A New Role for Plastid Thioredoxins in Seed Physiology in Relation to Hormone Regulation

In Arabidopsis seeds, ROS have been shown to be enabling actors of cellular signaling pathways promoting germination, but their accumulation under stress conditions or during aging leads to a decrease in the ability to germinate. Previous biochemical work revealed that a specific class of plastid thioredoxins (Trxs), the y-type Trxs, can fulfill antioxidant functions. Among the ten plastidial Trx isoforms identified in Arabidopsis, Trx y1 mRNA is the most abundant in dry seeds. We hypothesized that Trx y1 and Trx y2 would play an important role in seed physiology as antioxidants. Using reverse genetics, we found important changes in the corresponding Arabidopsis mutant seeds. They display remarkable traits such as increased longevity and higher and faster germination in conditions of reduced water availability or oxidative stress. These phenotypes suggest that Trxs y do not play an antioxidant role in seeds, as further evidenced by no changes in global ROS contents and protein redox status found in the corresponding mutant seeds. Instead, we provide evidence that marker genes of ABA and GAs pathways are perturbed in mutant seeds, together with their sensitivity to specific hormone inhibitors. Altogether, our results suggest that Trxs y function in Arabidopsis seeds is not linked to their previously identified antioxidant roles and reveal a new role for plastid Trxs linked to hormone regulation.     

Structural features of autoreactive TCR that determine the degree of degeneracy in peptide recognition

Structural aspects of human TCRs that allow the activation of autoreactive T cells by diverse microbial peptides were examined using two human myelin basic protein (MBP)-specific T cell clones. The TCR sequences of these clones differed only in the N region of TCR-alpha and -beta since the clones had the same Valpha-Jalpha and Vbeta-Jbeta rearrangements. The two clones had a similar fine specificity for the MBP peptide, except for the P5 position of the peptide (lysine). In the crystal structure of the HLA-DR2/MBP peptide complex, P5 lysine is a prominent, solvent-exposed residue in the center of the DR2/MBP peptide surface. Five microbial peptides with conservative or nonconservative changes at the P5 position (lysine to arginine, serine, or proline) activated one of these clones. In contrast, the other clone was activated only by three of these peptides which had a conservative lysine to arginine change at P5. The degree of specificity/degeneracy in recognition of the P5 side chain was the key difference between these TCRs since the Escherichia coli/Haemophilus influenzae peptide stimulated both clones when the P5 position was substituted from serine to arginine. These results demonstrate that the complementarity-determining region 3 loops contribute to the degree of degeneracy in peptide recognition by human MBP-specific TCRs.     

In-depth study of the Ruddlesden-Popper LaxSr2−xMnO4±δ family as possible electrode materials for symmetrical SOFC

The Ruddlesden Popper (RP) manganites La_xSr_2?xMnO_4±δ with compositions 0.25 ≤ x ≤ 0.6 have been successfully synthesized as single phases by solid-state reaction in air. All those materials are not only stable in reducing atmosphere but they also maintain the K₂NiF₄-type structure with I4/mmm symmetry under redox cycling conditions with limited volume changes. The x = 0.5 phase was analyzed by in situ high temperature neutron powder diffraction (HTNPD), under flowing hydrogen, showing the formation of oxide-ion vacancies on the equatorial sites of the perovskite planes, during reduction process. The total electrical conductivity was optimized and found maximum for x = 0.5 with values of 35.6 S cm^?1 and 1.9 S cm^?1 at 800 °C in air and 3% H₂/Ar, respectively, what is judged to be sufficient for an active layer of symmetrical SOFC electrode. First Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) measurements in both oxidizing and reducing conditions, using an YSZ electrolyte and a GDC buffer layer, are presented giving rise to promising values.     

Adsorption of copper(II) and chromium(III) ions onto amidoximated cellulose

Chemical modification of cellulose powder is performed by successive reactions with acrylonitrile in an alkaline medium followed by aqueous hydroxylamine to prepare amidoximated cellulose. Due to complexation, the amidoxime groups immobilize heavy cations from buffered solutions at various pH values. The capacity of adsorption for Cu(II) and Cr(III) ions is related to the amount of amidoxime groups in the support and to the metal concentration of the polluted solution. The formation of a 1/1 complex is proved by the adsorption limit values. Desorption of the cations is possible by treatment with a stronger complexing agent such as ethylenediaminetetracetic acid. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 75: 1624–1631, 2000     

Thermodynamic Properties of Alkali Silicates: Heat Capacity of Li2SiO3 and Lithium-Bearing Melts

The heat capacities of liquid Li₂SiO₃ and Li₂Si₃O₇ have been determined through drop calorimetry measurements to complement available data on lithium, sodium, and potassium silicate melts. The composition and temperature dependences of the heat capacity depends specifically on the nature of the alkali element, indicating that the temperature-induced structural changes that take place in the melts are specific. The properties of crystalline Li₂SiO₃ have also been determined above 298 K. The enthalpy of fusion at 1474 K is 71.3 ± 0.6 kJ/mol, in agreement with previous measurements. In contrast to other silicate compounds, and especially the isostructural crystal Na₂SiO₃, Li₂SiO₃ shows almost no premelting effects.     

