a standardized ethical code for the conduct of PMSs.

  4. A study on the effective hydraulic conductivity of an anisotropic porous medium

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Seong, Kwan Jae

    2002-01-01

    Effective hydraulic conductivity of a statistically anisotropic heterogeneous medium is obtained for steady two-dimensional flows employing stochastic analysis. Flow equations are solved up to second order and the effective conductivity is obtained in a semi-analytic form depending only on the spatial correlation function and the anisotropy ratio of the hydraulic conductivity field, hence becoming a true intrinsic property independent of the flow field. Results are obtained using a statistically anisotropic Gaussian correlation function where the anisotropic is defined as the ratio of integral scales normal and parallel to the mean flow direction. Second order results indicate that the effective conductivity of an anisotropic medium is greater than that of an isotropic one when the anisotropy ratio is less than one and vice versa. It is also found that the effective conductivity has upper and lower bounds of the arithmetic and the harmonic mean conductivities

  5. Conduction mechanism studies on electron transfer of disordered system

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    徐慧; 宋祎璞; 李新梅

    2002-01-01

    Using the negative eigenvalue theory and the infinite order perturbation theory, a new method was developed to solve the eigenvectors of disordered systems. The result shows that eigenvectors change from the extended state to the localized state with the increase of the site points and the disordered degree of the system. When electric field is exerted, the electrons transfer from one localized state to another one. The conductivity is induced by the electron transfer. The authors derive the formula of electron conductivity and find the electron hops between localized states whose energies are close to each other, whereas localized positions differ from each other greatly. At low temperature the disordered system has the character of the negative differential dependence of resistivity and temperature.

  6. Experimental study of electric conductivity, density and viscosity of Wood's alloy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kazandzhan, B.I.; Matveev, V.M.; Savich, T.B.; Umarov, A.M.

    1989-01-01

    Electric conductivity, density and kinematic viscosity of commercially pure Wood's alloy are obtained in a wide temperature range. Electric conductivity and density are investigated from the room temperature to 1000 K. Measurements of kinematic viscosity are carried out from 372 to 1000 K by means of torsional vibrations method using informatiom computer system permitting to automate data acquisition and processing and to increase the measurement accuracy. On the basis of analysis the character of electric conductivity and kinematic viscosity polyterms Wood's alloy liquidus and solidus temperatures are estimated

  7. Identifying the barriers to conducting outcomes research in integrative health care clinic settings - a qualitative study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Findlay-Reece Barbara

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Integrative health care (IHC is an interdisciplinary blending of conventional medicine and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM with the purpose of enhancing patients' health. In 2006, we designed a study to assess outcomes that are relevant to people using such care. However, we faced major challenges in conducting this study and hypothesized that this might be due to the lack of a research climate in these clinics. To investigate these challenges, we initiated a further study in 2008, to explore the reasons why IHC clinics are not conducting outcomes research and to identify strategies for conducting successful in-house outcomes research programs. The results of the latter study are reported here. Methods A total of 25 qualitative interviews were conducted with key participants from 19 IHC clinics across Canada. Basic content analysis was used to identify key themes from the transcribed interviews. Results Barriers identified by participants fell into four categories: organizational culture, organizational resources, organizational environment and logistical challenges. Cultural challenges relate to the philosophy of IHC, organizational leadership and practitioner attitudes and beliefs. Participants also identified significant issues relating to their organization's lack of resources such as funding, compensation, infrastructure and partnerships/linkages. Environmental challenges such as the nature of a clinic's patient population and logistical issues such as the actual implementation of a research program and the applicability of research data also posed challenges to the conduct of research. Embedded research leadership, integration of personal and professional values about research, alignment of research activities and clinical workflow processes are some of the factors identified by participants that support IHC clinics' ability to conduct outcomes research. Conclusions Assessing and enhancing the broader

  8. Practical Issues of Conducting a Q Methodology Study: Lessons Learned From a Cross-cultural Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stone, Teresa Elizabeth; Maguire, Jane; Kang, Sook Jung; Cha, Chiyoung

    This article advances nursing research by presenting the methodological challenges experienced in conducting a multination Q-methodology study. This article critically analyzes the relevance of the methodology for cross-cultural and nursing research and the challenges that led to specific responses by the investigators. The use of focus groups with key stakeholders supplemented the Q-analysis results. The authors discuss practical issues and shared innovative approaches and provide best-practice suggestions on the use of this flexible methodology. Q methodology has the versatility to explore complexities of contemporary nursing practice and cross-cultural health research.

  9. Getting started in research: designing and preparing to conduct a research study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Macfarlane, Matthew D; Kisely, Steve; Loi, Samantha; Macfarlane, Stephen; Merry, Sally; Parker, Stephen; Power, Brian; Siskind, Dan; Smith, Geoff; Looi, Jeffrey C

    2015-02-01

    To discuss common pitfalls and useful tips in designing a quantitative research study, the importance and process of ethical approval, and consideration of funding. Through careful planning, based on formulation of a research question, early career researchers can design and conduct quantitative research projects within the framework of the Scholarly Project or in their own independent projects. © The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Psychiatrists 2014.

  10. 77 FR 60441 - Pediatric Studies of Sodium Nitroprusside Conducted in Accordance With Section 409I of the Public...

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-10-03

    ...] Pediatric Studies of Sodium Nitroprusside Conducted in Accordance With Section 409I of the Public Health Service Act; Establishment of Public Docket AGENCY: Food and Drug Administration, HHS. ACTION: Notice... available to the public a report of the pediatric studies of sodium nitroprusside that were conducted in...

  11. Impedance study of tea with added taste compounds using conducting polymer and metal electrodes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhiman, Mopsy; Kapur, Pawan; Ganguli, Abhijit; Singla, Madan Lal

    2012-09-01

    In this study the sensing capabilities of a combination of metals and conducting polymer sensing/working electrodes for tea liquor prepared by addition of different compounds using an impedance mode in frequency range 1 Hz-100 KHz at 0.1 V potential has been carried out. Classification of six different tea liquor samples made by dissolving various compounds (black tea liquor + raw milk from milkman), (black tea liquor + sweetened clove syrup), (black tea liquor + sweetened ginger syrup), (black tea liquor + sweetened cardamom syrup), (black tea liquor + sweet chocolate syrup) and (black tea liquor + vanilla flavoured milk without sugar) using six different working electrodes in a multi electrode setup has been studied using impedance and further its PCA has been carried out. Working electrodes of Platinum (Pt), Gold (Au), Silver (Ag), Glassy Carbon (GC) and conducting polymer electrodes of Polyaniline (PANI) and Polypyrrole (PPY) grown on an ITO surface potentiostatically have been deployed in a three electrode set up. The impedance response of these tea liquor samples using number of working electrodes shows a decrease in the real and imaginary impedance values presented on nyquist plots depending upon the nature of the electrode and amount of dissolved salts present in compounds added to tea liquor/solution. The different sensing surfaces allowed a high cross-selectivity in response to the same analyte. From Principal Component Analysis (PCA) plots it was possible to classify tea liquor in 3-4 classes using conducting polymer electrodes; however tea liquors were well separated from the PCA plots employing the impedance data of both conducting polymer and metal electrodes.

  12. Participants' Reactions to and Suggestions for Conducting Intimate Partner Violence Research: A Study of Rural Young Adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Edwards, Katie M; Greaney, Kayleigh; Palmer, Kelly M

    2016-01-01

    To document rural young adults' reasons for emotional reactions to participating in intimate partner violence (IPV) research as well as to hear young adults' perspectives on how to most effectively conduct comprehensive IPV research in their rural communities. The data presented in this paper draw from 2 studies (ie, an online survey study and an in-person or telephone interview study) that included the same 16 US rural counties in New England and Appalachia. Participants, 47% of whom were in both studies, were young (age range 18-24), white (92%-94%), heterosexual (89%-90%), female (62%-68%), and mostly low to middle income. Nine percent of participants reported they were upset by the questions due to personal experiences with IPV or for other reasons not related to personal IPV experiences. Forty percent of participants reported they personally benefited from participating in the study, and they provided various reasons for this benefit. Regarding suggestions for conducting IPV research with rural young adults, participants believed that both online recruitment and online data collection methods were the best ways to engage young adults, although many participants suggested that more than 1 modality was ideal, which underscores the need for multimethod approaches when conducting research with rural young adults. These findings are reassuring to those committed to conducting research on sensitive topics with rural populations and also shed light on best practices for conducting this type of research from the voices of rural young adults themselves. © 2015 National Rural Health Association.

  13. Structural, dielectric and a.c. conductivity study of Sb2O3 thin film ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    X-ray diffraction; a.c. conductivity; dielectric properties; complex electric modulus. ... the study disordered systems because of the unusual temper- ..... energy. tunnelling model suggested by Wang et al [31], (s) should decrease with increase in ...

  14. Studies of protonic self-diffusion and conductivity in 12-tungstophophoric acid hydrates by pulsed field gradient 1H NMR and ac Conductivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Slade, R.C.; Pressman, H.A.; Barker, J.; Strange, J.H.

    1988-01-01

    Temperature dependent protonic conductivities σ and 1/H self-diffusion coefficients, D, are reported for polycrystalline hydrates of 12-tungstophosphoric acid (TPA). Conductivities were measured using ac admittane spectrometry and diffusion coefficients by the pulsed field gradient NMR technique. Conductivities for the hydrates TPA.nH 2 O (n=6, 14, 21) increase with n. Examination of σ and D values and of activation techniques shows self-diffusion and conduction to occur by different mechanisms in the higher hydrates. 25 refs.; 14 figs.; 1 table

  15. Structural study of TiO2-based transparent conducting films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hitosugi, T.; Yamada, N.; Nakao, S.; Hatabayashi, K.; Shimada, T.; Hasegawa, T.

    2008-01-01

    We have investigated microscopic structures of sputter and pulsed laser deposited (PLD) anatase Nb-doped TiO 2 transparent conducting films, and discuss what causes the degradation of resistivity in sputter-deposited films. Cross-sectional transmission electron microscope and polarized optical microscope images show inhomogeneous intragrain structures and small grains of ∼10 μm in sputter-deposited films. From comparison with PLD films, these results suggest that homogeneous film growth is the important factor to obtain highly conducting sputter-deposited film

  16. Structure, ionic Conductivity and mobile Carrier Density in Fast Ionic Conducting Chalcogenide Glasses

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wenlong Yao

    2006-01-01

    This thesis consists of six sections. The first section gives the basic research background on the ionic conduction mechanism in glass, polarization in the glass, and the method of determining the mobile carrier density in glass. The proposed work is also included in this section. The second section is a paper that characterizes the structure of MI + M 2 S + (0.1 Ga 2 S 3 + 0.9 GeS 2 ) (M = Li, Na, K and Cs) glasses using Raman and IR spectroscopy. Since the ionic radius plays an important role in determining the ionic conductivity in glasses, the glass forming range for the addition of different alkalis into the basic glass forming system 0.1 Ga 2 S 3 + 0.9 GeS 2 was studied. The study found that the change of the alkali radius for the same nominal composition causes significant structure change to the glasses. The third section is a paper that investigates the ionic conductivity of MI + M 2 S + (0.1Ga 2 S 3 + 0.9 GeS 2 ) (M = Li, Na, K and Cs) glasses system. Corresponding to the compositional changes in these fast ionic conducting glasses, the ionic conductivity shows changes due to the induced structural changes. The ionic radius effect on the ionic conductivity in these glasses was investigated. The fourth section is a paper that examines the mobile carrier density based upon the measurements of space charge polarization. For the first time, the charge carrier number density in fast ionic conducting chalcogenide glasses was determined. The experimental impedance data were fitted using equivalent circuits and the obtained parameters were used to determine the mobile carrier density. The influence of mobile carrier density and mobility on the ionic conductivity was separated. The fifth section is a paper that studies the structures of low-alkali-content Na 2 S + B 2 S 3 (x (le) 0.2) glasses by neutron and synchrotron x-ray diffraction. Similar results were obtained both in neutron and synchrotron x-ray diffraction experiments. The results provide direct

  17. Study on the Electric Conductivity of Ag-Doped DNA in Transverse Direction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ban Ge

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract In this article, we reported a novel experiment results on Ag-doped DNA conductor in transverse direction.I–Vcharacteristics were measured and the relative conductances were calculated for different silver ions concentrations. With the increase of the concentration of silver ions, the conductive ability of DNA risen rapidly, the relative conductance of DNA enhanced about three magnitudes and reached a stable value when Ag+concentration was up to 0.005 mM. In addition, Raman spectra were carried out to analyse and confirm conduction mechanism.

  18. Ionic conductivity studies of gel polyelectrolyte based on ionic liquid

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Cha, E.H. [The Faculty of Liberal Arts (Chemistry), Hoseo University, Asan Choongnam 336-795 (Korea); Lim, S.A. [Functional Proteomics Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Seoul 136-791 (Korea); Park, J.H. [Department of Herbal Medicine, Hoseo University, Asan Choongnam 336-795 (Korea); Kim, D.W. [Department of Chemical Technology, Han Bat National University, Daejon 305-719 (Korea); Macfarlane, D.R. [School of Chemistry, Monash University, Clayton, Vic. 3800 (Australia)

    2008-04-01

    Novel lithium polyelectrolyte-ionic liquids have been prepared and characterized of their properties. Poly(lithium 2-acrylamido-2-methyl propanesulfonate) (PAMPSLi) and its copolymer with N-vinyl formamide (VF) also has been prepared as a copolymer. 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tricyanomethanide (emImTCM) and N,N-dimethyl-N-propyl-N-butyl ammonium tricyanomethanide (N{sub 1134}TCM) which are chosen because of the same with the anion of ionic liquid were prepared. The ionic conductivity of copolymer system (PAMPSLi/PVF/emImTCM: 5.43 x 10{sup -3} S cm{sup -1} at 25 C) exhibits about over four times higher than that of homopolymer system (PAMPSLi/emImTCM: 1.28 x 10{sup -3} S cm{sup -1} at 25 C). Introduction of vinyl formamide into the copolymer type can increase the dissociation of the lithium cations from the polymer backbone. The ionic conductivity of copolymer with emImTCM (PAMPSLi/PVF/emImTCM) exhibits the higher conductivity than that of PAMPSLi/PVF/N{sub 1134}TCM (2.48 x 10{sup -3} S cm{sup -1}). Because of using the polymerizable anion it is seen to maintain high flexibility of imidazolium cation effectively to exhibit the higher conductivity. And also the viscosity of emImTCM (19.56 cP) is lower than that of N{sub 1134}TCM (28.61 cP). Low viscosity leads to a fast rate of diffusion of redox species. (author)

  19. Ab-initio study of hydrogen technology materials for hydrogen storage and proton conduction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Luduena, Guillermo Andres

    2011-07-01

    This dissertation deals with two specific aspects of a potential hydrogen-based energy economy, namely the problems of energy storage and energy conversion. In order to contribute to the solution of these problems, the structural and dynamical properties of two promising materials for hydrogen storage (lithium imide/amide) and proton conduction (poly[vinyl phosphonic acid]) are modeled on an atomistic scale by means of first principles molecular dynamics simulation methods. In the case of the hydrogen storage system lithium amide/imide (LiNH{sub 2}/Li{sub 2}NH), the focus was on the interplay of structural features and nuclear quantum effects. For these calculations, Path-Integral Molecular Dynamics (PIMD) simulations were used. The structures of these materials at room temperature were elucidated; in collaboration with an experimental group, a very good agreement between calculated and experimental solid-state {sup 1}H-NMR chemical shifts was observed. Specifically, the structure of Li{sub 2}NH features a disordered arrangement of the Li lattice, which was not reported in previous studies. In addition, a persistent precession of the NH bonds was observed in our simulations. We provide evidence that this precession is the consequence of a toroid-shaped effective potential, in which the protons in the material are immersed. This potential is essentially flat along the torus azimuthal angle, which might lead to important quantum delocalization effects of the protons over the torus. On the energy conversion side, the dynamics of protons in a proton conducting polymer (poly[vinyl phosphonic acid], PVPA) was studied by means of a steered ab-initio Molecular Dynamics approach applied on a simplified polymer model. The focus was put on understanding the microscopic proton transport mechanism in polymer membranes, and on characterizing the relevance of the local environment. This covers particularly the effect of water molecules, which participate in the hydrogen bonding

  20. Ion transport study in polymer-nanocomposite films by dielectric spectroscopy and conductivity scaling

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tripathi, Namrata, E-mail: ntripat@ilstu.edu [Department of Physics, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790 (United States); Thakur, Awalendra K. [Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Patna, Bihar 800013 (India); Shukla, Archana [Department of Metallurgical Engineering & Materials Science, Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay 721302 (India); Marx, David T. [Department of Physics, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790 (United States)

    2015-07-15

    The dielectric and conductivity response of polymer nanocomposite electrolytes (films of PMMA{sub 4}LiClO{sub 4} dispersed with nano-CeO{sub 2} powder) have been investigated. The dielectric behavior was analyzed via the dielectric permittivity (ε′) and dissipation factor (tan δ) of the samples. The analysis has shown the presence of space charge polarization at lower frequencies. The real part of ac conductivity spectra of materials obeys the Jonscher power law. Parameters such as dc conductivity, hopping rate, activation energies and the concentration of charge carriers were determined from conductivity data using the Almond West formalism. It is observed that the higher ionic conductivity at higher temperature is due to increased thermally-activated hopping rates accompanied by a significant increase in carrier concentration. The contribution of carrier concentration to the total conductivity is also confirmed from activation energy of migration conduction and from Summerfield scaling. The ac conductivity results are also well correlated with TEM results.

  1. Ion transport study in polymer-nanocomposite films by dielectric spectroscopy and conductivity scaling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tripathi, Namrata; Thakur, Awalendra K.; Shukla, Archana; Marx, David T.

    2015-07-01

    The dielectric and conductivity response of polymer nanocomposite electrolytes (films of PMMA4LiClO4 dispersed with nano-CeO2 powder) have been investigated. The dielectric behavior was analyzed via the dielectric permittivity (ε‧) and dissipation factor (tan δ) of the samples. The analysis has shown the presence of space charge polarization at lower frequencies. The real part of ac conductivity spectra of materials obeys the Jonscher power law. Parameters such as dc conductivity, hopping rate, activation energies and the concentration of charge carriers were determined from conductivity data using the Almond West formalism. It is observed that the higher ionic conductivity at higher temperature is due to increased thermally-activated hopping rates accompanied by a significant increase in carrier concentration. The contribution of carrier concentration to the total conductivity is also confirmed from activation energy of migration conduction and from Summerfield scaling. The ac conductivity results are also well correlated with TEM results.

  2. Measurement of thermal conductance

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kuchnir, M.

    1977-01-01

    The 6-m long, 45-kG, warm-iron superconducting magnets envisioned for the Energy Doubler stage of the Fermilab accelerator require stiff supports with minimized thermal conductances in order to keep the refrigeration power reasonable. The large number of supports involved in the system required a careful study of their heat conduction from the room temperature wall to the intercepting refrigeration at 20 0 K and to the liquid helium. For this purpose the thermal conductance of this support was measured by comparing it with the thermal conductance of a copper strap of known geometry. An association of steady-state thermal analysis and experimental thermal conductivity techniques forms the basis of this method. An important advantage is the automatic simulation of the 20 0 K refrigeration intercept by the copper strap, which simplifies the apparatus considerably. This relative resistance technique, which uses electrical analogy as a guideline, is applicable with no restrictions for materials with temperature-independent thermal conductivity. For other materials the results obtained are functions of the specific temperature interval involved in the measurements. A comprehensive review of the literature on thermal conductivity indicates that this approach has not been used before. A demonstration of its self-consistency is stressed here rather than results obtained for different supports

  3. Conductive polypropylene composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Koszkul, J.

    1997-01-01

    The results of studies on polypropylene composites with three sorts of Polish-made carbon blacks were presented. It was found that composite of 20% black content had properties of an electrically conducting material

  4. Effect of particle size ratio on the conducting percolation threshold of granular conductive-insulating composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    He Da; Ekere, N N

    2004-01-01

    In this paper, we apply Monte Carlo simulation to investigate the conductive percolation threshold of granular composite of conductive and insulating powders with amorphous structure. We focus on the effect of insulating to conductive particle size ratio λ = d i /d c on the conducting percolation threshold p c (the volume fraction of the conductive powder). Simulation results show that, for λ = 1, the percolation threshold p c lies between simple cubic and body centred cubic site percolation thresholds, and that as λ increases the percolation threshold decreases. We also use the structural information obtained by the simulation to study the nonlinear current-voltage characteristics of composite with solid volume fraction of conductive powder below p c in terms of electron tunnelling for nanoscale powders, dielectric breakdown for microscale or larger powders, and pressing induced conduction for non-rigid insulating powders

  5. The Association between Parent-Child Conflict and Adolescent Conduct Problems over Time: Results from a Longitudinal Adoption Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Klahr, Ashlea M.; McGue, Matt; Iacono, William G.; Burt, S. Alexandra

    2010-01-01

    A handful of prior adoption studies have confirmed that the cross-sectional relationship between child conduct problems and parent/child conflict is at least partially shared environmental in origin. However, as the direction of causation between parenting and delinquency remains unclear, this relationship could be better explained by the adolescent's propensity to elicit conflictive parenting, a phenomenon referred to as an evocative gene-environment correlation. The current study thus examined the prospective relationship between conduct problems and parent-child conflict in a sample of adoptive families. Participants included 672 adolescents in 405 adoptive families assessed at two time points roughly 4 years apart. Results indicated that parent-child conflict predicts the development of conduct problems, whereas conduct problems do not predict increases in parent-child conflict. Such findings suggest that evocative gene-environment correlations are highly unlikely as an explanation of prior shared environmental effects during adolescence. Moreover, because the adolescents in this study do not share genes with their adoptive parents, the association between conduct problems and parent-child conflict is indicative of shared environmental mediation in particular. Implications of our findings are discussed. PMID:21038930

  6. Conducting interactive experiments online.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arechar, Antonio A; Gächter, Simon; Molleman, Lucas

    2018-01-01

    Online labor markets provide new opportunities for behavioral research, but conducting economic experiments online raises important methodological challenges. This particularly holds for interactive designs. In this paper, we provide a methodological discussion of the similarities and differences between interactive experiments conducted in the laboratory and online. To this end, we conduct a repeated public goods experiment with and without punishment using samples from the laboratory and the online platform Amazon Mechanical Turk. We chose to replicate this experiment because it is long and logistically complex. It therefore provides a good case study for discussing the methodological and practical challenges of online interactive experimentation. We find that basic behavioral patterns of cooperation and punishment in the laboratory are replicable online. The most important challenge of online interactive experiments is participant dropout. We discuss measures for reducing dropout and show that, for our case study, dropouts are exogenous to the experiment. We conclude that data quality for interactive experiments via the Internet is adequate and reliable, making online interactive experimentation a potentially valuable complement to laboratory studies.

  7. Ionic conductivity in irradiated KCL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vignolo Rubio, J.

    1979-01-01

    The ionic conductivity of X and gamma irradiated KCl single crystals has been studied between room temperature and 600 deg C. The radiation induced damage resulting in a decrease of the conductivity heals by thermal annealing in two steps which are at about 350 and 550 deg C respectively. It has been found that the radiation induced colour centres are not involved in the observed decrease of the ionic conductivity. Howewer, it has been observed that the effects of quenching and plastic deformation on the conductivity of the samples are very similar to the effect induced by irradiation. It is suggested that small radiation induced dislocation loops might cause the ionic conductivity decrease observed in irradiated samples. (auth)

  8. Ionic conductivity in irradiated KCL

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vignolo Rubio, J.

    1979-01-01

    The ionic conductivity of X and gamma irradiated KCL single crystals has been studied between room temperature and 600 degree centigree. the radiation induced damage resulting in a decrease of the conductivity heals by thermal annealing in two steps which are at about 350 and 550 degree centigree respectively. It has been found that the radiation induced colour centres are not involved in the observed decrease of the ionic conductivity. However. It has been observed that the effects of quenching and plastic deformation on the conductivity of the samples are very similar to the effect induced by irradiation. It is suggested that, samples radiation induced dislocation loops might cause the ionic conductivity decrease observed in irradiated samples. (Author)

  9. Experimental and numerical study on thermal conductivity of partially saturated unconsolidated sands

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Youngmin; Keehm, Youngseuk; Kim, Seong-Kyun; Shin, Sang Ho

    2016-04-01

    A class of problems in heat flow applications requires an understanding of how water saturation affects thermal conductivity in the shallow subsurface. We conducted a series of experiments using a sand box to evaluate thermal conductivity (TC) of partially saturated unconsolidated sands under varying water saturation (Sw). We first saturated sands fully with water and varied water saturation by drainage through the bottom of the sand box. Five water-content sensors were integrated vertically into the sand box to monitor water saturation changes and a needle probe was embedded to measure thermal conductivity of partially saturated sands. The experimental result showed that thermal conductivity decreases from 2.5 W/mK for fully saturated sands to 0.7 W/mK when water saturation is 5%. We found that the decreasing trend is quite non-linear: highly sensitive at very high and low water saturations. However, the boundary effects on the top and the bottom of the sand box seemed to be responsible for this high nonlinearity. We also found that the determination of water saturation is quite important: the saturation by averaging values from all five sensors and that from the sensor at the center position, showed quite different trends in the TC-Sw domain. In parallel, we conducted a pore-scale numerical modeling, which consists of the steady-state two-phase Lattice-Boltzmann simulator and FEM thermal conduction simulator on digital pore geometry of sand aggregation. The simulation results showed a monotonous decreasing trend, and are reasonably well matched with experimental data when using average water saturations. We concluded that thermal conductivity would decrease smoothly as water saturation decreases if we can exclude boundary effects. However, in dynamic conditions, i.e. imbibition or drainage, the thermal conductivity might show hysteresis, which can be investigated with pore-scale numerical modeling with unsteady-state two-phase flow simulators in our future work.

  10. A study on conductivity, density, and viscosity of molten salt systems

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cho, Kangjo

    1976-01-01

    A relation between the equivalent conductivity and density for molten salts is deduced with the aid of significant structures theory, and the solid state density at melting point is evaluated approximately for some rare-earth metal chlorides and the other chlorides. Furthermore, the relation among the equivalent conductivity, density, and viscosity for some molten salts is discussed. (auth.)

  11. A study on effective thermal conductivity of crystalline layers in layer melt crystallization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Kwang-Joo; Ulrich, Joachim

    2002-01-01

    An effective thermal conductivity in layer melt crystallization was explored based on a model considering inclusions inside a crystalline layer during crystal growth, molecular diffusion of inclusions migration due to temperature gradient and heat generation due to recrystallization of inclusions in the crystalline layer. The effective thermal conductivity increases with time, in general, as a result of compactness of the layer. Lower cooling temperature, i.e. greater supercooling, results in a more porous layer with lower effective thermal conductivity. A similar result is seen for the parameter of melt temperature, but less pronounced. A high concentration of the melt results in a high effective thermal conductivity while low concentration yields low effective thermal conductivity. At higher impurity levels in the melt phase, constitutional supercooling becomes more pronounced and unstable growth morphologies occur more easily. Cooling rate and Reynolds number also affect the effective thermal conductivity. The predictions of an effective thermal conductivity agree with the experimental data. The model was applied to estimate the thermal conductivities of the crystalline layer during layer melt crystallization. (author)

  12. Structure, ionic conductivity and mobile carrier density in fast ionic conducting chalcogenide glasses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yao, Wenlong [Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA (United States)

    2006-01-01

    This thesis consists of six sections. The first section gives the basic research background on the ionic conduction mechanism in glass, polarization in the glass, and the method of determining the mobile carrier density in glass. The proposed work is also included in this section. The second section is a paper that characterizes the structure of MI + M2S + (0.1 Ga2S3 + 0.9 GeS2) (M = Li, Na, K and Cs) glasses using Raman and IR spectroscopy. Since the ionic radius plays an important role in determining the ionic conductivity in glasses, the glass forming range for the addition of different alkalis into the basic glass forming system 0.1 Ga2S3 + 0.9 GeS2 was studied. The study found that the change of the alkali radius for the same nominal composition causes significant structure change to the glasses. The third section is a paper that investigates the ionic conductivity of MI + M2S + (0.1Ga2S3 + 0.9 GeS2) (M = Li, Na, K and Cs) glasses system. Corresponding to the compositional changes in these fast ionic conducting glasses, the ionic conductivity shows changes due to the induced structural changes. The ionic radius effect on the ionic conductivity in these glasses was investigated. The fourth section is a paper that examines the mobile carrier density based upon the measurements of space charge polarization. For the first time, the charge carrier number density in fast ionic conducting chalcogenide glasses was determined. The experimental impedance data were fitted using equivalent circuits and the obtained parameters were used to determine the mobile carrier density. The influence of mobile carrier density and mobility on the ionic conductivity was separated. The fifth section is a paper that studies the structures of low-alkali-content Na2S + B2S3 (x ≤ 0.2) glasses by neutron and synchrotron x-ray diffraction

  13. Using framework-based synthesis for conducting reviews of qualitative studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dixon-Woods, Mary

    2011-04-14

    Framework analysis is a technique used for data analysis in primary qualitative research. Recent years have seen its being adapted to conduct syntheses of qualitative studies. Framework-based synthesis shows considerable promise in addressing applied policy questions. An innovation in the approach, known as 'best fit' framework synthesis, has been published in BMC Medical Research Methodology this month. It involves reviewers in choosing a conceptual model likely to be suitable for the question of the review, and using it as the basis of their initial coding framework. This framework is then modified in response to the evidence reported in the studies in the reviews, so that the final product is a revised framework that may include both modified factors and new factors that were not anticipated in the original model. 'Best fit' framework-based synthesis may be especially suitable in addressing urgent policy questions where the need for a more fully developed synthesis is balanced by the need for a quick answer. Please see related article: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2288/11/29.

  14. Conductive properties of methanogenic biofilms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Cheng; Lesnik, Keaton Larson; Liu, Hong

    2018-02-01

    Extracellular electron transfer between syntrophic partners needs to be efficiently maintained in methanogenic environments. Direct extracellular electron transfer via electrical current is an alternative to indirect hydrogen transfer but requires construction of conductive extracellular structures. Conductive mechanisms and relationship between conductivity and the community composition in mixed-species methanogenic biofilms are not well understood. The present study investigated conductive behaviors of methanogenic biofilms and examined the correlation between biofilm conductivity and community composition between different anaerobic biofilms enriched from the same inoculum. Highest conductivity observed in methanogenic biofilms was 71.8±4.0μS/cm. Peak-manner response of conductivity upon changes over a range of electrochemical potentials suggests that electron transfer in methanogenic biofilms occurs through redox driven super-exchange. The strong correlation observed between biofilm conductivity and Geobacter spp. in the metabolically diverse anaerobic communities suggests that the efficiency of DEET may provide pressure for microbial communities to select for species that can produce electrical conduits. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  15. Effects of nano-void density, size and spatial population on thermal conductivity: a case study of GaN crystal

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhou, X W; Jones, R E

    2012-01-01

    The thermal conductivity of a crystal is sensitive to the presence of surfaces and nanoscale defects. While this opens tremendous opportunities to tailor thermal conductivity, true ‘phonon engineering’ of nanocrystals for a specific electronic or thermoelectric application can only be achieved when the dependence of thermal conductivity on the defect density, size and spatial population is understood and quantified. Unfortunately, experimental studies of the effects of nanoscale defects are quite challenging. While molecular dynamics simulations are effective in calculating thermal conductivity, the defect density range that can be explored with feasible computing resources is unrealistically high. As a result, previous work has not generated a fully detailed understanding of the dependence of thermal conductivity on nanoscale defects. Using GaN as an example, we have combined a physically motivated analytical model and highly converged large-scale molecular dynamics simulations to study the effects of defects on thermal conductivity. An analytical expression for thermal conductivity as a function of void density, size, and population has been derived and corroborated with the model, simulations, and experiments. (paper)

  16. Conduct Disorder Symptoms and Subsequent Pregnancy, Child-Birth and Abortion: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study of Adolescents

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pedersen, Willy; Mastekaasa, Arne

    2011-01-01

    Research on teenage pregnancy and abortion has primarily focused on socio-economic disadvantage. However, a few studies suggest that risk of unwanted pregnancy is related to conduct disorder symptoms. We examined the relationship between level of conduct disorder symptoms at age 15 and subsequent pregnancy, child-birth and abortion. A…

  17. Leptomeningite e tumor da região optoquiasmática Meningitis and tumor of the opto-chiasmatic region. Report of two cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J. A. Gonçalves da Silva

    1967-03-01

    Full Text Available São registrados dois casos de tumores situados no assoalho da fossa craniana média (carcinoma sólido da hipófise e craniofaringeoma acompanhados de leptomeningite de etiologia não determinada. Especialmente no segundo caso esta se caracterizava pela ocorrência de repetidos surtos de exacerbação. Em ambos o diagnóstico inicial foi de leptomeningite, tendo sido o insucesso das medidas terapêuticas adotadas que levou a estudos radiológicos, na tentativa de evidenciar focos que pudessem estar mantendo a infecção. Em ambos os casos o exame radiológico forneceu dados que permitiram orientar o diagnóstico de tumor do assoalho da fossa craniana média. As condições clínicas, no entanto, impediram que fossem adotadas em tempo útil medidas terapêuticas que visassem diretamente o tumor, vindo os pacientes a falecer. A possibilidade da ocorrência de meningites em tumores dessa região é discutida, bem como a natureza séptica ou asséptica da reação inflamatória. Os casos apresentados permitem concluir que, em processos meningíticos de evolução longa, acompanhados de surtos de agudização, nos quais nem mesmo durante os surtos agudos é encontrado o agente etiológico no LCR, a possibilidade da ocorrência de tumores do assoalho da fossa média do crânio deve ser estudada. O estudo deve ser feito precocemente, para permitir a adoção de medidas terapêuticas adequadas, visando diretamente o tumor, em tempo hábil, na tentativa de evitar que os surtos meningíticos venham a comprometer a vida do paciente.A study was made of a patient with carcinoma of the hypophisis which invaded the sphenoid bone and made protrusion under the nasopharyngeal mucosa, and that of a patient with craniopharyngeoma. The patients had no symptoms proper to the tumors but presented several episodes of meningitis. The presence of the tumor, in both cases, was evidenced lately, when the failure of the antibiotic therapy became patent leading to the

  18. Theoretical and Experimental Studies of Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes for Improved Thermal Conductivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kerr, Alexander; Burt, Timothy; Mullen, Kieran; Glatzhofer, Daniel; Houck, Matthew; Huang, Paul

    The use of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) to improve the thermal conductivity of composite materials is thwarted by their large thermal boundary resistance. We study how to overcome this Kapitza resistance by functionalizing CNTs with mixed molecular chains. Certain configurations of chains improve the transmission of thermal vibrations through our systems by decreasing phonon mismatch between the CNTs and their surrounding matrix. Through the calculation of vibrational normal modes and Green's functions, we develop a variety of computational metrics to compare the thermal conductivity (κ) of our systems. We show how different configurations of attached chains affect the samples' κ values by varying chain identity, chain length, number of chains, and heat driver behavior. We vary the parameters to maximize κ. To validate and optimize these metrics, we perform molecular dynamics simulations for comparison. We also present experimental results of composites enhanced with CNTs and make comparisons to the theory. We observe that some composites are thermally improved with the inclusion of CNTs, while others are scarcely changed, in agreement with theoretical models. This work was supported by NSF Grant DMR-1310407.

