Probe calibration of the scanning thermal microscope in the AC mode

Scanning thermal microscope based DC measurements of local thermal conductivity are relevant to insulating (<20 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹) materials only. We aim at using the 3ω method to enhance the sensitivity of the device to a larger range. In this paper we present both a thermal model and experimental results from the calibration procedure to study the thermal behaviour of stand-alone probes. The two approaches provide data in very good agreement on the full measured frequency domain. Several geometric and thermal parameters are deduced from the comparison. Those quantities are key inputs for future heat transfer modeling of the tip–sample contact.     

Bentonitic earth catalyzed rearrangement of aryl 1,1-dimethylpropargyl ethers. Synthesis of 2,2-dimethyl-2H-1-benzopyrans

Mexican Bentonitic earth (Tonsil) catalyzed the Claisen rearrangement of aryl 1,1-dimethylpropargyl ethers under mild conditions to provide 2,2-dimethyl-2H-1-benzopyrans. The synthesis of encecalin 2f and desmethoxyencecalin 2i , two biologically active products among other natural products ( 2b, 2e ) was performed by this procedure.     

Synthése d'héterocycles. XX. Reaction du malononitrile avec quelques cinnamonitriles

Reaction of cinnamonitriles with malononitrile, in methanolmethoxide, yield dihydropyridines, which by aromatisation give pyridines. Pyridine is directly obtained when p-nitrocinnamonitrile is used     

Nucleophilic displacement of activated aryl triflates a new synthesis of oxindoles and arylacetic acids

2-Nitroaryl triflates undergo efficient base-catalyzed nucleophilic displacement by dimethyl malonate anion to yield dimethyl nitroarylmalonates, which subsequently are converted in high yields to nitroarylacetic acids and oxindoles.     

Interaction of wetting fronts with an impervious surface — Longer time behaviour

The interaction of a wetting front with an impervious surface can be described very easily in the early stages of interaction by using a superposition principle. After the time when the superposition principle fails to describe the interaction properly, two flow regimes are analysed. For most of the interaction the profile is only affected by the impervious surface near that surface and in particular the inflow into the soil layer is unchanged. Then, only at the very end of the process is the inflow decreasing because of the impervious surface.     

On the asymptotic behavior of general projection-pursuit estimators under the common principal components model

The common principal components model for several groups of multivariate observations assumes equal principal axes among the groups. Robust estimators can be defined replacing the sample variance by a robust dispersion measure. This paper studies the asymptotic distribution of robust projection-pursuit estimators under a common principal components model.     

Chemical and photochemical reactivity of 6‐hydroxymethyl‐7,8‐dihydropterin in aqueous solutions

6‐Hydroxymethyl‐7,8‐dihydropterin (H₂Hmp) is an intermediate in the biosynthesis of folate, a precursor of coenzymes involved in the metabolism of nucleotides and amino acids. In this work, we have investigated the reactions undergone by H₂Hmp in aqueous solutions at physiological pH, in the absence and in the presence of UV‐A radiation (320–400 nm). In air‐equilibrated solutions, H₂Hmp undergoes slow thermal oxidation (half‐life 37 h) to yield 7,8‐dihydroxanthopterin (H₂Xap) as the main product. The reaction of H₂Hmp with hydrogen peroxide also yields H₂Xap as a main product. In contrast, UV‐A excitation of H₂Hmp leads to the formation of a dimer identified by electrospray ionization mass spectrometry. The corresponding quantum yield of H₂Hmp consumption (Φ_?R) was independent of O₂ and reactant concentration and has a value of 0.10 (±0.02), more than twice higher than that measured for other 6‐subtituted 7,8‐dihydropterins. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Statistical modelling of higher-order correlations in pools of neural activity

Simultaneous recordings from multiple neural units allow us to investigate the activity of very large neural ensembles. To understand how large ensembles of neurons process sensory information, it is necessary to develop suitable statistical models to describe the response variability of the recorded spike trains. Using the information geometry framework, it is possible to estimate higher-order correlations by assigning one interaction parameter to each degree of correlation, leading to a (2^N−1)$(2^N-1)$-dimensional model for a population with N$N$ neurons. However, this model suffers greatly from a combinatorial explosion, and the number of parameters to be estimated from the available sample size constitutes the main intractability reason of this approach. To quantify the extent of higher than pairwise spike correlations in pools of multiunit activity, we use an information-geometric approach within the framework of the extended central limit theorem considering all possible contributions from higher-order spike correlations. The identification of a deformation parameter allows us to provide a statistical characterisation of the amount of higher-order correlations in the case of a very large neural ensemble, significantly reducing the number of parameters, avoiding the sampling problem, and inferring the underlying dynamical properties of the network within pools of multiunit neural activity.     

Synthetic Haptens and Monoclonal Antibodies to the Cyanotoxin Anatoxin‐a

Early warning systems for monitoring toxic events may benefit from the availability of monoclonal antibodies enabling the sensitive and specific detection of anatoxin‐a, a cyanotoxin involved in numerous cases of animal poisoning resulting from toxic algal blooms in freshwaters. Through the synthesis of three functionalized derivatives of anatoxin‐a, we have succeeded in generating the first‐ever reported immunoreagents (bioconjugates and antibodies) suitable for the development of immunoanalytical approaches aimed at rapid and onsite detection of this harmful cyanotoxin.     

Fractionation and characterization of starch granules using field-flow fractionation (FFF) and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)

Starch is one of the main carbohydrates in food; it is formed by two polysaccharides: amylose and amylopectin. The granule size of starch varies with different botanical origins and ranges from less than 1 μm to more than 100 μm. Some physicochemical and functional properties vary with the size of the granule, which makes it of great interest to find an efficient and accurate size-based separation method. In this study, the full-feed depletion mode of split-flow thin cell fractionation (FFD-SF) was employed for a size-based fractionation of two types of starch granules (corn and potato) on a large scale. The fractionation efficiency (FE) of fraction-a for corn and potato granules was 98.4 and 99.4%, respectively. The FFD-SF fractions were analyzed using optical microscopy (OM) and gravitational field-flow fractionation (GrFFF). The respective size distribution results were in close agreement for the corn starch fractions, while they were slightly different for the potato starch fractions. The thermal properties of FFD-SF fractions were analyzed, and the results for the potato starch showed that the peak temperature of gelatinization (T_p) slightly decreases as the size of the granules increases. Additionally, the enthalpy of gelatinization (ΔH) increases when the granule size increases and shows negative correlation with the gelatinization range (ΔT).