Ultrasound-assisted synthesis of aliphatic acid esters at room temperature

This work describes the ultrasound-assisted synthesis of saturated aliphatic esters from synthetic aliphatic acids and either methanol or ethanol. The products were isolated in good yields after short reaction times under mild conditions. (C) 2011 Elsevier BM. All rights reserved.

An electrochemical gas sensor based on paper supported room temperature ionic liquids

A sensitive and fast-responding membrane-free amperometric gas sensor is described, consisting of a small filter paper foil soaked with a room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL), upon which three electrodes are screen printed with carbon ink, using a suitable mask. It takes advantage of the high electrical conductivity and negligible vapour pressure of RTILs as well as their easy immobilization into a porous and inexpensive supporting material such as paper. Moreover, thanks to a careful control of the preparation procedure, a very close contact between the RTIL and electrode material can be achieved so as to allow gaseous analytes to undergo charge transfer just as soon as they reach the three-phase sites where the electrode material, paper supported RTIL and gas phase meet. Thus, the adverse effect on recorded currents of slow steps such as analyte diffusion and dissolution in a solvent is avoided. To evaluate the performance of this device, it was used as a wall-jet amperometric detector for flow injection analysis of 1-butanethiol vapours, adopted as the model gaseous analyte, present in headspace samples in equilibrium with aqueous solutions at controlled concentrations. With this purpose, the RTIL soaked paper electrochemical detector (RTIL-PED) was assembled by using 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium bis(trifluoromethanesulfonyl) imide as the wicking RTIL and printing the working electrode with carbon ink doped with cobalt(II) phthalocyanine, to profit from its ability to electrocatalyze thiol oxidation. The results obtained were quite satisfactory (detection limit: 0.5 mu M; dynamic range: 2-200 mu M, both referring to solution concentrations; correlation coefficient: 0.998; repeatability: +/- 7% RSD; long-term stability: 9%), thus suggesting the possible use of this device for manifold applications.

The role of pneumonia scores in the emergency room in patients infected by 2009 H1N1 infection

Despite the severity of pneumonia in patients with pandemic influenza A infection (H1N1), no validated risk scores associated with H1N1 pneumonia were tested. In this prospective observational study, we analyzed data of consecutive patients in our emergency room, hospitalized because of pneumonia between July and August 2009 in a public hospital in Brazil. The following pneumonia scoring systems were applied: the SMART-COP rule; the Pneumonia Severity Index; and the CURB-65 rule. Of 105 patients with pneumonia, 53 had H1N1 infection. Among them, only 9.5% that had a low risk according to SMART-COP were admitted to ICU, compared with 36.8% of those with the Pneumonia Severity Index score of 1-2 and 49% of those with CURB-65 score of 0-1. The SMART-COP had an accuracy of 83% to predict ICU admission. The SMART-COP rule presented the best performance to indicate ICU admission in patients with H1N1 pneumonia. European Journal of Emergency Medicine 19: 200-202 (C) 2012 Wolters Kluwer Health vertical bar Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.

Current practices in the management of patients with ureteral calculi in the emergency room of a university hospital

OBJECTIVE: Urinary lithiasis is a common disease. The aim of the present study is to assess the knowledge regarding the diagnosis, treatment and recommendations given to patients with ureteral colic by professionals of an academic hospital. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-five physicians were interviewed about previous experience with guidelines regarding ureteral colic and how they manage patients with ureteral colic in regards to diagnosis, treatment and the information provided to the patients. RESULTS: Thirty-six percent of the interviewed physicians were surgeons, and 64% were clinicians. Forty-one percent of the physicians reported experience with ureterolithiasis guidelines. Seventy-two percent indicated that they use noncontrast CT scans for the diagnosis of lithiasis. All of the respondents prescribe hydration, primarily for the improvement of stone elimination (39.3%). The average number of drugs used was 3.5. The combination of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and opioids was reported by 54% of the physicians (i. e., 59% of surgeons and 25.6% of clinicians used this combination of drugs) (p = 0.014). Only 21.3% prescribe alpha blockers. CONCLUSION: Reported experience with guidelines had little impact on several habitual practices. For example, only 21.3% of the respondents indicated that they prescribed alpha blockers; however, alpha blockers may increase stone elimination by up to 54%. Furthermore, although a meta-analysis demonstrated that hydration had no effect on the transit time of the stone or on the pain, the majority of the physicians reported that they prescribed more than 500 ml of fluid. Dipyrone, hyoscine, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and opioids were identified as the most frequently prescribed drug combination. The information regarding the time for the passage of urinary stones was inconsistent. The development of continuing education programs regarding ureteral colic in the emergency room is necessary.

Microbial load in instruments used in surgeries classified as clean

Introduction / objectives The number of orthopedic surgery, especially surgery of total hip and knee, have been more frequent due to technological advances. This study aims to determine the microbial load in the instruments used in clean surgeries, quantifying and identifying the genus and species of microbial growth.Methods Orthopedic surgical instruments were immersed, after use, in sterile water, sonicated in ultrasonic washer and consecutively shaken. Then, the lavage was filtered through a 0.45micron membrane, the result was incubated in aerobic medium, anaerobic medium and medium for fungi and yeasts. Results In clean surgeries, results showed that 47% of used instruments had microbiological growth in the range of 1 to 100 CFU/instrument. The most prevalent organism was Staphylococcus coagulase negative (28%), followed by Bacillus subtilis (11%).This study refuted the hypothesis that clean surgeries happen in micro-organismsfree surgery field. Conclusion The microbiological findings reinforce the importance of antibiotic prophylaxis, practice already well established for this category of surgical procedure.

Impact of the rapid antigen detection test in diagnosis and treatment of acute pharyngotonsillitis in a Pediatric emergency room

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the impact of the routine use of rapid antigen detection test in the diagnosis and treatment of acute pharyngotonsillitis in children. METHODS: This is a prospective and observational study, with a protocol compliance design established at the Emergency Unit of the University Hospital of Universidade de São Paulo for the care of children and adolescents diagnosed with acute pharyngitis. RESULTS: 650 children and adolescents were enrolled. Based on clinical findings, antibiotics would be prescribed for 389 patients (59.8%); using the rapid antigen detection test, they were prescribed for 286 patients (44.0%). Among the 261 children who would not have received antibiotics based on the clinical evaluation, 111 (42.5%) had positive rapid antigen detection test. The diagnosis based only on clinical evaluation showed 61.1% sensitivity, 47.7% specificity, 44.9% positive predictive value, and 57.5% negative predictive value. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical diagnosis of streptococcal pharyngotonsillitis had low sensitivity and specificity. The routine use of rapid antigen detection test led to the reduction of antibiotic use and the identification of a risk group for complications of streptococcal infection, since 42.5% positive rapid antigen detection test patients would not have received antibiotics based only on clinical diagnosis.

Climate change and the tourism sector: the clean development mechanism, a market instrument under the Kyoto Protocol to achieve multiple objectives

The main objective of this research is to demonstrate that the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), an instrument created under a global international treaty, can achieve multiple objectives beyond those for which it has been established. As such, while being already a powerful tool to contribute to the global fight against climate change, the CDM can also be successful if applied to different sectors not contemplated before. In particular, this research aimed at demonstrating that a wider utilization of the CDM in the tourism sector can represent an innovative way to foster sustainable tourism and generate additional benefits. The CDM was created by Article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and represents an innovative tool to reduce greenhouse gases emissions through the implementation of mitigation activities in developing countries which generate certified emission reductions (CERs), each of them equivalent to one ton of CO2 not emitted in the atmosphere. These credits can be used for compliance reasons by industrialized countries in achieving their reduction targets. The logic path of this research begins with an analysis of the scientific evidences of climate change and its impacts on different economic sectors including tourism and it continues with a focus on the linkages between climate and the tourism sector. Then, it analyses the international responses to the issue of climate change and the peculiar activities in the international arena addressing climate change and the tourism sector. The concluding part of the work presents the objectives and achievements of the CDM and its links to the tourism sector by considering case studies of existing projects which demonstrate that the underlying question can be positively answered. New opportunities for the tourism sector are available.

