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Sample records for high-residue conservation system

Residue management practices and planter attachments for corn production in a conservation agriculture system

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J. Nejadi

2013-11-01

Full Text Available Seed placement and failure to establish a uniform plant stand are critical problems associated with production of corn (Zea mays following wheat (Triticum aestivum in a conservation agriculture system in Iran. Our objectives were to evaluate the performance of a corn row- crop planter equipped with two planter attachments (smooth/toothed coulters at six wheat residue management systems (three tillage systems and two levels of surface residue at two forward speeds of 5 and 7 km h-1. Residue retained after planting, seeding depth, emergence rate index (ERI and seed spacing indices were determined. The baled residue plots tilled by chisel plow followed by disc harrow (BRCD resulted in minimum residue after planting as compared to other residue treatments. Furthermore, the maximum values of the ERI and uniformity of plant spacing pertained to this treatment. Other results showed that the ERI increased up to 18% for the toothed coulter as compared to the smooth coulter. The toothed coulter also established a deeper seed placement as compared to the smooth coulter. Planting at forward speed of 5 km h-1 resulted in deeper seeding depth as compared to a forward speed of 7 km h-1. However, lower values of miss and precision indices were obtained at forward speed of 7 km h-1, indicating a more uniformity of plant spacing. Results of this study showed that equipping the conventional planter with toothed coulter and planting in soil prepared under the BRCD residue management system can result in a satisfactory conservation crop production system.
Highly conserved small subunit residues influence rubisco large subunit catalysis.

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Genkov, Todor; Spreitzer, Robert J

2009-10-30

The chloroplast enzyme ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) catalyzes the rate-limiting step of photosynthetic CO(2) fixation. With a deeper understanding of its structure-function relationships and competitive inhibition by O(2), it may be possible to engineer an increase in agricultural productivity and renewable energy. The chloroplast-encoded large subunits form the active site, but the nuclear-encoded small subunits can also influence catalytic efficiency and CO(2)/O(2) specificity. To further define the role of the small subunit in Rubisco function, the 10 most conserved residues in all small subunits were substituted with alanine by transformation of a Chlamydomonas reinhardtii mutant that lacks the small subunit gene family. All the mutant strains were able to grow photosynthetically, indicating that none of the residues is essential for function. Three of the substitutions have little or no effect (S16A, P19A, and E92A), one primarily affects holoenzyme stability (L18A), and the remainder affect catalysis with or without some level of associated structural instability (Y32A, E43A, W73A, L78A, P79A, and F81A). Y32A and E43A cause decreases in CO(2)/O(2) specificity. Based on the x-ray crystal structure of Chlamydomonas Rubisco, all but one (Glu-92) of the conserved residues are in contact with large subunits and cluster near the amino- or carboxyl-terminal ends of large subunit alpha-helix 8, which is a structural element of the alpha/beta-barrel active site. Small subunit residues Glu-43 and Trp-73 identify a possible structural connection between active site alpha-helix 8 and the highly variable small subunit loop between beta-strands A and B, which can also influence Rubisco CO(2)/O(2) specificity.
On the relationship between residue structural environment and sequence conservation in proteins.

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Liu, Jen-Wei; Lin, Jau-Ji; Cheng, Chih-Wen; Lin, Yu-Feng; Hwang, Jenn-Kang; Huang, Tsun-Tsao

2017-09-01

Residues that are crucial to protein function or structure are usually evolutionarily conserved. To identify the important residues in protein, sequence conservation is estimated, and current methods rely upon the unbiased collection of homologous sequences. Surprisingly, our previous studies have shown that the sequence conservation is closely correlated with the weighted contact number (WCN), a measure of packing density for residue's structural environment, calculated only based on the C α positions of a protein structure. Moreover, studies have shown that sequence conservation is correlated with environment-related structural properties calculated based on different protein substructures, such as a protein's all atoms, backbone atoms, side-chain atoms, or side-chain centroid. To know whether the C α atomic positions are adequate to show the relationship between residue environment and sequence conservation or not, here we compared C α atoms with other substructures in their contributions to the sequence conservation. Our results show that C α positions are substantially equivalent to the other substructures in calculations of various measures of residue environment. As a result, the overlapping contributions between C α atoms and the other substructures are high, yielding similar structure-conservation relationship. Take the WCN as an example, the average overlapping contribution to sequence conservation is 87% between C α and all-atom substructures. These results indicate that only C α atoms of a protein structure could reflect sequence conservation at the residue level. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Reverse Conservation Analysis Reveals the Specificity Determining Residues of Cytochrome P450 Family 2 (CYP 2

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Tai-Sung Lee

2008-01-01

Full Text Available The concept of conservation of amino acids is widely used to identify important alignment positions of orthologs. The assumption is that important amino acid residues will be conserved in the protein family during the evolutionary process. For paralog alignment, on the other hand, the opposite concept can be used to identify residues that are responsible for specificity. Assuming that the function-specific or ligand-specific residue positions will have higher diversity since they are under evolutionary pressure to fit the target specificity, these function-specific or ligand-specific residues positions will have a lower degree of conservation than other positions in a highly conserved paralog alignment. This study assessed the ability of reverse conservation analysis to identify function-specific and ligand-specific residue positions in closely related paralog. Reverse conservation analysis of paralog alignments successfully identified all six previously reported substrate recognition sites (SRSs in cytochrome P450 family 2 (CYP 2. Further analysis of each subfamily identified the specificity-determining residues (SDRs that have been experimentally found. New potential SDRs were also predicted and await confirmation by further experiments or modeling calculations. This concept may be also applied to identify SDRs in other protein families.
Residual distribution for general time-dependent conservation laws

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ricchiuto, Mario; Csik, Arpad; Deconinck, Herman

2005-01-01

We consider the second-order accurate numerical solution of general time-dependent hyperbolic conservation laws over unstructured grids in the framework of the Residual Distribution method. In order to achieve full conservation of the linear, monotone and first-order space-time schemes of (Csik et al., 2003) and (Abgrall et al., 2000), we extend the conservative residual distribution (CRD) formulation of (Csik et al., 2002) to prismatic space-time elements. We then study the design of second-order accurate and monotone schemes via the nonlinear mapping of the local residuals of linear monotone schemes. We derive sufficient and necessary conditions for the well-posedness of the mapping. We prove that the schemes obtained with the CRD formulation satisfy these conditions by construction. Thus the nonlinear schemes proposed in this paper are always well defined. The performance of the linear and nonlinear schemes are evaluated on a series of test problems involving the solution of the Euler equations and of a two-phase flow model. We consider the resolution of strong shocks and complex interacting flow structures. The results demonstrate the robustness, accuracy and non-oscillatory character of the proposed schemes. d schemes
Combining specificity determining and conserved residues improves functional site prediction

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Gelfand Mikhail S

2009-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Predicting the location of functionally important sites from protein sequence and/or structure is a long-standing problem in computational biology. Most current approaches make use of sequence conservation, assuming that amino acid residues conserved within a protein family are most likely to be functionally important. Most often these approaches do not consider many residues that act to define specific sub-functions within a family, or they make no distinction between residues important for function and those more relevant for maintaining structure (e.g. in the hydrophobic core. Many protein families bind and/or act on a variety of ligands, meaning that conserved residues often only bind a common ligand sub-structure or perform general catalytic activities. Results Here we present a novel method for functional site prediction based on identification of conserved positions, as well as those responsible for determining ligand specificity. We define Specificity-Determining Positions (SDPs, as those occupied by conserved residues within sub-groups of proteins in a family having a common specificity, but differ between groups, and are thus likely to account for specific recognition events. We benchmark the approach on enzyme families of known 3D structure with bound substrates, and find that in nearly all families residues predicted by SDPsite are in contact with the bound substrate, and that the addition of SDPs significantly improves functional site prediction accuracy. We apply SDPsite to various families of proteins containing known three-dimensional structures, but lacking clear functional annotations, and discusse several illustrative examples. Conclusion The results suggest a better means to predict functional details for the thousands of protein structures determined prior to a clear understanding of molecular function.
A highly Conserved Aspartic Acid Residue of the Chitosanase from Bacillus Sp. TS Is Involved in the Substrate Binding.

Science.gov (United States)

Zhou, Zhanping; Zhao, Shuangzhi; Liu, Yang; Chang, Zhengying; Ma, Yanhe; Li, Jian; Song, Jiangning

2016-11-01

The chitosanase from Bacillus sp. TS (CsnTS) is an enzyme belonging to the glycoside hydrolase family 8. The sequence of CsnTS shares 98 % identity with the chitosanase from Bacillus sp. K17. Crystallography analysis and site-direct mutagenesis of the chitosanase from Bacillus sp. K17 identified the important residues involved in the catalytic interaction and substrate binding. However, despite progress in understanding the catalytic mechanism of the chitosanase from the family GH8, the functional roles of some residues that are highly conserved throughout this family have not been fully elucidated. This study focused on one of these residues, i.e., the aspartic acid residue at position 318. We found that apart from asparagine, mutation of Asp318 resulted in significant loss of enzyme activity. In-depth investigations showed that mutation of this residue not only impaired enzymatic activity but also affected substrate binding. Taken together, our results showed that Asp318 plays an important role in CsnTS activity.
Conserved residues of the human mitochondrial holocytochrome c synthase mediate interactions with heme.

Science.gov (United States)

Babbitt, Shalon E; San Francisco, Brian; Bretsnyder, Eric C; Kranz, Robert G

2014-08-19

C-type cytochromes are distinguished by the covalent attachment of a heme cofactor, a modification that is typically required for its subsequent folding, stability, and function. Heme attachment takes place in the mitochondrial intermembrane space and, in most eukaryotes, is mediated by holocytochrome c synthase (HCCS). HCCS is the primary component of the eukaryotic cytochrome c biogenesis pathway, known as System III. The catalytic function of HCCS depends on its ability to coordinate interactions between its substrates: heme and cytochrome c. Recent advancements in the recombinant expression and purification of HCCS have facilitated comprehensive analyses of the roles of conserved residues in HCCS, as demonstrated in this study. Previously, we proposed a four-step model describing HCCS-mediated cytochrome c assembly, identifying a conserved histidine residue (His154) as an axial ligand to the heme iron. In this study, we performed a systematic mutational analysis of 17 conserved residues in HCCS, and we provide evidence that the enzyme contains two heme-binding domains. Our data indicate that heme contacts mediated by residues within these domains modulate the dynamics of heme binding and contribute to the stability of the HCCS-heme-cytochrome c steady state ternary complex. While some residues are essential for initial heme binding (step 1), others impact the subsequent release of the holocytochrome c product (step 4). Certain HCCS mutants that were defective in heme binding were corrected for function by exogenous aminolevulinic acid (ALA, the precursor to heme). This chemical "correction" supports the proposed role of heme binding for the corresponding residues.
A conserved residue of l-alanine dehydrogenase from Bacillus pseudofirmus, Lys-73, participates in the catalytic reaction through hydrogen bonding.

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He, Guangzheng; Xu, Shujing; Wang, Shanshan; Zhang, Qing; Liu, Dong; Chen, Yuling; Ju, Jiansong; Zhao, Baohua

2018-03-01

A multiple protein sequence alignment of l-alanine dehydrogenases from different bacterial species revealed that five highly conserved amino acid residues Arg-15, Lys-73, Lys-75, His-96 and Asp-269 are potential catalytic residues of l-alanine dehydrogenase from Bacillus pseudofirmus OF4. In this study, recombinant OF4Ald and its mutants of five conserved residues were constructed, expressed in Escherichia coli, purified by His 6 -tag affinity column and gel filtration chromatography, structure homology modeling, and characterized. The purified protein OF4Ald displayed high specificity to l-alanine (15Umg -1 ) with an optimal temperature and pH of 40°C and 10.5, respectively. Enzymatic assay and activity staining in native gels showed that mutations at four conserved residue Arg-15, Lys-75, His-96 and Asp-269 (except residue Lys-73) resulted in a complete loss in enzymatic activity, which signified that these predicted active sites are indispensable for OF4Ald activity. In contrast, the mutant K73A resulted in 6-fold improvement in k cat /K m towards l-alanine as compared to the wild type protein. Further research of the residue Lys-73 substituted by various amino acids and structural modeling revealed that residue Lys-73 might be involved in the catalytic reaction of the enzyme by influencing the enzyme-substrate binding through the hydrogen-bonding interaction with conserved residue Lys-75. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Annotating Protein Functional Residues by Coupling High-Throughput Fitness Profile and Homologous-Structure Analysis.

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Du, Yushen; Wu, Nicholas C; Jiang, Lin; Zhang, Tianhao; Gong, Danyang; Shu, Sara; Wu, Ting-Ting; Sun, Ren

2016-11-01

Identification and annotation of functional residues are fundamental questions in protein sequence analysis. Sequence and structure conservation provides valuable information to tackle these questions. It is, however, limited by the incomplete sampling of sequence space in natural evolution. Moreover, proteins often have multiple functions, with overlapping sequences that present challenges to accurate annotation of the exact functions of individual residues by conservation-based methods. Using the influenza A virus PB1 protein as an example, we developed a method to systematically identify and annotate functional residues. We used saturation mutagenesis and high-throughput sequencing to measure the replication capacity of single nucleotide mutations across the entire PB1 protein. After predicting protein stability upon mutations, we identified functional PB1 residues that are essential for viral replication. To further annotate the functional residues important to the canonical or noncanonical functions of viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (vRdRp), we performed a homologous-structure analysis with 16 different vRdRp structures. We achieved high sensitivity in annotating the known canonical polymerase functional residues. Moreover, we identified a cluster of noncanonical functional residues located in the loop region of the PB1 β-ribbon. We further demonstrated that these residues were important for PB1 protein nuclear import through the interaction with Ran-binding protein 5. In summary, we developed a systematic and sensitive method to identify and annotate functional residues that are not restrained by sequence conservation. Importantly, this method is generally applicable to other proteins about which homologous-structure information is available. To fully comprehend the diverse functions of a protein, it is essential to understand the functionality of individual residues. Current methods are highly dependent on evolutionary sequence conservation, which is
Networks of high mutual information define the structural proximity of catalytic sites: implications for catalytic residue identification.

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Cristina Marino Buslje

Full Text Available Identification of catalytic residues (CR is essential for the characterization of enzyme function. CR are, in general, conserved and located in the functional site of a protein in order to attain their function. However, many non-catalytic residues are highly conserved and not all CR are conserved throughout a given protein family making identification of CR a challenging task. Here, we put forward the hypothesis that CR carry a particular signature defined by networks of close proximity residues with high mutual information (MI, and that this signature can be applied to distinguish functional from other non-functional conserved residues. Using a data set of 434 Pfam families included in the catalytic site atlas (CSA database, we tested this hypothesis and demonstrated that MI can complement amino acid conservation scores to detect CR. The Kullback-Leibler (KL conservation measurement was shown to significantly outperform both the Shannon entropy and maximal frequency measurements. Residues in the proximity of catalytic sites were shown to be rich in shared MI. A structural proximity MI average score (termed pMI was demonstrated to be a strong predictor for CR, thus confirming the proposed hypothesis. A structural proximity conservation average score (termed pC was also calculated and demonstrated to carry distinct information from pMI. A catalytic likeliness score (Cls, combining the KL, pC and pMI measures, was shown to lead to significantly improved prediction accuracy. At a specificity of 0.90, the Cls method was found to have a sensitivity of 0.816. In summary, we demonstrate that networks of residues with high MI provide a distinct signature on CR and propose that such a signature should be present in other classes of functional residues where the requirement to maintain a particular function places limitations on the diversification of the structural environment along the course of evolution.
Networks of high mutual information define the structural proximity of catalytic sites: implications for catalytic residue identification.

Science.gov (United States)

Marino Buslje, Cristina; Teppa, Elin; Di Doménico, Tomas; Delfino, José María; Nielsen, Morten

2010-11-04

Identification of catalytic residues (CR) is essential for the characterization of enzyme function. CR are, in general, conserved and located in the functional site of a protein in order to attain their function. However, many non-catalytic residues are highly conserved and not all CR are conserved throughout a given protein family making identification of CR a challenging task. Here, we put forward the hypothesis that CR carry a particular signature defined by networks of close proximity residues with high mutual information (MI), and that this signature can be applied to distinguish functional from other non-functional conserved residues. Using a data set of 434 Pfam families included in the catalytic site atlas (CSA) database, we tested this hypothesis and demonstrated that MI can complement amino acid conservation scores to detect CR. The Kullback-Leibler (KL) conservation measurement was shown to significantly outperform both the Shannon entropy and maximal frequency measurements. Residues in the proximity of catalytic sites were shown to be rich in shared MI. A structural proximity MI average score (termed pMI) was demonstrated to be a strong predictor for CR, thus confirming the proposed hypothesis. A structural proximity conservation average score (termed pC) was also calculated and demonstrated to carry distinct information from pMI. A catalytic likeliness score (Cls), combining the KL, pC and pMI measures, was shown to lead to significantly improved prediction accuracy. At a specificity of 0.90, the Cls method was found to have a sensitivity of 0.816. In summary, we demonstrate that networks of residues with high MI provide a distinct signature on CR and propose that such a signature should be present in other classes of functional residues where the requirement to maintain a particular function places limitations on the diversification of the structural environment along the course of evolution.
Entropy Viscosity Method for High-Order Approximations of Conservation Laws

KAUST Repository

Guermond, J. L.

2010-09-17

A stabilization technique for conservation laws is presented. It introduces in the governing equations a nonlinear dissipation function of the residual of the associated entropy equation and bounded from above by a first order viscous term. Different two-dimensional test cases are simulated - a 2D Burgers problem, the "KPP rotating wave" and the Euler system - using high order methods: spectral elements or Fourier expansions. Details on the tuning of the parameters controlling the entropy viscosity are given. © 2011 Springer.
Entropy Viscosity Method for High-Order Approximations of Conservation Laws

KAUST Repository

Guermond, J. L.; Pasquetti, R.

2010-01-01

A stabilization technique for conservation laws is presented. It introduces in the governing equations a nonlinear dissipation function of the residual of the associated entropy equation and bounded from above by a first order viscous term. Different two-dimensional test cases are simulated - a 2D Burgers problem, the "KPP rotating wave" and the Euler system - using high order methods: spectral elements or Fourier expansions. Details on the tuning of the parameters controlling the entropy viscosity are given. © 2011 Springer.
Annotating Protein Functional Residues by Coupling High-Throughput Fitness Profile and Homologous-Structure Analysis

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yushen Du

2016-11-01

Full Text Available Identification and annotation of functional residues are fundamental questions in protein sequence analysis. Sequence and structure conservation provides valuable information to tackle these questions. It is, however, limited by the incomplete sampling of sequence space in natural evolution. Moreover, proteins often have multiple functions, with overlapping sequences that present challenges to accurate annotation of the exact functions of individual residues by conservation-based methods. Using the influenza A virus PB1 protein as an example, we developed a method to systematically identify and annotate functional residues. We used saturation mutagenesis and high-throughput sequencing to measure the replication capacity of single nucleotide mutations across the entire PB1 protein. After predicting protein stability upon mutations, we identified functional PB1 residues that are essential for viral replication. To further annotate the functional residues important to the canonical or noncanonical functions of viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (vRdRp, we performed a homologous-structure analysis with 16 different vRdRp structures. We achieved high sensitivity in annotating the known canonical polymerase functional residues. Moreover, we identified a cluster of noncanonical functional residues located in the loop region of the PB1 β-ribbon. We further demonstrated that these residues were important for PB1 protein nuclear import through the interaction with Ran-binding protein 5. In summary, we developed a systematic and sensitive method to identify and annotate functional residues that are not restrained by sequence conservation. Importantly, this method is generally applicable to other proteins about which homologous-structure information is available.
Networks of High Mutual Information Define the Structural Proximity of Catalytic Sites: Implications for Catalytic Residue Identification

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Buslje, Cristina Marino; Teppa, Elin; Di Doménico, Tomas

2010-01-01

other non-functional conserved residues. Using a data set of 434 Pfam families included in the catalytic site atlas (CSA) database, we tested this hypothesis and demonstrated that MI can complement amino acid conservation scores to detect CR. The Kullback-Leibler (KL) conservation measurement was shown.......90, the Cls method was found to have a sensitivity of 0.816. In summary, we demonstrate that networks of residues with high MI provide a distinct signature on CR and propose that such a signature should be present in other classes of functional residues where the requirement to maintain a particular function...
Relationships between residue Voronoi volume and sequence conservation in proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Jen-Wei; Cheng, Chih-Wen; Lin, Yu-Feng; Chen, Shao-Yu; Hwang, Jenn-Kang; Yen, Shih-Chung

2018-02-01

Functional and biophysical constraints can cause different levels of sequence conservation in proteins. Previously, structural properties, e.g., relative solvent accessibility (RSA) and packing density of the weighted contact number (WCN), have been found to be related to protein sequence conservation (CS). The Voronoi volume has recently been recognized as a new structural property of the local protein structural environment reflecting CS. However, for surface residues, it is sensitive to water molecules surrounding the protein structure. Herein, we present a simple structural determinant termed the relative space of Voronoi volume (RSV); it uses the Voronoi volume and the van der Waals volume of particular residues to quantify the local structural environment. RSV (range, 0-1) is defined as (Voronoi volume-van der Waals volume)/Voronoi volume of the target residue. The concept of RSV describes the extent of available space for every protein residue. RSV and Voronoi profiles with and without water molecules (RSVw, RSV, VOw, and VO) were compared for 554 non-homologous proteins. RSV (without water) showed better Pearson's correlations with CS than did RSVw, VO, or VOw values. The mean correlation coefficient between RSV and CS was 0.51, which is comparable to the correlation between RSA and CS (0.49) and that between WCN and CS (0.56). RSV is a robust structural descriptor with and without water molecules and can quantitatively reflect evolutionary information in a single protein structure. Therefore, it may represent a practical structural determinant to study protein sequence, structure, and function relationships. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Substitution of cysteine for a conserved alanine residue in the catalytic center of type II iodothyronine deiodinase alters interaction with reducing cofactor

NARCIS (Netherlands)

W. Klootwijk (Willem); T.J. Visser (Theo); G.G.J.M. Kuiper (George)

2002-01-01

textabstractHuman type II iodothyronine deiodinase (D2) catalyzes the activation of T(4) to T(3). The D2 enzyme, like the type I (D1) and type III (D3) deiodinases, contains a selenocysteine (SeC) residue (residue 133 in D2) in the highly conserved catalytic center. Remarkably, all
Ranking multiple docking solutions based on the conservation of inter-residue contacts

KAUST Repository

Oliva, Romina M.; Vangone, Anna; Cavallo, Luigi

2013-01-01

) conformations in the top positions is still an open problem. Herein we present CONSRANK, a simple and effective tool to rank multiple docking solutions, which relies on the conservation of inter-residue contacts in the analyzed decoys ensemble. First
Case studies in residual use and energy conservation at wastewater treatment plants

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Stewart, D. [Science Applications International Corp., Los Altos, CA (United States)

1995-06-01

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) for the US Department of Energy (DOE) funded a study to document energy conservation activities and their effects on operation costs, regulatory compliance, and process optimization at several wastewater treatment plants (WWTPS). The purpose of this report is to review the efforts of wastewater treatment Facilities that use residuals as fuels. Case histories are presented for facilities that have taken measures to reduce energy consumption during wastewater treatment. Most of the WWTPs discussed in this report have retrofitted existing facilities to achieve energy conservation. The case studies of energy conservation measures found no effects on the facilities` ability to comply with NPDES permits. Indeed, energy conservation activities enhance environmental compliance in several ways.

Eight years of Conservation Agriculture-based cropping systems research in Eastern Africa to conserve soil and water and mitigate effects of climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Araya, Tesfay; Nyssen, Jan; Govaerts, Bram; Lanckriet, Sil; Baudron, Frédéric; Deckers, Jozef; Cornelis, Wim

2014-05-01

In Ethiopia, repeated plowing, complete removal of crop residues at harvest, aftermath grazing of crop fields and occurrence of repeated droughts have reduced the biomass return to the soil and aggravated cropland degradation. Conservation Agriculture (CA)-based resource conserving cropping systems may reduce runoff and soil erosion, and improve soil quality, thereby increasing crop productivity. Thus, a long-term tillage experiment has been carried out (2005 to 2012) on a Vertisol to quantify - among others - changes in runoff and soil loss for two local tillage practices, modified to integrate CA principles in semi-arid northern Ethiopia. The experimental layout was a randomized complete block design with three replications on permanent plots of 5 m by 19 m. The tillage treatments were (i) derdero+ (DER+) with a furrow and permanent raised bed planting system, ploughed only once at planting by refreshing the furrow from 2005 to 2012 and 30% standing crop residue retention, (ii) terwah+ (TER+) with furrows made at 1.5 m interval, plowed once at planting, 30% standing crop residue retention and fresh broad beds, and (iii) conventional tillage (CT) with a minimum of three plain tillage operations and complete removal of crop residues. All the plowing and reshaping of the furrows was done using the local ard plough mahresha and wheat, teff, barley and grass pea were grown. Glyphosate was sprayed starting from the third year onwards (2007) at 2 l ha-1 before planting to control pre-emergent weeds in CA plots. Runoff and soil loss were measured daily. Soil water content was monitored every 6 days. Significantly different (pconstitute a field rainwater and soil conservation improvement strategy that enhances crop and economic productivity and reduces siltation of reservoirs, especially under changing climate. The reduction in draught power requirement would enable a reduction in oxen density and crop residue demand for livestock feed, which would encourage smallholder
Highly conserved serine residue 40 in HIV-1 p6 regulates capsid processing and virus core assembly

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Solbak Sara MØ

2011-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The HIV-1 p6 Gag protein regulates the final abscission step of nascent virions from the cell membrane by the action of two late assembly (L- domains. Although p6 is located within one of the most polymorphic regions of the HIV-1 gag gene, the 52 amino acid peptide binds at least to two cellular budding factors (Tsg101 and ALIX, is a substrate for phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and sumoylation, and mediates the incorporation of the HIV-1 accessory protein Vpr into viral particles. As expected, known functional domains mostly overlap with several conserved residues in p6. In this study, we investigated the importance of the highly conserved serine residue at position 40, which until now has not been assigned to any known function of p6. Results Consistently with previous data, we found that mutation of Ser-40 has no effect on ALIX mediated rescue of HIV-1 L-domain mutants. However, the only feasible S40F mutation that preserves the overlapping pol open reading frame (ORF reduces virus replication in T-cell lines and in human lymphocyte tissue cultivated ex vivo. Most intriguingly, L-domain mediated virus release is not dependent on the integrity of Ser-40. However, the S40F mutation significantly reduces the specific infectivity of released virions. Further, it was observed that mutation of Ser-40 selectively interferes with the cleavage between capsid (CA and the spacer peptide SP1 in Gag, without affecting cleavage of other Gag products. This deficiency in processing of CA, in consequence, led to an irregular morphology of the virus core and the formation of an electron dense extra core structure. Moreover, the defects induced by the S40F mutation in p6 can be rescued by the A1V mutation in SP1 that generally enhances processing of the CA-SP1 cleavage site. Conclusions Overall, these data support a so far unrecognized function of p6 mediated by Ser-40 that occurs independently of the L-domain function, but selectively
Conserved Aromatic Residue Confers Cation Selectivity in Claudin-2 and Claudin-10b*

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Jiahua; Zhuo, Min; Pei, Lei; Yu, Alan S. L.

