Architecture Article:
Fractal geometry, a
branch of mathematics developed in the 1970s studies abstract configurations
characterized by self-similarity patterns and recursive growth (Mandelbrot, 1982). Although, from the mathematical point of
view, fractal objects are sets that have fractional dimension so that they are
intermediate objects between one and two dimensional shapes or two and three
dimensional forms (Falconer, 2003), but in the general
sense fractal objects show the properties of being exactly or nearly the same
at every progressive scale. However, in mathematical definition, no natural
object is purely a fractal, instead it can be called as an ‘approximate
fractal’ or ‘statistical fractal’ that display ‘self-similarity’ and ‘self-affinity’
over extended but finite scale of ranges (Bovill, 1996). In this
paper ‘fractal’ term is frequently used to refer natural fractal, means
‘approximate fractal’ or ‘fractal-like’.
Engineering
Article:
He has invented a
new way of describing, calculating and thinking about shapes that are irregular
and fragmented, jagged and broken up. A new geometry has emerged, and it turns
out to be nature’s own…. The interesting feature of a lightning bolt’s path,
for example, is not the straight line direction, but rather the distribution of
its zigs and zags…. A new kind of symmetry has emerged, not of left to right or
front to back, but of small scale patterns to patterns on larger and larger
scales, the self-similarity of a broccoli floret whose tiny bifurcations echo
the branching of the stalk as a whole…. Oddly, the mathematical description of
them seemed to apply just as well to very different problems, from fluctuating
cotton prices since the 19th century to the rising and falling of the Nile
River through two millenniums…. In unexpectedly orderly fashion, they have
self-similarity on different scales.
Computational
Design:
Phosphorus has long been the target of
much research, but in recent years the focus has shifted from being limited
only to reducing its detrimental environmental impact, to also looking at how
it is linked to the global food security. Therefore, the interest in finding
novel techniques for phosphorus recovery, as well as improving existing
techniques, has increased. In this study we apply a hybrid simulation approach
of molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics to investigate the binding modes of
phosphate anions by a small intrinsically disordered peptide. Our results
confirm that the conformational ensemble of the peptide is significantly changed,
or stabilized, by the binding of phosphate anions and that binding does not
take place purely as a result of a stable P-loop binding nest, but rather that
multiple binding modes may be involved. Such small synthetic peptides capable
of binding phosphate could be the starting point of new novel technological
approaches toward phosphorus recovery, and they represent an excellent model
system for investigating the nature and dynamics of functional de novo designed
intrinsically disordered proteins.
