Living anionic polymerization of N‐methoxymethyl‐N‐isopropylacrylamide: Synthesis of well‐defined poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide) having various stereoregularity

Anionic polymerization of N‐methoxymethyl‐N‐isopropylacrylamide ( 1 ) was carried out with 1,1‐diphenyl‐3‐methylpentyllithium and diphenylmethyllithium, ‐potassium, and ‐cesium in THF at ?78 °C for 2 h in the presence of Et₂Zn. The poly( 1 )s were quantitatively obtained and possessed the predicted molecular weights based on the feed molar ratios between monomer to initiators and narrow molecular weight distributions (M_w/M_n = 1.1). The living character of propagating carbanion of poly( 1 ) either at 0 or ?78 °C was confirmed by the quantitative efficiency of the sequential block copolymerization using N,N‐diethylacrylamide as a second monomer. The methoxymethyl group of the resulting poly( 1 ) was completely removed to give a well‐defined poly(N‐isopropylacrylamide), poly(NIPAM), via the acidic hydrolysis. The racemo diad contents in the poly(NIPAM)s could be widely changed from 15 to 83% by choosing the initiator systems for 1 . The poly(NIPAM)s obtained with Li⁺/Et₂Zn initiator system possessed syndiotactic‐rich configurations (r = 75–83%), while either atactic (r = 50%) or isotactic poly(NIPAM) (r = 15–22%) was generated with K⁺/Et₂Zn or Li⁺/LiCl initiator system, respectively. Atactic and syndiotactic poly(NIPAM)s (42 < r < 83%) were water‐soluble, whereas isotactic‐rich one (r < 31%) was insoluble in water. The cloud points of the aqueous solution of poly(NIPAM)s increased from 32 to 37 °C with the r‐contents. These indicated the significant effect of stereoregularity of the poly(NIPAM) on the water‐solubility and the cloud point in water © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part A: Polym Chem 44: 4832–4845, 2006     

SPAR: stochastic programming with adversarial recourse

We consider a general adversarial stochastic optimization model. Our model involves the design of a system that an adversary may subsequently attempt to destroy or degrade. We introduce SPAR, which utilizes mixed-integer programming for the design decision and a Markov decision process (MDP) for the modeling of our adversarial phase.     

Theoretical and computational studies of vectorial processes in biomolecular systems

Efficient vectorial processes such as the transduction of bioenergy and signals are characteristics that strikingly distinguish living systems from inanimate materials. Recent developments in biophysical and biochemical techniques have provided new information about the structure, dynamics and interaction of biomolecules involved in vectorial life processes at multiple length and temporal scales. This wealth of data makes it possible to carry out theoretical and computational studied of key mechanistic questions associated with complex life processes at an unprecedented level. Using two “vectorial biomolecular machines”, myosin and cytochrome c oxidase, as examples, we discuss the identification of interesting and biologically relevant questions that require thorough theoretical analysis. Technical challenges and recent progress related to these theoretical investigations are briefly summarized     

The Lagrangian Globalization Method for Nonsmooth Constrained Equations

The difficulty suffered in optimization-based algorithms for the solution of nonlinear equations lies in that the traditional methods for solving the optimization problem have been mainly concerned with finding a stationary point or a local minimizer of the underlying optimization problem, which is not necessarily a solution of the equations. One method to overcome this difficulty is the Lagrangian globalization (LG for simplicity) method. This paper extends the LG method to nonsmooth equations with bound constraints. The absolute system of equations is introduced. A so-called Projected Generalized-Gradient Direction (PGGD) is constructed and proved to be a descent direction of the reformulated nonsmooth optimization problem. This projected approach keeps the feasibility of the iterates. The convergence of the new algorithm is established by specializing the PGGD. Numerical tests are given. This author's work was done when she was visiting The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. His work is also supported by the Research Grant Council of Hong Kong.     

Large deviation principle for enhanced Gaussian processes

We study large deviation principles for Gaussian processes lifted to the free nilpotent group of step N. We apply this to a large class of Gaussian processes lifted to geometric rough paths. A large deviation principle for enhanced (fractional) Brownian motion, in Hölder- or modulus topology, appears as special case.     

p-Laplace方程正解的存在性和多重性

这篇文章讨论边值问题-(| u′|p-2u′)′=λf(t ,u) ,t∈(0,1) ,p >1,u(0) =u(1) =0,其中f(t ,u)≥-M( M是正常数) ,对(t ,u)∈0,1×0,∞) .我们利用度理论和锥上的不动点定理得到方程存在两个正解.     

Effect of a thermal radiation field on the γ-luminescence of alkali-silicate glass

We revealed the changes in the γ-luminescence spectra under the influence of a thermal radiation field on high-purity alkali-silicate glasses (I) and those with addition of Fe³⁺ ions (II). We explain the obtained results within the framework of the L-model of edge absorption and electron-hole recombination processes. Samarkand State University, 15, Universitetskii Bul., Samarkand, 703004, Republic of Uzbekistan. Translated from Zhurnal Prikladnoi Spektroskopii, Vol. 65, No. 3, pp. 453–455, May–June, 1998.     

Symmetric form of the Hudson-Parthasarathy stochastic equation

We prove that the Hudson-Parthasarathy equation corresponds, up to unitary equivalence, to the strong resolvent limit of Schrödinger Hamiltonians in Fock space and that the symmetric form of this equation corresponds to the weak limit of the Schrödinger Hamiltonians.Translated fromMatematicheskie Zametki, Vol. 60, No. 5, pp. 726–750, November, 1996.     

Functional Central Limit Theorems for Triangular Arrays of Function-Indexed Processes under Uniformly Integrable Entropy Conditions

Functional central limit theorems for triangular arrays of rowwise independent stochastic processes are established by a method replacing tail probabilities by expectations throughout. The main tool is a maximal inequality based on a preliminary version proved by P. Gaenssler and Th. Schlumprecht. Its essential refinement used here is achieved by an additional inequality due to M. Ledoux and M. Talagrand. The entropy condition emerging in our theorems was introduced by K. S. Alexander, whose functional central limit theorem for so-calledmeasure-like processeswill be also regained. Applications concern, in particular, so-calledrandom measure processeswhich include function-indexed empirical processes and partial-sum processes (with random or fixed locations). In this context, we obtain generalizations of results due to K. S. Alexander, M. A. Arcones, P. Gaenssler, and K. Ziegler. Further examples include nonparametric regression and intensity estimation for spatial Poisson processes.     

Multiple local solutions to nonlinear control processes

We use the topological tool of Nielsen fixed-point theory to study the controllability of perturbed linear control processes whose control space can be reduced to a finite-dimensional one. These methods produce a lower bound on the number of controls that achieve a given target. We concentrate particularly on the case where the perturbation has sublinear growth, and we exhibit examples of multiple controls of various types that are detected by the Nielsen theory method.This research was partly supported by the Research Grant Teoria del Controllo dei Sistemi Dinamici, Ministero della Pubblica Istruzione, Roma, Italy.