New evidence of earthquake precursory phenomena in the 17 January 1995 Kobe earthquake, Japan

Significant advances, both in the theoretical understanding of rupture processes in heterogeneous media and in the methodology for characterizing critical behavior, allows us to reanalyze the evidence for criticality and especially log-periodicity in the previously reported chemical anomalies that preceded the Kobe earthquake. The ion (Cl^-, K⁺, Mg⁺⁺, NO₃ ^- and SO₄ ^-) concentrations of ground-water issued from deep wells located near the epicenter of the 1995 Kobe earthquake are taken as proxies for the cumulative damage preceding the earthquake. Using both a parametric and non-parametric analysis, the five data sets are compared extensively to synthetic time series. The null-hypothesis that the patterns documented on these times series result from noise decorating a simple power law is rejected with a very high confidence level. Received 21 January 2000     

Review of secondary metabolites and mycotoxins from the <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aspergillus niger</Emphasis> group

Filamentous fungi in the Aspergillus section Nigri (the black aspergilli) represent some of the most widespread food and feed contaminants known but they are also some of the most important workhorses used by the biotechnological industry. The Nigri section consists of six commonly found species (excluding A. aculeatus and its close relatives) from which currently 145 different secondary metabolites have been isolated and/or detected. From a human and animal safety point of view, the mycotoxins ochratoxin A (from A. carbonarius and less frequently A. niger) and fumonisin B₂ (from A. niger) are currently the most problematic compounds. Especially in foods and feeds such as coffee, nuts, dried fruits, and grape-based products where fumonisin-producing fusaria are not a problem, fumonisins pose a risk. Moreover, compounds such as malformins, naptho-γ-pyrones, and bicoumarins (kotanins) call for monitoring in food, feed, and biotechnology products as well as for a better toxicological evaluation, since they are often produced in large amounts by the black aspergilli. For chemical differentiation/identification of the less toxic species the diketopiperazine asperazine can be used as a positive marker since it is consistently produced by A. tubingensis (177 of 177 strains tested) and A. acidus (47 of 47 strains tested) but never by A. niger (140 strains tested). Naptho-γ-pyrones are the compounds produced in the highest quantities and are produced by all six common species in the group (A. niger 134 of 140; A. tubingensis 169 of 177; A. acidus 44 of 47; A. carbonarius 40 of 40, A. brasiliensis 18 of 18; and A. ibericus three of three).      

Full-scale two-phase flow measurements on Athena research vessel

Measurements of gas volume fraction, bubble velocity, chord length and bubble size distributions were performed on the research vessel Athena II operating in Saint Andrew Bay in the gulf coast near Panama City, FL. Double tipped sapphire optical local phase-detection probes were used to acquire indicator functions downstream of the breaking bow wave, behind the masker and at the stern. These indicator functions were also taken at different depths, operating speeds and headings respect to the waves. The data processing includes the computation of velocity of individual bubbles and chord lengths, resulting in chord length distributions. These chord length distributions are used to obtain bubble size distributions using a novel procedure described in detail herein. Uncertainty analysis is performed for gas volume fraction, average bubble velocity and chord length. The results indicate that air entrainment increases with ship speed and sailing against the waves at all positions. The bow wave exhibits unsteady breaking that creates bubble clouds, which were characterized and identified by signal processing. At the stern a very strong dependence of bubble size with depth was found, with evidence that small bubbles (smaller than 500 μm) are transported through the bottom of the hull and reach the transom. The roller present at the transom, the associated strong unsteadiness and bubble entrainment are well captured, as indicated by the stern results, showing the frothy nature of the upper layer.     

Low-temperature thermal fixing of holograms in photorefractive La(3)Ga(5)SiO(14):Pr(3+) crystal

Thermal fixing in a La(3)Ga (5)SiO (14):Pr (3+) photorefractive crystal is demonstrated all the way down to room temperature. This, to our knowledge, is the first report of such an effect in any photorefractive material. From the temperature dependence of the process the activation energy of the carriers involved in the fixing process is measured to be E(A)=0.89 eV . Further, an effective photorefractive charge density of (1.4+/-0.2)x10(16) cm (-3) and Debye screening length of (6.8+/-0.7)x10(-6) cm is measured.     

Single-mode operation of a laser-diode array with frequency-selective phase-conjugate feedback

A new technique for single-mode operation of laser-diode arrays is presented. A gain-guided GaAlAs laser diode array is coupled to an external frequency-selective phase-conjugate feedback system that contains a photorefractive barium titanate crystal, a Fabry-Perot etalon, and a spatial filter. The etalon is the key component, and it forces the array, which has low spatial and spectral coherence when it runs freely, to oscillate in a single spatial and a single longitudinal mode. At a drive current of two times the threshold current, the far-field pattern is reduced to only 1.4 times the diffraction limit, the spectral bandwidth is less than 0.02 nm, and the coherence length is increased by a factor of 70. The technique has general validity and can be applied to various other multimode laser systems.     

