Modeling of elastic thin-walled beams, plates and shells as 1D and 2D boundary value problems is valid in undisturbed subdomains. Disturbances near supports and free edges, in the vicinity of concentrated loads and at thickness jumps cannot be described by 1D and 2D BVP’s. In these disturbed subdomains dimensional (d)-adaptivity and possibly model (m)-adaptivity have to be performed and coupled...

The problem of finding the equilibrium shape of a small particle by the Wulff construction is reviewed briefly, with emphasis on its applications to liquid crystals. The proof of Wulff’s theorem is stated in a concise mathematical form. Some typical equilibrium shapes of liquid crystalline cirops are described. When there is orientational order of the molecules in the liquid crystal but no tran...

Here, we review two recent theoretical models in the field of ionic surfactant micelles and discuss the comparison of their predictions with experimental data. The first approach is based on the analysis of the stepwise thinning (stratification) of liquid films formed from micellar solutions. From the experimental step wise dependence of the film thickness on time, it is possible to determine t...

We build a simple model of trust as an equilibrium phenomenon, departing from standard “selfish” preferences in a minimal way. Agents who are on the receiving end of an offer to transact can choose whether to cheat and take away the entire surplus, taking into account a “cost of cheating.” The latter has an idiosyncratic component (an agent’s type), and a socially determined one. The smaller th...

The bacterial fish pathogen Vibrio anguillarum serotype O2 strain RV22 produces the mono catecholate siderophore Vanchrobactin (Vb) under conditions of iron deficiency. Vb contains two potential bidentate coordination sites: catecholate and salicylate groups. The iron(III) coordination properties of Vb is investigated in aqueous solutions using spectrophotometric and potentiometric methods. The...

The postulated transition of Bis-Maltolato-OxoVanadium(IV) (BMOV) from its inactive trans- into its cis-aquo-BMOV isomeric form in solution was simulated by means of computational molecular modeling. The rotational barrier was calculated with DFT - B3LYP under a stepwise optimization protocol with STO-3G, 3-21G, 3-21G*, and 6-31G ab initio basis sets. Our computed results are consistent with re...

Guanidine induced equilibrium and kinetic folding of a variant of green fluorescent protein (F99S/M153T/V163A, GFPuv) was studied. Using manual mixing and stopped-flow techniques, we combined different probes, including tryptophan fluorescence, chromophore fluorescence and reactivity with DTNB, to trace the spontaneous and TF-assisted folding of guanidine denatured GFPuv. We found that both unf...

Binding and proximity relationships of hydrophobic ligands on human serum albumin have been studied using absorption, fluorescence, circular dichroism, and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. The ligands studied were bilirubin, two conjugated linear polyene fatty acids, cis-parinaric acid and cis-eleostearic acid, and three nitroxide derivatives of stearic acid with doxyl groups at po...

In order to solve the immensely difficult protein-folding problem, it will be necessary to characterize the barriers that slow folding and the intermediate structures that promote it. Although protein-folding intermediates are not accessible to the usual structural studies, hydrogen exchange (HX) methods have been able to detect and characterize intermediates in both kinetic and equilibrium mod...