Simulating weighted, directed small-world networks

Imbalanced interactions or processes and directed links are often encountered in realistic networks. In this paper, we extend the well-known small-world model of Watts and Strogatz to deal with those factors. The path length and clustering properties are analyzed. Numerical results are also presented, which indicate that the extended Watts-Strogatz model may be influenced by the diversity in interaction strength.     

Peristaltic mechanism of a Maxwell fluid in an asymmetric channel

The peristaltic flow of a Maxwell fluid in an asymmetric channel is studied. Asymmetry in the flow is induced by taking peristaltic wave train of different amplitudes and phase. The viscoelasticity of the fluid is induced in the momentum equation. An analytic solution is obtained through a series of the wave number. The leading velocity term denotes the Newtonian result. The first and second order terms are the viscoelastic contribution to the flow. Expressions for stream function and longitudinal pressure gradient are obtained analytically. Numerical computations have been performed for the pressure rise per wavelength and discussed.     

Asymmetry of Convex Polytopes and Vertex Index of Symmetric Convex Bodies

In (Gluskin, Litvak in Geom. Dedicate 90:45–48, [2002]) it was shown that a polytope with few vertices is far from being symmetric in the Banach–Mazur distance. More precisely, it was shown that Banach–Mazur distance between such a polytope and any symmetric convex body is large. In this note we introduce a new, averaging-type parameter to measure the asymmetry of polytopes. It turns out that, surprisingly, this new parameter is still very large, in fact it satisfies the same lower bound as the Banach–Mazur distance. In a sense it shows the following phenomenon: if a convex polytope with small number of vertices is as close to a symmetric body as it can be, then most of its vertices are as bad as the worst one. We apply our results to provide a lower estimate on the vertex index of a symmetric convex body, which was recently introduced in (Bezdek, Litvak in Adv. Math. 215:626–641, [2007]). Furthermore, we give the affirmative answer to a conjecture by Bezdek (Period. Math. Hung. 53:59–69, [2006]) on the quantitative illumination problem.     

Effect of bioparticle size on dispersion and retention in monolithic and perfusive beds

Single-component pulse response studies were used to compare the retention and transport behavior of small molecules, proteins, and a virus on commercially available monolithic and perfusive ion-exchangers. Temporal distortion and extra-column effects were corrected for using a simple algorithm based on the method of moments. It was found that temporal distortion is inversely related to the number of theoretical plates. With increasing bioparticle size, retention increased and the transition from a non-eluting to a non-adsorbing state with increasing ionic strength became more abrupt. Both of these observations are qualitatively explained by calculations of particle-surface electrostatic attractive energy. Calculations also suggest that, for sufficiently large bioparticles, such as viruses or cells, hydrodynamic drag can promote elution. Under non-adsorbing conditions, plate height increased only weakly with flow rate and the skew remained unchanged. With increasing retention, plate height increased dramatically for proteins. Plate height was scaled by permeability rather than bead diameter to enable comparison among different stationary phases.     

Limb dominance changes in walking evolution explored by asymmetric correlations in gait dynamics

Fluctuations in the stride interval time series of unconstrained walking are not random but seem to exhibit long-range correlations that decay as a power law (Hausdorff et al. (1995) [35]). Here, we examine whether asymmetries are present in the long-range correlations of different gait parameters (stride, swing and stance intervals) for the left and right limbs. Gait dynamics corresponding to 16 healthy subjects were obtained from the Physionet database, which contains stride, stance and swing intervals for both left and right limbs. Detrended Fluctuation Analysis (DFA) revealed the presence of asymmetric long-range correlations in all gait cycle variables investigated. A rich variety of scaling exponent dynamics was found, with the presence of synchronicity, decreased correlations and dominant correlations. The results are discussed in terms of the hypothesis that reduced strength of long-range correlations reflect both enhanced stability and adaptability.     

Light scattering by complex ice-analogue crystals

Angle-dependent light-scattering measurements on single ice analogues crystals are described. Phase functions and degree of linear polarization are measured for electrodynamically levitated crystals. A procedure for randomizing particle orientation during levitation is demonstrated. The dependence of scattering on the shape, complexity and surface roughness of the crystals is examined. The phase functions from complex crystals with smooth surfaces show little dependence on shape. There is close agreement between the measured functions and the analytic phase function for ice clouds. However, rosettes with rough surfaces have qualitatively different phase functions, with raised side and back scattering. The asymmetry parameter is typically about 0.8±0.04 and 0.63±0.05 for smooth and rough crystals, respectively. The 22° halo peak is present for smooth rosettes and aggregates but absent for rough rosettes. Two-dimensional scattering patterns from several crystals in fixed orientations are also shown. The results suggest that it may be possible to use such patterns to discriminate not only between crystals of different shape but also to obtain some information on surface properties.     

Uniform synchronous criticality of diversely random complex networks

We investigate collective synchronous behaviors in random complex networks of limit-cycle oscillators with the non-identical asymmetric coupling scheme, and find a uniform coupling criticality of collective synchronization which is independent of complexity of network topologies. Numerical simulations on categories of random complex networks have verified this conclusion.     

Synthesis of Chiral Aziridines Through Decarboxylative Generation of Sulfur Ylides and Their Reaction with Chiral Sulfinyl Imines

Reaction of sulfur ylides with a series of aryl substituted chiral nonracemic sulfinyl imines afforded the corresponding aziridines in good yields with good stereoselectivity. The sulfur ylides were generated by the thermally induced decarboxylation of carboxymethylsulfonium betaines. A drop in the diastereomeric ratio was observed when going from electron-deficient to electron-releasing aryl substituted imines. S-Methylene aziridinations involving the decarboxylation of carboxymethylsulfonium betaine functionality complements existing technologies with the advantages of the reaction protocol, levels of conversion, and scope.     

The above-threshold detachment of negative ions in half-cycle laser field

We study partial detachment rate and photodetachment asymmetry of F⁻ detached by half-cycle linearly polarized laser field using numerical simulation. Similar to photodetachment for negative ions in few-cycle laser fields, we find that partial detachment rates of a couple opposite directions in the above-threshold detachment of F⁻ are not equal, the detachment is asymmetric. Furthermore, the photodetachment asymmetry degree increases with carrier-envelop phase (CEP) as the peak laser intensity becoming stronger or the pulse width becoming shorter. The maximal asymmetry degree is stronger with higher laser intensity. We confirm the effect of the CEP, laser intensity and pulse width on the above-threshold detachment of F⁻ in half-cycle laser fields. It provides a possible way to determine the CEP of half-cycle laser fields by measuring detached photoelectrons.     

Multifractal characteristics of palmprint and its extracted algorithm

The palmprint is one of the most reliable physiological characteristics that can be used to distinguish between individuals. In this paper, we propose a palmprint recognition method based on multifractal spectrum technology using statistical moment approaches. The multifractal spectrum of palmprint is calculated by developing an algorithm for extracting palmprint characteristics. The three parameters proposed as the distinguishing palmprint features include the width spread and maximum of multifractal spectrum, and a parameter which describes the asymmetry of the spectrum curve. The identification process can be divided into the following main steps: (1) capturing palmprint image, extracting and normalizing the subimages; (2) defining a coordinate system and calculating partition function; (3) estimating multifractal spectrum; (4) extracting the three parameters and, finally, (5) the feature matching and palmprint identification. The experimental results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed method.