Electrochemical reduction of sodium metavanadate in an equimolar KCl-NaCl melt

Electrochemical reduction of sodium metavanadate in an equimolar KCl-NaCl melt and the effect of acid-base properties of environment on this process are studied by a voltammetry method on a stationary platinum electrode. It is established that the limiting current of the NaVO₃ electroreduction process has a kinetic nature. The process proceeds via an autoinhibition scheme and its rate is limited by an acid-base reaction conjugated with an irreversible charge transfer reaction. A substantial role of cationic composition of the melt is revealed experimentally. Following acidification of the KCl-NaCl-NaVO₃ melt by Mg²⁺ (from MgCl₂), the process passes from an irreversible kinetic regime into a reversible diffusion (quasi-diffusion) process. Values of stability constants for vanadates produced with the aid of acid-base titration of vanadium pentoxide by oxygen ions in experimental conditions are presented. These values are taken into account when calculating kinetic parameters of the NaVO₃ electroreduction.     

Empirical minimization

We investigate the behavior of the empirical minimization algorithm using various methods. We first analyze it by comparing the empirical, random, structure and the original one on the class, either in an additive sense, via the uniform law of large numbers, or in a multiplicative sense, using isomorphic coordinate projections. We then show that a direct analysis of the empirical minimization algorithm yields a significantly better bound, and that the estimates we obtain are essentially sharp. The method of proof we use is based on Talagrand's concentration inequality for empirical processes. Research partially supported by NSF under award DMS-0434393. Research partially supported by the Australian Research Council Discovery Porject DP0343616.     

Electronic structure of CeAl2 thin films studied by X-ray absorption spectroscopy

We report X-ray absorption near edge structures (XANES) study of CeAl₂ thin films of various thicknesses, 40-120 nm, at Al K- and Ce L₃-edges. The threshold of the absorption features at the Al K-edge shifts to the higher photon energy side as film thickness decreases, implying a decreased in Al p-orbital charges. On the other hand, from Ce L₃-edge spectra, we observed a decrease in the 5d4f occupancy as the surface-to-bulk ratio increases. The valence of Ce in these thin films, as revealed by the Ce L₃-edge spectral results, is mainly trivalent. From a more detailed analysis we found a small amount of Ce⁴⁺ contribution, which increases with decreasing film thickness. Our results indicate that the surface-to-bulk ratio is the key factor which affects the electronic structure of CeAl₂ thin films. The above observations also suggest that charge transfer from Al to Ce is associated with the decrease of the film thickness.     

Magnetic and magneto-optical properties of CoFeCrSiB amorphous ribbons

In this paper we investigate the surface magnetic properties of as-quenched (AQ) CoFeCrBSi ribbons prepared by planar flow casting method with using magneto-optic Kerr effect (MOKE). Measured hysteresis loops in longitudinal and transversal configurations enable us to obtain the information of ribbons surface magnetic properties. Moreover, we suggest new magneto-optic method, which is based on measurements of magneto-optical effects depending on DC current flowing through the ribbon. Experimental data of AQ ribbons are then compared with the model, which describes the influence of incidence angle on magneto-optical angles.     

Theorem on the oblique derivative for uniformly parabolic equations of the second order

Moscow. Translated from Sibirskii Matematichskii Zhurnal, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 114–122, January–February, 1989.     

Determining the statistical parameters of nonstationary stochastic processes

We construct estimators of the expectation of a nonstationary stochastic process with time-dependent variance. Limit relations are obtained for particular correlation dependences.Translated from Statisticheskie Metody, pp. 98–103, 1982.     

Asymmetry in the Multiprotein Systems of Molecular Biology

Signaling in living systems needs to achieve high specificity, to be reversible, and to achieve high signal to noise. Signaling mediated by multiprotein systems has evolved that avoids the requirement for high-affinity binary complexes that would be difficult to reverse and which, in the overcrowded cell, would lead to excessive noise in the system. Symmetrical structures are only occasionally formed. When they are, it is principally to colocate components, for example, the tyrosyl kinases of growth factors, where dimers form. Symmetry is, however, often broken, presumably to create more sensitivity and specificity in the signaling system by assembling other components, into higher-order multiprotein systems. The binding of a single heparin to two 1:1 FGF:FGFR complexes is an example, as is the binding of a single ligase to the Xrcc4 dimer, perhaps so creating a further DNA-binding site.     

Synthesis of pyrido[1,2-c][1,3]benzoxazines based on 1-benzyl-3-hydroxy-3-methyl-6-(2-benzyloxyphenyl)-4-piperidones

The stereomeric 1-benzyl-3-hydroxy-3-methyl-6e-(2-bemyloxyphenyl)-4-piperidones on debenzylation and subsequent reaction with formaldehyde are converted into cis- and trans-1,3,4-10b-tetrahydro-3-hydroxy-3-methyl-2-oxopyrido-[1,2-c][1,3]benzoxazines.Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 1, pp. 124–127, January, 1991.     

Fourier-Galerkin numerical technique for solitary waves of fifth order Korteweg-de Vries equation

The present paper is aimed to display the performance of the Fourier-Galerkin technique developed earlier by the authors for numerical treatment of localized solutions in ²(-∞, ∞) for higher-order equations. The solitary-wave solution of the Kortweg-de Vries fifth order equation is obtained numerically and compared with approximate results of other authors.     

A generalization of Connor's inequality to t-designs with automorphisms

In this paper the incidence algebra for t-designs with automorphisms and the fundamental theorem discovered in [4] are exploited to obtain a generalization of Connor's inequality.