Site-specific endonucleases RspLKI and RspLKII from Rhodococcus species LK2 are isoschizomers of SphI and BamHI

Two site-specific endonucleases, RspLKI and RspLKII, have been isolated and purified to functional homogeneity from the soil bacterium Rhodococcus species LK2. RspLKI recognizes the 5'-GCATG decreases C-3' DNA sequence and RspLKII recognizes the 5'-G decreases GATCC-3' sequence (arrows indicate DNA cleavage sites). The isolated enzymes are class II site specific endonucleases and are isoschizomers of endonucleases SphI and BamHI, respectively.     

Intensification of mass-exchange processes by an electric field in a capillary porous solid-liquid system

An experimental study is performed of mass-exchange processes during extraction in a capillary porous solid-liquid system in an electric field. The experimental data are generalized to a critical function.Translated from Inzhererno-Fizicheskii Zhurnal, Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 109–113, January, 1986.     

Some natural flavonoids are competitive inhibitors of Caspase-1, -3 and -7 despite their cellular toxicity

A common feature of both apoptosis and inflammation is the activation of caspases. Caspases are aspartate-directed cysteine proteases that have numerous cellular targets. It has been discovered that several flavonoids are inhibitors of caspases. Flavonoids are members of a family of polyphenolic compounds from plants that have many biological properties, one of which is the ability to induce cell death. Some flavonoids are selective inhibitors of particular caspases. Since some of the inhibitory flavonoids are nevertheless cytotoxic, these results suggest that flavonoid-induced cell death may be occurring through a non-classical apoptosis pathway that is not dependent on caspase activity.     

Early Diagnostics of Damage and Fracture Zones in Composite Materials Using Brittle Strain Gauges and Acoustic Emission

The integrated use of the acoustic emission technique and brittle oxide strain gauges for testing the deformation of damage and fracture zones in samples of polymer composite materials (PCM) at the early phases is considered. For the realization of the proposed technique, integrated parameters were used and software including the cluster analysis and the classification of registered AE pulses was developed, which made it possible to differentiate crack formation signals in the brittle layer of a strain gauge from all the other signals that occur at the early phase of the deformation of PCM samples in the online mode. The use of acoustic emission testing and control video recording for the registration of cracks in a brittle oxide strain gauge with the threshold deformation value of 1000 μm/m provided the precise diagnostics of the forthcoming fracture zone in a sample at the early loading phase under the load level of 10–15% of the limiting one long before the beginning of the active PCM structural degradation phase and made it possible to determine the distribution fields of the highest main deformations in the region of a strain gauge and to perform their quantitative evaluation.     

Single-ion-conducting nanocomposite polymer electrolytes based on PEG400 and anionic nanoparticles: Part 2. Electrical characterization

Molecular relaxation and polarization phenomena of twelve single-ion-conducting nanocomposite polymer electrolytes (nCPEs) are studied using Broadband Electrical Spectroscopy (BES). The electrolytes are obtained by combining PEG400 oligomers with increasing amounts of anionic nanofiller comprised of fluorinated-TiO₂ associated with Li⁺ cations (LiFT^®), resulting in [PEG400/(LiFT)_y] systems with 0 ≤ y ≤ 26.4. This new class of [PEG400/(LiFT)_y] electrolytes allows us to achieve a significant single-ion conductivity (1.1·10⁻⁵ S cm⁻¹ at 30 °C for n_Li/n_O = 0.113) without the addition of lithium salts. To the best of our knowledge, this is the highest conductivity value reported for this class of electrolytes. This study, in conjunction with the results reported in Part 1, leads us to hypothesize a conduction mechanism in terms of two types of long-range charge-transfer processes. The first charge-transfer occurs at the interface between the filler nanoparticles and filler-PEG domains, while the second occurs through the PEG400 matrix with the assistance of polymer segmental motion. The measured Li⁺ transference numbers confirm that the studied materials are single-ion conductors.     

Problems of Locating Acoustic Emission Sources

Russian Journal of Nondestructive Testing - The accuracy of locating acoustic emission (AE) sources in the zones of stress raisers (central holes 5 mm in diameter) located a distance of 40 mm away...     

Reliability and cold resistance of thin-walled structures at low ambient temperatures

The authors propose to determine the reliability of metal structures (major pipelines, reservoirs, etc.) at low ambient temperatures in terms of the cold resistance criterion by using the second critical temperature of the ductile-brittle transition. The model takes into account degradation of plastic properties of the material during the structure operation. The results of predicting a fracture temperature of a pressure vessel with an axial cracklike defect correlates with the experimental data.