Cooperative recognition of Cu<Superscript>2+</Superscript> based on amino acids tethered benzothiadiazoyl-bistriazoles

Fluoroionophoric properties of benzothiadiazoyl-bistriazoyl amino acids derivatives toward metal ions were investigated by UV-Vis and fluorescence spectroscopy. Our results show that the watersoluble lysine derivative 2 exhibited a significant selectivity toward Cu²⁺ in “on-off” type response in buffer solution at pH 7.4.     

Compatibility Range in Polymer Mixtures. An approach using analogue calorimetry and group contribution procedures

The mixing enthalpies of blends of polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) with poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) (SAN) were investigated by analogue calorimetry through the determination of the excess enthalpies of pseudobinary model mixtures corresponding to the addition of methyl-i-butyrate to a binary mixture of acetonitrile or propionitrile plus toluene or ethylbenzene. A group contribution procedure, based on UNIQUAC equation, was also devised and the polymeric mixing enthalpies were calculated from properly defined group contributions. Enthalpies for polymeric interactions were introduced into the Flory-Huggins equation and the miscibility window of PMMA-SAN mixtures was calculated. The results show a qualitative agreement with the experimental miscibility data and indicate that both the analogue calorimetry and the group contribution procedures yield correct results when acetonitrile, and not propionitrile, is chosen as the model for the polyacrylonitrile repeat unit of the copolymer. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Fine-tunable monodentate phosphoroamidite and aminophosphine ligands for Rh-catalyzed asymmetric hydroformylation

A biaryl-based monophosphoroamidite L1–L4a–f and aminophosphine L5–L7a–f ligand library was screened in the Rh-catalyzed asymmetric hydroformylation of several vinylarenes and heterocyclic olefins. Our results indicate that the selectivity is strongly dependent on the ligand parameters and on the substrate type. Enantioselectivities (up to 46%) were moderate in the hydroformylation of several vinylarenes S1–S5 and promising (up to 58%) for the more challenging heterocyclic olefins S6–S9.     

Parametric processes in microstructured and highly nonlinear optical fibres

Optical parametric amplification is an important nonlinear process in photonic crystal fibres driven by the small effective area and the special dispersion characteristics of these fibres. Aside from its role in supercontinuum generation, parametric amplification can lead to efficient wavelength conversion, limited primarily by the uniformity of the diameter of currently available fibres. The related Bragg scattering process can be used for both wavelength conversion and optical switching, again limited by the physical characteristics of the fibres used.     

Advantages of Adaptive Speckle Filtering Prior to Application of Iterative Deconvolution Methods for Optical Coherent Tomography Imaging

The axial resolution of optical coherence tomography (OCT) is closely related to the light source spectrum width. Unfortunately, most basic sources providing the required power for decent OCT image have narrow spectra, which generate a resolution loss. Assuming the OCT system is linear shift-invariant, we can consider the system output as the convolution of the theoretical signal with a system impulse response due to this spectrum narrowness. It becomes then possible to enhance this resolution through iterative deconvolution methods (IDM). However those methods have a significant drawback, as they usually significantly enhance speckle, which is another consequence of the source spectrum narrowness. To compensate this, we rely on preliminary speckle filtering, and especially the adaptative ones, which allow tackling the speckle without blurring the image. We first studied enhancement proposed by most popular IDMs on OCT images, and then the effect of preliminary adaptive speckle filtering (ASF) by different common adaptive methods. Then, among those methods, we combined Frost filter and Richardson-Lucy deconvolution in the appropriated way; this way we both enhanced resolution by 2 and reduced speckle (raising CNR from 0.7 to 1.3)     

Contrasting confocal with defocusing microscale spatially offset Raman spectroscopy

