Knowledge accelerator by transversal competences and multivariate adaptive regression splines

Transversal competences constitute a set of the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for various positions and in different professions. Such competences include: entrepreneurship, teamwork, creativity, and communicativeness; they are increasingly listed by employers in different countries as the key requirements in the labor market. The article presents the model of accelerating the process of acquiring transversal competences, developed based on the analysis of data collected in four countries of the European Union: Poland, Finland, Slovakia, and Slovenia. In the analysis, multivariate additive regression spline method was used, along with artificial neural networks, in order to create the best model describing the influence of different variables on the acceleration of acquiring transversal competences. Herewith, we demonstrated that by accelerating the acquisition of the transversal competence of entrepreneurship is influenced by the following factors: rank of the training method in the developed matrix, student numbers and the weighted average of the pace of acceleration regarding the acquisition of the remaining transversal competences, i.e., teamwork, communicativeness and creativity by the given student. The results validate our new method of the acceleration of acquiring transversal competences by students. Students may be from various higher education institutions in different countries. Developed results may be used in the course of education within the framework of the already planned vocational courses and for developing the skills required by employers for various positions and in different professions.

     

Cocrystals “Divorce and Marriage”: When a Binary System Meets an Active Multifunctional Synthon in a Ball Mill

A well-defined and stable “AB” binary system in the presence of “C” a crystalline synthon ground in a ball mill undergoes selective transformation in the solid state according to the equation AB+C→AC+B. When the amount of C is increased two times then the equation AB+2C→AC+BC is valid. The other variants are more complex. The pathway BC+A is allowed and leads to the AC and B products. The pathway AC+B is not preferred, and no transformation is observed. These non-obvious correlations were observed for cocrystal of barbituric acid (BA):thiobarbituric acid (TBA) recently reported by Shemchuk et al. (Chem. Commun. 2016 , 52, 11815–11818) in the presence of 1-hydroxy-4,5-dimethyl-imidazole 3-oxide (HIMO). This synthon shows high affinity for the BA_0.5TBA_0.5 cocrystal as well for its individual components, BA and TBA. Single-quantum, double-quantum (SQ-DQ) 2D ¹H very fast MAS NMR with a spinning rate of 60 kHz was employed as a basic and most diagnostic tool for the study of cocrystals transformations. Analysis of the experimental data was supported by theoretical calculations, including computation of the stabilization energy, E^stab, defined as the energy difference between the energy of a co-crystal and the sum of the energies of particular components in the respective stoichiometric ratios. Two mechanisms of synthon replacement have been proposed. Pathway 1 assumes a concerted mechanism of substitution. In this approach, synthon attack is synchronized in time with the departure of one of the components of the binary system. Pathway 2 implies a non-concerted process, with an intermediate stage in which three separate components are present. Evidence suggesting a preference for Pathway 2 is shown.     

Less Is More: Three‐Coordinate C,N‐Chelated Distannynes and Digermynes

We report here the synthesis of new C,N‐chelated chlorostannylenes and germylenes L³MCl (M=Sn( 1 ), Ge ( 2 )) and L⁴MCl (M=Sn( 3 ), Ge ( 4 )) containing sterically demanding C,N‐chelating ligands L^{3, 4} (L³=[2,4‐di‐tBu‐6‐(Et₂NCH₂)C₆H₂]^?_; L⁴=[2,4‐di‐tBu‐6‐{(C₆H₃‐2′,6′‐iPr₂)N=CH}C₆H₂]^?). Reductions of 1 – 4 yielded three‐coordinate C,N‐chelated distannynes and digermynes [L^{3, 4}M ]₂ for the first time ( 5 : L³, M=Sn, 6 : L³, M=Ge, 7 : L⁴, M=Sn, 8 : L⁴, M=Ge). For comparison, the four‐coordinate distannyne [L⁵Sn]₂ ( 10 ) stabilized by N,C,N‐chelate L⁵ (L⁵=[2,6‐{(C₆H₃‐2′,6′‐Me₂)N?CH}₂C₆H₃]^?) was prepared by the reduction of chlorostannylene L⁵SnCl ( 9 ). Hence, we highlight the role of donor‐driven stabilization of tetrynes. Compounds 1 – 10 were characterized by means of elemental analysis, NMR spectroscopy, and in the case of 1 , 2 , 5 – 7 , and 10 , also by single‐crystal X‐ray diffraction analysis. The bonding situation in either three‐ or four‐coordinate distannynes 5 , 7 , and 10 was evaluated by DFT calculations. DFT calculations were also used to compare the nature of the metal–metal bond in three‐coordinate C,N‐chelating distannyne [L³Sn]₂ ( 5 ) and related digermyme [L³Ge]₂ ( 6 ).     

Planarity of heteroaryldithiocarbazic acid derivatives showing tuberculostatic activity. III. Mono‐ and diesters of 3‐(pyrazin‐2‐ylcarbonyl)dithiocarbazic acid

Methyl 2‐(pyrazin‐2‐ylcarbonyl)hydrazinecarbodithioate, C₇H₈N₄OS₂, (E1), N′‐[bis(methylsulfanyl)methylidene]pyrazine‐2‐carbohydrazide, C₈H₁₀N₄OS₂, (F1), N′‐[bis(methylsulfanyl)methylidene]‐6‐methoxypyrazine‐2‐carbohydrazide, C₉H₁₂N₄O₂S₂, (F2), and methyl 1‐methyl‐2‐(pyrazin‐2‐ylcarbonyl)hydrazinecarbodithioate, C₈H₁₀N₄OS₂, (G1), can be considered as derivatives of classical (thio)amide‐type tuberculostatics, and all are moderately active against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. This study was undertaken in a search for relationships between activity and specific intramolecular interactions, especially conjugations and hydrogen‐bond contacts, and the molecular structures were compared with respective amine analogues, also active against the pathogen. Despite the differences between the amine and carbonyl groups with opposite functions in the hydrogen bond, the two types of structure show a surprisingly similar planar geometry, mostly due to the conjugations aided by the bifurcated intramolecular hydrogen‐bond contact between the N—H group of the central hydrazide group as donor and a pyrazine N atom and an S atom of the dithio function as acceptors. Planarity was suggested to be crucial for the tuberculostatic activity of these compounds. The N‐methylated derivative (G1) showed a significant twist at the N—N bond [torsion angle = −121.9 (3)°] due to the methyl substitution, which precludes an intramolecular N—H...S contact and the planarity of the whole molecule. Nonetheless, the compound shows moderate tuberculostatic activity.     

The Influence of Polyurethane Component on the Properties of Polyurethane-Rubber Composites Obtained from Waste Materials

Properties of the polyurethane-rubber composites obtained from used products were studied. The influence of the amount of polyurethane glue and amount of isocyanate diphenylmethane 4,4′-diisocyanate (MDI) on composites selected properties was observed.

The dynamic thermo-mechanical analysis allowed us to determine the glass transition temperature Tg and the course of the relaxation processes in the composites. The analysis of the changes in the storage module E′ and loss module E^″ as a function of temperature enabled the calculation of the activation energy for relaxation processes of various polyurethane glues and polyurethane-rubber composites.