Structural Cues for Understanding eEF1A2 Moonlighting

Spontaneous mutations in the EEF1A2 gene cause epilepsy and severe neurological disabilities in children. The crystal structure of eEF1A2 protein purified from rabbit skeletal muscle reveals a post-translationally modified dimer that provides information about the sites of interaction with numerous binding partners, including itself, and maps these mutations onto the dimer and tetramer interfaces. The spatial locations of the side chain carboxylates of Glu301 and Glu374, to which phosphatidylethanolamine is uniquely attached via an amide bond, define the anchoring points of eEF1A2 to cellular membranes and interorganellar membrane contact sites. Additional bioinformatic and molecular modeling results provide novel structural insight into the demonstrated binding of eEF1A2 to SH3 domains, the common MAPK docking groove, filamentous actin, and phosphatidylinositol-4 kinase IIIβ. In this new light, the role of eEF1A2 as an ancient, multifaceted, and articulated G protein at the crossroads of autophagy, oncogenesis and viral replication appears very distant from the “canonical” one of delivering aminoacyl-tRNAs to the ribosome that has dominated the scene and much of the thinking for many decades.     

Investigation of crystal characteristics,Raman spectra,and microwave dielectric properties of Mg1-xZnxTa2O6 ceramics

Mg_(1-x)Zn_xTa₂O₆ (x = 0.00?0.08) dielectric ceramics were synthesized via the traditional solid-state reaction method. We used XRD and Rietveld refinement to demonstrate that a pure Mg_(1-x)Zn_xTa₂O₆ phase with trirutile structure was formed. Zn²⁺ substitution helped to decrease the Raman full width at half width of the A_1g mode at 703 cm^?1, which resulted in an increase in the order and rigidity of the TaO₆ octahedron, this in turn contributed to improving the Q×f values. Additionally, the introduction of Zn²⁺ significantly promoted grain growth and increased the dense, and the molecular polarizability, these factors lead to a higher permittivity. Moreover, enhanced Ta-O bond energy resulted in a more stable TaO₆ octahedron in the Mg_(1?x)Zn_xTa₂O₆ system, which contributed to enhanced τ_f values via substitution of Zn²⁺ doped on the A-site. Correspondingly, the microwave dielectric properties were significantly improved for 0.04-doped samples, obtaining: ε_r = 27, Q × f = 185,000 GHz (at 7.47 GHz), τ_f =32 ppm/°C.     

Impedance matching optimization of SiCf/Si3N4–SiOC composites for excellent microwave absorption properties

SiC fiber reinforced ceramic matrix composites (SiC_f-CMCs) are considered to be one of the most promising materials in the electromagnetic (EM) stealth of aero-engines, which is expected to achieve strong absorption and broad-band performance. Multiscale structural design was applied to SiC_f/Si₃N₄–SiOC composites by construction of micro/nanoscale heterogeneous interfaces and macro double-layer impedance matching structure. SiC_f/Si₃N₄–SiOC composites were fabricated by using SiC fibers with different conductivities and SiOC–Si₃N₄ matrices with gradient impedance structures to improve impedance matching effectively. Owing to its unique structure, SiC_f/Si₃N₄–SiOC composites (A3-composites) achieved excellent EM wave absorption performance with a minimum reflection coefficient (RC_min) of ?25.1 dB at 2.45 mm and an effective absorption bandwidth (EAB) of 4.0 GHz at 2.85 mm in X-band. Moreover, double-layer SiC_f/Si₃N₄–SiOC with an improved impedance matching structure obtained an RC_min of ?56.9 dB and an EAB of 4.2 GHz at 3.00 mm, which means it can absorb more than 90% of the EM waves in the whole X-band. The RC is less than ?8 dB at 2.6–2.8 mm from RT to 600 °C in the whole X-band, displaying excellent high-temperature absorption performance. The results provide a new design opinion for broad-band EM absorbing SiC_f-CMCs at high temperatures.     