2013-01-01

In tight junctions, both claudin-2 and claudin-10b form paracellular cation-selective pores by the interaction of the first ECL 1 with permeating ions. We hypothesized that a highly conserved aromatic residue near the pore selectivity filter of claudins contributes to cation selectivity by cation-π interaction with the permeating cation. To test this, we generated MDCK I Tet-off cells stably transfected with claudin-2 Tyr67 mutants. The Y67L mutant showed reduced cation selectivity compared with wild-type claudin-2 due to a decrease in Na+ permeability, without affecting the Cl− permeability. The Y67A mutant enlarged the pore size and further decreased the charge selectivity due to an increase in Cl− permeability. The Y67F mutant restored the Na+ permeability, Cl− permeability, and pore size back to wild-type. The accessibility of Y67C to methanethiosulfonate modification indicated that its side chain faces the lumen of the pore. In claudin-10b, the F66L mutant reduced cation selectivity, and the F66A mutant lost pore conductance. We conclude that the conserved aromatic residue near the cation pore domain of claudins contributes to cation selectivity by a dual role of cation-π interaction and a luminal steric effect. Our findings provide new insight into how ion selectivity is achieved in the paracellular pore. PMID:23760508
The formation of a native-like structure containing eight conserved hydrophobic residues is rate limiting in two-state protein folding of ACBP

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kragelund, Birthe Brandt; Osmark, Peter; Neergaard, Thomas B.

1999-01-01

The acyl-coenzyme A-binding proteins (ACBPs) contain 26 highly conserved sequence positions. The majority of these have been mutated in the bovine protein, and their influence on the rate of two-state folding and unfolding has been measured. The results identify eight sequence positions, out of 24...... probed, that are critical for fast productive folding. The residues are all hydrophobic and located in the interface between the N- and C-terminal helices. The results suggest that one specific site dominated by conserved hydrophobic residues forms the structure of the productive rate-determining folding...... step and that a sequential framework model can describe the protein folding reaction....
Ranking multiple docking solutions based on the conservation of inter-residue contacts

KAUST Repository

Oliva, Romina M.

2013-06-17

Molecular docking is the method of choice for investigating the molecular basis of recognition in a large number of functional protein complexes. However, correctly scoring the obtained docking solutions (decoys) to rank native-like (NL) conformations in the top positions is still an open problem. Herein we present CONSRANK, a simple and effective tool to rank multiple docking solutions, which relies on the conservation of inter-residue contacts in the analyzed decoys ensemble. First it calculates a conservation rate for each inter-residue contact, then it ranks decoys according to their ability to match the more frequently observed contacts. We applied CONSRANK to 102 targets from three different benchmarks, RosettaDock, DOCKGROUND, and Critical Assessment of PRedicted Interactions (CAPRI). The method performs consistently well, both in terms of NL solutions ranked in the top positions and of values of the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve. Its ideal application is to solutions coming from different docking programs and procedures, as in the case of CAPRI targets. For all the analyzed CAPRI targets where a comparison is feasible, CONSRANK outperforms the CAPRI scorers. The fraction of NL solutions in the top ten positions in the RosettaDock, DOCKGROUND, and CAPRI benchmarks is enriched on average by a factor of 3.0, 1.9, and 9.9, respectively. Interestingly, CONSRANK is also able to specifically single out the high/medium quality (HMQ) solutions from the docking decoys ensemble: it ranks 46.2 and 70.8% of the total HMQ solutions available for the RosettaDock and CAPRI targets, respectively, within the top 20 positions. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
Proteome-wide mapping of the Drosophila acetylome demonstrates a high degree of conservation of lysine acetylation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Weinert, Brian T; Wagner, Sebastian A; Horn, Heiko

2011-01-01

Posttranslational modification of proteins by acetylation and phosphorylation regulates most cellular processes in living organisms. Surprisingly, the evolutionary conservation of phosphorylated serine and threonine residues is only marginally higher than that of unmodified serines and threonines....... With high-resolution mass spectrometry, we identified 1981 lysine acetylation sites in the proteome of Drosophila melanogaster. We used data sets of experimentally identified acetylation and phosphorylation sites in Drosophila and humans to analyze the evolutionary conservation of these modification sites...... between flies and humans. Site-level conservation analysis revealed that acetylation sites are highly conserved, significantly more so than phosphorylation sites. Furthermore, comparison of lysine conservation in Drosophila and humans with that in nematodes and zebrafish revealed that acetylated lysines...
Automatic residue removal for high-NA extreme illumination

Science.gov (United States)

Moon, James; Nam, Byong-Sub; Jeong, Joo-Hong; Kong, Dong-Ho; Nam, Byung-Ho; Yim, Dong Gyu

2007-10-01

An epidemic for smaller node has been that, as the device architecture shrinks, lithography process requires high Numerical Aperture (NA), and extreme illumination system. This, in turn, creates many lithography problems such as low lithography process margin (Depth of Focus, Exposure Latitude), unstable Critical Dimension (CD) uniformity and restricted guideline for device design rule and so on. Especially for high NA, extreme illumination such as immersion illumination systems, above all the related problems, restricted design rule due to forbidden pitch is critical and crucial issue. This forbidden pitch is composed of numerous optical effects but majority of these forbidden pitch compose of photo resist residue and these residue must be removed to relieve some room for already tight design rule. In this study, we propose automated algorithm to remove photo resist residue due to high NA and extreme illumination condition. This algorithm automatically self assembles assist patterns based on the original design layout, therefore insuring the safety and simplicity of the generated assist pattern to the original design and removes any resist residue created by extreme illumination condition. Also we tested our automated algorithm on full chip FLASH memory device and showed the residue removal effect by using commercial verification tools as well as on actual test wafer.
The Influence of Repeat Surgery and Residual Disease on Recurrence After Breast-Conserving Surgery

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Bodilsen, Anne; Bjerre, Karsten; Offersen, Birgitte V

2015-01-01

BACKGROUND: A significant proportion of women who have breast-conserving surgery (BCS) subsequently undergo re-excision or proceed to mastectomy. This study aimed to identify factors associated with residual disease after repeat surgery and to determine their effect on ipsilateral breast tumor re...
Cycling of grain legume residue nitrogen

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, E.S.

1995-01-01

Symbiotic nitrogen fixation by legumes is the main input of nitrogen in ecological agriculture. The cycling of N-15-labelled mature pea (Pisum sativum L.) residues was studied during three years in small field plots and lysimeters. The residual organic labelled N declined rapidly during the initial...... management methods in order to conserve grain legume residue N sources within the soil-plant system....
Conserved Residues Lys57 and Lys401 of Protein Disulfide Isomerase Maintain an Active Site Conformation for Optimal Activity: Implications for Post-Translational Regulation

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Cody Caba

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Despite its study since the 1960's, very little is known about the post-translational regulation of the multiple catalytic activities performed by protein disulfide isomerase (PDI, the primary protein folding catalyst of the cell. This work identifies a functional role for the highly conserved CxxC-flanking residues Lys57 and Lys401 of human PDI in vitro. Mutagenesis studies have revealed these residues as modulating the oxidoreductase activity of PDI in a pH-dependent manner. Non-conservative amino acid substitutions resulted in enzyme variants upwards of 7-fold less efficient. This attenuated activity was found to translate into a 2-fold reduction of the rate of electron shuttling between PDI and the intraluminal endoplasmic reticulum oxidase, ERO1α, suggesting a functional significance to oxidative protein folding. In light of this, the possibility of lysine acetylation at residues Lys57 and Lys401 was assessed by in vitro treatment using acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin. A total of 28 acetyllysine residues were identified, including acLys57 and acLys401. The kinetic behavior of the acetylated protein form nearly mimicked that obtained with a K57/401Q double substitution variant providing an indication that acetylation of the active site-flanking lysine residues can act to reversibly modulate PDI activity.
Conserved Residues Lys57 and Lys401 of Protein Disulfide Isomerase Maintain an Active Site Conformation for Optimal Activity: Implications for Post-Translational Regulation.

Science.gov (United States)

Caba, Cody; Ali Khan, Hyder; Auld, Janeen; Ushioda, Ryo; Araki, Kazutaka; Nagata, Kazuhiro; Mutus, Bulent

2018-01-01

Despite its study since the 1960's, very little is known about the post-translational regulation of the multiple catalytic activities performed by protein disulfide isomerase (PDI), the primary protein folding catalyst of the cell. This work identifies a functional role for the highly conserved CxxC-flanking residues Lys 57 and Lys 401 of human PDI in vitro . Mutagenesis studies have revealed these residues as modulating the oxidoreductase activity of PDI in a pH-dependent manner. Non-conservative amino acid substitutions resulted in enzyme variants upwards of 7-fold less efficient. This attenuated activity was found to translate into a 2-fold reduction of the rate of electron shuttling between PDI and the intraluminal endoplasmic reticulum oxidase, ERO1α, suggesting a functional significance to oxidative protein folding. In light of this, the possibility of lysine acetylation at residues Lys 57 and Lys 401 was assessed by in vitro treatment using acetylsalicylic acid (aspirin). A total of 28 acetyllysine residues were identified, including acLys 57 and acLys 401 . The kinetic behavior of the acetylated protein form nearly mimicked that obtained with a K57/401Q double substitution variant providing an indication that acetylation of the active site-flanking lysine residues can act to reversibly modulate PDI activity.
A conserved residue cluster that governs kinetics of ATP-dependent gating of Kir6.2 potassium channels

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Zhang, Roger S; Wright, Jordan; Pless, Stephan Alexander

2015-01-01

modest effects on gating kinetics despite significant changes in ATP sensitivity and open probability. However, we identified a pair of highly conserved neighboring amino acids (Trp68, Lys170) that control the rate of channel opening and inhibition in response to ATP. Paradoxically, mutations of Trp68...... or Lys170 markedly slow the kinetics of channel opening (500 ms and 700 ms for Trp68Leu and Lys170Asn, respectively), while increasing channel open probability. Examining the functional effects of these residues using phi-value analysis revealed a steep negative slope. This finding implies...
A Development of Advanced Rigorous 2 Step System for the High Resolution Residual Dose Evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Do Hyun; Kim, Jong Woo; Kim, Jea Hyun; Lee, Jae Yong; Shin, Chang Ho [Hanyang Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Song Hyun [Kyoto University, Sennan (Japan)

2016-10-15

In these days, an activation problem such as residual radiation is one of the important issues. The activated devices and structures can emit the residual radiation. Therefore, the activation should be properly analyzed to make a plan for design, operation, and decontamination of nuclear facilities. For activation calculation, Rigorous 2 Step (R2S) method is introduced as following strategy: (1) the particle transport calculation is performed for an object geometry to get particle spectra and total fluxes; (2) inventories of each cell are calculated by using flux information according to irradiation and decay history; (3) the residual gamma distribution was evaluated by transport code, if needed. This scheme is based on cell calculation of used geometry. In this method, the particle spectra and total fluxes are obtained by mesh tally for activation calculation. It is useful to reduce the effects of gradient flux information. Nevertheless, several limitations are known as follows: Firstly, high relative error of spectra, when lots of meshes were used; secondly, different flux information from spectrum of void in mesh-tally. To calculate high resolution residual dose, several method are developed such as R2Smesh and MCR2S unstructured mesh. The R2Smesh method products better efficiency for obtaining neutron spectra by using fine/coarse mesh. Also, the MCR2S unstructured mesh can effectively separate void spectrum. In this study, the AR2S system was developed to combine the features of those mesh based R2S method. To confirm the AR2S system, the simple activation problem was evaluated and compared with R2S method using same division. Those results have good agreement within 0.83 %. Therefore, it is expected that the AR2S system can properly estimate an activation problem.
Using a consensus approach based on the conservation of inter-residue contacts to rank CAPRI models

KAUST Repository

Vangone, Anna; Cavallo, Luigi; Oliva, Romina M.

2013-01-01

Herein we propose the use of a consensus approach, CONSRANK, for ranking CAPRI models. CONSRANK relies on the conservation of inter-residue contacts in the analyzed decoys ensemble. Models are ranked according to their ability to match the most
High-throughput mosquito and fly bioassay system for natural and artificial substrates treated with residual insecticides.

Science.gov (United States)

Aldridge, Robert L; Wynn, W Wayne; Britch, Seth C; Allan, Sandra A; Walker, Todd W; Geden, Christopher J; Hogsette, Jerome A; Linthicum, Kenneth J

2013-03-01

A high-throughput bioassay system to evaluate the efficacy of residual pesticides against mosquitoes and muscid flies with minimal insect handling was developed. The system consisted of 4 components made of readily available materials: 1) a CO2 anaesthetizing chamber, 2) a specialized aspirator, 3) a cylindrical flat-bottomed glass bioassay chamber assembly, and 4) a customized rack.
The conserved glycine residues in the transmembrane domain of the Semliki Forest virus fusion protein are not required for assembly and fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Liao Maofu; Kielian, Margaret

2005-01-01

The alphavirus Semliki Forest virus (SFV) infects cells via a low pH-triggered fusion reaction mediated by the viral E1 protein. Both the E1 fusion peptide and transmembrane (TM) domain are essential for membrane fusion, but the functional requirements for the TM domain are poorly understood. Here we explored the role of the five TM domain glycine residues, including the highly conserved glycine pair at E1 residues 415/416. SFV mutants with alanine substitutions for individual or all five glycine residues (5G/A) showed growth kinetics and fusion pH dependence similar to those of wild-type SFV. Mutants with increasing substitution of glycine residues showed an increasingly more stringent requirement for cholesterol during fusion. The 5G/A mutant showed decreased fusion kinetics and extent in fluorescent lipid mixing assays. TM domain glycine residues thus are not required for efficient SFV fusion or assembly but can cause subtle effects on the properties of membrane fusion
Long-term impact of reduced tillage and residue management on soil carbon stabilization: Implications for conservation agriculture on contrasting soil

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Chivenge, P.P.; Murwira, H.K.; Giller, K.E.; Mapfumo, P.; Six, J.

2007-01-01

Residue retention and reduced tillage are both conservation agricultural management options that may enhance soil organic carbon (SOC) stabilization in tropical soils. Therefore, we evaluated the effects of long-term tillage and residue management on SOC dynamics in a Chromic Luvisol (red clay soil)
Role of conserved cysteine residues in Herbaspirillum seropedicae NifA activity.

Science.gov (United States)

Oliveira, Marco A S; Baura, Valter A; Aquino, Bruno; Huergo, Luciano F; Kadowaki, Marco A S; Chubatsu, Leda S; Souza, Emanuel M; Dixon, Ray; Pedrosa, Fábio O; Wassem, Roseli; Monteiro, Rose A

2009-01-01

Herbaspirillum seropedicae is an endophytic diazotrophic bacterium that associates with economically important crops. NifA protein, the transcriptional activator of nif genes in H. seropedicae, binds to nif promoters and, together with RNA polymerase-sigma(54) holoenzyme, catalyzes the formation of open complexes to allow transcription initiation. The activity of H. seropedicae NifA is controlled by ammonium and oxygen levels, but the mechanisms of such control are unknown. Oxygen sensitivity is attributed to a conserved motif of cysteine residues in NifA that spans the central AAA+ domain and the interdomain linker that connects the AAA+ domain to the C-terminal DNA binding domain. Here we mutagenized this conserved motif of cysteines and assayed the activity of mutant proteins in vivo. We also purified the mutant variants of NifA and tested their capacity to bind to the nifB promoter region. Chimeric proteins between H. seropedicae NifA, an oxygen-sensitive protein, and Azotobacter vinelandii NifA, an oxygen-tolerant protein, were constructed and showed that the oxygen response is conferred by the central AAA+ and C-terminal DNA binding domains of H. seropedicae NifA. We conclude that the conserved cysteine motif is essential for NifA activity, although single cysteine-to-serine mutants are still competent at binding DNA.
Residue conservation and dimer-interface analysis of olfactory receptor molecular models

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ramanathan Sowdhamini

2012-10-01

Full Text Available Olfactory Receptors (ORs are members of the Class A rhodopsin like G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs which are the initial players in the signal transduction cascade, leading to the generation of nerve impulses transmitted to the brain and resulting in the detection of odorant molecules. Despite the accumulation of thousands of olfactory receptor sequences, no crystal structures of ORs are known tο date. However, the recent availability of crystallographic models of a few GPCRs allows us to generate homology models of ORs and analyze their amino acid patterns, as there is a huge diversity in OR sequences. In this study, we have generated three-dimensional models of 100 representative ORs from Homo sapiens, Mus musculus, Drosophila melanogaster, Caenorhabditis elegans and Sacharomyces cerevisiae which were selected on the basis of a composite classification scheme and phylogenetic analysis. The crystal structure of bovine rhodopsin was used as a template and it was found that the full-length models have more than 90% of their residues in allowed regions of the Ramachandran plot. The structures were further used for analysis of conserved residues in the transmembrane and extracellular loop regions in order to identify functionally important residues. Several ORs are known to be functional as dimers and hence dimer interfaces were predicted for OR models to analyse their oligomeric functional state.
Effect of roller/crimper designs in terminating rye cover crop in small-scale conservation systems

Science.gov (United States)

In recent years, use of cover crops in no-till organic production systems has steadily increased. When cover crops are terminated at an appropriate growth stage, the unincorporated residue mulch protects the soil from erosion, runoff, soil compaction, and weed pressure, and conserves soil water. In ...

Identification of Key Residues for Enzymatic Carboxylate Reduction

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Holly Stolterfoht

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Carboxylate reductases (CARs, E.C. 1.2.1.30 generate aldehydes from their corresponding carboxylic acid with high selectivity. Little is known about the structure of CARs and their catalytically important amino acid residues. The identification of key residues for carboxylate reduction provides a starting point to gain deeper understanding of enzymatic carboxylate reduction. A multiple sequence alignment of CARs with confirmed activity recently identified in our lab and from the literature revealed a fingerprint of conserved amino acids. We studied the function of conserved residues by multiple sequence alignments and mutational replacements of these residues. In this study, single-site alanine variants of Neurospora crassa CAR were investigated to determine the contribution of conserved residues to the function, expressability or stability of the enzyme. The effect of amino acid replacements was investigated by analyzing enzymatic activity of the variants in vivo and in vitro. Supported by molecular modeling, we interpreted that five of these residues are essential for catalytic activity, or substrate and co-substrate binding. We identified amino acid residues having significant impact on CAR activity. Replacement of His 237, Glu 433, Ser 595, Tyr 844, and Lys 848 by Ala abolish CAR activity, indicating their key role in acid reduction. These results may assist in the functional annotation of CAR coding genes in genomic databases. While some other conserved residues decreased activity or had no significant impact, four residues increased the specific activity of NcCAR variants when replaced by alanine. Finally, we showed that NcCAR wild-type and mutants efficiently reduce aliphatic acids.
Systems for harvesting and handling cotton plant residue

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Coates, W. [Univ. of Arizona, Tucson, AZ (United States)

1993-12-31

In the warmer regions of the United States, cotton plant residue must be buried to prevent it from serving as an overwintering site for insect pests such as the pink bollworm. Most of the field operations used to bury the residue are high energy consumers and tend to degrade soil structure, thereby increasing the potential for erosion. The residue is of little value as a soil amendment and consequently is considered a negative value biomass. A commercial system to harvest cotton plant residue would be of both economic and environmental benefit to cotton producers. Research has been underway at the University of Arizona since the spring of 1991 to develop a commercially viable system for harvesting cotton plant residue. Equipment durability, degree of densification, energy required, cleanliness of the harvested material, and ease of product handling and transport are some of the performance variables which have been measured. Two systems have proven superior. In both, the plants are pulled from the ground using an implement developed specifically for the purpose. In one system, the stalks are baled using a large round baler, while in the other the stalks are chopped with a forage harvester, and then made into packages using a cotton module maker. Field capacities, energy requirements, package density and durability, and ease of handling with commercially available equipment have been measured for both systems. Selection of an optimum system for a specific operation depends upon end use of the product, and upon equipment availability.
NMR WaterLOGSY Reveals Weak Binding of Bisphenol A with Amyloid Fibers of a Conserved 11 Residue Peptide from Androgen Receptor.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Julia Asencio-Hernández

Full Text Available There is growing evidence that bisphenol A (BPA, a molecule largely released in the environment, has detrimental effects on ecosystems and on human health. It acts as an endocrine disruptor targeting steroid hormone receptors, such as the estrogen receptor (ER, estrogen-related receptor (ERR and androgen receptor (AR. BPA-derived molecules have recently been shown to interact with the AR N-terminal domain (AR-NTD, which is known to be largely intrinsically disordered. This N-terminal domain contains an 11 residue conserved domain that forms amyloid fibers upon oxidative dimerisation through its strictly conserved Cys240 residue. We investigate here the interaction of BPA, and other potential endocrine disruptors, with AR-NTD amyloid fibers using the WaterLOGSY NMR experiment. We observed a selective binding of these compounds to the amyloid fibers formed by the AR-NTD conserved region and glutamine homopolymers. This observation suggests that the high potency of endocrine disruptors may result, in part, from their ability to bind amyloid forms of nuclear receptors in addition to their cognate binding sites. This property may be exploited to design future therapeutic strategies targeting AR related diseases such as the spinal bulbar muscular atrophy or prostate cancer. The ability of NMR WaterLOGSY experiments to detect weak interactions between small ligands and amyloid fibers may prove to be of particular interest for identifying promising hit molecules.
Improving sensitivity of residual current transformers to high frequency earth fault currents

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Czapp Stanislaw

2017-09-01

Full Text Available For protection against electric shock in low voltage systems residual current devices are commonly used. However, their proper operation can be interfered when high frequency earth fault current occurs. Serious hazard of electrocution exists then. In order to detect such a current, it is necessary to modify parameters of residual current devices, especially the operating point of their current transformer. The authors proposed the modification in the structure of residual current devices. This modification improves sensitivity of residual current devices when high frequency earth fault current occurs. The test of the modified residual current device proved that the authors’ proposition is appropriate.
A highly conserved amino acid in VP1 regulates maturation of enterovirus 71.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yong-Xin Zhang

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Enterovirus 71 (EV71 is the major causative agent of hand, foot and mouth disease (HFMD in children, causing severe clinical outcomes and even death. Here, we report an important role of the highly conserved alanine residue at position 107 in the capsid protein VP1 (VP1A107 in the efficient replication of EV71. Substitutional mutations of VP1A107 significantly diminish viral growth kinetics without significant effect on viral entry, expression of viral genes and viral production. The results of mechanistic studies reveal that VP1A107 regulates the efficient cleavage of the VP0 precursor during EV71 assembly, which is required, in the next round of infection, for the transformation of the mature virion (160S into an intermediate or A-particle (135S, a key step of virus uncoating. Furthermore, the results of molecular dynamic simulations and hydrogen-bond networks analysis of VP1A107 suggest that flexibility of the VP1 BC loop or the region surrounding the VP1107 residue directly correlates with viral infectivity. It is possible that sufficient flexibility of the region surrounding the VP1107 residue favors VP0 conformational change that is required for the efficient cleavage of VP0 as well as subsequent viral uncoating and viral replication. Taken together, our data reveal the structural role of the highly conserved VP1A107 in regulating EV71 maturation. Characterization of this novel determinant of EV71 virulence would promote the study on pathogenesis of Enteroviruses.
Alanine substitution of conserved residues in the cytoplasmic tail of herpes simplex virus gB can enhance or abolish cell fusion activity and viral entry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ruel, Nancy; Zago, Anna; Spear, Patricia G.

