Rescaled density expansions and demixing in hard-sphere binary mixtures

The demixing transition of a binary fluid mixture of additive hard spheres is analyzed for different size asymmetries by starting from the exact low-density expansion of the pressure. Already within the second virial approximation the fluid separates into two phases of different composition with a lower consolute critical point. By successively incorporating the third, fourth, and fifth virial coefficients, the critical consolute point moves to higher values of the pressure and to lower values of the partial number fraction of the large spheres. When the exact low-density expansion of the pressure is rescaled to higher densities as in the Percus-Yevick theory, by adding more exact virial coefficients a different qualitative movement of the critical consolute point in the phase diagram is found. It is argued that the Percus-Yevick factor appearing in many empirical equations of state for the mixture has a deep influence on the location of the critical consolute point, so that the resulting phase diagram for a prescribed equation has to be taken with caution.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure; to be published in The Journal of Chemical Physic

Qualitative study in Loop Quantum Cosmology

This work contains a detailed qualitative analysis, in General Relativity and in Loop Quantum Cosmology, of the dynamics in the associated phase space of a scalar field minimally coupled with gravity, whose potential mimics the dynamics of a perfect fluid with a linear Equation of State (EoS). Dealing with the orbits (solutions) of the system, we will see that there are analytic ones, which lead to the same dynamics as the perfect fluid, and our goal is to check their stability, depending on the value of the EoS parameter, i.e., to show whether the other orbits converge or diverge to these analytic solutions at early and late times.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Version accepted for publication in CQ

Estudio comparado de la genitalia de dos poblaciones españolas de Cataglyphis (Hym., Formicidae), grupo albicans de color negro

El estudio de la genitalia masculina de dos poblaciones de Cataglyphis grupo albicans de color negro, de Tarifa (Cádiz) y Bellaterra (Barcelona), inicialmente consideradas por diferencias de coloración como C. albicans y C. ibericus, respectivamente, pone de manifiesto diferencias importantes entre ellas, coincidentes con el estudio enzimático (De Haro y otros, 1995). Este estudio enzimático motivó la consideración provisional de las poblaciones orientales ibéricas como pertenecientes a C. albicans, dados 10s problemas que planteaba su identidad con la población marroquí C . albicans ruber. La población de Tarifa se consideró un taxón nuevo, no quedando aclarada la situación taxómica de C. ibericus. Estudios geográficamente mis extensos aclararán si estas poblaciones ibéricas forman parte de una clina morfológica y qué taxón o taxones constituyen.The study of male genitalia of two populations of Cataglyphis group albicans, black colour, from Tarifa (Cádiz) and Bellaterra (Barcelona), previously considered by differences in colour as C. albicans and C . ibericus, respectively, show important differences, in coincidence with enzymatic study (De Haro et al., 1995). In these enzymatic studies, the eastern iberian populations were provisionally considered as C. albicans, due to the problems showed by their identity with the morocco population C . albicans ruber. The Tarifa population was considered a new taxon, with no explanation about the taxonomic situation of C . ibericus. Further studies with greater geographical extension will clear up the existence of a possible morphological cline in the iberian populations and which taxon or taxons they constitute

Mode of action of the hemin-controlled inhibitor of protein synthesis

Despite the finding that the hemin-controlled translational inhibitor in reticulocyte lysates is a cyclic AMP-independent protein kinase that phosphorylates the small subunit of the initiation factor eIF-2, the mechanism of inhibition of translation remained unexplained. Whereas treatment of hemin-containing lysates with inhibitor in the presence of ATP inhibited translation, the same treatment of highly purified eIF-2 did not affect its ability to form a ternary complex with initiator Met-tRNA and GTP or a 40S initiation complex. We have isolated from ribosomal salt washes a protein (eIF-2 stimulating protein) that enhances the capacity of unphosphorylated eIF-2 to form ternary or 40S initiation complexes but has no effect on the phosphorylated factor. At low concentrations, eIF-2 is virtually inactive without this stimulating protein. Therefore, the translational inhibitor acts by converting eIF-2 to a form that is not stimulated by the stimulating protein

Hydra tropomyosin TROP1 is expressed in head-specific epithelial cells and is a major component of the cytoskeletal structure that anchors nematocytes

A cDNA clone encoding a 253 amino acid tropomyosin was isolated from Hydra in a differential screen for headspecific genes. The Hydra tropomyosin gene, designated trop1, is a single copy gene, lacks introns and is strongly expressed in tentacle-specific epithelial cells. Analysis of protein synthesis in head and gastric tissue indicated a high rate of tropomyosin synthesis in head tissue. Immunolocalization of tropomyosin in tentacle tissue revealed a cushion-like tropomyosin-containing structure within battery cells at the base of nematocytes. The structure appears to form part of the cytoskeletal anchor for nematocytes. Tropomyosin cushions were also observed in epithelial cells along the body column, which contain mounted stenotele nematocytes

Gravity in the 3+1-Split Formalism II: Self-Duality and the Emergence of the Gravitational Chern-Simons in the Boundary

We study self-duality in the context of the 3+1-split formalism of gravity with non-zero cosmological constant. Lorentzian self-dual configurations are conformally flat spacetimes and have boundary data determined by classical solutions of the three-dimensional gravitational Chern-Simons. For Euclidean self-dual configurations, the relationship between their boundary initial positions and initial velocity is also determined by the three-dimensional gravitational Chern-Simons. Our results imply that bulk self-dual configurations are holographically described by the gravitational Chern-Simons theory which can either viewed as a boundary generating functional or as a boundary effective action.Comment: 25 pages; v2: minor improvements, references adde

Quasar 3C 298: a test-case for meteoritic nanodiamond 3.5 µm emission

Aims. We calculate the dust emission expected at 3.43 and 3.53 µm if meteoritic (i.e. hydrogenated) nanodiamonds are responsible for most of the far-UV break observed in quasars. Methods. We integrate the UV flux that hydrogenated nanodiamonds must absorb to reproduce the far-UV break. Based on laboratory spectra of H-terminated diamond surfaces, we analyse the radiative energy budget and derive theoretically the IR emission profiles expected for possible C-H surface stretch modes of the diamonds. Results. Using as test case a spectrum of 3C 298 provided by the Spitzer Observatory, we do not find evidence of these emission bands. Conclusions. While diamonds without surface adsorbates remain a viable candidate for explaining the far-UV break observed in quasars, hydrogenated nanodiamonds appear to be ruled out, as they would give rise to IR emission bands, which have not been observed so far