Small-Molecule Inhibition of the uPAR ⋅ uPA Interaction by Conformational Selection

The urokinase receptor (uPAR) is a cell surface receptor that binds to the serine protease urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) with high affinity. This interaction is beneficial for extravascular fibrin clearance, but it has also been associated with a broad range of pathological conditions including cancer, atherosclerosis, and kidney disease. Here, starting with a small molecule that we previously discovered by virtual screening and cheminformatics analysis, we design and synthesize several derivatives that were tested for binding and inhibition of the uPAR ⋅ uPA interaction. To confirm the binding site and establish a binding mode of the compounds, we carried out biophysical studies using uPAR mutants, among them uPAR^H47C−N259C, a mutant previously developed to mimic the structure of uPA-bound uPAR. Remarkably, a substantial increase in potency is observed for inhibition of uPAR^H47C−N259C binding to uPA compared to wild-type uPAR, consistent with our use of the structure of uPAR in its uPA-bound state to design small-molecule uPAR ⋅ uPA antagonists. Combined with the biophysical studies, molecular docking followed by extensive explicit-solvent molecular dynamics simulations and MM-GBSA free energy calculations yielded the most favorable binding pose of the compound. Collectively, these results suggest that potent inhibition of uPAR binding to uPA with small molecules will likely only be achieved by developing small molecules that exhibit high-affinity to solution apo structures of uPAR, rather than uPA-bound structures of the receptor.     

Anisotropy Effects in the Shape-Memory Performance of Polymer Foams

Isotropic and anisotropic shape-memory polymer foams are prepared by supercritical carbon dioxide foaming from a multiblock copolymer (PDLCL) consisting of poly(ω-pentadecalactone) and poly(ε-caprolactone) segments. Analysis by micro-computed tomography reveals for the anisotropic PDLCL foam cells a high shape anisotropy ratio of R = 1.72 ± 0.62 with a corresponding Young's compression moduli ratio between longitudinal and transversal direction of 4.3. The experimental compression data in the linear elastic range can be well described by the anisotropic open foam model of Gibson and Ashby. A micro-morphological analysis for single pores using scanning electron microscopy images permits the correlation between the macroscopic stress-compression behavior and microscale structural changes.     

A survey of recent interactive image segmentation methods

Computational Visual Media - Image segmentation is one of the most basic tasks in computer vision and remains an initial step of many applications. In this paper, we focus on interactive image...     

REBTAM: reliable energy balance traffic aware data reporting algorithm for object tracking in multi-sink wireless sensor networks

Recently, Multi-sink Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) have received more and more attention due to their significant advantages over the single sink WSNs such as improving network throughput, balancing energy consumption, and prolonging network lifetime. Object tracking is regarded as one of the key applications of WSNs due to its wide real-life applications such as wildlife animal monitoring and military area intrusion detection. However, many object tracking researches usually focus on how to track the location of objects accurately, while few researches focus on data reporting. In this work, we propose an efficient data reporting method for object tracking in multi-sink WSNs. Due to the limited energy resource of sensor nodes, it seems especially important to design an energy efficient data reporting algorithm for object tracking in WSNs. Moreover, the reliable data transmission is an essential aspect that should be considered when designing a WSN for object tracking application, where the loss of data packets will affect the accuracy of the tracking and location estimation of a mobile object. In addition, congestion in WSNs has negative impact on the performance, namely, decreased throughput, increased per-packet energy consumption and delay, thus congestion control is an important issue in WSNs. Consequentially, this paper aims to achieve both minimum energy consumption in reporting operation and balanced energy consumption among sensor nodes for WSN lifetime extension. Furthermore, data reliability is considered in our model where the sensed data can reach the sink node in a more reliable way. Finally, this paper presents a solution that sufficiently exerts the underloaded nodes to alleviate congestion and improve the overall throughput in WSNs. This work first formulates the problem as 0/1 Integer Linear Programming problem, and proposes a Reliable Energy Balance Traffic Aware greedy Algorithm in multi-sink WSNs (REBTAM) to solve the optimization problem. Through simulation, the performance of the proposed approach is evaluated and analyzed compared with the previous work which is related to our topic such as DTAR, NBPR, and MSDDGR protocols.     