Impact sensitivities of energetic materials: Exploring the limitations of a model based only on structural formulas

Using a comprehensive set of drop weight impact test data (h₅₀) newly compiled from literature for 308 materials, a recent approach to predict impact sensitivities of nitro compounds is generalized to most explosive substances of interest. Compared to previous ones, this procedure is more thoroughly validated and exhibits a good predictive value. Furthermore, it yields new insight into the physical mechanisms involved, explaining for instance the unexpected desensitization of some oxygen-deficient triazoles upon nitration.     

Study on maximum power point tracking of photovoltaic array in irregular shadow

Traditional maximum power point tracking (MPPT) methods can hardly find global maximum power point (MPP) because output characteristics curve of photovoltaic (PV) array may have multi local maximum power points in irregular shadow, and thus easily fall into the local maximum power point. To address this drawback, Considering that sliding mode variable structure (SMVS) control strategy have such advantages as simple structure, fast response and strong robustness, and P&O method have the advantages of simple principle and convenient implementation, so a new algorithm combining SMVS control method and P&O method is proposed, besides, PI controller is applied to reduce system chattering caused by switching sliding surface. It is applied to MPPT control of PV array in irregular shadow to solve the problem of multi-peak optimization in partial shadow. In order to verity the rationality of the proposed algorithm, the experimental circuit is built, which achieves MPPT control by means of the proposed algorithm and P&O method. The experimental results show that compared with the traditional P&O algorithm, the proposed algorithm can fast track the global MPP, tracking speed increases by 60% and the relative error decreased by 20%. Moreover, the system becomes more stable near the MPP, the fluctuations of output power is greatly reduced, and thus make full use of solar energy.     

Effect of stoichiometry and Cu-substitution on the phase structure and hydrogen storage properties of Ml-Mg-Ni-based alloys

To improve the electrochemical properties of rare-earth–Mg–Ni-based hydrogen storage alloys, the effects of stoichiometry and Cu-substitution on the phase structure and thermodynamic properties of the ...     

一款紧凑增强型可变阻抗电磁带隙结构

基于传统AI-EBG结构,提出了一种小尺寸的增强型电磁带隙结构,实现了从0.5~9.4 GHz的宽频带-40 dB噪声抑制深度,且下截止频率减少到数百MHz,可有效抑制多层PCB板间地弹噪声。文中同时研究了EBG结构在高速电路应用时的信号完整性问题,使用差分信号方案可改善信号完整性。     

Structural dependence of microwave dielectric properties of spinel structured Mg2(Ti1-xSnx)O4 solid solutions: Crystal structure refinement,Raman spectra study and complex chemical bond theory

Mg₂(Ti_1-xSn_x)O₄ (x?=?0–1) ceramics were prepared through conventional solid-state method. This paper focused on the dependence of microwave dielectric properties on crystal structural characteristics via crystal structure refinement, Raman spectra study and complex chemical bond theory. XRD spectrums delineated the phase information of a spinel structure, and structural characteristic of these compositions were achieved with the help of Rietveld refinements. Raman spectrums were used to depict the correlations between vibrational phonon modes and dielectric properties. The variation of permittivity is ascribed to the Mg₂(Ti_1-xSn_x)O₄ average bond covalency. The relationship among the B-site octahedral bond energy, tetrahedral bond energy and temperature coefficient are discussed by defining on the change rate of bond energy and the contribution rate of octahedral bond energy. The quality factor is affected by systematic total lattice energy, and the research of XPS patterns illustrated that oxygen vacancies can be effectively restrained in rich oxygen sintering process. Obviously, the microwave dielectric properties of Mg₂(Ti_1-xSn_x)O₄ compounds were obtained (${\epsilon }_r$= 12.18, $Q\times f$?=?170,130?GHz, ${\tau }_f$?=??53.1?ppm/°C, x?=?0.2).