On Gorenstein Surfaces Dominated by P^2

In this paper we prove that a normal Gorenstein surface dominated by the projective plane P^2 is isomorphic to a quotient P^2/G, where G is a finite group of automorphisms of P^2 (except possibly for one surface V_8'). We can completely classify all such quotients. Some natural conjectures when the surface is not Gorenstein are also stated.Comment: Nagoya Mathematical Journal, to appea

On certain new integrable second order nonlinear differential equations and their connection with two dimensional Lotka-Volterra system

In this paper, we consider a second order nonlinear ordinary differential equation of the form $\ddot{x}+k_1\frac{\dot{x}^2}{x}+(k_2+k_3x)\dot{x}+k_4x^3+k_5x^2+k_6x=0$, where $k_i$'s, $i=1,2,...,6,$ are arbitrary parameters. By using the modified Prelle-Singer procedure, we identify five new integrable cases in this equation besides two known integrable cases, namely (i) $k_2=0, k_3=0$ and (ii) $k_1=0, k_2=0, k_5=0$. Among these five, four equations admit time dependent first integrals and the remaining one admits time independent first integral. From the time independent first integral, nonstandard Hamiltonian structure is deduced thereby proving the Liouville sense of integrability. In the case of time dependent integrals, we either explicitly integrate the system or transform to a time-independent case and deduce the underlying Hamiltonian structure. We also demonstrate that the above second order ordinary differential equation is intimately related to the two-dimensional Lotka-Volterra (LV) system. From the integrable parameters of above nonlinear equation and all the known integrable cases of the latter can be deduced thereby.Comment: Accepted for publication in J. Math. Phy

PRODUCTIVITY SPILLOVERS IN INDIAN MANUFACTURING FIRMS

Indian economic reform since early 1990s aims at improving productivity and competitiveness of major industries. The paper examines spillovers from foreign direct investment (FDI), research and development (R&D) and exporting activities on productivity both for foreign and domestic manufacturing firms. The data is obtained from the PROWESS database provided by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE). Balanced panel of over 1,000 manufacturing firms in India between 1994 and 2006 are considered for our empirical analysis. Findings indicate that foreign presence has a significant spillover effect on the productivity of the Indian manufacturing firms compared to the alternative spillovers such as from R&D and export initiatives.Productivity, Spillovers, Indian manufacturing, FDI.

Bidirectional motion of filaments: Role of motor proteins and passive cross linkers

In eukaryotic cells, motor proteins (MP) bind to cytoskeletal filaments and move along them in a directed manner generating active stresses. During cell division a spindle structure of overlapping antiparallel microtubules (MT) form whose stability and dynamics under the influence of MPs has been studied extensively. Although passive cross linkers (PCL) were known to provide structural stability to filamentous network, consequences of the interplay between ATP dependent active forces of MPs and passive entropic forces of PCLs on MT overlap remains largely unexplored. Here, we formulate and characterize a model to study this, using linear stability analysis and numerical integration. In presence of PCLs, we find dynamic phase transitions with changing activity exhibiting regimes of stable partial overlap with or without oscillations, instability towards complete overlap, and stable limit cycle oscillations that emerge via a supercritical Hopf bifurcation characterized by an oscillation frequency determined by the MP and PCL parameters. We show that the overlap dynamics and stability depend crucially on whether both the MTs of overlapping pair are movable or one is immobilized, having potential implications for in vivo and in vitro studies.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figure