Self-assembly of designed peptides is a promising area of biomaterials research and development. Here, polypeptide nanofilms have been prepared by electrostatic layer-by-layer self-assembly (LBL) of cysteine (Cys)-containing 32mers designed to be oppositely charged at neutral pH, and structural stability of the films has been probed by subjecting them to various extreme physical and chemical co...

We study transient atomic and plasma processes in the new parameter regime of hot dense matter, produced by an intense ultrashort laser pulse. Speci"cally, we study the e!ects of extremely high "elds on ion electronic structure. These high "elds are achieved in either of two ways: (1) by the "eld of unscreened ion charges in a plasma (&109 V/cm), which result in strongly coupled e!ects such as ...

Antibacterial properties of the frog-derived peptide dermaseptin S4 and a series of synthetic derivatives against the food pathogen Escherichia coli O157:H7 were investigated under extreme incubation conditions. The 28-mer analog K4K20S4 (P28) displayed an MIC of 8 microM and rapid bactericidal kinetics under standard culture conditions. Potent bactericidal properties were maintained at high sa...

Exercise physiology is a heterogeneous field of study that includes a broad array of disciplines evaluating the impact of physical stressors on the physiology of man. While man is exposed to a variety of environmental conditions, it is imperative that exercise physiologists elucidate how the added stress of a terrestrial extreme impacts man’s thermal, metabolic, and cognitive abilities. Researc...

The challenge of confining hydrogen and its isotopes at high pressures and temperatures have hindered exploration of the predicted novel phases and their properties in static high P-T experiments. We have developed new methods to achieve good local confinement of hot, dense hydrogen that additionally protects the diamond anvils during the experiments. Raman spectra of such locally confined hydr...

Very dense and/or hot hadronic substance (e.g. the one with energy density greatly exceeding that of a normal nucleus) transforms itself into a subhadronic substance which obeys macroscopic classical physics, in particular suffers phase transitions. The most popular Single Phase Transition Model (SPTM) assumes that the new phase is the Quark Gluon Plasma (QGP ) consisting of deconfined, chiral ...

We review recent work on the use of sonoluminescence (SL) to probe spectroscopically the conditions created during cavitation, both in clouds of collapsing bubbles (multibubble sonoluminescence, (MBSL)) and in single bubble events. The effective MBSL temperature can be controlled by the vapor pressure of the liquid or the thermal conductivity of the dissolved gas over a range from ∼1600 to ∼900...

Hydrogen and helium are the most abundant elements in the Universe. They are also, in principle, the most simple. Nonetheless, they display remarkable properties under extreme conditions of pressure and temperature that have fascinated theoreticians and experimentalists for over a century. Advances in computational methods have made it possible to elucidate ever more of their properties. Some o...

A two-Yukawa representation of the EXP6 fluids at supercritical temperatures and high pressures has been developed and examined using molecular simulations. A uniquely defined mapping of the repulsive part of the EXP6 potential curve onto the two-Yukawa potential is used. Two ranges of temperatures, one encountered in geochemical applications (T(geo) range) and the other at conditions of detona...