Stereoselective ring closure of 6-[[(methylamino)carbonyl]oxy]-2H-pyran-3(6H)-ones. Formation of the 5H-pyrano[3,2-d]oxazole-2,6-dione ring system

The stereospecific formation of the 5H-pyrano[3,2-d]oxazole-2,6-dione ring system from 2,2-disubstituted-6-[[(methylamino)carbonyl]oxy]-2H-pyran-3(6H)-one via an enolization at C-5 is presented. The outcome of the same reaction in the case of 2-monosubstituted 2H-pyran-3(6H)-ones is also discussed.     

Solid-phase synthesis of an oxalic acid amide library

Monoamides of oxalic acid are of interest as bioisosteric replacements for phosphate groups in the design of new enzyme inhibitors. Here, we have demonstrated the use of oxalic acid as a linker to the Wang resin to synthesize individual or libraries of phosphate biosteres. The highly reactive resin-bound acid chloride reacts with arylamines to yield resin-bound N-aryloxamic acids (oxanilic acids). This methodology is especially useful for the rapid synthesis of 2-(oxalylamino)benzoic acids (OBAs), because it can be utilized for library synthesis and eliminates the intermediate purification step necessary in solution-phase reactions. The products are cleaved off the resin with trifluoroacetic acid in dichloromethane in good yields.     

Synchronized EPI phase contrast velocimetry in a mixing reactor

Notwithstanding its widespread use in cardiovascular and functional MRI studies, Echo Planar Imaging (EPI) has only recently been subjected to systematic validation studies. Most velocity measurement studies employing such ultrafast MRI methods involve the use of phantoms characterized by rigid or deformable solid motion. The current implementation involves a rotating phantom (angular velocity up to 10.5 rpm) with a superimposed swirling liquid flow (with axial velocities ranging between 0.145 and 0.27 cm/s) of water doped with copper sulfate. The standard implementation of single-shot EPI with phase contrast velocity encoding allows the complete mapping of the Eulerian velocity field in slices perpendicular to the rotation axis following a subtractive procedure requiring the synchronized acquisition of each velocity component on each selected transverse slice during two revolutions of the rotor. The image acquisition time is 100 ms (per velocity component) at each 64 x 64 slice. In addition to acquiring full-field velocity data for future direct comparisons with other techniques, EPI is employed here for the first time to reconstruct the three-dimensional flow field between the blades of a partitioned pipe mixer.     

The Prandtl number effect near the onset of Bénard convection in a porous medium

This note focuses on Kladias and Prasad's claim that the critical Rayleigh number for the onset of Bénard convection in an infinite horizontal porous layer increases as the Prandtl number decreases, and argues that the critical Rayleigh number (Ra_c) depends only on the Darcy number (Da), as linear stability analysis indicates. The two-dimensional steady-convection problem is then solved numerically to document the convection heat transfer effect of the Rayleigh number, Darcy number, Prandtl number, and porosity. The note concludes with an empirical correlation for the overall Nusselt number, which shows the effect of Prandtl number at above-critical Rayleigh numbers. The correlation is consistent with the corresponding correlation known for Bénard convection in a pure fluid.     

Problems of the Flamant–Boussinesq and Kelvin Type in Dipolar Gradient Elasticity

