Quasi-planar nucleus structure in apoferritin crystallization

First-order phase transitions of matter, such as condensation and crystallization, proceed through the formation and subsequent growth of 'critical nuclei' of the new phase. The thermodynamics and kinetics of the formation of these critical nuclei depend on their structure, which is often assumed to be a compact, three-dimensional arrangement of the constituent molecules or atoms. Recent molecular dynamics simulations have predicted compact nucleus structures for matter made up of building blocks with a spherical interaction field, whereas strongly anisotropic, dipolar molecules may form nuclei consisting of single chains of molecules. Here we show, using direct atomic force microscopy observations, that the near-critical-size clusters formed during the crystallization of apoferritin, a quasi-spherical protein, and which are representative of the critical nucleus of this system, consist of planar arrays of one or two monomolecular layers that contain 5-10 rods of up to 7 molecules each. We find that these clusters contain between 20 and 50 molecules each, and that the arrangement of the constituent molecules is identical to that found in apoferritin crystals. We anticipate that similarly unexpected critical nucleus structures may be quite common, particularly with anisotropic molecules, suggesting that advanced nucleation theories should treat the critical nucleus structure as a variable.     

热轧带钢层流冷却设定模型的开发与实现

分析了热轧带钢层流冷却的传热过程,基于传热过程给出了冷却控制的空冷和水冷温降计算模型,该模型为线性回归模型,不同于理论的指数温降模型,回归数据取自于现场,更具有实用性,具有模型结构简单、精度高的特点·对层流冷却的设定计算(预设定和修正设定计算)的程序实现方法进行了详细描述,讨论了层流冷却系统中的组别划分,并给出了冷却控制系统的数据流程·本系统的冷却能力强,具有较宽的冷却速率调整范围,运行情况以及使用控制效果良好,能满足现场生产以及新品种开发的要求·