  19. Clusters of Bell's palsy "Surtos" da paralisia de Bell

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thiago D. Gonçalves-Coêlho

    1997-01-01

    Full Text Available The idiopathic facial paralysis or Bell's palsy installs abruptly or within a few hours, without any apparent cause. It corresponds to approximately 75% of all peripheral facial palsies. Three theories try to explain its pathogenecity: vascular-ischemic, viral and auto-immune. We reviewed the records of the EMG Sector, Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual (São Paulo, Brazil, from 1985 to 1995 and found 239 cases of Bell's palsy. Data were analysed according to age, gender, seasonal distribution of cases. There was a predominance of cases in the 31 - 60 age bracket (40.59 %. The female gender was responsible to 70.71 % of cases. There was a predominance of cases in winter (31.38 % and autumn (30.13 %, which was statiscally significant. These findings let us to suppose that Bell's palsy predominates in females, in 41-60 years age bracket, and occurs predominantly in cold months. There are groups of clusters throughout temporal distribution of cases and cases are dependent on one each other or on factors affecting them all, which reinforces the infectious hypothesis (there is a rise in the incidence of viral upper respiratory tract infection during cold months.A paralisia facial idiopática ou paralisia de Bell se instala abruptamente ou em algumas horas, sem causa aparente. Corresponde a aproximadamente 75% de todos os casos de paralisia facial. Três teorias tentam explicar sua patogenia: vásculo-isquêmica, autoimune e viral. Nós revisamos os arquivos do Setor de Eletromiografia do Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual (São Paulo de 1985 a 1995, encontrando 239 casos de paralisia de Bell. Dados foram analisados quanto a idade, sexo, distribuição sazonal. Houve predominância dos casos na faixa etária de 31 a 60 anos (40,59 %. O sexo feminino foi responsável por 70,71 % dos casos. Houve predominância de casos no inverno (31,38 % e outono (30,13 %, estatisticamente sigmficante. Estes achados levam-nos a supor que a paralisia de Bell predomina nas mulheres, entre 41-60 anos, ocorre predominantemente nos meses frios. Há aglutinação de casos na distribuição temporal e dependência dos casos, entre si ou a fatores comuns, o que fala a favor da hipótese infecciosa (há aumento da incidência de infecções virais do trato respiratório superior durante os meses frios.

  20. Surto de sarampo na regiao metropolitana de Campinas, SP

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eder Gatti Fernandes

    2013-12-01

    Full Text Available O Brasil não apresenta circulação endêmica do vírus do sarampo desde o ano 2000. Entre maio e junho de 2011, a Região Metropolitana de Campinas, Estado de São Paulo, registrou três casos de sarampo. Foram descritos casos, as medidas de controle, a busca de possível fonte e de casos secundários. A caracterização genotípica do vírus identificou o genótipo D4, circulante no continente europeu. Não foram encontrados casos índice ou secundários. As medidas de controle efetuadas, aliadas à cobertura vacinal adequada da Região Metropolitana de Campinas contribuíram para que a transmissão da doença fosse interrompida.

  1. 21 CFR 320.25 - Guidelines for the conduct of an in vivo bioavailability study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-04-01

    ... conduct of an in vivo bioavailability study. (a) Guiding principles. (1) The basic principle in an in vivo... not been approved for marketing can be used to measure the following pharmacokinetic data: (i) The bioavailability of the formulation proposed for marketing; and (ii) The essential pharmacokinetic characteristics...

  2. Electrical conductivity studies on Ammonium bromide incorporated with Zwitterionic polymer blend electrolyte for battery application

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parameswaran, V.; Nallamuthu, N.; Devendran, P.; Nagarajan, E. R.; Manikandan, A.

    2017-06-01

    Solid polymer blend electrolytes are widely studied due to their extensive applications particularly in electrochemical devices. Blending polymer makes the thermal stability, higher mechanical strength and inorganic salt provide ionic charge carrier to enhance the conductivity. In these studies, 50% polyvinyl alcohol (PVA), 50% poly (N-vinyl pyrrolidone) (PVP) and 2.5% L-Asparagine mixed with different ratio of the Ammonium bromide (NH4Br), have been synthesized using solution casting technique. The prepared PVA/PVP/L-Asparagine/doped-NH4Br polymer blend electrolyte films have been characterized by various analytical methods such as FT-IR, XRD, impedance spectroscopy, TG-DSC and scanning electron microscopy. FT-IR, XRD and TG/DSC analysis revealed the structural and thermal behavior of the complex formation between PVA/PVP/L-Asparagine/doped-NH4Br. The ionic conductivity and the dielectric properties of PVA/PVP/L-Asparagine/doped-NH4Br polymer blend electrolyte films were examined using impedance analysis. The highest ionic conductivity was found to be 2.34×10-4 S cm-1 for the m.wt. composition of 50%PVA:50%PVP:2.5%L-Asparagine:doped 0.15 g NH4Br at ambient temperature. Solid state proton battery is fabricated and the observed open circuit voltage is 1.1 V and its performance has been studied.

  3. Impact of Site Selection and Study Conduct on Outcomes in Global Clinical Trials.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarwar, Chaudhry M S; Vaduganathan, Muthiah; Butler, Javed

    2017-08-01

    There are over 25 million patients living with heart failure globally. Overall, and especially post-discharge, clinical outcomes have remained poor in heart failure despite multiple trials, with both successes and failures over the last two decades. Matching therapies to the right patient population, identifying high-quality sites, and ensuring optimal trial design and execution represent important considerations in the development of novel therapeutics in this space. While clinical trials have undergone rapid globalization, this has come with regional variation in comorbidities, clinical parameters, and even clinical outcomes and treatment effects across international sites. These issues have now highlighted knowledge gaps about the conduct of trials, selection of study sites, and an unmet need to develop and identify "ideal" sites. There is a need for all stakeholders, including academia, investigators, healthcare organizations, patient advocacy groups, industry sponsors, research organizations, and regulatory authorities, to work as a multidisciplinary group to address these problems and develop practical solutions to improve trial conduct, efficiency, and execution. We review these trial-level issues using examples from contemporary studies to inform and optimize the design of future global clinical trials in heart failure.

  4. Suspension chemistry and electrophoretic deposition of zirconia electrolyte on conducting and non-conducting substrates

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Das, Debasish; Basu, Rajendra N.

    2013-01-01

    Graphical abstract: - Highlights: • Stable suspension of yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) obtained in isopropanol medium. • Suspension chemistry and process parameters for electrophoretic deposition optimized. • Deposited film quality changed with iodine and water (dispersants) concentration. • Dense YSZ film (∼5 μm) fabricated onto non-conducting porous NiO-YSZ anode substrate. - Abstract: Suspensions of 8 mol% yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) particulates in isopropanol medium are prepared using acetylacetone, iodine and water as dispersants. The effect of dispersants concentration on suspension stability, particle size distribution, electrical conductivity and pH of the suspensions are studied in detail to optimize the suspension chemistry. Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) has been conducted to produce thin and dense YSZ electrolyte films. Deposition kinetics have been studied in depth and good quality films on conducting substrate are obtained at an applied voltage of 15 V for 3 min. YSZ films are also fabricated on non-conducting NiO-YSZ anode substrate using a steel plate on the reverse side of the substrate. Upon co-firing at 1400 °C for 6 h a dense YSZ film of thickness ∼5 μm is obtained. Such a half cell (anode + electrolyte) can be used to fabricate a solid oxide fuel cell on applying a suitable cathode layer

  5. Influence of Polyethylene Glycol (PEG in CMC-NH4BR Based Polymer Electrolytes: Conductivity and Electrical Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nur Khalidah Zainuddin

    2017-04-01

    Full Text Available The present work was carried with new type and promising polymer electrolytes system by development of carboxylmethylcellulose (CMC doped NH4Br and plasticized with polyethylene glycol (PEG. The sample was successfullyprepared via solution casting with no separation phase and good mechanical properties. The electrical conductivity andthermal conductivity of CMC-NH4Br-PEG based PEs system have been measured by the electrical impedancespectroscopy method in the temperature range of 303–373 K. The highest ionic conductivity gained is 2.48 x 10-3 Scm-1at ambient temperature for sample contain with 8 wt. % PEG. It can be concluded that the plasticized is accountable forthe conductance and assist to enhancing the ionic conductivity of the CMC-NH4Br-PEG electrolyte system. The addition of PEG to the CMC-based electrolyte can enhance towards the cation mobility which is turn increases ionic conductivity. The conductivity-temperature of plasticized BdPEs system was found obeys the Arrhenius relation where the ionic conductivity increases with temperature and activation energy for the ions hopping of the highest conducting PEs system only required small value to migrate. The electrical studies show a non-Debye behaviour of BdPEs based on the analyzed data using complex permittivity, ε* and complex electrical modulus, M* of the sample at different temperature.

  6. Conductivity studies in SnO–NaPO 3 glasses

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    D.c. activation barriers seem to reflect the structural changes in system. A.c. conductivity analysis has revealed that while the power law exponent, , seem to bear correlation to the structural changes, the exponent of the stretched exponential function describing the dielectric relaxation is largely insensitive to the structure.

  7. Conductivity studies of lithium zinc silicate glasses with varying ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    WINTEC

    Values of activation energy derived from σd.c., ωh and τ are almost equal within the ... materials can be changed by varying the proportion of the .... The solid line is a guide to the eye. ... does not show a maximum as d.c. conductivity drops to a.

  8. The Comparative Study on Vapor-Polymerization and Pressure-dependent Conductance Behavior in Polypyrrole-hybridized Membranes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hanif, Zahid; Lee, Seyeong; Arsalani, Nasir; Geckeler, Kurt E.; Hong, Sukwon; Yoon, Myung-Han [Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology, Gwangju (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-02-15

    In this study, commercially available cellulose membranes were hybridized with conjugated polymer via vapor-phase polymerization using pyrrole and iron chloride as a monomer and oxidant, respectively. The iron (III) chloride layer dip-coated on the hydrophilic cell ulose surface oxidized the vaporized pyrrole monomer leading to the polypyrrole-cellulose hybrid membrane. The conductivity of hybrid membrane was optimized by varying the oxidant concentration and the monomer vapor exposure time. The various surface characterizations of polypyrrole-cellulose hybrid membrane show that the conductive polypyrrole layer was uniformly deposited onto the surface of cellulose fibrous networks unlike the polypyrrole-nylonhybrid membrane prepared in the similar way. The polypyrrole-incorporated cellulose networks exhibits steeper electrical conductance increase over the vertical pressure than its nylon counterpart. Our result suggests that the polypyrrole-cellulose hybrid membrane can be applicable for a disposable high-load pressure sensor.

  9. The Comparative Study on Vapor-Polymerization and Pressure-dependent Conductance Behavior in Polypyrrole-hybridized Membranes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanif, Zahid; Lee, Seyeong; Arsalani, Nasir; Geckeler, Kurt E.; Hong, Sukwon; Yoon, Myung-Han

    2016-01-01

    In this study, commercially available cellulose membranes were hybridized with conjugated polymer via vapor-phase polymerization using pyrrole and iron chloride as a monomer and oxidant, respectively. The iron (III) chloride layer dip-coated on the hydrophilic cell ulose surface oxidized the vaporized pyrrole monomer leading to the polypyrrole-cellulose hybrid membrane. The conductivity of hybrid membrane was optimized by varying the oxidant concentration and the monomer vapor exposure time. The various surface characterizations of polypyrrole-cellulose hybrid membrane show that the conductive polypyrrole layer was uniformly deposited onto the surface of cellulose fibrous networks unlike the polypyrrole-nylonhybrid membrane prepared in the similar way. The polypyrrole-incorporated cellulose networks exhibits steeper electrical conductance increase over the vertical pressure than its nylon counterpart. Our result suggests that the polypyrrole-cellulose hybrid membrane can be applicable for a disposable high-load pressure sensor.

  10. A preliminary study on the thermal conductivity and flammability of WPC based on some tropical woods

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chia, L.H.L.; Chua, P.H.; Lee, E.E.N.

    1985-01-01

    Selected local woods and their wood-polymer combinations or composites (WPC) were tested for their thermal conductivity and their fire resistance. WPC were prepared by polymerizing monomers 'in situ' in oven dried woods by gamma radiation. The monomers included acrylonitrile (AN), 60% styrene-40% acrylonitrile (STAN), methyl methacrylate (MMA), 95% methyl methacrylate-5% dioxane (MD), and vinylidene chloride (VDC). A reduction in thermal conductivity was exhibited by all the composites prepared. W-PAN showed the greatest reduction in thermal conductivity and W-PSTAN in general showed the least. An explanation is suggested for this behaviour. The polymers PMMA and PMD were found to enhance flammability of the woods while PVDC, PAN, and PSTAN imparted fire resistance to the woods. Of the six local woods studied, Ramin-and-Keruing-polymer composites showed the highest flammable tendencies obtained. The correlation of thermal conductivity to flammability is discussed. (author)

  11. Thermal-Conductivity Studies of Macro-porous Polymer-Derived SiOC Ceramics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Qiu, L.; Li, Y. M.; Zheng, X. H.; Zhu, J.; Tang, D. W.; Wu, J. Q.; Xu, C. H.

    2014-01-01

    A three-dimensional reticular macro-porous SiOC ceramics structure, made of spherical agglomerates, has been thermally characterized using a freestanding sensor-based method. The effective thermal conductivity of the macro-porous SiOC ceramics, including the effects of voids, is found to be to at room temperature, comparable with that of alumina aerogel or carbon aerogel. These results suggest that SiOC ceramics hold great promise as a thermal insulation material for use at high temperatures. The measured results further reveal that the effective thermal conductivity is limited by the low solid-phase volume fraction for the SiOC series processed at the same conditions. For SiOC ceramics processed under different pyrolysis temperatures, the contact condition between neighboring particles in the SiOC networks is another key factor influencing the effective thermal conductivity.

  12. Five hydrologic studies conducted by or in cooperation with the Center for Forested Wetlands Research

    Science.gov (United States)

    Devendra M. Amatya; Carl C. Trettin; R. Wayne Skaggs; T.J. Callahan; Ge Sun; J.E. Nettles; J.E. Parsons; M. Miwa

    2005-01-01

    The U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Center for Forested Wetlands Research has conducted or cooperated in studies designed to improve understanding of fundamental hydrologic and biogeochemical processes that link aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. Five of these studies are discussed here. The first is based on observations made on long-term experimental...

  13. Hydraulic conductivity study of compacted clay soils used as landfill liners for an acidic waste

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hamdi, Noureddine; Srasra, Ezzeddine

    2013-01-01

    Highlights: ► Examined the hydraulic conductivity evolution as function of dry density of Tunisian clay soil. ► Follow the hydraulic conductivity evolution at long-term of three clay materials using the waste solution (pH=2.7). ► Determined how compaction affects the hydraulic conductivity of clay soils. ► Analyzed the concentration of F and P and examined the retention of each soil. - Abstract: Three natural clayey soils from Tunisia were studied to assess their suitability for use as a liner for an acid waste disposal site. An investigation of the effect of the mineral composition and mechanical compaction on the hydraulic conductivity and fluoride and phosphate removal of three different soils is presented. The hydraulic conductivity of these three natural soils are 8.5 × 10 −10 , 2.08 × 10 −9 and 6.8 × 10 −10 m/s for soil-1, soil-2 and soil-3, respectively. Soil specimens were compacted under various compaction strains in order to obtain three wet densities (1850, 1950 and 2050 kg/m 3 ). In this condition, the hydraulic conductivity (k) was reduced with increasing density of sample for all soils. The test results of hydraulic conductivity at long-term (>200 days) using acidic waste solution (pH = 2.7, charged with fluoride and phosphate ions) shows a decrease in k with time only for natural soil-1 and soil-2. However, the specimens of soil-2 compressed to the two highest densities (1950 and 2050 kg/m 3 ) are cracked after 60 and 20 days, respectively, of hydraulic conductivity testing. This damage is the result of a continued increase in the internal stress due to the swelling and to the effect of aggressive wastewater. The analysis of anions shows that the retention of fluoride is higher compared to phosphate and soil-1 has the highest sorption capacity.

  14. Conductivity of two-component systems

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kuijper, A. de; Hofman, J.P.; Waal, J.A. de [Shell Research BV, Rijswijk (Netherlands). Koninklijke/Shell Exploratie en Productie Lab.; Sandor, R.K.J. [Shell International Petroleum Maatschappij, The Hague (Netherlands)

    1996-01-01

    The authors present measurements and computer simulation results on the electrical conductivity of nonconducting grains embedded in a conductive brine host. The shapes of the grains ranged from prolate-ellipsoidal (with an axis ratio of 5:1) through spherical to oblate-ellipsoidal (with an axis ratio of 1:5). The conductivity was studied as a function of porosity and packing, and Archie`s cementation exponent was found to depend on porosity. They used spatially regular and random configurations with aligned and nonaligned packings. The experimental results agree well with the computer simulation data. This data set will enable extensive tests of models for calculating the anisotropic conductivity of two-component systems.

  15. Community Violence Exposure and Conduct Problems in Children and Adolescents with Conduct Disorder and Healthy Controls.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kersten, Linda; Vriends, Noortje; Steppan, Martin; Raschle, Nora M; Praetzlich, Martin; Oldenhof, Helena; Vermeiren, Robert; Jansen, Lucres; Ackermann, Katharina; Bernhard, Anka; Martinelli, Anne; Gonzalez-Madruga, Karen; Puzzo, Ignazio; Wells, Amy; Rogers, Jack C; Clanton, Roberta; Baker, Rosalind H; Grisley, Liam; Baumann, Sarah; Gundlach, Malou; Kohls, Gregor; Gonzalez-Torres, Miguel A; Sesma-Pardo, Eva; Dochnal, Roberta; Lazaratou, Helen; Kalogerakis, Zacharias; Bigorra Gualba, Aitana; Smaragdi, Areti; Siklósi, Réka; Dikeos, Dimitris; Hervás, Amaia; Fernández-Rivas, Aranzazu; De Brito, Stephane A; Konrad, Kerstin; Herpertz-Dahlmann, Beate; Fairchild, Graeme; Freitag, Christine M; Popma, Arne; Kieser, Meinhard; Stadler, Christina

    2017-01-01

    Exposure to community violence through witnessing or being directly victimized has been associated with conduct problems in a range of studies. However, the relationship between community violence exposure (CVE) and conduct problems has never been studied separately in healthy individuals and individuals with conduct disorder (CD). Therefore, it is not clear whether the association between CVE and conduct problems is due to confounding factors, because those with high conduct problems also tend to live in more violent neighborhoods, i.e., an ecological fallacy. Hence, the aim of the present study was: (1) to investigate whether the association between recent CVE and current conduct problems holds true for healthy controls as well as adolescents with a diagnosis of CD; (2) to examine whether the association is stable in both groups when including effects of aggression subtypes (proactive/reactive aggression), age, gender, site and socioeconomic status (SES); and (3) to test whether proactive or reactive aggression mediate the link between CVE and conduct problems. Data from 1178 children and adolescents (62% female; 44% CD) aged between 9 years and 18 years from seven European countries were analyzed. Conduct problems were assessed using the Kiddie-Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia diagnostic interview. Information about CVE and aggression subtypes was obtained using self-report questionnaires (Social and Health Assessment and Reactive-Proactive aggression Questionnaire (RPQ), respectively). The association between witnessing community violence and conduct problems was significant in both groups (adolescents with CD and healthy controls). The association was also stable after examining the mediating effects of aggression subtypes while including moderating effects of age, gender and SES and controlling for effects of site in both groups. There were no clear differences between the groups in the strength of the association between witnessing violence

  16. Community Violence Exposure and Conduct Problems in Children and Adolescents with Conduct Disorder and Healthy Controls

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linda Kersten

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Exposure to community violence through witnessing or being directly victimized has been associated with conduct problems in a range of studies. However, the relationship between community violence exposure (CVE and conduct problems has never been studied separately in healthy individuals and individuals with conduct disorder (CD. Therefore, it is not clear whether the association between CVE and conduct problems is due to confounding factors, because those with high conduct problems also tend to live in more violent neighborhoods, i.e., an ecological fallacy. Hence, the aim of the present study was: (1 to investigate whether the association between recent CVE and current conduct problems holds true for healthy controls as well as adolescents with a diagnosis of CD; (2 to examine whether the association is stable in both groups when including effects of aggression subtypes (proactive/reactive aggression, age, gender, site and socioeconomic status (SES; and (3 to test whether proactive or reactive aggression mediate the link between CVE and conduct problems. Data from 1178 children and adolescents (62% female; 44% CD aged between 9 years and 18 years from seven European countries were analyzed. Conduct problems were assessed using the Kiddie-Schedule of Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia diagnostic interview. Information about CVE and aggression subtypes was obtained using self-report questionnaires (Social and Health Assessment and Reactive-Proactive aggression Questionnaire (RPQ, respectively. The association between witnessing community violence and conduct problems was significant in both groups (adolescents with CD and healthy controls. The association was also stable after examining the mediating effects of aggression subtypes while including moderating effects of age, gender and SES and controlling for effects of site in both groups. There were no clear differences between the groups in the strength of the association between witnessing

  17. Study of conduction mechanisms and relaxation processes in NiCl2-PVA composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Basha, A.F.; Amin, M.; Abdel Samad, H.A.

    1985-07-01

    Electric conduction measurements were made at different temperatures and fields on thin films NiCl 2 -PVA composites prepared by casting. The conduction is assumed to be generally ionic in nature and polarization contribution is suggested to operate mainly at higher temperatures. Space-charge limited conduction and relaxation phenomena have been observed. The obtained results made it possible to determine a complete set of conduction parameters including carrier mobility, carrier concentration, traps density, Fermi energy, activation energy, etc. (author)

  18. The effect of radiation induced electrical conductivity (RIC) on the thermal conductivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    White, D.P.

    1993-01-01

    Microwave heating of plasmas in fusion reactors requires the development of microwave windows through which the microwaves can pass without great losses. The degradation of the thermal conductivity of alumina in a radiation environment is an important consideration in reliability studies of these microwave windows. Several recent papers have addressed this question at higher temperatures and at low temperatures. The current paper extends the low temperature calculations to determine the effect of phonon-electron scattering on the thermal conductivity at 77 K due to RIC. These low temperature calculations are of interest because the successful application of high power (>1 MW) windows for electron cyclotron heating systems in fusion reactors will most likely require cryogenic cooling to take advantage of the low loss tangent and higher thermal conductivity of candidate window materials at these temperatures

  19. Computational analysis of electrical conduction in hybrid nanomaterials with embedded non-penetrating conductive particles

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cai, Jizhe; Naraghi, Mohammad

    2016-08-01

    In this work, a comprehensive multi-resolution two-dimensional (2D) resistor network model is proposed to analyze the electrical conductivity of hybrid nanomaterials made of insulating matrix with conductive particles such as CNT reinforced nanocomposites and thick film resistors. Unlike existing approaches, our model takes into account the impenetrability of the particles and their random placement within the matrix. Moreover, our model presents a detailed description of intra-particle conductivity via finite element analysis, which to the authors’ best knowledge has not been addressed before. The inter-particle conductivity is assumed to be primarily due to electron tunneling. The model is then used to predict the electrical conductivity of electrospun carbon nanofibers as a function of microstructural parameters such as turbostratic domain alignment and aspect ratio. To simulate the microstructure of single CNF, randomly positioned nucleation sites were seeded and grown as turbostratic particles with anisotropic growth rates. Particle growth was in steps and growth of each particle in each direction was stopped upon contact with other particles. The study points to the significant contribution of both intra-particle and inter-particle conductivity to the overall conductivity of hybrid composites. Influence of particle alignment and anisotropic growth rate ratio on electrical conductivity is also discussed. The results show that partial alignment in contrast to complete alignment can result in maximum electrical conductivity of whole CNF. High degrees of alignment can adversely affect conductivity by lowering the probability of the formation of a conductive path. The results demonstrate approaches to enhance electrical conductivity of hybrid materials through controlling their microstructure which is applicable not only to carbon nanofibers, but also many other types of hybrid composites such as thick film resistors.

  20. Tuning the thermal conductivity of silicon carbide by twin boundary: a molecular dynamics study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Liu, Qunfeng; Wang, Liang; Shen, Shengping; Luo, Hao

    2017-01-01

    Silicon carbide (SiC) is a semiconductor with excellent mechanical and physical properties. We study the thermal transport in SiC by using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. The work is focused on the effects of twin boundaries and temperature on the thermal conductivity of 3C-SiC. We find that compared to perfect SiC, twinned SiC has a markedly reduced thermal conductivity when the twin boundary spacing is less than 100 nm. The Si–Si twin boundary is more effective to phonon scattering than the C–C twin boundary. We also find that the phonon scattering effect of twin boundary decreases with increasing temperature. Our findings provide insights into the thermal management of SiC-based electronic devices and thermoelectric applications. (paper)

  1. Factors influencing childhood conduct disorders: Study of 43 cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jalili B

    2000-08-01

    Full Text Available Conduct disorders are a group of behavior disorders in which the basic rights of others or major age appropriate social norms or rules are violated. To evaluate the factors influencing childhood conduct disorders, we reviewed records of 43 cases (84% boys, mean age 11 years referred to Shahid Esmaili psychiatric hospital, Tehran. All patients fulfilled diagnostic criteria of DSMIV. 15 variables were included; Age and sex and step of patient among sibling, parental educational level, social class of the family, medical and psychiatric history of entire family members and the kind of therapy. The most frequent complaints were aggressiveness, stealing and lying. The dominant age group was 10-14 years. The most frequent family members were 5. Most of the children were 2nd child of the family. The most often educational level of the parents were illiteracy followed by primary school educated. Most of the patients were of low to intermediate socioeconomic classes. The most effective therapy was behavior modification along with appropriate medications.

  2. Studying the Transient Thermal Contact Conductance Between the Exhaust Valve and Its Seat Using the Inverse Method

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nezhad, Mohsen Motahari; Shojaeefard, Mohammad Hassan; Shahraki, Saeid

    2016-02-01

    In this study, the experiments aimed at analyzing thermally the exhaust valve in an air-cooled internal combustion engine and estimating the thermal contact conductance in fixed and periodic contacts. Due to the nature of internal combustion engines, the duration of contact between the valve and its seat is too short, and much time is needed to reach the quasi-steady state in the periodic contact between the exhaust valve and its seat. Using the methods of linear extrapolation and the inverse solution, the surface contact temperatures and the fixed and periodic thermal contact conductance were calculated. The results of linear extrapolation and inverse methods have similar trends, and based on the error analysis, they are accurate enough to estimate the thermal contact conductance. Moreover, due to the error analysis, a linear extrapolation method using inverse ratio is preferred. The effects of pressure, contact frequency, heat flux, and cooling air speed on thermal contact conductance have been investigated. The results show that by increasing the contact pressure the thermal contact conductance increases substantially. In addition, by increasing the engine speed the thermal contact conductance decreases. On the other hand, by boosting the air speed the thermal contact conductance increases, and by raising the heat flux the thermal contact conductance reduces. The average calculated error equals to 12.9 %.

  3. Studies on possibilities of polymer composites with conductive nanomaterials application in wearable electronics

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gralczyk, Kinga; Janczak, D.; Dybowska-Sarapuk, Ł.; Lepak, S.; Wróblewski, G.; Jakubowska, M.

    2017-08-01

    In the last few years there has been a growing interest in wearable electronic products, which are generating considerable interest especially in sport and medical industries. But rigid electronics is not comfortable to wear, so things like stretchable substrates, interconnects and electronic devices might help. Flexible electronics could adjust to the curves of a human body and allow the users to move freely. The objective of this paper is to study possibilities of polymer composites with conductive nanomaterials application in wearable electronics. Pastes with graphene, silver nanoplates and carbon nanotubes were manufactured and then interconnects were screen-printed on the surfaces of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) and fabric. Afterwards, the resistance and mechanical properties of samples were examined, also after washing them in a washing machine. It has been found that the best material for the conductive phase is silver. Traces printed directly on the fabric using conductive composites with one functional phase (silver nanoplates or graphene or carbon nanotubes) are too fragile to use them as a common solution in wearable electronics. Mechanical properties can be improved not only by adding carbon nanotubes or graphene to the silver paste, but also by printing additional layer of graphene paste or carbon nanotube paste onto silver layer. In fact, these solutions are not sufficient enough to solve a problem of using these composites in wearable electronics.

  4. Conducting Polymers

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    would exhibit electronic conductivity, their conductivities (of compressed pellets) were indeed measured by others, and were found to be .... Polyaniline. Polyphenylene. Polypheny lene- vinylene. Table 1. G!NeRAl I ARTICl! structure. Maximum conductivity Stem Stability. Processability. ~. 1.5 x 105. Reacts with Film not n air.

  5. Thermal conductivity of different colored compomers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guler, Cigdem; Keles, Ali; Guler, Mehmet S; Karagoz, Sendogan; Cora, Ömer N; Keskin, Gul

    2017-11-10

    Compomers are mostly used in primary dentition. The thermal conductivity properties of traditional or colored compomers have not been investigated in detail so far. The aim of this in vitro study was to assess and compare the thermal conductivities of traditional and colored compomers. Two sets of compomers - namely, Twinky Star (available in berry, lemon, green, silver, blue, pink, gold and orange shades) and Dyract Extra (available in B1, A3 and A2 shades) - were included in this study. All of the traditional and colored compomers were applied to standard molds and polymerized according to the manufacturers' instructions. Three samples were prepared from each compomer. Measurements were conducted using a heat conduction test setup, and the coefficient of heat conductivity was calculated for each material. The heat conductivity coefficients were statistically analyzed using Kruskal-Wallis and Duncan tests. Uncertainty analysis was also performed on the calculated coefficients of heat conductivity. Statistically significant differences were found (p<0.05) between the thermal conductivity properties of the traditional and colored compomers examined. Among all of the tested compomers, the silver shade compomer exhibited the highest coefficient of heat conductivity (p<0.05), while the berry shade exhibited the lowest coefficient (p<0.05). Uncertainty analyses revealed that 6 out of 11 samples showed significant differences. The silver shade compomer should be avoided in deep cavities. The material properties could be improved for colored compomers.

  6. Guidance on Conducting and REporting DElphi Studies (CREDES) in palliative care: Recommendations based on a methodological systematic review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jünger, Saskia; Payne, Sheila A; Brine, Jenny; Radbruch, Lukas; Brearley, Sarah G

    2017-09-01

    The Delphi technique is widely used for the development of guidance in palliative care, having impact on decisions with relevance for patient care. To systematically examine the application of the Delphi technique for the development of best practice guidelines in palliative care. A methodological systematic review was undertaken using the databases PubMed, CINAHL, Web of Science, Academic Search Complete and EMBASE. Original articles (English language) were included when reporting on empirical studies that had used the Delphi technique to develop guidance for good clinical practice in palliative care. Data extraction included a quality appraisal on the rigour in conduct of the studies and the quality of reporting. A total of 30 empirical studies (1997-2015) were considered for full-text analysis. Considerable differences were identified regarding the rigour of the design and the reporting of essential process and outcome parameters. Furthermore, discrepancies regarding the use of terms for describing the method were observed, for example, concerning the understanding of a 'round' or a 'modified Delphi study'. Substantial variation was found concerning the quality of the study conduct and the transparency of reporting of Delphi studies used for the development of best practice guidance in palliative care. Since credibility of the resulting recommendations depends on the rigorous use of the Delphi technique, there is a need for consistency and quality both in the conduct and reporting of studies. To allow a critical appraisal of the methodology and the resulting guidance, a reporting standard for Conducting and REporting of DElphi Studies (CREDES) is proposed.

