Measurement and analysis of complex modulated motions in a weakly nonlinear system

The two-timing dynamics of a forced, weakly nonlinear system are considered. Experimental results on a roll-forced spherical pendulum verify the occurrence of slow-time, subharmonically and chaotically modulated oscillations in a frequency band near resonance; the modulatory behavior follows the occurrence of a Hopf bifurcation in the slow-time coordinates. A phase-sensitive detection method for experimentally isolating the slow-time behavior is described. A Lagrangian model for the pendulum is developed, and slow-time equations are presented. A two-thirds power scalling law relating roll angle to the appearance of the modulations is derived from the slow-time equations and tested with experimental results.     

Correlated equilibrium payoffs and public signalling in absorbing games

An absorbing game is a repeated game where some action combinations are absorbing, in the sense that whenever they are played, there is a positive probability that the game terminates, and the players receive some terminal payoff at every future stage.  We prove that every multi-player absorbing game admits a correlated equilibrium payoff. In other words, for every ε>0 there exists a probability distribution p _ε over the space of pure strategy profiles that satisfies the following. With probability at least 1−ε, if a pure strategy profile is chosen according to p _ε and each player is informed of his pure strategy, no player can profit more than ε in any sufficiently long game by deviating from the recommended strategy. Received: April 2001/Revised: June 4, 2002     

Use of ultraviolet-light irradiated multiple myeloma cells as immunogens to generate tumor-specific cytolytic T lymphocytes

Background

As the eradication of tumor cells in vivo is most efficiently performed by cytolytic T lymphocytes (CTL), various methods for priming tumor-reactive lymphocytes have been developed. In this study, a method of priming CTLs with ultraviolet (UV)-irradiated tumor cells, which results in termination of tumor cell proliferation, apoptosis, as well as upregulation of heat shock proteins (HSP) expression is described.

Methods

Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) were primed weekly with UV-irradiated or mitomycin-treated RPMI 8226 multiple myeloma cells. Following three rounds of stimulation over 21 days, the lymphocytes from the mixed culture conditions were analyzed for anti-MM cell reactivity.

Results

By day 10 of cultures, PBMCs primed using UV-irradiated tumor cells demonstrated a higher percentage of activated CD8+/CD4- T lymphocytes than non-primed PBMCs or PBMCs primed using mitomycin-treated MM cells. Cytotoxicity assays revealed that primed PBMCs were markedly more effective (p < 0.01) than non-primed PBMCs in killing RPMI 8226 MM cells. Surface expression of glucose regulated protein 94 (Grp94/Gp96) and Grp78 were both found to be induced in UV-treated MM cells.

Conclusion

Since, HSP-associated peptides are known to mediate tumor rejection; these data suggest that immune-mediated eradication of MM cells could be elicited via a UV-induced HSP process. The finding that the addition of 17-allylamide-17-demethoxygeldanamycin (17AAG, an inhibitor of HSP 90-peptide interactions) resulted in decreased CTL-induced cytotoxicity supported this hypothesis. Our study, therefore, provides the framework for the development of anti-tumor CTL cellular vaccines for treating MM using UV-irradiated tumor cells as immunogens.     

Electrical and mechanical properties of C70 fullerene and graphite under high pressures studied using designer diamond anvils

We compare electrical and mechanical properties of C70 fullerene with high purity graphite to 48 GPa at room temperature using designer diamond anvils with embedded electrical microprobes. The electrical resistance of C70 shows a minimum at 20 GPa with transformation to an amorphous insulating phase complete above 35 GPa, while graphite remains conducting. Nanoindentation shows hardness values 220 times larger for the pressure quenched amorphous phase than for similarly treated graphite. Our studies establish that the amorphous carbon phase produced from C70 has unique properties not attainable from graphite.     

High frequency shear horizontal plate acoustic wave devices

It has been shown recently that shear horizontal acoustic waves propagating in piezoelectric plates whose thickness h is much less than the acoustic wavelength λ possess a number of attractive properties for use in sensor and signal processing applications. In order to exploit the potential benefits of these waves, however, one needs to fabricate devices on very thin plates. We have developed a suitable fabrication method which can be used to realize devices on such thin plates. In this method, the device is first fabricated on a plate of normal thickness (approximately 500 μm) and the substrate is then lapped from the back side to reduce the thickness. The technique has been utilized to realize devices on plates of thickness less than 70 μm. A shear horizontal plate acoustic wave (SH-PAW) delay line of fundamental resonant frequency greater than 25 MHz and insertion loss less than 7 dB has been realized on a 60 μm thick Y – cut, X – propagation lithium niobate substrate. The device also shows strong response near the third harmonic frequency of 75 MHz.     

Structural Behavior of Aggregate Assemblies of Cationic Surfactants and Their Mixtures with Triblock Polymers

Small angle neutron scattering (SANS) technique has been employed to study the structural aspects of micellar system of cationic surfactants viz. alkyltriphenylphosphonium bromide (C₁₂-, C₁₄-, C₁₆TPB) and hexadecylpyridinium chloride (C₁₆PyCl) with triblock polymers (L64, F68, and F127). SANS data analysis reveals the prolate ellipsoidal shape of mixed micelles and increase in the micellar size upon addition of triblock polymers (L64, F68, and F127). The influence of effective size of the head group segment on the growth of micelles of HTPB (larger head group) has also been compared with that of HPyCl (smaller head group). A proportionate micellar growth of cationic surfactants has been found with increase in the length of tail segment of cationic surfactants. The observed mixed micellar growth in mixed systems is also accounted on the basis of simultaneous increase in the hydrophobicity of both the components in the mixed system. Results from the present study enlightened the effect of variation in head group segment and hydrophobicity on the structural aspects of mixed micellar system.     

Germanium liquid crystals

Liquid-crystalline compounds containing germanium atoms were synthesised and assessed for liquid-crystalline properties. These new compounds generally possess smectic C phases, and many also possess nematic, smectic A and higher order smectic phases. The germanium-containing liquid crystals were incorporated into smectic C mixtures. These mixtures tend to exhibit little change in smectic C*?layer thickness over temperature. This characteristic is associated with de Vries smectic A materials, but measurements show that, although they have high smectic C stability, the materials' smectic cone angles are small. Measurement of smectic cone angle versus temperature of an exemplar material and its analogues containing carbon and silicon in place of the germanium, all show small cone angles which fall smoothly and extrapolate to zero as the smectic C*?to smectic A transition is approached. These measurements largely explain the observed small layer changes and establish that the materials are not first-order de Vries materials. They must be located elsewhere along the de Vries-orthogonal continuum of smectic A phases.     

β-ω transformation under pressure ans stacking soliton model for diffuse omega phase in TiV alloys

Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) studies have been done on TiV alloys before and after application of high pressure to check the stacking soliton model of the diffuse omega phase. gb-ω transformation under high pressure was noticed in Ti_0.81 V_0.19 and Ti_0.72 V_0.28 alloys, thereby proving that ω-clusters prefer a smaller lattice parameter than that of the β-phase. However, the β-ω cell constant discrepancy is too small compared to theoretical predictions. Further, pressure causes incommensurate to commensurate phase transition. These results point out to the inadequacies of one-dimensional theories for diffuse omega phase.