Friction phenomena and phase transition in the underdamped two-dimensional Frenkel-Kontorova model

Locked-to-sliding phase transition has been studied in the driven two-dimensional Frenkel-Kontorova model with the square symmetric substrate potential. It is found that as the driving force increases, the system transfers from the locked state to the sliding state where the motion of particles is in the direction different from that of driving force. With the further increase in driving force, at some critical value, the particles start to move in the direction of driving force. These two critical forces, the static friction or depinning force, and the kinetic friction force for which particles move in the direction of driving force have been analyzed for different system parameters. Different scenarios of phase transitions have been examined and dynamical phases are classified. In the case of zero misfit angle, the analytical expressions for static and kinetic friction force have been obtained.

Effect of gamma-ray radiation on physiological, morphological characters and chromosome aberrations of minitubers in Solanum tuberosum L.

Purpose: To investigate the effects of gamma-ray radiation on the physiological, morphological characters and chromosome aberrations of minitubers. Materials and methods: Minitubers of one potato cultivar, 'Shepody', were irradiated with 8 doses of gamma-rays (0, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 and 80 Gy [Gray]) to investigate the effects of radiation on emergence ability, plant height and root length, morphological variations, chromosome aberrations, M-1 (first generation mutants) tuber number and size of minituber plants. Results: Compared with the non-irradiated controls, the whole period of emergence was prolonged by 10-15 days for minitubers treated with gamma-ray radiation, but low doses of radiation (10, 20 and 30 Gy) promoted the emergence percentage of minitubers. With an increase in radiation dose, the emergence percentage, plant height and root length of minituber plants were significantly inhibited at 40 and 50 Gy. No emergence occurred at 60 Gy and higher doses. After radiation, a series of morphological variations and chromosome aberrations appeared in minituber plants. Radiation with 20 Gy promoted tuber formation, and the average number and diameter of M-1 tubers per plant were significantly increased over the control by 71% and 34%, respectively. Conclusion: Low doses of radiation (10-30 Gy) might be used as a valuable parameter to study the improvement of minitubers by gamma-ray radiation treatment.

Structural diversity of lanthanide-amino acid complexes under near physiological pH conditions and their recognition of single-stranded DNA

We reported here four structures of lanthanide-amino acid complexes obtained under near physiological pH conditions and their individual formula can be described as [Tb-2(DL-Cys)(4)(H2O)(8)]Cl-2 (1), [Eu-4(mu(3)-OH)(4)(L-Asp)(2)(L-HAsp)(3)(H2O)(7)] Cl center dot 11.5H(2)O (2), [Eu-8-(L-HVal) (16)(H2O)(32)]Cl-24 center dot 12.5H(2)O (3), and [Tb-2(DL-HVal)(4)(H2O)(8)]Cl-6 center dot 2H(2)O (4). These complexes showed diverse structures and have shown potential application in DNA detection. We studied the interactions of the complexes with five single-stranded DNA and found different fluorescence enhancement, binding affinity and binding stoichiometry when the complexes are bound to DNA.

Effect of La3+ on structure and electrochemical reaction of microperoxidase-11 in imitated physiological solution

In this paper, the interaction mechanism between La3+ and microperoxidase-11 (MP-11) in the imitated physiological solution was investigated with the electrochemical and spectroscopic methods. It was found that when the molar ratio of La3+, and MP-11 is low, such as 2, La3+ can coordinate with oxygen in the propionic acid group of the heme group in the MP-11 molecule, forming the La-MP-11 complexes and leading to the increase in the non-planarity of the porphyrin cycle in the heme group and then the increase in the extent of exposure of the electrochemically active center, Fe(I I I) in the porphyrin cycle of the heme group. The increase in the extent of exposure of the electrochemically active center, Fe(III) in the porphyrin cycle of the heme group would increase the reversibility of the electrochemical reaction of the La-MP-11 complexes and its electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of H2O2. The results of the chromatographic analysis demonstrated that the average molar ratio of La3+ and MP-11 in the La-MP-11 complexes is 1.62.When the molar ratio of La3+ and MP-11 is high, such as 3, La3+ would shear some amino acid residues of the peptide of MP-11. Therefore, many La3+ ions can bind to the oxygen- and/or nitrogen-containing groups in the sheared amino acid residues except coordinating with the sheared and non-sheared MP-11 molecules.

Interaction between La3+ and MP-11 in the physiological solution

In this paper, the interaction between La3+ and microperoxidase-11 (MP-11) in the imitated physiological solution was investigated with the electrochemical method, circular dichroism (CD) and ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) absorption spectroscopy. It was found that the interaction ways between La3+ and MP-11 are different with increasing the molar ratio of La3+ and MP-11. When the molar ratio of La3+ and MP-11 is less than 2, La3+ mainly interacts with the metacetonic acid group of the heme group in the MP-11 molecules, causing the increase in the non-planarity of the porphyrin cycle in the heme group and the decrease in the content of the random coil conformation of MP-11. These structural changes would increase the exposure extent of the electrochemical active center of MP-11 and thus, La3+ can promote the electrochemical reaction of MP-11 and its electrocatalytic activity for the reduction of H2O2 at the glassy carbon (GC) electrode. However, when the molar ratio of La3+ and MP-11 is larger than 3, except binding to the carbonyl oxygen of the metacetonic acid group in the heme group, La3+ interacts also with the oxygen-containing groups of the amides in the polypeptide chains of the MP-11 molecules, leading to the increase in the contents of the random coil conformation in the peptide of the MP-11 molecule, comparing with that for the molar ratio of less than 2.

