Application of the phase extension method in virus crystallography

The procedure for phase extension (PX) involves gradually extending the initial phases from low resolution (e.g. ～8?Å) to the high-resolution limit of a diffraction data set. Structural redundancy present in the viral capsids that display icosahedral symmetry results in a high degree of non-crystallographic symmetry (NCS), which in turn translates into higher phasing power and is critical for improving and extending phases to higher resolution. Greater completeness of the diffraction data and determination of a molecular replacement solution, which entails accurately identifying the virus particle orientation(s) and position(s), are important for the smooth progression of the PX procedure. In addition, proper definition of a molecular mask (envelope) around the NCS-asymmetric unit has been found to be important for the success of density modification procedures, such as density averaging and solvent flattening. Regardless of the degree of NCS, the PX method appears to work well in all space groups, provided an accurate molecular mask is used along with reasonable initial phases. However, in the cases with space group P1, in addition to requiring a molecular mask, starting the PX at a higher resolution (e.g. 6?Å) overcame the previously reported problems due to Babinet phases and phase flipping errors.     

Effect of TiO2 Nano-Filler on Electrical Properties of Na+ Ion Conducting PEO/PVDF Based Blended Polymer Electrolyte

Journal of Inorganic and Organometallic Polymers and Materials - Nanocomposite polymer electrolyte (NCPE) films based on a blend of two polymers poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) and poly (vinylidene...     

Structure and Properties of Nano-Scale Oxide-Dispersed Iron

Bulk samples of pure iron and yttria dispersed iron with and without titanium (i.e., Fe, Fe-Y₂O₃, and Fe-Y₂O₃-Ti) were prepared by hot extrusion of high-energy ball-milled powders. An examination of the microstructure using TEM revealed that the addition of titanium resulted in the reduction of the dispersoid size with a concomitant increase in the volume fraction of the dispersoids. As a result, Fe-Y₂O₃-Ti exhibited a substantial increase in hardness and tensile properties as compared to Fe and Fe-Y₂O₃. The higher hardness and strength of Fe-Y₂O₃-Ti is shown to be due to the presence of finer and higher number density of Y-Ti-O complex oxides. Dynamic strain aging in the temperature range of 423 K to 573 K (150 °C to 300 °C) was observed in all the compositions studied.     

Samarium Ion-Doped Maghemite Nanoparticles: Synthesis,Microstructural, Optical,and Magnetic Characterizations

Journal of Superconductivity and Novel Magnetism - This paper reports the effects of rare-earth Sm3+ ion substitution on structural, optical, electronic, and magnetic responses of maghemite...     

SLDG: a metamodel for Simulink/Stateflow models and its applications

Simulink and Stateflow (SL/SF) models are being widely used to design and develop embedded systems. Often the SL/SF models of embedded controllers turn out to be large and consist of many subsystems and hierarchies. When such a system is maintained, it becomes difficult to manually analyse the model to identify the impacted elements due to the existence of several explicit and implicit dependencies among the model elements. To automate the analysis of an SL/SF model, we propose a metamodel to capture various types of dependencies existing across the basic blocks. We have named this metamodel Simulink dependency graph (SLDG). We investigate the use of SLDG in change impact visualization and regression test selection. We have developed a prototype tool by implementing our approach for the aforementioned applications.     

The interaction between molten gallium and the hydrocarbon medium induced by ultrasonic energy—can gallium carbide be formed?

Ultrasonic irradiation of molten gallium in organic liquids (decane, dodecane, etc.) results in dispersion of the gallium into nanometric spheres. These were examined by several analytical methods XRD, DSC, Raman and IR spectroscopy) as well as electron microscopy (SEM, TEM) and found to be composed of Ga and C. The DSC analysis indicates that the Ga has possibly reacted with carbon, while the Raman spectrum of the product demonstrates a strong additional peak that could not be identified. This work explores the possibility that the product is gallium carbide or another gallium‐carbon complex. To investigate the nature of the product, we performed detailed extended X‐ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and X‐ray absorption near‐edge structure (XANES) analyses. On the basis of DSC, IR, and Raman it appear to be formation of GaC, whereas the analysis by EXAFS and XANES demonstrated that the gallium is found to be in a higher reduced state (almost metallic), supported by carbon. The question that remains open in addition to the one related to the formation of galium carbide is whether a complex structure, including oxygen contamination is involved in the layers surrounding the Ga as indicated by the EXAFS results.     

An ultra-low power high-performance CMOS temperature sensor with an inaccuracy of − 0.3 °C/ + 0.1 °C for aerospace applications

Microsystem Technologies - In the current paper, a new temperature sensor with improved temperature inaccuracy and with very low power consumption has been designed for avionic industry. The...     

Predictive Thermal Inactivation Model for Effects and Interactions of Temperature, NaCl, Sodium Pyrophosphate, and Sodium Lactate on Listeria monocytogenes in Ground Beef

The effects and interactions of heating temperature (60 °C to 73.9 °C), salt (0.0 % to 4.5 %?w/v), sodium pyrophosphate (0.0 % to 0.5 %?w/v), and sodium lactate (0.0 % to 4.5 %?w/v) on the heat resistance of a five-strain mixture of Listeria monocytogenes in 75 % lean ground beef were examined. Meat samples in sterile filtered stomacher bags were heated in a temperature controlled waterbath to determine thermal death times. The recovery medium was tryptic soy agar supplemented with 0.6 % yeast extract and 1 % sodium pyruvate. Weibull survival functions were employed to model the primary survival curves. Then, survival curve-specific estimated parameter values obtained from the Weibull model were used for determining a secondary model. The results indicate that temperature and salt have a large impact on the inactivation kinetics of L. monocytogenes, while sodium lactate (NaL) has an impact in the presence of salt. The model presented in this paper for predicting inactivation of L. monocytogenes can be used as an aid in designing lethality treatments meant to control the presence of this pathogen in ready-to-eat products.     

Influence of Grain Boundary Complexion on Deformation Mechanism of High Temperature Bending Creep Process of Cu Bicrystal

Despite of substantial advancement, the effect of grain boundary (GB) complexions on high temperature creep deformation process has not been fully understood. In this paper, we have studied the high temperature bending creep deformation of copper bicrystal with various GB complexions under different loads using molecular dynamics simulation. It has been found that specimen with normal kite GB complexion have better creep resistance properties when subjected to comparatively lower applied load. In case of monolayer Zr segregation, a drastic decrease in creep strength as well as creep plasticity is observed due to inhibition of GB migration. On the other hand, deviation between creep properties for specimen with split-kite GB complexion and split-kite bilayer Zr segregation GB complexion is minimal. Enhanced creep plasticity is observed in case of split-kite bilayer Zr segregation GB complexion, which is due to formation of interpenetrating icosahedral clusters in the necking region. Fracture in specimen with monolayer Zr segregation GB complexion has occurred by means of slip phenomenon at lower deformation load whereas amorphization and necking is observed at higher deformation load. In case of specimen with bilayer Zr segregation GB complexion, it is found that fracture has occurred through amorphization and necking at all deformation loads due to higher GB thickness.