Poly(L‐lysine) and clay nanocomposite with desired matrix secondary structure: Effects of polypeptide molecular weight

Nanocomposites (NC) were formed using cationic poly(L ‐lysine) (PLL), a semicrystalline polypeptide, that was reinforced by sodium montmorillonite (MMT) clay via solution intercalation technique. By varying solution conditions such as pH, temperature, and polypeptide concentration in the presence of clay platelets, the secondary structure of PLL was controllably altered into α‐helical, β‐sheet, and random coil. The high molecular weight polypeptide shows a strong propensity to fold into the β‐sheet structure when cast as films, irrespective of the initial secondary structure in solution. Nanocomposite local morphology confirms intercalated MMT platelets with PLL over a wide range of compositions. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys 45: 239–252, 2007.     

Champ de vitesse dans un échangeur à vortex en régime turbulentHeat exchanger velocity field with turbulent inlet condition

We consider the isothermal flow through a cylindrical flat chamber, a model of some particular heat exchanger, for which LDV measurements and a numerical simulation have been performed. Experimental results show the establishment of an important vortex zone, the secondary flow extending all along the chamber radius. This observation leads to an expected significant increase of the fluid mixing. Results issued from the numerical simulation appear to be in close agreement with experimental data. Nevertheless, the k–ε model used here must be improved to obtain a better approach near the vortex centre. To cite this article: S. Petitot et al., C. R. Mecanique 330 (2002) 593–599.     

Long-time dynamics of von Karman semi-flows with non-linear boundary/interior damping

We study von Karman evolution equations with non-linear dissipation and with partially clamped and partially free boundary conditions. Two distinctive mechanisms of dissipation are considered: (i) internal dissipation generated by non-linear operator, and (ii) boundary dissipation generated by shear forces friction acting on a free part of the boundary. The main emphasis is given to the effects of boundary dissipation. Under suitable hypotheses we prove existence of a compact global attractor and finiteness of its fractal dimension. We also show that any solution is stabilized to an equilibrium and estimate the rate of the convergence which, in turn, depends on the behaviour at the origin of the functions describing the dissipation.     

Resolvability properties via independent families

The authors give a consistent affirmative response to a question of Juhász, Soukup and Szentmiklóssy: If GCH fails, there are (many) extraresolvable, not maximally resolvable Tychonoff spaces. They show also in ZFC that for ω<λ?κ, no maximal λ-independent family of λ-partitions of κ is ω-resolvable. In topological language, that theorem translates to this: A dense, ω-resolvable subset of a space of the form (DI(λ)) is λ-resolvable.     

Chromatic polynomial, q-binomial counting and colored Jones function

We define a q-chromatic function and q-dichromate on graphs and compare it with existing graph functions. Then we study in more detail the class of general chordal graphs. This is partly motivated by the graph isomorphism problem. Finally we relate the q-chromatic function to the colored Jones function of knots. This leads to a curious expression of the colored Jones function of a knot diagram K as a chromatic operator applied to a power series whose coefficients are linear combinations of long chord diagrams. Chromatic operators are directly related to weight systems by the work of Chmutov, Duzhin, Lando and Noble, Welsh.     

A complete global solution to the pressure gradient equation

We study the domain of existence of a solution to a Riemann problem for the pressure gradient equation in two space dimensions. The Riemann problem is the expansion of a quadrant of gas of constant state into the other three vacuum quadrants. The global existence of a smooth solution was established in Dai and Zhang [Z. Dai, T. Zhang, Existence of a global smooth solution for a degenerate Goursat problem of gas dynamics, Arch. Ration. Mech. Anal. 155 (2000) 277-298] up to the free boundary of vacuum. We prove that the vacuum boundary is the coordinate axes.     

Navier-Stokes equations in 3D thin domains with Navier friction boundary condition

In this article we study the 3D Navier-Stokes equations with Navier friction boundary condition in thin domains. We prove the global existence of strong solutions to the 3D Navier-Stokes equations when the initial data and external forces are in large sets as the thickness of the domain is small. We generalize the techniques developed to study the 3D Navier-Stokes equations in thin domains, see [G. Raugel, G. Sell, Navier-Stokes equations on thin 3D domains I: Global attractors and global regularity of solutions, J. Amer. Math. Soc. 6 (1993) 503-568; G. Raugel, G. Sell, Navier-Stokes equations on thin 3D domains II: Global regularity of spatially periodic conditions, in: Nonlinear Partial Differential Equations and Their Application, College de France Seminar, vol. XI, Longman, Harlow, 1994, pp. 205-247; R. Temam, M. Ziane, Navier-Stokes equations in three-dimensional thin domains with various boundary conditions, Adv. Differential Equations 1 (1996) 499-546; R. Temam, M. Ziane, Navier-Stokes equations in thin spherical shells, in: Optimization Methods in Partial Differential Equations, in: Contemp. Math., vol. 209, Amer. Math. Soc., Providence, RI, 1996, pp. 281-314], to the Navier friction boundary condition by introducing a new average operator Mε in the thin direction according to the spectral decomposition of the Stokes operator Aε. Our analysis hinges on the refined investigation of the eigenvalue problem corresponding to the Stokes operator Aε with Navier friction boundary condition.     

Algorithms for finding connected separators between antipodal points

A set (or a collection of sets) contained in the Euclidean space Rm is symmetric if it is invariant under the antipodal map. Given a symmetric unicoherent polyhedron X (like an n-dimensional cube or a sphere) and an odd real function f defined on vertices of a certain symmetric triangulation of X, we algorithmically construct a connected symmetric separator of X by choosing a subcollection of the triangulation. Each element of the subcollection contains the vertices v and u such that f(v)f(u)?0.     

On the moduli spaces of multipolygonal linkages in the plane

One can form a polygonal linkage by identifying initial and terminal points of two free linkages. Likewise, one can form a multipolygonal linkage by identifying initial and terminal points of three free linkages. The geometric and topological properties of moduli spaces of multipolygonal linkages in the plane are studied. These spaces are compact algebraic varieties. Some conditions under which these spaces are smooth manifolds, cross products or disjoint unions of moduli spaces of polygonal linkages, or connected, are determined. Dimensions in smooth manifold cases and some Euler characteristics are computed. A classification of generic multiquadrilateral linkages is also made.     

Separable subgroups of mapping class groups

We investigate separability questions for the mapping class group of a surface. While this group is not subgroup separable in general, we prove a large family of interesting subgroups are separable. This includes many classically studied subgroups such as solvable subgroups, Heegaard and Handlebody groups, geometric subgroups, and all the terms in the Johnson filtration.