The accumulation of lead in several bones of Wistar rats with time was determined and comparedQ3 for the different types of bones. Two groups were studied: a control group (n = 20), not exposedto lead and a contaminated group (n = 30), exposed to lead from birth, first indirectly throughmother’s milk, and then directly through a diet containing lead acetate in drinking water (0.2%).Rats age ranged from 1 to 11 months, with approximately 1 month intervals and each of thecollections had 3 contaminated rats and 2 control rats. Iliac, femur, tibia–fibula and skull havebeen analysed by energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence technique (EDXRF). Samples offormaldehyde used to preserve the bone tissues were also analysed by Electrothermal AtomicAbsorption (ETAAS), showing that there was no significant loss of lead from the tissue to thepreservative. The bones mean lead concentration of exposed rats range from 100 to 300 mg g 1while control rats never exceeded 10 mg g 1. Mean bone lead concentrations were compared andthe concentrations were higher in iliac, femur and tibia–fibula and after that skull. However, ofall the concentrations in the different collections, only those in the skull were statisticallyQ4 significantly different (p o 0.05) from the other types of bones. Analysis of a radar chart alsoallowed us to say that these differences tend to diminish with age. The Spearman correlation testapplied to mean lead concentrations showed strong and very strong positive correlations betweenall different types of bones. This test also showed that mean lead concentrations in bones arenegatively correlated with the age of the animals. This correlation is strong in iliac and femur andvery strong in tibia–fibula and skull. It was also shown that the decrease of lead accumulationwith age is made by three plateaus of accumulation,

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The relative populations of the 1H- and 2H-tautomer of gas-phase 5-methyltetrazole (5MTZ) have been assessed through core-level photoelectron spectroscopy, and compared with the results obtained from Gaussian-n (Gn, n = 1, 2 and 3) and Complete Basis Set methods (CBS-4M and CBS-Q). The C 1s and N 1s core‚Äìelectron binding energies (CEBEs) for each ionization site of both tautomers have been computed using the Œîself-consistent-field (ŒîSCF) approach. The C 1s and N 1s XPS spectra, obtained at 313 K, yield a 1H/2H tautomer ratio of ca. 0.16/0.84 and 0.21/0.79, respectively.

The relative populations of the 1H- and 2H-tautomer of gas-phase 5-methyltetrazole (5MTZ) have been assessed through core-level photoelectron spectroscopy, and compared with the results obtained from Gaussian-n (Gn, n = 1, 2 and 3) and Complete Basis Set methods (CBS-4M and CBS-Q). The C 1s and N 1s core‚Äìelectron binding energies (CEBEs) for each ionization site of both tautomers have been computed using the Œîself-consistent-field (ŒîSCF) approach. The C 1s and N 1s XPS spectra, obtained at 313 K, yield a 1H/2H tautomer ratio of ca. 0.16/0.84 and 0.21/0.79, respectively.

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The present work proposes the development of a bio-battery composed by an ultrathin monolithic structure of an electrospun cellulose acetate membrane, over which was deposited metallic thin film electrodes by thermal evaporation on both surfaces. The electrochemical characterization of the bio-batteries was performed under simulated body fluids like sweat and blood plasma [salt solution - 0.9% (w/w) NaCl]. Reversible electrochemical reactions were detected through the cellulose acetate structure. Thus, a stable electrochemical behavior was achieved for a bio-battery with silver and aluminum thin films as electrodes. This device exhibits the ability to supply a power density higher than 3μWcm-2.Finally, a bio-battery prototype was tested on a sweated skin, demonstrating the potential of applicability of this bio-device as a micropower source. © 2010 Elsevier B.V.

Thin-film transistors (TFTs) were fabricated using a 20-nm-thick indium molybdenum oxide (IMO) semiconductor layer at room temperature. The grazing incidence X-ray diffraction patterns confirmed that the deposited films are amorphous. The average transmittance (400-2500 nm) and the optical band gap are ∼88% and 3.95 eV, respectively. The TFTs fabricated on glass substrates showed a saturation mobility of 4.0 cm2/Vċ s with an I ON/IOFF ratio of 2 × 103 and a threshold voltage of-1.1 V, which are encouraging preliminary results in order to develop IMO as high-performance semiconductor layer. © 2011 IEEE.

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The two-photon absorption of few-electron ions has been studied by using second-order perturbation theory and Dirac's relativistic equation. Within this framework, the general expressions for the excitation cross sections and rates are derived including a full account of the higher-order multipole terms in the expansion of the electron-photon interaction. While these expressions can be applied to any ion, independent of its particular shell structure, detailed computations are carried out for the two-photon absorption of hydrogen-, helium-, and berylliumlike ions and are compared with the available theoretical and experimental data. The importance of relativistic and nondipole effects in the analysis and computation of induced two-photon transitions is pointed out. Moreover, we discuss the potential of these transitions for atomic parity-violation studies in the high-Z domain.

