The valuations of the near hexagons related to the Witt designs S(5,6,12) and S(5,8,24)

Valuations of dense near polygons were introduced in 16 . In the present paper, we classify all valuations of the near hexagons ??₁ and ??₂, which are related to the respective Witt designs S(5,6,12) and S(5,8,24). Using these classifications, we prove that if a dense near polygon S contains a hex H isomorphic to ??₁ or ??₂, then H is classical in S. We will use this result to determine all dense near octagons that contain a hex isomorphic to ??₁ or ??₂. As a by‐product, we obtain a purely geometrical proof for the nonexistence of regular near 2d‐gons, d ≥ 4, whose parameters s, t, t_i (0 ≤ i ≤ d) satisfy (s, t₂, t₃) = (2, 1, 11) or (2, 2, 14). The nonexistence of these regular near polygons can also be shown with the aid of eigenvalue techniques. © 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Combin Designs 14: 214–228, 2006     

Vector-Orthogonality and Lanczos-Type Methods

A method for solving a linear system is defined. It is a Lanczos-type method, but it uses formal vector orthogonality instead of scalar orthogonality. Moreover, the dimension of vector orthogonality may vary which gives a large freedom in leading the algorithm, and controlling the numerical problems. The ideas of truncated and restarted methods are revisited. The obtained residuals are exactly orthogonal to a space of increasing dimension. Some experiments are done, the problem of finding automaticaly good directions of projection remains partly open.     

On the covariance of the level sizes in random recursive trees

In this paper we study the covariance structure of the number of nodes k and l steps away from the root in random recursive trees. We give an analytic expression valid for all k, l and tree sizes N. The fraction of nodes k steps away from the root is a random probability distribution in k. The expression for the covariances allows us to show that the total variation distance between this (random) probability distribution and its mean converges in probability to zero. © 2002 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 20: 519–539, 2002     

Determination of some hydroxycholesterols in human serum samples

The simultaneous determination of some hydroxycholesterols in human serum samples is described. The procedure is based on hydrolysis and extraction of these compounds in serum samples, followed by removal of especially cholesterol (making use of reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography) and derivatization of the purified compounds to their trimethylsilyl ethers and subsequent gas chromatography using flame ionization detection. Serum levels of 7 alpha-hydroxycholesterol, 7 beta-hydroxycholesterol and 26-hydroxycholesterol were determined in several groups of patients: normals, untreated patients suffering from cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis, patients suffering from cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis and treated with either chenodeoxycholic acid or cholic acid in an effective dose, patients suffering from cerebro-hepato-renal syndrome, patients suffering from hypercholesterolemia and treated with cholestyramine for prolonged periods and one patient presumed to be suffering from an inborn error of metabolism in bile acid synthesis. It can be concluded that the 7 alpha-hydroxycholesterol concentration in serum is a good parameter for establishing disorders involving the metabolic conversion of 7 alpha-hydroxycholesterol towards bile acids. In addition, 26-hydroxycholesterol levels in patients suffering from cerebrotendinous xanthomatosis are beyond detectable limits, even during treatment with bile acids in an effective dose, whereas in all other conditions this compound is substantially present.     

Determination of uranium and thorium isotopes in soil samples by coprecipitation

Summary The paper presents a procedure to prepare soil samples for U and Th isotope measurement by alpha-spectrometry after coprecipitation with LaF₃. In this procedure the reduction of U(VI) to U(IV) was performed by Zn metal in 4M HCl solution. The recoveries of chemical separation equal to e_U-chemistry = 78±4% for uranium and e_Th-chemistry = 82±4% for thorium. Canberra alpha-spectrometer was used with PIPS detectors of A-1200-37-AM Model of 1200 mm² active area. The counting efficiency of the measuring system equals to e_counting = 18% and the total efficiencies were e_U = e_counting ^.e_U-chemistry = 14.0±0.7% for uranium and e_Th = e_counting ^.e_Th-chemistry = 14.7±0.7% for thorium. The recoveries of chemical separation were rather high (about 80%), that leads to the use of a small weight of soil sample (about 0.5 g). The efficiencies were also stable, that allows analyzing the soil sample without using radiotracers. They are advantages of the sample preparation procedure of this work.     

The Organization of Interaction Between Oil Refineries

The paper deals with the appropriate form of interaction between two refineries with different demand patterns. This problem can be formulated as finding a decentralized solution of linear programming problems linked by buying and selling activities. The complete problem is first solved for central values of product demands and costs and revenues. The structure of the basis then determines the organization of the interaction in terms of which unit sets quantities and which prices, or whether centralized decisions should be made. If, for expected values of product demand and costs, the structure of the basis is the same then the related organization of trading can be used for day-to-day transactions. For a well-known oil refinery model it is found that, for fairly large demand variations, decentralized interaction is effective, but that the structure of the basis changes easily with crude price variations, and that simulations did not converge for these variations.     

Ab initio predictions of zeolite structures and Si NMR chemical shifts

A recent shell-model potential parameterized on ab initio data is used for predicting the all-silica structures of zeolites MFI, MEI, MTW, TON, FAU and of α-quartz. Cluster models are defined around each site and the ²⁹Si NMR shielding constants are calculated by ab initio techniques (GIAO-HF). Good agreement with observed ²⁹Si NMR chemical shifts is found. Comparison is made with shifts calculated for observed structures. The structures predicted by the ab initio shell-model potential prove as accurate as the observed ones when judged on the quality of the calculated ²⁹Si NMR spectra.