A quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics study on the hydrolysis mechanism of New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1

New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1 (NDM-1) has emerged as a major global threat to human health for its rapid rate of dissemination and ability to make pathogenic microbes resistant to almost all known β-lactam antibiotics. In addition, effective NDM-1 inhibitors have not been identified to date. In spite of the plethora of structural and kinetic data available, the accurate molecular characteristics of and details on the enzymatic reaction of NDM-1 hydrolyzing β-lactam antibiotics remain incompletely understood. In this study, a combined computational approach including molecular docking, molecular dynamics simulations and quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics calculations was performed to characterize the catalytic mechanism of meropenem catalyzed by NDM-1. The quantum mechanics/molecular mechanics results indicate that the ionized D124 is beneficial to the cleavage of the C–N bond within the β-lactam ring. Meanwhile, it is energetically favorable to form an intermediate if no water molecule coordinates to Zn2. Moreover, according to the molecular dynamics results, the conserved residue K211 plays a pivotal role in substrate binding and catalysis, which is quite consistent with previous mutagenesis data. Our study provides detailed insights into the catalytic mechanism of NDM-1 hydrolyzing meropenem β-lactam antibiotics and offers clues for the discovery of new antibiotics against NDM-1 positive strains in clinical studies.     

Cellulose polymorphism study with sum-frequency-generation (SFG) vibration spectroscopy: identification of exocyclic CH2OH conformation and chain orientation

Sum-frequency-generation (SFG) vibration spectroscopy is a technique only sensitive to functional groups arranged without centrosymmetry. For crystalline cellulose, SFG can detect the C6H₂ and intra-chain hydrogen-bonded OH groups in the crystal. The geometries of these groups are sensitive to the hydrogen bonding network that stabilizes each cellulose polymorph. Therefore, SFG can distinguish cellulose polymorphs (I_β, II, III_I and III_II) which have different conformations of the exocyclic hydroxymethylene group or directionalities of glucan chains. The C6H₂ asymmetric stretching peaks at 2,944 cm^?1 for cellulose I_β and 2,960 cm^?1 for cellulose II, III_I and III_II corresponds to the trans-gauche (tg) and gauche-trans (gt) conformation, respectively. The SFG intensity of the stretch peak of intra-chain hydrogen-bonded O–H group implies that the chain arrangement in cellulose crystal is parallel in I_β and III_I, and antiparallel in II and III_II.     

Contact duration aware evaluation for content dissemination delay in mobile social network

Groups of people with mobile phones using short‐range connections such as WiFi and Bluetooth to propagate messages can be modeled as, with regard to regular absence of end‐to‐end connection, mobile social networks (MSNs), which can be exploited to offload a significant amount of mobile content from the overloaded infrastructure networks such as 3G. The study of content transmission delay for the applications of mobile content dissemination in MSNs is an important problem, because to enhance the network capacity, the traffic is offloaded at the cost of inducing longer delay. In contrast to existing works, which ignore the factors of contact duration limits and large content size, we present a contact duration aware framework to model the content dissemination process in MSNs, give an explicit expression for the average content dissemination delay, and reveals its relationship with various system parameters of content size, users’ selfishness, number of involved subscribers, infecting ratio, and so on. We apply our proposed model to real‐life traces to assess its reliability by comparing the theoretical results with measured statistics and present extensive upshots to evaluate the influence of various parameters on system performance. The results demonstrate the accuracy of our proposed framework and reveal that system parameters of content size, system infecting ratio and intragroup transmission are the most important factors to influence the content dissemination delay. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Heat transfer coefficient distribution in inner surface of stator ventilation duct for large capacity air-cooled turbine generator

Journal of Thermal Analysis and Calorimetry - The stator ventilation duct is the main path for fluid flowing to cool the stator bar and the core. Considering the complexity of the ventilation...     

Coherent state transfer through a multi-channel quantum network: Natural versus controlled evolution passage

Quantum state transfer (QST) is an important task in quantum information processing. In this study, we describe two approaches for the high-fidelity transfer of a quantum state between two opposite quantum dots attached to a multi-channel quantum network. First, we demonstrate that a high-efficiency QST can be achieved with the coherent time evolution of a quantum system without any external control. Second, we present an approach that uses an alternative mechanism for a high-fidelity QST. By adiabatically varying tunnel couplings, it is possible to implement the complete transmission of a quantum state based on this quantum mechanical mechanism.     

