A theoretical investigation of Zn?Zn and Be?Be one electron bond

Attachment of one electron to 1,2-diBeX-benzene and 1,2-diZnX-benzene derivatives leads to the formation of stronger Be Be and Zn Zn interaction compared to the neutral one. This is reflected in the dramatic shortening of the Be Be and Zn Zn distance. The formation of these 2-center-1-electron bonds have also been confirmed by topological survey of electron density using quantum theory of atoms in molecules and electron localization function. The formation of these bonds is expected to render stability to these radical anions. These radical anions are stable toward electron detachment and computed bond dissociation energy values are also significant.     

Comonotone approximation with interpolation at the ends on an interval

Let a function f ∈ C[-1, 1], changes its monotonisity at the finite collection Y := {y1,… ,ys} of s points yi ∈ (-1, 1). For each n ≥ N(Y), we construct an algebraic polynomial Pn, of degree ≤ n, which is comonotone with f, that is changes its monotonisity at the same points yi as f, and |f(x)-Pn(x)|≤c(s)ω2(f,(√1-x2)/n), x∈[-1,1],where N(Y) is a constant depending only on Y, c(s) is a constant depending only on s and ω2 (f, t) is the second modulus of smoothness of f.     

Scaling Up DNA Origami Lattice Assembly

The surface-assisted hierarchical assembly of DNA origami nanostructures is a promising route to fabricate regular nanoscale lattices. In this work, the scalability of this approach is explored and the formation of a homogeneous polycrystalline DNA origami lattice at the mica-electrolyte interface over a total surface area of 18.75 cm² is demonstrated. The topological analysis of more than 50 individual AFM images recorded at random locations over the sample surface showed only minuscule and random variations in the quality and order of the assembled lattice. The analysis of more than 450 fluorescence microscopy images of a quantum dot-decorated DNA origami lattice further revealed a very homogeneous surface coverage over cm² areas with only minor boundary effects at the substrate edges. At total DNA costs of € 0.12 per cm², this large-scale nanopatterning technique holds great promise for the fabrication of functional surfaces.     

Intelligent Surfaces Thermally Switchable between the Highly Rough and Entirely Smooth States

Reversible switching from a highly rough surface to another entirely smooth surface under external stimuli is crucial for intelligent materials applied in the fields of anti-fogging,self-cleaning,oil-water separation and biotechnology.In this work,a thermal-responsive liquid crystal elastomer (LCE) surface covered with oriented micropillars is prepared via a facile two-step crosslinking method coupled with an extrusion molding program.The reversible change of topological structures of the LCE surface along with temperature is investigated by metallographic microscope,atomic force microscopy and optical contact angle measuring system.At room temperature,the LCE sample is filled with plenty of micropillars with an average length of 8.76 μm,resulting in a super-hydrophobic surface with a water contact angle (WCA) of 135°.When the temperature is increased to above the clearing point,all the micropillars disappear,the LCE surface becomes entirely fiat and presents a hydrophilic state with a WCA of 64°.The roughness-related wetting property of this microstructured LCE surface possesses good recyclability in several heating/cooling cycles.This work realizes a truly reversible transformation from a highly rough surface to an entirely smooth surface,and might promote the potential applications of this dynamic-responsive LCE surface in smart sensors and biomimetic control devices.     

An ensemble learning framework for potential miRNA-disease association prediction with positive-unlabeled data

To explore the pathogenic mechanisms of MicroRNA (miRNA) on diverse diseases, many researchers have concentrated on discovering the potential associations between miRNA and disease using machine learning methods. However, the prediction accuracy of supervised machine learning methods is limited by lacking of experimentally-validated uncorrelated miRNA-disease pairs. Without these negative samples, training a highly accurate model is much more difficult. Different from traditional miRNA-disease prediction models using randomly selected unknown samples as negative training samples, we propose an ensemble learning framework to solve this positive-unlabeled (PU) learning problem. The framework incorporates two steps, i.e., a novel semi-supervised Kmeans (SS-Kmeans) to extract reliable negative samples from unknown miRNA-disease pairs and subagging method to generate diverse training sample sets to make full use of those reliable negative samples for ensemble learning. Combined with effective random vector functional link (RVFL) network as prediction model, the proposed framework showed superior prediction accuracy comparing with other popular approaches. A case study on lung and gastric neoplasms further confirms the framework’s efficacy at identifying miRNA disease associations.     

