Sigmatropic rearrangements in the allyl substituted oxazolinone system

Thermolysis and photolysis of several allyl substituted oxazolin-5-ones results in a sigmatropic rearrangement in accord with orbital symmetry predictions.     

Transversal theory and F-products

We characterize the matroid dual to a transversal matroid. We also show that Richard Rado's condition for the existence of an independent transversal can be weakened.     

Modeling the morphology and mechanical properties of sheared ternary mixtures

Through a combination of simulation techniques, we determine both the structural evolution and mechanical properties of blends formed from immiscible ternary mixtures. In this approach, we first use the lattice Boltzmann method to simulate the phase separation dynamics of A/B/C fluid mixtures for varying compositions within the spinodal region. We also investigate the effect of an imposed shear on the phase ordering of the mixture. We assume that the fluid is quenched sufficiently rapidly that the phase-separated structure is preserved in the resultant solid. Then, the output from our morphological studies serves as the input to the lattice spring model, which is used to simulate the elastic response of solids to an applied deformation. These simulations reveal how the local stress and strain fields and the global Young's modulus depend on the composition of the blend and the stiffness of the components. By comparing the results for the sheared and unsheared cases, we can isolate optimal processing conditions for enhancing the mechanical performance of the blends. Overall, the findings provide fundamental insight into the relationship between structure, processing, and properties for heterogeneous materials and can yield guidelines for formulating blends with the desired macroscopic mechanical behavior.     

Rapid characterization of Bacillus spores targeting species-unique peptides produced with an atmospheric pressure matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization source

New and improved strategies are eagerly sought for the rapid identification of microorganisms, particularly in mixtures. Mass spectrometry remains a powerful tool for this purpose. Small acid-soluble proteins (SASPs), which are relatively abundant in Bacillus spores, represent potential biomarkers for species characterization. Despite sharing extensive sequence homology, these proteins differ sufficiently in sequence for discrimination between species. This work focuses on the differences in sequence between SASPs from various Bacillus species. Compilation of SASP sequences from protein database searches, followed by in silico trypsin digestion and analysis of the resulting fragments, identified several species-specific peptides that could be targeted for analysis using mass spectrometry. This strategy was tested and found to be successful in the characterization of Bacillus spores both from individual species and in mixtures. Analysis was performed using an ion trap mass spectrometer with an atmospheric pressure MALDI source. This instrumentation offers the advantage of increased speed of analysis and accurate precursor ion selection for tandem mass spectrometric analysis compared with vacuum matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization and time-of-flight instruments. The identification and targeting of species-specific peptides using this type of instrumentation offers a rapid, efficient strategy for the identification of Bacillus spores and can potentially be applied to different microorganisms.     

Coexistence of ferro- and antiferromagnetic interactions in a metal-organic radical-based (6,3)-helical network with large channels

A metal-organic open-framework with an unprecedented (6,3)-helical topology, large channels and mixed ferro- and antiferromagnetic interactions has been synthesized using a three-connecting tricarboxylic polychlorotriphenylmethyl radical and Co(ii) ions.     

Smoothness properties of Newtonian potentials in the study of elastic plates

The Hölder continuity and differentiability are investigated of Newtonian potentials arising in the theory of bending of elastic plates with transverse shear deformation. These properties play an essential role in the study by means of boundary integral equation techniques of boundary value problems for the equilibrium and harmonic oscillation states, and in the construction of associated boundary element methods.     

A Subpixel Image Restoration Algorithm

Abstract

In statistical image reconstruction, data are often recorded on a regular grid of squares, known as pixels, and the reconstructed image is defined on the same pixel grid. Thus, the reconstruction of a continuous planar image is piecewise constant on pixels, and boundaries in the image consist of horizontal and vertical edges lying between pixels. This approximation to the true boundary can result in a loss of information that may be quite noticeable for small objects, only a few pixels in size. Increasing the resolution of the sensor may not be a practical alternative. If some prior assumptions are made about the true image, however, reconstruction to a greater accuracy than that of the recording sensor's pixel grid is possible. We adopt a Bayesian approach, incorporating prior information about the true image in a stochastic model that attaches higher probability to images with shorter total edge length. In reconstructions, pixels may be of a single color or split between two colors. The model is illustrated using both real and simulated data.