This work studies the response of bodies governed by dipolar gradient elasticity to concentrated loads. Two-dimensional configurations in the form of either a half-space (Flamant–Boussinesq type problem) or a full-space (Kelvin type problem) are treated and the concentrated loads are taken as line forces. Our main concern is to determine possible deviations from the predictions of plane-strain/plane-stress classical linear elastostatics when a more refined theory is employed to attack the problems. Of special importance is the behavior of the new solutions near to the point of application of the loads where pathological singularities and discontinuities exist in the classical solutions. The use of the theory of gradient elasticity is intended here to model material microstructure and incorporate size effects into stress analysis in a manner that the classical theory cannot afford. A simple but yet rigorous version of the generalized elasticity theories of Toupin (Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 11:385–414, 1962) and Mindlin (Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 16:51–78, 1964) is employed that involves an isotropic linear response and only one material constant (the so-called gradient coefficient) additional to the standard Lamé constants (Georgiadis et al., J. Elast. 74:17–45, 2004). This theory, which can be viewed as a first-step extension of the classical elasticity theory, assumes a strain-energy density function, which besides its dependence upon the standard strain terms, depends also on strain gradients. The solution method is based on integral transforms and is exact. The present results show departure from the ones of the classical elasticity solutions (Flamant–Boussinesq and Kelvin plane-strain solutions). Indeed, continuous and bounded displacements are predicted at the points of application of the loads. Such a behavior of the displacement fields is, of course, more natural than the singular behavior present in the classical solutions.      

Quantitative combination of volumetric MR imaging and MR spectroscopy data for the discrimination of meningiomas from metastatic brain tumors by means of pattern recognition

The analysis of information derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and spectroscopy (MRS) has been identified as an important indicator for discriminating among different brain pathologies. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficiency of the combination of textural MRI features and MRS metabolite ratios by means of a pattern recognition system in the task of discriminating between meningiomas and metastatic brain tumors. The data set consisted of 40 brain MR image series and their corresponding spectral data obtained from patients with verified tumors. The pattern recognition system was designed employing the support vector machines classifier with radial basis function kernel; the system was evaluated using an external cross validation process to render results indicative of the generalization performance to “unknown” cases. The combination of MR textural and spectroscopic features resulted in 92.15% overall accuracy in discriminating meningiomas from metastatic brain tumors. The fusion of the information derived from MRI and MRS data might be helpful in providing clinicians a useful second opinion tool for accurate characterization of brain tumors.     

An illustration of sliding contact at any constant speed on highly elastic half-spaces

A rigid smooth indentor slides at a constant speed on a compressibleisotropic neo-Hookean half-space that is subjected to pre-stressaligned with the surface and sliding direction. A dynamic steady-slidingsituation of plane strain is treated as the superposition ofcontact-triggered infinitesimal deformations superposed uponfinite deformations due to pre-stress. The neo-Hookean materialbehaves for small strains as a linear elastic solid with Poisson'sratio 1 : 4. Exact solutions are presented for both deformationsand, for a range of acceptable pre-stress values, the infinitesimalcomponent exhibits the typical non-isotropy induced by pre-stress,and several critical speeds. In view of the unilateral constraintsof contact, these speeds serve to define the sliding speed rangesfor which physically acceptable solutions arise. A Rayleighspeed is the upper bound for subsonic sliding, and transonicsliding can occur only at a single speed. For the generic parabolicindentor, contact zone traction continuity is lost at the zoneleading edge for trans- and supersonic sliding. For pre-stresslevels that fall outside the acceptable range, either a negativePoisson effect occurs, or a Rayleigh speed does not exist andthe unilateral constraints cannot be satisfied for any subsonicsliding speed. Received 15 March 2000. Revised 22 November 2000.     

Rapid sliding motion of a rigid frictionless indentor with a flat base over a thermoelastic half-space

The three-dimensional, rapid sliding indentation of a deformable half-space by a rigid indentor of a flat elliptical base is treated in this paper. The response of the material that fills the half-space is assumed to be governed by coupled thermoelasticity. The indentor translates without friction on the half-space surface at a constant sub-Rayleigh speed and the problem is treated as a steady-state one. An exact solution is obtained that is based on a Green’s function approach, integral equations, and Galin’s theorem. A closed-form expression for the distributed contact pressure under the elliptical base of the indentor is derived. Representative numerical results are given illustrating the effects of the indentor velocity, indentor geometry, and parameters of the thermoelastic solid on the contact displacement. Since there is an analogy between the steady-state theories of thermoelasticity and poroelasticity, the present results carry over to the latter case directly.