Thermal behaviour of chromium (III) perchlorate hexahydrate

Thermal behaviour of intimate mixtures of chromium(III) oxide and lithium¹, potassium², rubidium³, cesium³ and thallium(I)⁴ perchlorates revealed that chromium(III) oxide not only catalyses the decomposition by lowering the decomposition temperatures of the pure metal perchlorates but also chemically interacts resulting in the formation of metal dichromate. The oxidation of chromium(III) into the hexavalent state is attributed to the abstraction of oxygen from the perchlorate moiety during the decomposition. In this context, it was thought interesting to study the thermal behaviour of chromium(III) perchlorate and to identify the decomposition products in order to find out whether chromium(III) is oxidized into chromium(VI) by the perchlorate group. Except for a report⁵ on the preparation of chromium(III) perchlorate with different molecules of water of hydration no work seems to have been carried out on the thermal decomposition of this compound. In the present study, the decomposition characteristics are followed by TG and DTA techniques and the decomposition products have been examined by chemical analysis, X-ray powder diffraction patterns and infrared spectral measurements.     

Preparation and Characterisation of a New Thallium(I) Uranate(VI), Tl4UO5

A new thallium(I) uranate(VI) of composition Tl₄UO₅ was isolated and characterised by X-ray, i. r. and chemical analyses. The compound dissociated into thallium(I) oxide and Tl₂UO₄ on heating to 230°C and its subsequent thermal behaviour depended on the volatilisation and oxidation characteristics of the thallium(I) oxide released.     

Artery-vein separation via MRA--an image processing approach

This paper presents a near-automatic process for separating vessels from background and other clutter as well as for separating arteries and veins in contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance angiographic (CE-MRA) image data, and an optimal method for three-dimensional visualization of vascular structures. The separation process utilizes fuzzy connected object delineation principles and algorithms. The first step of this separation process is the segmentation of the entire vessel structure from the background and other clutter via absolute fuzzy connectedness. The second step is to separate artery from vein within this entire vessel structure via iterative relative fuzzy connectedness. After seed voxels are specified inside artery and vein in the CE-MRA image, the small regions of the bigger aspects of artery and vein are separated in the initial iterations, and further detailed aspects of artery and vein are included in later iterations. At each iteration, the artery and vein compete among themselves to grab membership of each voxel in the vessel structure based on the relative strength of connectedness of the voxel in the artery and vein. This approach has been implemented in a software package for routine use in a clinical setting and tested on 133 CE-MRA studies of the pelvic region and two studies of the carotid system from six different hospitals. In all studies, unified parameter settings produced correct artery-vein separation. When compared with manual segmentation/separation, our algorithms were able to separate higher order branches, and therefore produced vastly more details in the segmented vascular structure. The total operator and computer time taken per study is on the average about 4.5 min. To date, this technique seems to be the only image processing approach that can be routinely applied for artery and vein separation.     

Optimizing Zero-Forcing Precoders for MIMO Broadcast Systems

In this paper, we develop optimization techniques for linear zero-forcing (ZF) multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) broadcast (BC) precoders. A computationally efficient technique based on QR-update algorithms for implementing this optimization is then proposed. The application of the proposed ZF precoders and decoders to systems with both large and small numbers of users is considered. The proposed optimization technique is also shown to perform very well in conjunction with nonlinear Tomlinson--Harashima precoding. Both coded and uncoded performances are considered.     

Development and validation of a HPLC method for quantification of rivastigmine in rat urine and identification of a novel metabolite in urine by LC‐MS/MS

A sensitive, specific and accurate HPLC method for the quantification of rivastigmine (RSM) in rat urine was developed and validated. The method involves the simple liquid–liquid extraction of RSM and pyridostigmine as an internal standard (IS) from rat urine with tertiary methyl butyl ether. The chromatographic separation of RSM and IS was achieved with 20 mm ammonium acetate buffer (pH 6.5) and acetonitrile (65:35, v/v) delivered at flow‐rate of 1 mL/min on a Kromasil KR‐100. The method was in linear range from 50 to 5000 ng/mL. The validation was done as per FDA guidelines and the results met the acceptance criteria. The method was successfully applied for the quantification of RSM in rat urine. Besides method validation, we have identified two metabolites of RSM in urine. Both the metabolites were characterized by HPLC‐PDA and LC‐MS/MS and it was found that one metabolite is novel. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spectral and electrochemical studies on oxoisothiocyanatobis(pyrrolidinyldithiocarbamato)molybdenum(V)

The complex, oxoisothiocyanatobis(pyrrolidinyldithiocarbamato)molybdenum(V), MoO(NCS) (pyrroldtc)₂ was prepared. The IR spectra of the complex suggest that the thiocyanate group is attached through nitrogen and the presence of MoO³⁺ moiety. The voltammograms of the complex in acetonitrile exhibited a pronounced cathodic wave at ?0.23 V vs S.C.E. which was attributed to Mo(V)/Mo(IV) couple. The magnetic, epr and electrochemical studies indicate that the compound is mononuclear and molybdenum is in +5 oxidation state.