The two-photon absorption of few-electron ions has been studied by using second-order perturbation theory and Dirac's relativistic equation. Within this framework, the general expressions for the excitation cross sections and rates are derived including a full account of the higher-order multipole terms in the expansion of the electron-photon interaction. While these expressions can be applied to any ion, independent of its particular shell structure, detailed computations are carried out for the two-photon absorption of hydrogen-, helium-, and berylliumlike ions and are compared with the available theoretical and experimental data. The importance of relativistic and nondipole effects in the analysis and computation of induced two-photon transitions is pointed out. Moreover, we discuss the potential of these transitions for atomic parity-violation studies in the high-Z domain.

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An ultrasonic assisted solid‚Äìliquid extraction method was developed to determine the level of lead in the brain and urine of rats. Lead was determined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry with longitudinal-Zeeman background correction. Several analytical drawbacks were addressed and overcome, namely small brain sample mass and the formation of precipitate in the urine samples. Utrasonication provided by an ultrasonic probe succeeded in extracting lead from brain samples. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the formation of a precipitate lowered the lead content in the liquid phase of the urine. Lead was back extracted from the precipitate to the liquid phase with the aid of ultrasonic energy and acidifying the urine with 10% v/v nitric acid. A microwave-assisted acid digestion protocol was used to check the completeness of the lead extraction. The within bath and between bath precision was 5% (n = 9) and 7% (n = 3) respectively. The limit of quantification was 1.05 Œºg g‚àí1 for brain samples and 2.1 Œºg L‚àí1 for urine samples. A total of 6 samples of urine and 12 samples of brain from control rats and another 6 samples of urine and 12 samples of brain from rats fed with tap water rich in lead acetate were used in this research. Lead levels in brain and urine from exposed rats ranged from1.9 ¬± 0.2 Œºg g‚àí1 to 3.5 ¬± 0.2 Œºg g‚àí1 and from 752 ¬± 56 Œºg L‚àí1 to 60.9 ¬± 1.2 mg L‚àí1 respectively. Statistically significant differences of levels of lead in brain and urine were found between exposed and non exposed rats.

An ultrasonic assisted solid‚Äìliquid extraction method was developed to determine the level of lead in the brain and urine of rats. Lead was determined by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry with longitudinal-Zeeman background correction. Several analytical drawbacks were addressed and overcome, namely small brain sample mass and the formation of precipitate in the urine samples. Utrasonication provided by an ultrasonic probe succeeded in extracting lead from brain samples. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that the formation of a precipitate lowered the lead content in the liquid phase of the urine. Lead was back extracted from the precipitate to the liquid phase with the aid of ultrasonic energy and acidifying the urine with 10% v/v nitric acid. A microwave-assisted acid digestion protocol was used to check the completeness of the lead extraction. The within bath and between bath precision was 5% (n = 9) and 7% (n = 3) respectively. The limit of quantification was 1.05 Œºg g‚àí1 for brain samples and 2.1 Œºg L‚àí1 for urine samples. A total of 6 samples of urine and 12 samples of brain from control rats and another 6 samples of urine and 12 samples of brain from rats fed with tap water rich in lead acetate were used in this research. Lead levels in brain and urine from exposed rats ranged from1.9 ¬± 0.2 Œºg g‚àí1 to 3.5 ¬± 0.2 Œºg g‚àí1 and from 752 ¬± 56 Œºg L‚àí1 to 60.9 ¬± 1.2 mg L‚àí1 respectively. Statistically significant differences of levels of lead in brain and urine were found between exposed and non exposed rats.

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Transactional Memory [3] (TM) is a new paradigm for concurrency control that brings the concept of transactions, widely known from the Databases community, into the management of data located in main memory. TM delivers a powerful semantics for constraining concurrency and provides the means for the extensive use of the available parallel hardware. TM uses abstractions that promise to ease the development of scalable parallel applications by achieving performances close to fine-grained locking while maintaining the simplicity of coarse-grained locking.

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During electric polarization charge is injected into the material. The structure is decorated with space charge and during the subsequent heating an apparent peak and the genuine peaks that are related to dipole randomization and charge detrapping are observed. The method is used here to analyze the molecular movements in polyimide in the temperature range from 293 to 623K. Two weak relaxations have been observed around 337K and around 402K. The electrical conductivity changes with temperature in agreement with the Arrhenius law only below (W=(0.84±0.03) eV ) and above ( W=(0.82±0.03) eV) the temperature range where the β relaxation is observed. The variation of the electrical conductivity with temperature, in the range of the β relaxation, is controlled by the variation of the charge currier mobility with temperature and it shows a non-Arrhenius behavior. We suggest that the β1 sub-glass relaxation is related to the rotation or oscillation of phenyl groups and the β2 sub-glass relaxation is related to the rotation or oscillation of the imidic ring. At higher temperatures an apparent peak was observed. The relaxation time of the trapped charge, at 573K, is high than 8895s.