Quantitative dependence of MR signal intensity on tissue concentration of Gd(HP-DO3A) in the nephrectomized rat.

Cardiac-gated SE 20/224 +/- 20 MR images were obtained from nephrectomized rats before and after intravenously administering 153Gd-Gd(HP-DO3A). The concentration of Gd, [Gd], was linear in dose in myocardium, skeletal muscle, and blood. Under steady-state conditions, where d[Gd]/dt = 0, image intensities (IIN) in regions of interest were compared with the measured [Gd]. IIN was linear in myocardium at less than or equal to 0.61 mumol/g-myocardium (less than or equal to 0.5 mmol/kg dose) and in skeletal muscle at less than or equal to 0.63 mumol/g-muscle (less than or equal to 0.75 mmol/kg). Above 0.6 mumol Gd/g-tissue, IIN did not increase further. The in vivo data were consistent with measured ex vivo and in vivo relaxivities. A 29% greater slope for IIN versus [Gd] in myocardium [14,439 +/- 4350 IIN (mumol/g)] than in muscle [10,258 +/- 5,296 IIN/(mumol/g)] was attributed to a significant difference in blood content: 25% versus 2% weight blood in myocardium and skeletal muscle, respectively. Two components were apparent from plots of ex vivo 1/T1 versus [Gd] in myocardium and muscle, and only one for blood.     

Synthesis of some new o-thioazo ligands and evaluation of their metallochromic properties

The synthesis of several new o-thioazo derivatives of p-cresol and 2-naphthol is reported, as well as their spectral properties, acid dissociation constants, and potential as metallochromic reagents. All the ligands form complexes with CU²⁺ and Ni²⁺. o-Mercaptoazo complexes of Fe³⁺ and Cu²⁺ with molar absorptivities of 3.83 × 10⁴ and 3.58 × 10⁴ l.mole⁻¹ cm⁻¹, respectively, are described.     

X-Ray Structure and Proton NMR Study of a Hexacoordinated Lithium Complex

The structure of the lithium complex with1,3,5-tris[oxymethylene(N,N-dicyclohexyl)carboxyamido]cyclohexanehas been determined by the X-ray method.The compound is triclinic, space group P¯1,a = 15.623(3), b = 19.279(4),c = 19.295(4)Å = 102.32(3), = 92.45(3), = 105.67(3)0, V = 5436(2)Å3, Z = 4. Itscomposition is represented by the formulaC48H82N3O6LiI 0.5H2O. The lithium cationis encapsulated in a polar pseudo-cavity of six oxygen atoms of the ligandmolecule and displays a distorted trigonal prism coordination. The conformationof the ligand in the solid state complex has been compared with the conformationof the complex in solution determined by 1H-NMR measurements.Supplementary data relevant to this publication have been deposited with the British Library, No. SUP 82224 (21 pages).     

High‐efficiency polymer solar cells based on phenylenevinylene copolymer with BF2‐azopyrrole complex and CN‐PC70BM with solvent additive

Power conversion efficiency (PCE) of phenylenevinylene‐based copolymer with BF₂ azopyrrole complex (PB)/modified PC₇₀BM, that is, CN‐PC₇₀BM bulk heterojunction solar cells improves from 2.16 to 4.90% using a processing additive and drying condition. The results demonstrate that a processing additive and drying condition provides an effective means to control both the surface roughness and finer interpenetrating networks to enhance the exciton dissociation into free charge carriers, charge transportation, and collection. Taking into the account of simple device fabrication process without thermal annealing, the PCE of the polymer solar cell can further improved by chloronapthalene (CN) additive under the fast drying condition. The average carrier lifetimes extracted from the impedance spectra and found to correlate with measured PCEs. At short circuit conditions and illumination, the average charge carrier lifetime was found vary from 16.8 to 32 μs with power conversion efficiencies ranging from 3.0 to 4.9%. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012     

Changes in ADC caused by tensile loading of rabbit achilles tendon: evidence for water transport

