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.     

Case-study evaluations of the acoustical designs of renovated university classrooms

The acoustical characteristics of 14 university classrooms at the University of British Columbia were measured before and after renovation—seven of these are discussed in detail here. From these measurements, and theoretical considerations, values of quantities used to assess each classroom configuration were predicted, and used to evaluate renovation quality. Information on each renovation was determined with the help of the university campus-planning office and/or the project acoustical consultant. These were related to the evaluation results in order to determine the relationship between design and acoustical quality. The criteria focused on the quality of verbal communication in the classrooms. Room-average Speech Intelligibility (SI) and its physical correlate, Speech Transmission Index (STI), were used to quantify verbal-communication quality. A simplified STI-calculation procedure was applied. The results indicate that some renovations were beneficial, others were not. Verbal-communication quality varied from ‘poor’ to ‘good’. The effect of a renovation depends on a complex interplay between changes in the reverberation and changes in the signal-to-noise level difference, as affected by sound absorption and the source outputs. Renovations which reduce noise are beneficial unless signal-to-noise level differences remain optimal. Renovations often put too much emphasis on adding sound absorption to control reverberation, at the expense of lower speech levels, particularly at the backs of classrooms. The absorption and noise contributed by room occupants has apparently often been neglected.     

Control of the block copolymer morphology in templated epoxy thermosets

It has been found that by the addition of low concentrations of an amphiphilic block copolymer to an epoxy resin, novel disordered morphologies can be formed and preserved through curing. This article will focus on characterizing the influence of the block copolymer and casting solvent on the templated morphology achieved in the thermoset sample. The ultimate goal of this work is to determine the parameters that would control the microphase morphology produced. Epoxy resins blended with a series of amphiphilic block copolymers based on hydrogenated polyisoprene (polyethylene-alt-propylene or PEP) and polyethylene oxide (PEO), specifically, were investigated. In this article, the cure-induced order–order phase transition from the spherical to wormlike micelle morphology will also be discussed. It is proposed that the formation of the wormlike micelle structure from the spherical micelle structure is similar to the phase transition behavior that occurs in dilute block copolymer solutions as a function of the influence of the solvent on micelle morphology. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 3338–3348, 2007     

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.     

String structures and the path fibration of a group

We use the realisation of the universal bundle for the loop group as the path fibration of the group to investigate the string class, that is the obstruction to a loop group bundle lifting to a Kac-Moody group bundle. In the case that the loop group bundle is constructed by taking loops into a principal bundle we show that the classifying map is the holonomy around loops and give an explicit formula for the string class relating it to the Pontrjangin class of the principal bunble.     

The design, synthesis, and characterization of a PAMAM-based triple helical collagen mimetic dendrimer

The synthesis and characterization of a collagen mimetic dendrimer composed of the Gly-Pro-Nleu sequence is described. The dendrimer is built on a ‘first generation’ poly(amidoamine) core and is synthesized in 38% yield. This dendrimer exhibits a melting temperature of 25 °C, which is in between previously studied analogous molecules of identical sequence and length.     

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.     

Self-assembly of a linear mesoscale tetramer with electrical connectivity

Capillary interaction-based self-assembly of block-shaped mesoscale components into an electrically interconnected 1-D tetramer is reported. Low melting point solder droplets, selectively patterned on the faces of the blocks, were employed to drive the sequential alignment, registration, linking and electrical interconnection of each block. The solder patterns were designed so that successful assembly would only occur when the solder patterns on one block face were correctly aligned with those on the face of an adjacent block. For assembly, the blocks were agitated in a flask containing KBr solution. At 60 °C the solder was molten, and collisions between blocks enabled the solder menisci to easily interact. To minimize interfacial free energy, the menisci coalesced and quickly drove the interacting blocks to form a stable, registered and aligned assembly. When agitation was terminated and the solution cooled, the self-aligned, linear tetrameric arrangement of blocks was permanently captured by solder solidification, a process that provided good mechanical bonding and electrical interconnection between each block. PACS 81.16.Dn; 68.03.Cd; 85.40.-e