2006-01-01

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) glycoprotein B (gB) is one of the four viral glycoproteins required for viral entry and cell fusion and is highly conserved among herpesviruses. Mutants of HSV type 2 gB were generated by substituting conserved residues in the cytoplasmic tail with alanine or by deleting 41 amino acids from the C-terminus. Some of the mutations abolished cell fusion activity and also prevented transport of gB to the cell surface, identifying residues in the gB cytoplasmic tail that are critical for intracellular transport of this glycoprotein. These mutations also prevented production of infectious virus, possibly because the mutant forms of gB were not transported to the site of envelopment. Other mutations, particularly the deletion, significantly enhanced cell fusion activity. These mutations, as well as others described previously, identify regions of the gB cytoplasmic domain that modulate cell fusion activity
Generation of monoclonal antibodies against highly conserved antigens.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hongzhe Zhou

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: Therapeutic antibody development is one of the fastest growing areas of the pharmaceutical industry. Generating high-quality monoclonal antibodies against a given therapeutic target is very crucial for the success of the drug development. However, due to immune tolerance, some proteins that are highly conserved between mice and humans are not very immunogenic in mice, making it difficult to generate antibodies using a conventional approach. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this report, the impaired immune tolerance of NZB/W mice was exploited to generate monoclonal antibodies against highly conserved or self-antigens. Using two highly conserved human antigens (MIF and HMGB1 and one mouse self-antigen (TNF-alpha as examples, we demonstrate here that multiple clones of high affinity, highly specific antibodies with desired biological activities can be generated, using the NZB/W mouse as the immunization host and a T cell-specific tag fused to a recombinant antigen to stimulate the immune system. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We developed an efficient and universal method for generating surrogate or therapeutic antibodies against "difficult antigens" to facilitate the development of therapeutic antibodies.
Differential Regulation of Receptor Activation and Agonist Selectivity by Highly Conserved Tryptophans in the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor Binding Site

OpenAIRE

Williams, Dustin K.; Stokes, Clare; Horenstein, Nicole A.; Papke, Roger L.

2009-01-01

We have shown previously that a highly conserved Tyr in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChR) ligand-binding domain (LBD) (α7 Tyr188 or α4 Tyr195) differentially regulates the activity of acetylcholine (ACh) and the α7-selective agonist 3-(4-hydroxy,2-methoxybenzylidene)anabaseine (4OH-GTS-21) in α4β2 and α7 nAChR. In this study, we mutated two highly conserved LBD Trp residues in human α7 and α4β2 and expressed the receptors in Xenopus laevis oocytes. α7 Re...
Disentangling evolutionary signals: conservation, specificity determining positions and coevolution. Implication for catalytic residue prediction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Teppa, Elin; Wilkins, Angela D.; Nielsen, Morten

2012-01-01

Background: A large panel of methods exists that aim to identify residues with critical impact on protein function based on evolutionary signals, sequence and structure information. However, it is not clear to what extent these different methods overlap, and if any of the methods have higher...... predictive potential compared to others when it comes to, in particular, the identification of catalytic residues (CR) in proteins. Using a large set of enzymatic protein families and measures based on different evolutionary signals, we sought to break up the different components of the information content......-value Evolutionary Trace (rvET) methods and conservation, another containing mutual information (MI) methods, and the last containing methods designed explicitly for the identification of specificity determining positions (SDPs): integer-value Evolutionary Trace (ivET), SDPfox, and XDET. In terms of prediction of CR...
Heat transfer properties of organic coolants containing high boiling residues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Debbage, A.G.; Driver, M.; Waller, P.R.

1964-01-01

Heat transfer measurements were made in forced convection with Santowax R, mixtures of Santowax R and pyrolytic high boiling residue, mixtures of Santowax R and CMRE Radiolytic high boiling residue, and OMRE coolant, in the range of Reynolds number 10 4 to 10 5 . The data was correlated with the equation Nu = 0.015 Re b 0.85 Pr b 0.4 with an r.m.s. error of ± 8.5%. The total maximum error arising from the experimental method and inherent errors in the physical property data has been estimated to be less than ± 8.5%. From the correlation and physical property data, the decrease in heat transfer coefficient with increasing high boiling residue concentration has been determined. It has been shown that subcooled boiling in organic coolants containing high boiling residues is a complex phenomenon and the advantages to be gained by operating a reactor in this region may be marginal. Gas bearing pumps used initially in these experiments were found to be unsuitable; a re-designed ball bearing system lubricated with a terphenyl mixture was found to operate successfully. (author)
Crop residue management in arable cropping systems under a temperate climate. Part 2: Soil physical properties and crop production. A review

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hiel, MP.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Residues of previous crops provide a valuable amount of organic matter that can be used either to restore soil fertility or for external use. A better understanding of the impact of crop residue management on the soil-water-plant system is needed in order to manage agricultural land sustainably. This review focuses on soil physical aspects related to crop residue management, and specifically on the link between soil structure and hydraulic properties and its impact on crop production. Literature. Conservation practices, including crop residue retention and non-conventional tillage, can enhance soil health by improving aggregate stability. In this case, water infiltration is facilitated, resulting in an increase in plant water availability. Conservation practices, however, do not systematically lead to higher water availability for the plant. The influence of crop residue management on crop production is still unclear; in some cases, crop production is enhanced by residue retention, but in others crop residues can reduce crop yield. Conclusions. In this review we discuss the diverse and contrasting effects of crop residue management on soil physical properties and crop production under a temperate climate. The review highlights the importance of environmental factors such as soil type and local climatic conditions, highlighting the need to perform field studies on crop residue management and relate them to specific pedo-climatic contexts.
An evaluation of preservation of residual hearing using the suprameatal approach for cochlear implantation: can this implantation technique be used for preservation of residual hearing?

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Postelmans, Job T. F.; van Spronsen, Erik; Grolman, Wilko; Stokroos, Robert J.; Tange, Rinze A.; Maré, Marcel J.; Dreschler, Wouter A.

2011-01-01

The preservation of residual hearing has become a high priority in cochlear implant surgery. This study was designed to substantiate whether conservation of residual hearing can be preserved after cochlear implantation using the suprameatal approach. Retrospective chart review. Retrospective chart
Effect of resource conserving techniques on crop productivity in rice-wheat cropping system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mann, R.A.; Munir, M.; Haqqani, A.M.

2004-01-01

Rice-wheat cropping system is the most important one in Pakistan. The system provides food and livelihood for more than 15 million people in the country. The productivity of the system is much lower than the potential yields of both rice and wheat crops. With the traditional methods, rice-wheat system is not a profitable one to many farmers. Hence, Cost of cultivation must be reduced and at the same time, efficiency of resources like irrigation water, fuel, and fertilizers must be improved to make the crop production system more viable and eco- friendly. Resource conserving technology (RCT) must figure highly in this equation, since they play a major role in achieving the above goals. The RCT include laser land leveling, zero-tillage, bed furrow irrigation method and crop residue management. These technologies were evaluated in irrigated areas of Punjab where rice follows wheat. The results showed that paddy yield was not affected by the new methods. Direct seeding of rice crop saved irrigation water by 13% over the conventionally planted crop. Weeds were the major problem indirect seeded crop, which could be eliminated through cultural, mechanical and chemical means. Wheat crop on beds produced the highest yield but cost of production was minimum in the zero-till wheat crop. Planting of wheat on raised beds in making headway in low- lying and poorly drained areas. Thus, resource conserving tillage technology provides a tool for making progress towards improving and sustaining wheat production system, helping with food security and poverty alleviation in Pakistan in the next few decades. (author)
Bridge helix bending promotes RNA polymerase II backtracking through a critical and conserved threonine residue

KAUST Repository

Da, Lin-Tai; Pardo-Avila, Fá tima; Xu, Liang; Silva, Daniel-Adriano; Zhang, Lu; Gao, Xin; Wang, Dong; Huang, Xuhui

2016-01-01

The dynamics of the RNA polymerase II (Pol II) backtracking process is poorly understood. We built a Markov State Model from extensive molecular dynamics simulations to identify metastable intermediate states and the dynamics of backtracking at atomistic detail. Our results reveal that Pol II backtracking occurs in a stepwise mode where two intermediate states are involved. We find that the continuous bending motion of the Bridge helix (BH) serves as a critical checkpoint, using the highly conserved BH residue T831 as a sensing probe for the 3′-terminal base paring of RNA:DNA hybrid. If the base pair is mismatched, BH bending can promote the RNA 3′-end nucleotide into a frayed state that further leads to the backtracked state. These computational observations are validated by site-directed mutagenesis and transcript cleavage assays, and provide insights into the key factors that regulate the preferences of the backward translocation.
Bridge helix bending promotes RNA polymerase II backtracking through a critical and conserved threonine residue

KAUST Repository

Da, Lin-Tai

2016-04-19

The dynamics of the RNA polymerase II (Pol II) backtracking process is poorly understood. We built a Markov State Model from extensive molecular dynamics simulations to identify metastable intermediate states and the dynamics of backtracking at atomistic detail. Our results reveal that Pol II backtracking occurs in a stepwise mode where two intermediate states are involved. We find that the continuous bending motion of the Bridge helix (BH) serves as a critical checkpoint, using the highly conserved BH residue T831 as a sensing probe for the 3′-terminal base paring of RNA:DNA hybrid. If the base pair is mismatched, BH bending can promote the RNA 3′-end nucleotide into a frayed state that further leads to the backtracked state. These computational observations are validated by site-directed mutagenesis and transcript cleavage assays, and provide insights into the key factors that regulate the preferences of the backward translocation.
A computational tool to predict the evolutionarily conserved protein-protein interaction hot-spot residues from the structure of the unbound protein.

Science.gov (United States)

Agrawal, Neeraj J; Helk, Bernhard; Trout, Bernhardt L

2014-01-21

Identifying hot-spot residues - residues that are critical to protein-protein binding - can help to elucidate a protein's function and assist in designing therapeutic molecules to target those residues. We present a novel computational tool, termed spatial-interaction-map (SIM), to predict the hot-spot residues of an evolutionarily conserved protein-protein interaction from the structure of an unbound protein alone. SIM can predict the protein hot-spot residues with an accuracy of 36-57%. Thus, the SIM tool can be used to predict the yet unknown hot-spot residues for many proteins for which the structure of the protein-protein complexes are not available, thereby providing a clue to their functions and an opportunity to design therapeutic molecules to target these proteins. Copyright © 2013 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Highly Conserved Arg Residue of ERFNIN Motif of Pro-Domain is Important for pH-Induced Zymogen Activation Process in Cysteine Cathepsins K and L.

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Aich, Pulakesh; Biswas, Sampa

2018-06-01

Pro-domain of a cysteine cathepsin contains a highly conserved Ex 2 Rx 2 Fx 2 Nx 3 Ix 3 N (ERFNIN) motif. The zymogen structure of cathepsins revealed that the Arg(R) residue of the motif is a central residue of a salt-bridge/H-bond network, stabilizing the scaffold of the pro-domain. Importance of the arginine is also demonstrated in studies where a single mutation (Arg → Trp) in human lysosomal cathepsin K (hCTSK) is linked to a bone-related genetic disorder "Pycnodysostosis". In the present study, we have characterized in vitro Arg → Trp mutant of hCTSK and the same mutant of hCTSL. The R → W mutant of hCTSK revealed that this mutation leads to an unstable zymogen that is spontaneously activated and auto-proteolytically degraded rapidly. In contrast, the same mutant of hCTSL is sufficiently stable and has proteolytic activity almost like its wild-type counterpart; however it shows an altered zymogen activation condition in terms of pH, temperature and time. Far and near UV circular dichroism and intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence experiments have revealed that the mutation has minimal effect on structure of the protease hCTSL. Molecular modeling studies shows that the mutated Trp31 in hCTSL forms an aromatic cluster with Tyr23 and Trp30 leading to a local stabilization of pro-domain and supplements the loss of salt-bridge interaction mediated by Arg31 in wild-type. In hCTSK-R31W mutant, due to presence of a non-aromatic Ser30 residue such interaction is not possible and may be responsible for local instability. These differences may cause detrimental effects of R31W mutation on the regulation of hCTSK auto-activation process compared to altered activation process in hCTSL.
Stereophysicochemical variability plots highlight conserved antigenic areas in Flaviviruses

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Zhou Bin

2005-04-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Flaviviruses, which include Dengue (DV and West Nile (WN, mutate in response to immune system pressure. Identifying escape mutants, variant progeny that replicate in the presence of neutralizing antibodies, is a common way to identify functionally important residues of viral proteins. However, the mutations typically occur at variable positions on the viral surface that are not essential for viral replication. Methods are needed to determine the true targets of the neutralizing antibodies. Results Stereophysicochemical variability plots (SVPs, 3-D images of protein structures colored according to variability, as determined by our PCPMer program, were used to visualize residues conserved in their physical chemical properties (PCPs near escape mutant positions. The analysis showed 1 that escape mutations in the flavivirus envelope protein are variable residues by our criteria and 2 two escape mutants found at the same position in many flaviviruses sit above clusters of conserved residues from different regions of the linear sequence. Conservation patterns in T-cell epitopes in the NS3- protease suggest a similar mechanism of immune system evasion. Conclusion The SVPs add another dimension to structurally defining the binding sites of neutralizing antibodies. They provide a useful aid for determining antigenically important regions and designing vaccines.
Determination of crop residues and the physical and mechanical properties of soil in different tillage systems

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P Ahmadi Moghaddam

2016-04-01

achieved using chisel and disk plows. Finally, disk plough is recommended as an appropriate tool in this research due to the high percentage of crop residues, lower mechanical resistance, lower bulk density, and higher stability of aggregates in the soil. Generally, in short-term period, conservation tillage (reduced tillage and minimum tillage results the improvement of soil physical quality in comparison with tillage operation. Further studies on long-term effects of various tillage systems are suggested in order to select and implement of optimum tillage method in the region.
Readings in Wildlife and Fish Conservation, High School Conservation Curriculum Project.

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Ensminger, Jack

This publication is a tentative edition of readings on Wildlife and Fish Conservation in Louisiana, and as such it forms part of one of the four units of study designed for an experimental high school course, the "High School Conservation Curriculum Project." The other three units are concerned with Forest Conervation, Soil and Water…

Functional identification of conserved residues involved in Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG sortase specificity and pilus biogenesis.

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Douillard, François P; Rasinkangas, Pia; von Ossowski, Ingemar; Reunanen, Justus; Palva, Airi; de Vos, Willem M

2014-05-30

In Gram-positive bacteria, sortase-dependent pili mediate the adhesion of bacteria to host epithelial cells and play a pivotal role in colonization, host signaling, and biofilm formation. Lactobacillus rhamnosus strain GG, a well known probiotic bacterium, also displays on its cell surface mucus-binding pilus structures, along with other LPXTG surface proteins, which are processed by sortases upon specific recognition of a highly conserved LPXTG motif. Bioinformatic analysis of all predicted LPXTG proteins encoded by the L. rhamnosus GG genome revealed a remarkable conservation of glycine residues juxtaposed to the canonical LPXTG motif. Here, we investigated and defined the role of this so-called triple glycine (TG) motif in determining sortase specificity during the pilus assembly and anchoring. Mutagenesis of the TG motif resulted in a lack or an alteration of the L. rhamnosus GG pilus structures, indicating that the TG motif is critical in pilus assembly and that they govern the pilin-specific and housekeeping sortase specificity. This allowed us to propose a regulatory model of the L. rhamnosus GG pilus biogenesis. Remarkably, the TG motif was identified in multiple pilus gene clusters of other Gram-positive bacteria, suggesting that similar signaling mechanisms occur in other, mainly pathogenic, species. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Sustainable System for Residual Hazards Management

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kevin M. Kostelnik; James H. Clarke; Jerry L. Harbour

2004-01-01

Hazardous, radioactive and other toxic substances have routinely been generated and subsequently disposed of in the shallow subsurface throughout the world. Many of today's waste management techniques do not eliminate the problem, but rather only concentrate or contain the hazardous contaminants. Residual hazards result from the presence of hazardous and/or contaminated material that remains on-site following active operations or the completion of remedial actions. Residual hazards pose continued risk to humans and the environment and represent a significant and chronic problem that require continuous long-term management (i.e. >1000 years). To protect human health and safeguard the natural environment, a sustainable system is required for the proper management of residual hazards. A sustainable system for the management of residual hazards will require the integration of engineered, institutional and land-use controls to isolate residual contaminants and thus minimize the associated hazards. Engineered controls are physical modifications to the natural setting and ecosystem, including the site, facility, and/or the residual materials themselves, in order to reduce or eliminate the potential for exposure to contaminants of concern (COCs). Institutional controls are processes, instruments, and mechanisms designed to influence human behavior and activity. System failure can involve hazardous material escaping from the confinement because of system degradation (i.e., chronic or acute degradation) or by external intrusion of the biosphere into the contaminated material because of the loss of institutional control. An ongoing analysis of contemporary and historic sites suggests that the significance of the loss of institutional controls is a critical pathway because decisions made during the operations/remedial action phase, as well as decisions made throughout the residual hazards management period, are key to the long-term success of the prescribed system. In fact
The Highly Conserved Proline at Position 438 in Pseudorabies Virus gH Is Important for Regulation of Membrane Fusion

OpenAIRE

Schröter, Christina; Klupp, Barbara G.; Fuchs, Walter; Gerhard, Marika; Backovic, Marija; Rey, Felix A.; Mettenleiter, Thomas C.

2014-01-01

Membrane fusion in herpesviruses requires viral glycoproteins (g) gB and gH/gL. While gB is considered the actual fusion protein but is nonfusogenic per se, the function of gH/gL remains enigmatic. Crystal structures for different gH homologs are strikingly similar despite only moderate amino acid sequence conservation. A highly conserved sequence motif comprises the residues serine-proline-cysteine corresponding to positions 437 to 439 in pseudorabies virus (PrV) gH. The PrV-gH structure sho...
Intragenic suppressor of Osiaa23 revealed a conserved tryptophan residue crucial for protein-protein interactions.

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Jun Ni

Full Text Available The Auxin/Indole-3-Acetic Acid (Aux/IAA and Auxin Response Factor (ARF are two important families that play key roles in auxin signal transduction. Both of the families contain a similar carboxyl-terminal domain (Domain III/IV that facilitates interactions between these two families. In spite of the importance of protein-protein interactions among these transcription factors, the mechanisms involved in these interactions are largely unknown. In this study, we isolated six intragenic suppressors of an auxin insensitive mutant, Osiaa23. Among these suppressors, Osiaa23-R5 successfully rescued all the defects of the mutant. Sequence analysis revealed that an amino acid substitution occurred in the Tryptophan (W residue in Domain IV of Osiaa23. Yeast two-hybrid experiments showed that the mutation in Domain IV prevents the protein-protein interactions between Osiaa23 and OsARFs. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that the W residue is conserved in both OsIAAs and OsARFs. Next, we performed site-specific amino acid substitutions within Domain IV of OsARFs, and the conserved W in Domain IV was exchanged by Serine (S. The mutated OsARF(WSs can be released from the inhibition of Osiaa23 and maintain the transcriptional activities. Expression of OsARF(WSs in Osiaa23 mutant rescued different defects of the mutant. Our results suggest a previously unknown importance of Domain IV in both families and provide an indirect way to investigate functions of OsARFs.
Conservation Laws for Partially Conservative Variable Mass Systems via d'Alembert's Principle

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

AFTAB Ahmed; NASEER Ahmed; QUDRAT Khan

2008-01-01

Conservation laws for partially conservative variable mass dynamical systems under symmetric infinitesimal transformations are determined. A generalization of Lagrange-d'Alembert's principle for a variable mass system in terms of asynchronous virtual variation is presented. The generalized Killing equations are obtained such that their solution yields the transformations and the associated conservation laws. An example illustrative of the theory is furnished at the end as well.
High-Order Hyperbolic Residual-Distribution Schemes on Arbitrary Triangular Grids

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Mazaheri, Alireza; Nishikawa, Hiroaki

2015-01-01

In this paper, we construct high-order hyperbolic residual-distribution schemes for general advection-diffusion problems on arbitrary triangular grids. We demonstrate that the second-order accuracy of the hyperbolic schemes can be greatly improved by requiring the scheme to preserve exact quadratic solutions. We also show that the improved second-order scheme can be easily extended to third-order by further requiring the exactness for cubic solutions. We construct these schemes based on the LDA and the SUPG methodology formulated in the framework of the residual-distribution method. For both second- and third-order-schemes, we construct a fully implicit solver by the exact residual Jacobian of the second-order scheme, and demonstrate rapid convergence of 10-15 iterations to reduce the residuals by 10 orders of magnitude. We demonstrate also that these schemes can be constructed based on a separate treatment of the advective and diffusive terms, which paves the way for the construction of hyperbolic residual-distribution schemes for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Numerical results show that these schemes produce exceptionally accurate and smooth solution gradients on highly skewed and anisotropic triangular grids, including curved boundary problems, using linear elements. We also present Fourier analysis performed on the constructed linear system and show that an under-relaxation parameter is needed for stabilization of Gauss-Seidel relaxation.
FragKB: structural and literature annotation resource of conserved peptide fragments and residues.

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Ashish V Tendulkar

Full Text Available BACKGROUND: FragKB (Fragment Knowledgebase is a repository of clusters of structurally similar fragments from proteins. Fragments are annotated with information at the level of sequence, structure and function, integrating biological descriptions derived from multiple existing resources and text mining. METHODOLOGY: FragKB contains approximately 400,000 conserved fragments from 4,800 representative proteins from PDB. Literature annotations are extracted from more than 1,700 articles and are available for over 12,000 fragments. The underlying systematic annotation workflow of FragKB ensures efficient update and maintenance of this database. The information in FragKB can be accessed through a web interface that facilitates sequence and structural visualization of fragments together with known literature information on the consequences of specific residue mutations and functional annotations of proteins and fragment clusters. FragKB is accessible online at http://ubio.bioinfo.cnio.es/biotools/fragkb/. SIGNIFICANCE: The information presented in FragKB can be used for modeling protein structures, for designing novel proteins and for functional characterization of related fragments. The current release is focused on functional characterization of proteins through inspection of conservation of the fragments.
Conservation Laws for Partially Conservative Variable Mass Systems via d'Alembert's Principle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ahmed, Aftab; Ahmed, Naseer; Khan, Qudrat

2008-01-01

Conservation laws for partially conservative variable mass dynamical systems under symmetric infinitesimal transformations are determined. A generalization of Lagrange-d'Alembert's principle for a variable mass system in terms of asynchronous virtual variation is presented. The generalized Killing equations are obtained such that their solution yields the transformations and the associated conservation laws. An example illustrative of the theory is furnished at the end as well. (the physics of elementary particles and fields)
A high-order relaxation method with projective integration for solving nonlinear systems of hyperbolic conservation laws

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Lafitte, Pauline; Melis, Ward; Samaey, Giovanni

2017-07-01

We present a general, high-order, fully explicit relaxation scheme which can be applied to any system of nonlinear hyperbolic conservation laws in multiple dimensions. The scheme consists of two steps. In a first (relaxation) step, the nonlinear hyperbolic conservation law is approximated by a kinetic equation with stiff BGK source term. Then, this kinetic equation is integrated in time using a projective integration method. After taking a few small (inner) steps with a simple, explicit method (such as direct forward Euler) to damp out the stiff components of the solution, the time derivative is estimated and used in an (outer) Runge-Kutta method of arbitrary order. We show that, with an appropriate choice of inner step size, the time step restriction on the outer time step is similar to the CFL condition for the hyperbolic conservation law. Moreover, the number of inner time steps is also independent of the stiffness of the BGK source term. We discuss stability and consistency, and illustrate with numerical results (linear advection, Burgers' equation and the shallow water and Euler equations) in one and two spatial dimensions.
Computational analysis of perturbations in the post-fusion Dengue virus envelope protein highlights known epitopes and conserved residues in the Zika virus [version 2; referees: 3 approved

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Sandeep Chakraborty

2016-09-01

Full Text Available The dramatic transformation of the Zika virus (ZIKV from a relatively unknown virus to a pathogen generating global-wide panic has exposed the dearth of detailed knowledge about this virus. Decades of research in the related Dengue virus (DENV, finally culminating in a vaccine registered for use in endemic regions (CYD-TDV in three countries, provides key insights in developing strategies for tackling ZIKV, which has caused global panic to microcephaly and Guillain-Barre Syndrome. Dengue virus (DENV, a member of the family Flaviviridae, the causal agent of the self-limiting Dengue fever and the potentially fatal hemorrhagic fever/dengue shock syndrome, has been a scourge in tropical countries for many centuries. The recently solved structure of mature ZIKV (PDB ID:5IRE has provided key insights into the structure of the envelope (E and membrane (M proteins, the primary target of neutralizing antibodies. The previously established MEPP methodology compares two conformations of the same protein and identifies residues with significant spatial and electrostatic perturbations. In the current work, MEPP analyzed the pre-and post-fusion DENV type 2 envelope (E protein, and identified several known epitopes (His317, Tyr299, Glu26, Arg188, etc. (MEPPitope. These residues are overwhelmingly conserved in ZIKV and all DENV serotypes, and also enumerates residue pairs that undergo significant polarity reversal. Characterization of α-helices in E-proteins show that α1 is not conserved in the sequence space of ZIKV and DENV. Furthermore, perturbation of α1 in the post-fusion DENV structure includes a known epitope Asp215, a residue absent in the pre-fusion α1. A cationic β-sheet in the GAG-binding domain that is stereochemically equivalent in ZIKV and all DENV serotypes is also highlighted due to a residue pair (Arg286-Arg288 that has a significant electrostatic polarity reversal upon fusion. Finally, two highly conserved residues (Thr32 and Thr40, with
Long-term C-CO2 emissions and carbon crop residue mineralization in an oxisol under different tillage and crop rotation systems

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Ben-Hur Costa de Campos

2011-06-01

Full Text Available Soil C-CO2 emissions are sensitive indicators of management system impacts on soil organic matter (SOM. The main soil C-CO2 sources at the soil-plant interface are the decomposition of crop residues, SOM turnover, and respiration of roots and soil biota. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the impacts of tillage and cropping systems on long-term soil C-CO2 emissions and their relationship with carbon (C mineralization of crop residues. A long-term experiment was conducted in a Red Oxisol in Cruz Alta, RS, Brazil, with subtropical climate Cfa (Köppen classification, mean annual precipitation of 1,774 mm and mean annual temperature of 19.2 ºC. Treatments consisted of two tillage systems: (a conventional tillage (CT and (b no tillage (NT in combination with three cropping systems: (a R0- monoculture system (soybean/wheat, (b R1- winter crop rotation (soybean/wheat/soybean/black oat, and (c R2- intensive crop rotation (soybean/ black oat/soybean/black oat + common vetch/maize/oilseed radish/wheat. The soil C-CO2 efflux was measured every 14 days for two years (48 measurements, by trapping the CO2 in an alkaline solution. The soil gravimetric moisture in the 0-0.05 m layer was determined concomitantly with the C-CO2 efflux measurements. The crop residue C mineralization was evaluated with the mesh-bag method, with sampling 14, 28, 56, 84, 112, and 140 days after the beginning of the evaluation period for C measurements. Four C conservation indexes were used to assess the relation between C-CO2 efflux and soil C stock and its compartments. The crop residue C mineralization fit an exponential model in time. For black oat, wheat and maize residues, C mineralization was higher in CT than NT, while for soybean it was similar. Soil moisture was higher in NT than CT, mainly in the second year of evaluation. There was no difference in tillage systems for annual average C-CO2 emissions, but in some individual evaluations, differences between
Feedbacks between conservation and social-ecological systems

Science.gov (United States)

Miller, Brian W.; Caplow, Susan C.; Leslie, Paul W.

