Quantification of microporosity in fruit by MRI at various magnetic fields: comparison with X-ray microtomography

Microstructure determines the mechanical and transport properties of fruit tissues. One important characteristic of the microstructure is the relative volume fraction of gas-filled intercellular spaces, i.e., the tissue microporosity. Quantification of this microporosity is fundamental for investigating the relationship between gas transfer and various disorders in fruit.     

Test d'indépendance nonparametrique

We consider the minimax problem of testing the independence of the components of a d-dimensional random vector against a set of alternatives defined by L₂-norm. We are interested in finding the minimax rate of testing and a test that attains this rate. The bound of the error of the first kind is a positive sequence which can decrease to zero as the number of observations increases. To cite this article: A.F. Yode, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, Ser. I 336 (2003).     

Dithienothiophene (DTT)-based dyes for dye-sensitized solar cells: synthesis of 2,6-dibromo-DTT

A one-pot synthesis of 2,6-dibromodithieno[3,2-b;2',3'-d]thiophene (dibromo-DTT, 4) was developed. A key step was bromodecarboxylation of DTT-2,6-dicarboxylic acid, obtained by saponification of the diester 1. The donor-acceptor dye DAHTDTT (13), based on a central 2,6-bis[2'-(3'-hexylthienyl)]dithieno[3,2-b;2',3'-d]thiophene core (9), was prepared and incorporated in a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSC), which exhibited an energy conversion efficiency of 7.3% with V(oc) of 697 mV, J(sc) of 14.4 mA/cm(2), and ff of 0.73 at 1 sun.     

Hindered rotation and electronic distribution in thiocarbamates

We wish to report here the isolation of methyl N-(p-methoxybenzyl)thiocarbamate, a natural product extracted from Pentadiplandra brazzena Bailli, and the synthesis of its homologue, benzyl N-(2-phenylethyl)thiocarbamate. The barrier to internal rotation calculated from a complete lineshape analysis of the temperature dependent ¹H n.m.r. spectra is discussed. The extent of delocalization on the three N, S and O substituents on the central trigonal carbon atom is gauged from a double labelling experiment.     

Water dynamics in ionomer membranes by field-cycling NMR relaxometry

The dynamic behavior of water within two types of ionomer membranes, Nafion and sulfonated polyimide, has been investigated by field-cycling nuclear magnetic relaxation. This technique, applied to materials prepared at different hydration levels, allows the proton motion on a time scale of microseconds to be probed. The NMR longitudinal relaxation rate R(1) measured over three decades of Larmor angular frequencies omega is particularly sensitive to the host-water interactions and thus well-suited to study fluid dynamics in restricted geometries. In the polyimide membranes, we have observed a strong dispersion of R(1)(omega) following closely a 1/square root omega law in a low-frequency range (correlation times from 0.1 to 10 micros). This is indicative of a strong interaction of water with "interfacial" hydrophilic groups of the polymeric matrix (wetting situation). Variations of the relaxation rates with water uptake reveal a two-step hydration process: solvation and formation of disconnected aqueous clusters near polar groups, followed by the formation of a continuous hydrogen bond network. On the contrary, in the Nafion we observed weak variations of R(1)(omega) at low frequencies. This is typical of a nonwetting behavior. At early hydration stages, R(1)(omega) evolves logarithmically, suggesting a confined bidimensional diffusion of protons in the microsecond time range. Such an evolution is lost at higher swelling where a plateau related to three-dimensional diffusion is observed.     

On the non-emptiness of the one-core and the bargaining set of committee games

We study the committee decision making process using game theory. Shenoy  [15] introduced two solution concepts: the one-core and the bargaining set, and showed that the one-core of a simple committee game is nonempty if there are at most four players. We extend this result by proving that whether the committee is simple or not, as far as there are less than five players, the one-core is nonempty. This result also holds for the bargaining set.     

Some formulations coupling finite element and integral equation methods for Helmholtz equation and electromagnetism

Summary. In this paper a study of the coupling between integral equations and finite element methods is presented for two problems of propagation in frequency domain. It is shown that these problems can be viewed as multidomain problems and treated by the mean of the Schur complement technique. The complement coming from the integral equation part is expressed with the integral operators of the scattering theory. This allows to predict the behaviour of the Schur method, either primal or dual, as far as its convergence speed is concerned. Furthermore, the difference of behaviour between electromagnetism and acoustics from this point of view is explained. Received October 21, 1993 / Revised version received February 28, 1994     

A new 1D hybrid fluoroaluminate templated by an original tetramine

An original polyamine, 2,3 di-2-aminomethyl 1,4 diaminobut-2-ene (ten), characterized by single-crystal XRD analysis, has been synthesised and leads to a new hybrid fluoroaluminate [H₄ten] · (AlF₅)₂ by microwave heating assisted hydrothermal synthesis. The structure of [H₄ten] · (AlF₅)₂ is ab initio determined from powder data.