Effect of surface attachment on synthesis of bacterial cellulose

Gluconacetobacter spp. synthesize a pure form of hydrophilic cellulose that has several industrial specialty applications. Literature reports have concentrated on intensive investigation of static and agitated culture in liquid media containing high nutrient concentrations optimized for maximal cellulose production rates. The behavior of these bacteria on semisolid and solid surfaces has not been specifically addressed. The species Gluconacetobacter hansenii was examined for cellulose synthesis and colony morphology on a range of solid supports, including cotton linters, and on media thickened with agar, methyl cellulose, or gellan. The concentration and chemical structure of the thickening agent were found to be directly related to the formation of contiguous cellulose pellicules. Viability of the bacteria following freezer storage was improved when the bacteria were frozen in their cellulose pellicules. This article was authored by a contractor of the US government under contract no. DEAC05-00OR22725. Accordingly, the US government retains a nonexclusive, royalty-free license to publish or reproduce the published form of this contribution, or allow others to do so, for US government purposes.     

The range and kind of order in random tetrahedral structures

A hypothetical model for amorphous silicon was obtained by simple deletion of the 2-connected points in a random network construction of vitreous silica. The distribution of atom pair separations has five distinguishable peaks, the first two of which are essentially Gaussian. Detailed asymmetry of the third peak is largely associated with the variable geometry of 6-membered rings. Topological analysis of neighbors, in terms of the number of bonds traversed in a connected path, yields the shape of individual components which are overlapped in the pair distribution curve. Mathematical manipulation of the atom coordinates can be made in physically reasonable ways without breaking connections or significantly changing the structural details in peaks at the larger distances. Coordination or packing numbers for the average atom have been obtained from topological analysis. These are in remarkable agreement with the numbers obtained by the same analysis of the diamond lattice.     

Some new PDE methods for weak KAM theory

We discuss a new approximate variational principle for weak KAM theory. The advantage of this approach is that we build both a minimizing measure and a solution of the generalized eikonal equation at the same time. Furthermore the approximations are smooth, and so we can derive some interesting formulas upon differentiating the Euler-Lagrange equation. Our method is inspired by the ”calculus of variations in the sup-norm” ideas of Aronsson, Jensen, Barron and others. Received: 30 November 2001 / Accepted: 23 January 2002 / Published online: 5 September 2002 RID="*" ID="*" Supported in part by NSF Grant DMS-0070480 and by the Miller Institute for Basic Research in Science, UC Berkeley     

A search for fractional electric charge in sea water

The magnetic levitation technique has been used to test for fractional electric charge in sea water, using steel balls coated with sea water residue by evaporation. The objective was to reach concentration levels below 1 g^?1 which might result from cosmic ray interactions. Four stages of increasing sensitivity are reported: (1) residue from direct evaporation of unprocessed sea water, (2) residue from sea water samples enriched by ion exchangen, (3) residue reduced by high temperature evaporation, and (4) hypothetical enrichment by dilution and separation of soluble residue. Stages 1–3 are based on the generally accepted preferential retention of fractional charge during evaporation, but stage 4 limits are subject to uncertainties in the enrichment process. No evidence for fractional charge was found in a total of about 130 samples tested in these four stages. Samples containing positive and negative ions were tested separately, and concentration limits are reported for each of the stages. Levels in the region 0.01–0.1g^?1 were reached in stage 3, and 0.001 g^?1 in stage 4.     

Smart Geodesic Tracing in GRworkbench

We have developed a new tool for numerical work in General Relativity: GRworkbench. We discuss how GRworkbench's implementation of a numerically-amenable analogue to Differential Geometry facilitates the development of robust and chart-independent numerical algorithms. We consider, as an example, geodesic tracing on two charts covering the exterior Schwarzschild space-time.     

Double-quantum dipolar recoupling at high magic-angle spinning rates

A full investigation of the possible homonuclear double-quantum recoupling sequences, based on the RN family of sequences with N < or = 20, is given. Several new RN sequences, R16(6)(5), R18(8)(5), and R18(10)(5), were applied at high magic-angle spinning rates and compared with theory. The R18(10)(5) technique can be used to recouple dipolar couplings at spinning rates up to 39 kHz, and the application of the sequence in an INADEQUATE experiment is shown for a spinning rate of 30 kHz.     

Enhancedt −3/2 long-time tail for the stress-stress time correlation function

Nonequilibrium molecular dynamics is used to calculate the spectrum of shear viscosity for a Lennard-Jones fluid. The calculated zero-frequency shear viscosity agrees well with experimental argon results for the two state points considered. The low-frequency behavior of shear viscosity is dominated by an ^1/2 cusp. Analysis of the form of this cusp reveals that the stress-stress time correlation function exhibits at ^–3/2 long-time tail. It is shown that for the state points studied, the amplitude of this long-time tail is between 12 and 150 times larger than what has been predicted theoretically. If the low-frequency results are truly asymptotic, they imply that the cross and potential contributions to the Kubo-Green integrand for shear viscosity exhibit at ^–3/2 long-time tail. This result contradicts the established theory of such processes.