Service stage Petri net models with product form solution

A class of service stage Petri net models whose equilibrium probabilities satisfy local balance equations is presented. Examples of their applicability include bus oriented multiprocessor interconnections, the classical dining philosophers problem and the alternating bit protocol. The natural topological space for embedding the state transition lattice for this class of SSPN is shown to be a multidimensional toroidal manifold.     

Vibrational corrections to the charge and momentum densities of H2

Vibrational corrections to the charge and momentum densities of H₂ are calculated using the Wang wavefunction and various expressions for the dependence of the effective nuclear charge on the interatomic distance. Both harmonic oscillator and Morse potentials are employed for the vibrational wavefunctions, and excited as well as ground vibrational states are considered. The corrections to the momentum density, though considerably smaller than the charge density corrections, appear to be somewhat more sensitive qualitatively to the choice of both nuclear and electronic wavefunctions.     

Further results on integral generalized inverses of integral matrices

This paper further investigates integral generalized inverses of integral matrices.     

Modelling optical fibres with arbitrary refractive-index profiles

The characteristics of various models of refractive-index profile are examined. Four models are considered: (1) power-law profile, (2) truncated even polynomial profile, (3) truncated all-term polynomial profile, (4) Gauss-Chebychev approximation. The characteristics of the various models are examined with particular reference to the ray-delay times and the shape of the impulse response. The results show that models (1) and (2) are limited in their usefulness in representing practical profiles, while the approximation (4) is easily applied to a variety of practical profiles.     

Dash waves in a reaction-diffusion system

Patterns in reaction-diffusion systems generally consist of smooth traveling waves or of stationary, discontinuous Turing structures. Hybrid patterns that blend the properties of waves and Turing structures have not previously been observed. We report observation of dash waves, which consist of wave segments regularly separated by gaps, moving coherently in the Belousov-Zhabotinsky system dispersed in water-in-oil microemulsion. Dash waves emerge from the interaction between excitable and pseudo-Turing-unstable steady states. We are able to generate dash waves in simulations with simple models.     

How does huperzine A enter and leave the binding gorge of acetylcholinesterase? Steered molecular dynamics simulations

The entering and leaving processes of Huperzine A (HupA) binding with the long active-site gorge of Torpedo californica acetylcholinesterase (TcAChE) have been investigated by using steered molecular dynamics simulations. The analysis of the force required along the pathway shows that it is easier for HupA to bind to the active site of AChE than to disassociate from it, which for the first time interprets at the atomic level the previous experimental result that unbinding process of HupA is much slower than its binding process to AChE. The direct hydrogen bonds, water bridges, and hydrophobic interactions were analyzed during two steered molecular dynamics (SMD) simulations. Break of the direct hydrogen bond needs a great pulling force. The steric hindrance of bottleneck might be the most important factor to produce the maximal rupture force for HupA to leave the binding site but it has a little effect on the binding process of HupA with AChE. Residue Asp72 forms a lot of water bridges with HupA leaving and entering the AChE binding gorge, acting as a clamp to take out HupA from or put HupA into the active site. The flip of the peptide bond between Gly117 and Gly118 has been detected during both the conventional MD and SMD simulations. The simulation results indicate that this flip phenomenon could be an intrinsic property of AChE and the Gly117-Gly118 peptide bond in both HupA bound and unbound AChE structures tends to adopt the native enzyme structure. At last, in a vacuum the rupture force is increased up to 1500 pN while in water solution the greatest rupture force is about 800 pN, which means water molecules in the binding gorge act as lubricant to facilitate HupA entering or leaving the binding gorge.