  7. Intoxicação por Brachiaria spp. em bovinos no Mato Grosso do Sul Brachiaria spp. poisoning in cattle in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roosevelt I.C. Souza

    2010-12-01

    Full Text Available Mediante a revisão dos arquivos das fichas de necropsia do Laboratório de Patologia Animal, Universidade Federal do Mato Grosso do Sul, foram estudados a epidemiologia, o quadro clínico e a patologia de 29 surtos de intoxicação por Brachiaria spp., ocorridos em bovinos de corte, no Mato Grosso do Sul, de março de 1996 a novembro de 2009. Os surtos ocorreram em todas as épocas do ano, tanto na seca quanto na chuva. Em 24 dos 29 surtos o principal sinal clínico foi a fotossensibilização e em cinco o principal sinal foi o emagrecimento progressivo. Dos 24 surtos de fotossensibilização, 11 ocorreram em pastagens de B. decumbens, dois em pastagens mistas de B. decumbens e B. brizantha, um em B. brizantha e em 10 surtos não foi informada a espécie de Brachiaria envolvida. A morbidade variou de 0,2% a 50% e a letalidade de 44,4% a 100%. Nos casos de fotossensibilização o edema de barbela foi o sinal clínico mais encontrado em bovinos, seguido de dermatite com pele espessada no flanco e períneo, retração cicatricial auricular, icterícia, corrimento ocular. crostas auriculares e oculares, e ulcerações na parte ventral da língua. Em dois surtos foram observados sinais nervosos e em um, diarréia. Nas necropsias o fígado estava aumentado de tamanho, amarelado, com padrão lobular aumentado e, ocasionalmente, com áreas esbranquiçadas e deprimidas. Os rins estavam acastanhados e a urina escura. No exame histológico do fígado encontrou-se tumefação e vacuolização de hepatócitos, proliferação de células epiteliais dos ductos biliares, retenção biliar, fibroplasia periportal discreta ou moderada e infiltrado mononuclear periportal. Todos os casos de fotossensibilização apresentaram macrófagos espumosos no parênquima hepático e em 21 foram observados cristais birrefringentes nos ductos biliares. Cinco surtos com emagrecimento progressivo dos bovinos afetados foram diagnosticados em pastagens de B. decumbens. A

  8. Electrowetting on dielectric: experimental and model study of oil conductivity on rupture voltage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Qing; Tang, Biao; Dong, Baoqin; Li, Hui; Zhou, Rui; Guo, Yuanyuan; Dou, Yingying; Deng, Yong; Groenewold, Jan; Henzen, Alexander Victor; Zhou, Guofu

    2018-05-01

    Electrowetting on dielectric devices uses a conducting (water) and insulating (oil) liquid phase in conjunction on a dielectric layer. In these devices, the wetting properties of the liquid phases can be manipulated by applying an electric field. The electric field can rupture the initially flat oil film and promotes further dewetting of the oil. Here, we investigate a problem in the operation of electrowetting on dielectric caused by a finite conductivity of the oil. In particular, we find that the voltage at which the oil film ruptures is sensitive to the application of relatively low DC voltages prior to switching. Here, we systematically investigate this dependence using controlled driving schemes. The mechanism behind these history effects point to charge transport processes in the dielectric and the oil, which can be modeled and characterized by a decay time. To quantify the effects the typical response timescales have been measured with a high-speed video camera. The results have been reproduced in simulations. In addition, a simplified yet accurate equivalent circuit model is developed to analyze larger data sets more conveniently. The experimental data support the hypothesis that each pixel can be characterized by a single decay time. We studied an ensemble of pixels and found that they showed a rather broad distribution of decay times with an average value of about 440 ms. This decay time can be interpreted as a discharge timescale of the oil, not to be confused with discharge of the entire system which is generally much faster (<1 ms). Through the equivalent circuit model, we also found that variations in the fluoropolymer (FP) conductivity cannot explain the distribution of decay times, while variations in oil conductivity can.

  9. Study of thermal conductivity and thermal rectification in exponential mass graded lattices

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shah, Tejal N. [Bhavan' s Sheth R.A. College of Science, Khanpur, Ahmedabad 380 001, Gujarat (India); Gajjar, P.N., E-mail: pngajjar@rediffmail.com [Department of Physics, University School of Sciences, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad 380 009, Gujarat (India)

    2012-01-09

    Concept of exponential mass variation of oscillators along the chain length of N oscillators is proposed in the present Letter. The temperature profile and thermal conductivity of one-dimensional (1D) exponential mass graded harmonic and anharmonic lattices are studied on the basis of Fermi–Pasta–Ulam (FPU) β model. Present findings conclude that the exponential mass graded chain provide higher conductivity than that of linear mass graded chain. The exponential mass graded anharmonic chain generates the thermal rectification of 70–75% which is better than linear mass graded materials, so far. Thus instead of using linear mass graded material, the use of exponential mass graded material will be a better and genuine choice for controlling the heat flow at nano-scale. -- Highlights: ► In PRE 82 (2010) 040101, use of mass graded material as a thermal devices is explored. ► Concept of exponential mass graded material is proposed. ► The rectification obtained is about 70–75% which is better than linear mass graded materials. ► The exponential mass graded material will be a better choice for the thermal devices at nano-scale.

  10. Experimental Study on Thermal Conductivity of Self-Compacting Concrete with Recycled Aggregate.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenollera, María; Míguez, José Luis; Goicoechea, Itziar; Lorenzo, Jaime

    2015-07-20

    The research focuses on the use of recycled aggregate (RA), from waste pieces generated during production in precast plants for self-compacting concrete (SCC) manufactured with a double sustainable goal: recycle manufacturing waste (consumption) and improvement of the thermal properties of the manufactured product (energy efficiency). For this purpose, a mechanical study to ensure technical feasibility of the concrete obtained has been conducted, as well as a thermal analysis of recycled SCC specimens of 50 N/mm² resistance, with different RA doses (0%, 20%, 50% and 100%). The main parameters that characterize a SCC in both states, fresh (slump-flow) and hard (compressive strength), have been tested; also, a qualitative analysis of the thermal conductivity using infrared thermography (IRT) and quantitative analysis with heat flow meter at three temperatures 20 °C, 25 °C and 30 °C have been performed. The results suggest the existence of two different thermal behaviors: concretes with 0% and 20% of RA, and on the other hand concretes with 50% and 100% of RA. It has also demonstrated the validity of the IRT as sampling technique in estimating the thermal behavior of materials having reduced range of variation in parameters.

  11. INTERPRETATION OF NERVE CONDUCTION STUDY IN POLYNEUROPATHY WITH MULTIBACILLARY LEPROSY TYPE 2 REACTION

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Diane Tantia Sari

    2018-04-01

    Full Text Available Leprosy reaction contributes to disability due to peripheral nerve damage. Nerve conduction study (NCS provides a profound physiological description of peripheral nerves. This study aims to report a case of polyneuropathy in leprosy with type 2 reactions (T2R which is evaluated using NCS. A 33-year-old woman complain of painful bumps in her arms and legs, fever, swollen feet since 2 days ago, and history of leprosy. Dermatologic examination on the right superior palpebra, right and left arms and legs revealed multiple tenderness erythematous nodules; right claw hand; and both legs oedema. Slit skin smear revealed positive result. Histopathologic examination supported T2R description. The NCS examination concluded severe axonal demyelinating motoric sensoric polyneurophaty, with left worse. She was treated with MDT-MB, bed rest, orally methylprednisolone, vitamin B, paracetamol, ferrous sulfas, and topical olive oil. Clinical improvement was achieved after 2 weeks. The NCS is used to assess the nerve impuls conduction along the peripheral nerves. In this case, it was found that NCS could showed early neuropathy in nerves that were clinically undetectable. It can be concluded that the NCS examination is an important diagnostic modalities for early detection of neuropathy and confirmed the diagnosis of clinical neuropathy in leprosy.

  12. Contribution to the electromagnetic study of conducting polymers and chiral structures

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lafosse, Xavier

    1994-01-01

    In this work, an electromagnetic characterisation of organic absorptive materials partially made of conductive polymer is presented. Poly-pyrrole-Teflon alloys containing from 0 to 20 pc (in volume) poly-pyrrole were prepared and characterised from dc to 6 GHz. The complex permittivity shows that these materials are absorptive; the dielectric properties strongly depend on the composition and are correctly modelled by a percolation law. A dielectric relaxation was observed for the conductive alloys and this phenomenon is interpreted as the result of an electronic conduction process insured by a charged carriers hopping. A model was developed; it is in good agreement with these results. The difference between the low and high frequency behaviour is also underlined. Microwave chiral structures were manufactured. A cholesteric arrangement of uniaxial slabs was measured in transmission between 4 and 6 GHz; the experimental results are correctly modelled by cascading quadrupolar scattering matrices. New chiral materials were prepared by mixing millimetric helices made of poly-pyrrole with an insulating matrix. These materials exhibit a rotatory power and a good absorption of electromagnetic waves which is connected to the poly-pyrrole concentration. The interest in using conductive polymers to design absorptive chiral materials in the microwave domain is put in evidence and the experimental results are in good agreement with a numerical model; nevertheless, the optimisation of these materials remains difficult. (author) [fr

  13. Qualitative Research and Educational Leadership: Essential Dynamics to Consider When Designing and Conducting Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brooks, Jeffrey S.; Normore, Anthony H.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to highlight issues relayed to appropriate design and conduct of qualitative studies in educational leadership. Design/Methodology/Approach: The paper is a conceptual/logical argument that centers around the notion that while scholars in the field have at times paid attention to such dynamics, it is important…

  14. Photo control of transport properties in a disordered wire: Average conductance, conductance statistics, and time-reversal symmetry

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kitagawa, Takuya; Oka, Takashi; Demler, Eugene

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, we study the full conductance statistics of a disordered 1D wire under the application of light. We develop the transfer matrix method for periodically driven systems to analyze the conductance of a large system with small frequency of light, where coherent photon absorptions play an important role to determine not only the average but also the shape of conductance distributions. The average conductance under the application of light results from the competition between dynamic localization and effective dimension increase, and shows non-monotonic behavior as a function of driving amplitude. On the other hand, the shape of conductance distribution displays a crossover phenomena in the intermediate disorder strength; the application of light dramatically changes the distribution from log-normal to normal distributions. Furthermore, we propose that conductance of disordered systems can be controlled by engineering the shape, frequency and amplitude of light. Change of the shape of driving field controls the time-reversals symmetry and the disordered system shows analogous behavior as negative magneto-resistance known in static weak localization. A small change of frequency and amplitude of light leads to a large change of conductance, displaying giant opto-response. Our work advances the perspective to control the mean as well as the full conductance statistics by coherently driving disordered systems. - Highlights: ► We study conductance of disordered systems under the application of light. ► Full conductance distributions are obtained. ► A transfer matrix method is developed for driven systems. ► Conductances are dramatically modified upon the application of light. ► Time-reversal symmetry can also be controlled by light application.

  15. Thermal conductivities of single- and multi-layer phosphorene: a molecular dynamics study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ying-Yan; Pei, Qing-Xiang; Jiang, Jin-Wu; Wei, Ning; Zhang, Yong-Wei

    2016-01-07

    As a new two-dimensional (2D) material, phosphorene has drawn growing attention owing to its novel electronic properties, such as layer-dependent direct bandgaps and high carrier mobility. Herein we investigate the in-plane and cross-plane thermal conductivities of single- and multi-layer phosphorene, focusing on geometrical (sample size, orientation and layer number) and strain (compression and tension) effects. A strong anisotropy is found in the in-plane thermal conductivity with its value along the zigzag direction being much higher than that along the armchair direction. Interestingly, the in-plane thermal conductivity of multi-layer phosphorene is insensitive to the layer number, which is in strong contrast to that of graphene where the interlayer interactions strongly influence the thermal transport. Surprisingly, tensile strain leads to an anomalous increase in the in-plane thermal conductivity of phosphorene, in particular in the armchair direction. Both the in-plane and cross-plane thermal conductivities can be modulated by external strain; however, the strain modulation along the cross-plane direction is more effective and thus more tunable than that along the in-plane direction. Our findings here are of great importance for the thermal management in phosphorene-based nanoelectronic devices and for thermoelectric applications of phosphorene.

  16. Phrenic Nerve Conduction Study in the Early Stage of Guillain-Barre Syndrome as a Predictor of Respiratory Failure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sen, Barun Kumar; Pandit, Alak

    2018-01-01

    Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) has unpredictable clinical course with severe complication of respiratory failure. To identify clinical profiles and electrophysiological study particularly non-invasive Phrenic nerve conduction study in patients of early GBS to predict respiratory failure. 64 adult (age≥18yrs) patients of early GBS (onset ≤ 14 days) during the study period from January 2014 to October 2015 were evaluated by clinical profiles of age, gender, antecedent infection, time to peak disability, single breath counts, cranial nerve involvement, autonomic dysfunction and non-invasive Phrenic nerve conduction study. Patients with predisposition factors of polyneuropathy like diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, vitamin deficiency, renal failure were excluded. Among 64 patients abnormal phrenic nerve conduction study was seen in 65.62% cases (42/64) and 45.23% (19/42) of them developed respiratory failure. Phrenic nerve sum latency, amplitude, duration and area were abnormal in those who developed respiratory failure and they had sum of phrenic nerve latency >28 msec, sum of CMAP amplitude 50 msec and sum of area phrenic nerve study developed respiratory failure. It was found that age, gender, preceding infection, autonomic involvement and types of GB syndrome had no influence on development of respiratory failure (p>0.05). Rapid disease progression to peak disability, more severe disease, shorter single breath counts and cranial nerve involvement were seen more often in patients with respiratory failure. Abnormal Phrenic nerve conduction study in the early Guillain-Barré syndrome might be of great value independently in predicting impending respiratory failure.

  17. Phrenic Nerve Conduction Study in the Early Stage of Guillain–Barre Syndrome as a Predictor of Respiratory Failure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sen, Barun Kumar; Pandit, Alak

    2018-01-01

    Background: Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) has unpredictable clinical course with severe complication of respiratory failure. Objective: To identify clinical profiles and electrophysiological study particularly non-invasive Phrenic nerve conduction study in patients of early GBS to predict respiratory failure. Methods: 64 adult (age≥18yrs) patients of early GBS (onset ≤ 14 days) during the study period from January 2014 to October 2015 were evaluated by clinical profiles of age, gender, antecedent infection, time to peak disability, single breath counts, cranial nerve involvement, autonomic dysfunction and non-invasive Phrenic nerve conduction study. Patients with predisposition factors of polyneuropathy like diabetes mellitus, hypothyroidism, vitamin deficiency, renal failure were excluded. Results: Among 64 patients abnormal phrenic nerve conduction study was seen in 65.62% cases (42/64) and 45.23% (19/42) of them developed respiratory failure. Phrenic nerve sum latency, amplitude, duration and area were abnormal in those who developed respiratory failure and they had sum of phrenic nerve latency >28 msec, sum of CMAP amplitude 50 msec and sum of area phrenic nerve study developed respiratory failure. It was found that age, gender, preceding infection, autonomic involvement and types of GB syndrome had no influence on development of respiratory failure (p>0.05). Rapid disease progression to peak disability, more severe disease, shorter single breath counts and cranial nerve involvement were seen more often in patients with respiratory failure. Conclusion: Abnormal Phrenic nerve conduction study in the early Guillain-Barré syndrome might be of great value independently in predicting impending respiratory failure. PMID:29720799

  18. On the transparent conducting oxide Al doped ZnO: First Principles and Boltzmann equations study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Slassi, A. [Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed V-Agdal, Rabat (Morocco); Naji, S. [LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed V-Agdal, Rabat (Morocco); Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Ibb University, Ibb (Yemen); Benyoussef, A. [Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed V-Agdal, Rabat (Morocco); Hamedoun, M., E-mail: hamedoun@hotmail.com [Institute of Nanomaterials and Nanotechnology, MAScIR, Rabat (Morocco); El Kenz, A. [LMPHE (URAC 12), Faculté des Sciences, Université Mohammed V-Agdal, Rabat (Morocco)

    2014-08-25

    Highlights: • The incorporation of Al in ZnO increases the optical band edge absorption. • Incorporated Al creates shallow donor states of Al-3s around Fermi level. • Transmittance decreases in the visible and IR regions, while it increases in the UV region. • Electrical conductivity increases and reaches almost the saturation for high concentration of Al. - Abstract: We report, in this work, a theoretical study on the electronic, optical and electrical properties of pure and Al doped ZnO with different concentrations. In fact, we investigate these properties using both First Principles calculations within TB-mBJ approximation and Boltzmann equations under the constant relaxation time approximation for charge carriers. It is found out that, the calculated lattice parameters and the optical band gap of pure ZnO are close to the experimental values and in a good agreement with the other theoretical studies. It is also observed that, the incorporations of Al in ZnO increase the optical band edge absorption which leads to a blue shift and no deep impurities levels are induced in the band gap as well. More precisely, these incorporations create shallow donor states around Fermi level in the conduction band minimum from mainly Al-3s orbital. Beside this, it is found that, the transmittance is decreased in the visible and IR regions, while it is significantly improved in UV region. Finally, our calculations show that the electrical conductivity is enhanced as a result of Al doping and it reaches almost the saturation for high concentration of Al. These features make Al doped ZnO a transparent conducting electrode for optoelectronic device applications.

  19. A conductance study of guanidinium chloride, thiocyanate, sulfate, and carbonate in dilute aqueous solutions: ion-association and carbonate hydrolysis effects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hunger, Johannes; Neueder, Roland; Buchner, Richard; Apelblat, Alexander

    2013-01-17

    We study the conductance of dilute aqueous solutions for a series of guandinium salts at 298.15 K. The experimental molar conductivities were analyzed within the framework of the Quint-Viallard theory in combination with Debye-Hückel activity coefficients. From this analysis, we find no evidence for significant ion association in aqueous solutions of guanidinium chloride (GdmCl) and guanidinium thiocyanate (GdmSCN), and the molar conductivity of these electrolytes can be modeled assuming a complete dissociation. The limiting ionic conductivity of the guanidinium ion (Gdm(+)) is accurately determined to λ(Gdm(+)) = 51.45 ± 0.10 S cm(2) mol(-1). For the bivalent salts guanidinium sulfate (Gdm(2)SO(4)) and guanidinium carbonate (Gdm(2)CO(3)), the molar conductivities show small deviations from ideal (fully dissociated electrolyte) behavior, which are related to weak ion association in solution. Furthermore, for solutions of Gdm(2)CO(3), the hydrolysis of the carbonate anion leads to distinctively increased molar conductivities at high dilutions. The observed ion association is rather weak for all studied electrolytes and cannot explain the different protein denaturing activities of the studied guanidinium salts, as has been proposed previously.

  20. Study about ion exchange for decreasing the conductivity of water in power plant and refineries

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Khosravi, M.; Samani; Hajihosseini, N.

    2002-01-01

    Water has been used directly or indirectly for industries, its use would be in factories: such as steam or as a cooler or the product of the industrial material. water is used more than other material in many industries and what ever is obtained as the effect of industrial activities, it is destabilising like waste. By the control of P H and reducing (total dissolved solid) of water or decreasing conductivity of water, we can protect boiler from corrosion. We want to study this article for different method of decreasing (TDS) in order to produce <1μs/cm conductivity. The suitable method which is ion exchange system will be selected

  1. The Electronic Thermal Conductivity of Graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Tae Yun; Park, Cheol-Hwan; Marzari, Nicola

    2016-04-13

    Graphene, as a semimetal with the largest known thermal conductivity, is an ideal system to study the interplay between electronic and lattice contributions to thermal transport. While the total electrical and thermal conductivity have been extensively investigated, a detailed first-principles study of its electronic thermal conductivity is still missing. Here, we first characterize the electron-phonon intrinsic contribution to the electronic thermal resistivity of graphene as a function of doping using electronic and phonon dispersions and electron-phonon couplings calculated from first-principles at the level of density-functional theory and many-body perturbation theory (GW). Then, we include extrinsic electron-impurity scattering using low-temperature experimental estimates. Under these conditions, we find that the in-plane electronic thermal conductivity κe of doped graphene is ∼300 W/mK at room temperature, independently of doping. This result is much larger than expected and comparable to the total thermal conductivity of typical metals, contributing ∼10% to the total thermal conductivity of bulk graphene. Notably, in samples whose physical or domain sizes are of the order of few micrometers or smaller, the relative contribution coming from the electronic thermal conductivity is more important than in the bulk limit, because lattice thermal conductivity is much more sensitive to sample or grain size at these scales. Last, when electron-impurity scattering effects are included we find that the electronic thermal conductivity is reduced by 30 to 70%. We also find that the Wiedemann-Franz law is broadly satisfied at low and high temperatures but with the largest deviations of 20-50% around room temperature.

  2. Study of temperature-dependent charge conduction in silicon-nanocrystal/SiO_2 multilayers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mavilla, Narasimha Rao; Chavan, Vinayak; Solanki, Chetan Singh; Vasi, Juzer

    2016-01-01

    Silicon-nanocrystals (Si-NCs) realized by SiO_x _ 8 MV/cm; independent of temperature), while for lower electric fields (5–8 MV/cm) at higher temperatures, the trap-related Generalized Poole–Frenkel (GPF) is dominant. This signified the role of traps in modifying the conduction in bulk ICPCVD SiO_2 films. We then present the conduction in ML samples. For multilayer samples with SiO_2 sublayer thickness of 1.5 nm and 2.5 nm, Direct Tunneling (DT) is observed to be dominant, while for SiO_2 sublayer thickness of 3.5 nm, Space Charge Limited Conduction (SCLC) with exponential trap distribution is found to be the dominant conduction mechanism. This signifies the role of traps in modifying the conduction in Si-NC multilayer samples and SiO_2 sublayer thickness dependence. - Highlights: • Electrical conduction in SiO_2 film & Si-nanocrystal layers (Si-NCs) is reported. • SiO_2/SiO_x multilayer based Si-NCs were realized by Inductively Coupled plasma CVD. • For SiO_2 film, Fowler–Nordheim tunneling & Generalized Poole–Frenkel are observed. • For Si-NCs with thin SiO_2 sublayers (< 2.5 nm) Direct Tunneling is dominant. • For Si-NCs with 3.5 nm SiO_2 sublayers Space Charge Limited Conduction is dominant.

  3. Time domain NMR and conductivity study of apple pectin biopolymers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mattos, Ritamara I.; Souto, Sergio; Tambelli, Caio E.

    2015-01-01

    This communication presents results of "1H nuclear magnetic resonance of continuous distributions of spin-spin relaxation time (T_2) and A.C. conductivity of apple pectin biopolymers plasticized with glycerol and containing acetic acid. The continuous distributions reveals up to three components of spin-spin relaxation times (T_2). The two short T_2 components were associated with protons of pectin polymer chain and the longer T_2 can be attributed with the protons of the glycerol. The conductivity values increase with glycerol concentration with maximum at 7.9 x 10"-"4 S cm"-"1 for sample with 3.0 g of glycerol at 83 deg C. The behavior of activation energy and T_2 continuous distribution indicate an increase of proton mobility due the structural changes caused by glycerol addition. (author)

  4. Characterization and Conduction Mechanism of Highly Conductive Vanadate Glass

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tetsuaki Nishida

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available This paper reviews recent studies of highly conductive barium iron vanadate glass with a composition of 20 BaO ∙ 10 Fe2O3 ∙ 70 V2O5 (in mol %. Isothermal annealing of the vanadate glass for several ten minutes at a given temperature, higher than glass transition temperature or crystallization temperature, caused an increase in σ. Substitution of CuI (3d10, ZnII (3d10 and CuII (3d9 for FeIII (3d5 was investigated to elucidate the effect of electron configuration on the conductivity (σ. A marked decrease in the activation energy of conduction (Ea was also observed after the annealing. Values of Ea were correlated to the energy gap between the donor level and the conduction band (CB in the n-type semiconductor model. Isothermal annealing of ZnII-substituted vanadate glass (20 BaO ∙ 5 ZnO ∙ 5 Fe2O3 ∙ 70 V2O5 at 450 °C for 30 min showed an increase in σ from 2.5 × 10–6 to 2.1 × 10–1 S cm–1, which was one order of magnitude larger than that of non-substituted vanadate glass (3.4 × 10–2 S cm–1. Under the same annealing condition, σ’s of 2.0 × 10–1 and 3.2 × 10–1 S cm–1 were observed for 20 BaO ∙ 5 Cu2O ∙ 5 Fe2O3 ∙ 70 V2O5 and 20 BaO ∙ 5 CuO ∙ 5 Fe2O3 ∙ 70 V2O5 glasses, respectively. These results demonstrate an increase in the carrier (electron density in the CB, primarily composed of anti-bonding 4s-orbitals.

  5. Touch Locating and Stretch Sensing Studies of Conductive Hydrogels with Applications to Soft Robots.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhou, Yanmin; He, Bin; Yan, Zhe; Shang, Yinghui; Wang, Qigang; Wang, Zhipeng

    2018-02-13

    Soft robots possess great potential in environmental adaptations, while their environmental sensing abilities are critical. Conductive hydrogels have been suggested to possess sensing abilities. However, their application in soft robots is lacking. In this work, we fabricated a soft and stretchable gel material, introduced its sensing mechanisms, and developed a measurement setup. Both experimental and simulation studies indicate strong nonlinearity of touch locating on a square touch panel with Cartesian coordinates. To simplify the touch locating, we proposed a touch locating system based on round touch panels with polar coordinates. Mathematical calculations and finite element method (FEM) simulations showed that in this system the locating of a touch point was only determined by its polar radius. This was verified by experimental studies. As a resistor, a gel strip's resistance increases with stretching. To demonstrate their applications on soft robots, a 3D printed three-fingered soft gripper was employed with gel strips attached. During finger bending for rod grasping, the resistances of the gel strips increased, indicating stretching of the soft material. Furthermore, the strain and stress of a gel strip increased with a decrease of the rod diameter. These studies advance the application of conductive hydrogels on soft robots.

  6. Plasmid composition and virulence-associated factors of Yersinia pestis isolates from a plague outbreak at the Paraíba State, Brazil Composição plasmidial e fatores associados à virulência em cepas de Yersinia pestis de um surto de peste no Estado da Paraíba, Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nilma Cintra Leal

    1989-10-01

    Full Text Available Pathogenic Yersinia pestis isolates were collected during a plague outbreak at the Paraiba State in 1986. The Y. pestis isolates were investigated for the presence of virulence-associated factors and plasmid content. All strains analysed were proficient in the expression of the VW and fraction 1 antigens, pigment adsorption and pesticin-fibronolysin-coagulase production. A similar plasmid profile composed by four plasmid with molecular weight of 60, 44, 14.9, and 6.4 Megadaltons (MD was found in all strains. DNA cleavage with EcoRI restriction enzyme further demonstrated the uniform plasmid content of the Y. pestis isolates. Seven additional Y. pestis strains, previously isolated in the same region but in an endemic state, showed the same plasmid fingerprint. The lack of any detectable difference between epidemic and endemic isolates as well as the value of plasmid fingerprints in epidemiology of Y. pestis is discussed.Cepas patogênicas de Yersinia pestis foram coletadas durante um surto de peste no Estado da Paraíba em 1986. Os isolados de Y. pestis foram analisados quanto a presença de fatores associados à virulência e conteúdo plasmidial. Todas as linhagens analisadas foram proficientes na expressão dos antígenos VW e fração 1, além de possuírem capacidade de adsorção de pigmentos e produção de pesticina-fibrinolisina-coagulase. Um perfil plasmidial semelhante composto por quatro plasmídeos com peso molecular de 60, 44, 14.9, e 6.4 MD foi encontrado em todas as linhagens. A clivagem do DNA plasmidial com a enzima de restrição EcoRI demonstrou o conteúdo plasmidial uniforme dos isolados de Y. pestis. Sete outras linhagens de Y. pestis, isoladas previamente no mesmo local mas em condição endêmica, mostraram o mesmo perfil plasmidial. A falta de diferenças entre os isolados epidêmicos e endêmicos assim como o uso do perfil plasmidial na epidemiologic de Y. pestis e discutida.

  7. Effects of Cationic Pendant Groups on Ionic Conductivity for Anion Exchange Membranes: Structure Conductivity Relationships

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Sojeong; Choi, Soo-Hyung; Lee, Won Bo

    Anion exchange membranes(AEMs) have been widely studied due to their various applications, especially for Fuel cells. Previous proton exchange membranes(PEMs), such as Nafions® have better conductivity than AEMs so far. However, technical limitations such as slow electrode kinetics, carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning of metal catalysts, high methanol crossover and high cost of Pt-based catalyst detered further usages. AEMs have advantages to supplement its drawbacks. AEMs are environmentally friendly and cost-efficient. Based on the well-defined block copolymer, self-assembled morphology is expected to have some relationship with its ionic conductivity. Recently AEMs based on various cations, including ammonium, phosphonium, guanidinium, imidazolium, metal cation, and benzimidazolium cations have been developed and extensively studied with the aim to prepare high- performance AEMs. But more fundamental approach, such as relationships between nanostructure and conductivity is needed. We use well-defined block copolymer Poly(styrene-block-isoprene) as a backbone which is synthesized by anionic polymerization. Then we graft various cationic functional groups and analysis the relation between morphology and conductivity. Theoretical and computational soft matter lab.

  8. A protocol for conducting rainfall simulation to study soil runoff.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kibet, Leonard C; Saporito, Louis S; Allen, Arthur L; May, Eric B; Kleinman, Peter J A; Hashem, Fawzy M; Bryant, Ray B

    2014-04-03

    Rainfall is a driving force for the transport of environmental contaminants from agricultural soils to surficial water bodies via surface runoff. The objective of this study was to characterize the effects of antecedent soil moisture content on the fate and transport of surface applied commercial urea, a common form of nitrogen (N) fertilizer, following a rainfall event that occurs within 24 hr after fertilizer application. Although urea is assumed to be readily hydrolyzed to ammonium and therefore not often available for transport, recent studies suggest that urea can be transported from agricultural soils to coastal waters where it is implicated in harmful algal blooms. A rainfall simulator was used to apply a consistent rate of uniform rainfall across packed soil boxes that had been prewetted to different soil moisture contents. By controlling rainfall and soil physical characteristics, the effects of antecedent soil moisture on urea loss were isolated. Wetter soils exhibited shorter time from rainfall initiation to runoff initiation, greater total volume of runoff, higher urea concentrations in runoff, and greater mass loadings of urea in runoff. These results also demonstrate the importance of controlling for antecedent soil moisture content in studies designed to isolate other variables, such as soil physical or chemical characteristics, slope, soil cover, management, or rainfall characteristics. Because rainfall simulators are designed to deliver raindrops of similar size and velocity as natural rainfall, studies conducted under a standardized protocol can yield valuable data that, in turn, can be used to develop models for predicting the fate and transport of pollutants in runoff.

  9. Structural and ionic conductivity studies on proton conducting solid biopolymer electrolyte based on 2hydroxyethyl cellulose incorporated DTAB

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmad, N. H.; Bakar, N. Y.; Isa, M. I. N.

    2017-09-01

    Solid biopolymer electrolytes (SBEs) based on 2hydroxyethyl cellulose (2HEC) complexes with dodecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (DTAB) salt in various composition (wt. %) were successfully prepared by using solution casting technique. The ion - polymer interaction and structural studies have been reported by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) supported with X - ray diffraction (XRD) and Electrical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). FTIR spectral shows interaction of 2HEC with DTAB happen at peak 2914cm-1, 2848cm-1, 2353cm-1, 2328cm-1, 1720cm-1, 1437cm-1, 1344cm-1, 1198cm-1 1095cm-1 1051cm-1, 912cm-1 and 872cm-1. The interaction of complexes leads to an increase in number of ion jump into neighboring vacant sites until it reaches the highest conductivity at room temperature which is 2.80 x 10-5 Scm-1 for sample containing 9wt. % of DTAB. The temperature dependence of the SBEs system exhibits Arrhenius behavior and the XRD spectral analysis shows the higher salt loading the crystallinity of the SBEs which also increased.

  10. Electrical conductivity studies of nanocrystalline lanthanum silicate synthesized by sol-gel route

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nallamuthu, N.; Prakash, I.; Satyanarayana, N.; Venkateswarlu, M.

    2011-01-01

    Research highlights: → Nanocrystalline La 10 Si 6 O 27 material was synthesized by sol-gel method. → TG/DTA curves predicted the thermal behavior of the material. → FTIR spectra confirmed the formation of SiO 4 and La-O network in the La 10 Si 6 O 27 . → XRD patterns confirmed the formation of pure crystalline La 10 Si 6 O 27 phase. → The grain interior and the grain boundary conductivities are evaluated. - Abstract: Nanocrystalline apatite type structured lanthanum silicate (La 10 Si 6 O 27 ) sample was synthesized by sol-gel process. Thermal behavior of the dried gel of lanthanum silicate sample was studied using TG/DTA. The structural coordination of the dried gel of lanthanum silicate, calcined at various temperatures, was identified from the observed FTIR spectral results. The observed XRD patterns of the calcined dried gel were compared with the ICDD data and confirmed the formation of crystalline lanthanum silicate phase. The average crystalline size of La 10 Si 6 O 27 was calculated using the Scherrer formula and it is found to be ∼80 nm. The observed SEM images of the lanthanum silicate indicate the formation of the spherical particles and the existence of O, Si and La in the lanthanum silicate are confirmed from the SEM-EDX spectrum. The grain and grain boundary conductivities are evaluated by analyzing the measured impedance data, using winfit software, obtained at different temperatures, of La 10 Si 6 O 27 sample. Also, the observed grain and grain boundary conductivity behaviors of the La 10 Si 6 O 27 sample are analysed using brick layer model. The electrical permittivity and electrical modulus were calculated from the measured impedance data and were analyzed by fitting through the Havriliak and Negami function to describe the dielectric relaxation behavior of the nanocrystalline lanthanum silicate.

