Analytical investigation of transient molecular-motor-assisted transport in elongated cells

This paper investigates analytically the molecular-motor-assisted transport between the cell nucleus and cell membrane in an elongated cell, which allows the formulation of governing equations in a cylindrical coordinate system. This problem is relevant to biomimetic transport systems as well as to many biological processes occurring in living cells, such as the viral infection of a cell. The obtained analytical solution is shown to agree well with a high-accuracy numerical solution of the same problem. The developed analytical technique extends the applicability of the generalized Fourier series method to a new type of problems involving intracellular transport of organelles.      

On integrability of generalized Veronese curves of distributions

Given a 1-parameter family of 1-forms γ(t) = γ₀+tγ₁+ ···+tⁿψ_n, consider the condition dγ(t)γ(t) = 0 (of integrability for the annihilated by γ(t) distribution w(t)). We prove that in order that this condition is satisfied for any t it is sufficient that it is satisfied for N = n + 3 different values of t (the corresponding implication for N = 2n + 1 is obvious). In fact we give a stronger result dealing with distributions of higher codimension. This result is related to the so-called Veronese webs and can be applied in the theory of bihamiltonian structures.     

Molecular description of the collapse of hydrophobic polymer chains in water

We propose a self-consistent molecular theory of conformational properties of flexible polymers in solution. It is applied to the collapse of a hydrophobic polymer chain in water, and can be readily generalized to any polymer-solvent system (e.g., copolymers with high complexity). We stress the potential of this method for a variety of problems, such as protein folding.     

A Model for the Shift of Isoelectric Points of Oxides in Concentrated and Mixed-Solvent Electrolyte Solutions

It is shown theoretically that the experimentally observed shifts of isoelectric points of various oxide surfaces toward more basic pH's in concentrated and mixed-solvent electrolyte solutions can be explained by a model previously used to predict the phenomenon of "coagulation zones" in the stability of colloids with adsorption layers of nonionic polymers. The model assumes the standard solvation energies of ions near a solid-liquid interface to be different from those in the bulk due to changes in the solvent structure. To reproduce the trends of experimental data in aqueous solutions, the solubilities of both cations and anions must be decreased, but for cations that must occur to a smaller extent. In mixed solvents a qualitative agreement with the experimental data is achieved by assuming that there is a water-enriched layer near the oxide surface. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.     

Structure–property relationships for film‐forming copoly(amide imide)s

Thin films of copoly(amide imide)s (coPAIs) from dichloro‐dianhydride of trimellitimide‐N‐acetic acid and mixtures of diphenylmethane diamine (DPA) and cardo 9,9′‐bis‐phenylfluorene diamine (CDA) cast from solutions in dimethylacetamide (DMAA) were characterized by wide‐angle and small‐angle X‐ray scattering (WAXS and SAXS), dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) (temperature interval: 293–703 K, frequency range: 1–100 Hz), and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) (nitrogen flux, temperature interval: 303–973 K). The mean interchain spacings (WAXS) smoothly increased with the CDA/DPA molar ratio from 0.55 nm for CDA/DPA = 0/1 up to 0.60 nm for CDA/DPA = 1/0. The smooth patterns of the SAXS curves for all coPAIs were explained by the smearing‐out of electron density differences between densely‐packed and loosely‐packed microregions of coPAIs due to the wide dispersion of their sizes. The step‐like patterns of the TGA traces in the temperature intervals below and above 600 K were associated with successive weight losses due to the evaporation of residual water and of DMAA, and to the thermal degradation of diamine and dianhydride chain fragments, respectively. As could be inferred from the TGA data, the loosely‐packed regions comprise about 25–35% of the total volume of studied coPAIs. The mechanical relaxations observed in all coPAIs at T_β < T_α′ < T_α (DMA) were attributed to the onset of non‐cooperative segment motion in loosely‐packed regions, of cooperative segment motion in loosely‐packed regions, and of cooperative segment motion in densely‐packed regions, respectively. At constant frequency, the sub‐glass relaxations were roughly composition‐independent, while chain‐stiffening effect was assumed to be responsible for the smooth increase of T_α′ and T_α, as well as of the corresponding apparent activation energies with the CDA/DPA ratio. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

