Impact of surface ozone interactions on indoor air chemistry : a modelling study

An INdoor air Detailed Chemical Model was developed to investigate the impact of ozone reactions with indoor surfaces (including occupants), on indoor air chemistry in simulated apartments subject to ambient air pollution. The results are consistent with experimental studies showing that approximately 80% of ozone indoors is lost through deposition to surfaces. The human body removes ozone most effectively from indoor air per square meter of surface, but the most significant surfaces for C6-C10 aldehyde formation are soft furniture and painted walls owing to their large internal surfaces. Mixing ratios of between 8 and 11 ppb of C6-C10 aldehydes are predicted to form in apartments in various locations in summer, the highest values are when ozone concentrations are enhanced outdoors. The most important aldehyde formed indoors is predicted to be nonanal (5-7 ppb), driven by oxidation-derived emissions from painted walls. In addition, ozone-derived emissions from human skin were estimated for a small bedroom at nighttime with concentrations of nonanal, decanal, and 4-oxopentanal predicted to be 0.5, 0.7, and 0.7 ppb, respectively. A detailed chemical analysis shows that ozone-derived surface aldehyde emissions from materials and people change chemical processing indoors, through enhanced formation of nitrated organic compounds and decreased levels of oxidants

Preventing AVF thrombosis: the rationale and design of the Omega-3 fatty acids (Fish Oils) and Aspirin in Vascular access OUtcomes in REnal Disease (FAVOURED) study

Background: Haemodialysis (HD) is critically dependent on the availability of adequate access to the systemic circulation, ideally via a native arteriovenous fistula (AVF). The Primary failure rate of an AVF ranges between 20-54%, due to thrombosis or failure of maturation. There remains limited evidence for the use of anti-platelet agents and uncertainty as to choice of agent(s) for the prevention of AVF thrombosis. We present the study protocol for a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial examining whether the use of the anti-platelet agents, aspirin and omega-3 fatty acids, either alone or in combination, will effectively reduce the risk of early thrombosis in de novo AVF

Drives and the fate of the concept of the drive from Freud to the later Lacan : the emergence, the disappearance and the discreet return of the Freudian drive as sinthome

La pulsion, concept fondamental de la psychanalyse, doit-elle être conceptualisée en termes dualistes ou monistes ? À partir de deux principes premiers essentiellement irréductibles et antagonistes, Freud cherchait toujours à conceptualiser la pulsion en termes dualistes : pulsion d’autoconservation vs pulsion sexuelle partielle, libido de moi vs libido d’objet, pulsion de vie vs pulsion de mort. Interprétation biologique de la pulsion de mort, compulsion de répétition comme tendance restitutive, et dualisme pulsionnel – je propose que ces choix théoriques de Freud soient en effet liés.Quant à Lacan, mon hypothèse est qu’il était propulsé par un « pousse-à-l’unarisme » ; à partir de la topologie et le modèle de ratage, son intuition fondamentale était que la pulsion doit être conceptualisée en termes monistes. Lacan parvient ainsi à injecter non seulement plaisir, mais jouissance, cette satisfaction paradoxale qui fait souffrir, dans la structure fondamentale – dans le but – de la pulsion. Ceci implique que la pulsion de mort ainsi que le masochisme sont des aspects de chaque pulsion.Pendant un certain temps, le concept de pulsion sera pourtant éclipsé par le concept de répétition, répétition de jouissance en tant que plus-de-jouir. Or la pulsion moniste fait finalement un retour discret lorsque la question du symptôme se met en avant dans le dernier enseignement de Lacan. Je propose qu’un monisme pulsionnel soit une condition de possibilité pour le sinthome, et qu’à partir d’une revalorisation du versant de la pulsion de vie du point de vue de l’Un discret, le sinthome comporte une homéostasie supérieure, c’est-à-dire une satisfaction qui inclut ce qui la dérange.Should the drive, which is fundamental concept of psychoanalysis, be conceptualized in monistic or dualistic terms? With two essentially irreconcilable and antagonistic principles as his point of departure, Freud always sought to conceptualize the drive in dualistic terms: drives of self-preservation vs. partial sexual drives, ego-libido vs. object-libido, life drive vs. death drive. A biological interpretation of the death drive, the repetition compulsion conceptualized as a restitutive tendency, and a drive dualism – I propose that these theoretical choices of Freud are in fact related.As for Lacan, my hypothesis is that he is driven by a “push-to-unarisme”; with topology and the model of misfiring / failure as his point of departure, his fundamental intuition is that the drive ought to be conceptualized in monistic terms. Lacan is thereby able to inject not only pleasure, but jouissance, this paradoxical satisfaction which entails suffering, in the basic structure – in the aim – of the drive. This implies that the death drive as well as masochism are aspects of each drive.For a time, the concept of the drive will however be overshadowed by the concept of repetition, repetition of jouissance qua plus-de-jouir. Yet the drive qua monism finally makes a discreet return when the question of the symptom comes to the fore in Lacan’s later teaching. I propose that a drive monism is a condition of possibility for the lacanian sinthome, and that on the basis of a reassessment of the different aspects of the life drive from the point of view of the One discrete, the sinthome entails a second-order homeostasis, that is to say a satisfaction that includes what unsettles it

Response of lead deposited on glass to acetic acid exposure, with potential for its application as an acetic acid dosimeter/sensor

Abstract Small glass substrates were coated with a thin granular lead film by thermal vapour deposition in order to test the feasibility of using lead-coated glass as sensors for detecting the presence of gaseous acetic acid in air. The lead glass samples were exposed to acetic acid in increasing concentrations, at a controlled temperature of 23oC and 54% relative humidity for a period of 60 days. The change in the lead films on exposure was systematically investigated by measuring the variation in light transmission at a wavelength of 379 nm. Initial corrosion of the deposited reactive thin lead films leading to lead oxide and lead hydroxycarbonates and/or lead carbonates probably occurred. The analysis showed that the main response was due to corrosion of the lead film and granules with conversion to lead hydroxyl-carbonates and/or carbonates and formation of lead acetate. In addition, about 30% of the response was found to be due to acetic acid adsorption on the lead glass samples. After about 15 days exposure significant saturation and decrease in sensitivity was observed