N,N′ di n-hexyladipamide,a model for nylon 6,6

During research on model molecular compounds for synthetic polyamides, the crystal structure of N,N′ di n-hexyladipamide (NNDHA) has been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The structure was solved by direct methods and refined to a final R value of 0.054. The molecule has an all-trans planar conformation. The packing consists of layers of molecules linked by hydrogen bonds in c direction. Molecular structure and packing resemble closely those reported for polyhexamethylenadipamide (nylon 6,6).     

Vibrational overtone spectroscopy of jet-cooled methanol from 5000 to 14 000 cm(-1)

Spectra of jet-cooled methanol in the overtone and combination region from 5000 to 14 000 cm(-1) have been obtained by means of infrared laser-assisted photofragment spectroscopy. Many of the observed features are assigned to combination bands of the type nnu(1)+nu(6), nnu(1)+nu(8), and nnu(1)+nu(6)+nu(8) (n=1,2,3), where nu(1) is the OH stretch, nu(6) is the OH bend, and nu(8) is the CO stretch. These bands show sharp torsion-rotation structure with features as narrow as 0.1 cm(-1). We also observe CH stretch overtones that are weaker than the OH containing combination bands and lack distinct torsion-rotation structure above v(CH)=2. The extent of observed structure on these bands allows us to place limits on the intramolecular vibrational energy redistribution decay rates in the upper vibrational states. We report a global fit of the observed band centers to a simple expression involving low-order anharmonicity constants.     

Optimisation of a flow injection system with electrochemical detection using the desirability function: Application to the determination of hydroquinone in cosmetics

A procedure is proposed in which the determination of hydroquinone using a flow injection system with electrochemical detection is described. Size and coefficient of variation of the signal are optimised by a desirability function and a central composite design. The robustness of the optimum reached in the optimisation step is evaluated by means a Plackett-Burman design. The optimised FIA system is able to determine hydroquinone with a minimum detectable net concentration of 10 μg l⁻¹ with a false positive probability of 0.05 and a false negative probability less than 0.05. In samples of bleaching cream, the proposed procedure has a recovery of 102.2% with standard deviation of 4.4% and a relative error of 6.2%.     

Using genetic programming to evolve action selection rules in traversal-based automated software testing: results obtained with the TESTAR tool

Traversal-based automated software testing involves testing an application via its graphical user interface (GUI) and thereby taking the user’s point of view and executing actions in a human-like manner. These actions are decided on the fly, as the software under test (SUT) is being run, as opposed to being set up in the form of a sequence prior to the testing, a sequence that is then used to exercise the SUT. In practice, random choice is commonly used to decide which action to execute at each state (a procedure commonly referred to as monkey testing), but a number of alternative mechanisms have also been proposed in the literature. Here we propose using genetic programming (GP) to evolve such an action selection strategy, defined as a list of IF-THEN rules. Genetic programming has proved to be suited for evolving all sorts of programs, and rules in particular, provided adequate primitives (functions and terminals) are defined. These primitives must aim to extract the most relevant information from the SUT and the dynamics of the testing process. We introduce a number of such primitives suited to the problem at hand and evaluate their usefulness based on various metrics. We carry out experiments and compare the results with those obtained by random selection and also by Q-learning, a reinforcement learning technique. Three applications are used as Software Under Test (SUT) in the experiments. The analysis shows the potential of GP to evolve action selection strategies.     

Quantitative determination of β-hydroxymethylbutyrate and leucine in culture media and microdialysates from rat brain by UHPLC-tandem mass spectrometry

The main objective of the present work was to develop a method to determine β-hydroxymethylbutyrate (HMB) and leucine (Leu) in culture media and brain microdialysates. An accurate, selective, and cost-effective method, based on the use of ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS), was developed for the identification and quantification of both compounds. The method consisted of sample dilution, direct injection onto the chromatographic equipment, and quantification with a triple quadrupole mass spectrometer using an electrospray ionization interface in positive mode. The procedure and the UHPLC-MS/MS parameters were accurately optimized to achieve the highest recoveries and to enhance the analytical characteristics of the method. For chromatographic separation, an Acquity UPLC BEH Hilic column using acetonitrile–water gradient with formic acid as additive was employed. The total run time was 4 min. The limits of detection (LODs) obtained ranged from 0.01 to 0.04 μg mL^?1, and the limits of quantification (LOQs) ranged from 0.04 to 0.12 μg mL^?1. Precision (expressed as relative standard deviation) was lower than 15 %, and the determination coefficient (R ²) was higher than 99.0 % with a residual deviation for each calibration point lower than ±25 %. Mean recoveries were between 85 and 115 %. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of both compounds, HMB and Leu, in samples obtained from an experiment of blood–brain barrier (BBB) passage in vitro and to an experiment of brain microdialysis in rats in vivo after an oral challenge with HMB to detect its appearance in the brain.     

