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Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Training An Asymmetric Signal Perceptron In An Artificial Chemistry, Peter Banda May 2013

Training An Asymmetric Signal Perceptron In An Artificial Chemistry, Peter Banda

Student Research Symposium

Autonomous learning implemented purely by means of a synthetic chemical system has not been previously realized. Learning promotes reusability, and minimizes the system design to simple input-output specification. In this poster, I present a simulated chemical system, the first full-featured implementation of a perceptron in an artificial (simulated) chemistry, which can successfully learn all 14 linearly separable logic functions. A perceptron is the simplest system capable of learning inspired by the functioning of a biological neuron. My newest model called the asymmetric signal perceptron (ASP) is, as opposed to its predecessors such as the weight-race perceptron (WRP), substantially simpler by …


Differential Effects Of Membrane Order On Membrane Permeability, Miranda J. Bradley, Marshall J. Colville, Miles J. Crumley, Drake C. Mitchell May 2013

Differential Effects Of Membrane Order On Membrane Permeability, Miranda J. Bradley, Marshall J. Colville, Miles J. Crumley, Drake C. Mitchell

Student Research Symposium

Phospholipid membranes segregate into lateral domains of liquid ordered (lo) and liquid disordered (ld) phases when cholesterol and mixed species of lipids with saturated and unsaturated acyl chains are present. To examine membrane permeability and rate of vesicle rupture by Triton in pure lo, pure ld, and mixed lo/ld phases, LUVs were prepared based on the ternary phase diagram of POPC, sphingomyelin, and cholesterol. These LUVs were loaded with 2mM carboxyfluorescein (CF) and formed by extrusion at 65oC. Using a stopped-flow fluorometer, changes in CF fluorescence were measured when LUVs were exposed to sudden osmotic gradients, pH gradients, or 0.1% …


An Alternative Ribozyme For The Rna Hypercycle, Ishak Elkhal May 2013

An Alternative Ribozyme For The Rna Hypercycle, Ishak Elkhal

Student Research Symposium

In the quest to forward understanding of the prebiotic world (specifically, the RNA World Hypothesis), one of the most interesting paradigms to consider is the potential for cooperative networks that may have driven molecular evolution forward. Such a network may exist as an RNA hypercycle, as proposed by Eigen (1977). Much progress has been made towards an RNA hypercycle-like system, especially using the Azoarcus ribozyme system demonstrated by Vaidya et al. (2012). The current work is dedicated to constructing a second model as a cooperative RNA network, utilizing a group I intron from Coxiella burnetii (Cbu1917). The intron was constructed …