Investigation of microbial—mineral interactions by Mössbauer spectroscopy

Mössbauer spectroscopy was used to investigate the reactions of microbes with iron minerals in aqueous solutions and as components of rocks in banded iron formations and granite. A microbial biofilm that formed on a wall of an excavated granite vault in a deep underground laboratory initiated this research. At the aerobic face of the biofilm, iron was found in a form of ferrihydrite; in the anaerobic face against the rock, iron was found as very small siderite particles. Laboratory incubations of the biofilm microbial consortium showed different mineral species could be formed. When the microbial consortium from the biofilm was incubated with magnetite grains, up to about 10% of the iron was altered in three weeks to hematite. The ability of the consortium to precipitate iron both as Fe²⁺ and Fe³⁺ in close proximity may have a bearing on the deposition of banded iron formations. These reactions could also be important in microbially induced corrosion.     

Parallel Algorithm for Unconstrained Optimization Based on Decomposition Techniques

We present a numerical implementation of the parallel gradient distribution (PGD) method for the solution of large-scale unconstrained optimization problems. The proposed parallel algorithm is characterized by a parallel phase which exploits the portions of the gradient of the objective function assigned to each processor; then, a coordination phase follows which, by a synchronous interaction scheme, optimizes over the partial results obtained by the parallel phase. The parallel and coordination phases are implemented using a quasi-Newton limited-memory BFGS approach. The computational experiments, carried out on a network of UNIX workstations by using the parallel software tool PVM, show that parallelization efficiency was problem dependent and ranged between 0.15 and 8.75. For the 150 problems solved by PGD on more than one processor, 85 cases had parallelization efficiency below 1, while 65 cases had a parallelization efficiency above 1.     

A Method for Establishing Optimality Conditions for a Nonsmooth Vector-Valued Minimax Problem

Using a method of uniform approximations, necessary and sufficient conditions for a nonsmooth constrained vector-valued minimax problem are established in terms of Mordukhovich subdifferentials.     

Inhibition of the radioactive decay of the isomer 119m Sn with the use of Mössbauer backscattering

In research on the production of beams of coherent γ rays (γ-ray lasers), conditions under which a substantial change Δλ/λ=?(0.114 ±0.027) in the radioactive decay constant λ (the isomeric level 89.53 keV ^119m Sn, T _1/2=293 days) can occur have been found experimentally for the first time. This is made possible by coherent Mo ssbauer (23.87 keV) backscattering from a resonant screen located nearby. An interpretation of the effect observed is proposed on the basis of the idea of dynamic synchronization of oscillations between a nuclear level and a standing wave of Mössbauer radiation. Possibilities for further increasing Δλ/λ up to 0.5 are found.     

Roughness of layer interfaces and phase diagram of magnetic multilayer structures

The dependence of the type of magnetic ordering in multilayer structures on the magnitude of the exchange interaction between the magnetic layers and on the degree of roughness of the interfaces between the layers is investigated. In the case of a three-layer system the regions of existence of the domain structure, of noncollinear ordering of the homogeneous magnetic layers, and of the collinear ferromagnetic phase and collinear antiferromagnetic phase are found. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 39, 1244–1247 (July 1997)     

On one stochastic model that leads to a stable distribution

We consider an integral equation describing the contagion phenomenon, in particular, the equation of the state of a hereditarily elastic body, and interpret this equation as a stochastic model in which the Rabotnov exponent of fractional order plays the role of density of probability of random delay time. We invesgigate the approximation of the distribution for sums of values with a given density to the stable distribution law and establish the principal characteristics of the corresponding renewal process. Ukrainian Mining Academy, Dnepropetrovsk. Translated from Ukrainskii Matematicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 49, No. 11, pp. 1572–1579, November, 1997.     

Free Groups from Fields

In the nineteenth century, field theory brilliantly resolveda number of questions that had taxed mathematicians for centuries;for example, ‘The circle cannot be squared’ by straightedge and compass, and solving polynomial equations by radicalsis not always possible. These successes have continued to beheld up as superb examples of the power of mathematical thought,and are demonstrated at an undergraduate level. The purposeof this article is to provide another such natural example whichleads to a concrete realisation of the free group on 2 generators.     

New method for the synthesis of 6-amino-4-aryl-3,5-dicyano-3,4-dihydropyridine-2(1H)-thiones by recyclization of 4-aryl-2,6-diamino-4H-thiopyranes

Ammonium 6-amino-4-aryl-3,5-dicyano-1,4-dihydropyridine-2-thiolates were synthesized by recyclization of 4-aryl-2,6-diamino-3,5-dicyano-4H-thiopyranes in the presence of organic bases. On acidification of the products, the corresponding substituted 3,4-dihydropyridine-2(1H)-thiones were obtained which were used in the synthesis of 2-alkylthio-1,4-dihydropyridines, bis-(pyridyl-2)disulfides and thieno[2,3-b]pyridines.Deceased.T. G. Shevchenko Lugansk State Pedagogical Institute, Lugansk 348011. N. D. Zelinskii Institute of Organic Chemistry, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow 117913. Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 7, pp. 909–914, July, 1997.