Small polaron electron transport in reduced CeO2 single crystals

An investigation of the electrical properties of reduced ceria, CeO_2?x, carried out on single crystals, shows that CeO_2?x provides one of the clearest examples of hopping conduction and the small polaron mechanism. Included are conductivity and Seebeck coefficient measurements at constant x, obtained by sealing off the specimen chamber after reduction. The Seebeck coefficient is independent of temperature, suggesting that the number of carriers is constant. On the other hand, the mobility is activated, with activation energy E_h = 0.40 eV at small x and increasing to 0.52 eV at x = 0.25. The results for the mobility preexponential are consistent with the adiabatic theory of small polaron behavior. A puzzling feature of the Seebeck data as a function of x is that, for low x, the data fit the well-known Heikes formula, without a degeneracy factor of 2 for spin. Nevertheless, these data are interpreted to show that the proportion of mobile carriers decreases as x increases, presumably because of the presence of short-range ordered configurations which immobilize some carriers.     

Characteristic functional equations of polynomials and the morera-carleman theorem

Several characteristic functional equations satisfied by classes of polynomials of bounded degree are examined in connection with certain generalizations of the Morera-Carleman Theorem. Certain functional equations which have nonanalytic polynomial solutions are also considered.     

A survey of pseudo (v,k, λ)-designs

This work is an attempt to give a complete survey of all known results about pseudo (v, k, )-designs. In doing this, the author hopes to bring more attention to his conjecture given in Section 6; an affirmative answer to this conjecture would settle completely the existence and construction problem for a pseudo (v, k, )-design in terms of the existence of an appropriate (v, k, )-design.     

Linear algorithms for testing the sign stability of a matrix and for findingZ-maximum matchings in acyclic graphs

Summary Ann×n real matrixA=(a _ij ) isstable if each eigenvalue has negative real part, andsign stable (orqualitatively stable) if each matrix B with the same sign-pattern asA is stable, regardless of the magnitudes ofB's entries. Sign stability is of special interest whenA is associated with certain models from ecology or economics in which the actual magnitudes of thea _ij may be very difficult to determine. Using a characterization due to Quirk and Ruppert, and to Jeffries, an efficient algorithm is developed for testing the sign stability ofA. Its time-and-space-complexity are both 0(n ²), and whenA is properly presented that is reduced to 0(max{n, number of nonzero entries ofA}). Part of the algorithm involves maximum matchings, and that subject is treated for its own sake in two final sections.     

A mixed finite element method for solving the nonstationary stokes equation

Summary This paper deals with a mixed finite element method for approximating a fourth order initial value problem arising from the nonstationary Stokes problem. For piecewise linear shape functions error estimates are given with convergence rates similar to the elliptic case. Some numerical computations will illustrate the theoretical results.     

Dolbeault cohomology groups of compact pseudo-Kähler homogeneous manifolds

It is well known that a pseudo-Kähler structure is one of the natural generalizations of a Kähler structure. In this paper, we consider the Dolbeault cohomology groups of compact pseudo-Kähler homogeneous manifolds.     

Lee–Yang Problems and the Geometry of Multivariate Polynomials

We describe all linear operators on spaces of multivariate polynomials preserving the property of being non-vanishing in open circular domains. This completes the multivariate generalization of the classification program initiated by Pólya–Schur for univariate real polynomials and provides a natural framework for dealing in a uniform way with Lee–Yang type problems in statistical mechanics, combinatorics, and geometric function theory.     

Kahweol inhibits adipogenesis of 3T3-L1 adipocytes through downregulation of PPARγ

Kahweol, a compound from Coffea arabica, possesses antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antitumour properties. However, an anti-adipogenic effect has not yet been reported. In this study, we have shown that kahweol has an anti-adipogenic effect on 3T3-L1 adipocytes. Kahweol significantly inhibited the differentiation of intracellular lipid accumulation in 3T3-L1 adipocytes, without being cytotoxic. It also downregulated the expression of adipogenesis-related gene, including an adipocytokine, adiponectin. This anti-adipogenic effect stems from an ability to inhibit key adipogenic regulators, including PPARγ and C/EBPα. These results demonstrate that kahweol significantly inhibits the differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells, and suggest that it has potential as a novel anti-obesity treatment.     

Solvent Effects in the Homogeneous Catalytic Reduction of Propionaldehyde with Aluminium Isopropoxide Catalyst: New Insights from PFG NMR and NMR Relaxation Studies

Solvent effects in homogeneous catalysis are known to affect catalytic activity. Whilst these effects are often described using qualitative features, such as Kamlet-Taft parameters, experimental tools able to quantify and reveal in more depth such effects have remained unexplored. In this work, PFG NMR diffusion and T₁ relaxation measurements have been carried out to probe solvent effects in the homogeneous catalytic reduction of propionaldehyde to 1-propanol in the presence of aluminium isopropoxide catalyst. Using data on diffusion coefficients it was possible to estimate trends in aggregation of different solvents. The results show that solvents with a high hydrogen-bond accepting ability, such as ethers, tend to form larger aggregates, which slow down the molecular dynamics of aldehyde molecules, as also suggested by T₁ measurements, and preventing their access to the catalytic sites, which results in the observed decrease of catalytic activity. Conversely, weakly interacting solvents, such as alkanes, do not lead to the formation of such aggregates, hence allowing easy access of the aldehyde molecules to the catalytic sites, resulting in higher catalytic activity. The work reported here is a clear example on how combining traditional catalyst screening in homogeneous catalysis with NMR diffusion and relaxation time measurements can lead to new physico-chemical insights into such systems by providing data able to quantify aggregation phenomena and molecular dynamics.     

Laplacian Operators and Radon Transforms on Grassmann Graphs

Let Ω be a vector space over a finite field with q elements. Let G denote the general linear group of automorphisms of Ω and let us consider the left regular representation associated with the natural action of G on the set X of linear subspaces of Ω. In this paper we study a natural basis B of the algebra End_G(L ₂(X)) of intertwining maps on L ₂(X). By using a Laplacian operator on Grassmann graphs, we identify the kernels in B as solutions of a basic hypergeometric difference equation. This provides two expressions for these kernels. One in terms of the q-Hahn polynomials and the other by means of a Rodrigues type formula. Finally, we obtain a useful product formula for the mappings in B. We give two different proofs. One uses the theory of classical hypergeometric polynomials and the other is supported by a characterization of spherical functions in finite symmetric spaces. Both proofs require the use of certain associated Radon transforms.