384 research outputs found
Observation of guanidine-carbon dioxide complexation in solution and its role in reaction of carbon dioxide and propargylamines
The first observation of guanidine-CO2 'activation' complexes in solution using ATR-FTIR is reported. While cyclic guanidines TBD and MTBD form stable and detectable complexes with CO2, other guanidines and tertiary amines do not. Correlation with catalytic activity of these amines/guanidines in reaction between CO2 and propargylamines indicated that the basicity of the catalyst, rather than its ability to form complexes with CO2, is the origin of catalytic activity
Isotropic-Nematic Transition in Liquid-Crystalline Elastomers
In liquid-crystalline elastomers, the nematic order parameter and the induced
strain vary smoothly across the isotropic-nematic transition, without the
expected first-order discontinuity. To investigate this smooth variation, we
measure the strain as a function of temperature over a range of applied stress,
for elastomers crosslinked in the nematic and isotropic phases, and analyze the
results using a variation on Landau theory. This analysis shows that the smooth
variation arises from quenched disorder in the elastomer, combined with the
effects of applied stress and internal stress.Comment: 4 pages, including 4 postscript figures, uses REVTeX
Chimpanzees behave prosocially in a group-specific manner
Chimpanzees act cooperatively in the wild, but whether they afford benefits to others, and whether their tendency to act prosocially varies across communities, is unclear. Here, we show that chimpanzees from neighboring communities provide valuable resources to group members at personal cost, and that the magnitude of their prosocial behavior is group specific. Provided with a resource-donation experiment allowing free (partner) choice, we observed an increase in prosocial acts across the study period in most of the chimpanzees. When group members could profit (test condition), chimpanzees provided resources more frequently and for longer durations than when their acts produced inaccessible resources (control condition). Strikingly, chimpanzeesâ prosocial behavior was group specific, with more socially tolerant groups acting more prosocially. We conclude that chimpanzees may purposely behave prosocially toward group members, and that the notion of group-specific sociality in nonhuman animals should crucially inform discussions on the evolution of prosocial behavior
Detecting nanoscale distribution of protein pairs by proximity dependent super-resolution microscopy
Interactions between biomolecules such as proteins underlie most cellular processes. It is crucial to visualize these molecular-interaction complexes directly within the cell, to show precisely where these interactions occur and thus improve our understanding of cellular regulation. Currently available proximity-sensitive assays for in situ imaging of such interactions produce diffraction-limited signals and therefore preclude information on the nanometer-scale distribution of interaction complexes. By contrast, optical super-resolution imaging provides information about molecular distributions with nanometer resolution, which has greatly advanced our understanding of cell biology. However, current co-localization analysis of super-resolution fluorescence imaging is prone to false positive signals as the detection of protein proximity is directly dependent on the local optical resolution. Here we present proximity-dependent PAINT (PD-PAINT), a method for subdiffraction imaging of protein pairs, in which proximity detection is decoupled from optical resolution. Proximity is detected via the highly distance-dependent interaction of two DNA constructs anchored to the target species. Labeled protein pairs are then imaged with high-contrast and nanoscale resolution using the super-resolution approach of DNA-PAINT. The mechanisms underlying the new technique are analyzed by means of coarse-grained molecular simulations and experimentally demonstrated by imaging DNA-origami tiles and epitopes of cardiac proteins in isolated cardiomyocytes. We show that PD-PAINT can be straightforwardly integrated in a multiplexed super-resolution imaging protocol and benefits from advantages of DNA-based super-resolution localization microscopy, such as high specificity, high resolution, and the ability to image quantitatively
Entwicklung von Strukturmodellen fĂŒr Hydroxy-Interkalierte Tonminerale zur quantitativen Rietveld-basierten Phasenanalyse von Böden
