A new method of accurate polarization measurement on isobaric analog resonance to detect parity non-conservation effect

For the study of parity mixing in the compound states, a method to measure the longitudinal analyzing power A_z of the isobaric analog resonance (IAR) as a function of energy in the proton elastic scattering is discussed. A thick target is used and energy loss of the protons in the target is utilized to measure the energy dependence. The energy resolution is presented and the sources of the systematic errors in A_z are discussed together with the way of their elimination. The method has been shown to be quite efficient for deriving both the transverse and the longitudinal analyzing powers. The measurement of A_z for the s-wave IAR at E_cm=5.86 MeV in ⁹⁰Zr(p,p) and the analysis to derive PNC matrix elements are described.     

GREEN UMBU (SPONDIAS TUBEROSA ARR. CAM.) PRESERVE: PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL AND MICROBIOLOGICAL CHANGES DURING STORAGE

A preserve made from “umbu” in the green state of maturity represents an alternative to avoid losses of the fruit in the mature stage. A factorial experimental design was used to evaluate the effects of formulation, packaging and storage time (0, 45 and 90 days) on the physicochemical, chemical, physical and microbiological characteristics of the preserve during storage under ambient conditions (33C/88% relative humidity). The results showed that the products were microbiologically stable, but that degradation of soluble pectin, reducing sugars and total soluble solids occurred, especially in the cellophane packaging, and this resulted in textural and color changes in the products. The results suggested the incorporation of pectin and glucose syrup and the use of a polypropylene packaging as being the most adequate method of producing and conserving preserves made from this pulp.     

The hybrid boundary node method accelerated by fast multipole expansion technique for 3D potential problems

This paper presents a fast formulation of the hybrid boundary node method (Hybrid BNM) for solving problems governed by Laplace's equation in 3D. The preconditioned GMRES is employed for solving the resulting system of equations. At each iteration step of the GMRES, the matrix–vector multiplication is accelerated by the fast multipole method. Green's kernel function is expanded in terms of spherical harmonic series. An oct‐tree data structure is used to hierarchically subdivide the computational domain into well‐separated cells and to invoke the multipole expansion approximation. Formulations for the local and multipole expansions, and also conversion of multipole to local expansion are given. And a binary tree data structure is applied to accelerate the moving least square approximation on surfaces. All the formulations are implemented in a computer code written in C++. Numerical examples demonstrate the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed approach. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Functional cooperation of cyclin C and c-Myc in mediating homotypic cell adhesion via very late antigen-4 activation and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 induction

Very late antigen-4 (VLA-4)/vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) are a pair of adhesion molecules mediating cell-cell interaction. The binding activity of each depends on its surface expression, yet integrin activity can also be modulated through inside-out signaling. However, the specific intracellular molecules involved in modulating integrin VLA-4 activation via inside-out signaling or in regulating VCAM-1 expression are poorly understood. We show here that constitutive coexpression of cyclin C and c-Myc in hematopoietic BAF-B03 cells induces homotypic cell adhesion, which results from enhanced VLA-4 ligand-binding activity and induced expression of VCAM-1. Furthermore, regulation of cell adhesion appears to be a feature unique to cyclin C, but not other G1 cyclins, E and D3, and its regulatory function is independent of CDK8 kinase activity. Our results provide a novel role for cyclin C and c-Myc in the regulation of cell adhesion through distinct mechanisms.     

Atomic nanotube welders: boron interstitials triggering connections in double-walled carbon nanotubes

Here we demonstrate that the incorporation of boron (B) atoms between double-walled carbon nanotubes (DWNTs) during thermal annealing (1400-1600 degrees C) results in covalent nanotube "Y" junctions, DWNT coalescence, and the formation of flattened multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs). These processes occur via the merging of adjacent tubes, which is triggered by B interstitial atoms. We observe that B atom interstitials between DWNTs are responsible for the rapid establishment of covalent connections between neighboring tubes (polymerization), thereby resulting in the fast annealing of the carbon cylinders with B atoms embedded in the newly created carbon nanotube network. Once B is in the lattice, tube faceting (polygonization) starts to occur, and the electronic properties are expected to change dramatically. Therefore, B atoms indeed act as atomic nanotube fusers (or welders), and this process could now be used in assembling novel electronic nanotube devices, nanotube networks, carbon nanofoams and heterojunctions exhibiting p-type electronic properties.