Scaffold searching: automated identification of similar ring systems for the design of combinatorial libraries

Rigid ring systems can be used to position receptor-binding functional groups in 3D space and they thus play an increasingly important role in the design of combinatorial libraries. This paper discusses the use of shape-similarity methods to identify ring systems that are structurally similar to, and aligned with, a user-defined target ring system. These systems can be used as alternative scaffolds for the construction of a combinatorial library

An Experimental Study of the Near Field Region of a Free Jet with Passive Mixing Tabs

An experimental study was performed to determine the flow characteristics of a tabbed free jet. Results were acquired in the near field (nominally 2 tab widths upstream to 2 tab widths downstream of the exit plane) of a tabbed jet. Upstream pressure results showed static pressure distributions in both the x-and y-directions along the top surface of the tunnel. Hot-wire measurements showed rapid expansion of the core fluid into the ambient region. Two counter rotating regions of streamwise vorticity were shown on each side of the primary tab. An enhancement of the tabbed jet concept was proposed and tested. Specifically, two tabs, half the scale of the primary tab, were added to the primary tab to provide attachment surfaces for the normally occurring ejection of fluid. The secondary tabs caused a slight increase in the streamwise vorticity created from the upstream static pressure gradient while significantly increasing the re-oriented boundary layer vorticity. The combined pumping effect of the two counter rotating regions of vorticity caused a significant increase in the transport of the jet core fluid into the surrounding region

Orion Spacecraft MMOD Protection Design and Assessment

The Orion spacecraft will replace the Space Shuttle Orbiter for American and international partner access to the International Space Station by 2015 and, afterwards, for access to the moon for initial sorties and later for extended outpost visits as part of the Constellation Exploration Initiative. This work describes some of the efforts being undertaken to ensure that the Constellation Program, Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle design will meet or exceed the stringent micrometeoroid and orbital debris (MMOD) requirements set out by NASA when exposed to the environments encountered with these missions. This paper will provide a brief overview of the approaches being used to provide MMOD protection to the Orion vehicle and to assess the spacecraft for compliance to the Constellation Program s MMOD requirements

Curvature-direction measures of self-similar sets

We obtain fractal Lipschitz-Killing curvature-direction measures for a large class of self-similar sets F in R^d. Such measures jointly describe the distribution of normal vectors and localize curvature by analogues of the higher order mean curvatures of differentiable submanifolds. They decouple as independent products of the unit Hausdorff measure on F and a self-similar fibre measure on the sphere, which can be computed by an integral formula. The corresponding local density approach uses an ergodic dynamical system formed by extending the code space shift by a subgroup of the orthogonal group. We then give a remarkably simple proof for the resulting measure version under minimal assumptions.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figures. Update for author's name chang

Medical Comorbidities and Functional Dependent Living Are Independent Risk Factors for Short-Term Complications Following Osteotomy Procedures about the Knee

© The Author(s) 2018. Objective: To characterize rates and risk factors for adverse events following distal femoral osteotomy (DFO), high tibial osteotomy (HTO), and tibial tubercle osteotomy (TTO) procedures. Design: Patients undergoing DFO, HTO, or TTO procedures during 2005 to 2016 were identified in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program. Rates of adverse events were characterized for each procedure. Demographic, comorbidity, and procedural factors were tested for association with occurrence of any adverse events. Results: A total of 1,083 patients were identified. Of these, 305 (28%) underwent DFO, 273 (25%) underwent HTO, and 505 (47%) underwent TTO. Mean ages for patients undergoing each procedure were the following: DFO, 51 ± 23 years; HTO, 40 ± 13 years; and TTO, 31 ± 11 years. The most common comorbidities for DFO were hypertension (34%) and smoking (17%); for HTO, hypertension (22%) and smoking (21%); and for TTO, smoking (20%) and hypertension (11%). Independent risk factors for occurrence of any adverse event were age ⩾45 years for DFO (odds ratio [OR] = 3.1, P \u3c 0.001) and HTO (OR = 2.3, P = 0.029), and body mass index \u3e30 for HTO (OR = 2.5, 95% confidence interval = 1.1-5.7, P = 0.031). When all osteotomy procedures were analyzed collectively, additional variables including diabetes mellitus (OR = 2.2, P = 0.017), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR = 5.5, P = 0.003), and dependent functional status (OR = 3.0, P = 0.004) were associated with adverse events. Conclusions: The total rate of adverse events was not independently associated with the type of osteotomy procedure. In addition, patients with age \u3e45, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and dependent functional status have greater odds for adverse events and should be counseled and monitored accordingly

