Catalytic RNA and synthesis of the peptide bond

We are studying whether the L-19 IVS ribozyme from Tetrahymena thermophila can catalyze the formation of the peptide bond when it is supplied with synthetic aminoacyl oligonucleotides. If this reaction works, it could give us some insight into the mechanism of peptide bond formation and the origin of coded protein synthesis. Two short oligoribonucleotides, CCCCC and a protected form of CCCCU were prepared; the former was made by the controlled hydrolysis of Poly(C), and the later by multistep chemical synthesis from the protected monomers. The homopentamer was then aminocylated using C-14 labelled Boc-protected glycine imidazolide. This aminoacylated oligo-nucleotide has now been shown to enter the active site of the L-19 IVS, and aminoacyl transfer, and peptide bond formation reactions are being sought. Our synthesis of CCCCU made us aware of the inadequacy of many of the 2'- hydroxyl protecting groups that are in use today and we therefore designed a new 2'- protecting group that is presently being tested

Distance and Similarity Measures for Soft Sets

In [P. Majumdar, S. K. Samanta, Similarity measure of soft sets, New Mathematics and Natural Computation 4(1)(2008) 1-12], the authors use matrix representation based distances of soft sets to introduce matching function and distance based similarity measures. We first give counterexamples to show that their Definition 2.7 and Lemma 3.5(3) contain errors, then improve their Lemma 4.4 making it a corllary of our result. The fundamental assumption of Majumdar et al has been shown to be flawed. This motivates us to introduce set operations based measures. We present a case (Example 28) where Majumdar-Samanta similarity measure produces an erroneous result but the measure proposed herein decides correctly. Several properties of the new measures have been presented and finally the new similarity measures have been applied to the problem of financial diagnosis of firms.Comment: 14 pages, accepted manuscript, to appear in New Mathematics and Natural Computatio

Myelin figures: the buckling and flow of wet soap

Myelin figures are interfacial structures formed when certain surfactants swell in excess water. Here, I present data and model calculations suggesting myelin formation and growth is due to the fluid flow of surfactant, driven by the hydration gradient at the dry surfactant/water interface; a simple model based on this idea qualitatively reproduces the various myelin growth behaviors observed in different experiments. From a detailed experimental observation of how myelins develop from a planar precursor structure, I identify a mechanical instability that may underlie myelin formation. These results indicate the mixed mechanical character of the surfactant lamellar structure, where fluid and elastic properties coexist, is what enables the formation and growth of myelins.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E. Corrected figures/typo

3D Modeling of the Magnetization of Superconducting Rectangular-Based Bulks and Tape Stacks

In recent years, numerical models have become popular and powerful tools to investigate the electromagnetic behavior of superconductors. One domain where this advances are most necessary is the 3D modeling of the electromagnetic behavior of superconductors. For this purpose, a benchmark problem consisting of superconducting cube subjected to an AC magnetic field perpendicular to one of its faces has been recently defined and successfully solved. In this work, a situation more relevant for applications is investigated: a superconducting parallelepiped bulk with the magnetic field parallel to two of its faces and making an angle with the other one without and with a further constraint on the possible directions of the current. The latter constraint can be used to model the magnetization of a stack of high-temperature superconductor tapes, which are electrically insulated in one direction. For the present study three different numerical approaches are used: the Minimum Electro-Magnetic Entropy Production (MEMEP) method, the $H$-formulation of Maxwell's equations and the Volume Integral Method (VIM) for 3D eddy currents computation. The results in terms of current density profiles and energy dissipation are compared, and the differences in the two situations of unconstrained and constrained current flow are pointed out. In addition, various technical issues related to the 3D modeling of superconductors are discussed and information about the computational effort required by each model is provided. This works constitutes a concrete result of the collaborative effort taking place within the HTS numerical modeling community and will hopefully serve as a stepping stone for future joint investigations

High-Mobility Few-Layer Graphene Field Effect Transistors Fabricated on Epitaxial Ferroelectric Gate Oxides

The carrier mobility \mu of few-layer graphene (FLG) field-effect transistors increases ten-fold when the SiO_2 substrate is replaced by single-crystal epitaxial Pb(Zr_0.2Ti_0.8)O_3 (PZT). In the electron-only regime of the FLG, \mu reaches 7x10^4 cm^2/Vs at 300K for n = 2.4x10^12/cm^2, 70% of the intrinsic limit set by longitudinal acoustic (LA) phonons; it increases to 1.4x10^5 cm^2/Vs at low temperature. The temperature-dependent resistivity \rho(T) reveals a clear signature of LA phonon scattering, yielding a deformation potential D = 7.8+/-0.5 eV.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

On the possibility of superconductivity in PrBa2Cu3O7

Recent reports about observations of superconductivity in PrBa2Cu3O7 raise a number of questions: (i) of various theories striving to explain the Tc suppression in PrxY{1-x}Ba2Cu3O7, are there any compatible with possible superconductivity in stoichiometric PrBa2Cu3O7? (ii) if this superconductivity is not an experimental artifact, are the superconducting carriers (holes) of the same character as in the other high-Tc cuprates, or do they represent another electronic subsystem? (iii) is the underlying mechanism the same as in other high-Tc superconductors? I present an answer to the first two questions, while leaving the last one open.Comment: 4 pages 4 eps fig

The role of the N*(1535) resonance and the pi^- p --> KY amplitudes in the OZI forbidden pi N --> phi N reaction

We study the pi N --> phi N reaction close to the phi N threshold within the chiral unitary approach, by combining the pi^- p --> K^+ Sigma^-, pi^- p --> K^0 Sigma^0 and pi^- p --> K^0 Lambda amplitudes with the coupling of the phi to the K components of the final states of these reactions via quantum loops. We obtain a good agreement with experiment when the dominant pi^- p --> K^0 Lambda amplitude is constrained with its experimental cross section. We also evaluate the coupling of the N*(1535) to phi N and find a moderate coupling as a consequence of partial cancellation of the large KY components of the N*(1535). We also show that the N*(1535) pole approximation is too small to reproduce the measured cross section for the pi N --> phi N reaction.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure