Application of BGO detector to monitor in situ16N concentration in a reactor pool

A high efficiency BGO detecting system coupled to a coolant pumping device was used to monitor on-line the 6.13 MeV high energy gamma-ray, which is emitted from the 7.1 s half-life of¹⁶N activated by¹⁶O(n, p) reaction in a nuclear reactor. The system has been demonstrated effectively to monitor the real-time reactor power level as well as the space-time neutron flux distribution in reactor coolant.     

Peripheral Templation‐Modulated Interconversion between an A4L6 Tetrahedral Anion Cage and A2L3 Triple Helicate with Guest Capture/Release

An anion‐coordination‐based A₄L₆ (“A” denotes anion and “L” is ligand) tetrahedral cage was constructed by a C₂‐symmetric bis‐bis(urea) ligand and phosphate anion, which showed reversible interconversion with the A₂L₃ triple helicate as a response to the template, concentration, or solvent. Notably, an unusual “peripheral” templation was found to be critical to stabilize the tetrahedral structure. This peripheral effect was utilized to assemble an “empty” A₄L₆ cage that allows the multi‐stimuli‐controlled capture/release of biologically important species such as choline and acetylcholine.     

Coenzyme analogs: excellent substitutes (not poor imitations) for electrochemical regeneration

For the first time, employment of nicotinamide coenzyme NAD analogs has overcome the limitations of NAD in electrochemical regeneration. It has been shown that NAD analogs, APAD and PAAD, were electrochemically reduced more efficiently than original NAD and that the stability of their reduced products was also much higher than NADH.     

Improved accuracy for Raman spectroscopic determination of polyethylene property by optimization of measurement temperature and elucidation of its origin by multiple perturbation two-dimensional correlation spectroscopy

A novel strategy is demonstrated to improve the accuracy for determination of polyethylene (PE) density using Raman spectroscopy by optimizing the temperature of sample measurement. Spectral features associated with the conformation change of the polymer induced by temperature may provide valuable information to quantify important polymer properties such as density. To evaluate possible existence of an optimal temperature providing improved quantitative accuracy, Raman spectra of PE pellets with different densities were collected at eight different temperatures from 30 to 100 °C at 10 °C intervals. Using the spectral datasets collected at each temperature, partial least squares (PLS) models were developed using the reference PE density values determined by a standard density gradient method at 23 °C. Interestingly, the most accurate determination of density was realized at 70 °C. Multiple perturbation two-dimensional (MP2D) correlation analysis and differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) were used to examine the origin of improved accuracy at 70 °C. From these analyses, the pre-melt behavior of the PE samples was identified below their melting temperatures. Structural variations induced at the pre-melt stages enhance Raman spectral selectivity among the samples, thereby providing more accurate determination of PE density. The MP2D correlation analysis revealed the unforeseen thermal behavior of PE samples and successfully explained the improved accuracy at 70 °C.     

Practical syntheses of a CXCR3 antagonist

Two new, reliable syntheses of a pyrido[2,3-d]-pyrimidine inhibitor of the CXCR3 receptor are described. A nine-step synthesis of the CXCR3 inhibitor (1) from 2-aminonicotinic acid was demonstrated on a multikilogram scale and incorporates a classic resolution to deliver the enantioenriched active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). A second synthesis of the CXCR3 inhibitor starts from (+)-(D)-Boc alanine and 2-chloronicotinic acid and utilizes a Goldberg coupling. This second synthesis, performed on a gram scale, intersects the former route at a common intermediate thereby completing a formal synthesis of the enantioenriched API in higher overall yield without the need for a resolution.     

Lipid-bound apolipoproteins in tyrosyl radical-oxidized HDL stabilize ABCA1 like lipid-free apolipoprotein A-I

Background  

ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) mediates the lipidation of exchangeable apolipoproteins, the rate-limiting step in the formation of high density lipoproteins (HDL). We previously demonstrated that HDL oxidized ex vivo by peroxidase-generated tyrosyl radical (tyrosylated HDL, tyrHDL) increases the availability of cellular cholesterol for efflux and reduces the development of atherosclerosis when administered to apolipoprotein E-deficient mice as compared to treatment with control HDL.     

Correlation‐assisted nearest shrunken centroid classifier with applications for high dimensional spectral data

High throughput data are frequently observed in contemporary chemical studies. Classification through spectral information is an important issue in chemometrics. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) fails in the large‐p‐small‐n situation for two main reasons: (1) the sample covariance matrix is singular when p > n and (2) there is an accumulation of noise in the estimation of the class centroid in high dimensional feature space. The Independence Rule is a class of methods used to overcome these drawbacks by ignoring the correlation information between spectral variables. However, a strong correlation is an essential characteristic of spectral data. We proposed a new correlation‐assisted nearest shrunken centroid classifier (CA‐NSC) to incorporate correlation information into the classification. CA‐NSC combines two sources of information [class centroid (mean) and correlation structure (variance)] to generate the classification. We used two real data analyses and a simulation study to verify our CA‐NSC method. In addition to NSC, we also performed a comparison with the soft independent modeling of class analogy (SIMCA) approach, which uses only correlation structure information for classification. The results show that CA‐NSC consistently improves on NSC and SIMCA. The misclassification rate of CA‐NSC is reduced by almost half compared with NSC in one of the real data analyses. Generally, correlation among variables will worsen the performance of NSC, even though the discriminatory information contained in the class centroid remains unchanged. If only correlation structure information is used (as in the case of SIMCA), the result will be satisfactory only when the correlation structure alone can provide sufficient information for classification. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.