Elemental characterization of edible plants and soils in an abandoned mining region: assessment of environmental risk

The chemical concentrations of 11 elements in 6 species of edible plants grown in 7 soils, developed in different gossanous materials of the abandoned mine area of Sao Domingos, in southern Portugal, was measured by energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence. The total fraction of elements in the soils from which the plants were sampled, was measured, using wavelength dispersive X‐ray fluorescence. The elemental content in bioavailable fraction was obtained by using three different leaching tests: DIN 38414‐S4, 1 M ammonium acetate and 0.005 M DTPA. Leachates were analyzed by Induced Coupled Plasma—Optical Emission Spectrometer (ICP‐OES) and Induced Coupled Plasma—Mass Spectrometer (ICP‐MS). The mineralogy of the same soils was evaluated by X‐ray diffraction to identify the species present. The results show that levels in plants can be hazardous especially for Pb and As. Important concentrations of Fe and K were also observed. A different uptake was observed in the several plants for the different elements. The highest assimilation of metals was observed in sampling points containing soluble sulfate salts. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Spotlight on Photoinduced Aryl Migration Reactions

Rearrangement reactions are certainly one of the most useful approaches towards complex structures in organic chemistry. With efficient conditions, it is indeed possible to convert simple substrates into highly functionalized products. Moreover, combining this approach with an attractive initiation process, such as visible-light catalysis, makes these reactions particularly powerful. Recently, tremendous improvements have been made, owing to a better understanding of photoredox mechanisms. In this review, recent progress on visible-light aryl migration reactions is discussed, focusing especially on Smiles rearrangement and related reactions.     

Biological Activities Evaluation of Enantiopure Isoxazolidine Derivatives: In Vitro,In Vivo and In Silico Studies

Applied Biochemistry and Biotechnology - A series of enantiopure isoxazolidines (3a–c) were synthesized by 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition between a (−)-menthone-derived nitrone and various...     

Obtaining non-Abelian field theories via the Faddeev-Jackiw symplectic formalism

In this Letter we construct non-Abelian field theories employing the Faddeev-Jackiw symplectic formalism. The original Abelian fields were modified in order to introduce the non-Abelian algebra. We construct the SU(2) and SU(2)⊗U(1) Yang-Mills theories having as starting point the U(1) Maxwell electromagnetic theory.     

Properties of positive harmonic functions on the half-space with a nonlinear boundary condition

In this paper we study existence and properties of solutions of the problem Δw=0 on the half-space with nonlinear boundary condition ∂w/∂η+w=|w|^p−2w where 2<p<2(N−1)/(N−2) and N?3. We obtain a ground state solution w=w(x₁,…,xN−1,t) which is radial and has exponential decay in the first N−1 variables. Moreover, w has sharp polynomial decay in the variable t.     

Mobilizing histories in mathematics teacher education: memories, social practices, and discursive games

In the first part of this paper, we share and elucidate the way we mobilize histories in some disciplines that are part of the undergraduate courses in mathematics teacher education offered by State University of Campinas and Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte in Brazil. This way of mobilization can be featured as a set of collective indisciplinary problematizations occurring in a series of student investigations. Mobilizing practices of mathematics culture are the object of these investigations. These practices are performed by different communities both constituted by and constituent of different human activities. In the second part of this paper, we will discuss our way of mobilizing histories, contrasting it with the theoretical perspective of expansive learning, just as it has been defended by Yrjö Engeström, in his article Non scolae sed vitae discimus—towards overcoming the encapsulation of school learning. We will also attempt to highlight the role which this researcher has attributed to history in his model of expansive learning, a perspective based on the current research on activity theory.     

Cytosporones O, P and Q from an endophytic Cytospora sp.

Cytosporones O, P and Q, together with the known compounds cytosporones B, C, D, E and dothiorelones A, B, C, and H were isolated from the ascomycete fungus Cytospora sp. during a chemotaxonomic study of fungal endophytes belonging to the related genera Cytospora and Phomopsis from Brazil. The structures were determined by NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. With exception of cytosporones D, E, Q, and dothiorelone B, all compounds were consistently detected in the metabolite profiles of eight Cytospora isolates investigated; and were also produced by a distinct chemotype of Phomopsis.