Near varieties of idempotent generated completely simple semigroups

Algebra universalis - Completely simple semigroups form a variety if we consider them as algebras with multiplication and inversion. A near variety of idempotent generated completely simple...     

Generation of fluorescent adducts of malondialdehyde and amino acids: toward an understanding of lipofuscin

Lipofuscin is a yellow-brown, highly fluorescent pigment that undergoes an age-related progressive accumulation in animal cells, mainly in postmitotic cells. It is a heterogeneous, high-molecular weight material associated with proteins, lipids and nucleic acids. Lipofuscin is implicated in many aspects of human health, including aging, oxidative stress, macular degeneration, lipid peroxidation, atherosclerosis, dementia (Alzheimer's Disease) and diseases associated with prions. Although the fluorescent properties of lipofuscin have long been recognized, neither histologists nor chemists have yet isolated the pigments themselves or characterized their optical properties. We have prepared lipofuscinlike species by reacting malondialdehyde (MDA) with cysteine (Cys). MDA:Cys adducts 3:2 and 2:2 are two of those that have been identified among the many that were present in the reaction. Whereas previous attempts to synthesize lipofuscinlike species resulted in compounds that were either nonfluorescent or emitted principally in the blue, the MDA:Cys adducts reported in this study are not only fluorescent but also emit over a broader range.     

A Canonical Directly Infinite Ring

Let be the set of nonnegative integers and the ring of integers. Let be the ring of N × N matrices over generated by the following two matrices: one obtained from the identity matrix by shifting the ones one position to the right and the other one position down. This ring plays an important role in the study of directly finite rings. Calculation of invertible and idempotent elements of yields that the subrings generated by them coincide. This subring is the sum of the ideal consisting of all matrices in with only a finite number of nonzero entries and the subring of generated by the identity matrix. Regular elements are also described. We characterize all ideals of , show that all ideals are finitely generated and that not all ideals of are principal. Some general ring theoretic properties of are also established.     

A finite element formulation for global linear stability analysis of a nominally two‐dimensional base flow

A stabilized finite element method, to carry out the linear stability analysis of a two‐dimensional base flow to three‐dimensional perturbations that are periodic along span, is presented. The resulting equations for the time evolution of the disturbance requires a solution to the generalized eigenvalue problem. The analysis is global in nature and is also applicable to non‐parallel flows. Equal‐order‐interpolation functions for velocity and pressure are utilized. Stabilization terms are added to the Galerkin formulation to admit the use of equal‐order‐interpolation functions and to eliminate node‐to‐node oscillations that might arise in advection‐dominated flows. The proposed formulation is tested on two flow problems. First, the mode transitions in the circular Couette flow are investigated. Two scenarios are considered. In the first one, the outer cylinder is at rest, while the inner one spins. Two linearly unstable modes are identified. The primary mode is real and represents the axisymmetric Taylor vortices. The second mode is complex and consists of spiral vortices. For the counter‐rotating cylinders, the primary transition is via the appearance of spiral vortices. Excellent agreement with results from earlier studies is observed. The formulation is also utilized to investigate the parallel and oblique modes of vortex shedding past a cylinder for the Re = 100 flow. It is found that the flow is associated with a large number of unstable oblique shedding modes. The parallel mode of vortex shedding is a special case of this family of modes and is associated with the largest growth rate. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Continuous glucose monitoring by means of mid-infrared transmission laser spectroscopy in vitro

The continuous surveillance of glucose concentration reduces short-term risks and long-term complications for people with diabetes mellitus, a disorder of glucose metabolism. As a first step towards the continuous monitoring of glucose, reagent-free transmission spectroscopy in the mid-infrared region has been carried out in vitro using a quantum cascade laser and an optical silver halide fiber. A 30 μm gap in the fiber allowed for transmission spectroscopy of aqueous glucose solutions at a wavelength of 9.69 μm, which is specific to a molecular vibration of glucose. A noise-equivalent concentration as low as 4 mg/dL was achieved at an average power of 1.8 mW and an integration time of 50 s. This is among the most precise of glucose measurements using mid-infrared spectroscopy. Even with the very low average laser power of 0.07 mW the sensitivity of previous results (using a fiber optical evanescent field analysis) has been improved upon by almost one order of magnitude. Finally, the impact of potentially interfering substances such as other carbohydrates was analyzed.     

Exploration of Gibbs-Laguerre Tessellations for Three-Dimensional Stochastic Modeling

Random tessellations are well suited for probabilistic modeling of three-dimensional (3D) grain microstructures of polycrystalline materials. The present paper is focused on so-called Gibbs-Laguerre tessellations, in which the generators of the Laguerre tessellation form a Gibbs point process. The goal is to construct an energy function of the Gibbs point process such that the resulting tessellation matches some desired geometrical properties. Since the model is analytically intractable, our main tool of analysis is stochastic simulation based on Markov chain Monte Carlo. Such simulations enable us to investigate the properties of the models, and, in the next step, to apply the knowledge gained to the statistical reconstruction of the 3D microstructure of an aluminum alloy extracted from 3D tomographic image data.

     

Identities without the star for *-bands

Adair determined the lattice of varieties of *-bands and provided a single identity for each of them. We construct a new set of identities for the same purpose. Both of these systems involve at least one variable which is starred. Using the second system of identities, we show that the system of identities constructed by Gerhard and the author for varieties of bands also represents a set of identities determining the varieties of *-bands. The same type of result is proved for varieties of band monoids and varieties of *-band monoids using the results of two papers by Wismath.Presented by R. W. Quackenbush.     

Characterizing cryptogroups with a finite number of $${\mathcal{H}}$$ -classes in each $${\mathcal{D}}$$ -class by their subsemigroups

We construct a family of completely regular semigroups with the property that each completely regular semigroup S with a finite number of -classes in each -class is non-cryptic if and only if S contains an isomorphic image of a member of . Each member F of is an ideal extension of a Rees matrix semigroup J by a cyclic group B with a zero adjoined and the identity of B is the identity of F. Here with I and Λ finite, G is given by generators and relations, and P is given explicitly. Within completely regular semigroups, the cryptic property is equivalent to where is the natural partial order and a if and only if a ² = ab = ba. Hence the above result can be formulated in terms of and .