2012-01-01

Robust ways to meet objectives of environmental conservation and social and economic development remain elusive. This struggle may in part be related to insufficient understanding of the feedbacks between conservation initiatives and social-ecological systems, specifically, the ways in which conservation initiatives result in social changes that have secondary effects on the environments targeted by conservation. To explore this idea we sampled peer-reviewed articles addressing the social and environmental dimensions of conservation and coded each paper according to its research focus and characterization of these feedbacks. The majority of articles in our sample focused either on the effect of conservation initiatives on people (e.g., relocation, employment) or the effect of people on the environment (e.g., fragmentation, conservation efficacy of traditional management systems). Few studies in our sample empirically addressed both the social dynamics resulting from conservation initiatives and subsequent environmental effects. In many cases, one was measured and the other was discussed anecdotally. Among the studies that describe feedbacks between social and environmental variables, there was more evidence of positive (amplifying) feedbacks between social and environmental outcomes (i.e., undesirable social outcomes yielded undesirable environmental effects, and desirable social outcomes yielded desirable environmental effects). The major themes within the sampled literature include conflict between humans and wild animals, social movements, adaptive comanagement, loss of traditional management systems, traditional ecological knowledge, human displacement and risks to livelihoods, and conservation and development. The narratives associated with each theme can serve as hypotheses for facilitating further discussion about conservation issues and for catalyzing future studies of the feedbacks between conservation and social-ecological systems. PMID:22443128
ABOUT COMPLEX OPERATIONS IN NON-POSITIONAL RESIDUE NUMBER SYSTEM

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Yu. D. Polissky

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Purpose. The purpose of this work is the theoretical substantiation of methods for increased efficiency of execution of difficult, so-called not modular, operations in non-positional residue number system for which it is necessary to know operand digits for all grade levels. Methodology. To achieve the target the numbers are presented in odd module system, while the result of the operation is determined on the basis of establishing the operand parity. The parity is determined by finding the sum modulo for the values of the number positional characteristics for all of its modules. Algorithm of position characteristics includes two types of iteration. The first iteration is to move from this number to a smaller number, in which the remains of one or more modules are equal to zero. This is achieved by subtracting out of all the residues the value of one of them. The second iteration is to move from this number to a smaller number due to exclusion of modules, which residues are zero, by dividing this number by the product of these modules. Iterations are performed until the residues of one, some or all of the modules equal to zero and other modules are excluded. The proposed method is distinguished by its simplicity and allows you to obtain the result of the operation quickly. Findings. There are obtained rather simple solutions of not modular operations for definition of outputs beyond the range of the result of adding or subtracting pairs of numbers, comparing pairs of numbers, determining the number belonging to the specific half of the range, defining parity of numbers presented in non-positional residue number system. Originality. The work offered the new effective approaches to solve the non-modular operations of the non-positional residue number system. It seems appropriate to consider these approaches as research areas to enhance the effectiveness of the modular calculation. Practical value. The above solutions have high performance and can
Importance of uncharged polar residues and proline in the proximal two-thirds (Pro107–Ser128 of the highly conserved region of mouse ileal Na+-dependent bile acid transporter, Slc10a2, in transport activity and cellular expression

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Saeki Tohru

2013-02-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background SLC10A2-mediated reabsorption of bile acids at the distal end of the ileum is the first step in enterohepatic circulation. Because bile acids act not only as detergents but also as signaling molecules in lipid metabolism and energy production, SLC10A2 is important as the key transporter for understanding the in vivo kinetics of bile acids. SLC10A family members and the homologous genes of various species share a highly conserved region corresponding to Gly104–Pro142 of SLC10A2. The functional importance of this region has not been fully elucidated. Results To elucidate the functional importance of this region, we previously performed mutational analysis of the uncharged polar residues and proline in the distal one-third (Thr130–Pro142 of the highly conserved region in mouse Slc10a2. In this study, proline and uncharged polar residues in the remaining two-thirds of this region in mouse Slc10a2 were subjected to mutational analysis, and taurocholic acid uptake and cell surface localization were examined. Cell surface localization of Slc10a2 is necessary for bile acid absorption. Mutants in which Asp or Leu were substituted for Pro107 (P107N or P107L were abundantly expressed, but their cell surface localization was impaired. The S126A mutant was completely impaired in cellular expression. The T110A and S128A mutants exhibited remarkably enhanced membrane expression. The S112A mutant was properly expressed at the cell surface but transport activity was completely lost. Replacement of Tyr117 with various amino acids resulted in reduced transport activity. The degree of reduction roughly depended on the van der Waals volume of the side chains. Conclusions The functional importance of proline and uncharged polar residues in the highly conserved region of mouse Slc10a2 was determined. This information will contribute to the design of bile acid-conjugated prodrugs for efficient drug delivery or SLC10A2 inhibitors for
Nuclear reactor with makeup water assist from residual heat removal system

Science.gov (United States)

Corletti, Michael M.; Schulz, Terry L.

1993-01-01

A pressurized water nuclear reactor uses its residual heat removal system to make up water in the reactor coolant circuit from an in-containment refueling water supply during staged depressurization leading up to passive emergency cooling by gravity feed from the refueling water storage tank, and flooding of the containment building. When depressurization commences due to inadvertence or a manageable leak, the residual heat removal system is activated manually and prevents flooding of the containment when such action is not necessary. Operation of the passive cooling system is not impaired. A high pressure makeup water storage tank is coupled to the reactor coolant circuit, holding makeup coolant at the operational pressure of the reactor. The staged depressurization system vents the coolant circuit to the containment, thus reducing the supply of makeup coolant. The level of makeup coolant can be sensed to trigger opening of successive depressurization conduits. The residual heat removal pumps move water from the refueling water storage tank into the coolant circuit as the coolant circuit is depressurized, preventing reaching the final depressurization stage unless the makeup coolant level continues to drop. The residual heat removal system can also be coupled in a loop with the refueling water supply tank, for an auxiliary heat removal path.
Nuclear reactor with makeup water assist from residual heat removal system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Corletti, M.M.; Schulz, T.L.

1993-01-01

A pressurized water nuclear reactor uses its residual heat removal system to make up water in the reactor coolant circuit from an in-containment refueling water supply during staged depressurization leading up to passive emergency cooling by gravity feed from the refueling water storage tank, and flooding of the containment building. When depressurization commences due to inadvertence or a manageable leak, the residual heat removal system is activated manually and prevents flooding of the containment when such action is not necessary. Operation of the passive cooling system is not impaired. A high pressure makeup water storage tank is coupled to the reactor coolant circuit, holding makeup coolant at the operational pressure of the reactor. The staged depressurization system vents the coolant circuit to the containment, thus reducing the supply of makeup coolant. The level of makeup coolant can be sensed to trigger opening of successive depressurization conduits. The residual heat removal pumps move water from the refueling water storage tank into the coolant circuit as the coolant circuit is depressurized, preventing reaching the final depressurization stage unless the makeup coolant level continues to drop. The residual heat removal system can also be coupled in a loop with the refueling water supply tank, for an auxiliary heat removal path. 2 figures
Nuclear reactor with makeup water assist from residual heat removal system

Science.gov (United States)

Corletti, M.M.; Schulz, T.L.

1993-12-07

A pressurized water nuclear reactor uses its residual heat removal system to make up water in the reactor coolant circuit from an in-containment refueling water supply during staged depressurization leading up to passive emergency cooling by gravity feed from the refueling water storage tank, and flooding of the containment building. When depressurization commences due to inadvertence or a manageable leak, the residual heat removal system is activated manually and prevents flooding of the containment when such action is not necessary. Operation of the passive cooling system is not impaired. A high pressure makeup water storage tank is coupled to the reactor coolant circuit, holding makeup coolant at the operational pressure of the reactor. The staged depressurization system vents the coolant circuit to the containment, thus reducing the supply of makeup coolant. The level of makeup coolant can be sensed to trigger opening of successive depressurization conduits. The residual heat removal pumps move water from the refueling water storage tank into the coolant circuit as the coolant circuit is depressurized, preventing reaching the final depressurization stage unless the makeup coolant level continues to drop. The residual heat removal system can also be coupled in a loop with the refueling water supply tank, for an auxiliary heat removal path. 2 figures.
Conservation Agriculture Practices in Rainfed Uplands of India Improve Maize-Based System Productivity and Profitability

Science.gov (United States)

Pradhan, Aliza; Idol, Travis; Roul, Pravat K.

2016-01-01

Traditional agriculture in rainfed uplands of India has been experiencing low agricultural productivity as the lands suffer from poor soil fertility, susceptibility to water erosion and other external pressures of development and climate change. A shift toward more sustainable cropping systems such as conservation agriculture production systems (CAPSs) may help in maintaining soil quality as well as improving crop production and farmer’s net economic benefit. This research assessed the effects over 3 years (2011–2014) of reduced tillage, intercropping, and cover cropping practices customized for maize-based production systems in upland areas of Odisha, India. The study focused on crop yield, system productivity and profitability through maize equivalent yield and dominance analysis. Results showed that maize grain yield did not differ significantly over time or among CAPS treatments while cowpea yield was considered as an additional yield in intercropping systems. Mustard and horsegram grown in plots after maize cowpea intercropping recorded higher grain yields of 25 and 37%, respectively, as compared to those without intercropping. Overall, the full CAPS implementation, i.e., minimum tillage, maize–cowpea intercropping and mustard residue retention had significantly higher system productivity and net benefits than traditional farmer practices, i.e., conventional tillage, sole maize cropping, and no mustard residue retention. The dominance analysis demonstrated increasing benefits of combining conservation practices that exceeded thresholds for farmer adoption. Given the use of familiar crops and technologies and the magnitude of yield and income improvements, these types of CAPS should be acceptable and attractive for smallholder farmers in the area. This in turn should support a move toward sustainable intensification of crop production to meet future household income and nutritional needs. PMID:27471508
Conservation agriculture practices in rainfed uplands of India improve maize-based system productivity and profitability

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Aliza Pradhan

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Traditional agriculture in rainfed uplands of India has been experiencing low agricultural productivity as the lands suffer from poor soil fertility, susceptibility to water erosion and other external pressures of development and climate change. A shift towards more sustainable cropping systems such as conservation agriculture production systems (CAPS may help in maintaining soil quality as well as improving crop production and farmer’s net economic benefit. This research assessed the effects over three years (2011-2014 of reduced tillage, intercropping, and cover cropping practices customized for maize-based production systems in upland areas of Odisha, India. The study focused on crop yield, system productivity and profitability through maize equivalent yield and dominance analysis. Results showed that maize grain yield did not differ significantly over time or among CAPS treatments while cowpea yield was considered as an additional yield in intercropping systems. Mustard and horsegram grown in plots after maize cowpea intercropping recorded higher grain yields of 25 and 37%, respectively, as compared to those without intercropping. Overall, the full CAPS implementation i.e. minimum tillage, maize-cowpea intercropping and mustard residue retention had significantly higher system productivity and net benefits than traditional farmer practices, i.e. conventional tillage, sole maize cropping, and no mustard residue retention. The dominance analysis demonstrated increasing benefits of combining conservation practices that exceeded thresholds for farmer adoption. Given the use of familiar crops and technologies and the magnitude of yield and income improvements, these types of CAPS should be acceptable and attractive for smallholder farmers in the area. This in turn should support a move toward sustainable intensification of crop production to meet future household income and nutritional needs.
Conservation Agriculture Practices in Rainfed Uplands of India Improve Maize-Based System Productivity and Profitability.

Science.gov (United States)

Pradhan, Aliza; Idol, Travis; Roul, Pravat K

2016-01-01

Traditional agriculture in rainfed uplands of India has been experiencing low agricultural productivity as the lands suffer from poor soil fertility, susceptibility to water erosion and other external pressures of development and climate change. A shift toward more sustainable cropping systems such as conservation agriculture production systems (CAPSs) may help in maintaining soil quality as well as improving crop production and farmer's net economic benefit. This research assessed the effects over 3 years (2011-2014) of reduced tillage, intercropping, and cover cropping practices customized for maize-based production systems in upland areas of Odisha, India. The study focused on crop yield, system productivity and profitability through maize equivalent yield and dominance analysis. Results showed that maize grain yield did not differ significantly over time or among CAPS treatments while cowpea yield was considered as an additional yield in intercropping systems. Mustard and horsegram grown in plots after maize cowpea intercropping recorded higher grain yields of 25 and 37%, respectively, as compared to those without intercropping. Overall, the full CAPS implementation, i.e., minimum tillage, maize-cowpea intercropping and mustard residue retention had significantly higher system productivity and net benefits than traditional farmer practices, i.e., conventional tillage, sole maize cropping, and no mustard residue retention. The dominance analysis demonstrated increasing benefits of combining conservation practices that exceeded thresholds for farmer adoption. Given the use of familiar crops and technologies and the magnitude of yield and income improvements, these types of CAPS should be acceptable and attractive for smallholder farmers in the area. This in turn should support a move toward sustainable intensification of crop production to meet future household income and nutritional needs.

Water conservation in semiarid dryland agriculture

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Willis, W.O.

1980-01-01

Factors affecting water conservation in semiarid dryland regions are discussed. Because precipitation is the only source of water for plant growth in most semiarid regions, a good understanding of precipitation patterns (quantity, distribution, and their probable frequency) is needed for each dryland area. The various dryland practices, e.g. tillage, cultivars, residue management, fertility, erosion control, and grazing, must be considered as integral parts of an entire system to develop best management practices and to gain most efficient water conservation for food and fiber production. (author)
High-temperature vitrification of Hanford residual-liquid waste in a continuous melter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barnes, S.M.

1980-04-01

Over 270 kg of high-temperature borosilicate glass have been produced in a series of three short-term tests in the High-Temperature Ceramic Melter vitrification system at PNL. The glass produced was formulated to vitrify simulated Hanford residual-liquid waste. The tests were designed to (1) demonstrate the feasibility of utilizing high-temperature, continuous-vitrification technology for the immobilization of the residual-liquid waste, (2) test the airlift draining technique utilized by the high-temperature melter, (3) compare glass produced in this process to residual-liquid glass produced under laboratory conditions, (4) investigate cesium volatility from the melter during waste processing, and (5) determine the maximum residual-liquid glass production rate in the high-temperature melter. The three tests with the residual-liquid composition confirmed the viability of the continuous-melting vitrification technique for the immobilization of this waste. The airlift draining technique was demonstrated in these tests and the glass produced from the melter was shown to be less porous than the laboratory-produced glass. The final glass produced from the second test was compared to a glass of the same composition produced under laboratory conditions. The comparative tests found the glasses to be indistinguishable, as the small differences in the test results fell within the precision range of the characterization testing equipment. The cesium volatility was examined in the final test. This examination showed that 0.44 wt % of the cesium (assumed to be cesium oxide) was volatilized, which translates to a volatilization rate of 115 mg/cm 2 -h
Energy savings potential from energy-conserving irrigation systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wilfert, G.L.; Patton, W.P.; Harrer, B.J.; Clark, M.A.

1982-11-01

This report systematically compares, within a consistent framework, the technical and economic characteristics of energy-conserving irrigation systems with those of conventional irrigation systems and to determine total energy savings. Levelized annual costs of owning and operating both energy-conserving and conventional irrigation systems have been developed and compared for all 17 states to account for the differences in energy costs and irrigation conditions in each state. Market penetration of energy-conserving systems is assessed for those systems having lower levelized annual costs than conventional systems performing the same function. Annual energy savings were computed by matching the energy savings per system with an assumed maximum market penetration of 100 percent in those markets where the levelized annual costs of energy-conserving systems are lower than the levelized annual costs of conventional systems.
[Conservation tillage systems in North America and their significance for China].

Science.gov (United States)

Yang, Xueming; Zhang, Xiaoping; Fang, Huajun; Liang, Aizhen; Qi, Xiaoning; Wang, Yang

2004-02-01

Soil degradation through erosion and desertification reduces soil productivity, and is a serious problem in agricultural production of China. To avert our arable land from further degradation, soil management must be shifted from degrading tillage to conservation practices. Over viewing the technology used in the 20th century for controlling soil degradation from erosion, conservation tillage developed in the United States and adopted in South America and Africa is one of the most successful measures to overcome soil degradation problems. This paper reviewed the historical development and the current situation of conservation tillage systems used in North and South America, with special reference to their effects on soil erosion control and soil quality. The increasing adoption of conservation tillage systems in North and South America and Africa followed an enhanced awareness of the increasing risk of soil erosion and the high cost of fuel associated with conventional tillage. Many crucial points for successfully adopting conservation tillage systems were emphasized, such as equipment/tool development and chemical weed control. Adopting conservation tillage could provide China with low-priced means of reducing soil degradation and improving soil and water quality.
Thermal treatment system of hazardous residuals in three heating zones based on a microprocessor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luna H, C.L.

1997-01-01

Thermal treatment system consists of a high power electric oven of three heating zones where each zone works up to 1200 Centigrades; it has the capacity of rising the central zone temperature up to 1000 Centigrades in 58 minutes approximately. This configuration of three zones could be programmed to different temperatures and they will be digitally controlled by a control microprocessor, which has been controlled by its own assembler language, in function of the PID control. There are also other important controls based on this microprocessor, as a signal amplification, starting and shutdown of high power step relays, activation and deactivation of both analogic/digital and digital/analogic convertors, port activation and basic data storage of the system. Two main characteristics were looked for this oven design; the first was the possibility of controlling the three zone temperature and the second was to reduce the rising and stabilization operation time and its digitized control. The principal function of the three zone oven is to accelerate the degradation of hazardous residuals by an oxidation instead combustion, through relatively high temperatures (minimum 800 Centigrades and maximum 1200 Centigrades); this process reduces the ash and volatile particulate production. The hazardous residuals will be pumped into the degradation system and after atomized through a packaged column; this step will avoid the direct contact of the residuals with the oven cores. These features make this system as closed process, which means that the residuals can not leak to the working area, reducing the exposure risk to the personnel. This three step oven system is the first stage of the complete hazardous residuals degradation system; after this, the flow will go into a cold plasma region where the process is completed, making a closed system. (Author)
Cover crop residue effects on machine-induced soil compaction

OpenAIRE

Ess, Daniel R.

1994-01-01

Crop production systems which utilize the biomass produced by rye (Secale cereale ) to suppress weed growth and conserve soil moisture have been developed at Virginia Tech. The success of alternative, reduced-input crop production systems has encouraged research into the potential for breaking the traffic-tillage cycle associated with conventional tillage crop production systems. The fragile residues encountered in agricultural crop production, whether incorporated into the ...
Protein structure based prediction of catalytic residues.

Science.gov (United States)

Fajardo, J Eduardo; Fiser, Andras

2013-02-22

Worldwide structural genomics projects continue to release new protein structures at an unprecedented pace, so far nearly 6000, but only about 60% of these proteins have any sort of functional annotation. We explored a range of features that can be used for the prediction of functional residues given a known three-dimensional structure. These features include various centrality measures of nodes in graphs of interacting residues: closeness, betweenness and page-rank centrality. We also analyzed the distance of functional amino acids to the general center of mass (GCM) of the structure, relative solvent accessibility (RSA), and the use of relative entropy as a measure of sequence conservation. From the selected features, neural networks were trained to identify catalytic residues. We found that using distance to the GCM together with amino acid type provide a good discriminant function, when combined independently with sequence conservation. Using an independent test set of 29 annotated protein structures, the method returned 411 of the initial 9262 residues as the most likely to be involved in function. The output 411 residues contain 70 of the annotated 111 catalytic residues. This represents an approximately 14-fold enrichment of catalytic residues on the entire input set (corresponding to a sensitivity of 63% and a precision of 17%), a performance competitive with that of other state-of-the-art methods. We found that several of the graph based measures utilize the same underlying feature of protein structures, which can be simply and more effectively captured with the distance to GCM definition. This also has the added the advantage of simplicity and easy implementation. Meanwhile sequence conservation remains by far the most influential feature in identifying functional residues. We also found that due the rapid changes in size and composition of sequence databases, conservation calculations must be recalibrated for specific reference databases.
Comparing Residue Clusters from Thermophilic and Mesophilic Enzymes Reveals Adaptive Mechanisms.

Science.gov (United States)

Sammond, Deanne W; Kastelowitz, Noah; Himmel, Michael E; Yin, Hang; Crowley, Michael F; Bomble, Yannick J

2016-01-01

Understanding how proteins adapt to function at high temperatures is important for deciphering the energetics that dictate protein stability and folding. While multiple principles important for thermostability have been identified, we lack a unified understanding of how internal protein structural and chemical environment determine qualitative or quantitative impact of evolutionary mutations. In this work we compare equivalent clusters of spatially neighboring residues between paired thermophilic and mesophilic homologues to evaluate adaptations under the selective pressure of high temperature. We find the residue clusters in thermophilic enzymes generally display improved atomic packing compared to mesophilic enzymes, in agreement with previous research. Unlike residue clusters from mesophilic enzymes, however, thermophilic residue clusters do not have significant cavities. In addition, anchor residues found in many clusters are highly conserved with respect to atomic packing between both thermophilic and mesophilic enzymes. Thus the improvements in atomic packing observed in thermophilic homologues are not derived from these anchor residues but from neighboring positions, which may serve to expand optimized protein core regions.
Identification of conserved regions and residues within Hedgehog acyltransferase critical for palmitoylation of Sonic Hedgehog.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

John A Buglino

2010-06-01

Full Text Available Sonic hedgehog (Shh is a palmitoylated protein that plays key roles in mammalian development and human cancers. Palmitoylation of Shh is required for effective long and short range Shh-mediated signaling. Attachment of palmitate to Shh is catalyzed by Hedgehog acyltransferase (Hhat, a member of the membrane bound O-acyl transferase (MBOAT family of multipass membrane proteins. The extremely hydrophobic composition of MBOAT proteins has limited their biochemical characterization. Except for mutagenesis of two conserved residues, there has been no structure-function analysis of Hhat, and the regions of the protein required for Shh palmitoylation are unknown.Here we undertake a systematic approach to identify residues within Hhat that are required for protein stability and/or enzymatic activity. We also identify a second, novel MBOAT homology region (residues 196-234 that is required for Hhat activity. In total, ten deletion mutants and eleven point mutants were generated and analyzed. Truncations at the N- and C-termini of Hhat yielded inactive proteins with reduced stability. Four Hhat mutants with deletions within predicted loop regions and five point mutants retained stability but lost palmitoylation activity. We purified two point mutants, W378A and H379A, with defective Hhat activity. Kinetic analyses revealed alterations in apparent K(m and V(max for Shh and/or palmitoyl CoA, changes that likely explain the catalytic defects observed for these mutants.This study has pinpointed specific regions and multiple residues that regulate Hhat stability and catalysis. Our findings should be applicable to other MBOAT proteins that mediate lipid modification of Wnt proteins and ghrelin, and should serve as a model for understanding how secreted morphogens are modified by palmitoyl acyltransferases.
Correction: β-Amyrin synthase from Euphorbia tirucalli L. functional analyses of the highly conserved aromatic residues Phe413, Tyr259 and Trp257 disclose the importance of the appropriate steric bulk, and cation-π and CH-π interactions for the efficient catalytic action of the polyolefin cyclization cascade.

