The structure of strongly stationary systems

Motivated by a problem in ergodic Ramsey theory, Furstenberg and Katznelson introduced the notion of strong stationarity, showing that certain recurrence properties hold for arbitrary measure preserving systems if they are valid for strongly stationary ones. We construct some new examples and prove a structure theorem for strongly stationary systems. The building blocks are Bernoulli systems and rotations on nilmanifolds.     

On the nature of the BOLD fMRI contrast mechanism

Since its development about 15 years ago, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become the leading research tool for mapping brain activity. The technique works by detecting the levels of oxygen in the blood, point by point, throughout the brain. In other words, it relies on a surrogate signal, resulting from changes in oxygenation, blood volume and flow, and does not directly measure neural activity. Although a relationship between changes in brain activity and blood flow has long been speculated, indirectly examined and suggested and surely anticipated and expected, the neural basis of the fMRI signal was only recently demonstrated directly in experiments using combined imaging and intracortical recordings. In the present paper, we discuss the results obtained from such combined experiments. We also discuss our current knowledge of the extracellularly measured signals of the neural processes that they represent and of the structural and functional neurovascular coupling, which links such processes with the hemodynamic changes that offer the surrogate signal that we use to map brain activity. We conclude by considering applications of invasive MRI, including injections of paramagnetic tracers for the study of connectivity in the living animal and simultaneous imaging and electrical microstimulation.     

Observation of discrete solitons in optically induced real time waveguide arrays

We report the first experimental observation of discrete solitons in an array of optically induced waveguides. The waveguide lattice is induced in real time by illuminating a photorefractive crystal with a pair of interfering plane waves. We demonstrate two types of bright discrete solitons: in-phase self-localized states and the staggered (pi out-of-phase) soliton family. This experiment is the first observation of bright staggered solitons in any physical system. Our scheme paves the way for reconfigurable focusing and defocusing photonic lattices where low-power (mW) discrete solitons can be thoroughly investigated.     

Determination and distribution of N-acetyl- and N-glycolylneuraminic acids in culture media and cell-associated glycoconjugates from human malignant mesothelioma and adenocarcinoma cells

Sialic acids containing glycoconjugates are very common in human neoplasias and their expression frequently correlates with malignant phenotype and the tumor grade. The majority of tumor markers containing sialic acids in man involve changes in the amount of total sialic acids and in the presence of the two main sialic acid types, Neu5Ac and Neu5Gc, and their derivatives. The aim of the present study was to examine whether malignant mesothelioma cell lines synthesize sialic acid containing glycoconjugates at both the extracellular and cell membrane levels and particularly whether the type and the content of Neu5Ac and Neu5Gc are of biological importance for mesothelioma cell differentiation and evaluation of its prognosis. The study was performed in three human malignant mesothelioma cell lines, two with a fibroblast like phenotype (STAV-FCS and Vester) and one of epithelial differentiation (STAV-AB), which developed from the pleural effusions of patients with malignant mesothelioma and in one human adenocarcinoma cell line (Wart). Neu5Ac and Neu5Gc were determined following a mild hydrolysis step and a sample clean-up procedure. The determination was performed by reversed-phase HPLC after the NeuAc and NeuGc had been converted to per-O-benzoylated derivatives. It was found that Neu5Gc is the major sialic acid in the culture media of all cell lines examined. Molar ratios of Neu5Ac to Neu5Gc showed that Neu5Gc is the predominant sialic acid in the culture medium of the fibroblast-like mesothelioma cells. Neu5Ac is almost undetectable in the cell membrane, whereas Neu5Gc is present in considerable amounts. The obtained results suggest that the type and the content of Neu5Ac and Neu5Gc in culture media are of biological importance for mesothelioma cell differentiation and may be of value in the evaluation of prognosis.     

