The Effects of Charged Amino Acid Side-Chain Length on Diagonal Cross-Strand Interactions between Carboxylate- and Ammonium-Containing Residues in a β-Hairpin

The β-sheet is one of the common protein secondary structures, and the aberrant aggregation of β-sheets is implicated in various neurodegenerative diseases. Cross-strand interactions are an important determinant of β-sheet stability. Accordingly, both diagonal and lateral cross-strand interactions have been studied. Surprisingly, diagonal cross-strand ion-pairing interactions have yet to be investigated. Herein, we present a systematic study on the effects of charged amino acid side-chain length on a diagonal ion-pairing interaction between carboxylate- and ammonium-containing residues in a β-hairpin. To this end, 2D-NMR was used to investigate the conformation of the peptides. The fraction folded population and the folding free energy were derived from the chemical shift data. The fraction folded population for these peptides with potential diagonal ion pairs was mostly lower compared to the corresponding peptide with a potential lateral ion pair. The diagonal ion-pairing interaction energy was derived using double mutant cycle analysis. The Asp2-Dab9 (Asp: one methylene; Dab: two methylenes) interaction was the most stabilizing (−0.79 ± 0.14 kcal/mol), most likely representing an optimal balance between the entropic penalty to enable the ion-pairing interaction and the number of side-chain conformations that can accommodate the interaction. These results should be useful for designing β-sheet containing molecular entities for various applications.     

Spider Silk-Improved Quartz-Enhanced Conductance Spectroscopy for Medical Mask Humidity Sensing

Spider silk is one of the hottest biomaterials researched currently, due to its excellent mechanical properties. This work reports a novel humidity sensing platform based on a spider silk-modified quartz tuning fork (SSM-QTF). Since spider silk is a kind of natural moisture-sensitive material, it does not demand additional sensitization. Quartz-enhanced conductance spectroscopy (QECS) was combined with the SSM-QTF to access humidity sensing sensitively. The results indicate that the resonance frequency of the SSM-QTF decreased monotonously with the ambient humidity. The detection sensitivity of the proposed SSM-QTF sensor was 12.7 ppm at 1 min. The SSM-QTF sensor showed good linearity of ~0.99. Using this sensor, we successfully measured the humidity of disposable medical masks for different periods of wearing time. The results showed that even a 20 min wearing time can lead to a >70% humidity in the mask enclosed space. It is suggested that a disposable medical mask should be changed <2 h.     

Linker engineering in metal–organic frameworks for dark photocatalysis

Dark reactions featuring continuous activity under light off conditions play a critical role in natural photosynthesis. However, most artificial photocatalysts are inactive upon the removal of the light source, and the artificial photocatalysts with dark photocatalysis abilities have been rarely explored. Herein, we report a Ti-based metal–organic framework (MOF), MIL-125, exhibiting the capability of dark photocatalytic hydrogen production. Remarkably, the introduction of different functional groups onto the linkers enables distinctly different activities of the resulting MOFs (MIL-125-X, X = NH₂, NO₂, Br). Dynamic and thermodynamic investigations indicate that the production and lifetime of the Ti³⁺ intermediate are the key factors, due to the electron-donating/-withdrawing effect of the functional groups. As far as we know, this is the first report on dark photocatalysis over MOFs, providing new insights into the storage of irradiation energy and demonstrating their great potential in dark photocatalysis due to the great MOF diversity.

A Ti-based MOF with long-lived Ti³⁺ can achieve dark photocatalysis. The different groups on the organic linker modulate electron storage ability and the lifetime of Ti³⁺, significantly regulating dark photocatalytic activity in H₂ production.     

ACTIVE CONTROL OF A FLEXIBLE CANTILEVER PLATE WITH MULTIPLE TIME DELAYS

Active control of a flexible cantilever plate with multiple time delays is investigated using the discrete optimal control method. A controller with multiple time delays is presented. In this controller, time delay effect is incorporated in the mathematical model of the dynamic system throughout the control design and no approximations and assumptions are made in the controller derivation, so the system stability is easily guaranteed. Furthermore, this controller is available for both small time delays and large time delays. The feasibility and efficiency of the proposed controller are verified through numerical simulations in the end of this paper.     

