Büchwald-Hartwig reaction applied to synthesis of new luminescent liquid crystal triarylamines derived from isoxazoles

© 2015 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. The present work describes the synthesis and characterization of novel series of triarylamines isoxazoles (TAA) addressed to the organic photovoltaic materials. Diarylisoxazoles were synthesized by sequential [3+2] 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition reaction between arylnitrile oxides and selected arylalkenes followed by MnO2-oxidation. Isoxazoles were coupled to diarylamines by Büchwald-Hartwig reaction to afford desired compounds 6a-k. Some TAA display liquid-crystalline behaviour and UV-Vis absorption and fluorescence emission were analysed for all samples of TAA 6a-k

Study of thermal protection requirements for a lifting body entry vehicle suitable for near-earth missions Final report

Reentry and abort trajectory analyses, and thermal protection requirements for lifting body entry vehicle

Hybrid Superconducting Neutron Detectors

A new neutron detection concept is presented that is based on superconductive niobium (Nb) strips coated by a boron (B) layer. The working principle of the detector relies on the nuclear reaction 10B+n $\rightarrow$ $\alpha$+ 7Li , with $\alpha$ and Li ions generating a hot spot on the current-biased Nb strip which in turn induces a superconducting-normal state transition. The latter is recognized as a voltage signal which is the evidence of the incident neutron. The above described detection principle has been experimentally assessed and verified by irradiating the samples with a pulsed neutron beam at the ISIS spallation neutron source (UK). It is found that the boron coated superconducting strips, kept at a temperature T = 8 K and current-biased below the critical current Ic, are driven into the normal state upon thermal neutron irradiation. As a result of the transition, voltage pulses in excess of 40 mV are measured while the bias current can be properly modulated to bring the strip back to the superconducting state, thus resetting the detector. Measurements on the counting rate of the device are presented and the future perspectives leading to neutron detectors with unprecedented spatial resolutions and efficiency are highlighted.Comment: 8 pages 6 figure

LFV and Dipole Moments in Models with A4 Flavour Symmetry

It is presented an analysis on lepton flavour violating transitions, leptonic magnetic dipole moments and electric dipole moments in a class of models characterized by the flavour symmetry A4 x Z3 x U(1)_FN, whose choice is motivated by the approximate Tri-Bimaximal mixing observed in neutrino oscillations. A low-energy effective Lagrangian is constructed, where these effects are dominated by dimension six operators, suppressed by the scale M of new physics. All the flavour breaking effects are universally described by the vacuum expectation values of a set of spurions. Two separate cases, a supersymmetric and a general one, are described. An upper limit on the reactor angle of a few percent is concluded.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. Adapted from a talk given at "DISCRETE'08: Symposium on Prospects in the Physics of Discrete Symmetries", December 11-16 2008, Valencia, Spai

Precision medicine in heart failure no longer a visual theory but a realistic opportunity

Over the last decades, major advances in the understanding of pathophysiology in a wide spectrum of cardiovascular diseases provided several effective pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies [1]. Along with novel rehabilitation and follow up strategies, these advances have improved the survival rate of cardiac diseases, globally, and contributed generally to a significant increase in life expectancy [2]. As a consequence, there is a parallel increase of patients suffering from challenging and multifaceted syndromes such as heart failure (HF). HF is a recognised pandemic disease, with a progressively increasing prevalence in the aging population [3]. It is a major public health issue, considering both its social and economic implications. HF patients are characterised by a high level of complexity because of the advanced age and the presence of multiple relevant comorbidities requiring dedicated polytherapy [1]. Therefore, overall mortality of HF patients is still unacceptably high, exceeding that of several neoplasms, carrying a risk of approximately 10% at 12 months from clinical onset [4]

Global gyrokinetic simulations of ITG turbulence in the configuration space of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator

We study the effect of turbulent transport in different magnetic configurations of the Weldenstein 7-X stellarator. In particular, we performed direct numerical simulations with the global gyrokinetic code GENE-3D, modeling the behavior of Ion Temperature Gradient turbulence in the Standard, High-Mirror, and Low-Mirror configurations of W7-X. We found that the Low-Mirror configuration produces more transport than both the High-Mirror and the Standard configurations. By comparison with radially local simulations, we have demonstrated the importance of performing global nonlinear simulations to predict the turbulent fluxes quantitatively

Integrating Superconductive and Optical Circuits

We have integrated on oxidized silicon wafers superconductive films and Josephson junctions along with sol-gel optical channel waveguides. The fabrication process is carried out in two steps that result to be solid and non-invasive. It is demonstrated that 660 nm light, coupled from an optical fibre into the channel sol-gel waveguide, can be directed toward superconducting tunnel junctions whose current-voltage characteristics are affected by the presence of the radiation. The dependence of the change in the superconducting energy gap under optical pumping is discussed in terms of a non-equilibrium superconductivity model.Comment: Document composed of 7 pages of text and 3 figure