Tris(trimethylsilyl)silyl stabilized phosphorus and lead clusters

Die Hypersilylgruppe (Me3Si)3Si stellt einen sehr sperrigen, Elektronen liefernden Substituenten dar und kann zur Stabilisierung niedriger Oxidationsstufen sowie ungewöhnlicher Strukturelemente dienen. Durch Reaktionen der base-freien Hypersilanide der Alkalimetalle sowie des Dihypersilylplumbandiyls mit unterschiedlichsten phosphorhaltigen Reagenzien konnten eine Reihe hypersilyl-stabilisierter Phosphor- und Bleicluster-Verbindungen erhalten werden. Kaliumhypersilanid reagiert in Toluol glatt mit weißem Phosphor bei Raumtemperatur in Toluol unter quantitativer Bildung von rotem Kalium-bis(hypersilyl)tetraphosphenid [(Me3Si)3Si]2P4K2 (1), einem Kaliumsalz des Tetraphosphens (Me3Si)3Si-PH-P=P-PH-Si(SiMe3)3. In Benzol oder Toluol steht 1 im Gleichgewicht mit dem dimeren Octaphosphanid [(Me3Si)3Si]4P8K4 (2). Bei längerem Stehen der toluolischen Lösungen zerfällt 1 langsam vermutlich in Folge einer Protolyse zum gelben Pentaphosphanid [(Me3Si)3Si]3P5K2 (4). Aus benzolischer Lösung konnte hingegen ein weiteres Oktaphosphanid, [(Me3Si)3Si]3P8K3 (5), isoliert werden. Führt man die Reaktion Kaliumhypersilanid mit P4 in stärker koordinierenden Lösungsmitteln wie Diethylether durch, so entstehen neben 1 größere Mengen des Triphosphenids [(Me3Si)3Si]2P3K (3); dieses enthält ein Triphosphaallyl-Anion mit partieller P-P-Doppelbindung. Setzt man Lithiumhypersilanid mit weißem Phosphor um, so beobachtet man eine vollständig andere Produktpallette. Als Hauptprodukte lassen Polyphosphane wie beispielsweise [(Me3Si)3Si]2P4 (6) nachweisen, das zu 1 analoge [(Me3Si)3Si]2P4Li2 (7) entsteht nur in vergleichsweise kleinen Mengen. In der Gegenwart von Hexahydro-1,3,5-trimethyl-S-triazin, entsteht aus Lithiumhypersilanid und P4 hingegen im wesentlichen [(Me3Si)3Si]2P3Li (8) neben beträchtlichen Mengen von (Me3Si)4Si. Dessen Bildung erfordert eine Si-Si-Bindungsspaltung im Verlauf der Reaktion. Die Reaktion von Natriumhypersilanid mit P4 verläuft sehr unübersichtlich, das Pentaphosphanid [(Me3Si)3Si]3P5Na2 (9) ist das einzige isolierbare Produkt. Setzt man 1 mit [(Me3Si)2Si]2Sn um, so bilden sich überraschenderweise, je nach verwendetem Solvens [(Me3Si)3Si]3P4SnK (10) oder [(Me3Si)3Si]2[(Me3Si)2N]P4SnK (11). Alle neuen Verbindungen wurden NMR-spektroskopisch charakterisiert, die Phosphenide 1, 7, 8 sowie die Phosphanide 2, 4, 5, 9, 10 darüber hinaus durch Kristallstrukturanalysen. Dihypersilylplumbandiyl und -stannandiyl reagieren bei tiefer Temperatur mit P4, MPH2 (M=Li, K), PMe3, and PH3 zu formalen Lewis-Säure-Base-Addukten. Die Addukte {[(Me3Si)3Si]2PbPH2}M [M = Li (15), K (18)], {{[(Me3Si)3Si]2Pb}2PH2}M [M = Li (19), K (20)], und [(Me3Si)3Si]2EPMe3 [E = Pb (21), Sn (22)] wurden als kristalline Feststoffe erhalten und konnten vollständig charakterisiert werden. Die metastabilen Addukte {[(Me3Si)3Si]2E}4P4 (E = Pb, Sn) und [(Me3Si)3Si]2PbPH3 konnten lediglich NMR-spektroskopisch nachgewiesen werden. Bei Raumtemperatur entstehen in Folge von Ligandenaustausch-Prozessen die kristallographisch charakterisierten Heterokubane [(Me3Si)3Si]4P4E4 [E = Pb (12), Sn (14)], das Diphosphen (Me3Si)3SiP=PSi(SiMe3)3 (13) sowie der Pb2P2-Heterocyclus [(Me3Si)3SiPbP(H)Si(SiMe3)3]2 (17). Bei tiefer Temperatur wird aus einer sehr langsamen Reaktion von Dihypersilylplumbandiyl und PH3 in sehr kleinen Ausbeuten ein weiteres, völlig unerwartetes Produkt gebildet: der Bleicluster [(Me3Si)3Si]6Pb12 (23). Er weist ein verzerrt ikosaedrisches, zentrosymmetrisches Pb12-Gerüst auf. Nach jetzigen Erkenntnissen läuft seine Bildung über das nicht fassbare Hydridoplumbandiyl HPbSi(SiMe3)3, das intermediär durch Substituentenaustausch zwischen Pb[Si(SiMe3)3]2 and PH3 entsteht. Der Ersatz des Phosphans durch andere Hydridquellen wie (Ph3PCuH)6, (iBu)2AlH, and Me3NAlH3 führt ebenfalls zur Bildung von Bleiclustern, allerdings ist jetzt der Cluster [(Me3Si)3Si]6Pb10 (24) das Hauptprodukt. Beide Cluster, 23 und 24, gehorchen den Wade-Regeln.

