A proteomic strategy for the identification of caspase-associating proteins

We report the efficient in vivo labelling of caspases expressed inside apoptotic HeLa cells using fluoromethyl ketone (fmk)-containing probes; preliminary results indicated that these probes may be used to identify caspase-associating proteins.     

Solution of nonlinear two-point boundary-value problems using spline functions

Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications - This paper describes a technique for computing spline function approximations to the solution of two-point boundary-value problems. A performance...     

A differential scanning calorimetric study of the radical polymerization of N-vinylpyrrolidone in dimethylformamide

Polymerization of N-vinylpyrrolidone (NVP) in dimethylformamide was studied by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC). The concentration of NVP was 0.75 M, that of the radical initiator (azobisisobutyronitrile) 0.01 or 0.02 M. For proper evaluation of scanning thermograms, it was necessary to correct for incomplete monomer conversion due to premature initiator exhaustion and to consider the instantaneous initiator concentration. If these points were allowed for in the computations, activation parameters agree well with those obtained from isothermal thermograms. The values for the overall activation energy were E_a = 82 and 84 kJ/mol, and those for the pre-exponential factor $\text{Z = 6 × 10}{}^{\mathrm{?9}}\text{and}\text{13 × 10}{}^{\mathrm{?9}}\text{(}\text{mol/l}\text{)}{}^{\mathrm{<mtext>?1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}\text{.}\text{sec}{}^{\mathrm{?1}}$, obtained from the scanning (dynamic) and the isothermal method, respectively.     

Anomalous magnetic field reversal in laser-plasma interactions

Two-dimensional numerical results are presented for laser produced carbon plasmas evolving through the formation of the critical surface. These results show a novel reversal of the spontaneously generated magnetic field.     

A difference scheme for a system of zakharov equations

In this paper we consider the semi-discretization difference method for the system of Zakharov equations. Under certain conditions, the convergence, error stimates and stability of the given difference scheme are studied.This project is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China.     

A cheap alternative to valinomycin for certain analyses with the potassium ion-selective electrode

A pyridine-based macrocylic ionophore containing a 15-membered ring cavity and an octoxy side-chain to confer compatibility with poly(vinyl chloride) is described. This cheap reagent gives a potassium ion-selective PVC membrane electrode which, except for a higher sodium interference, compares well with valinomycin for analyses where the sodium/potassium ratio is ?1. Near-Nernstian response is obtained for 10^?1–10^?5 M potassium ion.     

On pinching deformations of rational maps

We introduce the notion of the dynamical length of an invariant arc of a rational map R. A pinching deformation is a sequence of topological deformations of R such that the corresponding dynamical length shrinks to zero. We show that if the sequence converges to a rational map then the spherical diameter of the corresponding arc also shrinks to zero. We use this result to show that if the grand orbits of the closure of finitely many such arcs separate the Julia set, the deformations of R diverge. This is a generalization of a result stated by P. Makienko but with a different approach. We also present a rich collection of examples.