On the Stability of the O(N)-Invariant and the Cubic-Invariant Three-Dimensional N-Component Renormalization-Group Fixed Points in the Hierarchical Approximation

We compute renormalization-group fixed points and their spectrum in an ultralocal approximation. We study a case of two competing nontrivial fixed points for a three-dimensional real N-component field: the O(N)-invariant fixed point vs. the cubic-invariant fixed point. We compute the critical value N _c of the cubic ⁴-perturbation at the O(N)-fixed point. The O(N)-fixed point is stable under a cubic ⁴-perturbation below N _c; above N _c it is unstable. The Critical value comes out as 2.219435<N _c<2.219436 in the ultralocal approximation. We also compute the critical value of N at the cubic invariant fixed point. Within the accuracy of our computations, the two values coincide.     

On a Primal-Dual Analytic Center Cutting Plane Method for Variational Inequalities

We present an algorithm for variational inequalities VI( , Y) that uses a primal-dual version of the Analytic Center Cutting Plane Method. The point-to-set mapping is assumed to be monotone, or pseudomonotone. Each computation of a new analytic center requires at most four Newton iterations, in theory, and in practice one or sometimes two. Linear equalities that may be included in the definition of the set Y are taken explicitly into account.We report numerical experiments on several well—known variational inequality problems as well as on one where the functional results from the solution of large subproblems. The method is robust and competitive with algorithms which use the same information as this one.     

Numerical algorithms for uniform Airy-type asymptotic expansions

Airy-type asymptotic representations of a class of special functions are considered from a numerical point of view. It is well known that the evaluation of the coefficients of the asymptotic series near the transition point is a difficult problem. We discuss two methods for computing the asymptotic series. One method is based on expanding the coefficients of the asymptotic series in Maclaurin series. In the second method we consider auxiliary functions that can be computed more efficiently than the coefficients in the first method, and we do not need the tabulation of many coefficients. The methods are quite general, but the paper concentrates on Bessel functions, in particular on the differential equation of the Bessel functions, which has a turning point character when order and argument of the Bessel functions are equal.     

Linear-quadratic two-person zero-sum differential games,necessary and sufficient conditions: Comment

We give a simpler, easier-to-check, version of the theorem of the paper referred to, i.e., a necessary and sufficient condition for the existence of a saddle point to the linear-quadratic two-person zero-sum perfect information differential game.     

Characterization of the smectic-A-hexatic-B transition in 65OBC by adiabatic scanning calorimetry

We investigated the smectic-A-hexatic-B (SmA-HexB) transition in the liquid-crystal n-hexyl-4-n-pentyloxybiphenyl-4-carboxilate (65OBC) with adiabatic scanning calorimetry. We were able to prove in a direct way that this transition is indeed very weakly first order, as was already suggested in the literature. The latent heat at the transition was determined to be H_L = 0.04±0.02 J/g. Our experiments confirm the high value for the heat capacity critical exponent earlier reported, yielding = 0.64±0.05.     

Correlation between the Soret coefficient and the static structure factor in a polymer blend

Mutual mass diffusion and thermal diffusion has been investigated in poly(dimethylsiloxane)/ poly(ethylmethylsiloxane) (PDMS/PEMS) polymer blends of equal weight fractions. Molar masses ranged from below 1 to over 20 kg/mol. Both the mutual mass (D) and the thermal diffusion (D_T) coefficient contain a thermally activated factor with an activation temperature of 1415 K. The molar mass dependence of D_T is due to an end-group effect of the local friction coefficient. The thermal diffusion coefficient in the limit of long chains and infinite temperature is D_T^0, = - 1.69×10^-7cm²(sK)^-1. The Soret coefficient S_T of blends far enough away from a critical point is proportional to the static structure factor S(q = 0).     

Evaluation of the protein solvent-accessible surface using reduced representations in terms of critical points of the electron density

The aim of our study is the development of a method for calculating the interface of dimerization of protein-protein complexes based on simplified medium-resolution structures. In particular, we wished to evaluate if the existing concepts for the computation of the Solvent-Accessible Surface Area (SASA) of macromolecules could be applied to medium-resolution models. Therefore, we selected a set of 140 protein chains and computed their reduced representations by topological analysis of their electron density maps at 2.85 A crystallographic resolution. This procedure leads to a limited number of critical points (CPs) that can be identified and associated to backbone and side-chain parts. To evaluate the SASA and interfaces of dimerization of the reduced representations, we chose and modified two existing programs that calculate the SASA of atomic representations, and tested (1) several radii tables of amino acids, (2) the influence of the backbone and side-chain points, and (3) the radius of the solvent molecule, which rolls over the surface. The results are shown in terms of relative error compared to the values calculated on the corresponding atomic representations of the proteins.