Numerical models of pressure pulse generation by imploding metalliners

The authors describe numerical calculations of pressure pulse generation using imploding liners. Liners are metal cylinders that are magnetically compressed by an intense axial current flow from a high-power pulse generator. The simulations cover the acceleration of the liner, collision with an internal diagnostic target, followed by compression and shock wave heating of the target. With the projected current waveform of the Atlas capacitor bank (in development at Los Alamos National Laboratory), initial results suggest that it may be possible to achieve pressures exceeding 3000 Gpa (30 Mbar) in a 4 mm diameter sample over an interval of 100-200 ns. The simulations were carried out with Crunch, a new one-dimensional hydrodynamics package for advanced personal computers. The program uses finite-element techniques to solve the coupled problems of hydrodynamics and magnetic diffusion. Crunch fully supports loading and interpolating Sesame equation-of-state tables. The program exhibits excellent stability, even for collisions between material shells and shock convergence on axis     

Substoichiometric determination of traces of palladium by radioactive isotope-dilution analysis

A radioactive isotope-dilution method for the determination of traces of palladium has been developed. It is based on the solvent extraction of palladium dithizonate from acid solution by means of a substoichiometric amount of dithizone in carbon tetrachloride. The separation has been applied to the determination of traces of palladium in platinum, the rocks W-1 and PCC-1 and a biological material (kale). Amounts of palladium down to 3 ng have been determined.     

The nature of the active species in bis(imino)pyridyl cobalt ethylene polymerisation catalysts

Studies on cobalt ethylene polymerisation catalysts bearing bis(imino)pyridine ligands strongly indicate that the activated species is not the anticipated cobalt(II) alkyl cation.     

Synthesis of new ferrocenyl aminoalcohols and aminonitriles and catalytic properties of the aminoalcohols in the ethylation of benzaldehyde

Chiral ferrocenyl aminoalcohols possessing either OH or NR₂ functionality to the ferrocenyl ring were prepared and exhibit modest enantioselectivities for the addition of diethylzinc to benzaldehyde. Chiral ferrocenyl aminonitriles exhibit a facile inversion process in protonic solvents.     

Intersection-number operators and Chebyshev polynomials IV: non-planar cases

We define operators on a ring that allow one to determine the geometric intersection number of two simple closed curves on an oriented surface of genus g ≥ 0 with free fundamental group. A variation of these same operators was used in a previous paper to do a similar thing on a punctured disc. This result is used to give a necessary condition for two words in a free group to have the same character under all representations of the free group into .      

Modulation of cartilage differentiation by melanoma inhibiting activity/cartilage-derived retinoic acid-sensitive protein (MIA/CD-RAP)

Melanoma inhibiting activity/cartilage-derived retinoic acid-sensitive protein (MIA/CD-RAP) is a small soluble protein secreted from malignant melanoma cells and from chondrocytes. Recently, we revealed that MIA/CD-RAP can modulate bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)2-induced osteogenic differentiation into a chondrogenic direction. In the current study we aimed to find the molecular details of this MIA/CD-RAP function. Direct influence of MIA on BMP2 by protein-protein-interaction or modulating SMAD signaling was ruled out experimentally. Instead, we revealed inhibition of ERK signaling by MIA/CD-RAP. This inhibition is regulated via binding of MIA/CD-RAP to integrin α5 and abolishing its activity. Active ERK signaling is known to block chondrogenic differentiation and we revealed induction of aggrecan expression in chondrocytes by treatment with MIA/CD-RAP or PD098059, an ERK inhibitor. In in vivo models we could support the role of MIA/CD-RAP in influencing osteogenic differentiation negatively. Further, MIA/CD-RAP-deficient mice revealed an enhanced calcified cartilage layer of the articular cartilage of the knee joint and disordered arrangement of chondrocytes. Taken together, our data indicate that MIA/CD-RAP stabilizes cartilage differentiation and inhibits differentiation into bone potentially by regulating signaling processes during differentiation.     

Fluorescent coumarin thiols measure biological redox couples

In this report we present a new chemical probe, 3-HTC, that can reversibly and ratiometrically measure the thiol-disulfide equilibrium of biological systems. 3-HTC is composed of a coumarin that has a thiolate directly conjugated to its extended aromatic π system while formation of a disulfide attenuates this conjugation. The fluorescence and absorption properties of 3-HTC are therefore very sensitive to the redox state of its thiol. 3-HTC reacts reversibly with thiols and disulfides enabling its use to measure dynamic GSH/GSSH ratios in vitro as well as to monitor the reversible redox status of whole cell lysates.