Microbial hydroxylation of sclareol by Rhizopus stolonifer

Incubation of sclareol with Rhizopus stolonifer affords in high yield a mixture of triols with 18-hydroxy-sclareol as the main component.     

Complemented congruences on Ockham algebras

An Ockham algebra that satisfies the identity is called a K_{n, m}-algebra. Generalizing some results obtained in [2], J. Varlet and T. Blyth, in [3, Chapter 8], study congruences on K_{1, 1}-algebras. In particular, they describe the complement (when it exists) of a principal congruence and characterize these congruences that are complemented. In this paper we study the same question for K_{n, m}-algebras. Received March 24, 2005; accepted in final form April 28, 2005.     

Dynamics of tournaments: the soccer case

A random walk-like model is considered to discuss statistical aspects of tournaments. The model is applied to soccer leagues with emphasis on the scores. This competitive system was computationally simulated and the results are compared with empirical data from the English, the German and the Spanish leagues and showed a good agreement with them. The present approach enabled us to characterize a diffusion where the scores are not normally distributed, having a short and asymmetric tail extending towards more positive values. We argue that this non-Gaussian behavior is related with the difference between the teams and with the asymmetry of the scores system. In addition, we compared two tournament systems: the all-play-all and the elimination tournaments.     

k-Core organization of complex networks

We analytically describe the architecture of randomly damaged uncorrelated networks as a set of successively enclosed substructures--k-cores. The k-core is the largest subgraph where vertices have at least k interconnections. We find the structure of k-cores, their sizes, and their birthpoints--the bootstrap percolation thresholds. We show that in networks with a finite mean number zeta2 of the second-nearest neighbors, the emergence of a k-core is a hybrid phase transition. In contrast, if zeta2 diverges, the networks contain an infinite sequence of k-cores which are ultrarobust against random damage.     

Parametrizing PCM to obtain solvation free energies from group contributions

A parametrization methodology for evaluating the solvation free energy, using the polarizable continuum model implemented in Gamess software, is presented in a formulation which makes use of a group contribution conception to construct the cavities. The systems studied include alkanes, alcohols, aldehydes and ketones embeded in a continuous medium simulating the water as the solvent. For each family, the CH2, OH, and C=O moieties of atoms are put together in single spheres forming a group. The cavities are constructed in two different ways, one for the electrostatic component and the other for nonelectrostatic contributions, i.e., the cavitation, dispersion, and repulsion components of free energy of solvation. A multivariate analysis is performed to obtain an assembly of variables, for each homologous series, able to give the results which are close to experiment. The analysis is addressed in order to (i) compare the theoretical free energy of solvation with the experimental trends of the solutes in aqueous media, when the chain is increased, (ii) compare the behavior of each component of free energy with the increasing CH2 number, (iii) investigate the influence of the oxygen atom on the components, and (iv) quantify the relative contribution of each component to the final free energy of solvation for some homologous series.     

Critical exponents for Fréedericskz transition in nematics between concentric cylinders

The equilibrium tilt angle profile in a cell limited by two concentric cylinders filled with nematic liquid crystals is determined for strong homeotropic anchoring at the surfaces. The anchoring condition is such that the nematic director is perpendicular to the cylinder axes and a radial nonuniform electric field is applied to investigate a Fréedericksz transition. The distortions induced by the field remain in the plane perpendicular to the cylinder axes, and a threshold field is analytically determined indicating a transition from a pure splay to a splay-bend conformation of the director. It is shown that this transition can be induced by the thickness of the region between the two cylinders, and can be detected even in the absence of an external field. If the maximum value of the tilt angle is assumed as an order parameter, its behavior near to the transition can be used to obtain the critical exponent, which is the same as the one obtained in the mean field approximation. These results are indications that nontrivial consequences may occur when complex fluids are subject to non-planar geometries.     

An algorithm for the determination of graphs associated to fold maps between closed surfaces

The aim of this paper is to introduce a computational tool that checks theoretical conditions in order to determine whether a weighted graph, as a topological invariant of stable maps, can be associated to stable maps without cusps (ie, fold maps) from closed surfaces to the projective plan.     

Rigidity of Free Boundary Surfaces in Compact 3-Manifolds with Strictly Convex Boundary

In this paper, we obtain an analogue of Toponogov theorem in dimension 3 for compact manifolds \(M^3\) with nonnegative Ricci curvature and strictly convex boundary \(\partial M\). Here we obtain a sharp upper bound for the length \(L(\partial \Sigma )\) of the boundary \(\partial \Sigma \) of a free boundary minimal surface \(\Sigma ^2\) in \(M^3\) in terms of the genus of \(\Sigma \) and the number of connected components of \(\partial \Sigma \), assuming \(\Sigma \) has index one. After, under a natural hypothesis on the geometry of M along \(\partial M\), we prove that if \(L(\partial \Sigma )\) saturates the respective upper bound, then \(M^3\) is isometric to the Euclidean 3-ball and \(\Sigma ^2\) is isometric to the Euclidean disk. In particular, we get a sharp upper bound for the area of \(\Sigma \), when \(M^3\) is a strictly convex body in \(\mathbb {R}^3\), which is saturated only on the Euclidean 3-balls (by the Euclidean disks). We also consider similar results for free boundary stable CMC surfaces.