Modeling and simulation of free radical polymerization of styrene under semibatch reactor conditions

The first part of this approach is concerned with the elaboration of a radical polymerization model of styrenne, based on a kinetic diagram that includes chemical and thermal initiation, propagation, termination by recombination and chain transfer to the monomer. Furthermore, volume contraction during polymerization is considered, as well as the gel and glass effects. The mathematical formalism that describes the model in terms of moments is explored in detail. The model was then used to predict the changes in monomer conversion and molecular weight after intermediate addition of initiator and monomer. The results of this operation are dependent on the conditions of the reaction mass, quantity, and moment of substance addition. Therefore, the simulations were performed at different times with respect to the gel effect; before, during and after this phenomenon, and also with respect to different temperatures and initiators. Increasing the initiator concentration before the gel effect leads to an earlier appearance of the phenomenon and to a decrease in molecular weight. The ratio reveals a polydispersity index smaller for the intermediate addition of initiator. No significant changes take place during or after the gel effect. If along with the initiator, unreacted monomver (used to dissolve the initiator) enters the reactor, a small dip in conversion is observed. The general conclusion of this paper reveals the intermediate addition of initiator as a method to control polymer properties and to prevent the “dead-end” polymerization of styrene.     

Molecular modeling of cytochrome P450 3A4

The three-dimensional structure of human cytochrome P450 3A4 was modeled based on crystallographic coordinates of four bacterial P450s: P450 BM-3, P450cam, P450terp, and P450eryF. The P450 3A4 sequence was aligned to those of the known proteins using a structure-based alignment of P450 BM-3, P450cam, P450terp, and P450eryF. The coordinates of the model were then calculated using a consensus strategy, and the final structure was optimized in the presence of water. The P450 3A4 model resembles P450 BM-3 the most, but the B helix is similar to that of P450eryF, which leads to an enlarged active site when compared with P450 BM-3, P450cam, and P450terp. The 3A4 residues equivalent to known substrate contact residues of the bacterial proteins and key residues of rat P450 2B1 are located in the active site or the substrate access channel. Docking of progesterone into the P450 3A4 model demonstrated that the substrate bound in a 6-orientation can interact with a number of active site residues, such as 114, 119, 301, 304, 305, 309, 370, 373, and 479, through hydrophobic interactions. The active site of the enzyme can also accommodate erythromycin, which, in addition to the residues listed for progesterone, also contacts residues 101, 104, 105, 214, 215, 217, 218, 374, and 478. The majority of 3A4 residues which interact with progesterone and/or erythromycin possess their equivalents in key residues of P450 2B enzymes, except for residues 297, 480 and 482, which do not contact either substrate in P450 3A4. The results from docking of progesterone and erythromycin into the enzyme model make it possible to pinpoint residues which may be important for 3A4 function and to target them for site-directed mutagenesis.     

Thermal degradation of poly(vinyl chloride)

This paper presents an initial attempt at describing poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) thermal degradation through a semi-detailed and lumped kinetic model. A mechanism of 40 species and pseudocomponents (molecules and radicals) involved in about 250 reactions permits quite a good reproduction of the main characteristics of PVC degradation and volatilization. The presence of the two step mechanism—the first step of which corresponds to dehydrochlorination and the second to the tar release and residue char formation—are correctly predicted both in quantitative terms and in the temperature ranges. The model was validated by comparison with several thermo gravimetric analyses, both dynamic at different heating rates, and isothermal. When compared with the typical one step global apparent degradation models, the approach proposed here spans quite large operative ranges, especially when it comes to predicting product distributions. The initial results of these product predictions, even though quite preliminary, are encouraging and confirm the validity of the model.     

一种利用窗口结构提取红外弱小目标的方法

在分析红外弱小目标检测的检测概率和虚警率的基础上,引入了一种基于窗口结构的红外弱小目标检测方法.该方法无需进行图像差分,利用局部小范围内目标相对背景的灰度变化检测目标,可以在较低信噪比的情况下获得较高的检测概率和较低的虚警率.实验表明了该方法的有效性.     

On Physically Unacceptable Numerical Solutions Yielding Strong Chaotic Signals

Physically unacceptable chaotic numerical solutions of nonlinear circuits and systems are discussed in this paper. First, as an introduction, a simple example of a wrong choice of a numerical solver to deal with a second-order linear ordinary differential equation is presented. Then, the main result follows with the analysis of an ill-designed numerical approach to solve and analyze a particular nonlinear memristive circuit. The obtained trajectory of the numerical solution is unphysical (not acceptable), as it violates the presence of an invariant plane in the continuous systems. Such a poor outcome is then turned around, as we look at the unphysical numerical solution as a source of strong chaotic sequences. The 0–1 test for chaos and bifurcation diagrams are applied to prove that the unacceptable (from the continuous system point of view) numerical solutions are, in fact, useful chaotic sequences with possible applications in cryptography and the secure transmission of data.     

