1,437 research outputs found
Arginase from kiwifruit: properties and seasonal variation
The in vitro activity of arginase (EC 3.5.3.1) was investigated in youngest-mature leaves and roots (1-3 mm diameter) of kiwifruit vines (Actinidia deliciosa var. deliciosa) during an annual growth cycle, and enzyme from root material partially purified. No seasonal trend in the specific activity of arginase was observed in roots. Measurements in leaves, however, rose gradually during early growth and plateaued c. 17 weeks after budbreak. Changes in arginase activity were not correlated with changes in the concentration of arginine (substrate) or glutamine (likely end-product of arginine catabolism) in either tissue during the growth cycle. Purification was by (NH4)2SO4 precipitation and DEAE-cellulose chromatography. The kinetic properties of the enzyme, purified 60-fold over that in crude extracts, indicated a pH optimum of 8.8, and a Km (L-arginine) of 7.85 mM. Partially-purified enzyme was deactivated by dialysis against EDTA, and reactivated in the presence of Mn²⁺, Co²⁺, and Ni²⁺
Gauge Theory Description of Spin Ladders
A s=1/2 antiferromagnetic spin chain is equivalent to the two-flavor massless
Schwinger model in an uniform background charge density in the strong coupling.
The gapless mode of the spin chain is represented by a massless boson of the
Schwinger model. In a two-leg spin ladder system the massless boson aquires a
finite mass due to inter-chain interactions. The gap energy is found to be
about .25 k |J'| when the inter-chain Heisenberg coupling J' is small compared
with the intra-chain Heisenberg coupling. k is a constant of O(1). It is also
shown that a cyclically symmetric N-leg ladder system is gapless or gapful for
an odd or even N, respectively.Comment: 8 pages. CORRIGENDUM has been incorporated. (A factor 2 error has
been corrected.
Plasma membrane H⁺ -ATPase regulation is required for auxin gradient formation preceding phototropic growth.
Phototropism is a growth response allowing plants to align their photosynthetic organs toward incoming light and thereby to optimize photosynthetic activity. Formation of a lateral gradient of the phytohormone auxin is a key step to trigger asymmetric growth of the shoot leading to phototropic reorientation. To identify important regulators of auxin gradient formation, we developed an auxin flux model that enabled us to test in silico the impact of different morphological and biophysical parameters on gradient formation, including the contribution of the extracellular space (cell wall) or apoplast. Our model indicates that cell size, cell distributions, and apoplast thickness are all important factors affecting gradient formation. Among all tested variables, regulation of apoplastic pH was the most important to enable the formation of a lateral auxin gradient. To test this prediction, we interfered with the activity of plasma membrane H⁺ -ATPases that are required to control apoplastic pH. Our results show that H⁺ -ATPases are indeed important for the establishment of a lateral auxin gradient and phototropism. Moreover, we show that during phototropism, H⁺ -ATPase activity is regulated by the phototropin photoreceptors, providing a mechanism by which light influences apoplastic pH
Scaling Properties of Antiferromagnetic Transition in Coupled Spin Ladder Systems Doped with Nonmagnetic Impurities
We study effects of interladder coupling on critical magnetic properties of
spin ladder systems doped with small concentrations of nonmagnetic impurities,
using the scaling theory together with quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) calculations.
Scaling properties in a wide region in the parameter space of the impurity
concentration x and the interladder coupling are governed by the quantum
critical point (QCP) of the undoped system for the transition between
antiferromagnetically ordered and spin-gapped phases. This multi-dimensional
and strong-coupling region has characteristic power-law dependences on x for
magnetic properties such as the N\'eel temperature. The relevance of this
criticality for understanding experimental results of ladder compounds is
stressed.Comment: 4 pages LaTeX including 3 PS figure
The free surface of superfluid 4He at zero temperature
The structure and energetics of the free surface of superfluid He are
studied using the diffusion Monte Carlo method. Extending a previous
calculation by Vall\'es and Schmidt, which used the Green's function Monte
Carlo method, we study the surface of liquid He within a slab geometry
using a larger number of particles in the slab and an updated interatomic
potential. The surface tension is accurately estimated from the energy of slabs
of increasing surface density and its value is close to one of the two existing
experimental values. Results for the density profiles allow for the calculation
of the surface width which shows an overall agreement with recent experimental
data. The dependence on the transverse direction to the surface of other
properties such as the two-body radial distribution function, structure factor,
and one-body density matrix is also studied. The condensate fraction, extracted
from the asymptotic behavior of the one-body density matrix, shows an
unambiguous enhancement when approaching the surface.Comment: RevTex, 11 pages, accepted in Phys. Rev.
Mixed-Spin Ladders and Plaquette Spin Chains
We investigate low-energy properties of a generalized spin ladder model with
both of the spin alternation and the bond alternation, which allows us to
systematically study not only ladder systems but also alternating spin chains.
By exploiting non-linear model techniques we study the model with
particular emphasis on the competition between gapful and gapless states. Our
approach turns out to provide a more consistent semi-classical description of
alternating spin chains than that in the previous work. We also study a closely
related model, i.e., a spin chain with plaquette structure, and show that
frustration causes little effect on its low-energy properties so far as the
strength of frustration is weaker than a certain critical value.Comment: 7 pages, REVTeX, 3 figures, submitted to JPS
Charged Particle Activation Analysis of Some Contaminants in Rare Earth Oxides
開始ページ、終了ページ: 冊子体のページ付
Cavitation of Electrons Bubbles in Liquid Helium Below saturation Pressure
We have used a Hartree-type electron-helium potential together with a density
functional description of liquid He and He to study the explosion of
electron bubbles submitted to a negative pressure. The critical pressure at
which bubbles explode has been determined as a function of temperature. It has
been found that this critical pressure is very close to the pressure at which
liquid helium becomes globally unstable in the presence of electrons. It is
shown that at high temperatures the capillary model overestimates the critical
pressures. We have checked that a commonly used and rather simple
electron-helium interaction yields results very similar to those obtained using
the more accurate Hartree-type interaction. We have estimated that the
crossover temperature for thermal to quantum nucleation of electron bubbles is
very low, of the order of 6 mK for He.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figure
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