Aspects of coherent states of nonlinear algebras

Various aspects of coherent states of nonlinear su(2) and su(1,1) algebras are studied. It is shown that the nonlinear su(1,1) Barut-Girardello and Perelomov coherent states are related by a Laplace transform. We then concentrate on the derivation and analysis of the statistical and geometrical properties of these states. The Berry's phase for the nonlinear coherent states is also derived. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. doi:10.1063/1.3514118]

Bioinorganic and medicinal chemistry: aspects of gold(I)-protein complexes

Gold(I)-based drugs have been used successfully for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) for several years. Although the exact mechanism of action of these gold(I) drugs for RA has not been clearly established, the interaction of these compounds with mammalian enzymes has been extensively studied. In this paper, we describe the interaction of therapeutic gold(I) compounds with mammalian proteins that contain cysteine (Cys) and selenocysteine (Sec) residues. Owing to the higher affinity of gold(I) towards sulfur and selenium, gold(I) drugs rapidly react with the activated cysteine or selenocysteine residues of the enzymes to form protein-gold(I)-thiolate or protein-gold(I)-selenolate complexes. The formation of stable gold(I)-thiolate/selenolate complexes generally lead to inhibition of the enzyme activity. The gold-thiolate/selenolate complexes undergo extensive ligand exchange reactions with other nucleophiles and such ligand exchange reactions alter the inhibitory effects of gold(I) complexes. Therefore, the effect of gold(I) compounds on the enzymatic activity of cysteine-or selenocysteine-containing proteins may play important roles in RA. The interaction of gold(I) compounds with different enzymes and the biochemical mechanism underlying the inhibition of enzymatic activities may have broad medicinal implications for the treatment of RA.

Ebselen is a potent non-competitive inhibitor of extracellular nucleoside diphosphokinase

Nucleoside di- and triphosphates and adenosine regulate several components of the mucocilairy clearance process (MCC) that protects the lung against infections, via activation of epithelial purinergic receptors. However, assessing the contribution of individual nucleotides to MCC functions remains difficult due to the complexity of the mechanisms of nucleotide release and metabolism. Enzymatic activities involved in the metabolism of extracellular nucleotides include ecto-ATPases and secreted nucleoside diphosphokinase (NDPK) and adenyl kinase, but potent and selective inhibitors of these activities are sparse. In the present study, we discovered that ebselen markedly reduced NDPK activity while having negligible effect on ecto-ATPase and adenyl kinase activities. Addition of radiotracer gamma P-32]ATP to human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells resulted in rapid and robust accumulation of P-32]-inorganic phosphate ((32)Pi). Inclusion of UDP in the incubation medium resulted in conversion of gamma P-32]ATP to P-32]UTP, while inclusion of AMP resulted in conversion of gamma P-32]ATP to P-32]ADP. Ebselen markedly reduced P-32]UTP formation but displayed negligible effect on (32)Pi or P-32]ADP accumulations. Incubation of HBE cells with unlabeled UTP and ADP resulted in robust ebselen-sensitive formation of ATP (IC50=6.9 +/- 2 mu M). This NDPK activity was largely recovered in HBE cell secretions and supernatants from lung epithelial A549 cells. Kinetic analysis of NDPK activity indicated that ebselen reduced the V-max of the reaction (K-i=7.6 +/- 3 mu M), having negligible effect on KM values. Our study demonstrates that ebselen is a potent noncompetitive inhibitor of extracellular NDPK.

Non-Linear effects of membrane fluctuations in the dilute lamellar phase

The static structure factor of the dilute sterically stabilised lamellar phase is calculated and found to have an Ornstein-Zernike form with a correlation length that diverges at infinite dilution. The relaxation time for concentration fluctuations at large wave number q is shown to go as q-3 with a coefficient independent of the membrane bending rigidity. The membrane fluctuations also give rise to strongly frequency-dependent viscosities at high frequencies.