Science.gov (United States)

Ito, Ryousuke; Nakada, Chika; Hoshino, Tsutomu

2017-01-18

Correction for 'β-Amyrin synthase from Euphorbia tirucalli L. functional analyses of the highly conserved aromatic residues Phe413, Tyr259 and Trp257 disclose the importance of the appropriate steric bulk, and cation-π and CH-π interactions for the efficient catalytic action of the polyolefin cyclization cascade' by Ryousuke Ito et al., Org. Biomol. Chem., 2017, 15, 177-188.
Relative Stabilities of Conserved and Non-Conserved Structures in the OB-Fold Superfamily

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Andrei T. Alexandrescu

2009-05-01

Full Text Available The OB-fold is a diverse structure superfamily based on a β-barrel motif that is often supplemented with additional non-conserved secondary structures. Previous deletion mutagenesis and NMR hydrogen exchange studies of three OB-fold proteins showed that the structural stabilities of sites within the conserved β-barrels were larger than sites in non-conserved segments. In this work we examined a database of 80 representative domain structures currently classified as OB-folds, to establish the basis of this effect. Residue-specific values were obtained for the number of Cα-Cα distance contacts, sequence hydrophobicities, crystallographic B-factors, and theoretical B-factors calculated from a Gaussian Network Model. All four parameters point to a larger average flexibility for the non-conserved structures compared to the conserved β-barrels. The theoretical B-factors and contact densities show the highest sensitivity.Our results suggest a model of protein structure evolution in which novel structural features develop at the periphery of conserved motifs. Core residues are more resistant to structural changes during evolution since their substitution would disrupt a larger number of interactions. Similar factors are likely to account for the differences in stability to unfolding between conserved and non-conserved structures.
Role of an Absolutely Conserved Tryptophan Pair in the Extracellular Domain of Cys-Loop Receptors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Braun, Nina; Lynagh, Timothy; Yu, Rilei

2016-01-01

Cys-loop receptors mediate fast synaptic transmission in the nervous system, and their dysfunction is associated with a number of diseases. While some sequence variability is essential to ensure specific recognition of a chemically diverse set of ligands, other parts of the underlying amino acid...... sequences show a high degree of conservation, possibly to preserve the overall structural fold across the protein family. In this study, we focus on the only two absolutely conserved residues across the Cys-loop receptor family, two Trp side chains in the WXD motif of Loop D and in the WXPD motif of Loop A...
A case of postirradiation angiosarcoma developed in the residual breast after breast-conserving surgery

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nomura, Shinji; Okazaki, Yoshikazu; Fujii, Masakazu; Akiyama, Norio; Tomozawa, Naofumi; Morishige, Ichiro

2008-01-01

The patient was a 50-year-old woman who had undergone breast-conserving surgery for right breast cancer (C area, Bp+Ax, T2N0M0, Stage I, and scirrhous carcinoma), followed by irradiation at a total dose of 50 Gy in 1998. When 6 years 5 months had elapsed after the operation, redness and induration developed in the A area of the right breast. A biopsy via wedge resection was performed and the histopathological diagnosis was angiosarcoma. We could not rule out a possibility of positive surgical stump, and performed additional resection+skin grafting. No sarcoma remnant was demonstrated in the material resected additionally, but 2 years later, the patient experienced recurrence. Thus mastectomy+extended resection of the full thickness of the skin+skin grafting were performed. Postirradiation sarcoma involving the skin and vessels is a rare entity and occurs in 0.03-0.8% of all cases after radiation therapy. It metastasizes to the distant organs in an early stage and carries poor prognosis. No standard therapy for the disease has been established as yet. Early detection and extended resection are considered to contribute to an improvement of the prognosis. This paper deals with such a rare entity as postirradiation angiosarcoma developed in the residual breast after breast-conserving surgery. (author)
Nuclear reactor with makeup water assist from residual heat removal system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schulz, T.L.; Corletti, M.M.

1994-01-01

A pressurized water nuclear reactor uses its residual heat removal system to make up water in the reactor coolant circuit by pumping water from an in-containment refueling water storage tank during staged depressurization of the coolant circuit, the final stage including passive emergency cooling by gravity feed from the refueling water storage tank to the coolant circuit and to flood the containment building. When depressurization commences due to inadvertence or a manageable leak, the residual heat removal system is activated manually and avoids the final stage of depressurization with its flooding of the containment when such action is not necessary, but does not prevent the final stage when it is necessary. A high pressure makeup water storage tank coupled to the reactor coolant circuit holds makeup coolant at the operational pressure of the reactor. The staged depressurization system vents the coolant circuit to the containment, thus reducing the supply of makeup coolant. The level of makeup coolant can be sensed to trigger opening of successive depressurization conduits. The residual heat removal system can also be coupled in a loop with the refueling water supply tanks for cooling the tank. (Author)
Biogas systems for sisal and other agro-industrial residues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jungersen, G [Danish Technological Inst., Section for Biotechnology, Taastrup (Denmark)

1998-12-31

Most of the East-African agro-industries are generating very large quantities of organic residues from production and processing of different crops. In the East-African Region the most important of these crops are: Sisal, Sugar, Coffee, Cashew nuts and Pineapple. In other 3. world countries, Palm oil and Cassava (Tapioca starch) processing are main producers of organic waste products. Moreover, large quantities of organic residues are generated from other food processing activities like breweries, consumption of bananas etc. The following pages give examples of setups and system designs of anaerobic treatment systems for some of the residues mentioned above. When considering anaerobic treatment of sisal residues, which constitutes the main agro-industrial biomass resource in Tanzania, two major issues should be considered: Optimal reactor set-up and performance; And optionally, potential methods for pre-treatment of fibre fraction in order to increase the methane yield. The sisal liquid residues are degraded very fast and efficiently in UASB systems. At COD loading rates less than 11 kg COD/m{sup 3} x day, the reduction in organic matter is more than 90% and methane yields obtained are between 373 and 377 ml CH{sub 4}/g COD reduced. The treatment of sisal solid residues in CSTR systems has been examined both at mesophilic (37 deg. C) and thermophilic temperatures (55 deg. C.). (EG)
Biogas systems for sisal and other agro-industrial residues

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jungersen, G. [Danish Technological Inst., Section for Biotechnology, Taastrup (Denmark)

1997-12-31

Most of the East-African agro-industries are generating very large quantities of organic residues from production and processing of different crops. In the East-African Region the most important of these crops are: Sisal, Sugar, Coffee, Cashew nuts and Pineapple. In other 3. world countries, Palm oil and Cassava (Tapioca starch) processing are main producers of organic waste products. Moreover, large quantities of organic residues are generated from other food processing activities like breweries, consumption of bananas etc. The following pages give examples of setups and system designs of anaerobic treatment systems for some of the residues mentioned above. When considering anaerobic treatment of sisal residues, which constitutes the main agro-industrial biomass resource in Tanzania, two major issues should be considered: Optimal reactor set-up and performance; And optionally, potential methods for pre-treatment of fibre fraction in order to increase the methane yield. The sisal liquid residues are degraded very fast and efficiently in UASB systems. At COD loading rates less than 11 kg COD/m{sup 3} x day, the reduction in organic matter is more than 90% and methane yields obtained are between 373 and 377 ml CH{sub 4}/g COD reduced. The treatment of sisal solid residues in CSTR systems has been examined both at mesophilic (37 deg. C) and thermophilic temperatures (55 deg. C.). (EG)
Calculating residual flows through a multiple-inlet system: the conundrum of the tidal period

Science.gov (United States)

Duran-Matute, Matias; Gerkema, Theo

2015-11-01

The concept of residual, i.e., tidally-averaged, flows through a multiple inlet system is reappraised. The evaluation of the residual through-flow depends on the time interval over which is integrated, in other words, on how one defines the tidal period. It is demonstrated that this definition is ambiguous and that different definitions (based on, e.g., high waters, slack tides, etc.) yield very different results for the residual, also in terms of their long-term statistical properties (median and standard deviation). A basin-wide applicable method of defining the tidal period, in terms of enclosed water volume, is analyzed. We compare the different methods on the basis of high-resolution model results for the Western Dutch Wadden Sea. The multitude of tidal constituents together with wind variability creates broad distributions for the residuals, with standard deviations much larger than the mean or median residual flows.
Highly conserved non-coding sequences are associated with vertebrate development.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Adam Woolfe

2005-01-01

Full Text Available In addition to protein coding sequence, the human genome contains a significant amount of regulatory DNA, the identification of which is proving somewhat recalcitrant to both in silico and functional methods. An approach that has been used with some success is comparative sequence analysis, whereby equivalent genomic regions from different organisms are compared in order to identify both similarities and differences. In general, similarities in sequence between highly divergent organisms imply functional constraint. We have used a whole-genome comparison between humans and the pufferfish, Fugu rubripes, to identify nearly 1,400 highly conserved non-coding sequences. Given the evolutionary divergence between these species, it is likely that these sequences are found in, and furthermore are essential to, all vertebrates. Most, and possibly all, of these sequences are located in and around genes that act as developmental regulators. Some of these sequences are over 90% identical across more than 500 bases, being more highly conserved than coding sequence between these two species. Despite this, we cannot find any similar sequences in invertebrate genomes. In order to begin to functionally test this set of sequences, we have used a rapid in vivo assay system using zebrafish embryos that allows tissue-specific enhancer activity to be identified. Functional data is presented for highly conserved non-coding sequences associated with four unrelated developmental regulators (SOX21, PAX6, HLXB9, and SHH, in order to demonstrate the suitability of this screen to a wide range of genes and expression patterns. Of 25 sequence elements tested around these four genes, 23 show significant enhancer activity in one or more tissues. We have identified a set of non-coding sequences that are highly conserved throughout vertebrates. They are found in clusters across the human genome, principally around genes that are implicated in the regulation of development
Alternatives to crop residues for soil amendment

OpenAIRE

Powell, J.M.; Unger, P.W.

1997-01-01

Metadata only record In semiarid agroecosystems, crop residues can provide important benefits of soil and water conservation, nutrient cycling, and improved subsequent crop yields. However, there are frequently multiple competing uses for residues, including animal forage, fuel, and construction material. This chapter discusses the various uses of crop residues and examines alternative soil amendments when crop residues cannot be left on the soil.
Comparing Residue Clusters from Thermophilic and Mesophilic Enzymes Reveals Adaptive Mechanisms.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deanne W Sammond

Full Text Available Understanding how proteins adapt to function at high temperatures is important for deciphering the energetics that dictate protein stability and folding. While multiple principles important for thermostability have been identified, we lack a unified understanding of how internal protein structural and chemical environment determine qualitative or quantitative impact of evolutionary mutations. In this work we compare equivalent clusters of spatially neighboring residues between paired thermophilic and mesophilic homologues to evaluate adaptations under the selective pressure of high temperature. We find the residue clusters in thermophilic enzymes generally display improved atomic packing compared to mesophilic enzymes, in agreement with previous research. Unlike residue clusters from mesophilic enzymes, however, thermophilic residue clusters do not have significant cavities. In addition, anchor residues found in many clusters are highly conserved with respect to atomic packing between both thermophilic and mesophilic enzymes. Thus the improvements in atomic packing observed in thermophilic homologues are not derived from these anchor residues but from neighboring positions, which may serve to expand optimized protein core regions.

Weak asymptotic solution for a non-strictly hyperbolic system of conservation laws-II

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Manas Ranjan Sahoo

2016-04-01

Full Text Available In this article we introduce a concept of entropy weak asymptotic solution for a system of conservation laws and construct the same for a prolonged system of conservation laws which is highly non-strictly hyperbolic. This is first done for Riemann type initial data by introducing $\\delta,\\delta',\\delta''$ waves along a discontinuity curve and then for general initial data by piecing together the Riemann solutions.
Development of an NPP residual lifetime evaluation system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Regano, M.; Ibanez, M.; Hevia, F.

1993-01-01

Various reasons have given rise to the need for residual life management of Spain's nuclear power plants which lead to the a project for the development of a residual lifetime evaluation system managed by UNESA and supported by the owner groups. This project is described. 1 fig
Conserved residues in the coiled-coil pocket of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 gp41 are essential for viral replication and interhelical interaction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mo Hongmei; Konstantinidis, Alex K.; Stewart, Kent D.; Dekhtyar, Tatyana; Ng, Teresa; Swift, Kerry; Matayoshi, Edmund D.; Kati, Warren; Kohlbrenner, William; Molla, Akhteruzzaman

2004-01-01

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) gp41 plays an important role in mediating the fusion of HIV with host cells. During the fusion process, three N-terminal helices and three C-terminal helices pack in an anti-parallel direction to form a six-helix bundle. X-ray crystallographic analysis of the gp41 core demonstrated that within each coiled-coil interface, there is a deep and large pocket, formed by a cluster of residues in the N-helix coiled-coil. In this report, we systematically analyzed the role of seven conserved residues that are either lining or packing this pocket on the infectivity and interhelical interaction using novel approaches. Our results show that residues L568, V570, W571, and K574 of the N-helix that are lining the side chain and right wall of the pocket are important for establishing a productive infection. Mutations V570A and W571A completely abolished replication, while replication of the L568A and K574A mutants was significantly attenuated relative to wild type. Similarly, residues W628, W631, and I635 of the C-helix that insert into the pocket are essential for infectivity. The impaired infectivity of these seven mutants is in part attributed to the loss in binding affinity of the interhelical interaction. Molecular modeling of the crystal structure of the coiled-coil further shows that alanine substitution of those residues disrupts the hydrophobic interaction between the N- and C-helix. These results suggest that the conserved residues in the coiled-coil domain play a key role in HIV infection and this coiled-coil pocket is a good target for development of inhibitors against HIV. In addition, our data indicate that the novel fluorescence polarization assay described in this study could be valuable in screening for inhibitors that block the interhelical interaction and HIV entry
Suitability of peanut residue as a nitrogen source for a rye cover crop

OpenAIRE

Balkcom,Kipling Shane; Wood,Charles Wesley; Adams,James Fredrick; Meso,Bernard

2007-01-01

Leguminous winter cover crops have been utilized in conservation systems to partially meet nitrogen (N) requirements of succeeding summer cash crops, but the potential of summer legumes to reduce N requirements of a winter annual grass, used as a cover crop, has not been extensively examined. This study assessed the N contribution of peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.) residues to a subsequent rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop grown in a conservation system on a Dothan sandy loam (fine-loamy, kaoli...
Role of Conserved Disulfide Bridges and Aromatic Residues in Extracellular Loop 2 of Chemokine Receptor CCR8 for Chemokine and Small Molecule Binding

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Barington, Line; Rummel, Pia C; Lückmann, Michael

2016-01-01

and aromatic residues in extracellular loop 2 (ECL2) for ligand binding and activation in the chemokine receptor CCR8. We used IP3 accumulation and radioligand binding experiments to determine the impact of receptor mutagenesis on both chemokine and small molecule agonist and antagonist binding and action...... in CCR8. We find that the 7 transmembrane (7TM) receptor conserved disulfide bridge (7TM bridge) linking transmembrane helix (TM)III and ECL2 is crucial for chemokine and small molecule action, whereas the chemokine receptor conserved disulfide bridge between the N terminus and TMVII is needed only...
Bacillus cereus as indicator in the sterilization of residual water with high energy electrons

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mejia Z, E.

2000-01-01

One of the main causes of water pollution is the presence of microorganisms that provoke infections, moreover of chemical substances. The processes of residual water treatment finally require of the disinfection for its use or final disposition. The radiation technology for the residual water treatment by mean of electron beams is an innovator process because as well as decomposing the chemical substance or to degrade them, also it provokes a disinfection by which this is proposed as alternative for disinfection of residual water, with the purpose in reusing the water treated in the agriculture, recreation and industry among others secondary activities, solving environmental or health problems. The objective of this work is to evaluate the use of Bacillus cereus as biological indicator in the disinfection by radiation, using High Energy Electrons. To fulfil with this objective, the work was developed in three stages, the first one consisted in the acquisition, propagation and conservation of the Bacillus cereus stumps, considering Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium as pathogenic germs present in residual water. Moreover, the inocule standardization and the conditions of the Electron accelerator Type Pelletron. In the second stage it was performed the irradiation of aqueous samples of the microorganisms simulating biological pollution and the application to problem samples of a treatment plant sited in the Lerma River zone of mixed residual water. And in the third stage was performed a regression analysis to the reported survival for each kind of microorganisms. The results obtained show that with the use of Electron beams was reduced 6 logarithmic units de E. coli at 129 Gy, for S. typhimurium it was reduced 8 logarithmic units at 383 Gy and the B. cereus at 511 Gy was reduced 6.8 logarithmic units. Of the problem samples irradiated at 500 Gy, the concentration of the total account diminished from 8.70 x 10 7 UFC/ml to 550 UFC/ml, the presence of B. Cereus
Cloning, Site-Directed Mutagenesis, and Functional Analysis of Active Residues in Lymantria dispar Chitinase.

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Xiao-Jun; Yang, Chun; Zhang, Chang; Ren, Hui; Zhang, Jian-Dong

2018-01-01

Chitinases are glycosyl hydrolases that catalyze the hydrolysis of β-(1,4)-glycosidic bonds in chitin, the major structural polysaccharide presented in the cuticle and gut peritrophic matrix of insects. Two aspartate residues (D143, D145) and one tryptophan (W146) in the Lymantria dispar chitinase are highly conserved residues observed within the second conserved motif of the family 18 chitinase catalytic region. In this study, a chitinase cDNA, LdCht5, was cloned from L. dispar, and the roles of the three residues were investigated using site-directed mutagenesis and substituting them with three other amino acids. Seven mutant proteins, D143E, D145E, W146G, D143E/D145E, D143E/W146G, D145E/W146G, and D143E/D145E/W146G, as well as the wild-type enzyme, were produced using the baculovirus-insect cell line expression system. The enzymatic and kinetic properties of these mutant enzymes were measured using the oligosaccharide substrate MU-(GlcNAc) 3 . Among the seven mutants, the D145E, D143E/D145E, and D145E/W146G mutations kept some extant catalytic activity toward MU-(GlcNAc) 3 , while the D143E, W146G, D143E/W146G, and D143E/D145E/W146G mutant enzymes were inactivated. Compared with the mutant enzymes, the wild-type enzyme had higher values of k cat and k cat / K m . A study of the multiple point mutations in the second conserved catalytic region would help to elucidate the role of the critical residues and their relationships.
Making conservation work for everyone

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wiersma, J. [Veridian Corp., Ajax, ON (Canada)

2004-07-01

This presentation discussed the economic value of conservation, the optimal deployment of energy conservation. A sample load profile was presented to demonstrate how much electricity the average residential customer uses on a summer day. The average customer does not have the tools to understand the financial consequences of conservation for different types of equipment at different times of the day. Smart metering technology could help in this regard. Accurate unsubsidized prices are also considered to be the best incentive to conserve because customers will reduce electricity use when the prices are high. It was also suggested that standards for new appliances should be increased effectively to their economic value. The enablers to energy conservation include solid consumer education programs, real time metering in places where it is cost effective, real time pricing in places where it is practical, and power rates that reflect real costs. Barriers to energy conservation include the residual economic advantage that may be insufficient to justify investment; support from local distribution companies and transmission companies if the lost revenue adjustment mechanism (LRAM) is not sufficient to recover lost revenue and if LDCs are not sufficiently involved in the design of the electricity conservation program. 7 figs.
High-Level Systemic Expression of Conserved Influenza Epitope in Plants on the Surface of Rod-Shaped Chimeric Particles

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Natalia V. Petukhova

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Recombinant viruses based on the cDNA copy of the tobacco mosaic virus (TMV genome carrying different versions of the conserved M2e epitope from influenza virus A cloned into the coat protein (CP gene were obtained and partially characterized by our group previously; cysteines in the human consensus M2e sequence were changed to serine residues. This work intends to show some biological properties of these viruses following plant infections. Agroinfiltration experiments on Nicotiana benthamiana confirmed the efficient systemic expression of M2e peptides, and two point amino acid substitutions in recombinant CPs significantly influenced the symptoms and development of viral infections. Joint expression of RNA interference suppressor protein p19 from tomato bushy stunt virus (TBSV did not affect the accumulation of CP-M2e-ser recombinant protein in non-inoculated leaves. RT-PCR analysis of RNA isolated from either infected leaves or purified TMV-M2e particles proved the genetic stability of TMV‑based viral vectors. Immunoelectron microscopy of crude plant extracts demonstrated that foreign epitopes are located on the surface of chimeric virions. The rod‑shaped geometry of plant-produced M2e epitopes is different from the icosahedral or helical filamentous arrangement of M2e antigens on the carrier virus-like particles (VLP described earlier. Thereby, we created a simple and efficient system that employs agrobacteria and plant viral vectors in order to produce a candidate broad-spectrum flu vaccine.
Frequency Assignment, Sharing and Conservation in Systems (Aerospace). (l’Attribution, le partage et la conservation des frequences pour les systemes aeronautiques et spatiales)

Science.gov (United States)

1999-01-01

NETWORKS C. Bousofto-Calzön A.R. Figueiras-Vidal Dpto. Tecnologias de las Comunicaciones Univ. Carlos III de Madrid C/Butarque, 15; 28911 Leganes...Attribution, le partage et la conservation des frequences pour les systemes aeronautiques et spatiales) Papers presented at the Information Systems...PROCEEDINGS 13 Frequency Assignment, Sharing and Conservation in Systems (Aerospace) (V Attribution, le partage et la conservation des frequences pour
Heat demand profiles of energy conservation measures in buildings and their impact on a district heating system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lundström, Lukas; Wallin, Fredrik

2016-01-01

Highlights: • Energy savings impact on an low CO 2 emitting district heating system. • Heat profiles of eight building energy conservation measures. • Exhaust air heat pump, heat recovery ventilation, electricity savings etc. • Heat load weather normalisation with segmented multivariable linear regression. - Abstract: This study highlights the forthcoming problem with diminishing environmental benefits from heat demand reducing energy conservation measures (ECM) of buildings within district heating systems (DHS), as the supply side is becoming “greener” and more primary energy efficient. In this study heat demand profiles and annual electricity-to-heat factors of ECMs in buildings are computed and their impact on system efficiency and greenhouse gas emissions of a Swedish biomass fuelled and combined heat and power utilising DHS are assessed. A weather normalising method for the DHS heat load is developed, combining segmented multivariable linear regressions with typical meteorological year weather data to enable the DHS model and the buildings model to work under the same weather conditions. Improving the buildings’ envelope insulation level and thereby levelling out the DHS heat load curve reduces greenhouse gas emissions and improves primary energy efficiency. Reducing household electricity use proves to be highly beneficial, partly because it increases heat demand, allowing for more cogeneration of electricity. However the other ECMs considered may cause increased greenhouse gas emissions, mainly because of their adverse impact on the cogeneration of electricity. If biomass fuels are considered as residuals, and thus assigned low primary energy factors, primary energy efficiency decreases when implementing ECMs that lower heat demand.
Conserved host response to highly pathogenic avian influenza virus infection in human cell culture, mouse and macaque model systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

McDermott Jason E

2011-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Understanding host response to influenza virus infection will facilitate development of better diagnoses and therapeutic interventions. Several different experimental models have been used as a proxy for human infection, including cell cultures derived from human cells, mice, and non-human primates. Each of these systems has been studied extensively in isolation, but little effort has been directed toward systematically characterizing the conservation of host response on a global level beyond known immune signaling cascades. Results In the present study, we employed a multivariate modeling approach to characterize and compare the transcriptional regulatory networks between these three model systems after infection with a highly pathogenic avian influenza virus of the H5N1 subtype. Using this approach we identified functions and pathways that display similar behavior and/or regulation including the well-studied impact on the interferon response and the inflammasome. Our results also suggest a primary response role for airway epithelial cells in initiating hypercytokinemia, which is thought to contribute to the pathogenesis of H5N1 viruses. We further demonstrate that we can use a transcriptional regulatory model from the human cell culture data to make highly accurate predictions about the behavior of important components of the innate immune system in tissues from whole organisms. Conclusions This is the first demonstration of a global regulatory network modeling conserved host response between in vitro and in vivo models.
Continuum analysis of biological systems conserved quantities, fluxes and forces

CERN Document Server

Suraishkumar, G K

2014-01-01

This book addresses the analysis, in the continuum regime, of biological systems at various scales, from the cellular level to the industrial one. It presents both fundamental conservation principles (mass, charge, momentum and energy) and relevant fluxes resulting from appropriate driving forces, which are important for the analysis, design and operation of biological systems. It includes the concept of charge conservation, an important principle for biological systems that is not explicitly covered in any other book of this kind. The book is organized in five parts: mass conservation; charge conservation; momentum conservation; energy conservation; and multiple conservations simultaneously applied. All mathematical aspects are presented step by step, allowing any reader with a basic mathematical background (calculus, differential equations, linear algebra, etc.) to follow the text with ease. The book promotes an intuitive understanding of all the relevant principles and in so doing facilitates their applica...
Residual stress in a thick section high strength T-butt weld

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pearce, S.V.; Linton, V.M.; Oliver, E.C.

