Selective Catalytic Isomerization of β-Pinene Oxide to Perillyl Alcohol Enhanced by Protic Tetraimidazolium Nitrate

A series of tetraimidazolium salts with different anions was prepared and applied in the isomerization of β-pinene oxide. After examining the activity of different catalysts, a remarkable enhancement of the selectivity of perillyl alcohol (47 %) was obtained over [PEimi][HNO₃]₄ under mild reaction conditions and using DMSO as the solvent. Furthermore, noncovalent interactions between solvent molecules and the catalyst were found by FT-IR spectroscopy and confirmed by computational chemistry. The homogeneous catalyst showed excellent stability and was reused up to six times without significant loss.     

Global expression analysis of CESA and CSL genes in Arabidopsis

We have used Affymetrix gene chips to measure the expression of 10 CESA and 29 CSL genes of Arabidopsis in different developmental stages or organs. These measurements reveal that many of the genes exhibit different levels of expression in the various organs. While several CESA genes are highly expressed in all the tissues examined, very few CSL genes approach such high levels of expression. This suggests that the CSL genes either encode enzymes for the synthesis of minor components of cell walls or are expressed only in specific cell types. The expression data also highlights the potential importance of the CESA genes for primary and secondary cell wall formation during different developmental stages and in the different organs examined.     

Reply to “Comment on papers by K. Shanahan that propose to explain anomalous heat generated by cold fusion”, E. Storms, Thermochim. Acta, 2006

Dr. E. Storms has published a Letter [E. Storms, Comment on papers by K. Shanahan that propose to explain anomalous heat generated by cold fusion, Thermochim. Acta, 2006] in which he argues that in a sequence of recent papers, the apparent excess heat signal claimed by Dr. Shanahan to arise from a calibration constant shift is actually true excess heat. In particular he proposes that the mechanisms proposed that foster the proposed calibration constant shifts cannot occur as postulated for several reasons. As well, he proposes Shanahan has ignored the extant data proving this. Because this Letter may lend unwarranted support to acceptance of cold fusion claims, these erroneous arguments used by Storms need to be answered.     

The role of emitter quasi-bound state and scattering on intrinsic bistability in resonant tunneling diodes

Usually, numerical self-consistent calculations predict a much larger intrinsic bistability region than actually is measured in resonant tunneling diodes (RTDs). In addition, numerical calculations have shown that scattering in the well reduces bistability. We used a unified treatment of current flowing from continuum states and emitter quasi-bound states to show numerically and analytically that not only the scattering in the quantum well but also the scattering in the emitter reduces bistability. Moreover, within the Hartree approximation, bistability occurs by tunneling resonantly between emitter quasi-bound state and well quasi-bound state as a pitchfork bifurcation.     

Evaluating the equivalence of verbal scales and question stems to be used in English and Japanese noise annoyance questions

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the equivalence of noise annoyance scales and questions recommended by Team 6 (Community Response to Noise) of ICBEN for English and Japanese, two strikingly different languages. The first experiment was conducted with bilingual subjects in order to test a key assumption of the method established by ICBEN Team 6 for the development of equivalent noise annoyance scales: subjects who speak different languages interpret the concept of “highest degree” of annoyance similarly. The results indicate that English- and Japanese-speaking subjects do interpret the “highest degree” similarly. The second experiment tested for effects of wording differences. English- and Japanese-speaking subjects were presented with noise annoyance questions of one of three format types. The first type was similar to the question format recommended by ICBEN Team 6. It focused on the degree to which a given noise would “bother, disturb, or annoy” the subject. The second asked subjects to evaluate the “bothersome, annoying, or disturbing” quality of the noise. The third asked how much the noise would “worry, irritate, or concern” the subject. No significant difference was found in responses to the three formats when subjects evaluated noise in laboratory conditions.     

The effect of olefinic terminal chains on the mesomorphic properties of 4,4'-disubstituted diphenyldiacetylenes

New diphenyldiacetylenes of the type with A, B = H and/or F; m = 0, 1; n = 1-4; and X = C n H 2n + 1 , F, CF 3 or CN were synthesized and their mesomorphic properties determined by hot stage polarizing microscopy and DSC. When m = 0, all of these compounds showed only a nematic phase except when X = CF 3 when both nematic and smectic A phases were seen. Both clearing and melting temperatures were higher than those reported for substitution with the corresponding alkyl chains but the much larger increase in clearing temperatures produced considerably wider nematic phases. Eutectic mixtures of a few of these olefins yielded nematic materials also having much wider temperature ranges and higher clearing temperatures than the eutectic mixtures of the alkyl compounds, while retaining their high birefringence and low viscosities. Such materials are of interest for beam-steering devices.

Four of the diacetylenes with m = 1 ( A, B = H) were also prepared ( X = C 6 H 13 , F, n = 2, 3). When X was C 6 H 13 ( n = 2), the nematic range was smaller in the 2- than in the 1-olefin but wider than in the alkyl series. When X = F, either no nematic phase or a monotropic one was observed, whereas the 1-olefins gave a much wider nematic phase. Both transition temperatures were lower than those for the corresponding 1-olefin and alkyl analogues. The compound with X = C 6 H 13 and n = 2 had a melting temperature below room temperature.     

Stability of translating solutions to mean curvature flow

We prove stability of rotationally symmetric translating solutions to mean curvature flow. For initial data that converge spatially at infinity to such a soliton, we obtain convergence for large times to that soliton without imposing any decay rates. The authors are members of SFB 647/B3 “Raum – Zeit – Materie: Singularity Structure, Long-time Behaviour and Dynamics of Solutions of Non-linear Evolution Equations”.     

Using Inquiry to Improve Pedagogy through K‐12/University Partnerships

This article focuses on the impact a collaborative project between university graduate fellows and K‐12 classroom teachers had on improved pedagogy in the classroom and in the future at the university. Nine teams participated in a yearlong professional development project to improve pedagogy and communication skills of the participants. This study shows that the participants, the fellows and the K‐12 teacher partners, made changes in planning, implementation, and even motivation for using inquiry‐based methods in their classroom. External observations of the teams further support the individuals' claims of improved pedagogy using inquiry and impact on student conceptual understanding. The Horizon Classroom Observation instrument was used for these observations. The teams showed an overall increase in scores, as well as overall effective and exemplarily implementation of their planning. The program design, the implementation, and the results of this three‐year study will be elaborated in this article.     

Online weighted flow time and deadline scheduling

In this paper we study some aspects of weighted flow time. We first show that the online algorithm Highest Density First is an O(1)-speed O(1)-approximation algorithm for P|r_i,pmtn|∑w_iF_i. We then consider a related Deadline Scheduling Problem that involves minimizing the weight of the jobs unfinished by some unknown deadline D on a uniprocessor. We show that any c-competitive online algorithm for weighted flow time must also be c-competitive for deadline scheduling. We then give an O(1)-competitive algorithm for deadline scheduling.