Functions Of Cytochrome-C In Regulation Of Electron-Transfer And Protein Folding

Cytochrome c, a "mobile electron carrier" of the mitochondrial respiratory chain, also occurs in detectable amounts in the cytosol, and can receive electrons from cytochromes present in endoplasmic reticulum and plasma membranes as well as from superoxide and ascorbate. The pigment was found to dissociate from mitochondrial membranes in liver and kidney when rats were subjected to heat exposure and starvation, respectively. Treating cytochrome c with hydroxylamine gives a partially deaminated product with altered redox properties; decreased stimulation of respiration by deficient mitochondria, increased reduction by superoxide, and complete loss of reducibility by plasma membranes. Mitochondria isolated from brown adipose tissue of cold-exposed rats are found to be sub-saturated with cytochrome c. The ability of cytochrome c to reactivate reduced ribonuclease is now reinterpreted as a molecular chaperone role for the hemoprotein.

Affine Hall-Littlewood Functions for A(1)((1)) And Some Constant Term Identities of Cherednik-Macdonald-Mehta Type

We study t-analogs of string functions for integrable highest weight representations of the affine Kac-Moody algebra A(1)((1)). We obtain closed form formulas for certain t-string functions of levels 2 and 4. As corollaries, we obtain explicit identities for the corresponding affine Hall-Littlewood functions, as well as higher level generalizations of Cherednik's Macdonald and Macdonald-Mehta constant term identities.

Waveform synthesis using Walsh functions International Journal of Electronics

A software and a microprocessor based hardware for waveform synthesis using Walsh functions are described. The software is based on Walsh function generation using Hadamard matrices and on the truncated Walsh series expansion for the waveform to be synthesized. The hardware employs six microprocessor controlled programmable Walsh function generators (PWFGs) for generating the first six non-vanishing terms of the truncated Walsh series. Improved approximation to a given waveform may be achieved by employing additional PWFGs.

Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Orientational Relaxation in Dipolar Lattice: Lack of Diffusive Decay for Second and Higher Rank Correlation Functions

Extensive molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out to calculate the orientational correlation functions Cl(t), G(t) = [4n/(21 + l)]Ci=-l (Y*lm(sZ(0)) Ylm(Q(t))) (where Y,,(Q) are the spherical harmonics) of point dipoles in a cubic lattice. The decay of Cl(t) is found to be strikingly different from higher l-correlation functions-the latter do not exhibit diffusive dynamics even in the long time. Both the cumulant expansion expression of Lynden-Bell and the conventional memory function equation provide very good description of the Cl(t) in the short time but fail to reproduce the observed slow, long time decay of c1 (t) .

One protein�many functions

The concept of one enzyme-one activity had influenced biochemistry for over half a century. Over 1000 enzymes are now described. Many of them are highly 'specific'. Some of them are crystallized and their three-dimensional structures determined. They range from 12 to 1000 kDa in molecular weight and possess 124 to several hundreds of amino acids. They occur as single polypeptides or multiple-subunit proteins. The active sites are assembled on these by appropriate tertiary folding of the polypeptide chain, or by interaction of the constituent subunits. The substrate is held by the side-chains of a few amino acids at the active site on the surface, occupying a tiny fraction of the total area. What is the bulk of the protein behind the active site doing? Do all proteins have only one function each? Why not a protein have more than one active site on its large surface? Will we discover more than one activity for some proteins? These newer possibilities are emerging and are finding experimental support. Some proteins purified to homogeneity using assay methods for different activities are now recognized to have the same molecular weight and a high degree of homology of amino acid sequence. Obviously they are identical. They represent the phenomenon of one protein-many functions.

CM defect and Hilbert functions of monomial curves

In this article we consider a semigroup ring R = KGamma] of a numerical semigroup Gamma and study the Cohen- Macaulayness of the associated graded ring G(Gamma) := gr(m), (R) := circle plus(n is an element of N) m(n)/m(n+1) and the behaviour of the Hilbert function H-R of R. We define a certain (finite) subset B(Gamma) subset of F and prove that G(Gamma) is Cohen-Macaulay if and only if B(Gamma) = empty set. Therefore the subset B(Gamma) is called the Cohen-Macaulay defect of G(Gamma). Further, we prove that if the degree sequence of elements of the standard basis of is non-decreasing, then B(F) = empty set and hence G(Gamma) is Cohen-Macaulay. We consider a class of numerical semigroups Gamma = Sigma(3)(i=0) Nm(i) generated by 4 elements m(0), m(1), m(2), m(3) such that m(1) + m(2) = mo m3-so called ``balanced semigroups''. We study the structure of the Cohen-Macaulay defect B(Gamma) of Gamma and particularly we give an estimate on the cardinality |B(Gamma, r)| for every r is an element of N. We use these estimates to prove that the Hilbert function of R is non-decreasing. Further, we prove that every balanced ``unitary'' semigroup Gamma is ``2-good'' and is not ``1-good'', in particular, in this case, c(r) is not Cohen-Macaulay. We consider a certain special subclass of balanced semigroups Gamma. For this subclass we try to determine the Cohen-Macaulay defect B(Gamma) using the explicit description of the standard basis of Gamma; in particular, we prove that these balanced semigroups are 2-good and determine when exactly G(Gamma) is Cohen-Macaulay. (C) 2011 Published by Elsevier B.V.

