Challenging Students to View the Concept of Area in Triangles in a Broad Context: Exploiting the Features of Cabri-II

This study focuses on the constructions in terms of area and perimeter in equivalent triangles developed by students aged 12–15 years-old, using the tools provided by Cabri-Geometry II [Labore (1990). Cabri-Geometry (software), Université de Grenoble]. Twenty-five students participated in a learning experiment where they were asked to construct: (a) pairs of equivalent triangles “in as many ways as possible” and to study their area and their perimeter using any of the tools provided and (b) “any possible sequence of modifications of an original triangle into other equivalent ones”. As regards the concept of area and in contrast to a paper and pencil environment, Cabri provided students with different and potential opportunities in terms of: (a) means of construction, (b) control, (c) variety of representations and (d) linking representations, by exploiting its capability for continuous modifications. By exploiting these opportunities in the context of the given open tasks, students were helped by the tools provided to develop a broader view of the concept of area than the typical view they would construct in a typical paper and pencil environment.     

New examples of Osserman metrics with nondiagonalizable Jacobi operators

Explicit examples of Osserman 4-manifolds with exactly two distinct eigenvalues of the Jacobi operators, α and β=4α≠0, are given. The former has multiplicity two and is a double root of the minimal polynomial of the Jacobi operators.     

Inclusion of carbon nanotubes in a TiO2 sol-gel matrix

We report here the successful inclusion of carbon nanotubes (CNs) into a TiO₂ matrix prepared by a sol-gel method. The presence of CNs in the sol-gel matrix and the structure of the film were analyzed principally by transmission electron microscopy. Complementary information about the behavior of embedded carbon nanotubes versus heat treatment and ion irradiation were obtained by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The elaboration of an inorganic matrix containing embedded carbon nanotubes leads to a new nanocomposite. The possible applications of this nanocomposite are discussed.     

Extrusion of pastes with a piston extruder for the determination of the local solid and fluid concentration, the local porosity and saturation and displacement profiles by means of NMR imaging

 Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) was used to investigate the extrusion behaviour of PTFE pastes in a ram extruder. By means of ¹H-NMR imaging (MRI) it is possible to determine the local proton density and therefore, the local fluid concentration. The ¹⁹F-MRI provides the local solid concentration. Thus the local saturation and the local porosity can be calculated with the information of the local fluid and solid concentration. Furthermore displacement profiles can be derived from NMR images by means of correlation techniques without any preparation or marking of the pastes. Received: 8 May 2000   Accepted: 1 May 2001     

On a conjecture of Cox and Katz

This note shows that a certain toric quotient of the quintic Calabi-Yau threefold in provides a counterexample to a recent conjecture of Cox and Katz concerning nef cones of toric hypersurfaces. Received: 8 February 2001; in final form: 17 September 2001 / Published online: 1 February 2002     

On the density of the space of continuous and uniformly continuous functions

For X a metrizable space and (Y,ρ) a metric space, with Y pathwise connected, we compute the density of (C(X,(Y,ρ)),σ)—the space of all continuous functions from X to (Y,ρ), endowed with the supremum metric σ. Also, for (X,d) a metric space and (Y,‖⋅‖) a normed space, we compute the density of (UC((X,d),(Y,ρ)),σ) (the space of all uniformly continuous functions from (X,d) to (Y,ρ), where ρ is the metric induced on Y by ‖⋅‖). We also prove that the latter result extends only partially to the case where (Y,ρ) is an arbitrary pathwise connected metric space.To carry such an investigation out, the notions of generalized compact and generalized totally bounded metric space, introduced by the author and A. Barbati in a former paper, turn out to play a crucial rôle. Moreover, we show that the first-mentioned concept provides a precise characterization of those metrizable spaces which attain their extent.     

IFS attractors and Cantor sets

We build a metric space which is homeomorphic to a Cantor set but cannot be realized as the attractor of an iterated function system. We give also an example of a Cantor set K in R³ such that every homeomorphism f of R³ which preserves K coincides with the identity on K.     

Coxeter complexes and graph-associahedra

Given a graph Γ, we construct a simple, convex polytope, dubbed graph-associahedra, whose face poset is based on the connected subgraphs of Γ. This provides a natural generalization of the Stasheff associahedron and the Bott-Taubes cyclohedron. Moreover, we show that for any simplicial Coxeter system, the minimal blow-ups of its associated Coxeter complex has a tiling by graph-associahedra. The geometric and combinatorial properties of the complex as well as of the polyhedra are given. These spaces are natural generalizations of the Deligne-Knudsen-Mumford compactification of the real moduli space of curves.     

Compatible relations on filters and stability of local topological properties under supremum and product

An abstract scheme using particular types of relations on filters leads to general unifying results on stability under supremum and product of local topological properties. We present applications for Fréchetness, strong Fréchetness, countable tightness and countable fan-tightness, some of which recover or refine classical results, some of which are new. The reader may find other applications as well.     

Remote stereocontrol by the sulfinyl group: Mukaiyama aldol reactions of (S)-2-[2-(p-tolylsulfinyl)phenyl]acetaldehyde in the asymmetric synthesis of β-hydroxyacids and 1,3-diols

(S)-2-[2-(p-Tolylsulfinyl)phenyl]acetaldehyde reacts with different O-silylated ketenethioacetals in the presence of Yb(OTf)₃ yielding β-hydroxythioesters in high yields and diastereoselectivities. The obtained compounds were readily transformed into β-hydroxyacids and their corresponding diols. These Mukaiyama aldol reactions are a direct evidence of the ability of the sulfinyl group to control 1,5- and 1,6-asymmetric induction processes.