383 research outputs found

    Inversion of Sequence of Diffusion and Density Anomalies in Core-Softened Systems

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    In this paper we present a simulation study of water-like anomalies in core-softened system introduced in our previous publications. We investigate the anomalous regions for a system with the same functional form of the potential but with different parameters and show that the order of the region of anomalous diffusion and the region of density anomaly is inverted with increasing the width of the repulsive shoulder.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

    Experimental methods for the analysis of the durability behavior of concrete joints

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    This article addresses the applicability of experimental methods for the evaluation of concrete durability on localized structural weaknesses posed by joints. Three different types of exposure are analyzed: chloride penetration, carbonation, and freeze–thaw attack. First, established experimental methods for the characterization of the durability of plain concrete are presented and their general applicability on concrete joints is discussed. The experimental program focuses on the execution of selected tests on laboratory specimens with and without joints. Indicator tests for both chloride penetration and carbonation are generally feasible, but require attention to specimen preparation. Rapid chloride migration yielded inconclusive results, while uniaxial chloride diffusion coefficient of concrete joints cannot be determined because of the areal extent of profile grinding. For the same reason, the characterization of the resistance to freeze–thaw cycles through surface deterioration is not applicable for concrete joints. The structural damage was instead successfully qualified through direct tension tests

    Performance Bottlenecks in Digital Movie Systems

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    Digital movie systems offer great perspectives for multimedia applications. But the large amounts of data involved and the demand for isochronous transmission and playback are also great challenges for the designers of a new generation of file systems, database systems, operating systems, window systems, video encoder/decoder and networks. Today's research prototypes of digital movie systems suffer from severe performance bottlenecks, resulting in small movie windows, low frame rates or bad image quality (or all of these!). We consider the performance problem to be the most important problem with digital movie systems, preventing their widespread use today. In this paper we address performance issues of digital movie systems from a practical perspective. We report on performance experience gained with the XMovie system and new algorithms and protocols to overcome some of these bottlenecks

    Phytochrome Mediated Responses in Agrobacterium fabrum: Growth, Motility and Plant Infection

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    The soil bacterium and plant pathogen Agrobacterium fabrum C58 has two phytochrome photoreceptors, Agp1 and Agp2. We found that plant infection and tumor induction by A. fabrum is down-regulated by light and that phytochrome knockout mutants of A. fabrum have diminished infection rates. The regulation pattern of infection matches with that of bacterial conjugation reported earlier, suggesting similar regulatory mechanisms. In the regulation of conjugation and plant infection, phytochromes are active in darkness. This is a major difference to plant phytochromes, which are typically active after irradiation. We also found that propagation and motility were affected in agp1− and agp2− knockout mutants, although propagation was not always affected by light. The regulatory patterns can partially but not completely be explained by modulated histidine kinase activities of Agp1 and Agp2. In a mass spectrometry-based proteomic study, 24 proteins were different between light and dark grown A. fabrum, whereas 382 proteins differed between wild type and phytochrome knockout mutants, pointing again to light independent roles of Agp1 and Agp2

    Key Amino Acids in the Bacterial (6-4) Photolyase PhrB from Agrobacterium fabrum

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    Photolyases can repair pyrimidine dimers on the DNA that are formed during UV irradiation. PhrB from Agrobacterium fabrum represents a new group of prokaryotic (6–4) photolyases which contain an iron-sulfur cluster and a DMRL chromophore. We performed site-directed mutagenesis in order to assess the role of particular amino acid residues in photorepair and photoreduction, during which the FAD chromophore converts from the oxidized to the enzymatically active, reduced form. Our study showed that Trp342 and Trp390 serve as electron transmitters. In the H366A mutant repair activity was lost, which points to a significant role of His366 in the protonation of the lesion, as discussed for the homolog in eukaryotic (6–4) photolyases. Mutants on cysteines that coordinate the Fe-S cluster of PhrB were either insoluble or not expressed. The same result was found for proteins with a truncated C-terminus, in which one of the Fe-S binding cysteines was mutated and for expression in minimal medium with limited Fe concentrations. We therefore assume that the Fe-S cluster is required for protein stability. We further mutated conserved tyrosines that are located between the DNA lesion and the Fe-S cluster. Mutagenesis results showed that Tyr424 was essential for lesion binding and repair, and Tyr430 was required for efficient repair. The results point to an important function of highly conserved tyrosines in prokaryotic (6–4) photolyase

