Accounting for the uncertainties in the estimation of average shear wave velocity using V S– N correlations

Site-specific seismic hazard analysis is crucial for designing earthquake resistance structures, particularly in seismically active regions. Shear wave velocity ( V _S) is a key parameter in such analysis, although the economy and other factors restrict its direct field measurement in many cases. Various V _S–SPT– N correlations are routinely incorporated in seismic hazard analysis to estimate the value of V _S. However, many uncertainties question the reliability of these estimated V _S values. This paper comes up with a statistical approach to take care of such uncertainties involved in V _S calculations. The measured SPT– N values from all the critical boreholes were converted into statistical parameters and passed through various correlations to estimate V _S at different depths. The effect of different soil layers in the boreholes on the Vs estimation was also taken into account. Further, the average shear wave velocity of the top 30 m soil cover ( V _S30) is estimated after accounting for various epistemic and aleatoric uncertainties. The scattering nature of the V _S values estimated using different V _S– N correlations was reduced significantly with the application of the methodology. Study results further clearly demonstrated the potential of the approach to eliminate various uncertainties involved in the estimation of V _S30 using general and soil-specific correlations.     

Synthesis and physicochemical characteristics of polymolybdenum(VI) phenylsiloxanes by means of different methods

Interaction of molybdenyl(VI) bis(acetylacetonate) with polyphenylsiloxane in xylene and under mechanochemical activation conditions has been investigated. The interaction in solution proceeds with splitting of the siloxane bond and formation of polymolybdenum(VI) phenylsiloxane with different silicon/metal ratios. The fractions with the silicon/metal ratio < 2 are characterized with high degree of crystallinity and low solubility, whereas those with the ratio > 2 are amorphous. The interaction of the above reagents under mechanical activation conditions proceeds with the formation of soluble polymers similar to those obtained in a solution with the silicon/molybdenum ratio equal to 2.6. The crystal chemistry parameters of the fraction obtained in solution with the ratio Si/Mo equals to 1:2 have been calculated on the basis of the X-ray diffraction analysis data using the Debye–Shearer equation. It has been demonstrated that the chain cross section found using the Miller–Boyer method coincides with that calculated geometrically on the basis of literature data on bond lengths and angles. It is shown that the interaction of molybdenyl(VI) bis(acetylacetonate) with polyphenylsiloxane takes place in solution more deeply than under the conditions of mechanochemical activation and is accompanied by the process of separation siloxanes connection. This leads to the formation of a fraction with smaller ratio of substances than the initial ratio.     

Cell-Free Synthesis of Selenoproteins in High Yield and Purity for Selective Protein Tagging

The selenol group of selenocysteine is much more nucleophilic than the thiol group of cysteine. Selenocysteine residues in proteins thus offer reactive points for rapid post-translational modification. Herein, we show that selenoproteins can be expressed in high yield and purity by cell-free protein synthesis by global substitution of cysteine by selenocysteine. Complete alkylation of solvent-exposed selenocysteine residues was achieved in 10 minutes with 4-chloromethylene dipicolinic acid (4Cl-MDPA) under conditions that left cysteine residues unchanged even after overnight incubation. Gd^III−Gd^III distances measured by double electron–electron resonance (DEER) experiments of maltose binding protein (MBP) containing two selenocysteine residues tagged with 4Cl-MDPA-Gd^III were indistinguishable from Gd^III−Gd^III distances measured of MBP containing cysteine reacted with 4Br-MDPA tags.