Thomas Fincke und die <Emphasis Type="Italic">Geometria rotundi</Emphasis>

Thomas Fincke (January 6^th, 1561–April 24^th, 1656), born in Flensburg (Germany), was one of the very most important and significant scientists in Denmark during the seventeenth century, a mathematician and astrologer and physician in the beginning of modern science, a representative of humanism and an influentual academic organizer. He studied in Strasbourg (since 1577) and Padua (since 1583) and received his M.D. in Basel (1587), he practised as a physician throughout his life (since 1587 or 1590) and became a professor at Copenhagen (1591). But he was best known because of his Geometriae rotundi libri XIIII (1583), a famous book on plane and spherical trigonometry, based not on Euclid but on Petrus Ramus. In this influentual work, in which Fincke introduced the terms tangent and secant and probable first noticed the Law of Tangents and the so-called Newton-Oppel-Mauduit-Simpson-Mollweide-Gauss-formula, he showed himself to be „abreast of the mathematics of his time“.      

Developmental and light-dependent changes of the cytosolic chaperonin containing TCP-1 (CCT) subunits in maize seedlings, and the localization in coleoptiles

The cytosolic chaperonin containing TCP-1 (CCT) is known to keep fold cytoskeletal proteins and is involved in the proper organization of the cytoskeleton. These studies are based on the assumption that growth responses linked to structural rearrangement of the plant cytoskeleton include the action of CCT and the need for newly synthesized tubulin. The presence of the alpha- and epsilon-subunits of CCT was investigated in soluble fractions of protein extracts from maize mesocotyls and coleoptiles at distinct growth stages. The CCT-subunits, tubulins and actin decreased in the coleoptile in response to far-red light. In addition, independent from light treatment, the amount of CCT epsilon abundance declined with age in coleoptiles and mesocotyls between 2 and 4.5 days after sowing. In contrast to CCT epsilon, no significant light regulation of CCT alpha was found in the mesocotyl. In two day old, light-grown rapidly elongating coleoptiles part of the CCT alpha subunit and the bulk of actin and tubulin was found shifted into fractions of high molecular weight complexes when compared to slowly elongating, dark grown coleoptiles. In 4.5 day old, etiolated and elongating coleoptiles, part of both CCT-subunits and cytoskeleton proteins were found in fractions of high molecular weight. A complete disappearance of these polypeptides was observed in old far-red irradiated growth-arrested coleoptiles. CCT epsilon was found to be colocalized to microtubular structures and to the nucleus. We conclude from our data that abundance of CCT-subunits in soluble extracts is dependent on age and light treatment, but independent from the growth stage of mesocotyl and coleoptile.     

Measuring knowledge transfer between fields of science

In this paper we report on the results of an exploratory study of knowledge exchange between disciplines and subfields of science, based on bibliometric methods. The goal of this analysis is twofold. Firstly, we consider knowledge exchange between disciplines at a global level, by analysing cross-disciplinary citations in journal articles, based on the world publication output in 1999. Among others a central position of the Basic Life Sciences within the Life Sciences and of Physics within the Exact Sciences is shown. Limitations of analyses of interdisciplinary impact at the journal level are discussed. A second topic is a discussion of measures which may be used to quantify the rate of knowledge transfer between fields and the importance of work in a given field or for other disciplines. Two measures are applied, which appear to be proper indicators of impact of research on other fields. These indicators of interdisciplinary impact may be applied at other institutional levels as well. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Construction of Minimal DNA Expressions

We describe a formal language/notation for DNA molecules that may contain nicks and gaps. The elements of the language, DNA expressions, denote formal DNA molecules. Different DNA expressions may denote the same formal DNA molecule. We analyse the shortest DNA expressions denoting a given formal DNA molecule. We determine lower bounds on their lengths and explain how we construct these minimal DNA expressions.     

Electronic Transport in Ultrathin Gold Films on Si(111)

The morphology and electronic transport of ultrathin Au films with thicknesses d = 1 ? 5 monolayers (ML) deposited on Si(111)7 × 7 surfaces is investigated by in situ scanning tunneling microscopy and electrical resistance measurements for temperatures T = 2 ? 300 K. With decreasing film thickness, i.e. decreasing sheet conductance G_s, a transition from a weakly conducting regime described by a logarithmic temperature dependence to an insulating regime occurs. In the insulating regime, the temperature dependence is described by G_s ∝ exp[?(T ₀ /T) ⁿ] with an exponent n which gradually changes from 0.69 to 1 with decreasing film thickness. In contrast, for the Si(111)6 × 6-Au reconstruction obtained after annealing, an exponent n = 1/2 is found suggesting the formation of a soft Coulomb gap due to electron-electron interaction. PACS numbers: 68.37.-d, 68.55.-a, 73.50.-h, 73.25.+i, 81.15.-z