An experimental approach for non-destructive evaluation of fatigue damage in CFRP composites

Study of fatigue phenomenon in composites requires a dynamic tool which can detect and identify different failure mechanisms involved. The tool should also be capable of monitoring the cumulative damage progression on-line. Acoustic Emission Technique has been utilized in the experimental investigations on unidirectional carbon fiber reinforced plastic (CFRP) composite specimens subjected to tension-tension fatigue. Amplitude as well as frequency distribution of Acoustic Emission (AE) signals have been studied to detect and characterize different failure mechanisms. For a quantitative measure of degradation of the material with fatigue load cycles, reduction in stiffness of the specimen has been measured intermittently. Ultrasonic imaging could give the information on the changes in the interior status of the material at different stages of fatigue life.

Design and realization of high-performance wave-pipelined 8×8 b multiplier in CMOS technology

Wave pipelining is a design technique for increasing the throughput of a digital circuit or system without introducing pipelining registers between adjacent combinational logic blocks in the circuit/system. However, this requires balancing of the delays along all the paths from the input to the output which comes the way of its implementation. Static CMOS is inherently susceptible to delay variation with input data, and hence, receives a low priority for wave pipelined digital design. On the other hand, ECL and CML, which are amenable to wave pipelining, lack the compactness and low power attributes of CMOS. In this paper we attempt to exploit wave pipelining in CMOS technology. We use a single generic building block in Normal Process Complementary Pass Transistor Logic (NPCPL), modeled after CPL, to achieve equal delay along all the propagation paths in the logic structure. An 8×8 b multiplier is designed using this logic in a 0.8 ?m technology. The carry-save multiplier architecture is modified suitably to support wave pipelining, viz., the logic depth of all the paths are made identical. The 1 mm×0.6 mm multiplier core supports a throughput of 400 MHz and dissipates a total power of 0.6 W. We develop simple enhancements to the NPCPL building blocks that allow the multiplier to sustain throughputs in excess of 600 MHz. The methodology can be extended to introduce wave pipelining in other circuits as well

Some aspects of the solitary waves in a relativistic inhomogeneous plasma

In contrast to earlier observations on various solitary wave propagations, especially those bifurcated by the compressive and rarefactive solitary waves, the existence of spiky and explosive solitary waves is here believed to arise because of the presence of free and trapped electrons. So far, very few studies have been carried out to satisfactorily explain the presence of the solitary waves in space as observed by satellites. It is also attempted to highlight the probable impact on the various solitary wave propagations in a generalized multi-component, inhomogeneous plasma upon consideration of a relativistic treatment. It is expected that such a treatment will prove the existence of the solitary waves most expeditiously and exhibit the presence of chaos therein, thus giving a suitable explanation to the observations of various forms of spiky and explosive solitary waves in space-plasma. Copyright (C) 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd

The stretching of single poly-ubiquitin molecules: Static versus dynamic disorder in the non-exponential kinetics of chain unfolding

Static disorder has recently been implicated in the non-exponential kinetics of the unfolding of single molecules of poly-ubiquitin under a constant force Kuo, Garcia-Manyes, Li, Barel, Lu, Berne, Urbakh, Klafter, and Fernandez, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 107, 11336 (2010)]. In the present paper, it is suggested that dynamic disorder may provide a plausible, alternative description of the experimental observations. This suggestion is made on the basis of a model in which the barrier to chain unfolding is assumed to be modulated by a control parameter r that evolves in a parabolic potential under the action of fractional Gaussian noise according to a generalized Langevin equation. The treatment of dynamic disorder within this model is pursued using Zwanzig's indirect approach to noise averaging Acc. Chem. Res. 23, 148 (1990)]. In conjunction with a self-consistent closure scheme developed by Wilemski and Fixman J. Chem. Phys. 58, 4009 (1973); ibid. 60, 866 (1974)], this approach eventually leads to an expression for the chain unfolding probability that can be made to fit the corresponding experimental data very closely. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics.

