Classes polaires associées aux distributions holomorphes de sous-espaces tangents*

Résumé. Nous définissons des classes polaires associées à une distribution holomorphe singulière de sous-espaces tangents d’une variété projective lisse. Nous prouvons que ces classes polaires peuvent être calculées en fonction des classes de Chern-Mather du faisceau tangent de la distribution et réciproquement. Nous utilisons leurs degrés pour borner les degrés de certaines classes polaires associés à une variété invariante. *Ce travail a été soutenu par l’Accord de Coopération France-Brésil (CNRS/CNPq) et par la Fondation CAPES-Brésil.     

Separation and heat stability of the corticosteroid-induced and hepatic alkaline phosphatase isoenzymes in canine plasma

A convenient method has been developed for the separation of alkaline phosphates (AP) isoenzymes from canine plasma. The various forms of AP activity were extracted by ethanol and separated on an anion exchanger by fast protein liquid chromatography. In this way a complete discrimination was achieved between the increase in plasma AP activity due to liver disease and that due to corticosteroid induction. The corticosteroid-induced form of AP could be separated from the other isoenzymes because of its relative heat stability at 65 degrees C. A quantitation of the contribution of liver and corticosteroid-induced AP isoenzymes to the total plasma AP activity could be made from the respective heat inactivation plots. The separation of the isoenzymes may be valuable in the purification of the different isoenzymes for further characterization.     

Spectral properties of random Schrödinger operators with unbounded potentials

We investigate spectral properties of random Schrödinger operators H = - + _n()(1 + |n|) acting onl ²(Z ^d), where _n are independent random variables uniformly distributed on [0, 1].Research partially supported by a Sloan Doctoral Dissertation Fellowship and NSERC under grant OGP-0007901Research partially supported by NSF grant DMS-9101716     

Spherical molecularly imprinted polymer particles: a promising tool for molecular recognition in capillary electrokinetic separations

Spherical molecularly imprinted polymer particles obtained via precipitation polymerization, were introduced as a pseudostationary phase in capillary electrophoresis (CE) to study molecular recognition. Analyses were performed via a partial filling technique using (+)-ephedrine-imprinted microspheres (100-200 nm) which were polymerized from methacrylic acid and 1,1,1-Tris(hydroxymethyl)propanetrimethacrylate using acetonitrile as the solvent. The influence of pH and the modifier content on the separation was investigated. A 0.1% w/v suspension in an aqueous 10 mM phosphate buffer (pH 2.5 with 40% acetonitrile) was hydrodynamically injected into the CE system (80% of the effective capillary length) and led to full baseline separation of racemic ephedrine within 10 min.     

UVA exposure affects UVB and cis-urocanic acid-induced systemic suppression of immune responses in Listeria monocytogenes-infected Balb/c mice

Ultraviolet radiation can inhibit immune responses locally as well as systemically. Such effects have been measured in animals and humans exposed to ultraviolet B (wavelength 280-315 nm) (UVB) and ultraviolet A (315-400 nm) (UVA). The precise wavelength dependence is important for the identification of possible molecular targets and for assessments of risk of different artificial UV sources and solar UV. In such analyses, it is commonly assumed that radiation energy from each wavelength contributes to the effect independent of the other wavelengths. Here we show that this assumption does not hold good. In the present study, it was investigated whether exposure to broadband UVA or longwave ultraviolet A 1 (340-400 nm) (UVA 1) prior to the standard immunosuppressive UVB protocol might modulate the immunosuppressive effects induced by UVB. Preexposure to broadband UVA or longwave UVA 1, 1 day prior to the standard immunosuppressive UVB protocol, inhibited the UVB-induced suppression of delayed type hypersensitivity (DTH) to Listeria monocytogenes significantly. This effect was not associated with restoring the number of interleukin (IL-12)-positive cells in the spleen. Since isomerization of trans-urocanic acid (UCA) into the immunosuppressive cis-UCA isomer plays a crucial role in UVB-induced immunomodulation, in a second set of experiments it was investigated whether immunosuppression induced by cis-UCA might also be downregulated by preexposure to UVA. Animals were exposed to broad-band UVA or longwave UVA 1 prior to application of an immunosuppressive dose of cis- or trans-UCA as a control. Both UVA and UVA 1 appear to inhibit the cis-UCA-induced systemic immunosuppression (DTH and IL-12) to L. monocytogenes. These studies clearly show that UVA radiation modulates both UVB and cis-UCA-induced immunomodulation. In general, our studies indicate that both broadband UVA and longwave UVA 1 could induce modulation of UVB and cis-UCA-induced immunomodulation. As sunlight contains both UVA and UVB radiation the balance between these two radiations apparently determines the net immunomodulatory effect.     

Influence of the boundary conditions on the stress state of a flexible cylindrical shell of variable stiffness in a magnetic field

The effect of the boundary conditions on the stress state of a circular cylindrical shell of variable thickness (stiffness) is analyzed using a geometrically nonlinear problem statement. The cylindrical shell is subject to a magnetic field, external electric current, and nonstationary mechanical load. Numerical results are presented and analyzed     

Maximizing the mean subtree order

This article focuses on properties and structures of trees with maximum mean subtree order in a given family; such trees are called optimal in the family. Our main goal is to describe the structure of optimal trees in and , the families of all trees and caterpillars, respectively, of order . We begin by establishing a powerful tool called the Gluing Lemma, which is used to prove several of our main results. In particular, we show that if is an optimal tree in or for , then every leaf of is adjacent to a vertex of degree at least . We also use the Gluing Lemma to answer an open question of Jamison and to provide a conceptually simple proof of Jamison's result that the path has minimum mean subtree order among all trees of order . We prove that if is optimal in , then the number of leaves in is and that if is optimal in , then the number of leaves in is . Along the way, we describe the asymptotic structure of optimal trees in several narrower families of trees.     

Thermal electrocyclization reactions II: benzooctatetraenes and benzodecapentaenes

Thermal electrocyclization reactions of benzooctatetraenes and benzodecapentaenes substituted with R=H, Cl, and methyl were studied experimentally and computationally. Methyl and unsubstituted benzooctatetraenes and benzodecapentaenes give the [4.2.0]bicyclooctadiene products by 8π,6π-electrocyclization. Chlorine substitution led to thermal rearrangement of the initially formed 8π,6π-electrocyclization intermediates to give unprecedented products.     

A method to solve boundary-value problems of magnetoelasticity for flexible ring plates of variable stiffness

A method to solve boundary-value problems of magnetoelasticity for ring plates of variable stiffness is proposed. It is based on a geometrically nonlinear theory of the second order and employs, in a successive manner, the Newmark scheme, the quasi-linearization method, the method of lines, and the discrete-orthogonalization method