Amphoteric 2-(sulfonylamino)benzaldehydes,secondary amines and isocyanides in the multicomponent synthesis of elusive N-alkyl-2,3-diaminoindoles

A novel interrupted Ugi reaction between ortho-sulfonylaminated aryl aldehydes, secondary amines, and isocyanides affords in good to high yields N-alkyl-2,3-diaminoindoles, providing access to a so far unexplored area of the indole chemical space. With only one single chemical operation, this novel reaction affords a broad gamma of substituted 2,3-diaminoindoles with five points of diversity. The success of this novel multicomponent transformation lies in presence of the amphoteric sulfonylamino group, which sequentially acts as a Brønsted acids and as a nucleophile the lack of need for additional catalysts and the high atom economy, with the loss of only one molecule of water, renders this approach a very effective one.     

Development and Validation of Hierarchical Models for the Design of Engine Control Strategies

The development of mathematical models for the design of controlstrategies for spark ignition automotive engines is described. The objectiveof the models, used for both simulation and optimization analysis, is theprediction of the effects of control strategies on fuel consumption andemissions of a vehicle over arbitrary driving cycles. In order to achievethe best compromise between precision, experimental costs, computationaltime and flexibility, a mixed modelling approach is used, withphenomenological and input-output models integrated within a hierarchicalsystem.Mean value models have been used to describe the most significant dynamiceffects: (i) air flow. (ii) two phases fuel flow in the intake manifold, and(iii) thermal flow in the cylinder walls. Stochastic effects due to sensorsand actuators can be also predicted.Two-zone and multizone thermodynamic models for the prediction ofpressure cycle sub-models for engine emissions (HC, CO, andNO _x and mechanical losses have been developed. Experimentaldesign techniques are also under development to optimize the interactionsbetween experimental analysis and models. Most of the models have beenintegrated in a computer code, used by a major automotive supplier.     

The Peter principle revisited: A computational study

In the late sixties the Canadian psychologist Laurence J. Peter advanced an apparently paradoxical principle, named since then after him, which can be summarized as follows: ‘Every new member in a hierarchical organization climbs the hierarchy until he/she reaches his/her level of maximum incompetence’. Despite its apparent unreasonableness, such a principle would realistically act in any organization where the mechanism of promotion rewards the best members and where the competence at their new level in the hierarchical structure does not depend on the competence they had at the previous level, usually because the tasks of the levels are very different to each other. Here we show, by means of agent based simulations, that if the latter two features actually hold in a given model of an organization with a hierarchical structure, then not only is the Peter principle unavoidable, but also it yields in turn a significant reduction of the global efficiency of the organization. Within a game theory-like approach, we explore different promotion strategies and we find, counterintuitively, that in order to avoid such an effect the best ways for improving the efficiency of a given organization are either to promote each time an agent at random or to promote randomly the best and the worst members in terms of competence.     

Spinor regularization of then-dimensional Kepler problem

A Clifford algebraic construction is shown to yield a simple generalization to any dimension of the Kustaanheimo-Stiefel regularization for the Kepler problem.