Synthesis and hydrolytic degradation of stereoregular aromatic poly(ester amide)s derived from D‐xylose

Stereoregular poly(ester amide)s (PEAs) were prepared by the polycondensation method using naturally occurring D ‐xylose and aromatic diacids as the starting materials. The polymers were characterized by elemental analysis, GPC, IR, and ¹H‐ and ¹³C NMR spectroscopies. Thermal and X‐ray diffraction studies revealed them to be mainly amorphous. The polymers are hydrophilic and their degradation studies were carried out at 37 and 80 °C in buffered salt solution at pH 8. The degradation study was monitored by mass loss, GPC, IR, and NMR spectroscopies. The hydrolytic degradation of these PEAs occurred rapidly by hydrolysis of the ester functions to a final compound, which maintained the amide functions. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem, 2010     

Energy value determinations of industrialized foods: the potential of using X‐ray spectroscopy and partial least squares

This work reports the use of multivariate calibration models to determine energy values (EV) of industrialized dried vegetable products prepared for human consumption. These methods use energy dispersive X‐ray fluorescence spectra allied to chemometrics of the respective samples to substitute conventional EV determinations that are subject to several laborious steps. The samples are grouped in accordance with their principal raw material (corn, wheat, soy, milk and cassava). The chemometric tools applied reveal that the X‐ray scattering spectrum region furnishes the main contribution to the calibration models, where the presence of organic compounds is manifested through small variations in X‐ray scattering effects. These results are expected because EV values are based on the organic contents. The EV determination is fast, does not generate residuals and does not involve toxic reagents. The good results of the validation process (deviations < 14%) indicate that this is an alternative to conventional analytical methods and is very attractive for routine analysis. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

First evidence of an intimate symbiotic association between fungi and larvae in basal attine ants

The most conspicuous ants in all of tropical America are those that belong to the tribe Attini which cultivate fungus. The objective of the present study is to verify the alterations that occur in the cuticle of the worker larvae from Myrmicocrypta, Mycetarotes and Trachymyrmex with the purpose of trying to establish the degree of this association. Attine ants from the Atta genus were used as a control group. The analysis of histological sections showed results about the distribution of the cells and tissues on the epidermis of A. sexdens rubropilosa ant larvae and Mycetarotes parallelus, Trachymyrmex fuscus and Myrmicocrypta sp. A cuticle covering the ants was observed in the larvae of all the species, and this is formed by a simple cubic epithelium, whose cells possibly change its shape to prismatic, depending on their secretory activity. Just under this epithelium large adipose cells with reserve granules in their cytoplasm were found. The presence of a space filled by granulose and acellular material was also observed, indicating that the larvae were in a molt period. The presence of fungal hyphae is observed both on the external side of the basal attine larvae as well as emitting projections to the interior of the cuticle reaching the epithelium and the adipocyte cells. Data obtained in the present study demonstrated that the fungus deposited on the surface of immature ants from attine basal species maintain a close relationship with them, once the fungus hyphae have the ability to disorganize the cuticle lamellas, penetrating the interior of the insect cells through the emission of prolongations transporting the cuticle and epithelium barriers and making substances exchanges between larvae and fungus.     

Quality evaluation of microscopy and scanned histological images for diagnostic purposes

In this work we present a study for assessing and comparing the fidelity of biopsy and cytology images captured with two different devices, that is optical microscopes and scanners, at 40× magnification in bright field. The devices use different ways to magnify images. Microscopes use a set of lenses while scanners capture light through arrays of micro-photoreceptors. The objective is to carry out a quantitative evaluation to discern which of the two devices provides better image quality in terms of contrast, colour and stain. Since there is no unanimous consensus on quality metrics, we will make use of both an objective metric based on perceptual features, together with a subjective psychophysical test as the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) recommends in ITU-R BT.500 for such type of tests. Both techniques indicate a slight preference for the scanner over the microscope in terms of better image quality, considering defocus as the main problem followed by colour distortions. However, the image quality of both devices is suitable for clinical, educational and research purposes.     

Three-dimensional spatiotemporal pulse characterization with an acousto-optic pulse shaper and a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor

We demonstrate a simplified arrangement for spatiotemporal ultrashort pulse characterization called Hartmann-Shack assisted, multidimensional, shaper-based technique for electric-field reconstruction. It employs an acousto-optic pulse shaper in combination with a second-order nonlinear crystal and a Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor. The shaper is used as a tunable bandpass filter, and the wavefronts and intensities of quasimonochromatic spectral slices of the pulse are obtained using the Hartmann-Shack wavefront sensor. The wavefronts and intensities of the spectral slices are related to one another using shaper-assisted frequency-resolved optical gating measurements, performed at particular points in the beam. This enables a three-dimensional reconstruction of the amplitude and phase of the pulse. We present some example pulse measurements and discuss the operating parameters of the device.     

