National University of La Plata

About: National University of La Plata is a education organization based out in La Plata, Argentina. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Large Hadron Collider. The organization has 12993 authors who have published 30013 publications receiving 495118 citations. The organization is also known as: UNLP & Universidad Nacional de La Plata.

Evolution and colours of helium-core white dwarf stars: the case of low-metallicity progenitors

Abstract: The present work is designed to explore the evolution of helium-core white dwarf (He WD) stars for the case of metallicities much lower than the solar metallicity (Z= 0.001 and 0.0002). Evolution is followed in a self-consistent way with the predictions of detailed and new non-grey model atmospheres, time-dependent element diffusion and the history of the white dwarf progenitor. Reliable initial models for low-mass He WDs are obtained by applying mass-loss rates to a 1-M⊙ stellar model in such a way that the stellar radius remains close to the Roche lobe radius. The loss of angular momentum caused by gravitational wave emission and magnetic stellar wind braking are considered. Model atmospheres, based on a detailed treatment of the microphysics entering the WD atmosphere (such as the formalism of Hummer–Mihalas to deal with non-ideal effects) and hydrogen line and pseudo-continuum opacities, enable us to provide accurate colours and magnitudes at both early and advanced evolutionary stages. We find that most of our evolutionary sequences experience several episodes of hydrogen thermonuclear flashes. In particular, the lower the metallicity, the larger the minimum stellar mass for the occurrence of flashes induced by CNO cycle reactions. The existence of a mass threshold for the occurrence of diffusion-induced CNO flashes leads to a marked dichotomy in the age of our models. Another finding of this study is that our He WD models experience unstable hydrogen burning via PP nuclear reactions at late cooling stages as a result of hydrogen chemically diffusing inwards. Such PP flashes take place in models with very low metal content. We also find that models experiencing CNO flashes exhibit a pronounced turn-off in most of their colours at MV≈ 16. Finally, colour–magnitude diagrams for our models are presented and compared with recent observational data of He WD candidates in the globular clusters NGC 6397 and 47 Tucanae.

Effect of solution pH on solubility and some structural properties of soybean protein isolate films

Abstract: Changes in solubility and molecular properties of protein films obtained from soy protein isolate (SPI) solutions at different pH values (2, 8 and 11) were investigated to study protein behavior during film formation. Proteins retained their native conformation in films at pH 8, but were partially or extensively denatured at pH 11 and 2. Although film protein networks were maintained by the same type of interactions at different pH values—covalent (disulfide bonds) and non-covalent bonds (especially hydrophobic interactions and hydrogen bonds)—the intensity of each type of interaction (predicted from solubility tests in buffers with different chemical action) depended on the pH of the initial solution. Films obtained at pH 8 presented the highest solubility in all the buffers, whereas films at formed pH 2 presented the lowest, except in the buffer of pH 8 that contained urea, SDS and 2-mercaptoethanol, which totally dissolved 100% of the film proteins. Films prepared at extreme pH values had a denser microstructure than those at pH 8. SDS–PAGE patterns indicated that films were mainly formed by β-conglycinin and glycinin, which aggregated in different forms during film formation, depending on the pH of the initial solutions. Some of these proteins remained weakly bonded and/or were held by the network of films. These differences in the protein networks structure would affect the physical, mechanical and barrier properties of the films. Copyright © 2006 Society of Chemical Industry