The harmonic mode analysis method was used to characterize the conformational deformability of regular Watson-Crick paired, mismatch- and bulge-containing RNA. Good agreement between atomic Debye-Waller factors derived from x-ray crystallography of a regular RNA oligonucleotide and calculated atomic fluctuations was obtained. Calculated helical coordinate fluctuations showed a small sequence de...

Binding of the TATA-binding protein (TBP) to the "TATA" sequences present in the promoters of eukaryotic class II genes is the first step in the sequential assembly of transcription pre-initiation complexes. Myriad structural changes, including severe bending of the DNA, accompany TBP-TATA complex formation. A detailed kinetic study has been conducted to elucidate the mechanistic details of TBP...

We examine the formation of giant elliptical galaxies using their globular cluster (GC) systems as probes of their evolutionary history. The bimodal distributions of GC metallicities in such galaxies are often cited as evidence for the formation of giant elliptical galaxies through mergers involving gas-rich spirals, with the metal-rich GCs forming during the merger process. We explore an alter...

We study the stability of the giant gravitons in the string theory background with NSNS B field. We consider the perturbation of giant gravitons formed by a probe D(8− p) brane in the background generated by D(p− 2)D(p) branes for 2 ≤ p ≤ 5. We use the quadratic approximation to the brane action to find the equations of motion. The vibration modes for ρ , φ and r are coupled, while those of xk’...

This paper presents a simplified methodology for treating collisions of ships with lock gates. The goal is to obtain a good approximation of the law relating the resistance of the gate and the penetration of the striking vessel. To do so, we assume that the initial kinetic energy of the ship is dissipated by deforming the structure. As a first step, deformations are assumed to take place in loc...