A study of radiation resistance of silica optical fibers under conditions of reactor irradiation

A measuring system has been developed to investigate the characteristics of radiation-induced optical absorption and radioluminescence in the spectral range of 400–1000 nm for a set of optical fibers being irradiated by fast neutrons and γ rays. This system has been used on the IR-8 research nuclear reactor to perform comparative tests of eight types of silica optical fibers from Heraeus (Germany), Fujikura (Japan), Mitsubishi (Japan), and the Fiber Optics Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Prokhorov General Physics Institute. The measured dependences of the induced absorption and radioluminescence intensity versus the nuclear radiation wavelength, flux, and fluence, as well as the temperature, are analyzed. The microscopic mechanisms of induced absorption and radioluminescence are discussed. The values of induced optical absorption and radioluminescence in glass fibers containing H₂ gas and having a hermetic coating (the technology for producing such fibers has been developed by the Fiber Optics Research Center) is found to be many times smaller than in other fibers.     

Silencing GmBIR1 in Soybean Results in Activated Defense Responses

Receptor-like kinases (RLKs) are a large group of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs) and play a critical role in recognizing pathogens, transducing defense signals, and mediating the activation of immune defense responses. Although extensively studied in the model plant Arabidopsis, studies of RLKs in crops, including soybean, are limited. When a BAK1-interacting receptor-like kinase (BIR1) homolog (referred to as GmBIR1 hereafter) was silenced by the BPMV (Bean pod mottle virus)-induced gene silencing (BPMV-VIGS), it resulted in phenotypes that were reminiscent of constitutively activated defense responses, including a significantly stunted stature with observable cell death on the leaves of the silenced plants. In addition, both SA and H₂O₂ were over-accumulated in the leaves of the GmBIR1-silenced plants. Consistent with this autoimmune phenotype, GmBIR1-silenced plants exhibited significantly enhanced resistance to both Pseudomonas syringae pv. glycinea (Psg) and Soybean mosaic virus (SMV), two different types of pathogens, compared to the vector control plants. Together, our results indicated that GmBIR1 is a negative regulator of immunity in soybean and the function of BIR1 homologs is conserved in different plant species.     

Effects of Calorie Restriction and IGF-1 Receptor Blockade on the Progression of 22Rv1 Prostate Cancer Xenografts

Calorie restriction (CR) inhibits prostate cancer progression, partially through modulation of the IGF axis. IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) blockade reduces prostate cancer xenograft growth. We hypothesized that combining calorie restriction with IGF-1R blockade would have an additive effect on prostate cancer growth. Severe combined immunodeficient mice were subcutaneously injected with 22Rv1 cells and randomized to: (1) Ad libitum feeding/intraperitoneal saline (Ad-lib); (2) Ad-lib/20 mg/kg twice weekly, intraperitoneal ganitumab [anti-IGF-1R antibody (Ad-lib/Ab)]; (3) 40% calorie restriction/intraperitoneal saline (CR); (4) CR/ intraperitoneal ganitumab, (CR/Ab). CR and ganitumab treatment were initiated one week after tumor injection. Euthanasia occurred 19 days post treatment. Results showed that CR alone decreased final tumor weight, plasma insulin and IGF-1 levels, and increased apoptosis. Ganitumab therapy alone reduced tumor growth but had no effect on final tumor weight. The combination therapy (CR/Ab) further decreased final tumor weight and proliferation, increased apoptosis in comparison to the Ad-lib group, and lowered plasma insulin levels relative to the Ad-lib and Ad-lib/Ab groups. Tumor AKT activation directly correlated with plasma IGF-1 levels. In conclusion, whereas ganitumab therapy modestly affected 22Rv1 tumor growth, combining IGF-1R blockade with calorie restriction resulted in a significant decrease in final tumor weight and improved metabolic profile.     

Capillary-Seeding Crystallization and Preliminary Crystallographic Analysis of a Solvent-Tolerant Elastase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa Strain K

Seeding is a versatile method for optimizing crystal growth. Coupling this technique with capillary counter diffusion crystallization enhances the size and diffraction quality of the crystals. In this article, crystals for organic solvent-tolerant recombinant elastase strain K were successfully produced through microseeding with capillary counter-diffusion crystallization. This technique improved the nucleation success rate with a low protein concentration (3.00 mg/mL). The crystal was grown in 1 M ammonium phosphate monobasic and 0.1 M sodium citrate tribasic dihydrate pH 5.6. The optimized crystal size was 1 × 0.1 × 0.05 mm³. Elastase strain K successfully diffracted up to 1.39 Å at SPring-8, Japan, using synchrotron radiation for preliminary data diffraction analysis. The space group was determined to be monoclinic space group P12₁1 with unit cell parameters of a = 38.99 Ǻ, b = 90.173 Å and c = 40.60 Å.     

Characterization of contamination effects for two polypropylene‐based materials

In this work, contamination effects are studied on two polypropylene‐based materials. These effects were identified on the molecular weight and on rheological and mechanical properties. Model contaminants chosen in this study were ethylene glycol and engine oil. They were added during the extrusion process to simulate the degradation due to contaminants. To quantify contamination effects and to correlate them with the microstructure evolution, scanning electron microscope (SEM) analyses were also conducted. The analysis of the different obtained results led to a better understanding of the mechanisms involved in the contamination process. Contaminants slightly affect the rheological properties, whereas mechanical properties are more influenced. These observations are confirmed by the modification of the fractured surfaces of the materials due to the presence of contaminants observed on SEM micrographs. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 2010. © 2009 Society of Plastics Engineers     

Induction motors broken bars monitoring using the H-H method [Letters]

In this letter an approach for fitting saturation characteristic and hysteresis using arctangent functions is presented. It has direct application to modeling transformers and electric machines. The approach is based on measurements of the magnetizing curve of the ferromagnetic material. The analytical form of the characteristic can be completely described by only three parameters. These three parameters are enough to take into account: the slope of the linear region, the position of the knee, and the saturating slope. The appropriate selection of these parameters allows the fitting of a wide class of magnetizing characteristics in simulation programs.     

Robust exponential convergence of a class of linear delayed systems with bounded controllers and disturbances

This brief paper deals with the problem of robust exponential stabilization of a class of dynamic systems subject to time-varying delays, external disturbances and control saturation. A linear memoryless state feedback controller is synthesized to guarantee that there is a domain of admissible initial conditions from which all solutions of the class of systems considered converge exponentially to a ball with a prespecified convergence rate. The problem is formulated as a two-step optimization problem with matrix inequality constraints to enlarge the size of the ball of admissible initial conditions.