Critical swelling of particle-encapsulating vesicles

We consider a ubiquitous scenario where a fluctuating, semipermeable vesicle is embedded in solution while enclosing a fixed number of solute particles. The swelling with increasing number of particles or decreasing concentration of the outer solution exhibits a continuous phase transition from a fluctuating state to the maximum-volume configuration, whereupon appreciable pressure difference and surface tension build up. This criticality is unique to particle-encapsulating vesicles, whose volume and inner pressure both fluctuate. It implies a universal swelling behavior of such vesicles as they approach their limiting volume and osmotic lysis.     

Turing invariant sets and the perfect set property

We show that $\text{◂...▸}\mathsf{ZF}+\mathsf{DC}+\text{“all}\text{Turing}\text{invariant}\text{sets}\text{of}\text{reals}\text{have}\text{the}\text{perfect}\text{set}\text{property”}$ implies that all sets of reals have the perfect set property. We also show that this result generalizes to all countable analytic equivalence relations.     

A highly fluorescent nucleoside analog based on thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidine senses mismatched pairing

A highly emissive nucleobase analog, based on a thieno[3,4-d]pyrimidine core, is enzymatically incorporated into RNA oilgonucleotides that function as base discriminating fluorescent probes.     

Premicellar aggregation of amphiphilic molecules

We revisit the problem of amphiphilic aggregation using a simple two-state (monomer-aggregate) thermodynamic model, which allows the study of metastable aggregates of variable size. A sequence of well separated concentrations emerge: c(1), where a metastable aggregated state appears; c(2), above which an appreciable amount of metastable aggregates forms; and c(3), where the aggregated state becomes stable. Of these, c(3) is shown to correspond to the critical micelle concentration (cmc) as commonly measured in macroscopic experiments. Thus, appreciable premicellar aggregation is predicted in the concentration range between c(2) and c(3). We show that, so long as the micelles are not too large, the extent of premicellar aggregation is much larger than that expected from mere finite-size effects. It stems from the variability of the micelle size and the small free energy difference between the metastable state, containing monomers and aggregates, and the pure monomeric one. The aggregate size is found to weakly change with concentration below and above the cmc. The existence of premicellar aggregates and their concentration-insensitive size are in agreement with a recent experiment.     

BMO‐Type Norms Related to the Perimeter of Sets

In this paper we consider an isotropic variant of the BMO‐type norm recently introduced (Bourgain, Brezis, and Mironescu, 2015). We prove that, when considering characteristic functions of sets, this norm is related to the perimeter. A byproduct of our analysis is a new characterization of the perimeter of sets in terms of this norm, independent of the theory of distributions.© 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Screened hydrodynamic interaction in a narrow channel

We study experimentally and theoretically the hydrodynamic coupling between Brownian colloidal particles diffusing along a linear channel. The quasi-one-dimensional confinement, unlike other constrained geometries, leads to a sharply screened interaction. Consequently, particles move in concert only when their mutual distance is smaller than the channel width, and two-body interactions remain dominant up to high particle densities. The coupling in a cylindrical channel is predicted to reverse sign at a certain distance, yet this unusual effect is too small to be currently detectable.     

A novel Ce<Superscript>III</Superscript>-cyclam type complex and its redox chemistry in aqueous solutions

A new Ce^III complex was synthesized by mixing the ligand “dioxocyclam” with Ce^III ions at pH 8.0 and its redox properties were investigated.