Studying the protein-protein interactions in the postsynaptic density by means of immunoabsorption and chemical crosslinking

Postsynaptic densities (PSDs), isolated from porcine cerebral cortices, are large disk-shaped aggregates consisting of hundreds of different proteins. To study the protein-protein interactions in such complex supramolecules, we developed a procedure to break up the PSD's overall structure, while preserving some interactions between individual proteins. Using the resulting PSD sample and an indirect immunoabsorption procedure, PSD-95 was isolated along with the α- and β-subunits of calcium calmodulin-dependent protein kinase II (CaMKIIα and CaMKIIβ), α-tubulin, β-tubulin, and Chapsyn110. Similarly, CaMKIIα was isolated along with CaMKIIβ, α-tubulin, β-tubulin, and small amounts of PSD-95. The proteins isolated from PSDs treated with a cleavable bifunctional crosslinking reagent were further subjected to diagonal gel electrophoresis analysis, and the results indicated that CaMKIIα resides next to α-tubulin in the PSD. Overall, the results obtained here suggest that within the PSD, large aggregates of CaMKIIα, CaMKIIβ, α-tubulin, and β-tubulin may occur that indirectly associate with PSD-95 and Chapsyn110. Such a protein organization would allow interactions with F-actin in the cytoplasm and with proteins, such as N-methyl-D-aspartate receptors, which reside on the postsynaptic membrane. Furthermore, it would facilitate binding to proteins such as the various microtubule-associated proteins that reside in the core region of the PSD.     

Per-queue stability analysis of a random access system

We have extended our previous studies (2000) of the system stability of buffered ALOHA systems to study an individual queue's stability, i.e., per-queue stability. The main result obtained in this work is a necessary and sufficient per-queue stability condition, which can be computed analytically only for several cases. For other incomputable cases, we evaluated several inner and outer bounds. They are generally quite tight for not-so-asymmetric systems     

测定外延层电阻率的面接触方法研究

评论了美国科学家C.C. Allen等于1966年发表的“测定外延层电阻率的点接触方法”之论文的局限性,从而提出了本方法。本方法从理论上解一维Poisson方程并与C.C。Allen法的公式相比较,获得某些公式。文中导出了面接触方法雪崩击穿电压V_(Ba)~∞(V)及点接触方法雪崩击穿电压V_(Bp)~∞(V)的比值为V_(Ba)~∞=0.456;同时还导出了点接触方法外延层耗尽层宽度为t_(min p)(μm)和面接触方法外延层耗尽层宽度t_(mina(μm)的比值为t_(minp)/t_(mina)=2.565。在实践上,为证实两种模型的功能,利用两种探针进行了对比测试。一种是通常被采用的点接触锇尖探针:另一种是利用φ0.8±0.1mm的银针,在银针顶上吸上φ0.4±0.1mm的汞球,以实现面接触。理论和实验吻合良好。     

Fabrication of a high aspect ratio nanoporous array on silicon

In this study, a simple method for the fabrication of high aspect ratio silicon nanoporous arrays is developed. A N-type silicon wafer is used as the substrate material. A micro-scale pattern of the desired porous array is transferred to the front surface of the silicon wafer by photolithography after which the wafer is placed in a home-made fixture to efficiently expel the etching generated air and promptly hold the back-side illumination light. A halogen lamp is used as the light source for backside illumination to enhance the electron–hole pair generation. An anodization process is then carried out using a new etchant consisting of hydrofluoric acid and mixed EtOH and EMSO surfactant to effectively polish the pore surfaces and sharpen the tips of the etched pores. A nanochannel array with a nano-tip of 61.4?nm is obtained.     

Counting clicks and beeps: Exploring numerosity based haptic and audio PIN entry

Haptic and audio cues now appear commonly in computer interfaces, partially due to inherent advantages such as their support for eyes-free interaction. Their invisible, unobservable nature also makes them ideal candidates for security interfaces in which users have to enter secret information such as passwords. In particular, researchers have explored this idea through the design of PIN entry authentication systems based on multi-modal combinations of visual and non-visual content or on the recognition of small sets of unimodal haptic or audio stimuli. This paper highlights the benefits and performance limitations of these approaches and introduces an alternative based on unimodal audio or haptic temporal numerosity – the ability to accurately and rapidly determine the number of cues presented in rapid temporal succession. In essence, in a numerosity interface, rather than recognizing distinct cues, users must count the number of times that a single cue occurs. In an iterative process of design and evaluation, three prototypes implementing this concept are presented and studies of their use reported. The results show the fastest PIN entry times and lowest error rates to be 8 s and 2%, figures that improve substantially on previous research. These results are attained while maintaining low levels of workload and substantial resistance to observation attack (as determined via camera attack security studies). In sum, this paper argues that unimodal audio and haptic numerosity is a valuable and relatively unexplored metaphor for non-visual input and demonstrates the validity of this claim in the demanding task of unobservable authentication systems.     

中韩两国大学英语水平考试之比较

介绍并比较了中韩两国大学英语水平考试内容,指出中韩两国在大学英语水平考试方面相似的地方是都侧重对受试者听力和阅读能力的考查,不同之处在于韩国英语水平考试设有口语考试这一部分,且试题类型多样化.韩国英语水平考试有2点值得借鉴:一是口语测试的必要性,二是成绩报告的科学性.     

Severe motor disability affects functional cortical integration in the context of brain-computer interface (BCI) use

The purpose of this study was to investigate cortical interaction between brain regions in people with and without severe motor disability during brain-computer interface (BCI) operation through coherence analysis. Eighteen subjects, including six patients with cerebral palsy (CP) and three patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), participated. The results showed (1) the existence of BCI performance difference caused by severe motor disability; (2) different coherence patterns between participants with and without severe motor disability during BCI operation and (3) effects of motor disability on cortical connections varying in the brain regions for the different frequency bands, indicating reduced cortical differentiation and specialisation. Participants with severe neuromuscular impairments, as compared with the able-bodied group, recruited more cortical regions to compensate for the difficulties caused by their motor disability, reflecting a less efficient operating strategy for the BCI task. This study demonstrated that coherence analysis can be applied to examine the ways cortical networks cooperate with each other during BCI tasks. PRACTITIONER SUMMARY: Few studies have investigated the electrophysiological underpinnings of differences in BCI performance. This study contributes by assessing neuronal synchrony among brain regions. Our findings revealed that severe motor disability causes more cortical areas to be recruited to perform the BCI task, indicating reduced cortical differentiation and specialisation.     

Performance of Sewage Sludge Treatment and Electricity Generation by Different Configuration Microbial Fuel Cells

This paper compared the degradation efficiency of sludge organic matters and electric-production by two typical microbial fuel cells——dual-chamber microbial fuel cell(DMFC)and single chamber air cathode microbial fuel cell(SAMFC),and the variations of sludge protein,polysaccharide and ammonia nitrogen within the systems were also investigated.The results showed that the concentration of sludge soluble chemical oxygen demand,protein and carbohydrate of DMFC are higher than these of SAMFC during the systems operation,while DMFC can achieve a better ammonia nitrogen removal than SAMFC.Under the same operation condition,the stable voltage output of DMFC and SAMFC is 0.61 V and 0.37 V;the maximum power density of DMFC and SAMFC is 2.79 W/m3and 1.25 W/m3;TCOD removal efficiency of DMFC and SAMFC is 34.14%and 28.63%for 12 d,respectively.Meanwhile,DMFC has a higher coulomb efficiency than SAMFC,but both are less than5%.The results showed that DMFC present a better performance on sludge degradation and electric-production.