Altered protein synthesis in rat kidney cells exposed to semiconductor materials

It is thought that the extensive industrial use of arsenic, gallium and indium, which have applications as the materials for III–V semiconductors, will increase human exposure to these compounds in the near future. We have undertaken the development of new biological indicators for assessing exposure to these elements. Element-specific alterations in protein synthesis patterns were expected to occur following exposure to arsenic compounds. We examined alterations in protein synthesis in primary cultures of rat kidney proximal tubule epithelial cells by sodium arsenite, gallium chloride and indium chloride, utilizing two-dimensional gel electrophoresis. After incubation with the chemicals for 20 h, newly synthesized proteins were labeled with [³⁵S]methionine. A protein with a molecular weight (M_r) of 30 000 was markedly induced on exposure to 10 μM arsenite or 300 μM gallium chloride, and synthesis of proteins with M_r values of 85 000, 71 000, 65 000, 51 000, 38 000 and 28 000 were also increased by exposure to arsenite and gallium chloride. No significant changes were observed upon exposure to indium. Some of these increased proteins could be heat-shock proteins.     

Evolution of stress and strain relaxation of Ge and SiGe alloy films on Si(0 0 1)

The growth of Ge and SiGe alloy films on Si substrates has attracted considerable interest in the last years because of their importance for optoelectronic devices as well as Si-based high speed transistors. Here we give a short overview on our recent real time stress measurements of Ge and SiGe alloy films on Si(0 0 1) performed with a sensitive cantilever beam technique and accompanied by structural investigations with atomic force microscopy. Characteristic features in the stress curves provide detailed insight into the development and relief of the misfit strain. For the Stranski–Krastanow system Ge/Si(0 0 1) as well as for SiGe films with Si contents below 20%, the strain relaxation proceeds mainly into two steps: (i) by the formation of 3D islands on top of the Ge wetting layer; (ii) via misfit dislocations in larger 3D islands and upon their percolation.     

A note about the Gaussian property of the Brownian bridge

The Gaussian property of the Brownian bridge is characterized as an application of Ramachandran's theorem in terms of the independence of the random variables that appear in the Karhunen-Loéve expansion of the process. A reference about the construction of the Brownian bridge by means of functional transformations is also included.     

A rate-dependent algebraic stress model for turbulence

Based on the stress transport model, a rate-dependent algebraic expression for the Reynolds stress tensor is developed. It is shown that the new model includes the normal stress effects and exhibits viscoelastic behavior. Furthermore, it is compatible with recently developed improved models of turbulence. The model is also consistent with the limiting behavior of turbulence in the inertial sublayer and is capable of predicting secondary flows in noncircular ducts. The TEACH code is modified according to the requirements of the rate-dependent model and is used to predict turbulent flow fields in a channel and behind a backward-facing step. The predicted results are compared with the available experimental data and those obtained from the standard k-ε and algebraic stress models. It is shown that the predictions of the new model are in better agreements with the experimental data.     

等厚双层涂层材料受集中力作用的平面问题理论解

界面应力的正确评价是分析薄膜涂层材料力学特性的难题之一。利用镜像点法和Dirichlet等值性原理，本文推导了等厚双层薄膜涂层材料受表面集中力作用的平面问题理论解。该显式理论解是以固定在各镜像点上的局部坐标系下的Goursat应力函数的形式给出的。对应于高阶镜像点的应力函数，可通过递推的方法，从对应于低阶镜像点的应力函数求得，而且也易于计算机编程。随着镜像点阶数的增大，它与界面的距离也越来越大，因而相对应的应力函数对界面应力的影响越来越小。最后的算例表明，只需考虑前面有限个镜像点，便可获得足够精度的解。该理论解可作为格林函数，以求解复杂问题的理论解，也可用作边界元法的基本解，提高数值计算的精度和效率。     

Thickness decrease of a grafted polyelectrolyte membrane exposed to shear flow

The effect of the shear flow on the thickness change of a polyelectrolyte membrane grafted onto a glass substrate was directly investigated with a flow cell combined with a confocal laser scanning microscope. The membrane thickness decreased proportionally to an increase in the shear stress of the flow when the shear rate exceeded a critical value of 1 s^?1. The higher the ionic strength was of the fluid, the greater the thinning effect was. The correlation between the critical shear rate and the relaxation of the polymer in the gel membrane was examined. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 41: 2808–2815, 2003     

