Generation of specific deoxynojirimycin-type inhibitors of the non-lysosomal glucosylceramidase

The existence of a non-lysosomal glucosylceramidase in human cells has been documented (van Weely, S., Brandsma, M., Strijland, A., Tager, J. M., and Aerts, J. M. F. G. (1993) Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1181, 55-62). Hypothetically, the activity of this enzyme, which is localized near the cell surface, may influence ceramide-mediated signaling processes. To obtain insight in the physiological importance of the non-lysosomal glucosylceramidase, the availability of specific inhibitors would be helpful. Here we report on the generation of hydrophobic deoxynojirimycin (DNM) derivatives that potently inhibit the enzyme. The inhibitors were designed on the basis of the known features of the non-lysosomal glucosylceramidase and consist of a DNM moiety, an N-alkyl spacer, and a large hydrophobic group that promotes insertion in membranes. In particular, N-(5-adamantane-1-yl-methoxy)pentyl)-DNM is a very powerful inhibitor of the non-lysosomal glucosylceramidase at nanomolar concentrations. At such concentrations, the lysosomal glucocerebrosidase and alpha-glucosidase, the glucosylceramide synthase, and the N-linked glycan-trimming alpha-glucosidases of the endoplasmic reticulum are not affecte

СОВРЕМЕННЫЕ МЕТОДЫ ЗАЩИТЫ БЕРЕГОВ МОРСКОГО КРАЯ ДЕЛЬТЫ Р. ХОНГХА ОТ ВОЛНОВОЙ ЭРОЗИИ

In present time the intensification of erosion processes is global feature of coastal zone and the most rapid and significant changes are characteristic for accumulative coasts. The features of the sea coast dynamics of the Hong Ha River delta (Vietnam) during last 100 years are analyzed in presented paper. The Hong Ha River delta coast modern dynamics is characterized by combination of accumulation processes near delta mouths and wave erosion between its. The main factors determining the modern dynamics of the delta sea coast are the wave activity with the surge-tidal fluctuations and solid runoff reduction. Current coastal construction cannot protect populated areas from flooding. Reorientation to the integrated coast construction which includes the beaches is realized. Control of Hong Ha river delta coastal erosion is difficult and long-range objective in the framework of the integrated coastal management.В настоящее время глобальной особенностью береговой зоны Мирового океана является повсеместная активизация эрозионных процессов. Наиболее быстрые и масштабные изменения характерны для аккумулятивных берегов. В представленной работе проанализирована динамика берега морского края дельты р. Хонгха (Вьетнам) на протяжении последних 100 лет. Дана информация о современном состоянии некоторых участков берега и применяющихся способах защиты от наводнений и размывов

Supersymmetry and a rationale for small CP violating phases

We analyse the CP problem in the context of a supersymmetric extension of the standard model with universal strength of Yukawa couplings. A salient feature of these models is that the CP phases are constrained to be very small by the hierarchy of the quark masses, and the pattern of CKM mixing angles. This leads to a small amount of CP violation from the usual KM mechanism and a significant contribution from supersymmetry is required. Due to the large generation mixing in some of the supersymmetric interactions, the electric dipole moments impose severe constraints on the parameter space, forcing the trilinear couplings to be factorizable in matrix form. We find that the LL mass insertions give the dominant gluino contribution to saturate epsilon_K. The chargino contributions to epsilon'/epsilon are significant and can accommodate the experimental results. In this framework, the standard model gives a negligible contribution to the CP asymmetry in B-meson decay, a_{J/\psi K_s}. However, due to supersymmetric contributions to B_d-\bar{B}_d mixing, the recent large value of a_{J/\psi K_s} can be accommodated.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures. Version to appear in Nucl. Phys.

Uranium on uranium collisions at relativistic energies

Deformation and orientation effects on compression, elliptic flow and particle production in uranium on uranium collisions (UU) at relativistic energies are studied within the transport model ART. The density compression in tip-tip UU collisions is found to be about 30% higher and lasts approximately 50% longer than in body-body or spherical UU reactions. The body-body UU collisions have the unique feature that the nucleon elliptic flow is the highest in the most central collisions and remain a constant throughout the reaction. We point out that the tip-tip UU collisions are more probable to create the QGP at AGS and SPS energies while the body-body UU collisions are more useful for studying properties of the QGP at higher energies.Comment: 8 pages + 4 figure

Antiflow of Nucleons at the Softest Point of the EoS

We investigate flow in semi-peripheral nuclear collisions at AGS and SPS energies within macroscopic as well as microscopic transport models. The hot and dense zone assumes the shape of an ellipsoid which is tilted by an angle Theta with respect to the beam axis. If matter is close to the softest point of the equation of state, this ellipsoid expands predominantly orthogonal to the direction given by Theta. This antiflow component is responsible for the previously predicted reduction of the directed transverse momentum around the softest point of the equation of state.Comment: 13 pages LaTeX, 8 PS figures. Higher-quality PS versions of figures 3 and 4 available at http://www.th.physik.uni-frankfurt.de/~brachman/afl3f/afl3f.htm

Fermion Masses and Mixing in Intersecting Branes Scenarios

We study the structure of Yukawa couplings in intersecting D6-branes wrapping a factorizable 6-torus compact space T^6. Models with MSSM-like spectrum are analyzed and found to fail in predicting the quark mass spectrum because of the way in which the family structure for the left-handed, right-handed quarks and, eventually, the Higgses is `factorized' among the different tori. In order to circumvent this, we present a model with three supersymmetric Higgs doublets which satisfies the anomaly cancellation condition in a more natural way than the previous models, where quarks were not treated universally regarding their branes assignments, or some particular branes were singled out being invariant under orientifold projection. In our model, the family structures for the left, right quarks, left leptons and the Higgses arise from one of the tori and can naturally lead to universal strength Yukawa couplings which accommodate the quark mass hierarchy and the mixing angles.Comment: 21 pages, latex, matches the Phys. Rev. D versio

Analysis of wavelet controller for robustness in electronic differential of electric vehicles: an investigation and numerical developments

In road transportation systems, differential plays an important role in preventing the vehicle from slipping on curved tracks. In practice, mechanical differentials are used, but they are bulky because of their increased weight. Moreover, they are not suitable for electric vehicles, especially those employing separate drives for both rear wheels. The electronic differential constitutes recent technological advances in electric vehicle design, enabling better stability and control of a vehicle on curved roads. This article articulates the modeling and simulation of an electronic differential employing a novel wavelet transform controller for two brushless DC motors ensuring drive in two right and left back driving wheels. Further, the proposed work uses a discrete wavelet transform controller to decompose the error between actual and command speed provided by the electronic differential based on throttle and steering angle as the input into frequency components. By scaling these frequency components by their respective gains, the obtained control signal is actually given as input to the motor. To verify the proposal, a set of designed strategies were carried out: a vehicle on a straight road, turning right and turning left. Numerical simulation test results of the controllers are presented and compared for robust performance and stability

Last Call for RHIC Predictions

This paper contains the individual contributions of all speakers of the session on 'Last Call for RHIC Predictions' at Quark Matter 99, and a summary by the convenor.Comment: 56 pages, psfig, epsf, epsfig, graphicx style files required, Proceedings of the XIV Int. Conf. on Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions, Quark Matter 99, Torino, Italy, May 10 - 15, 1999. Typographical mistakes corrected and figure numbers change

Parton coalescence at RHIC

Using a covariant coalescence model, we study hadron production in relativistic heavy ion collisions from both soft partons in the quark-gluon plasma and hard partons in minijets. Including transverse flow of soft partons and independent fragmentation of minijet partons, the model is able to describe available experimental data on pion, kaon, and antiproton spectra. The resulting antiproton to pion ratio is seen to increase at low transverse momenta and reaches a value of about one at intermediate transverse momenta, as observed in experimental data at RHIC. A similar dependence of the antikaon to pion ratio on transverse momentum is obtained, but it reaches a smaller value at intermediate transverse momenta. At high transverse momenta, the model predicts that both the antiproton to pion and the antikaon to pion ratio decrease and approach those given by the perturbative QCD. Both collective flow effect and coalescence of minijet partons with partons in the quark-gluon plasma affect significantly the spectra of hadrons with intermediate transverse momenta. Elliptic flows of protons, Lambdas, and Omegas have also been evaluated from partons with elliptic flows extracted from fitting measured pion and kaon elliptic flows, and they are found to be consistent with available experimental data.Comment: 12 pages, 11 figure

D* Production in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

This paper presents measurements of D^{*\pm} production in deep inelastic scattering from collisions between 27.5 GeV positrons and 820 GeV protons. The data have been taken with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The decay channel $D^{*+}\to (D^0 \to K^- \pi^+) \pi^+$ (+ c.c.) has been used in the study. The $e^+p$ cross section for inclusive D^{*\pm} production with $5<Q^2<100 GeV^2$ and $y<0.7$ is 5.3 \pms 1.0 \pms 0.8 nb in the kinematic region {$1.3<p_T(D^{*\pm})<9.0$ GeV and $| \eta(D^{*\pm}) |<1.5$}. Differential cross sections as functions of p_T(D^{*\pm}), $\eta(D^{*\pm}), W$ and $Q^2$ are compared with next-to-leading order QCD calculations based on the photon-gluon fusion production mechanism. After an extrapolation of the cross section to the full kinematic region in p_T(D^{*\pm}) and $\eta$(D^{*\pm}), the charm contribution $F_2^{c\bar{c}}(x,Q^2)$ to the proton structure function is determined for Bjorken $x$ between 2 $\cdot$ 10$^{-4}$ and 5 $\cdot$ 10$^{-3}$.Comment: 17 pages including 4 figure