Crystallization of Lead Phosphate in Gel Systems

Lead phosphate crystals were grown in agarose gel at room temperature. Nucleation and crystal growth rates were controlled by changing the density of the gel medium including pure and phosphate gel. Crystalline products in the pure gel layer show equant habit while products formed in the PO43- gel layer show plate-like morphology. Microscopic crystalline products were accompanied by a decrease in pH from 10 to 3 for all reactions studied. Vibrational spectrum indicates that the PO43- ion is distorted and its symmetry is lower than free ion symmetry. Powder diffraction patterns in the pure gel show mixed phases of PbHPO4, Pb3(PO4)3, and Pb5(PO4)3OH consistent with predictions obtained from the PHREEQC program, similar phases appear for product formed in phosphate gel except Pb5(PO4)3OH phase because the higher Pb:P ratio required for the PbHAp phase relative to the Pb3(PO4)2 phase

Preparation and Characterization of Carboxylic Acid Adducts of Gabapentin

Gabapentin, C9H17NO2, 2-[1-(aminomethyl)cyclohexyl]acetic acid, is used as an anticonvulsant drug to help control partial seizures in the treatment of epilepsy and to manage postherpetic neuralgia after ‘shingles’. Cocrystals of gabapentin with a series of hydroxyl carboxylic acids and a cocrystal of gabapentin with oxalic acid were previously reported. The adduct with salicylic acid was prepared, along with adducts of two dicarboxylic acids, succinic acid and adipic acid, and an adduct with 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid. Formation of new materials is demonstrated by new unique physical properties, including lower melting points (102.8 - 105.1ºC, 90.0 - 93.0 ºC, and 152.4 - 154.8 ºC for succinic acid, adipic acid, and 1,2,4,5-benzenetetracarboxylic acid products, respectively) than those of the individual starting materials. Shifts in infrared bands for ν(O–H), ν(N–H), and ν(C=O) bands confirm adduct formation and indicate the nature of the interactions between the two components in the lattice

Analysis of Turbofan Design Options for an Advanced Single-Aisle Transport Aircraft

The desire for higher engine efficiency has resulted in the evolution of aircraft gas turbine engines from turbojets, to low bypass ratio, first generation turbofans, to today's high bypass ratio turbofans. It is possible that future designs will continue this trend, leading to very-high or ultra-high bypass ratio (UHB) engines. Although increased bypass ratio has clear benefits in terms of propulsion system metrics such as specific fuel consumption, these benefits may not translate into aircraft system level benefits due to integration penalties. In this study, the design trade space for advanced turbofan engines applied to a single-aisle transport (737/A320 class aircraft) is explored. The benefits of increased bypass ratio and associated enabling technologies such as geared fan drive are found to depend on the primary metrics of interest. For example, bypass ratios at which fuel consumption is minimized may not require geared fan technology. However, geared fan drive does enable higher bypass ratio designs which result in lower noise. Regardless of the engine architecture chosen, the results of this study indicate the potential for the advanced aircraft to realize substantial improvements in fuel efficiency, emissions, and noise compared to the current vehicles in this size class

Engine Concept Study for an Advanced Single-Aisle Transport

The desire for higher engine efficiency has resulted in the evolution of aircraft gas turbine engines from turbojets, to low bypass ratio, first generation turbofans, to today's high bypass ratio turbofans. Although increased bypass ratio has clear benefits in terms of propulsion system metrics such as specific fuel consumption, these benefits may not translate into aircraft system level benefits due to integration penalties. In this study, the design trade space for advanced turbofan engines applied to a single aisle transport (737/A320 class aircraft) is explored. The benefits of increased bypass ratio and associated enabling technologies such as geared fan drive are found to depend on the primary metrics of interest. For example, bypass ratios at which mission fuel consumption is minimized may not require geared fan technology. However, geared fan drive does enable higher bypass ratio designs which result in lower noise. The results of this study indicate the potential for the advanced aircraft to realize substantial improvements in fuel efficiency, emissions, and noise compared to the current vehicles in this size class

Refined Exploration of Turbofan Design Options for an Advanced Single-Aisle Transport

A comprehensive exploration of the turbofan engine design space for an advanced technology single-aisle transport (737/A320 class aircraft) was conducted previously by the authors and is documented in a prior report. Through the course of that study and in a subsequent evaluation of the approach and results, a number of enhancements to the engine design ground rules and assumptions were identified. A follow-on effort was initiated to investigate the impacts of these changes on the original study results. The fundamental conclusions of the prior study were found to still be valid with the revised engine designs. The most significant impact of the design changes was a reduction in the aircraft weight and block fuel penalties incurred with low fan pressure ratio, ultra-high bypass ratio designs. This enables lower noise levels to be pursued (through lower fan pressure ratio) with minor negative impacts on aircraft weight and fuel efficiency. Regardless of the engine design selected, the results of this study indicate the potential for the advanced aircraft to realize substantial improvements in fuel efficiency, emissions, and noise compared to the current vehicles in this size class

Evidence of a Lead Metathesis Product from Calcium Hydroxyapatite Dissolution in Lead Nitrate Solution

Calcium hydroxyapatite, CaHAp, synthesized by the precipitation method, was utilized to study the calcium-lead metathesis reaction on dissolution in a lead nitrate solution under reflux conditions to prepare larger lead hydroxyapatite, PbHAp, crystals from CaHAp. SEM images show development of crystalline PbHAp on the surfaces of CaHAp. The needle-like crystal morphology observed for PbHAp after 24 h reaction time developed into hexagonal-rod crystal morphology within 48 h reaction time. The largest PbHAp crystals obtained from 48 h reaction time have approximate size of 10 × 10 × 40 μm. Powder X-ray diffraction results show mixed phases of CaHAp and PbHAp due to difficulty in separating the PbHAp product from the CaHAp substrate. The PbHAp peaks observed after 24 h of reaction sharpen and increase in intensity after 48 h of reaction confirming that the PbHAp phase is the major product for the 48 h reaction time. EDX results of the crystalline products show high intensity Pb peaks with lead to phosphorous ratio (5 : 3) as expected for PbHAp. Lower intensity Ca peaks are also observed, consistent with incomplete coverage of the CaHAp growth substrate

Association studies of up to 1.2 million individuals yield new insights into the genetic etiology of tobacco and alcohol use.

Tobacco and alcohol use are leading causes of mortality that influence risk for many complex diseases and disorders1. They are heritable2,3 and etiologically related4,5 behaviors that have been resistant to gene discovery efforts6-11. In sample sizes up to 1.2 million individuals, we discovered 566 genetic variants in 406 loci associated with multiple stages of tobacco use (initiation, cessation, and heaviness) as well as alcohol use, with 150 loci evidencing pleiotropic association. Smoking phenotypes were positively genetically correlated with many health conditions, whereas alcohol use was negatively correlated with these conditions, such that increased genetic risk for alcohol use is associated with lower disease risk. We report evidence for the involvement of many systems in tobacco and alcohol use, including genes involved in nicotinic, dopaminergic, and glutamatergic neurotransmission. The results provide a solid starting point to evaluate the effects of these loci in model organisms and more precise substance use measures

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie