1,286 research outputs found
Microsomal membrane subfractionation by a lectin affinity method
AbstractConcanavalin A-agarose treatment of rat liver post-mitochondrial supernatant removes a fraction rich in cholesterol and 5'-nucleotidase activity but low in glucose-6-phosphatase. At the same time, radiolabel associated with the cell surface is removed. We interpret these findings as evidence that concanavalin A binds to, and under these circumstances will remove, fragments of plasma membrane present in the microsomal fraction and believe that this may be of use in the gentle, and rapid subfractionation of microsomal membranes
Layered terbium hydroxides for simultaneous drug delivery and imaging
Layered rare-earth hydroxides have begun to gather increasing attention as potential theranostic platforms owing to their extensive intercalation chemistry combined with magnetic and fluorescent properties. In this work, the potential of layered terbium hydroxide (LTbH) as a platform for simultaneous drug delivery and fluorescence imaging was evaluated. LTbH-Cl ([Tb2(OH)5]Cl·yH2O) was loaded with three nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (diclofenac, ibuprofen, and naproxen) via ion-exchange. Drug release studies in phosphate buffered saline (pH = 7.4) revealed all three formulations release their drug cargo rapidly over the course of approximately 5 hours. In addition, solid state fluorescence studies indicated that fluorescence intensity is strongly dependent on the identity of the guest anion. It was postulated that this feature may be used to track the extent of drug release from the formulation, which was subsequently successfully demonstrated for the ibuprofen loaded LTbH. Overall, LTbH exhibits good biocompatibility, high drug loading, and a strong, guest-dependent fluorescence signal, all of which are desirable qualities for theranostic applications
Approximating Multilinear Monomial Coefficients and Maximum Multilinear Monomials in Multivariate Polynomials
This paper is our third step towards developing a theory of testing monomials
in multivariate polynomials and concentrates on two problems: (1) How to
compute the coefficients of multilinear monomials; and (2) how to find a
maximum multilinear monomial when the input is a polynomial. We
first prove that the first problem is \#P-hard and then devise a
upper bound for this problem for any polynomial represented by an arithmetic
circuit of size . Later, this upper bound is improved to for
polynomials. We then design fully polynomial-time randomized
approximation schemes for this problem for polynomials. On the
negative side, we prove that, even for polynomials with terms of
degree , the first problem cannot be approximated at all for any
approximation factor , nor {\em "weakly approximated"} in a much relaxed
setting, unless P=NP. For the second problem, we first give a polynomial time
-approximation algorithm for polynomials with terms of
degrees no more a constant . On the inapproximability side, we
give a lower bound, for any on the
approximation factor for polynomials. When terms in these
polynomials are constrained to degrees , we prove a lower
bound, assuming ; and a higher lower bound, assuming the
Unique Games Conjecture
Tidal torques. A critical review of some techniques
We point out that the MacDonald formula for body-tide torques is valid only
in the zeroth order of e/Q, while its time-average is valid in the first order.
So the formula cannot be used for analysis in higher orders of e/Q. This
necessitates corrections in the theory of tidal despinning and libration
damping.
We prove that when the inclination is low and phase lags are linear in
frequency, the Kaula series is equivalent to a corrected version of the
MacDonald method. The correction to MacDonald's approach would be to set the
phase lag of the integral bulge proportional to the instantaneous frequency.
The equivalence of descriptions gets violated by a nonlinear
frequency-dependence of the lag.
We explain that both the MacDonald- and Darwin-torque-based derivations of
the popular formula for the tidal despinning rate are limited to low
inclinations and to the phase lags being linear in frequency. The
Darwin-torque-based derivation, though, is general enough to accommodate both a
finite inclination and the actual rheology.
