Molecular Dynamics-Based Strength Estimates of Beta-Solenoid Proteins

The use of beta-solenoid proteins as functionalizable, nanoscale, self-assembling molecular building blocks may have many applications, including templating the growth of wires or higher-dimensional structures. By understanding their mechanical strengths, we can efficiently design the proteins for specific functions. We present a study of the mechanical properties of seven beta-solenoid proteins using GROMACS molecular dynamics software to produce force/torque-displacement data, implement umbrella sampling of bending/twisting trajectories, produce Potentials of Mean Force (PMFs), extract effective spring constants, and calculate rigidities for two bending and two twisting directions for each protein. We examine the differences between computing the strength values from force/torque-displacement data alone and PMF data, and show how higher precision estimates can be obtained from the former. In addition to the analysis of the methods, we report estimates for the bend/twist persistence lengths for each protein, which range from 0.5-3.4 $\mu$m. We note that beta-solenoid proteins with internal disulfide bridges do not enjoy enhanced bending or twisting strength, and that the strongest correlate with bend/twist rigidity is the number of hydrogen bonds per turn. In addition, we compute estimates of the Young's modulus ($Y$) for each protein, which range from $Y$ = 3.5 to 7.2 GPa

Impact of Organized Retailing on the Informal Retailing of Select Organizations in Bangalore

The Retail sectors have become one of the most dynamic growing sectors in recent times. Retailing has always been an integral part of economic development. Nations with strong retail activity have enjoyed greater economic and social progress. It contributes to the development by matching the individual requirements of the population with the producers and suppliers of merchandise. This study focuses on the growth & development of retail sector. And business practices adopted by Retailing and its impact on informal organizations. This research paper is analytical and empirical in nature. Findings of the study is the highest Pearson correlation value is between ‘Ethical practices’ and ‘Overall Importance Factors in Retail’ and the lowest Pearson correlation value is between ‘Price’ and ‘Overall Importance Factors in Retail

Multilevel governance challenges in transitioning towards a national approach for REDD+:Evidence from 23 subnational REDD+ initiatives

Although REDD+ was conceived as a national approach to reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation, many of the early advances have been at the subnational level. It is critical to link these subnational efforts to emerging national REDD+ frameworks, including with respect to finance and benefit distribution, setting reference levels, measurement, reporting and verification (MRV), land policy and safeguards. We use evidence from interviews with proponents from 23 subnational REDD+ initiatives in six countries to characterize the multilevel governance challenges for REDD+. We analyse the differences in perceived challenges between subnational jurisdictional programs and project-based initiatives, and then analyse proponents’ perceptions of the relationship between government policies at multiple levels and these REDD+ initiatives. We find important multilevel governance challenges related to vertical coordination and information sharing and horizontal and inter-sectoral tensions, as well as concerns over accountability, equity and justice. Though the shift to a nested, jurisdictional or national REDD+ is sometimes approached as a technical design issue, this must be accompanied by an understanding of the interests and power relations among actors at different levels. We outline challenges and suggest priority areas for future research and policy, as countries move towards a national REDD+ system

Interpretation of Groundwater Quality and Radon Estimation in the Selected Region of Bangalore North Taluk, Karnataka, India

Ca-Mg-HCO3 is the major hydrochemical facies in the study area, with cation facies belonging to Ca-Na (95.84%) and Ca-Mg (4.16%) and the anion facies being Cl-SO4-HCO3 (100%). The concentration of alkaline earths exceeded that of alkalies (viz., Ca+Mg > Na+K) and concentration of weak acids exceeded that of strong acid elements (viz., HCO3 > Cl + SO4). Indirect base-exchange reaction was noticed in 95.8% of the samples, which involved ion exchange of Ca2+–Mg2+ in water with Na+–K+ in rocks. Permanent/noncarbonate hardness was noticed in 95.84% of the samples due to higher total hardness values over total alkalinity. Radon activity in 87.5 % of the samples was higher than the EPA advised MCL value of 11.1 Bq/L. Due to higher water quality index (58.0 > WQI < to 137.8) in majority of the water samples, overall groundwater quality in the study area is categorized as unfit for human consumption, attributed to higher salinity, dissolved solids, hardness, etc. The groundwater samples are considered safe for irrigation purpose based on %Na and SAR values

Limited Failure Censored Life Test Sampling Plan in Burr Type X Distribution

The Burr type X distribution is considered as a life time random variable of a product whose lots are to be decided for acceptance or otherwise on the basis of sample lifetimes drawn from the lot. The sample is divided into various groups in order to develop a group sampling plan in such a way that the life testing experiment is terminated as soon as the first failure in each group is observed. The acceptance criterion based on the theory of order statistics is proposed and is shown to be more economical than a criterion proposed in the earlier similar works

Comparison of History Effects in Magnetization in Weakly pinned Crystals of high-TcT_c and low-Tc_c Superconductors

A comparison of the history effects in weakly pinned single crystals of a high $T_c$ YBa$_2$Cu$_3$O$_{7 - \delta}$ (for H $\parallel$ c) and a low $T_c$ Ca$_3$Rh$_4$Sn$_{13}$, which show anomalous variations in critical current density $J_c(H)$ are presented via tracings of the minor magnetization hysteresis loops using a vibrating sample magnetometer. The sample histories focussed are, (i) the field cooled (FC), (ii) the zero field cooled (ZFC) and (iii) an isothermal reversal of field from the normal state. An understanding of the results in terms of the modulation in the plastic deformation of the elastic vortex solid and supercooling across order-disorder transition is sought.Comment: Presented in IWCC-200

Refined Hybrid Microgrid Architecture for the Improvement of Voltage Profile

Hybrid microgrid is emerging as a flexible and modular solution that integrates various heterogeneous energy resources and loads. This conventional hybrid microgrid architecture can also reduce the number of power conversion stages, when compared to other architectures of microgrid such as, centralized DC bus and centralized AC bus architectures. But, these conventional hybrid microgrid architectures are having poor fault tolerant capacity that leads to severe power imbalances in the microgrid system. With this aspect, this paper propose the refined hybrid microgrid architecture that can handle system uncertainties and improves the voltage profile. The proposed refined hybrid microgrid architecture consists of two layers (AC layer and DC layer) through which each and every constituent of the microgrid is connected. This provides continuity in power supply to the microgrid loads via the possibility of bi-directional power flow between AC layer and DC layer. The proposed architecture is simulated using MATLAB/Simulink®. From the results, it is observed that, this proposed refined hybrid microgrid architecture improves the voltage profile of the system during faults

Stable and Metastable vortex states and the first order transition across the peak effect region in weakly pinned 2H-NbSe_2

The peak effect in weakly pinned superconductors is accompanied by metastable vortex states. Each metastable vortex configuration is characterized by a different critical current density J_c, which mainly depends on the past thermomagnetic history of the superconductor. A recent model [G. Ravikumar, et al, Phys. Rev. B 61, R6479 (2000)] proposed to explain the history dependent J_c postulates a stable state of vortex lattice with a critical current density J_c^{st}, determined uniquely by the field and temperature. In this paper, we present evidence for the existence of the stable state of the vortex lattice in the peak effect region of 2H-NbSe_2. It is shown that this stable state can be reached from any metastable vortex state by cycling the applied field by a small amplitude. The minor magnetization loops obtained by repeated field cycling allow us to determine the pinning and "equilibrium" properties of the stable state of the vortex lattice at a given field and temperature unambiguously. The data imply the occurence of a first order phase transition from an ordered phase to a disordered vortex phase across the peak effect.Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures. Corresponding author: S. Ramakrishna

Minimum and maximum against k lies

A neat 1972 result of Pohl asserts that [3n/2]-2 comparisons are sufficient, and also necessary in the worst case, for finding both the minimum and the maximum of an n-element totally ordered set. The set is accessed via an oracle for pairwise comparisons. More recently, the problem has been studied in the context of the Renyi-Ulam liar games, where the oracle may give up to k false answers. For large k, an upper bound due to Aigner shows that (k+O(\sqrt{k}))n comparisons suffice. We improve on this by providing an algorithm with at most (k+1+C)n+O(k^3) comparisons for some constant C. The known lower bounds are of the form (k+1+c_k)n-D, for some constant D, where c_0=0.5, c_1=23/32=0.71875, and c_k=\Omega(2^{-5k/4}) as k goes to infinity.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figure