Stability of Antimicrobial Drug Molecules in Different Gravitational and Radiation Conditions in View of Applications during Outer Space Missions

The evolution of different antimicrobial drugs in terrestrial, microgravity and hypergravity conditions is presented within this review, in connection with their implementation during human space exploration. Drug stability is of utmost importance for applications in outer space. Instabilities may be radiation-induced or micro-/hypergravity produced. The antimicrobial agents used in space may have diminished effects not only due to the microgravity-induced weakened immune response of astronauts, but also due to the gravity and radiation-altered pathogens. In this context, the paper provides schemes and procedures to find reliable ways of fighting multiple drug resistance acquired by microorganisms. It shows that the role of multipurpose medicines modified at the molecular scale by optical methods in long-term space missions should be considered in more detail. Solutions to maintain drug stability, even in extreme environmental conditions, are also discussed, such as those that would be encountered during long-duration space exploratory missions. While the microgravity conditions may not be avoided in space, the suggested approaches deal with the radiation-induced modifications in humans, bacteria and medicines onboard, which may be fought by novel pharmaceutical formulation strategies along with radioprotective packaging and storage.     

The effect of melting-induced volumetric expansion on initiation of laser-induced forward transfer

A numerical model was developed to investigate thermal processes that initiate laser-induced forward transfer (LIFT). The model included laser absorption, conduction, melting, and volumetric expansion in a thin film. The model was used to investigate the role of volumetric expansion associated with the melting process and was used to help explain surface deformations observed in previous studies of LIFT. The results of the model indicated that volumetric expansion initiated fluid motion that was directed away from the substrate, and the fluid motion was sufficient to induce surface deformations that remained after solidification. The resulting textured surface was similar to that observed experimentally below the droplet expulsion threshold. The fluid motion away from the substrate may explain the mechanism by which droplet formation occurs.     

Spectral norms on valued fields

Let be a perfect valued field, be an algebraic closure of be an extension of to and be the G-spectral norm on Let be an algebraic extension of K and be the completion of L relative to We associate to any element a real number and prove that if for all x in , then and is a zero-dimensional regular ring. We show that and prove that is algebraic over (with some additional conditions on K and L). We give a Galois type correspondence between the set of all closed K-subalgebras of and the subfields of L. We prove that is an algebraic closed and zero-dimensional regular ring. Received: 3 March 1999; in final form: 21 February 2000 / Published online: 4 May 2001     

Multiplicity results for elliptic fractional equations with subcritical term

In the present paper, by using variational methods, we study the existence of multiple nontrivial weak solutions for parametric nonlocal equations, driven by the fractional Laplace operator \({(-\Delta)^{s}}\) , in which the nonlinear term has a sublinear growth at infinity. More precisely, a critical point result for differentiable functionals is exploited, in order to prove the existence of an open interval of positive eigenvalues for which the treated problem admits at least two nontrivial weak solutions in a suitable fractional Sobolev space.     

Gravitational motion of a two-particle cluster between two parallel plane solid wallsSédimentation de deux particules solides entre deux plans parallèles

The slow viscous settling migration of a 2-particule cluster between two solid and parallel plane walls is investigated by resorting to a Boundary Element Method. The procedure, valid for arbitrarily-shaped bodies, is presented and preliminary numerical results for both identical spheres and a spheroid-sphere cluster are discussed. To cite this article: L. Pasol, A. Sellier, C. R. Mecanique 334 (2006).     

Perturbations of Hemivariational Inequalities with Constraints and Applications

The aim of the present paper is to discuss the influence which certain perturbations have on the solution of the eigenvalue problem for hemivariational inequalities on a sphere of given radius. The perturbation results in adding a term of the type >g ⁰(x, u(x); v(x)) to the hemivariational inequality, where g is a locally Lipschitz nonsmooth and nonconvex energy functional. Applications illustrate the theory.