Rapid crack growth in a thermoelastic solid under mixed-mode thermomechanical loading

A two-dimensional steady-sate analysis of semi-infinite brittlecrack growth at a constant subcritical rate in an unboundedfully-coupled thermoelastic solid under mixed-mode thermomechanicalloading is made. The loading consists of normal and shear tractionsand heat fluxes applied as point sources (line loads in theout-of-plane direction). A related problem is solved exactly in an integral transformspace, and robust asymptotic forms used to reduce the originalproblem to a set of integral equations. The equations are partiallycoupled and exhibit operators of both Cauchy and Abel types,yet can be solved analytically. The temperature change field at a distance from the moving crackedge is then constructed, and its dominant term is found tobe controlled by the imposed heat fluxes. The role of this termis, indeed, enhanced if the heat fluxes serve to render thecrack as a net heat source/sink for the solid, as opposed tobeing a transmitter of heat across its plane. More generally,the influence of the thermoelastic coupling on this field, aswell as other functions, is found to increase with crack speed.     

Properties of mixed protein/surfactant adsorption layers

The adsorption isotherms, adsorption kinetics and surface rheological properties of β-lactoglobulin, β-casein, in the absence and presence of Tween 20 were measured. To study the adsorption process (isotherms and kinetics) at the water–air interface the pendant drop technique (axial drop shape analysis, ADSA), and ring tensiometry were used. The surface shear rheological parameters were measured with a torsion pendulum set-up. Also, data of the equilibrium film thickness and surface diffusion coefficients obtained from fluorescence recovery after photobleaching (FRAP) measurements are used to understand the competitive adsorption mechanism. The adsorption process and shear rheological behaviour of the studied systems show a rather complex behaviour which depends most of all on the system's composition. At high protein or surfactant content the behaviour is controlled by the main component while for the more mixed systems the adsorption process is complex and consists of partial adsorption, surfactant–protein interaction and protein rearrangement as a function of surface coverage. The results obtained illustrate that all these processes must be taken into account in future new theoretical models to be derived for such systems.     

Structural and electrical properties of sol–gel derived Ge nanocrystals in SiO<Subscript>2</Subscript> films

Stoichiometric mixed germanate–silicate glass films were fabricated on boron-doped silicon substrates by means of a sol–gel based synthesis procedure. In order to initiate the growth of elemental germanium (Ge) nanocrystals, the glass films were annealed in forming gas at temperatures between 600 and 1000°C. High-resolution and conventional transmission electron microscopy show that the shape and size of Ge nanocrystals embedded in the glass film are strongly influenced by the annealing conditions. Energy-dispersive X-ray analysis reveals that Ge segregates at the interface to the silicon substrate and evaporates from the free surface. This leads to a denuded zone of Ge nanoparticles close to the Si substrate and the SiO₂ surface. Capacitance–voltage measurements of a metal–oxide–semiconductor structure with and without Ge particles demonstrate the charge-storage characteristic of the thin-layer structure. We identify clear trends in the electrical properties of the nanoparticles as a function of the annealing conditions and observe correlations between trapped charge and particle density.     

GENETIC AND MOLECULAR ANALYSES OF UV RADIATION-INDUCED MUTATIONS IN THE FEM-3 GENE OF CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS

The utility of a new target gene (fem-3) is described for investigating the molecular nature of mutagenesis in the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans. As a principal attribute, this system allows for the selection, maintenance and molecular analysis of any type of mutation that disrupts the gene, including deletions. In this study, 86 mutant strains were isolated, of which 79 proved to have mutations in fem-3. Twenty of these originally tested as homozygous inviable. Homozygous inviability was expected, as Stewart and coworkers had previously observed that, unlike in other organisms, most UV radiation-induced mutations in C. elegans are chromosomal rearrangements of deficiencies (Mutat. Res. 249 , 37–54, 1991). However, additional data, including Southern blot analyses on 48 of the strains, indicated that most of the UV radiation-induced fem-3 mutations were not deficiencies, as originally inferred from their homozygous inviability. Instead, the lethals were most likely “coincident mutations” in linked, essential genes that were concomitantly induced. As such, they were lost owing to genetic recombination during stock maintenance. As in mammalian cells, yeast and bacteria, the frequency of coincident mutations was much higher than would be predicted by chance.     

