Simulation of the hydrodynamic drag of aggregated particles

The drag force on aggregates and partially sintered agglomerates is assessed using the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) and accelerated Stokesian dynamics (ASD). Both methods have been compared in terms of accuracy and computational effort. It is shown that they give comparable results if all numerical parameters are controlled carefully. LBM requires a much higher computational effort, however, in contrast to ASD it is able to simulate partially sintered agglomerates as well. The results show that even a very small amount of sintering leads to a significant reduction in the drag force. The analysis of the drag force on agglomerates as well as on aggregates shows that there is no simple geometric quantity which is uniquely related to the drag force. Moreover, there is a significant variation in drag force for single aggregates at different orientations or for the orientation averaged drag force of different aggregates of the same size. This is explained by the structural effects which may lead to a variation in the drag force up to +/-20%.     

Functionalized chiral vinyl aminosulfoxonium salts: asymmetric synthesis and application to the synthesis of enantiopure unsaturated prolines, beta,gamma-dehydro amino acids, and cyclopentanoid keto aminosulfoxonium ylides

Methylation of the enantiopure functionalized vinyl sulfoximines 5a-e and 14a-d followed by a F- ion or DBU-mediated isomerization of the vinyl aminosulfoxonium salts 7a-e and 15a-d, respectively, gave the allyl aminosulfoxonium salts 10a-e and 17a-d, respectively. A concomitant intramolecular substitution of the aminosulfoxonium group of 10a-e and 17a-d by the amino group afforded the unsaturated prolines 8a-e and 18a-d, respectively. The starting vinyl sulfoximines are accessible through a highly selective and stereo-complementary aminoalkylation of the corresponding sulfonimidoyl-substituted mono- and bis(allyl)titanium complexes with the imino ester 4. The vinyl aminosulfoxonium salts 34, 7a-d, and E-15c experienced upon treatment with the Cl- ion a migratory substitution with formation of the delta-chloro-beta,gamma-dehydro amino acids 36, E/Z-37a-d, and 38, respectively. A migratory substitution of the hydroxy-substituted vinyl aminosulfoxonium salts 46a and 46b furnished the delta-chloro allyl alcohols E/Z-48a and E-48b, respectively. A facile one-pot conversion of the vinyl sulfoximines 31b, 5c and 45a to the allyl chlorides 36, E/Z-37c and E/Z-48a, respectively, was achieved upon treatment with a chloroformiate. A tandem cyclization of the vinyl aminosulfoxonium salts 7b, Al-7b and 57 with LiN(H)tBu yielded the cyclopentanoid keto aminosulfoxonium ylides 54, Al-54, 59, 60 and 61, respectively. The structure of the tricyclic keto aminosulfoxonium ylide Al-54 has been determined by X-ray crystal structure analysis. Ab initio calculations and a NBO analysis of the tricyclic keto aminosulfoxonium ylide XXIII show a polar structure stabilized by electrostatic interactions between the ylidic C atom and both the carbonyl C atom and the S atom.     

Antiblocking decoding

Based on the notion of an antiblocking system a new decoding algorithm is developed which is comparable with the permutation decoding algorithm, but more efficient.     

Determination of 4-nonylphenol in water samples using 4-(2,6-dimethylhept-3-yl)phenol as new internal standard

A new method for determining the endocrine disrupting substance 4-nonylphenol (technical grade = mixture of isomers, 4-NP) from water samples has been developed by using 4-(2,6-dimethylhept-3-yl)phenol (4-sec-NP) as model compound. This branched monoalkylphenol is shown to serve as internal standard (IS) for the determination of technical 4-nonylphenol. To the best of our knowledge, 4-(2,6-dimethylhept-3-yl)phenol (racemic mixture) is a newly synthesized 4-nonylphenol isomer and has not been described elsewhere. Recoveries have been determined by analyzing spiked water samples from distilled water, river water and wastewater. Following acetylation, the compounds were enriched via solid phase extraction (SPE). Analyses of the compounds were performed by capillary column gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS), operating in selected ion-monitoring (SIM) mode. The recovery of technical 4-NP using either the newly prepared 4-sec-NP or 4-n-nonylphenol (4-n-NP) as IS have been compared. 4-sec-NP showed slightly better results. However, in the first series of experiments using wastewater, the yields for the derivatization of the two standard compounds were remarkably different. The yield for derivatization of 4-n-NP was approximately 20%, probably due to the difficult matrix of the wastewater. In contrast, the yield for the derivatization of 4-sec-NP was considerably higher (approximately 63%). This problem can be solved by increasing the concentration of the reagent used for derivatization. For better control of the clean-up process, we recommend application of 4-sec-NP as internal standard, at least in water samples with complex matrices (e.g., high content of hydroxylated compounds).     

Calculation of intermolecular interactions in the benzene dimer using coupled-cluster and local electron correlation methods

Potential energy curves for the parallel-displaced, T-shaped and sandwich structures of the benzene dimer are computed with density fitted local second-order M?ller-Plesset perturbation theory (DF-LMP2) as well as with the spin-component scaled (SCS) variant of DF-LMP2. While DF-LMP2 strongly overestimates the dispersion interaction, in common with canonical MP2, the DF-SCS-LMP2 interaction energies are in excellent agreement with the best available literature values along the entire potential energy curves. The DF-SCS-LMP2 dissociation energies for the three structures are also compared with new complete basis set estimates of the interaction energies obtained from accurate coupled cluster (CCSD(T)) and DF-SCS-MP2 calculations. Since LMP2 is essentially free of basis set superposition errors, counterpoise corrections are not required. As a result, DF-SCS-LMP2 is computationally inexpensive and represents an attractive method for the study of larger pi-stacked systems such as truncated sections of DNA.     

Das Vorhersagerisiko der Sterblichkeitsentwicklung – Kann es durch eine geeignete Portfoliozusammensetzung minimiert werden?

Annuities as well as term insurance create risks for the insurance companies due to changes in mortality/longevity – especially in low-interest phases. For the past decades an increase in life expectancy was observed. In this article, we examine whether an insurance company can minimise the longevity risk by means of an appropriate composition of its portfolio. We use stochastic interest rates and mortality trends. For annuities and term insurance different mortality trends are used. Based on an example we show the impact of the portfolio composition on the longevity risk. The results prove that a deliberate portfolio composition can significantly reduce the longevity risk for the insurance company.     

The degree of maps between certain 6-manifolds

For manifolds M,M of the form S² e⁴ e⁶ we compute the homomorphisms H_*M H_*M between homology groups which are realizable by a map F: M M.