A demand adjustment process

The aspiration approach to cooperative games, which has been studied by a number of authors, including Cross, Turbay, Albers, Selten and Bennett, presumes that players in a game bargain over their reservation prices, or aspirations. A number of aspiration-based solution concepts have been put forth, and aspiration solutions have been connected to non-cooperative bargaining models. Missing in this approach has been theory of how aspirations themselves arise. The present paper is an attempt to fill this gap. It describes a very general demand adjustment process, using the framework of set-valued dynamical systems developed by Maschler and Peleg. This demand adjustment process always converges; sufficient conditions are given in order that it converge to an aspiration, and that it converge in a finite number of steps.     

Frequency and effects of teachers'' voice problems

This study compared the frequency and effects of voice symptomsin teachers to a group of individuals employed in other occupations. Teachers were more likely to report having a voice problem (15 vs. 6%), having 10 specific voice symptoms, and having 5 symptoms of physical discomfort. They averaged almost 2 symptoms compared with none for nonteachers. Likewise, teachers were more likely to perceive that a voice problem would adversely affect their future career options, had done so in the past, and was limiting their current job performance. Over 20% of teachers but none of the nonteachers had missed any days of work due to a voice problem. These findings suggest that teaching is a high-risk occupation for voice disorders and that this health problem may have significant work-related and economic effects.     

Speech breathing during reading in women withvocal nodules

This study examined speech breathing patterns during reading bywomen with bilateral vocal fold nodules judged as mildly dysphonic and by women without vocal nodules. Although it might be predictable that the speech breathing patterns of individuals with laryngeal dysfunction will differ from those without laryngeal dysfunction, there is a lack of empirical data to support such assumptions.The results of the current study indicated that glottal airflow was greaterduring reading for the women with vocal nodules and that a larger volume of air was expended both per syllable and per breath group during reading. The rate of speech did not significantly differ between the two groups of women. There was no significant difference for the average duration of the breath groups and no significant difference for the number of syllables spoken per breath group. Additionally, both groups of women demonstrated a similar pattern of inspiratory pause location during the reading. The results suggest that speech breathing patterns associated with dysphonia be examined independently to distinguish specifically the nature of the interaction between the laryngeal dysfunction and the speech breathing pattern. Certainly, more information on how the severity of a voice disorder influences speech breathing is necessary.     

The application of radiochronometry during the 4th collaborative materials exercise of the nuclear forensics international technical working group (ITWG)

Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry - In a recent international exercise, 10 international nuclear forensics laboratories successfully performed radiochronometry on three low enriched...     

PNA forms an i-motif

A C-rich PNA hexanucleotide, p(C5T), has been shown to form an i-motif by nanoelectrospray ionization mass spectrometry coupled with H/D exchange, to have thermal stability comparable with its DNA analogue, but to exist over a much narrower pH range.     

Synthesis of endo-(3-azabicyclo[3.1.0]hex-6-yl)-methanol and derivatives as new geometric/charge mimics of glycosyltransfer transition states

The syntheses of azabicyclo[3.1.0]hexane transition state (TS) analogs are described. Cyclopropanation of N-Boc-3-pyrroline with ethyl diazoacetate afforded a 1.6:1 exo/endo ratio of the resulting ester. Reduction of the endo-isomer with LiAlH₄ yielded the alcohol which was phosphorylated, or iodinated to provide access to aglycon containing TS analogs.     

Cyclophanes. I,Topics in Current Chemistry,Vol. 113 : Editor F. Vögtle; Springer-Verlag,Berlin/Heidelberg/New York/Tokyo, 1983, 185 pages,DM 86.

An X-ray analysis of [Os(CO)₄AuPPh₃₂] shows that the metal atoms define an isosceles triangle in which the Au-Au distance is 2.929(1) Å, which is ca. 0.1 Å shorter than in the corresponding iron analogue [Fe(CO)₄AuPPh₃₂].     

Development of an enantioselective synthetic route to neocarzinostatin chromophore and its use for multiple radioisotopic incorporation

A convergent, enantioselective synthetic route to the natural product neocarzinostatin chromophore (1) is described. Synthesis of the chromophore aglycon (2) was targeted initially. Chemistry previously developed for the synthesis of a neocarzinostatin core model (4) failed in the requisite 1,3-transposition of an allylic silyl ether when applied toward the preparation of 2 with use of the more highly oxygenated substrates 27 and 54. An alternative synthetic plan was therefore developed, based upon a proposed reduction of the epoxy alcohol 58 to form the aglycon 2, a transformation that was achieved in a novel manner, using a combination of the reagents triphenylphosphine, iodine, and imidazole. The successful route to 1 and 2 began with the convergent coupling of the epoxydiyne 15, obtained in 9 steps (43% overall yield) from D-glyceraldehyde acetonide, and the cyclopentenone (+)-14, prepared in one step (75-85% yield) from the prostaglandin intermediate (+)-16, affording the alcohol 22 in 80% yield and with > or =20:1 diastereoselectivity. The alcohol 22 was then converted into the epoxy alcohol 58 in 17 steps with an average yield of 92% and an overall yield of 22%. Key features of this sequence include the diastereoselective Sharpless asymmetric epoxidation of allylic alcohol 81 (98% yield); intramolecular acetylide addition within the epoxy aldehyde 82, using Masamune's lithium diphenyltetramethyldisilazide base (85% yield); selective esterification of the diol 84 with the naphthoic acid 13 followed by selective cleavage of the chloroacetate protective group in situ to furnish the naphthoic acid ester 85 in 80% yield; and elimination of the tertiary hydroxyl group within intermediate 88 using the Martin sulfurane reagent (79% yield). Reductive transposition of the product epoxy alcohol (58) then formed neocarzinostatin chromophore aglycon (2, 71% yield). Studies directed toward the glycosylation of 2 focused initially on the preparation of the N-methylamino --> hydroxyl replacement analogue 3, an alpha-D-fucose derivative of neocarzinostatin chromophore, formed in 42% yield by a two-step Schmidt glycosylation-deprotection sequence. For the synthesis of 1, an extensive search for a suitable 2'-N-methylfucosamine glycosyl donor led to the discovery that the reaction of 2 with the trichloroacetimidate 108, containing a free N-methylamino group, formed the alpha-glycoside 114 selectively in the presence of boron trifluoride diethyl etherate. Subsequent deprotection of 114 under mildly acidic conditions then furnished the labile chromophore (1). The synthetic route was readily modified for the preparation of singly and doubly (3)H- and (14)C-labeled 1, compounds unavailable by other means, for studies of the mechanism of action of neocarzinostatin in vivo.