Groupwise density and the cofinality of the infinite symmetric group

We study the relationship between the cofinality of the infinite symmetric group and the cardinal invariants and . In particular, we prove the following two results. Theorem 0.1 It is consistent with ZFC that there exists a simple $P_{\omega_{1}}$ -point and that $c(Sym(\omega)) = \omega_{2} = 2^{\omega}$ . Theorem 0.2 If there exist both a simple $P_{\omega_{1}}$ -point and a $P_{\omega_{2}}$ -point, then $c(Sym(\omega)) = \omega_{1}$ . Received: 7 March 1996     

Investigation on hexamethyldisilazane vapor treatment of plasma-damaged nanoporous organosilicate films

Hexamethyldisilazane (HMDS) vapor treatment of plasma-damaged nanoporous organosilicate thin films has been studied as a function of treatment temperature in this work. Although, the HMDS vapor treatment facilitated incorporation of methyl (CH₃) groups subsequent to the removal of free hydroxyl (OH) groups in the damaged films at treatment temperature as low as 55 °C, the bonded OH groups were not removed. More significantly, detailed analysis of the results reveals that HMDS vapor modified only the surface of the plasma-damaged samples and not the entire film as expected. This is attributed to the formation of a thin solid layer on the surface, which effectively prevents penetration of HMDS vapors into the bulk. The Fourier transform-infrared (FT-IR) absorption and dielectric constant measurements confirm that the vapor treatment assists only partial curing of the plasma-damaged films. Alternative processes of curing the films with HMDS dissolved in supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO₂) as a medium of reaction in static and pulsed modes were also attempted and the results are presented in this paper.     

Synthesis of latonduine derivatives via intramolecular Heck reaction

The synthesis of indole ring-fused benzazepinone series as latonduine derivatives has been developed via an intramolecular Heck reaction. The scope has been enlarged not only to indole moiety but also to pyrrolo and benzo[b]thiophene nuclei. Several derivatives prepared have been evaluated in vitro for their antiproliferative activities on breast cancer cell lines. Some of them showed promising cytotoxic activities.     

Microstructure array on Si and SiOx generated by micro-contact printing, wet chemical etching and reactive ion etching

A method, combining micro-contact printing (μCP), wet chemical etching and reactive ion etching (RIE), is reported to fabricate microstructures on Si and SiOx. Positive and negative structures were generated based on different stamps used for μCP. The reproducibility of the obtained microstructures shows the methodology reported herein could be useful in Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS), optical and biological sensing applications.     

The design, synthesis, and characterization of a PAMAM-based triple helical collagen mimetic dendrimer

The synthesis and characterization of a collagen mimetic dendrimer composed of the Gly-Pro-Nleu sequence is described. The dendrimer is built on a ‘first generation’ poly(amidoamine) core and is synthesized in 38% yield. This dendrimer exhibits a melting temperature of 25 °C, which is in between previously studied analogous molecules of identical sequence and length.     

A fractal analysis of skin pigmented lesions using the novel tool of the variogram technique

The incidence of the cutaneous malignant melanoma is increasing rapidly in the world [Ferlay J, Bray F, Pisani P, et al. GLOBOCAN 2000: Cancer incidence, mortality and prevalence worldwide, Version 1.0 IARC Cancer Base no. 5. Lyon: IARC Press, 2001]. The therapeutic address requires a method having high sensitivity and capability to diagnose such disease at an early stage. We introduce a new diagnostic method based on non-linear methodologies. In detail we suggest that fractal as well as noise and chaos dynamics are the most important components responsible for genetic instability of melanocytes. As consequence we introduce the new technique of the variogram and of fractal analysis extended to the whole regions of interest of skin in order to obtain parameters able to identify the malignant lesion. In a preliminary analysis, satisfactory results are reached.