Metabolomic systems biology of trypanosomes

Metabolomics analysis, which aims at the systematic identification and quantification of all metabolites in biological systems, is emerging as a powerful new tool to identify biomarkers of disease, report on cellular responses to environmental perturbation, and to identify the targets of drugs. Here we discuss recent developments in metabolomic analysis, from the perspective of trypanosome research, highlighting remaining challenges and the most promising areas for future research

Free dailies 2010: the age of the happy monopolist

Free newspapers were one of the big stories of the noughties, and came to symbolise the primacy of ‘free’ and the imminent demise of paid-for papers. No longer! Piet Bakker charts their rise and fall and describes the conditions in which some might thrive again

Die Civil Union Act, Draft Domestic Partnership Bill en moontlike deregulering van die huwelik

The Civil Union Act 17/2006 is compared to the Marriage Act 25/1961 to determinewhether similar life partnerships should be regulated by more than one act. Thereafter the Draft Domestic Partnership Bill is investigated to determine the intended future marriage law system of South Africa. It is clear from the discussion that a hierarchy of personal relationships exist. Such a hierarchy does not promote diversity and a meassure of deregulation of marriage is proposed as a more suitable solution

Thomson scattering in a low-pressure neon mercury positive column

The electron density and the electron temperature in a low-pressure neon mercury positive column are determined using Thomson scattering. Special attention has been given to the stray light reduction in the Thomson scattering setup. The results are obtained in a discharge tube with a 26 mm diam, 10 mbar of neon, a mercury pressure inbetween 0.14 and 0.85 Pa, and an electric current ranging from 100 to 400 mA. The systematic error in the electron density is 15%–45%, the statistical error is 25%–35%. The total error in the electron temperature is 15%–35%. ©2001 American Institute of Physics

Validity of the single-particle description and charge noise resilience for multielectron quantum dots

We construct an optimal set of single-particle states for few-electron quantum dots (QDs) using the method of natural orbitals (NOs). The NOs include also the effects of the Coulomb repulsion between electrons. We find that they agree well with the noniteracting orbitals for GaAs QDs of realistic parameters, while the Coulomb interactions only rescale the radius of the NOs compared to the noninteracting case. We use NOs to show that four-electron QDs are less susceptible to charge noise than their two-electron counterparts.Comment: 11+ pages, 5 figure