On isomorphic factorizations of circulant graphs

We investigate the conjecture that every circulant graph X admits a k‐isofactorization for every k dividing |E(X)|. We obtain partial results with an emphasis on small values of k. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 14: 406–414, 2006     

The effect of traffic noise on sleep of young adults in their homes

The disturbance of sleep by traffic noise is a major problem area in noise pollution. Extensive laboratory tests using multichannel electroencephalograms (EEG) have been carried out by many workers to determine the general response of people when exposed to noise during sleep. An experimental technique for obtaining results in people's homes has been developed using a simplified one-channel EEG. The responses of six people in the age range 19-24 were measured. A significant correlation was found between sleep disturbance and traffic noise when the noise is expressed in EPNdB. In the home experiments the subjects appeared to be approximately 10 dB less sensitive to noises than laboratory subjects for similar noise exposure. There also appeared to be some adaptation to the noise exposure; however, only one subject was tested for a period of 20 days and was insufficient to give definite results on adaptation.     

Corn stover fractions and bioenergy

Information is presented on structure, composition, and response to enzymes of corn stover related to barriers for bioconversion to ethanol. Aromatic compounds occurred in most tissue cell walls. Ferulic acid esterase treatment before cellulase treatment significantly improved dry weight loss and release of phenolic acids and sugars in most fractions over cellulase alone. Leaf fractions were considerably higher in dry weight loss and released sugars with esterase treatment, but stem pith cells gave up the most phenolic acids. Results help identify plant fractions more appropriate for coproducts and bioconversion and those more suitable as residues for soil erosion control.     

Importance of the Debye interaction in organic solutions: Henry's law constants for polar liquids in nonpolar solvents and vice versa

Henry's law constants have been determined for -butyrolactone (BL), ethyl acetate (EA), and 2-methyl-3-pentanol (MEP) in mixtures of iso-octane (ISO) and toluene (TOL), for BL, EA, TOL, and ISO in cinnamaldehyde (CIN) and for TOL and ISO in each other and in BL. From these data and published vapor pressures, the activity coefficients at infinite dilution and the standard molar Gibbs free energy of transfer, G ₂ ⁰ of the solutes from dilute solution in ISO to dilute solution in each solvent medium have been calculated. The different behavior patterns of BL and EA are attributed to differences in their abilities to exist in different conformations possessing different dipole moments. For polar solutes, G ₂ ⁰ decreases with increasing polarizability of the solvent and with increasing dipole moment of the solute, suggesting increased contributions from dipole-induced dipole (Debye) interactions. The sigmoidal plot of G ₂ ⁰ against the change in pair potential energy calculated from the classical expressions suggests that G ₂ ⁰ seriously underestimates the strength of the Debye interactions in comparison with the London interactions.     

Gradient expansion of the atomic kinetic energy functional

It is demonstrated that the ground-state atomic kinetic energy functional T[?], where ? is the electron density, can be computed to surprising accuracy from the truncated gradient expansion: T[?] = + T₂[?] + T₄[?], with T_o[?] = $\text{3}\text{10}$(3π²)$\text{2}\text{3}$ ∫ ?$\text{5}\text{3}$ d_τ, T₂ [?] = $\text{1}\text{72}$ ∫ (??)²?^?1 d_τ, and T₄ [?] given by the formula of Hodges. Calculations of T₀, T₂ and T₄ are reported for He with ? both the Hartree—Fock and a very accurate density, and for Ne, Ar and Kr with ? the Hartree—Fock density. For Kr, T₀ + T₂ + T₄ is within 0.3% of the exact Hartree—Fock T, with T₂/T₀ = 0.05, T₄/T₂ = 0.17.     

Total synthesis of (-)-reveromycin a

The asymmetric total synthesis of (-)-reveromycin A is described. The key steps involved a Lewis acid catalyzed inverse electron demand hetero-Diels-Alder reaction followed by hydroboration/oxidation to afford the spiroketal core 4 in a highly stereoselective manner and introduction of the C18 hemisuccinate by high-pressure acylation.