Total synthesis of (±) maculalactone A, maculalactone B and maculalactone C and the determination of the absolute configuration of natural (+) maculalactone A by asymmetric synthesis

Maculalactones A, B and C from the marine cyanobacterium Kyrtuthrix maculans are amongst the only compounds based on the tribenzylbutyrolactone skeleton known in nature and (+) maculalactone A from the natural source possesses significant biological activity against various marine herbivores and marine settlers. We now report a concise synthesis of racemic maculalactone A in five steps from inexpensive starting materials. Maculalactones B and C were synthesized by a minor modification to this procedure, and the synthetic design also permitted an asymmetric synthesis of maculalactone A to be achieved in around 85% ee. The (+) and (−) enantiomers of maculalactone A were assigned, respectively, to the S and R configurations on the basis of the chiral selectivity expected for catecholborane reduction of an unsymmetrical ketone in the presence of Corey's oxazoborolidine catalyst. Surprisingly, it appeared that natural (+) maculalactone A was biosynthesized in K. maculans in a partially racemic form, comprising ca. 90-95% of the (S) enantiomer and 5-10% of its (R) enantiomer. Coincidentally therefore, the percentage enantiomeric excess of the product obtained from asymmetric synthesis almost exactly matched that found in nature.     

A note on strongly π-regular rings

Let R be an associative ring with unit and let N(R) denote the set of nilpotent elements of R. R is said to be stronglyπ-regular if for each x∈R, there exist a positive integer n and an element y∈R such that x ⁿ=x ^{n +1} y and xy=yx. R is said to be periodic if for each x∈R there are integers m,n≥ 1 such that m≠n and x ^m=x ⁿ. Assume that the idempotents in R are central. It is shown in this paper that R is a strongly π-regular ring if and only if N(R) coincides with the Jacobson radical of R and R/N(R) is regular. Some similar conditions for periodic rings are also obtained. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Quantitative vibration amplitude measurement with time-averaged digital speckle pattern interferometry

A new method of using time-averaged digital speckle pattern interferometry for the quantitative measurement of vibration amplitude was developed. Signal processing techniques especially the Hilbert transformation for quantitative evaluation of the Bessel fringes obtained in time-averaged digital speckle pattern interferometry were explored. The quadrature signal after Hilbert transformation is equivalent to a 90° phase-shifted interferogram for a monotonically increasing or decreasing phase function. An algorithm was developed for Bessel fringe contrast enhancement and phase extraction. The techniques were tested numerically and experimentally. Sub-fringe quantification of the time-averaged vibration fringes is realised with the proposed method. Compared with the commonly used phase shift method which requires a minimum of two images for image processing, this method requires only one fringe pattern for data extraction.     

Integral points of P n −{2n+1 hyperplanes in general position}

Oblatum 4-VI-1990 &; 5-III-1991     

THE VALIDITY OF HIGH TEMPERATURE APPROXIMATION IN NMR SPECTROSCOPY AND ITS RELATED PROBLEMS

A large body of conspicuous publications [1] in recent years asserts that the high temperature approximation (HTA), a mostly tested and most widely used assumption in NMR spectroscopy and MRI technology, is invalid for concentrated samples in high magnetic fields such as for a proton COSY spectrum of water [1].     

Optimisation of fault-tolerant fabric-cutting schedules using genetic algorithms and fuzzy set theory

In apparel industry, manufacturers developed standard allowed minutes (SAMs) databases on various manufacturing operations in order to facilitate better scheduling, while effective production schedules ensure smoothness of downstream operations. As apparel manufacturing environment is fuzzy and dynamic, rigid production schedules based on SAMs become futile in the presence of any uncertainty. In this paper, a fuzzification scheme is proposed to fuzzify the static standard time so as to incorporate some uncertainties, in terms of both job-specific and human related factors, into the fabric-cutting scheduling problem. A genetic optimisation procedure is also proposed to search for fault-tolerant schedules using genetic algorithms, such that makespan and scheduling uncertainties are minimised. Two sets of real production data were collected to validate the proposed method. Experimental results indicate that the genetically optimised fault-tolerant schedules not only improve the operation performance but also minimise the scheduling risks.     

Fixed-sign solutions for a system of singular focal boundary value problems

We consider a system of focal boundary value problems where the nonlinearities may be singular in the independent variable and may also be singular in the dependent arguments. Using Schauder fixed point theorem, we establish criteria such that the system of boundary value problems has at least one fixed-sign solution.     

Polarization-Insensitive All-Optical Time-Division Demultiplexer Constructed with a Nonlinear Loop Interferometer

A polarization-insensitive 40-Gb/s time-division demultiplexer was demonstrated in a polarization-diversity loop configuration. The power penalty was measured to be 2.3 dB at a bit error rates of 10-9 for 10 Gb/s output signals.     

The Nature of Community OR

This paper outlines the results of a study undertaken to investigate the nature of Community Operational Research (COR). The objective was to contact the people involved in COR through a series of personal interviews and a questionnaire survey, in order to clarify many of the issues that have emerged within the profession relating to the practice of OR within the community and voluntary sector. A total of 20 individuals were successfully contacted, and they have been responsible for at least two-thirds of the projects in the COR area.     

Behaviors of the positive temperature coefficient of resistance of poly(styrene‐co‐n‐butylacrylate) filled with Ni‐plated core‐shell polymeric particles

Conductive composite films of poly(styrene‐co‐n‐butylacrylate) copolymers filled with low‐density, Ni‐plated core‐shell polymeric particles were prepared and their behaviors of positive temperature coefficient of resistance (PTCR) were investigated. When the conductive fillers in the composite film were loaded beyond the critical volume, 10 up to 25 vol %, composite films exhibited a unique electrical resistant transition behavior, which the electrical resistance rapidly increased by several orders of magnitude at the critical temperature. The PTCR transition temperature, in general, occurred before the glass transition temperature of polymer matrix. Further increased the conductive filler loading to 30 vol %, the overpacked conduction paths were formed in the entire composite and the PTCR effects became blurred. While the composite film treated with thermal cycle several times from room temperature up to 120 °C, the electrical resistivity increased accompanied with the shift of the PTCR transition to lower temperature. The reason might have been caused by the formed interfacial cracks within the composite film. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 322–329, 2007