Alucard (Castlevania)

Adrian Fahrenheit Ţepeş (アドリアン・ファーレンハイツ・ツェペシュ, Adorian Fārenhaitsu Tsepeshu), better known as Alucard (アルカード, Arukādo), is a character in Konami's Castlevania series of video games. His first appearance in the series was in the 1989 game Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, but he is best known for his role in the critically acclaimed Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, released in 1997. His design in Symphony of the Night was created by Ayami Kojima, marking her first contribution to the Castlevania franchise.

In the series, Alucard is the son of Dracula, the antagonist of the Castlevania series. Due to his human mother, Lisa, Alucard is a dhampir, a half-human, half-vampire. His mother's death and admonition not to hate humanity caused him to take up arms against his father. In Dracula's Curse and Castlevania Legends, he fights against his father alongside the vampire hunters of the Belmont clan, and he is featured as the protagonist of Symphony of the Night. Alucard additionally is present in Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow and the follow-up sequel Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow, where he interacts with the protagonist of both games, Soma Cruz, as the Japanese government agent Genya Arikado (有角 幻也, Arikado Gen'ya). In the Lords of Shadow reboot series, starting with the character's introduction in Castlevania: Lords of Shadow - Mirror of Fate, changes Alucard's backstory completely, and makes him Trevor Belmont, once a mortal who was transformed into a vampire after his death by his biological father, the remorseful Dracula.

Loop (knot)

In reference to knots, loop may refer to:

References

Turn (biochemistry)

A turn is an element of secondary structure in proteins where the polypeptide chain reverses its overall direction. For beta turns go to Beta turn.

Definition

According to one definition, a turn is a structural motif where the C^α atoms of two residues separated by few (usually 1 to 5) peptide bonds are close (< 7 Å), while the residues do not form a secondary structure element such as an alpha helix or beta sheet with regularly repeating backbone dihedral angles. Although the proximity of the terminal C^α atoms usually correlates with formation of a hydrogen bond between the corresponding residues, a hydrogen bond is not a requirement in this turn definition. That said, in many cases the H-bonding and C^α-distance definitions are equivalent.

Types of turns

Turns are classified according to the separation between the two end residues:

In an α-turn the end residues are separated by four peptide bonds ().

In a β-turn (the most common form), by three bonds ().

In a γ-turn, by two bonds ().

Loopback

Loopback, or loop-back, refers to the routing of electronic signals, digital data streams, or flows of items back to their source without intentional processing or modification. This is primarily a means of testing the transmission or transportation infrastructure.

Many example applications exist. It may be a communication channel with only one communication endpoint. Any message transmitted by such a channel is immediately and only received by that same channel. In telecommunications, loopback devices perform transmission tests of access lines from the serving switching center, which usually does not require the assistance of personnel at the served terminal. Loop around is a method of testing between stations that are not necessarily adjacent, where in two lines are used, with the test being done at one station and the two lines are interconnected at the distant station. A patch cable may also function as loopback, when applied manually or automatically, remotely or locally, facilitating a loop-back test.