SrAu4In4 and Sr4Au9In13: polar intermetallic structures with cations in augmented hexagonal prismatic environments

The title compounds were synthesized via high-temperature reactions of the elements in welded Ta tubes and characterized by single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses and band structure calculations. SrAu(3.76(2))In(4.24) crystallizes in the YCo5In3 structure type with two of eight network sites occupied by mixtures of Au and In: Pnma, Z = 4, a = 13.946(7), b = 4.458(2), c = 12.921(6) A. Its phase breadth appears to be small. Sr4Au9In 13 exhibits a new structure type, P_6 m2, Z = 1, a = 12.701(2), c = 4.4350(9) A. The Sr atoms in both compounds center hexagonal prisms of nominally alternating In and Au atoms and also have nine augmenting (outer) Au + In atoms around their waists so as to define 21-vertex Sr@Au9M4In8 (M = Au/In) and Sr@Au9In12 polyhedra, respectively. The relatively larger Sr content in the second phase also leads to condensation of some of the ideal building units into trefoil-like cages with edge-shared six-member rings. One overall driving force for the formation of these structures can be viewed as the need for each Sr cation to have as many close neighbors as possible in the more anionic Au-In network. The results also depend on the cation size as well as on the flexibility of the anionic network and an efficient intercluster condensation mode as all clusters are shared. Band structure calculations (LMTO-ASA) emphasize the greater strengths (overlap populations) of the Au-In bonds and confirm expectations that both compounds are metallic.     

HyperKähler and quaternionic Kähler manifolds with S -symmetries

We study relations between quaternionic Riemannian manifolds admitting different types of symmetries. We show that any hyperKähler manifold admitting hyperKähler potential and triholomorphic action of S¹$S^1$ can be constructed from another hyperKähler manifold (of lower dimension) with an action of S¹$S^1$ that fixes one complex structure and rotates the other two and vice versa. We also study the corresponding quaternionic Kähler manifolds equipped with a quaternionic Kähler action of the circle. In particular we show that any positive quaternionic Kähler manifolds with S¹$S^1$-symmetry admits a Kähler metric on an open everywhere dense subset.     

Optical properties of sol-gel fabricated Ni/SiO2 glass nanocomposites

Nickel nanoparticles were grown in silica glass by annealing of the sol-gel prepared silicate matrices doped with nickel nitrate. TEM characterization of Ni/SiO₂ glass proves the formation of isolated spherical nickel nanoparticles with mean sizes 6.7 and 20 nm depending on annealing conditions. The absorption and photoluminescence spectra of Ni/SiO₂ glasses were measured. In the absorption spectra, we observed the band related to the surface plasmon resonance (SPR) in Ni nanoparticles. The broadening of SPR was observed with decrease of Ni nanoparticle size. The width of the surface plasmon band decreases 1.5 times at the lowering of temperature from 293 to 2 K because of strong electron-phonon interaction. The spectra proved the creation of nickel oxide NiO clusters and Ni²⁺ ions in silica glass as well.     

Continuous paranematic-to-nematic ordering transitions of liquid crystals in tubular silica nanochannels

The optical birefringence of rodlike nematogens (7CB, 8CB), imbibed in parallel silica channels with 10 nm diameter and 300 microm length, is measured and compared to the thermotropic bulk behavior. The orientational order of the confined liquid crystals, quantified by the uniaxial nematic ordering parameter, evolves continuously between paranematic and nematic states, in contrast to the discontinuous isotropic-to-nematic bulk phase transitions. A Landau-de Gennes model reveals that the strength of the orientational ordering fields, imposed by the silica walls, is beyond a critical threshold, that separates discontinuous from continuous paranematic-to-nematic behavior. Quenched disorder effects, attributable to wall irregularities, leave the transition temperatures affected only marginally, despite the strong ordering fields in the channels.