Fixed points of finite groups acting on generalised Thompson groups

We study centralisers of finite order automorphisms of the generalised Thompson groups F _n,∞ and conjugacy classes of finite subgroups in finite extensions of F _n,∞. In particular, we show that centralisers of finite automorphisms in F _n,∞ are either of type FP_∞ or not finitely generated.     

Structure-function relationships in the neurotoxin Vipoxin from the venom of Vipera ammodytes meridionalis

The neurotoxic complex Vipoxin is the lethal component of the venom of Vipera ammodytes meridionalis, the most toxic snake in Europe. It is a complex between a toxic phospholipase A2 (PLA2) and a non-toxic and catalytically inactive protein, stabilizing the enzyme and reducing the activity and toxicity. Structure-function relationships in this complex were studied by spectroscopic methods. A good correlation between the ionization behaviour and accessible surface area (ASA) of the tyrosyl residues was observed. In the toxic PLA2 subunit phenolic groups participate in H-bonding network that stabilizes the catalytically and pharmacologically active conformation. The tryptophan fluorescence decay of Vipoxin is well fitted by two exponentials with lifetimes of 0.1 (54%) and 2.5 (46%) ns. W20P, W31P and W31I are located in the interface between the two subunits and participate in hydrophobic interactions stabilizing the complex. Dissociation of the complex leads to a transition of the tryptophans from hydrophobic to hydrophilic environment, which influences mainly tau2. The longer lifetime is more sensitive to the polarity of the environment. Circular dichroism measurements demonstrate that the two components of the neurotoxin preserve their secondary structure after dissociation of the complex. The results of the spectroscopic studies are in accordance with a mechanism of blockade of transmission across the neuromuscular junctions of the breathing muscles by interaction of a dissociated toxic PLA2 with a membrane. The loss of toxicity is connected with slight changes in the secondary structure of PLA2. CD studies also show a substantial contribution of disulfide bonds to the stability of the neurotoxic complex and its components.     

Profinite and pro- completions of Poincaré duality groups of dimension 3

We establish some sufficient conditions for the profinite and pro- completions of an abstract group of type (resp. of finite cohomological dimension, of finite Euler characteristic) to be of type over the field for a fixed natural prime (resp. of finite cohomological -dimension, of finite Euler -characteristic).

We apply our methods for orientable Poincaré duality groups of dimension 3 and show that the pro- completion of is a pro- Poincaré duality group of dimension 3 if and only if every subgroup of finite index in has deficiency 0 and is infinite. Furthermore if is infinite but not a Poincaré duality pro- group, then either there is a subgroup of finite index in of arbitrary large deficiency or is virtually . Finally we show that if every normal subgroup of finite index in has finite abelianization and the profinite completion of has an infinite Sylow -subgroup, then is a profinite Poincaré duality group of dimension 3 at the prime .

     

Pro-p completions of Poincaré duality groups

We consider some sufficient conditions for the pro-p completion of an orientable Poincaré duality group of dimension n ≥ 3 to be a virtually pro-p Poincaré duality group of dimension at most n ? 2.     

In Vitro Multiplication and NMR Fingerprinting of Rare Veronica caucasica M. Bieb

Micropropagation of rare Veronica caucasica M. Bieb. was achieved by successful in vitro cultivation of mono-nodal segments on MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg L^–1 6-benzylaminopurine (BA) and then transferring the regenerated plants on hormone free basal MS medium for root development. In vitro multiplicated plants were successively acclimated in a growth chamber and a greenhouse with 92% survival. The number of plastid pigments and the total phenolics content in in vitro cultivated and ex vitro adapted plants were unchanged, and no accumulation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) was detected by staining with 3-3′-diaminobenzidine (DAB) and 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCF-DA). Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) fingerprinting allowed for the identification of the major alterations in metabolome of V. caucasica plants during the process of ex situ conservation. Iridoid glucosides such as verproside, aucubin and catalpol were characteristic for in vitro cultivated plants, while in ex vitro acclimated plants phenolic acid–protocatechuic acid and caffeic acid appeared dominant. The successful initiation of in vitro and ex vitro cultures is an alternative biotechnological approach for the preservation of V. caucasica and would allow for further studies of the biosynthetic potential of the species and the selection of lines with a high content of pharmaceutically valuable molecules and nutraceuticals.     

A Note on Projective and Flat Dimensions and the Bieri-Neumann-Strebel-Renz Σ-Invariants

Let G be a finitely generated group, and A a ?[G]-module of flat dimension n such that the homological invariant Σ ⁿ (G, A) is not empty. We show that A has projective dimension n as a ?[G]-module. In particular, if G is a group of homological dimension hd(G) = n such that the homological invariant Σ ⁿ (G, ?) is not empty, then G has cohomological dimension cd(G) = n. We show that if G is a finitely generated soluble group, the converse is true subject to taking a subgroup of finite index, i.e., the equality cd (G) = hd(G) implies that there is a subgroup H of finite index in G such that Σ^∞(H, ?) ≠ ?.     

Total internal reflection imaging of microorganism adhesion using an oil immersion objective

In this paper, we report the results of total internal reflection microscopy investigations of the interaction of two types of microorganisms: Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Escherichia coli with substrates. It is shown that with this method qualitative and quantitative information about cells-substrate interaction can be obtained. One can easily make a difference between attached and non-attached as well as between dead and alive cells, and more generally can follow the dynamics of the process of cells' attachment to substrates. Quantitative information about the cell size and cell-substrate distance is obtained by using a model in which yeast cells and bacteria are approximated by ellipsoids, and multiple reflections of the evanescent waves between the cells and the substrate are neglected.     

Robust strategies for facility location under uncertainty

This paper considers a stochastic facility location problem in which multiple capacitated facilities serve customers with a single product, and a stockout probabilistic requirement is stated as a chance constraint. Customer demand is assumed to be uncertain and to follow either a normal or an ambiguous distribution. We study robust approximations to the problem in order to incorporate information about the random demand distribution in the best possible, computationally tractable way. We also discuss how a decision maker’s risk preferences can be incorporated in the problem through robust optimization. Finally, we present numerical experiments that illustrate the performance of the different robust formulations. Robust optimization strategies for facility location appear to have better worst-case performance than nonrobust strategies. They also outperform nonrobust strategies in terms of realized average total cost when the actual demand distributions have higher expected values than the expected values used as input to the optimization models.     

Plasmon microscopy and imaging ellipsometry of Artrobacter oxydans attached on polymer films

The attachment of Artrobacter oxydans 1,388 on a newly synthesized biodegradable copolymer of poly-(hexanlactam)-co-block-poly-(delta-valerolactone) is investigated by optical, microscopic and biochemical methods. The potentials of surface plasmon microscopy and imaging ellipsometry for detecting microorganisms when Al films are used to excite plasmons is assessed by comparing images obtained by these methods with dark field microscopy pictures. The experimental results demonstrate that in this case imaging ellipsometry and plasmon microscopy in transmission are promising methods and can be used in optical sensors for monitoring cell adhesion.