Reactive extraction of oxygenates with aqueous salt solutions

This thesis proposes and evaluates reactive extraction, which uses aqueous salt solutions as reactive solvents

Lessons I Have Learned: A collection of short stories (Original writing).

Abstract not available. Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 43-05, page: 1566. Adviser: Alistair Macleod. Thesis (M.A.)--University of Windsor (Canada), 2000

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE LEAF EPIDERMIS OF TWO SESLERIA SPECIES

Leaf epidermis has been used as character in taxonomy of Poaceae family since the 1930s. The purpose of present study was to determine leaf epidermal features helpful in distinguishing two species of Sesleria genus – Sesleria heufleriana Schur and Sesleria uliginosa Opiz.Both the abaxial and the adaxial epidermis have been examinated for each species.So both examined species have Festucoid type of epidermis, but differences of some epidermal features exist at the species level. This include variation in number and size of epidermal cells and distribution patterns of stomata

Differentiating Canada: The Future of the Canada-US Relationship

Turbulence will mark the world economy in the coming decade as Canada’s traditional trading partners in North America and Europe struggle with slow growth and rising structural unemployment and move, as they must, to restore the health of their public finances. Settling for the status quo is not a compelling option as the US border thickens and Canada stays on the sidelines in two areas vital to its long-term interest: climate change policy and trade liberalization. In this context, the Policy Brief evaluates the strategic options for Canada’s long-standing economic relationship with the United States. The authors propose a two-part proactive strategy. The first part is for Canada to differentiate its economy by building on its macroeconomic, financial and energy strengths relative to the United States and by shaping a best-practice North American climate change policy. The second part of the strategy is to deepen NAFTA by participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a comprehensive, highquality FTA that has strategic attention of the US administration. Any country can join by accepting the agreement’s provisions. The TPP offers at least two strategic opportunities: a comprehensive negotiation in which Canada, the United States and Mexico could upgrade NAFTA and a way to diversify and deepen trade and investment liberalization with major economies in the Asia-Pacific region

Why we interact : on the functional role of the striatum in the subjective experience of social interaction

Acknowledgments We thank Neil Macrae and Axel Cleeremans for comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Furthermore, we are grateful to Dorothé Krug and Barbara Elghahwagi for their assistance in data acquisition. This study was supported by a grant of the Köln Fortune Program of the Medical Faculty at the University of Cologne to L.S. and by a grant “Other Minds” of the German Ministry of Research and Education to K.V.Peer reviewedPreprin

Designing a Profit-Maximizing Product Line for Heterogeneous Market

Designing product line is important marketing decision that affects the firm\u27s overall performances and profitability. This is particularly important due to the fact that the contemporary markets are characterized by sophisticated and diverse preferences of consumers as well as strong competition. Therefore, to meet market demand, firms prefer to offer a product line instead of a single product. In order to decide both on the number and position of products in its product line, the company should understand the way in which consumers value and choose products. For that purpose, a multi-attribute research technique known as conjoint analysis can be used. At the same time, the company should take into account product and pricing strategy of competitors and the possible competitors’ reactions on its own strategy. For modelling market competition, the concept of the Nash equilibrium appears as an appropriate tool. This paper proposes a model for designing a competitive profit-maximizing product line for a heterogeneous market. Preferences were modelled by a model of partial utilities associated with the corresponding attribute levels, while the logit model is used to transform respondents’ preferences into a potential market share. The problem of optimizing the product line was formulated as a nonlinear binary programming model. Proposed model was tested on the previously published conjoint data set, thus confirming its efficiency and applicability

Synthesis and biological activity of functionalized photochromic dithienylethenes

