Resonances of CH2(a 1A1) and their roles in unimolecular and bimolecular reactions

Low-lying resonances of the CH2(a 1A1) system (J=0) in an accurate ab initio potential energy surface are studied using a filter-diagonalization method. The width of these resonances fluctuates by more than two orders of magnitude and on average increases with the energy. Analysis of the resonance states concludes that the unimolecular decay of the excited molecular system near the dissociation threshold is neither mode specific nor statistical state specific. This is apparently due to remnant regularity embedded in the largely chaotic classical phase space, as evidenced by periodic orbit analysis. As a result, the Rice-Ramsperger-Kassel-Marcus and statistical adiabatic channel models overestimate the average unimolecular decay rate. The implications of the resonances for the bimolecular C(1D)+H2 reaction are also discussed.     

A β-solenoid model of the Pmel17 repeat domain: insights to the formation of functional amyloid fibrils

Pmel17 is a multidomain protein involved in biosynthesis of melanin. This process is facilitated by the formation of Pmel17 amyloid fibrils that serve as a scaffold, important for pigment deposition in melanosomes. A specific luminal domain of human Pmel17, containing 10 tandem imperfect repeats, designated as repeat domain (RPT), forms amyloid fibrils in a pH-controlled mechanism in vitro and has been proposed to be essential for the formation of the fibrillar matrix. Currently, no three-dimensional structure has been resolved for the RPT domain of Pmel17. Here, we examine the structure of the RPT domain by performing sequence threading. The resulting model was subjected to energy minimization and validated through extensive molecular dynamics simulations. Structural analysis indicated that the RPT model exhibits several distinct properties of β-solenoid structures, which have been proposed to be polymerizing components of amyloid fibrils. The derived model is stabilized by an extensive network of hydrogen bonds generated by stacking of highly conserved polar residues of the RPT domain. Furthermore, the key role of invariant glutamate residues is proposed, supporting a pH-dependent mechanism for RPT domain assembly. Conclusively, our work attempts to provide structural insights into the RPT domain structure and to elucidate its contribution to Pmel17 amyloid fibril formation.     

Ambient air temperature and degree-day data analysis of the period 2006–2017 for Cyprus

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - Heating degree days (HDDs) and cooling degree days (CDDs) are widespread climatic indicators that depict the extremity and duration of ambient air...     

Synthesis,crystal structures and spectroscopic studies of calcium(II) succinamate(-1) complexes

The reaction of succinamic acid (H₂sucm) with Ca(NO₃)₂·4H₂O yielded compounds [Ca(Hsucm)(NO₃)(H₂O)]_n (1) and [Ca(Hsucm)₂]_n (2). The succinamate(-1) ligand presents two new ligation modes and coordinates through the two carboxylato and the amide O-atoms, thus bridging three Ca^II ions which assemble into zig-zag 1D chains in 1 and 2D networks in 2. Intermolecular hydrogen bonding interactions in the crystal structures of 1 and 2 result in overall 3D framework structures. Both compounds have been characterized by IR and ¹H NMR spectroscopy, and their thermal decomposition was monitored by TG/DTG and DSC measurements. The structural comparison of 1 and 2 with known lanthanide(III) succinamate(-1) complexes reveals differences in the coordination mode of the ligand and in the coordination number of the metal ions; the biological relevance of these differences is discussed.     

Asymptotics of quantum spin networks at a fixed root of unity

A classical spin network consists of a ribbon graph (i.e., an abstract graph with a cyclic ordering of the vertices around each edge) and an admissible coloring of its edges by natural numbers. The standard evaluation of a spin network is an integer number. In a previous paper, we proved an existence theorem for the asymptotics of the standard evaluation of an arbitrary classical spin network when the coloring of its edges are scaled by a large natural number. In the present paper, we extend the results to the case of an evaluation of quantum spin networks of arbitrary valency at a fixed root of unity. As in the classical case, our proofs use the theory of G-functions of André, together with some new results concerning holonomic and q-holonomic sequences of Wilf-Zeilberger.     

Determination of antimicrobial activity and resistance to oxidation of moringa peregrina seed oil

The antimicrobial activity of the oil extracted with n-hexane from the seeds of Moringa peregrina was tested against Staphylococcus aureus, S. epidermidis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Escherichia coli, Enterobacter cloacae, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Candida albicans, C. tropicalis and C. glabrata. The oil proved effective against all of the tested microorganisms. Standard antibiotics (netilmycin, 5-flucytocine, intraconazole and 7-amino-4-methylcoumarin-3-acetic acid) were used for comparison. The resistance to oxidation of the extracted seed oil was also determined.     

Investigation of multiple electronic excited state relaxation pathways following 200 nm photolysis of gas-phase imidazole

Imidazole acts as a subunit in the DNA base adenine and the amino acid histidine-both important biomolecules which display low fluorescence quantum yields following UV excitation. The low fluorescence quantum yields are attributed to competing non-radiative excited state relaxation pathways that operate on ultrafast timescales. Imidazole is investigated here as a model compound due to its accessibility to high level ab initio calculations and time-resolved gas-phase spectroscopic techniques. Recent non-adiabatic dynamics simulations have identified three non-radiative relaxation mechanisms which are active following 6.0-6.2 eV excitation. Presented herein is a comprehensive investigation of each mechanism using a combination of femtosecond time-resolved ion yield and total kinetic energy release spectroscopies to monitor the formation of associated photoproducts. Relaxation along the (1)πσ state constitutes the predominant deactivation pathway. Timescales for NH-dissociation are extracted and distinguished from alternative H-atom sources based on their kinetic energy distributions. Larger photoproducts are observed to a lesser extent and attributed to ring fragmentation following NH-puckering and CN-stretching relaxation paths.     

Credit risk optimization using factor models

We study portfolio credit risk management using factor models, with a focus on optimal portfolio selection based on the tradeoff of expected return and credit risk. We begin with a discussion of factor models and their known analytic properties, paying particular attention to the asymptotic limit of a large, finely grained portfolio. We recall prior results on the convergence of risk measures in this “large portfolio approximation” which are important for credit risk optimization. We then show how the results on the large portfolio approximation can be used to reduce significantly the computational effort required for credit risk optimization. For example, when determining the fraction of capital to be assigned to particular ratings classes, it is sufficient to solve the optimization problem for the large portfolio approximation, rather than for the actual portfolio. This dramatically reduces the dimensionality of the problem, and the amount of computation required for its solution. Numerical results illustrating the application of this principle are also presented. JEL Classification G11