弱相互作用调控表面活性剂自组装(Ⅱ)——表面活性剂的结构与设计

介绍了表面活性剂的结构、性质以及分类,综述了阴离子表面活性剂、阳离子表面活性剂、两性离子表面活性剂、非离子表面活性剂的分子间弱相互作用。另外,简述了低聚型表面活性剂和其他新型表面活性剂的结构及应用。     

Rip currents near coastal structures in Lake Michigan: Characterization and assessment for warnings

Rip currents near coastal structures commonly occur in Lake Michigan in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Lack of timely warning due to undocumented characteristics of rip currents and no assessment tool can contribute to tragic drownings incidents. In this paper, we characterized rip current occurrences near breakwater structures and developed an assessment tool for providing timely rip current warnings to beachgoers at the study site, City of Port Washington, WI. Characteristics of rip currents near the structure were observed from field measurements or visual images. Deflection rip currents had speeds of ～ 0.2 m/s and lasted for several hours. The rip current occurrences were associated with environmental proxies. It was found that rip currents can occur even when the water appears calm near the structure. A Structure Rip Checklist and Assessment Matrix (SRiCAM) with a four-tiered risk was developed and validated using observations. Furthermore, the SRiCAM was integrated into cyberinfrastructure with a data contingency plan to provide real-time warnings to the public. The applicability of the SRiCAM to other locations across Lake Michigan was further tested and results are promising. Overall, the SRiCAM has the potential to be widely extended to foster recreational water safety and resilience to rip current hazards in the Great Lakes.     

土木工程施工课程线上平台教学实践

土木工程施工课程作为土木工程及工程管理专业的学科基础课和核心专业课程,在疫情防控期间"停课不停教""停课不停学"的要求下,通过线上平台进行授课。由于土木工程施工课程内容庞杂、综合性强、实践性强,且章节之间关联性较弱,探究既能使学生快速适应,又能保证教学质量的在线教学方法至关重要。以华南某高校土木工程施工课程为例,基于中国大学MOOC、建筑云课、腾讯课堂、QQ群等线上平台讲授教学内容,并运用问卷调查对课程线上教学效果进行评价。结果表明,线上教学为学生提供了丰富灵活的学习方式,显著提高了学生的自主学习能力,扩大了学生的知识面,达到了较好的学习效果。     

Alteration of the Route to Menaquinone towards Isochorismate-Derived Metabolites

Chorismate and isochorismate constitute branch-point intermediates in the biosynthesis of many aromatic metabolites in microorganisms and plants. To obtain unnatural compounds, we modified the route to menaquinone in Escherichia coli. We propose a model for the binding of isochorismate to the active site of MenD ((1R,2S, 5S,6S)-2-succinyl-5-enolpyruvyl-6-hydroxycyclohex-3-ene-1-carboxylate (SEPHCHC) synthase) that explains the outcome of the native reaction with α-ketoglutarate. We have rationally designed variants of MenD for the conversion of several isochorismate analogues. The double-variant Asn117Arg–Leu478Thr preferentially converts (5S,6S)-5,6-dihydroxycyclohexa-1,3-diene-1-carboxylate (2,3-trans-CHD), the hydrolysis product of isochorismate, with a >70-fold higher ratio than that for the wild type. The single-variant Arg107Ile uses (5S,6S)-6-amino-5-hydroxycyclohexa-1,3-diene-1-carboxylate (2,3-trans-CHA) as substrate with >6-fold conversion compared to wild-type MenD. The novel compounds have been made accessible in vivo (up to 5.3 g L⁻¹). Unexpectedly, as the identified residues such as Arg107 are highly conserved (>94 %), some of the designed variations can be found in wild-type SEPHCHC synthases from other bacteria (Arg107Lys, 0.3 %). This raises the question for the possible natural occurrence of as yet unexplored branches of the shikimate pathway.     

Hydroxyapatite cages with aligned pores for bone grafting – Seeding of human osteoblast-like cells in vitro and their response in dynamic culture mode

Hydroxyapatite (HA) is a highly regarded synthetic bone graft material. Porous HA ceramics blocks are used to substitute harvested natural bone grafts. Being similar to bone mineral, HA material integrates with the host bone through surface osteointegration and slowly resorb along with the natural bone remodeling process. The blocks in use currently have random and tortuous pore structures. The present work explores the usefulness of cage-like HA ceramic design with end-to-end open pores, with the help of in vitro cell culture methods. Such a structure, on implantation, will take up the blood factors and cells and host the bone remodeling process inside the bulk of the cage, leading to early healing. In the study, HA samples with aligned through-pores were prepared and explored in vitro, with a focus on how the pores host the cells inside and to what level the cells maintain their activity. Human osteoblast-like cells (HOS) were used, at different seeding and culturing approaches. Cell seeding was done through (i) conventional large volume cell suspension, (ii) a confined mini chamber with a limited volume of cell suspension, and (iii) placing a concentrated drop of cell suspension directly on top of the scaffold. The third approach gave the best cell adhesion and proliferation, and hence used for further explorations. A dynamic culture system was designed in-house by bifurcating the cell culture wells using vertical inserts, holding the samples horizontally with their ends open to both sides, and making the media flow across using a rocker platform. The HOS cell adhesion, viability and proliferation were tested in the HA cages, in static and dynamic culture conditions, with conventional porous ceramics as the control. The cell infiltration was deeper and the cell viability over a period of 7 days was significantly higher in dynamic culture conditions in the test samples.     

Crystallographic characteristics and microwave dielectric properties of Ni-modified MgTa2O6 ceramics

Ni²⁺ modified MgTa₂O₆ ceramics with a trirutile phase and space group P4₂/mnm were obtained. The correlations between crystallographic characteristics and microwave dielectric performance of MgTa₂O₆ ceramics were systematically studied based on the chemistry bond theory (PVL theory) for the first time. The results indicate that the introduction of Ni²⁺ causes a change in polarizability and the Mg–O bond ionicity, which contributes to the variation of dielectric constant. Moreover, the lattice energy, and packing fraction, full width at half maximum of the Raman peak of Ta–O bond, as the quantitative characterization of crystallographic parameters, regulate the dielectric loss of MgTa₂O₆ ceramics in GHz frequency band. In addition, the study of sintering behavior shows that the densification and micromorphology are the crucial factors affecting the microwave dielectric performance. Typically, Ni²⁺ doping on the A-site of MgTa₂O₆ can effectively promote the Q × f values to 173,000 GHz (at 7.43 GHz), which ensures its applicability in 5G communication technology.     

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.