Reaction Dynamics for the Systems 7Be,8B + 208Pb at Coulomb Barrier Energies

In this contribution we describe the first results obtained for the investigation of the elastic scattering process in the reactions induced by the Radioactive Ion Beams 7Be and 8B on a 208Pb target at Coulomb barrier energies. The experimental data were analyzed within the framework of the optical model in order to extract the total reaction cross section. The comparison with data available in literature for reactions induced on 208Pb by light ions in the mass range A = 6-8 shows that the loosely-bound 8B has the largest reactivity

The Myth of The Annular Lipids

In the early 1970s, the existence of a “lipid annulus” stably surrounding the individual intrinsic protein molecules was proposed by several authors. They referred to a number of lipid molecules in slow exchange with the bulk lipid in the bilayer, i.e., more or less protein-bound, and more ordered than the bulk lipid. The annular lipids would control enzyme activity. This idea was uncritically accepted by most scientists working with intrinsic membrane proteins at the time, so that the idea operated like a myth in the field. However, in the following decade, hard spectroscopic and biochemical evidence showed that the proposed annular lipids were not immobilized for a sufficiently long time to influence enzyme or transporter activity, nor were they ordered by the protein. Surprisingly, forty years later, the myth survives, and the term ‘annular lipid’ is still in use, in a different, but even more illogical sense.This research was funded in part by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (MCI), Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) (grant No. PID2021-124461NB-I00), by the Basque Government (grant No. IT1625-22), by Fundación Ramón Areces (CIVP20A6619), by Fundación Biofísica Bizkaia, and by the Basque Excellence Research Centre (BERC) program of the Basque Government

Dependence of exchange anisotropy and coercivity on the Fe–oxide structure in oxygen-passivated Fe nanoparticles

Ultrafine Fe particles have been prepared by the inert gas condensation method and subsequently oxygen passivated. The as-obtained particles consist in an Fe core surrounded by an amorphous Fe-oxide surface layer. The antiferromagnetic character of the Fe-oxide surface induces an exchange anisotropy in the ferromagnetic Fe core when the system is field cooled. Samples have been heat treated in vacuum at different temperatures. Structural changes of the Fe–O layer have been monitored by x-ray diffraction and transmission electron microscopy. Magnetic properties as coercivity, hysteresis loop shift, and evolution of magnetization with temperature have been analyzed for different oxide crystallization stages. A decrease of the exchange anisotropy strength is reported as the structural disorder of the surface oxide layer is decreased with thermal treatment

Capsaicin affects the structure and phase organization of phospholipid membranes

AbstractCapsaicin is a natural compound with pharmacological and toxicological effects, which given its hydrophobicity, can influence the structure of membranes. The interaction of capsaicin with model membranes of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine and dielaidoylphosphatidylethanolamine has been studied by using differential scanning calorimetry, fluorescent probe spectroscopy and 31P-nuclear magnetic resonance. Capsaicin remarkably affects the phase transition of dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine, shifting the transition temperature to lower values, and giving rise, at relatively high capsaicin concentrations, to the appearance of two peaks in the thermogram. These peaks may correspond to separated phases as indicated by the partial phase diagram. Whereas capsaicin did not affect the fluorescence polarization of the probes diphenylhexatriene and trimethylammonium-diphenylhexatriene, it clearly affected that of the probe 2-anthroyloxystearic acid, indicating that the perturbation produced by capsaicin on the membrane would be mainly at the position where this fluorophore is located. On the other hand, capsaicin, at relatively low concentrations, gives rise to immiscible phases in the presence of dielaidoylphoshatidylethanolamine and decrease the temperature of the lamellar to hexagonal HII phase transition. At concentrations of capsaicin higher than 0.3 mol fraction, isotropic phases were detected. The possible implications of the effects of capsaicin on biological membranes are discussed

ShinyWYSIWYG: a Shiny What You See Is What You Get editor

For any computer application, having a graphical user interface (GUI) potentially increases its usability and scope. In the case of the R language, one of the most used alternatives is the Shiny [1] library. Shiny is an R package that facilitates the creation of interactive web applications directly from R. However, using Shiny requires a certain level of knowledge of R programming. Looking at CRAN’s Task Views, it is easy to note that the R community brings together a variety of specialists in various fields such as biologists, agronomists, economists, among others. It is therefore crucial that R development tools maximize the level of programmatic simplicity to ease the start of the learning ramp. In order to further facilitate the process of developing a user-friendly GUI, and tackling this learning gap, here we present the ShinyWYSIWYG application. ShinyWYSIWYG is a visual editor that allows the user, using the drag and drop technique, inserting the various fields that Shiny provides as input and output, by selecting the desired size and position for each field. Once the user interface is generated, ShinyWYSIWYG also eases the development of the server logic.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ

ShinyWYSIWYG: a Shiny What You See Is What You Get editor

For any computer application, having a graphical user interface (GUI) potentially increases its usability and scope. In the case of the R language, one of the most used alternatives is the Shiny [1] library. Shiny is an R package that facilitates the creation of interactive web applications directly from R. However, using Shiny requires a certain level of knowledge of R programming. Looking at CRAN’s Task Views, it is easy to note that the R community brings together a variety of specialists in various fields such as biologists, agronomists, economists, among others. It is therefore crucial that R development tools maximize the level of programmatic simplicity to ease the start of the learning ramp. In order to further facilitate the process of developing a user-friendly GUI, and tackling this learning gap, here we present the ShinyWYSIWYG application. ShinyWYSIWYG is a visual editor that allows the user, using the drag and drop technique, inserting the various fields that Shiny provides as input and output, by selecting the desired size and position for each field. Once the user interface is generated, ShinyWYSIWYG also eases the development of the server logic.Sociedad Argentina de Informática e Investigación Operativ