Synthesis of disulfide polymers of low molecular weight by repeated depolymerization

By double or triple depolymerization with sodium hydrogen sulfide in the presence of sodium sulfite, polysulfide polymers of a very low molecular weight can be obtained from disulfide polymers prepared from bis-2-chloroethyl formal. The products are mixtures consisting chiefly of dimers and trimers with monomers. The effect of depolymerization will be greater when three depolymerization processes, instead of two, are completed with the same total amount of NaHS and Na₂SO₃. When depolymerization is repeated, the degree of depolymerization will be higher with polymers of a higher molecular weight. If depolymerization is made with sodium dithionite, the same effect will be achieved by either single or double depolymerization, provided that the same total amount of dithionite has been used.     

Isoelectric focusing in serial immobilized pH gradient gels to improve protein separation in proteomic analysis

We previously demonstrated the separation of proteins by isoelectric focusing (IEF) over pH 4-8 immobilized pH gradients (IPGs) over 54 cm (Poland et al., Electrophoresis 2003, 24, 1271). Here we show that similar results can be conveniently achieved using commercially available IPGs of appropriate pH ranges positioned end-on-end in series during electrophoresis, which we term "daisy chain IEF". Proteins efficiently electrophorese from one IPG to another during IEF by traversing buffer-filled porous bridges between the serial IPGs. A variety of materials can function as bridges, including paper, polyacrylamide gels or even IPGs. The quality of two-dimensional (2-D) protein patterns is not apparently worse than that generated by conventional IEF using the same individual IPGs. A major advantage of this method is that sample is consumed efficiently, without the requirement for preliminary steps, such as chamber IEF. This advantage is pronounced when working with extremely limited sources of samples, such as with clinical biopsies or cellular subfractions. The present study was limited by the commercial availability of suitable pH gradients. Proteomics analyses could be further improved if commercial vendors would manufacture IPGs with suitable pH ranges to achieve high resolution (approximately 100 cm) IEF separation of proteins in one electrophoretic step over the pH range 2-12.     

Conformational Analysis of Guaianolide-Type Sesquiterpene Lactones by Low-Temperature NMR Spectroscopy and Semiempirical Calculations

Conformational analysis of 9-acetoxycumambrine A 1 and 8-O-isobutiryl-9-acetoxycumambrine B 2 was carried out by low-temperature NMR studies. Results suggested that lactones 1 and 2 are mixtures of two distinctive conformers, I and II. Based on low-temperature ¹H NMR spectra, in four solvents, the thermodynamic parameters of I II exchange process were assessed. Energy of activation of I II reaction was obtained by dynamic NMR simulations for both compounds. Results revealed that conformational exchange of lactones 1 and 2 occurs due to chair twisted chair interconversion of a heptane ring. The same PM3 semiempirical method was applied for geometry optimization of lactones 1 and 2, as well as of 9-hydroxycumambrine A 3, 9-acetoxycumambrine B 4, and cumambrine B 5.     

Volumetric properties of the ternary system ethanol + chloroform + benzene at temperature range (288.15–313.15) K: Experimental data,correlation and prediction by cubic EOS

Densities ρ of the ternary system (ethanol + chloroform + benzene) and binaries (ethanol + chloroform) and (chloroform + benzene), have been measured at six temperatures (288.15, 293.15, 298.15, 303.15, 308.15, 313.15) K and pressure 101.33 kPa with an Anton Paar DMA 5000 digital vibrating tube densimeter. Excess molar volumes V^E were calculated from these densities data and fitted by the polynomial Redlich–Kister (for binary data) and Nagata and Tamura (for ternary data) equations. Radojkovi? et al. equation was used for the prediction of the V^E of ternary data. The obtained results have been explained in terms of different effects between molecules of present species, taking into consideration influence of temperature on them.     

On a global upper bound for Jensen's inequality

In this paper we shall give a global upper bound for Jensen's inequality without restrictions on the target convex function f. We also introduce a characteristic c(f) i.e. an absolute constant depending only on f, by which the global bound is improved.     

The electrical conductance growth of a metallic granular packing

We report on measurements of the electrical conductivity on a two-dimensional packing of metallic disks when a stable current of ~1 mA flows through the system. At low applied currents, the conductance σ is found to increase by a pattern σ(t) = σ _∞ ? Δσ E _α [ ? (t/τ) ^α ], where E _α denotes the Mittag-Leffler function of order α ∈ (0,1). By changing the inclination angle θ of the granular bed from horizontal, we have studied the impact of the effective gravitational acceleration g _eff = gsinθ on the relaxation features of the conductance σ(t). The characteristic timescale τ is found to grow when effective gravity g _eff decreases. By changing both the distance between the electrodes and the number of grains in the packing, we have shown that the long term resistance decay observed in the experiment is related to local micro-contacts rearrangements at each disk. By focusing on the electro-mechanical processes that allow both creation and breakdown of micro-contacts between two disks, we present an approach to granular conduction based on subordination of stochastic processes. In order to imitate, in a very simplified way, the conduction dynamics of granular material at low currents, we impose that the micro-contacts at the interface switch stochastically between two possible states, “on” and “off”, characterizing the conductivity of the micro-contact. We assume that the time intervals between the consecutive changes of state are governed by a certain waiting-time distribution. It is demonstrated how the microscopic random dynamics regarding the micro-contacts leads to the macroscopic observation of slow conductance growth, described by an exact fractional kinetic equations.     

Application for optical thermometers calibration based on virtual instruments

In this paper we present a new developed application for calibration of optical thermometers which is implemented in the Serbian Metrology Institute. The method for calibration of optical thermometer–pyrometer is based on measuring blackbody temperature via thermocouple standards and measuring voltage on pyrometer in temperature range from 550 to 1650 °C. The objective is to precisely determinate calibration curve of pyrometer—transfer function. The metrology traceability was realized through thermocouples standard which has traceability to the international standard. A developed application has a role to control and supervise calibration process. Based on virtual instruments (VI), application offers monitoring measurement parameters in real time on three charts. The main advantage of the developed VI application is reduction of measurement uncertainty of type A by increased accuracy with multi—temperature measurement up to 3 thermocouples on temperature equilibrium in the measurement system and automatic data processing by converting voltage to temperature, calculating the mean value and standard deviation of the mean value. Advantage is also reflected in permanent data logging while application is running and low cost and user friendly interface One of the goals is to improve quality of metrological services through this application and support the establishment of a traceability chain to SI.     

Parameter selection in a Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois model for DNA dynamics

In this Letter we study possible intervals for some parameters existing in the Peyrard-Bishop-Dauxois (PBD) model for the DNA dynamics. These parameters describe longitudinal and helicoidal interactions between nucleotides and a Morse potential approximating transverse interactions. We also estimate a possible interval for a wave number of a carrier component of a modulated solitonic wave. Finally, we compare our statements with experimental value of solitonic velocity in DNA.