Cation selective ion channels formed by macrodiolide antibiotic elaiophylin in lipid bilayer membranes

The macrodiolide antibiotic elaiophylin (1) forms stable, long-lasting cation selective ion channels in planar lipid bilayer membranes prepared from soybean phosphatidylcholine. Current of the single ion channel displayed two sublevels corresponding to the two substates of the channel conductance: a slow substate, with about 5 s of mean dwell time in the open state at 40% level of the total amplitude conductance, and a fast substate of higher conductance with dwell times in the open and closed state of about 0.1 s. Amplitude conductances of the single ion channels in 200 mM of LiCl, NaCl, KCl, RbCl and CsCl were 75, 140, 220, 240 and 226 pS, and the conductance was linear function of the electrolyte concentration. Ratios of cation to anion permeabilities of the channel for NaCl and KCl were 8+/-2 and >24, respectively. A molecular model of the channel structure is suggested.     

Cationic polyelectrolytes. II. Amination of chloromethylated polystyrene with hydroxyalkylic secondary amines

The reaction of chloromethylated polystyrene with methyl(2- hydroxyethyl)amine and butyle (2-hydroxyethyl)amine was studied kinetically. The reaction of benzyl chloride with these amines was also investigated for comparison. N,N-dimethylformamide and dioxane were used as solvents. The reactions of benzyl chloride with the two amines in these solvents took place according to normal kinetics of the second order. Reaction kinetics depend on the nature of the amine and solvent in Chloromethylated polystyrene reactions. In dioxane the self-accelerating effect of the reaction for β ? 0.5 is apparent. Steric hindrance of the reaction, beginning with a conversion degree of about 75%, wss observed for butyl(2-hydroxyethyl)amine in N,N-dimethylformamide. This self-accelerating effect is observed in dioxane at the same reaction degree. The activation energies and frequency factors were calculated for the amination of benzyl chloride and chloromethylated polystyrene with the two amines in N,N-dimethylformamide and dioxane.     

Etude sur le comportement thermique de quelques polymeres ignifugeants contenant du phosphore et des halogenes

The thermal behaviour a series of polyphosphonates was studied by thermogravimetry (TG) and differential thermal analysis (DTA). The obtained data permitted the calculation of activation energies and reaction orders on decomposition zones by the Coats — Redfern method.     

Dynamics of protein and mixed protein/surfactant adsorption layers at the water/fluid interface

The adsorption behaviour of proteins and systems mixed with surfactants of different nature is described. In the absence of surfactants the proteins mainly adsorb in a diffusion controlled manner. Due to lack of quantitative models the experimental results are discussed partly qualitatively. There are different types of interaction between proteins and surfactant molecules. These interactions lead to protein/surfactant complexes the surface activity and conformation of which are different from those of the pure protein. Complexes formed with ionic surfactants via electrostatic interaction have usually a higher surface activity, which becomes evident from the more than additive surface pressure increase. The presence of only small amounts of ionic surfactants can significantly modify the structure of adsorbed proteins. With increasing amounts of ionic surfactants, however, an opposite effect is reached as due to hydrophobic interaction and the complexes become less surface active and can be displaced from the interface due to competitive adsorption. In the presence of non-ionic surfactants the adsorption layer is mainly formed by competitive adsorption between the compounds and the only interaction is of hydrophobic nature. Such complexes are typically less surface active than the pure protein. From a certain surfactant concentration of the interface is covered almost exclusively by the non-ionic surfactant. Mixed layers of proteins and lipids formed by penetration at the water/air or by competitive adsorption at the water/chloroform interface are formed such that at a certain pressure the components start to separate. Using Brewster angle microscopy in penetration experiments of proteins into lipid monolayers this interfacial separation can be visualised. A brief comparison of the protein adsorption at the water/air and water/n-tetradecane shows that the adsorbed amount at the water/oil interface is much stronger and the change in interfacial tension much larger than at the water/air interface. Also some experimental data on the dilational elasticity of proteins at both interfaces measured by a transient relaxation technique are discussed on the basis of the derived thermodynamic model. As a fast developing field of application the use of surface tensiometry and rheometry of mixed protein/surfactant mixed layers is demonstrated as a new tool in the diagnostics of various diseases and for monitoring the progress of therapies.     

Self-similar patterns of subsatellites formation at the capillary breakup of viscous jets

Formation of subsatellites at the capillary breakup of viscous liquid jets has been studied. The proposed analytical model qualitatively describes subsatellites formation. The obtained patterns for the formation of subsatellites’ nuclei and dynamics of their separation from a jet well agree with the results of numerical modeling.     

PageRank model of opinion formation on social networks

We propose the PageRank model of opinion formation and investigate its rich properties on real directed networks of the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford, LiveJournal, and Twitter. In this model, the opinion formation of linked electors is weighted with their PageRank probability. Such a probability is used by the Google search engine for ranking of web pages. We find that the society elite, corresponding to the top PageRank nodes, can impose its opinion on a significant fraction of the society. However, for a homogeneous distribution of two opinions, there exists a bistability range of opinions which depends on a conformist parameter characterizing the opinion formation. We find that the LiveJournal and Twitter networks have a stronger tendency to a totalitarian opinion formation than the university networks. We also analyze the Sznajd model generalized for scale-free networks with the weighted PageRank vote of electors.     

Time evolution of Wikipedia network ranking

X-ray circular magnetic dichroism, polarized neutron diffraction, ac susceptibility, and Seebeck effect have been measured for several members of the RCo₂ series (R = Ho, Tm, Er) as a function of temperature and applied magnetic field. The experimental results show robust parimagnetism (a general behaviour along the RCo₂ series with R being a heavy rare earth ion) and two reversal temperatures in some systems, which is an unexpected result. Polarised neutron diffraction show differences between results obtained on single crystals or polycrystalline ingots. We propose an interpretation of parimagnetic RCo₂ as a Griffiths phase of the high temperature, magnetically ordered, amorphous RCo₂ phase.     

High-performance composite cathodes for Alkaline electrolysis of water

A procedure for preparing and modifying composite electrode materials, allowing preparation of high-performance Ni-based catalysts for water electrolyzers with alkaline electrolyte, is reported. Electrodes for cathodic process, fabricated using this procedure, allow the power consumption for hydrogen production in alkaline water electrolyzers to be considerably reduced relative to known analogs used in Russia and other countries.     

On the Possibility of using Vertical Receiving Arrays for Underwater Acoustic Communication on the Arctic Shelf

Acoustical Physics - Numerical simulation is applied to analyze the possibilities of using vertical receiving arrays covering the entire waveguide for underwater acoustic communication on the...     

Influence of the X-Ray Spectrum on the Tomographic Reconstruction of Porous Ceramic Membranes

Crystallography Reports - X-ray microtomography is used for non-destructive reconstruction of the internal morphological structure of objects. The influence of the tomographic experiment conditions...