Alkyl Formate Ester Synthesis by a Fungal Baeyer–Villiger Monooxygenase

We investigated Baeyer–Villiger monooxygenase (BVMO)‐mediated synthesis of alkyl formate esters, which are important flavor and fragrance products. A recombinant fungal BVMO from Aspergillus flavus was found to transform a selection of aliphatic aldehydes into alkyl formates with high regioselectivity. Near complete conversion of 10 mm octanal was achieved within 8 h with a regiomeric excess of ～80 %. Substrate concentration was found to affect specific activity and regioselectivity of the BVMO, as well as the rate of product autohydrolysis to the primary alcohol. More than 80 % conversion of 50 mm octanal was reached after 72 h (TTN nearly 20 000). Biotransformation on a 200 mL scale under unoptimized conditions gave a space‐time yield (STY) of 4.2 g L^?1 d^?1 (3.4 g L^?1 d^?1 extracted product).     

Differential scanning calorimetry analysis of thermoset cure kinetics: Phenolic resole resin

The Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) trace for a commercial phenolic resole resin shows two distinct peaks. Assuming that these represent two independent cure reactions results in a kinetic model of the form: with κ_i = κ_io exp(-B_i/T). The Arrhenius parameters were estimated from a plot of ln(β/T) versus 1/T_p. The parameters, p, n₁, and n₂ were obtained by writing the DSC response predicted by the equation above in terms of a function which contains temperature as the only variable. with $ \theta _i = \left({1/\beta} \right)\int_{T_0}^T {\kappa _i dT \le r_i} $ dT ? r_i and r_i = 1/(1-n_i). Fitting this equation to the DSC response measured at a scan rate of 4°C/min obtains p ≈ 0.66; n₁ ≈ 0.55; n₂ ≈ 2.2; B₁ ≈ 8285; B₂ ≈ 7480; κ₁ ≈ 1. 12 × 10⁸ s^?1; κ₂ ≈ 0.99 × 10⁶ S^?1.     

Dispersion in gel permeation chromatography. A rapid numerical solution to Tung's integral equation

A rapid iteration method has been developed to correct the molecular weight averages calculated from raw GPC data for dispersion. Though simple in its performance, it covers the general case that the instrumental spreading characteristics (Tung's resolution factor h) depend on the elution volume. Moreover, it is irrelevant whether the calibration curve, being the logarithmic plot of the molecular weight versus the elution volume, is linear or not. The method has been applied to a number of well-characterized polystyrene mixtures and yields molecular weight averages which agree with those predicted theoretically. The effect of asymmetry exerted by the dispersion on both molecular weight averages M?_n and M?_w is also discussed.     

Mobile satellite reception with a virtual satellite dish based on a reconfigurable multi-processor architecture

Traditionally, mechanically steered dishes or analog phased array beamforming systems have been used for radio frequency receivers, where strong directivity and high performance were much more important than low-cost requirements. Real-time controlled digital phased array beamforming could not be realized due to the high computational requirements and the implementation costs. Today, digital hardware has become powerful enough to perform the massive number of operations required for real-time digital beamforming. With the continuously decreasing price per transistor, high performance signal processing has become available by using multi-processor architectures. More and more applications are using beamforming to improve the spatial utilization of communication channels, resulting in many dedicated digital architectures for specific applications. By using a reconfigurable architecture, a single hardware platform can be used for different applications with different processing needs.In this article, we show how a reconfigurable multi-processor system-on-chip based architecture can be used for phased array processing, including an advanced tracking mechanism to continuously receive signals with a mobile satellite receiver. An adaptive beamformer for DVB-S satellite reception is presented that uses an Extended Constant Modulus Algorithm to track satellites. The receiver consists of 8 antennas and is mapped on three reconfigurable Montium TP processors. With a scenario based on a phased array antenna mounted on the roof of a car, we show that the adaptive steering algorithm is robust in dynamic scenarios and correctly demodulates the received signal.     

Stability of sulphadimidine during raw fermented sausage preparation: reaction of sulphadimine with nitrite

 Raw fermented sausage was prepared from a dough to which sulphadimidine (SDM), a drug frequently used in animal husbandry, was added. With the aid of thermospray-mass spectroscopy further evidence was obtained that, during preparation, reactions with nitrite added to the dough resulted in the formation of desamino-SDM and 4-hydroxydesamino-SDM. An indication was obtained that traces of chlorodesamino-SDM were present in the brine, but this observation could not be established. Received: 22 March 1999 / Revised version: 10 May 1999     

Crosstalk performance of integrated optical cross-connects

Crosstalk performance of monolithically integrated multiwavelength optical cross-connects (OXC's) depends strongly on their architecture. In this paper, a semiquantitative analysis of crosstalk in 11 different architectures is presented. Two architectures are analyzed numerically in more detail and the results of the analysis show good agreement with previously reported experimental results     

Valence Band Offset Measurements on Thin Silicon-on-Insulator MOSFETs

The effect of quantum confinement in thin silicon-on-insulator double-gate MOSFETs has been directly determined from subthreshold current measurements for the first time. By comparing temperature-dependent subthreshold characteristics of p-type devices with different silicon layer thicknesses, the offset in the valence band edge induced by spatial carrier confinement in these very thin silicon layers was measured electrically. Changes in the band structure are important for future CMOS devices such as FinFETs.     

Understanding pregnant women's decision making concerning prenatal screening.

Objective: This study is aimed at enhancing understanding prenatal screening decision making through testing a hypothesized decision model based on decision theory and health behavior theory. Design: We obtained questionnaires from 1,666 pregnant women who were offered prenatal screening for Down's syndrome. Path analysis (using LISREL) resulted in a final model with reasonable model fit, which was verified by split-sample cross-validation. Main outcome measures: These included perceived probability, perceived severity, attitude toward termination, response efficacy, attitude toward prenatal screening, subjective norm, child-related anxiety, and intention to undergo prenatal screening. Results: Attitude toward termination of pregnancy, perceived test efficacy, and subjective norm regarding the desirability of having prenatal screening determined a woman's attitude toward having a prenatal test. Anxiety was influenced by perceived risk and perceived severity of having a child with Down's syndrome, and by subjective norm, but this appeared to be a weak predictor of intention to test. Pregnant women with a positive attitude toward prenatal screening, and who perceived a subjective norm in favor of undergoing prenatal screening, showed a greater intention to have prenatal screening done. Conclusion: These findings suggest that more attention should be paid toward the values and social context of pregnant women during the counseling process. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Validating algorithms for calculation of the shape of a flexible blade

Methods and tools are developed to measure, analyze and compare physical and virtual blade shapes. An application is presented using measured data and the results of two blade shape calculation algorithms. A measuring method has been developed and a set-up for measuring physical blades was built. Tools were implemented to compare and evaluate the calculated and measured shapes. From the analysis of the measured data and the calculated results of the involved algorithms it could be concluded that none of the algorithms used initially could be applied directly for our shape calculations. The developed tools and methods have been found useful for the adaptation and fine-tuning of the algorithms, which is demonstrated in two examples.