Conversion of single-stranded oligonucleotides into cloned duplexes and its consecutive application to short artificial genes.

A general method to convert single-stranded, chemically synthesized oligonucleotides into cloned duplexes is described. Oligonucleotides supplied with 3'-terminal extensions that are complementary to 3'-protruding ends obtained by certain restriction enzymes can be cloned either directly or with the help of an adapter molecule into double-stranded vectors. Two methods have also been developed for consecutive cloning applications. According to these methods, the synthetic oligonucleotides (and their enzymatically prepared complementary strands) are joined, one after the other, inside a cloning vector, each joining requiring one cloning step. Synthetic genes are thus built up from oligonucleotides corresponding to only one strand of the DNA. The sequential assembly of the cloned duplex takes place in the 5' to 3' direction. Each oligonucleotide is supplied with a four-nucleotide-long 3'-terminal extension, but this sequence is eliminated when the joining takes place, leaving no limiting sequence between the oligonucleotides. The two consecutive cloning methods, the adapter and the polycloning site methods, are illustrated by the assembly of short artificial genes.     

Transport properties of a side-chain liquid-crystalline polymer. Poly(4-acryloyloxy biphenyl)

The transport properties of a side-chain liquid-crystalline polymer forming a smectic A phase have been investigated using dichloromethane as a permeant. Samples differing in the isotropization enthaoly were analyzed. A. Correlation between this thermal parameter and sorption has been found, while the diffusion coefficient is substantially the same in all samples. The results obtained can be explained in terms of a biphasis model in which a disordered permeable phase is present within the liquid-crystalline phase, which is impermeable to the diffusant molecules.     

Observation of a new metastable liquid-crystalline phase in supercooled blue phase systems

A new metastable liquid-crystalline phase BPS was observed in pure chiral compounds. The BPS is transformed reversibly from the supercooled BPI and is thermodynamically stable with respect to the BPI and metastable to the cholesteric phase. Rhombic single crystals of the BPS probably indicate a cubic lattice structure as in other BPs, but the lattice constant exhibits an anomalous temperature dependence.     

The Interference Slow Wave in a Poroacoustic Biot Layer

It is shown that in a poroacoustic Biot layer placed inside an elastic medium, for any parameters of the model an interference slow wave exists. For low frequencies, the wave has very weak attenuation and the polarization of it coincides with the direction of the layer. This is evidence for the possibility of mapping subtle collectors inside an elastic medium in crosshole measurements. Bibliography: 7 titles.     

μSR at new accelerators

In this paper I speculate upon the potential of muon spin rotation/relaxation/resonance (μSR) for future refinement and/or exploitation at large accelerators like KAON, which might generate muon beams a hundred times more intense than today's best. Several schemes for efficient utilisation of such beams might be well worth implementing on existing muon channels. Work supported by NRC and NSERC.     

The Kosterlitz-Thouless model in Perovskite superconductors

Il Nuovo Cimento D - The applicability of the Kosterlitz-Thouless theory to HTSC is examined. The model initially presented in its general lines for bidimensional systems is then applied to...     

Dynamics of a pair of coupled nonlinear oscillators

A pair of coupled classical oscillators with a general potential and general form of coupling is investigated. For general potentials, the single-frequency solution is shown to be stable for small excitations. For special potentials, such system remains stable for an arbitrary excitation. In both cases, the stability does not depend on the form of coupling. Transition to the instability regime follows from the way how nonlinear potential entrains the energy transfer between the oscillators. Relation between the existence of multi-frequency quasi-periodic or periodic solutions and the instability of single-frequency ones is discussed.     

A Parabolic Spline on a Nonuniform Grid

We obtain estimates for errors of interpolation on a nonuniform grid for a parabolic nonperiodic spline of defect 1.     

Growth properties for solutions of differential equations defined in the disk

Summary We investigate the growth of solutions of a class of differential equations which are defined in the unit disk and for which the coefficients have slow growth in the unit disk as measured by the Nevanlinna characteristic. These results extend earlier work of S. Bank.