Water diffusion measurements were performed on rabbit Achilles tendons during static tensile loading and tendons in an unloaded state. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was measured along two directions: parallel and perpendicular to the long axis of the tendon. Tendons were studied after being prepared in two ways: (a) after being stored frozen in phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) and (b) freshly isolated. Statistically significant directional anisotropy was observed in the ADC in all tendons. The ADC was significantly greater in the direction parallel to the long axis of the tendon than in the perpendicular direction. The anisotropy is attributed to the greater restrictions seen by the water molecules in the perpendicular direction and is consistent with the known geometry of the tendon. Storage in PBS caused tendons to swell. This increased the ADC measured along both directions and reduced the anisotropy. The existence of anisotropy in the ADC was not related to the orientation of the specimen in the magnet. The ADC increased along both directions following the application of a 5-N tensile load; the increase was greatest along the perpendicular axis of the tendon. In order to determine whether load-related changes in the ADC reflected changes in interfibrilar spacing, we used electron microscopy to measure load-related changes in fibril spacing. Load-related changes in fiber spacing could not account for the observed changes in the ADC. The increase in ADC caused by loading was attributed to the extrusion of tendon water into a bulk phase along the outside surface of the tendon. In PBS-stored samples, enough fluid was extruded that it could be visualized. The transient response of the ADC to a 5-N tensile load was also studied. The absolute ADC in both directions increased with loading and recovered to baseline upon unloading. The transient changes in ADC, for both loading and unloading, had a mean time constant of approximately 15 min. The magnitude of the load-induced transient ADC changes was comparable to that seen in the static-loading experiments.     

Experimental results on neutrino-electron scattering

A determination of sin² θ _w based on measurements of elastic scattering of muon-neutrinos and muon-anti-neutrinos on atomic electrons is described. These purely leptonic processes were studied using the CHARM calorimeter exposed to neutrino and antineutrino wide-band beams at the CERN super proton synchrotron. A total of 83±16 neutrino-electron and 112±21 antineutrino-electron events have been detected. From the measurement of the ratio of muon-neutrino and muon-antineutrino cross-sections a value of sin² θ _w =0.211±0.037 was obtained.     

Truncation rules for modelling discontinuities with Galerkin method in electromagnetic theory

It is well known that apparently similar discretization schemes of Maxwell's equations in Fourier series may provide very different convergence performances because of truncation. We argue that this work performed in grating theory can be applied to other electromagnetic theories relying on expansions over series different from Fourier series. This generalization is supported by an intuitive argument and by a simple numerical example with Hermite–Gauss functions.     

Transport with a Very Low Density Contrast in Hele–Shaw Cell and Porous Medium: Evolution of the Mixing Zone

The optimal concentration of a blue dye solution with 'tracer' properties, enabling a pollutant to be marked was determined by the use of numerical, theoretical and experimental approaches. Experimental investigations were performed on a transparent Hele–Shaw cell and the concentration distribution was analyzed using an optical technique based on dye light absorption properties. The injected optimal concentration was established thanks to a theoretical and experimental study carried out on the output signal dynamics. Using the same experimental conditions, numerical simulations were performed. The very good agreement between the data (experimental and numerical) clarified that: (i) the choice of the blue dye optimal concentration was valid and (ii) the concentration-dependent density should not be neglected in flow and transport equations even if it concerns a so-called 'tracer'. Following this remark, a theoretical aspect was developed in order to determine the analogous conditions between a Hele–Shaw cell and a porous medium for the variable density transport phenomenon. The structure of the concentration-dependent dispersion tensor used in the numerical code was obtained by homogenizing the Stokes flow of a bi-component mixture. The numerical results show that, as long as the tracer density does not exceed a certain value, it is not necessary to take into account a density contrast in terms of the dispersion tensor. The classical form of the Taylor dispersion tensor can be used successfully.     

Linearly implicit time discretization of non-linear parabolic equations

We give a stability and error analysis of linearly implicitone-step methods for time discretization of non-linear parabolicequations. We derive precise error bounds for Rosenbrock andW-methods, and we explain the error reduction by Richardsonextrapolation of the linearly implicit Euler method which occursin spite of the breakdown of asymptotic expansions. The parabolicequations are studied in a Hilbert space framework that includessemilinear and quasilinear parabolic equations, and also stiffreaction-diffusion equations with reactions at different timescales.