Robust/Optimal Temperature Profile Control of a High-Speed Aerospace Vehicle Using Neural Networks

An approximate dynamic programming (ADP)-based suboptimal neurocontroller to obtain desired temperature for a high-speed aerospace vehicle is synthesized in this paper. A I-D distributed parameter model of a fin is developed from basic thermal physics principles. "Snapshot" solutions of the dynamics are generated with a simple dynamic inversion-based feedback controller. Empirical basis functions are designed using the "proper orthogonal decomposition" (POD) technique and the snapshot solutions. A low-order nonlinear lumped parameter system to characterize the infinite dimensional system is obtained by carrying out a Galerkin projection. An ADP-based neurocontroller with a dual heuristic programming (DHP) formulation is obtained with a single-network-adaptive-critic (SNAC) controller for this approximate nonlinear model. Actual control in the original domain is calculated with the same POD basis functions through a reverse mapping. Further contribution of this paper includes development of an online robust neurocontroller to account for unmodeled dynamics and parametric uncertainties inherent in such a complex dynamic system. A neural network (NN) weight update rule that guarantees boundedness of the weights and relaxes the need for persistence of excitation (PE) condition is presented. Simulation studies show that in a fairly extensive but compact domain, any desired temperature profile can be achieved starting from any initial temperature profile. Therefore, the ADP and NN-based controllers appear to have the potential to become controller synthesis tools for nonlinear distributed parameter systems.

Derivation and consistency of the partial functions of the ternary system involving interaction coefficients

The logarithm of activity coefficients of the components of the ternary system is derived based on the Maclaurin infinite series, which is expressed in terms of the integral property of the system and subjected to appropriate boundary conditions. The derivation of the functions involves extensive summation of various infinite series pertaining to the first-order interaction coefficients that have been shown completely to remove any truncational error. Since the conventional equations involving interaction coefficients are internally inconsistent, a consistent form of the partial functions is developed in the article using the technique just described. The thermodynamic consistency of the functions based on the Maxwell and the Gibbs-Duhem relations has been established. The derived values of the logarithmic activity coefficients of the components have been found to be in agreement with the thermodynamic data of the Fe-Cr-Ni system at 1873 K and have been found to be independent of the compositional paths.

Spatially dependent zero-frequency response functions and correlation functions in the Kondo model

We present the details of a formalism for calculating spatially varying zero-frequency response functions and equal-time correlation functions in models of magnetic and mixed-valence impurities of metals. The method is based on a combination of perturbative, thermodynamic scaling theory [H. R. Krishna-murthy and C. Jayaprakash, Phys. Rev. B 30, 2806 (1984)] and a nonperturbative technique such as the Wilson renormalization group. We illustrate the formalism for the spin-1/2 Kondo problem and present results for the conduction-spin-density�impurity-spin correlation function and conduction-electron charge density near the impurity. We also discuss qualitative features that emerge from our calculations and discuss how they can be carried over to the case of realistic models for transition-metal impurities.

Transmembrane domains participate in functions of integral membrane proteins

Integral membrane proteins have one or more transmembrane a-helical domains and carry out a variety of functions such as enzyme catalysis, transport across membranes, transducing signals as receptors of hormones and growth factors, and energy transfer in ATP synthesis. These transmembrane domains are not mere structural units anchoring the protein to the lipid bilayer but seem to-contribute in the overall activity. Recent findings in support of this are described using some typical examples-LDL receptor, growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase, HMG-CoA reductase, F-0-ATPase and adrenergic receptors. The trends in research indicate that these transmembrane domains participate in a variety of ways such as a linker, a transducer or an exchanger in the overall functions of these proteins in transfer of materials, energy and signals.

Flat connections, geometric invariants and energy of harmonic functions on compact Riemann surfaces

A geometric invariant is associated to the space of fiat connections on a G-bundle over a compact Riemann surface and is related to the energy of harmonic functions.

Simulation of ENSO-Related Surface Winds in the Tropical Pacific by an Atmospheric General Circulation Model Forced by Observed Sea Surface Temperatures

The authors present the simulation of the tropical Pacific surface wind variability by a low-resolution (R15 horizontal resolution and 18 vertical levels) version of the Center for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Interactions, Maryland, general circulation model (GCM) when forced by observed global sea surface temperature. The authors have examined the monthly mean surface winds acid precipitation simulated by the model that was integrated from January 1979 to March 1992. Analyses of the climatological annual cycle and interannual variability over the Pacific are presented. The annual means of the simulated zonal and meridional winds agree well with observations. The only appreciable difference is in the region of strong trade winds where the simulated zonal winds are about 15%-20% weaker than observed, The amplitude of the annual harmonics are weaker than observed over the intertropical convergence zone and the South Pacific convergence zone regions. The amplitudes of the interannual variation of the simulated zonal and meridional winds are close to those of the observed variation. The first few dominant empirical orthogonal functions (EOF) of the simulated, as well as the observed, monthly mean winds are found to contain a targe amount of high-frequency intraseasonal variations, While the statistical properties of the high-frequency modes, such as their amplitude and geographical locations, agree with observations, their detailed time evolution does not. When the data are subjected to a 5-month running-mean filter, the first two dominant EOFs of the simulated winds representing the low-frequency EI Nino-Southern Oscillation fluctuations compare quite well with observations. However, the location of the center of the westerly anomalies associated with the warm episodes is simulated about 15 degrees west of the observed locations. The model simulates well the progress of the westerly anomalies toward the eastern Pacific during the evolution of a warm event. The simulated equatorial wind anomalies are comparable in magnitude to the observed anomalies. An intercomparison of the simulation of the interannual variability by a few other GCMs with comparable resolution is also presented. The success in simulation of the large-scale low-frequency part of the tropical surface winds by the atmospheric GCM seems to be related to the model's ability to simulate the large-scale low-frequency part of the precipitation. Good correspondence between the simulated precipitation and the highly reflective cloud anomalies is seen in the first two EOFs of the 5-month running means. Moreover, the strong correlation found between the simulated precipitation and the simulated winds in the first two principal components indicates the primary role of model precipitation in driving the surface winds. The surface winds simulated by a linear model forced by the GCM-simulated precipitation show good resemblance to the GCM-simulated winds in the equatorial region. This result supports the recent findings that the large-scale part of the tropical surface winds is primarily linear.

Generation of an eight node brick element using Papcovitch-Neuber functions

Some conventional finite elements suffer from drawbacks, such as shear locking, membrane locking, etc. To overcome them researchers have developed various techniques, termed as tricks by some and variational crimes by others. Many attempts have been made, but satisfactory explanations for why some of these techniques work have not been obtained, especially in the case of solid elements. This paper attempts a simple non-conforming solid element using assumed displacement fields which satisfy the Navier equation exactly. Its behaviour under simple loadings like bending, torsion and tension is examined and comparisons are made with existing elements.

Uniform algebras generated by holomorphic and close-to-harmonic functions

The initial motivation for this paper is to discuss a more concrete approach to an approximation theorem of Axler and Shields, which says that the uniform algebra on the closed unit disc (D) over bar generated by z and h, where h is a nowhere-holomorphic harmonic function on D that is continuous up to partial derivative D, equals C((D) over bar). The abstract tools used by Axler and Shields make harmonicity of h an essential condition for their result. We use the concepts of plurisubharmonicity and polynomial convexity to show that, in fact, the same conclusion is reached if h is replaced by h + R, where R is a non-harmonic perturbation whose Laplacian is ``small'' in a certain sense.

Violin string shape functions for finite element analysis of rotating Timoshenko beams

Violin strings are relatively short and stiff and are well modeled by Timoshenko beam theory. We use the static part of the homogeneous differential equation of violin strings to obtain new shape functions for the finite element analysis of rotating Timoshenko beams. For deriving the shape functions, the rotating beam is considered as a sequence of violin strings. The violin string shape functions depend on rotation speed and element position along the beam length and account for centrifugal stiffening effects as well as rotary inertia and shear deformation on dynamic characteristics of rotating Timoshenko beams. Numerical results show that the violin string basis functions perform much better than the conventional polynomials at high rotation speeds and are thus useful for turbo machine applications. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.