  11. Ionic Conductivity of Polyelectrolyte Hydrogels.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Chen-Jung; Wu, Haiyan; Hu, Yang; Young, Megan; Wang, Huifeng; Lynch, Dylan; Xu, Fujian; Cong, Hongbo; Cheng, Gang

    2018-02-14

    Polyelectrolytes have many important functions in both living organisms and man-made applications. One key property of polyelectrolytes is the ionic conductivity due to their porous networks that allow the transport of water and small molecular solutes. Among polyelectrolytes, zwitterionic polymers have attracted huge attention for applications that involve ion transport in a polyelectrolyte matrix; however, it is still unclear how the functional groups of zwitterionic polymer side chains affect their ion transport and swelling properties. In this study, zwitterionic poly(carboxybetaine acrylamide), poly(2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine), and poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) hydrogels were synthesized and their ionic conductivity was studied and compared to cationic, anionic, and nonionic hydrogels. The change of the ionic conductivity of zwitterionic and nonionic hydrogels in different saline solutions was investigated in detail. Zwitterionic hydrogels showed much higher ionic conductivity than that of the widely used nonionic poly(ethylene glycol) methyl ether methacrylate hydrogel in all tested solutions. For both cationic and anionic hydrogels, the presence of mobile counterions led to high ionic conductivity in low salt solutions; however, the ionic conductivity of zwitterionic hydrogels surpassed that of cationic and ionic hydrogels in high salt solutions. Cationic and anionic hydrogels showed much higher water content than that of zwitterionic hydrogels in deionized water; however, the cationic hydrogels shrank significantly with increasing saline concentration. This work provides insight into the effects of polyelectrolyte side chains on ion transport. This can guide us in choosing better polyelectrolytes for a broad spectrum of applications, including bioelectronics, neural implants, battery, and so on.

  12. Studies on the role of unsaturation in the fatty acid surfactant molecule on the thermal conductivity of magnetite nanofluids.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lenin, Ramanujam; Joy, Pattayil Alias

    2017-11-15

    To study the role of unsaturation in the surfactant molecule on the thermal conductivity of magnetite nanofluids, four different fatty acid (stearic, oleic, linoleic, and linolenic acids with different degree of unsaturation) coated magnetite nanoparticles of comparable size are prepared and dispersed in toluene. It is found that the nanofluid with the saturated fatty acid coated nanoparticles show larger viscosity than the fluid with the unsaturated fatty acid coated particles at all concentrations. Thermal conductivity studies show enhancement only above a critical concentration for all fluids. The critical concentration for thermal conductivity enhancement varies with the surfactant, possibly due to the difference in the degree of aggregation of the nanoparticles in the fluid, because of the difference in the conformation of the surfactant molecules on the nanoparticle's surface. The experimental thermal conductivity follows the Maxwell model at higher concentrations. From the overall studies, it is observed that the thermal conductivity of the fluids with aggregated or assembled nanoparticles shows slightly larger enhancement than that of the fluids with isolated particles. However, in the presence of a magnetic field, the fluids with isolated nanoparticles showed relatively larger enhancement, possibly due to the easy response of the isolated magnetite nanoparticles to the applied field. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Evolução química em galáxias compactas azuis (BCGs)

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lanfranchi, G. A.; Matteucci, F.

    2003-08-01

    Neste trabalho, a formação estelar e evolução quí mica em galáxias Compactas Azuis (Blue Compact Galaxies - BCGs) foram estudadas através da comparação de previsões de modelos de evolução quí mica a várias razões de abundância quí mica observadas nestas galáxias. Modelos detalhados com recentes dados de nucleossí ntese e que levam em consideração o papel desempenahdo por supernovas de ambos os tipos (II e Ia) na evolução galáctica foram desenvolvidos para as BCGs permitindo seguir a evolução de vários elementos quí micos (H, D, He, C, N, O, Mg, Si, S, Ca, e Fe). O modelo é caracterizado pelas prescrições adotadas para a formação estelar, a qual ocorre em vários surtos de atividade separados por longos perí odos quiescentes. Após ajustar os melhores modelos aos dados observacionais, as previsões destes modelos foram comparadas também a razões de abundância observadas em sistemas Damped Lyman alpha (DLAs) e a origem do N (primária ou secundária) foi discutida. Alguns dos resultados obtidos são: i) as razões de abundância observadas nas BCGs são reproduzidas por modelos com 2 a 7 surtos de formação estelar com eficiência entre n = 0.2-0.9 Gano-1; ii) os baixos valores de N/O observados nestas galáxias são um resultado natural de uma formação estelar em surtos; iii) os modelos para BCGs podem reproduzir os dados dos DLAs, iv) uma quantidade "baixa" de N primário produzido em estrelas de alta massa pode ser uma explicação para os baixos valores de [N/a] observados em DLAs.

  14. Detection of Cryptosporidium sp. in non diarrheal faeces from children, in a day care center in the city of São Paulo, Brazil Detecção de Cryptosporidium sp. em fezes não diarréicas de crianças, em uma escola de educação infantil de São Paulo, Brasil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Therezinha T. Carvalho-Almeida

    2006-02-01

    Full Text Available The protozoan Cryptosporidium sp. has been frequently detected in faeces from children with persistent diarrhoea. This work achieved to investigate an outbreak of cryptosporidiosis, in a day care center, attending children of high socio-economic level, between 0 and six years old. The outbreak was detected through the network of public health, when stool samples, not diarrhoeic, were examined at the Parasitology Service of the Adolfo Lutz Institute. Among the 64 examined children, 13 (20.3% showed oocysts of Cryptosporidium sp. in the faeces examined by Kinyoun technique: seven children one year old, three, two years old and three, three years old. Among the 23 examined adults, only a 22 years old woman, possibly having an immunocomprometiment, was positive. Clinical and epidemiological aspects were investigated by questionnaires, highlighting the occurrence of the outbreak in a very dry period.O protozoário Cryptosporidium sp. tem sido detectado com freqüência em fezes de crianças com diarréia persistente. Este trabalho teve como objetivo investigar um surto de criptosporidiose, em uma escola de educação infantil, que atende crianças de classe média alta, de 0 a seis anos de idade. O surto foi detectado a partir de amostras fecais não diarréicas encaminhadas ao Instituto Adolfo Lutz através da rede de saúde pública. Das 64 crianças 13 (20,3% apresentaram oocistos de Cryptosporidium nas fezes, examinadas pelo método de Kinyoun, sendo sete crianças com um ano de idade, três com dois anos de idade e três, com três anos de idade. Dos 23 adultos examinados, apenas uma mulher de 22 anos, com possível imunocomprometimento, foi positiva. Aspectos epidemiológicos e clínicos foram investigados por meio de questionários, ressaltando-se que o surto ocorreu em período muito seco.

  15. Conductive Education as a Method of Stroke Rehabilitation: A Single Blinded Randomised Controlled Feasibility Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Judith Bek

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Background. Conductive Education for stroke survivors has shown promise but randomised evidence is unavailable. This study assessed the feasibility of a definitive randomised controlled trial to evaluate efficacy. Methods. Adult stroke survivors were recruited through local community notices. Those completing the baseline assessment were randomised using an online program and group allocation was independent. Intervention group participants received 10 weekly 1.5-hour sessions of Conductive Education at the National Institute of Conductive Education in Birmingham, UK. The control group participants attended two group meetings. The study evaluated the feasibility of recruitment procedures, delivery of the intervention, retention of participants, and appropriateness of outcome measures and data collection methods. Independent assessments included the Barthel Index, the Stroke Impact Scale, the Timed Up and Go test, and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results. Eighty-two patients were enrolled; 77 completed the baseline assessment (46 men, mean age 62.1 yrs. and were randomised. 70 commenced the intervention (n=37 or an equivalent waiting period (n=33. 32/37 completed the 10-week training and 32/33 the waiting period. There were no missing items from completed questionnaires and no adverse events. Discussion. Recruitment, intervention, and assessment methods worked well. Transport issues for intervention and assessment appointments require review. Conclusion. A definitive trial is feasible. This trial is registered with ISRCTN84064492.

  16. A comparative study on the effective thermal conductivity of a single size beryllium pebble bed

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Abou-Sena, A.; Ying, A.; Abdou, M.

    2004-01-01

    Solid breeder blankets generally use beryllium-helium pebble beds to ensure sufficient tritium breeding. The data of the effective thermal conductivity, k eff , of beryllium pebble beds is important to the design of fusion blankets. It serves as a database for benchmarking the models of pebble beds. The objective of this paper is to review and compare the available data (obtained by several studies) of the effective thermal conductivity of beryllium pebble beds in order to address the current status of these data. Two comparisons are presented: one for the data of k eff versus bed mean temperature and the second one for the data of k eff versus external applied pressures. The data (k eff versus bed temperature) reported by Enoeda et al., Dalle Donne et al., and UCLA, have a similar particle size and packing fraction. Despite their similarity, the standard deviation values of their data are around 32%. Also, the data of the effective thermal conductivity as a function of mechanical pressure have standard deviation values of ∼50%. From the presented comparisons, significant discrepancies among the available data of k eff of the beryllium pebble beds were observed. These discrepancies may be attributed to the apparent differences among available studies, such as experiment technique, packing fraction, particle characteristics, bed dimensions, and temperature range and gradient across the bed. (author)

  17. Shear-induced changes of electrical conductivity in suspensions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Crawshaw, John; Meeten, Gerald [Schlumberger Cambridge Research, Cambridge (United Kingdom)

    2006-12-15

    The effect of shear on electrical conductivity (rheo-conduction) is studied to give information about particle behaviour in suspensions. Past work is reviewed, and expressions are derived for the rheo-conduction of a suspension of nonconducting spheroids in a conducting matrix for current flow, parallel and normal to the suspension flow direction. A simple apparatus to study rheo-conduction in pipe flow is described, and measurements of steady and time-dependent effects are reported for various suspensions of colloidal particles. Suspensions of anisometric rod- and platelike particles at low concentrations showed rheo-conductive changes of sign, magnitude and relaxation that were consistent with the particle shape, concentration and interactions. The rheo-conductive response decreased with increasing volume fraction for platelike kaolinite particles, attributed to orientational jamming. Spherical latex particles gave unexpected rheo-conductive changes consistent with shear disruption of a conductive network of particles. It is concluded that rheo-conduction measurements are a useful adjunct to conventional rheometry. (orig.)

  18. Auroral ionospheric quiet summer time conductances

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Brekke, A.; Hall, C.

    1988-01-01

    The auroral zone E-region conductivities and conductances have been studied for 7 quiet time summer days. The Hall- and Pedersen conductances are found to follow the solar zenith variations in a rather regular fashion, and empirical formulas for these conductances are obtained. The choice of proper collision frequency models is found to be of great importance when deriving the conductances, and it is argued that some of the different results presented by other authors may be due to different models of the collision frequencies. The Hall- to Pedersen conductance ratios can only be used as an indicator of the energy of the precipitating auroral particles when the contribution from the background solar ionization is subtracted. When this is done this ratio takes much higher values than previously reported

  19. A Study of Master's Degrees in Orchestral Conducting in the United States

    Science.gov (United States)

    St. John, Brian Allen

    2010-01-01

    In order to learn to be an orchestra conductor in the United States of America, students often begins their formal education by seeking to earn a master's degree in orchestral conducting. This project compiled a listing of American universities which offer a master's degree in orchestral conducting and categorized the component parts of their…

  20. Review on mathematical basis for thermal conduction equation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Park, D. G.; Kim, H. M

    2007-10-15

    In the view point of thermal conductivity measurement technology, It is very useful to understand mathematical theory of thermal conduction equation in order to evaluation of measurement data and to solve diverse technical problem in measurement. To approach this mathematical theory, thermal conduction equation is derived by Fourier thermal conduction law. Since thermal conduction equation depends on the Lapacian operator basically, mathematical meaning of Lapalacian and various diffusion equation including Laplacian have been studied. Stum-Liouville problem and Bessel function were studied in this report to understand analytical solution of various diffusion equation.

  1. Review on mathematical basis for thermal conduction equation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, D. G.; Kim, H. M.

    2007-10-01

    In the view point of thermal conductivity measurement technology, It is very useful to understand mathematical theory of thermal conduction equation in order to evaluation of measurement data and to solve diverse technical problem in measurement. To approach this mathematical theory, thermal conduction equation is derived by Fourier thermal conduction law. Since thermal conduction equation depends on the Lapacian operator basically, mathematical meaning of Lapalacian and various diffusion equation including Laplacian have been studied. Stum-Liouville problem and Bessel function were studied in this report to understand analytical solution of various diffusion equation

  2. Preparative conditions and vibrational study of HUP : phase transition and conductivity mechanisms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Thi, M.P.; Novak, A.; Colomban, Ph.

    1985-01-01

    Among solid protonic conductors HUP (H 3 OUO 2 PO 4 .3 H 2 O) exhibits very high conducting properties. Uranyl/phosphate hydrates belonging to the HUP family (HUP ; UO 2 (H 2 PO 4 ) 2 .3 H 2 O ; (U= 2 ) 3 (PO 4 ) 2 .4 H 2 O ; (UO O 2 )sub(1.43)PO 4 Hsub(0.14) 2-3.5 H 2 O) have been synthesized in different forms (crystals, powders, films, ...) and characterized by various methods: chemical analysis, DTA, TGA, SEM, X-Ray diffraction, IR and Raman spectroscopy. Morphological studies reveal the presence of various particulat es, from ultrafine powders ( 2 O washing of HUP. Infrared and Raman spectra of polycrystalline H 3 OUO 2 PO 4 .3 H 2 O (HUP) have been investigated at various temperatures between 50 K and 300 K. The most temperature-sensitive bands correspond to PO 4 and H 2 O librations; U-OPO 3 stretching and OH stretching vibrations indicate four different phases of HUP and allow to propose a phasetransition mechanism from a bidimensionnal, quasi-liquid state of a protonated species in the room-temperature phase to a fully ordered crystal below 130 K. The protonic conductivity mechanism of room- and low-temperature phases is discussed. (author)

  3. Experimental Study on Thermal Conductivity of Self-Compacting Concrete with Recycled Aggregate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    María Fenollera

    2015-07-01

    Full Text Available The research focuses on the use of recycled aggregate (RA, from waste pieces generated during production in precast plants for self-compacting concrete (SCC manufactured with a double sustainable goal: recycle manufacturing waste (consumption and improvement of the thermal properties of the manufactured product (energy efficiency. For this purpose, a mechanical study to ensure technical feasibility of the concrete obtained has been conducted, as well as a thermal analysis of recycled SCC specimens of 50 N/mm2 resistance, with different RA doses (0%, 20%, 50% and 100%. The main parameters that characterize a SCC in both states, fresh (slump-flow and hard (compressive strength, have been tested; also, a qualitative analysis of the thermal conductivity using infrared thermography (IRT and quantitative analysis with heat flow meter at three temperatures 20 °C, 25 °C and 30 °C have been performed. The results suggest the existence of two different thermal behaviors: concretes with 0% and 20% of RA, and on the other hand concretes with 50% and 100% of RA. It has also demonstrated the validity of the IRT as sampling technique in estimating the thermal behavior of materials having reduced range of variation in parameters.

  4. Experimental Study on Thermal Conductivity of Self-Compacting Concrete with Recycled Aggregate

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fenollera, María; Míguez, José Luis; Goicoechea, Itziar; Lorenzo, Jaime

    2015-01-01

    The research focuses on the use of recycled aggregate (RA), from waste pieces generated during production in precast plants for self-compacting concrete (SCC) manufactured with a double sustainable goal: recycle manufacturing waste (consumption) and improvement of the thermal properties of the manufactured product (energy efficiency). For this purpose, a mechanical study to ensure technical feasibility of the concrete obtained has been conducted, as well as a thermal analysis of recycled SCC specimens of 50 N/mm2 resistance, with different RA doses (0%, 20%, 50% and 100%). The main parameters that characterize a SCC in both states, fresh (slump-flow) and hard (compressive strength), have been tested; also, a qualitative analysis of the thermal conductivity using infrared thermography (IRT) and quantitative analysis with heat flow meter at three temperatures 20 °C, 25 °C and 30 °C have been performed. The results suggest the existence of two different thermal behaviors: concretes with 0% and 20% of RA, and on the other hand concretes with 50% and 100% of RA. It has also demonstrated the validity of the IRT as sampling technique in estimating the thermal behavior of materials having reduced range of variation in parameters. PMID:28793449

  5. Tritium conductivity and isotope effect in proton-conducting perovskites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Mukundan, R.; Brosha, E.L.; Birdsell, S.A.; Costello, A.L.; Garzon, F.H.; Willms, R.S.

    1999-01-01

    The tritium ion conductivities of SrZr 0.9 Yb 0.1 O 2.95 and BaCe 0.9 Yb 0.1 O 2.95 have been measured by ac impedance analysis. The high tritium conductivity of these perovskites could potentially lead to their application as an electrochemical membrane for the recovery of tritium from tritiated gas streams. The conductivities of these perovskites, along with SrCe 0.95 Yb 0.05 O 2.975 , were also measured in hydrogen- and deuterium-containing atmospheres to illustrate the isotope effect. For the strontium zirconate and barium cerate samples, the impedance plot consists of two clearly resolved arcs, a bulk and a grain boundary arc, in the temperature range 50--350 C. However, for the strontium cerate sample, the clear resolution of the bulk conductivity was not possible and only the total conductivity was measurable. Thus, the isotope effect was clearly established only for the strontium zirconate and barium cerate samples. The decrease in bulk conductivity with increasing isotope mass was found to be a result of an increase in the activation energy for conduction accompanied by a decrease in the pre-exponential factor. Since the concentration of the mobile species (H+, D+, or T+) should remain relatively constant at T < 350 C, this increase in activation energy is directly attributable to the increased activation energy for the isotope mobility

  6. Effect of spatial variation of thermal conductivity on non-fourier heat conduction in a finite slab

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Goharkhah, Mohammad; Amiri, Shahin; Shokouhmand, Hossein

    2009-01-01

    The non-Fourier heat conduction problem in a finite slab is studied analytically. Dependence of thermal conductivity on space has been considered. The Laplace transform method is used to remove the time-dependent terms in the governing equation and the boundary conditions. The hyperbolic heat conduction (HHC) equation has been solved by employing trial solution method and collocation optimization criterion. Results show that the space-dependent thermal conductivity strongly affects the temperature distribution. A temperature peak on the insulated wall of the slab has been observed due to linear variation of thermal conductivity. It has been shown that the magnitude of the temperature peak increases with increasing the dimensionless relaxation time. To validate the approach, the results have been compared with the analytical solution obtained for a special case which shows a good agreement

  7. Ionic conductivity studies in crystalline PVA/NaAlg polymer blend electrolyte doped with alkali salt KCl

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sheela, T.; Bhajantri, R. F.; Ravindrachary, V.; Pujari, P. K.; Rathod, Sunil G.; Naik, Jagadish

    2014-04-01

    Potassium Chloride (KCl) doped poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)/sodium alginate (NaAlg) in 60:40 wt% polymer blend electrolytes were prepared by solution casting method. The complexation of KCl with host PVA/NaAlg blend is confirmed by FTIR and UV-Vis spectra. The XRD studies show that the crystallinity of the prepared blends increases with increase in doping. The dc conductivity increases with increase in dopant concentration. Temperature dependent dc conductivity shows an Arrhenius behavior. The dielectric properties show that both the dielectric constant and dielectric loss increases with increase in KCl doping concentration and decreases with frequency. The cole-cole plots show a decrease in bulk resistance, indicates the increase in ac conductivity, due to increase in charge carrier mobility. The doping of KCl enhances the mechanical properties of PVA/NaAlg, such as Young's modulus, tensile strength, stiffness.

  8. Thermal conductivity enhancement of paraffin by adding boron nitride nanostructures: A molecular dynamics study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lin, Changpeng; Rao, Zhonghao

    2017-01-01

    Highlights: • Different contributions to thermal conductivity are obtained. • Thermal conductivity of paraffin could be improved by boron nitride. • Crystallization effect from boron nitride was the key factor. • Paraffin nanocomposite is the desirable candidate for thermal energy storage. - Abstract: While paraffin is widely used in thermal energy storage today, its low thermal conductivity has become a bottleneck for the further applications. Here, we construct two kinds of paraffin-based phase change material nanocomposites through introducing boron nitride (BN) nanostructures into n-eicosane to enhance the thermal conductivity. Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was adopted to estimate their thermal conductivities and related thermal properties. The results indicate that, after adding BN nanostructures, the latent heat of composites is reduced compared with the pure paraffin and they both show a glass-like thermal conductivity which increases as the temperature rises. This happens because the increasing temperature leads to gradually smaller inconsistency in vibrational density of state along three directions and increasingly significant overlaps among them. Furthermore, by decomposing the thermal conductivity, it is found that the major contribution to the overall thermal conductivity comes from BN nanostructures, while the contribution of n-eicosane is insignificant. Though the thermal conductivity from n-eicosane term is small, it has been improved greatly compared with amorphous state of n-eicosane, mainly due to the crystallization effects from BN nanostructures. This work will provide microscopic views and insights into the thermal mechanism of paraffin and offer effective guidances to enhance the thermal conductivity.

  9. Development of hydraulic conductivity evaluation of rocks using EK (Electro Kinetic) phenomenon (Part 2). Experimental study on hydraulic conductivity evaluation by propagation velocity of EK potential

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kubota, Kenji; Suzuki, Koichi

    2012-01-01

    Hydraulic conductivity is one of the most important engineering properties to investigate geological structure for high level radioactive waste (HLW) disposal and/or carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) geological storage. We are developing an estimation method of hydraulic conductivity by geophysical methods cost-effectively. When an elastic wave is propagated into rocks, a weak potential is generated. This is called EK (Electro Kinetic) potential, which may have a correlation with hydraulic conductivity. Hydraulic conductivity can be estimated by measuring the propagation velocity of the EK potential. We conducted laboratory measurements of propagation velocity of EK potential by using soil and rock samples. The results demonstrated that the velocity of EK potential increased as frequency increased, and the velocity increased as hydraulic conductivity of each sample increased at the same frequency condition. These tendencies corresponded to a theory of EK potential. We calculated hydraulic conductivity by comparing measured and theoretical velocity of the EK potential based on its frequency characteristics. The differences between calculated and sample hydraulic conductivity were under one order when hydraulic conductivity of the sample was from 10 -6 m/s to 10 -4 m/s. This suggests that hydraulic conductivity from 10 -6 m/s to 10 -4 m/s can be estimated by velocity of the EK potential. (author)

  10. An optimal guarding scheme for thermal conductivity measurement using a guarded cut-bar technique, part 1 experimental study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xing, Changhu

    2014-01-01

    In the guarded cut-bar technique, a guard surrounding the measured sample and reference (meter) bars is temperature controlled to carefully regulate heat losses from the sample and reference bars. Guarding is typically carried out by matching the temperature profiles between the guard and the test stack of sample and meter bars. Problems arise in matching the profiles, especially when the thermal conductivities of the meter bars and of the sample differ, as is usually the case. In a previous numerical study, the applied guarding condition (guard temperature profile) was found to be an important factor in measurement accuracy. Different from the linear-matched or isothermal schemes recommended in literature, the optimal guarding condition is dependent on the system geometry and thermal conductivity ratio of sample to meter bar. To validate the numerical results, an experimental study was performed to investigate the resulting error under different guarding conditions using stainless steel 304 as both the sample and meter bars. The optimal guarding condition was further verified on a certified reference material, pyroceram 9606, and 99.95% pure iron whose thermal conductivities are much smaller and much larger, respectively, than that of the stainless steel meter bars. Additionally, measurements are performed using three different inert gases to show the effect of the insulation effective thermal conductivity on measurement error, revealing low conductivity, argon gas, gives the lowest error sensitivity when deviating from the optimal condition. The result of this study provides a general guideline for the specific measurement method and for methods requiring optimal guarding or insulation

  11. Calibration-free electrical conductivity measurements for highly conductive slags

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Macdonald, Christopher J.; Gao, Huang; Pal, Uday B.; Van den Avyle, James A.; Melgaard, David K.

    2000-01-01

    This research involves the measurement of the electrical conductivity (K) for the ESR (electroslag remelting) slag (60 wt.% CaF 2 - 20 wt.% CaO - 20 wt.% Al 2 O 3 ) used in the decontamination of radioactive stainless steel. The electrical conductivity is measured with an improved high-accuracy-height-differential technique that requires no calibration. This method consists of making continuous AC impedance measurements over several successive depth increments of the coaxial cylindrical electrodes in the ESR slag. The electrical conductivity is then calculated from the slope of the plot of inverse impedance versus the depth of the electrodes in the slag. The improvements on the existing technique include an increased electrochemical cell geometry and the capability of measuring high precision depth increments and the associated impedances. These improvements allow this technique to be used for measuring the electrical conductivity of highly conductive slags such as the ESR slag. The volatilization rate and the volatile species of the ESR slag measured through thermogravimetric (TG) and mass spectroscopy analysis, respectively, reveal that the ESR slag composition essentially remains the same throughout the electrical conductivity experiments

  12. Integration of conducting polymer network in non-conductive polymer substrates

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Thomas Steen; West, Keld; Hassager, Ole

    2006-01-01

    Anew method for integration ofconjugated, inherently conducting polymers into non-conductive polymer substrates has been developed. Alayer of the conducting polymer is polymerised by chemical oxidation, e.g. using Fe(ID) p-toluene sulfonate (ferri tosylate) followed by washing with a solvent which...... simultaneously removes residual and spent oxidant and at the same time dissolves the top layer of the polymer substrate. This results in an integration of the conducting polymer into the surface layers of the polymer substrate. Several combinations of conducting polymers and substrates have been tested...... absorption during sequential reactive ion etching has allowed for analysis of the PEDOT distribution within the surface layer of thePMMA substrate. The surface resistance ofthe conducting polymer layer remains low while the surface layer at the same time adapts some of the mechanical properties...

  13. Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential Produced by Bone-Conducted Stimuli: A Study on its Basics and Clinical Applications in Patients With Conductive and Sensorineural Hearing Loss and a Group With Vestibular Schawannoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Parvane Mahdi

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP has recently been broadly studied in vestibular disorders. As it is evoked by loud sound stimulation, even mild conductive hearing loss may affect VEMP results. Bone-conducted (BC stimulus is an alternative stimulation for evoking this response. This study aims to assess the characteristics of BC-VEMP in different groups of patients.   Materials and Methods: We performed a cross sectional analysis on 20 healthy volunteers with normal pure-tone audiometry as a control group; and on a group of patients consisted of 20 participants with conductive hearing loss, five with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and four with vestibular schawannoma. AC and BC-VEMP were performed in all participants.   Results: In control group the VEMP responses to both kinds of stimuli had an acceptable morphology and consisted of p13 and n23 waves. Latency value of these main components in each type of stimulus was not significantly different (P>0.05. However, the mean amplitude was larger in BC modality than AC stimulation (P=0.025. In the group with conductive hearing loss, the VEMP response was absent in fifteen (46.87% of the 32 ears using the AC method, whereas all (100% displayed positive elicitability of VEMP by BC method. Normal VEMP responses in both stimuli were evoked in all patients with sensorineural hearing loss. In patients with unilateral vestibular schwannomas (VS, 2 (50.00% had neither AC-VEMP nor BC-VEMP. Conclusion:  Auditory stimuli delivered by bone conduction can evoke VEMP response. These responses are of vestibular origin and can be used in vestibular evaluation of patients with conductive hearing loss.

  14. A Platform for Functional Conductive Polymers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Daugaard, Anders Egede; Hoffmann, Christian; Lind, Johan Ulrik

    Conductive polymers have been studied extensively during recent years. In order to broaden the application field of conductive polymers different methods have been tested and recently an azide functional poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT-N3) was developed(1, 2). The azide functional...... conductive polymer can be postpolymerization functionalized to introduce a large number of functionalities through click chemistry(3). Through selection of reaction conditions it is possible control the depth of the reaction into the polymer film to the upper surface or the entire film(4). Thus a conductive...... polymer can be prepared with a subsurface layer of highly conductive polymer where only the upper surface has been grafted with functional groups to ensure selectivity of the surface layer for e.g. interaction with specific biospecies. The conductive polymer can be patterned using selective etching, which...

  15. Psychosocial profiles of Irish children with conduct disorders, mixed disorders of conduct and emotion and emotional disorders

    OpenAIRE

    Byrne, Jacqueline; Carr, Alan

    1995-01-01

    This paper reports on a retrospective archival study. Forty-one conduct disorder cases, 20 cases with mixed disorders of conduct and emotions and 23 emotional disorder cases were compared on demographic, behavioural and contextual variables. The pattern of treatment received by each group and their therapeutic outcomes were also compared. The three groups had similar demographic characteristics but distinctive psychosocial profiles. Conduct disordered cases showed a predominance of covert beh...

  16. Transparent conducting oxide nanotubes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alivov, Yahya; Singh, Vivek; Ding, Yuchen; Nagpal, Prashant

    2014-09-01

    Thin film or porous membranes made of hollow, transparent, conducting oxide (TCO) nanotubes, with high chemical stability, functionalized surfaces and large surface areas, can provide an excellent platform for a wide variety of nanostructured photovoltaic, photodetector, photoelectrochemical and photocatalytic devices. While large-bandgap oxide semiconductors offer transparency for incident light (below their nominal bandgap), their low carrier concentration and poor conductivity makes them unsuitable for charge conduction. Moreover, materials with high conductivity have nominally low bandgaps and hence poor light transmittance. Here, we demonstrate thin films and membranes made from TiO2 nanotubes heavily-doped with shallow Niobium (Nb) donors (up to 10%, without phase segregation), using a modified electrochemical anodization process, to fabricate transparent conducting hollow nanotubes. Temperature dependent current-voltage characteristics revealed that TiO2 TCO nanotubes, doped with 10% Nb, show metal-like behavior with resistivity decreasing from 6.5 × 10-4 Ωcm at T = 300 K (compared to 6.5 × 10-1 Ωcm for nominally undoped nanotubes) to 2.2 × 10-4 Ωcm at T = 20 K. Optical properties, studied by reflectance measurements, showed light transmittance up to 90%, within wavelength range 400 nm-1000 nm. Nb doping also improves the field emission properties of TCO nanotubes demonstrating an order of magnitude increase in field-emitter current, compared to undoped samples.

  17. Anisotropy of heat conduction in Mo/Si multilayers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Medvedev, V. V.; Yakshin, A. E.; Kruijs, R. W. E. van de; Bijkerk, F.; Yang, J.; Schmidt, A. J.; Zoethout, E.

    2015-01-01

    This paper reports on the studies of anisotropic heat conduction phenomena in Mo/Si multilayers with individual layer thicknesses selected to be smaller than the mean free path of heat carriers. We applied the frequency-domain thermoreflectance technique to characterize the thermal conductivity tensor. While the mechanisms of the cross-plane heat conduction were studied in detail previously, here we focus on the in-plane heat conduction. To analyze the relative contribution of electron transport to the in-plane heat conduction, we applied sheet-resistance measurements. Results of Mo/Si multilayers with variable thickness of the Mo layers indicate that the net in-plane thermal conductivity depends on the microstructure of the Mo layers

  18. Study of electrical properties of Sc doped BaFe12O19 ceramic using dielectric, impedance, modulus spectroscopy and AC conductivity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gupta, Surbhi; Deshpande, S. K.; Sathe, V. G.; Siruguri, V.

    2018-04-01

    We present dielectric, complex impedance, modulus spectroscopy and AC conductivity studies of the compound BaFe10Sc2O19 as a function of temperature and frequency to understand the conduction mechanism. The variation in complex dielectric constant with frequency and temperature were analyzed on the basis of Maxwell-Wagner-Koop's theory and charge hopping between ferrous and ferric ions. The complex impedance spectroscopy study shows only grain contribution whereas complex modulus plot shows two semicircular arcs which indicate both grain and grain boundary contributions in conduction mechanism. AC conductivity has also been evaluated which follows the Jonscher's law. The activation energy calculated from temperature dependence of DC conductivity comes out to be Ea˜ 0.31eV.

  19. Study on models for gap conductance between fuel and sheath for CANDU reactors

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lee, K.M.; Ohn, M.Y.; Lim, H.S.; Choi, J.H.; Hwang, S.T.

    1995-01-01

    The gap conductance between the fuel and the sheath depends strongly on the gap width and has a significant influence on the amount of initial stored energy. The modified Ross and Stoute gap conductance model in ELESTRES is based on a simplified thermal deformation model for steady-state fuel temperature calculations. A review on a series of experiments reveals that fuel pellets crack, relocate, and are eccentrically positioned within the sheath rather than solid concentric cylinders. In this paper, the two recently-proposed gap conductance models (offset gap model and relocated gap model) are described and are applied to calculate the fuel-sheath gap conductances under experimental conditions and normal operating conditions in CANDU reactors. The good agreement between the experimentally-inferred and calculated gap conductance values demonstrates that the modified Ross and Stoute model was implemented correctly in ELESTRES. The predictions of the modified Ross and Stoute model provide conservative values for gap heat transfer and fuel surface temperature compared to the offset gap and relocated gap models for a limiting power envelope. (author)

  20. A novel thick-film electrical conductivity sensor suitable for liquid and soil conductivity measurements

    OpenAIRE

    Atkinson, John; Sophocleous, Marios

    2015-01-01

    Results are reported from an initial evaluation of a novel conductivity sensor that could be incorporated onto a multi-element thick film (screen printed) sensor array designed for soil and water analysis. The new sensor exhibits a repeatable cell constant over a wide range of conductivities and is currently performing very well in an investigation of soil structural properties where its output is being correlated with soil water content in a study of different soil porosities.

  1. Studies of photoionization in liquids using a laser two-photon ionization conductivity technique

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Siomos, K.; Christophorou, L.G.

    1981-01-01

    One-photon ionization studies of solute molecules in a liquid medium are limited by the absorption of the host medium. A laser two-photon ionization (TPI) technique using a frequency tunable dye laser has been developed, whereby the photoionization threshold of a solute molecule was determined from the induced conductivity in the liquid medium under study due to electron-ion pair formation via two-photon ionization of the solute. The two-photon induced electron-ion current is measured as a function of the laser wavelength, lambda/sub laser/. In this paper, results are reported and discussed on the photoionization of N,N,N',N'-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine (TMPD), pyrene and fluoranthene in liquid n-pentane

  2. CONDUCTIVITY STUDIES OF (PEO +KHCO3 SOLID ELECTROLYTE SYSTEM AND ITS APPLICATION AS AN ELECTROCHEMICAL CELL

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. VIJAY KUMAR

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Solid polymer electrolyte system, polyethylene oxide (PEO complexed with potassium bicarbonate (KHCO3 salt was prepared by solution-cast technique. Several experimental techniques such as infrared radiation (IR, differential scanning calorimeter (DSC, and composition dependence conductivity, temperature dependence conductivity in the temperature range of 308–368 K and transport number measurements were employed to characterize this polymer electrolyte system. The conductivity of the (PEO+KHCO3 electrolyte was found to be about 3 times larger than that of pure PEO at room temperature. The transference data indicated that the charge transport in these polymer electrolyte systems is predominantly due to K+ ions. Using this polymer electrolyte an electrochemical cell with configuration K+/(PEO+KHCO3/(I2+C+electrolyte was fabricated and its discharge characteristics are studied. A number of other cell parameters associated with the cell were evaluated and are reported in this paper.

  3. Conductivity, dielectric behavior and FTIR studies of high molecular weight poly(vinylchloride)-lithium triflate polymer electrolytes

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ramesh, S.; Chai, M.F.

    2007-01-01

    Thin films of high molecular weight polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with lithium triflate (LiCF 3 SO 3 ) salt were prepared by solution casting method. The ionic conductivity and dielectric measurements were carried out on these films over a wide frequency regime at various temperatures. The conductivity-temperature plots were found to obey classical Arrhenius relationship. The dielectric behavior was analysed using dielectric permittivity and dielectric modulus of the samples. FTIR studies show some simple overlapping and shift in peaks between high molecular weight polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with lithium triflate (LiCF 3 SO 3 ) salt in the polymer electrolyte complexes

  4. THE USE OF UNTRADITIONAL FORMS OF TEACHING DURING CONDUCTING OF STUDIES OF THE SUBJECT “FUNDAMENTALS OF THE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE”.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    T. L. Arkhipova

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available The use of untraditional forms of conducting the studies is favourable for the personal interest in the study of subject, develops creative independence of students, trains to work with the different sourcesof knowledge. Such forms of conducting the studies diversify traditional teaching character, are instrumental in the revival of . We can see such forms as debates, cross-words, scientific essay, , business games in the article.

  5. Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potential Produced by Bone-Conducted Stimuli: A Study on its Basics and Clinical Applications in Patients with Conductive and Sensorineural Hearing Loss and a Group with Vestibular Schawannoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahdi, Parvane; Amali, Amin; Pourbakht, Akram; Karimi Yazdi, Alireza; Bassam, Ali

    2013-06-01

    Vestibular evoked myogenic potential (VEMP) has recently been broadly studied in vestibular disorders. As it is evoked by loud sound stimulation, even mild conductive hearing loss may affect VEMP results. Bone-conducted (BC) stimulus is an alternative stimulation for evoking this response. This study aims to assess the characteristics of BC-VEMP in different groups of patients. We performed a cross sectional analysis on 20 healthy volunteers with normal pure-tone audiometry as a control group; and on a group of patients consisted of 20 participants with conductive hearing loss, five with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss and four with vestibular schawannoma. AC and BC-VEMP were performed in all participants. In control group the VEMP responses to both kinds of stimuli had an acceptable morphology and consisted of p13 and n23 waves. Latency value of these main components in each type of stimulus was not significantly different (P>0.05). However, the mean amplitude was larger in BC modality than AC stimulation (P=0.025). In the group with conductive hearing loss, the VEMP response was absent in fifteen (46.87%) of the 32 ears using the AC method, whereas all (100%) displayed positive elicitability of VEMP by BC method. Normal VEMP responses in both stimuli were evoked in all patients with sensorineural hearing loss. In patients with unilateral vestibular schwannomas (VS), 2 (50.00%) had neither AC-VEMP nor BC-VEMP. Auditory stimuli delivered by bone conduction can evoke VEMP response. These responses are of vestibular origin and can be used in vestibular evaluation of patients with conductive hearing loss.

  6. Thermal conductivity of armchair black phosphorus nanotubes: a molecular dynamics study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hao, Feng; Liao, Xiangbiao; Xiao, Hang; Chen, Xi

    2016-01-01

    The effects of size, strain, and vacancies on the thermal properties of armchair black phosphorus nanotubes are investigated based on qualitative analysis from molecular dynamics simulations. It is found that thermal conductivity has a remarkable size effect, because of the restricted paths for phonon transport, which is strongly dependent on the diameter and length of the nanotube. Owing to the intensified low-frequency phonons, axial tensile strain can facilitate thermal transport. In contrast, compressive strain weakens thermal transport due to the enhanced phonon scattering around the buckling of the nanotube. In addition, the thermal conductivity is dramatically reduced by single vacancies, particularly those with high defect concentrations. (paper)

  7. Hearing outcomes of the active bone conduction system Bonebridge® in conductive or mixed hearing loss.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carnevale, Claudio; Til-Pérez, Guillermo; Arancibia-Tagle, Diego J; Tomás-Barberán, Manuel D; Sarría-Echegaray, Pedro L

    2018-05-18

    The active transcutaneous bone conduction implant Bonebridge ® , is indicated for patients affected by bilateral conductive/mixed hearing loss or unilateral sensorineural hearing loss, showing hearing outcomes similar to other percutaneous bone conduction implants, but with a lower rate of complications. The aim of this study was to analyze the hearing outcomes in a series of 26 patients affected by conductive or mixed hearing loss and treated with Bonebridge ® . 26 of 30 patients implanted with Bonebridge ® between October 2012 and May 2017, were included in the study. We compared the air conduction thresholds at the frequencies 500, 1000, 2000, 3000, 4000Hz, the SRT50% and the percentage of correct answers at an intensity of 50dB with and without the implant. "Pure tone average" with the implant was 34.91dB showing an average gain of 33.46dB. Average SRT 50% with the implant was 34.33dB, whereas before the surgery no patient achieved 50% of correct answers at a sound intensity of 50dB. The percentage of correct answers at 50dB changed from 11% without the implant to 85% with it. We only observed one complication consisting of an extrusion of the implant in a patient with a history of 2 previous rhytidectomies. The hearing outcomes obtained in our study are similar to those published in the literature. Bonebridge ® represents an excellent alternative in the treatment of conductive or mixed hearing loss, and with a lower rate of complications. Copyright © 2018 Sociedad Española de Otorrinolaringología y Cirugía de Cabeza y Cuello. Publicado por Elsevier España, S.L.U. All rights reserved.

  8. Achados clínico patológicos durante um surto de disenteria de inverno em bovinos no Rio Grande do Sul Clinic pathological features during a winter dysentery outbreak in cattle in Rio Grande do Sul

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Saulo Petinatti Pavarini

    2008-12-01

    Full Text Available Descreve-se um surto de disenteria de inverno que afetou 10 vacas leiteiras de uma propriedade localizada em Viamão, Rio Grande do Sul. O quadro clínico caracterizou-se por uma diarréia inicialmente líquida esverdeada com estrias de sangue e muco, evoluindo, em alguns animais, para uma diarréia de coloração marrom escura à sanguinolenta, que persistiu, em média, cinco dias. Drástica diminuição na produção de leite e no consumo de alimentos, além de graus variados de depressão também foram observados. Apenas um dos 10 animais afetados morreu. Durante a necropsia, observaram-se mucosas pálidas, conteúdo sanguinolento com presença de grande quantidade de coágulos, principalmente no cólon espiral e petéquias na mucosa do cólon. Os principais achados histológicos foram encontradas no cólon espiral, onde havia criptas dilatadas, sem epitélio de revestimento ou revestidas por epitélio pavimentoso e/ou cuboidal, por vezes com núcleos grandes e nucléolos proeminentes. Algumas criptas eram preenchidas por debris necróticos e polimorfonucleares. Na imuno-histoquímica com anticorpo monoclonal para coronavírus bovino (8F2 em cortes do cólon espiral, havia marcações positivas no citoplasma de enterócitos das criptas, nos debris necróticos destas e em macrófagos na lâmina própria.The report describes a winter dysentery outbreak that affected 10 dairy cows from a ranch located in the county of Viamão, Rio Grande do Sul. The most significant clinical sign was profuse and watery diarrhea, which ranged from a greenish to a brownish coloration and from occasional blood streaks with mucus to a bloody diarrhea. Most cases persisted for 5 days and also included depression, drastic decrease in milk production and in food consumption. Only one of the affected animals died. The necropsy revealed pale mucosa and sanguineous content with high quantity of blood clots, particularly within the spiral colon, and petechiae on the

  9. Conduction quantization in monolayer MoS2

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, T. S.

    2016-10-01

    We study the ballistic conduction of a monolayer MoS2 subject to a spatially modulated magnetic field by using the Landauer-Buttiker formalism. The band structure depends sensitively on the field strength, and its change has profound influence on the electron conduction. The conductance is found to demonstrate multi-step behavior due to the discrete number of conduction channels. The sharp peak and rectangular structures of the conductance are stretched out as temperature increases, due to the thermal broadening of the derivative of the Fermi-Dirac distribution function. Finally, quantum behavior in the conductance of MoS2 can be observed at temperatures below 10 K.

  10. Tailoring highly conductive graphene nanoribbons from small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a computational study

    KAUST Repository

    Bilić, A; Sanvito, S

    2013-01-01

    transmission with a continuum of conducting channels. In contrast, for the armchair nanoribbons a slow exponential attenuation of the conductance with the length has been found, due to their semiconducting nature. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd.

  11. A Comparative Study of Effectiveness of Neurofeedback and Ritalin on Improving Conduct Problems and Hyperactivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    K. Khoushabi

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction & Objective: There are varieties of interventions to treatment of ADHD, among which drug therapy, behavior therapy, parental management training and neurofeedback can be cited. The present study designed to investigate and compare the effectiveness of neurofeedback and Ritalin on improving conduct problems and hyperactivity. Materials & Methods: Quasi-experimental research method with pretest-post test design has been applied in the research. Statistical population of the study consisted of ADHD children of Tehran. The study samples of the study were patients referred to children psychiatric clinic. Based on the purpose of the study' 20 children were randomly selected and classified into 2 groups according to random assignment. CPRS-48 (parent form was administered by parents before and after the treatments as research tools. Recruited data was analyzed by SPSS-19 in two sections of descriptive and inferential statistics. ANCOVA revealed some differences in the groups. Results: The findings of the study showed that there was a significant difference between Ritalin and neurofeedback on improving conduct problems; in other words, Ritalin was more effective in alleviating the problems. Also there was no significant difference between the interventions on improving hyperactivity index. Conclusion: With respect to more efficiency of Ritalin than neurofeedback on certain continuum of signs/symptoms of ADHD, as a whole, preferences of interventions should be based on type, magnitude and severity of the syndrome(Sci J Hamadan Univ Med Sci 2012;18(4:53-59

  12. Tunable conductivity in mesoporous germanium

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beattie, Meghan N.; Bioud, Youcef A.; Hobson, David G.; Boucherif, Abderraouf; Valdivia, Christopher E.; Drouin, Dominique; Arès, Richard; Hinzer, Karin

    2018-05-01

    Germanium-based nanostructures have attracted increasing attention due to favourable electrical and optical properties, which are tunable on the nanoscale. High densities of germanium nanocrystals are synthesized via electrochemical etching, making porous germanium an appealing nanostructured material for a variety of applications. In this work, we have demonstrated highly tunable electrical conductivity in mesoporous germanium layers by conducting a systematic study varying crystallite size using thermal annealing, with experimental conductivities ranging from 0.6 to 33 (×10‑3) Ω‑1 cm‑1. The conductivity of as-prepared mesoporous germanium with 70% porosity and crystallite size between 4 and 10 nm is shown to be ∼0.9 × 10‑3 Ω‑1 cm‑1, 5 orders of magnitude smaller than that of bulk p-type germanium. Thermal annealing for 10 min at 400 °C further reduced the conductivity; however, annealing at 450 °C caused a morphological transformation from columnar crystallites to interconnecting granular crystallites and an increase in conductivity by two orders of magnitude relative to as-prepared mesoporous germanium caused by reduced influence of surface states. We developed an electrostatic model relating the carrier concentration and mobility of p-type mesoporous germanium to the nanoscale morphology. Correlation within an order of magnitude was found between modelled and experimental conductivities, limited by variation in sample uniformity and uncertainty in void size and fraction after annealing. Furthermore, theoretical results suggest that mesoporous germanium conductivity could be tuned over four orders of magnitude, leading to optimized hybrid devices.

  13. A review of nerve conduction studies in cases of suspected compression neuropathies of the upper limb.

    LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

    Neligan, A

    2010-01-01

    Entrapment neuropathies, particularly those affecting upper limbs, are common reasons for referral for nerve conduction studies (NCS). However, concordance between clinical findings and NCS findings, especially in patients being considered for intervention including decompressive surgery, has not been assessed.

  14. Conductivity and phase morphology of carbon black-filled immiscible polymer blends under creep: an experimental and theoretical study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Yamin; Liu, Xianhu; Hao, Xiaoqiong; Schubert, Dirk W

    2016-11-30

    Blends of carbon black (CB)-filled co-continuous immiscible polystyrene/poly(methyl-methacrylate) (PS/PMMA) with a PS/PMMA ratio of 50/50 and CB selectively located in the PS phase have been prepared by melt blending. The simultaneous evolution of conductivity and phase morphology of blend composites was investigated under shear and in the quiescent state at 200 °C. It was found that shear deformation had a significant influence on the conductivity of the unfilled PS/PMMA blend and its composites, which was attributed to the change of phase morphology during shear. After the shear stress of 10 kPa, the conductivity of PS/PMMA blends filled with 2 vol% of CB decreased by about two orders of magnitude and the phase morphology transformed from a fine co-continuous structure into a highly elongated lamellar structure. The deformation of phase morphology and the decrease of conductivity were weakened upon decreasing the shear stress or increasing the CB concentration. During subsequent recovery, pronounced phase structure coarsening was observed in the mixture and the conductivity increased as well. A simple model describing the behavior of conductivity under shear deformation was derived and utilized for the description of the experimental data. For the first time, the Burgers model was used to describe the conductivity, and the viscoelastic and viscoplastic parameters were deduced by fitting the conductivity under shear. The results obtained in this study provide a deeper insight into the evolution of phase structure in the conductive polymer blend composite induced by shear deformation.

  15. Spin and spinless conductivity in polypyrrole. Evidence for mixed-valence conduction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zotti, G.; Schiavon, G. (Ist. di Polarografia ed Elettrochimica Preparativa, Padova (Italy))

    In situ conductivity of polypyrrole (as tosylate) as a function of oxidative doping level attains a maximum at three-quarters the total oxidation charge and the relevant in situ ESR signal corresponds to an equal concentration of spin-carrying (polaron) and spinless (bipolaron) species. Results are explained on the basis of mixed-valence conduction. Bipolaron conduction, taking the place of polaron-bipolaron conductivity at higher oxidation levels, accounts for persisting conductivity in the high-oxidation state.

  16. Structural study and DC conductivity of vanadyl doped zinc lithium borate glasses

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Seema [Physics Department, Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science & Technology, Murthal-131039 (India); Physics Department, Baba Mast Nath University, Asthal Bohr, Rohtak-124001 (India); Khasa, S., E-mail: skhasa@rediff.com; Dahiya, M. S.; Yadav, Arti [Physics Department, Deenbandhu Chhotu Ram University of Science & Technology, Murthal-131039 (India); Agarwal, A. [Applied Physics Department, Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology, Hisar-125001 (India); Dahiya, S. [Physics Department, Baba Mast Nath University, Asthal Bohr, Rohtak-124001 (India)

    2015-06-24

    Glasses with composition xZnO⋅(30 − x)⋅Li{sub 2}O⋅70B{sub 2}O{sub 3} containing 2 mol% of V{sub 2}O{sub 5} (x = 0, 2, 5, 7 and 10) were prepared by standard melt-quench technique. The amorphous nature of the glass samples was confirmed by using x-ray diffraction. The structural changes in these glasses have been investigated by employing IR spectroscopy in the mid-IR range. The infrared spectroscopic analysis confirms the presence of both triangular and tetraheldral coordinated boron units and absence of boroxol ring. It also shows that metal-oxide vibrations are present which are due to the bonding of lithium and zinc ions with oxygen. The dc conductivity was measured in the temperature range 353-523 K. The dc conductivity results show that conductivity decreases and activation energy increases when Li{sub 2}O is replaced by ZnO, keeping the concentration of B{sub 2}O{sub 3} constant. Decrease in conductivity and increase in activation energy shows that addition of ZnO to the glass matrix shows a “blocking effect” on the overall mobility of alkali ions, but at higher concentration the hopping effect was also observed.

  17. Thermal conductivities of phosphorene allotropes from first-principles calculations: a comparative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, J; Liu, H J; Cheng, L; Wei, J; Liang, J H; Fan, D D; Jiang, P H; Shi, J

    2017-07-04

    Phosphorene has attracted tremendous interest recently due to its intriguing electronic properties. However, the thermal transport properties of phosphorene, especially for its allotropes, are still not well-understood. In this work, we calculate the thermal conductivities of five phosphorene allotropes (α-, β-, γ-, δ- and ζ-phase) by using phonon Boltzmann transport theory combined with first-principles calculations. It is found that the α-phosphorene exhibits considerable anisotropic thermal transport, while it is less obvious in the other four phosphorene allotropes. The highest thermal conductivity is found in the β-phosphorene, followed by the δ-, γ- and ζ-phase. The much lower thermal conductivity of the ζ-phase can be attributed to its relatively complex atomic configuration. It is expected that the rich thermal transport properties of phosphorene allotropes can have potential applications in the thermoelectrics and thermal management.

  18. Low thermal conductivity skutterudites

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fleurial, J P; Caillat, T; Borshchevsky, A

    1997-07-01

    Recent experimental results on semiconductors with the skutterudite crystal structure show that these materials possess attractive transport properties and have a good potential for achieving ZT values substantially larger than for state-of-the-art thermoelectric materials. Both n-type and p-type conductivity samples have been obtained, using several preparation techniques. Associated with a low hole effective mass, very high carrier mobilities, low electrical resistivities and moderate Seebeck coefficients are obtained in p-type skutterudites. For a comparable doping level, the carrier mobilities of n-type samples are about an order of magnitude lower than the values achieved on p-type samples. However, the much larger electron effective masses and Seebeck coefficients on p-type samples. However, the much larger electron effective masses and Seebeck coefficients make n-type skutterudite promising candidates as well. Unfortunately, the thermal conductivities of the binary skutterudites compounds are too large, particularly at low temperatures, to be useful for thermoelectric applications. Several approaches to the reduction of the lattice thermal conductivity in skutterudites are being pursued: heavy doping, formation of solid solutions and alloys, study of novel ternary and filled skutterudite compounds. All those approaches have already resulted in skutterudite compositions with substantially lower thermal conductivity values in these materials. Recently, superior thermoelectric properties in the moderate to high temperature range were achieved for compositions combining alloying and filling of the skutterudite structure. Experimental results and mechanisms responsible for low thermal conductivity in skutterudites are discussed.

  19. Direct current hopping conductance along DNA chain

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Ma Song-Shan; Xu Hui; Liu Xiao-Liang; Li Ming-Jun

    2007-01-01

    This paper proposes a model of direct current(DC) electron hopping transport in DNA,in which DNA is considered as a binary one-dimensional disordered system.To quantitatively study the DC conductivity in DNA,it numerically calculates the DC conductivity of DNA chains with difierent parameter values.The result shows that the DC conductivity of DNA chain increases with the increase of temperature.And the conductivity of DNA chain is depended on the probability P.which represents the degree of compositional disorder in a DNA sequence to some extent.For P<0.5,the conductivity of DNA chain decreases with the increase of P,while for P≥0.5,the conductivity increases with the increase of p.The DC conductivity in DNA chain also varies with the change of the electric field,it presents non-Ohm's law conductivity characteristics.

  20. Heat Conduction of Air in Nano Spacing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zhang Yao-Zhong

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract The scale effect of heat conduction of air in nano spacing (NS is very important for nanodevices to improve their life and efficiency. By constructing a special technique, the changes of heat conduction of air were studied by means of measuring the heat conduction with heat conduction instrument in NS between the hot plate and the cooling plate. Carbon nanotubes were used to produce the nano spacing. The results show that when the spacing is small down to nanometer scale, heat conduction plays a prominent role in NS. It was found that the thickness of air is a non-linear parameter for demarcating the heat conduction of air in NS and the rate of heat conduction in unit area could be regard as a typical parameter for the heat conduction characterization at nanometer scale.

  1. Conductive atomic force microscopy studies on the transformation of GeSi quantum dots to quantum rings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, S L; Xue, F; Wu, R; Cui, J; Jiang, Z M; Yang, X J

    2009-04-01

    Conductive atomic force microscopy has been employed to study the topography and conductance distribution of individual GeSi quantum dots (QDs) and quantum rings (QRs) during the transformation from QDs to QRs by depositing an Si capping layer on QDs. The current distribution changes significantly with the topographic transformation during the Si capping process. Without the capping layer, the QDs are dome-shaped and the conductance is higher at the ring region between the center and boundary than that at the center. After capping with 0.32 nm Si, the shape of the QDs changes to pyramidal and the current is higher at both the center and the arris. When the Si capping layer increases to 2 nm, QRs are formed and the current of individual QRs is higher at the rim than that at the central hole. By comparing the composition distributions obtained by scanning Auger microscopy and atomic force microscopy combined with selective chemical etching, the origin of the current distribution change is discussed.

  2. A percolation approach to study the high electric field effect on electrical conductivity of insulating polymer

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benallou, Amina; Hadri, Baghdad; Martinez-Vega, Juan; El Islam Boukortt, Nour

    2018-04-01

    The effect of percolation threshold on the behaviour of electrical conductivity at high electric field of insulating polymers has been briefly investigated in literature. Sometimes the dead ends links are not taken into account in the study of the electric field effect on the electrical properties. In this work, we present a theoretical framework and Monte Carlo simulation of the behaviour of the electric conductivity at high electric field based on the percolation theory using the traps energies levels which are distributed according to distribution law (uniform, Gaussian, and power-law). When a solid insulating material is subjected to a high electric field, and during trapping mechanism the dead ends of traps affect with decreasing the electric conductivity according to the traps energies levels, the correlation length of the clusters, the length of the dead ends, and the concentration of the accessible positions for the electrons. A reasonably good agreement is obtained between simulation results and the theoretical framework.

  3. Heat conduction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Grigull, U.; Sandner, H.

    1984-01-01

    Included are discussions of rates of heat transfer by conduction, the effects of varying and changing properties, thermal explosions, distributed heat sources, moving heat sources, and non-steady three-dimensional conduction processes. Throughout, the importance of thinking both numerically and symbolically is stressed, as this is essential to the development of the intuitive understanding of numerical values needed for successful designing. Extensive tables of thermophysical properties, including thermal conductivity and diffusivity, are presented. Also included are exact and approximate solutions to many of the problems that arise in practical situations

  4. An Experimental Study on Heat Conduction and Thermal Contact Resistance for the AlN Flake

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Huann-Ming Chou

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available The electrical technology has been a fast development over the past decades. Moreover, the tendency of microelements and dense division multiplex is significantly for the electrical industries. Therefore, the high thermal conductible and electrical insulating device will be popular and important. It is well known that AlN still maintains stablility in the high temperature. This is quite attractive for the research and development department. Moreover, the thermal conduct coefficient of AlN is several times larger than the others. Therefore, it has been thought to play an important role for the radiator of heat source in the future. Therefore, this paper is focused on the studies of heat conduction and thermal contact resistance between the AlN flake and the copper specimens. The heating temperatures and the contact pressures were selected as the experimental parameters. According to the experimental results, the materials are soft and the real contact areas between the interfaces significantly increase under higher temperatures. As a result, the thermal contact resistance significantly decreases and the heat transfer rate increases with increasing the heating temperature or the contact pressures.

  5. Impact of vacancies on the thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbons: A molecular dynamics simulation study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maliha Noshin

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Equilibrium molecular dynamics simulation using 2nd generation Reactive Bond Order interatomic potential has been performed to model the thermal transport of nanometer sized zigzag defected graphene nanoribbons (GNRs containing several types of vacancies. We have investigated the thermal conductivity of defected GNRs as a function of vacancy concentration within a range of 0.5% to 5% and temperature ranging from 300K to 600K, along with a comparative analysis of those for pristine GNRs. We find that, a vacancy concentration of 0.5% leads to over 90% reduction in the thermal conductivity of GNRs. At low defect concentration, the decay rate is faster but ceases gradually at higher defect concentration. With the increasing temperature, thermal conductivity of defected GNRs decreases but shows less variation in comparison with that of pristine GNRs at higher temperatures. Such comprehensive study on several vacancy type defects in GNRs can provide further insight to tune up the thermal transport characteristics of low dimensional carbon nanostructures. This eventually would encourage the characterization of more stable thermal properties in thermal devices at an elevated temperature as well as the potential applicability of GNRs as thermoelectrics.

  6. Thermal Conductivity of Diamond Composites

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fedor M. Shakhov

    2009-12-01

    Full Text Available A major problem challenging specialists in present-day materials sciences is the development of compact, cheap to fabricate heat sinks for electronic devices, primarily for computer processors, semiconductor lasers, high-power microchips, and electronics components. The materials currently used for heat sinks of such devices are aluminum and copper, with thermal conductivities of about 250 W/(m·K and 400 W/(m·K, respectively. Significantly, the thermal expansion coefficient of metals differs markedly from those of the materials employed in semiconductor electronics (mostly silicon; one should add here the low electrical resistivity metals possess. By contrast, natural single-crystal diamond is known to feature the highest thermal conductivity of all the bulk materials studied thus far, as high as 2,200 W/(m·K. Needless to say, it cannot be applied in heat removal technology because of high cost. Recently, SiC- and AlN-based ceramics have started enjoying wide use as heat sink materials; the thermal conductivity of such composites, however, is inferior to that of metals by nearly a factor two. This prompts a challenging scientific problem to develop diamond-based composites with thermal characteristics superior to those of aluminum and copper, adjustable thermal expansion coefficient, low electrical conductivity and a moderate cost, below that of the natural single-crystal diamond. The present review addresses this problem and appraises the results reached by now in studying the possibility of developing composites in diamond-containing systems with a view of obtaining materials with a high thermal conductivity.

  7. Conductivity and optical studies of plasticized solid polymer electrolytes doped with carbon nanotube

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ibrahim, Suriani, E-mail: sue_83@um.edu.my [Advanced Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia); Ahmad, Roslina; Johan, Mohd Rafie [Advanced Materials Research Laboratory, Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Malaya, 50603 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

    2012-01-15

    Solid polymer electrolyte films based on Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) complexed with lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF{sub 6}), ethylene carbonate (EC) and amorphous carbon nanotube ({alpha}CNTs) were prepared by the solution cast technique. The conductivity increases from 10{sup -10} to 10{sup -5} Scm{sup -1} upon the addition of salt. The incorporation of EC and {alpha}CNTs to the salted polymer enhances the conductivity significantly to 10{sup -4} and 10{sup -3} Scm{sup -1}. The complexation of doping materials with polymer were confirmed by X-ray diffraction and infrared studies. Optical properties like direct band gap and indirect band gap were investigated for pure and doped polymer films in the wavelength range 200-400 nm. It was found that the energy gaps and band edge values shifted to lower energies on doping. - Highlights: > Optical band gap values show the decreasing trend with an increasing dopant concentration. > It is also observed that the absorption edge shifted to longer wavelength on doping. > Results of the optical measurements indicate the presence of a well-defined {pi}{yields}{pi}* transition associated with the formation of a conjugated C=O and/or C=O electronic structure.

  8. Conductivity and optical studies of plasticized solid polymer electrolytes doped with carbon nanotube

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ibrahim, Suriani; Ahmad, Roslina; Johan, Mohd Rafie

    2012-01-01

    Solid polymer electrolyte films based on Poly(ethylene oxide) (PEO) complexed with lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF 6 ), ethylene carbonate (EC) and amorphous carbon nanotube (αCNTs) were prepared by the solution cast technique. The conductivity increases from 10 -10 to 10 -5 Scm -1 upon the addition of salt. The incorporation of EC and αCNTs to the salted polymer enhances the conductivity significantly to 10 -4 and 10 -3 Scm -1 . The complexation of doping materials with polymer were confirmed by X-ray diffraction and infrared studies. Optical properties like direct band gap and indirect band gap were investigated for pure and doped polymer films in the wavelength range 200-400 nm. It was found that the energy gaps and band edge values shifted to lower energies on doping. - Highlights: → Optical band gap values show the decreasing trend with an increasing dopant concentration. → It is also observed that the absorption edge shifted to longer wavelength on doping. → Results of the optical measurements indicate the presence of a well-defined π→π* transition associated with the formation of a conjugated C=O and/or C=O electronic structure.

  9. Anisotropy of the nitrogen conduction states in the group III nitrides studied by polarized x-ray absorption

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Lawniczak-Jablonska, K. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA (United States)]|[Institute of Physics, Warsaw (Poland); Liliental-Weber, Z.; Gullikson, E.M. [Lawrence Berkeley National Lab., CA (United States)] [and others

    1997-04-01

    Group III nitrides (AlN, GaN, and InN) consist of the semiconductors which appear recently as a basic materials for optoelectronic devices active in the visible/ultraviolet spectrum as well as high-temperature and high-power microelectronic devices. However, understanding of the basic physical properties leading to application is still not satisfactory. One of the reasons consists in unsufficient knowledge of the band structure of the considered semiconductors. Several theoretical studies of III-nitrides band structure have been published but relatively few experimental studies have been carried out, particularly with respect to their conduction band structure. This motivated the authors to examine the conduction band structure projected onto p-states of the nitrogen atoms for AlN, GaN and InN. An additional advantage of their studies is the availability of the studied nitrides in two structures, hexagonal (wurtzite) and cubic (zincblende). This offers an opportunity to gain information about the role of the anisotropy of electronic band states in determining various physical properties.

  10. Anisotropy of the nitrogen conduction states in the group III nitrides studied by polarized x-ray absorption

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lawniczak-Jablonska, K.; Liliental-Weber, Z.; Gullikson, E.M.

    1997-01-01

    Group III nitrides (AlN, GaN, and InN) consist of the semiconductors which appear recently as a basic materials for optoelectronic devices active in the visible/ultraviolet spectrum as well as high-temperature and high-power microelectronic devices. However, understanding of the basic physical properties leading to application is still not satisfactory. One of the reasons consists in unsufficient knowledge of the band structure of the considered semiconductors. Several theoretical studies of III-nitrides band structure have been published but relatively few experimental studies have been carried out, particularly with respect to their conduction band structure. This motivated the authors to examine the conduction band structure projected onto p-states of the nitrogen atoms for AlN, GaN and InN. An additional advantage of their studies is the availability of the studied nitrides in two structures, hexagonal (wurtzite) and cubic (zincblende). This offers an opportunity to gain information about the role of the anisotropy of electronic band states in determining various physical properties

  11. Job coding (PCS 2003): feedback from a study conducted in an Occupational Health Service

    Science.gov (United States)

    Henrotin, Jean-Bernard; Vaissière, Monique; Etaix, Maryline; Malard, Stéphane; Dziurla, Mathieu; Lafon, Dominique

    2016-10-19

    Aim: To examine the quality of manual job coding carried out by occupational health teams with access to a software application that provides assistance in job and business sector coding (CAPS). Methods: Data from a study conducted in an Occupational Health Service were used to examine the first-level coding of 1,495 jobs by occupational health teams according to the French job classification entitled “PSC- Professions and socio-professional categories” (INSEE, 2003 version). A second level of coding was also performed by an experienced coder and the first and second level codes were compared. Agreement between the two coding systems was studied using the kappa coefficient (κ) and frequencies were compared by Chi2 tests. Results: Missing data or incorrect codes were observed for 14.5% of social groups (1 digit) and 25.7% of job codes (4 digits). While agreement between the first two levels of PCS 2003 appeared to be satisfactory (κ=0.73 and κ=0.75), imbalances in reassignment flows were effectively noted. The divergent job code rate was 48.2%. Variation in the frequency of socio-occupational variables was as high as 8.6% after correcting for missing data and divergent codes. Conclusions: Compared with other studies, the use of the CAPS tool appeared to provide effective coding assistance. However, our results indicate that job coding based on PSC 2003 should be conducted using ancillary data by personnel trained in the use of this tool.

  12. Work – Life Balance Practices in Romanian Organisations – A Pilot Study Conducted on HR Professionals

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ramona IGREȚ

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Work – life balance is becoming a very debated subject in the Romanian business context, especially in multinationals and large Romanian companies. This paper’s main objective is to conduct a pilot study regarding work – life balance practices on human resource professionals from Romania. The study’s main purpose is to validate a research questionnaire in order to conduct a more significant research in the future. The questionnaire was applied on 52 HR specialists from different organisations and is structured on five sections: working hours, WLB practices, holiday and time off, flexible working and information about the employer and the job.

  13. Conductivity, dielectric behavior and FTIR studies of high molecular weight poly(vinylchloride)-lithium triflate polymer electrolytes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ramesh, S. [Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Setapak, 53300 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)]. E-mail: ramesh@mail.utar.edu.my; Chai, M.F. [Faculty of Engineering and Science, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Setapak, 53300 Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

    2007-05-15

    Thin films of high molecular weight polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with lithium triflate (LiCF{sub 3}SO{sub 3}) salt were prepared by solution casting method. The ionic conductivity and dielectric measurements were carried out on these films over a wide frequency regime at various temperatures. The conductivity-temperature plots were found to obey classical Arrhenius relationship. The dielectric behavior was analysed using dielectric permittivity and dielectric modulus of the samples. FTIR studies show some simple overlapping and shift in peaks between high molecular weight polyvinyl chloride (PVC) with lithium triflate (LiCF{sub 3}SO{sub 3}) salt in the polymer electrolyte complexes.

  14. Multidimensional Heat Conduction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rode, Carsten

    1998-01-01

    Analytical theory of multidimensional heat conduction. General heat conduction equation in three dimensions. Steay state, analytical solutions. The Laplace equation. Method of separation of variables. Principle of superposition. Shape factors. Transient, multidimensional heat conduction....

  15. Association of "ADAM10" and "CAMK2A" Polymorphisms with Conduct Disorder: Evidence from Family-Based Studies

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jian, Xue-Qiu; Wang, Ke-Sheng; Wu, Tie-Jian; Hillhouse, Joel J.; Mullersman, Jerald E.

    2011-01-01

    Twin and family studies have shown that genetic factors play a role in the development of conduct disorder (CD). The purpose of this study was to identify genetic variants associated with CD using a family-based association study. We used 4,720 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) from the Illumina Panel and 11,120 SNPs from the Affymetrix 10K…

  16. Hydrogeological study of single water conducting fracture using a crosshole hydraulic test apparatus

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamamoto, Hajime; Shimo, Michito; Yamamoto, Takuya

    1998-03-01

    The Crosshole Injection Test Apparatus has been constructed to evaluate the hydraulic properties and conditions, such as hydraulic conductivity and its anisotropy, storage coefficient, pore pressure etc. within a rock near a drift. The construction started in FY93 and completed on August FY96 as a set of equipments for the use of crosshole hydraulic test, which is composed of one injection borehole instrument, one observation borehole instrument and a set of on-ground instrument. In FY96, in-situ feasibility test was conducted at a 550 m level drift in Kamaishi In Situ Test Site which has been operated by PNC, and the performance of the equipment and its applicability to various types of injection method were confirmed. In this year, a hydrogeological investigation on the single water conducting fracture was conducted at a 250 m level drift in Kamaishi In Situ Test Site, using two boreholes, KCH-3 and KCH-4, both of which are 30 m depth and inclined by 45 degrees from the surface. Pressure responses at the KCH-3 borehole during the drilling of KCH-4 borehole, the results of Borehole TV logging and core observation indicated that a major conductive single-fracture was successfully isolated by the packers. As a result of a series of the single-hole and the crosshole tests (sinusoidal and constant flowrate test), the hydraulic parameters of the single-fracture (such as hydraulic conductivity and storage coefficient) were determined. This report shows all the test result, analysed data, and also describes the hydro-geological structure near the drift. (author)

  17. Diffusion tensor imaging depicting damage to the arcuate fasciculus in patients with conduction aphasia: a study of the Wernicke-Geschwind model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Yumei; Wang, Chunxue; Zhao, Xingquan; Chen, Hongyan; Han, Zaizhu; Wang, Yongjun

    2010-09-01

    In contrast with disorders of comprehension and spontaneous expression, conduction aphasia is characterized by poor repetition, which is a hallmark of the syndrome. There are many theories on the repetition impairment of conduction aphasia. The disconnection theory suggests that a damaged in the arcuate fasciculus, which connects Broca's and Wernicke's area, is the cause of conduction aphasia. In this study, we examined the disconnection theory. We enrolled ten individuals with conduction aphasia and ten volunteers, and analysed their arcuate fasciculus using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and obtained fractional anisotropy (FA) values. Then, the results of the left hemisphere were compared with those of the right hemisphere, and the results of the conduction aphasia cases were compared with those of the volunteers. There were significant differences in the FA values between the left and right hemispheres of volunteers and conduction cases. In volunteers, there was an increase in fiber in the left hemisphere compared with the right hemisphere, whereas there was an increase in fiber in the right hemisphere compared with the left hemisphere in conduction aphasia patients. The results of diffusion tensor tractography suggested that the configuration of the arcuate fasciculus was different between conduction aphasia patients and volunteers, suggesting that there was damage to the arcuate fasciculus of conduction aphasia cases. The damage seen in the arcuate fasciculus of conduction aphasia cases in this study supports the Wernicke-Geschwind disconnection theory. A disconnection between Broca's area and Wernicke's area is likely to be one mechanism of conduction aphasia repetition impairment.

  18. Thermal conductivity model for nanofiber networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Xinpeng; Huang, Congliang; Liu, Qingkun; Smalyukh, Ivan I.; Yang, Ronggui

    2018-02-01

    Understanding thermal transport in nanofiber networks is essential for their applications in thermal management, which are used extensively as mechanically sturdy thermal insulation or high thermal conductivity materials. In this study, using the statistical theory and Fourier's law of heat conduction while accounting for both the inter-fiber contact thermal resistance and the intrinsic thermal resistance of nanofibers, an analytical model is developed to predict the thermal conductivity of nanofiber networks as a function of their geometric and thermal properties. A scaling relation between the thermal conductivity and the geometric properties including volume fraction and nanofiber length of the network is revealed. This model agrees well with both numerical simulations and experimental measurements found in the literature. This model may prove useful in analyzing the experimental results and designing nanofiber networks for both high and low thermal conductivity applications.

  19. Thermal conductivity model for nanofiber networks

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zhao, Xinpeng [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; Huang, Congliang [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; School of Electrical and Power Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou 221116, China; Liu, Qingkun [Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; Smalyukh, Ivan I. [Department of Physics, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; Yang, Ronggui [Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; Materials Science and Engineering Program, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado 80309, USA; Buildings and Thermal Systems Center, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401, USA

    2018-02-28

    Understanding thermal transport in nanofiber networks is essential for their applications in thermal management, which are used extensively as mechanically sturdy thermal insulation or high thermal conductivity materials. In this study, using the statistical theory and Fourier's law of heat conduction while accounting for both the inter-fiber contact thermal resistance and the intrinsic thermal resistance of nanofibers, an analytical model is developed to predict the thermal conductivity of nanofiber networks as a function of their geometric and thermal properties. A scaling relation between the thermal conductivity and the geometric properties including volume fraction and nanofiber length of the network is revealed. This model agrees well with both numerical simulations and experimental measurements found in the literature. This model may prove useful in analyzing the experimental results and designing nanofiber networks for both high and low thermal conductivity applications.

  20. Study of amorphous semiconductors doped with rare earths (Gd and Er) and conducting polymers by EPR techniques and magnetic susceptibility

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sercheli, Mauricio da Silva

    1999-01-01

    This thesis involves the study of amorphous semiconductors and conducting polymers, which have been characterized by EPR and magnetic susceptibility measurements, and to a lesser extent by Raman spectroscopy and RBS. The semiconductors were studied using thin films of silicon doped with rare earth metals, e.g. erbium and gadolinium, which had their magnetic properties studied. Using these studies we could determine the state of valence of the rare earths as well as their concentrations in the silicon matrix. According to our results, the valence of the rare earth metal ions is 3+, and we were able to conclude that 4f electronic shells could not be used for the calculation of the conducting band in this system. Furthermore, the analysis of the data on the magnetic susceptibility of the Er 3+ ion with cubic crystalline acting field, gave us the opportunity to estimate the overall splitting of their electronic states for the first time. The conducting polymers were studied using samples of poly(3-methylthiophene) doped with ClO 4 - , which show a phase transition in the range of 230 K to 130 K. The electron paramagnetic resonance also gives important information on the crystallization, doping level and the presence of polarons or bipolarons in conducting polymers. (author)

  1. Paramagnetic resonance and electronic conduction in organic semiconductors; Resonance paramagnetique et conduction electroniques dans les semi-conducteurs organiques

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Nechtschein, M. [Commissariat a l' energie atomique et aux energies alternatives - CEA, Laboratoire de Resonance Magnetique (France)

    1963-07-01

    As some organic bodies simultaneously display semi-conducting properties and a paramagnetism, this report addresses the study of conduction in organic bodies. The author first briefly recalls how relationships between conductibility and Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) can be noticed in a specific case (mineral and metallic semiconductors). He discusses published results related to paramagnetism and conductibility in organic bodies. He reviews various categories of organic bodies in which both properties are simultaneously present. He notably addresses radical molecular crystals, non-radical molecular crystals, charge transfer complexes, pyrolyzed coals, and pseudo-ferromagnetic organic structures. He discusses the issue of relationships between conduction (charge transfer by electrons) and ERP (which reveals the existence of non-paired electrons which provide free spins)

  2. The Measurement of Thermal Conductivities of Silica and Carbon Black Powders at Different pressures by Thermal COnductivity Probe

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    X.G.Liang; X.S.Ge; 等

    1992-01-01

    This investigation was done to study the gas filled powder insulation and thermal conductivity probe for the measurent of thermal conductivity of powders.The mathematical analysis showed that the heat capacity of the probe itself and the thermal rsistance between the probe and powder must be considered .The authors developed a slender probe and measured the effective thermal conductivity of sillca and carbon black powders under a variety of conditions.

  3. Thermal conductivity of a two-dimensional phosphorene sheet: a comparative study with graphene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hong, Yang; Zhang, Jingchao; Huang, Xiaopeng; Zeng, Xiao Cheng

    2015-11-28

    A recently discovered two-dimensional (2D) layered material phosphorene has attracted considerable interest as a promising p-type semiconducting material. In this work, thermal conductivity (κ) of monolayer phosphorene is calculated using large-scale classical non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations. The predicted thermal conductivities for infinite length armchair and zigzag phosphorene sheets are 63.6 and 110.7 W m(-1) K(-1) respectively. The strong anisotropic thermal transport is attributed to the distinct atomic structures at altered chiral directions and direction-dependent group velocities. Thermal conductivities of 2D graphene sheets with the same dimensions are also computed for comparison. The extrapolated κ of the 2D graphene sheet are 1008.5(+37.6)(-37.6) and 1086.9(+59.1)(-59.1) W m(-1) K(-1) in the armchair and zigzag directions, respectively, which are an order of magnitude higher than those of phosphorene. The overall and decomposed phonon density of states (PDOS) are calculated in both structures to elucidate their thermal conductivity differences. In comparison with graphene, the vibrational frequencies that can be excited in phosphorene are severely limited. The temperature effect on the thermal conductivity of phosphorene and graphene sheets is investigated, which reveals a monotonic decreasing trend for both structures.

  4. Conductivity percolation in loosely compacted microcrystalline cellulose: An in situ study by dielectric spectroscopy during densification.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nilsson, Martin; Frenning, Göran; Gråsjö, Johan; Alderborn, Göran; Strømme, Maria

    2006-10-19

    The present study aims at contributing to a complete understanding of the water-induced ionic charge transport in cellulose. The behavior of this transport in loosely compacted microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) powder was investigated as a function of density utilizing a new type of measurement setup, allowing for dielectric spectroscopy measurement in situ during compaction. The ionic conductivity in MCC was found to increase with increasing density until a leveling-out was observed for densities above approximately 0.7 g/cm3. Further, it was shown that the ionic conductivity vs density followed a percolation type behavior signifying the percolation of conductive paths in a 3D conducting network. The density percolation threshold was found to be between approximately 0.2 and 0.4 g/cm3, depending strongly on the cellulose moisture content. The observed percolation behavior was attributed to the forming of interparticulate bonds in the MCC and the percolation threshold dependence on moisture was linked to the moisture dependence of particle rearrangement and plastic deformation in MCC during compaction. The obtained results add to the understanding of the density-dependent water-induced ionic transport in cellulose showing that, at given moisture content, the two major parameters determining the magnitude of the conductivity are the connectedness of the interparticluate bonds and the connectedness of pores with a diameter in the 5-20 nm size range. At densities between approximately 0.7 and 1.2 g/cm3 both the bond and the pore networks have percolated, facilitating charge transport through the MCC compact.

  5. Money Ethic, Moral Conduct and Work Related Attitudes: Field Study From the Public Sector in Swaziland

    OpenAIRE

    Gbadamosi, Gbolahan; Joubert, P.

    2005-01-01

    Purpose \\ud This study investigates perception of ethical and moral conduct in the public sector in Swaziland, specifically, the relationship among: money ethic, attitude towards business ethics, corruption perception, turnover intention, job performance, job satisfaction, and the demographic profile of respondents.\\ud Methodology/Approach\\ud The study was a survey using self-administered questionnaires. Using stratified sampling technique in selected organisations, usable data was collected ...

  6. A numerical study on the flow and performance characteristics of a piezoelectric micropump with electromagnetic resistance for electrically conducting fluids

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    An, Yong Jun; Choi, Chung Ryul; Kim, Chang Nyung

    2008-01-01

    A numerical analysis has been conducted for flow characteristics and performance of a micropump with piezodisk and MHD (MagnetoHydroDynamics) fluid. Various micro systems which could not be considered in the past have been recently growing with the development of MEMS (Micro Electro Mechanical System) and micro machining technology. Especially, micropumps, essential part of micro fluidic devices, are being lively studied by many researchers. In the present study, the piezo electric micropump with electromagnetic resistance for electrically conducting fluids is considered. The prescribed grid deformation method is used for the displacement of the membrane. The change of the performance of the micropump and flow characteristics of the electrically conducting fluid with the magnitude of the magnetic fields, duct size, the position of the inlet and outlet duct are investigated in the present study

  7. Structural, dielectric and AC conductivity study of Sb2O3 thin film ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    52

    However, to date, no reports have appeared on impedance spectroscopy, modulus behavior, electrical conductivity, dielectric relaxation and dielectric properties of crystalline Sb2O3 thin films. This paper deals for the first time with the frequency and temperature dependence of AC conductivity and complex electric modulus ...

  8. Heat conduction within linear thermoelasticity

    CERN Document Server

    Day, William Alan

    1985-01-01

    J-B. J. FOURIER'S immensely influential treatise Theorie Analytique de la Chaleur [21J, and the subsequent developments and refinements of FOURIER's ideas and methods at the hands of many authors, provide a highly successful theory of heat conduction. According to that theory, the growth or decay of the temperature e in a conducting body is governed by the heat equation, that is, by the parabolic partial differential equation Such has been the influence of FOURIER'S theory, which must forever remain the classical theory in that it sets the standard against which all other theories are to be measured, that the mathematical investigation of heat conduction has come to be regarded as being almost identicalt with the study of the heat equation, and the reader will not need to be reminded that intensive analytical study has t But not entirely; witness, for example, those theories which would replace the heat equation by an equation which implies a finite speed of propagation for the temperature. The reader is refe...

  9. Trust Building Recruitment Strategies for Researchers Conducting Studies in African American (AA) Churches: Lessons Learned.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonner, Gloria; Williams, Sharon; Wilkie, Diana; Hart, Alysha; Burnett, Glenda; Peacock, Geraldine

    2017-12-01

    An initial and vital important step in recruiting participants for church-based hospice and palliative care research is the establishment of trust and credibility within the church community. Mistrust of medical research is an extremely important barrier hindering recruitment in African American (AA) communities. A church-based EOL dementia education project is currently being conducted at four large urban AA churches. Church leaders voiced mistrust concerns of previous researchers who conducted investigations in their faith-based institutions. We explored strategies to ameliorate the mistrust concerns. Specific aim: To identify trust-rebuilding elements for researchers following others who violated trust of AA church leaders. Face-to-face, in-depth interviews were conducted from a convenient sample of four established AA church leaders. Interviews were held in the informants' churches to promote candor and comfort in revealing sensitive information about trust /mistrust. Content analysis framework was used to analyze the data. Elements identified from the analysis were then used to create themes. Multidimensional overarching themes emerged from the analysis included: Experience with researchers (positive and extremely negative), violation of trust and trust building strategies. Findings suggest that researchers who wish to conduct successful studies in the AA religious institutions must implement trust rebuilding strategies that include mutual respect, collaboration and partnership building. If general moral practices continue to be violated, threat to future hospice and palliative care research within the institutions may prevail. Thus, potential benefits are thwarted for the church members, AA community, and advancement of EOL care scholarship.

  10. Central Motor Conduction Studies and Diagnostic Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Children with Severe Primary and Secondary Dystonia

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClelland, Verity; Mills, Kerry; Siddiqui, Ata; Selway, Richard; Lin, Jean-Pierre

    2011-01-01

    Aim: Dystonia in childhood has many causes. Imaging may suggest corticospinal tract dysfunction with or without coexistent basal ganglia damage. There are very few published neurophysiological studies on children with dystonia; one previous study has focused on primary dystonia. We investigated central motor conduction in 62 children (34 males, 28…

  11. Thermal conductivities of ThO{sub 2}, NpO{sub 2} and their related oxides: Molecular dynamics study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Arima, Tatsumi, E-mail: arima@nucl.kyushu-u.ac.jp; Yoshida, Keita; Matsumoto, Taku; Inagaki, Yaohiro; Idemitsu, Kazuya

    2014-02-01

    The thermal conductivities of ThO{sub 2}, NpO{sub 2}, (Th, U)O{sub 2}, (Th, Pu)O{sub 2} and (U, Np)O{sub 2} have been investigated by molecular dynamics (MD) simulation up to 2000 K using the Busing–Ida potential function with partial ionic charges. In the present study, the thermal conductivity was calculated mainly by the Green–Kubo formula in the equilibrium MD scheme. The thermal conductivities of above actinide dioxides decreased with the increase of temperature due to the phonon–phonon interaction (Umklapp process). Concerning the composition of solid solutions, the decrease in thermal conductivity of (Th, Pu)O{sub 2} is great as compared to other ones. Various MD calculations elucidated that this result was caused by phonon scattering by lattice defects as additives rather than the phonon–phonon interaction, and that the lattice strain dominantly contributed to it.

  12. Renal studies in safety pharmacology and toxicology: A survey conducted in the top 15 pharmaceutical companies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Benjamin, Amanda; Gallacher, David J; Greiter-Wilke, Andrea; Guillon, Jean-Michel; Kasai, Cheiko; Ledieu, David; Levesque, Paul; Prelle, Katja; Ratcliffe, Sian; Sannajust, Frederick; Valentin, Jean-Pierre

    2015-01-01

    With the recent development of more sensitive biomarkers to assess kidney injury preclinically, a survey was designed i) to investigate what strategies are used to investigate renal toxicity in both ICH S7A compliant Safety Pharmacology (SP) studies after a single dose of a compound and within repeat-dose toxicity studies by large pharmaceutical companies today; ii) to understand whether renal SP studies have impact or utility in drug development and/or if it may be more appropriate to assess renal effects after multiple doses of compounds; iii) to ascertain how much mechanistic work is performed by the top 15 largest pharmaceutical companies (as determined by R&D revenue size); iv) to gain an insight into the impact of the validation of DIKI biomarkers and their introduction in the safety evaluation paradigm; and v) to understand the impact of renal/urinary safety study data on progression of projects. Two short anonymous surveys were submitted to SP leaders of the top 15 pharmaceutical companies, as defined by 2012 R&D portfolio size. Fourteen multiple choice questions were designed to explore the strategies used to investigate renal effects in both ICH S7A compliant SP studies and within toxicology studies. A 67% and 60% response rate was obtained in the first and second surveys, respectively. Nine out of ten respondent companies conduct renal excretory measurements (eg. urine analysis) in toxicology studies whereas only five out of ten conduct specific renal SP studies; and all of those 5 also conduct the renal excretory measurements in toxicology studies. These companies measure and/or calculate a variety of parameters as part of these studies, and also on a case by case basis include regulatory qualified and non-qualified DIKI biomarkers. Finally, only one company has used renal/urinary functional data alone to stop a project, whereas the majority of respondents combine renal data with other target organ assessments to form an integrated decision-making set

  13. Conductivity in redox modified conducting polymers. In-situ conductivity of poly(cyclopentadithiophenes) bearing p-nitrophenyl and 4-N-methylpyridinium groups

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Zotti, G. [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, (Italy). Istituto di Polarografia ed Elettrochimica Preparativa; Berlin, A. [Milan Univ. (Italy). Dipartimento di Chimica Organica e Industriale; Pagani, G. [Milan Univ. (Italy). Dipartimento di Chimica Organica e Industriale; Schiavon, G. [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, (Italy). Istituto di Polarografia ed Elettrochimica Preparativa; Zecchin, S. [Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, (Italy). Istituto di Polarografia ed Elettrochimica Preparativa

    1995-01-01

    Redox-modified polythiophenes exhibiting the highest mixed-valence conductivities of any polymer containing a pendant redox group are reported. The ordering of the polymer, in which the backbone has been oxidized to a bipolaron conducting state and the redox sites have been reduced to a mixed-valence conducting state, encourages inter-site hopping and results in the high conductivities. Electron interactions are shown not have an influence on the conduction. (orig.)

  14. Bilateral bone conduction devices: improved hearing ability in children with bilateral conductive hearing loss.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dun, Catharina A J; Agterberg, Martijn J H; Cremers, Cor W R J; Hol, Myrthe K S; Snik, Ad F M

    2013-01-01

    The aim of the study was to investigate whether children with bilateral conductive hearing loss benefit from their second device (i.e., the bilateral bone conduction device [BCD]). Speech recognition in noise was assessed in 10 children fitted with bilateral BCDs during childhood. Speech recognition was measured in 2 conditions with both BCDs active. Spatial resolution was tested with the Minimum Audible Angle test in the bilateral and monaural listening conditions. Children demonstrated an improvement in speech recognition when speech was presented from the front and noise was presented from the right-hand side as compared with both speech and noise being presented from the front. The minimum audible angle decreased from 57° in the best monaural condition to 13° in the bilateral condition. The audiological outcomes demonstrate the advantage of bilateral BCD fitting in children with bilateral conductive hearing loss.

  15. Conductance of single atoms and molecules studied with a scanning tunnelling microscope

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Neel, N; Kroeger, J; Limot, L; Berndt, R

    2007-01-01

    The conductance of single atoms and molecules is investigated with a low-temperature scanning tunnelling microscope. In a controlled and reproducible way, clean Ag(111) surfaces, individual silver atoms on Ag(111) as well as individual C 60 molecules adsorbed on Cu(100) are contacted with the tip of the microscope. Upon contact the conductance changes discontinuously in the case of the tip-surface junction while the tip-atom and tip-molecule junctions exhibit a continuous transition from the tunnelling to the contact regime

  16. Air conducted and body conducted sound produced by own voice

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hansen, Mie Østergaard

    1998-01-01

    When we speak, sound reaches our ears both through the air, from the mouth to ear, and through our body, as vibrations. The ratio between the air borne and body conducted sound has been studied in a pilot experiment where the air borne sound was eliminated by isolating the ear with a large...... attenuation box. The ratio was found to lie between -15 dB to -7 dB, below 1 kHz, comparable with theoretical estimations. This work is part of a broader study of the occlusion effect and the results provide important input data for modelling the sound pressure change between an open and an occluded ear canal....

  17. Current distribution in conducting nanowire networks

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Ankush; Vidhyadhiraja, N. S.; Kulkarni, Giridhar U.

    2017-07-01

    Conducting nanowire networks find diverse applications in solar cells, touch-screens, transparent heaters, sensors, and various related transparent conducting electrode (TCE) devices. The performances of these devices depend on effective resistance, transmittance, and local current distribution in these networks. Although, there have been rigorous studies addressing resistance and transmittance in TCE, not much attention is paid on studying the distribution of current. Present work addresses this compelling issue of understanding current distribution in TCE networks using analytical as well as Monte-Carlo approaches. We quantified the current carrying backbone region against isolated and dangling regions as a function of wire density (ranging from percolation threshold to many multiples of threshold) and compared the wired connectivity with those obtained from template-based methods. Further, the current distribution in the obtained backbone is studied using Kirchhoff's law, which reveals that a significant fraction of the backbone (which is believed to be an active current component) may not be active for end-to-end current transport due to the formation of intervening circular loops. The study shows that conducting wire based networks possess hot spots (extremely high current carrying regions) which can be potential sources of failure. The fraction of these hot spots is found to decrease with increase in wire density, while they are completely absent in template based networks. Thus, the present work discusses unexplored issues related to current distribution in conducting networks, which are necessary to choose the optimum network for best TCE applications.

  18. Experimental determination of thermal conductivity and gap conductance of fuel rod for HTGR

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kikuchi, Teruo; Iwamoto, Kazumi; Ikawa, Katsuichi; Ishimoto, Kiyoshi

    1985-01-01

    The thermal conductivity of fuel compacts and the gap conductance between the fuel compact and the graphite sleeve in fuel rods for a high-temperature gas-cooled reactor (HTGR) were measured by the center heating method. These measurements were made as functions of volume percent particle loading and temperature for thermal conductivity and as functions of gap distance and gas composition for gap conductance. The thermal conductivity of fuel compacts decreases with increasing temperature and with increasing particle loading. The gap conductance increases with increasing temperature and decrease with increasing gap distance. A good gap conductance was observed with helium fill gas. It was seen that the gap conductance was dependent on the thermal conductivity of fill gas and conductance by radiation and could be neglected the conductance through solid-solid contact points of fuel compact and graphite sleeve. (author)

  19. On non-extensive nature of thermal conductivity

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    Abstract. In this paper we study non-extensive nature of thermal conductivity. It is observed that there is similarity between non-extensive entropic index and fractal dimension obtained for the silica aerogel thermal conductivity data at low temperature.

  20. [Conduction block: a notion to let through].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fournier, E

    2012-12-01

    Historical study of electrodiagnosis indicates that nerve conduction block is an old notion, used as early as the second century by Galien and then early in the 19th by physiologists such as Müller and Mateucci. Although introduced into the field of human pathology by Mitchell in 1872, who used it to study nerve injuries, and then by Erb in 1874 to study radial palsy, the contribution of nerve conduction blocks to electrodiagnosis was not exploited until the 1980s. At that time, attempts to improve early diagnosis of Guillain-Barré syndrome showed that among the electrophysiological consequences of demyelination, conduction block was the most appropriate to account for the paralysis. At the same time, descriptions of neuropathies characterized by conduction blocks led to considering conduction block as a major electrophysiological sign. Why was it so difficult for this sign to be retained for electrodiagnosis? Since the notion is not always associated with anatomical lesions, it doesn't fit easily into anatomoclinical reasoning, but has to be thought of in functional terms. Understanding how an uninjured axon could fail to conduct action potentials leads to an examination of the intimate consequences of demyelinations and axonal dysfunctions. But some of the difficulty encountered in adding this new old sign to the armamentarium of electrophysiological diagnosis was related to the technical precautions required to individualize a block. Several pitfalls have to be avoided if a conduction block is to be afforded real diagnostic value. Similar precautions and discussions are also needed to establish an opposing sign, the "excitability block" or "inverse block". Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  1. Tailoring highly conductive graphene nanoribbons from small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a computational study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bilić, A; Sanvito, S

    2013-07-10

    Pyrene, the smallest two-dimensional mesh of aromatic rings, with various terminal thiol substitutions, has been considered as a potential molecular interconnect. Charge transport through two terminal devices has been modeled using density functional theory (with and without self interaction correction) and the non-equilibrium Green's function method. A tetra-substituted pyrene, with dual thiol terminal groups at opposite ends, has been identified as an excellent candidate, owing to its high conductance, virtually independent of bias voltage. The two possible extensions of its motif generate two series of graphene nanoribbons, with zigzag and armchair edges and with semimetallic and semiconducting electron band structure, respectively. The effects related to the wire length and the bias voltage on the charge transport have been investigated for both sets. The conductance of the nanoribbons with a zigzag edge does not show either length or voltage dependence, owing to an almost perfect electron transmission with a continuum of conducting channels. In contrast, for the armchair nanoribbons a slow exponential attenuation of the conductance with the length has been found, due to their semiconducting nature.

  2. Study on phase stability and ionic conductivity in HfIV-substituted bismuth vanadate

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Beg, Saba; Al-Areqi, Niyazi A.S.

    2009-01-01

    Influence of dopant concentration on thermal behaviour of Bi 4 Hf x V 2-x O 11-(x/2)-δ was studied over composition range 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.40 by combination of data obtained from X-ray powder diffraction, differential scanning calorimetric and conductivity measurements. For very low dopant concentrations, the system was found to mimic the parent compound in exhibiting two consecutive transitions,α ↔ β ↔ γ, with slightly different onset temperatures compared to that of parent, whereas the existence of β ↔ γ transition was well confirmed in composition range 0.15 ≤ x ≤ 0.20 and typified in Arrhenius plots to two line regions of different activation energy. For composition range 0.25 ≤ x ≤ 0.40, no significant structural changes associated with γ' ↔ γ transition is visible in X-ray powder diffraction data with variable temperature. Despite this, the existence of γ' ↔ γ transition was evident by some complex incommensurate modulations observed in Arrhenius plots and DSC/DTA thermograms. It was surprising to note the appearance of a new destructive γ ↔ β' transition, resulting from distortion of the tetragonal phase structure at higher temperatures. The relationship between phase stability and ionic conductivity was also rationalized.

  3. Conductivity bound from dirty black holes

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bitaghsir Fadafan, Kazem, E-mail: bitaghsir@shahroodut.ac.ir

    2016-11-10

    We propose a lower bound of the dc electrical conductivity in strongly disordered, strongly interacting quantum field theories using holography. We study linear response of black holes with broken translational symmetry in Einstein–Maxwell-dilaton theories of gravity. Using the generalized Stokes equations at the horizon, we derive the lower bound of the electrical conductivity for the dual two dimensional disordered field theory.

  4. Experimental study on dynamic stabilization of the MHD instability in pinch plasmas surrounded by a conducting shell

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamamoto, Shunji; Ishii, Shozo; Kawamoto, Shigeshi; Hayashi, Izumi

    1981-01-01

    Experimental study on the dynamic stabilization of MHD instability with a pinch plasma generator was done, and the results were compared with the theoretical works. The previous results of theoretical analysis showed that a conducting shell worked effectively for the dynamic stabilization of MHD instability. The present experiment was carried out with a linear plasma generator which consisted of a discharge tube, a coil and a conducting shell. The macroscopic behavior of plasma was observed with an image converter camera, and the phenomena due to the instability was measured by a magnetic probe. A sine-cosine coil was employed for the observation of the growth of instability. The following results were obtained. When the frequency of RF current for dynamic stabilization was larger than the growth rate of instability, the experimental results were in agreement with the theoretical ones. The effect of a conducting shell was clearly seen. For the helical instability of short wave length, the dynamic stabilization was easily obtained even without a conducting shell. The self-reversal phenomena due to the helical instability of short wave length was suppressed by the RF current along the axis of a discharge tube. (Kato, T.)

  5. Electrical conductivity in polyacrylonitrile and perbunan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Migahed, M.D.; Bakr, N.A.; Tawansi, A.

    1981-07-01

    The electrical conduction in Ag-PAN-Ag and Ag-NBR-Ag sandwich samples is studied measuring the dependence of current on the applied voltage and temperature. The conduction mechanism depends on the polymer type. A bulk polarization contribution is suggested in the conduction mechanism at high temperatures besides the Schottky emission in the case of PAN and simple carrier jump model in the case of NBR at room temperature. NBR(28) is proved to be more semiconducting than both NBR(38) and PAN. This is attributed to the lowering of the nitrile group content in NBR(28). (author)

  6. A Morphology Study of Nanofiller Networks in Polymer Nanocomposites: Improving Their Electrical Conductivity through Better Doping Strategies

    KAUST Repository

    Mora Cordova, Angel

    2018-01-01

    to systematically analyze conductive networks and show how particles are arranged. A definition of loading efficiency is provided based on the results obtained from this morphology analysis. This study provides useful guidelines for designing these types

  7. BF3-doped polyaniline: A novel conducting polymer

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    During the past two decades, both fundamental and applied research in conducting polymers has grown enormously [1]. Polyaniline (PANI) owing to its ease of synthe- sis, remarkable environmental stability, and high conductivity in the doped form, has remained one of the most thoroughly studied conducting polymers.