Diffusion of radiogenic helium in natural uranium oxides

The issue of nuclear waste management – and especially spent fuel disposal – demands further research on the long-term behavior of helium and its impact on physical changes in UO₂ and (U,Pu)O₂ matrices subjected to self-irradiation. Helium produced by radioactive decay of the actinides concentrates in the grains or is trapped at the grain boundaries. Various scenarios can be considered, and can have a significant effect on the radionuclide source terms that will be accessible to water after the canisters have been breached. Helium production and matrix damage is generally simulated by external irradiation or with actinide-doped materials. A natural uranium oxide sample was studied to acquire data on the behavior of radiogenic helium and its diffusion under self-irradiation in spent fuel. The sample from the Pen Ar Ran deposit in the Vendée region of France dated at 320 ± 9 million of years was selected for its simple geological history, making it a suitable natural analog of spent fuel under repository conditions during the initial period in a closed system not subject to mass transfer with the surrounding environment. Helium outgassing measured by mass spectrometry to determine the He diffusion coefficients through the ore shows that: (i) a maximum of 5% (2.1% on average) of the helium produced during the last 320 Ma in this natural analog was conserved, (ii) about 33% of the residual helium is occluded in the matrix and vacancy defects (about 10⁻⁵ mol g⁻¹) and 67% in bubbles that were analyzed by HRTEM. A similar distribution has been observed in spent fuel and in (U_0.9,Pu_0.1)O₂. The results obtained for the natural Pen Ar Ran sample can be applied by analogy to spent fuel, especially in terms of the apparent solubility limit and the formation, characteristics and behavior of the helium bubbles.     

Experimental analysis of damage creation and permanent indentation on highly oriented plates

This paper presents an experimental investigation concerning low-velocity impact and quasi-static indentation tests on highly oriented laminates used in aeronautical and aerospace applications. The damage observed in such laminates is very particular. Post mortem analysis were carried out which helped to define an impact damage scenario. Microscopic observations led to explain the mechanism of permanent indentation formation which is a fundamental point of damage tolerance justification. Equivalence between static and dynamic is also discussed.     

AGRIF: Adaptive grid refinement in Fortran

Adaptive grid refinement in Fortran (AGRIF) is a Fortran90 package for the integration of adaptive mesh refinement (AMR) features within existing finite difference codes. The package first provides model-independent Fortran90 procedures containing the different operations in an AMR process: time integration of grid hierarchy, clustering, interpolations, updates, etc. The package then creates the Fortran90 model-dependent part of the code based on an entry file written by the user.The basic idea of AGRIF is to make use of Fortran90 pointers to successively address the variables of the different grids of an AMR process. As pointers can be used exactly like other (static) variables in Fortran, most of the original code will remain unchanged.     

Hafnium dioxide for porous and dense high-temperature refractories (2600 °C)

The VERDON project is devoted to the studies of fission products release in a hypothetical case of severe accident in a pressurized water reactor (PWR). The experiments will be performed on irradiated nuclear fuels: the fuel rod is heated with an induction furnace up to the melting point of the irradiated fuel (about 2600 °C). This furnace must be thermally isolated and some parts must resist to interaction with corium (magma of nuclear fuel and cladding) during a limited time. The refractory pieces needed to VERDON facility (dense and porous) are the subject of this work.The dense pieces are made of hafnium dioxide doped with yttrium oxide in order to avoid cracking due to a phase transition which generates an important volumetric expansion. The ceramics obtained after sintering are dense (90%) and present mainly closed porosity. The porous pieces are prepared from a mixture of hafnium dioxide and a porous agent. After sintering, these pieces keep a satisfactory porosity (30–50 vol%) and do not crack during the phase transition.     

A sparse preconditioned iterative method for vibration analysis of geometrically mistuned bladed disks

In this paper, the Static Mode Compensation method to predict geometrical mistuning effects on the response of bladed disks is reviewed and its limitations are analyzed. This method proved to be effective only for narrow clusters of modes under localized low rank perturbation. A new algorithm is introduced to address its deficiencies that draws on optimal preconditioned methods for generalized eigenvalue problem featuring sparse matrix vector multiplications, being more attractive under limited memory constraints of multi-millon DOF FEM models. The central idea of the SMC is to correct nominal eigenspace using modal acceleration method. It has been extended here by replacing the quasi-static set of modes with inexact solutions of the linear Jacobi–Davidson correction equations. Some heuristic strategies are discussed to lower the computational effort given the block-circulant structure of the nominal system. Numerical experiments on an industrial scale bladed disk model show that this leads to a very competitive tool. Computational performance and accuracy of both methods is compared in two areas of spectrum. The study demonstrates low accuracy of SMC method in the modal interaction zone, while validating efficiency and accuracy of the new algorithm in both areas.