Interactions of human islet amyloid polypeptide with lipid structure of different curvatures

Curvature is one of the most important features of lipid membranes in living cells, which significantly influences the structure of lipid membranes and their interaction with proteins. Taken the human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP), an important protein related to the pathogenesis of type II diabetes, as an example, we performed molecular dynamics (MD) simulations to study the interaction between the protein and the lipid structures with varied curvatures. We found that the lipids in the high curvature membrane pack loosely with high mobility. The hIAPP initially forms H-bonds with the membrane surface that anchored the protein, and then inserts into the membrane through the hydrophobic interactions between the residues and the hydrophobic tails of the lipids. hIAPP can insert into the membrane more deeply with a larger curvature and with a stronger binding strength. Our result provided important insights into the mechanism of the membrane curvature-dependent property of proteins with molecular details.     

An improved implicit method with dissipation control capability: The simple generalized composite time integration algorithm

In this paper, a simple and accurate implicit composite time integration scheme is newly developed for more efficient transient analyses of structural problems. The new scheme does not require the acceleration vector of the previous time step, and the initial acceleration vector is not needed, either. As a result, the factorization of the mass matrix is unnecessary, while factorizations of the effective coefficient matrix are still needed. Besides, the new method is designed to possess controllable algorithmic dissipation. Despite the absence of the acceleration vector of the previous time step, the numerical performance of the new method is equivalent to those of the existing methods. The excitation of an elastic bar problem and the simple nonlinear pendulum problem are numerically analyzed for the test of the new scheme. In the numerical experiments, the effects of consistent and lumped mass matrices are also discussed.     

Multicaloric and coupled-caloric effects

The multicaloric effect refers to the thermal response of a solid material driven by simultaneous or sequential application of more than one type of external field.For practical applications,the multicaloric effect is a potentially interesting strategy to improve the efficiency of refrigeration devices.Here,the state of the art in multi-field driven multicaloric effect is reviewed.The phenomenology and fundamental thermodynamics of the multicaloric effect are well established.A number of theoretical and experimental research approaches are covered.At present,the theoretical understanding of the multicaloric effect is thorough.However,due to the limitation of the current experimental technology,the experimental approach is still in progress.All these researches indicated that the thermal response and effective reversibility of multiferroic materials can be improved through multicaloric cycles to overcome the inherent limitations of the physical mechanisms behind single-field-induced caloric effects.Finally,the viewpoint of further developments is presented.     

The continuation and stability analysis methods for quasi-periodic solutions of nonlinear systems

Nonlinear Dynamics - The continuation and stability analysis methods for quasi-periodic solutions of nonlinear systems are proposed. The proposed continuation method advances the...     

The optimization of hydrothermal process of MoS_2 nanosheets and their good microwave absorption performances

In this study,flower-like MoS_2 constructed by nanosheets was synthesized by a simple hydrothermal method.The hydrothermal process was optimized and the effects of hydrothermal condition,including reaction temperature,reaction time and the ratio of Mo source to S source(Mo:S) in precursor,on microwave absorption performances and dielectric properties were investigated.Our results showed that when the reaction temperature was 180℃,the reaction time was 18 h,and the Mo:S was 1:3.5,the synthesized MoS_2 had the best performance:Its minimum reflection loss could reach-55.78 dB,and the corresponding matching thickness was 2.30 mm with a wide effective bandwidth of 5.17 GHz.Further researches on the microwave absorption mechanism revealed that in addition to the destructive interference of electromagnetic waves,various polarization phenomena such as defect dipole polarization were the main reasons for microwave loss.We believe that MoS_2 is a candidate for a practical microwave absorbent.     

如何解释红外谱图

红外光谱(IR)主要提供分子的官能团和化学键的丰富的结构信息。通常一个化学键会出现多个不同位置的吸收峰,而图中每个峰又可能是不同化学键的加合峰。因此在红外光谱分析中,并不要求也不可能准确地归属出图中所有的峰,通常只要求能较确切地识别出其中几个特征峰已足矣。     

A new nonlinear optical silicate carbonate K2Ca[Si2O5](CO3) with a hybrid structure of kalsilite and soda-like layered fragments

Single crystals of a new silicate carbonate, K₂Ca[Si₂O₅](CO₃), have been synthesized in a multi-components hydrothermal solution with a pH value close to neutral and a high concentration of a carbonate mineralizer. The new compound has an axial structure (s.g. P6₃22) with unit cell parameters a = 5.04789 (15), c = 17.8668 (6) Å. Pseudosymmetry of the structure corresponds to s.g. P6₃/mmc which is broken only by one oxygen position. The structure consists of two layered fragments: one of the type of the mineral kalsilite (KAlSiO₄) and the other of the high-temperature soda-like α-Na₂CO₃, Ca substituting for Na. The electro-neutral layer K₂[Si₂O₅] (denoted K) as well as the layer Ca(CO₃) (denoted S) may separately correspond to individual structures. In K₂Ca[Si₂O₅](CO₃) the S-K layers are connected together via Ca-O interactions between Ca atoms from the carbonate layer and apical O atoms from the silicate one, and also via K-O interlayer interactions. A hypothetical acentric structure, sp.gr. P-62c, is predicted on the basis of the order-disorder theory. It presents another symmetrical option for the arrangement of K-layers relative to S-layers. The K,Ca-silicate-carbonate powder produces a moderate SHG signal that is two times larger that of the α-quartz powder standard and close to other silicates with acentric structures and low electronic polarizability.     

Research and Evaluation on Wear in Power-Shift Steering Transmission Through Oil Spectral Analysis with RKPCA Method

The most common methodology used in element concentration measurement and analyzing of wear particles is Atomic emission (AE) spectroscopy .The present paper presents an evaluation method on wear in po...