Elastic behaviour of matter under very high pressures - Uniform compression

In order to study the elastic behaviour of matter when subjected to very large pressures, such as occur for example in the interior of the earth, and to provide an explanation for phenomena like earthquakes, it is essential to be able to calculate the values of the elastic constants of a substance under a state of large initial stress in terms of the elastic constants of a natural or stress-free state. An attempt has been made in this paper to derive expressions for these quantities for a substance of cubic symmetry on the basis of non-linear theory of elasticity and including up to cubic powers of the strain components in the strain energy function. A simple method of deriving them directly from the energy function itself has been indicated for any general case and the same has been applied to the case of hydrostatic compression. The notion of an effective elastic energy-the energy require to effect an infinitesimal deformation over a state of finite strain-has been introduced, the coefficients in this expression being the effective elastic constants. A separation of this effective energy function into normal co-ordinates has been given for the particular case of cubic symmetry and it has been pointed out, that when any of such coefficients in this normal form becomes negative, elastic instability will set in, with associated release of energy.

Crystal Structure of Staphylococcus aureus Metallopeptidase (Sapep) Reveals Large Domain Motions between the Manganese-bound and Apo-states

Proteases belonging to the M20 family are characterized by diverse substrate specificity and participate in several metabolic pathways. The Staphylococcus aureus metallopeptidase, Sapep, is a member of the aminoacylase-I/M20 protein family. This protein is a Mn2+-dependent dipeptidase. The crystal structure of this protein in the Mn2+-bound form and in the open, metal-free state suggests that large interdomain movements could potentially regulate the activity of this enzyme. We note that the extended inactive conformation is stabilized by a disulfide bond in the vicinity of the active site. Although these cysteines, Cys(155) and Cys(178), are not active site residues, the reduced form of this enzyme is substantially more active as a dipeptidase. These findings acquire further relevance given a recent observation that this enzyme is only active in methicillin-resistant S. aureus. The structural and biochemical features of this enzyme provide a template for the design of novel methicillin-resistant S. aureus-specific therapeutics.

Hydrogen-bond dynamics near a micellar surface: Origin of the universal slow relaxation at complex aqueous interfaces

The dynamics of hydrogen bonds among water molecules themselves and with the polar head groups (PHG) at a micellar surface have been investigated by long molecular dynamics simulations. The lifetime of the hydrogen bond between a PHG and a water molecule is found to be much longer than that between any two water molecules, and is likely to be a general feature of hydrophilic surfaces of organized assemblies. Analyses of individual water trajectories suggest that water molecules can remain bound to the micellar surface for more than 100 ps. The activation energy for such a transition from the bound to a free state for the water molecules is estimated to be about 3.5 kcal/mol.

A surface energy model and application to mechanical behavior analysis of single crystals at sub-micron scale

Size effects of mechanical behaviors of materials are referred to the variation of the mechanical behavior due to the sample sizes changing from macroscale to micro-/nanoscales. At the micro-/nanoscale, since sample has a relatively high specific surface area (SSA) (ratio of surface area to volume), the surface although it is often neglected at the macroscale, becomes prominent in governing the energy effect, although it is often neglected at the macroscale, becomes prominent in governing the mechanical behavior. In the present research, a continuum model considering the surface energy effect is developed through introducing the surface energy to total potential energy. Simultaneously, a corresponding finite element method is developed. The model is used to analyze the axial equilibrium strain problem for a Cu nanowire at the external loading-free state. As another application of the model, from dimensional analysis, the size effects of uniform compression tests on the microscale cylinder specimens for Ni and Au single crystals are analyzed and compared with experiments in literatures. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Efeito da 1,10-fenantrolina e seus derivados complexados em metal na atividade proteolítica de Leishmania braziliensis