Analysis of interfacial phenomena of aqueous solutions of polyethylene oxide and polyethylene glycol flowing in hydrophilic and hydrophobic capillary viscometers

Viscosities of aqueous solutions of five polyethylene oxide (PEO) samples with molar masses from 1.5 x 10(5) to 1.0 x 10(6) were carefully measured in a polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) capillary Ubbelohde viscometer in the concentration range from dilute down to extremely dilute concentration regions and compared with those of the same sample obtained from a glass capillary viscometer. At the same time, viscosities of aqueous solutions of three PEG samples in glass and paraffin-coated capillary viscosity were measured. The wall effects occurred in viscosity measurements for PEO and PEG aqueous solutions in different capillary viscometers were theoretically analyzed and discussed. It was found that different interfacial behaviors occurred in both hydrophobic and hydrophilic capillary viscometers respectively and the interfacial behaviors also exhibit molar mass dependence.

Several new phenomena in the formation of ring-banded spherulites of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) and poly(styrene-random-acrylonitrile) blends

Ring-banded spherulites in crystallization of poly(epsilon-caprolactone) and poly (styrene-random-acrylonitrile) blends were observed with polarizing optical microscopy and digital image analysis technique was applied directly to the image obtained by polarizing microscope, Several new interesting phenomena were found. One is that the ring-banded structure is still clearly seen after the analyzer was removed and this astonished phenomenon couldn't result from the general concept about formation mechanism of ring-banded spherulite - lamellae twisting, Another one is that there is a slight, dark line in the bright band when cross polars were added, which may be related to the formation process and mechanism of ring-banded spherulites in the blends of poly (epsilon-caprolactone) and poly (styrene-random-acrylonitrile).

Luminescence and energy transfer phenomena of several rare earth ions in the CaAl2B2O7

The luminescence properties of Ce3+, Gd3+, and Tb3+ have been investigated in the compound CaAl2B2O7. The single excitation band peaking at about 320 nm and single emission band peaking at about 384 nm for Ce3+, without the characteristic doublet, are attributed to the extensive crystal-field splitting of 4f ground state. The emission of Gd3+ consists of well-known sharp lines and two weak bands around 319.5 and 325 nm. These bands are due to the coupling of Gd3+ with BO33- groups. The green emission of Tb3+ is considerably sensitized by Ce3+. Energy transfer from Ce3+ to Tb3+ in CaAl2B2O7 is efficient. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.

Direct electron transfer to cytochrome c oxidase in self-assembled monolayers on gold electrodes

The monolayer of cytochrome c oxidase maintaining physiological activity and attached covalently to the self-assembled monolayers of 3-mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) on a gold electrode was obtained. The results of cyclic voltammetry show that direct electron transfer between cytochrome c oxidase and the electrode surface is a fast and diffusionless process. MPA has a dual role as both electrode modifier and the bridging molecule which: keeps cytochrome c oxidase at an appropriate orientation without denaturation and enables direct electron transfer between the protein and the modified electrode. Immobilized cytochrome c oxidase exhibits biphasic phenomena between the concentration of the electrolyte and the normal potentials; meanwhile its electrochemical behavior is also influenced by the buffer components. The quasi-reversible electron transfer process of cytochrome c oxidase with formal potential 385 mV vs. SHE in 5mM phosphate buffer solution (pH 6.4) corresponds to the redox reaction of cyt a(3) in cytochrome c oxidase, and the heterogeneous electron transfer rate constant obtained is 1.56 s(-1). By cyclic voltammetry measurements, it was observed that oxidation and reduction of cytochrome c in solution were catalyzed by the immobilized cytochrome c oxidase. This cytochrome c oxidase/MPA/Au system provides a good mimetic model to study the physiological functions of membrane-associated enzymes and hopefully to build a third-generation biosensor without using a mediator.

STUDIES ON THE COORDINATION OF TB(III) AND CA(III) WITH AMINO-ACID UNDER THE PHYSIOLOGICAL CONDITION

Tb(Ca)-glycine, Tb(Ca)-alanine, Tb(Ca)-glycine-alanine systems were studied by potentiometry (37%, I = 0.15 mol/L NaCl). The stability constants of complexes and distribution of species in ternary system were obtained. The results show CaTb for the ternary complexes. The species convert each other with changing pH values.

STUDIES ON INTERFACIAL PHENOMENA OF POLYCRYSTALLINE HG1-XCDXTE THIN-FILM ELECTRODE POLYSULFIDE REDOX SOLUTION

Electrode capacitance and photocurrent spectra of electrodeposited polycrystalline Hg1-xCdxTe thin films of varying (1-x) were measured in polysulfide redox solution, hence the flatband potentional PHI(fb) and the bandgap E(g) of Hg1-xCdxTe thin films obtained. It was of interest to find out that only the location of conduction band E(c) shifts negatively with increasing (1-x) while the valence band E(v), is almost constant. The experimental open circuit photovoltage V0 is smaller than theoretical value V(max) calculated through flatband potential PHI(fb), therefore there is a possibility of promoting the experimental open circuit photovoltage.

STUDY ON THE PHENOMENA OF LASER-EXCITED POPULATION-CHANGE ON RES-ONANTLY TRANSITIONAL LOWER LEVEL AND ITS APPLICATION

Ⅰ. INTRODUCTIONLaser-excited atomic fluorescence spectrometry in hollow cathode discharge(HCD) has been widely used in the research field of laser spectroscopy in recent years. Similar to traditional method, information obtained in the researches was direct line nonresonance fluorescence arising from the resonantly transitional upper level. Attention has not been sufficiently paid to the phenomenon of population change on the resonantly transitional lower level due to laser irradiation of plasma in HCD,...