Rapid crack growth in a thermoelastic solid under mixed-mode thermomechanical loading

A two-dimensional steady-sate analysis of semi-infinite brittlecrack growth at a constant subcritical rate in an unboundedfully-coupled thermoelastic solid under mixed-mode thermomechanicalloading is made. The loading consists of normal and shear tractionsand heat fluxes applied as point sources (line loads in theout-of-plane direction). A related problem is solved exactly in an integral transformspace, and robust asymptotic forms used to reduce the originalproblem to a set of integral equations. The equations are partiallycoupled and exhibit operators of both Cauchy and Abel types,yet can be solved analytically. The temperature change field at a distance from the moving crackedge is then constructed, and its dominant term is found tobe controlled by the imposed heat fluxes. The role of this termis, indeed, enhanced if the heat fluxes serve to render thecrack as a net heat source/sink for the solid, as opposed tobeing a transmitter of heat across its plane. More generally,the influence of the thermoelastic coupling on this field, aswell as other functions, is found to increase with crack speed.     

New stationary phase for anion-exchange chromatography

This work describes the preparation of an anion-exchange phase based on silica, using a two-step modification process. First, 10 microm Davisil silica particles were silanized with chloropropyltrimethoxysilane to yield chloropropyl silica. The modified silica was then reacted with pyridine to produce positively charged propylpyridinium groups on the surface, the anion-exchange sites. The phase was characterized by thermogravimetric analysis and infrared and solid state 13C and 29Si NMR spectroscopies. HPLC separations of common inorganic anions, including chloride, nitrite, bromide and nitrate, were performed using 150 x 3.9 HPLC columns packed with the phase, using a phthalate buffer solution as mobile phase with non-suppressed conductivity detection. Efficiency and resolution were calculated and the results show that the new phase has significant promise for the analysis of these anions in environmental samples.     

Synthetic magnetic opals

We present studies of novel nanocomposites of BiNi impregnated into the structure of opals as well as inverse opals. Atomic force microscopy and high resolution elemental analyses show a highly ordered structure and uniform distribution of the BiNi filler in the matrix. These BiNi-based nanocomposites are found to exhibit distinct ferromagnetic-like ordering with transition temperature of about 675 K. As far as we know there exists no report in literature on any BiNi compound which is magnetic.     

Anion separations for liquid chromatography using propylpyridinium silica as the stationary phase

This work describes the characterization and potential applications of a silica-based anion-exchange phase prepared by a two-step modification process that incorporates a propylpyridinium group. The effects of pH and eluent concentration on anion separation were examined using 150 mm × 3.9 mm HPLC columns packed with the new phase. The mobile phase pH values ranged from 3.8 to 6.6 using phthalic acid/Tris solutions. The best separation was achieved using 2.5 mmol L⁻¹ phthalate/2.4 mmol L⁻¹ Tris solution at pH 4.2 as mobile phase with non-suppressed conductivity detection. The new stationary phase was used for the separation of some inorganic and organic anions showing good resolution. The stability of the silica-based anion exchange phase was also evaluated.Analytical curves, for concentrations ranging from 0.25 to 10 mg L⁻¹ for the inorganic anions chloride, nitrite, bromide and nitrate, showed good linear correlations (r > 0.998). The method was tested with certified rainwater samples. The measured and certified values were in good agreement, indicating that the new phase holds significant promise for the analysis of these anions in environmental samples.     

Development and validation of an HPLC/MS/MS method for the determination of sufentanil and morphine in human plasma

A sensitive and fast HPLC/MS/MS method for measurement of sufentanil and morphine in plasma was developed and validated. A single liquid-liquid extraction in alkaline medium was used for the cleanup of plasma, and fentanyl was added as an internal standard (IS). The analyses were carried out using a C18 column and the mobile phase acetonitrile-5 mM ammonium acetate + 0.25% formic acid (70 + 30, v/v). The triple-quadrupole mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray source in positive mode was set up in the selective reaction monitoring mode to detect precursor --> product ion transition 387.0 > 238.0, 285.7 > 165.1, and 337.0 > 188.0 for sufentanil, morphine, and IS, respectively. The method was linear in the 0.05 (LOQ) - 500 ng/mL range for sufentanil and 10 (LOQ) - 1000 ng/mL range for morphine. Good selectivity, linearity, precision, accuracy, and robustness were obtained for the HPLC/MS/MS method. The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of sufentanil and morphine in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.     

Functional neural network analysis in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease using EEG and graph theory

Background  

Although a large body of knowledge about both brain structure and function has been gathered over the last decades, we still have a poor understanding of their exact relationship. Graph theory provides a method to study the relation between network structure and function, and its application to neuroscientific data is an emerging research field. We investigated topological changes in large-scale functional brain networks in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) by means of graph theoretical analysis of resting-state EEG recordings. EEGs of 20 patients with mild to moderate AD, 15 FTLD patients, and 23 non-demented individuals were recorded in an eyes-closed resting-state. The synchronization likelihood (SL), a measure of functional connectivity, was calculated for each sensor pair in 0.5–4 Hz, 4–8 Hz, 8–10 Hz, 10–13 Hz, 13–30 Hz and 30–45 Hz frequency bands. The resulting connectivity matrices were converted to unweighted graphs, whose structure was characterized with several measures: mean clustering coefficient (local connectivity), characteristic path length (global connectivity) and degree correlation (network 'assortativity'). All results were normalized for network size and compared with random control networks.