Engineering of functional supramacromolecular complexes of proteins (enzymes) using reversed micelles as matrix microreactors

The size of the inner water cavity of reversed micelles formedin a triple system ‘water-surfactant-organic solvent’can be widely varied by changing the degree of surfactant hydration.This gives grounds to use reversed micelles as matrix microreactorsfor the design of supramolecular complexes of proteins. Usingultracentrifugation analysis, it has been demonstrated thatthe oligomeric composition of various enzymes (ketoglutaratedehydrogenase, alkaline phosphatase, lactic dehydrogenase, glyceraldehyde-3-phosphatedehydrogenase) solubilized in reversed micelles of Aerosol OT[sodium bis(2-ethylehexyl)sulfosuccinate] in octane changesupon variation of the degree of hydration. An oligomeric complexforms under conditions when the radius of the micelle innercavity is big enough to incorporate this complex as a whole.At lower degrees of hydration the micelles ‘uncouple’such complexes to their components. The catalytic propertiesof various oligomeric complexes have been studied. Possibilitiesof using reversed micelles for the separation of subunits ofoligomeric enzymes under non-denaturating conditions have beendemonstrated. In particular, the isolated subunits of alkalinephosphatase, lactic dehydrogenase and glyceralde-hyde-3-phosphatedehydrogenase have been found to be active in Aerosol OT reversedmicelles. The dependences of the catalytic activity of oligomericenzymes represent saw-like curves. The maxima of the catalyticactivity observed at these curves relate to the functioningof various oligomeric forms of an enzyme. The radii of the micelleinner cavity under conditions when these maxima are observedcorrelate with the linear dimensions of the enzyme oligomericforms. Correlation of the position of a maximum with the shapeof an oligomeric complex is discussed.     

Function Approximation Technique Based Adaptive Control for Chaos Synchronization between Different Systems with Unknown Dynamics

This paper presents a function approximation technique based immersion and invariance adaptive controller for chaos synchronization between nonidentical systems with unknown dynamics. In the proposed control scheme, the control system is reconstructed as the combination of a controllable linear system and a variation term from the original system. The variation term is treated as time-varying uncertainty and approximated by a group of weighted chosen basis functions. The immersion and invariance methodology is employed to design the adaptive control law such that both the synchronization error and uncertainty estimation error converge to zero. Two typical chaos synchronization problems are used in numerical simulations to verify the effectiveness and superiority of the proposed controller.

     

Hydrogen effect on the molecular weight distribution of polymers obtained by polymerization of ethylene and α-olefins over supported titanium-magnesium catalysts

Comparative data on the molecular weight distribution of polymers obtained by polymerization of ethylene, propylene and 1-hexene, and copolymerization of ethylene with α-olefins over the titanium-magnesium catalysts (TMC) in the absence and presence of hydrogen are presented. In contrast to the ethylene polymerization, in the cases of propylene and 1-hexene polymerization and copolymerization of ethylene with α-olefins, the hydrogen addition is characterized by noticeable narrowing of the molecular weight distribution (MWD) due to lower contribution of the MWD component with high molecular weight. This result is an evidence of the increased reactivity of TMC active sites producing high molecular weight poly-α-olefins and copolymers of ethylene with α-olefins in the chain transfer reaction with hydrogen. It is suggested that the increased reactivity of these sites in the transfer reaction with hydrogen appears after the 2,1-addition of α-olefin to the growing polymer chain.     

A tree-covering problem arising in integrity of tree-structured data

We introduce and solve a problem motivated by integrity verification in third-party data distribution: Given an undirected tree, find a minimum-cardinality set of simple paths that cover all the tree edges and, secondarily, have smallest total path lengths. We give a linear time algorithm for this problem.     

Internet addiction: Meta-synthesis of qualitative research for the decade 1996–2006

Internet addiction is “an individual’s inability to control their Internet use, which in turn leads to feelings of distress and functional impairment of daily activities” [Shapira, N., Lessig, M., Goldsmith, T., Szabo, S., Lazoritz, M., Gold, M. et al. (2003). Problematic Internet use: Proposed classification and diagnostic criteria. Depression and Anxiety, 17(4), 207–216]. Previous research in this field has offered inconclusive data on whether Internet addiction can be classified as a disorder. This study provides an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of internet addiction through a meta-synthesis of qualitative studies on excessive Internet use published during the period of 1996–2006. Several constructs pertaining to the domain of Internet addiction have been identified and a theoretical model of Internet addiction has been proposed.     

Morphology of melt crystallized polypropylene in the presence of polyimide fibres

Hot stage optical and scanning electron microscopy were used to study isothermal crystallization of isotactic polypropylene (iPP) in the presence of polyimide (Pl) fibres. Under the same crystallization conditions, the occurrence of transcrystallization depends on the type of fibre used. The transcrystalline interphase has a composed structure, with a characteristic layer adjacent to the fibre surface. The layer is about 1 m thick and has a crosshatched lamellar morphology. At the interface between iPP and the Pl fibre which causes transcrystallization, the nuclei from which the transcrystalline zone grows is observed. The nuclei consist of sheaves of closely packed parallel needleshaped lamellae of uniform thickness. The transcrystallization phenomenon can be explained by the epitaxial crystallization of iPP matrix on the surface fragments (domains) formed by extended chains of Pl fibres. Different abilities of Pl fibres to induce transcrystallization are associated with the superficial morphology of the fibres.Presented in part at the 28th Europhysics Conference on Macromolecular Physics, Transitions in Oligomer and Polymer Systems, 27 September–1 October 1993, Ulm, Germany.