Bounds on positive interior transmission eigenvalues

The paper contains lower bounds on the counting function of the positive eigenvalues of the interior transmission problem when the latter is elliptic. In particular, these bounds justify the existence of an infinite set of interior transmission eigenvalues and provide asymptotic estimates from above on the counting function for the large values of the wave number. They also lead to certain important upper estimates on the first few interior transmission eigenvalues. We consider the classical transmission problem as well as the case when the inhomogeneous medium contains an obstacle.Comment: We corrected inaccuracies cost by the wrong sign in the Green formula (17). In particular, the sign in the definition of \sigma was change

Superaerophobic graphene nano-hills for direct hydrazine fuel cells

Hydrazine fuel-cell technology holds great promise for clean energy, not only because of the greater energy density of hydrazine compared to hydrogen but also due to its safer handling owing to its liquid state. However, current technologies involve the use of precious metals (such as platinum) for hydrazine oxidation, which hinders the further application of hydrazine fuel-cell technologies. In addition, little attention has been devoted to the management of gas, which tends to become stuck on the surface of the electrode, producing overall poor electrode efficiencies. In this study, we utilized a nano-hill morphology of vertical graphene, which efficiently resolves the issue of the accumulation of gas bubbles on the electrode surface by providing a nano-rough-edged surface that acts as a superaerophobic electrode. The growth of the vertical graphene nano-hills was achieved and optimized by a scalable plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition method. The resulting metal-free graphene-based electrode showed the lowest onset potential (-0.42 V vs saturated calomel electrode) and the highest current density of all the carbon-based materials reported previously for hydrazine oxidation

Adiabatic description of nonspherical quantum dot models

Within the effective mass approximation an adiabatic description of spheroidal and dumbbell quantum dot models in the regime of strong dimensional quantization is presented using the expansion of the wave function in appropriate sets of single-parameter basis functions. The comparison is given and the peculiarities are considered for spectral and optical characteristics of the models with axially symmetric confining potentials depending on their geometric size making use of the total sets of exact and adiabatic quantum numbers in appropriate analytic approximations

Deeply virtual and exclusive electroproduction of omega mesons

The exclusive omega electroproduction off the proton was studied in a large kinematical domain above the nucleon resonance region and for the highest possible photon virtuality (Q2) with the 5.75 GeV beam at CEBAF and the CLAS spectrometer. Cross sections were measured up to large values of the four-momentum transfer (-t < 2.7 GeV2) to the proton. The contributions of the interference terms sigma_TT and sigma_TL to the cross sections, as well as an analysis of the omega spin density matrix, indicate that helicity is not conserved in this process. The t-channel pi0 exchange, or more generally the exchange of the associated Regge trajectory, seems to dominate the reaction gamma* p -> omega p, even for Q2 as large as 5 GeV2. Contributions of handbag diagrams, related to Generalized Parton Distributions in the nucleon, are therefore difficult to extract for this process. Remarkably, the high-t behaviour of the cross sections is nearly Q2-independent, which may be interpreted as a coupling of the photon to a point-like object in this kinematical limit.Comment: 15 pages,19 figure

TIME CONSTRAINTS ON THE FORMATION OF THE KANDALAKSHA AND KERETSK GRABENS OF THE WHITE SEA PALEO-RIFT SYSTEM FROM NEW ISOTOPIC GEOCHRONOLOGICAL DATA

Initially, the age and stratigraphic position of the Tersk formation were determined with respect to the fact that this formation overlaps the Early Proterozoic granitoids. Its top was marked by the rocks penetrated by the Late Devonian alkaline intrusions, including explosion pipes.This article presents the U-Pb isotopic dating of detrital zircon grains (dZr) from sandstones of the Tersk formation. It describes the geochemical compositions of the rocks and the Sm-Nd study results. In our study, the weighted average age of four youngest dZr grains from the sandstones of the Tersk formation is 1145±20 Ma, which suggests that the rocks above the studied rock layer (see the Tersk formation cross-section) are is not older than the end of the Middle Riphean. The U-Pb isotopic ages of dZr grains (provenance signals) from the sandstones of the Tersk formation were compared to the ages of other Upper Precambrian clastic strata in the northeastern East European platform (EEP) and adjacent areas. Our comparative analysis shows that these rocks significantly differ in age. This conclusion is in good agreement with the idea that at the end of the Middle and during the Late Riphean, several small (mainly closed) basins separated by uplifts dominated in the paleogeographic setting of the area wherein the White Sea rift system (WSRS) formed and developed. Temporal connections of these basins with the ocean were possible. Such paleogeographic setting does not favour the development of large rivers; this is why the grabens are mainly filled with local rock materials. The Keretsk and Kandalaksha grabens (WSRS) are filled with marine sediments eroded from the grabens walls. The local sediment sources include eclogite complexes (~1.9 Ga), which basic magmatism is dated at ~2.4–2.5 and ~2.7–2.9 Ga. Any potential primary sources for dZr grains are lacking in the area near the Keretsk graben. We suggest that such grains occurred due to recycling of the secondary sources of zircon, i.e. originated from ancient local sedimentary formations

Increased chromosomal stability in cultures of ovarian tumours of low malignant potential compared to cystadenomas

Cell cultures of ovarian cystadenomas transfected with SV40 large T antigen are not immortal because they invariably reach a phenomenon called crisis, which is triggered in part by telomere attrition. Recovery from crisis may be an integral component of the malignant transformation process. We reported earlier that such ovarian cystadenoma cell cultures undergo severe changes in DNA ploidy as they approach crisis and that such changes are an important determinant of crisis independent of telomere attrition. Here, we show that in sharp contrast to these benign ovarian tumours, the DNA content of ovarian tumours of low malignant potential (LMP) was remarkably stable as they approached crisis, suggesting that telomere attrition was the main determinant of this mortality checkpoint. Lack of a ploidy-based crisis was not due to loss of expression of a functional SV40 large T antigen protein. We conclude that ovarian LMP tumours are characterised by increased numerical chromosomal stability compared to cystadenomas. This might account for the fact that most LMP tumours are diploid or near diploid in vivo. This fundamental difference in chromosomal stability between ovarian cystadenomas and LMP tumours also suggests potential differences in predisposition to progression to malignancy between these two ovarian tumour subtypes