Residual Dipolar-Coupling-Based Conformational Comparison of Noncovalent Ubiquitin Homodimer with Covalently Linked Diubiquitin

Although the conformation of the polymer chain of Ubiquitin (Ub) mainly depends on the type of isopeptide linkage connecting two Ub molecules, the non-covalent (noncovalent) interaction between two Ub molecules within the chain could also tune their conformational preference. Here, we studied the conformation of noncovalently formed Ub dimers in solution using residual dipolar couplings (RDCs). Comparing the RDC derived alignment tensor of the noncovalently formed dimer with the two most abundant (K11 and K48) covalent linked Ub dimers revealed that the conformation of K11 linked and noncovalent Ub dimers were similar. Between the various NMR and crystal structures of K11 linked Ub dimers, RDC tensor analysis showed that the structure of K11 linked dimer crystalized at neutral pH is similar to noncovalent dimer. Analogous to the experimental study, the comparison of predicted order matrix of various covalent Ub dimers with that of the experimentally determined order matrix of noncovalent Ub dimer also suggests that the conformation of K11 linked dimers crystalized at neutral pH is similar to the noncovalent dimer.     

General Method to Increase Carboxylic Acid Content on Nanodiamonds

Carboxylic acid is a commonly utilized functional group for covalent surface conjugation of carbon nanoparticles that is typically generated by acid oxidation. However, acid oxidation generates additional oxygen containing groups, including epoxides, ketones, aldehydes, lactones, and alcohols. We present a method to specifically enrich the carboxylic acid content on fluorescent nanodiamond (FND) surfaces. Lithium aluminum hydride is used to reduce oxygen containing surface groups to alcohols. The alcohols are then converted to carboxylic acids through a rhodium (II) acetate catalyzed carbene insertion reaction with tert–butyl diazoacetate and subsequent ester cleavage with trifluoroacetic acid. This carboxylic acid enrichment process significantly enhanced nanodiamond homogeneity and improved the efficiency of functionalizing the FND surface. Biotin functionalized fluorescent nanodiamonds were demonstrated to be robust and stable single-molecule fluorescence and optical trapping probes.     

Dewetting of glassy polymer films

Dynamics and morphology of hole growth in a film of power hardening viscoplastic solid [ yield stress approximately (strain-rate)(n)] is investigated. At short times the growth is exponential and depends on the initial hole size. At long times, for n>1 / 3, the growth is again exponential but with a different exponent. However, for n<1 / 3 the hole growth slows and the hole radius approaches an asymptotic value at long times. The rim shape is highly asymmetric, the height of which has a power law dependence on the hole radius (exponent close to unity for 0.25相似文献   

Electric-quadrupole interaction at 181Ta in f.c.t. ZrHi1.97

Time-differential perturbed γ-ray angular correlation experiments have been carried out on ¹⁸¹Ta impurities in ?-phase zirconium hydride over the temperature range from 20 to 588 K. A static, slightly asymmetric electric quadripole interaction is found at all temperatures. The static nature of the pattern indicates the absence of significant hydrogen diffusion at these temperatures on the time scale of the experiment (0.1 μsec). The temperature dependence of the static quadrupole frequency is given by the relation v_q(t) = 130[1 ? (1.9 × 10^?5)T^1.5] MHz.     

169Tm Mössbaüer spectroscopy and crystal field calculations in TmNi3 and TmCo3 intermetallics

The values of the magnetic moments and the electric field gradient in TmNi₃ and TmCo₃ are obtained from ¹⁶⁹Tm Mössbauer spectroscopy. These values are compared to those from crystal field model based on point charge calculations for these intermetallics.     

Investigations into the role of ion pairing in reactions of heteroatom-substituted cyclic oxocarbenium ions

[reaction: see text] The O-to-C rearrangement of vinyl acetals is used to demonstrate that tight ion pairing is not involved in the stereoselective nucleophilic addition reactions of alkoxy-substituted cyclic oxocarbenium ions.     

Meniscus instability in a thin elastic film

A new kind of meniscus instability leading to the formation of stationary fingers with a well-defined spacing has been observed in experiments with elastomeric films confined between a plane rigid glass and a thin curved glass plate. The wavelength of the instability increases linearly with the thickness of the confined film, but it is remarkably insensitive to the compliance and the energetics of the system. However, lateral amplitude (length) of the fingers depends on the compliance of the system and on the radius of curvature of the glass plate. A simple linear stability analysis is used to explain the underlying physics and the key observed features of the instability.     

Polarization characteristics of elliptic-core fibers with stress induced anisotropy

We present a simple analytical method to study birefringence and polarization mode dispersion (PMD) of elliptic-core fibers with uniform or differential stress in the fiber cross section. The model takes account of both geometrical and stress birefringence, simultaneously. It is found that neglecting the geometrical birefringence, even under the weakly guiding approximation, can lead to significant errors in the calculation of PMD and the zero PMD wavelength. It is also found that one can obtain zero PMD in the single-mode region even by applying a suitable differential stress along the major axis. This is very attractive since then the geometrical and stress birefringences add up to give increased total birefringence.     

A framework for seamless roaming across cellular and wireless local area networks

In the future, wireless and mobile users will have increased demands for seamless roaming across different types of wireless networks, quality of service guarantees, and support for a variety of services. This awareness has led to research activities directed toward intersystem and global roaming, and can be noticed in numerous products like multimode handsets, interworking gateways, and ongoing standards and research work on intersystem roaming. The authors of this article proposed a global mobility management framework to support seamless roaming across heterogeneous wireless networks. In this article we provide details on the use of the framework to support roaming across cellular and wireless local area networks. Highlights of the framework include a robust architecture for mobility management for varying user mobility spans, provisioning for QoS mapping, intersystem message translation, and mechanisms in the WLAN to support user-subscribed services. Performance aspects related to handoff delays, data redirection, and processing overheads are presented and discussed. Performance comparison of intersystem roaming between cellular and WLAN with and without the framework is presented.