    Transport von Silbernanopartikeln in natĂŒrlich gelagerten BodensĂ€ulen

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    Die Anzahl der wissenschaftlichen Untersuchungen zum Verbleib von Silbernanopartikeln (Ag-NP) in Böden hat in den letzten Jahren zugenommen. Da die publizierten Ergebnisse darauf hinweisen, dass sie stark durch die gewĂ€hlten Versuchs- und Randbedingungen beeinflusst werden, bleibt die Bewertung der MobilitĂ€t von Silbernanopartikeln in Böden schwierig. Daher sollte der Transport und Verbleib der Ag-NP in dieser Untersuchung unter naturnahe Bedingung, aber mit kontrollierten Rand- und Anfangsbedingungen bestimmt werden. Dazu wurden an zwei Standorten (Sand, Schluff) jeweils acht ungestörte BodensĂ€ulen (Ø 10,2 cm Höhe 16 cm) genommen und in einer SĂ€ulenversuchsanlage (SCS, Fa. emc GmbH) untersucht. Drei SĂ€ulen dienten jeweils als Parallelen wĂ€hrend eine SĂ€ule als Kontrolle ohne Zugabe von NP untersucht wurde. FĂŒr beide Bodenarten erfolgten Versuche mit gesĂ€ttigtem und ungesĂ€ttigtem Fluss. Zur Nachverfolgung des Wasserflusses durch die SĂ€ulen wurde dem Beregnungswasser D2O als Tracer zugesetzt. Die Silbergesamtgehalte im Perkolat wurde nach HNO3-Aufschluss und mit ICP-OES/MS analysiert. Die Messung der gelösten Silberfraktion erfolgte nach Ultrazentrifugation mit ICP-MS. Die GrĂ¶ĂŸenverteilung von natĂŒrlichen Bodenkolloiden und Ag-NP wurde mit Dynamic Light Scattering (Malvern NanoZS) gemessen. Die Ergebnisse bestĂ€tigen den Einfluss der Versuchsbedingungen, zeigen aber auch die Bedeutung der Bodenstruktur auf die MobilitĂ€t der Ag-NP. Die VariabilitĂ€t zwischen den Parallelproben ist sehr groß und ĂŒberschattet mögliche Unterschiede zwischen den Bodenarten. Bevorzugte Fließwege sind wohl die Regel, die frĂŒhen DurchbrĂŒche von D2O und Ag-NP bestĂ€tigt den prĂ€ferentiellen Transport von Wasser und Partikeln. Mit Hilfe eines nachtrĂ€glich durch die SĂ€ule perkolierten Farbstoffes (Brillant Blue) wurde Randfluss ausgeschlossen. Unter ungesĂ€ttigten Bedingungen wird ein deutlich grĂ¶ĂŸerer Teil der Ag-NP im Boden zurĂŒckgehalten als unter gesĂ€ttigten Fließbedingungen. Daher wird angenommen, dass die Bodenluft fĂŒr die Retention der Partikel im Boden wichtig ist

    Three-nucleon mechanisms in photoreactions

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    The 12^{12}C(Îł,ppn)(\gamma,ppn) reaction has been measured for EÎł_{\gamma}=150-800 MeV in the first study of this reaction in a target heavier than 3^3He. The experimental data are compared to a microscopic many body calculation. The model, which predicts that the largest contribution to the reaction arises from final state interactions following an initial pion production process, overestimates the measured cross sections and there are strong indications that the overestimate arises in this two-step process. The selection of suitable kinematic conditions strongly suppresses this two-step contribution leaving cross sections in which up to half the yield is predicted to arise from the absorption of the photon on three interacting nucleons and which agree with the model. The results indicate (Îł,3N)(\gamma,3N) measurements on nuclei may be a valuable tool for obtaining information on the nuclear three-body interaction.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