Microscale Thermophoresis and Molecular Modelling to Explore the Chelating Drug Transportation in the Milk to Infant

The microscale thermophoresis (MST) technique was utilized to investigate lactoferrin–drug interaction with the iron chelator, deferiprone, using label-free system. MST depends on the intrinsic fluorescence of one interacting partner. The results indicated a significant interaction between lactoferrin and deferiprone. The estimated binding constant for the lactoferrin–deferiprone interaction was 8.9 × 10⁻⁶ ± 1.6, SD, which is to be reported for the first time. Such significant binding between lactoferrin and deferiprone may indicate the potentiation of the drug secretion into a lactating mother’s milk. The technique showed a fast and simple approach to study protein–drug interaction while avoiding complicated labeling procedures. Moreover, the binding behavior of deferiprone within the binding sites of lactoferrin was investigated through molecular docking which reflected that deferiprone mediates strong hydrogen bonding with ARG121 and ASP297 in pocket 1 and forms H-bond and ionic interaction with ASN640 and ASP395, respectively, in pocket 2 of lactoferrin. Meanwhile, iron ions provide ionic interaction with deferiprone in both of the pockets. The molecular dynamic simulation further confirmed that the binding of deferiprone with lactoferrin brings conformational changes in lactoferrin that is more energetically stable. It also confirmed that deferiprone causes positive correlation motion in the interacting residues of both pockets, with strong negative correlation motion in the loop regions, and thus changes the dynamics of lactoferrin. The MM-GBSA based binding free energy calculation revealed that deferiprone exhibits ∆G TOTAL of −63,163 kcal/mol in pocket 1 and −63,073 kcal/mol in pocket 2 with complex receptor–ligand difference in pocket 1 and pocket 2 of −117.38 kcal/mol and −111.54 kcal/mol, respectively, which in turn suggests that deferiprone binds more strongly in the pocket 1. The free energy landscape of the lactoferrin–deferiprone complex also showed that this complex remains in a high energy state that confirms the strong binding of deferiprone with the lactoferrin. The current research concluded that iron-chelating drugs (deferiprone) can be transported from the mother to the infant in the milk because of the strong attachment with the lactoferrin active pockets.     

Novel Design of RNA Aptamers as Cancer Inhibitors and Diagnosis Targeting the Tyrosine Kinase Domain of the NT-3 Growth Factor Receptor Using a Computational Sequence-Based Approach

Aptamers, the nucleic acid analogs of antibodies, bind to their target molecules with remarkable specificity and sensitivity, making them promising diagnostic and therapeutic tools. The systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment (SELEX) is time-consuming and expensive. However, regardless of those issues, it is the most used in vitro method for selecting aptamers. Therefore, recent studies have used computational approaches to reduce the time and cost associated with the synthesis and selection of aptamers. In an effort to present the potential of computational techniques in aptamer selection, a simple sequence-based method was used to design a 69-nucleotide long aptamer (mod_09) with a relatively stable structure (with a minimum free energy of −32.2 kcal/mol) and investigate its binding properties to the tyrosine kinase domain of the NT-3 growth factor receptor, for the first time, by employing computational modeling and docking tools.     

耦合FE/WB法在声分析中的应用

简要描叙FE法(finite element method)和WB法(wave based method)的理论背景以及耦合FE/WB法的数学基础.耦合FE/WB法利用两者的优势——FE法的广泛应用和WB法的高收敛特性,将FE模型中较大且几何简单的部分采用WB法代替.耦合模型具有相对较少的自由度.对于较高的频率还可以进行细分得到更高的计算精度,并利用模态缩减法进一步减少自由度数.数值算例结果表明,该耦合方法有潜力覆盖中频段的声分析.     

走滑断裂分段叠置区物理模拟及构造差异性解析——以塔里木盆地顺北1号断裂为例

走滑断裂分段叠置区通常包括拉分叠置区和挤压叠置区,其形成及演化与油气藏关系密切,其内部构造特征对油气运聚具有重要影响。塔里木盆地顺托果勒地区顺北1号断裂叠置区分段发育特征明显,油气勘探表明,拉分叠置区和挤压叠置区对油气运聚的控制能力有一定差异。在分析构造特征的基础上,对走滑断裂拉分叠置区和挤压叠置区开展了物理模拟实验研究,结果显示,拉分叠置区内发育有多组里德尔（R）剪切和压剪性（P）剪切,在叠置区内多组断裂组成一套平面范围较小、垂向断距较大的雁列地堑系统;挤压叠置区内仅发育一组R剪切、P剪切及单条共轭里德尔（R'）剪切,并在叠置区内形成平面范围较大、垂向断距较小的地垒。因此认为,基底断裂的几何形态、运动性质是控制叠置区发育类型的关键因素。叠置区内断裂发育的数量、规模均受控于总走滑量,并与之呈正相关。相较于挤压叠置区,拉分叠置区的断层数更多,分布更密且地层破碎变形程度更高。在构造特征及力学机制上,拉分叠置区均表现出更强的油气富集潜力。     

连续级联喇曼光纤激光器耦合波方程的修正

从最基本的耦合波方程出发,考虑光波正反向传输的情况下,推导出了一个全面的、准确的关于连续级联喇曼光纤激光器的理论模型,描述了各级Stokes光波功率沿光纤长度的变化.指出了相关一些文献中存在的不足,并且给出了多级斯托克斯光波相互作用的有效作用面积的表达式.此模型有助于喇曼光纤激光器的设计.