Functional Binding Surface of a β‐Hairpin VEGF Receptor Targeting Peptide Determined by NMR Spectroscopy in Living Cells

In this study, the functional interaction of HPLW peptide with VEGFR2 (Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Receptor 2) was determined by using fast ¹⁵N‐edited NMR spectroscopic experiments. To this aim, ¹⁵N uniformly labelled HPLW has been added to Porcine Aortic Endothelial Cells. The acquisition of isotope‐edited NMR spectroscopic experiments, including ¹⁵N relaxation measurements, allowed a precise characterization of the in‐cell HPLW epitope recognized by VEGFR2.     

Metastability in the Potts model on the Cayley tree

Metastability in the ferromagneticp-state Potts model defined on the Cayley tree is discussed. It is shown that the sign of the boundary fieldH _s determines the order of the transition as well as the stability of the low-temperature phase. Lowering the temperature withH _s >0, a system withp<2 (p>2) will display a second (first)-order transition to a metastable (stable) phase. ForH _s >0 a second (first)-order transition to a metastable (stable) phase occurs ifp>2 (p<2). In this case the system also has a residual entropy which is negative forp<2.     

Indirect Methods For Determination of The Protective Effects of Coating Films on The Surface of Crystals

The extents of the protective effects of coating films on the surface of crystals were determined. Three different samples were made with different quantities of coating fluid (Sepifilm LP 010 in 10% aqueous solution). Since the atomizing rate was constant, the coating time increased in parallel with the volume of coating fluid applied. The direct measurement of film thickness and smoothness is very difficult, and therefore indirect methods were used. Dimenhydrinate was chosen as model drug; this is a heat-sensitive antihistamine with a low melting point. This temperature can be reached during the tableting process. The behaviour of samples on exposure to heat was examined by differential scanning calorimetry. The water uptakes of the samples were determined with an Enslin apparatus. Plasticity was studied with an instrumented tablet machine. These indirect methods (thermal conductivity, water uptake and plasticity measurements) revealed connections between the results of the various experiments. An overlong coating time decreased the protective effect of the coating film. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Mass spectral fragmentation patterns of 2-methyl-, 2,3-methyl-, 2,3-dimethyl-, 2-aryl- and 3-phenylindole derivatives

The electron impact mass spectrometric fragmentation pathways for several 2-methyl-, 3-methyl-, 2,3-dimethyl-, 2-aryl- and 3-phenylindole derivatives were investigated. An interesting relationship between the substitution pattern in the framework of the indole derivatives and the fragmentation patterns was observed.     

Performance evaluation of fiber Bragg grating sensors by digital holographic technique, strain gauge measurement

In view of the growing interest for non-destructive tests of materials, geodynamical monitoring and in general remote sensing, there is a great effort to bring practical optical sensors from research labs to industrial and environmental applications. In this paper, we employ digital holographic technique as an efficient tool for evaluating the strain measurement capability of fiber Bragg gratings (FBG). A cantilever beam has been employed as a test structure under loading test. The strain measurements results obtained by fiber-based sensors have been compared to those obtained by using full-field digital holographic technique and point-wise strain gauge sensors glued on the same cantilever beam. A simple theoretical model is also presented to interpret and compare the experimental results coming from different techniques.     

A microspectroscopic study of the electronic homogeneity of ordered and disordered Sr2FeMoO6

Disordered Sr₂FeMoO₆ shows a drastic reduction in saturation magnetization compared to highly ordered samples, moreover magnetization as a function of the temperature for different disordered samples shows qualitatively different behaviours. We investigate the origin of such diversity by performing spatially resolved photoemission spectroscopy on various disordered samples. Our results establish that e_xtensive electronic inhomogeneity, arising most probably from an underlying chemical inhomogeneity in disordered samples, is responsible for the observed magnetic inhomogeneity. It is further pointed out that these inhomogeneities are connected with composition fluctuations of the type Sr₂Fe_1+x Mo_1-x O₆ with Fe-rich (x > 0) and Mo-rich (x < 0) regions. Dedicated to Prof J Gopalakrishnan on his 62nd birthday.     

A calorimetric study of the different thermal behaviour of DNA in the isotropic and liquid-crystalline states

A difference between the thermal behaviour of the isotropic and liquid-crystalline state of sonicated DNA in aqueous salt solution containing poly(ethyleneglycol)(PEG) has been demonstrated. On cooling, a different degree of renaturation of thermally denaturated DNA is observed between samples which form the isotropic state and more concentrated samples which on cooling form the cholesteric state.     

Harmonic and intermodulation distortion modeling in IM-DD multi-band radio over fiber links exploiting injection locked lasers

A comprehensive numerical tool has been developed for the evaluation of the performances of Radio over Fiber (RoF) links intended for wireless signal distribution.At the transmitter end an appropriate set of rate equations allows to model the optical source as a solitary laser or as an appropriately injection locked laser. The optical channel is modeled putting into account the combined effect of fiber dispersion, laser source non ideal performances (e.g. non-linear effects, frequency chirp), and quadratic detection of the receiving photodiode. The simulation model developed can be a useful tool at the design stage allowing a preliminary evaluation of the characteristics of real RoF links.     

DRIFTS study of surface reactivity to NO2 by zinc nanoparticle aggregates and zinc hollow nanofibers

Zinc nanostructures synthesized with different morphologies from the same evaporation/condensation technique are studied with concern to surface reactivity to NO₂ by Diffuse Reflectance Infrared Fourier Transformed Spectroscopy (DRIFTS). Synthesis of nanopowders is obtained, according to previous work, by gas flow thermal evaporation at 540 °C of bulk Zn grains. Two types of Zn powders are obtained and studied in experiments. The first one is collected on the cold walls of the reactor as a deposit produced by thermophoretic effect. It is constituted by grains (∼10 μm) originated by the stratification of smaller aggregates (∼200 nm) and isolated primary particles (∼50 nm) born in the gas flow. The second type of powder is grown from the condensation of Zn chemical vapors within the expansion orifice of the quartz reactor after relatively long time (∼1 h) deposition process. It is constituted mainly by hollow Zn nanofibers with external and internal diameter about 100 and 60 nm. Preliminary characterization of the two types of powders is made by SEM, TEM, XRD. Thereafter, the two types of samples are studied by DRIFTS at variable temperature (VT). Comparison is made between the home-synthesized nanopowders with respect to commercial Zn standard dust. The Zn hollow nanofibers when exposed to NO₂ are found to exhibit dramatic reactivity, which is not observed at all either in the case of clustered aggregate zinc or of commercial Zn dust powders. Results indicate that, at increasing temperature from RT to 300 °C, the hollow nanofibers surface reacts distinctively with adsorbant gas NO₂, with contemporary formation of a progressively growing narrow absorption band at 2500 cm⁻¹ and contemporary depression of a doublet (∼1600-1628 cm⁻¹) band. In order to justify this striking spectral feature, we propose the occurring of a possible polymerization process at nanofibers surface where most probably as a consequence of pre-treatment and exposure to gas NO₂ a very thin film of ZnO is formed. The possible role of huge specific surface of hollow nanofibers as inferred by preliminary SEM, TEM, XRD studies is discussed.