    Highly conserved residues Asp-197 and His-250 in Agp1 phytochrome control the proton affinity of the chromophore and Pfr formation

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    The mutants H250A and D197A of Agp1 phytochrome from Agrobacterium tumefaciens were prepared and investigated by different spectroscopic and biochemical methods. Asp-197 and His-250 are highly conserved amino acids and are part of the hydrogen-bonding network that involves the chromophore. Both substitutions cause a destabilization of the protonated chromophore in the Pr state as revealed by resonance Raman and UV-visible absorption spectroscopy. Titration experiments demonstrate a lowering of the pK(a) from 11.1 ( wild type) to 8.8 in H250A and 7.2 in D197A. Photoconversion of the mutants does not lead to the Pfr state. H250A is arrested in a meta-Rc-like state in which the chromophore is deprotonated. For H250A and the wild-type protein, deprotonation of the chromophore in meta-Rc is coupled to the release of a proton to the external medium, whereas the subsequent proton re-uptake, linked to the formation of the Pfr state in the wild- type protein, is not observed for H250A. No transient proton exchange with the external medium occurs in D197A, suggesting that Asp-197 may be the proton release group. Both mutants do not undergo the photoinduced protein structural changes that in the wild- type protein are detectable by size exclusion chromatography. These conformational changes are, therefore, attributed to the meta-Rc -> Pfr transition and most likely coupled to the transient proton re- uptake. The present results demonstrate that Asp-197 and His-250 are essential for stabilizing the protonated chromophore structure in the parent Pr state, which is required for the primary photochemical process, and for the complete photo-induced conversion to the Pfr state.Fil: von Stetten, David. Technische UniversitÀt Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Seibeck, Sven. Freie UniversitÀt Berlin.; AlemaniaFil: Michael, Norbert. Freie UniversitÀt Berlin.; AlemaniaFil: Scheerer, Patrick. Charité UniversitÀtsmedizin Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Mroginski, Maria Andrea. Technische UniversitÀt Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Murgida, Daniel Horacio. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Química, Física de los Materiales, Medioambiente y Energía. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Química, Física de los Materiales, Medioambiente y Energía; Argentina. Technische UniversitÀt Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Krauss, Norbert. Freie UniversitÀt Berlin.; AlemaniaFil: Heyn, Maarten P.. Charité UniversitÀtsmedizin Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Hildebrandt, Peter. Technische UniversitÀt Berlin; AlemaniaFil: Borucki, Berthold. Freie UniversitÀt Berlin.; AlemaniaFil: Lamparter, Tilman. Freie UniversitÀt Berlin.; Alemani

    Polarization degrees of freedom in photoinduced two-nucleon knockout from finite nuclei

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    The polarization degrees of freedom in photoinduced two-nucleon knockout from finite nuclei are studied. It is pointed out that they open good perspectives to study the dynamics of dinucleons in the medium in detail. The (Îł,pp\gamma,pp) and (Îł,pn\gamma,pn) angular cross sections, photon asymmetries and outgoing nucleon polarizations are calculated for the target nuclei 16^{16}O and 12^{12}C and photonenergies ranging from 100 up to 500 MeV. It is investigated to which degree the two-nucleon emission reaction is dominated by photoabsorption on 3S1(T=0)^3S_1(T=0) proton-neutron and 1S0(T=1)^1S_0(T=1) proton-proton pairs in the nuclear medium. The calculations demonstrate that dominance of SS wave photoabsorption in the (Îł,pn\gamma,pn) channel does not necessarily imply that the reaction mechanism is similar to what is observed in deuteron photodisintegration.Comment: 27 pages, REVTeX 3.0 with epsf.sty, 11 figures in EPS forma
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