The sonar beam pattern of a flying bat as it tracks tethered insects

This paper describes measurements of the sonar beam pattern of flying echolocating bats, Eptesicus fuscus, performing various insect capture tasks in a large laboratory flight room. The beam pattern is deduced using the signal intensity across a linear array of microphones. The positions of the bat and insect prey are obtained by stereoscopic reconstruction from two camera views. Results are reported in the form of beam-pattern plots and estimated direction of the beam axis. The bat centers its beam axis on the selected target with a standard deviation (sigma) of 3 degrees. The experimental error is +/- 1.4 degrees. Trials conducted with two targets show that the bat consistently tracks one of the targets with its beam. These findings suggest that the axis of the bat sonar beam is a good index of selective tracking of targets, and in this respect is analogous to gaze in predominantly visual animals.     

Structure-based design of carboxybiphenylindole inhibitors of the ZipA-FtsZ interaction

Structural features of two weak inhibitors of the ZipA-FtsZ protein-protein interaction which were found to bind to overlapping but different areas of the key binding site were combined in one new series of carboxybiphenyl-indoles with improved inhibitory activity.     

Molecular interactions of new pregnenedione derivatives

The in vitro inhibitory activity of five new progesterone derivatives: 17alpha-hydroxy-16beta-methylpregna-1,4,6-triene-3,20-dione 1; 16beta-methyl-17alpha-toluoyloxypregna-1,4,6-triene-3,20-dione 2; 17alpha-hydroxy-6-methylenepregn-4-ene-3,20-dione 3; 6-methylene-17alpha-toluoyloxypregn-4ene-3,20-dione 4 and 17alpha-(p-bromobenzoyloxy)-6-methylenepregn-4-ene-3,20-dione 5 was determined. These compounds were evaluated as 5alpha-reductase inhibitors as well as antagonists for the androgen receptor. Compounds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 showed the following inhibitory activity for the 5alpha-reductase enzyme with IC(50) values of: 1 (1.65 microM), 2 (10 microM), 3 (19 nM), 4 (100 nM) and 5 (100 nM). The results of this study also showed the effect of increasing concentrations of the novel steroids upon [(3)H]dihydrotestosterone binding to androgen receptors from male hamster prostate. The K(i) values for compounds 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and dihydrotestosterone showed the following order of affinity for the androgen receptor: 4>5>dihydrotestosterone>2>3>1. The overall data indicated that all synthesized compounds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are inhibitors of the 5alpha-reductase enzyme present in the hamster prostate. In addition compounds 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 also presented an affinity for the androgen receptor.     

Characterization of the low-energy electronic excited States of benzoyl-substituted ferrocenes

Resonance Raman spectroscopy has been employed to probe the excited-state distortions associated with the low-energy electronic transition of benzoylferrocene and 1,1'-dibenzoylferrocene. Resonance intensity enhancement of in-plane ligand modes, in general, and the carbonyl stretching mode, in particular, supports the proposal that the excited state populated by this transition contains appreciable metal-to-ligand charge transfer character. The redistribution of charge that occurs upon populating this state weakens the metal-ring bonding and facilitates the loss of a benzoylcyclopentadienide anion. This photochemical reaction has been investigated by an on-line electrospray ionization mass spectrometry technique that allows direct detection of primary and secondary products with solution lifetimes down to the millisecond range.     

A quadratic Bolza-type problem in a Riemannian manifold

A classical nonlinear equation on a complete Riemannian manifold is considered. The existence of solutions connecting any two points is studied, i.e., for T>0 the critical points of the functional with x(0)=x₀,x(T)=x₁. When the potential V has a subquadratic growth with respect to x, J_T admits a minimum critical point for any T>0 (infinitely many critical points if the topology of is not trivial). When V has an at most quadratic growth, i.e., , this property does not hold, but an optimal arrival time T(λ)>0 exists such that, if 0<T<T(λ), any pair of points in can be joined by a critical point of the corresponding functional. For the existence and multiplicity results, variational methods and Ljusternik-Schnirelman theory are used. The optimal value is fulfilled by the harmonic oscillator. These ideas work for other related problems.     

On positive strictly singular operators and domination

We study the domination problem by positive strictly singular % operators between Banach lattices. Precisely we show that if E and %F are two Banach lattices such that the norms on E' and F are %order continuous and E satisfies the subsequence splitting property, %and %0S T : E F are two positive operators, then T strictly %singular implies S strictly singular. The special case of %endomorphisms is also considered. Applications to the class of %strictly co-singular (or Pelczynski) operators are given too.     

Electronic structure and conformation of ethene when adsorbed on transition and noble metals

Using the geometry of the ethene molecule when adsorbed on transition metal surfaces, as predicted by Felter and Weinberg [Surface Sci. 103 (1981) 265], but omitting molecular twist, a tight-binding model has been employed to predict the effect of chemisorption on the σ-levels of the molecule. The energy of the σ_CC-level changed appreciably from its free space value, and based on these calculations we have reinterpreted the experimental data and have revised the prediction of the geometry. The qualitative nature of the distortions, namely an increase in the C-C bond length and reduction of the C-C-H and H-C-H angles, remains intact. Secondly, the interaction of the π-orbitals of ethene with the d-band states of the metal surface has been studied, using a model of localized bonding between the metal and the molecule, within the Hartree-Fock approximation using an Anderson Hamiltonian. The conclusions are that as the strength of the metal-molecule interaction increases, the π-bond order decreases. Using experimental values of the chemisorption energy the model predicts that, for Ni and Cu, electrons are transferred from the molecule to the metal. This is in accord with the observed decrease in the work function for both these systems.     

Schottky-barrier formation for abrupt metal-covalent semiconductor junctions

Self-consistent tight-binding calculations for abrupt Ag-covalent semiconductor junctions are presented. The good agreement found between our theoretical results and the experimental data suggests that ideal junctions can explain the Schottky-barrier formation for abrupt interfaces.