Synthesis of lupeol derivatives and their antileishmanial and antitrypanosomal activities

The natural product lupeol 1 was isolated from aerial parts of Vernonia scorpioides with satisfactory yield, which made it viable to be used as starting material in semisynthetic approach. Ten lupeol derivatives 2–11 were prepared by classical procedures. Including, five new esters derivatives 7–11, which were obtained by structural modifications in the isopropylidene fragment. All semisynthetic compounds and lupeol 1–11 were confirmed by ¹H NMR, ¹³C NMR and HRMS. Their antiprotozoal activity was evaluated in vitro against L. amazonensis and T. cruzi. Derivative 6 showed the best antitrypanosomal activity (IC₅₀ = 12.48 μg/mL) and the lowest cytotoxic derivative (CC₅₀ = 161.50 μg/mL). The mechanism of action of the most active derivatives (4, 6 and 11) is not dependent from the enzyme trypanothione reductase.     

Sui principi variazionali nella meccanica dei continui classici

In this paper, along with the well established lines of the analytical mechanics, we aim to show an autonomous formulation of the fundamental principle of Lagrange-d'Alembert and of the subsequent Hamilton principle in classical mechanics of deformable continua in the sense that the afore—mentioned principles do not turn out to be a reformulation of the well known undefined equations of motion.     

Palladium-catalyzed pseudo-domino cyclizations: An easy entry toward polycondensed pyrrolidone derivatives

A new type I palladium-catalyzed pseudo-domino process is developed, in which a single Pd-based catalytic system promotes two mechanistically unrelated, sequential catalytic cycles in chronologically distinct order. Suitable precursors undergo an allylic alkylation and a Heck coupling in sequence, affording polycondensed pyrrolidone derivatives. Depending on the starting precursors, intra/inter or doubly intramolecular processes can be obtained. The allylic alkylation process takes place always very smoothly. On the other hand, the Heck coupling turns out to be rather difficult either when the process is intermolecular, or when an intramolecular process generates polycondensed structures featuring three fused bonds connected to a common carbon atom. In such difficult cases, use of the Herrmann-Beller phosphapalladacycle allowed to catalyze the coupling. This study demonstrates also that allylic alkylations can be catalyzed by the Herrmann-Beller phosphapalladacycle.     

Necessary conditions and non-existence results for autonomous nonconvex variational problems

Classical one-dimensional, autonomous Lagrange problems are considered. In absence of any smoothness, convexity or coercivity condition on the energy density, we prove a DuBois-Reymond type necessary condition, expressed as a differential inclusion involving the subdifferential of convex analysis. As a consequence, a non-existence result is obtained.     

Groups in which every non-abelian subgroup is permutable

A subgroupH of a groupG is said to bepermutable ifHX=XH for every subgroupX ofG. In this paper the structure of groups in which every subgroup either is abelian or permutable is investigated. This work was done while the last author was visiting the University of Napoli Federico II. He thanks the “Dipartimento di Matematica e Applicazioni” for its financial support.     

Harmonic and intermodulation distortion modeling in IM-DD multi-band radio over fiber links exploiting injection locked lasers

A comprehensive numerical tool has been developed for the evaluation of the performances of Radio over Fiber (RoF) links intended for wireless signal distribution.At the transmitter end an appropriate set of rate equations allows to model the optical source as a solitary laser or as an appropriately injection locked laser. The optical channel is modeled putting into account the combined effect of fiber dispersion, laser source non ideal performances (e.g. non-linear effects, frequency chirp), and quadratic detection of the receiving photodiode. The simulation model developed can be a useful tool at the design stage allowing a preliminary evaluation of the characteristics of real RoF links.     

An optimization algorithm for a penalized knapsack problem

We study a variation of the knapsack problem in which each item has a profit, a weight and a penalty; the sum of profits of the selected items minus the largest penalty associated with the selected items must be maximized. We present an ILP formulation and an exact optimization algorithm.     

SRB States and Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics Close to Equilibrium

Nonequilibrium statistical mechanics close to equilibrium is studied using SRB states and a formula [10] for their derivatives with respect to parameters. We write general expressions for the thermodynamic fluxes (or currents) and the transport coefficients, generalizing the results of [4, 5]. In this framework we give a general proof of the Onsager reciprocity relations. Received: 2 December 1996 / Accepted: 13 March 1997     

A mathematical model of the ring-spinning process

This paper develops a mathematical model of the ring-spinning process that takes into account its non-stationary nature. A complex system of differential equations is obtained, which from a mathematical point of view constitutes a ‘free-boundary’ problem. Its solution involves definition of suitable boundary conditions related to the mechanical characteristics of the process and of the spinning machine itself. The boundary conditions which determine the solution are pointed out. A numerical solution of the system of differential equations can be obtained by the Finite-Segments method, as shown in an example.