Azo-azulene derivatives for nonlinear optical applications

Organic materials are of high interest and are widely used for the development of new powerful and low dimensional technologies. They exhibit several advantages with respect to inorganic compounds such as large cubic and quadratic optical nonlinearities, flexibility, easy manufacturing and so on. Among them, some present abilities for photonic or nonlinear optical applications. Intensive researches have been performed these latest decades to synthesize highly efficient and optically active molecules because of the miniaturization of optoelectronic devices. Azo-azulene derivatives are an interesting class of organic molecules for potential applications in optoelectronics and optical data storage due to their polyfunctional properties. We discuss second and third order nonlinear optical properties of a series of azo-azulene compounds in solid state. Thin films were prepared by incorporating these molecules in a polymethylmetacrylate (PMMA) matrix and were investigated. Moreover, potential usage of these guest-host systems for optical data storage is also discussed

Pregnancy monitoring

International audienc

UV DISINFECTION - A METHOD OF PURIFYING WASTEWATER FROM FARMS – A REVIEW

The livestock industry increased significantly globally due to increasing demand for animal products. There are however, growing concerns on the environmental risks, associated with the disposal of untreated livestock wastewater into streams and rivers. Disinfection is considered to be the primary mechanism for the inactivation/ destruction of pathogenic organisms to prevent the spread of waterbornediseases to downstream users and the environment.Water disinfection using ultraviolet light is a newer process that currently has a limited use area [5].The purpose of this paper is to present the ultraviolet disinfection process used for the treatment of waste water

The influence of structure geometry and material on seismic metamaterial performance

Diverting, and controlling, elastic vibrations impacting upon infrastructure is a major challenge for seismic hazard mitigation, and for the reduction of machine noise and vehicle vibration in the urban environment. Seismic metamaterials (SMs), with their inherent ability to manipulate wave propagation, provide a key route for overcoming the technological hurdles involved in this challenge. Engineering the structure of the SM serves as a basis to tune and enhance its functionality, and inspired by split rings, swiss-rolls, notch-shaped and labyrinthine designs of elementary cells in electromagnetic and mechanical metamaterials, we investigate altering the structure geometries of SMs with the aim of creating large bandgaps \textcolor{black}{in a subwavelength regime}. We show that square stiff inclusions, perform better in comparison to circular ones, whilst keeping the same filling fraction. En route to enhancing the bandgap, we have also studied the performance of SMs with different constituent materials; we find that steel columns, as inclusions, show large bandgaps, however, the columns are too large for steel to be a feasible material in practical or financial terms. Non-reinforced concrete would be preferable for industry level scaling up of the technology because, concrete is cost-effective, easy to cast directly at the construction site and easy to provide arbitrary geometry of the structure. As a part of this study, we show that concrete columns can also be designed to exhibit bandgaps if we cast them within a soft soil coating surrounding the protected area for various civil structures like a bridge, building, oil pipelines etc

PRODUCTION STATUS OF BIOMASS PELLETS – REVIEW

The use of biomass has become extremely important for the production of clean energy from renewable sources. This is due to the continuously increased need for energy, to the possible depletion of conventional fossil fuels in the near future, and also to the regulations of European Union on the need to reduce significantly the emissions of greenhouse gases. This paper presents a synthesis on the raw materials used for pellets production, some of the important characteristics of pellets (density, ash content and heating power), and also data on the status of pellets production and consumption in different countries. Latest reported data show that the European Union is the biggest wood pellets producer globally, with a production of 13.5 million tonnes in 2014. Romania’s pellets production in 2014 was of 740000 tonnes, and estimations are that in 2020 it will exceed 1.2 million tonnes

Investigation of NLO properties of azo-azulene derivatives for nonlinear optical applications

Date du colloque&nbsp;: 09/2008</p

ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT BY UV – A REVIEW–

Reclamation and reuse ofwastewater is one of the most effectiveways to alleviatewater resource scarcity.Disinfection plays a key role in reuse of wastewater for eliminatinginfectious diseases.Water disinfection using ultraviolet light is a newer process that currently has a limited use area. Ultraviolet(UV) disinfection is now widely implemented as a tertiary treatment forwastewater reclamation. The purpose of this paper is to present the most representative studies on the use of ultraviolet in wastewater treatment

Amyloid beta oligomers induce neuronal elasticity changes in age-dependent manner: a force spectroscopy study on living hippocampal neurons

Small soluble species of amyloid-beta (Aβ) formed during early peptide aggregation stages are responsible for several neurotoxic mechanisms relevant to the pathology of Alzheimer's disease (AD), although their interaction with the neuronal membrane is not completely understood. This study quantifies the changes in the neuronal membrane elasticity induced by treatment with the two most common Aβ isoforms found in AD brains: Aβ40 and Aβ42. Using quantitative atomic force microscopy (AFM), we measured for the first time the static elastic modulus of living primary hippocampal neurons treated with pre-aggregated Aβ40 and Aβ42 soluble species. Our AFM results demonstrate changes in the elasticity of young, mature and aged neurons treated for a short time with the two Aβ species pre-aggregated for 2 hours. Neurons aging under stress conditions, showing aging hallmarks, are the most susceptible to amyloid binding and show the largest decrease in membrane stiffness upon Aβ treatment. Membrane stiffness defines the way in which cells respond to mechanical forces in their environment and has been shown to be important for processes such as gene expression, ion-channel gating and neurotransmitter vesicle transport. Thus, one can expect that changes in neuronal membrane elasticity might directly induce functional changes related to neurodegeneration

Traumatic spinal cord injuries: Neuroprotection and recent outcomes

Traumatic spinal cord injury has major effects on the injured person. In case of acute complete traumatic spinal cord injury methylprednisolone is a standard treatment option and surgery is often necessary, but these are not a cure for a complete spinal cord injury. This paper analyses the treatment outcomes in 37 cases of complete traumatic spinal cord injuries of which some patients received usual treatment and some patients received cerebrolysin, as neuroprotection and a protocol of intravenous fluids to ensure the spinal cord perfusion pressure augmentation, and standard surgical treatment

METHODS FOR OIL OBTAINING FROM OLEAGINOUS MATERIALS

Lipids are an important component in human food since ancient times, having a positive influence on the health of the human body. Thus, cultivation of oleaginous materials is an important component of the global economy. To obtain vegetable oils from oleaginous materials can be used different methods existent on the global scale. The method used is chosen depending on the type of oleaginous material subjected to processing, onthe oil quality that we want to achieve and on the amount of oil that we want to extract. This paper presents an analysis of the literature, describing the various existing methods for obtaining vegetable oil