Curvature properties of twistor spaces of quaternionic Kähler manifolds

We present a study of natural almost Hermitian structures on twistor spaces of quaternionic Kahler manifolds. This is used to supply (4n + 2)-dimensional examples (n > 1) of symplec tic non-Kähler manifolds. Studying their curvature properties we give a negative answer to the questions raised by D.Blair-S.Ianus and A.Gray, respectively, of whether a compact almost Kähler manifold with Hermitian Ricci tensor or whose curvature tensor belongs to the class AH2 is Kähler.Dedicated to Professor Helmut Karzel on the occasion of his 70th birthdayResearch partially supported by Contracts MM 413/1994 and MM 423/1994 with the Ministry of Science and Education of Bulgaria and by Contract 219/1994 with the University of Sofia St. Kl. Ohridski.     

"Inject-mix-react-separate-and-quantitate" (IMReSQ) method for screening enzyme inhibitors

Many regulatory enzymes are considered attractive therapeutic targets, and their inhibitors are potential drug candidates. Screening combinatorial libraries for enzyme inhibitors is pivotal to identifying hit compounds for the development of drugs targeting regulatory enzymes. Here, we introduce the first inhibitor screening method that consumes only nanoliters of the reactant solutions and is applicable to regulatory enzymes. The method is termed inject-mix-react-separate-and-quantitate (IMReSQ) and includes five steps. First, nanoliter volumes of substrate, candidate inhibitor, and enzyme solutions are injected by pressure into a capillary as separate plugs. Second, the plugs are mixed inside this capillary microreactor by transverse diffusion of laminar flow profiles. Third, the reaction mixture is incubated to form the enzymatic product. Fourth, the product is separated from the substrate inside the capillary by electrophoresis. Fifth, the amounts of the product and substrate are quantitated. In this proof-of-principle work, we applied IMReSQ to study inhibition of recently cloned protein farnesyltransferase from parasite Entamoeba histolytica. This enzyme is a potential therapeutic target for antiparasitic drugs. We identified three previously unknown inhibitors of this enzyme and proved that IMReSQ could be used for quantitatively ranking the potencies of inhibitors.     

Complexes of CuCl2 with low generation dendrimer G1-4S-Bu. Density functional calculations of structure and physicochemical properties

Density functional calculations (DFT) of a structure of dendrimer G1-4S-Bu (Si₅C₂₀H₁₃₂S₄) and its complexes with one, two, three, and four molecules of CuCl₂ have been carried out for the first time. The geometric structures of the complexes and spin-density distribution have been determined. For the studied complexes the states with maximum multiplicity are the most favorable. The interaction energies of the dendrimer G1-4S-Bu with CuCl₂ molecules have been calculated. It has been demonstrated that the formation of complexes with one or two molecules of CuCl₂ is the most favorable under standard conditions, which is consistent with the experimental data. Paramagnetic centers exist in all four studied complexes, and the unpaired electron is «localized» in four atoms: Cu, S, Cl, and Cl.     

Angular distributions of light projectile fragments in deep inelastic Pb + Em interactions at 160 A GeV

The nuclear emulsion was exposed at CERN by the lead projectile at 160 A GeV. The angles between any pair of fragments with Z = 2-4 have been measured in the emulsion plane for the events which did not contain heavy fragments. The constant characterizing the normal angle (J) distribution of the fragment momentum projection onto the emulsion plane with respect to initial projectile momentum p₀ is found to be C_J = (0.37 - 0.02) mrad. Corresponding value C₀ = (121 - 6) MeV/c of nucleon momentum distribution in the lead nucleus coincides with that expected from Fermi momentum distribution for this nucleus. The peak in the pair-angle distribution of double-charged fragments, ⁸Be M 2!, is presented for the region of small angles (<0.1 mrad). The fraction of !-particles coming from the decay of the ground state ⁸Be is found to be (13 - 2)% of their whole number.     

Analysis of precipitates in ultrafine-grained metallic materials

In the present work, new possibilities of the X-ray diffraction for investigations of the phase composition, size, shape and volume fraction of particles in ultrafine-grained ferritic/martensitic steel and the Cu-Cr-Zr alloy have been demonstrated. For the first time, the method of X-ray diffraction in the transmission mode was used to identify particles with a volume fraction of less than one percent in the ultrafine-grained materials studied. The small-angle X-ray scattering method was used to estimate the size and shape of dispersed particles. Specific features of the ultrafine-grained structure determined by the X-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy studies were used for estimation of dispersion hardening in the samples obtained by equal-channel angular pressing in comparison with the samples subjected to standard treatment.     

Stress and strain fields in rotating elastic/plastic annular disks of pressure-dependent material

The Drucker–Prager yield criterion is used in conjunction with its associated flow rule to find the elastic/plastic stress and strain distributions within the rotating annular disks under plane stress conditions. The main distinguished feature of the model, as compared to typical models used for analysis of disks, is that the material is plastically compressible. Using an approach proposed elsewhere, the solution for strain rates is reduced to one nonlinear ordinary differential equation and two linear ordinary differential equations. These equations can be solved one by one, which significantly simplifies the numerical treatment and increases the accuracy of solution.     

Effect of condensed products of silane combustion on a low-pressure oxyhydrogen flame

The kinetics of branching-chain oxidation of monosilane and hydrogen at and near the first explosion limit at temperatures within 630–850 K and pressures below 1 torr was studied. Atomic hydrogen and oxygen were observed in the silane-oxygen reaction zone. The effects of the reactor walls treated with silane-lean (1: 9: 10) and silane-rich (1: 1: 3) SiH₄-O ₂-He mixtures on the parameters of oxyhydrogen ignition were different. This modification of the surface was of long-term character. Water vapor was absorbed on the hot reactor walls treated with explosions of the silane-rich mixture. Such a surface was demonstrated to affect the combustion of oxyhydrogen, inducing pulsating combustion.     

The Stefan problem of solidification of ternary systems in the presence of moving phase transition regions

The process of solidification of ternary systems in the presence of moving phase transition regions has been investigated theoretically in terms of the nonlinear equation of the liquidus surface. A mathematical model is developed and an approximate analytical solution to the Stefan problem is constructed for a linear temperature profile in two-phase zones. The temperature and impurity concentration distributions are determined, the solid-phase fractions in the phase transition regions are obtained, and the laws of motion of their boundaries are established. It is demonstrated that all boundaries move in accordance with the laws of direct proportionality to the square root of time, which is a general property of self-similar processes. It is substantiated that the concentration of an impurity of the substance undergoing a phase transition only in the cotectic zone increases in this zone and decreases in the main two-phase zone in which the other component of the substance undergoes a phase transition. In the process, the concentration reaches a maximum at the interface between the main two-phase zone and the cotectic two-phase zone. The revealed laws of motion of the outer boundaries of the entire phase transition region do not depend on the amount of the components under consideration and hold true for crystallization of a multicomponent system.