Scope and Limitations of Palladium‐Catalyzed Cross‐Coupling Reactions with Organogold Compounds

Five different alkenylgold(I) phosphane complexes were prepared and then investigated in [1,1′‐bis(diphenylphosphino)ferrocene]palladium(II) dichloride‐catalyzed cross‐coupling reactions with different aryl halides, heterocyclic halides, an alkenyl halide, an alkynyl halide, allylic substrates, benzyl bromide and an acid chloride. With regard to the halides, the iodides were highly reactive, bromides or chlorides gave significantly reduced yields or failed, allylic acetates failed, too. The cross‐coupling partners contained a number of different functional groups, while free carboxylic acids did not deliver cross‐coupling products and o,o‐disubstituted arenes failed as well, a broad range of other functional groups like nitro groups, nitrile groups, ester groups, α,β‐unsaturated ester groups and lactones, aldehydes, alkoxy groups, pyridyl groups, thienyl groups, unprotected phenols and anilines, even aryl azides were tolerated. The structures of one alkenylgold(I) species and of four of the cross‐coupling products were proved by crystal structure analyses.     

Metacognition in motor learning.

Research on judgments of verbal learning has demonstrated that participants' judgments are unreliable and often overconfident. The authors studied judgments of perceptual-motor learning. Participants learned 3 keystroke patterns on the number pad of a computer, each requiring that a different sequence of keys be struck in a different total movement time. Practice trials on each pattern were either blocked or randomly interleaved with trials on the other patterns, and each participant was asked, periodically, to predict his or her performance on a 24-hr test. Consistent with earlier findings, blocked practice enhanced acquisition but harmed retention. Participants, though, predicted better performance given blocked practice. These results augment research on judgments of verbal learning and suggest that humans, at their peril, interpret current ease of access to a perceptual-motor skill as a valid index of learning. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

REFORMING OF N-OCTANE ON A Pt/Al2O 3 CATALYST. 1. PRODUCT DISTRIBUTION AND KINETIC ANALYSIS.

The conversion of n-octane on Pt/Al₂O₃ catalyst to hydrocracked products, isooctane, ethylbenzene, o-,p-,m-xylene and toluene was investigated in hydrogen in a Berty CSTR at three different partial pressures of n-octane, 101·325 KPa total pressure, temperatures between 400°C-460°C and W/F values up to 0·33gmincm^-3. The hydrocracked products were the most predominant. Of the other products, isooctane was present in the highest yield. A sequence of elementary steps based on the suggested reaction network of Ako and Susu (1986) was found to predict the experimental conversion-W/F data with the conversion of adsorbed isooctane to adsorbed o-xylene as the rate determining step. The activation energies for the forward and backward reactions of this step were determined to be 21·2 and 14·3 Kcal/gmol, respectively.     

Packaging scorecard – a packaging performance evaluation method

To support a more holistic approach to the contribution of packaging to efficiency and value creation in the product supply chain, a systematic evaluation method – packaging scorecard – has been developed and tested in two case studies. The packaging scorecard is based on research of functional criteria of packaging and the theories of ‘balanced scorecard’, a general management approach to evaluating organizational performance using different perspectives. The results of the case studies indicate that the method can be very useful to get a systematic overview of packaging performance throughout the product supply chain. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cost effectiveness of an employee assistance program with rational-emotive therapy.

We propose that the emergence of employee assistance programs provides an opportunity for psychologists to demonstrate the financial utility of psychological services. A case example of cost-benefit study demonstrates that rational-emotive therapy applied as an in-house employee assistance program saved a corporation at least $2.74 for each dollar spent. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Design and Management of Subsurface Horizontal Drainage to Reduce Salt Loads

Many irrigated areas have shallow water tables creating waterlogging and salinization problems. This has often been controlled by installation of subsurface horizontal pipe drainage; however, these systems export large amounts of salt off farm in the drainage effluent. Improved design and management of subsurface drainage systems to reduce drainage salt loads were tested in a replicated field experiment. Deep, widely spaced drains allowed to flow without control were compared to drains with management to reduce drain flow. These were also compared with shallow, closely spaced drains that protected the root zone only and an undrained control. The deep drains flowed continuously during the two irrigation seasons with an electrical conductivity of around 11 dS∕m resulting in a drainage salt load of 5,867 kg∕ha. The management measures reduced drainage volume and salinity resulting in a 50% reduction in salt load. The shallow drains only flowed directly after an irrigation or rainfall event with low salinity, around 2 dS∕m, resulting in a 95% reduction in salt load. This showed that by management there is great potential for reducing salt mobilization in existing drainage systems, and for new systems shallower drains will minimize salt loads.     

Pain affect encoded in human anterior cingulate but not somatosensory cortex

Recent evidence demonstrating multiple regions of human cerebral cortex activated by pain has prompted speculation about their individual contributions to this complex experience. To differentiate cortical areas involved in pain affect, hypnotic suggestions were used to alter selectively the unpleasantness of noxious stimuli, without changing the perceived intensity. Positron emission tomography revealed significant changes in pain-evoked activity within anterior cingulate cortex, consistent with the encoding of perceived unpleasantness, whereas primary somatosensory cortex activation was unaltered. These findings provide direct experimental evidence in humans linking frontal-lobe limbic activity with pain affect, as originally suggested by early clinical lesion studies.     

Design and Expected Performance of GISMO-2, a Two Color Millimeter Camera for the IRAM 30 m Telescope

We present the main design features for the GISMO-2 bolometer camera, which we build for background-limited operation at the IRAM 30 m telescope on Pico Veleta, Spain. GISMO-2 will operate simultaneously in the 1 and 2 mm atmospherical windows. The 1 mm channel uses a \(32 \times 40\) TES-based backshort under grid (BUG) bolometer array, the 2 mm channel operates with a \(16 \times 16\) BUG array. The camera utilizes almost the entire full field of view provided by the telescope. The optical design of GISMO-2 was strongly influenced by our experience with the GISMO 2 mm bolometer camera, which is successfully operating at the 30 m telescope. GISMO is accessible to the astronomical community through the regular IRAM call for proposals.