1,720,988 research outputs found
Surface shear viscosity and phase transitions of monolayers at the air-water interface
No full textThe canal method has been employed to measure the in-plane steady shear viscosity of monolayers of bolaform lipids extracted from the membrane of the thermophilic microorganism Sulfolobus solfataricus. Monolayers were formed with the polar lipid extract (PLE), which is a mixture of several bolaform lipids, each one endowed with two nonequivalent polar headgroups. Viscosities were obtained from the measured flows by using the equation introduced by Joly; this equation contains a semiempirical parameter A, which takes into account the monolayer-subphase mechanical coupling. Measuring the flows for two different substances (PLE and oleic acid) and channel widths, the monolayer viscosities and the parameter A were determined at the same time. The analysis of the viscosity data according to the free area model shows evidences of the molecular conformational changes matching monolayer phase transitions
Helix-Specific Interactions Induce Condensation of Guanosine Four-Stranded Helices in Concentrated Salt Solutions
No full textAbstractDeoxyguanosine-5′-monophosphate in water self-associates into stable structures, which include liquid-crystalline hexagonal and cholesteric phases. The structural unit is a four-stranded helix, composed of stacked Hoogsteen-bonded guanosine quartets. By using the osmotic stress method, we recently measured the force between helices in KCl solutions up to 2M. In addition to the long-range electrostatic force, a short-range hydration repulsive contribution was recognized. The hydration repulsion is exponential, and shows a decay length independent from the ionic strength of the solution. Here, we report that more concentrated KCl solutions cause condensation of the guanosine helix in a hexagonal phase with constant equilibrium separation of ∼7Å between helix surfaces. Long-range attraction, which induces the self-assembly, and short-range repulsion, which prevents the contact between the helices, are implied. By using osmotic stress, the force needed to push helices closer from the spontaneously assumed position has been measured. The attractive force was then estimated as a difference between the net force and the repulsive contribution, revealing an exponential decay length about two times larger than that of the short-range repulsion. The agreement with the helix interaction theory introduced recently by Kornyshev and Leikin (Kornyshev, A. A., and S. Leikin, 1997. Theory of interaction between helical molecules. J. Phys. Chem. 107:3656–3674) suggests that the repulsive and attractive forces originate from helix-specific interactions
Reply to “Comment on ‘Optical determination of flexoelectric coefficients and surface polarization in a hybrid aligned nematic cell’ ”
No full textIn their Comment [G. Barbero and L. R. Evangelista, Phys. Rev. E 68, 023701] on our paper [A. Mazzulla, F. Ciuchi, and J. R. Sambles, Phys. Rev. E 64, 021708 (2001)], Barbero and Evangelista conclude that the procedure followed by us to fit the reflectivity data from the half leaky guided mode technique is questionable. In the absence of a model that is able to reproduce the experimentally obtained tilt angle profiles, their argument is unsubstantiated. To further refute their arguments, we also illustrate and discuss additional experimental data (that were not shown in our paper) that strongly support our conclusions
Impiego di Tecniche Sperimentali per l'Analisi della Formazione di White Layer in seguito al Processo per Asportazione di Truciolo su acciai Induriti
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Dynamics of Guanosine Self-Assembled Aggregates in the Hexagonal Columnar Phase by Quasielastic Neutron Scattering
No full textThe self-assembly of dideoxyguanosine (3-3') and (5-5') monophosphates.
No full textThe title compounds show a pronounced cation-directed ability to self-assemble in water and to gives columnar structures similar to four-stranded helices; for compound (5'-->5')-d(GpG), this leads to the formation of cholesteric and hexagonal liquid crystalline phases. Both phases are columnar and the cholesteric phase is left handed. This behaviour is a further confirmation of the tendency of guanine derivatives to self-assemble to give stacked columnar structures whenever not impossible for structural reasons. The CD spectra of the aggregates in isotropic solutions are dominated by a negative exciton couplet centred around 250 nn associated to a left-handed columnar chirality. The shapes of the profiles, in the 220-300-nm region, for (5'-->5')-d(GpG) (in water or in saline solutions) and for (3'-->3')-d(GpG) (in KCI solution) are quasi-mirror images of those of poly(G) and (3'-->5')-d(GpG). The appearance of relatively intense CD signals around 280-300 nm in solution of (3'-->3')-d(GpG) in the presence of NaCl resembles that of (3'-->5')-d(GpG) in the presence of Rb+ or Na+. In the compounds investigated in this work, which present two equivalent ends, one observes the two CD features that have been associated, in the current literature, with the signature of four-stranded parallel and antiparallel structures: hence the origin of these CD bands cannot be found in the polarity of the strands. Self-assembly is favoured by the addition of extra salt and the stabilising effect of K+ is greater than that of Na+ in the case of (3'-->3')-d(GpG), an assembled species could be detected by CD only in the presence of extra salt
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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