Crystal structure of bis(acetylacetonato)-bis(3-methylpyridine)-nickel(II) dihydrate, Ni(C6H7N)(2)(C5H7O2)(2)center dot 2H(2)O

C22H32N2NiO6, triclinic, P (1) over bar (no. 2), a = 8.335(1) angstrom, b = 9.314(1) angstrom, c = 17.045(2) angstrom, alpha = 88.45(1)degrees, beta = 82.12(1)degrees, gamma = 70.296(9)degrees, V = 1233.7 angstrom(3), Z = 2, R-gt(F) = 0.050, wR(ref)(F-2) = 0.177, T = 293 K.

Crystal structure of potassium trifluoro[1,3-dithiano]borate, K(C4S2H7BF3)

C4H7BF3KS2, monoclinic, P12(1)/cl (no. 14), a = 14.7374(3) angstrom, b = 9.06121) angstrom, c = 13.5805(2) angstrom, beta = 98.964(4)degrees, V = 1791.4 angstrom(3), Z = 8, R-gt(F) = 0.029, wR(ref)(F-2) = 0.010, T = 296 K.

Crystal structure of di-mu(N,S)-thiocyanato-bis[(N-benzylideneaniline-C-2,N)palladium(II)], [Pd(C6H4CH=NC6H5)(mu-SCN)](2)

C28H20N4Pd2S2, monoclinic, P12(1)/c1 (No. 14), a = 11.325(1) Angstrom, b = 13.530(1) Angstrom, c = 17.925(1) Angstrom, beta = 106.23(1)degrees, V = 2637.1 Angstrom(3), Z = 4, R-gt(F) = 0.052, wR(ref)(F-2) = 0.129, T = 293 K.

Crystal structure of di-μ(N,S)-thiocyanato-bis[(N-benzylideneaniline-C 2,N)palladium(II)], [Pd(C6H4CH=NC 6H5)(μ-SCN)]2

C28H20N4Pd2S2, monoclinic, P121/c1 (No. 14), a = 11.325(1) Å, b = 13.530(1) Å, c = 17.925(1) Å, β = 106.23(1)°, V = 2637.1 Å 3, Z = 4, Rgt(F) = 0.052, wRref(F2) = 0.129, T = 293 K. © by Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag.

Crystal structure of potassium trifluoro[1,3-dithiano]borate, K(C 4S2H7BF3)

C4H7BF3KS2, monoclinic, P121/c1 (no. 14), a = 14.7374(3) Å, b = 9.0612(1) Å, c = 13.5805(2) Å, β = 98.964(4)°, V = 1791.4 Å3, Z = 8, Rgt(F) = 0.029, wRref(F2) = 0.010, T = 296 K. © by Oldenbourg Wissenschaftsverlag.

Measurement of melatonin in body fluids: Standards, protocols and procedures

Background and Purpose: The circadian rhythm of melatonin in saliva or plasma, or of the melatonin metabolite 6-sulfatoxymelatonin (a6MTs) in urine, is a defining feature of suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) function, the body's endogenous oscillatory pacemaker. The primary objective of this review is to ascertain the clinical benefits and limitations of current methodologies employed for detection and quantification of melatonin in biological fluids and tissues. Data Identification: A search of the English-language literature (Medline) and a systematic review of published articles were carried out. Study Selection: Articles that specified both the methodology for quantifying melatonin and indicated the clinical purpose were chosen for inclusion in the review. Data Extraction: The authors critically evaluated the methodological issues associated with various tools and techniques (e.g. standards, protocols, and procedures). Results of Data Synthesis: Melatonin measurements are useful for evaluating problems related to the onset or offset of sleep and for assessing phase delays or advances of rhythms in entrained individuals. They have also become an important tool for psychiatric diagnosis, their use being recommended for phase typing in patients suffering from sleep and mood disorders. Additionally, there has been a continuous interest in the use of melatonin as a marker for neoplasms of the pineal region. Melatonin decreases such as found with aging are or post pinealectomy can cause alterations in the sleep/wake cycle. The development of sensitive and selective methods for the precise detection of melatonin in tissues and fluids has increasingly been shown to have direct relevance for clinical decision making. Conclusions: Due to melatonin's low concentration, as well as the coexistence of numerous other compounds in the blood, the routine determination of melatonin has been an analytical challenge. The available evidence indicates however that these challenges can be overcome and consequently that evaluation of melatonin's presence and activity can be an accessible and useful tool for clinical diagnosis. © Springer-Verlag 2010.

Effects of the ethyl acetate fraction of Alchornea triplinervia on healing gastric ulcer in rats

Alchornea triplinervia (Spreng.) Muell. Arg (Euphorbiaceae) is a medicinal plant commonly used by people living in the Cerrado region of Brazil to treat gastrointestinal ulcers. We previously described the gastroprotective action of methanolic extract (ME) of Alchornea triplinervia and the ethyl acetate fraction (EAF) in increasing of prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2) gastric levels in the mucosa. In this work we evaluated the effect of EAF in promoting the healing process in rats with acetic acid-induced gastric ulcers. In addition, toxicity was investigated during treatment with EAF. After 14 days of treatment with EAF, the potent stimulator of gastric cell proliferation contributed to the acceleration of gastric ulcer healing. Upon immunohistochemical analysis, we observed a pronounced expression of COX-2, mainly in the submucosal layer. The 14-day EAF treatment also significantly increased the number of neutrophils in the gastric mucosa regeneration area. The EAF induced angiogenesis on gastric mucosa, observed as an increase of the number of blood vessels supplying the stomach in rats treated with EAF. Oral administration for 14 days of the ethyl acetate fraction from Alchornea triplinervia accelerated the healing of gastric ulcers in rats by promoting epithelial cell proliferation, increasing the number of neutrophils and stimulation of mucus production. This fraction, which contained mainly phenolic compounds, contributed to gastric mucosa healing. © 2011 by the authors; licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.