  8. Controlling Thermal Conduction by Graded Materials

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ji, Qin; Huang, Ji-Ping

    2018-04-01

    Manipulating thermal conductivities are fundamentally important for controlling the conduction of heat at will. Thermal cloaks and concentrators, which have been extensively studied recently, are actually graded materials designed according to coordinate transformation approaches, and their effective thermal conductivity is equal to that of the host medium outside the cloak or concentrator. Here we attempt to investigate a more general problem: what is the effective thermal conductivity of graded materials? In particular, we perform a first-principles approach to the analytic exact results of effective thermal conductivities of materials possessing either power-law or linear gradation profiles. On the other hand, by solving Laplace’s equation, we derive a differential equation for calculating the effective thermal conductivity of a material whose thermal conductivity varies along the radius with arbitrary gradation profiles. The two methods agree with each other for both external and internal heat sources, as confirmed by simulation and experiment. This work provides different methods for designing new thermal metamaterials (including thermal cloaks and concentrators), in order to control or manipulate the transfer of heat. Support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 11725521, by the Science and Technology Commission of Shanghai Municipality under Grant No. 16ZR1445100

  9. Intoxicação por Senecio brasiliensis em bezerros: padrão e evolução de lesões hepáticas

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Welden Panziera

    Full Text Available RESUMO: Intoxicações por plantas do gênero Senecio representam uma importante causa de morte em bovinos no Rio Grande do Sul e estima-se que mais de 50% das mortes causadas por plantas tóxicas devem-se à intoxicação por Senecio spp. Nesse trabalho, são descritos os aspectos epidemiológicos, clínicos e anatomopatológicos de um surto de intoxicação natural por Senecio brasiliensis em bezerros e a caracterização e evolução das lesões hepáticas durante o surto. Um lote com 206 bovinos, fêmeas, sem raça definida, foi desmamado com aproximadamente quatro meses de idade e soltos em campo nativo com 25 hectares, contendo grande quantidade de Senecio brasiliensis em diferentes estágios. Os bovinos permaneceram nesse campo durante três meses e posteriormente foram transferidos para outra área. Na nova área, seis bezerras, com idades entre sete a oito meses, começaram a apresentar sinais clínicos de emagrecimento, fraqueza, diarreia e edema subcutâneo de declive na região submandibular. Os seis bovinos morreram em um período de 15 dias e um deles foi necropsiado. Macroscopicamente, foi visualizado o primeiro dos três padrões distintos de lesão hepática dos bovinos desse surto, que se caracterizava por um fígado aumentado de tamanho, com os bordos arredondados e com superfície capsular e de corte alaranjada. Histologicamente havia acentuada degeneração vacuolar hepatocelular difusa, bilestase, megalocitose e leve proliferação de ductos biliares e fibrose periportal. Dois meses após o início do surto, constatou-se que em um período de 20 dias adoeceram mais 28 bezerras e, dessas, 14 morreram. Os bovinos acometidos nessa segunda visita tinham idades entre nove a 10 meses. O principal sinal clínico observado foi fotossensibilização, e incluía graus variados de fotofobia, lacrimejamento, salivação excessiva, descarga ocular mucopurulenta, secreção nasal e glossite diftérica ventral. Das 14 bezerras mortas

  10. A study of tritium behavior in lithium oxide by ion conductivity measurements

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Noda, Kenji; Ishii, Yoshinobu; Ohno, Hideo; Watanabe, Hitoshi

    1989-01-01

    Ion conductivity of lithium oxide (Li 2 O) irradiated with oxygen ions was measured to obtain information about the effects of irradiation on the behavior of lithium ions and tritium. The conductivity around 490 K decreased with the ion fluence, while around 440 K it increased. The decrease around 490 K and the increase around 440 K were assumed to be attributed to the F + centers and the unspecified radiation defects, respectively. From the point of view that the rate determinant in the mechanism of diffusion of lithium ions in Li 2 O leading to the ion conductivity is the same as that of tritium, the diffusivity of tritium is assumed to be as follows: the diffusivity of tritium is decreased by the F + centers in the range from 490 K to the temperature at which almost all of F + centers are recovered, while it is increased around 440 K by the unspecified radiation defects. In addition, effects of the irradiation on valence states of tritium (i.e., T + , T - ) were discussed in terms of the radiation defects. (orig.)

  11. Heat conduction in chain polymer liquids: molecular dynamics study on the contributions of inter- and intramolecular energy transfer.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohara, Taku; Yuan, Tan Chia; Torii, Daichi; Kikugawa, Gota; Kosugi, Naohiro

    2011-07-21

    In this paper, the molecular mechanisms which determine the thermal conductivity of long chain polymer liquids are discussed, based on the results observed in molecular dynamics simulations. Linear n-alkanes, which are typical polymer molecules, were chosen as the target of our studies. Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations of bulk liquid n-alkanes under a constant temperature gradient were performed. Saturated liquids of n-alkanes with six different chain lengths were examined at the same reduced temperature (0.7T(c)), and the contributions of inter- and intramolecular energy transfer to heat conduction flux, which were identified as components of heat flux by the authors' previous study [J. Chem. Phys. 128, 044504 (2008)], were observed. The present study compared n-alkane liquids with various molecular lengths at the same reduced temperature and corresponding saturated densities, and found that the contribution of intramolecular energy transfer to the total heat flux, relative to that of intermolecular energy transfer, increased with the molecular length. The study revealed that in long chain polymer liquids, thermal energy is mainly transferred in the space along the stiff intramolecular bonds. This finding implies a connection between anisotropic thermal conductivity and the orientation of molecules in various organized structures with long polymer molecules aligned in a certain direction, which includes confined polymer liquids and self-organized structures such as membranes of amphiphilic molecules in water.

  12. Correlating nerve conduction studies and clinical outcome measures on carpal tunnel syndrome: lessons from a randomized controlled trial

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Schrijver, H.M.; Gerritsen, A.A.M.; Strijers, R.L.; Uitdehaag, B.M.J.; Scholten, R.J.P.M.; de Vet, H.C.W.; Bouter, L.M.

    2005-01-01

    The reported relationships between nerve conduction studies (NCS) and outcome measures in carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) are weak to moderate. However, selection of patients may have confounded nonrandomized studies. NCS have potentially great value in selecting patients for a specific treatment and

  13. Study on Exploding Wire Compression for Evaluating Electrical Conductivity in Warm-Dense Diamond-Like-Carbon

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sasaki, Toru; Takahashi, Kazumasa; Kudo, Takahiro; Kikuchi, Takashi; Aso, Tsukasa; Harada, Nob.; Fujioka, Shinsuke; Horioka, Kazuhiko

    2016-01-01

    To improve a coupling efficiency for the fast ignition scheme of the inertial confinement fusion, fast electron behaviors as a function of an electrical conductivity are required. To evaluate the electrical conductivity for low-Z materials as a diamond-like-carbon (DLC), we have proposed a concept to investigate the properties of warm dense matter (WDM) by using pulsed-power discharges. The concept of the evaluation of DLC for WDM is a shock compression driven by an exploding wire discharge with confined by a rigid capillary. The qualitatively evaluation of the electrical conductivity for the WDM DLC requires a small electrical conductivity of the exploding wire. To analyze the electrical conductivity of exploding wire, we have demonstrated an exploding wire discharge in water for gold. The results indicated that the electrical conductivity of WDM gold for 5000 K of temperature has an insulator regime. It means that the shock compression driven by the exploding wire discharge with confined by the rigid capillary is applied for the evaluation of electrical conductivity for WDM DLC. (paper)

  14. Photoinduced conductivity in tin dioxide thin films

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Muraoka, Y.; Takubo, N.; Hiroi, Z.

    2009-01-01

    The effects of ultraviolet light irradiation on the conducting properties of SnO 2-x thin films grown epitaxially on TiO 2 or Al 2 O 3 single-crystal substrates are studied at room temperature. A large increase in conductivity by two to four orders of magnitude is observed with light irradiation in an inert atmosphere and remains after the light is removed. The high-conducting state reverts to the original low-conducting state by exposing it to oxygen gas. These reversible phenomena are ascribed to the desorption and adsorption of negatively charged oxygen species at the grain boundaries, which critically change the mobility of electron carriers already present inside grains by changing the potential barrier height at the grain boundary. The UV light irradiation provides us with an easy and useful route to achieve a high-conducting state even at low carrier density in transparent conducting oxides and also to draw an invisible conducting wire or a specific pattern on an insulating film.

  15. Geothermal characteristics of the molasse basin (pilot study - thermal conductivity); Geothermische Eigenschaften des Molassebeckens (Pilotstudie - Waermeleitfaehigkeit)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Leu, W; Greber, E [Geoform, Geologische Beratungen und Studien AG, Winterthur (Switzerland); Hopkirk, R J [Polydynamics Engineering, Maennedorf (Switzerland); Keller, B [Mengis und Lorenz AG, Luzern (Switzerland); Rybach, L [ETH Hoenggerberg, Zuerich (Switzerland). Inst. fuer Geophysik und Radiometrie

    1997-12-01

    Detailed knowledge of the geothermal properties (thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity) of the undergorund becomes more and more important with increasing exploitation of geothermal resources by deep vertical borehole heat exchangers or by seasonal storage installations. For this pilot study all existing thermal conductivity data of the Swiss Molasse were compiled and supplemented with new laboratory measurements on core and cutting samples from deep wells (2.5 to 3.0 W/mK). In a second step top-to-bottom thermal conductivity profiles were calculated from geophysical well logs. These profiles show a clear dependence on lithology and variations in thermal conductivity of up to 1 W/mK over 50-200 m thick intervals. In clay-rich lithofacies thermal conductivity is only slightly dependent on the sedimentary architecture, whereas, in sandy facies obvious distinctions are possible. The modelling of a theoretical 750 m long vertical borehole heat exchanger shows that the potential quality of extractable heat increases or decreases by up to 20% by varying the thermal conductivity with only {+-}0.5 W/mK. (orig.) [Deutsch] Fuer die Nutzung geothermischer Ressourcen mit tiefen Erdwaermesonden und saisonalen Speicheranlagen werden detaillierte Kenntnisse der geothermischen Eigenschaften (Waermeleitfaehigkeit und Waemekapazitaet) des Untergrundes zunehmend wichtig. Im Rahmen dieser Pilotstudie wurden saemtliche verfuegbaren Waermeleitfaehigkeits-Daten von Schweizer Molassegesteinen kompiliert und mit Neumessungen an Kern- und Cuttingsmaterial von Tiefbohrungen ergaenzt (2.5 bis 3.0 W/mK). In einem zweiten Schritt wurden Waermeleitfaehigkeits-Profile mit geophysikalischen Bohr-Logs berechnet. Diese Profile zeigen eine deutliche Abhaengigkeit von der Lithologie mit einer Variation der Waermeleitfaehigkeit von bis zu 1 W/mK ueber 50-200 m maechtige Intervalle. In den tonigen Lithologien kann nur eine schwache Abhaengigkeit der Waermeleitfaehigkeit von der sedimentaeren

  16. Study of the Effect on Ionic Conductivity and Structral Morphology of the SR Doped Lanthanum Gallate Solid Electrolyte

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sood, Kapil; Singh, K.; Pandey, O. P.

    2013-07-01

    In the present study, lanthanum gallate and Sr-doped lanthanum gallate samples were prepared by conventional solid state reaction method. The phase conformation has been performed by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) study. The elemental composition has been confirmed using energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis. Ac conductivity of the samples has been measured in the frequency range 0.1-106 Hz and from 50-800 °C. The impedance plots among real and complex impedances at particular temperature have been discussed. The behavior shows the effect of bulk and grain boundary effects of the doped sample. The impedance plots with frequency have been analyzed. The plots have been well fitted to equivalent circuit model. The conductivity shows the Arrhenius type of behavior. The activation energy has been calculated from the plots and represents that the conductivity through the material is mainly ionic. The structural morphology of the samples has been investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM). The micrograph shows that the porosity and grain size both decreases with Sr-doping.

  17. Study on a Haptic Sensor Using MCF (Magnetic Compound Fluid) Electric Conductive Rubber

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zheng, Yaoyang; Shimada, Kunio

    To provide a new composite material having a high degree of sensitivity regarding both electrical conduction and temperature for the field of robotics or sensing, we have developed magnetic rubber that contains a network-like magnetic cluster. We compared the temperature response of MCF rubber with others rubbers made under various experimental conditions, allowing us to find an optimum condition for making MCF rubber. The temperature response was obtained by an experimental equation. We also compared the electric conductivity of MCF rubber with that of ordinary electric conductive rubber and found that its electric sensitivity was lower at a small deformation, but increased at larger deformations. Therefore, MCF rubber has proven itself effective as a switching sensor when a small deformation is applied.

  18. Studies on AC Electrical Conductivity of CdCl2 Doped PVA Polymer Electrolyte

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. B. Nanda Prakash

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available PVA-based polymer electrolytes were prepared with various concentrations of CdCl2 using solvent casting method. Prepared polymer films were investigated using line profile analysis employing X-ray diffraction (XRD data. XRD results show that the crystallite size decreases and then increases with increase in CdCl2. AC conductivity in these polymer increases films first and then decreases. These observations are in agreement with XRD results. The highest ionic conductivity of 1.68E − 08 Scm−1 was observed in 4% of CdCl2 in PVA polymer blend. Crystallite ellipsoids for different concentrations of CdCl2 are computed here using whole pattern powder fitting (WPPF indicating that crystallite area decreases with increase in the ionic conductivity.

  19. Botulismo em bovinos de corte e leite alimentados com cama de frango Botulism in beef and dairy cattle fed with poultry litter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Iveraldo S. Dutra

    2005-06-01

    Full Text Available Surtos de botulismo causados pelos tipos C e D da toxina botulínica são freqüentes no país, estando originalmente associados à osteofagia e à ingestão de alimentos e água contaminados. No presente trabalho são descritos os aspectos epidemiológicos, clínico-patológicos e laboratoriais de sete surtos da intoxicação em bovinos de corte e leite alimentados com cama de frango, ocorridos nos estados de São Paulo e Minas Gerais entre 1989 e 2000. Cinco surtos ocorreram em rebanhos de corte confinados ou criados extensivamente e suplementados com o subproduto, e dois em propriedades leiteiras. De um total de 1.535 animais alimentados regularmente com a cama de frango, 455 (29,64% morreram em um período que variou de 2 a 4 semanas. A morbidade nos sete surtos estudados variou de 3,47 a 100%, da mesma forma que a mortalidade. Em uma das propriedades a letalidade foi de 60,52%, e em todos os outros surtos ela foi acima de 88,43%; em três propriedades o coeficiente foi de 100%. Os sinais clínicos de paralisia progressiva, dificuldade na locomoção, decúbito e estado mental aparentemente normal, diminuição do tônus da musculatura da língua e cauda, sialorréia e dificuldade respiratória caracterizaram o quadro clínico. À necropsia de 30 animais não foi observada qualquer alteração macroscópica digna de nota. A presença de esporos de Clostridium botulinum foi detectada em amostras de cama de frango colhidas nas sete propriedades. Nas amostras de fígado, líquido ruminal e intestinal, provenientes dos 30 animais necropsiados, foi possível detectar toxinas botulínicas tipos C (5 ou D (9, ou classificada como pertencente ao complexo CD (1, em pelos menos um dos materiais provenientes de 15 animais, confirmando assim o diagnóstico clínico-patológico e epidemiológico de botulismo.Outbreaks of botulism caused by type C and D of the botulinum toxin are frequent in Brazil, and are associated with bone chewing and ingestion of

  20. Electrochemical and Computational Studies on the Electrocatalytic Effect of Conducting Polymers toward the Redox Reactions of Thiadiazole-Based Thiolate Compounds

    KAUST Repository

    Rodríguez-Calero, Gabriel G.; Lowe, Michael A.; Kiya, Yasuyuki; Abruña, Héctor D.

    2010-01-01

    We have studied the electrocatalytic effects of polythiophene-based conducting polymers toward the redox reactions of the dilithium salt of the thiadiazole-based dithiol compound 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiodiazole (DMcT-2Li) via cyclic voltammetry (CV), rotating-disk electrode voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). We have found that the electrocatalytic activity of the conducting polymers is strongly influenced by the potential range over which the polymers are electrically conductive (i.e., window of conductivity), which was tuned by employing different electron-donating groups at the 3- or 3,4-positions of polythiophene (PTh). Both poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and poly(3,4-propylenedioxythiophene) (PProDOT), whose windows of conductivity exhibited a good overlap with the formal potential for the dimerization process of DMcT-2Li; E0′ d (?0.54 V versus Ag/Ag+) exhibited electrocatalytic activity toward both the oxidation and reduction processes of DMcT-2Li. On the other hand, PTh, poly(3-methylthiophene) (PMTh), and poly(3,4- dimethoxythiophene) (PDMTh), whose windows of conductivity did not overlap with E0′d, did not exhibit electrocatalytic activity. The standard charge transfer rate constants for the dimerization process of DMcT-2Li at PEDOT, PProDOT, and PDMTh film-modified glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs) were estimated to be 7.4 - 10?4, 3.2 - 10?4, and 6.9 - 10?5 cm/s while the rate constant was 6.3 - 10?5 cm/s at an unmodified GCE. Moreover, EIS studies for PEDOT, PProDOT, and PDMTh film-modified GCEs indicated the smallest charge transfer resistance for a PEDOT film and highest for a PDMTh film at E0′d, indicating that the higher the electrical conductivity of a film at E 0′d the higher the electrocatalytic activity toward the redox reactions of DMcT-2Li. These results clearly indicate that in order to accelerate the redox reactions of DMcT-2Li (and likely of other organosulfur compounds) the window of conductivity

  1. Electrochemical and Computational Studies on the Electrocatalytic Effect of Conducting Polymers toward the Redox Reactions of Thiadiazole-Based Thiolate Compounds

    KAUST Repository

    Rodríguez-Calero, Gabriel G.

    2010-04-08

    We have studied the electrocatalytic effects of polythiophene-based conducting polymers toward the redox reactions of the dilithium salt of the thiadiazole-based dithiol compound 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiodiazole (DMcT-2Li) via cyclic voltammetry (CV), rotating-disk electrode voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). We have found that the electrocatalytic activity of the conducting polymers is strongly influenced by the potential range over which the polymers are electrically conductive (i.e., window of conductivity), which was tuned by employing different electron-donating groups at the 3- or 3,4-positions of polythiophene (PTh). Both poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) and poly(3,4-propylenedioxythiophene) (PProDOT), whose windows of conductivity exhibited a good overlap with the formal potential for the dimerization process of DMcT-2Li; E0′ d (?0.54 V versus Ag/Ag+) exhibited electrocatalytic activity toward both the oxidation and reduction processes of DMcT-2Li. On the other hand, PTh, poly(3-methylthiophene) (PMTh), and poly(3,4- dimethoxythiophene) (PDMTh), whose windows of conductivity did not overlap with E0′d, did not exhibit electrocatalytic activity. The standard charge transfer rate constants for the dimerization process of DMcT-2Li at PEDOT, PProDOT, and PDMTh film-modified glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs) were estimated to be 7.4 - 10?4, 3.2 - 10?4, and 6.9 - 10?5 cm/s while the rate constant was 6.3 - 10?5 cm/s at an unmodified GCE. Moreover, EIS studies for PEDOT, PProDOT, and PDMTh film-modified GCEs indicated the smallest charge transfer resistance for a PEDOT film and highest for a PDMTh film at E0′d, indicating that the higher the electrical conductivity of a film at E 0′d the higher the electrocatalytic activity toward the redox reactions of DMcT-2Li. These results clearly indicate that in order to accelerate the redox reactions of DMcT-2Li (and likely of other organosulfur compounds) the window of conductivity

  2. An experimental study of perovskite-structured mixed ionic- electronic conducting oxides and membranes

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zeng, Pingying

    In recent decades, ceramic membranes based on mixed ionic and electronic conducting (MIEC) perovskite-structured oxides have received many attentions for their applications for air separation, or as a membrane reactor for methane oxidation. While numerous perovskite oxide materials have been explored over the past two decades; there are hardly any materials with sufficient practical economic value and performance for large scale applications, which justifies continuing the search for new materials. The main purposes of this thesis study are: (1) develop several novel SrCoO3-delta based MIEC oxides, SrCoCo1-xMxO3-delta, based on which membranes exhibit excellent oxygen permeability; (2) investigate the significant effects of the species and concentration of the dopants M (metal ions with fixed valences) on the various properties of these membranes; (3) investigate the significant effects of sintering temperature on the microstructures and performance of oxygen permeation membranes; and (4) study the performance of oxygen permeation membranes as a membrane reactor for methane combustion. To stabilize the cubic phase structure of the SrCoO3-delta oxide, various amounts of scandium was doped into the B-site of SrCoO 3-delta to form a series of new perovskite oxides, SrScxCoCo 1-xO3-delta (SSCx, x = 0-0.7). The significant effects of scandium-doping concentration on the phase structure, electrical conductivity, sintering performance, thermal and structural stability, cathode performance, and oxygen permeation performance of the SSCx membranes, were systematically studied. Also for a more in-depth understanding, the rate determination steps for the oxygen transport process through the membranes were clarified by theoretical and experimental investigation. It was found that only a minor amount of scandium (5 mol%) doping into the B-site of SrCoO3-delta can effectively stabilize the cubic phase structure, and thus significantly improve the electrical conductivity and

  3. Identification and prediction of diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy using individual and simple combinations of nerve conduction study parameters.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alanna Weisman

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: Evaluation of diabetic sensorimotor polyneuropathy (DSP is hindered by the need for complex nerve conduction study (NCS protocols and lack of predictive biomarkers. We aimed to determine the performance of single and simple combinations of NCS parameters for identification and future prediction of DSP. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 406 participants (61 with type 1 diabetes and 345 with type 2 diabetes with a broad spectrum of neuropathy, from none to severe, underwent NCS to determine presence or absence of DSP for cross-sectional (concurrent validity analysis. The 109 participants without baseline DSP were re-evaluated for its future onset (predictive validity. Performance of NCS parameters was compared by area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AROC. RESULTS: At baseline there were 246 (60% Prevalent Cases. After 3.9 years mean follow-up, 25 (23% of the 109 Prevalent Controls that were followed became Incident DSP Cases. Threshold values for peroneal conduction velocity and sural amplitude potential best identified Prevalent Cases (AROC 0.90 and 0.83, sensitivity 80 and 83%, specificity 89 and 72%, respectively. Baseline tibial F-wave latency, peroneal conduction velocity and the sum of three lower limb nerve conduction velocities (sural, peroneal, and tibial best predicted 4-year incidence (AROC 0.79, 0.79, and 0.85; sensitivity 79, 70, and 81%; specificity 63, 74 and 77%, respectively. DISCUSSION: Individual NCS parameters or their simple combinations are valid measures for identification and future prediction of DSP. Further research into the predictive roles of tibial F-wave latencies, peroneal conduction velocity, and sum of conduction velocities as markers of incipient nerve injury is needed to risk-stratify individuals for clinical and research protocols.

  4. Sintered stabilized zirconia microstructure and conductivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernard, Herve.

    1981-04-01

    The elaboration of a stabilized zirconia powder which sinters at 1300 0 C and the influence of the sintered polycristal microstructure on its ionic conductivity have been studied. Among three investigated powder preparation processes, coprecipitation in an ammoniacal solution was chosen. After sintering at 1300 0 C, the pellet density was higher than 93% of the theoretical density. It even approached up to 98% TD with addition of less than 0,5 mole % Al 2 O 3 to the initial powder. The overall electrolyte conductivity and the inter and intragranular contributions have been determined by complex impedance spectroscopy. ZrO 2 -Y 2 O 3 solid solution conductivity was scarcely improved by Y 2 O 3 exchange with Yb 2 O 3 or Gd 2 O 3 . This conductivity greatly increases with grain size, its improvement with decreasing porosity, which has been quantified, is less sensible. Moreover, two original properties were noticed: small amounts of Al 2 O 3 and quenching greatly enhanced the overall conductivity. At temperatures below 500 0 C, grain boundaries only insured a partial migration of conductive ions. A parallel type electrical equivalent circuit suited well with this blocking effect [fr

  5. Die attach dimension and material on thermal conductivity study for high power COB LED

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sarukunaselan, K.; Ong, N. R.; Sauli, Z.; Mahmed, N.; Kirtsaeng, S.; Sakuntasathien, S.; Suppiah, S.; Alcain, J. B.; Retnasamy, V.

    2017-09-01

    High power LED began to gain popularity in the semiconductor market due to its efficiency and luminance. Nonetheless, along with the increased in efficiency, there was an increased in the junction temperature too. The alleviating junction temperature is undesirable since the performances and lifetime will be degraded over time. Therefore, it is crucial to solve this thermal problem by maximizing the heat dissipation to the ambience. Improvising the die attach (DA) layer would be the best option because this layer is sandwiched between the chip (heat source) and the substrate (channel to the ambient). In this paper, the impact of thickness and thermal conductivity onto the junction temperature and Von Mises stress is analyzed. Results obtained showed that the junction temperature is directly proportional to the thickness but the stress was inversely proportional to the thickness of the DA. The thermal conductivity of the materials did affect the junction temperature as there was not much changes once the thermal conductivity reached 20W/mK. However, no significant changes were observed on the Von Mises stress caused by the thermal conductivity. Material with the second highest thermal conductivity had the lowest stress, whereas the highest conductivity material had the highest stress value at 20 µm. Overall, silver sinter provided the best thermal dissipation compared to the other materials.

  6. Conductivities from attractors

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Erdmenger, Johanna [Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut), Föhringer Ring 6, D-80805 Munich (Germany); Institut für Theoretische Physik und Astrophysik, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Am Hubland, 97074 Würzburg (Germany); Fernández, Daniel [Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut), Föhringer Ring 6, D-80805 Munich (Germany); Science Institute, University of Iceland, Dunhaga 3, 107 Reykjavík (Iceland); Goulart, Prieslei [Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut), Föhringer Ring 6, D-80805 Munich (Germany); Instituto de Física Teórica, UNESP-Universidade Estadual Paulista,R. Dr. Bento T. Ferraz 271, Bl. II, São Paulo 01140-070, SP (Brazil); Witkowski, Piotr [Max-Planck-Institut für Physik (Werner-Heisenberg-Institut), Föhringer Ring 6, D-80805 Munich (Germany)

    2017-03-28

    In the context of applications of the AdS/CFT correspondence to condensed matter physics, we compute conductivities for field theory duals of dyonic planar black holes in 3+1-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theories at zero temperature. We combine the near-horizon data obtained via Sen’s entropy function formalism with known expressions for conductivities. In this way we express the conductivities in terms of the extremal black hole charges. We apply our approach to three different examples for dilaton theories for which the background geometry is not known explicitly. For a constant scalar potential, the thermoelectric conductivity explicitly scales as α{sub xy}∼N{sup 3/2}, as expected. For the same model, our approach yields a finite result for the heat conductivity κ/T∝N{sup 3/2} even for T→0.

  7. Thermal conductance of heat transfer interfaces for conductively cooled superconducting magnets

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cooper, T.L.; Walters, J.D.; Fikse, T.H.

    1996-01-01

    Minimizing thermal resistances across interfaces is critical for efficient thermal performance of conductively cooled superconducting magnet systems. Thermal conductance measurements have been made for a flexible thermal coupling, designed to accommodate magnet-to-cryocooler and cryocooler-to-shield relative motion, and an interface incorporating Multilam designed as a sliding thermal connector for cryocoolers. Temperature changes were measured across each interface as a function of heat input. Thermal conductances have been calculated for each interface, and the impact of each interface on conductively cooled magnet systems will be discussed

  8. Tailoring highly conductive graphene nanoribbons from small polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a computational study

    KAUST Repository

    Bilić, A

    2013-06-14

    Pyrene, the smallest two-dimensional mesh of aromatic rings, with various terminal thiol substitutions, has been considered as a potential molecular interconnect. Charge transport through two terminal devices has been modeled using density functional theory (with and without self interaction correction) and the non-equilibrium Green\\'s function method. A tetra-substituted pyrene, with dual thiol terminal groups at opposite ends, has been identified as an excellent candidate, owing to its high conductance, virtually independent of bias voltage. The two possible extensions of its motif generate two series of graphene nanoribbons, with zigzag and armchair edges and with semimetallic and semiconducting electron band structure, respectively. The effects related to the wire length and the bias voltage on the charge transport have been investigated for both sets. The conductance of the nanoribbons with a zigzag edge does not show either length or voltage dependence, owing to an almost perfect electron transmission with a continuum of conducting channels. In contrast, for the armchair nanoribbons a slow exponential attenuation of the conductance with the length has been found, due to their semiconducting nature. © 2013 IOP Publishing Ltd.

  9. Thermal Conductivity of the Multicomponent Neutral Atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pavlov, A. V.

    2017-12-01

    Approximate expressions for the thermal conductivity coefficient of the multicomponent neutral atmosphere consisting of N2, O2, O, He, and H are analyzed and evaluated for the atmospheric conditions by comparing them with that given by the rigorous hydrodynamic theory. The new approximations of the thermal conductivity coefficients of simple gases N2, O2, O, He, and H are derived and used. It is proved that the modified Mason and Saxena approximation of the atmospheric thermal conductivity coefficient is more accurate in reproducing the atmospheric values of the rigorous hydrodynamic thermal conductivity coefficient in comparison with those that are generally accepted in atmospheric studies. This approximation of the thermal conductivity coefficient is recommended to use in calculations of the neutral temperature of the atmosphere.

  10. Thermal Conductivity of Nanotubes: Effects of Chirality and Isotope Impurity

    OpenAIRE

    Gang, Zhang; Li, Baowen

    2005-01-01

    We study the dependence of thermal conductivity of single walled nanotubes (SWNT) on chirality and isotope impurity by nonequilibrium molecular dynamics method with accurate potentials. It is found that, contrary to electronic conductivity, the thermal conductivity is insensitive to the chirality. The isotope impurity, however, can reduce the thermal conductivity up to 60% and change the temperature dependence behavior. We also study the dependence of thermal conductivity on tube length for t...

  11. Summary report on UO2 thermal conductivity model refinement and assessment studies

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Liu, Xiang-Yang [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Cooper, Michael William Donald [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Mcclellan, Kenneth James [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Lashley, Jason Charles [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Byler, Darrin David [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Bell, B. D.C. [Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Grimes, R. W. [Imperial College, London (United Kingdom); Stanek, Christopher Richard [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States); Andersson, David Ragnar [Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)

    2017-02-03

    Uranium dioxide (UO2) is the most commonly used fuel in light water nuclear reactors and thermal conductivity controls the removal of heat produced by fission, therefore, governing fuel temperature during normal and accident conditions. The use of fuel performance codes by the industry to predict operational behavior is widespread. A primary source of uncertainty in these codes is thermal conductivity, and optimized fuel utilization may be possible if existing empirical models were replaced with models that incorporate explicit thermal conductivity degradation mechanisms during fuel burn-up. This approach is able to represent the degradation of thermal conductivity due to each individual defect type, rather than the overall burn-up measure typically used which is not an accurate representation of the chemical or microstructure state of the fuel that actually governs thermal conductivity and other properties. To generate a mechanistic thermal conductivity model, molecular dynamics (MD) simulations of UO2 thermal conductivity including representative uranium and oxygen defects and fission products are carried out. These calculations employ a standard Buckingham type interatomic potential and a potential that combines the many-body embedded atom method potential with Morse-Buckingham pair potentials. Potential parameters for UO2+x and ZrO2 are developed for the latter potential. Physical insights from the resonant phonon-spin scattering mechanism due to spins on the magnetic uranium ions have been introduced into the treatment of the MD results, with the corresponding relaxation time derived from existing experimental data. High defect scattering is predicted for Xe atoms compared to that of La and Zr ions. Uranium defects reduce the thermal conductivity more than oxygen defects. For each defect and fission product, scattering parameters are derived for application in both a Callaway model and the corresponding high

  12. Prospective radiological study concerning a series of patients suffering from conductive or mixed hearing loss due to superior semicircular canal dehiscence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, Christian; Chahine, Pierre; Veyret, Charles; Richard, Céline; Prades, Jean Michel; Pouget, Jean François

    2009-08-01

    The aim of this study is to appreciate the incidence of patients with isolated conductive hearing loss with normal drum due to superior semicircular canal dehiscence (SCD). It is a prospective radiological study. Two hundred and seventy-two patients with a normal drum suffering from isolated unilateral or bilateral conductive or mixed hearing loss were included in a prospective radiological study. A high resolution computerized tomography (HRCT) was performed in all the patients. Those who were found to have a unilateral or bilateral SCD underwent further etiological, clinical, audiologic evaluation. Ten patients with conductive or mixed hearing loss were found to have a unilateral or bilateral SCD. The disease was bilateral in five cases, and most often associated with a dehiscence of the tegmen tympani on both sides, supporting the theory of the congenital nature of the disease. There was no clear correlation between symptoms and the size of the SCD. Because patients were not suffering from incapacitating vestibular symptoms, they were not operated for surgical occlusion of the SCD, and were referred to a hearing aid specialist to improve hearing. Conductive or mixed hearing loss due to SCD is relatively frequent, justifying in our opinion that a systematic HRCT be carried out before surgery of any patient with conductive hearing loss.

  13. Studies on physical properties of cadmium soaps. Part 2. Conductance behavior in 1-butanol

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Varma, R.P.; Virmani, A.K.

