Auditory evoked responses: A tool to assess the fetal neurological activity

An intact auditory system at birth is requisite for the successful accomplishment of many developmental skills. Evoked responses to auditory stimuli have been used as a sensitive test to determine the functional status of the adult and neonatal brain. It has been established that fetuses can hear in utero and respond to external acoustic stimuli. We present an overview of the transmission of sound through the maternal abdomen to the fetal ear and the recordings of an auditory evoked response obtained from the fetus using a non-invasive magnetoencephalography technique. The investigation of cortical activity of the fetus in response to auditory stimulation can help understand and track the neurological development of the fetus.     

Rearrangement of 3-methoxy substituted [2, 1]benzisoxazole- and naphth[2,3-c]isoxazolequinones in dimethyl sulfoxide solution

The reactions of the 3-methoxy-isoxazole quinones 1 and 9 in a highly polar solution of dimethyl sulfoxide have been studied. Quinones of type 2, 4/11, 5/12, 6 and 7/13 have been isolated; nmr measurements give a detailed insight into the reaction mechanism.     

Quninone chemistry. Synthesis of 3-dialkylsulfoximido- and 2-dialkyl-sulfimido-3-carbomethoxy-1,4-benzo- and naphthoquinone derivatives

3-Methoxy[2, 1]benzisoxazole-4, 7-quinones 1 and naphth[2,3-c]isoxazole-4,9-quinone 4 react with dimethyl sulfoxides to give sulfoximidoquinones 2 and 5 , sulfimidoquinones 8 and 11 respectively as major products.     

Bifunctional coordination polymers as efficient catalysts for carbon dioxide conversion

The multidentate ligand H₂ L upon complexation with Zn (II) and Cd (II) provide a one‐dimensional polymeric networks. These coordination polymers (CPs) CP‐1 and CP‐2 containing Zn (II) and Cd (II) metals respectively are well characterized. The single crystal structural analysis confirms the formation of one‐dimensional coordination polymer with zigzag fashion in CP‐1 and ladder chain CP‐2 . Both the CPs are applied as catalysts to synthesize various cyclic carbonates from epoxides and carbon dioxide. The catalysts are giving better conversion under solvent‐free and additive‐free condition using 10 bar CO₂ and 100 °C as optimized pressure and temperature. The detailed kinetic experiments suggesting the first order kinetics, the energy of activation (Ea) is calculated for this catalytic conversion.     

A numerical study of the steady forced convection heat transfer from an unconfined circular cylinder

Forced convection heat transfer from an unconfined circular cylinder in the steady cross-flow regime has been studied using a finite volume method (FVM) implemented on a Cartesian grid system in the range as 10 ≤ Re ≤ 45 and 0.7 ≤ Pr ≤ 400. The numerical results are used to develop simple correlations for Nusselt number as a function of the pertinent dimensionless variables. In addition to average Nusselt number, the effects of Re, Pr and thermal boundary conditions on the temperature field near the cylinder and on the local Nusselt number distributions have also been presented to provide further physical insights into the nature of the flow. The rate of heat transfer increases with an increase in the Reynolds and/or Prandtl numbers. The uniform heat flux condition always shows higher value of heat transfer coefficient than the constant wall temperature at the surface of the cylinder for the same Reynolds and Prandtl numbers. The maximum difference between the two values is around 15–20%.     

A high‐order accurate method for two‐dimensional incompressible viscous flows

A high‐order accurate solution method for complex geometries is developed for two‐dimensional flows using the stream function–vorticity formulation. High‐order accurate spectrally optimized compact schemes along with appropriate boundary schemes are used for spatial discretization while a two‐level backward Euler implicit scheme is used for the time integration. The linear system of equations for stream function and vorticity are solved by an inner iteration while contravariant velocities constitute outer iterations. The effect of curvilinear grids on the solution accuracy is studied. The method is used to compute Cartesian and inclined driven cavity, flow in a triangular cavity and viscous flow in constricted channel. Benchmark‐like accuracy is obtained in all the problems with fewer grid points compared to reported studies. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Synthesis of dimethoxy- and dioxano-annellated benzofuroxans from o-dinitroarenes

Thermolysis of 4,5-dinitroveratrole 1a in the presence of sodium azide and dimethylsulfoxide gives the new 5,6-dimethoxybenzofuroxan, 2a , whereas 3,4,5-trinitroveratrole led to the new 5(7),6-dimethoxy-4-nitrobenzofuroxans 2e, 3e via a nucleophilic substitution of a nitro group by azide ion and pyrolytic ring closure. This method provides a simpler route to the known 1,3-benzodioxano[5,6-c]furoxan, 2b and 1,4-benzodioxano[6,7-c]furoxan 2c , as well.     

Synthesis of audio spectra using a diffraction model

It is shown that the intensity variations of an audio signal in the frequency domain can be obtained by using a mathematical function containing a series of weighted complex Bessel functions. With proper choice of values for two parameters, this function can transform an input spectrum of discrete frequencies of unit intensity into the known spectra of different musical instruments. Specific examples of musical instruments are considered for evaluating the performance of this method. It is found that this function yields musical spectra with a good degree of accuracy.     

One-pot synthesis of [2+2]-helicate-like macrocycle and 2+4-μ4-oxo tetranuclear open frame complexes: Chiroptical properties and asymmetric oxidative coupling of 2-naphthols

Synthesis of binuclear Cu(II) terminally closed [ 2+2 ]- double-stranded helicate-like macrocycles 1, 1′ , 1″ , 2 , 2′ , 2″ and 2+4- μ₄-oxo tetranuclear open frame complexes 3 , 3′ , 3″ , 4 , 4′ , 4″ are established. Adapting one-pot self-assembly technique from simple three components systems: 1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-diamine, 4-methyl-2,6-diformyl phenol and cupric salts, the helicate-like [ 2+2 ]- macrocyclic complexes 1–1″, 2–2″ and 2+4- μ₄-oxo tetranuclear complexes 3–3″ , 4–4″ were obtained by appropriately altering the reaction condition such as temperature and subcomponent ratio. Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations were carried out for understanding the structural geometries, intermediates involved in the diverse formation of [ 2+2 ] and 2+4 frameworks. The single crystal X-ray structures obtained for 1′ , 2 and 3 confirms the self-assembly process in line with DFT. This detailed analysis tempted us to derive a plausible mechanism for this long standing challenge in the synthesis of such macrocycles using 1,1′-binaphthyl-2,2′-diamine (BNDA) and aromatic aldehyde. The chiroptical properties of enantiopure complexes and their catalytic applications in asymmetric oxidative coupling of 2-naphthol to chiral 1,1’-Bi-2-naphthol (BINOL) achieved in good yield and ee were discussed.