An X-ray absorption spectroscopic study at the mercury LIII edge on phenylmercury(II) oxygen species

The X-ray absorption spectra of the reference and model compounds HgCl2, PhHgCl, PhHgOAc and [(PhHg)2OH][BF4].H2O have been analysed in both the XANES and EXAFS regions, and the technique was extended to determine the structures of (PhHg)2O, PhHgOH, and the basic salts PhHgOH.PhHgNO3 and PhHgOH.(PhHg)2SO4, which were previously structurally uncharacterised. Results indicate that (PhHg)2O is a molecular species with Hg-O-Hg 135°, while PhHgOH contains the [(PhHg)2OH]+ cation and is better formulated as [(PhHg)2OH]OH. The same cation is also featured in the two basic salts. Electrospray mass spectral studies of PhHgOH in aqueous solutions show that [PhHgOH2]+, [(PhHg)2OH]+ and [(PhHg)3O]+ co-exist in solution in a pH-dependent equilibrium

Comparing and Combining Lexicase Selection and Novelty Search

Lexicase selection and novelty search, two parent selection methods used in evolutionary computation, emphasize exploring widely in the search space more than traditional methods such as tournament selection. However, lexicase selection is not explicitly driven to select for novelty in the population, and novelty search suffers from lack of direction toward a goal, especially in unconstrained, highly-dimensional spaces. We combine the strengths of lexicase selection and novelty search by creating a novelty score for each test case, and adding those novelty scores to the normal error values used in lexicase selection. We use this new novelty-lexicase selection to solve automatic program synthesis problems, and find it significantly outperforms both novelty search and lexicase selection. Additionally, we find that novelty search has very little success in the problem domain of program synthesis. We explore the effects of each of these methods on population diversity and long-term problem solving performance, and give evidence to support the hypothesis that novelty-lexicase selection resists converging to local optima better than lexicase selection

The COOH terminus of the c-Abl tyrosine kinase contains distinct F- and G-actin binding domains with bundling activity

The myristoylated form of c-Abl protein, as well as the P210bcr/abl protein, have been shown by indirect immunofluorescence to associate with F-actin stress fibers in fibroblasts. Analysis of deletion mutants of c-Abl stably expressed in fibroblasts maps the domain responsible for this interaction to the extreme COOH-terminus of Abl. This domain mediates the association of a heterologous protein with F-actin filaments after microinjection into NIH 3T3 cells, and directly binds to F-actin in a cosedimentation assay. Microinjection and cosedimentation assays localize the actin-binding domain to a 58 amino acid region, including a charged motif at the extreme COOH-terminus that is important for efficient binding. F-actin binding by Abl is calcium independent, and Abl competes with gelsolin for binding to F- actin. In addition to the F-actin binding domain, the COOH-terminus of Abl contains a proline-rich region that mediates binding and sequestration of G-actin, and the Abl F- and G-actin binding domains cooperate to bundle F-actin filaments in vitro. The COOH terminus of Abl thus confers several novel localizing functions upon the protein, including actin binding, nuclear localization, and DNA binding. Abl may modify and receive signals from the F-actin cytoskeleton in vivo, and is an ideal candidate to mediate signal transduction from the cell surface and cytoskeleton to the nucleus

The optical conductivity of graphene in the visible region of the spectrum

We compute the optical conductivity of graphene beyond the usual Dirac cone approximation, giving results that are valid in the visible region of the conductivity spectrum. The effect of next nearest neighbor hoping is also discussed. Using the full expression for the optical conductivity, the transmission and reflection coefficients are given. We find that even in the optical regime the corrections to the Dirac cone approximation are surprisingly small (a few percent). Our results help in the interpretation of the experimental results reported by Nair {\it et al.} [Science {\bf 320}, 1308 (2008)].Comment: 8 pages, 6 figure

Sinkings, sailors, soldiers, spice: o corpo encoberto do português na Índia

Neste ensaio de interpretação do simbolismo de viagens e de contatos culturais e linguisticos durante o período dos descobrimentos, o autor dá relevo ao tema da identidade, examinando através da significação do corpo. Apresenta exemplos folclóricos de culturas mistas, ou miscigenadas, na Ásia, como indo-portuguesa, que resultam dos contatos entre ocidente e oriente. Aproveitando-se de uma teorização do barroco, o autor estuda no exemplo de vidas de santos o conceito do corpo dividido entre a unidade/perfeição e a perda ou desemembramento. A recuperação da identidade ocidental perdida dificulta a valorização da cultura crioula, herança das viagens

Oswald de Andrade e André Breton. Paixões loucas, loucos textos

Uma comparação do álbum de garçonnière de Oswald de Andrade, O Perfeito Cozinheiro das Almas Deste Mundo, de 1918, com o romance Nadja, de 1926, por André Breton. Ambas as obras documentam encontros inesperados na cidade com uma musa, Oswald com Miss Ciclone e Breton com Nadja, onde a jovem encanta o narrador, que transforma a experiência em escritura e os corpos em livros