Furtivity and Masking Problems in Time-Dependent Electromagnetic Obstacle Scattering

In this paper, we consider furtivity and masking problems in time-dependent three-dimensional electromagnetic obstacle scattering. That is, we propose a criterion based on a merit function to minimize or to mask the electromagnetic field scattered by a bounded obstacle when hit by an incoming electromagnetic field and, with respect to this criterion, we drive the optimal strategy. These problems are natural generalizations to the context of electromagnetic scattering of the furtivity problem in time-dependent acoustic obstacle scattering presented in Ref. 1. We propose mathematical models of the furtivity and masking time-dependent three-dimensional electromagnetic scattering problems that consist in optimal control problems for systems of partial differential equations derived from the Maxwell equations. These control problems are approached using the Pontryagin maximum principle. We formulate the first-order optimality conditions for the control problems considered as exterior problems defined outside the obstacle for systems of partial differential equations. Moreover, the first-order optimality conditions derived are solved numerically with a highly parallelizable numerical method based on a perturbative series of the type considered in Refs. 2–3. Finally, we assess and validate the mathematical models and the numerical method proposed analyzing the numerical results obtained with a parallel implementation of the numerical method in several experiments on test problems. Impressive speedup factors are obtained executing the algorithms on a parallel machine when the number of processors used in the computation ranges between 1 and 100. Some virtual reality applications and some animations relative to the numerical experiments can be found in the website http://www.econ.unian.it/recchioni/w10/.     

Symmetry specified enumeration of substituted derivatives: an easy solution to the complex problem

Several sophisticated methods to solution of symmetry specified enumeration problems are available in the modern literature. In this paper we propose a simple technique that allows one to manually compute the exact numbers of fixed-symmetry derivatives for a given structure either with inclusion or ignoring the substitution patterns. The basic idea of the method suggested consists in the derivation of Pólya-like cycle indices for the automorphism groups of specially constructed orbit partition graphs; the expansion of these indices and subsequent simple calculations result in the desired numbers of substituted derivatives with achiral substituents. Limitations of the new technique (and a method suggested earlier) depend on the relevance of the orbit partitions for particular subgroups of the point symmetry group. For illustration purposes, the results obtained for the prismane (D _3h ) and adamantane (T _d ) structures are discussed. In the former case the numbers of substituted derivatives can be found for all subgroups of the D _3h group, whereas in the latter case these numbers can be determined for eight out of eleven subgroups of the T _d point symmetry group. This work is based on the text of the lecture presented by the authors at the 5th All-Russia Conference on Molecular Modeling (Moscow, April 2007). The paper deals with the methodology and detailed treatment of applied aspects related to solution of enumeration problems for substituted derivatives with prescribed symmetry groups. Unlike the known methods of symmetry specified enumeration, the technique suggested is simple enough and may be regarded as generalization of the Pólya methodology, which is widely used by chemists. Published in Russian in Izvestiya Akademii Nauk. Seriya Khimicheskaya, No. 2, pp. 227–245, February, 2008.     

A general Hsu-Robbins-Erdős Type estimate of tail probabilities of sums of independent identically distributed random variables

Periodica Mathematica Hungarica - Let X 1,X 2,... be a sequence of independent and identically distributed random variables, and put % MATHTYPE!MTEF!2!1!+-%...     

Rapid syntheses of oligo(p-phenyleneethynylene)s via iterative convergent approach

A general and controlled bidirectional growth strategy enable a very rapid and efficient construction of oligo(phenyleneethynylene)s possessing functional groups such as methylthio and thioacetate groups at both ends. The strategy employs only one reaction type with good to moderate yields to grow the conjugated chains. The synthesis is efficient and can give 23 benzene rings and 22 carbon-carbon triple bonds in the conjugated chains. The compounds are fully characterized by ¹H and ¹³C NMR and UV/vis and fluorescence spectroscopy.