Inhibition of hIAPP Amyloid Aggregation and Pancreatic β‐Cell Toxicity by OH‐Terminated PAMAM Dendrimer

Human islet amyloid polypeptide (hIAPP, or amylin) forms amyloid deposits in the islets of Langerhans, a phenomenon that is associated with type‐2 diabetes impacting millions of people worldwide. Accordingly, strategies against hIAPP aggregation are essential for the prevention and eventual treatment of the disease. Here, it is shown that generation‐3 OH‐terminated poly(amidoamine) dendrimer, a polymeric nanoparticle, can effectively halt the aggregation of hIAPP and shut down hIAPP toxicity in pancreatic MIN6 and NIT‐1 cells as well as in mouse islets. This finding is supported by high‐throughput dynamic light scattering experiment and thioflavin T assay, where the rapid evolution of hIAPP nucleation and elongation processes is halted by the addition of the dendrimer up to 8 h. Discrete molecular dynamics simulations further reveal that hIAPP residues bound strongly with the dendrimer near the c‐terminal portion of the peptide, where the amyloidogenic sequence (residues 22–29) locates. Furthermore, simulations of hIAPP dimerization reveal that binding with the dendrimer significantly reduces formation of interpeptide contacts and hydrogen bonds, thereby prohibiting peptide self‐association and amyloidosis. This study points to a promising nanomedicinal strategy for combating type‐2 diabetes and may have broader implications for targeting neurological disorders whose distinct hallmark is also amyloid fibrillation.     

离散频谱的频率抽取校正法

在对几种现有的离散频谱校正的方法作了综合分析和回顾的基础上,对现有的频谱校正方法进行了改进,提出了一种新的校正方法——频率抽取校正法,通过抽取幅值谱中最大谱线处的频率成分来确定信号分量的频率,采用最小二乘拟合法修正其幅值和相位,如此循环抽取和修正即可逼近原始信号。仿真结果表明,该方法提高了离散频谱校正的精度,且实现方便,适用于一般的工程平稳信号处理。     

多变量矩阵方程异类约束解的修正共轭梯度法

基于求解线性代数方程组的共轭梯度法,通过对相关矩阵和系数的修改,建立了一种求多矩阵变量矩阵方程异类约束解的修正共轭梯度法.该算法不要求等价线性代数方程组的系数矩阵具备正定性、可逆性或者列满秩性,因此算法总是可行的.利用该算法不仅可以判断矩阵方程的异类约束解是否存在,而且在有异类约束解,不考虑舍入误差时,可在有限步计算后求得矩阵方程的一组异类约束解;选取特殊初始矩阵时,可求得矩阵方程的极小范数异类约束解.另外,还可求得指定矩阵在异类约束解集合中的最佳逼近.算例验证了该算法的有效性.     

颗粒阻尼技术在制动鼓减振方面的应用研究

颗粒阻尼器具有不改变结构形状、附加质量小等特点,在其他被动阻尼常失效的恶劣环境下仍具有良好的减振效果。然而,传统的颗粒阻尼器设计通常依靠试验的方法。研究了颗粒阻尼技术在汽车制动鼓减振降噪领域的应用,基于离散元和有限元的耦合方法分析颗粒阻尼在汽车制动鼓上的应用,使颗粒阻尼减振器在旋转结构上的研究成为可能。结果表明:颗粒阻尼技术在汽车制动鼓减振降噪领域的应用是可行的,仿真结果与试验结果具有很好的一致性。     

Multimodal medical image fusion based on discrete Tchebichef moments and pulse coupled neural network

Multimodal medical image fusion plays a vital role in clinical diagnoses and treatment planning. In many image fusion methods‐based pulse coupled neural network (PCNN), normalized coefficients are used to motivate the PCNN, and this makes the fused image blur, detail loss, and decreases contrast. Moreover, they are limited in dealing with medical images with different modalities. In this article, we present a new multimodal medical image fusion method based on discrete Tchebichef moments and pulse coupled neural network to overcome the aforementioned problems. First, medical images are divided into equal‐size blocks and the Tchebichef moments are calculated to characterize image shape, and energy of blocks is computed as the sum of squared non‐DC moment values. Then to retain edges and textures, the energy of Tchebichef moments for blocks is introduced to motivate the PCNN with adaptive linking strength. Finally, large firing times are selected as coefficients of the fused image. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme outperforms state‐of‐the‐art methods and it is more effective in processing medical images with different modalities. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J Imaging Syst Technol, 27, 57–65, 2017     

Global optimization for signomial discrete programming problems in engineering design

Signomial discrete programming (SDP) problems arise frequently in a variety of real applications. Although many optimization techniques have been developed to solve an SDP problem, they use too many binary variables to reformulate the problem for finding a globally optimal solution or can only derive a local or an approximate solution. This article proposes a global optimization method to solve an SDP problem by integrating an efficient linear expression of single variable discrete functions and convexification techniques. An SDP problem can be converted into a convex mixed-integer programming problem solvable to obtain a global optimum. Several illustrative examples are also presented to demonstrate the usefulness and effectiveness of the proposed method.     

热网水力优化计算模型

以最低的管网年折旧费、年大修费、泵站年运行费之和作为目标函数建立水力优化计算模型。采用广义简约梯度法求解此数学模型,探讨了其计算过程。     

板式地板辐射供暖系统传热性能模拟研究

建立了板式地板辐射供暖的二维稳态传热模型。采用有限元分析软件ANSYS,分析了地板表面温度分布、传热计算单元内部温度分布、地板表面热流密度的影响因素及地板表面平均温度的影响因素,在考虑地板向下传热时对模拟计算结果进行了修正。供、回水平均温度是影响地板表面热流密度和平均温度的主要因素。当室内温度为20℃时,在维持适宜的地板表面平均温度范围24~28℃的前提下,供、回水平均温度的变化范围为27~34℃,考虑地板向下传热后,应控制在30~35℃。考虑地板向下传热后,应将模拟计算结果乘以一个不小于0.9的修正系数。     

结晶对聚对苯二甲酸乙二醇酯驻极体分立陷阱性质的影响

用热处理方法制得一系列具有不同结晶度的 PET 试样。热释电研究发现,结晶度小于5%时,陷阱深度加深较快;结晶度大于5%后,陷阱加深趋于缓慢。随结晶度提高,结晶结构的复杂化导致结构缺陷种类增多,分立陷阱数由非晶的2个增至4个。     

Modeling of multicomponent diffusions and natural convection in unfractured and fractured media by discontinuous Galerkin and mixed methods

Computation of the distribution of species in hydrocarbon reservoirs from diffusions (thermal, molecular, and pressure) and natural convection is an important step in reservoir initialization. Current methods, which are mainly based on the conventional finite‐difference approach, may not be numerically efficient in fractured and other media with complex heterogeneities. In this work, the discontinuous Galerkin (DG) method combined with the mixed finite element (MFE) method is used for the calculation of compositional variation in fractured hydrocarbon reservoirs. The use of unstructured gridding allows efficient computations for fractured media when the cross flow equilibrium concept is invoked. The DG method has less numerical dispersion than the upwind finite‐difference methods. The MFE method ensures continuity of fluxes at the interface of the grid elements. We also use the local DG (LDG) method instead of the MFE to calculate the diffusion fluxes. Results from several numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the efficiency, robustness, and accuracy of the model. Various features of convection and diffusion in homogeneous, layered, and fractured media are also discussed.