Liquid-liquid phase equilibria of aqueous two-phase systems containing salts and polyethylene glycol

Liquid-liquid phase equilibria of the ternary systems: (a) polyethylene glycol - ammonium sulfate- water and (b) polyethylene glycol - sodium carbonate -water have been determined experimentally at 15°, 25°, 35° and 45°C and for two different molecular weights of the polymer (Avg. M.W. 1000 and 2000). Details of the glass cell and of the equilibration and analytical procedures used are described. Equilibrium data along with phase diagrams are presented. Finally the effect of temperature and of the molecular weight of the polymer are also discussed.     

Synthesis of well‐defined second‐generation dendritic polymers of isoprene (I) and styrene (S): (S2I)3, (SI′I)3, (I″I′I)3, and (I′2I)4

The synthesis of second‐generation (G‐2) dendritic polymers of isoprene (I) and styrene (S) was achieved with anionic polymerization high‐vacuum techniques and by performing the following steps: (1) selective reaction of a living chain with the chlorosilane group of 4‐(chlorodimethylsilyl)styrene (a dual‐functionality compound) to produce a macromonomer, (2) addition of a second living chain (same or different) to the double bond of the macromonomer, (3) polymerization of I with the anionic sites, and (4) reaction of the produced off‐center living species with trichloromethyl silane or tetrachlorosilane (CH₃SiCl₃ or SiCl₄). The combined characterization results showed that the G‐2 dendritic macromolecules synthesized—(S₂I)₃, (SI′I)₃, (I″I′I)₃, (I′₂I)₄—have a high molecular and compositional homogeneity. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 40: 1519–1526, 2002     

A New Approach for the Photosynthetic Antenna–Reaction Center Complex with a Model Organized Around an s‐Triazine Linker

Two new artificial mimics of the photosynthetic antenna‐reaction center complex have been designed and synthesized (BDP‐H₂P‐C₆₀ and BDP‐ZnP‐C₆₀). The resulting electron‐donor/acceptor conjugates contain a porphyrin (either in its free‐base form (H₂P) or as Zn‐metalated complex (ZnP)), a boron dipyrrin (BDP), and a fulleropyrrolidine possessing, as substituent of the pyrrolidine nitrogen, an ethylene glycol chain terminating in an amino group C₆₀‐X‐NH₂ (X=spacer). In both cases, the three different components were connected by s‐triazine through stepwise substitution reactions of cyanuric chloride. In addition to the facile synthesis, the star‐type arrangement of the three photo‐ and redox‐active components around the central s‐triazine unit permits direct interaction between one another, in contrast to reported examples in which the three components are arranged in a linear fashion. The energy‐ and electron‐transfer properties of the resulting electron‐donor/acceptor conjugates were investigated by using UV/Vis absorption and emission spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, and femtosecond transient absorption spectroscopy. Comparison of the absorption spectra and cyclic voltammograms of BDP‐H₂P‐C₆₀ and BDP‐ZnP‐C₆₀ with those of BDP‐H₂P, BDP‐ZnP and BDP‐C₆₀, which were used as references, showed that the spectroscopic and electrochemical properties of the individual constituents are basically retained, although some appreciable shifts in terms of absorption indicate some interactions in the ground state. Fluorescence lifetime measurements and transient absorption experiments helped to elucidate the antenna function of BDP, which upon selective excitation undergoes a rapid and efficient energy transfer from BDP to H₂P or ZnP. This is then followed by an electron transfer to C₆₀, yielding the formation of the singlet charge‐separated states, namely BDP‐H₂P ^.+‐ C₆₀ ^.? and BDP‐ZnP ^.+‐ C₆₀ ^{. ?}. As such, the sequence of energy transfer and electron transfer in the present models mimics the events of natural photosynthesis.     

Electronic excitation spectra from time-dependent density functional response theory using plane-wave methods

The time-dependent density functional response theory method for the computation of electronic excitation spectra has been implemented in a plane-wave basis set/pseudo-potential formalism. We compare our test results for N₂ and H₂CO to literature atomic basis set calculations and find good agreement. We also discuss some of the technical complications specific to the use of plane-wave basis sets. As an application, the thermally broadened photoabsorption spectrum of formamide at room temperature is computed by averaging over a number of vibrational configurations sampled from an ab initio molecular dynamics run and compared to experiment.