Virtual network embedding: ensuring correctness and optimality by construction using model transformation and integer linear programming techniques

Software and Systems Modeling - Virtualization technology allows service providers to operate data centers in a cost-effective and scalable manner. The data center network (substrate network) and...     

Structure-based design of cathepsin K inhibitors containing a benzyloxy-substituted benzoyl peptidomimetic

Peptidomimetic cathepsin K inhibitors have been designed using binding models which were based on the X-ray crystal structure of an amino acid-based, active site-spanning inhibitor complexed with cathepsin K. These inhibitors, which contain a benzyloxybenzoyl group in place of a Cbz-leucine moiety, maintained good inhibitory potency relative to the amino acid-based inhibitor, and the binding models were found to be very predictive of relative inhibitor potency. The binding mode of one of the inhibitors was confirmed by X-ray crystallography, and the crystallographically determined structure is in close qualitative agreement with the initial binding model. These results strengthen the validity of a strategy involving iterative cycles of structure-based design, inhibitor synthesis and evaluation, and crystallographic structure determination for the discovery of peptidomimetic inhibitors.     

Impedance spectroscopy of suspension plasma sprayed titania coatings

Two TiO₂ coatings were plasma sprayed, using an aqueous suspension as a feedstock onto initially prepared alumina substrates. Their thickness was about 7 and 15 μm. The coatings were tested using impedance spectroscopy (IS) in the frequency range from 100 Hz to 2 MHz at temperatures ranging from 320 to 1020 K. The measurements allowed to find the Nyquist plots and equivalent circuits of the tested samples. The IS results were interpreted by the microstructural features of the deposits such as chemical composition, atomic structural and phase analysis. The mechanism of electric current conduction in tested coatings was proposed.     

Temperature behaviour of titania field emitters realized by suspension plasma spraying

Titania field electron cathodes made with solution precursor plasma spraying (SPS) were investigated. The emission characteristics were measured using a self-made installation. Microstructure analysis was carried out using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and Raman spectroscopy. The electron emission was found to decrease with increasing temperature of tested samples. This was explained in terms of the coating microstructure and, in particular, the phase content and change in dielectric properties of coating components.     

Optimization of Dielectric Properties of Suspension Plasma Sprayed Hydroxyapatite Coatings

Conventional plasma torch was adapted to spray very fine Ca₅ (PO₄)₃OH (hydroxyapatite, HA) precursors having sizes ranging from a few hundreds of nanometers to a few micrometers. The powders were put in suspension with distilled water and antidispersive agent. A home made suspension feeder, including two peristaltic pumps, delivered the suspension into atomizer and therefrom injected into plasma jet. The suspension flow rate was electronically controlled. The resulting coatings had the thickness of a few tenths of μm. The electrical properties of the coatings including breakdown voltage and loss factor of suspension sprayed hydroxyapatite coatings sprayed onto aluminium substrates were also tested. The influence of such experimental factors as power input to plasma, pressure of atomizing gas, spray distance and suspension feed rate on the responses being the electrical properties was investigated using a 2⁴ design of experiments (DOE). The mathematical models relating the responses with the factors were created and the significant factors were selected.     

Experimental design of plasma spraying and laser treatment of hydroxyapatite coatings

Plasma spray process of hydroxyapatite (Ca₁₀(PO₄)₆(OH)₂, HA) followed by laser treatment of obtained coatings were optimized by an advanced statistical planning of experiments. The full factorial design of 2⁴ experiments was used to find effects of four principal parameters, i.e. electric power, plasma forming gas composition, carrier gas flow rate and laser power density onto microstructure of hydroxyapatite (HA) coatings and powders and depth of laser melted zone. The SAS and Statgraphics commercial softwares have been applied to obtain the mathematical model of influence of process parameters onto experimental responses. The chosen responses were the fraction of HA crystal phase and two phases of its decomposition α-tricalcium phosphate (Ca₃(PO₄)₂, α-TCP), tetracalcium phosphate (Ca₄P₂O₉, TTCP) and, on the other hand, the depth of laser melted zone in the coating. The two most important factors influencing these responses are electric power supplied to torch, laser power density. Laser power density is very important for the depth of laser melted zone. The crystal phase content of powders and coatings was determined using X-ray diffraction (XRD) quantitative analysis. The morphologies of coatings surfaces, cross-sections were characterized using scanning electron microscope (SEM).     

Inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus-1 protease by a C2-symmetric phosphinate. Synthesis and crystallographic analysis

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) protease is a potential target of acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) therapy. A highly potent, perfectly symmetrical phosphinate inhibitor of this enzyme, SB204144, has been synthesized. It is a competitive inhibitor of HIV-1 protease, with an apparent inhibition constant of 2.8 nM at pH 6.0. The three-dimensional structure of SB204144 bound to the enzyme has been determined at 2.3-A resolution by X-ray diffraction techniques and refined to a crystallographic discrepancy factor, R (= sigma parallel F(o) magnitude to - Fc parallel/sigma magnitude of F(o)), of 0.178. The inhibitor is held in the enzyme active site by a set of hydrophobic and hydrophilic interactions, including an interaction between Arg8 and the center of the terminal benzene rings of the inhibitor. The phosphinate establishes a novel interaction with the two catalytic aspartates; each oxygen of the central phosphinic acid moiety interacts with a single oxygen of one aspartic acid, establishing a very short (2.2-2.4 A) oxygen-oxygen contact. As with the structures of penicillopepsin bound to phosphinate and phosphonate inhibitors [Fraser, M. E., Strynadka, N. C., Bartlett, P. A., Hanson, J. E., & James, M. N. (1992) Biochemistry 31, 5201-14], we interpret this short distance and the stereochemical environment of each pair of oxygens in terms of a hydrogen bond that has a symmetric single-well potential energy curve with the proton located midway between the two atoms.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)