Essential instabilities of fronts: bifurcation, and bifurcation failure

Various instability mechanisms of fronts in reaction-diffusion systems are analysed; the emphasis is on instabilities that have the potential to create modulated (i.e. time-periodic) waves near the primary front. Hopf bifurcations caused by point spectrum with associated localized eigenfunctions provide an example of such an instability. A different kind of instability occurs if one of the asymptotic rest states destabilizes: these instabilities are caused by essential spectrum. It is demonstrated that, if the rest state ahead of the front destabilizes, then modulated fronts are created that connect the rest state behind the front with small spatially periodic patterns ahead of the front. These modulated fronts are stable provided the spatially periodic patterns are stable. If, on the other hand, the rest state behind the front destabilizes, then modulated fronts that leave a spatially periodic pattern behind do not exist.     

Associations between persistent organic pollutants and vitamin status in Brünnich's guillemot and common eider hatchlings

The aim of the study was to examine associations between persistent organic pollutants and vitamin A (retinol), retinyl palmitate and vitamin E status (alpha-tocopherol) in two species occupying different trophic positions in the Arctic food web. Levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), some selected organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) were analyzed in yolk sac of newly hatched chicks of Brünnich's guillemot (Uria lomvia) and common eider (Somateria mollissima) from Kongsfjorden, Svalbard (Norwegian Arctic) (79 degrees N). Morphological variables were measured, and levels of retinol, retinyl palmitate and alpha-tocopherol were analyzed in plasma and liver. Brünnich's guillemot had significantly higher levels of POPs than common eider, as expected from its higher trophic position. Morphological traits seemed to be negatively related to POPs in Brünnich's guillemots, but not in common eiders. In Brünnich's guillemot, negative relationships were found between some OCPs (hexachlorobenzene, oxychlordane, p,p'-DDE) and liver alpha-tocopherol levels. The negative relationships between these OCPs and liver alpha-tocopherol levels in Brünnich's guillemot hatchlings became less evident when the confounding effect of liver mass was corrected for. In common eider positive relationships were found between summed PCB (SigmaPCBs) and some OCPs (beta-hexachlorocyclohexane, oxychlordane) and liver alpha-tocopherol levels. Differences in relationships between POPs and vitamin status in the two species may be related to differences in POP exposure levels linked to their trophic position in the Arctic marine food web, or to intrinsic physiological differences between the species.     

An optical strain measurement system for asphalt mixtures

Knowledge of the conditions governing the initiation and propagation of cracks in hot mix asphalt (HMA) mixtures is a prerequisite for a comprehensive understanding of HMA cracking mechanisms. Traditional strain measurement sensors have proved to be not completely adequate in the sense that they do not provide pointwise measurements, thus not pinpointing the location of crack initiation, and not accounting for non-uniform strain distributions. This paper presents a digital image correlation (DIC) system for non-contact and full strain field measurements, conceived for the purpose of investigating the cracking behavior of HMA mixtures. The whole system was developed so as to account for the special nature of typical HMA testing configurations. An image matching technique (least squares matching) was employed for providing matches with sub-pixel accuracy. The performance of the method was investigated by several tests. The DIC system was shown to overcome the shortcomings of traditional on-specimen strain measurement devices achieving satisfactory accuracy compared to strain gauges.     

Hydrophobicity engineering of cholera toxin A1 subunit in the strong adjuvant fusion protein CTA1-DD

Protein engineering of the cholera toxin A1 subunit (CTA1) fusedto a dimer of the Ig-binding D-region of Staphylococcus aureusprotein A (DD) was employed to investigate the effect of specificamino acid changes on solubility, stability, enzymatic activityand capacity to act as an adjuvant in vivo. A series of CTA1-DDanalogues were selected by a rational modeling approach, inwhich surface-exposed hydrophobic amino acids of CTA1 were exchangedfor hydrophilic counterparts modeled for best structural fit.Of six different mutants initially produced, two analogues,CTA1Phe132Ser-DD and CTA1Pro185Gln-DD, were demonstrated tohave 50 and 70% increased solubility, respectively, at neutralpH. The double mutant CTA1Phe132Ser/Pro185Gln-DD was at leastthreefold more soluble, demonstrating an additive effect ofthe two mutations. Only the Phe132Ser analogue retained fullbiological activity and stability compared with the native CTA1-DDfusion protein. Two mutants, Pro185Gln and Phe31His mutations,exhibited unaltered ADP-ribosyltransferase activity in vitro,but demonstrated markedly reduced adjuvant function. Since thePro185 and Phe31 amino acids are located in close vicinity onthe distal side of the molecule relative to the enzymaticallyactive cleft, it is conceivable that this region is involvedin mediating a biological function, separate from the enzymaticactivity but intrinsic to the adjuvant activity of CTA1.     

Constraint hierarchies

Constraints allow programmers and users to state declaratively a relation that should be maintained, rather than requiring them to write procedures to maintain the relation themselves. They are thus useful in such applications as programming languages, user interface toolkits, and simulation packages. In many situations, it is desirable to be able to state bothrequired andpreferential constraints. The required constraints must hold. Since the other constraints are merely preferences, the system should try to satisfy them if possible, but no error condition arises if it cannot. Aconstraint hierarchy consists of a set of constraints, each labeled as either required or preferred at some strength. An arbitrary number of different strengths is allowed. In the discussion of a theory of constraint hierarchies, we present alternate ways of selecting among competing possible solutions, and prove a number of propositions about the relations among these alternatives. We then outline algorithms for satisfying constraint hierarchies, and ways in which we have used constraint hierarchies in a number of programming languages and systems.     

Anode slimes treatment: The boliden experience

There are numerous approaches to the treatment of both copper and lead anode slimes. Although the chemistry and metallurgy has been described and discussed by many authors, few, if any, have described the environmental impact of these activities. Dust and especially selenium emissions are a problem both in the internal working environment as well as in the external environment. For more information, contact B.M. Ludvigsson, Boliden Contech AB, P.O. Box 745 Skelleftea 93127, Sweden; e-mail bjorn.ludvigsson@contech.boliden.se.     

Measurement of Internal Carotid Artery Blood Volume Pulsations by Noncontact Ocular Photoelectric Plethysmography

The goal of this investigation is to develop a noninvasive technique to assess the patency of the internal carotid artery. A noncontact photoelectric plethysmograph was designed to measure intraocular blood volume pulsations. This technique is appropriate for an evaluation of carotid stenosis since the ophthalmic artery is a branch of the internal carotid. With this noncontact instrument a beam of light is passed from a photoelectric system through the pupil. Light is reflected from the retinal and choroidal vasculature and is detected by a photodetector. This instrument has been used successfully in a series of experiments with pigmented and albino rabbits. The results demonstrate that the instrument measures the light reflected from the intraocular vasculature by the following observations: 1) an occlusion of the ca-rotid artery causes a disappearance of the ocular pulse; and 2) the amplitude of the ocular pulse is smaller in the pigmented rabbit when compared with the albino rabbit. Ocular movement artifacts and low reflected signal amplitude (due to light absorption by the retinal pigment) may necessitate the use of signal analysis techniques in patient studies.     

Discrete Time Estimation of the Mean Doppler Frequency in Ultrasonic Blood Velocity Measurements

A new Doppler frequency estimator operating in the discrete time domain is derived from an analysis of the Doppler signal statistics. It is shown that the estimator gives a nearly unbiased estimate of the mean frequency of the signal spectrum, regardless of the spectrum shape. The discrete time implementation gives the advantage that, under specified conditions, the range-velocity product of a pulsed Doppler velocity meter can be increased.