Near Optimal Separation Of Tree-Like And General Resolution

We present the best known separation between tree-like and general resolution, improving on the recent exp(n ) separation of [2]. This is done by constructing a natural family of contradictions, of size n, that have O(n)-size resolution refutations, but only exp((n/log n))- size tree-like refutations. This result implies that the most commonly used automated theorem procedures, which produce tree-like resolution refutations, will perform badly on some inputs, while other simple procedures, that produce general resolution refutations, will have polynomial run-time on these very same inputs. We show, furthermore that the gap we present is nearly optimal. Specifically, if S (S _T ) is the minimal size of a (tree-like) refutation, we prove that S _T = exp(O(S log log S/log S)).* This research was supported by Clore Foundation Doctoral Scholarship. Research supported by NSF Award CCR-0098197 and USA–Israel BSF Grant 97-00188. This research was supported by grant number 69/96 of the Israel Science Foundation, founded by the Israel Academy for Sciences and Humanities.     

High energy neutrinos from gamma-ray bursts with precursor supernovae

The high energy neutrino signature from proton-proton and photo-meson interactions in a supernova remnant shell ejected prior to a gamma-ray burst provides a test for the precursor supernova, or supranova, model of gamma-ray bursts. Protons in the supernova remnant shell and photons entrapped from a supernova explosion or a pulsar wind from a fast-rotating neutron star remnant provide ample targets for protons escaping the internal shocks of the gamma-ray burst to interact and produce high energy neutrinos. We calculate the expected neutrino fluxes, which can be detected by current and future experiments.     

Aging in subdiffusion generated by a deterministic dynamical system

We investigate aging behavior in a simple dynamical system: a nonlinear map which generates subdiffusion deterministically. Asymptotic behaviors of the diffusion process are described using aging continuous time random walks. We show how these processes are described by an aging diffusion equation which is of fractional order. Our work demonstrates that aging behavior can be found in deterministic low dimensional dynamical systems.     

The effect of the bridge group on the thermal stability of nitro-substituted aromatic polyamides

The effect of introducing a bridge group into the diamine moiety on the thermal stability of aromatic polyamides substituted with nitro group in the diamine ring at the ortho position to the amide group was studied. Our present work showed that the bridge group, whether it was electron withdrawing or releasing, did not have a significant effect on the activity of the nitro group for the intramolecular cyclization reaction to poly(benzoxazole)s.     

Non‐centrosymmetric plasmonic crystals for second‐harmonic generation with controlled anisotropy and enhancement

Rectangular arrays of pyramidal recesses coated by silver film are investigated by means of polarization‐resolved nonlinear microscopy at 900 nm fundamental wavelength, demonstrating strong dependence of the dipole‐allowed SHG upon the lattice parameters. The plasmonic band gap causes nearly complete SHG suppression in arrays of 650 nm periodicity, whereas a sharp resonance at 550 nm periodicity is observed due to excitation of band edge Bloch states at fundamental frequency, accompanied by symmetry‐constrained interactions with similar modes at the second‐harmonic frequency. Additionally, coupling with modes at the bottom side of the silver film may lead to extraordinary optical transmission, opening a channel for SHG from the highly nonlinear GaAs substrate. Changing the lattice geometry enables SHG intensity modulation over three orders of magnitude, while the effective nonlinear anisotropy can be continuously switched between the two lattice directions, reaching values as high as ±0.96.

     

Modern approaches to chemical toxicity screening

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The Assembly‐Disassembly‐Organization‐Reassembly Mechanism for 3D‐2D‐3D Transformation of Germanosilicate IWW Zeolite

Hydrolysis of germanosilicate zeolites with the IWW structure shows two different outcomes depending on the composition of the starting materials. Ge‐rich IWW (Si/Ge=3.1) is disassembled into a layered material (IPC‐5P), which can be reassembled into an almost pure silica IWW on treatment with diethoxydimethylsilane. Ge‐poor IWW (Si/Ge=6.4) is not completely disassembled on hydrolysis, but retains some 3D connectivity. This structure can be reassembled into IWW by incorporation of Al to fill the defects left when the Ge is removed.     

Dual propagation inversion of truncated signals

Fourier transforms occur in a variety of chemical systems and processes. A few examples include obtaining spectral information from correlation functions, energy relaxation processes, spectral densities obtained from force autocorrelation functions, etc. In this article, a new functional transform, named the dual propagation inversion (DPI) is introduced. The DPI functional transform can be applied to a variety of problems in chemistry, such as Fourier transforms of time correlation functions, energy relaxation processes, rate theory, etc. The present illustrative application is to generating the frequency representation of a discrete, truncated time-domain signal. The DPI result is compared with the traditional Fourier transform applied to the same truncated time signal. For both noise-free and noise-corrupted time-truncated signals, the DPI spectrum is found to be more accurate, particularly as the signal is more severely truncated. In the DPI, the distributed-approximating-functional free propagator is used to propagate and denoise the signal simultaneously. Received: 30 January 2000 / Accepted: 6 July 2000 / Published online: 23 November 2000     

Randomized broadcast in networks

In this paper we study the rate at which a rumor spreads through an undirected graph. This study has two important applications in distributed computation: in simple, robust and efficient broadcast protocols, and in the maintenance of replicated databases.     

Optical properties of human prostate at 732 nm measured in mediated photodynamic therapy

Characterization of the tissue light penetration in prostate photodynamic therapy (PDT) is important to plan the arrangement and weighting of light sources so that sufficient light fluence is delivered to the treatment volume. The optical properties (absorption [mu(a)], transport scattering [mu(s)'] and effective attenuation [mu(eff)] coefficients) of 13 patients with locally recurrent prostate cancer were measured in situ using interstitial isotropic detectors. Measurements were made at 732 nm before and after motexafin lutetium (MLu)-mediated PDT in four quadrants. Optical properties were derived by applying the diffusion theory to the fluence rates measured at several distances (0.5-5 cm) from a point source. mu(a) and mu(s)' varied between 0.07 and 1.62 cm(-1) (mean 0.37 +/- 0.24 cm(-1)) and 1.1 and 44 cm(-1) (mean 14 +/- 11 cm(-1)), respectively. mu(a) was proportional to the concentration of MLu measured by an ex vivo fluorescence assay. We have observed, on average, a reduction of the MLu concentration after PDT, presumably due to the PDT consumption of MLu. mu(eff) varied between 0.91 and 6.7 cm(-1) (mean 2.9 +/- 0.7 cm(-1)), corresponding to an optical penetration depth (delta = 1/micro(eff)) of 0.1-1.1 cm (mean 0.4 +/- 0.1 cm). The mean penetration depth at 732 nm in human prostate is at least two times smaller than that found in normal canine prostates, which can be explained by a four times increase of the mean value of mu(s)' in human prostates. The mean light fluence rate per unit source strength at 0.5 cm from a point source was 1.5 +/- 1.1 cm(-2), excluding situations when bleeding occurs. The total number of measurements was N = 121 for all mean quantities listed above. This study showed significant inter- and intraprostatic differences in the optical properties, suggesting that a real-time dosimetry measurement and feedback system for monitoring light fluences during treatment should be considered for future PDT studies.