Arginine side chain interactions and the role of arginine as a gating charge carrier in voltage sensitive ion channels

Gating charges in voltage-sensing domains (VSD) of voltage-sensitive ion channels and enzymes are carried on arginine side chains rather than lysine. This arginine preference may result from the unique hydration properties of the side chain guanidinium group which facilitates its movement through a hydrophobic plug that seals the center of the VSD, as suggested by molecular dynamics simulations. To test for side chain interactions implicit in this model we inspected interactions of the side chains of arginine and lysine with each of the 19 non-glycine amino acids in proteins in the protein data bank. The arginine guanidinium interacts with non-polar aromatic and aliphatic side chains above and below the guanidinium plane while hydrogen bonding with polar side chains is restricted to in-plane positions. In contrast, non-polar side chains interact largely with the aliphatic part of the lysine side chain. The hydration properties of arginine and lysine are strongly reflected in their respective interactions with non-polar and polar side chains as observed in protein structures and in molecular dynamics simulations, and likely underlie the preference for arginine as a mobile charge carrier in VSD

Collaboration Makes More Lights Come on than Those on the Runway: Experiential Learning through an Interdisciplinary Fashion Show Project Merges Fashion and Technology

Inspired by the Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibit, Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology, the idea for the theme Futuristic Floral was born to guide the direction of the Apparel Merchandising and Product Development (AMPD) fashion show. In only the second year of production, we wanted to make sure the show would entertain the audience and be a professional production. However, as educators, our primary goal was to make a lasting impact on the education of our students. This project has pushed our students to think, act, communicate, and create on a level that would not have been possible without the interaction of students from apparel and electrical engineering. The true impact for all students involved remains to be seen when the lights go down after the show and they realize they have been a part of something much bigger than they could create on their own

A comparative assessment of biomass ash preparation methods using X-ray fluorescence and wet chemical analysis

X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy is a rapid method used to determine the composition of biomass ash, but the accuracy of the method is sensitive to various factors including ash preparation methods. In this study different types of biomass ash were examined by using wet chemical analysis (WCA) and compared with the respective XRF results. The biomass ash was initially prepared in accordance with the European Standard method at 550 °C. At this low combustion temperature the amount of residual unburned carbon is significant. To eliminate this, the ashes were heated at higher temperatures: a batch of twenty biomass ashes were heated at 850 °C and a batch of five heated to 815 °C. At these higher temperatures there may be loss of inorganic components by vaporisation. Variation in these effects may lead to unreliable results. The relationship between XRF and WCA results are given by regression equations. The ashes processed at 815 °C show better agreement between the two analysis methods

Systematic review of economic evaluations and cost analyses of guideline implementation strategies

Objectives To appraise the quality of economic studies undertaken as part of evaluations of guideline implementation strategies; determine their resources use; and recommend methods to improve future studies. Methods Systematic review of economic studies undertaken alongside robust study designs of clinical guideline implementation strategies published (1966-1998). Studies assessed against the BMJ economic evaluations guidelines for each stage of the guideline process (guideline development, implementation and treatment). Results 235 studies were identified, 63 reported some information on cost. Only 3 studies provided evidence that their guideline was effective and efficient. 38 reported the treatment costs only, 12 implementation and treatment costs, 11 implementation costs alone, and two guideline development, implementation and treatment costs. No study gave reasonably complete information on costs. Conclusions Very few satisfactory economic evaluations of guideline implementation strategies have been performed. Current evaluations have numerous methodological defects and rarely consider all relevant costs and benefits. Future evaluations should focus on evaluating the implementation of evidence based guidelines. Keywords: Cost-effectiveness analysis, physician (or health care professional) behaviour, practice guidelines, quality improvement, systematic review.Peer reviewedAuthor versio

Single particle flame-combustion studies on solid biomass fuels

Combustion of solid biomass in large scale power generation has been recognized as a key technology for the transition to a decarbonized electricity sector in the UK by 2050. Much of the near-term forecast capacity is likely to be by the conversion of existing coal-fired pulverized fuel plant (DECC, 2012). In such applications, it will be necessary to ensure that the combustion behaviour of the solid biomass fuels is engineered to match, as far as practical, that of the original plant design. While biomass feedstock characteristics vary considerably, one controllable variable for pulverized fuel is the size of the particles.Useful modelling for adaptation and design of boiler plant can be improved with more detailed measurement of the real behaviour of individual particles of the varying fuels. Typical power plant biomass fuels including pine, eucalyptus and willow with particle sizes ranging from up to 3. mm (Van Loo and Koppejan, 2008) and with differing moisture content and aspect ratios were selected for study. Single particles were supported in a water-cooled cover and then exposed above a flame, simulating biomass combustion in a furnace. Measurements of ignition delay, volatile burning time and char burn-out time were undertaken using high speed image capture. Temperatures of the surrounding environment and near to the particle surface were measured with thermocouples and thermometric imaging. Thermo-gravimetric measurements on separate samples complement the single particle measurements as a means of verifying the demarcation between the different stages of combustion and providing kinetic data.Analysis of the data identified correlations between the biomass fundamental characteristics, particle size, and the observed combustion profiles. Empirical expressions for the duration of each combustion stage have been derived. These have been validated with basic modelling including the predicted devolatilisation stage calculated by the FG-Biomass model (Chen et al.,1998)

