A study of glass reinforced polyethylene

The effect of dressing a fiber on the wetting of it by a polyethylene melt is studied. The interconnection between the value of the adhesive strength and the residual stresses at the boundary between the glass fiber and polymer is analyzed. The role of the residual stresses during use of the glass-reinforced material and the part played by the chemical interaction between the polyethylene and the fiber in the water-resistant composition obtained in this way is analyzed.D. I. Mendeleev Moscow Chemicotechnical Institute. Translated from Mekhanika Polimerov, No. 6, pp. 1048–1052, November–December, 1972.     

Improvement of passive Q-switching performance reached with a new Nd-doped mixed vanadate crystal Nd:Gd0.64Y0.36VO4

Passive Q-switching performance was found to be greatly improved by use of a new Nd-doped mixed vanadate crystal Nd:Gd0.64Y0.36VO4 compared with that achieved with Nd:YVO4 and Nd:GdVO4. At an absorbed pump power of 12 W, an average output power of 2.78 W was obtained at a pulse repetition frequency of 15.4 kHz with an optical conversion efficiency of 23.2%, and the slope efficiency was determined to be 45.5%. The resulting pulse energy, peak power, and pulse width were 181 microJ, 26.6 kW, and 6.8 ns, respectively.     

Gleichungen in endlichen Gruppen

Ohne Zusammenfassung Wolfgang Gaschütz zum 60. GeburtstagHerrn K.-J. Thürlings sei gedankt für hilfreiche Diskussionen.     

An Extremely Stable Interprotein Tetrahedral Hg(Cys)4 Core Forms in the Zinc Hook Domain of Rad50 Protein at Physiological pH

In nature, thiolate-based systems are the primary targets of divalent mercury (Hg^II) toxicity. The formation of Hg(Cys)_x cores in catalytic and structural protein centers mediates mercury's toxic effects and ultimately leads to cellular damage. Multiple studies have revealed distinct Hg^II-thiolate coordination preferences, among which linear Hg^II complexes are the most commonly observed in solution at physiological pH. Trigonal or tetrahedral geometries are formed at basic pH or in tight intraprotein Cys-rich metal sites. So far, no interprotein tetrahedral Hg^II complex formed at neutral pH has been reported. Rad50 protein is a part of the multiprotein MRN complex, a major player in DNA damage-repair processes. Its central region consists of a conserved CXXC motif that enables dimerization of two Rad50 molecules by coordinating Zn^II. Dimerized motifs form a unique interprotein zinc hook domain (Hk) that is critical for the biological activity of the MRN. Using a series of length-differentiated peptide models of the Pyrococcus furiosus zinc hook domain, we investigated its interaction with Hg^II. Using UV-Vis, CD, PAC, and ¹⁹⁹Hg NMR spectroscopies as well as anisotropy decay, we discovered that all Rad50 fragments preferentially form homodimeric Hg(Hk)₂ species with a distorted tetrahedral HgS₄ coordination environment at physiological pH; this is the first example of an interprotein mercury site displaying tetrahedral geometry in solution. At higher Hg^II content, monomeric HgHk complexes with linear geometry are formed. The Hg(Cys)₄ core of Rad50 is extremely stable and does not compete with cyanides, NAC, or DTT. Applying ITC, we found that the stability constant of the Rad50 Hg(Hk)₂ complex is approximately three orders of magnitude higher than those of the strongest Hg^II complexes known to date.