Dynamical mechanism of anticipating synchronization in excitable systems

We analyze the phenomenon of anticipating synchronization of two excitable systems with unidirectional delayed coupling which are subject to the same external forcing. We demonstrate for different paradigms of excitable system that, due to the coupling, the excitability threshold for the slave system is always lower than that for the master. As a consequence the two systems respond to a common external forcing with different response times. This allows to explain in a simple way the mechanism behind the phenomenon of anticipating synchronization.Comment: 4 pages including 7 figures. Submitted for publicatio

16α,17α-Ep­oxy-5α-hydr­oxy-6β-nitrooxy-20-oxopregnan-3β-yl acetate

The title steroid, C23H33NO8, is a pregnane derivative obtained regio-, stereo- and chemoselectively from the ring opening of the corresponding 5α,6α;16α,17α-diepoxide with bis­muth(III) nitrate. There are two symmetry-independent mol­ecules in the asymmetric unit that show no significant differences concerning bond lengths and angles. All rings are trans-fused. The conformations of the six-membered rings are close to chair forms, while the five-membered ring adopts an envelope conformation. The mol­ecules are held together by an extensive O—H⋯O hydrogen-bonding network of chains runnning along the a axis

The electron-phonon coupling strength at metal surfaces directly determined from the Helium atom scattering Debye-Waller factor

A new quantum-theoretical derivation of the elastic and inelastic scattering probability of He atoms from a metal surface, where the energy and momentum exchange with the phonon gas can only occur through the mediation of the surface free-electron density, shows that the Debye-Waller exponent is directly proportional to the electron-phonon mass coupling constant $\lambda$. The comparison between the values of $\lambda$ extracted from existing data on the Debye-Waller factor for various metal surfaces and the $\lambda$ values known from literature indicates a substantial agreement, which opens the possibility of directly extracting the electron-phonon coupling strength in quasi-2D conducting systems from the temperature or incident energy dependence of the elastic Helium atom scattering intensities.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl

6β-Acetamido-5α-hydroxy­cholestan-3β-yl acetate

The title steroid, C31H53NO4, was prepared from the corresponding 5α,6α-epoxy­cholestane. The conformation of the six-membered rings is close to a chair form, while the five-membered ring adopts a twist conformation. The hydroxyl and acetamide groups are in axial positions. The nucleophilic species bound to the steroid nucleus at position 6 by the β-face, whereas the hydroxyl group at position 5 has α-orientation. All rings are trans-fused. The crystal packing shows that the mol­ecules related by twofold symmetry exist as O—H⋯O hydrogen-bonded dimers

A semiautomatic methodology to detect fire scars in shrubs and evergreen forests with Landsat MSS time series.

This paper presents a semi-automatic methodology for fire scars mapping from a long time series of remote sensing data. Approximately, a hundred MSS images from different Landsat satellites were employed over an area of 32 100 km2 in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula. The analysed period was from 1975 to 1993. Results are a map series of fire history and frequencies. Omission errors are 23% for burned areas greater than 200 ha while commission errors are 8% for areas greater than 50 ha. Subsequent work based on the resultant fire scars will also help in describing fire regime and in monitoring post-fire regeneration dynamics.Peer Reviewe

On Data Reutilization for Historian Based Predictive Control

This paper presents a robust finite-horizon control scheme based on data that produces feasible control sequences. The scheme makes use of a database that includes information from prior experiences of the same and others controllers handling similar systems. By the convex combination of feasible histories plus an auxiliary control law that deals with uncertainties, this scheme can be used as a robust historian-based predictive controller. Further application could include a cooperative learning-based strategy in which multiple controllers share their previous executions to gain collective benefits in terms of performance. The validity of the proposed controller is tested in a simulated case study

Kramers' turnover theory for diffusion of Na atoms on a Cu(001) surface measured by He scattering

12 pages, 7 figures.The diffusion of adatoms and molecules on a surface at low coverage can be measured by helium scattering. The experimental observable is the dynamic structure factor. In this article, we show how Kramers' turnover theory can be used to infer physical properties of the diffusing particle from the experiment. Previously, Chudley and Elliot showed, under reasonable assumptions, that the dynamic structure factor is determined by the hopping distribution of the adsorbed particle. Kramers' theory determines the hopping distribution in terms of two parameters only. These are an effective frequency and the energy loss of the particle to the bath as it traverses from one barrier to the next. Kramers' theory, including finite barrier corrections, is tested successfully against numerical Langevin equation simulations, using both separable and nonseparable interaction potentials. Kramers' approach, which really is a steepest descent estimate for the rate, based on the Langevin equation, involves closed analytical expressions and so is relatively easy to implement. Diffusion of Na atoms on a Cu(001) surface has been chosen as an example to illustrate the application of Kramers' theory.This work has been supported in part by DGICYT (Spain) under Contract No. BFM2001-2179. R.G. and J.L.V. thank the Minister of Science and Technology (Spain) for a Ramón y Cajal Contract and a predoctoral F.P.I. grant. This work has also been supported by grants from the Israel Science Foundation, the Minerva Foundation (Munich), and the Volkswagen Foundation.Peer reviewe