Light and heat control over secondary structure and amyloid-like fiber formation in an overcrowded-alkene-modified Trp zipper

The external photocontrol over peptide folding, by the incorporation of molecular photoswitches into their structure, provides a powerful tool to study biological processes. However, it is limited so far to switches that exhibit only a rather limited geometrical change upon photoisomerization and that show thermal instability of the photoisomer. Here we describe the use of an overcrowded alkene photoswitch to control a model β-hairpin peptide. This photoresponsive unit undergoes a large conformational change and has two thermally stable isomers which has major influence on the secondary structure and the aggregation of the peptide, permitting the phototriggered formation of amyloid-like fibrils.     

Preconcentration of mercury using duolite GT-73 in the analysis of water samples by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry.

Duolite GT-73 resin was used for the preconcentration of Hg(II) from hydrochloric acid media as well as separation of the analyte from diversity of the co-existing metal ions (Al, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) in off-line column operation. Due to the high affinity of the resin to the transition metals, Hg was adsorbed alongside with the foreign metals investigated. A complete release of the concomitant metals from the resin without the desorption of Hg was carried out using solutions of HCl and HNO3. A quantitative recovery of Hg was obtained by digestion of the resin using a H2SO4 and H2O2 mixture in an open-vessel system. An enrichment factor of 40 was achieved. The devised procedure was applied for the determination of Hg(II) in tap-water samples.     

In-trees and plane embeddings of outerplanar graphs

A notion of anin-tree is introduced. It is then used to characterize and count plane embeddings of outerplanar graphs. In-trees have also been applied in the study of independent vertex covers of faces in outerplanar graphs.This research was partially supported by the grant RP.I.09, from the Institute of Informatics, University of Warsaw. Hospitality of the Institute of Datalogy, University of Copenhagen where this research has been completed is gratefully acknowledged.     

Comparison of moments for tangent sequences of random variables

Summary It is shown that for all tangent sequences (d _n) and (e _n) of nonnegative or conditionally symmetric random variables and for every function satisfying the growth condition (2x)(x) the following inequality holds: . This generalizes results of J. Zinn and proves a conjecture of S. Kwapie and W.A. Woyczyski.     

Electron-stimulated desorption from ionic crystal surfaces

Inelastic interactions of electrons with surfaces of ionic crystals result in emission of various particles such as ions, atoms and molecules. We will review such electron-stimulated desorption processes for the particular class of ionic crystals, namely for alkali halides. In this case, a dominant fraction of the emission is in the form of halogen and alkali atoms characterized by a thermal (Maxwellian) spectrum of translational energies. For several alkali halides (potassium and rubidium chlorides, bromides, and iodides), however, a significant part of the halogen atoms is ejected with nonthermal energies, i.e. energies of the order of 0.1 eV. The results of recent systematic studies of angular-resolved kinetic energy distributions of the emitted particles will be reported and current views on the electronic mechanisms of desorption will be described. In particular, it will be shown that the ESD mechanism can be understood in terms of the model involving a surface localisation of the so called “hot-holes” created by electron bombardment of alkali halides. A role of hot holes in ESD processes will further be discussed in relation to very recent experimental results obtained for the KBr crystals doped with In impurities which act as efficient hole traps.     

A selective electrolytic sensor for nitrite based on a modified platinum electrode

The electrolytic sensor described is based on the oxidation of nitrite at a platinum electrode modified with chemisorbed iodine and coated with a thin layer of quaternized poly(4-vinylpyridine), qPVP. The sealed sensor uses an anion-exchange membrane to separate Donnan transport of nitrite across the membrane and controlled potential electrolysis at the Pt/qPVP indicator electrode. The sensor has a linear response to nitrate concentration in aqueous samples over the range 4 × 10^?6?2 × 10^?3 M nitrite. The detection limit is 2 × 10^?6 M nitrite. The sensor is free of interference by nitrate, dissolved oxygen, cations, and many neutral species. Anions that are electroactive at 0.7 V vs. Ag/ AgCl would interfere, but they are uncommon in most samples. Initial tests with lake water samples suggest that this sensor is unaffected by this matrix. The system was also evaluated for monitoring nitrite levels in spiked meat extracts.     

Multicenter and multiparticle integrals for explicitly correlated cartesian gaussian-type functions

An analytical derivation of multicenter and multiparticle integrals for explicitly correlated Cartesian Gaussian-type cluster functions is demonstrated. The evaluation method is based on the application of raising operators that transform spherical cluster Gaussian functions into Cartesian Gaussian functions.