A pseudo active kinematic constraint for a biological living soft tissue: An effect of the collagen network

Recent studies in mammalian hearts show that left ventricular wall thickening is an important mechanism for systolic ejection, and that during contraction the cardiac muscle develops significant stresses in the muscular cross-fiber direction. We suggested that the collagen network surrounding the muscular fibers could account for these mechanical behaviors. To test this hypothesis we develop a model for large deformation response of active, incompressible, nonlinear elastic and transversely isotropic living soft tissue (such as cardiac or arteries tissues) in which we include a coupling effect between the connective tissue and the muscular fibers. Then, a three-dimensional finite element formulation including this internal pseudo-active kinematic constraint is derived. Analytical and finite element solutions are in a very good agreement. The numerical results show this wall thickening effect with an order of magnitude compatible with the experimental observations.     

State-specific reactions and autoionization dynamics of Ar produced by synchrotron radiation

The long-lived excited states of doubly charged rare gases can markedly affect their reactivity. In this paper we demonstrate the presence of strong state-specific effects in the charge exchange of Ar²⁺ (³P, ¹D and ¹S) with several neutral targets (He, Ne, Kr, Xe, D₂, and CH₄). State sensitive measurements have been performed by producing the different Ar²⁺ electronic states via tunable synchrotron radiation (Elettra-Trieste, Italy and SuperACO-Orsay, France). From the product ion yield data of charge transfer, state-selected total cross-sections have been deduced. Using the state-specific reactivity of Ar²⁺ towards different neutral targets, it has been possible to extract the photon-energy-dependent production branching of the three doubly charged states and to investigate the autoionization dynamics of neutral or singly charged Ar in the vicinity of the double ionization threshold.     

On the Distribution in Residue Classes of Integers with a Fixed Sum of Digits

We give an asymptotic formula for the distribution of those integers n in a residue class, such that n has a fixed sum of base-g digits, with some uniformity over the choice of the modulus and g. We then use this formula to solve the problem of I. Niven of giving an asymptotic formula for the distribution of those integers n divisible by the sum of their base-g digits. Our results also allow us to give a stronger form of a result of M. Olivier dealing with the distribution of integers with a given gcd with their sum of base-g digits.For our friend Jean-Louis Nicolas on his sixtieth birthdayResearch partially supported by the Hungarian National Foundation for Scientific Research, Grant No. T029759, and “Balaton” French-Hungarian exchange program F-18/00.2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary—11A63     

Topological decoupling, linearization and perturbation on inhomogeneous time scales

We derive a linearization theorem in the framework of dynamic equations on time scales. This extends a recent result from [Y. Xia, J. Cao, M. Han, A new analytical method for the linearization of dynamic equation on measure chains, J. Differential Equations 235 (2007) 527-543] in various directions: Firstly, in our setting the linear part need not to be hyperbolic and due to the existence of a center manifold this leads to a generalized global Hartman-Grobman theorem for nonautonomous problems. Secondly, we investigate the behavior of the topological conjugacy under parameter variation.These perturbation results are tailor-made for future applications in analytical discretization theory, i.e., to study the relationship between ODEs and numerical schemes applied to them.     

On variational approximations in quantum molecular dynamics

The Dirac-Frenkel-McLachlan variational principle is the basic tool for obtaining computationally accessible approximations in quantum molecular dynamics. It determines equations of motion for an approximate time-dependent wave function on an approximation manifold of reduced dimension. This paper gives a near-optimality result for variational approximations. It bounds the error in terms of the distance of the exact wave function to the approximation manifold and identifies the parameters that control the deviation of the variational approximation from the best approximation on the manifold.

     

Dependence of CO oxidation on Pt nanoparticle shape: a shape‐selective approach to the synthesis of PEMFC catalysts

In real catalyst systems, it is difficult to establish a correlation between catalytic properties and the shape (crystal planes, corners and steps) of the active catalytic particles. In this paper we present a clear shape dependence of the catalytic properties of a Vulcan‐supported fuel cell catalyst having 4 nm cubo‐octahedral platinum(0) nanocrystallites with (111) and (100) surfaces stabilized by sodium polyacrylate. The electrode materials were characterized by CO‐stripping cyclic voltammetry and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), showing that no agglomeration had occurred among the nanoparticles on the catalyst surfaces. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Asymmetric total synthesis of the indole alkaloid cyclopiazonic acid and first structure-activity data

The indole alkaloid α-cyclopiazonic acid (CPA) is one of the few known inhibitors of sarco(endo)plasmic reticulum Ca²⁺-ATPase (SERCA) besides the terpenoids thapsigargin and artemisinin. We report here the first asymmetric total synthesis of cyclopiazonic acid by a modification of the Knight synthesis, currently the most efficient route to CPA. First structure-activity data of CPA derivatives and stereoisomers are presented and will be discussed in connection with the published crystal structures of CPA-SERCA complexes.