MS-Express: data-extracting and -processing software for high-throughput experimentation with mass spectrometry

High-throughput experiments (HTE) result in large amounts of raw data that have to be evaluated for sample classification. Especially mass spectrometry, a widely used detection method in catalytic HTE applications, produces enormous amounts of data. In the past few years, in catalysts research, several test rigs based on mass spectrometric detection have been independently reported by different groups. In a typical HTE, the catalysts are tested sequentially; the recording of the scans, however, occurs continuously. For this reason, the scans of interest have to be extracted from the raw data, and scans belonging to the same sample have to be averaged in a tedious procedure before further processing. In this publication, we present our custom-designed software MS-Express (mass spectrometry data-extracting and -processing software), an efficient tool for HTE MS data evaluation. MS-Express not only sorts the data, it also establishes statistical significance with the help of reference and blank data and provides concise information about abundance and intensity distributions of expected peaks. A special feature is that the program also reports unexpected MS signals, which potentially lead to unexpected discoveries.     

Metastates in Finite-type Mean-field Models: Visibility,Invisibility, and Random Restoration of Symmetry

We consider a general class of disordered mean-field models where both the spin variables and disorder variables η take finitely many values. To investigate the size-dependence in the phase-transition regime we construct the metastate describing the probabilities to find a large system close to a particular convex combination of the pure infinite-volume states. We show that, under a non-degeneracy assumption, only pure states j are seen, with non-random probability weights w _j for which we derive explicit expressions in terms of interactions and distributions of the disorder variables. We provide a geometric construction distinguishing invisible states (having w _j =0) from visible ones. As a further consequence we show that, in the case where precisely two pure states are available, these must necessarily occur with the same weight, even if the model has no obvious symmetry relating the two.     

A LOV2 Domain-Based Optogenetic Tool to Control Protein Degradation and Cellular Function

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Highlights? Optogenetic tool to control the stability of soluble and membrane proteins ? Engineered using the LOV2 domain and a murine ornithine decarboxylase-like degron ? Creation of light-switchable, conditional mutants ? Graded response to very low blue light intensities allows yeast photography     

Mitigating heat dissipation in Raman lasers using coherent anti-stokes Raman scattering

We present a novel technique that intrinsically mitigates the quantum-defect heating in Raman lasers. The basic principle of this so-called "coherent anti-Stokes Raman scattering (CARS)-based heat mitigation" is to suppress the phonon creation in the Raman medium by increasing the number of out-coupled anti-Stokes photons with respect to the number of out-coupled Stokes photons. We demonstrate with the aid of numerical simulations that for a hydrogen and a silicon Raman laser, CARS-based heat mitigation efficiencies of at least 30% and 35%, respectively, can be obtained.     

Nature-inspired interconnects for self-assembled large-scale network-on-chip designs

Future nanoscale electronics built up from an Avogadro number of components need efficient, highly scalable, and robust means of communication in order to be competitive with traditional silicon approaches. In recent years, the networks-on-chip (NoC) paradigm emerged as a promising solution to interconnect challenges in silicon-based electronics. Current NoC architectures are either highly regular or fully customized, both of which represent implausible assumptions for emerging bottom-up self-assembled molecular electronics that are generally assumed to have a high degree of irregularity and imperfection. Here, we pragmatically and experimentally investigate important design tradeoffs and properties of an irregular, abstract, yet physically plausible three-dimensional (3D) small-world interconnect fabric that is inspired by modern network-on-chip paradigms. We vary the framework's key parameters, such as the connectivity, number of switch nodes, and distribution of long- versus short-range connections, and measure the network's relevant communication characteristics. We further explore the robustness against link failures and the ability and efficiency to solve a simple toy problem, the synchronization task. The results confirm that (1) computation in irregular assemblies is a promising and disruptive computing paradigm for self-assembled nanoscale electronics and (2) that 3D small-world interconnect fabrics with a power-law decaying distribution of shortcut lengths are physically plausible and have major advantages over local two-dimensional and 3D regular topologies.