Studies related to the Westphalen rearrangement

The reaction of four 3β-hydroxy-derivatives of Westphalen's diol with lead tetraacetate is described. The major products are the ethers 6β-acetoxy-3β,5-oxaethano-19-nor-5β-cholest-9(10)-ene (11(5]), 6β-acetoxy-9α,10-epoxy-3β,5-oxaethano-19-nor-5β,10α-cholestane, 6β-acetoxy-9β,10-epoxy-3β,5-oxaethano-19-nor-5β, 9β-cholestane and 6β-acetoxy-14-methyl-3β,5-oxa-ethano-18,19-bisnor-5β,8α,9β,10α,14β-cholest-13(17)-ene in which the original 5β-methyl group has been functionalised. Oxidation of (11[5]) with chromic acid gave products of attack at the 9,10-double bond and/or the allylic position 11. The reduction of (11[5)) and subsequent oxidation and boron-trifluoride catalysed cleavage of the tetrahydrofuran ring is described. [Continues.

Frank Lloyd Wright beyond America

This thesis is a cultural study of the architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright’s (1867-1959) beyond his homeland of America. It explores Wright’s travels as a means of unravelling his global ambitions and legacy. Wright was born in the age of the horse and cart and died in the age of commercial jet travel; he not only experienced the rapid compression of space and time in methods of travel, but also participated in this globalising movement. His journeys beyond the USA were undertaken to promote his own global philosophy of ‘organic architecture’. Such cross-cultural dialogues are an important part of architectural history and theory, as well as of notions of ‘change’ and ‘progress’, and so within the thesis I re-enact six of Wright’s journeys to these different sites. In addition, I also rethink the traditional academic division of Wright’s career into his ‘Prairie House’ and ‘Usonian’ eras by proposing a third, final epoch constructed around his ‘Legacy’. My methodology for the thesis is based on the concept of gaining ‘situated knowledge’ from direct engagement with ‘Wrightian’ sites to deconstruct his ideas and projects. I also consider how Wright’s global 'organic' doctrine is actually now being experienced, and how people are living with his legacy in the early twenty-first century. The thesis adopts an experimental writing-as-design approach to research and as such I use a narrative mode of writing to negotiate between ‘creative’ and ‘critical’ perspectives of research. This method allows my experience to inform my analysis of Wright’s sites of influence to generate a better understanding of his architecture. Consequently, my layered narrative provides an alternative reading of Frank Lloyd Wright’s globalising ambitions by offsetting with tales of contemporary resistance that reclaim the term ‘organic architecture’ from being a bland global phenomenon to a highly articulated local expression of difference

ERPs reveal the time-course of aberrant visual-phonological binding in developmental dyslexia

New evidence is accumulating for a deficit in binding visual-orthographic information with the corresponding phonological code in developmental dyslexia. Here, we identify the mechanisms underpinning this deficit using event-related brain potentials (ERPs) in dyslexic and control adult readers performing a letter-matching task. In each trial, a printed letter was presented synchronously with an auditory letter name. Incongruent (mismatched), frequent trials were interleaved with congruent (matched) infrequent target pairs, which participants were asked to report by pressing a button. In critical trials, incongruent letter pairs were mismatched but confusable in terms of their visual or phonological features. Typical readers showed early detection of deviant trials, indicated by larger modulation in the range of the phonological mismatch negativity (PMN) compared with standard trials. This was followed by stronger modulation of the P3b wave for visually confusable deviants and an increased lateralized readiness potential (LRP) for phonological deviants, compared with standards. In contrast, dyslexic readers showed reduced sensitivity to deviancy in the PMN range. Responses to deviants in the P3b range indicated normal letter recognition processes, but the LRP calculation revealed a specific impairment for visual-orthographic information during response selection in dyslexia. In a follow-up experiment using an analogous non-lexical task in the same participants, we found no reading-group differences, indicating a degree of specificity to over-learnt visual-phonological binding. Our findings indicate early insensitivity to visual-phonological binding in developmental dyslexia, coupled with difficulty selecting the correct orthographic code

Antenatal magnetic resonance imaging versus ultrasound for predicting neonatal macrosomia: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Fetal macrosomia is associated with an increased risk of adverse maternal and neonatal outcomes. OBJECTIVES: To compare the accuracy of antenatal two-dimensional (2D) ultrasound, three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting fetal macrosomia at birth. SEARCH STRATEGY: Medline (1966-2013), Embase, the Cochrane Library and Web of Knowledge. SELECTION CRITERIA: Cohort or diagnostic accuracy studies of women with a singleton pregnancy, who had third-trimester imaging to predict macrosomia (>4000 g, >4500 g or >90th or >95th centile). DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two reviewers screened studies, performed data extraction and assessed methodological quality. The bivariate model was used to obtain summary sensitivities, specificities and likelihood ratios. MAIN RESULTS: Fifty-eight studies (34 367 pregnant women) were included. Most were poorly reported. Only one study assessed 3D ultrasound volumetry. For predicting birthweight >4000 g or >90th centile, the summary sensitivity for 2D ultrasound (Hadlock) estimated fetal weight (EFW) >90th centile or >4000 g (29 studies) was 0.56 (95% CI 0.49-0.61), 2D ultrasound abdominal circumference (AC) >35 cm (four studies) was 0.80 (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 0.69-0.87) and MRI EFW (three studies) was 0.93 (95% CI 0.76-0.98). The summary specificities were 0.92 (95% CI 0.90-0.94), 0.86 (95% CI 0.74-0.93) and 0.95 (95% CI 0.92-0.97), respectively. CONCLUSION: There is insufficient evidence to conclude that MRI EFW is more sensitive than 2D ultrasound AC (which is more sensitive than 2D EFW); although it was more specific. Further primary research is required before recommending MRI EFW for use in clinical practice

