754 research outputs found
The role of hydrophobic amino acid grafts in the enhancement of membrane-disruptive activity of pH-responsive pseudo-peptides
pH-responsive polymers have been synthesised by grafting l-valine (PV-75), l-leucine (PL-75) and l-phenylalanine (PP-75) onto the pendant carboxylic acid moieties of a pseudo-peptide, poly(l-lysine iso-phthalamide), at a stoichiometric degree of substitution of 75 mol%. The effect of such modification on the pH-, concentration- and time-dependent cell membrane-disruptive activity of the grafted polymers has been investigated using a haemolysis model. At 0.025 mg mL(−1), the grafted polymers were almost non-haemolytic at pH 7.4, but mediated considerable membrane lysis after 60 min in the pH range characteristic of early endosomes, which ranked in the order: PP-75 > PL-75 > PV-75 > poly(l-lysine iso-phthalamide). PP-75 was 35-fold more lytic on a molar basis than the membrane-lytic peptide melittin. With increasing concentration, the grafted polymers showed an increased ability to lyse cell membranes and caused noticeable membrane disruption at physiological pH. The mechanism of the polymer-mediated membrane destabilisation has been investigated. The in-vitro cytotoxicity of the grafted polymers has been assessed using a propidium iodide fluorescence assay. It has been demonstrated by confocal microscopy that the grafted polymers can induce a significant release of endocytosed materials into the cytoplasm of HeLa cells, which is a feature critical for drug delivery applications
Single-crystal growth and dependences on the hole concentration and magnetic field of the magnetic ground state in the edge-sharing CuO chain system CaYCuO
We have succeeded in growing large-size single-crystals of
CaYCuO with and measured the
magnetic susceptibility, specific heat and magnetization curve, in order to
study the magnetic ground state in the edge-sharing CuO chain as a function
of hole concentration and magnetic field. In , it has been
found that an antiferromagnetically ordered phase with the magnetic easy axis
along the b-axis is stabilized and that a spin-flop transition occurs by the
application of magnetic fields parallel to the b-axis. The antiferromagnetic
transition temperature decreases with increasing and disappears around 1.4. Alternatively, a spin-glass phase appears around . At where the hole concentration is 1/3 per Cu, it appears that a
spin-gap state is formed owing to the formation of spin-singlet pairs. No sign
of the coexistence of an antiferromagnetically ordered state and a spin-gap one
suggested in CaCuO has been found in
CaYCuO.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, 1 tabl
SOME RESULTS ON THE DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS FOR COMPARING UNREPLICATED TREATMENTS
In early generation variety trials, large numbers of new varieties may be compared, and little seed is usually available for each variety. A so-called unreplicated trial has each new variety on just one plot at a site, but includes several (often around 5) replicated check or control (or standard) varieties. The total proportion of check plots is usually between 10% and 20%. The aim of the trial is to choose some (around 1/3) good performing varieties to go on for further testing, rather than precise estimation of their mean yield.
Now that spatial analyses of data from field experiments are becoming more common, there is interest in an efficient layout of an experiment given a proposed spatial analysis. Some possible design criteria are discussed, and efficient layouts under spatial dependence are considered
Dynamic Spin Response for Heisenberg Ladders
We employ the recently proposed plaquette basis to investigate static and
dynamic properties of isotropic 2-leg Heisenberg spin ladders. Simple
non-interacting multi-plaquette states provide a remarkably accurate picture of
the energy/site and dynamic spin response of these systems. Insights afforded
by this simple picture suggest a very efficient truncation scheme for more
precise calculations. When the small truncation errors are accounted for using
recently developed Contractor Renormalization techniques, very accurate results
requiring a small fraction of the computational effort of exact calculations
are obtained. These methods allow us to determine the energy/site, gap, and
spin response of 2x16 ladders. The former two values are in good agreement with
density matrix renormalization group results. The spin response calculations
show that nearly all the strength is concentrated in the lowest triplet level
and that coherent many-body effects enhance the response/site by nearly a
factor of 1.6 over that found for 2x2 systems.Comment: 9 pages with two enclosed postscript figure
Spin Dynamics in the Magnetic Chains Arrays of Sr14Cu24O41: a Neutron Inelastic scattering Investigation
Below about 150 K, the spin arrangement in the chain arrays of Sr14Cu24O41 is
shown to develop in two dimensions (2D). Both the correlations and the
dispersion of the observed elementary excitations agree well with a model of
interacting dimers. Along the chains, the intra- and inter-dimer distances are
equal to 2 and about 3 times the distance (c) between neighboring Cu ions.
While the intra-dimer coupling is J about 10 meV, the inter-dimer couplings
along and between the chains are of comparable strenght, J// about -1.1 meV and
Jperp about 1.7 meV, respectively. This remarkable 2D arrangement satisfies the
formal Cu valence of the undoped compound. Our data suggest also that it is
associated with a relative sliding of one chain with respect to the next one,
which, as T decreases, develops in the chain direction. A qualitative analysis
shows that nearest inter-dimer spin correlations are ferromagnetic, which, in
such a 2D structure, could well result from frustration effects.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Phys.Rev.B, date of receipt 29 June
199
Pathologies in International Policy Transfer:The Case of the OECD Tax Transparency Initiative
ABSTRACT The importance of international organizations to the development and diffusion of
international policy norms is widely recognized but is increasingly tempered by an appreciation of
the pathologies of policy transfer. Using a case study of the OECD’s campaign to promote
transparency in global tax affairs, this paper identifies a new and relatively distinctive form of
dysfunctional policy transfer. Specifically it argues that international organizations face bureaucratic
incentives to promote weak or lowest common denominator standards in order to maximize
their prospects of brokering successful international agreements. However the paper also notes that
while international organizations may have a short-term interest in promoting weak standards, their
longer-term legitimacy is often tied to the effectiveness of the standards they promote. It is argued
that this dynamic often leads to incremental policy change
Dynamical Spin Response Functions for Heisenberg Ladders
We present the results of a numerical study of the 2 by L spin 1/2 Heisenberg
ladder. Ground state energies and the singlet-triplet energy gaps for L =
(4-14) and equal rung and leg interaction strengths were obtained in a Lanczos
calculation and checked against earlier calculations by Barnes et al. (even L
up to 12). A related moments technique is then employed to evaluate the
dynamical spin response for L=12 and a range of rung to leg interaction
strength ratios (0 - 5). We comment on two issues, the need for
reorthogonalization and the rate of convergence, that affect the numerical
utility of the moments treatment of response functions.Comment: Revtex, 3 figure
Effects of interladder couplings in the trellis lattice
Strongly correlated models on coupled ladders in the presence of frustration,
in particular the trellis lattice, are studied by numerical techniques. For the
undoped case, the possibility of incommensurate peaks in the magnetic structure
factor at low temperatures is suggested. In the doped case, our main conclusion
for the trellis lattice is that by increasing the interladder coupling, the
balance between the magnetic energy in the ladders and the kinetic energy in
the zig-zag chains is altered leading eventually to the destruction of the hole
pairs initially formed and localized in the ladders.Comment: final version, to appear in Physical Review
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