Perturbations of Pseudodifferential Operators with Negative Definite Symbol

Pseudodifferential operators with negative definite symbols appear as generators of jump-type Markov processes. The purpose of this paper is to treat the large jumps of the process by a perturbation approach for the generator. This is of particular interest since in this way the generators are made accessible to a symbolic calculus of pseudodifferential operators. The main auxiliary result consists of a characterization of tightness of the jump measures in terms of the symbol.     

Mixed convection from an isothermal vertical flat plate moving in parallel or reversely to a free stream

Mixed convection heat transfer from a vertically moving plate to a flowing free stream is investigated. The plate moves either in parallel or reversely to the free stream; and the buoyancy force accelerates or retards the flow. An universal formulation can be obtained from which similarity and nonsimilarity equations for six limiting cases of forced, natural, and mixed convection can be readily reduced. Accurate finite-difference solutions and comprehensive correlations of heat transfer rate for 0.01≤Pr≤10000 are presented over the entire domains of mixed convection and relative velocity.     

Evaluation of automated direct sample introduction with comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry for the screening analysis of dioxins in fish oil

An automated direct sample introduction technique coupled to comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time of flight mass spectrometry (DSI-GC x GC/TOF-MS) was applied for the development of a relatively fast and easy analytical screening method for 17 polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins/dibenzofurans (PCDD/Fs) and 4 non-ortho polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in fish oil. Comparison of instrumental performance between DSI-GC x GC/TOF-MS and the traditional gas chromatographic high resolution mass spectrometric (GC-HRMS) method showed good agreement of results for standard solutions analyzed in blind fashion. Relatively high tolerance of the DSI technique for lipids in the final extracts enabled a streamlined sample preparation procedure that only required gel permeation chromatography (GPC) and solid-phase extraction (SPE) cleanup with graphitized carbon black. The sample size for the method was 2g of cod liver oil, which achieved limits of quantitation (LOQs) of 0.019-7.8 pg/g toxic equivalent quotients for the individual PCDD/Fs. Lower detection limits can be achieved by using larger sample size and scaling up the sample preparation procedure, but this adds to the labor, time, solvent consumption, and expense of the approach. However, the streamlined method yielded 0.94 pg/g and 2.3 pg/g LOQs for 2,3,7,8-tetrachloro dibenzofuran (TCDF) and 3,3',4,4',5-pentachloro biphenyl (CB126), which were sufficiently low for regulatory monitoring of 2g samples. Therefore, instead of congener specific analysis, this streamlined analytical screening method for TCDF and CB126 has the potential to monitor fish oil contaminated with dioxin and dioxin-like PCBs at or above current food safety limits. Acceptable recoveries for nearly all analytes at three different spiking levels in fish oil samples were achieved with good repeatability.     

Micropatterns of an extracellular matrix protein with defined information content

One powerful approach to understanding how cells process spatially variant signals is based on using micropatterned substrates to control the distribution of signaling molecules. However, quantifying spatially complex signals requires an appropriate metric. Here we propose that the Shannon information theory formalism provides a robust and useful way to quantify the organization of proteins in micropatterned systems. To demonstrate the use of informational entropy as a metric, we produced patterns of lines of fibronectin with varying information content. Fibroblasts grown on these patterns were sensitive to very small changes in informational entropy (6.6 bits), and the responses depended on the scale of the pattern.     

An integrated chemical biology approach provides insight into cdk2 functional redundancy and inhibitor sensitivity

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Highlights? Demonstration that Cdk2 is rate-limiting for DNA replication due to insufficient Cdk1 activity ? A simple bioinformatic approach to design inhibitor resistant mutations in kinases ? Demonstration of distinct binding modes and selectivity of Cdk inhibitors ? Identification of kinetic and structural mechanisms of inhibitor resistance     

Solving sparse linear systems by an abs-method that corresponds toLU-decomposition

Abaffy, Broyden, and Spedicato (ABS) have recently proposed a class of direct methods for solving nonsparse linear systems. It is the purpose of this paper to demonstrate that with proper choice of parameters, ABS methods exploit sparsity in a natural way. In particular, we study the choice of parameters which corresponds to an LU-decomposition of the coefficient matrix. In many cases, the fill-in, represented by the nonzero elements of the deflection matrix, uses less storage than the corresponding fill-in of an explicit LU factorization. Hence the above can be a viable and simple method for solving sparse linear systems. A simple reordering scheme for the coefficient matrix is also proposed for the purpose of reducing fill-in of the deflection matrices.     

Epistemological and Historical Implications for Elementary Particle Theories

The epistemological credo of Einstein is further developed and specified in greater detail for practical applications. The results are applied to quasi-historical creation processes of established physical theories and to current theories for elementary particles. The outcome of these applications is then considered from epistemological viewpoints. Reasons underlying the basic difficulties of the current main stream particle theory, the standard model, are given. The steps in the creation of an alternative approach, the scalar strong interaction hadron theory, are delineated.     

Radiative Decay of Vector Meson V → Pγ in the Spinor Strong Interaction Theory

The spinor strong interaction theory recentlydeveloped is applied to the radiative decay of atwo-quark vector meson into pseudoscalar meson V P. Expression of the decay rate isderived in this first-principle theory without assumptionand free parameter. The ratio (D^*0 D⁰)/(D^*+ D⁺) is correctly predicted. Theorders of magnitude of the radiative decay rates of B*,D*, K*, and estimated from this expression areconsistent with data. Very fast mesons have a smallersize then do mesons at rest, similar to Lorentzcontraction in laboratory space.