A Scanning Electron Microscopy study of water in soil

Cold stage Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) with a rapid cooling technique makes it possible to investigate the water phase within unsaturated porous media. It is thought that this technique preserves the main features of the micromorphology of the water menisci as it exists in the liquid phase in soils. Saddle-shaped elements, as well as pendular rings of water, were observed with concave and convex curvatures of the water-air interface. The hydraulic conductivity of an unsaturated soil may be inferred from SEM photographs. Observations of isolated water menisci indicate the existence of an immobile water domain. The surface geometry of the water menisci was analyzed quantitatively and surface tension and capillary pressure were determined.     

Convexity preserving interpolation by algebraic curves and surfaces

The problem of interpolation by a convex curve to the vertices of a convex polygon is considered. A natural 1-parameter family ofC algebraic curves solving this problem is presented. This is extended to a solution, of a general Hermite-type problem, in, which the curve also interpolates to one or two prescribedtangents at any desired vertices of the polygon. The construction of these curves is a generalization of well known methods for generatingconic sections. Several properties of this family of algebraic curves are discussed. In addition, the method is generalized to convexC interpolation of strictly convex data sets inR ³ by algebraicsurfaces.     

A result about a selection problem of Michael

It is shown that a continuum that is an space in the sense of Michael must be hereditarily decomposable. This improves known results, thereby providing more evidence that such continua must be dendrites.

     

Parametric study of horizontally vibrated grain packings Comparison between Discrete Element Method and experimental results

Numerical and experimental studies have been undertaken to analyze three parameters controlling the compaction of granular media submitted to sinusoidal horizontal vibrations. We have characterized the influence of the dimensionless acceleration G \Gamma , the geometry of the container and the friction coefficients on the grain velocities and on the packing densities. Above a critical acceleration G_crit \Gamma_{{\rm crit}}^{} , the velocities increases with G \Gamma . For low values of G \Gamma , the surface layers are compacted, whereas the bottom layers remain at their initial density. For high values of G \Gamma , the bottom layers get compacted, the surface layers are fluidized so that the bulk dynamic and relaxed densities decreased. In the same way, the effect of the dimensions of the container and of the friction coefficients on the packing properties has been studied for given heights of sand, acceleration and frequency. It has been shown that the influence of the two last parameters is similar to that of acceleration. The numerical results given by the Discrete Element Method appear to be in good agreement with experimental results.     

Absolute fixed point sets for continuum-valued maps

The notion of an absolute fixed point set in the setting of continuum-valued maps will be defined and characterized.

     

The integrated prism interpretation of multileg Mach-Zehnder interferometers based on multimode interference couplers

To simplify the driving conditions as well as to improve the wavelength response of multileg Mach-Zehnder interferometers (MZI) based on multimode interference (MMI) couplers we develop a new interpretation of these devices. Used for optical switching and for wavelength filtering, they are shown to work as active or passive integrated prisms. This analogy greatly facilitates the design of such components and simplifies the understanding of their functionality. The driving conditions of optical switches based on such multileg MZI are easility studied and will be reduced to basic active phase shifts. For wavelength filtering applications using such elements, a new design of the phased waveguide array is proposed which improves the characteristics of the filters.     

A Coumarin Triflate Reagent Enables One-Step Synthesis of Photo-Caged Lipid Metabolites for Studying Cell Signaling

Photorelease of caged compounds is among the most powerful experimental approaches for studying cellular functions on fast timescales. However, its full potential has yet to be exploited, as the number of caged small molecules available for cell biological studies has been limited by synthetic challenges. Addressing this problem, a straightforward, one-step procedure for efficiently synthesizing caged compounds was developed. An in situ generated benzylic coumarin triflate reagent was used to specifically functionalize carboxylate and phosphate moieties in the presence of free hydroxy groups, generating various caged lipid metabolites, including a number of GPCR ligands. By combining the photo-caged ligands with the respective receptors, an easily implementable experimental platform for the optical control and analysis of GPCR-mediated signal transduction in living cells was developed. Ultimately, the described synthetic strategy allows rapid generation of photo-caged small molecules and thus greatly facilitates the analysis of their biological roles in live cell microscopy assays.     

Side-chain and backbone ordering in a polypeptide

We report results from multicanonical simulations of polyglutamic acid chains of length of ten residues. For this simple polypeptide we observe a decoupling of backbone and side-chain ordering in the folding process. While the details of the two transitions vary between the peptide in gas phase and in an implicit solvent, our results indicate that, independent of the specific surroundings, upon continuously lowering the temperature side-chain ordering occurs only after the backbone topology is completely formed.     

On the contact of a spherical membrane enclosing a fluid with rigid parallel planes

The mechanical response of an inflated spherical membrane-fluid structure in contact with rigid parallel planes is studied. The membrane is assumed to be a two-dimensional non-linear elastic and isotropic structure, while no assumption is imposed on the fluid. A numerical procedure is employed to compute the equilibrium configurations of the membrane-fluid structure. This study provides information regarding the contact force, stress distribution and pressure in the membrane and in the enclosed fluid, respectively. It was observed that a transition between unwrinkled to partially wrinkled configurations of the membrane occurs subjected to the loading conditions. Further investigation of the wrinkled configurations is presented.