Semigroups of matrices of intermediate growth

Finitely generated linear semigroups over a field K that have intermediate growth are considered. New classes of such semigroups are found and a conjecture on the equivalence of the subexponential growth of a finitely generated linear semigroup S and the nonexistence of free noncommutative subsemigroups in S, or equivalently the existence of a nontrivial identity satisfied in S, is stated. This ‘growth alternative’ conjecture is proved for linear semigroups of degree 2, 3 or 4. Certain results supporting the general conjecture are obtained. As the main tool, a new combinatorial property of groups is introduced and studied.     

Two crystals of doubly protonated melaminium salts: melaminium bis­(trifluoro­acetate) trihydrate and melaminium bis­(trichloro­acetate) dihydrate

Crystals of 2,4,6‐triamino‐1,3,5‐triazine‐1,3‐dium bis­(trifluoro­acetate) trihydrate, C₃H₈N₆²⁺·2CF₃COO⁻·3H₂O, and 2,4,6‐triamino‐1,3,5‐triazine‐1,3‐dium bis­(trichloro­acetate) dihydrate, C₃H₈N₆²⁺·2CCl₃COO⁻·2H₂O, both contain doubly protonated melamine rings that lie on crystallographic twofold axes. In the former structure, one water mol­ecule also lies on a twofold axis. While the trifluoro­acetate compound crystallizes in a centrosymmetric space group, the trichloro­acetate is non‐centrosymmetric, so it is useful as a material for non‐linear optics. The efficiency of second harmonic generation is about three times greater than that of KDP (KH₂PO₄). A combination of ionic and donor–acceptor hydrogen‐bond inter­actions link the melaminium(2+) residues with trifluoro­acetate or trichloro­acetate ions and water mol­ecules to form a three‐dimensional network.     

Synthesis and antimycobacterial activity of alkyl 1‐heteroaryl‐1H‐1,2,3‐triazole‐4‐carboxylates

A series of alkyl l‐heteroaryl‐1H‐1,2,3‐triazole‐4‐carboxylates 6a‐u were synthesised in four steps from methyl (Z)‐2‐benzyloxycarbonylarmino‐3‐(dimethylamino)prop‐2‐enoate ( 1 ) and heterocyclic amines 2a‐s. Triazoles 6a‐o were tested against antimycobacterial activity. For the most active compound, n‐pentyl 1‐(6‐phenylpyridazin‐3‐yl)‐1H‐1,2,3‐triazole‐4‐carboxylate ( 6n ), minimum inhibitory concentration 3.13 μg/ml was determined.     

Quantification of trace elements in human serum fractions by liquid chromatography and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

On‐line coupling of LC and ICP‐MS has been used for fractionation and detection of species of Cu, Fe, I, Se and Zn in human serum. It has been shown that anion exchange chromatography provided better separation capability (both intra‐ and inter‐element) than size‐exclusion chromatography. The mobile phases for ion exchange chromatography consisted of Tris–HNO₃ buffer and ammonium salt (nitrate, acetate or formate). Formate was found to be the best mobile phase counter ion, enabling good chromatographic separation, and is acceptable for mass spectrometry too. The quantitative evaluation of element concentrations adhering to individual fractions was performed by the peak area normalization method. The repeatability of results ranged from 3 to 15% (depending on the element concentration level) and represented the main part of the result uncertainty. The accuracy of Cu and Zn fraction determinations was confirmed by comparison with the isotope dilution technique. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Complex backflow dynamics in nematic liquid crystals

Received December 31, 2001 / Published online May 21, 2002     

The Matsumoto-Yor property and the structure of the Wishart distribution

This paper establishes a link between a generalized matrix Matsumoto-Yor (MY) property and the Wishart distribution. This link highlights certain conditional independence properties within blocks of the Wishart and leads to a new characterization of the Wishart distribution similar to the one recently obtained by Geiger and Heckerman but involving independences for only three pairs of block partitionings of the random matrix.In the process, we obtain two other main results. The first one is an extension of the MY independence property to random matrices of different dimensions. The second result is its converse. It extends previous characterizations of the matrix generalized inverse Gaussian and Wishart seen as a couple of distributions.We present two proofs for the generalized MY property. The first proof relies on a new version of Herz's identity for Bessel functions of matrix arguments. The second proof uses a representation of the MY property through the structure of the Wishart.     

Periodic solutions of second-order differential inclusions systems with p-Laplacian

Some existence results are obtained for periodic solutions of nonautonomous second-order differential inclusions systems with p-Laplacian.     

Risk management of a bond portfolio using options

In this paper, we elaborate a formula for determining the optimal strike price for a bond put option, used to hedge a position in a bond. This strike price is optimal in the sense that it minimizes, for a given budget, either Value-at-Risk or Tail Value-at-Risk. Formulas are derived for both zero-coupon and coupon bonds, which can also be understood as a portfolio of bonds. These formulas are valid for any short rate model that implies an affine term structure model and in particular that implies a lognormal distribution of future zero-coupon bond prices. As an application, we focus on the Hull-White one-factor model, which is calibrated to a set of cap prices. We illustrate our procedure by hedging a Belgian government bond, and take into account the possibility of divergence between theoretical option prices and real option prices. This paper can be seen as an extension of the work of Ahn and co-workers [Ahn, D., Boudoukh, J., Richardson, M., Whitelaw, R., 1999. Optimal risk management using options. J. Financ. 54, 359-375], who consider the same problem for an investment in a share.     

Material tensor parameters of LiNbO3 relevant for electro- and elasto-optics

The complete set of self-consistent parameters of nominally undoped LiNbO₃ crystals of congruent composition that describe the electro-optic, piezoelectric, elasto-optic, elastic, and dielectric response has been determined by numerically evaluating available measurements. The parameters were determined at room temperature and consist of the low-frequency clamped dielectric constants ε^S _ij, elastic stiffness constants at constant electric field C^E _ijkl, piezoelectric stress coefficients e_ijk, elasto-optic constants at constant electric field p^E _ijkl, and clamped electro-optic coefficients r^S _ijk. It is shown that the complete set is required for calculating the effective electro-optic coefficients and dielectric constants in photorefractive applications of LiNbO₃. Received: 4 January 2002 / Revised version: 1 February 2002 / Published online: 14 March 2002