Photochemical rearrangement of oxaziridines and nitrones in the hexahydroindole series: a convenient synthetic route to 1-azabicyclo[5.2.0]nonan-2-ones as novel RGD mimetics

[reaction: see text] Photolysis of oxaziridines a or nitrones b provides a convenient synthetic route to fused bicyclic lactams c adequately substituted on both cycles A and B as scaffolds for mimicking conformationally constrained beta-turn peptides as in the tripeptide RGD signaling motif of fibronectin.     

Microstructural Analysis of Benzoxazine Cationic Ring-Opening Polymerization Pathways

Herein, an evaluation of the initial step of benzoxazine polymerization is presented by mass spectrometry, with a focus on differentiating the phenoxy and phenolic products formed by distinct pathways of the cationic ring opening polymerization (ROP) mechanism of polybenzoxazine formation. The use of infrared multiple photon dissociation (IRMPD) and ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) techniques allows for differentiation of the two pathways and provides valuable insights into the ROP mechanism. The results suggest that type I pathway is favored in the initial stages of the reaction yielding the phenoxy product, while type II product should be observed at later stages when the phenoxy product would interconvert to the most stable type II phenolic product. Overall, the findings presented here provide important information on the initial step of the benzoxazine polymerization, allowing the development of optimal polymerization conditions and represents a way to evaluate other multifunctional polymerization processes.     

DOSE-RESPONSE OF CHRONIC ULTRAVIOLET EXPOSURE ON EPIDERMAL FORWARD SCATTERING-ABSORPTION IN SK-1 HAIRLESS MOUSE SKIN

This work provides a dose-response model of UV-induced epidermal-stratum corneum thickening induced by irradiation at wavelength lambda. This model assumes that photobiochemical reaction(s) can give rise to hyperplasia in a manner which is predictable from a simple photochemical kinetic scheme. In this work, we derive an equation which predicts an approximately linear relationship between the logarithm of the increase in optical skin thickening measured at 320 nm (delta OD320) and total cumulative dose (DT) seen by the target cells in or near the basal layer. For each excitation wavelength lambda, the slope R(lambda) of the log delta OD320 vs DT plot is proportional to epsilon(lambda) phi rx, where epsilon(lambda) is the extinction coefficient for the target chromophore at excitation wavelength, and phi rx is the quantum yield for the photochemical reaction(s) leading to hyperplasia. Our data previously obtained from irradiation of SK-1 hairless mice with "monochromatic" UV wavebands at 280, 290, 300, 307 and 313 nm (Menter et al., 1988, Photochem. Photobiol. 47, 225-260.) and data from Sterenborg and van der Leun at 254 and 313 nm (1988, Photodermatology 5, 71-82) are in good agreement with this model, except for 254 and 280 nm excitation, which are greatly attenuated by epidermis-stratum corneum. For excitation at the latter wavelengths, "dark" regressive processes successfully compete with the "light" reaction(s) which lead to (pre)cancerous lesion. This difficulty notwithstanding, the "intrinsic" action spectrum for hyperplasia derived from these measurements indicates that the target chromophore preferentially absorbs in the UV-C region.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Pseudo–almost‐periodic solutions for delayed differential equations with integrable dichotomies and bi–almost‐periodic Green functions

Using the existence of integrable bi–almost‐periodic Green functions of linear homogeneous differential equations and the contraction fixed point, we are able to prove the existence of almost and pseudo–almost‐periodic mild solutions under quite general hypotheses for the differential equation with constant delay in a Banach space X, where τ>0 is a fixed constant. The results extend the corresponding ones in the case of exponential dichotomy. Some examples illustrate the importance of the concepts.     

Measuring centrality and dispersion in directional datasets: the ellipsoidal cone covering approach

Consider a finite collection \(\{\xi _k\}_{k=1}^p\) of vectors in the space \(\mathbb {R}^n\). The \(\xi _k\)’s are not to be seen as position points but as directions. This work addresses the problem of computing the ellipsoidal cone of minimal volume that contains all the \(\xi _k\)’s. The volume of an ellipsoidal cone is defined as the usual n-dimensional volume of a certain truncation of the cone. The central axis of the ellipsoidal cone of minimal volume serves to define the central direction of the datapoints, whereas its volume can be used as measure of dispersion of the datapoints.     

Isoperimetric constants of manifolds with small handles

Mathematische Zeitschrift -     

Routing a mix of conventional,plug-in hybrid,and electric vehicles

We introduce an electric vehicle routing problem combining conventional, plug-in hybrid, and electric vehicles. Electric vehicles are constrained in their service range by their battery capacity, and may require time-consuming recharging operations at some specific locations. Plug-in hybrid vehicles have two engines, an internal combustion engine and an electric engine using a built-in rechargeable battery. These vehicles can avoid visits to recharging stations by switching to fossil fuel. However, this flexibility comes at the price of a generally higher consumption rate and utility cost.To solve this complex problem variant, we design a sophisticated metaheuristic which combines a genetic algorithm with local and large neighborhood search. All route evaluations, within the approach, are based on a layered optimization algorithm which combines labeling techniques and greedy evaluation policies to insert recharging stations visits in a fixed trip and select the fuel types. The metaheuristic is finally hybridized with an integer programming solver, over a set partitioning formulation, so as to recombine high-quality routes from the search history into better solutions. Extensive experimental analyses are conducted, highlighting the good performance of the algorithm and the contribution of each of its main components. Finally, we investigate the impact of fuel and energy cost on fleet composition decisions. Our experiments show that a careful use of a mixed fleet can significantly reduce operational costs in a large variety of price scenarios, in comparison with the use of a fleet composed of a single vehicle class.     

Seasonality and idiosyncratic risk in mutual fund performance

This paper examines the relationship between seasonality, idiosyncratic risk and mutual fund returns using multifactor models. We use a large sample containing the return histories of 728 UK mutual funds over a 23-year period to measure fund performance. We present evidence that idiosyncratic risk cannot be eliminated, we also find evidence of seasonality in all fund categories. Specifically, we find a close relation between the seasonality and the end of the tax-year. We document that the idiosyncratic risk puzzle cannot explain seasonality in fund performance in the UK. Although, we do find that idiosyncratic risk can account for the seasonality in the month of April. Thus, the results show a link between the tax-loss selling hypothesis in April and idiosyncratic risk in that month. Finally, we report evidence that idiosyncratic risk is negatively related to expected returns for most fund classes.