This thesis focuses on the design, synthesis and evaluation of novel functionalized photochromic dithienylethenes (DTEs) for applications in biology. Chapter 1 deals with the creation of dithienylcyclopentene based enzyme inhibitors to reversibly control the activity of the metabolic branch-point enzyme PriA from Myco-bacterium tuberculosis (mtPriA) by light. The enzyme’s natural rotational symmetry encouraged us to design two-pronged DTEs with terminal phosphate or phosphonate functional groups. Switching from the flexible, ring-open to the rigid, ring-closed isomer reduces inhibition activity by one order of magnitude, whereby mtPriA’s performance can even be remote-controlled by light during catalysis. Molecular Dynamics simulations support our experiments showing that the open form is energetically more favorable while bound in the active site. Thus the concept of utilizing the enzyme structure for the inhibitor design has been proven. In chapter 2 the development of photochromic dithienylcyclopentenes as cell signal inhibitors for the extracellular-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway is reported. Through Molecular Docking we identified promising DTE based ERK inhibitors, which were subsequently synthesized and photochemically evaluated. The mediocre thermal stability of their ring-closed photoisomers requires that the test solutions are irradiated directly before use. Incubation of cells with the title compounds caused significant inhibition by the ring-open isomers, whereas the ring-closed forms’ activity seems reduced and cytotoxicity was observed. Further experiments with isolated ERK could not sufficiently substantiate these results though. This already gives a hint on the complexity of this topic as any other tier of the entire signal cascade might be affected. Nevertheless, interesting trends were found and new compounds could be identified, which allow for the light-dependent regulation of the ERK signal. Aiming for better water-solubility, increased hydrophilicity and easier derivatization, dithienylmaleimide based amino acids were synthesized and incorporated in peptides, as described in chapter 3. We combined independently prepared N- and C-terminal thienyl components by Perkin condensation to form the maleimide core. Subsequent derivatization of the photoswitchable amino acid is easily achieved by standard solid phase peptide coupling. The resulting compounds show excellent photochromic performance in polar solvents and are thus suitable candidates for biological applications. Moreover, novel photochromic dithienyl maleic hydrazides are introduced in chapter 4. The reaction of dithienylmaleimides with hydrazine generates DTEs bearing maleic hydrazide as ethene unit. Initial NMR measurements indicate that it might occur predominantly as the monolactim tautomer. Concurrently, we observed photoswitchable solvatochromism of the obtained compound, but its repeated application is restricted by rapid photodegradation. Further investigations are necessary to thoroughly characterize the compounds and their behavior. These interesting pioneering observations could contribute to establish a new generation of DTE photoswitches. In conclusion, this thesis presents new concepts for the biological application of functionalized photochromic dithienylethenes, which act as light-dependent switches for enzyme activity and peptides. The implications of this work are especially relevant for the development of novel molecular tools to remote-control cellular processes by light

Risk assessment and prioritization of pollutants in continental Mediterranean waters based on hazard quotients

The input of chemical pollutants into the aquatic environment is growing but their potential adverse effects on the ecosystem still remain largely unknown. Therefore the development of appropriate risk assessment procedures capable to provide a prioritization of potential pollutants becomes necessary. Here we identify priority compounds specific to Mediterranean rivers and compare them to those found in other rivers worldwide. To this purpose hazard quotients (HQ) defined as the ratio of measured environmental concentration (MEC) to predicted non effect concentration (PNEC) referred to different trophic levels were calculated for different compounds selected from different existing prioritization schemes, as well as 15 priority substances identified under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and compared for cases of Mediterranean vs. North European and USA rivers. [Contrib Sci 10:125-134 (2014)

Le Machiavel in the Tragedies of Jean Racine

The main goal of this dissertation is to examine the presence of le machiavel in the seventeenth century tragedies of Jean Racine. It focuses on all of his tragedies and closely examines what characters have the traits of le machiavel. Furthermore, it examines how le machiavel influences the outcome of the tragedy at the end

Den kurdiske konflikt er igen på dagsordenen

Daniella Kuzmanovic skriver om vigtigheden af den kurdiske konflikt i den aktuelle verdensorden.&nbsp