Call for Papers: High Altitude Platforms: Research and Application Activities

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Catalytic Aerobic Photo‐oxidation of a Methyl Group on a Heterocycle to Produce an Aldehyde via Homolytic C?I Bond Cleavage caused by Irradiation with Visible Light

A new catalytic method was developed for photo‐oxidizing the methyl group on aromatic heterocycles such as benzothiazole, benzoxazole, and quinoline to produce the corresponding aldehyde. This is the first report of the metal‐free catalytic synthesis of benzothiazole‐2‐carboxaldehydes using molecular oxygen as the terminal oxidant.

     

Molybdenum‐Catalyzed Stereospecific Deoxygenation of Epoxides to Alkenes

Mild and simple catalytic systems consisting of molybdenum(VI) dichloride dioxide [MoO₂Cl₂] as a catalyst and a phosphine as reductant have been developed for the stereospecific deoxygenation of epoxides to alkenes. The reactions using 1,2‐bis(diphenylphosphino)ethane (dppe) and triphenylphosphine (PPh₃) proceed with retention and inversion of stereochemistry, respectively. The mild reaction tolerates the presence of various functional groups and affords stereodefined substituted olefins in good yields.

     

Migration of dehydroabietic and abietic acids from paper and paperboard food packaging into food-simulating solvents and Tenax TA

An investigation was undertaken to establish the concentration in paper products of dehydroabietic (DHA) and abietic (AA) resin acids, present in rosin, which are major toxicants of pulp- and paper-mill effluent. Their migration was studied from paper and paperboard products into various food-simulating solvents and the substitute fatty food simulant Tenax TA (modified polyphenylene oxide). DHA and AA were detected in five of 10 virgin paper products and in all 10 recycled paperboard products for food-contact use at concentrations of 14-500 and 110-1200 µg/g, respectively. In virgin paper products, the highest migration was into 95% ethanol or heptane, with negligible or no migration into other solvents. In recycled paperboard products, migration was highest into 95% ethanol, but was also observed into 20% ethanol, water and heptane. Migration to Tenax TA was also observed and the migration level increased with time. The maximum migration levels of DHA and AA into food simulants were 0.853 and 3.14 µg/g, respectively. The results suggest that, in the worst case, the daily intake of DHA and AA from paper and paperboard products was 50 times lower than the tolerable daily intake of rosin.     

Oscillatory neural activity associated with cognitive processes affected by spatial frequency

The spatial frequency contained in visual objects is known to affect human psychophysiology. In our previous study, we showed that event‐related potentials are affected by spatial frequency during a simple calculation task. In that study, however, we did not investigate the contribution of oscillatory neural activities. The purpose of the present study is to characterize the changes in oscillatory neural activity associated with cognitive processes, and to investigate how these signals are affected by the spatial frequency of a visual stimulus during simple calculation tasks. We investigate these issues by analyzing our previously collected electroencephalography (EEG) dataset using the same visual stimulus, tasks, subjects, and EEG recordings. In that study, four types of vertically striped visual stimuli were used. The visual stimuli contained embedded numbers (from 0 to 9) that possessed the following frequency (f) characteristics: white noise, 1/f, 1/f², and 1/f³. The subjects were instructed to perform two tasks: ‘add numbers’ (addition task) and ‘do not add numbers’ (reference task). EEG data were recorded, and event‐related synchronization (ERS) and desynchronization (ERD) for each visual stimulus were analyzed on the basis of the intertrial variances of wavelet coefficients for theta, alpha, low‐beta, and gamma band activity. Eight healthy men (21–23 years) were recruited to participate in the study. Our results suggest the presence of a frequency discrimination function in the theta band activity in the fronto‐central area at the latency of 198 ms during the addition task. The alpha‐band ERD during completion of the reference task also showed a spatial frequency dependency. This phenomenon was observed in the left temporal‐parietal area at a latency of 376 ms, and is thought to be related to the perceptual filter. We conclude that the observed changes in oscillatory neural activity associated with cognitive processes are affected by spatial frequency. © 2014 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

A hybrid approach to keyframe extraction from motion capture data using curve simplification and principal component analysis

In this paper, we propose a novel method to extract keyframes from motion capture data. A hybrid approach, which combines a curve‐simplification algorithm with an initialization procedure including principal component analysis, is adopted. The developed method automatically extracts an appropriate number of keyframes at high speed without performance degradation. Experimental results prove the effectiveness of the present method. © 2014 Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Determination of alkylphenols,bisphenol A,benzophenone and phthalates in containers of baby food,and migration into food simulants

Infants, whose growth and development are highly dependent upon the endocrine system, are particularly vulnerable to endocrine disruptor exposure. In our study, we examined whether or not alkylphenols, bisphenol A, benzophenone, di(2-ethylhexyl)adipate and 10 phthalates are present in containers of baby food. Furthermore, the migration into food-simulating solvents was also examined. Sixteen types of containers of baby food, obtained on the Japanese market in 2001, were examined: 8 glass bottle types, 1 plastic type, 1 metallic package (laminated with plastic) and 6 multilayered laminated film packages. Alkylphenols, benzophenone, bisphenol A and di(2-ethylhexyl)adipate were not detected in any of the samples. On the other hand, dibutylphthalate (DBP) was detected in 7 samples (1.2-9.1 micrograms/sample), and di(2-ethylhexyl)phthalate (DEHP) was detected in 15 samples (1.3-18 micrograms/sample). Migration tests were carried out for 5 samples, and the levels of DBP and DEHP that migrated into n-heptane were 0.68-1.7 micrograms/sample and 0.33-3.5 micrograms/sample, respectively. From these results, a baby's intake levels of DBP and DEHP were estimated to be about 1/2,500 and 1/90-300 of the tolerable daily intake (TDI), respectively.     

Structural Investigation of 95(0.6Li2S0.4SiS2)5Li4SiO4 Oxysulfide Glass by Using X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy

S2 p and O1 s photoelectron spectra were obtained for the 95(0.6Li₂S0.4SiS₂)5Li₄SiO₄ oxysulfide glass prepared by twin-roller quenching. A four-peak deconvolution technique was used to separate the S2 p peak of the glass into the components of bridging and nonbridging sulfur atoms. As a result of the deconvolution of the S2 p peak, we found that ∼92% of the sulfur atoms were present as nonbridging atoms. The O1 s peak of the glass was separated into two components: bridging and nonbridging oxygen atoms. This separation of the O1 s peak indicated that ∼85% of the oxygen atoms were present as bridging oxygen atoms.     

The use of indoline dyes in a zinc oxide dye-sensitized solar cell

The effects of the position and the type of carboxyl anchor group in double rhodanine-type indoline dyes on the performance of a zinc oxide dye-sensitized solar cell were examined. The optimum position for the carboxymethyl group was on the inner rhodanine moiety; a carboxymethyl group gave optimum results among carboxymethyl, -ethyl, and -propyl derivatives.