Synthesis,characterization and properties of a soluble polymer with a poly(phenylenevinylene) structure

Soluble poly(2,5-dialkoxy-1,4-phenylenevinylene) has been prepared via Stille coupling reaction between 2,5-dialkoxy-1,4-diiodobenzene and E-1,2-bis(tributylstannyl)-ethene in the presence of palladium complexes. Characterization of this material by means of ¹H and ¹³C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), ultraviolet/visible (UV/VIS) and infrared (IR) spectra is described. Molecular weights, determined by means of gelpermeation chromatography (GPC) analysis and referred to standard polystyrene, were in the range number-average molecular weights M _n = 2061–2544 and weight-average molecular weights M _w = 3347–3878. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis of the polymer showed semicrystalline structure. T_g = 57°C, transition to a stable smectic mesophase at 115°C and clearing point at 210°C were revealed by differential scanning calorimetry analysis, optical microscopy observation and XRD of the annealed polymer.     

Screening and identification of major phytochemical compounds in seeds,sprouts and leaves of Tuscan black kale Brassica oleracea (L.) ssp acephala (DC) var. sabellica L.

We report the spectrophotometric determination of total polyphenols, flavonoids, glucosinolates and antioxidant activity in seeds, seedlings and leaves of Tuscan black kale. The highest content of phytochemicals was observed in 10 days sprouts and antioxidant activity was maximum in 2, 4 days seedlings. Identification and characterisation of phytochemicals were performed by mass spectrometry (MS), high resolution and tandem MS with electrospray ionisation mode. Low-molecular-weight metabolites were evidenced in seeds while metabolites at high m/z range were detected in cotyledons and leaves. MS spectra evidenced different phenolic compounds (flavonoid caffeoyl glucose, hydroxycinnamic acid sinapine) and glucosinolates (glucoerucin, glucobrassicin and glucoraphanin) in function of developmental stage; galactolipids ω3 and ω6 were observed in leaves. Identification of stages with the highest phytochemicals content encourages the consumption of black kale sprouts and young leaves. Our research can support food and pharmaceutical industries for production of health promoting products from black kale.     

Stereochemistry of cercosporin

The absolute configuration of the asymmetric carbons and the axial chirality of the natural mold metabolite cercosporin (from $\text{Cercospora sp}$.) have been established on the basis of X-ray analysis and chemical reactions. The results confirm the inherent dissymmetry of the perylenequinone ring, the twisting of which gives rise to the diastereoisomer isocercosporin. The energy barrier for the conversion of cercosporin into isocercosporin has been evaluated.     

Applications of Approximation Theory to thermographic images in earthquake engineering

In this paper we show some new applications of the approximation theory, by means of the multivariate sampling Kantorovich operators, to thermographic images in seismic engineering. (© 2015 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Quasi-martingales with a linearly ordered index set

We consider quasi-martingales indexed by a linearly order set. We show that such processes are isomorphic to a given class of (finitely additive) measures. From this result we easily derive the classical theorem of Stricker as well as the decompositions of Riesz, Rao and the supermartingale decomposition of Doob and Meyer.     

Exponential self-similar mixing and loss of regularity for continuity equations

We consider the mixing behavior of the solutions to the continuity equation associated with a divergence-free velocity field. In this Note, we sketch two explicit examples of exponential decay of the mixing scale of the solution, in case of Sobolev velocity fields, thus showing the optimality of known lower bounds. We also describe how to use such examples to construct solutions to the continuity equation with Sobolev but non-Lipschitz velocity field exhibiting instantaneous loss of any fractional Sobolev regularity.     

A segmentation procedure of the pervious area of the aorta artery from CT images without contrast medium

In this paper, we develop an algorithm for the segmentation of the pervious lumen of the aorta artery in computed tomography (CT) images without contrast medium, a challenging task due to the closeness gray levels of the different zones to segment. The novel approach of the proposed procedure mainly resides in enhancing the resolution of the image by the application of the algorithm deduced from the mathematical theory of sampling Kantorovich operators. After the application of suitable digital image processing techniques, the pervious zone of the artery can be distinguished from the occluded one. Numerical tests have been performed using 233 CT images, and suitable numerical errors have been computed and introduced ex novo to evaluate the performance of the proposed method. The above procedure is completely automatic in all its parts after the initial region of interest (ROI) selection. The main advantages of this approach relies in the potential possibility of performing diagnosis concerning vascular pathologies even for patients with severe kidney diseases or allergic problems, for which CT images with contrast medium cannot be achieved.