Photochemical Reductive trans-Elimination from trans-Diacidotetracyanoplatinate(IV) Complexes

Abstract Upon CT excitation the complex ions trans-[Pt(CN)4N3X]2- and trans-[Pt(CN)4X2]2- (X = Cl and Br) undergo a reductive trans-elimination with formation of [Pt(CN)4]2- and two ligand radicals in the photoprimary step. The formation of a Pt(III) intermediate is not observed. Due to the stability of [Pt(CN)4]2-, recombination reactions regenerating the starting complex are efficient if the ligand radicals are not scavenged. For the azide complexes the high quantum yields for the production of [Pt(CN)4]2- are explained by the instability of azide radicals. For trans-[Pt(CN)4X2]2-, the recombination is efficient in aqueous solution, while in ethanol the halogen atoms are scavenged by hydrogen abstraction. The sequence of steps following CT excitation can be explained by a potential energy diagram.</jats:p

Color perception and attentional load in dynamic, time-constrained environments

The capacity to perceive color in the peripheral field has attracted research interest for more than a decade. There is evidence that sensitivity to red-green color variations is lower than for yellow-blue in peripheral vision. Whether, and to what extent, color vision affects the visual focus of attention, which is normally much smaller than the visual field, has not yet been examined. We used a sport-specific decision-making task to assess whether the color of the jersey worn by players appearing in the periphery influences decision making by affecting the attentional and perceptual capabilities. Pairs of players wearing chromatic (blue, yellow, red, and green) and achromatic (black, white) colored jerseys were briefly presented across a range of visual angles on a 6 m concave immersive screen. Participants were required to decide to whom to pass and recall relevant information. Findings indicate that color perception changes vary with increasing visual angle, but that the focus of attention is too small to be influenced by jersey color sensitivity. Decision-making performance decreases with increasing visual angle, but is not influenced by color. The implications for decision-making processes in sport and other professional domains are discussed

The Relationship between Regular Sports Participation and Vigilance in Male and Female Adolescents

The present study investigated the relationship between regular sport participation (soccer) and vigilance performance. Two groups of male and female adolescents differentiated in terms of their sport participation (athletes, n = 39, and non-athletes, n = 36) took part in the study. In one session, participants performed the Leger Multi-stage fitness test to estimate their aerobic fitness level. In the other session, participants completed the Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT) to evaluate their vigilance performance. Perceived arousal prior to the task and motivation toward the task were also measured in the PVT session. The results revealed that athletes had better cardiovascular fitness and showed better performance in the PVT. However, correlation analyses did not show any significant relationship between cardiovascular fitness and performance in the PVT. Athletes showed larger scores in motivation and perceived arousal measures with respect to non-athletes, although, once again, these variables were not correlated with PVT performance. Gender differences were observed only in the Leger test, with males showing greater fitness level than females. The major outcome of this research points to a positive relationship between regular sport participation and vigilance during adolescence. This relationship did not seem to be influenced by gender, perceived arousal, motivation toward the task or cardiovascular fitness. We discuss our results in terms of the different hypotheses put forward in the literature to explain the relationship between physical activity and cognitive functioning.This research was supported by a Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Cultura (https://sede. educacion.gob.es) predoctoral grant (FPU13-05605) to the first author, and project research grants: Junta de Andalucia Proyecto de Excelencia SEJ-6414 (http://www.juntadeandalucia.es) and Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad PSI2013-46385 (http://www.mineco.gob.es) to DS and FH

Engineering Cloud-based Applications: Towards an Application Lifecycle

The adoption of cloud computing by organizations of all sizes and types in the recent years has created multiple opportunities and challenges for the development of software to be used in this environment. In this work-in-progress paper, the focus is on the latter part, providing a view on the main research challenges that are created for software engineering by cloud computing. These challenges stem from the inherent characteristics of the cloud computing paradigm, and require a multi-dimensional approach to address them. Towards this goal, a lifecycle for cloud-based applications is presented, as the foundation for further work in the area

Insegnare l’Europa. Concetti e rappresentazioni nei libri di testo europei

Il volume presenta i risultati di una ricerca comparata che ha analizzato i manuali scolastici utilizzati oggi nei diversi paesi europei per verificare quale spazio abbia in essi la trattazione dell’Europa, quali valori e concetti vengano presentati come caratterizzanti la civiltà europea, e in quali modi l’attenzione alle appartenenze nazionali venga coniugata con la nuova centralità dell’Europa.- Indice #5- Introduzione Nazioni ed Europa nell’educazione scolastica: come vediamo noi stessi e gli “altri”?, Falk Pingel #13- Insegnare la singolarità dell’Europa, Charles Olivier Carbonell #75- Tradizione religiosa e identità nazionale nell’Europa sudorientale, Răzvan Theodorescu #103- Cittadino, europeo e cosmopolita: scopi e compiti dell’educazione civica, Alistair Ross #119- Diversi modi di vedere l’integrazione europea, Juan Díez Medrano #153- Tendenze attuali nei manuali spagnoli di storia e di geografia dell’educazione secondaria obbligatoria, Rafael Valls #173- L’Europa nei programmi e nei manuali scolastici francesi: verso una nuova comunità immaginaria europea?, Hélène Baeyens #189- L’Europa del Novecento: un’analisi dei manuali di storia della scuola media italiana degli anni Novanta, Luigi Cajani #141- “Una nuova cultura capace di superare nazionalismi e separatismi”. Esempi da libri di educazione civica italiani, Olga Bombardelli #239- L’Europa nei libri di testo di storia del Regno Unito: insegnamento e apprendimento, Keith Crawford #265- L’Europa nei testi di geografia inglesi, John Hopkin #295- “Un lento avvicinamento all’Europa”: la dimensione europea nei testi britannici di storia contemporanea, Mark Engel #319- L’Europa si sta aprendo al resto del mondo? I cambiamenti avvenuti nella rappresentazione dell’Europa nei testi scolastici della Germania dopo la riunificazione (Wende) del 1989/90, Rolf Westheider #329- Visioni del mondo legate alla geografia: l’Europa vista dagli studenti della Germania, Armin Hüttermann #353- Cittadini della Germania e dell’Ue. La rappresentazione dell’Europa nei manuali scolastici tedeschi di educazione politica, K. Peter Fritzsche #375- L’Europa nei manuali greci di educazione civica, Despina Karakatsani #395- Dalla rivoluzione mondiale al dominio degli ambienti culturali? La rappresentazione dell’Europa nei testi scolastici russi di “storia mondiale”, Michail A. Bojcov #417- Alla ricerca di un cammino verso l’Europa: la dimensione europea nei testi di storia del XX secolo della Russia, Vera Kaplan #441- L’immagine dell’Europa nei libri di testo della Romania, Mirela Luminiţa Murgescu #473- L’”altra” entità politica esterna e le immagini dell’Europa nei manuali di storia moderna della Bulgaria successivi al 1917, Snezhana Dimitrova #501- La storia europea all’università di Belgrado: momenti concettuali della sua rappresentazione, Milan Ristović #521- Ricerca storica e redazione dei libri di testo nelle entità statali nate dalla Jugoslavia socialista, Neven Budak #535- Tra euforia, moderazione e isolamento: l’Europa nei testi scolastici di storia delle repubbliche della ex Jugoslavia, Heike Karge #551- Prospettive sull’educazione ai diritti dell’uomo nella Repubblica serba, Aleksandra Petrović #59