Frequency and form as determinants of functor sensitivity in English-acquiring infants

High-frequency functors are arguably among the earliest perceived word forms and may assist extraction of initial vocabulary items. Canadian 11- and 8-month-olds were familiarized to pseudo-nouns following either a high-frequency functor the or a low-frequency functor her versus phonetically similar mispronunciations of each, kuh and ler, and then tested for recognition of the pseudo-nouns. A preceding the (but not kuh, her, ler) facilitated extraction of the pseudo-nouns for 11-month-olds; the is thus well-specified in form for these infants. However, both the and kuh (but not her-ler) facilitated segmentation for 8-month-olds, suggesting an initial underspecified representation of high-frequency functors.     

Semipreparative-scale gas-chromatographic separation of filbertone enantiomers

The enantioselectivity of heptakis(2,3-di-O-acetyl-6-O-tert-butyldimethylsilyl-beta-CD) toward racemic filbertone (E-5-methyl-hep-2-en-4-one) was studied by performing the chiral separation on a capillary column, a thick-film wide-bore column and a semipreparative column. The semipreparative enantioseparation of filbertone was achieved at 80 degrees C by using a packed column providing (R)- and (S)-enantiomers of filbertone with ee 90 and 96%, respectively. The isolated enantiomers (approximately 250 microg each, ee = 90-96%) may be used for studies on the relationship of chirality and biological activity by olfactory screening and toxicological studies.     

Synthesis and Properties of Dendronized Chitosan

Summary: Chitosan films and microspheres were prepared and their surfaces were functionalized with first generation dendritic molecules. The films were modified by Weisocyanate dendron, while Behera's and bis Behera's amine dendrons were used to modify the microspheres. Prior to dendronization films were prepared by blending chitosan with 18% of polyvinyl pyrrolidone (PVP), and casting the resulting mixture. The degree of dendronization reached was 28%. The microspheres were prepared by coacervation/precipitation, after which the surfaces were activated with either epychlorohydrine (ECH) or 1,4-butanediol diglycidyl ether (BDGE). The oxirane groups were utilized to form covalent bonds between chitosan and dendrons. The degree of dendronization yielded with Behera's amine was 60% for both activating agents. When bis Behera's amine was used, the dendronization reached values of 15 and 21% when ECH or BDGE were used, respectively. The dendronized products were characterized through spectroscopic and microscopic studies and by determination of swelling indexes. Only one of the surfaces was dendronized in every film, which therefore presented a hydrophobic and a hydrophilic surface. Since these films maintain the properties of chitosan, they offer interesting potential as dressings for exuding wounds. The different surfaces make the microspheres potentially applicable as carriers for delivery and controlled release of drugs.     

Weighted a priori estimates for solution of (−Δ)<Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">m</Emphasis></Superscript><Emphasis Type="Italic">u</Emphasis> = <Emphasis Type="Italic">f</Emphasis> with homogeneous dirichlet conditions

Let u be a weak solution of (-△)mu = f with Dirichlet boundary conditions in a smooth bounded domain Ω  Rn. Then, the main goal of this paper is to prove the following a priori estimate:‖u‖ Wω2 m,p(Ω) ≤ C ‖f‖ Lωp (Ω),where ω is a weight in the Muckenhoupt class Ap.     

Quantum mechanical modeling of Zn-based spinel oxides: Assessing the structural,vibrational, and electronic properties

The structural, electronic, and vibrational properties of two leading representatives of the Zn-based spinel oxides class, normal ZnX₂O₄ (X = Al, Ga, In) and inverse Zn₂MO₄ (M = Si, Ge, Sn) crystals, were investigated. In particular, density functional theory (DFT) was combined with different exchange-correlation functionals: B3LYP, HSE06, PBE0, and PBESol. Our calculations showed good agreement with the available experimental data, showing a mean percentage error close to 3% for structural parameters. For the electronic structure, the obtained HSE06 band-gap values overcome previous theoretical results, exhibiting a mean percentage error smaller than 10.0%. In particular, the vibrational properties identify the significant differences between normal and inverse spinel configurations, offering compelling evidence of a structure-property relationship for the investigated materials. Therefore, the combined results confirm that the range-separated HSE06 hybrid functional performs the best in spinel oxides. Despite some points that cannot be directly compared to experimental results, we expect that future experimental work can confirm our predictions, thus opening a new avenue for understanding the structural, electronic, and vibrational properties in spinel oxides.