Laser ultrasonics system for measurement of speed of sound in gases

In this work we developed a setup to measure the speed of sound in gases using a laser ultrasonics system. The mentioned setup is an all optical system composed by a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser to generate the sound waves, and a fiber optical microphone to detect them. The Nd:YAG provided a laser pulse of approximately 420 mJ energy and 9 ns of pulse width, at the wavelength of 1064 nm. The pulsed laser beam, focused by a positive lens, was used to generate an electrical breakdown (in the gas) which, in turn, generates an sound wave that traveled through a determined distance and reached the fiber optical microphone. The resulting signal was acquired in an oscilloscope and the time difference between the optical pulse and the arrival of the sound waves was used to calculate the speed of sound, since the distance was known. The system was initially tested to measure the speed of sound in air, at room pressure and temperature and it presented results in agreement with the theory, showing to be suitable to measure the speed of sound in gases. © 2012 American Institute of Physics.

Predicting academic success of engineering students in technical drawing from working memory

Tests on spatial aptitude, in particular Visualization, have been shown to be efficient predictors of the academic performance of Technical Drawing stu-dents. It has recently been found that Spatial Working Memory (a construct defined as the ability to perform tasks with a figurative content that require si-multaneous storage and transformation of information) is strongly associated with Visualization. In the present study we analyze the predictive efficiency of a bat-tery of tests that included tests on Visualization, SpatialWorking Memory, Spatial Short-term Memory and Executive Function on a sample of first year engineering students. The results show that Spatial Working Memory (SWM) is the most important predictor of academic success in Technical Drawing. In our view, SWM tests can be useful for detecting as early as possible those students who will require more attention and support in the teaching-learning process.

A study of the precursors and photoactivity of nanostructures of Ti oxides synthesized by the alkaline hydrothermal method

The present study describes the synthesis, characterization and photocatalytic potential of Ti oxide nanostructures of various morphologies and crystalline phases that were synthesized from 4 different precursors by the alkaline hydrothermal method. The materials were characterized by mainly X-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy, scanning and transmission electron microscopy (SEM and TEM), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS). Also, photocatalytic potential was assessed by rhodamine B photodegradation. The materials obtained from peroxytitanium complexes (PTCs) exhibited a strong dependence on the concentration of KOH ([KOH]) used for synthesis. The pre-formed sheets of the PTCs were critical to the formation of nanostructures such as nanoribbons, and they were also compatible with the rolling up process, which can be utilized to form structures such as nanorods, nanowires or nanotubes. In the rhodamine photodegradation tests, TiO2 anatase nanostructures with six-coor inated Ti were more effective than the titanate ones (five-coordinated), despite having a smaller surface area and fewer OH groups. The lower photoactivity of the titanates was attributed to the presence of five-coordinated titanium species (TiO5), which may act as electron-hole recombination centers. Furthermore, the material with a mixture of TiO2/titanate was shown to be promising for photocatalytic applications. © 2013 by American Scientific Publishers.

Constrained intervals and interval spaces

Constrained intervals, intervals as a mapping from [0, 1] to polynomials of degree one (linear functions) with non-negative slopes, and arithmetic on constrained intervals generate a space that turns out to be a cancellative abelian monoid albeit with a richer set of properties than the usual (standard) space of interval arithmetic. This means that not only do we have the classical embedding as developed by H. Radström, S. Markov, and the extension of E. Kaucher but the properties of these polynomials. We study the geometry of the embedding of intervals into a quasilinear space and some of the properties of the mapping of constrained intervals into a space of polynomials. It is assumed that the reader is familiar with the basic notions of interval arithmetic and interval analysis. © 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Monitoring in precision metal drilling process using multi-sensors and neural network

This paper presents a new method to estimate hole diameters and surface roughness in precision drilling processes, using coupons taken from a sandwich plate composed of a titanium alloy plate (Ti6Al4V) glued onto an aluminum alloy plate (AA 2024T3). The proposed method uses signals acquired during the cutting process by a multisensor system installed on the machine tool. These signals are mathematically treated and then used as input for an artificial neural network. After training, the neural network system is qualified to estimate the surface roughness and hole diameter based on the signals and cutting process parameters. To evaluate the system, the estimated data were compared with experimental measurements and the errors were calculated. The results proved the efficiency of the proposed method, which yielded very low or even negligible errors of the tolerances used in most industrial drilling processes. This pioneering method opens up a new field of research, showing a promising potential for development and application as an alternative monitoring method for drilling processes. © 2012 Springer-Verlag London Limited.

Fuzzy community structure detection by particle competition and cooperation

Identification and classification of overlapping nodes in networks are important topics in data mining. In this paper, a network-based (graph-based) semi-supervised learning method is proposed. It is based on competition and cooperation among walking particles in a network to uncover overlapping nodes by generating continuous-valued outputs (soft labels), corresponding to the levels of membership from the nodes to each of the communities. Moreover, the proposed method can be applied to detect overlapping data items in a data set of general form, such as a vector-based data set, once it is transformed to a network. Usually, label propagation involves risks of error amplification. In order to avoid this problem, the proposed method offers a mechanism to identify outliers among the labeled data items, and consequently prevents error propagation from such outliers. Computer simulations carried out for synthetic and real-world data sets provide a numeric quantification of the performance of the method. © 2012 Springer-Verlag.