2008-01-01

Residual stresses in a structure are generated as a result of the various fabrication and welding processes used to make the component. Being able to quantify these residual stresses is a key step in determining the continuing integrity of a structure in service. In this work, the residual stresses around a high strength, quenched and tempered steel T-butt web to curved plate weld have been measured using neutron strain scanning. The results show that the residual stresses near the weld were dominated by the welding residual stresses, while the stresses further from the weld were dominated by the bending residual stresses. The results suggest that the combination of welding-induced residual stress and significant pre-welding residual stress, as in the case of a thick bent section of plate can significantly alter the residual stress profile from that in a flat plate
Extreme sequence divergence but conserved ligand-binding specificity in Streptococcus pyogenes M protein.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

2006-05-01

Full Text Available Many pathogenic microorganisms evade host immunity through extensive sequence variability in a protein region targeted by protective antibodies. In spite of the sequence variability, a variable region commonly retains an important ligand-binding function, reflected in the presence of a highly conserved sequence motif. Here, we analyze the limits of sequence divergence in a ligand-binding region by characterizing the hypervariable region (HVR of Streptococcus pyogenes M protein. Our studies were focused on HVRs that bind the human complement regulator C4b-binding protein (C4BP, a ligand that confers phagocytosis resistance. A previous comparison of C4BP-binding HVRs identified residue identities that could be part of a binding motif, but the extended analysis reported here shows that no residue identities remain when additional C4BP-binding HVRs are included. Characterization of the HVR in the M22 protein indicated that two relatively conserved Leu residues are essential for C4BP binding, but these residues are probably core residues in a coiled-coil, implying that they do not directly contribute to binding. In contrast, substitution of either of two relatively conserved Glu residues, predicted to be solvent-exposed, had no effect on C4BP binding, although each of these changes had a major effect on the antigenic properties of the HVR. Together, these findings show that HVRs of M proteins have an extraordinary capacity for sequence divergence and antigenic variability while retaining a specific ligand-binding function.
Conservative interacting particles system with anomalous rate of ergodicity

OpenAIRE

Brzeźniak, Zdzislaw; Flandoli, Franco; Neklyudov, Misha; Zegarliński, Boguslaw

2010-01-01

We analyze certain conservative interacting particle system and establish ergodicity of the system for a family of invariant measures. Furthermore, we show that convergence rate to equilibrium is exponential. This result is of interest because it presents counterexample to the standard assumption of physicists that conservative system implies polynomial rate of convergence.
A residue-specific shift in stability and amyloidogenicity of antibody variable domains.

Science.gov (United States)

Nokwe, Cardine N; Zacharias, Martin; Yagi, Hisashi; Hora, Manuel; Reif, Bernd; Goto, Yuji; Buchner, Johannes

2014-09-26

Variable (V) domains of antibodies are essential for antigen recognition by our adaptive immune system. However, some variants of the light chain V domains (VL) form pathogenic amyloid fibrils in patients. It is so far unclear which residues play a key role in governing these processes. Here, we show that the conserved residue 2 of VL domains is crucial for controlling its thermodynamic stability and fibril formation. Hydrophobic side chains at position 2 stabilize the domain, whereas charged residues destabilize and lead to amyloid fibril formation. NMR experiments identified several segments within the core of the VL domain to be affected by changes in residue 2. Furthermore, molecular dynamic simulations showed that hydrophobic side chains at position 2 remain buried in a hydrophobic pocket, and charged side chains show a high flexibility. This results in a predicted difference in the dissociation free energy of ∼10 kJ mol(-1), which is in excellent agreement with our experimental values. Interestingly, this switch point is found only in VL domains of the κ family and not in VLλ or in VH domains, despite a highly similar domain architecture. Our results reveal novel insight into the architecture of variable domains and the prerequisites for formation of amyloid fibrils. This might also contribute to the rational design of stable variable antibody domains. © 2014 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Health condition and residual life of deteriorating technical systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reinertsen, Rune

1998-12-31

Many offshore installations in the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea approach the end of their useful life. The same is true of many power plants and technical systems in general. This thesis describes the theory and improves the methods for the determination of the health condition and residual life of technical systems. Rather than developing new methods it discusses new ways of using existing statistical methods. The main contributions are: (1) A survey of the literature of diagnosis, prediction and life extension for deteriorating technical systems, (2) A discussion of some consequences of selecting the wrong life model, (3) A description of problems related to the determination of mean residual life of non-repairable technical systems, (4) Presentation of the concept of `technical health` to describe the soundness of a system exposed to failure mechanisms, (5) A model for predicting the technical health and residual life of a corroding system, (6) Recommends requirements and methods for using expert knowledge in safety and reliability analysis, (7) A general inspection strategy for system fault diagnosis by using Shannon entropy, (8) Points out weaknesses and strengths of risk measures used in the offshore industry today. 237 refs., 23 figs., 6 tabs.
Health condition and residual life of deteriorating technical systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reinertsen, Rune

1997-12-31

Many offshore installations in the Norwegian Sector of the North Sea approach the end of their useful life. The same is true of many power plants and technical systems in general. This thesis describes the theory and improves the methods for the determination of the health condition and residual life of technical systems. Rather than developing new methods it discusses new ways of using existing statistical methods. The main contributions are: (1) A survey of the literature of diagnosis, prediction and life extension for deteriorating technical systems, (2) A discussion of some consequences of selecting the wrong life model, (3) A description of problems related to the determination of mean residual life of non-repairable technical systems, (4) Presentation of the concept of `technical health` to describe the soundness of a system exposed to failure mechanisms, (5) A model for predicting the technical health and residual life of a corroding system, (6) Recommends requirements and methods for using expert knowledge in safety and reliability analysis, (7) A general inspection strategy for system fault diagnosis by using Shannon entropy, (8) Points out weaknesses and strengths of risk measures used in the offshore industry today. 237 refs., 23 figs., 6 tabs.
Wetting of nonconserved residue-backbones: A feature indicative of aggregation associated regions of proteins.

Science.gov (United States)

Pradhan, Mohan R; Pal, Arumay; Hu, Zhongqiao; Kannan, Srinivasaraghavan; Chee Keong, Kwoh; Lane, David P; Verma, Chandra S

2016-02-01

Aggregation is an irreversible form of protein complexation and often toxic to cells. The process entails partial or major unfolding that is largely driven by hydration. We model the role of hydration in aggregation using "Dehydrons." "Dehydrons" are unsatisfied backbone hydrogen bonds in proteins that seek shielding from water molecules by associating with ligands or proteins. We find that the residues at aggregation interfaces have hydrated backbones, and in contrast to other forms of protein-protein interactions, are under less evolutionary pressure to be conserved. Combining evolutionary conservation of residues and extent of backbone hydration allows us to distinguish regions on proteins associated with aggregation (non-conserved dehydron-residues) from other interaction interfaces (conserved dehydron-residues). This novel feature can complement the existing strategies used to investigate protein aggregation/complexation. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Structural basis for new pattern of conserved amino acid residues related to chitin-binding in the antifungal peptide from the coconut rhinoceros beetle Oryctes rhinoceros.

Science.gov (United States)

Hemmi, Hikaru; Ishibashi, Jun; Tomie, Tetsuya; Yamakawa, Minoru

2003-06-20

Scarabaecin isolated from hemolymph of the coconut rhinoceros beetle Oryctes rhinoceros is a 36-residue polypeptide that has antifungal activity. The solution structure of scarabaecin has been determined from twodimensional 1H NMR spectroscopic data and hybrid distance geometry-simulated annealing protocol calculation. Based on 492 interproton and 10 hydrogen-bonding distance restraints and 36 dihedral angle restraints, we obtained 20 structures. The average backbone root-mean-square deviation for residues 4-35 is 0.728 +/- 0.217 A from the mean structure. The solution structure consists of a two-stranded antiparallel beta-sheet connected by a type-I beta-turn after a short helical turn. All secondary structures and a conserved disulfide bond are located in the C-terminal half of the peptide, residues 18-36. Overall folding is stabilized by a combination of a disulfide bond, seven hydrogen bonds, and numerous hydrophobic interactions. The structural motif of the C-terminal half shares a significant tertiary structural similarity with chitin-binding domains of plant and invertebrate chitin-binding proteins, even though scarabaecin has no overall sequence similarity to other peptide/polypeptides including chitin-binding proteins. The length of its primary structure, the number of disulfide bonds, and the pattern of conserved functional residues binding to chitin in scarabaecin differ from those of chitin-binding proteins in other invertebrates and plants, suggesting that scarabaecin does not share a common ancestor with them. These results are thought to provide further strong experimental evidence to the hypothesis that chitin-binding proteins of invertebrates and plants are correlated by a convergent evolution process.
Energy conservation and production from solid residues - alternative for two problems: wastes and energy; Conservacao e producao de energia a partir de residuos solidos - alternativa para dois problemas: lixo e energia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Reno, Francisco de Assis Grillo [Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP (Brazil). Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica. Planejamento de Sistemas Energeticos]. E-mail: fgrillo@fem.unicamp.br; Streb, Cleci Schalemberger [Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP (Brazil). Faculdade de Engenharia Mecanica; Piunti, Regina Celia [Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP (Brazil)]. E-mail: repiunti@ig.com.br

2002-07-01

This paper explores possibilities of energy conservation and production through the using domestic solid residues, aiming the disposal impacts and improvement the energy supplying as well. For energy conservation,the recycling, reduction and re utilization will be mentioned. For the energy recovering the burning of organic material in sanitary landfill and incineration of plastics and tires.
Conservation and Role of Electrostatics in Thymidylate Synthase.

Science.gov (United States)

Garg, Divita; Skouloubris, Stephane; Briffotaux, Julien; Myllykallio, Hannu; Wade, Rebecca C

2015-11-27

Conservation of function across families of orthologous enzymes is generally accompanied by conservation of their active site electrostatic potentials. To study the electrostatic conservation in the highly conserved essential enzyme, thymidylate synthase (TS), we conducted a systematic species-based comparison of the electrostatic potential in the vicinity of its active site. Whereas the electrostatics of the active site of TS are generally well conserved, the TSs from minimal organisms do not conform to the overall trend. Since the genomes of minimal organisms have a high thymidine content compared to other organisms, the observation of non-conserved electrostatics was surprising. Analysis of the symbiotic relationship between minimal organisms and their hosts, and the genetic completeness of the thymidine synthesis pathway suggested that TS from the minimal organism Wigglesworthia glossinidia (W.g.b.) must be active. Four residues in the vicinity of the active site of Escherichia coli TS were mutated individually and simultaneously to mimic the electrostatics of W.g.b TS. The measured activities of the E. coli TS mutants imply that conservation of electrostatics in the region of the active site is important for the activity of TS, and suggest that the W.g.b. TS has the minimal activity necessary to support replication of its reduced genome.
Residual life of technical systems; diagnosis, prediction and life extension

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reinertsen, Rune

1996-01-01

The paper presents and discusses research related to residual life of non-repairable and repairable technical systems. Diagnosis of systems and extension of residual life of technical systems are also presented and discussed. This paper concludes that research published describing determination and extension of residual life as well as methods for diagnosis of non-repairable and repairable technical systems, is somewhat limited. Many papers have a rather pragmatic approach. The authors only describe special cases from their own plant and do not provide any explanation of a more academical nature. The other papers are mainly describing very specific applications of statistical models, leaving the more general case out of consideration. One of the main results of this paper is to point out these facts, and thereby identify the need for future research in this area
Productivity limits and potentials of the principles of conservation agriculture.

Science.gov (United States)

Pittelkow, Cameron M; Liang, Xinqiang; Linquist, Bruce A; van Groenigen, Kees Jan; Lee, Juhwan; Lundy, Mark E; van Gestel, Natasja; Six, Johan; Venterea, Rodney T; van Kessel, Chris

2015-01-15

One of the primary challenges of our time is to feed a growing and more demanding world population with reduced external inputs and minimal environmental impacts, all under more variable and extreme climate conditions in the future. Conservation agriculture represents a set of three crop management principles that has received strong international support to help address this challenge, with recent conservation agriculture efforts focusing on smallholder farming systems in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. However, conservation agriculture is highly debated, with respect to both its effects on crop yields and its applicability in different farming contexts. Here we conduct a global meta-analysis using 5,463 paired yield observations from 610 studies to compare no-till, the original and central concept of conservation agriculture, with conventional tillage practices across 48 crops and 63 countries. Overall, our results show that no-till reduces yields, yet this response is variable and under certain conditions no-till can produce equivalent or greater yields than conventional tillage. Importantly, when no-till is combined with the other two conservation agriculture principles of residue retention and crop rotation, its negative impacts are minimized. Moreover, no-till in combination with the other two principles significantly increases rainfed crop productivity in dry climates, suggesting that it may become an important climate-change adaptation strategy for ever-drier regions of the world. However, any expansion of conservation agriculture should be done with caution in these areas, as implementation of the other two principles is often challenging in resource-poor and vulnerable smallholder farming systems, thereby increasing the likelihood of yield losses rather than gains. Although farming systems are multifunctional, and environmental and socio-economic factors need to be considered, our analysis indicates that the potential contribution of no-till to the
Energy conservation in molecular dynamics simulations of classical systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Toxværd, Søren; Heilmann, Ole; Dyre, J. C.

2012-01-01

Classical Newtonian dynamics is analytic and the energy of an isolated system is conserved. The energy of such a system, obtained by the discrete “Verlet” algorithm commonly used in molecular dynamics simulations, fluctuates but is conserved in the mean. This is explained by the existence...
Large-scale evaluation of dynamically important residues in proteins predicted by the perturbation analysis of a coarse-grained elastic model

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Tekpinar Mustafa

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Backgrounds It is increasingly recognized that protein functions often require intricate conformational dynamics, which involves a network of key amino acid residues that couple spatially separated functional sites. Tremendous efforts have been made to identify these key residues by experimental and computational means. Results We have performed a large-scale evaluation of the predictions of dynamically important residues by a variety of computational protocols including three based on the perturbation and correlation analysis of a coarse-grained elastic model. This study is performed for two lists of test cases with >500 pairs of protein structures. The dynamically important residues predicted by the perturbation and correlation analysis are found to be strongly or moderately conserved in >67% of test cases. They form a sparse network of residues which are clustered both in 3D space and along protein sequence. Their overall conservation is attributed to their dynamic role rather than ligand binding or high network connectivity. Conclusion By modeling how the protein structural fluctuations respond to residue-position-specific perturbations, our highly efficient perturbation and correlation analysis can be used to dissect the functional conformational changes in various proteins with a residue level of detail. The predictions of dynamically important residues serve as promising targets for mutational and functional studies.
Conservative systems with ports on contact manifolds

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Eberard, D.; Maschke, B.M.; van der Schaft, Arjan; Piztek, P.

In this paper we propose an extension of port Hamiltonian systems, called conservative systems with ports, which encompass systems arising from the Irreversible Thermodynamics. Firstly we lift a port Hamiltonian system from its state space manifold to the thermodynamic phase space to a contact
Forensic Analysis of High Explosive Residues from Selected Cloth

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mohamad Afiq Mohamed Huri; Umi Kalthom Ahmad

2014-01-01

Increased terrorist activities around the Asian region have resulted in the need for improved analytical techniques in forensic analysis. High explosive residues from post-blast clothing are often encountered as physical evidence submitted to a forensic laboratory. Therefore, this study was initiated to detect high explosives residues of cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine (RDX) and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) on selected cloth in this study. Cotton swabbing technique was employed as a simple and rapid method in recovering analytes from the sample matrix. Analytes were analyzed using Griess spot test, TLC and HPLC. TLC separation employed toluene-ethyl acetate (9:1) as a good solvent system. Reversed phase HPLC separation employed acetonitrile-water (65:35) as the mobile phase and analytes detected using a programmed wavelength. RDX was detected at 235 nm for the first 3.5 min and then switched to 215 nm for PETN. Limits of detection (LODs) of analytes were in the low ppm range (0.05 ppm for RDX and 0.25 ppm for PETN). Analyte recovery studies revealed that the type of cloth has a profound effect on the extraction efficiency. Analytes were recovered better for nylon as compared to cotton cloth. However, no analytes could be recovered from denim cloth. For post-blast samples, only RDX was detected in low concentration for both nylon and cotton cloth. (author)
Further results on universal properties in conservative dynamical systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Benettin, G [Padua Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Fisica; Galgani, L; Giorgilli, A [Milan Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Fisica; Milan Univ. (Italy). Ist. di Matematica)

1980-10-11

In conservative dynamical systems depending on a parameter, sequences of period-doubling bifurcations can be observed by varying the parameter, starting from a stable fixed point. These sequences are analogous to those already known for dissipative systems. The paper shows some new results obtained for two-dimensional conservative mappings.
System Study: Residual Heat Removal 1998-2014

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Schroeder, John Alton [Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)

2015-12-01

This report presents an unreliability evaluation of the residual heat removal (RHR) system in two modes of operation (low-pressure injection in response to a large loss-of-coolant accident and post-trip shutdown-cooling) at 104 U.S. commercial nuclear power plants. Demand, run hours, and failure data from fiscal year 1998 through 2014 for selected components were obtained from the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations (INPO) Consolidated Events Database (ICES). The unreliability results are trended for the most recent 10 year period, while yearly estimates for system unreliability are provided for the entire active period. No statistically significant increasing trends were identified in the RHR results. A highly statistically significant decreasing trend was observed for the RHR injection mode start-only unreliability. Statistically significant decreasing trends were observed for RHR shutdown cooling mode start-only unreliability and RHR shutdown cooling model 24-hour unreliability.
Convergence of a residual based artificial viscosity finite element method

KAUST Repository

Nazarov, Murtazo

2013-02-01

We present a residual based artificial viscosity finite element method to solve conservation laws. The Galerkin approximation is stabilized by only residual based artificial viscosity, without any least-squares, SUPG, or streamline diffusion terms. We prove convergence of the method, applied to a scalar conservation law in two space dimensions, toward an unique entropy solution for implicit time stepping schemes. © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Conservation of systems during prolonged stops

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fernandez Movellan, J.

2014-01-01

The objective of the project is to define the configuration, maintenance, and testing/operation of the different systems required in operation to power, in a way that is ensure adequate conservation allowing you to return to the safe operation of the Central with the reliability of such systems. (Author)
Study of an evaluation index system of well-off water conservancy in Yunnan Province

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Chang

2015-05-01

Full Text Available To achieve good water conservancy under the well-off society before 2020, the future water conservancy planning is undergoing in Yunnan Province. In this study, by analysing the research results of domestic relevant water evaluation index systems and combining this with the water conservancy construction key of Yunnan Province, an unique evaluation index system was proposed to evaluate the well-off water conservancy level of Yunnan Province. It is composed of three levels which are the target layer, criterion layer and index layer. And the criterion layer includes six systems, namely flood control and drought relief mitigation, reasonable allocation of water resources, highly effective water utilization, water source protection and river health security, water management and securing of water development. The analytic hierarchy process (AHP was used to determine the weight of each index. According to the present situation of water development and the related water conservancy planning in Yunnan Province, the target value of each index and evaluation standards are put forward for Yunnan Province in 2020. The results show that the evaluation results are consistent with the actual condition of water development in Yunnan Province and can be used to examine the effects of well-off water conservancy planning.
A Design of Portable Pesticide Residue Detection System Based on the Enzyme Electrode

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xia SUN

2013-03-01

Full Text Available In this paper, a portable detection system was designed based on amperometric acetylcholinesterase biosensor for rapidly detecting pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables. There were potentiostat, three electrode system, differential amplification circuit and double integral analog to digital (A/D circuit modules in this system. The measurement principle of this system was depended on the weak current from enzyme catalyzing substrate in acetylcholinesterase biosensor for detecting pesticide residues. The weak current generated by the enzyme biosensor was changed into 0-5 V standard voltage signal by this system as an output signal. The proposed system was investigated with eight kinds of standard pesticide of different concentrations, the results showed that the detection limits were all lower than 10 ng/kg. Thus, a new effective home-made system of detecting pesticide residues with portable, easy-to-use, fast response was developed. The pesticide residues rapid detection system can collect the weak current signal generated by electrochemical reaction and on-site detect the concentration of pesticide residues in real fruits and vegetables samples.
Genome Analysis of Conserved Dehydrin Motifs in Vascular Plants

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ahmad A. Malik

2017-05-01

Full Text Available Dehydrins, a large family of abiotic stress proteins, are defined by the presence of a mostly conserved motif known as the K-segment, and may also contain two other conserved motifs known as the Y-segment and S-segment. Using the dehydrin literature, we developed a sequence motif definition of the K-segment, which we used to create a large dataset of dehydrin sequences by searching the Pfam00257 dehydrin dataset and the Phytozome 10 sequences of vascular plants. A comprehensive analysis of these sequences reveals that lysine residues are highly conserved in the K-segment, while the amino acid type is often conserved at other positions. Despite the Y-segment name, the central tyrosine is somewhat conserved, but can be substituted with two other small aromatic amino acids (phenylalanine or histidine. The S-segment contains a series of serine residues, but in some proteins is also preceded by a conserved LHR sequence. In many dehydrins containing all three of these motifs the S-segment is linked to the K-segment by a GXGGRRKK motif (where X can be any amino acid, suggesting a functional linkage between these two motifs. An analysis of the sequences shows that the dehydrin architecture and several biochemical properties (isoelectric point, molecular mass, and hydrophobicity score are dependent on each other, and that some dehydrin architectures are overexpressed during certain abiotic stress, suggesting that they may be optimized for a specific abiotic stress while others are involved in all forms of dehydration stress (drought, cold, and salinity.
Developing an Integrated Model Framework for the Assessment of Sustainable Agricultural Residue Removal Limits for Bioenergy Systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

David Muth, Jr.; Jared Abodeely; Richard Nelson; Douglas McCorkle; Joshua Koch; Kenneth Bryden

2011-08-01

Agricultural residues have significant potential as a feedstock for bioenergy production, but removing these residues can have negative impacts on soil health. Models and datasets that can support decisions about sustainable agricultural residue removal are available; however, no tools currently exist capable of simultaneously addressing all environmental factors that can limit availability of residue. The VE-Suite model integration framework has been used to couple a set of environmental process models to support agricultural residue removal decisions. The RUSLE2, WEPS, and Soil Conditioning Index models have been integrated. A disparate set of databases providing the soils, climate, and management practice data required to run these models have also been integrated. The integrated system has been demonstrated for two example cases. First, an assessment using high spatial fidelity crop yield data has been run for a single farm. This analysis shows the significant variance in sustainably accessible residue across a single farm and crop year. A second example is an aggregate assessment of agricultural residues available in the state of Iowa. This implementation of the integrated systems model demonstrates the capability to run a vast range of scenarios required to represent a large geographic region.
Effects of Conservation Tillage on Topsoil Microbial Metabolic Characteristics and Organic Carbon within Aggregates under a Rice (Oryza sativa L.) –Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) Cropping System in Central China

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Tian-Qi; Cao, Cou-Gui; Li, Cheng-Fang

2016-01-01

Investigating microbial metabolic characteristics and soil organic carbon (SOC) within aggregates and their relationships under conservation tillage may be useful in revealing the mechanism of SOC sequestration in conservation tillage systems. However, limited studies have been conducted to investigate the relationship between SOC and microbial metabolic characteristics within aggregate fractions under conservation tillage. We hypothesized that close relationships can exist between SOC and microbial metabolic characteristics within aggregates under conservation tillage. In this study, a field experiment was conducted from June 2011 to June 2013 following a split-plot design of a randomized complete block with tillage practices [conventional intensive tillage (CT) and no tillage (NT)] as main plots and straw returning methods [preceding crop residue returning (S, 2100−2500 kg C ha−1) and removal (NS, 0 kg C ha-1)] as subplots with three replications. The objective of this study was to reveal the effects of tillage practices and residue-returning methods on topsoil microbial metabolic characteristics and organic carbon (SOC) fractions within aggregates and their relationships under a rice–wheat cropping system in central China. Microbial metabolic characteristics investigated using the Biolog system was examined within two aggregate fractions (>0.25 and 0.25 aggregate, and 0.25 mm aggregate (11.3%), and 0.25 mm aggregate, and 0.25 mm aggregate, and tillage (NT and S) increased microbial metabolic activities and Shannon index in >0.25 and directly improved SOC by promoting DOC in >0.25 mm aggregate in the upper (0−5 cm) soil layer under conservation tillage systems, as well as directly and indirectly by promoting DOC and MBC in tillage increased SOC in aggregates in the topsoil by improving microbial metabolic activities. PMID:26731654
Earthworm activity and soil structural changes under conservation agriculture in central Mexico

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Castellanos Navarrete, A.; Rodriguez-Aragonés, C.; Goede, de R.G.M.; Kooistra, M.J.; Sayre, K.D.; Brussaard, L.; Pulleman, M.M.

2012-01-01

Crop residue mulching combined with zero tillage and crop rotation, known as conservation agriculture (CA), is being promoted as an alternative system to revert soil degradation in maize-based farming in the central highlands of Mexico. The goal of this paper was to determine the effects of CA vs.
Concept Design of a Gravity Core Cooling Tank as a Passive Residual Heat Removal System for a Research Reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Kwonyeong; Chi, Daeyoung; Kim, Seong Hoon; Seo, Kyoungwoo; Yoon, Juhyeon

2014-01-01

A core downward flow is considered to use a plate type fuel because it is benefit to install the fuel in the core. If a flow inversion from a downward to upward flow in the core by a natural circulation is introduced within a high heat flux region of residual heat, the fuel fails instantly due to zero flow. Therefore, the core downward flow should be sufficiently maintained until the residual heat is in a low heat flux region. In a small power research reactor, inertia generated by a flywheel of the PCP can maintain a downward flow shortly and resolve the problem of a flow inversion. However, a high power research reactor more than 10 MW should have an additional method to have a longer downward flow until a low heat flux. Usually, other research reactors have selected an active residual heat removal system as a safety class. But, an active safety system is difficult to design and expensive to construct. A Gravity Core Cooling Tank (GCCT) beside the reactor pool with a Residual Heat Removal Pipe connecting two pools was developed and designed preliminarily as a passive residual heat removal system for an open-pool type research reactor. It is very simple to design and cheap to construct. Additionally, a non-safety, but active residual heat removal system is applied with the GCCT. It is a Pool Water Cooling and Purification System. It can improve the usability of the research reactor by removing the thermal waves, and purify the reactor pool, the Primary Cooling System, and the GCCT. Moreover, it can reduce the pool top radiation level

Residual currents in a multiple-inlet system and the conundrum of the tidal period

Science.gov (United States)

Duran-Matute, Matias; Gerkema, Theo

2015-04-01

In multiple-inlet systems, one may find that, on average, flood dominates in some inlets, while ebb dominates in others. In that case, there is a residual flow through the system, i.e. there is a net flow if one integrates over a tidal period. Conceptually, this seems straightforward. However, to measure such a residual flow presents several difficulties. First, one needs to cover the entire cross-sections of all the inlets over a year or longer to take into account the variability due to wind. Second, the residual flow is usually much smaller than the tidal prisms and hence more uncertain in view of error bars. Third, the duration of 'the' tidal period when calculating a tidally averaged flow is not well defined. Should one take the time between alternate slack tides, or between consecutive high (or low) waters, or other options? There appears to be a fundamental ambiguity in the duration of the tidal period; here we discuss its origins. The problem of defining the tidal period seems to have received little attention in the literature, or perhaps it has not been perceived as a problem at all. One reason for this neglect may be that the focus in tidal analysis is often on the (main) individual tidal constituents, whose periods are well-defined. Indeed, the harmonic method developed by Kelvin exploits this fact, making it possible to predict high and low waters precisely by adding up the different constituents after their amplitudes and phases have been determined empirically for the location in question. The period between subsequent high (or low) waters is then simply an outcome of this method. Another reason for neglecting this problem may be that the main interest was in computing a representative quantity such as the yearly average residual flow through the inlets. For such quantities, the definition of the tidal period is not as relevant since one integrates over a much longer period. Recently, however, it has been shown, for the Western Dutch Wadden Sea, that
Conservation properties of numerical integration methods for systems of ordinary differential equations

Science.gov (United States)

Rosenbaum, J. S.