Reference Measurements of the Longitudinal Impedance in the CERN SPS

First reference measurements of the longitudinal impedance were made with beam in the SPS machine in 1999 to quantify the results of the impedance reduction programme, completed in 2001. The 2001 data showed that the low-frequency inductive impedance had been reduced by a factor 2.5 and that bunch lengthening due to the microwave instability was absent up to the ultimate LHC bunch intensity. Measurements of the quadrupole frequency shift with intensity in the following years suggest a significant increase in impedance (which nevertheless remains below the 1999 level) due to the installation of eight extraction kickers for beam transfer to the LHC. The experimental results are compared with expectations based on the known longitudinal impedance of the SPS

Design and microfabrication of a high-aspect-ratio PDMS microbeam array for parallel nanonewton force measurement and protein printing

Journal of Micromechanics and Microengineering, 17(3): pp. 623-632.Cell and protein mechanics has applications ranging from cellular development to tissue engineering. Techniques such as magnetic tweezers, optic tweezers, and atomic force microscopy have been used to measure cell deformation forces on the order of piconewtons to nanonewtons. In this study, an array of polymeric polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microbeams with diameters of 10-40μm and lengths of 118μm was fabricated from Sylgard® with curing agent concentrations ranging from 5% to 20%. Resulting spring constants were 100-300nN/μm. The elastic modulus of PDMS was determined experimentally at different curing agent concentrations and found to be 346kPa to 704kPa in a millimeter-scale array and ~1MPa in a microbeam array. Additionally, the microbeam array was used to print laminin for the purpose of cell adhesion. Linear and non-linear finite element analyses are presented and compared to the closed-from solution. Conclusion: The highly compliant, transparent, biocompatible PDMS may offer a method for more rapid throughput in cell and protein mechanics force measurement experiments with sensitivities necessary for highly compliant structures such as axons

In-facility transport code review

The following computer codes were reviewed by the In-Facility Transport Working Group for application to the in-facility transport of radioactive aerosols, flammable gases, and/or toxic gases: (1) CONTAIN, (2) FIRAC, (3) GASFLOW, (4) KBERT, and (5) MELCOR. Based on the review criteria as described in this report and the versions of each code available at the time of the review, MELCOR is the best code for the analysis of in-facility transport when multidimensional effects are not significant. When multi-dimensional effects are significant, GASFLOW should be used

Proton acceleration by irradiation of isolated spheres with an intense laser pulse

We report on experiments irradiating isolated plastic spheres with a peak laser intensity of 2-3 x 10(20) W cm(-2). With a laser focal spot size of 10 mu m full width half maximum (FWHM) the sphere diameter was varied between 520 nm and 19.3 mu m. Maximum proton energies of similar to 25 MeV are achieved for targets matching the focal spot size of 10 mu m in diameter or being slightly smaller. For smaller spheres the kinetic energy distributions of protons become nonmonotonic, indicating a change in the accelerating mechanism from ambipolar expansion towards a regime dominated by effects caused by Coulomb repulsion of ions. The energy conversion efficiency from laser energy to proton kinetic energy is optimized when the target diameter matches the laser focal spot size with efficiencies reaching the percent level. The change of proton acceleration efficiency with target size can be attributed to the reduced cross-sectional overlap of subfocus targets with the laser. Reported experimental observations are in line with 3D3V particle in cell simulations. They make use of well-defined targets and point out pathways for future applications and experiments.DFG via the Cluster of Excellence Munich-Centre for Advanced Photonics (MAP) Transregio SFB TR18NNSA DE-NA0002008Super-MUC pr48meIvo CermakCGC Instruments in design and realization of the Paul trap systemIMPRS-APSLMUexcellent Junior Research FundDAAD|ToIFEEuropean Union's Horizon research and innovation programme 633053Physic