A numerical study on the propagation of Rayleigh and guided waves in cortical bone according to Mindlin's Form II gradient elastic theory

Cortical bone is a multiscale heterogeneous natural material characterized by microstructural effects. Thus guided waves propagating in cortical bone undergo dispersion due to both material microstructure and bone geometry. However, above 0.8 MHz, ultrasound propagates rather as a dispersive surface Rayleigh wave than a dispersive guided wave because at those frequencies, the corresponding wavelengths are smaller than the thickness of cortical bone. Classical elasticity, although it has been largely used for wave propagation modeling in bones, is not able to support dispersion in bulk and Rayleigh waves. This is possible with the use of Mindlin's Form-II gradient elastic theory, which introduces in its equation of motion intrinsic parameters that correlate microstructure with the macrostructure. In this work, the boundary element method in conjunction with the reassigned smoothed pseudo Wigner-Ville transform are employed for the numerical determination of time-frequency diagrams corresponding to the dispersion curves of Rayleigh and guided waves propagating in a cortical bone. A composite material model for the determination of the internal length scale parameters imposed by Mindlin's elastic theory is exploited. The obtained results demonstrate the dispersive nature of Rayleigh wave propagating along the complex structure of bone as well as how microstructure affects guided waves.     

Quantized turbulence physics

We elaborate the physics of systems of unconstrained, reconnecting vortex filaments with dynamic finite cores of uniform ("quantized") circulation interacting via Biot-Savart and viscous forces. The phenomenology of this purely structured turbulent system includes an inertial range with Kolmogorov's k(-5/3) scaling for the energy spectrum, as well as Kolmogorov's linear in r scaling for the third order longitudinal structure function.     

Gravitational Potentials of Triaxial Ellipsoids in Weyl Gravity

We present analytic expressions for the gravitational potentials associated with triaxial ellipsoids, spheroids, spheres and disks in Weyl gravity. The gravitational potentials of these configurations in Newtonian gravity, i.e. the potentials derived by integration of the Poisson equation Green's function 1/|r – r| over the volume of the configuration, are well known in the literature. Herein we present the results of the integration of |r – r|, the Green's function associated with the fourth order Laplacian ⁴ of Weyl gravity, over the volume of the configuration to obtain the resulting gravitational potentials within this specific theory. As an application of our calculations, we solve analytically Euler's equations pertaining to incompressible rotating fluids to show that, as in the case of Newtonian gravity, homogeneous prolate configurations are not allowed within Weyl gravity either.     

Application of an effective medium theory for modeling ultrasound wave propagation in healing long bones

Quantitative ultrasound has recently drawn significant interest in the monitoring of the bone healing process. Several research groups have studied ultrasound propagation in healing bones numerically, assuming callus to be a homogeneous and isotropic medium, thus neglecting the multiple scattering phenomena that occur due to the porous nature of callus. In this study, we model ultrasound wave propagation in healing long bones using an iterative effective medium approximation (IEMA), which has been shown to be significantly accurate for highly concentrated elastic mixtures. First, the effectiveness of IEMA in bone characterization is examined: (a) by comparing the theoretical phase velocities with experimental measurements in cancellous bone mimicking phantoms, and (b) by simulating wave propagation in complex healing bone geometries by using IEMA. The original material properties of cortical bone and callus were derived using serial scanning acoustic microscopy (SAM) images from previous animal studies. Guided wave analysis is performed for different healing stages and the results clearly indicate that IEMA predictions could provide supplementary information for bone assessment during the healing process. This methodology could potentially be applied in numerical studies dealing with wave propagation in composite media such as healing or osteoporotic bones in order to reduce the simulation time and simplify the study of complicated geometries with a significant porous nature.     

Enantioselective synthesis of (-)-dihydrocodeinone: a short formal synthesis of (-)-morphine

[reaction: see text] The radical cyclization approach to the morphine alkaloids has been applied in an asymmetric synthesis of (-)-dihydrocodeinone. A chiral cyclohexenol (R-32), from the CBS reduction of the enone, is the source of chirality. The first key step, tandem closure in which stereochemistry is controlled by geometric constraints, (-)-15b --> (+)-16, was followed by an unprecedented reductive hydroamination, completing the synthesis of (-)-dihydroisocodeine ((-)-17) in 13 steps from commercially available materials.     

On the representation theory of quantum Heisenberg group and algebra

We show that the quantum Heisenberg groupH _q (1) and its *-Hopf algebra structure can be obtained by means of contraction from quantumSU _q (2) group. Its dual Hopf algebra is the quantum Heisenberg algebraU _q (h(1)). We derive left and right regular representations forU _q (h(1)) as acting on its dualH _q (1). Imposing conditions on the right representation, the left representation is reduced to an irreducible holomorphic representation with an associated quantum coherent state. Realized in the Bargmann-Hilbert space of analytic functions the unitarity of regular representation is also shown. By duality, left and right regular representations for quantum Heisenberg group with the quantum Heisenberg algebra as representation module are also constructed. As before reduction of group left representations leads to finite dimensional irreducible ones for which the intertwinning operator is also investigated.     

Competition between neutrino and gravitational radiation

This essay discusses the competition between neutrino radiation and gravitational radiation for the dominant method by which forming neutron stars radiate away their gravitational collapse energy. It is shown that neutrinos may, in fact, be the dominant mode; thus a failure to detect gravitation radiation from a supernova does not imply an error in general relativity but rather the existence of a more efficient radiation mechanism.This essay was awarded the third prize for 1976 by the Gravity Research Foundation.     

Quantum group (CO)actions onG-spaces and quantum modules

A generalized transformation theory is introduced by using quantum (non-commutative) spaces transformed by quantum Lie groups (Hopf algebras). In our method dual pairs of -quantum groups/algebras (co)act on quantum spaces equipped with the structure of a -comodule algebra. We use the quantized groupSU _q (2) as a show case, and we determine its action on modules such as theq-oscillator and the quantum sphere. We also apply our method for the quantized Euclidean groupF _q (E(2)) acting on a quantum homogeneous space. For the sphere case the construction leads to an analytic pseudodifferential vector field realization of the deformed algebra su _q (2) on the quantum projective plane for north and south pole.Presented by A.A. at the 5th International Colloquium on Quantum Groups: Quantum Groups and Integrable Systems, Prague, 20–20 June 1996 and by D.E. at the 4th International Congress of Geometry, Thessaloniki.     

Regioselective synthesis of [1,2,3]-triazoles catalyzed by Cu(I) generated in situ from Cu(0) nanosize activated powder and amine hydrochloride salts

A straightforward and efficient method for the regioselective synthesis of functionalized 1,4-disubstituted [1,2,3]-triazoles, from terminal alkynes and azides, has been established utilizing Cu(0) as the source of the catalytic species. The presumed catalytic Cu(I) species is generated by the combination of 10 mol % copper nanosize activated powder and 1 equiv of an amine hydrochloride salt. The addition of an amine hydrochloride salt into the reaction mixture enhanced the dissolution of copper metal, and subsequently facilitated the formation of the Cu(I)-acetylide intermediate required for the regioselective cycloaddition.