Correlation of the dynamics of native human acetylcholinesterase and its inhibited huperzine A counterpart from sub-picoseconds to nanoseconds

It is a long debated question whether catalytic activities of enzymes, which lie on the millisecond timescale, are possibly already reflected in variations in atomic thermal fluctuations on the pico- to nanosecond timescale. To shed light on this puzzle, the enzyme human acetylcholinesterase in its wild-type form and complexed with the inhibitor huperzine A were investigated by various neutron scattering techniques and molecular dynamics simulations. Previous results on elastic neutron scattering at various timescales and simulations suggest that dynamical processes are not affected on average by the presence of the ligand within the considered time ranges between 10 ps and 1 ns. In the work presented here, the focus was laid on quasi-elastic (QENS) and inelastic neutron scattering (INS). These techniques give access to different kinds of individual diffusive motions and to the density of states of collective motions at the sub-picoseconds timescale. Hence, they permit going beyond the first approach of looking at mean square displacements. For both samples, the autocorrelation function was well described by a stretched-exponential function indicating a linkage between the timescales of fast and slow functional relaxation dynamics. The findings of the QENS and INS investigation are discussed in relation to the results of our earlier elastic incoherent neutron scattering and molecular dynamics simulations.     

Modeling Groups of Plausible Virtual Pedestrians

In a proposed methodology for modeling dynamic crowd scenarios, a video corpus informs the modeling process, after which the resultant animations undergo perception-based evaluation. The aim is to improve the crowd's visual plausibility rather than the simulation's correctness. A real-life crowd animation system demonstrates the methodology's practical application.     

Wakefulness in young and elderly subjects driving at night in a car simulator

Young drivers are over-represented in nighttime traffic accidents and several studies have suggested that many accidents are associated with elevated sleepiness levels. It has been suggested that there may be a connection between lowered wake capacity and functional sensory motor skills on the one hand and sleep deprivation at the circadian low in young drivers on the other.Performance during a 45/min evening and night drive among young (n = 10, age range 18–24 years) and elderly (n = 10, age range 55–64 years) subjects was studied using a moving base driving simulator. EEG was measured continuously. Every 5 min, subjects were rated on the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS). Saliva cortisol was assessed before and after each drive.The results showed that sleepiness increased across each drive and was higher among young drivers at night. Relative EEG power increased among older drivers for frequencies of 10–16 Hz. The sigma 1 frequency band (12–14 Hz) proved particularly sensitive to sustained driving, and was elevated among subjects in the elderly group. Cortisol levels before and after the evening and night drive showed higher mean levels for elderly subjects.The present study has demonstrated that young drivers were more sleepy while driving at night. The effects could represent a mobilization of effort and a reorganization of brain firing pattern among older subjects, possibly reflecting better ability and effort to resist sleepiness.     

Spray formation of middle distillates for autothermal reforming

The reforming of diesel and diesel-like fuels plays a central role in the development of fuel cell systems for on-board power supplies. The vaporization of the fuel via a spray formation and the subsequent mixture with water vapor and air determine the quality of the reforming process, as is shown in this paper. By using a high quality nozzle residual hydrocarbons were below 25 ppmV during the reforming of standard diesel. Through the use of a fuel injector in pulsed operation, the load range was able to be increased from 1:1.67 to 1:6. Spray pattern analyses were conducted using a high-speed camera. The formation of the spray pattern lasted 1.5–2 ms. The testing of a fast-closing magnetic valve manufactured by GSR Ventiltechnik was carried out on the autothermal reformer (ATR) type AH2. It exist not any direct influence of the pulsed operation on hydrogen production.     

Quantification of non-isothermal,multi-phase crystallization of isotactic polypropylene: The influence of cooling rate and pressure

The structure of semi-crystalline polymers is strongly influenced by the conditions applied during processing and is of major importance for the final properties of the product. A method is presented to quantify the effect of thermal and pressure history on the isotropic and quiescent crystallization kinetics of four important structures of polypropylene, i.e. the α-, β-, γ- and mesomorphic phase. The approach is based on nucleation and growth of spherulites during non-isothermal solidification, described by the Schneider rate equations combined with the Komogoroff-Avrami expression for space filling. Using an optimization routine the time-resolved multi-phase structure development is accurately described using crystal phase dependent growth rates and an overall nucleation density, all as function of temperature and pressure. It is shown that the maximum growth rate of the α-, and γ-phase increases with applied pressure, while it decreases for the mesomorphic phase. Addition of β-nucleation agent is interpreted as a secondary nucleation density with a coupled β-phase growth. This complete crystallization kinetics characterization of isotactic polypropylene allows prediction of the multi-phase structure development for a wide range of quiescent processing conditions.     

Energy-efficient cooking methods

Energy-efficient new cooking techniques have been developed in this research. Using a stove with 649?±?20 W of power, the minimum heat, specific heat of transformation, and on-stove time required to completely cook 1 kg of dry beans (with water and other ingredients) and 1 kg of raw potato are found to be: 710 (±24)?kJ, 613 (±20)?kJ, and 1,144?±?10 s, respectively, for beans and 287?±?12 kJ, 200?±?9 kJ, and 466?±?10 s for Irish potato. Extensive researches show that these figures are, to date, the lowest amount of heat ever used to cook beans and potato and less than half the energy used in conventional cooking with a pressure cooker. The efficiency of the stove was estimated to be 52.5?±?2 %. Discussion is made to further improve the efficiency in cooking with normal stove and solar cooker and to save food nutrients further. Our method of cooking when applied globally is expected to contribute to the clean development management (CDM) potential. The approximate values of the minimum and maximum CDM potentials are estimated to be 7.5?×?10¹¹ and 2.2?×?10¹³?kg of carbon credit annually. The precise estimation CDM potential of our cooking method will be reported later.     

展望22nm技术节点

为了实现22nm技术节点，工程师必须在许多方面做出重大决定，例如：是否要从平面化的CMOS器件结构转变为多栅结构；是否要使用不同的沟道材料；以及是否要用铜插入来代替钨插入。