Leishmanioses são um grupo de doenças com um largo espectro de manifestações clínicas, as quais variam desde lesões cutâneas até o envolvimento visceral severo, podendo levar ao óbito. A leishmaniose é, ainda hoje, uma doença negligenciada, estando entre os agravos prioritários do programa de pesquisa sobre doenças da pobreza da Organização Mundial da Saúde (OMS). Além de não haver vacinas disponíveis, a terapia é baseada em medicamentos injetáveis que causam sérios efeitos colaterais, tornando o tratamento inviável para muitos países endêmicos. Drogas derivadas de metal representam um novo arsenal terapêutico antimicrobiano e anti-câncer. Os inibidores de peptidase/agentes quelantes tais como 1,10-fenantrolina e seus derivados, no estado livre de metal ou como ligantes com metais de transição, interferem com a função de vários sistemas biológicos. Em trabalhos anteriores, nosso grupo descreveu que o parasito L. braziliensis produziu moléculas gp63 sensíveis a 1,10-fenantrolina. No presente trabalho, demonstramos a distribuição celular da molécula gp63 em uma cepa virulenta de L. braziliensis por meio de análises bioquímicas e imuno-histoquímica. Depois disso, relatamos os efeitos inibitórios de três compostos derivados da 1,10-fenantrolina, 1,10-fenantrolina-5,6-diona (phendio), [Cu(phendio)2] e [Ag(phendio)2], nas atividades metalopeptidases celulares e extracelulares produzidas por promastigotas de L. braziliensis, bem como as suas ações sobre a viabilidade do parasita e na interação com as células de macrófagos murinos. As moléculas gp63 foram detectadas em compartimentos de parasitos, incluindo membrana citoplasmatica e bolsa flagelar. O tratamento de promastigotas de L. braziliensis durante 1 hora com 1,10-fenantrolina e seus derivados resultou numa inibição significativa da viabilidade celular e mostrou um mecanismo de ação irreversível. Estes inibidores de metalopeptidases induziram apoptose em promastigotas de L. braziliensis, demonstrada através da marcação com anexina/iodeto de propídio e ensaio TUNEL. O pré-tratamento de promastigotas com os inibidores de metalopeptidases induziram uma diminuição na expressão de moléculas de superfície gp63, assim como uma redução significativa no índice de associação com macrófagos. Em paralelo, macrófagos infectados com L. braziliensis e tratados com 1,10-fenantrolina e seus derivados promoveram uma potente redução sobre o número de amastigotas intracelulares. O tratamento de macrófagos com 1,10-fenantrolina e seus derivados não induziram o aumento de óxido nítrico. A ação combinatória sobre a capacidade de crescimento entre os compostos derivados da 1,10-fenantrolina e Glucantime, quando ambos foram utilizados em concentracões sub-inibidoras, também foi observada. In vivo os compostos derivados da 1,10-fenantrolina e seus drivados foram capazes de controlar o tamanho das lesões a partir da terceira semana de tratamento em relação ao controle não tratado em hamsters infectados quando administrado por via intraperitoneal. Os animais tratados com os compostos apresentaram maior resposta intradérmica (DTH) aos antígenos de L. braziliensis. Coletivamente, a 1,10-fenantrolina e seus derivados metálicos apresentam uma nova perspectiva de estudos para o desenvolvimento de novos fármacos anti-L. braziliensis

Revisiting Irish poetic modernisms

This thesis discusses Irish Modernist poetry written between 1905 and 1970, specifically the poetry of Joseph Campbell (1879-1944), Thomas MacGreevy (1893-1967), Denis Devlin (1908-1959) and Brian Coffey (1905-1995). All four poets have been largely neglected in criticism until a growth of interest encouraged by Michael Smith and Trevor Joyce’s New Writers’ Press during the 1970s. J.C.C. Mays, Stan Smith, Susan Schreibman, Terence Brown, Patricia Coughlan and Alex Davis published subsequent critical support during the ‘80s and ‘90s. My research aims to highlight poetry previously omitted from the canon of Irish literature, those with connections to British or continental European literary movements as well as poetry by women writers and writers from the North. Part of this exploration of Irish Poetic Modernisms involves an investigation of intersections between poetic modernisms and Irish war poetry and of depictions of Irish masculinity in the poetry of Devlin and Coffey. My discussion of Campbell’s poetry focuses on links between the early regional modernism of his poetry and later Irish modernist poetry, including his participation in the Ulster Literary Theatre, with the Literary Revival community in Dublin and his association with the proto-Imagist movement in London. My examination of connections between Irish war poetry and Irish modernism allows me to discuss the writing of several underrecognized Irish poets who are contemporaries and near contemporaries of the main subjects of my thesis. Thomas MacGreevy’s poetry is the most clear case study of the links between Irish modernist poetry and poetry about Ireland’s participation in the Great War. MacGreevy’s writing reveals his multiple allegiances: he both elegizes and challenges the increasing cultural inhibitions of Free State Ireland. Denis Devlin’s poetic portrayals of Ireland reveal his rejection both of the Literary Revival’s fascination with Celticism and of Dublin’s literary community while upholding tradition poetic gender roles. My research explores representations of masculinity and Irish politics, including heroic masculine imagery, in the long poems of Devlin and Coffey. My discussion of Brian Coffey considers the importance of the figure of the “poet as maker” to his writing and his relationship with Ireland during his long writing career. I also consider his role as the editor and executor of Devlin’s literary estate and the impact that had on both the latter’s posthumous reputation and Coffey’s later writing.

