Intermediate filaments (IFs) are key to the mechanical strength of metazoan cells. Their basic building blocks are dimeric coiled coils mediating hierarchical assembly of the full-length filaments. Here we use single-molecule force spectroscopy by optical tweezers to assess the folding and stability of coil 2B of the model IF protein vimentin. The coiled coil was unzipped from its N and C termi...

Several years ago the authors of the present piece wrote a MONTHLY article [1] describing the velocity dependence of aerodynamic drag. Recently, a science reporter for the Guardian newspaper, who found this reference, solicited our help in writing an article about how a 102-year-old woman from Turin could fall out of a fourth floor window and survive [2]. In particular, the reporter wanted to k...

Three-terminal hybrid transmission lines (TTHTLs) are attractive from both environmental and commercial view. Hybrid growing due to urbanization, connecting an industrial load renewable integration. A TTHTL comprises sections of overhead underground/subsea cables or with different X/R ratios. Faulted section identification (FSI) is key for defining the adaptive/selective auto-reclosing scheme e...

FABMS analysis of T-lb peptide before and after one cycle of Edman degradation indicated an unblocked N-terminal Thr residue for this tryptic peptide. In contrast , our data showed a molecular protonated ion, MH + for T- la peptide at 655 mass units (mu) which is 42 mu higher than the MH ion of T- 1b peptide. In addition, T- la peptide was not amenable to one cycle of manual Edman degrada...

Transmission line (TL) Parameter Identification (PI) method plays an essential role in the transmission system. The existing PI methods usually have two limitations: (1) These only model for single TL, and can not consider topology connection of multiple branches simultaneous identification. (2) Transient bad data is ignored by methods, random selection terminal section may cause distortion ser...

Wearable thermoelectric generators (WTEGs) can incessantly convert body heat into electricity to power electronics. However, the low efficiency of materials, tiny terminal temperature difference, rigidity, and neglecting optimization lateral transfer preclude WTEGs from broad utilization. In this review, we aim comprehensively summarize state-of-the-art strategies for realization flexibility hi...