The worm has turned: Behavioural drivers of reproductive isolation between cryptic lineages

AbstractBehavioural processes such as species recognition and mate attraction signals enforce and reinforce the reproductive isolation required for speciation. The earthworm Lumbricus rubellus in the UK is deeply differentiated into two major genetic lineages, ‘A’ and ‘B’. These are often sympatric at certain sites, but it is not known whether they are to some extent reproductively isolated. Behavioural tests were performed, in which individually genotyped worms were able to choose between soils previously worked either by genetically similar or dissimilar individuals (N = 45). We found that individuals (75%) were significantly (P < 0.05) more likely to orientate towards the soil conditioned by worms of their own lineage. Further testing involved a choice design based on filter papers wetted with water extracts of soils worked by a different genotype on each side (N = 18) or extracts from worked soil vs. un-worked control soil (N = 10). Again, earthworms orientated towards the extract from their kindred genotype (P < 0.05). These findings indicate that genotype-specific water-soluble chemicals are released by L. rubellus; furthermore, they are behaviour-modifying, and play a role in reproductive isolation between sympatric earthworm lineages of cryptic sibling species, through pre-copulatory assortative mate choice

On classification of intrinsic localized modes for the Discrete Nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger Equation

We consider localized modes (discrete breathers) of the discrete nonlinear Schr\"{o}dinger equation $i\frac{d\psi_n}{dt}=\psi_{n+1}+\psi_{n-1}-2\psi_n+\sigma|\psi_n|^2\psi_n$, $\sigma=\pm1$, $n\in \mathbb{Z}$. We study the diversity of the steady-state solutions of the form $\psi_n(t)=e^{i\omega t}v_n$ and the intervals of the frequency, $\omega$, of their existence. The base for the analysis is provided by the anticontinuous limit ($\omega$ negative and large enough) where all the solutions can be coded by the sequences of three symbols "-", "0" and "+". Using dynamical systems approach we show that this coding is valid for $\omega<\omega^*\approx -3.4533$ and the point $\omega^*$ is a point of accumulation of saddle-node bifurcations. Also we study other bifurcations of intrinsic localized modes which take place for $\omega>\omega^*$ and give the complete table of them for the solutions with codes consisting of less than four symbols.Comment: 33 pages, 14 figures. To appear in Physica

In-situ velocity imaging of ultracold atoms using slow--light

The optical response of a moving medium suitably driven into a slow-light propagation regime strongly depends on its velocity. This effect can be used to devise a novel scheme for imaging ultraslow velocity fields. The scheme turns out to be particularly amenable to study in-situ the dynamics of collective and topological excitations of a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. We illustrate the advantages of using slow-light imaging specifically for sloshing oscillations and bent vortices in a stirred condensate

A measurement of parity-violating gamma-ray asymmetries in polarized cold neutron capture on 35Cl, 113Cd, and 139La

An apparatus for measuring parity-violating asymmetries in gamma-ray emission following polarized cold neutron capture was constructed as a 1/10th scale test of the design for the forthcoming n+p->d+gamma experiment at LANSCE. The elements of the polarized neutron beam, including a polarized 3He neutron spin filter and a radio frequency neutron spin rotator, are described. Using CsI(Tl) detectors and photodiode current mode readout, measurements were made of asymmetries in gamma-ray emission following neutron capture on 35Cl, 113Cd, and 139La targets. Upper limits on the parity-allowed asymmetry $s_n \cdot (k_{\gamma} \times k_n)$ were set at the level of 7 x 10^-6 for all three targets. Parity-violating asymmetries $s_n \cdot k_{\gamma}$ were observed in 35Cl, A_gamma = (-29.1 +- 6.7) x 10^-6, and 139La, A_gamma = (-15.5 +- 7.1) x 10^-6, values consistent with previous measurements.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Nucl. Instr. and Meth.

Analysis of Generalized Grover's Quantum Search Algorithms Using Recursion Equations

The recursion equation analysis of Grover's quantum search algorithm presented by Biham et al. [PRA 60, 2742 (1999)] is generalized. It is applied to the large class of Grover's type algorithms in which the Hadamard transform is replaced by any other unitary transformation and the phase inversion is replaced by a rotation by an arbitrary angle. The time evolution of the amplitudes of the marked and unmarked states, for any initial complex amplitude distribution is expressed using first order linear difference equations. These equations are solved exactly. The solution provides the number of iterations T after which the probability of finding a marked state upon measurement is the highest, as well as the value of this probability, P_max. Both T and P_max are found to depend on the averages and variances of the initial amplitude distributions of the marked and unmarked states, but not on higher moments.Comment: 8 pages, no figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.