Investigation on the scattering effect of ceramic Nd:YAG

This paper investigates the scattering effect of domestic 0.5 at{\%} ceramic Nd:YAG. An effective method has been utilized to measure the scattering and absorption coefficients. An end-pumped continuous wave (CW) Nd:YAG ceramic laser was also demonstrated. A maximum output power of 6.7~W at 1064~nm was obtained at an 808-nm pump power of 32.9~W. Conversion efficiency and slope efficiency have been achieved. This indicates that scattering has an important effect on the optical performance of ceramic Nd:YAG.     

Scaling Behavior between Heat Capacity and Thermal Expansion in Solids

We experimentally analyze the heat capacity and thermal expansion of reference solids in a wide temperature range from several Kelvin to melting temperature,and establish a universal double-linear relation between the experimental heat capacity C_p and thermal expansion β,which is different from the previous models.The universal behavior between heat capacity and thermal expansion is important to predict the thermodynamic parameters at constant pressure,and is helpful for understanding the nature of thermal properties in solids.     

A Calixarene Assembly Strategy of Combined Anti-Neuroinflammation and Drug Delivery Functions for Traumatic Brain Injury Therapy

Excessive inflammatory reaction aggravates brain injury and hinders the recovery of neural function in nervous system diseases. Microglia, as the major players of neuroinflammation, control the progress of the disease. There is an urgent need for effective non-invasive therapy to treat neuroinflammation mediated by microglia. However, the lack of specificity of anti-inflammatory agents and insufficient drug dose penetrating into the brain lesion area are the main problems. Here, we evaluated a series of calixarenes and found that among them the self-assembling architecture of amphiphilic sulfonatocalix[8]arene (SC8A12C) had the most potent ability to suppress neuroinflammation in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, SC8A12C assemblies were internalized into microglia through macropinocytosis. In addition, after applying the SC8A12C assemblies to the exposed brain tissue, we observed that SC8A12C assemblies penetrated into the brain parenchyma and eliminated the inflammatory factor storm, thereby restoring neurobiological functions in a mouse model of traumatic brain injury.     

铜铟镓硒太阳能电池多层膜的结构分析

对于溅射后硒化和共蒸发等方法制备的铜铟镓硒（CIGS）太阳能电池薄膜,利用多种分析方法研究了CIGS多层膜的复杂结构等．研究表明：卢瑟福背散射（RBS）在分析CIGS多层膜方面具有其独特优势和可靠的结果;溅射后硒化方法制备的CIGS薄膜中,Ga和In在CIGS薄膜中呈梯度分布,这种Ga表层少而内层多的不均匀分布与Mo层没有必然关系;RBS和俄歇电子能谱分析（AES）均显示CIGS太阳能电池器件多层膜界面处存在扩散,尤其是CdS与CIGS,Mo与CIGS的界面处;X射线荧光（XRF）结果表明,电池效率最高的CIGS层中In,Ga比例为In：Ga=0．7：0.3;X射线衍射（XRD）结果显示：退火后的CIGS／Mo薄膜结晶品质得到了优化．     

垂直腔面发射半导体微腔激光器

评述了垂直腔面发射半导体激光器研究的最新进展,就其结构特点、应变量子阱结构、超晶格镜面和微腔效应作了简要的论述,探讨了进一步降低半导体激光器阈值的途径,介绍了新型的氧化约束型垂直腔面发射半导体激光器,并对微腔激光器中自发辐射增强效应和三维封闭腔的特性给出了描述,同时展望了该器件的应用及发展前景。     

非即变相位共轭反馈对半导体激光器动态特性的影响

从四波混频产生相位共轭的物理原因出发,定义了相位共轭镜（PCM）的响应时间．建立起非即变相位共轭反馈条件下半导体激光器的外腔模型。以响应时间及频率失调为参变量,对其分岔及噪声等动态行为进行数值分析。结果表明,不考虑噪声影响时,增加相位共轭镜响应时间会使混沌带出现的次数和范围得到较大的抑制,当响应时间增大到1．5ns时,混沌带消失,半导体激光器保持稳定的单周期状态;考虑噪声影响后,随若响应时间的相对强度噪声（RIN）可减小几dB甚至十几dB,产生突变需要的反馈量也增大一个数量级以上,且其频谱的峰值向高频方向移动;另外,由于共轭反馈引起的频率失调低于半导体激光器激射频率3个数量级以上．它只对分岔特性有影响．对相对强度噪声的影响几乎为零。