Long-term characteristics of analogical processing in high-school students with high fluid intelligence: an fMRI study

Intelligence is known to predict scholastic achievement and enables high performance in cognitive tasks. Fluid intelligence is strongly related to analogical reasoning abilities, which are fundamental to mathematical thinking. Geometric analogical reasoning is a prototypical measure of fluid intelligence. However, the cerebral correlates of geometric analogical reasoning and their developmental modulation over time are still rarely investigated. We report a 1-year follow-up functional magnetic resonance imaging study of a geometric analogical reasoning task in high fluid intelligence high-school students. This study was designed to characterise the cerebral correlates of geometric analogical reasoning and to improve our knowledge about the impact of general cognitive development on behavioural performance and on cerebral mechanisms underlying geometric analogical reasoning in adolescents. Our data indicate that a fronto-parietal network comprising the left and right parietal lobes and the left middle frontal gyrus was equally modulated by task difficulty at both measuring time points. At the behavioural level, however, participants showed improvements in performance at the second measuring time point. The behavioural improvements point to a more efficient task processing. As this is not accompanied by differential recruitment of fronto-parietal brain regions, the data suggest an increase in neural efficiency for these brain regions.     

Precise mass measurement of a double-stranded 500 base-pair (309 kDa) polymerase chain reaction product by negative ion electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry

Electrospray ionization Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (ESI-FTICRMS) has been used to determine the mass of a double-stranded 500 base-pair (bp) polymerase chain reaction (PCR) product with an average theoretical mass of the blunt-ended (i.e. unadenylated) species of 308 859.35 Da. The PCR product was generated from the linearized bacteriophage Lambda genome which is a double-stranded template. Utilization of ethanol precipitation in tandem with a rapid microdialysis step to purify and desalt the PCR product was crucial to obtain a precise mass measurement. The PCR product (0.8 pmol/μL) was electrosprayed from a solution containing 75% acetonitrile, 25 mM piperidine, and 25 mM imidazole and was infused at a rate of 200 nL/min. The average molecular mass and the corresponding precision were determined using the charge-states ranging from 172 to 235 net negative charges. The experimental mass and corresponding precision (reported as the 95% confidence interval of the mean) was 309 406 +/- 27 Da (87 ppm). The mass accuracy was compromised due to the fact that the PCR generates multiple products when using Taq polymerase due to the non-template directed 3'-adenylation. This results in a mixture of three PCR products with nearly identical mass (i.e. blunt-ended, mono-adenylated and di-adenylated) with unknown relative abundances that were not resolved in the spectrum. Thus, the experimental mass will be a weighted average of the three species which, under our experimental conditions, reflects a nearly equal concentration of the mono- and di-adenylated species. This report demonstrates that precise mass measurements of PCR products up to 309 kDa (500 bp) can be routinely obtained by ESI-FTICR requiring low femtomole amounts. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Monotonicity properties of the family of trapezoidal maps

Trapezoidal maps which are everywhere expanding out of their plateau form a three parameter familyT, up to affine changes of coordinates. We show that splittingT according to the various possible dynamical behaviors (we make this word precise in the process), yields a codimension one foliation. Some consequences of our result in terms of the monotonicity along simple one parameter families inT are then drawn. All together, aperiodic behavior is rare both from the topological and the measure theoretical point of view inT.     

Investigation of the quantitative properties of the quadrupole orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometer with electrospray ionisation using 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine

This paper describes the investigation of the potential of a quadrupole orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometer (Q-TOF) equipped with an atmospheric pressure ionisation interface for quantitative measurements of small molecules separated by reversed phase liquid chromatography. To this end, the detection limits and linear dynamic range in particular were studied in an LC/MS/MS experiment using 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine standards and 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine for internal standardisation. In a second phase, the experiment was repeated with real biological extracts (whole blood, serum, and vitreous humour). A calibration for 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine and its metabolite 3,4-methylenedioxyamphetamine was prepared in each of these matrices again using 3,4-methylenedioxyethylamphetamine as internal standard. The resulting quantitative data were compared with those obtained by liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection for the same extracts. The Q-TOF results revealed excellent sensitivity and a linear dynamic range of nearly four decades (2-10 000 pg on-column, r(2) = 0.9998, 1/x weighting). Furthermore, all the calibration curves prepared in biological material were superimposable, LC/MS/MS and LC-fluorescence, and the quantitative results for actual samples compared very favourably. It was concluded that the Q-TOF achieves a linear dynamic range for quantitative LC/MS/MS work exceeding that of fluorescence detection and at much better absolute sensitivity. Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A general and highly selective chelate-controlled intermolecular oxidative Heck reaction

A novel chelate-controlled intermolecular oxidative Heck reaction is reported that proceeds with a wide range of nonresonance stabilized alpha-olefin substrates and organoboron reagents to afford internal olefin products in good yields and outstanding regio- and E: Z stereoselectivities. Pd-H isomerization, common in many Heck reactions, is not observed under these mild, oxidative conditions. This is evidenced by outstanding E: Z selectivities (>20:1 in all cases examined), no erosion in optical purity for proximal stereogenic centers, and a tolerance for unprotected alcohols. Remarkably, a single metal/ligand combination, Pd/bis-sulfoxide complex 1, catalyzes this reaction over a broad range of coupling partners. Given the high selectivities and broad scope, we anticipate this intermolecular Heck reaction will find heightened use in complex molecule synthesis.     

Crosslinked colloids with cyclopropenium cations

Chemical crosslinkers are commonly used to stabilize both natural and synthetic macromolecules, while providing opportunities to install functionality and modulate polymer architecture. Here, we introduce the aromatic cyclopropenium cation as a tri-functional crosslinker of secondary amine-containing polymers. The one-step crosslinking reaction is rapid and requires no subsequent purification. When dispersed in aqueous media, the crosslinked polymers form spherical nanoparticles with highly positive charge that is maintained even in alkaline conditions. This synthetic strategy will enable the incorporation of cyclopropenium into a wide variety of macromolecules. © 2018 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2018 , 56, 2641–2645     

Working group report: Heavy-ion physics and quark-gluon plasma

This is the report of Heavy Ion Physics and Quark-Gluon Plasma at WHEPP-09 which was part of Working Group-4. Discussion and work on some aspects of quark-gluon plasma believed to have created in heavy-ion collisions and in early Universe are reported.     

Quantum space-times in the year 2002

We review certain emergent notions on the nature of space-time from noncommutative geometry and their radical implications. These ideas of space-time are suggested from developments in fuzzy physics, string theory, and deformation quantization. The review focuses on the ideas coming from fuzzy physics. We find models of quantum space-time like fuzzy S ⁴ on which states cannot be localized, but which fluctuate into other manifolds like CP³. New uncertainty principles concerning such lack of localizability on quantum space-times are formulated. Such investigations show the possibility of formulating and answering questions like the probability of finding a point of a quantum manifold in a state localized on another one. Additional striking possibilities indicated by these developments is the (generic) failure of CPT theorem and the conventional spin-statistics connection. They even suggest that Planck’s ‘constant’ may not be a constant, but an operator which does not commute with all observables. All these novel possibilities arise within the rules of conventional quantum physics, and with no serious input from gravity physics.