Instabilities of isotropic solutions of active polar filaments

We study the dynamics of an isotropic solution of polar filaments coupled by molecular motors which generate relative motion of the filaments in two and three dimensions. We investigate the stability of the homogeneous state for constant motor concentration taking into account excluded volume and an estimate of entanglement. At low filament density the system develops a density instability, while at high density entanglement drives the instability of orientational fluctuations.     

Driven depinning of strongly disordered media and anisotropic mean-field limits

Extended systems driven through strong disorder are modeled generically using coarse-grained degrees of freedom that interact elastically in the directions parallel to the drive and slip along at least one of the directions transverse to the motion. In the limit of infinite-range elastic and viscous coupling this model has a tricritical point separating a region where the depinning is continuous, in the universality class of elastic depinning, from a region where depinning is hysteretic. Many of the collective transport models discussed in the literature are special cases of the generic model.     

A prototype calix[4]arene-based receptor for carbohydrate recognition containing peptide and phosphate binding groups

A novel class of macrobicyclic receptors for carbohydrate recognition based on upper rim, peptide-bridged calix[4]arenes has been designed and synthesized. Receptor 12, in which a charged phosphate group cooperates with peptide hydrogen-bonding donor and acceptor groups in the binding process, is the most efficient and selective in the complexation of simple carbohydrate derivatives. The selectivity observed is toward beta-glucoside 13a, which is better bound (DeltaG degrees = 19.6 kJ mol(-)(1)) compared to the corresponding alpha anomer 13b (DeltaG degrees = 17.0 kJ mol(-)(1)) and to the beta-galactoside 13c (DeltaG degrees = 17.7 kJ mol(-)(1)) in CDCl(3). A substantial drop in the stability constant is observed by esterification of the phosphate group in the host 12 or by alkylation of the OH groups in the 2 and 3 positions in the beta-glucoside and beta-galactoside derivatives. On the basis of a careful analysis of the (1)H NMR data available, a binding mode of the beta-octylglucoside 13a to receptor 12 is proposed.     

X-ray structure of dodecasodium tricopper(II)bis[nonatungstabismuthate(III) hydrate, a polyoxometalate salt containing α-B-BiW9O33 units

The reaction of [Bi₂W₂₂O₇₄(OH)₂]^12– with Cu²⁺ in hot aqueous solution in the presence of Na⁺ affords the polyoxometalate salt Na₁₂[Cu₃Bi₂W₁₈O₆₆]32H₂O. Single-crystal X-ray analysis [monoclinic, space-group C2/m, a = 33.082(6) Å, b = 19.615(5) Å, c = 14.885(2) Å, = 90.632(12)°, Z = 4; R(F) = 0.065 for 6029 data with I> (I), wR(F ²) = 0.135 for all 8793 independent reflections] shows that the anion [{Cu(H₂O)}₃{BiW₉O₃₃}₂]^12–, on a crystal mirror-plane, has noncrystallographic symmetry close to D_3h. Two B--[Bi^IIIW₉O₃₃]^9– units are linked by an equatorial belt of three Cu(H₂O)²⁺ units. Three Na(H₂O)₂ ⁺ units are also attached in the equatorial plane. The bond geometry is square-pyramidal about each Cu atom and trigonal–prismatic about each Na.     

Pre-equilibrium dipole strength in charge asymmetric peripheral heavy-ion reactions

We report on the results obtained from the study of the ³²S + ⁶⁴Ni and ³²S + ⁵⁸Ni peripheral reactions at incident energies E _lab = 288 MeV and E _lab = 320 MeV, respectively. High-energy γ-rays were detected in an array of 8 seven-pack BaF₂ clusters. Coincidence with complex fragments detected in 12 three-stage telescopes ensured the selection of peripheral reaction events. All of the relevant reaction parameters were kept constant with the exception of the different initial dipole moment caused by the different entrance channel charge asymmetry. While for quasi-elastic events no N/Z effect was observed in the differential γ-ray multiplicities of the two reactions, for deep-inelastic events a larger dipole γ-ray emission occurs during the more N/Z asymmetric reaction. A theoretical interpretation based on a collective Bremsstrahlung analysis of the reaction dynamics is presented. Received: 26 September 2002 / Accepted: 13 November 2002 / Published online: 6 March 2003 RID="a" ID="a"e-mail: pierroutsakou@na.infn.it RID="b" ID="b"Present address: INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Legnaro, Padova, Italy. Communicated by C. Signorini     

Sol-Gel Nanosized Semiconducting Titania-Based Powders for Thick-Film Gas Sensors

Pure, 5 at%, and 10 at% Ta- or Nb-doped TiO₂ nanosized powders were prepared by the sol-gel method. The powders heated to 400°C have the crystalline anatase structure. While the pure TiO₂ powder heated to 850°C has the rutile structure, the addition of Ta and Nb inhibited the anatase-to-rutile phase transformation at this temperature. Ta was soluble in the titania lattice up to the concentration of 10 at%, while the solubility of Nb was 5 at%. Thick films were fabricated with these powders by screen printing technology and then fired at 650°C and 850°C for 1 h. SEM observations showed that the anatase-to-rutile phase transformation induces a grain growth of about one order of magnitude for pure TiO₂. The addition of Ta and Nb is effective to keep the TiO₂ grain size at the nanometric level even at 850°C. Conductance measurements showed that a good gas response is observed only for the nanostructured titania-based films. The CO response of these materials is only slightly affected by humidity.     

Real Matrix Representations for the Complex Quaternions

Starting from known results, due to Y. Tian in [5], referring to the real matrix representations of the real quaternions, in this paper we will investigate the left and right real matrix representations for the complex quaternions and we will give some examples in the special case of the complex Fibonacci quaternions.