Nonpathological Lyapunov functions and discontinuous Carathéodory systems

Differential equations with discontinuous right-hand side and solutions intended in Carathéodory sense are considered. For these equations, sufficient conditions which guarantee both Lyapunov stability and asymptotic stability in terms of nonsmooth Lyapunov functions are given. An invariance principle is also proven.     

On the Locus of Speed-Accuracy Trade-Off in Reaction Time: Inferences From the Lateralized Readiness Potential.

Lateralized readiness potentials (LRPs) were used to determine the stage(s) of reaction time (RT) responsible for speed-accuracy trade-offs (SATs). Speeded decisions based on several types of information were examined in 3 experiments, involving, respectively, a line discrimination task, lexical decisions, and an Erikson flanker task. Three levels of SAT were obtained in each experiment by adjusting response deadlines with an adaptive tracking algorithm. Speed stress affected the duration of RT stages both before and after the start of the LRP in all experiments. The latter effect cannot be explained by guessing strategies, by variations in response force, or as an indirect consequence of the pre-LRP effect. Contrary to most models, it suggests that SAT can occur at a late postdecisional stage. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

多层砖砌体房屋震害分析及抗震措施

介绍了我国砖砌体房屋历年来遭受震害的程度以及砖砌体的抗震性能，针对一些震害现象，分别从建筑布置和抗震措施加强对砖砌体的抗震性能进行论述。     

Effect of functionalization and boron and nitrogen substitution on some properties of carbon nanotubes

Molecular orbital calculations of the ionization potential of single wall carbon nanotubes having donor NH₂ and acceptor NO₂ groups bonded to the side walls and ends and boron and nitrogen substituted for carbon show substantial increases in ionization potential compared to carbon nanotubes with no functional groups and no carbon substitutions. The presence of a carbon vacancy on the side wall also causes a substantial increase in the ionization potential. The effect of tube length on the ionization energy is also calculated. The calculations also suggest that at appropriate levels of boron and nitrogen doping the armchair carbon nanotubes could be high temperature organic ferromagnetic materials.     

Streaming potential measurements on stainless steels surfaces: evidence of a gel-like layer at the steel/electrolyte interface

Electric charges at the surface of a passive stainless steel are generally considered as concentrated either in the passive film itself, or at the metal/passive film interface, or in the electrical double layer at the film solution interface. Rest potential time dependence after immersion of a passive surface in aqueous electrolytes suggests however that slow processes occur in the onset of the surface charge. Specific experiments, such as streaming potential measurements and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in a thin electrolyte cell, were carried out for understanding better this phenomenon. An AISI 304 type austenitic stainless steel with polished or bright annealed surface finishes was immersed in NaCl aqueous solutions with various pH and chloride concentrations. The streaming potential time evolution shows two steps: a first rapid one (∼2 min) is attributed to the onset of the surface charge. The second step is much slower (approximately several hours) and possibly due to an interphase layer between the passive film and the solution. Following this idea, the whole kinetics is controlled by cation migration across the interphase when the pH is larger than the isoelectric pH (pH_iep), while chloride ions are incorporated in the interphase when pH < pH_iep. Impedance measurements allow determining both the kinetics of charge transport and the thin cell conductivity. When glass is used as reference material for the cell walls instead of stainless steel, the Nyquist plots show a high-frequency response. For stainless steel cell walls, a low-frequency response is observed, attributed to a slow charge reorganisation inside the interphase layer. The charge distribution at metal/electrolyte interface is discussed in terms of a gel-like layer which possibly takes place at the passive film/electrolyte interface.     

Electrochemical chlorination of azulene derivatives: Insight into the mechanism of anodic oxidative chlorination

The cyclic voltammetry behavior of a series of five 1-substituted azulenes has been investigated as well as the electrochemical chlorination of these compounds. In the case of azulene compounds containing electron withdrawing groups which have higher oxidation potentials than that of the chloride ion, the electrochemical chlorination led usually to 3-chloro derivatives. The electrochemical chlorination fails for azulenes with lower oxidation potentials. Additionally some polyhalogenated compounds were obtained by controlled potential electrolyses. The paper also discusses the reaction mechanism of the electrochemical halogenation of 1-substituted azulenes.     

Homology modelling of annexin I: implicit solvation improves side-chain prediction and combination of evaluation criteria allows recognition of different types of conformational error

Annexin I homology models were built from the annexin V crystalstructure. Three methods for side-chain prediction were testedbased on molecular mechanics conformational search, the useof a rotamer database, or a combination of these two methods.We showed that rotamer-based methods were more efficient andthat molecular mechanics energy minimizations, prior to rotamerselection, did not afford clearly improved predictions. Modelsbuilt in vacuo and with an implicit solvation term were comparedwith the annexin I crystal structure which became availableduring the course of this study. The analysis of solvation energies,root mean square deviations, Xi angles and hydrogen bonds showedthat models built with implicit solvation were of better quality.In annexin V, repeat III displays A-B and D-E loop conformationsquite different from other repeats. Since the sequence differencessuggest that repeat III in annexin I might present a conformationsimilar to other repeats, two annexin I models with differentrepeat III conformations were built and compared to determinewhether the correct conformation could have been predicted.We show that using a combination of evaluation criteria, itis possible to discriminate unequivocally between the nativeand the incorrect fold, stressing that only one criterion shouldnot be used to evaluate protein structures.     

External and internal electrostatic potentials of cholinesterase models

The electrostatic potentials for the three-dimensional structures of cholinesterases from various species were calculated, using the Delphi algorithm, on the basis of the Poisson–Boltzmann equation. We used structures for Torpedo californica and mouse acetylcholinesterase, and built homology models of the human, Bungarus fasciatus, and Drosophila melanogaster acetylcholinesterases and human butyrylcholinesterase. All these structures reveal a negative external surface potential, in the area around the entrance to the active-site gorge, that becomes more negative as the rim of the gorge is approached. Moreover, in all cases, the potential becomes increasingly more negative along the central axis running down the gorge, and is largest at the base of the gorge, near the active site. Ten key acidic residues conserved in the sequence alignments of AChE from various species, both in the surface area near the entrance of the active-site gorge and at its base, appear to be primarily responsible for these potentials. The potentials are highly correlated among the structures examined, down to sequence identities as low as 35%. This indicates that they are a conserved property of the cholinesterase family, could serve to attract the positively charged substrate into and down the gorge to the active site, and may play other roles important for cholinesterase function.     

论Oxymoron 及其翻译法

英语的Oxymoron和Paradox都属于矛盾修辞的范畴,两者与汉语的反衬辞格颇为相似.通过大量的实例对英语语言中矛盾修辞的结构形式、语用功能分析与探讨后,揭示了矛盾修辞手段所表现的字面上似乎矛盾、互相排斥、互相对立的概念,发现其实际中所蕴含着令人深省的深刻哲理的一些语言现象,并对这一辞格的翻译方法进行了探讨.     

Effect of chloride ions on immersion plating of copper onto porous silicon from a methanol solution

The effect of chloride ions (Cl⁻) during the immersion plating of copper onto porous silicon (PS) from a methanol (MeOH) solution has been studied. The presence of Cl⁻ in the Cu²⁺ solution was found to slow down the rate of copper deposition, as confirmed by inductively coupled argon plasma emission spectroscopy and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy measurements. The threshold concentration of Cl⁻ at which the deposition of copper is very severely diminished was found to be 0.1 M. The inhibition effect is discussed on the basis of the rest potential values of PS and polarization curve measurements. They revealed that the rest potential of PS upon dipping in these solutions appears to direct the metal deposition. Current density-potential curves show that at Cl⁻ concentrations higher than 0.1 M, the reduction of Cu ions proceeds in two steps; the reduction of Cu(II) to Cu(I) followed by the reduction of Cu(I) to Cu(0). This suggests that Cu(I) species in MeOH solution can be stable over a certain potential range and this stability of Cu(I) is responsible for the inhibition of metal deposition. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) were also performed to investigate the structural changes and characterizations of PS samples after the plating process.