Chemische und physikalische Bodeneigenschaften werden entscheidend vom Tongehalt und der Zusammensetzung der Tonfraktion geprĂ€gt. Tonminerale pedogenen Ursprungs können dabei sehr komplex sein. Insbesondere unter sauren Bedingungen kann gelöstes Al in den Zwischenschichten quellfĂ€higer 2:1 Tonminerale (Smectit, Vermiculit) durch die Bildung nicht austauschbarer Al-Polymere gebunden werden. So kann eine Reihe sogenannter Hydroxy-Interkalierter Minerale (HIM) entstehen. GegenwĂ€rtig entziehen sich diese Phasen jedoch einer verlĂ€sslichen Quantifizierung mittels Röntgenbeugung und Rietveld-Analyse, da hierfĂŒr keine kristallografischen Strukturmodelle vorliegen. Ziel unseres Projektes ist daher die Entwicklung von Strukturmodellen fĂŒr die quantitative Beschreibung pedogener HIM-Phasen, welche folgende Schritte umfasst: (1) Identifizierung wichtiger natĂŒrlich vorkommender HIM in Böden unterschiedlichen Verwitterungsgrades, (2) Abtrennung/Herstellung phasenreiner Proben zur PrĂŒfung/Verbesserung des Strukturmodells, sowie (3) ĂberprĂŒfung des Strukturmodells an natĂŒrlichen Proben (Phasengemischen). Die Identifizierung typischer HIM wurde anhand einer 120.000 Jahre alten Bodenchronosequenz (Franz-Josef Gletscher, Neuseeland) vorgenommen. Hierbei konnten diverse intermediĂ€re Phasen wie z.B. Vermiculit, Chlorit und Chlorit-Hydroxy-Interkalierter Smectit identifiziert werden, weshalb Hydroxy-Interkalierter Smectit (HIS) als erstes zu erstellendes Strukturmodell ausgewĂ€hlt wurde. Da sich HIM generell im gleichen KorngröĂenbereich anderer Tonminerale befinden, bzw. mit diesen verwachsen sind, können sie nicht phasenrein abgetrennt werden, wie fĂŒr den zweiten Schritt der Modellentwicklung notwendig. Aus diesem Grund wurde im Labor eine Probenserie von 7 HIS aus natĂŒrlichem Smectit (Bentonit von Milos, Griechenland) mit unterschiedlichem Grad der Al-Belegung (0-100%) hergestellt. HierfĂŒr wurde zu 6 Teilproben 0,1 mol/L AlCl3 gegeben und mit 0,3 mol/L NaOH Lösung bis pH=5,5 titriert. Die Teilproben unterschieden sich anhand der Volumina 0,1 mol/L AlCl3 Lösung sowie den Reaktionszeiten. Eine siebte Teilprobe wurde nicht behandelt (0% Belegung). Alle Proben wurden mittels Multimethodeneinsatz charakterisiert. Der vorliegende Beitrag gibt einen Einblick in den Ablauf und die damit verbundenen Schwierigkeiten in der Entwicklung eines Strukturmodells fĂŒr HIM, welche eine quantitative Beschreibung von Hydroxy-Interkalierten Tonmineralen in Böden zukĂŒnftig ermöglichen soll
Consistency analysis of a nonbirefringent Lorentz-violating planar model
In this work analyze the physical consistency of a nonbirefringent
Lorentz-violating planar model via the analysis of the pole structure of its
Feynman propagators. The nonbirefringent planar model, obtained from the
dimensional reduction of the CPT-even gauge sector of the standard model
extension, is composed of a gauge and a scalar fields, being affected by
Lorentz-violating (LIV) coefficients encoded in the symmetric tensor
. The propagator of the gauge field is explicitly evaluated
and expressed in terms of linear independent symmetric tensors, presenting only
one physical mode. The same holds for the scalar propagator. A consistency
analysis is performed based on the poles of the propagators. The isotropic
parity-even sector is stable, causal and unitary mode for .
On the other hand, the anisotropic sector is stable and unitary but in general
noncausal. Finally, it is shown that this planar model interacting with a
Higgs field supports compactlike vortex configurations.Comment: 11 pages, revtex style, final revised versio
On the influence of a Coulomb-like potential induced by the Lorentz symmetry breaking effects on the Harmonic Oscillator
In this work, we obtain bound states for a nonrelativistic spin-half neutral
particle under the influence of a Coulomb-like potential induced by the Lorentz
symmetry breaking effects. We present a new possible scenario of studying the
Lorentz symmetry breaking effects on a nonrelativistic quantum system defined
by a fixed space-like vector field parallel to the radial direction interacting
with a uniform magnetic field along the z-axis. Furthermore, we also discuss
the influence of a Coulomb-like potential induced by Lorentz symmetry violation
effects on the two-dimensional harmonic oscillator.Comment: 14 pages, no figure, this work has been accepted for publication in
The European Physical Journal Plu
Can the stroma provide the clue to the cellular basis for mammographic density?
Mammographic density is recognised as a useful phenotypic biomarker of breast cancer risk. Deeper understanding is needed of the cellular basis, but evidence is limited because of difficulty in designing studies to validate hypotheses. The ductal epithelial components do not adequately explain the physical and dynamic features observed. The stroma is thought to interact with ductal structures in cancer initiation. Stromal tissues might account for the mammographic features, and this interplay can be hypothesised to relate risk to density. In a paper in this issue of Breast Cancer Research, Alowami has shown a relationship between density and stromal proteins, which might provide useful insight into mammographic density
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