Multi-Implicit Peer Two-Step W-Methods for Parallel Time Integration

Peer two-step W-methods are designed for integration of stiff initial value problems with parallelism across the method. The essential feature is that in each time step s ‘peer’ approximations are employed having similar properties. In fact, no primary solution variable is distinguished. Parallel implementation of these stages is easy since information from one previous time step is used only and the different linear systems may be solved simultaneously. This paper introduces a subclass having order s−1 where optimal damping for stiff problems is obtained by using different system parameters in different stages. Favourable properties of this subclass are uniform stability for realistic stepsize sequences and a superconvergence property which is proved using a polynomial collocation formulation. Numerical tests on a shared memory computer of a matrix-free implementation with Krylov methods are included. AMS subject classification (2000) 65L06, 65Y05.Received June 2004. Revised January 2005. Communicated by Timo Eirola.Helmut Podhaisky: The work of this author was supported by the German Academic Exchange Service, DAAD.     

Neutrino mass anarchy

What is the form of the neutrino mass matrix which governs the oscillations of the atmospheric and solar neutrinos? Features of the data have led to a dominant viewpoint where the mass matrix has an ordered, regulated pattern, perhaps dictated by a flavor symmetry. We challenge this viewpoint and demonstrate that the data are well accounted for by a neutrino mass matrix which appears to have random entries.     

Characterization and imaging in optically scattering media by use of laser speckle and a variable-coherence source

We demonstrate the application of laser-speckle statistics formed by a variable-coherence source illuminating a scattering medium, for determining the scattering parameter mu;(s)>(?) of a diffusion model for the medium. Furthermore, we apply this technique to visualize laterally localized inhomogeneities embedded within a highly scattering sample.     

Analysis of Nonlinearly Loaded Multiport Antenna Structures Over an Imperfect Ground Plane Using the Volterra-Series Method

Volterra-series analysis is applied to nonlinearly loaded antennas over an imperfect ground plane. The nature of the imperfect ground can be taken into account either exactly by the Sommerfeld formulation or approximately by the reflection-coefficient method. After the electromagnetic-field problem is reduced to a network problem by application of the method of moments, the distributed nonlinear loads are approximated by lumped loads. The nonlinear network problem is then solved using the Volterra technique. A procedure for obtaining a time-domain solution from the frequencydomain solution without using the fast Fourier transform technique is demonstrated.     

Anomaly,gauge and gaugino mediation in brane worlds with messenger matter

Theories in which supersymmetry is broken on another brane, which is separated from the minimal supersymmetry standard model (MSSM) matter fields in an extra dimension, are attractive because they may solve the supersymmetric flavor problem. We consider the effects in such theories of new messenger fields with standard model gauge charges and with direct couplings to the supersymmetry breaking sector. The effect on the masses of the MSSM superpartners can be dramatic. In particular, the tachyonic slepton problem of anomaly mediation and the stable slepton problem of gaugino mediation can be cured.     

An Algebraic Version of Haag’s Theorem

Under natural conditions (such as split property and geometric modular action of wedge algebras) it is shown that the unitary equivalence class of the net of local (von Neumann) algebras in the vacuum sector associated to double cones with bases on a fixed space-like hyperplane completely determines an algebraic QFT model. More precisely, if for two models there is a unitary connecting all of these algebras, then — without assuming that this unitary also connects their respective vacuum states or spacetime symmetry representations — it follows that the two models are equivalent. This result might be viewed as an algebraic version of the celebrated theorem of Rudolf Haag about problems regarding the so-called “interaction-picture” in QFT. Original motivation of the author for finding such an algebraic version came from conformal chiral QFT. Both the chiral case as well as a related conjecture about standard half-sided modular inclusions will be also discussed.     

Photoreduction of carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide with hydrogen catalyzed by a rhenium(i) phenanthroline-polyoxometalate hybrid complex

A phenanthroline ligand decorated at the 5,6-position with a 15-crown-5 ether was used to prepare a metalorganic-polyoxometalate hybrid complex Re(I)(L)(CO)(3)CH(3)CN-MHPW(12)O(40) (L = 15-crown-5-phenanthroline, M = Na(+), H(3)O(+)). X-ray diffraction, (1)H and (13)C NMR, ESI-MS, IR, and elemental analysis were used to characterize this complex. In the presence of Pt/C, the polyoxometalate moiety in Re(I)(L)(CO)(3)CH(3)CN-MHPW(12)O(40) can oxidize H(2) to two protons and two electrons which in the presence of visible light can catalyze the photoreduction of CO(2) to CO with H(2) as the reducing agent instead of the universally used amines as sacrificial reducing agents. An EPR spectrum of a stable intermediate species under reaction conditions shows characteristics of a PW(V)W(VI)(11)O(40) and a Re(0) species with a tentative assignment of the intermediate as Re(0)(L)(CO)(3)(S)-MH(3)PW(V)W(VI)(11)O(40).     

Attribution of the discrepancy between ELISA and LC-MS/MS assay results of a PEGylated scaffold protein in post-dose monkey plasma samples due to the presence of anti-drug antibodies

High-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) methods were developed for the quantification of a PEGylated scaffold protein drug in monkey plasma samples. The LC-MS/MS method was based on the extraction of the therapeutic protein with a water-miscible organic solvent and the subsequent trypsin digestion of the extract followed by the detection of a surrogate peptide. The assay was linear over a range of 10-3,000 ng/mL. The ELISA method utilized a therapeutic target-binding format in which the recombinant target antigen was used to capture the drug in the sample, followed by detection with an anti-PEG monoclonal antibody. The assay range was 30-2,000 ng/mL. A correlation study between the two methods was performed by measuring the drug concentrations in plasma samples from a single-dose pharmacokinetic (PK) study in cynomolgus monkeys following a 5-mg/kg subcutaneous administration (n = 4). In the early time points of the PK profile, the drug concentrations obtained by the LC-MS/MS method agreed very well with those obtained by the ELISA method. However, at later time points, the drug concentrations measured by the LC-MS/MS method were consistently higher than those measured by the ELISA method. The PK parameters calculated based on the concentration data showed that the two methods gave equivalent peak exposure (C(max)) at 24-48 h. However, the LC-MS/MS results exhibited about 1.53-fold higher total exposure (AUC(tot)) than the ELISA results. The discrepancy between the LC-MS/MS and ELISA results was investigated by conducting immunogenicity testing, anti-drug antibody (ADA) epitope mapping, and Western blot analysis of the drug concentrations coupled with Protein G separation. The results demonstrated the presence of ADA specific to the engineered antigen-binding region of the scaffold protein drug that interfered with the ability of the drug to bind to the target antigen used in the ELISA method. In the presence of the ADAs, the ELISA method measured only the active circulating drug (target-binding), while the LC-MS/MS method measured the total circulating drug. The work presented here indicates that the bioanalysis of protein drugs may be complicated owing to the presence of drug-binding endogenous components or ADAs in the post-dose (incurred) samples. The clear understanding of the behavior of different bioanalytical techniques vis-à-vis the potentially interfering components found in incurred samples is critical in selecting bioanalytical strategies for measuring protein drugs.