1976-01-01

If a system of ordinary differential equations represents a property conserving system that can be expressed linearly (e.g., conservation of mass), it is then desirable that the numerical integration method used conserve the same quantity. It is shown that both linear multistep methods and Runge-Kutta methods are 'conservative' and that Newton-type methods used to solve the implicit equations preserve the inherent conservation of the numerical method. It is further shown that a method used by several authors is not conservative.
Crystal structure of AFV3-109, a highly conserved protein from crenarchaeal viruses

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Quevillon-Cheruel Sophie

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract The extraordinary morphologies of viruses infecting hyperthermophilic archaea clearly distinguish them from bacterial and eukaryotic viruses. Moreover, their genomes code for proteins that to a large extend have no related sequences in the extent databases. However, a small pool of genes is shared by overlapping subsets of these viruses, and the most conserved gene, exemplified by the ORF109 of the Acidianus Filamentous Virus 3, AFV3, is present on genomes of members of three viral familes, the Lipothrixviridae, Rudiviridae, and "Bicaudaviridae", as well as of the unclassified Sulfolobus Turreted Icosahedral Virus, STIV. We present here the crystal structure of the protein (Mr = 13.1 kD, 109 residues encoded by the AFV3 ORF 109 in two different crystal forms at 1.5 and 1.3 Å resolution. The structure of AFV3-109 is a five stranded β-sheet with loops on one side and three helices on the other. It forms a dimer adopting the shape of a cradle that encompasses the best conserved regions of the sequence. No protein with a related fold could be identified except for the ortholog from STIV1, whose structure was deposited at the Protein Data Bank. We could clearly identify a well bound glycerol inside the cradle, contacting exclusively totally conserved residues. This interaction was confirmed in solution by fluorescence titration. Although the function of AFV3-109 cannot be deduced directly from its structure, structural homology with the STIV1 protein, and the size and charge distribution of the cavity suggested it could interact with nucleic acids. Fluorescence quenching titrations also showed that AFV3-109 interacts with dsDNA. Genomic sequence analysis revealed bacterial homologs of AFV3-109 as a part of a putative previously unidentified prophage sequences in some Firmicutes.
A conserved serine residue regulates the stability of Drosophila Salvador and human WW domain-containing adaptor 45 through proteasomal degradation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Wu, Di, E-mail: DiWu@mail.nankai.edu.cn; Wu, Shian

2013-04-19

Highlights: •Ser-17 is key for the stability of Drosophila Sav. •Ala mutation of Ser-17 promotes the proteasomal degradation of Sav. •Ser-17 residue is not the main target of Hpo-induced Sav stabilization. •Hpo-dependent and -independent mechanisms regulate Sav stability. •This mechanism is conserved in the homologue of Sav, human WW45. -- Abstract: The Hippo (Hpo) pathway is a conserved tumor suppressor pathway that controls organ size through the coordinated regulation of apoptosis and proliferation. Drosophila Salvador (Sav), which limits organ size, is a core component of the Hpo pathway. In this study, Ser-17 was shown to be important for the stability of Sav. Alanine mutation of Ser-17 promoted the proteasomal degradation of Sav. Destabilization and stabilization of the Sav protein mediated by alanine mutation of Ser-17 and by Hpo, respectively, were independent of each other. This implies that the stability of Sav is controlled by two mechanisms, one that is Ser-17-dependent and Hpo-independent, and another that is Ser-17-independent and Hpo-dependent. These dual mechanisms also regulated the human counterpart of Drosophila Sav, WW domain-containing adaptor 45 (WW45). The conservation of this regulation adds to its significance in normal physiology and tumorigenesis.
Conservation of Oxidative Protein Stabilization in an Insect Homologue of Parkinsonism-Associated Protein DJ-1

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lin, Jiusheng; Prahlad, Janani; Wilson, Mark A. (UNL)

2012-08-21

DJ-1 is a conserved, disease-associated protein that protects against oxidative stress and mitochondrial damage in multiple organisms. Human DJ-1 contains a functionally essential cysteine residue (Cys106) whose oxidation is important for regulating protein function by an unknown mechanism. This residue is well-conserved in other DJ-1 homologues, including two (DJ-1{alpha} and DJ-1{beta}) in Drosophila melanogaster. Because D. melanogaster is a powerful model system for studying DJ-1 function, we have determined the crystal structure and impact of cysteine oxidation on Drosophila DJ-1{beta}. The structure of D. melanogaster DJ-1{beta} is similar to that of human DJ-1, although two important residues in the human protein, Met26 and His126, are not conserved in DJ-1{beta}. His126 in human DJ-1 is substituted with a tyrosine in DJ-1{beta}, and this residue is not able to compose a putative catalytic dyad with Cys106 that was proposed to be important in the human protein. The reactive cysteine in DJ-1 is oxidized readily to the cysteine-sulfinic acid in both flies and humans, and this may regulate the cytoprotective function of the protein. We show that the oxidation of this conserved cysteine residue to its sulfinate form (Cys-SO{sub 2{sup -}}) results in considerable thermal stabilization of both Drosophila DJ-1{beta} and human DJ-1. Therefore, protein stabilization is one potential mechanism by which cysteine oxidation may regulate DJ-1 function in vivo. More generally, most close DJ-1 homologues are likely stabilized by cysteine-sulfinic acid formation but destabilized by further oxidation, suggesting that they are biphasically regulated by oxidative modification.
Economics of conservation systems research in the Southeastern United States

Science.gov (United States)

The use of conservation systems in crop production is not a new concept in the southeastern United States. In 1978, researchers from across the Southeast met in Griffin, Georgia for the first annual Southern Conservation Agricultural Systems Conference. Four of the ten presentations specifically men...
Inversion tillage, high residue covers, and different herbicide regimes for palmer amaranth control in liberty link systems

Science.gov (United States)

Glyphosate-resistant Palmer amaranth is adversely affecting cotton production in the Southeast US. A field experiment was established in fall 2008 at the E.V. Smith Research Center, Field Crops Unit near Shorter, AL, to investigate the role of inversion tillage, high residue cover crops, and differ...
The conserved basic residues and the charged amino acid residues at the α-helix of the zinc finger motif regulate the nuclear transport activity of triple C2H2 zinc finger proteins

Science.gov (United States)

Lin, Chih-Ying

2018-01-01

Zinc finger (ZF) motifs on proteins are frequently recognized as a structure for DNA binding. Accumulated reports indicate that ZF motifs contain nuclear localization signal (NLS) to facilitate the transport of ZF proteins into nucleus. We investigated the critical factors that facilitate the nuclear transport of triple C2H2 ZF proteins. Three conserved basic residues (hot spots) were identified among the ZF sequences of triple C2H2 ZF proteins that reportedly have NLS function. Additional basic residues can be found on the α-helix of the ZFs. Using the ZF domain (ZFD) of Egr-1 as a template, various mutants were constructed and expressed in cells. The nuclear transport activity of various mutants was estimated by analyzing the proportion of protein localized in the nucleus. Mutation at any hot spot of the Egr-1 ZFs reduced the nuclear transport activity. Changes of the basic residues at the α-helical region of the second ZF (ZF2) of the Egr-1 ZFD abolished the NLS activity. However, this activity can be restored by substituting the acidic residues at the homologous positions of ZF1 or ZF3 with basic residues. The restored activity dropped again when the hot spots at ZF1 or the basic residues in the α-helix of ZF3 were mutated. The variations in nuclear transport activity are linked directly to the binding activity of the ZF proteins with importins. This study was extended to other triple C2H2 ZF proteins. SP1 and KLF families, similar to Egr-1, have charged amino acid residues at the second (α2) and the third (α3) positions of the α-helix. Replacing the amino acids at α2 and α3 with acidic residues reduced the NLS activity of the SP1 and KLF6 ZFD. The reduced activity can be restored by substituting the α3 with histidine at any SP1 and KLF6 ZFD. The results show again the interchangeable role of ZFs and charge residues in the α-helix in regulating the NLS activity of triple C2H2 ZF proteins. PMID:29381770
Analysis and adaptive control of a novel 3-D conservative no-equilibrium chaotic system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vaidyanathan Sundarapandian

2015-09-01

Full Text Available First, this paper announces a seven-term novel 3-D conservative chaotic system with four quadratic nonlinearities. The conservative chaotic systems are characterized by the important property that they are volume conserving. The phase portraits of the novel conservative chaotic system are displayed and the mathematical properties are discussed. An important property of the proposed novel chaotic system is that it has no equilibrium point. Hence, it displays hidden chaotic attractors. The Lyapunov exponents of the novel conservative chaotic system are obtained as L1 = 0.0395,L2 = 0 and L3 = −0.0395. The Kaplan-Yorke dimension of the novel conservative chaotic system is DKY =3. Next, an adaptive controller is designed to globally stabilize the novel conservative chaotic system with unknown parameters. Moreover, an adaptive controller is also designed to achieve global chaos synchronization of the identical conservative chaotic systems with unknown parameters. MATLAB simulations have been depicted to illustrate the phase portraits of the novel conservative chaotic system and also the adaptive control results.
Sewerage force adjustment technology for energy conservation in vacuum sanitation systems

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Zhonghua; Li, Xiaoning; Kagawa, Toshiharu

2013-03-01

The vacuum sanitation is the safe and sound disposal approach of human excreta under the specific environments like flights, high speed trains and submarines. However, the propulsive force of current systems is not adjustable and the energy consumption does not adapt to the real time sewerage requirement. Therefore, it is important to study the sewerage force adjustment to improve the energy efficiency. This paper proposes an energy conservation design in vacuum sanitation systems with pneumatic ejector circuits. The sewerage force is controlled by changing the systematic vacuum degree according to the amount of the excreta. In particular, the amount of the excreta is tested by liquid level sensor and mass sensor. According to the amount of the excreta, the relationship between the excreta amount and the sewerage force is studied to provide proper propulsive force. In the other aspect, to provide variable vacuum degrees for different sanitation requirements, the suction and discharge system is designed with pneumatic vacuum ejector. On the basis of the static flow-rate characteristics and the vacuum generation model, the pressure response in the ejector circuit is studied by using the static flow rate characteristics of the ejector and air status equation. The relationship is obtained between supplied compressed air and systematic vacuum degree. When the compressed air is supplied to the ejector continuously, the systematic vacuum degree increases until the vacuum degree reaches the extreme value. Therefore, the variable systematic vacuum degree is obtained by controlling the compressed air supply of the ejector. To verify the effect of energy conservation, experiments are carried out in the artificial excreta collection, and the variable vacuum-degree design saves more than 30% of the energy supply. The energy conservation is realized effectively in the new vacuum sanitation systems with good application prospect. The proposed technology provides technological
Molecular insight into human platelet antigens: structural and evolutionary conservation analyses offer new perspective to immunogenic disorders.

Science.gov (United States)

Landau, Meytal; Rosenberg, Nurit

2011-03-01

Human platelet antigens (HPAs) are polymorphisms in platelet membrane glycoproteins (GPs) that can stimulate production of alloantibodies once exposed to foreign platelets (PLTs) with different HPAs. These antibodies can cause neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia, posttransfusion purpura, and PLT transfusion refractoriness. Most HPAs are localized on the main PLT receptors: 1) integrin αIIbβ3, known as the fibrinogen receptor; 2) the GPIb-IX-V complex that functions as the receptor for von Willebrand factor; and 3) integrin α2β1, which functions as the collagen receptor. We analyzed the structural location and the evolutionary conservation of the residues associated with the HPAs to characterize the features that induce immunologic responses but do not cause inherited diseases. We found that all HPAs reside in positions located on the protein surface, apart from the ligand-binding site, and are evolutionary variable. Disease-causing mutations often reside in highly conserved and buried positions. In contrast, the HPAs affect residues on the protein surface that were not conserved throughout evolution; this explains their naive effect on the protein function. Nonetheless, the HPAs involve substitutions of solvent-exposed positions that lead to altered interfaces on the surface of the protein and might present epitopes foreign to the immune system. © 2010 American Association of Blood Banks.
Effect of adjuvant systemic treatment on cosmetic outcome and late normal-tissue reactions after breast conservation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Johansen, Joergen; Overgaard, Jens; Overgaard, Marie

2007-01-01

To investigate whether adjuvant treatment with CMF or tamoxifen predisposes to an unfavorable cosmetic outcome or increased breast morbidity after radiotherapy in breast conservation. Data from 266 patients who entered a randomized breast conservation trial (DBCG-82TM protocol) was analyzed. The patients were treated with lumpectomy and axillary dissection followed by external beam radiotherapy to the residual breast. High-risk patients (n 94), as well as 31 low-risk patients, received additional radiation to the regional lymph nodes. Adjuvant systemic treatment was given to all high-risk patients: premenopausal patients (n = 67) received eight cycles of CMF intravenously (600/40/600 mg/m 2 ) every fourth week; postmenopausal patients (n = 27) received 30 mg of tamoxifen daily for one year. Clinical assessments included cosmetic outcome, breast fibrosis, skin telangiectasia, and dyspigmentation which were scored on a 4-point categorical scale after median 6.6 years. The observations were analyzed in multivariate logistic regression analysis which included potential risk factors on outcome related to systemic treatment, surgery, radiation technique, tumor, and patient characteristics. In premenopausal patients, systemic treatment with CMF independently predicted a fair/poor cosmetic outcome, RR = 2.2 (95% CI 1.2-4.2), as well as increased skin telangiectasia, RR = 3.3 (1.4-8.2). There was no impact of tamoxifen treatment on cosmetic outcome in postmenopausal patients (p 0.32). However, univariate analysis showed that tamoxifen was significantly associated with breast fibrosis (p <0.004), as was radiation to the regional lymph nodes (p <0.0001). A strong interaction between axillary irradiation and tamoxifen treatment occurred since 26 of 27 high-risk postmenopausal patients had received both tamoxifen and axillary irradiation. In multivariate regression analysis, axillary irradiation independently predicted moderate/severe breast fibrosis with a relative risk of 5
Conserved water-mediated hydrogen bond network between TM-I, -II, -VI, and -VII in 7TM receptor activation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nygaard, Rie; Hansen, Louise Valentin; Mokrosinski, Jacek

2010-01-01

Five highly conserved polar residues connected by a number of structural water molecules together with two rotamer micro-switches, TrpVI:13 and TyrVII:20, constitute an extended hydrogen bond network between the intracellular segments of TM-I, -II, -VI, and -VII of 7TM receptors. Molecular dynamics...... to apparently function as a catching trap for water molecules. Mutational analysis of the beta2-adrenergic receptor demonstrated that the highly conserved polar residues of the hydrogen bond network were all important for receptor signaling but served different functions, some dampening constitutive activity...... (AsnI:18, AspII:10, and AsnVII:13), whereas others (AsnVII:12 and AsnVII:16) located one helical turn apart and sharing a water molecule were shown to be essential for agonist-induced signaling. It is concluded that the conserved water hydrogen bond network of 7TM receptors constitutes an extended...
Electrodialytic remediation of air pollution control residues

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, Pernille Erland

Air pollution control (APC) residue from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) consists of the fly ash, and, in dry and semi-dry systems, also the reaction products from the flue gas cleaning process. APC residue is considered a hazardous waste due to its high alkalinity, high content of salt...
On the fractional systems fault detection: a comparison between fractional and rational residual sensitivity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aoun, M.; Aribi, A.; Najar, S.; Abdelkrim, M.N.

2011-01-01

This paper shows the interest of extending the dynamic parity space fault detection method for fractional systems. Accordingly, a comparison between fractional and rational residual generators using the later method is presented. An analysis of fractional and rational residuals sensitivity shows the merits of the fractional residual generators. A numerical example illustrating the advantage of using fractional residual generators for fractional systems diagnosis is given.
Construction of a risk assessment system for chemical residues in agricultural products.

Science.gov (United States)

Choi, Shinai; Hong, Jiyeon; Lee, Dayeon; Paik, Minkyoung

2014-01-01

Continuous monitoring of chemical residues in agricultural and food products has been performed by various government bodies in South Korea. These bodies have made attempts to systematically manage this information by creating a monitoring database system as well as a system based on these data with which to assess the health risk of chemical residues in agricultural products. Meanwhile, a database system is being constructed consisting of information about monitoring and, following this, a demand for convenience has led to the need for an evaluation tool to be constructed with the data processing system. Also, in order to create a systematic and effective tool for the risk assessment of chemical residues in foods and agricultural products, various evaluation models are being developed, both domestically and abroad. Overseas, systems such as Dietary Exposure Evaluation Model: Food Commodity Intake Database and Cumulative and Aggregate Risk Evaluation System are being used; these use the US Environmental Protection Agency as a focus, while the EU has developed Pesticide Residue Intake Model for assessments of pesticide exposure through food intake. Following this, the National Academy of Agricultural Science (NAAS) created the Agricultural Products Risk Assessment System (APRAS) which supports the use and storage of monitoring information and risk assessments. APRAS efficiently manages the monitoring data produced by NAAS and creates an extraction feature included in the database system. Also, the database system in APRAS consists of a monitoring database system held by the NAAS and food consumption database system. Food consumption data is based on Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. This system is aimed at exposure and risk assessments for chemical residues in agricultural products with regards to different exposure scenarios.
A simulation-based approach for evaluating logging residue handling systems.

Science.gov (United States)

B. Bruce Bare; Benjamin A. Jayne; Brian F. Anholt

1976-01-01

Describes a computer simulation model for evaluating logging residue handling systems. The flow of resources is traced through a prespecified combination of operations including yarding, chipping, sorting, loading, transporting, and unloading. The model was used to evaluate the feasibility of converting logging residues to chips that could be used, for example, to...
Identification of an evolutionarily conserved extracellular threonine residue critical for surface expression and its potential coupling of adjacent voltage-sensing and gating domains in voltage-gated potassium channels.

Science.gov (United States)

Mckeown, Lynn; Burnham, Matthew P; Hodson, Charlotte; Jones, Owen T

2008-10-31

The dynamic expression of voltage-gated potassium channels (Kvs) at the cell surface is a fundamental factor controlling membrane excitability. In exploring possible mechanisms controlling Kv surface expression, we identified a region in the extracellular linker between the first and second of the six (S1-S6) transmembrane-spanning domains of the Kv1.4 channel, which we hypothesized to be critical for its biogenesis. Using immunofluorescence microscopy, flow cytometry, patch clamp electrophysiology, and mutagenesis, we identified a single threonine residue at position 330 within the Kv1.4 S1-S2 linker that is absolutely required for cell surface expression. Mutation of Thr-330 to an alanine, aspartate, or lysine prevented surface expression. However, surface expression occurred upon co-expression of mutant and wild type Kv1.4 subunits or mutation of Thr-330 to a serine. Mutation of the corresponding residue (Thr-211) in Kv3.1 to alanine also caused intracellular retention, suggesting that the conserved threonine plays a generalized role in surface expression. In support of this idea, sequence comparisons showed conservation of the critical threonine in all Kv families and in organisms across the evolutionary spectrum. Based upon the Kv1.2 crystal structure, further mutagenesis, and the partial restoration of surface expression in an electrostatic T330K bridging mutant, we suggest that Thr-330 hydrogen bonds to equally conserved outer pore residues, which may include a glutamate at position 502 that is also critical for surface expression. We propose that Thr-330 serves to interlock the voltage-sensing and gating domains of adjacent monomers, thereby yielding a structure competent for the surface expression of functional tetramers.
Conservation laws for multidimensional systems and related linear algebra problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Igonin, Sergei

2002-01-01

We consider multidimensional systems of PDEs of generalized evolution form with t-derivatives of arbitrary order on the left-hand side and with the right-hand side dependent on lower order t-derivatives and arbitrary space derivatives. For such systems we find an explicit necessary condition for the existence of higher conservation laws in terms of the system's symbol. For systems that violate this condition we give an effective upper bound on the order of conservation laws. Using this result, we completely describe conservation laws for viscous transonic equations, for the Brusselator model and the Belousov-Zhabotinskii system. To achieve this, we solve over an arbitrary field the matrix equations SA=A t S and SA=-A t S for a quadratic matrix A and its transpose A t , which may be of independent interest
The Study of Residual Voltage of Induction Motor and the Influence of Various Parameters on the Residual Voltage

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Shuping; Zhao, Chen; Tan, Weipu

2017-05-01

The majority important load of industrial area is mainly composed of induction motor, it is more common that induction motor becomes sluggishness and even tripping due to the lose of power supply or other malfunction in the practical work. In this paper, space vector method is used to establish a reduced order model of induction motor, and then study the changes of motor electromagnetic after losing electricity. Based on motion equations of the rotor and magnetic flux conservation principle, it uses mathematical methods to deduce the expression of rotor current, rotor flux, the stator flux and the residual voltage of stator side. In addition, relying on thermal power plants, it uses the actual data of power plants, takes DIgsilent software to simulate the residual voltage of motor after losing electricity. analyses the influence on the residual voltage with the changes of the moment of inertia, load ratio, initial size of slip and the load characteristic of induction motor. By analysis of these, it has a more detailed understanding about the changes of residual voltage in practical application, in additional, it is more beneficial to put into standby power supply safely and effectively, moreover, reduce the influence of the input process to the whole system.

Analysis of the Residual Stresses in Helical Cylindrical Springs at High Temperature

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

H. Sun

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Creep is one of the basic properties of materials, its speed significantly depends on the temperature. Helical cylindrical springs are widely used in the elements of heating systems. This results in necessity of taking into account the effect of temperature on the stress-strain state of the spring. The object of research is a helical cylindrical spring used at high temperatures. Under this condition the spring state stability should be ensured.The paper studies relaxation of stress state and generation of residual stresses. Calculations are carried out in ABAQUS environment. The purpose of this work is to discuss the law of relaxation and residual stress in the spring.This paper describes the basic creep theories of helical cylindrical spring material. The calculation formulas of shear stress relaxation for a fixed compression ratio are obtained. Distribution and character of stress contour lines in the cross section of spring are presented. The stress relaxation – time relationships are discussed. The approximate formula for calculating relaxation shear stresses in the cross section of helical springs is obtained.The paper investigates creep ratio and law of residual stress variation in the cross-section of spring at 650℃. Computer simulation in ABAQUS environment was used. Research presents a finite element model of the spring creep in the cross-section.The paper conducts analysis of the stress changes for the creep under constant load. Under constant load stresses are quickly decreased in the around area of cross-section and are increased in the centre, i.e. the maximum and minimum stresses come close with time. Research work shows the possibility for using the approximate formula to calculate the relaxation shear stress in the cross section of spring and can provide a theoretical basis for predicting the service life of spring at high temperatures.In research relaxation processes of stress state are studied. Finite element model is cre
Characteristic of oil palm residue for energy conversion system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muharnif; Zainal, Z.A.

2006-01-01

Malaysia is the major producer of palm oil in the world. It produces 8.5 tones per year (8.5 x 10 6 ty -1 ) of palm oil from 38.6 x 10 6 ty - 1 of fresh fruit bunches. Palm oil production generates large amounts of process residue such as fiber (5.4 x 10 6 ty - 1 ), shell (2.3 x 10 6 ty - 1 ), and empty fruit bunches (8.8 x 10 6 ty - 1 ). A large fraction of the fiber and much of the shell are used as fuel to generate process steam and electricity. The appropriate energy conversion system depends on the characteristic of the oil palm residue. In this paper, a description of characteristic of the oil palm residue is presented. The types of the energy conversion system presented are stoker type combustor and gasified. The paper focuses on the pulverized biomass material and the use of fluidized bed gasified. In the fluidized bed gasified, the palm shell and fiber has to be pulverized before feeding into gasified. For downdraft gasified and furnace, the palm shell and fiber can be used directly into the reactor for energy conversion. The heating value, burning characteristic, ash and moisture content of the oil palm residue are other parameters of the study
Suitability of the charm HVS and a microbiological multiplate system for detection of residues in raw milk at EU maximum residue levels

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Nouws, J.F.M.; Egmond, van H.; Loeffen, G.; Schouten, J.; Keukens, H.; Smulders, I.; Stegeman, H.

