173 research outputs found
Density functional theory study of the nematic-isotropic transition in an hybrid cell
We have employed the Density Functional Theory formalism to investigate the
nematic-isotropic capillary transitions of a nematogen confined by walls that
favor antagonist orientations to the liquid crystal molecules (hybrid cell). We
analyse the behavior of the capillary transition as a function of the
fluid-substrate interactions and the pore width. In addition to the usual
capillary transition between isotropic-like to nematic-like states, we find
that this transition can be suppressed when one substrate is wet by the
isotropic phase and the other by the nematic phase. Under this condition the
system presents interface-like states which allow to continuously transform the
nematic-like phase to the isotropic-like phase without undergoing a phase
transition. Two different mechanisms for the disappearance of the capillary
transition are identified. When the director of the nematic-like state is
homogeneously planar-anchored with respect to the substrates, the capillary
transition ends up in a critical point. This scenario is analogous to the
observed in Ising models when confined in slit pores with opposing surface
fields which have critical wetting transitions. When the nematic-like state has
a linearly distorted director field, the capillary transition continuously
transforms in a transition between two nematic-like states.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figures, submitted to J. Chem. Phy
Motional narrowing effect in certain random binary lattices
We present a model for a class of random binary lattices by introducing a
one-dimensional system where impurities are placed in one sublattice while host
atoms lie on the other sublattice. The source of disorder is the stochastic
fluctuation of the impurity energy from site to site. We study the optical
absorption spectra and the peculiarities of the motional narrowing effect at
the band edges for perturbative and nonperturbative degrees of disorder.
Analytical results agree well with numerical simulations.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX, 2 Postscript figures included. To appear in Physics
Letters
The C-terminal domain of the pVP2 precursor is essential for the interaction between VP2 and VP3, the capsid polypeptides of infectious bursal disease virus
AbstractThe interaction between the infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) capsid proteins VP2 and VP3 has been analyzed in vivo using baculovirus expression vectors. Data presented here demonstrate that the 71-amino acid C-terminal-specific domain of pVP2, the VP2 precursor, is essential for the establishment of the VP2–VP3 interaction. Additionally, we show that coexpression of the pVP2 and VP3 polypeptides from independent genes results in the assembly of virus-like particles (VLPs). This observation demonstrates that these two polypeptides contain the minimal information required for capsid assembly, and that this process does not require the presence of the precursor polyprotein
Engineering Deoxysugar Biosynthetic Pathways from Antibiotic-Producing Microorganisms A Tool to Produce Novel Glycosylated Bioactive Compounds
AbstractA plasmid (pLN2) was generated in which genes involved in the biosynthesis of L-oleandrose in the oleandomycin producer Streptomyces antibioticus ATCC11891 were cloned. pLN2 was used to direct the biosynthesis of different deoxysugars by exchanging and/or adding genes from other antibiotic biosynthetic clusters. Transfer of the synthesized deoxysugars to the tetracenomycin C aglycon, 8-demethyl-tetracenomycin C, through the use of the “sugar flexible” glycosyltransferase ElmGT, validated the system. Several pLN2 derivatives were constructed by replacement of the oleU 4-ketoreductase gene by different 4-ketoreductase genes. Some of them, such as EryBIV and UrdR, reduced the keto group of the 4-keto intermediates, generating L-olivosyl and D-olivosyl derivatives, respectively. The system was also used to generate an L-rhamnosyl derivative (through a two-gene deletion) and an L-rhodinosyl derivative (through a combination of a gene replacement and a gene addition)
The Micro Wire Detector
We present the performance of a new proportional gas detector. Its geometry
consists of a cathode plane with 70x70 micron apertures, crossed by 25 micron
anode strips to which it is attached by 50 micron kapton spacers. In the region
where the avalanche takes place, the anode strips are suspended in the gas
mixture like in a standard wire chamber. This detector exhibits high rate
capability and large gains, introducing very little material.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, one figure update
Curvature singularity of the distributional BTZ black hole geometry
For the non-rotating BTZ black hole, the distributional curvature tensor
field is found. It is shown to have singular parts proportional to a
-distribution with support at the origin. This singularity is related,
through Einstein field equations, to a point source. Coordinate invariance and
independence on the choice of differentiable structure of the results are
addressed.Comment: Latex, 7 page
New spin Calogero-Sutherland models related to B_N-type Dunkl operators
We construct several new families of exactly and quasi-exactly solvable
BC_N-type Calogero-Sutherland models with internal degrees of freedom. Our
approach is based on the introduction of two new families of Dunkl operators of
B_N type which, together with the original B_N-type Dunkl operators, are shown
to preserve certain polynomial subspaces of finite dimension. We prove that a
wide class of quadratic combinations involving these three sets of Dunkl
operators always yields a spin Calogero-Sutherland model, which is
(quasi-)exactly solvable by construction. We show that all the spin
Calogero-Sutherland models obtainable within this framework can be expressed in
a unified way in terms of a Weierstrass P function with suitable half-periods.