The Effectiveness of the Clean Development Mechanism – A law and economics analysis

Climate change has been acknowledged as a threat to humanity. Most scholars agree that to avert dangerous climate change and to transform economies into low-carbon societies, deep global emission reductions are required by the year 2050. Under the framework of the Kyoto Protocol, the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) is the only market-based instrument that encourages industrialised countries to pursue emission reductions in developing countries. The CDM aims to pay the incremental finance necessary to operationalize emission reduction projects which are otherwise not financially viable. According to the objectives of the Kyoto Protocol, the CDM should finance projects that are additional to those which would have happened anyway, contribute to sustainable development in the countries hosting the projects, and be cost-effective. To enable the identification of such projects, an institutional framework has been established by the Kyoto Protocol which lays out responsibilities for public and private actors. This thesis examines whether the CDM has achieved these objectives in practice and can thus be considered an effective tool to reduce emissions. To complete this investigation, the book applies economic theory and analyses the CDM from two perspectives. The first perspective is the supply-dimension which answers the question of how, in practice, the CDM system identified additional, cost-effective, sustainable projects and, generated emission reductions. The main contribution of this book is the second perspective, the compliance-dimension, which answers the question of whether industrialised countries effectively used the CDM for compliance with their Kyoto targets. The application of the CDM in the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) is used as a case-study. Where the analysis identifies inefficiencies within the supply or the compliance dimension, potential improvements of the legal framework are proposed and discussed.