A simple method for controlled immobilization of proteins on modified SAMs

This paper describes a method for modifying self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) with the nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA) group for subsequent immobilization of hexahistidine tagged proteins. The method has two important improvements over previous ones; firstly it avoids the need to carry out a complex synthesis of the chelator alkanethiols prior to deposition because the reactions are performed in situ on a preassembled SAM. This in situ approach also avoids phase segregation of alkanethiols with different functional groups, especially bulky ones such as NTA and tri(ethylene glycol), since a simple SAM is employed as the starting material. The approach reported here uses mercaptohexadecanoic acid to form a well-ordered homogeneous carboxyl-terminated SAM on a gold surface. The carboxyl group was then condensed with an NTA derivative containing an amino group to form a peptide bond. The product is a surface that, after chelating Ni(2+) ions, binds histidine tagged proteins. The loading of NTA groups can be controlled by choice of reaction conditions thereby removing the need for a second alkanethiol to dilute the surface density of chelator groups and prevent molecular crowding. Both factors allow rapid attainment of optimal protein loading. Fluorescence imaging demonstrated that (His)(6) enhanced green fluorescent protein was reversibly immobilized and importantly, was functional on the surface. Furthermore, data from surface plasmon resonance, cyclic voltammetry and fluorescence spectrometry provided additional information on the specific and reversible immobilization of (His)(6) proteins on the NTA-modified SAM surface.     

Transcendental geometric programs

This paper treats a class of posynomial-like functions whose variables may appear also as exponents or in logarithms. It is shown that the resulting programs, called transcendental geometric programs, retain many useful properties of ordinary geometric programs, although the new class of problems need not have unique minima and cannot, in general, be transformed into convex programs. A duality theory, analogous to geometric programming duality, is formulated under somewhat more restrictive conditions. The dual constraints are not all linear, but the notion ofdegrees of difficulty is maintained in its geometric programming sense. One formulation of the dual program is shown to be a generalization of the chemical equilibrium problem where correction factors are added to account for nonideality. Some of the computational difficulties in solving transcendental programs are discussed briefly.This research was partially supported by the National Institute of Health Grant No. GM-14789; Office of Naval Research under Contract No. N00014-75-C-0276; National Science Foundation Grant No. MPS-71-03341 A03; and the US Atomic Energy Commission Contract No. AT(04-3)-326 PA #18.     

Röntgenographische Phasenbestimmungen zur thermischen Dissoziation und das Hydrolyseverhalten von Alkalihexafluorogermanaten bei höheren Temperaturen

Phase Determinations by X-rays on the Thermal Dissociation and the Hydrolysis of Alkali Hexafluorogermanates at Higher Temperatures For a better understanding of the thermal dissociation of alcaline hexafluorosilicates investigations have been done on hexafluorogermanates. In these systems the formation of new phases has been studied by x-rays in dependence of temperature. Thermal behaviour of the substances strongly depends on the starting structure. Phase transformations taking place at lower temperatures are strongly determine the reaction at higher temperature. Therefore, we found differences to the analogous thermal reactions of hexafluorosilicates. There is a high sensitivity to hydrolysis of hexafluorogermanates above 600°C. We discuss the difference in reaction of thin powder layers and of powder samples in the volume.     

Vibrational dephasing in aqueous KSCN solution. A memory function and stretched exponential study

Raman spectra of 5.0 and 8.4 M aqueous KSCN solutions were recorded. The spectra were analyzed by memory-function and stretched-exponential modeling procedures. The two procedures modeled the vibrational autocorrelation functions within experimental error. The success of the stretched exponential model was found to be its very good fit to the memory functions.     

A remark on the localisation of a charged Bose field

We give two natural definitions for the local field algebras associated with a massive relativistic charged Bose field. These are both covariant, but are relatively antilocal in the sense of Segal and Goodman [1].They have the same representation of the Poincaré group, but are not in the same Borchers class [2].Research supported by the Science Research Council, London.