This provides a natural spin counterpart of the well-known general formula for
a scalar completely integrable potential of BC_N type due to Olshanetsky and
Perelomov. As an illustration of our method, we exactly compute several energy
levels and their corresponding wavefunctions of an elliptic quasi-exactly
solvable potential for two and three particles of spin 1/2.Comment: 18 pages, typeset in LaTeX 2e using revtex 4.0b5 and the amslatex
package Minor changes in content, one reference adde
Quark propagator and vertex: systematic corrections of hypercubic artifacts from lattice simulations
This is the first part of a study of the quark propagator and the vertex
function of the vector current on the lattice in the Landau gauge and using
both Wilson-clover and overlap actions. In order to be able to identify lattice
artifacts and to reach large momenta we use a range of lattice spacings. The
lattice artifacts turn out to be exceedingly large in this study. We present a
new and very efficient method to eliminate the hypercubic (anisotropy)
artifacts based on a systematic expansion on hypercubic invariants which are
not SO(4) invariant. A simpler version of this method has been used in previous
works. This method is shown to be significantly more efficient than the popular
``democratic'' methods. It can of course be applied to the lattice simulations
of many other physical quantities. The analysis indicates a hierarchy in the
size of hypercubic artifacts: overlap larger than clover and propagator larger
than vertex function. This pleads for the combined study of propagators and
vertex functions via Ward identities.Comment: 14 pags., 9 fig
DNA polymerase λ, a novel DNA repair enzyme in human cells
DNA polymerase lambda (pol λ) is a novel family X DNA polymerase that has been suggested to play a role in meiotic recombination and DNA repair. The recent demonstration of an intrinsic 5′-deoxyribose-5-phosphate lyase activity in pol λ supports a function of this enzyme in base excision repair. However, the biochemical properties of the polymerization activity of this enzyme are still largely unknown. We have cloned and purified human pol λ to homogeneity in a soluble and active form, and we present here a biochemical description of its polymerization features. In support of a role in DNA repair, pol λ inserts nucleotides in a DNA template-dependent manner and is processive in small gaps containing a 5′-phosphate group. These properties, together with its nucleotide insertion fidelity parameters and lack of proofreading activity, indicate that pol λ is a novel β-like DNA polymerase. However, the high affinity of pol λ for dNTPs (37-fold over pol β) is consistent with its possible involvement in DNA transactions occurring under low cellular levels of dNTPs. This suggests that, despite their similarities, pol β and pol λ have nonredundant in vivo functions.This work was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnologı´a Grant BMC2000-1138, Comunidad Auto´noma de Madrid Grant 08.5/0063/2000 (to L. B.) and by an institutional grant from Fundacio´n Ramo´n Areces
Muon Track Reconstruction and Data Selection Techniques in AMANDA
The Antarctic Muon And Neutrino Detector Array (AMANDA) is a high-energy
neutrino telescope operating at the geographic South Pole. It is a lattice of
photo-multiplier tubes buried deep in the polar ice between 1500m and 2000m.
The primary goal of this detector is to discover astrophysical sources of high
energy neutrinos. A high-energy muon neutrino coming through the earth from the
Northern Hemisphere can be identified by the secondary muon moving upward
through the detector. The muon tracks are reconstructed with a maximum
likelihood method. It models the arrival times and amplitudes of Cherenkov
photons registered by the photo-multipliers. This paper describes the different
methods of reconstruction, which have been successfully implemented within
AMANDA. Strategies for optimizing the reconstruction performance and rejecting
background are presented. For a typical analysis procedure the direction of
tracks are reconstructed with about 2 degree accuracy.Comment: 40 pages, 16 Postscript figures, uses elsart.st
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