Modeling and Optimization of the Effect of Sintering Parameters on the Hardness of Copper/Graphene Nanosheet Composites by Response Surface Methodology

Metal Science and Heat Treatment - Composites obtained by powder metallurgy from a mixture of copper powders and graphene nanosheets are studied. The response surface methodology is used to design...     

Pharmacophore Synergism in Diverse Scaffold Clinches in Aurora Kinase B

Aurora kinase B (AKB) is a crucial signaling kinase with an important role in cell division. Therefore, inhibition of AKB is an attractive approach to the treatment of cancer. In the present work, extensive quantitative structure–activity relationships (QSAR) analysis has been performed using a set of 561 structurally diverse aurora kinase B inhibitors. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) guidelines were used to develop a QSAR model that has high statistical performance (R²_tr = 0.815, Q²_LMO = 0.808, R²_ex = 0.814, CCC_ex = 0.899). The seven-variable-based newly developed QSAR model has an excellent balance of external predictive ability (Predictive QSAR) and mechanistic interpretation (Mechanistic QSAR). The QSAR analysis successfully identifies not only the visible pharmacophoric features but also the hidden features. The analysis indicates that the lipophilic and polar groups—especially the H-bond capable groups—must be present at a specific distance from each other. Moreover, the ring nitrogen and ring carbon atoms play important roles in determining the inhibitory activity for AKB. The analysis effectively captures reported as well as unreported pharmacophoric features. The results of the present analysis are also supported by the reported crystal structures of inhibitors bound to AKB.     

Nanoindentation measurement of core–skin interphase viscoelastic properties in a sandwich glass composite

Mechanics of Time-Dependent Materials - Debonding at the core–skin interphase region is one of the primary failure modes in core sandwich composites under shear loads. As a result, the...     

A dam-breach erosion model: I. Formulation

This paper, Part I in a series of two, develops a mathematical model for earthern dam breach erosion. This model constitutes an extension of the Breach Erosion of Earthfill Dams (BEED) model developed by Singh and Scarlatos (1987). Two aspects are emphasized: the evolution of the dam breach, and the subsequent flood and sediment routing. Simulation of dam breach evolution is based on hydrologic, geometric and geotechnic considerations. Einstein-Brown and Bagnold equations are utilized to compute the rate of erosion in the breached section. A water routing scheme, based on a modified version of the Muskingum method to simulate flow exchange between channel and floodplains, is used to route the resulting breach hydrograph. A sediment routing scheme based on the Muskingum method, modified to simulate deposition in floodplains, and deposition and scouring in the channel, is utilized to route the breach sediment graph. In Part II, the model is tested against historical dam failures, and an analysis is made to determine its sensitivity to various parameters.     

Trypsin-like Inhibitor Domain (TIL)-Harboring Protein Is Essential for Aedes aegypti Reproduction

Cysteine-rich trypsin inhibitor-like domain (TIL)-harboring proteins are broadly distributed in nature but remain understudied in vector mosquitoes. Here we have explored the biology of a TIL domain-containing protein of the arbovirus vector Aedes aegypti, cysteine-rich venom protein 379 (CRVP379). CRVP379 was previously shown to be essential for dengue virus infection in Ae. aegypti mosquitoes. Gene expression analysis showed CRVP379 to be highly expressed in pupal stages, male testes, and female ovaries. CRVP379 expression is also increased in the ovaries at 48 h post-blood feeding. We used CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing to generate two mutant lines of CRVP379 with mutations inside or outside the TIL domain. Female mosquitoes from both mutant lines showed severe defects in their reproductive capability; mutant females also showed differences in their follicular cell morphology. However, the CRVP379 line with a mutation outside the TIL domain did not affect male reproductive performance, suggesting that some CRVP379 residues may have sexually dimorphic functions. In contrast to previous reports, we did not observe a noticeable difference in dengue virus infection between the wild-type and any of the mutant lines. The importance of CRVP379 in Ae. aegypti reproductive biology makes it an interesting candidate for the development of Ae. aegypti population control methods.     

A BER Based Selection Combining Protocol for Adaptive Cooperative Cognitive Radios

This paper illustrates the performance of bit error rate based selection combining (BER-SC) protocol for adaptive cooperative cognitive radios. In the proposed framework, the unlicensed (i.e. secondary) system utilizes an adaptive mode of transmission to help the licensed (i.e. primary) system to achieve the desired quality of service in exchange for opportunistic spectrum access. The total transmission is divided in two phases. In Phase I, the primary transmitter (PT) broadcasts the data to the primary receiver (PR), which is overheard by the secondary transmitter (ST) and secondary receiver (SR). In Phase II, ST decodes the primary data and linearly combines its own data with the primary data. Using M-QAM the combined data is adaptively modulated, where M = 4, 16 or 64 depending on the received channel feedback, and relayed to PR and SR. At PR, BER-SC is employed to retrieve the primary data, and at SR interference cancellation is used to retrieve the secondary data. The analytical expressions are derived for the BER and the outage probability. The obtained results demonstrate the higher performance gains for both primary and secondary system by using adaptive mode of transmission at ST and BER-SC at PR.