Protein expression, aggregation, and triggered release from polymersomes as artificial cell-like structures

Bringing droplets to life: A cytoskeletal protein (red dots, see scheme) is expressed in artificial cells composed of biocompatible polymersomes, which encapsulate expression machinery and amino acid building blocks. Release of the expressed proteins can be triggered by a negative osmotic shock.     

Eponential Decay To Stable States In Phase Transitions Via A Double Log–Transformation

Motivated by various Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman equations arising in deteministic optimal control we will modify the concept of viscosity solution introduced by Crandall and Lions for convex (or concave) hamiltonians and semicontinuous solutions. We will see that we can dispense with the Crandall–Lions requirement that we touch the solution by test functions from both above and below and require only touching from one side, Which side depends on whether the solution is upper or lower semicontinuous and the hamiltonian is concave. The advantage of testing from only one side is that Semicontinuous solutions can only be touched from one side. It is shown that this is sufficient to characterize the solution.     

A Symmetry Result on Submanifolds of Space Forms and Applications

In this paper we prove a symmetry result on submanifolds of codimension one in a (n + 1)-dimensional space form, related to the geodesic distance and to the normal curvature of some fixed vector field. As applications we will prove sphere characterization type theorems for Kähler manifolds endowed with a toric group action.     

E-learning in secondary–tertiary transition in mathematics: for what purpose?

Mathematics is a challenging subject for many science freshmen, and failing mathematics exams is a major factor in university dropout rates. Many factors, including metacognitive, affective and linguistic ones, play a role in students?? difficulties in mathematics. Starting from this perspective, we conducted a theoretical exploration of the potential of online environments in helping students counteract the mathematical difficulties they face in the transition from secondary school to university. Although this secondary?Ctertiary transition and the use of technology are both widely researched issues in mathematics education, the potential of technology in helping students in the ??rite of passage?? to tertiary education has not yet been researched. This paper reports on the developed theoretical framework and on the preliminary findings from the implementation of an e-learning course that we designed with the aim of supporting students in the critical phase of transition from secondary school to university.     

Color encoding of binary fringes for gamma correction in 3-D profiling

Three-dimensional profiling by sinusoidal fringe projection using PSI-algorithms are distorted by the nonlinear response of digital cameras and commercial video projectors. To solve the problem, we present a fringe generation technique that consists of projecting and acquiring a temporal sequence of strictly binary color patterns, whose (adequately weighted) average leads to sinusoidal fringe patterns with the required number of bits, which allows for a reliable three-dimensional profile using a PSI-algorithm. Validation experiments are presented.     

蓖麻油酸甲酯乙氧基化物水溶液的动态表面张力

用最大气泡压力法分别测定了不同环氧乙烷(EO)加合数(10、12、14、16、20)的蓖麻油酸甲酯乙氧基化物(ECAME)水溶液的动态表面张力(DST)。考察了浓度、温度和无机电解质对DST的影响,探讨了不同浓度时DST参数(动态表面张力特性参数n,平衡时间t^*,曲线最大斜率R_1/2)的变化规律。结果表明,随着EO数由10增加到20,DST不断增大;随着浓度由0.5×10^-5 mol/L增加到10×10^-5 mol/L,n由3.02减小到1.05,t^*值由14.45减小到2.29,R_1/2由0.43增大到6.44,则动态表面活性增大,DST降低;随着温度由25 ℃升高至45 ℃,DST降低;吸附初期DST曲线随无机电解质浓度的增大而升高,吸附后期DST曲线随无机电解质浓度的增大而降低。和常规的脂肪酸甲酯乙氧基化物(FMEE)相比,ECAME的动态表面活性更加优异,这为开拓ECAME的应用指明了新的方向。     

Fluctuation relations and rare realizations of transport observables

Fluctuation relations establish rigorous identities for the nonequilibrium averages of observables. Starting from a general transport master equation with time-dependent rates, we employ the stochastic path integral approach to study statistical fluctuations around such averages. We show how under nonequilibrium conditions, rare realizations of transport observables are crucial and imply massive fluctuations that may completely mask such identities. Quantitative estimates for these fluctuations are provided. We illustrate our results on the paradigmatic example of a mesoscopic RC circuit.     

MAPLE deposition of methoxy Ge triphenylcorrole thin films

Methoxy Ge Triphenylcorrole [Ge(TPC)OCH₃] has been recently synthesized and deposited as thin film by the Matrix Assisted Pulsed Laser Evaporation (MAPLE) technique. In the last few years, corroles have been the object of an increasing number of studies and MAPLE technique seems to be a very promising deposition method for organic and polymeric films, producing good results for applications in chemical gas sensing layers production. In this work Ge(TPC)OCH₃ thin films were deposited by both spin coating and MAPLE techniques for comparison. The morphology of the films was investigated by Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM), while their optical properties were analyzed by photoluminescence (PL) and UV-vis absorption measurements and were compared with the ones of the starting solution. The film absorption spectrum presented the same peaks with the same relative intensities of that recorded in solution. The luminescence spectra were acquired periodically to evaluate the aging effects and no detectable variations were recorded over a period of 1 month.     

Modelling the active SARS-CoV-2 helicase complex as a basis for structure-based inhibitor design

The RNA helicase (non-structural protein 13, NSP13) of SARS-CoV-2 is essential for viral replication, and it is highly conserved among the coronaviridae family, thus a prominent drug target to treat COVID-19. We present here structural models and dynamics of the helicase in complex with its native substrates based on thorough analysis of homologous sequences and existing experimental structures. We performed and analysed microseconds of molecular dynamics (MD) simulations, and our model provides valuable insights to the binding of the ATP and ssRNA at the atomic level. We identify the principal motions characterising the enzyme and highlight the effect of the natural substrates on this dynamics. Furthermore, allosteric binding sites are suggested by our pocket analysis. Our obtained structural and dynamical insights are important for subsequent studies of the catalytic function and for the development of specific inhibitors at our characterised binding pockets for this promising COVID-19 drug target.

The RNA helicase (non-structural protein 13, NSP13) of SARS-CoV-2 is essential for viral replication, and it is highly conserved among the coronaviridae family, thus a prominent drug target to treat COVID-19.