Orientational disorder and other aspects of C70 and C60-C70 films deposited on single-crystal substrates

C-70 films deposited on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), Ag(110), Ag(111) and Pt(110) substrates have been investigated by scanning tunnelling microscopy. Interesting observations on novel molecular arrangements, as well as orientational disorder, are presented. Solid solutions of C-60 and C-70 show interesting packing of these molecules when deposited on HOPG.

Some aspects of information processing in biological vision

An attempt is made to present some challenging problems (mainly to the technically minded researchers) in the development of computational models for certain (visual) processes which are executed with, apparently, deceptive ease by the human visual system. However, in the interest of simplicity (and with a nonmathematical audience in mind), the presentation is almost completely devoid of mathematical formalism. Some of the findings in biological vision are presented in order to provoke some approaches to their computational models, The development of ideas is not complete, and the vast literature on biological and computational vision cannot be reviewed here. A related but rather specific aspect of computational vision (namely, detection of edges) has been discussed by Zucker, who brings out some of the difficulties experienced in the classical approaches.Space limitations here preclude any detailed analysis of even the elementary aspects of information processing in biological vision, However, the main purpose of the present paper is to highlight some of the fascinating problems in the frontier area of modelling mathematically the human vision system.

Some Basic Aspects of Reaction Engineering of Precipitation Processes

Analysis of precipitation reactions is extremely important in the technology of production of fine particles from the liquid phase. The control of composition and particle size in precipitation processes requires careful analysis of the several reactions that comprise the precipitation system. Since precipitation systems involve several, rapid ionic dissociation reactions among other slower ones, the faster reactions may be assumed to be nearly at equilibrium. However, the elimination of species, and the consequent reduction of the system of equations, is an aspect of analysis fraught with the possibility of subtle errors related to the violation of conservation principles. This paper shows how such errors may be avoided systematically by relying on the methods of linear algebra. Applications are demonstrated by analyzing the reactions leading to the precipitation of calcium carbonate in a stirred tank reactor as well as in a single emulsion drop. Sample calculations show that supersaturation dynamics can assume forms that can lead to subsequent dissolution of particles that have once been precipitated.

Phenomenological aspects of phase fluctuation in high Tc superconductors: Cooper pair droplets

We point out how fluctuation of the phase of the superconducting order parameter can play a key role in our understanding of high Te superconductors. A simple universal criterion is given which illustrates why all oxide superconductors in contrast to classical superconductors ought to behave as a lattice of cooper pairs. T-c is to be thought of as the temperature of phase coherence or the temperature above which the lattice of Cooperpair 'melts' into a phase of Cooper-pair droplets that starts forming at T approximate to T-* . This is the pseudo-gap region. Quantum fluctuation of the phase predicts a superconductor to insulator phase transition for all underdoped materials.

Some microbiological aspects of bauxite mineralization and beneficiation

A microbial survey of Jamnagar bauxite mines in Gujarat, India, revealed the indigenous presence of a variety of autotrophic and heterotrophic bacteria and fungi associated with the ore body and water ponds in the vicinity. Among these, bacteria belonging to the genera Thiobacillus, Bacillus and Pseudomonas are implicated in the weathering of aluminosilicates; the precipitation of iron oxyhydroxides; the dissolution and conversion of alkaline metal species; and the formation of alumina, silica and calcite minerals. Fungi belonging to the genus Cladosporium can reduce ferric iron and dissolve alumina silicates. Biogenesis thus plays a significant role in bauxite mineralization. Various types of bacteria and fungi, such as Bacillus polymyxa, Bacillus coagulans and Aspergillus niger, were found to be efficient in significant calcium solubilization and partial iron removal from bauxite ore. Probable mechanisms in the biobeneficiation process are analyzed. Biobeneficiation is shown to be an effective technique for the removal of iron and calcium from bauxite ores for use in refractories and ceramics.