Blue-LED Synthesis of Pummerer's Ketones by Peroxidase-Lignin-Catalyzed Oxidative Coupling of Substituted Phenols

Pummerer's ketones resembling the tricyclic scaffold of bioactive natural substances were synthesized by blue-LED driven Horseradish Peroxidase oxidative coupling of substituted phenols in 2-methyltetrahydrofuran by using meso-tetraphenylporphyrin as photosensitizer and dioxygen as primary oxidant. The application of functionalized lignin nanoparticles as a renewable and efficient platform for the immobilization of the enzyme extended the effectiveness of the overall process to heterogeneous catalysis under buffer limiting conditions.     

Cohomology of affine Artin groups and applications

The result of this paper is the determination of the cohomology of Artin groups of type and with non-trivial local coefficients. The main result

is an explicit computation of the cohomology of the Artin group of type with coefficients over the module Here the first standard generators of the group act by -multiplication, while the last one acts by -multiplication. The proof uses some technical results from previous papers plus computations over a suitable spectral sequence. The remaining cases follow from an application of Shapiro's lemma, by considering some well-known inclusions: we obtain the rational cohomology of the Artin group of affine type as well as the cohomology of the classical braid group with coefficients in the -dimensional representation presented in Tong, Yang, and Ma (1996). The topological counterpart is the explicit construction of finite CW-complexes endowed with a free action of the Artin groups, which are known to be spaces in some cases (including finite type groups). Particularly simple formulas for the Euler-characteristic of these orbit spaces are derived.

     

Extremal Curves in Nilpotent Lie Groups

We classify extremal curves in free nilpotent Lie groups. The classification is obtained via an explicit integration of the adjoint equation in Pontryagin maximum principle. It turns out that abnormal extremals are precisely the horizontal curves contained in algebraic varieties of a specific type. We also extend the results to the nonfree case.     

Nonautonomous Ornstein-Uhlenbeck operators in weighted spaces of continuous functions

We consider the nonautonomous Ornstein-Uhlenbeck operator in some weighted spaces of continuous functions in $\mathbb{R}^{N}$ . We prove sharp uniform estimates for the spatial derivatives of the associated evolution operator P _s,t , which we use to prove optimal Schauder estimates for the solution to some nonhomogeneous parabolic Cauchy problems associated with the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck operator. We also prove that, for any t>s, the evolution operator P _s,t is compact in the previous weighted spaces.     

Calibration of a multifactor model for the forward markets of several commodities

We propose a model for the evolution of forward prices of several commodities, which is an extension of the factor forward model in [1, 2], to a market where multiple commodities are traded. We calibrate this model in a market where forward contracts on multiple commodities are present, using historical forward prices. First, we calibrate separately the four coefficients of each individual commodity, using an approach based on quadratic variation/covariation of forward prices. Then, with the same technique, we pass to the estimation of the mutual correlation among the Brownian motions driving the different commodities. This calibration is compared to a calibration method used by practitioners, which uses rolling time series and requires a modification of the model, but turns out to be more accurate in practice, especially with a low frequency of observed transaction. We present efficient methods to perform the calibration with both methods, as well as the calibration of the intercommodity correlation matrix. Then we calibrate our model to WTI, ICE Brent and ICE Gasoil forward prices. Finally we present a method for estimating spot volatility from forward parameters, with an application to the WTI spot volatility.     

Generalized Complex Spherical Harmonics, Frame Functions, and Gleason Theorem

Consider a finite dimensional complex Hilbert space ${\mathcal{H}}$ , with ${dim(\mathcal{H}) \geq 3}$ , define ${\mathbb{S}(\mathcal{H}):= \{x\in \mathcal{H} \:|\: \|x\|=1\}}$ , and let ${\nu_\mathcal{H}}$ be the unique regular Borel positive measure invariant under the action of the unitary operators in ${\mathcal{H}}$ , with ${\nu_\mathcal{H}(\mathbb{S}(\mathcal{H}))=1}$ . We prove that if a complex frame function ${f : \mathbb{S}(\mathcal{H})\to \mathbb{C}}$ satisfies ${f \in \mathbb{L}^2(\mathbb{S}(\mathcal{H}), \nu_\mathcal{H})}$ , then it verifies Gleason’s statement: there is a unique linear operator ${A: \mathcal{H} \to \mathcal{H}}$ such that ${f(u) = \langle u| A u\rangle}$ for every ${u \in \mathbb{S}(\mathcal{H}).\,A}$ is Hermitean when f is real. No boundedness requirement is thus assumed on f a priori.     

Interaction between inner and outer layer in drag-reduced turbulent flows

Effects of wall-based skin-friction drag reduction strategies on the statistical properties of large-scale motions in moderate Reynolds number turbulent flows have been investigated by exploiting Direct Numerical Simulation of turbulent channels. To educe large scales, a new efficient parallel distributed memory algorithm has been implemented which delivers data-driven modes of increasing characteristic lengthscales: the Fast and Adaptive Bidimensional Empirical Mode Decomposition (FABEMD). The influence of wall-based skin friction reduction on large scales is studied by comparing single point statistics, such as r.m.s. fluctuations, and two-point statistics, as cross-correlation functions in controlled and uncontrolled channel flow fields at constant friction Reynolds number. The traditional way of observing large-scale footprinting at the wall, as cross-correlation of the streamwise velocity components at different wall distances, has been found to be unreliable when comparing drag-reduced flows, due to the arbitrary choice of a reference plane in the logarithmic layer. A more sound way of observing the footprinting via the correlation of the streamwise velocity with the friction velocity is addressed and shows an increase of the footprinting in drag-reduced flows. (© 2016 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Sub-Riemannian Curvature in Contact Geometry

We compare different notions of curvature on contact sub-Riemannian manifolds. In particular, we introduce canonical curvatures as the coefficients of the sub-Riemannian Jacobi equation. The main result is that all these coefficients are encoded in the asymptotic expansion of the horizontal derivatives of the sub-Riemannian distance. We explicitly compute their expressions in terms of the standard tensors of contact geometry. As an application of these results, we obtain a sub-Riemannian version of the Bonnet–Myers theorem that applies to any contact manifold.