Fragment-asperity interaction model for earthquakes

A model for earthquake dynamics consisting of two rough profiles interacting via fragments filling the gap is introduced, the fragments being produced by the local breakage due to the interaction of the local plates. The irregularities of the fault planes can interact with the fragments between them to develop a mechanism for triggering earthquakes. The fragment size distribution function comes from a nonextensive formulation, starting from first principles. An energy distribution function, which gives the Gutenberg-Richter law as a particular case, is analytically deduced.     

High-speed horizontal-path atmospheric turbulence correction with a large-actuator-number microelectromechanical system spatial light modulator in an interferometric phase-conjugation engine

Results of atmospheric propagation for a high-speed, large-actuator-number adaptive optics system are presented. The system uses a microelectromechanical system- (MEMS-) based spatial light modulator correction device with 1024 actuators. Tests over a 1.35-km path achieved correction speeds in excess of 800 Hz and Strehl ratios close to 0.5. The wave-front sensor was based on a quadrature interferometer that directly measures phase. This technique does not require global wave-front reconstruction, making it relatively insensitive to scintillation and phase residues. The results demonstrate the potential of large-actuator-number MEMS-based spatial light modulators to replace conventional deformable mirrors.     

Inverse scattering problem for optical coherence tomography

We deal with the imaging problem of determining the internal structure of a body from backscattered laser light and low-coherence interferometry. Specifically, using the interference fringes that result when the backscattering of low-coherence light is made to interfere with the reference beam, we obtain maps detailing the values of the refractive index within the sample. Our approach accounts fully for the statistical nature of the coherence phenomenon; the numerical experiments that we present, which show image reconstructions of high quality, were obtained under noise floors exceeding those present for various experimental setups reported in the literature.     

Quantification of arecoline (areca nut alkaloid) in neonatal biological matrices by high-performance liquid chromatography/electrospray quadrupole mass spectrometry

A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method with mass spectrometric detection is described for determination of arecoline in newborn meconium, urine and cord serum, using pilocarpine as internal standard. The analytes were extracted from neonatal biological matrices with chloroform/isopropanol (95:5, v/v) at alkaline pH. Extracts were analyzed by HPLC coupled to an electrospray (ESI) interface and a quadrupole mass spectrometer. Chromatography was performed on a C(8) reversed-phase column using 10 mM ammonium acetate (pH 4.3)/acetonitrile (90:10, v/v) as mobile phase. The mass spectrometer was operated in selected ion monitoring mode. The method was validated over the concentration range 0.005-1.00 micro g/g meconium, 0.004-1.00 micro g/mL cord serum and 0.001-1.00 micro /mL urine. Mean recoveries ranged between 86.5 and 90.7% for arecoline in the different biological matrices, with precision always better than 10%. The quantification limits of arecoline were 0.005 micro g/g meconium, 0.004 micro g/mL cord serum, and 0.001 micro g/mL urine. The method was applied to the analysis of neonatal biological matrices to assess eventual fetal exposition to arecoline. Two newborns from Asian mothers who declared areca nut consumption presented arecoline in meconium with concentrations in the range 0.006-0.008 micro g/g; also the urine from one neonate tested positive for the drug.     

Inhibition of sulfur incorporation to transfer RNA by ultraviolet-A radiation in Escherichia coli

tRNA sulfurtransferase activity was assayed in Escherichia coli cell extracts obtained from bacterial suspensions exposed to a sub-lethal dose of ultraviolet-A radiation (fluence 148 kJ m(-2)) imparted at a low fluence rate (41 W m(-2)). We found that the irradiation reduced the enzymatic activity to one fourth of the control value, indicating that ultraviolet-A exposure inhibits the synthesis of 4-thiouridine, the most abundant thionucleoside in E. coli tRNA. Changes in the tRNA content of 4-thiouridine and its derived photoproduct 5-(4'-pyrimidin 2'-one) cytosine were studied in bacteria growing under ultraviolet-A irradiation. In these conditions the accumulation of photoproduct was limited, and the kinetics of this process was non-coincident with disappearance of 4-thiouridine. The results, which are compatible with the fact that ultraviolet-A induces an inhibition of the 4-thiouridine synthesis, suggest that the effect of radiation on tRNA modification is relevant to tRNA photo-inactivation in growing bacteria.     

Neutral nido-heteroboranes with non ionisable hydrogen as arenes in coordination

Designed ligands have been synthesised to produce the first arene-like metallacarborane. For arene-like coordination the number of electronegative elements on the coordinating site must be kept to a minimum. Choosing ligands with bulky substituents on the heteroatom allows easy rearrangement and arene-like coordination. This is more hampered the higher the number of hetereoatoms to be re-located.     

Complex Convexity and Vector-Valued Littlewood-Paley Inequalities

Let 2 p > , and let X be a complex Banach space. It is shownthat X is p-uniformly PL-convex if and only if there exists > 0 such that , for all f H^p(X). Applications to embeddings between vector-valued BMOAspaces defined via Poisson integral or Carleson measures areprovided. 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification 46B20, 46L52.