Measuring inter-DNA potentials in solution

Interactions between short strands of DNA can be tuned from repulsive to attractive by varying solution conditions and have been quantified using small angle x-ray scattering techniques. The effective DNA interaction charge was extracted by fitting the scattering profiles with the generalized one-component method and inter-DNA Yukawa pair potentials. A significant charge is measured at low to moderate monovalent counterion concentrations, resulting in strong inter-DNA repulsion. The charge and repulsion diminish rapidly upon the addition of divalent counterions. An intriguing short range attraction is observed at surprisingly low divalent cation concentrations, approximately 16 mM Mg2+. Quantitative measurements of inter-DNA potentials are essential for improving models of fundamental interactions in biological systems.     

AC Poling study of lead zirconate titanate/vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene composites

It is experimentally known that a polymer matrix phase in a composite of ferroelectric particles dispersed in a ferroelectric polymer can be polarized by using a few cycles of an ac field, without causing much disturbance to the state of polarization of the inclusion particles. This paper attempts to investigate this special poling process for a typical ferroelectric composite system of lead zirconate titanate (PZT) ceramic particles in a vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene (P(VDF-TrFE)) copolymer matrix, upon the application of 10 Hz ac fields of various amplitudes. Compared to a copolymer sample, the composite samples can be polarized at a lower field, and hence show a larger remanent polarization at the same poling field. Among the composites, the observed remanent polarization increases with increasing ceramic volume fraction. These experimental observations can be understood by a simple model, in which space charges are allowed to accumulate at the particle-matrix interfaces because of the electrical conductivity of the constituents. At a fast switching poling field of 10 Hz, the calculation shows that conductivity and charge accumulation effects in the composite are only minimal. Accordingly, although the PZT phase as well as the copolymer phase are both polarized under the ac field, the ceramic phase is only polarized to about 10% when the copolymer phase is almost fully polarized. Thus, one can still use an ac field to polarize only the copolymer phase of the composite without altering the polarization state of the ceramic phase significantly. PACS 77.22.Ej; 77.84.Lf     

The Surface Energy of MgO: Multiscale Reconstruction from Thermal Groove Geometry

The surface energy of MgO is determined using experimental data collected from equilibrated thermal grooves circumscribing island grains. Local equilibrium assumptions at each groove require that the Herring equations be satisfied at each data site, thereby yielding a large and overdetermined system of equations involving the surface energy . This inverse problem is then solved using a new technique that is statistical in nature and multiscale in implementation. The resulting discrete solution represents a statistically significant representation of the surface energy of MgO as a function of surface orientation. Comparisons to results derived from a more traditional approach, along with suggested further applications, are discussed.     

Inhibitory activity and conformation changes of soybean trypsin inhibitors induced by ultrasound

The inhibitory activities, sulfhydryl bonds and far-UV circular dichroism (CD) spectra of Kunitz and Bowman–Birk soybean trypsin inhibitors (KTI and BBTI) were measured before and after ultrasound treatments. The differences between KTI and BBTI in conformation changes and resistance to ultrasound were observed. The secondary structures of KTI were found to be composed of β-sheet (22.5%), β-turn (16.2%) and random coils (61.4%) while that of BBTI composed of only β-sheet (52.6%) and random coils (47.4%). KTI lost its inhibitory activity more quickly than BBTI, proportionally to the ultrasound amplitudes and sonication durations used. Relevant synchronous phenomena observed included the inactivation of KTI, significant rise in sulfhydryl content and corresponding conformation changes, in which there were dramatic decreases in both β-turn and random coil contents and increase in the β-sheet structure over the entire sonication duration and ultrasonic amplitude scale used by the study. Ultrasound affected the activities and conformations of KTI and BBTI by exerting an influence on their disulfide bonds. For KTI, up to 55% of inhibitory activity could be inactivated, at which about 71.5% of disulfide bonds were altered and the [θ]_200nm value was changed from native −2545 deg cm² dmol⁻¹ to −1827 deg cm² dmol⁻¹. Whereas for BBTI, far-UV CD spectra, β-sheet and random structures were barely affected, only about 5.29% of disulfide bonds were found altered and the [θ]_200nm value was changed only from native −797 deg cm² dmol⁻¹ to −700 deg cm² dmol⁻¹. It is concluded that ultrasound inactivates KTI by inducing a reduction in the disulfide bonds and then changes the conformations.     

On the periodic solutions for both nonlinear differential and difference equations: A unified approach

A direct and unifying scheme for disclosure of periodic wave solutions of both nonlinear differential and difference equations is presented. The scheme is based on Hirota's bilinear form and certain Riemann theta function formulae. The relations between the periodic wave solutions and soliton solutions are rigorously established.     

Spin texture and magnetoroton excitations at nu=1/3

Neutral spin texture (ST) excitations at nu=1/3 are directly observed for the first time by resonant inelastic light scattering. They are determined to involve two simultaneous spin flips. At low magnetic fields, the ST energy is below that of the magnetoroton minimum. With increasing in-plane magnetic field these mode energies cross at a critical ratio of the Zeeman and Coulomb energies of eta(c)=0.020+/-0.001. Surprisingly, the intensity of the ST mode grows with temperature in the range in which the magnetoroton modes collapse. The temperature dependence is interpreted in terms of a competition between coexisting phases supporting different excitations. We consider the role of the ST excitations in activated transport at nu=1/3.     

Properties of a vector soliton laser passively mode-locked by a fiber-based semiconductor saturable absorber operating in transmission

We experimentally demonstrate a passively mode-locked fiber laser employing a fiber-based semiconductor saturable absorber (SSA) operating in transmission. Polarization rotation locked vector solitons are observed in the laser. Due to the intrinsic dynamic feature of the laser, period-doubling of these vector solitons has also been observed. Furthermore, extra spectral sidebands are formed on the optical spectrum, caused by the energy exchange between the two orthogonal polarization components of the vector solitons. By careful reduction of the pump power together with fine adjustment to the cavity birefringence, period-one state can further be obtained. Additionally, the phase noise properties of the vector soliton fiber laser have also been characterized experimentally and analytically.     

Energy functional depending on elastic strain and chemical composition

In this paper we deal with energy functionals depending on elastic strain and chemical composition and we obtain lower semicontinuity results, existence theorems and relaxation in the spacesH ^1,p(; ⁿ)×L ^q (; ^d) with respect to weak convergence. Our proofs use parametrized measures associated with weakly converging sequences.The research was partially supported by the National Science Foundation under Grants No. DMS-9000133 and DMS-9201215 and also by the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation through the Center for Nonlinear Analysis.The research was partially supported by the National Science Foundation uncer Grants No. DMs 911572, the AFOSR 91 0301, the ARO DAAL03 92 G 003 and also by the ARO and the NSF through the Center for Nonlinear Analysis.The research was supported by DGICYT (Spain) through Programa de Perfeccionamiento y Movilidad del Personal Investigador and through grant PB90-0245, by the Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation through the Center for Nonlinear Analysis and also by the project EurHomogenization SC1-CT91-0732 of the European Comunity.     

Über ebene affine Inzidenzgruppen

For a translation plane P with respect to f we consider the group of collineations generated by all elations fixing f and a point F of f. All subgroups or are determined which operate regularly on the points of the affine plane P. Group-theoretic and operating properties of the groups are stated especially for the finite and the Desarguesian cases. In the latter case the companion NL-near modules are constructed. Finally we characterize the groups within PGL(3, K) with commutative field K of finite characteristic.