Global Analysis of the Flows of Fluids with Pressure-Dependent Viscosities

 To describe the flows of fluids over a wide range of pressures, it is necessary to take into account the fact that the viscosity of the fluid depends on the pressure. That the viscosity depends on the pressure has been verified by numerous careful experiments. While the existence of solutions local-in-time to the equations governing the flows of such fluids are available for small, special data and rather unrealistic dependence of the viscosity on the pressure, no global existence results are in place. Our interest here is to establish the existence of weak solutions for spatially periodic three-dimensional flows that are global in time, for a large class of physically meaningful viscosity-pressure relationships. (Accepted May 1, 2002) Published online November 15, 2002 Communicated by S. S. ANTMAN     

Systematic effects of carbon doping on the superconducting properties of Mg(B1-xCx)(2)

The upper critical field, H(c2), of Mg(B1-xCx)(2) has been measured in order to probe the maximum magnetic field range for superconductivity that can be attained by C doping. Carbon doped MgB2 filaments were prepared, and for carbon levels below 4% the transition temperatures are depressed by about 1 K/% C and H(c2)(T=0) rises by about 5 T/% C. This means that 3.8% C substitution will depress T(c) from 39.2 to 36.2 K and raise H(c2)(T=0) from 16.0 to 32.5 T. These rises in H(c2) are accompanied by a rise in resistivity at 40 K from about 0.5 to about 10 microOmega cm.     

Superconductivity in dense MgB2 wires

MgB2 becomes superconducting just below 40 K. Whereas porous polycrystalline samples of MgB2 can be synthesized from boron powders, in this Letter we demonstrate that dense wires of MgB2 can be prepared by exposing boron filaments to Mg vapor. The resulting wires have a diameter of 160 microm, are better than 80% dense, and manifest the full chi = -1/4pi shielding in the superconducting state. Temperature-dependent resistivity measurements indicate that MgB2 is a highly conducting metal in the normal state with rho(40 K) = 0.38 microOmega cm. By using this value, an electronic mean-free path, l approximately 600 A can be estimated, indicating that MgB2 wires are well within the clean limit. Tc, Hc2(T), and Jc data indicate that MgB2 manifests comparable or better superconducting properties in dense wire form than it manifests as a sintered pellet.     

Zur Bestimmung von Cyanwasserstoff in Pflanzen

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Guided modes of integrated optical guides. A mathematical study

A waveguide in integrated optics is defined by its refractiveindex. The guide is assumed to be invariant in the propagationdirection while in the transverse direction it is supposed tobe a compact perturbation of an unbounded stratified medium.We are interested in the modes guided by this device, whichare waves with a transverse energy confined in a neighbourhoodof the perturbation. Our goal is to analyse the existence of such guided modes. Underthe assumptions of weak guidance the problem reduces to a two-dimensionaleigenvalue problem for a scalar field. The associated operatoris unbounded, selfadjoint, and bounded from below. Its spectrumconsists of the discrete spectrum corresponding to the guidedmodes and of the essential spectrum corresponding to the radiationmodes. We present existence results of guided modes and an asymptoticstudy at high frequencies, which shows that contrarily to thecase of optical fibers, the number of guided modes can remainbounded. The major tools are the min-max principle and comparisonof results between different eigenvalue problems. The originalityof the present study lies in the stratified character of theunbounded reference medium.     

Interaction of the mu-opioid receptor with GPR177 (Wntless) inhibits Wnt secretion: potential implications for opioid dependence

Background  

Opioid agonist drugs produce analgesia. However, long-term exposure to opioid agonists may lead to opioid dependence. The analgesic and addictive properties of opioid agonist drugs are mediated primarily via the mu-opioid receptor (MOR). Opioid agonists appear to alter neuronal morphology in key brain regions implicated in the development of opioid dependence. However, the precise role of the MOR in the development of these neuronal alterations remains elusive. We hypothesize that identifying and characterizing novel MOR interacting proteins (MORIPs) may help to elucidate the underlying mechanisms involved in the development of opioid dependence.     

High precision delta(17)O isotope measurements of oxygen from silicates and other oxides: method and applications

The use of infrared laser-assisted fluorination to release oxygen from milligram quantities of silicates or other oxide mineral grains is a well-established technique. However, relatively few studies have reported the optimisation of this procedure for oxygen-17 isotope measurements. We describe here details of an analytical system using infrared (10 μm) laser-assisted fluorination, in conjunction with a dual inlet mass spectrometer of high resolving power ( approximately 250) to provide (17)O and (18)O oxygen isotope measurements from 0.5-2 mg of silicates or other oxide mineral grains. Respective precisions (1) of typically 0.08 and 0.04 per thousand are obtained for the complete analytical procedure. Departures from the mass-dependent oxygen isotope fractionation line are quantified by Delta(17)O; our precision (1) of such measurements on individual samples is shown to be +/-0.024 per thousand. In turn, this permits the offset between parallel, mass-dependent fractionation lines to be characterised to substantially greater precision than has been possible hitherto. Application of this system to investigate the (17)O versus (18)O relationship for numerous terrestrial whole-rock and mineral samples, of diverse geological origins and age, indicates that the complete data set may be described by a single, mass-dependent fractionation line of slope 0.5244+/- 0.00038 (standard error). Copyright 1999 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Test of bell’s inequality using the one-atom micromaser

We examine a local realist bound in the case of a one-atom micromaser. It is shown that such a bound is violated using a simplified treatment of the micromaser. We consider the effect of dissipation in a proposed experiment with the real micromaser. It is seen that the magnitude of violation of a Bell-type inequality depends significantly on the cavity parameters.     

Solvent-resistant ultraflat gold using liquid glass

Templating against atomically flat materials allows creation of smooth metallic surfaces. The process of adding the backing (superstrate) to the deposited metals has proven to be the most difficult part in producing reliable, large-area, solvent-resistant substrates and has been the subject of recent research. In this paper we describe a simple and inexpensive liquid glass template-stripping (lgTS) method for the fabrication of large area ultraflat gold surfaces. Using our lgTS method, ultraflat gold surfaces with normals aligned along the <111> crystal plane and with a root-mean-square roughness of 0.275 nm (over 1 μm(2)) were created. The surfaces are fabricated on silica-based substrates which are highly solvent resistant and electrically insulating using silicate precursor solution (commonly known as "liquid glass") and concomitant mild heat treatment. We demonstrate the capabilities of such ultraflat gold surfaces by imaging nanoscale objects on top and fabricating microelectrodes as an example application. Because of the simplicity and versatility of the fabrication process, lgTS will have wide-ranging application in imaging, catalysis, electrochemistry, and surface science.