Amyloid Fibrils Aerogel for Sustainable Removal of Organic Contaminants from Water

Water contamination by organic pollutants is ubiquitous and hence a global concern due to detrimental effects on the environment and human health. Here, it is demonstrated that amyloid fibrils aerogels are ideal adsorbers for removing organic pollutants from water. To this end, amyloid fibrils prepared from β‑lactoglobulin, the major constituent of milk whey protein, are used as building blocks for the fabrication of the aerogels. The adsorption of Bentazone, Bisphenol A, and Ibuprofen, as model pollutants, is evaluated under quasi-static conditions, without use of energy or pressure. Through adsorption by amyloid fibrils aerogel, excellent removal efficiencies of 92%, 78%, and 98% are demonstrated for Bentazone, Bisphenol A, and Ibuprofen, respectively. Furthermore, the maximum adsorption capacity of amyloid fibrils aerogel for Bentazone, Bisphenol A, and Ibuprofen is 54.2, 50.6, and 69.6 mg g⁻¹, respectively. To shed light on the adsorption equilibrium process, adsorption isotherms, binding constants, saturation limits, and the effect of pH are evaluated. Finally, the regeneration of the aerogel over three consecutive cycles is studied, exhibiting high reusability with no significant changes in its removal performance. These results point at amyloid fibrils aerogels as a sustainable, efficient, and inexpensive technology for alleviating the ubiquitous water contamination by organic pollutants.     

Equality test with an anonymous authorization in cloud computing

Wireless Networks - With the rapid popularity and wide adoption of cloud storage, providing privacy-preserving by protecting sensitive information becomes a matter of grave concern. The most...     

Encoding Information on the Excited State of a Molecular Spin Chain

The quantum states of nano-objects can drive electrical transport properties across lateral and local-probe junctions. This raises the prospect, in a solid-state device, of electrically encoding information at the quantum level using spin-flip excitations between electron spins. However, this electronic state has no defined magnetic orientation and is short-lived. Using a novel vertical nanojunction process, these limitations are overcome and this steady-state capability is experimentally demonstrated in solid-state spintronic devices. The excited quantum state of a spin chain formed by Co phthalocyanine molecules coupled to a ferromagnetic electrode constitutes a distinct magnetic unit endowed with a coercive field. This generates a specific steady-state magnetoresistance trace that is tied to the spin-flip conductance channel, and is opposite in sign to the ground state magnetoresistance term, as expected from spin excitation transition rules. The experimental 5.9 meV thermal energy barrier between the ground and excited spin states is confirmed by density functional theory, in line with macrospin phenomenological modeling of magnetotransport results. This low-voltage control over a spin chain's quantum state and spintronic contribution lay a path for transmitting spin wave-encoded information across molecular layers in devices. It should also stimulate quantum prospects for the antiferromagnetic spintronics and oxides electronics communities.     

Effect of treads pattern of rubber floor mat on the friction coefficient

Millions of workers all over the world spend most of the working time on their feet, walking and standing rather than sitting. Slips and falls are the cause of major accidents and loss of the time at work. The Health and Safety Executive continually prompts on the need to avoid potential risks, especially where the floor surface is slippery or hazardous. In the present study, the effect of topographic orientation and tread pattern of the tested rubber specimens on the friction coefficient has been investigated. Experiments have been carried out using a test rig designed and manufactured to measure the friction coefficient between the footwear sliding against eight types of commercial rubber mat products (floors). Finite element simulations have been conducted using SIMULIA ABAQUS FEA to study the effect of grooves orientation of specimens sliding against rubber sheet on the friction coefficient. The results showed that tread pattern and grooves orientation significantly affect the friction coefficient. The effect of groove width on friction was observed, where the surface of wider groove obtained lower friction coefficient values than those of narrower one in the same sliding direction (parallel direction). The friction coefficient in the parallel direction obtained higher values than that observed for those in the transverse direction for surfaces with narrower groove patterns. Finite element simulations showed anisotropic friction properties depending on the contact pressure.     

Physicochemical Properties of Different Types of Starch Phosphate Monoesters

Different types of starch were phosphorylated to different degrees of substitution using monosodium and disodium hydrogen orthophosphate at 160 °C under vacuum. Generally, phosphation enhanced the physicochemical properties of the modified starches compared to their native counterparts. Solubility and swelling power greatly increase when phosphorylation was carried out to a low degree of substitution, while the solubility and swelling power decreased gradually by increasing the degree of substitution. However, the values of the monoesters were still higher than those of the corresponding native polysaccharides. Viscosities of different starch types except corn amylose showed the highest values at the lowest degree of substitution, when the degree of phosphation increased the viscosity values decreased. Native potato starch formed a clear paste (96% transmittance) due to the presence of phosphate groups while the paste clarity of potato starch decreased gradually by increasing the degree of phosphation. Generally, phosphorylation increased the light transmittance of the other starches investigated at the lowest degree of substitution but the clarity decreased by increasing the degree of substitution.