Corn stover fractions and bioenergy

Information is presented on structure, composition, and response to enzymes of corn stover related to barriers for bioconversion to ethanol. Aromatic compounds occurred in most tissue cell walls. Ferulic acid esterase treatment before cellulase treatment significantly improved dry weight loss and release of phenolic acids and sugars in most fractions over cellulase alone. Leaf fractions were considerably higher in dry weight loss and released sugars with esterase treatment, but stem pith cells gave up the most phenolic acids. Results help identify plant fractions more appropriate for coproducts and bioconversion and those more suitable as residues for soil erosion control.     

Necessary conditions for multistationarity in discrete dynamical systems

R. Thomas conjectured, 20 years ago, that the presence of a positive circuit in the interaction graph of a dynamical system is a necessary condition for the presence of several stable states. Recently, E. Remy et al. stated and proved the conjecture for Boolean dynamical systems. Using a similar approach, we generalize the result to discrete dynamical systems, and by focusing on the asynchronous dynamics that R. Thomas used in the course of his analysis of genetic networks, we obtain a more general variant of R. Thomas’ conjecture. In this way, we get a necessary condition for genetic networks to lead to differentiation.     

Area,coarea, and approximation in <Emphasis Type="Italic">W</Emphasis><Superscript>1,1</Superscript>

Let Ω⊂ℝ ⁿ be an arbitrary open set. We characterize the space W ^1,1 _loc(Ω) using variants of the classical area and coarea formulas. We use these characterizations to obtain a norm approximation and trace theorems for functions in the space W ^1,1(ℝ ⁿ ).     

Asymmetric responses of international stock markets to trading volume

The major goal of this paper is to examine the hypothesis that stock returns and return volatility are asymmetric, threshold nonlinear, functions of change in trading volume. A minor goal is to examine whether return spillover effects also display such asymmetry. Employing a double-threshold GARCH model with trading volume as a threshold variable, we find strong evidence supporting this hypothesis in five international market return series. Asymmetric causality tests lend further support to our trading volume threshold model and conclusions. Specifically, an increase in volume is positively associated, while decreasing volume is negatively associated, with the major price index in four of the five markets. The volatility of each series also displays an asymmetric reaction, four of the markets display higher volatility following increases in trading volume. Using posterior odds ratio, the proposed threshold model is strongly favored in three of the five markets, compared to a US news double threshold GARCH model and a symmetric GARCH model. We also find significant nonlinear asymmetric return spillover effects from the US market.     

Working group report: Collider Physics

This is summary of the activities of the working group on collider physics in the IXth Workshop on High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP-9) held at the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, India in January 2006. Some of the work subsequently done on these problems by the subgroups formed during the workshop is included in this report.     

Deacetalisation-bicyclisation routes to novel polycyclic heterocycles using stannous chloride dihydrate

The stannous chloride dihydrate-mediated deprotection-bicyclisation of a range of amides possessing a pendant acetal group is reported. These mild reaction conditions have been used to prepare a number of ring-fused heterocyclic compounds, some in enantiomerically pure form, which should be of interest both in their own right and as building blocks for the production of more complex target molecules.     

Classical, phenomenological analysis of the kinetics of reactions at the gas-exposed surface of mixed ionic electronic conductors

The kinetics of reactions occurring at the gas-exposed surfaces of charged mixed ionic electronic conductors (MIECs) are examined from theoretical first principles. Analysis based on the classical electrochemical potential-transition state theory model reveals that the nature of the reactions is electrochemical in general. However, the influence of the surface potential on the reaction rate is opposite for adsorption and incorporation reactions. Two-dimensional finite volume models of an MIEC as working electrode in a half-cell configuration are presented. The results for a simple, two-step reduction process show that the effect of the surface potential on the rate of reactions is minimal for incorporation-limited reactions but more influential for adsorption-limited reactions. An erratum to this article is available at .     

Nonvanishing cohomology and classes of Gorenstein rings

We give counterexamples to the following conjecture of Auslander: given a finitely generated module M over an Artin algebra Λ, there exists a positive integer n_M such that for all finitely generated Λ-modules N, if Ext_Λⁱ(M,N)=0 for all i?0, then Ext_Λⁱ(M,N)=0 for all i?n_M. Some of our examples moreover yield homologically defined classes of commutative local rings strictly between the class of local complete intersections and the class of local Gorenstein rings.     

Broadening the scope of 1,2,4-triazine synthesis by the application of microwave technology

By the application of microwave technology, a general protocol has been developed for the rapid synthesis of diverse 3,5,6-trisubstituted 1,2,4-triazines in excellent yield and purity, including many previously unknown 3-heterocyclic-1,2,4-triazines.