Deeply cooled and temperature controlled microjets Liquid ammonia solutions released into vacuum for analysis by photoelectron spectroscopy

A versatile, temperature controlled apparatus is presented, which generates deeply cooled liquid microjets of condensed gases, expelling them via a small aperture into vacuum for use in photoelectron spectroscopy PES . The functionality of the design is demonstrated by temperatureand concentration dependent PES measurements of liquid ammonia and solutions of KI and NH4I in liquid ammonia. The experimental setup is not limited to the usage of liquid ammonia solutions solel

The effect of biomass ashes and potassium salts on MEA degradation for BECCS

This study investigates the comparative impact of inherently different biomass and coal ashes on the laboratory and pilot scale degradation of 30 wt% aqueous monoethanolamine (MEA), relevant to post-combustion CO2 capture. Thermal and oxidative degradation experiments were carried out at 135 °C and 40 °C respectively with CO2 loading (0.5 molCO2/molMEA), with and without the presence of ash. Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) data is provided for the major MEA degradation compounds such as N-(2-hydroxyethyl)formamide (HEF) and N-(2-hydroxyethyl)imidazole (HEI) along with the characterisation of a new MEA oxidative degradation product, N-(2-hydroxyethyl)imidazole-N-oxide (HEINO) which had been previously misassigned. Degradation products were quantified using 1H NMR and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC–MS) to assess the impact of potassium and various ashes from combustion (olive, white wood and two types of coal ash) on the rates of amine degradation. Woody biomass fly ashes were found to reduce the presence of the oxidative degradation products. Both types of coal fly ash and the olive biomass ash were found to enhance the formation the newly identified degradation product, HEINO. Solvent samples taken from a pilot scale facility support these laboratory findings

Chronology of Dune Development in the White River Badlands, Northern Great Plains, USA

Aeolian dune field chronologies provide important information on drought history on the Great Plains. The White River Badlands (WRB) dunes are located approximately 60 km north of the Nebraska Sand Hills (NSH), in the western section of the northern Great Plains. Clifftop dunes, sand sheets, and stabilized northwest-southeast trending parabolic dunes are found on upland mesas and buttes, locally called tables. The result of this study is a dune stabilization history determined from samples collected from stratigraphic exposures and dune crests. Thirty-seven OSL ages, from this and previous investigations, show three periods of dune activity: 1) ∼21,000 years ago to 12,000 years ago (a), 2) ∼9 to 6 ka, and 3) post-700 a. Stratigraphic exposures and low-relief dune forms preserve evidence of late Pleistocene and middle Holocene dune development, while high-relief dune crests preserve evidence of late Holocene dune development. Results of 12 OSL ages from the most recent dune activation event indicate that Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) droughts and Little Ice Age (LIA) droughts caused dune reactivation on the tables. Dune reactivation was accompanied by other drought-driven geomorphological responses in the WRB, including fluvial incision of the prairie and formation of sod tables. Regional significance of the MCA and LIA droughts is supported by similarities in the aeolian chronologies of the NSH at 700–600 a and some western Great Plains dune fields at 420–210 a. Aerial photographs of the WRB show little activity during the Dust Bowl droughts of the 1930s

Nonperturbative renormalization group approach to frustrated magnets

This article is devoted to the study of the critical properties of classical XY and Heisenberg frustrated magnets in three dimensions. We first analyze the experimental and numerical situations. We show that the unusual behaviors encountered in these systems, typically nonuniversal scaling, are hardly compatible with the hypothesis of a second order phase transition. We then review the various perturbative and early nonperturbative approaches used to investigate these systems. We argue that none of them provides a completely satisfactory description of the three-dimensional critical behavior. We then recall the principles of the nonperturbative approach - the effective average action method - that we have used to investigate the physics of frustrated magnets. First, we recall the treatment of the unfrustrated - O(N) - case with this method. This allows to introduce its technical aspects. Then, we show how this method unables to clarify most of the problems encountered in the previous theoretical descriptions of frustrated magnets. Firstly, we get an explanation of the long-standing mismatch between different perturbative approaches which consists in a nonperturbative mechanism of annihilation of fixed points between two and three dimensions. Secondly, we get a coherent picture of the physics of frustrated magnets in qualitative and (semi-) quantitative agreement with the numerical and experimental results. The central feature that emerges from our approach is the existence of scaling behaviors without fixed or pseudo-fixed point and that relies on a slowing-down of the renormalization group flow in a whole region in the coupling constants space. This phenomenon allows to explain the occurence of generic weak first order behaviors and to understand the absence of universality in the critical behavior of frustrated magnets.Comment: 58 pages, 15 PS figure