Model multiple antigenic and homopolymeric peptides from non-repetitive sequences of malaria merozoite proteins elicit biologically irrelevant antibodies

We describe here a new type of mitochondrial mutation (dum24; for dark uniparental minus inheritance) of the unicellular photosynthetic alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The mutant fails to grow under heterotrophic conditions and displays reduced growth under both photoautotrophic and mixotrophic conditions. In reciprocal crosses between mutant and wild-type cells, the meiotic progeny only inherit the phenotype of the mating-type minus parent, indicating that the dum24 mutation exclusively affects the mitochondrial genome. Digestion with various restriction enzymes followed by DNA gel blot hybridizations with specific probes demonstrated that dum24 cells contain four types of altered mitochondrial genomes: deleted monomers lacking cob, nd4, and the 3' end of the nd5 gene; deleted monomers deprived of cob, nd4, nd5, and the 5' end of the cox1 coding sequence; and two types of dimers produced by end-to-end fusions between monomers similarly or differently deleted. Due to these mitochondrial DNA alterations, complex I activity, the cytochrome pathway of respiration, and presumably, the three phosphorylation sites associated with these enzyme activities are lacking in the mutant. The low respiratory rate of the dum24 cells results from the activities of rotenone-resistant NADH dehydrogenase, complex II, and alternative oxidase, with none of these enzymes being coupled to ATP production. To our knowledge, this type of mitochondrial mutation has never been described for photosynthetic organisms or more generally for obligate aerobes.     

Closed-loop identification of systems with uncertain time delays using ARX-OBF structure

Closed-loop identification of systems with known time delays can be effectively carried out with simple model structures like Autoregressive with Exogenous Input (ARX) and Autoregressive Moving Average with Exogenous Input (ARMAX). However, when the system contains large uncertain time delay, such structures may lead to inaccurate models with significant bias if the time delay estimate used in the identification is less accurate. On the other hand, conventional orthonormal basis filter (OBF) model structures are very effective in capturing the dynamics of systems with uncertain time delays. However, they are not effective for closed-loop identification. In this paper, an ARX-OBF model structure which is obtained by modifying the ARX structure is shown to be effective in handling closed-loop identification of systems with uncertain time delays. In addition, the paper shows that this advantage of ARX-OBF models over simple ARX model is considerable in multi-step ahead predictions.     

Electrical Properties of Silica-Based Nanocomposites with Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes

Fully dense multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT)/SiO₂ nanocomposites with MWCNTs contents of 5 and 10 vol% have been processed by spark plasma sintering, and the electrical conductivities of the nanocomposites were evaluated at temperatures ranging from 5 to 300 K. It has been found that the incorporation of MWCNTs converted an insulating silica nanoceramic into metallically conductive composites. The room-temperature conductivities of the nanocomposites, with over 14 orders of magnitude compared with pure silica, are in the range of 8 and 65 S/m. Also, it was interestingly found that the conductivity increased linearly with temperature from 5 to 300 K.     

The correlation structure for a class of scene-based video modelsand its impact on the dimensioning of video buffers

We analyze the autocorrelation structure for a class of scene-based MPEG video models at the groups-of-pictures (GOP) (course grain) and frame (fine grain) levels assuming an arbitrary scene-length distribution. At the GOP level, we establish the relationship between the scene-length statistics and the short-range/long-range dependence (SRD/LRD) of the underlying model. We formally show that when the intrascene dynamics exhibit SRD, the overall model exhibits LRD if and only if the second moment of the scene length is infinite. Our results provide the theoretical foundation for several empirically derived scene-based models. We then study the impact of traffic correlations on the packet loss performance at a video buffer. Two popular families of scene-length distributions are investigated: Pareto and Weibull. In the case of Pareto distributed scene lengths, it is observed that the performance is rather insensitive to changes in the buffer size even as the video model enters the SRD regime. For Weibull distributed scene lengths, we observe that for small buffers the loss performance under a frame-level model can be larger than its GOP-level counterpart by orders of magnitude. In this case, the reliance on GOP-level models will result in very optimistic results     

Synthesis and characterization of magnetic and fluorescent styrene co‐polymer nanofiber

F luorescent and magnetic poly(styrene) (PS) based random co‐polymer nanofiber was synthesized in a controlled manner via chemical polymerization in three steps. A fluorescent and magnetic nanohybrid {Fe₃O₄/Congored (CR)} was separately prepared and chemically grafted onto the epichlorohydrin (ECH) units of the random co‐polymer. Characterizations of the above synthesized polymers were done with the help of Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV–visible spectroscopy, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, fluorescence emission spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), vibrating sample magnetometer (VSM) measurement, differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and gel permeation chromatography (GPC) like analytical techniques. The FESEM results indicated that after the grafting of nanohybrid onto the random co‐polymer backbone, the polymer exhibited a nanofiber like morphology. Due to the surface functionalization and encapsulation reactions, the magnetic moment value of the nanohybrid and its nanocomposites were found to be reduced. Synthesis and characterization of magnetic and fluorescent random co‐polymer based nanofiber is the primary target of the present investigation and its application is extended to the catalysis field. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci. 2015 , 132, 42796.     

Investigation on Different Crystal Grains from the Multi-crystalline Silicon (mc-Si) Wafer

Silicon - We have studied the mc-Si wafers with different (hkl) planes. Initially, the wafer was chemically etched by the KOH (20wt%) and IPA (2%) in the Millipore water at 60 °C for...     

Studies on the synthesis, structure, growth and physical properties of an organic NLO crystal: 2-Amino-5-nitropyridinium Phenolsulfonate

A noncentrosymmetric crystal was prepared from 2-amino-5-nitropyridine (2A5NP) and p-Phenolsulfonic acid, which was designed for second harmonic generation. Good quality single crystals of 2-amino-5-nitropyridinium Phenolsulfonate (2A5NPP) were successfully grown by the slow evaporation method with dimensions 10 × 4 × 3 mm³. The unit cell dimensions were determined from single crystal X-ray diffraction studies. The structural perfection of the grown crystals has been analyzed by high-resolution X-ray diffraction (HRXRD) rocking curve measurements. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectral studies have been performed to identify the functional groups. The optical transmittance window and the lower cutoff wavelength of the 2A5NPP have been identified by UV-vis-NIR studies. Thermo gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) were used to study its thermal properties. Powder test with Nd:YAG laser radiation shows a high second harmonic generation. The laser induced surface damage threshold for the grown crystal was measured using Nd:YAG laser.     

Investigation on natural radiation level and its hazardous nature of river sediments using γ-ray spectroscopy

The content of natural radionuclides (²³⁸U, ²³²Th, ⁴⁰K) in sediment samples of Ponnaiyar River, taken from different depths, were determined using a γ-ray spectroscopic system with a NaI(TI) detector with an aim of evaluating the radiation hazard. The results are compared with Indian and world average values. To know the complete radiological characteristics, the radiological indices such as absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose equivalent (indoor and outdoor), radium equivalent activity, hazard index (H _ex and H _in), γ-index, activity utilization index, and excess lifetime cancer risk were calculated. The results obtained were discussed and compared with the recommended values. The outdoor γ-dose rates were measured at each sampling site using an environmental radiation dosimeter. The measured results were compared with literature values and correlated with the calculated absorbed dose rate. Averages of all the radiation hazard indices and concentrations of all the measured radionuclides in all the layers are lower than the recommended level. The origin of the detected radionuclides is assessed by comparing the present results with the corresponding values for the earth crust and other rock formations.