The study compares and contrasts conventional confocal Raman microscopy/spectroscopy (CRM) with a recently developed micrometer scale defocusing spatially offset Raman spectroscopy (micro‐SORS), a method providing a new analytical capability for investigating non‐destructively the chemical composition of subsurface, micrometer‐scale‐thick diffusely scattering layers at depths beyond the reach of CRM. Because of close similarities between the two techniques and comparable embodiment of the instrumentations, but radically different interpretations of data, it is crucially important to recognise which type of method is pertinent to a specific measurement. The distinction comes principally from the nature of sample, whether turbid (micro‐SORS measurement) or transparent (CRM measurement) on the spatial scale of the axial (z‐)scan of the measurement. Which type of sample one deals with may not always be easily recognisable with micro‐scale thick layers, and the study therefore also presents a simple method for suggesting whether CRM or micro‐SORS methodology applies. This test relies on an axial (z‐)scan performed through the sample in both the positive and negative directions from the normal, imaged sample surface position using conventional CRM instrument. The absence or presence of symmetry or asymmetry of the intensity profiles of measured Raman signals around the imaged sample surface position as a function of sample axial displacement then suggests which interpretation could apply. The study paves a way for the development of micro‐SORS as a widely applicable analytical tool deployable on conventional Raman microscopes. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

The role of cloud tracking and passive microwave techniques in the short-term prediction of flood hazard on a regional scale

The role of remote sensing in enhancing the monitoring capabilities and the short-term prediction of the risk of flooding on a regional scale is addressed in this paper by means of the application of storm identification and cloud tracking techniques to a few case studies where cluster analysis based on infrared satellite imagery is used as the primary source of information. Polar satellite sensors, which provide passive microwave images, were also proposed in the literature for application in flood forecasting operational problems, though the accuracy of passive microwave techniques is only acceptable when rainfall estimates are integrated over quite large spatial and temporal scales. Climatological studies are well suited to make use of such data while the measure of instantaneous rainfall is still lacking of an adequate validation. A theoretical and numerical framework for the assessment of the reliability of passive microwave estimates of instantaneous rainfall within the typical resolution scales of polar satellite sensors is provided in the paper.

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Sommario Il ruolo delle tecniche di monitoraggio da sensori remoti nell'incrementare le potenzialità di previsione a breve termine del rischio di inondazione a scala regionale è analizzato nel presente lavoro attraverso l'applicazione di tecniche di identificazione ed inseguimento dei corpi nuvolosi ad alcuni casi di studio in cui le immagini satellitarie nella banda dell'infrarosso termico sono utilizzate come principale strumento di monitoraggio. In letteratura viene inoltre proposta l'utilizzazione, in applicazioni operative di previsione delle inondazioni, di sensori alle microonde passive montati su satelliti ad orbita polare: l'accuratezza di tali tecniche è tuttavia accettabile solo quando le stime di precipitazione vengono integrate su ampie scale spaziali e temporali. Mentre l'uso di tali tecniche per studi climatologici è di notevole utilità, la misura della precipitazione alle piccole scale spazio-temporali necessita ancora di un adeguato processo di validazione. Nel presente lavoro viene proposto un approccio teorico per la stima dell'affidabilità di tali stime di precipitazione alle scale tipiche della risoluzione spaziale del sensore.

     

Energy Scaling of Compressed Elastic Films –Three-Dimensional Elasticity¶and Reduced Theories

We derive an optimal scaling law for the energy of thin elastic films under isotropic compression, starting from three-dimensional nonlinear elasticity. As a consequence we show that any deformation with optimal energy scaling must exhibit fine-scale oscillations along the boundary, which coarsen in the interior. This agrees with experimental observations of folds which refine as they approach the boundary. We show that both for three-dimensional elasticity and for the geometrically nonlinear Föppl-von Kármán plate theory the energy of a compressed film scales quadratically in the film thickness. This is intermediate between the linear scaling of membrane theories which describe film stretching, and the cubic scaling of bending theories which describe unstretched plates, and indicates that the regime we are probing is characterized by the interplay of stretching and bending energies. Blistering of compressed thin films has previously been analyzed using the Föppl-von Kármán theory of plates linearized in the in-plane displacements, or with the scalar eikonal functional where in-plane displacements are completely neglected. The predictions of the linearized plate theory agree with our result, but the scalar approximation yields a different scaling.