The Shawlies: A study of early neoliberal ‘gender-fication’. The Street Trading Act, 1926, modern gender-fication, and the implications for Cork’s women street traders

For centuries Cork’s Shawlies, working-class women, survived by trading on public streets. My study explores how the first Irish Free State government, and Cork’s local authority, limited the rights of poor women to earn by subsistence trading with The Street Trading Act, 1926. The government insisted this would regulate street trading. In practice it further marginalised the women economically and socially, containing them outside the privileged, commercial city centre. In Cork the legislation facilitated the gradual disappearance of the Shawlies amid entrenched social processes and relations, contingencies that allowed for the abuse of their rights in the service of amalgamated business interests. This study address the role of discourses in deepening this marginalisation. My theoretical framework is designed to demonstrate how a seemingly innocuous piece of legislation would, in practice, do this. I set out the concepts of ‘Thriving State’, ‘Prosperous State’, and state of ‘Best Intentions’ that uses gentrification to meet these goals. The existing knowledge on women in trade is then examined, highlighting the gaps in what is known about the Shawlies. Chapter 3 details the theory behind my genealogical method. The legislation, debate, and other data produced at the national level is then examined, before moving to the local data. Chapter 6 is devoted to the Shawlies, setting their stories in the larger context of the debates. An examination of studies of contemporary women street traders in poor nations follows, along with a brief history of the decline of street trading in New York city under gentrification. Points of convergence between that process and the one in Cork are identified, along with convergences between contemporary traders and the Shawlies. The conclusion sets out my methodological, theoretical and substantive discoveries, and comments on current nostalgic renderings of the Shawlies in Cork’s newly gentrified Corn Market Street.

New records of interesting xenophytes in the Iberian Peninsula. V

As a continuation of previous research on the naturalization of non-native vascular plants in the Iberian Peninsula new chorological data are presented for 16 xenophytes recorded between 2010 and 2014, mostly in the provinces of Huelva and Barcelona (Spain) and in the Algarve and Estremadura (Portugal). For each taxon details about distribution, habitats occupied, previous records, degree of naturalization, etc. are provided. Lachenalia bulbifera and Cyperus albostriatus are probably reported for the first time in the wild in Europe, as are Gamochaeta filaginea, and Dysphania anthelmintica and Oenothera lindheimeri for Portugal and Spain respectively. Cosmos bipinnatus is cited as a novelty for the Algarve (Portugal). Newly reported or confirmed for the province of Huelva are: Amaranthus hypochondriacus, Epilobium brachycarpum, Nephrolepis cordifolia, Ficus microcarpa, Tamarix parviflora and Tamarix ramosissima, while Atriplex semibaccata, Chloris truncata, and Elymus elongatus subsp. ponticus are new for Barcelona. Finally, Passiflora caerulea is a novelty for both Barcelona and Huelva provinces.

The Irish hospitals sweepstake in the United States of America, 1930-1939

The Irish hospitals sweepstake was established by statute in the Irish Free State in 1930 to fund the state’s hospital service. The vast majority of tickets were sold outside Ireland, particularly in countries where such gambling was illegal at the time. Initially the largest market was in the United Kingdom, but following the introduction of restrictive legislation there in 1934, the promoters of the sweepstake turned their attentions to North America and after 1936 the United States became the largest source of contributions to the Irish sweep. This article examines a number of factors concerning the relationship of the Irish sweep with the USA, including: an effort to estimate the amount of money contributed to the sweep by Americans; the role of the Irish diaspora and of prominent republicans, including Joseph McGarrity and Connie Neenan, in the illegal ticket distribution network; the efforts of American Federal agencies and government departments to disrupt the sweepstake organisation in America; how the sweep was used by those who sought to legalise gambling in the USA; the attitudes of both the Irish and American governments to the sweep’s activities in America; and how the legalisation of gambling in America brought about the demise of the Irish sweep.

'A terrible danger to the morals of the country': The Irish hospitals' sweepstake in Great Britain, 1930-87

This paper examines the importance of British contributions to the success of the Irish hospitals sweepstake. In its early years, up to three-quarters of these tickets were sold in Britain, bringing millions of pounds into Ireland annually to improve and expand the state's hospitals. The vast amount of money leaving Britain in this way angered the British government and forced it to introduce new legislation to curtail the activities of the Irish sweep. The paper will highlight the extent to which the success of the sweepstake depended on the market for tickets in Britain; the threat to the sweep's survival posed by the restriction of its activities in Britain after 1935; the role of the sweepstake controversy in exacerbating further already strained relations between Britain and the Irish Free State in the 1930s; how the success of the sweep raised the issue of legalising a British lottery; and the eventual decline of the sweepstake as a force in British gambling in the post-war years.

