A direct synthetic route to allyl sulfides from cyclic Morita–Baylis–Hillman alcohols

p-TsOH-mediated the direct α-substitution of cyclic Morita–Baylis–Hillman alcohols with aliphatic and aromatic thiols in refluxing THF. The reaction proceeded with complete α-regioselectivity and provided the corresponding allyl sulfides in moderate to good yields.     

A variable sampling interval Shewhart control chart for monitoring the coefficient of variation in short production runs

Monitoring the coefficient of variation (CV) allows process monitoring to be performed when both the process mean and the standard deviation are not constant but, nevertheless, proportional. Until now, few research papers have investigated the monitoring of the CV in a short production run context. This paper investigates the design and implementation of a Variable Sampling Interval Shewhart control chart to monitor the coefficient of variation in a short production run context. Formulas for the truncated average time to signal are derived and a performance comparison is carried out with a Fixed Sampling Rate Shewhart chart monitoring the CV. An example illustrates the use of this chart on real industrial data.     

Enhancing speech intelligibility in reverberant spaces by a speech features distributions dependent pre-processing

In this paper, we deal with a pre-processing based on speech envelope modulation for intelligibility enhancement in reverberant large dimension public enclosed spaces. In fact, the blurring effect due to reverberation alters the speech perception in such conditions. This phenomenon results from the masking of consonants by the reverberated tails of the previous vowels. This is particularly accentuated for elderly persons suffering from presbycusis. The proposed pre-processing is inspired from the steady-state suppression technique which consists in the detection of the steady-state portions of speech and the multiplication of their waveforms with an attenuation coefficient in order to decrease their masking effect. While the steady-state suppression technique is performed in the frequency domain, the pre-processing described in this paper is rather performed in the temporal domain. Its key novelty consists in the detection of the speech voiced segments using a priori knowledge about the distributions of the powers and the durations of voiced and unvoiced phonemes. The performances of this pre-processing are evaluated with an objective criterion and with subjective listening tests involving normal hearing persons and using a set of nonsense Vowel–Consonant–Vowel syllables and railway station vocal announcements.     

Modified insulator semiconductor electrode with functionalized nanoparticles for Proteus mirabilis bacteria biosensor development

The development of enzymatic sensors for biological purposes such as biomedicine, pharmacy, food industry, and environmental toxicity requires the purification step of the enzyme. To prevent the loss of the enzyme activity, a new strategy is held in order to immobilize the bacteria. It will constitute the biological sensing element leading to a high operational stability and multiple adaptations to various conditions such as temperature, pH and ionic strength changes. In this work we describe the development of a urea biosensor by immobilizing Proteus mirabilis bacteria onto an insulator–semiconductor electrode on functionalized Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles (NPs), using cationic, Poly (allylamine hydrochloride) then anionic, Poly (sodium 4-styrenesulfonate) polyelectrolytes, BSA (serum bovin albumin), and glutaraldehyde as a cross-linking agent. The response of P. mirabilis to urea addition is evaluated in homogeneous and heterogeneous phases. Before the immobilization step, the activity of urease produced from the P. mirabilis bacteria was attempted using the ion ammonium selective electrodes (ISEs). Adhesion of the bacteria cells on IS electrodes have been studied using contact angle measurements.After immobilization of the bacteria, on the (Si/SiO₂/Si₃N₄) and (Si/SiO₂) substrates, the relationship between the evolution of the flat band potential ?V_FB and the urea concentration is found to be linear for values ranging from 10^? 2 M to 10^? 5 M.     

In Vitro Rescue of the Bile Acid Transport Function of ABCB11 Variants by CFTR Potentiators

ABCB11 is responsible for biliary bile acid secretion at the canalicular membrane of hepatocytes. Variations in the ABCB11 gene cause a spectrum of rare liver diseases. The most severe form is progressive familial intrahepatic cholestasis type 2 (PFIC2). Current medical treatments have limited efficacy. Here, we report the in vitro study of Abcb11 missense variants identified in PFIC2 patients and their functional rescue using cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator potentiators. Three ABCB11 disease-causing variations identified in PFIC2 patients (i.e., A257V, T463I and G562D) were reproduced in a plasmid encoding an Abcb11-green fluorescent protein. After transfection, the expression and localization of the variants were studied in HepG2 cells. Taurocholate transport activity and the effect of potentiators were studied in Madin–Darby canine kidney (MDCK) clones coexpressing Abcb11 and the sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (Ntcp/Slc10A1). As predicted using three-dimensional structure analysis, the three variants were expressed at the canalicular membrane but showed a defective function. Ivacaftor, GLP1837, SBC040 and SBC219 potentiators increased the bile acid transport of A257V and T463I and to a lesser extent, of G562D Abcb11 missense variants. In addition, a synergic effect was observed when ivacaftor was combined with SBC040 or SBC219. Such potentiators could represent new pharmacological approaches for improving the condition of patients with ABCB11 deficiency due to missense variations affecting the function of the transporter.     

Lattice vibrations of materials for lithium rechargeable batteries. VI: Ordered spinels

Raman scattering spectra have been investigated to evaluate the local structure of lithiated oxides used as electrode materials for lithium-ion batteries. We report the analysis of the vibrational spectra of ordered spinel phases including the partially delithiated λ-Li_0.5Mn₂O₄ ( SG), the partial charge-ordered LiMn₂O₄ orthorhombic form (Fddd SG) and the LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ substituted oxide (P4₁32 SG). Analysis of spectroscopic data is performed using the classical factor group theory and the vibration features are compared with those of the ordered lithium ferrite -LiFe₅O₈ and the normal spinels LiMn₂O₄ and LiNi_0.5Mn_1.5O₄ (Fd3m SG), and the inverse spinel LiNiVO₄.     

The instructional benefits of dynamic visualizations in the acquisition of basketball tactical actions

Recent studies exploring the effects of dynamic visualizations on learning compared with static visualizations have yielded mixed results. Procedural motor learning is one of the few fields in which dynamic representations have shown to be effective. Many of the studies have suggested that this advantage is mainly due to the activation of the “mirror‐neuron system.” This study explores this explanation in physical education domain and analysed the effects of instructional media (video vs. photographs), showing tactical actions in basketball, on learning outcomes (i.e., game understanding and game performance), cognitive load (i.e., mental effort invested and estimated difficulty), and attitudes (i.e., attention, enjoyment, engagement, and challenge) in secondary school students. For all of the indicators, the results show that learning from video was more effective than learning from photographs. These findings have implications for the effective design of instructional media and provide confirmation of the superiority of video for teaching tactical actions involving the entire body.     

Influence of the substitution of β-cyclodextrins by cationic groups on the complexation of organic anions

The inclusion complexation of the organic anion, dansyl-acid, by cationic derivatives of β-cyclodextrin has been investigated. A series of cationic β-cyclodextrins with various positive charge has been synthesized by selective functionalization of the primary face of β-cyclodextrin with amino groups. The complexes were of the 1:1 stoichiometry; the stability constants (K₁₁) have been evaluated from UV–Vis measurements by application of the Benesi–Hildebrand equation. The presence of amino groups increased the complexation ability. β-cyclodextrin fully substituted at the primary face with amino groups showed the strongest inclusion binding ability towards the dansyl-acid guest. The enhanced complexation for anions was ascribed to the cationic amino groups. A simple thermodynamic model of the electrostatic contribution to the complexation is presented.