Although rheologies with Q scaling as the frequency to a positive power make
the torque diverge at a zero frequency, this reveals not the impossible nature
of the rheology, but a flaw in mathematics, i.e., a common misassumption that
damping merely provides lags to the terms of the Fourier series for the tidal
potential. A hydrodynamical treatment (Darwin 1879) had demonstrated that the
magnitudes of the terms, too, get changed. Reinstating of this detail tames the
infinities and rehabilitates the "impossible" scaling law (which happens to be
the actual law the terrestrial planets obey at low frequencies).Comment: arXiv admin note: sections 4 and 9 of this paper contain substantial
text overlap with arXiv:0712.105
Size Matters: Origin of Binomial Scaling in Nuclear Fragmentation Experiments
The relationship between measured transverse energy, total charge recovered
in the detector, and size of the emitting system is investigated. Using only
very simple assumptions, we are able to reproduce the observed binomial
emission probabilities and their dependences on the transverse energy.Comment: 14 pages, including 4 figure
Influence of a low magnetic field on the thermal diffusivity of Bi-2212
The thermal diffusivity of a Bi-2212 polycrystalline sample has been measured
under a 1T magnetic field applied perpendicularly to the heat flux. The
magnetic contribution to the heat carrier mean free path has been extracted and
is found to behave as a simple power law. This behavior can be attributed to a
percolation process of electrons in the vortex lattice created by the magnetic
field.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev.
Thermally-induced expansion in the 8 GeV/c + Au reaction
Fragment kinetic energy spectra for reactions induced by 8.0 GeV/c
beams incident on a Au target have been analyzed in
order to deduce the possible existence and influence of thermal expansion. The
average fragment kinetic energies are observed to increase systematically with
fragment charge but are nearly independent of excitation energy. Comparison of
the data with statistical multifragmentation models indicates the onset of
extra collective thermal expansion near an excitation energy of E*/A
5 MeV. However, this effect is weak relative to the radial
expansion observed in heavy-ion-induced reactions, consistent with the
interpretation that the latter expansion may be driven primarily by dynamical
effects such as compression/decompression.Comment: 12 pages including 4 postscript figure
Non-Thermal Behavior in Multifragment Decay
This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478
Specific Heat of Liquid Helium in Zero Gravity very near the Lambda Point
We report the details and revised analysis of an experiment to measure the
specific heat of helium with subnanokelvin temperature resolution near the
lambda point. The measurements were made at the vapor pressure spanning the
region from 22 mK below the superfluid transition to 4 uK above. The experiment
was performed in earth orbit to reduce the rounding of the transition caused by
gravitationally induced pressure gradients on earth. Specific heat measurements
were made deep in the asymptotic region to within 2 nK of the transition. No
evidence of rounding was found to this resolution. The optimum value of the
critical exponent describing the specific heat singularity was found to be a =
-0.0127+ - 0.0003. This is bracketed by two recent estimates based on
renormalization group techniques, but is slightly outside the range of the
error of the most recent result. The ratio of the coefficients of the leading
order singularity on the two sides of the transition is A+/A- =1.053+ - 0.002,
which agrees well with a recent estimate. By combining the specific heat and
superfluid density exponents a test of the Josephson scaling relation can be
made. Excellent agreement is found based on high precision measurements of the
superfluid density made elsewhere. These results represent the most precise
tests of theoretical predictions for critical phenomena to date.Comment: 27 Pages, 20 Figure
Homologous Flares and Magnetic Field Topology in Active Region NOAA 10501 on 20 November 2003
We present and interpret observations of two morphologically homologous
flares that occurred in active region (AR) NOAA 10501 on 20 November 2003. Both
flares displayed four homologous H-alpha ribbons and were both accompanied by
coronal mass ejections (CMEs). The central flare ribbons were located at the
site of an emerging bipole in the center of the active region. The negative
polarity of this bipole fragmented in two main pieces, one rotating around the
positive polarity by ~ 110 deg within 32 hours. We model the coronal magnetic
field and compute its topology, using as boundary condition the magnetogram
closest in time to each flare. In particular, we calculate the location of
quasiseparatrix layers (QSLs) in order to understand the connectivity between
the flare ribbons. Though several polarities were present in AR 10501, the
global magnetic field topology corresponds to a quadrupolar magnetic field
distribution without magnetic null points. For both flares, the photospheric
traces of QSLs are similar and match well the locations of the four H-alpha
ribbons. This globally unchanged topology and the continuous shearing by the
rotating bipole are two key factors responsible for the flare homology.
However, our analyses also indicate that different magnetic connectivity
domains of the quadrupolar configuration become unstable during each flare, so
that magnetic reconnection proceeds differently in both events.Comment: 24 pages, 10 figures, Solar Physics (accepted
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