Response dynamics of goldfish saccular fibers: effects of stimulus frequency and intensity on fibers with different tuning, sensitivity, and spontaneous activity

The effects of stimulus frequency and intensity on response patterns (PST histograms) to tone burst stimulation were examined in differently tuned saccular fibers of the goldfish. In addition, the sensitivity of these fibers to amplitude-modulated (AM) signals of different carrier frequencies was measured. The response patterns evoked by unmodulated signals were a complex function of tuning, spontaneous activity and sensitivity of the fiber, and the frequency and intensity of the signal. Frequency-dependent response patterns were found in low-frequency fibers with best frequencies (BF) below 200 Hz. Responses in these fibers ranged from tonic to phasic in nonspontaneous fibers and included more complex patterns in spontaneously active fibers, such as suppression of evoked activity below spontaneous levels. Midfrequency fibers (BF = 500-600 Hz) showed responses similar to those in low-frequency fibers, but with less dependence on frequency. In contrast, both high-frequency (BF = 800-1000 Hz) and wideband, untuned fibers showed frequency-invariant patterns of adaptation. High-frequency fibers were equally sensitive to AM signals at all frequencies tested. The sensitivity of low-frequency fibers to AM, however, increased as a function of carrier frequency and corresponded to the degree of adaptation in response to unmodulated tones. In general, the AM sensitivity of a fiber could be predicted more by its pattern of response to unmodulated signals than by its tuning characteristics.     

The role of water vapour on the oxidation of two Ln-Si-Al-O-N glasses (Ln=Y, La)

The oxidation behaviour of LnSiAlON (Ln=Y, La) glasses was studied at different temperatures (990-1150 °C) and under different water vapour pressures (360-2690 Pa). These results were also compared with those obtained under O₂, N₂/H₂O or O₂/H₂O mixtures. When glasses are treated under a N₂/H₂O mixture, optical and SEM observations show porous scales. Transformations of the reaction rate data and a kinetic model show that there is only one limiting process occurring during oxidation. This rate limiting step is the progress of the chemical reaction at the internal interface. Determination of the pressure law dependence and thermodynamics calculations of water vapour molecules dissociation at the investigated temperatures allow us to suggest that the mechanism of oxidation corresponds to decomposition of water molecules on the oxynitride glass surface.     

The analysis of thermal stresses in thermopiezoelastic semi-infinite body with an edge crack

Summary  Thermopiezoelastic materials have recently attracted considerable attention because of their potential use in intelligent or smart structural systems. The governing equations of a thermopiezoelastic medium are more complex due to the intrinsic coupling effects that take place among mechanical, electrical and thermal fields. In this analysis, we deal with the problem of a crack in a semi-infinite, transversely isotropic, thermopiezoelastic material by means of potential functions and Fourier transforms under steady heat-flux loading conditions. The problem is reduced to a singular integral equation that is solved. The thermal stress intensity factor for a crack situated in a cadmium selenide material is calculated. Received 20 March 2001; accepted for publication 18 October 2001     

Interaction of cationic 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-N-methyl pyridyl) porphyrin with mono-and polynucleotides: A study by picosecond fluorescence spectroscopy

The interaction of water-soluble cationic 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-N-methyl pyridyl) porphyrin (H₂TMPyP4) with some mono-and polynucleotides is studied by time-resolved and steady-state fluorescence spectroscopy, as well as by steady-state absorption spectroscopy. The fluorescence decay kinetics are analyzed by reconstructing the decay time distributions, which made it possible to describe in more detail than previously the complexes formed due to the interaction. The main effect of binding of H₂TMPyP4 adenosine 5′-monophosphate and to poly(dA-dT)₂ is shown to be an increase in the fluorescence lifetime from 4.6 ns in the solution to 8.3 and 12.3 ns, respectively. This effect is explained by a less polar (in comparison with water) environment of porphyrin in complexes, which leads to a decrease in the quenching action of the intramolecular charge transfer state between the porphyrin macrocycle and methyl pyridyl groups. In the case of complex formation with guanine-containing nucleotides (guanosine 5′-monophosphate and poly(dG-dC)₂), the effect of decrease in the quenching action of the intramolecular charge transfer state caused by a decrease in the medium polarity is superimposed by a stronger effect of decrease in the fluorescence lifetime of porphyrin as a result of intermolecular electron transfer from guanine to excited porphyrin. A high sensitivity of this intermolecular quenching to the mutual arrangement of the electron donor and the electron acceptor makes it possible to reveal four types of complexes between H₂TMPyP4 and guanosine 5′-monophosphate, which differ in the positions of four broad peaks in the porphyrin fluorescence decay time distribution (0.1, 0.7, 2.4, and 6.1 ns). For the complex with poly(dG-dC)₂, a narrow peak at 2.8 ns prevails in the fluorescence decay time distribution, with the contributions from two additional narrow peaks at 1.0 and 6.2 ns being small.     

Aminomethylation of 1-R-Tetrazoles

The reaction of tetrazole and a series of its 1-substituted derivatives with formaldehyde and alkylamines under mild conditions results in aminomethylation of the heterocyclic ring at the carbon atom with the formation of the corresponding Mannich bases. It was found that strong acids (HCl and CF₃COOH) have an activating action during the process. An ylide mechanism of the reaction was proposed from the data obtained.Translated from Khimiya Geterotsiklicheskikh Soedinenii, No. 1, pp. 66–71, January, 1991.     

An axially symmetric contact problem for a half-space with an elastically reinforced cylindrical cavity

We consider the pressure of a plate on a half-space with a round cylindrical cavity. The surface of the cavity is reinforced by elastic elements that are modeled by very general operators. The problem is reduced to a Fredholm integral equation of second kind. A detailed study is made of the case of reinforcement described by the Winkler law. An approximate solution is obtained in the form of the asymptotics with respect to the radii of the plate and the cavity.Translated fromDinamicheskie Sistemy, No. 6, 1987, pp. 80–85.     

Similarity and the structure of unital matrix quadratic trinomials with pairwise different characteristic roots

The normal form of certain polynomial matrices is found.Translated from Zapiski Nauchnykh Seminarov Leningradskogo Otdeleniya Matematicheskogo Instituta im. V. A. Steklova Akademii Nauk SSSR, Vol. 175, pp. 63–68, 1989.     

Neutron interferometry in gravitational field with torsion

We consider the possibility of finding experimental evidence of the fifth force with the measurement of a phase shift of neutron beams via an interferometric apparatus and also a possible rotation of the polarization plane of polarized neutron beams when torsion is introduced in a gravitational field.     

Symmetry character of collective states in 104Pd populated in the EC-β+ decay of 104Ag

The states of ¹⁰⁴Pd, populated in the EC-β⁺ decay of the ground ( J ^π = 5⁺) and metastable ( J ^π = 2⁺) states of ¹⁰⁴Ag, have been investigated in the framework of the proton-neutron interacting boson model, extending a previous analysis to take into account the newly appeared experimental data. All positive-parity states up to an excitation energy of 3 MeV and spin in the range J = 1-6, fed by more than 0.3% in the decay of the parent nucleus, have been considered. As a result, strong evidence has been found for interpreting most of these states as states of collective nature having a quite pure full- or mixed-symmetry character and, in particular, for identifying the 1⁺ level at 2276 keV as the lowest 1⁺ mixed-symmetry state.