Polarization functions and geometry optimization inab initio calculations of the rotational barrier in hydrogen peroxide

Ab initio calculations have been carried out for the hydrogen peroxide molecule with different size Gaussian basis sets in an attempt to determine the relative importance of carefully refined geometry and improvement of the wave function for calculation of the trans rotational barrier,d-type polarization functions on the oxygen atoms are found to be essential for calculation of a trans rotational barrier. Using the (O/7,3,1)(H/4,1) basis set, a trans rotational barrier of 0.63 kcal/mole is calculated (exp. value, 1.1 kcal/mole). Except for refined calculations approaching the Hartree-Fock limit, careful geometry optimization is found to be of secondary importance to the inclusion ofd-type functions on the oxygen atoms and may be carried out satisfactorily using a smaller basis set than is used for the energy calculations. The (O/7,3) (H/4,1) basis set which includesp-type polarization functions on the hydrogen atoms yields geometrical parameters in good agreement with experiment as well as good charge distribution between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

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Zusammenfassung Ab-initio Rechnungen für das Wasserstoffperoxidmolekül wurden mit Basissätzen verschiedener Größe durchgeführt um den Einfluß einer genauen Geometrie und einer Verbesserung der Wellen-funktion auf die Berechnung dertrans-Rotationsbarriere zu untersuchen. Es zeigte sich, daßd-Polarisationsfunktionen für solche Rechnungen äußerst wichtig sind. Mit dem Basissatz (O/7,3,1) (H/4,1) wurde die Rotationsbarriere mit 0,63 kcal/Mol berechnet (exp.: 1.1 kcal/Mol). Außer bei Rechnungen nahe am Hartree-Fock-Limit zeigte sich, daß die Geometrieoptimisierung gegenüber der Mitnahme vond-Funktionen von sekundärer Bedeutung ist und daher mit einem kleineren Basissatz durchgeführt werden kann, als die Energieberechnung. Der (O/7,3) (H/4,1) Basissatz, derp-Funktionen am Wasserstoffatom einschließt gibt die Geometrie und die Ladungsverteilung zwischen Wasserstoff- und Sauerstoffatom in guter Übereinstimmung mit dem Experiment.

     

Macromolecular prodrugs. V. Simultaneous determination of high-molecular-weight dextran metronidazole monosuccinate ester prodrugs and the hydrolysis products metronidazole and the corresponding monosuccinate ester on nucleosil diol

A high-performance size-exclusion chromatography procedure using Nucleosil Diol has been developed which provides the simultaneous determination of macromolecular dextran metronidazole monosuccinate ester prodrugs and the hydrolysis products metronidazole and metronidazole monosuccinate. Various factors influencing the chromatographic behaviour of the compounds are discussed. Baseline separation of the three substances was achieved within 8 min by using a 0.05 M phosphate buffer pH 7.5 eluent at a flow-rate of 2 ml min-1. The detection limit at 320 nm for a conjugate with a degree of substitution of 4.61 was found to be 3.5 micrograms ml-1.     

Determination of pholcodine and its metabolites in urine by capillary gas chromatography

A sensitive and selective method for the determination of pholcodine and its metabolites in urine using capillary gas chromatography with nitrogen detection is described. The procedure includes enzymatic hydrolysis of urine by beta-glucuronidase and sample pretreatment on C2 solid-phase extraction columns. Validation of the method showed good sensitivity, precision and reproducibility. The method was useful for the study of pholcodine metabolism in man. Pholcodine was found to conjugate with glucuronic acid. Morphine was identified as a metabolite and another unidentified metabolite was also detected.     

On the theory of the weighing method for automatic crystal shape control in czochralski growth

We derive the exact analytical expression for the meniscus volume in terms of the crystal radius R, the melt contact angle θ_L, and the meniscus height h for the axisymmetric planar growth interface Czochralski configuration. This relation is applied together with motion and mass balance considerations to find the general rate of change in the force experience by the weighing cell in a standard diameter control arrangement. In contrast to the classical work of Bardsley et al. (1977), which is limited to the close viscinity of stationary right cylinder growth, our results are valid for growth developing any crystal profile. In addition, they also account for the fall of melt level due to finite crucible size. The magnitudes of the capillary contributions to the force, and their implications for diameter servo control, are discussed over a wide range of profile parameters using the Tsivinskii formula for h = h (R, θ_L).     

Highly uniform AlGaAs/GaAs and InGaAs(P)/InP structures grown in a multiwafer vertical rotating susceptor MOVPE reactor

Highly uniform AlGaAs/GaAs and InGaAs(P)/InP epitaxial layers have been grown in a vertical rotating susceptor MOVPE reactor capable of accommodating three 2′ wafers. The unique water-cooled “showerhead”-type injection distributor which is located 1.5 cm above the substrates ensures a uniform reactant distribution, resulting in uniform growth over a wide range of growth conditions. Periodic multilayer and single layer structures have been used to investigate the thickness and compositional uniformities. The thickness variations over a radial distance of 48 mm for three wafers grown in the same run are within ± 2% for both AlGaAs and InGaAs layers, resulting in a standard deviation of only 0.9%. The gallium concentration of an InGaAs layer varies from 46.88% to 47.01% over the same radial distance with the standard deviation of 0.043%. Measurements of InGaAsP layers grown onto 2′ InP wafers with different alloy compositions show good compositional uniformity yielding standard deviations within 4.4 nm in PL wavelength and 135 ppm in lattice mismatch over a 46 mm radial distance.