Rhodium-catalyzed intermolecular hydroacylation of 1-alkynes: Effect of phosphines and MK-10 on the reaction selectivity

The use of bulky ligands in the rhodium-catalyzed reaction of aldehydes 7 (R¹ = Ph) and 18 with 1-octyne increased the selectivity for ketones 13 and 20, to the detriment of ketones 12 and 19. Bulky phosphines reduced the hydroacylation reaction rate, leading to competition from the addition of the benzoic acid co-catalyst to the alkynes. This competing reaction can be suppressed by using the clay Montmorillonite K 10 (MK-10) as the co-catalyst instead of benzoic acid.     

Locally Asplund Preduals of Spaces of Holomorphic Functions

Defant [5] introduced the local Radon–Nikodym property for duals of locally convex spaces. This is a generalization of Asplund spaces as defined in Banach space theory. In this paper we generalise Dunford"s Theorem [7] to Banach spaces with Schauder decompositions and apply this result to spaces of holomorphic functions on balanced domains in a Banach space. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Development of the time course for processing conflict: an event-related potentials study with 4 year olds and adults

Background

The neurological complications of HIV infection remain poorly understood. Clinically, in vivo ¹H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) demonstrates brain injury caused by HIV infection even when the MRI is normal. Our goal was to undertsand the dynamics of cerebral injury by performing a longitudinal in vivo ¹H MRS study of the SIV/macaque model of neuroAIDS.

Results

Eight rhesus macaques were infected with SIVmac251 and serially imaged with MRI and ¹H MRS to terminal AIDS or the endpoint of 2 years. During acute infection, there were stereotypical brain MRS changes, dominated by a significant elevation of the Cho/Cr ratio in the frontal cortex. Subsequently, brain metabolic patterns diverged between animals. There was an elevation of basal ganglia Cho/Cr four weeks post-inoculation in 2 animals that developed SIV encephalitis (p = 0.022). Metabolite ratios averaged across all 8 animals were not significantly different from baseline at any time point after 2 weeks post inoculation. However, linear regression analysis on all 8 animals revealed a positive correlation between a change in frontal lobe Cho/Cr and plasma viral load (P < 0.001, R = 0.80), and a negative correlation between NAA/Cr in the basal ganglia and the plasma viral load (P < 0.02, R = -0.73). No MRI abnormalities were detected at any time.

Conclusions

After infection with SIV, macaque brain metabolism changes in a complex manner that is dependent on brain region, host factors and viral load. An elevation of basal ganglia Cho/Cr 4 weeks after SIV infection may be marker of a propensity to develop SIV encephalitis. Elevations of Cho/Cr, often observed in CNS inflammation, were associated with increased plasma viral load during acute and chronic infection. Evidence of neuronal injury in the basal ganglia was associated with increased plasma viral load in the chronic stage of infection. These observations support the use of drugs capable of controlling the viral replication and trafficking of virus into the CNS, and may help explain the reduction in incidence of HIV-associated dementia in the era of HAART despite the inability of most of those drugs to effectively enter the CNS.     

Calculating Steady States for a Fokker–Planck Equation

We characterize vector fields for which the Fokker–Planck equation with -diffusion has a stationary solution in exponential form. These ideas are extended to every vector field associating to it a sequence of functions in order to generalize such exponential form.     

Influence of processing methods on starch properties

Native potato starch was prepared using different processing methods. The samples were characterized by wide-angle X-ray scattering (WAXS), optical microscopy, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and microhardness. Compression molding of the starch granules led to sintered relatively brittle materials. Here, the amylopectin crystals of the native powder remained grossly preserved. Preparation of dry films from aqueous gels resulted in disintegration of the structure of the native starch granules and in the formation of a new semicrystalline structure comprised of crystallized amylose molecules. Injection molding of native starch was found to be a processing method that gives rise to amorphous materials with superior mechanical properties.