Polymer Hydrogel Sheets with Perpendicular Cross-Linking Gradient: Non-Monotonic Actuation and Ion-Specific Effects on the Actuation Kinetics.

Non-monotonous actuation, that is, different kinds of motion in response to a single stimulus, is observed in some natural materials but difficult to implement in synthetic systems. Herein, polymer hydrogel sheets made from polyacrylamide (PAAm) or poly(dimethylacrylamide) (PDMAA) with a cross-linking gradient along the sheet thickness are reported. These are obtained by thermally initiated free radical polymerization using a specially designed Teflon mold with a glass lid.

Ni/Al-Hybrid Cellular Foams: An Interface Study by Combination of 3D-Phase Morphology Imaging, Microbeam Fracture Mechanics and In Situ Synchrotron Stress Analysis.

Nickel(Ni)/aluminium(Al) hybrid foams are Al base foams coated with Ni by electrodeposition. Hybrid foams offer an enhanced energy absorption capacity. To ensure a good adhering Ni coating, necessary for a shear resistant interface, the influence of a chemical pre-treatment of the base foam was investigated by a combination of an interface morphology analysis by focused ion beam (FIB) tomography and in situ mechanical testing.

Strategies to Achieve High Strength and Ductility of Pulsed Electrodeposited Nanocrystalline Co-Cu by Tuning the Deposition Parameters.

Strategies to improve tensile strength and ductility of pulsed electrodeposited nanocrystalline Co-Cu were investigated. Parameters of deposition, which are pulse current density, duty cycle, and pulse-on time were adjusted to produce nanocrystalline Co-Cu deposits with different microstructures and morphologies. The most significant improvement of strength and ductility was observed at nanocrystalline Co-Cu deposited, at a low duty cycle (10%) and a low pulse-on time (0.

Microstructure Evolution and Mechanical Stability of Supersaturated Solid Solution Co-Rich Nanocrystalline Co-Cu Produced by Pulsed Electrodeposition.

Thick films of supersaturated solid solution nanocrystalline Co-Cu (28 at.% Cu) were synthesized through the pulsed electrodeposition technique. Microstructural changes of nanocrystalline Co-Cu were intensively studied at various annealing temperatures.

Effect of Sample Size and Crystal Orientation on the Fatigue Behaviour of Single Crystalline Microbeams.

Beam deflection experiments were used to systematically examine size effects on the low cyclic fatigue (LCF) deformation behaviour of micro-sized bending beams of copper (Cu) single crystals oriented for single slip, critical and coplanar double slip. We present cyclic hardening curves and fatigue surface roughness, as well as dislocations structures of the micro-sized beams with sizes between 1 and 15 µm. A clear crystal orientation and size effect on the cyclic hardening curves, surface roughness, and the dislocation microstructures were observed.

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We have designed a new method for electrochemical hydrogen charging which allows us to charge very thin coarse-grained specimens from the bottom and perform nanomechanical testing on the top. As the average grain diameter is larger than the thickness of the sample, this setup allows us to efficiently evaluate the mechanical properties of multiple single crystals with similar electrochemical conditions. Another important advantage is that the top surface is not affected by corrosion by the electrolyte.

Helicobacter pylori VacA toxin/subunit p34: targeting of an anion channel to the inner mitochondrial membrane.

The vacuolating toxin VacA, released by Helicobacter pylori, is an important virulence factor in the pathogenesis of gastritis and gastroduodenal ulcers. VacA contains two subunits: The p58 subunit mediates entry into target cells, and the p34 subunit mediates targeting to mitochondria and is essential for toxicity. In this study we found that targeting to mitochondria is dependent on a unique signal sequence of 32 uncharged amino acid residues at the p34 N-terminus.

Role of gamma-subunit N- and C-termini in assembly of the mitochondrial ATP synthase in yeast.

The gamma-subunit is required for the assembly of ATP synthases and plays a crucial role in their catalytic activity. We stepwise shortened the N-terminus and the C-terminus of the gamma-subunit in the mitochondrial ATP synthase of yeast and investigated the relevance of these segments in the assembly of the enzyme and in the growth of the cells. We found that a deletion of 9 residues at the N-terminus or 20 residues at the C-terminus still allowed efficient import of the subunit into mitochondria; however, the assembly of both monomeric and dimeric holoenzymes was partially impaired.

Separation of proteins by blue native electrophoresis.

Blue native gel electrophoresis is a native electrophoresis method that can be used for molecular weight determination for most soluble protein complexes as well as for most membrane proteins. Subsequent sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) can be used in a second dimension to resolve the complexes into their subunits. The method has been extensively used for the analysis of the respiratory chain complexes, for the determination of intermediates of mitochondrial protein import, and for the identification of the composition of the protein import machinery for mitochondria and chloroplasts.

Dislocation avalanches, strain bursts, and the problem of plastic forming at the micrometer scale.

Under stress, many crystalline materials exhibit irreversible plastic deformation caused by the motion of lattice dislocations. In plastically deformed microcrystals, internal dislocation avalanches lead to jumps in the stress-strain curves (strain bursts), whereas in macroscopic samples plasticity appears as a smooth process. By combining three-dimensional simulations of the dynamics of interacting dislocations with statistical analysis of the corresponding deformation behavior, we determined the distribution of strain changes during dislocation avalanches and established its dependence on microcrystal size.

Conserved mechanism of Oxa1 insertion into the mitochondrial inner membrane.

Oxa1 is the mitochondrial representative of a family of related proteins that mediate the insertion of substrate proteins into the membranes of bacteria, chloroplasts, and mitochondria. Several studies have demonstrated that the bacterial homologue YidC participates both in the direct uptake of proteins from the bacterial cytosol, and in the uptake of nascent proteins from the Sec translocase. Studies on the biogenesis of membrane proteins in mitochondria established that Oxa1 has the capability to receive substrates at the inner surface of the inner membrane.

The subunit b dimer of the FOF1-ATP synthase: interaction with F1-ATPase as deduced by site-specific spin-labeling.

We have used site-specific spin-labeling of single cysteine mutations within a water-soluble mutant of subunit b of the ATP synthase and employed electron spin resonance (ESR) spectroscopy to obtain information about the binding interactions of the b dimer with F1-ATPase. Interaction of b2 with a delta-depleted F1 (F1-delta) was also studied. The cysteine mutations used for spin-labeling were distributed throughout the cytosolic domain of the b subunit.

Bcl-2 and porin follow different pathways of TOM-dependent insertion into the mitochondrial outer membrane.

The bcl-2 gene encodes a 26kDa protein which functions as a central regulator of apoptosis. Here we investigated the pathway of Bcl-2alpha into the mitochondrial outer membrane using the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a model organism. We found that interactions of Bcl-2alpha with the mitochondrial import receptor Tom20 are dependent on two positively charged lysine residues in the immediate vicinity of the carboxy-terminal hydrophobic membrane anchor.