Diphosphine analogues of proton sponge: X-ray crystal structure of [Pd(eta(3)-allyl)(dppn)]BF4 center dot CH2Cl2 (dppn equals 1,8-bis(diphenylphosphino)naphthalene)

The X-ray crystal structure of [Pd(eta(3)-allyl)(dppn)]BF4 . CH2Cl2 (1) where dppn = 1,8-bis(diphenylphosphino)naphthalene is reported. Comparison of the conformation of the ligand in 1 with that in the free state shows that there is a relief of strain on complexation analogous to the relief of strain observed upon protonation of proton sponge.

Incidence and natural history of proliferative sickle cell retinopathy:Observations from a cohort study

Objective: To describe the incidence, prevalence, and natural history of proliferative sickle cell retinopathy (PSR). Design: Prospective longitudinal study over 20 years. Participants: Newborn screening of 100000 consecutive deliveries from 1973 to 1981 identified 315 children with homozygous sickle cell (SS) disease and 201 with SS-hemoglobin C (SC) disease. By the age of 5 years, 307 SS patients and 166 SC patients were alive and living in Jamaica and were recruited for this ophthalmic study. Methods: Description of retinal vascular changes on annual angiography and angioscopy. Main Outcome Measures: Incidence and prevalence of PSR and its behavior on follow-up. Progression of PSR was investigated using the number of eyes affected (none, one, both) and the interval until PSR onset. Results: At last review in January 2000, PSR had developed in 59 patients (14 SS, 45 SC), unilaterally in 36 patients and bilaterally in 23. Incidence increased with age in both genotypes, with crude annual incidence rates of 0.5 cases (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.3-0.8) per 100 SS subjects and 2.5 cases (95% CI, 1.9-3.3) per 100 SC subjects. Prevalence was greater in SC disease, and by the ages of 24 to 26 years, PSR had occurred in 43% subjects with SC disease and in 14% subjects with SS disease. Patients with unilateral PSR had a 16% (11% SS, 17% SC) probability of regressing to no PSR and a 14% (16% SS, 13% SC) probability of progressing to bilateral PSR. Those with bilateral PSR had an 8% (8% SS, 8% SC) probability of regressing to unilateral PSR and a 1% (0 SS, 2% SC) probability of regressing to a PSR-free state. Irretrievable visual loss occurred in only 1 of 82 PSR-affected eyes, and 1 required detachment surgery and recovered normal visual acuity. Conclusions: Longitudinal observations over 20 years in a cohort of patients followed from birth confirms a greater incidence and severity of PSR in SC disease, and shows that spontaneous regression occurred in 32% of PSR-affected eyes. Permanent visual loss was uncommon in subjects observed up to the age of 26 years. © 2005 by the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

Military Service Pensions for Veterans of the Irish Revolution, 1916–1923

In 1924 the Irish Free State government passed legislation to award pensions to veterans of the Irish revolution and Civil War. This article argues that the motivation for the pensions was the need to placate the national army after a failed mutiny in 1924 and that this explains their unusual nature in being based on service alone rather than disability. It will also explore the problems this created for defining service, examine the extension of eligibility to former republican enemies of the state and women revolutionaries in 1934, and describe the application and assessment procedure.

'"These schemes will win for themselves the confidence of the people": Irish independence, poor law reform and hospital provision'

This article examines hospital provision in Ireland during the early twentieth century. It examines attempts by the newly independent Irish Free State to reform and de-stigmatise medical relief in former workhouse infirmaries. Such reforms were designed to move away from nineteenth century welfare regimes which were underpinned by principles of deterrence. The reform initiated in independent Ireland - the first attempted break-up of the New Poor Law in Great Britain or Ireland - was partly successful. Many of the newly named County and District Hospitals provided solely for medical cases and managed to dissociate such health care provision from the relief of poverty. However, some hospitals continued to act as multifunctional institutions and provided for various categories including the sick, the aged and infirm, 'unmarried mothers' and 'harmless lunatics'. Such institutions often remained associated with the relief of poverty. This article also examines patient fee-payment and outlines how fresh terms of entitlement and means-testing were established. Such developments were even more pronounced in voluntary hospitals where the majority of patients made a financial contribution to their treatment. The article argues that the ability to pay at times determined the type of provision, either voluntary or rate-aided, available to the sick. However, it concludes that the clinical condition of patients often determined whether they entered a more prestigious voluntary hospital or the former workhouse. Although this article concentrates on two Irish case studies, County Kerry and Cork City; it is conceptualised within wider developments with particular reference to the British context.