MRI参数对腰椎间盘突出症患者椎间盘退变程度的评估价值及与JOA、VAS评分相关性

选择腰椎间盘突出症(LDH)患者60例,分为轻度退变组、中度退变组、重度退变组。患者均行MRI检查,比较3组的MRI参数,包括髓核(NP)区、纤维环(AF)区T2值。检测比较发现,3组LDH患者NP区、AF区T2值间存在明显差异,且与腰椎功能评分(JOA)呈正相关,与腰部疼痛评分(VAS)呈负相关(P<0.05)。NP区、AF区T2值联合鉴别轻中度、中重度椎间盘退变程度的AUC大于各指标单一鉴别,具有较高评估效能。因此,MRI参数评估LDH患者椎间盘退变程度方面具有良好价值,可为临床明确患者病情提供重要参考。     

Multidimensional persistence in biomolecular data

Persistent homology has emerged as a popular technique for the topological simplification of big data, including biomolecular data. Multidimensional persistence bears considerable promise to bridge the gap between geometry and topology. However, its practical and robust construction has been a challenge. We introduce two families of multidimensional persistence, namely pseudomultidimensional persistence and multiscale multidimensional persistence. The former is generated via the repeated applications of persistent homology filtration to high‐dimensional data, such as results from molecular dynamics or partial differential equations. The latter is constructed via isotropic and anisotropic scales that create new simiplicial complexes and associated topological spaces. The utility, robustness, and efficiency of the proposed topological methods are demonstrated via protein folding, protein flexibility analysis, the topological denoising of cryoelectron microscopy data, and the scale dependence of nanoparticles. Topological transition between partial folded and unfolded proteins has been observed in multidimensional persistence. The separation between noise topological signatures and molecular topological fingerprints is achieved by the Laplace–Beltrami flow. The multiscale multidimensional persistent homology reveals relative local features in Betti‐0 invariants and the relatively global characteristics of Betti‐1 and Betti‐2 invariants. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Synergistic effect of maleimido phenyl urea derivatives mixed with some commercial stabilizers on the efficiency of thermal stabilization of PVC

Four novel antimicrobial maleimido phenyl urea stabilizers 1–4 were synthesized from N-[4-(chlorocarbonyl) phenyl] maleimide with phenyl urea and its derivatives (p-methyl, o-chloro and p-carboxy). The effect of mixing maleimido phenyl urea stabilizer 2 with each of the reference stabilizers, dibasic lead carbonate (DBLC), cadmium-barium-zinc stearate (Cd-Ba-Zn stearate) or n-octyltin mercaptide (n-OTM), on the stabilization efficiency in thermal degradation of rigid PVC at 180 °C in air, has been investigated. Mixing was effected in the range of 0–100 wt% of stabilizer 2 relative to each of the reference stabilizers. The stabilizing efficiency was evaluated by measuring the length of the thermal stability period (Ts), the period during which no detectable amount of hydrogen chloride gas could be observed, and also from the rate of dehydrochlorination as measured by continuous potentiometric determination, and by the extent of discoloration of the degraded polymer samples. The results show a true synergistic effect from the combination of stabilizer 2 with any of the reference stabilizers. Mixing of the stabilizers improves the Ts values, decreases the rate of dehydrochlorination and lowers the extent of discoloration of the polymer. The maximum synergism was attained when stabilizer 2 is mixed with either of the three reference stabilizers in equivalent weight ratio (50%/50%). The observed synergism may be attributed to the different mechanisms by which the investigated and the reference stabilizers work.     

Symmetry calculation for molecules and transition states

The symmetry of molecules and transition states of elementary reactions is an essential property with important implications for computational chemistry. The automated identification of symmetry by computers is a very useful tool for many applications, but often relies on the availability of three‐dimensional coordinates of the atoms in the molecule and hence becomes less useful when these coordinates are a priori unavailable. This article presents a new algorithm that identifies symmetry of molecules and transition states based on an augmented graph representation of the corresponding structures, in which both topology and the presence of stereocenters are accounted for. The automorphism group order of the graph associated with the molecule or transition state is used as a starting point. A novel concept of label‐stereoisomers, that is, stereoisomers that arise after labeling homomorph substituents in the original molecule so that they become distinguishable, is introduced and used to obtain the symmetry number. The algorithm is characterized by its generic nature and avoids the use of heuristic rules that would limit the applicability. The calculated symmetry numbers are in agreement with expected values for a large and diverse set of structures, ranging from asymmetric, small molecules such as fluorochlorobromomethane to highly symmetric structures found in drug discovery assays. The new algorithm opens up new possibilities for the fast screening of the degree of symmetry of large sets of molecules. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Crystalline and spectroscopic characterization of poly(2-aminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride) chains grafted onto poly[(R)-3-hydroxybutyric acid]

The present study is aimed to investigate the degree of crystallinity of poly(3-hydroxybutyrate) P(3HB) grafted with poly(2-aminoethyl methacrylate hydrochloride) (PAEMA) chains using WAXS, micro Raman, and FTIR spectroscopy. The samples were obtained by radiation induced graft polymerization of the monomer in the substrate using different solvents for comparison. The results of crystallinity are consistent with those obtained of lower crystallinity in grafting copolymer relative to the substrate P(3HB). The low crystallinity is directly related to the increase of the degree of grafting, meaning that although the P(3HB) amorphous region is grafted, the crystalline zone is also affected in some extent by the grafting process and the environment of the new molecule. Three different methods were surveyed to determine the variation of crystallinity degree with the grafting degree. It is shown that all methods provide linear relationships between these variables, but WAXS method was found more acceptable than the others (FTIR and Raman). A detailed characterization of the vibrational bands characteristic of amorphous and helical crystalline structure of the grafting copolymers are also highlighted.