Determination of platinum and biologically important trace elements in structure-activity relationship studies on platinum-containing anti-cancer drugs. Special procedures for removing32P as well as for the estimation of99 Mo and199Au

As part of an examination of the cytostatic effects of 1,2-diarylethylenediamine-platinum(II)-complexes the contents of platinum and biologically essential trace elements of tumour tissue and different organs were determined. The activation analysis procedure — separation of³²P, isolation of¹⁹⁹Au and⁹⁹Mo — is described. In the course of a pharmakokinetical experiment with tumourbearing rats (DMBA induced hormone-dependent tumours) the desired enrichment of the administered drug in the tumour tissue was found. Changes of the trace element level of tumour tissue were found for hormone-dependent MXT-mammary tumours on mice.     

Semigroups of matrices of intermediate growth

Finitely generated linear semigroups over a field K that have intermediate growth are considered. New classes of such semigroups are found and a conjecture on the equivalence of the subexponential growth of a finitely generated linear semigroup S and the nonexistence of free noncommutative subsemigroups in S, or equivalently the existence of a nontrivial identity satisfied in S, is stated. This ‘growth alternative’ conjecture is proved for linear semigroups of degree 2, 3 or 4. Certain results supporting the general conjecture are obtained. As the main tool, a new combinatorial property of groups is introduced and studied.     

Two crystals of doubly protonated melaminium salts: melaminium bis­(trifluoro­acetate) trihydrate and melaminium bis­(trichloro­acetate) dihydrate

Crystals of 2,4,6‐triamino‐1,3,5‐triazine‐1,3‐dium bis­(trifluoro­acetate) trihydrate, C₃H₈N₆²⁺·2CF₃COO⁻·3H₂O, and 2,4,6‐triamino‐1,3,5‐triazine‐1,3‐dium bis­(trichloro­acetate) dihydrate, C₃H₈N₆²⁺·2CCl₃COO⁻·2H₂O, both contain doubly protonated melamine rings that lie on crystallographic twofold axes. In the former structure, one water mol­ecule also lies on a twofold axis. While the trifluoro­acetate compound crystallizes in a centrosymmetric space group, the trichloro­acetate is non‐centrosymmetric, so it is useful as a material for non‐linear optics. The efficiency of second harmonic generation is about three times greater than that of KDP (KH₂PO₄). A combination of ionic and donor–acceptor hydrogen‐bond inter­actions link the melaminium(2+) residues with trifluoro­acetate or trichloro­acetate ions and water mol­ecules to form a three‐dimensional network.     

Moderate Deviations for Longest Increasing Subsequences: The Lower Tail

We derive a moderate deviation principle for the lower tail probabilities of the length of a longest increasing subsequence in a random permutation. It refers to the regime between the lower tail large deviation regime and the central limit regime. The present article together with the upper tail moderate deviation principle in Ref. 12 yields a complete picture for the whole moderate deviation regime. Other than in Ref. 12, we can directly apply estimates by Baik, Deift, and Johansson, who obtained a (non-standard) Central Limit Theorem for the same quantity.     

A systematic elimination procedure for Ito stochastic differential equations and the adiabatic approximation

We study a class of nonlinear Ito stochastic differential equations (with possibly state dependent diffusion coefficients), in which the variables can be divided into linearly damped (slaved) variables s and linearly undamped variablesu (order parameters). We devise a systematic and constructive procedure to eliminate the slaved variables. We take explicit time and chance dependence of the slaved variables into account, the latter via a family of diffusion processesZ _t ^(v) . These act as fluctuating coefficients of the Center Manifolds _t=s(u _t, t,Z _t ^(v) (v=2, 3, ...)) and appear explicitly in the elimination procedure. We show how in the Ito calculus fluctuating and deterministic coefficients of the Center Manifold are more completely separated than in the previously treated Stratonovich case [1]. The adiabatic approximation is defined as a partial summation of the elimination expansion and the stochastic generalization ofs=0 is derived. We show how thus ambiguity of stochastic calculi is removed. Closed form summations are given in two examples. We briefly indicate the potential use of perturbation theory techniques in the systematic elimination procedure.     

Risk management of a bond portfolio using options

In this paper, we elaborate a formula for determining the optimal strike price for a bond put option, used to hedge a position in a bond. This strike price is optimal in the sense that it minimizes, for a given budget, either Value-at-Risk or Tail Value-at-Risk. Formulas are derived for both zero-coupon and coupon bonds, which can also be understood as a portfolio of bonds. These formulas are valid for any short rate model that implies an affine term structure model and in particular that implies a lognormal distribution of future zero-coupon bond prices. As an application, we focus on the Hull-White one-factor model, which is calibrated to a set of cap prices. We illustrate our procedure by hedging a Belgian government bond, and take into account the possibility of divergence between theoretical option prices and real option prices. This paper can be seen as an extension of the work of Ahn and co-workers [Ahn, D., Boudoukh, J., Richardson, M., Whitelaw, R., 1999. Optimal risk management using options. J. Financ. 54, 359-375], who consider the same problem for an investment in a share.     

Potential for micromachined actuation of ultra-wide continuously tunable optoelectronic devices

Tailored scaling represents a principle of success that, both in nature and in technology, allows the effectiveness of physical effects to be enhanced. Mutation and selection in nature are imitated in technology, e.g. by model calculation and design. Proper scaling of dimensions in natural photonic crystals and our fabricated artificial 1D photonic crystals (DBRs, distributed Bragg reflectors) enable efficient diffractive interaction in a specific spectral range. For our optical microsystems we illustrate that tailored miniaturization may also increase the mechanical stability and the effectiveness of spectral tuning by thermal and electrostatic actuation, since the relative significance of the fundamental physical forces involved considerably changes with scaling. These basic physical principles are rigorously applied in micromachined 1.55-μm vertical-resonator-based devices. We modeled, implemented and characterized 1.55-μm micromachined optical filters and vertical-cavity surface-emitting laser devices capable of wide, monotonic and kink-free tuning by a single control parameter. Tuning is achieved by mechanical actuation of one or several air-gaps that are part of the vertical resonator including two ultra-highly reflective DBR mirrors of strong refractive index contrast: (i) Δn=2.17 for InP/air-gap DBRs (3.5 periods) using GaInAs sacrificial layers and (ii) Δn=0.5 for Si₃N₄/SiO₂ DBRs (12 periods) with a polymer sacrificial layer to implement the air-cavity. In semiconductor multiple air-gap filters, a continuous tuning of >8% of the absolute wavelength is obtained. Varying the reverse voltage (U=0–5 V) between the membranes (electrostatic actuation), a tuning range of >110 nm was obtained for a large number of devices. The correlation of the wavelength and the applied voltage is accurately reproducible without any hysteresis. In two filters, tuning of 127 and 130 nm was observed for about ΔU=7 V. The extremely wide tuning range and the very small voltage required are record values to the best of our knowledge. For thermally actuated dielectric filters based on polymer sacrificial layers, Δλ/ΔU=-7 nm/V is found. Received: 10 May 2002 / Published online: 8 August 2002