Frequency-place compression and expansion in cochlear implant listeners

In multichannel cochlear implants, low frequency information is delivered to apical cochlear locations while high frequency information is delivered to more basal locations, mimicking the normal acoustic tonotopic organization of the auditory nerves. In clinical practice, little attention has been paid to the distribution of acoustic input across the electrodes of an individual patient that might vary in terms of spacing and absolute tonotopic location. In normal-hearing listeners, Ba?kent and Shannon (J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 113, 2003) simulated implant signal processing conditions in which the frequency range assigned to the array was systematically made wider or narrower than the simulated stimulation range in the cochlea, resulting in frequency-place compression or expansion, respectively. In general, the best speech recognition was obtained when the input acoustic information was delivered to the matching tonotopic place in the cochlea with least frequency-place distortion. The present study measured phoneme and sentence recognition scores with similar frequency-place manipulations in six Med-El Combi 40+ implant subjects. Stimulation locations were estimated using the Greenwood mapping function based on the estimated electrode insertion depth. Results from frequency-place compression and expansion with implants were similar to simulation results, especially for postlingually deafened subjects, despite the uncertainty in the actual stimulation sites of the auditory nerves. The present study shows that frequency-place mapping is an important factor in implant performance and an individual implant patient's map could be optimized with functional tests using frequency-place manipulations.     

Hospital service levels during drug shortages: Stocking and transshipment policies for pharmaceutical inventory

Journal of Global Optimization - In this study, we consider a health network that faces uncertain supply disruptions in the form of regional, nationwide, or worldwide drug shortages. Each hospital...     

Surfactant-induced healing of tough hydrogels formed via hydrophobic interactions

Different reversible molecular interactions have been used in the past few years to generate self-healing in synthetic hydrogels. However, self-healing hydrogels synthesized so far suffer from low mechanical strength which may limit their use in any stress-bearing applications. Here, we present a simple technique to heal mechanically strong polyacrylamide hydrogels formed via hydrophobic interactions between stearyl groups. A complete healing in the hydrogels was achieved by the treatment of the damaged areas with an aqueous solution of wormlike sodium dodecyl sulfate micelles. The micelles in the healing agent solubilize the hydrophobes in the cut surfaces, so that they easily find their partners in the other cut surface due to the hydrophobic interactions. Surfactant-induced healing produces high toughness (～1 MPa) gels withstanding 150 kPa of stress at a deformation ratio of 1,100 %. The healing technique developed here is generally applicable to the physical gels formed by hydrophobic associations.     

Spatio-spectral analyses of electromagnetic wave energy absorption and heating effect

This study presents a theoretical analysis method to calculate electromagnetic (EM) wave power absorption spectrum of materials by using attenuation coefficients. The heating effect of EM waves is modeled to analyze spectral distribution of temperature rises inside material body as a result of EM wave power absorption. These analyses are very useful for the investigation of electromagnetic wave-material interaction on the bases of electro-physical material parameters (permittivity, permeability and conductivity). An illustrative analysis of spatio-spectral distribution of EM wave energy absorption and resulting heating effect were conducted for muscle tissues and the results are discussed.     

Synthesis and Spectroscopic Characterization of Novel Aryl-Dithiofluorophosphonate Derivatives and X-Ray Studies of [(4-CH3OC6H4)(F)P(S)S−][PH4P+]

Abstract

Potassium and tetraphenylphosphonium salts of novel aryldithiofluorophosphonic acids were synthesized. Lawesson's Reagent was allowed to react with KF in acetonitrile to yield the potassium salt of p-methoxyphenyldithiofluorophosphonic acid. Treatment of the latter with tetraphenylphosphonium chloride resulted in the formation of the tetraphenylphosphonium salt. The structures of the compounds were elucidated by FTIR, ¹H, ¹³C, ¹⁹F, and ³¹P NMR spectroscopy as well as by ESI-mass spectrometry. The molecular and crystal structure of the tetraphenylphosphonium salt, determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction, is also presented.

Supplemental materials are available for this article. Go to the publisher's online edition of Phosphorus, Sulfur, and Silicon and the Related Elements to view the free supplemental file.     

ALIPHATIC THIOETHERS BY S-ALKYLATION OF THIOLS VIA TRIALKYL BORATES

A simple and convenient one-pot procedure is described for the synthesis of thioethers via boron esters. This procedure involves in-situ generation of alkyl sulfates by reaction of trialkyl borates with concentrated sulfuric acid and subsequent reaction with thiols in the presence of pyridine. The reactions with boron esters of primary or secondary alcohols proceed cleanly at 100°C and afford aliphatic thioethers in reasonable yields (59–93%) within 24 h. Interestingly, the ¹H NMR spectra of the products showed no sign of positional isomerisms. The method fails however with thiophenol and does not yield aromatic thioethers, due to electrophilic substitution at the phenyl ring.     

Synthesis and Spectroscopic Properties of S-,O-Substituted Naphthoquinone Dyes

New S-,O-substituted naphthoquinone compounds (3a, 4b, 6, 7c, 9d, 10, 12, 13c, 14d, 15) were synthesized via vinilic substitution. 2,3-Dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone gave 3a and 4b with 4,4′-thiobisbenzenethiol, respectively. Compounds 6 and 7c were obtained from the reaction of 2,3-dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone with cyclohexylmercaptane. The compounds 9d and 10 were prepared from the reaction of 2,3-dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone with 6-mercapto-1-hexanol. Compounds 12, 13c, 14d, and 15 were synthesized from the reaction of 2,3-dichloro-1,4-naphthoquinone with 1,6-hexanedithiol. Their structures were characterized by micro analysis, FT-IR, ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR, MS, UV-Vis, and fluorescence spectroscopy.     

Emission of Toxic HCN During NOx Removal by Ammonia SCR in the Exhaust of Lean‐Burn Natural Gas Engines

Reducing greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions is one of the most stringent priorities of our society to minimize their dramatic effects on health and environment. Natural gas (NG) engines, in particular at lean conditions, emit less CO₂ in comparison to combustion engines operated with liquid fuels but NG engines still require emission control devices for NO_x removal. Using state‐of‐the‐art technologies for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO_x with NH₃, we evaluated the interplay of the reducing agent NH₃ and formaldehyde, which is always present in the exhaust of NG engines. Our results show that a significant amount of highly toxic hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is formed. All catalysts tested partially convert formaldehyde to HCOOH and CO. Additionally, they form secondary emissions of HCN due to catalytic reactions of formaldehyde and its oxidation intermediates with NH₃. With the present components of the exhaust gas aftertreatment system the HCN emissions are not efficiently converted to non‐polluting gases. The development of more advanced catalyst formulations with improved oxidation activity is mandatory to solve this novel critical issue.