Amino acid interrelationships in cysteine toxicity in Neurospora crassa

L-Cysteine became toxic to the growth of Neurospora crassa (wild, Em 5297a), in the range 1.0-2.0 mM in the culture medium. The specificity of cysteine toxicity was shown by absence of toxicity with other sulphydryl compounds (β -mercaptoethanol, thioglycollic acid, reduced glutathione) and with cysteine metabolites, L-cysteic acid and taurine, under similar conditions. The toxicity of L-cysteine was completely overcome by supplements of S-methyl-L-cysteine and to a marked extent by DL-methionine and DL-homocysteine; partial counteraction of cysteine toxicity was observed with L-serine, DL-tryptophan, DL-alanine, DL-valine, DL-homoserine or DL-threonine. DL-Methionine and S-methyl-L-cysteine counteracted the inhibitory effect of L-cysteine in two N. crassa mutants, namely, methionineless mutant 38706 and cystathionineless mutant 9666

The Glass Transition and Liquid-Gas Spinodal Boundaries of Metastable Liquids

A liquid can exist under conditions of thermodynamic stability or metastability within boundaries defined by the liquid-gas spinodal and the glass transition line. The relationship between these boundaries has been investigated previously using computer simulations, the energy landscape formalism, and simplified model calculations. We calculate these stability boundaries semi-analytically for a model glass forming liquid, employing accurate liquid state theory and a first-principles approach to the glass transition. These boundaries intersect at a finite temperature, consistent with previous simulation-based studies.Comment: Minor text revisions. Fig.s 4, 5 update

The effect of translational and rotational relative velocity components on fluid-to-particle heat transfer coefficients in continuous tube flow

A liquid crystal technique was used to determine average fluid-to-particle heat transfer coefficients (hfp) for single spherical hollow aluminium particles heating in carboxymethylcellulose solutions in continuous tube flow. The particles' linear and rotational velocities were also measured by videotaping the particle motion at a bottom position. Particles with different diameter and density were used in solutions with different viscosities and at different flow rates (7 < Reynolds < 284; 144 < Prandtl < 1755). The values of the average heat transfer coefficient were between 334 and 1497 W/m2C. The results showed that both the relative fluid-to-particle velocity and the particle rotational velocity influence the heat transfer coefficients, although it is not possible to individualize their effects. However, the addition of the individual effects, predicted by using published dimensionless correlations, yielded a good fit with the experimental values

Stability, Gain, and Robustness in Quantum Feedback Networks

This paper concerns the problem of stability for quantum feedback networks. We demonstrate in the context of quantum optics how stability of quantum feedback networks can be guaranteed using only simple gain inequalities for network components and algebraic relationships determined by the network. Quantum feedback networks are shown to be stable if the loop gain is less than one-this is an extension of the famous small gain theorem of classical control theory. We illustrate the simplicity and power of the small gain approach with applications to important problems of robust stability and robust stabilization.Comment: 16 page

Growth of carbon nanotubes on quasicrystalline alloys

We report on the synthesis of carbon nanotubes on quasicrystalline alloys. Aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) on the conducting faces of decagonal quasicrystals were synthesized using floating catalyst chemical vapor deposition. The alignment of the nanotubes was found perpendicular to the decagonal faces of the quasicrystals. A comparison between the growth and tube quality has also been made between tubes grown on various quasicrystalline and SiO2 substrates. While a significant MWNT growth was observed on decagonal quasicrystalline substrate, there was no significant growth observed on icosahedral quasicrystalline substrate. Raman spectroscopy and high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) results show high crystalline nature of the nanotubes. Presence of continuous iron filled core in the nanotubes grown on these substrates was also observed, which is typically not seen in MWNTs grown using similar process on silicon and/or silicon dioxide substrates. The study has important implications for understanding the growth mechanism of MWNTs on conducting substrates which have potential applications as heat sinks

Origin for the enhanced copper spin echo decay rate in the pseudogap regime of the multilayer high-T_c cuprates

We report measurements of the anisotropy of the spin echo decay for the inner layer Cu site of the triple layer cuprate, Hg_0.8Re_0.2Ba_2Ca_2Cu_3O_8 (T_c=126 K) in the pseudogap T regime below T_pg ~ 170 K and the corresponding analysis for their interpretation. As the field alignment is varied, the shape of the decay curve changes from Gaussian (H_0 \parallel c) to single exponential (H_0 \perp c). The latter characterizes the decay caused by the fluctuations of adjacent Cu nuclear spins caused by their interactions with electron spins. The angular dependence of the second moment (T_{2M}^{-2} \equiv ) deduced from the decay curves indicates that T_{2M}^{-2} for H_0 \parallel c, which is identical to T_{2G}^{-2} (T_{2G} is the Gaussian component), is substantially enhanced, as seen in the pseudogap regime of the bilayer systems. Comparison of T_{2M}^{-2} between H_0 \parallel c and H_0 \perp c indicates that this enhancement is caused by electron spin correlations between the inner and the outer CuO_2 layers. These results provide the answer to the long-standing controversy regarding the opposite T dependences of (T_1T)^{-1} and T_{2G}^{-2} in the pseudogap regime of bi- and trilayer systems.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure