Phase Separation Can Increase Enzyme Activity by Concentration and Molecular Organization

Biomolecular condensates concentrate macromolecules into discrete cellular foci without an encapsulating membrane. Condensates are often presumed to increase enzymatic reaction rates through increased concentrations of enzymes and substrates (mass action), although this idea has not been widely tested and other mechanisms of modulation are possible. Here we describe a synthetic system where the SUMOylation enzyme cascade is recruited into engineered condensates generated by liquid-liquid phase separation of multidomain scaffolding proteins. SUMOylation rates can be increased up to 36-fold in these droplets compared to the surrounding bulk, depending on substrate KM. This dependency produces substantial specificity among different substrates. Analyses of reactions above and below the phase separation threshold lead to a quantitative model in which reactions in condensates are accelerated by mass action and by changes in substrate KM, likely due to scaffold-induced molecular organization. Thus, condensates can modulate reaction rates both by concentrating molecules and by physically organizing them.

Gray Level Image Threshold Using Neutrosophic Shannon Entropy

This article presents a new method of segmenting grayscale images by minimizing Shannon's neutrosophic entropy. For the proposed segmentation method, the neutrosophic information components, i.e., the degree of truth, the degree of neutrality and the degree of falsity are defined taking into account the belonging to the segmented regions and at the same time to the separation threshold area. The principle of the method is simple and easy to understand and can lead to multiple thresholds. The efficacy of the method is illustrated using some test gray level images. The experimental results show that the proposed method has good performance for segmentation with optimal gray level thresholds.

Limits of Parabolic Flow Theory in Microfluidic Particle Separation: A Computational Study

Microfluidic particle separation technologies are useful for enriching rare cell populations for academic and clinical purposes. In order to separate particles based on size, deterministic lateral displacement (DLD) arrays are designed assuming that the flow profile between posts is parabolic or shifted parabolic (depending on post geometry). The design process also assumes the shape of the normalized flow profile is speed-invariant. The work presented here shows flow profile shapes vary, in arrays with circular and triangular posts, from this assumption at practical flow rates (10 < Re < 100). The root-mean-square error (RMSE) of this assumption in the circular post arrays peaked at 0.144. The RMSE in the triangular post array peaked at 0.136. Flow development occurred more rapidly in circular post arrays when compared to triangular post arrays. Additionally, the changes in critical bumping diameter (DCB) the DLD design metric used to calculate the size-based separation threshold were examined for 10 different row shift fractions (FRS). These errors correspond to a DCB that varies as much as 11.7% in the circular post arrays and 15.1% in the triangular post arrays.

Determination on Interlayer Separation Threshold of Complex Roof with Mechanics Properties

In order to determine interlayer separation threshold and separation stability of complex roof, distribution of interlayer separation was analyzed in different conditions by a contact element method based on nonlinear contact theory in ANSYS program. The conclusion was drawn that normal stress was tension stress in the center of construction surface in deep mining and it could be considered as interlayer separation threshold of complex roof.

Study on the X-Ray Radiation Pre-Sorting of Liaoning Chaoyang Low Grade Molybdenum Ore

The test of low grade Mo ore preconcentration index according to different separation threshold value was studied in this article. The results indicated that preconcentration index varies with the block of feeded material. Under the same test conditions ,the beneficiation index of -100+60mm size class particle was better than the other grain-sized particles and too large or too small particles all can affect the preconcentration index adversely.

A Tutorial on the Use of ROC Analysis for Computer-Aided Diagnostic Systems

The application of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for computer-aided diagnostic systems is reviewed. A statistical framework is presented and different methods of evaluating the classification performance of computer-aided diagnostic systems, and, in particular, systems for ultrasonic tissue characterization, are derived. Most classifiers that are used today are dependent on a separation threshold, which can be chosen freely in many cases. The separation threshold separates the range of output values of the classification system into different target groups, thus conducting the actual classification process. In the first part of this paper, threshold specific performance measures, e.g., sensitivity and specificity; are presented. In the second part, a threshold-independent performance measure, the area under the ROC curve, is reviewed. Only the use of separation threshold-independent performance measures provides classification results that are overall representative for computer-aided diagnostic systems. The following text was motivated by the lack of a complete and definite discussion of the underlying subject in available textbooks, references and publications. Most manuscripts published so far address the theme of performance evaluation using ROC analysis in a manner too general to be practical for everyday use in the development of computer-aided diagnostic systems. Nowadays, the user of computer-aided diagnostic systems typically handles huge amounts of numerical data, not always distributed normally. Many assumptions made in more or less theoretical works on ROC analysis are no longer valid for real-life data. The paper aims at closing the gap between theoretical works and real-life data. The review provides the interested scientist with information needed to conduct ROC analysis and to integrate algorithms performing ROC analysis into classification systems while understanding the basic principles of classification.