Failure analysis of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 photovoltaic modules: degradation mechanism of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 solar cells under harsh environmental conditions

High‐temperature‐induced and humidity‐induced degradation behaviors were investigated through the failure analysis of encapsulated Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGS) modules and non‐encapsulated CIGS cells. After being exposed to high temperature (85 °C) for 1000 h, the efficiency loss of CIGS modules and the resistivities of the aluminum‐doped zinc oxide (AZO) layer, CIGS layer, and Mo layer were slightly increased. After damp heat (DH) testing (85 °C/85% RH), the efficiency of some modules decreased significantly accompanied by discoloration, and in these areas, the resistivity of the AZO layers increased markedly. The causes of degradation of CIGS cells after high temperature and DH tests were suggested through X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis. The high‐temperature‐induced degradation behaviors were revealed to be increases in series resistance of the CIGS cells, due to the adsorption of oxygen on the AZO, CIGS, and Mo layers. The degradation behavior after DH (85 °C/85% RH) exposure was caused by the adsorption of oxygen, as well as the generation of Zn(OH)₂ due to water molecules. In particular, the humidity‐induced degradation behavior in discolored CIGS modules was ascribed to the generation of Zn(OH)₂ and carboxylic acids in the AZO layer, due to a chemical reaction between the AZO, ethylene‐vinyl acetate copolymer, and water. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Rapid screening and determination of nerve agent metabolites in human urine by LC-MS/MS

Qualitative screening procedures have been developed for the rapid detection and identification of the metabolites of nerve agents in the urine samples and extracts using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). The combination of negative electrospray ionization (ESI) using a C₁₈ column and water-methanol mobile phase modified with ammonium formate provides a rapid screening procedure for nerve agent degradation products with limit of detection of 1 ng/mL in the precursor-ion analysis. Also, determination of the alkyl methylphosphonic acids was carried out by the SRM scan mode with the limit of detection of 0.1 ng/mL. These procedures will be applicable to the trace analysis of metabolites of nerve agents in human urine matrices in the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) proficiency test.     

Ca8Mg（SiO4）4Cl2∶Eu2+,Ce3+,Mn2+绿色荧光粉发光性能及其应用研究

利用高温固相法,合成出Eu2+、Ce3+、Mn2+共掺的Ca8Mg(SiO4)4Cl2系列绿色荧光粉。通过XRD表征了这些荧光粉的结构,通过分子荧光光谱仪研究了它们的室温发光性能。首先调查了Eu2+掺杂的Ca8Mg(SiO4)4Cl2绿色荧光粉发光性能,随后引入Ce3+、Mn2+提高了Ca8Mg(SiO4)4Cl2∶Eu2+在紫外光区的吸收强度及绿光发射强度。最后将筛选出来的荧光粉与InGaN-LED芯片组装制作成单一绿光LED器件,利用Ca7.8215MgSi4O16Cl2∶0.0525Eu2+,0.056Ce3+,0.070Mn2+所制作成的绿光LED器件发光最强,在20mA电流激发下,此LED发很强的绿光,其电致发光光谱所对应的色坐标值为:x=0.26,y=0.55。     

Physical and electrochemical properties of (La0.3Sr0.7)0.93TiO3–δ synthesized by Pechini method as an anode material for solid oxide fuel cells

The lanthanum strontium titanate (LST) has to be calcined at significantly high temperature (above 1,300 °C) to obtain its pure perovskite structure when synthesized by conventional solid-state method, which is main reason for reducing active surface area. In this study, A-site deficient (La_0.3Sr_0.7)_0.93TiO₃ was synthesized by Pechini method. Although the prepared powders were calcined at 600 °C, the pure perovskite structure can be obtained without any secondary phase such as TiO₂. Moreover, the porosity and surface area are 6 times and one order of magnitude higher in the LST powders synthesized by Pechini method than in the powders synthesized by solid-state method. Based on these results, the LST electrode (Pechini) leads to two times lower electrode resistance than the LST electrode (solid-state). Thus, the LST powders synthesized by Pechini can contributes to saving the energy needed for calcination process as well as increasing the porosity and active surface area, enhancing physical and electrochemical properties in SOFC anode.