A new method for the estimation of the reverberation time from measured room impulse responses with application to Italian opera houses

The Schroeder's backward integration method is the most used method to extract the decay curve of an acoustic impulse response and to calculate the reverberation time from this curve. In the literature the limits and the possible improvements of this method are widely discussed. In this work a new method is proposed for the evaluation of the energy decay curve. The new method has been implemented in a Matlab toolbox. Its performance has been tested versus the most accredited literature method. The values of EDT and reverberation time extracted from the energy decay curves calculated with both methods have been compared in terms of the values themselves and in terms of their statistical representativeness. The main case study consists of nine Italian historical theatres in which acoustical measurements were performed. The comparison of the two extraction methods has also been applied to a critical case, i.e. the structural impulse responses of some building elements. The comparison underlines that both methods return a comparable value of the T30. Decreasing the range of evaluation, they reveal increasing differences; in particular, the main differences are in the first part of the decay, where the EDT is evaluated. This is a consequence of the fact that the new method returns a “locally" defined energy decay curve, whereas the Schroeder's method accumulates energy from the tail to the beginning of the impulse response. Another characteristic of the new method for the energy decay extraction curve is its independence on the background noise estimation. Finally, a statistical analysis is performed on the T30 and EDT values calculated from the impulse responses measurements in the Italian historical theatres. The aim of this evaluation is to know whether a subset of measurements could be considered representative for a complete characterization of these opera houses.

Design and acoustic characterization of a new listening room

Il presente lavoro tratta la progettazione e caratterizzazione di una nuova "listening room" ad acustica controllata partendo dai requisiti dettati dalle norme tecniche ITU-R BS 1116-1 e EBU/UER Tech. doc. 3276. Ad oggi è presente un'ampia letteratura, che tratta approcci per valutazione acustica delle sale di ascolto. Essa inizialmente era volta a trovare proporzioni ideali tra le dimensioni della camera, poi la ricerca si è spostata sull'elaborazione di modelli previsionali. Purtroppo tali metodi spesso non riescono a garantire le prestazioni desiderate, mentre le prove sperimentali dettate dalle norme risultano essere di comprovata validità. L'ambiente oggetto di studio è stato progettato all'interno dello spazio dei laboratori CIRI. La tecnologia costruttiva è frutto di uno studio approfondito, in particolare la scelta di fibre di poliestere termolegate, per il rivestimento delle pareti interne, è stata valutata attraverso misure in camera riverberante secondo UNI-EN-ISO 354. Si è poi seguita una metodologia iterativa che coinvolgesse messa in opera, misurazioni in situ e valutazione tramite confronto con i parametri consigliati dalle normative tecniche sopra citate. In quest'ottica sono state effettuate acquisizioni di risposte all'impulso monoaurali e dei livelli di pressione sonora per verificare la qualità di isolamento e il comportamento alle basse frequenze. La validazione restituisce indicazioni positive per gli utilizzi dell'ambiente ipotizzati e risulta compatibile con le stringenti richieste delle norme tecniche.

Sviluppo dell'ingegneria di cantiere per la realizzazione di moduli "local equipment room"

Sviluppo dell'ingegneria di cantiere per la realizzazione di due strutture per il settore oil & gas e offshore. Definizione di layout di cantiere, supportazione, roll-up di sottoassiemi, sollevamenti tramite tiri piramidali e bilancini, movimentazione tramite carrelli semoventi o SPMT.

Progettazione e realizzazione di un'applicazione Android per il Virtual Dressing Room

Il lavoro svolto per la tesi consiste nella realizzazione di un'applicazione Android che permetta all’utente di scattare o caricare dalla gallery una foto personale e prelevare da una ListView fotografie di abiti da provare mediante trascinamento di quest’ultimi sulla foto dell’utente. Le fasi di lavoro sono state principalmente quattro: - Ricerca sullo stato dell’arte della tecnologia legata al Virtual Dressing Room (storia, elenco e descrizione dei metodi utilizzati da piattaforme esistenti, esempi reali di queste metodologie) - Progettazione con individuazione degli obiettivi e featuring dell’applicazione - Implementazione dell'applicazione (creazione dei layout e codice java delle activity:inserimento taglie e scelta uomo/donna, scatto/caricamento foto, creazione del database e utilizzo mediante ListView, visualizzazione e gestione del carrello). Scrittura del volume di tesi (introduzione e descrizione della tecnologia, progettazione, implementazione con descrizione su Android SDK, Android Studio e implementazione con descrizione dei layout e classi).