    1981-01-01

    Specific conductance of cadmium soap solutions in 1-butanol has been measured at temperatures 308-323 K. These soaps form micellar aggregates and the c.m.c. which increases with decreasing chain length of the soaps (C 18 -C 5 ) has been found to be independent of temperature. Conductance behavior of soaps is given by the equation: log lambda = A+B log C. log lambda = A+B log C. Constant A decreases with increasing temperature, whereas B is found independent. These constants, however, increase with an increase in the chain length of the soaps. Dissociation constant K, molecular conductance at infinite dilution lamda infinity, activation energy of conductance ΔE lamda, and activation parameters of dissociation ΔH 0 , ΔG 0 and ΔS 0 have been evaluated. (author)

  14. Primary teachers conducting inquiry projects : effects on attitudes towards teaching science and conducting inquiry

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Aalderen-Smeets, Sandra; Walma van der Molen, Julie Henriëtte; van Hest, Erna G.W.C.M.; Poortman, Cindy Louise

    2017-01-01

    This study used an experimental, pretest-posttest control group design to investigate whether participation in a large-scale inquiry project would improve primary teachers’ attitudes towards teaching science and towards conducting inquiry. The inquiry project positively affected several elements of

  15. Modeling the cost-benefit of nerve conduction studies in pre-employment screening for carpal tunnel syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Evanoff, Bradley; Kymes, Steve

    2010-06-01

    The aim of this study was to evaluate the costs associated with pre-employment nerve conduction testing as a screening tool for carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) in the workplace. We used a Markov decision analysis model to compare the costs associated with a strategy of screening all prospective employees for CTS and not hiring those with abnormal nerve conduction, versus a strategy of not screening for CTS. The variables included in our model included employee turnover rate, the incidence of CTS, the prevalence of median nerve conduction abnormalities, the relative risk of developing CTS conferred by abnormal nerve conduction screening, the costs of pre-employment screening, and the worker's compensation costs to the employer for each case of CTS. In our base case, total employer costs for CTS from the perspective of the employer (cost of screening plus costs for workers' compensation associated with CTS) were higher when screening was used. Median costs per employee position over five years were US$503 for the screening strategy versus US$200 for a no-screening strategy. A sensitivity analysis showed that a strategy of screening was cost-beneficial from the perspective of the employer only under a few circumstances. Using Monte Carlo simulation varying all parameters, we found a 30% probability that screening would be cost-beneficial. A strategy of pre-employment screening for CTS should be carefully evaluated for yield and social consequences before being implemented. Our model suggests such screening is not appropriate for most employers.

  16. Do patients and physicians agree on diabetes management? A study conducted in Public Healthcare Centres in Brazil

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    de Figueiredo, R.C.; Snoek, F.J.; Barreto, S.M.

    2013-01-01

    Objective: To explore to what extent patients with diabetes agree with their physicians on diabetes management and whether the agreement varies according to patients' socio-demographic characteristics. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among patients with diabetes and their Family

  17. Electrical conductivity of silicon carbide composites

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Scholz, R.; Greeff, J. de; Vinche, C.; Frias Rebelo, A.

    1997-01-01

    The electrical conductivity was measured on two SiC/SiC composite materials in the temperature range from room temperature up to 1000degC in order to estimate the magnitude of MHD effects in liquid metal blankets if SiC/SiC composites are used as structural materials. For both types of material, the electrical conductivity increased continuously with temperature. The conductivity values ranged from 350 (Ωm) -1 at room temperature to 550 (Ωm) -1 at 1000degC, indicating that the materials tested cannot be treated as an electrical insulator in a MHD analysis for liquid metal blanket studies. (author)

  18. Pharmaceutical industry's barriers and preferences to conduct clinical drug trials in Finland: a qualitative study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keinonen, Tuija; Keränen, Tapani; Klaukka, Timo; Saano, Veijo; Ylitalo, Pauli; Enlund, Hannes

    2003-09-01

    The objectives of our study were to explore the barriers, preferences and attitudes of the pharmaceutical industry towards conducting clinical trials in Finland. In-depth semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 representatives of the pharmaceutical industry with different amounts of experience of clinical trials. The interviews were audiotaped, transcribed verbatim and analysed qualitatively. Overall, the respondents had a positive attitude towards conducting clinical trials in Finland. The major barriers seemed to occur at the beginning of the trial and mostly consisted of bureaucratic obstacles. The informants hoped for a more positive attitude of the public sector, more flexibility in hospitals and professionalism in practical implementation, e.g. having special research centres or site management services. The most dismotivating factors were the high costs and the constraints imposed by bureaucracy. The variety in practices of local ethics committees was considered problematic, and the need for common standard operating procedures was pointed out. The smallest barriers were encountered in subject recruitment by the investigators and their clinical work, documentation, investigational product logistics and communication with the regulatory authorities. The quality, know-how and reliability of the study personnel, the tightening of time lines in general, an investigator register/pool and collaboration with media in disseminating information about clinical trials to the general public were reported as the most appealing factors. Training in GCP, mainly incorporated in the medical education programme, and a certificate or equivalent were generally considered necessary, though a voluntary system was preferred. The barriers and preferences pointed out suggest various improvements and ways to produce high-quality, GCP-compliant clinical drug research and to ensure the availability of sufficient conditions to carry out clinical trials also in the future.

  19. Neuroscience Investigations: An Overview of Studies Conducted

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reschke, Millard F.

    1999-01-01

    The neural processes that mediate human spatial orientation and adaptive changes occurring in response to the sensory rearrangement encountered during orbital flight are primarily studied through second and third order responses. In the Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project (EDOMP) neuroscience investigations, the following were measured: (1) eye movements during acquisition of either static or moving visual targets, (2) postural and locomotor responses provoked by unexpected movement of the support surface, changes in the interaction of visual, proprioceptive, and vestibular information, changes in the major postural muscles via descending pathways, or changes in locomotor pathways, and (3) verbal reports of perceived self-orientation and self-motion which enhance and complement conclusions drawn from the analysis of oculomotor, postural, and locomotor responses. In spaceflight operations, spatial orientation can be defined as situational awareness, where crew member perception of attitude, position, or motion of the spacecraft or other objects in three-dimensional space, including orientation of one's own body, is congruent with actual physical events. Perception of spatial orientation is determined by integrating information from several sensory modalities. This involves higher levels of processing within the central nervous system that control eye movements, locomotion, and stable posture. Spaceflight operational problems occur when responses to the incorrectly perceived spatial orientation are compensatory in nature. Neuroscience investigations were conducted in conjunction with U. S. Space Shuttle flights to evaluate possible changes in the ability of an astronaut to land the Shuttle or effectively perform an emergency post-landing egress following microgravity adaptation during space flights of variable length. While the results of various sensory motor and spatial orientation tests could have an impact on future space flights, our knowledge of

  20. Experiences from a pilot study on how to conduct a qualitative multi-country research project regarding use of antibiotics in Southeast Europe

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kaae, Susanne; Sporrong, Sofia Kälvemark; Traulsen, Janine Morgall

    2016-01-01

    regarding how to conduct these types of research projects by evaluating a pilot study of the project. METHODS: Local data collectors conducted the study according to a developed protocol and evaluated the study with the responsible researcher-team from University of Copenhagen. The pilot study focused......BACKGROUND: In 2014, a qualitative multi-country research project was launched to study the reasons behind the high use of antibiotics in regions of Southeast Europe by using previously untrained national interviewers (who were engaged in other antibiotic microbial resistance-related investigations......) to conduct qualitative interviews with local patients, physicians and pharmacists. Little knowledge exists about how to implement qualitative multi-country research collaborations involving previously untrained local data collectors. The aim of this paper was therefore to contribute to the knowledge...

  1. Retrospective study of malaria prevalence and Anopheles genus in the area of influence of the binational Itaipu reservoir Estudo retrospectivo da prevalência de malária e do gênero Anopheles na área de influência do reservatório de Itaipu Binacional

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ana Lucia Falavigna-Guilherme

    2005-04-01

    Full Text Available The importance of hydroelectric dams beside the human interchange in the maintenance of malarious foci and the occurrence of the Anopheles genus on the Binational Itaipu Reservoir were the main points of this retrospective study. Data were collected from existing registrations at National, State and Municipal Health Departments and literature systematic overview, from January 1984 to December 2003. The occurrence of some outbreak of malaria, mainly by Plasmodium vivax, and the prevalence of species of the Anopheles genus different from Anopheles darlingi in the region are discussed. The malaria in the left bank of Paraná River is a focal problem, which must be approached locally through health, educational and social actions to prevent the continuity of outbreaks in the area. Concomitantly, it is necessary to plan and apply effective surveillance measures in the influence area of the Itaipu Reservoir.A importância de reservatórios de hidroelétricas e do intercâmbio humano na manutenção de focos de malária e a ocorrência do gênero Anopheles no reservatório de Itaipu Binacional foram os pontos destacados neste estudo retrospectivo. Os dados foram coletados de registros existentes em órgãos municipais, estadual e nacional de saúde e por revisão sistemática da literatura, no período de janeiro de 1984 a dezembro de 2003. A ocorrência de alguns surtos de malária, principalmente por Plasmodium vivax, e a prevalência de espécies do gênero Anopheles diferentes de Anopheles darlingi na região foram discutidos. A malária na margem esquerda do rio Paraná é um problema focal que deve ser abordado localmente através de medidas voltadas à saúde, educação e área social que previnam a continuidade da ocorrência de surtos na área. Concomitantemente, é necessário planejar e aplicar medidas efetivas de vigilância epidemiológica na área de influência do reservatório de Itaipu.

  2. Auditory Brainstem Responses to Bone-Conducted Brief Tones in Young Children with Conductive or Sensorineural Hearing Loss

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer L. Hatton

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available The bone-conduction (BC tone ABR has been used clinically for over 20 years. The current study formally evaluated the test performance of the BC tone-evoked ABR in infants with hearing loss. Method. By comparing BC-ABR results to follow-up behavioural results, this study addressed two questions: (i whether the BC tone ABR was successful in differentiating children with conductive versus sensorineural hearing loss (Study A; conductive: 68 ears; SNHL: 129 ears and (ii the relationship between BC ABR and behavioural hearing loss severity (Study B: 2000 Hz: 104 ears; 500 Hz: 47 ears. Results. Results demonstrate that the “normal” BC-ABR levels accurately differentiated normal versus elevated cochlear sensitivity (accuracy: 98% for 2000 Hz; 98% for 500 Hz. A subset of infants in Study A with elevated BC-ABR (i.e., no response at normal level had additional testing at higher intensities, which allowed for categorization of the degree of cochlear impairment. Study B results indicate that the BC ABR accurately categorizes the degree of cochlear hearing loss for 2000 Hz (accuracy = 95.2%. A preliminary dBnHL-to-dBHL correction factor of “0 dB” was determined for 2000 Hz BC ABR. Conclusions. These findings further support the use of BC tone ABR for diagnostic ABR testing.

  3. Auditory Brainstem Responses to Bone-Conducted Brief Tones in Young Children with Conductive or Sensorineural Hearing Loss

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hatton, Jennifer L.; Janssen, Renée M.; Stapells, David R.

    2012-01-01

    The bone-conduction (BC) tone ABR has been used clinically for over 20 years. The current study formally evaluated the test performance of the BC tone-evoked ABR in infants with hearing loss. Method. By comparing BC-ABR results to follow-up behavioural results, this study addressed two questions: (i) whether the BC tone ABR was successful in differentiating children with conductive versus sensorineural hearing loss (Study A; conductive: 68 ears; SNHL: 129 ears) and (ii) the relationship between BC ABR and behavioural hearing loss severity (Study B: 2000 Hz: 104 ears; 500 Hz: 47 ears). Results. Results demonstrate that the “normal” BC-ABR levels accurately differentiated normal versus elevated cochlear sensitivity (accuracy: 98% for 2000 Hz; 98% for 500 Hz). A subset of infants in Study A with elevated BC-ABR (i.e., no response at normal level) had additional testing at higher intensities, which allowed for categorization of the degree of cochlear impairment. Study B results indicate that the BC ABR accurately categorizes the degree of cochlear hearing loss for 2000 Hz (accuracy = 95.2%). A preliminary dBnHL-to-dBHL correction factor of “0 dB” was determined for 2000 Hz BC ABR. Conclusions. These findings further support the use of BC tone ABR for diagnostic ABR testing. PMID:22988461

  4. Electrochemical studies of ferrocene in a lithium ion conducting organic carbonate electrolyte

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Laoire, Cormac O.; Plichta, Edward; Hendrickson, Mary; Mukerjee, Sanjeev; Abraham, K.M.

    2009-01-01

    We carried out a detailed study of the kinetics of oxidation of ferrocene (Fc) to ferrocenium ion (Fc + ) in the non-aqueous lithium ion conducting electrolyte composed of a solution of 1 M LiPF 6 in 1:1 EC:EMC solvent mixture. This study using cyclic (CV) and rotating disk electrode (RDE) voltammetry showed that the Fc 0 /Fc + redox couple is reversible in this highly concentrated electrolyte. The ferrocene and ferrocenium ion diffusion coefficients (D) were calculated from these results. In addition, the electron transfer rate constant (k 0 ) and the exchange current density for the oxidation of ferrocene were determined. A comparison of the kinetic data obtained from the two electrochemical techniques appears to show that the data from the RDE experiments are more reliable because they are collected under strict mass transport control. A Tafel slope of c.a. 79 mV/decade and a transfer coefficient α of 0.3 obtained from analysis of the RDE data for ferrocene oxidation suggest that the structure of the activated complex is closer to that of the oxidized specie due to strong interactions with the carbonate solvents. The experiments reported here are relevant to the study of redox reagents for the chemical overcharge protection of Li-ion batteries.

  5. Change in the electrical conductivity of SnO2 crystal from n-type to p-type conductivity

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Villamagua, Luis; Stashans, Arvids; Lee, Po-Ming; Liu, Yen-Shuo; Liu, Cheng-Yi; Carini, Manuela

    2015-01-01

    Highlights: • Switch from n-type to p-type conductivity in SnO 2 has been studied. • Computational DFT + U method where used. • X-ray diffraction and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy where used. • Al- and N-codoped SnO 2 compound shows stable p-type conductivity. • Low resistivity (3.657 × 10 −1 Ω cm) has been obtained. • High carrier concentration (4.858 × 10 19 cm −3 ) has been obtained. - Abstract: The long-sought fully transparent technology will not come true if the n region of the p–n junction does not get as well developed as its p counterpart. Both experimental and theoretical efforts have to be used to study and discover phenomena occurring at the microscopic level in SnO 2 systems. In the present paper, using the DFT + U approach as a main tool and the Vienna ab initio Simulation Package (VASP) we reproduce both intrinsic n-type as well as p-type conductivity in concordance to results observed in real samples of SnO 2 material. Initially, an oxygen vacancy (1.56 mol% concentration) combined with a tin-interstitial (1.56 mol% concentration) scheme was used to achieve the n-type electrical conductivity. Later, to attain the p-type conductivity, crystal already possessing n-type conductivity, was codoped with nitrogen (1.56 mol% concentration) and aluminium (12.48 mol% concentration) impurities. Detailed explanation of structural changes endured by the geometry of the crystal as well as the changes in its electrical properties has been obtained. Our experimental data to a very good extent matches with the results found in the DFT + U modelling

  6. AC conductivity for a holographic Weyl semimetal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Grignani, Gianluca; Marini, Andrea; Peña-Benitez, Francisco; Speziali, Stefano [Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia, Università di Perugia,I.N.F.N. Sezione di Perugia,Via Pascoli, I-06123 Perugia (Italy)

    2017-03-23

    We study the AC electrical conductivity at zero temperature in a holographic model for a Weyl semimetal. At small frequencies we observe a linear dependence in the frequency. The model shows a quantum phase transition between a topological semimetal (Weyl semimetal phase) with a non vanishing anomalous Hall conductivity and a trivial semimetal. The AC conductivity has an intermediate scaling due to the presence of a quantum critical region in the phase diagram of the system. The phase diagram is reconstructed using the scaling properties of the conductivity. We compare with the experimental data of https://www.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.93.121110 obtaining qualitative agreement.

  7. Conductive and steam-diffuse constituents of thermotransfer in different soil moisture contents: case study of the Altai Region’s soils

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sergey Makarychev

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available The goal of this study was to determine the conductive and steam-diffusive heat transfer constituents in the soil. Based on the solution of differential equation system of heat and mass transfer, the method to determine the conductive and steam-diffusive heat transfer constituents in wet soils was developed. To measure the thermophysical properties in laboratory setting, a pulse method of a two-dimensional heat source was used. The method takes into account the patterns of temperature field equalization in an unbounded medium after the heat source termination. A feature of this process is the occurrence of peak temperature at the investigated point of the medium at a given instant. In this experiment, the temperature was controlled not only at the investigated point of the medium, but also at the soil-heater interface. The proposed method was used to study the thermophysical indices of the chernozems of the Altai Region’s Priobye area (the Ob River area. The chernozem under study is of light-loamy particle-size composition; the illuvial horizon В is enriched by a sand fraction. It has been found that the soil conductive thermal diffusivity is reduced with increasing moisture content. The steam-diffusive thermal diffusivity has the extremum at the moisture close to the discontinuous capillary moisture. In humus horizons it plays a smaller role than in the mineral horizons. The thermal diffusivity determined by the steam molecule motion in the pore space of the soil exceeds the conductive thermal diffusivity two or three times. At the same time thermal steam diffusivity is more than ten time lower than the conductive constituent. Eventually, the stem molecules though dramatically accelerating the processes of heat transfer in the soil profile conduct a small amount of heat and make a weak contribution to soil thermal accumulation.

  8. Thermal conductivity measurements of Pacific illite sediment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hickox, C.E.; McVey, D.F.; Miller, J.B.; Olson, L.O.; Silva, A.J.

    1986-01-01

    Results are reported for effective thermal conductivity measurements performed in situ and in core samples of illite marine sediment. The measurements were obtained during a recent oceanographic expedition to a study site in the north central region of the Pacific Ocean. This study was undertaken in support of the US Subseabed Disposal Project, the purpose of which is to investigate the scientific feasibility of using the fine grained sediments of the sea floor as a repository for high level nuclear waste. In situ measurements were made and 1.5-meter long hydrostatic piston cores were taken, under remote control, from a platform that was lowered to the sea floor, 5844 m below sea level. The in situ measurement of thermal conductivity was made at a nominal depth of 80 cm below the sediment surface using a specially developed, line source, needle probe. Thermal conductivity measurements in three piston cores and one box core (obtained several kilometers from the study site) were made on shipboard using a miniature needle probe. The in situ thermal conductivity was approximately 0.91 W/m.K. Values determined from the cores were within the range 0.81 to 0.89 W/m.K

  9. Model calculation of thermal conductivity in antiferromagnets

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mikhail, I.F.I., E-mail: ifi_mikhail@hotmail.com; Ismail, I.M.M.; Ameen, M.

    2015-11-01

    A theoretical study is given of thermal conductivity in antiferromagnetic materials. The study has the advantage that the three-phonon interactions as well as the magnon phonon interactions have been represented by model operators that preserve the important properties of the exact collision operators. A new expression for thermal conductivity has been derived that involves the same terms obtained in our previous work in addition to two new terms. These two terms represent the conservation and quasi-conservation of wavevector that occur in the three-phonon Normal and Umklapp processes respectively. They gave appreciable contributions to the thermal conductivity and have led to an excellent quantitative agreement with the experimental measurements of the antiferromagnet FeCl{sub 2}. - Highlights: • The Boltzmann equations of phonons and magnons in antiferromagnets have been studied. • Model operators have been used to represent the magnon–phonon and three-phonon interactions. • The models possess the same important properties as the exact operators. • A new expression for the thermal conductivity has been derived. • The results showed a good quantitative agreement with the experimental data of FeCl{sub 2}.

  10. Conductivity in transparent oxide semiconductors.

    Science.gov (United States)

    King, P D C; Veal, T D

    2011-08-24

    Despite an extensive research effort for over 60 years, an understanding of the origins of conductivity in wide band gap transparent conducting oxide (TCO) semiconductors remains elusive. While TCOs have already found widespread use in device applications requiring a transparent contact, there are currently enormous efforts to (i) increase the conductivity of existing materials, (ii) identify suitable alternatives, and (iii) attempt to gain semiconductor-engineering levels of control over their carrier density, essential for the incorporation of TCOs into a new generation of multifunctional transparent electronic devices. These efforts, however, are dependent on a microscopic identification of the defects and impurities leading to the high unintentional carrier densities present in these materials. Here, we review recent developments towards such an understanding. While oxygen vacancies are commonly assumed to be the source of the conductivity, there is increasing evidence that this is not a sufficient mechanism to explain the total measured carrier concentrations. In fact, many studies suggest that oxygen vacancies are deep, rather than shallow, donors, and their abundance in as-grown material is also debated. We discuss other potential contributions to the conductivity in TCOs, including other native defects, their complexes, and in particular hydrogen impurities. Convincing theoretical and experimental evidence is presented for the donor nature of hydrogen across a range of TCO materials, and while its stability and the role of interstitial versus substitutional species are still somewhat open questions, it is one of the leading contenders for yielding unintentional conductivity in TCOs. We also review recent work indicating that the surfaces of TCOs can support very high carrier densities, opposite to the case for conventional semiconductors. In thin-film materials/devices and, in particular, nanostructures, the surface can have a large impact on the total

  11. A parametric study on hydraulic conductivity and self-healing properties of geotextile clay liners used in landfills.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Parastar, Fatemeh; Hejazi, Sayyed Mahdi; Sheikhzadeh, Mohammad; Alirezazadeh, Azam

    2017-11-01

    Nowadays, the raise of excessive generation of solid wastes is considered as a major environmental concern due to the fast global population growth. The contamination of groundwater from landfill leachate compromises every living creature. Geotextile clay liner (GCL) that has a sandwich structure with two fibrous sheets and a clay core can be considered as an engineered solution to prevent hazardous pollutants from entering into groundwater. The main objective of the present study is therefore to enhance the performance of GCL structures. By changing some structural factors such as clay type (sodium vs. calcium bentonite), areal density of clay, density of geotextile, geotextile thickness, texture type (woven vs. nonwoven), and needle punching density a series of GCL samples were fabricated. Water pressure, type of cover soil and overburden pressure were the environmental variables, while the response variables were hydraulic conductivity and self-healing rate of GCL. Rigid wall constant head permeability test was conducted on all the samples. The outlet water flow was measured and evaluated at a defined time period and the hydraulic conductivity was determined for each sample. In the final stage, self-healing properties of samples were investigated and an analytical model was used to explain the results. It was found that higher Montmorillonite content of clay, overburden pressure, needle punching density and areal density of clay poses better self-healing properties and less hydraulic conductivity, meanwhile, an increase in water pressure increases the hydraulic conductivity. Moreover, the observations were aligned with the analytical model and indicated that higher fiber inclusion as a result of higher needle-punching density produces closer contact between bentonite and fibers, reduces hydraulic conductivity and increases self-healing properties. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Behavioral trends in young children with conductive hearing loss: a case-control study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gouma, Panagiota; Mallis, Antonios; Daniilidis, Vasilis; Gouveris, Haralambos; Armenakis, Nikolaos; Naxakis, Stephanos

    2011-01-01

    Otitis media with effusion (OME) is a common condition affecting children and a well-known cause of conductive hearing loss that can potentially lead to speech development disorders. Recent studies, however, have demonstrated the influence of OME on development of attention disorders or social adaptation and acceptance. Hence, this study aimed to investigate the behavioral trends of children with OME based on the Achenbach test. A group of 117 patients with episodes of OME at the age of 4-5 was compared with a control group according to the Achenbach system of evaluation, by application of the Child Behavior Checklist questionnaire (CBCL). Patients suffering from OME had more anxiety/depression related disorders and attention disorders as compared with the control group. The psychological effect of OME in children of ages 6-8 is evident with anxiety and depression disorders being especially prominent among these patients.

  13. Conducting compositions of matter

    Science.gov (United States)

    Viswanathan, Tito (Inventor)

    2000-01-01

    The invention provides conductive compositions of matter, as well as methods for the preparation of the conductive compositions of matter, solutions comprising the conductive compositions of matter, and methods of preparing fibers or fabrics having improved anti-static properties employing the conductive compositions of matter.

  14. Electrically conductive material

    Science.gov (United States)

    Singh, J.P.; Bosak, A.L.; McPheeters, C.C.; Dees, D.W.

    1993-09-07

    An electrically conductive material is described for use in solid oxide fuel cells, electrochemical sensors for combustion exhaust, and various other applications possesses increased fracture toughness over available materials, while affording the same electrical conductivity. One embodiment of the sintered electrically conductive material consists essentially of cubic ZrO[sub 2] as a matrix and 6-19 wt. % monoclinic ZrO[sub 2] formed from particles having an average size equal to or greater than about 0.23 microns. Another embodiment of the electrically conductive material consists essentially at cubic ZrO[sub 2] as a matrix and 10-30 wt. % partially stabilized zirconia (PSZ) formed from particles having an average size of approximately 3 microns. 8 figures.

  15. Noninvasive electrical conductivity measurement by MRI: a test of its validity and the electrical conductivity characteristics of glioma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tha, Khin Khin; Katscher, Ulrich; Yamaguchi, Shigeru; Stehning, Christian; Terasaka, Shunsuke; Fujima, Noriyuki; Kudo, Kohsuke; Kazumata, Ken; Yamamoto, Toru; Van Cauteren, Marc; Shirato, Hiroki

    2018-01-01

    This study noninvasively examined the electrical conductivity (σ) characteristics of diffuse gliomas using MRI and tested its validity. MRI including a 3D steady-state free precession (3D SSFP) sequence was performed on 30 glioma patients. The σ maps were reconstructed from the phase images of the 3D SSFP sequence. The σ histogram metrics were extracted and compared among the contrast-enhanced (CET) and noncontrast-enhanced tumour components (NCET) and normal brain parenchyma (NP). Difference in tumour σ histogram metrics among tumour grades and correlation of σ metrics with tumour grades were tested. Validity of σ measurement using this technique was tested by correlating the mean tumour σ values measured using MRI with those measured ex vivo using a dielectric probe. Several σ histogram metrics of CET and NCET of diffuse gliomas were significantly higher than NP (Bonferroni-corrected p ≤ .045). The maximum σ of NCET showed a moderate positive correlation with tumour grade (r = .571, Bonferroni-corrected p = .018). The mean tumour σ measured using MRI showed a moderate positive correlation with the σ measured ex vivo (r = .518, p = .040). Tissue σ can be evaluated using MRI, incorporation of which may better characterise diffuse gliomas. • This study tested the validity of noninvasive electrical conductivity measurements by MRI. • This study also evaluated the electrical conductivity characteristics of diffuse glioma. • Gliomas have higher electrical conductivity values than the normal brain parenchyma. • Noninvasive electrical conductivity measurement can be helpful for better characterisation of glioma.

  16. Pediatric multiple sclerosis: analysis of clinical and epidemiological aspects according to National MS Society Consensus 2007 Esclerose múltipla pediátrica: análise de aspectos clínicos e epidemiológicos de acordo com o Consenso de 2007 da Sociedade Americana de Esclerose Múltipla

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maria Lúcia Brito Ferreira

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To describe the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of child/adolescence multiple sclerosis (MS. METHOD: According to a descriptive, cohort study, with comparison of groups, data of 31 cases of child/adolescent MS, diagnosed at State Reference Center for Demyelinating Diseases - Hospital da Restauração, Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, from 1987 to July 2007, were analyzed. The variables were: sex, initial symptoms, time for diagnosis, time of disease onset (early childhood, later childhood and adolescence, time of follow-up, number of relapses, relapses index and disability. Using SPSS software, version 13.0, t Student and Mann-Whitney tests were performed, with significance level of 0.05. RESULTS: There were 3 (9.7% cases of early childhood MS, 9 (29%, of late childhood MS, and 19 (61.3%, of adolescence MS. The general sex rate female: male was 1.8:1, varying according to age of onset. The predominant deficits were motor (12; 38.7% and brainstem/cerebellum (7; 22.5% especially on subsequent relapses of relapsing/remitting form. Time for diagnosis and average relapses index were higher in early childhood than in adolescence class (p=0.049 and p=0.028, respectively. Disability was higher for primary and secondary MS, as well as for early childhood. CONCLUSION: Early childhood MS presents proper and different characteristics from adults, consisting in a difficult diagnosis that demands aid of expert neurologist on MS.OBJETIVO: Descrever características epidemiológicas e clínicas de casos de esclerose múltipla (EM de início precoce. MÉTODO: Em estudo descritivo, prospectivo, tipo coorte, com comparação de grupos, foram analisados 31 portadores de EM de início precoce, diagnosticados no Centro Estadual de Referência para Atenção a Pacientes Portadores de Doenças Desmielinizantes do Hospital da Restauração, Recife, Pernambuco, entre 1987 e julho de 2007. As classes ao primeiro surto foram: infantil precoce, infantil

  17. Routines and Concerns in Conduct of Everyday Life

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hybholt, Lisbeth

    2015-01-01

    In this paper, I explore the concept conduct of everyday life, namely routines and real life, as they are confronted with empirical observations. The observations are from a study of changes in the conduct of everyday life for individuals who attended a patient education course. The course...... was a part of their treatment after a hospitalisation with depression in a psychiatric ward. I use analysis of the main individual, Steven’s, conduct of everyday life and illustrate my points with models of conduct of everyday life made using beads. The conceptualisation of conduct of everyday life...

  18. Enhancement in ionic conductivity on solid polymer electrolytes containing large conducting species

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Praveen, D. [Department of Physics, Amrita Viswha Vidyapeetham, Bangalore, India, E-mail: d-praveen@blr.amrita.edu (India); Damle, Ramakrishna [Department of Physics, Bangalore University, Bangalore, India. E-mail: ramkrishnadamle@bub.ernet.in (India)

    2016-05-23

    Solid Polymer Electrolytes (SPEs) lack better conducting properties at ambient temperatures. Various methods to enhance their ionic conductivity like irradiation with swift heavy ions, γ-rays, swift electrons and quenching at low temperature etc., have been explored in the literature. Among these, one of the oldest methods is incorporation of different conducting species into the polymer matrix and/or addition of nano-sized inert particles into SPEs. Various new salts like LiBr, Mg(ClO{sub 4}){sub 2}, NH{sub 4}I etc., have already been tried in the past with some success. Also various nanoparticles like Al{sub 2}O{sub 3}, TiO{sub 2} etc., have been tried in the past. In this article, we have investigated an SPE containing Rubidium as a conducting species. Rubidium has a larger ionic size compared to lithium and sodium ions which have been investigated in the recent past. In the present article, we have investigated the conductivity of large sized conducting species and shown the enhancement in the ionic conductivity by addition of nano-sized inert particles.

  19. Enhancement in ionic conductivity on solid polymer electrolytes containing large conducting species

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Praveen, D.; Damle, Ramakrishna

    2016-01-01

    Solid Polymer Electrolytes (SPEs) lack better conducting properties at ambient temperatures. Various methods to enhance their ionic conductivity like irradiation with swift heavy ions, γ-rays, swift electrons and quenching at low temperature etc., have been explored in the literature. Among these, one of the oldest methods is incorporation of different conducting species into the polymer matrix and/or addition of nano-sized inert particles into SPEs. Various new salts like LiBr, Mg(ClO_4)_2, NH_4I etc., have already been tried in the past with some success. Also various nanoparticles like Al_2O_3, TiO_2 etc., have been tried in the past. In this article, we have investigated an SPE containing Rubidium as a conducting species. Rubidium has a larger ionic size compared to lithium and sodium ions which have been investigated in the recent past. In the present article, we have investigated the conductivity of large sized conducting species and shown the enhancement in the ionic conductivity by addition of nano-sized inert particles.

  20. Intoxicação por closantel em ovinos e caprinos no Estado de Santa Catarina Poisoning by closantel in sheep and goats in the State of Santa Catarina, Brazil

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fernando Henrique Furlan

    2009-01-01

    Full Text Available Descrevem-se dois surtos de intoxicação por clo-santel, um em ovinos e outro em caprinos, no Estado de San-ta Catarina. No primeiro surto, de 12 ovinos que adoeceram 5 apresentaram cegueira, desses três morreram (Ovinos 1-3 e dois (Ovinos 4 e 5 foram eutanasiados, 6 meses após ficarem cegos. No segundo surto, de 26 caprinos que adoeceram, seis animais sobreviveram, porém ficaram cegos, e um deles foi eutanasiado. Clinicamente os animais apresentavam depressão, ataxia, incoordenação motora e reflexo pupilar diminuído a ausente. Em alguns animais esse quadro evoluiu para cegueira bilateral com ausência de reflexo de ameaça e midríase bilateral irresponsiva. Ao exame oftálmico verificou-se atrofia dos vasos da retina e hiperreflexia. Pelo exame histológico observou-se edema mielínico levando a status spongiosus no sistema nervoso central e neuropatia compressiva no nervo óptico, acompanhada de degeneração e/ou atrofia da retina. O objetivo deste trabalho é descrever os aspectos epidemiológicos, clínicos e patológicos da intoxicação por closantel em ovinos e caprinos.Two outbreaks of closantel overdosage in sheep and goat flocks are described. In the first outbreak 12 sheep were affected, 5 of them showed blindness, three sheep died (Sheep 1-3 and two were euthanized 6 months after the onset of clinical manifestation (Sheep 4 and 5. In the second outbreak 26 goats were affected, from which six survived despite blindness and one was euthanized. Clinically the animals showed depression, ataxia, motor incoordination, decreased or absent pupil reflexes. In some animals this clinical picture developed to bilateral blindness, with no reaction to threat and bilateral irresponsive midriasis. In the ophthalmic examination retinal vessel atrophy and hyperreflexia were observed. The histological examination showed myelin edema leading to status spongiosus in the central nervous system and compressive neuropathy of the optic nerve