Thermodynamic aspects of ion intercalation in KhFek[Fe(CN)6]l*mH2O compounds: application to the Everit's Salt/Prussian blue transition

The K(+) reversible processes for ion exchange in K(h)Fe(k)[Fe(CN)(6)](l)*mH(2)O host compounds (Prussian Blue) were thermodynamically analyzed. A thermodynamic approach was established and developed based on the consideration of a lattice-gas model where the electronic contribution to the chemical potential is neglected and the ion-host interaction is not considered. The occupation fraction of the intercalation process was calculated from the kinetic parameters obtained through ac-electrogravimetry in a previous paper. In this way, the mass potential transfer function introduces a new way to evaluate the thermodynamic aspect of intercalation. Finally, based on the thermodynamic approach, the energy used to put each K(+) ion into the host material was calculated. The values were shown to be in good agreement with the values obtained through transient techniques, for example, cyclic voltammetry. As a result, this agreement between theory and experimental data validates the thermodynamic approach considered here, and for the first time, the thermodynamic aspects of insertion were considered for mixed valence materials.     

Catalytic asymmetric dihydroxylation of 1-substituted-1-ferrocenylethenes: an enantioselective entry to chiral tertiary ferrocenylcarbinols and ferrocenylalkylamines

The Sharpless asymmetric dihydroxylation (AD) of 1-substituted-1-ferrocenylethenes takes place with good yields and with moderate to good enantioselectivities. The resulting 1-substituted-1-ferrocenyl-1,2-ethanediols are the first alpha-chiral tertiary ferrocenylcarbinols that have been prepared in optically active form. Their absolute configuration, ascertained by Induced Circular Dichroism (ICD), shows that in all cases the ferrocenyl moiety has the highest affinity for the SW binding pocket of the AD ligands. Depending upon the reaction conditions, significant racemization takes place during a side-chain azide nucleophilic substitution on 2-ferrocenyl-1,2-propanediol.     

Morpho-physiological analysis of the insect fat body: A review

The insect fat body is the main organ of the intermediate metabolism of insects. The majority of proteins of the haemolymph is synthesized in this tissue, which also presents the functions of lipids, carbohydrates and proteins storage. This tissue is also responsible for the synthesis of vitellogenins, proteins with an important role in the reproduction of the insects, being incorporated into the oocytes during vitellogenesis. The fat body consists of thin layers or strings, generally one or two cells thick, or small nodules suspended in the hemocele through connective tissues and trachea. Within a species, the structure of this tissue is more or less constant, but can have considerable differences between insects of different orders. In this way, this article makes a review about the main morpho-physiological features of the fat body cells of the insects, as well as a phylogenetic study of the fat body between basal and derived species of the Attini tribe ants.     

Acoustic field evaluation of asphalt mixtures with crumb rubber

The aim of this study is to characterize the acoustical behavior of bituminous mixtures fabricated with recycled rubber crumb. Acoustic field measurements of the tire/pavement interaction in close proximity to the contact patch were carried out with a trailer with a protective chamber (TiresonicMk4-LA²IC). The survey was conducted on a test track with several experimental sections paved with a gap-graded mixture. Different methods of incorporating crumb rubber in the mixture were used: (i) into binder and (ii) with the aggregate materials. Close proximity sound levels are assigned to the gap-graded mixtures containing rubber and compared to that of a reference mixture without rubber. It is shown that asphalt mixtures fabricated with the addition of crumb rubber to the aggregate material (dry process) managed to reduce the noise from the tire/pavement interaction up to 2 dB(A).     

Quality control of beverages using XRS allied to chemometrics: determination of fixed acidity,alcohol and sucrose contents in Brazilian cachaça and cashew juice

The present work proposes a new method to evaluate parameters of quality control for beverages using X‐ray spectrometry (XRS) allied to the chemometric tools such as principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least square regression for one variable (PLS 1). The chosen beverages were cachaça and cashew juice owing to their economic importance in Brazil. The first study, which was carried out with craft cachaça samples acquired in Amparo (São Paulo State), established a relationship between color and sucrose content of the product and also calibrated their fixed acidities and alcoholic contents. The second study constructed multivariate models for sucrose content in commercial cachaça and cashew juice and also determined the predictive power of the method. The maximum relative errors for the predicted values of 2.9 and 2.3% for cachaça and cashew juice, respectively, demonstrate that the methods are quite promising for the quality control of these beverages. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.