1999-01-01

In this paper we assessed the suitability of the Charm HVS and a newly developed microbiological multiplate system as post-screening tests to confirm the presence of residues in raw milk at or near the maximum permissible residue level (MRL). The multiplate system is composed of Bacillus
Implementation of Quality Management System for Historical Building Conservation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zahari N.F.

2014-01-01

Full Text Available The main objectives of this study are twofold. Firstly, to identify the implementation of ISO 9001 procedures being used as references for conservation works and the development of Quality Management System (QMS guidelines. Data were solicited from three (3 conservation areas. The analysis involved of descriptive approach and statistical methods. The findings revealed that QMS is not structurally established, implemented and enforced as part of conservation practice in Malaysia. From the findings, the authors hope to give clear perception to the reader on current preservation practice and the existence of QMS with reference to ISO 9001 for future conservation mechanism.
Contributions of conserved residues at the gating interface of glycine receptors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pless, Stephan Alexander; Leung, Ada W Y; Galpin, Jason D

2011-01-01

and the in vivo nonsense suppression method to incorporate unnatural amino acids to probe the electrostatic and hydrophobic contributions of five highly conserved side chains near the interface, Glu-53, Phe-145, Asp-148, Phe-187, and Arg-218. Our results suggest a salt bridge between Asp-148 in loop 7 and Arg-218......Glycine receptors (GlyRs) are chloride channels that mediate fast inhibitory neurotransmission and are members of the pentameric ligand-gated ion channel (pLGIC) family. The interface between the ligand binding domain and the transmembrane domain of pLGICs has been proposed to be crucial...
Selected emissions and efficiencies of energy systems based on logging and sawmill residues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maelkki, Helena; Virtanen, Yrjoe

2003-01-01

Bioenergy has an important role in the implementation of the Kyoto agreement in Finland. The main sources of wood residues for energy production are logging areas and sawmills. The use of forest chips can be of great significance in reducing carbon dioxide emissions by replacing fossil fuels. Increasing the use of forest chips has environmental benefits, but it also includes possible environmental disadvantages. Therefore, system research is needed to assess the forest chip utilisation prospects for their environmental quality to secure sustainable forest management. Life-cycle methodology was developed and applied to assess environmental burdens and impacts of the logging and sawmill residues throughout the whole fuel chain from the forest to energy production. According to the study, the energy efficiencies of the forest chip systems are quite high. Net CO 2 emissions of the systems are low owing to the low input of external primary energy required to operate the systems. Although wood energy is renewable, it has many similarities with fossil fuels, e.g. as the emissions of the conversion phase are significant
Analysis of Margin Index as a Method for Predicting Residual Disease After Breast-Conserving Surgery in a European Cancer Center.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Bolger, Jarlath C

2011-06-03

INTRODUCTION: Breast-conserving surgery (BCS), followed by appropriate adjuvant therapies is established as a standard treatment option for women with early-stage invasive breast cancers. A number of factors have been shown to correlate with local and regional disease recurrence. Although margin status is a strong predictor of disease recurrence, consensus is yet to be established on the optimum margin necessary. Margenthaler et al. recently proposed the use of a "margin index," combining tumor size and margin status as a predictor of residual disease after BCS. We applied this new predictive tool to a population of patients with primary breast cancer who presented to a symptomatic breast unit to determine its suitability in predicting those who require reexcision surgery. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of our breast cancer database from January 1, 2000 to June 30, 2010 was performed, including all patients who underwent BCS. Of 531 patients who underwent BCS, 27.1% (144\\/531) required further reexcision procedures, and 55 were eligible for inclusion in the study. Margin index was calculated as: margin index = closest margin (mm)\\/tumor size (mm) × 100, with index >5 considered optimum. RESULTS: Of the 55 patients included, 31% (17\\/55) had residual disease. Fisher\\'s exact test showed margin index not to be a significant predictor of residual disease on reexcision specimen (P = 0.57). Of note, a significantly higher proportion of our patients presented with T2\\/3 tumors (60% vs. 38%). CONCLUSIONS: Although an apparently elegant tool for predicting residual disease after BCS, we have shown that it is not applicable to a symptomatic breast unit in Ireland.
Analysis of margin index as a method for predicting residual disease after breast-conserving surgery in a European cancer center.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

Bolger, Jarlath C

2012-02-01

INTRODUCTION: Breast-conserving surgery (BCS), followed by appropriate adjuvant therapies is established as a standard treatment option for women with early-stage invasive breast cancers. A number of factors have been shown to correlate with local and regional disease recurrence. Although margin status is a strong predictor of disease recurrence, consensus is yet to be established on the optimum margin necessary. Margenthaler et al. recently proposed the use of a "margin index," combining tumor size and margin status as a predictor of residual disease after BCS. We applied this new predictive tool to a population of patients with primary breast cancer who presented to a symptomatic breast unit to determine its suitability in predicting those who require reexcision surgery. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of our breast cancer database from January 1, 2000 to June 30, 2010 was performed, including all patients who underwent BCS. Of 531 patients who underwent BCS, 27.1% (144\\/531) required further reexcision procedures, and 55 were eligible for inclusion in the study. Margin index was calculated as: margin index = closest margin (mm)\\/tumor size (mm) x 100, with index >5 considered optimum. RESULTS: Of the 55 patients included, 31% (17\\/55) had residual disease. Fisher\\'s exact test showed margin index not to be a significant predictor of residual disease on reexcision specimen (P = 0.57). Of note, a significantly higher proportion of our patients presented with T2\\/3 tumors (60% vs. 38%). CONCLUSIONS: Although an apparently elegant tool for predicting residual disease after BCS, we have shown that it is not applicable to a symptomatic breast unit in Ireland.
MAIZE YIELD AND ITS STABILITY AS AFFECTED BY TILLAGE AND CROP RESIDUE MANAGEMENT IN THE EASTERN ROMANIAN DANUBE PLAIN

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Alexandru COCIU

2015-10-01

Full Text Available Rainfed crop management systems need to be optimized to provide more resilient options in order to cope with projected climatic scenarios which are forecasting a decrease in mean precipitation and more frequent extreme drought periods in the Eastern Romanian Danube Plain. This research, carried out in the period of 2011-2014, had as main purpose the determination of influence of tillage practices and residue management on rainfall use efficiency, maize yield and its stability, in order to evaluate the advantages of conservation agriculture (CA in the time of stabilization of direct seeding effects, in comparison with traditional chisel tillage. The maize grain yields are presented for each crop management practices, as follows: (1 chisel tillage, retained crop residues being chopped and incorporated (ciz; (2 zero tillage, retained crop residue chopped and kept on the field in short flat condition (rvt; (3 zero tillage, crop residues kept on the field in short root-anchored condition (1/2rva, and (4 zero tillage, crop residues kept on the field in tall root-anchored condition (1/1rva. In 2012, a year with prolonged drought during vegetative growth, yield differences between zero tillage with short root-anchored residue retention (1/2rva and chisel tillage with residue incorporation (ciz were positive, up to 840 kg ha-1. In average over 2011-2014, conservation agriculture (CA practices had a yield advantage over traditional chisel tillage practice. Zero tillage with residue retention used rainfall more efficiently so suggesting that it is a more resilient agronomic system than traditional (conventional practices involving chisel tillage with residue incorporation.
Assessment of procurement systems for unutilized logging residues ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... in the forest after clear-cutting operation with cutto- length harvesting method. ... as system-2 can be preferable for the initial supply chain configuration in Turkey. ... Key words: logging residue, forest biomass, chipping, supply cost, biomass ...
A Single Residue in Ebola Virus Receptor NPC1 Influences Cellular Host Range in Reptiles

Science.gov (United States)

2016-09-07

VH-2) is resistant to infection in an NPC1-36 dependent manner . We found that VH-2 cells are resistant to EBOV infection because the Rus-37...infection in a host species-dependent manner (24). Here, we demonstrate that an adjacent 89 residue, 503, highly conserved in the domain C of NPC1...Tyr sequence 194 change at residue 503 might influence EBOV GPCL–NPC1 binding in a bidirectional manner . 195 Accordingly, we expressed and
Tilapia and human CLIC2 structures are highly conserved.

Science.gov (United States)

Zeng, Jiao; Li, Zhengjun; Lui, Eei Yin; Lam, Siew Hong; Swaminathan, Kunchithapadam

2018-01-08

Chloride intracellular channels (CLICs) exist in soluble and membrane bound forms. We have determined the crystal structure of soluble Clic2 from the euryhaline teleost fish Oreochromis mossambicus. Structural comparison of tilapia and human CLIC2 with other CLICs shows that these proteins are highly conserved. We have also compared the expression levels of clic2 in selected osmoregulatory organs of tilapia, acclimated to freshwater, seawater and hypersaline water. Structural conservation of vertebrate CLICs implies that they might play conserved roles. Also, tissue-specific responsiveness of clic2 suggests that it might be involved in iono-osmoregulation under extreme conditions in tilapia. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Modelling Of Residual Stresses Induced By High Speed Milling Process

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Desmaison, Olivier; Mocellin, Katia; Jardin, Nicolas

2011-01-01

Maintenance processes used in heavy industries often include high speed milling operations. The reliability of the post-process material state has to be studied. Numerical simulation appears to be a very interesting way to supply an efficient residual stresses (RS) distribution prediction.Because the adiabatic shear band and the serrated chip shaping are features of the austenitic stainless steel high speed machining, a 2D high speed orthogonal cutting model is briefly presented. This finite element model, developed on Forge registered software, is based on data taken from Outeiro and al.'s paper [1]. A new behaviour law fully coupling Johnson-Cook's constitutive law and Latham and Cockcroft's damage model is detailed in this paper. It ensures results that fit those found in literature.Then, the numerical tools used on the 2D model are integrated to a 3D high speed milling model. Residual stresses distribution is analysed, on the surface and into the depth of the material. Various revolutions and passes of the two teeth hemispheric mill on the workpiece are simulated. Thus the sensitivity of the residual stresses generation to the cutting conditions can be discussed. In order to validate the 3D model, a comparison of the cutting forces measured by EDF R and D to those given by numerical simulations is achieved.
Conservation agriculture effects on soil pore characteristics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Munkholm, Lars Juhl; Abdollahi, Lotfollah

ploughing to a depth of 20 cm (MP), harrowing to a depth of 8-10 cm (H) and direct drilling (D). Minimally disturbed core samples were taken at 4-8, 12-16 and 18-27 cm depths 11 years after experimental start. Water retention characteristics were measured for a range of matric potential ranging from -10......Conservation tillage in combination with crop rotation, residue management and cover crops are key components of conservation agriculture. A positive long-term effect of applying all components of conservation agriculture on soil structural quality is expected. However, there is a lack...... of quantitative knowledge to support this statement. This study examines the long-term effects of crop rotations, residue management and tillage on soil pore characteristics of two sandy loam soils in Denmark. Results are reported from a split plot field experiment rotation as main plot factor and tillage...
Technical evaluation on high aging, and performance conditions on long-term conservation program

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamashita, Atsushi

2001-01-01

In order to secure safety and safe operation of power plants, in every nuclear power plants, conservation actions based on preventive conservation are performed. They contain operative condition monitoring, patrolling inspection, and periodical tests on important systems and apparatus by operators under plant operation and condition monitoring by maintenance workers, and so on, and when finding out their abnormal conditions, their detailed survey is performed to adopt adequate countermeasures such as recovery, exchange, and so on. And, to equipments for nuclear power generation periodical conditions were obliged by legal examinations and by independent inspections. As a result of these conservation actions, even on a plant elapsed about 30 years since beginning of its operation it was thought that the plant was aged with elapsing time even if not recognizing any indication on its aged deterioration at that time. Therefore, for its concrete countermeasure, by supposing long-term operation of a plant with longer operation history, some technical evaluation on aged phenomena were carried out, to investigate on reflection of the obtained results to present conservation actions. Here were described on efforts on the high aging countermeasures, and performing conditions of long-term conservation in the Tsuruga Unit No. 1 Nuclear Power Station. (G.K.)
An Intercomparison Study of Two Proximate Damped Lyα Systems with Residual Flux upon the Lyα Absorption Trough toward Quasars

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xiaoyi; Zhou, Hongyan; Pan, Xiang; Jiang, Peng; Shi, Xiheng; Ji, Tuo; Zhang, Shaohua; Wu, Shengmiao; Zhong, Zhihao

2018-05-01

In this paper, we present an intercomparison study of two quasars, SDSS J145618.32+340037.2 and SDSS J215331.50–025514.1, which have proximate damped Lyα systems (PDLAs) with residual flux upon the Lyα absorption trough. Though they both have residual flux as luminous as 1043 erg s‑1, their PDLAs are quite different in, e.g., neutral hydrogen column density, metal line absorption strength, high-ionization absorption lines as well as residual flux strength. For J1456+3400, the H I column density is log(N H I /cm–2) = 20.6 ± 0.2, with z abs = 2.3138, nearly identical to the quasar redshift (z = 2.3142) determined from the [O III] emission line. The metallicity of this system is typical of DLAs and there is high ionization therein, suggesting that the PDLA system is multiphase, putting it in the quasar environment. For J2153–0255, we measure the H I column density to be log(N H I /cm–2) = 21.5 ± 0.1 at z abs = 3.511, slightly redshifted with respect to the quasar (z = 3.490) measured from C III]. The metallicity of this system is quite low and there is a lack of significant high-ionization absorption lines therein, suggesting that the system is beyond the quasar host galaxy. The residual flux is wide (∼1000 km s‑1) in J1456, with a significance of ∼8σ, while also wide (∼1500 km s‑1) but with a smaller significance of ∼3σ in J2153. Among many explanations, we find that Lyα fuzz or resonant scattering can be used to explain the residual flux in the two sources while partial coverage cannot be excluded for J1456. By comparing these two cases, together with a similar case reported previously, we suggest that the strength of the residual flux is related to properties such as metallicity and high-ionization absorption lines of PDLAs. The residual flux recorded upon the PDLA absorption trough opens a window for us to see the physical conditions and processes of the quasar environment, and their profile and strength further remind us of their
Crop residues as raw materials for biorefinery systems - A LCA case study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cherubini, Francesco; Ulgiati, Sergio

2010-01-01

Our strong dependence on fossil fuels results from the intensive use and consumption of petroleum derivatives which, combined with diminishing oil resources, causes environmental and political concerns. The utilization of agricultural residues as raw materials in a biorefinery is a promising alternative to fossil resources for production of energy carriers and chemicals, thus mitigating climate change and enhancing energy security. This paper focuses on a biorefinery concept which produces bioethanol, bioenergy and biochemicals from two types of agricultural residues, corn stover and wheat straw. These biorefinery systems are investigated using a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, which takes into account all the input and output flows occurring along the production chain. This approach can be applied to almost all the other patterns that convert lignocellulosic residues into bioenergy and biochemicals. The analysis elaborates on land use change aspects, i.e. the effects of crop residue removal (like decrease in grain yields, change in soil N 2 O emissions and decrease of soil organic carbon). The biorefinery systems are compared with the respective fossil reference systems producing the same amount of products/services from fossils instead of biomass. Since climate change mitigation and energy security are the two most important driving forces for biorefinery development, the assessment focuses on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and cumulative primary energy demand, but other environmental categories are evaluated as well. Results show that the use of crop residues in a biorefinery saves GHG emissions and reduces fossil energy demand. For instance, GHG emissions are reduced by about 50% and more than 80% of non-renewable energy is saved. Land use change effects have a strong influence in the final GHG balance (about 50%), and their uncertainty is discussed in a sensitivity analysis. Concerning the investigation of the other impact categories, biorefinery systems
Financial cost-benefit analysis of investment possibilities in district heating system on wood residues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stošić Ivan

2017-01-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this research is to provide feasibility analysis of a long-term sustainable development concept for district heating based on wood residues. In this paper, the experimental study has been conducted starting from the data collected by field researches in municipality of Trstenik (town in Serbia with district heating system currently based on heavy fuel oil and lignite. Using the method of Financial Cost-Benefit Analysis, this study evaluates financial efficiency of investment in district heating plant based on wood residues and energy savings in district heating system. Findings show that such investment could be profitable from the financial point of view: Net Present Value of investment is positive, Financial Rate of Return is high (30.69%, and the pay-back period is relatively favourable (7 years. Moreover, the presented SWOT indicates that there are realistic prospects of implementation of district heating based on wood residues. However, this does not mean everything will go smoothly and easily, keeping in mind a number of challenges that each new concept of district heating contains immanently. Nevertheless, the results of this research could provide useful inputs for the decision makers when selecting appropriate models for improving performance of municipal district heating systems.
Measurement of the fluorescence of crop residues: A tool for controlling soil erosion

Science.gov (United States)

Daughtry, C. S. T.; Mcmurtrey, J. E., III; Chappelle, E. W.; Hunter, W. J.

1994-01-01

Management of crop residues, the portion of a crop left in the field after harvest, is an important conservation practice for minimizing soil erosion and for improving water quality. Quantification of crop residue cover is required to evaluate the effectiveness of conservation tillage practices. Methods are needed to quantify residue cover that are rapid, accurate, and objective. The fluorescence of crop residue was found to be a broadband phenomenon with emission maxima at 420 to 495 nm for excitations of 350 to 420 nm. Soils had low intensity broadband emissions over the 400 to 690 nm region for excitations of 300 to 600 nm. The range of relative fluorescence intensities for the crop residues was much greater than the fluorescence observed of the soils. As the crop residues decompose their blue fluorescence values approach the fluorescence of the soil. Fluorescence techniques are concluded to be less ambiguous and better suited for discriminating crop residues and soils than reflectance methods. If properly implemented, fluorescence techniques can be used to quantify, not only crop residue cover, but also photosynthetic efficiency in the field.
The conserved residue Arg46 in the N-terminal heptad repeat domain of HIV-1 gp41 is critical for viral fusion and entry.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Xiaoyi Wang

Full Text Available During the process of HIV-1 fusion with the target cell, the N-terminal heptad repeat (NHR of gp41 interacts with the C-terminal heptad repeat (CHR to form fusogenic six-helix bundle (6-HB core. We previously identified a crucial residue for 6-HB formation and virus entry--Lys63 (K63 in the C-terminal region of NHR (aa 54-70, which forms a hydrophobic cavity. It can form an important salt bridge with Asp121 (D121 in gp41 CHR. Here, we found another important conserved residue for virus fusion and entry, Arg46 (R46, in the N-terminal region of NHR (aa 35-53, which forms a hydrogen bond with a polar residue, Asn43 (N43, in NHR, as a part of the hydrogen-bond network. R46 can also form a salt bridge with a negatively charged residue, Glu137 (E137, in gp41 CHR. Substitution of R46 with the hydrophobic residue Ala (R46A or the negatively charged residue Glu (R46E resulted in disruption of the hydrogen bond network, breakage of the salt bridge and reduction of 6-HB's stability, leading to impairment of viral fusion and decreased inhibition of N36, an NHR peptide. Similarly, CHR peptide C34 with substitution of E137 for Ala (E137A or Arg (E137R also exhibited reduced inhibitory activity against HIV-1 infection and HIV-1-mediated cell-to-cell fusion. These results suggest that the positively charged residue R46 and its hydrogen bond network, together with the salt bridge between R46 and E137, are important for viral fusion and entry and may therefore serve as a target for designing novel HIV fusion/entry inhibitors.

Long-term impact of reduced tillage and residue management on soil carbon stabilization: Implications for conservation agriculture on contrasting soils

OpenAIRE

Chivenge, P.P.; Murwira, H.K.; Giller, K.E.; Mapfumo, P.; Six, J.

2007-01-01

Metadata only record The long-term effects of tillage system and residue management on soil organic carbon stabilization are studied in two tropical soils in Zimbabwe, a red clay and a sandy soil. The four tillage systems evaluated were conventional tillage (CT), mulch ripping (MR), clean ripping (CR) and tied ridging (TR). Soil organic carbon (SOC) content was measured for each size fraction as well as total SOC. Based on the findings, the authors conclude that residue management - mainta...
Management of solid residues in waste-to-energy and biomass systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vehlow, J.; Bergfeldt, B. [Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe GmbH Technik und Umwelt (Germany). Inst. fuer Technische Chemie; Wilen, C.; Ranta, J. [VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo (Finland); Schwaiger, H. [Forschungsgesellschaft Joanneum mbH, Graz (Austria); Visser, H.J.M. [ECN Energy Research Centre of the Netherlands, Petten (Netherlands); Gu, S.; Gyftopoulou, E.; Brammer, J. [Aston Univ., Birmingham (United Kingdom)

2007-12-15

A literature review has been performed for getting in-depth information about quality of residues from thermal processes for waste and biomass as well as their disposal or utilisation options and current practices. Residues from waste incineration have been subject to intense research programs for many years and it can be concluded that the quality of bottom ashes has meanwhile a high standard. The question whether an utilisation as secondary building material is accepted or not depends on the definition of acceptable economic impac. For filter ashes and gas cleaning residues the situation is more complex. Their quality is known: due to their high inventory of heavy metals and organic micro-pollutants they are classified as hazardous waste which means they require specific measures for their safe long-term disposal. A number of stabilisation and treatment processes for filter ashes and gas cleaning residues including the recovery of species out of these materials have been developed but none has been implemented in full scale due to economic constraints. There is reason to speculate that even recovery processes which are not profitable for private companies might point out economically useful if future and long-term costs which have to be covered of the society, e.g. for rehabilitation of contaminated sites, are taken into account. Their quality as well as that of residues from combustion of contaminated biomass is mainly depending on the quality of the fuel. The inventory of critical ingredients in fuel produced from waste or waste fractions, especially of halogens and heavy metals, is often rather high and shows typically a wide range of variation. A reliable quality control for such fuels is very difficult. Other residues can - like gas cleaning residues from waste incineration - be inertised in order to meet the criteria for the access to cheaper landfills than those for hazardous waste. A similar conclusion can be drawn for the quality and management of
Structure of genes for dermaseptins B, antimicrobial peptides from frog skin. Exon 1-encoded prepropeptide is conserved in genes for peptides of highly different structures and activities.

Science.gov (United States)

Vouille, V; Amiche, M; Nicolas, P

1997-09-01

We cloned the genes of two members of the dermaseptin family, broad-spectrum antimicrobial peptides isolated from the skin of the arboreal frog Phyllomedusa bicolor. The dermaseptin gene Drg2 has a 2-exon coding structure interrupted by a small 137-bp intron, wherein exon 1 encoded a 22-residue hydrophobic signal peptide and the first three amino acids of the acidic propiece; exon 2 contained the 18 additional acidic residues of the propiece plus a typical prohormone processing signal Lys-Arg and a 32-residue dermaseptin progenitor sequence. The dermaseptin genes Drg2 and Drg1g2 have conserved sequences at both untranslated ends and in the first and second coding exons. In contrast, Drg1g2 comprises a third coding exon for a short version of the acidic propiece and a second dermaseptin progenitor sequence. Structural conservation between the two genes suggests that Drg1g2 arose recently from an ancestral Drg2-like gene through amplification of part of the second coding exon and 3'-untranslated region. Analysis of the cDNAs coding precursors for several frog skin peptides of highly different structures and activities demonstrates that the signal peptides and part of the acidic propieces are encoded by conserved nucleotides encompassed by the first coding exon of the dermaseptin genes. The organization of the genes that belong to this family, with the signal peptide and the progenitor sequence on separate exons, permits strikingly different peptides to be directed into the secretory pathway. The recruitment of such a homologous 'secretory' exon by otherwise non-homologous genes may have been an early event in the evolution of amphibian.
CAREM-25: Residual heat removal system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Arvia, Roberto P.; Coppari, Norberto R.; Gomez de Soler, Susana M.; Ramilo, Lucia B.

2000-01-01

The objective of this work was the definition and consolidation of the residual heat removal system for the CAREM 25 reactor. The function of this system is cool down the primary circuit, removing the core decay heat from hot stand-by to cold shutdown and during refueling. In addition, this system heats the primary water from the cold shutdown condition to hot stand-by condition during the reactor start up previous to criticality. The system has been designed according to the requirements of the standards: ANSI/ANS 51.1 'Nuclear safety criteria for the design of stationary PWR plants'; ANSI/ANS 58.11 'Design criteria for safe shutdown following selected design basis events in light water reactors' and ANSI/ANS 58.9 'Single failure criteria for light water reactor safety-related fluid systems'. The suggested design fulfills the required functions and design criteria standards. (author)
Residual energy applications program systems analysis report

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yngve, P.W.

1980-10-01

Current DOE plans call for building an Energy Applied Systems Test (EAST) Facility at the Savannah River Plant in close proximity to the 140 to 150/sup 0/F waste heat from one of several operating nuclear reactors. The waste water flow from each reactor, approximately 165,000 gpm, provides a unique opportunity to test the performance and operating characteristics of large-scale waste heat power generation and heat pump system concepts. This report provides a preliminary description of the potential end-use market, parametric data on heat pump and the power generation system technology, a preliminary listing of EAST Facility requirements, and an example of an integrated industrial park utilizing the technology to maximize economic pay back. The parametric heat pump analysis concluded that dual-fluid Rankine cycle heat pumps with capacities as high as 400 x 10/sup 6/ Btu/h, can utilize large sources of low temperature residual heat to provide 300/sup 0/F saturatd steam for an industrial park. The before tax return on investment for this concept is 36.2%. The analysis also concluded that smaller modular heat pumps could fulfill the same objective while sacrificing only a moderate rate of return. The parametric power generation analysis concluded that multi-pressure Rankine cycle systems not only are superior to single pressure systems, but can also be developed for large systems (approx. = 17 MW/sub e/). This same technology is applicable to smaller systems at the sacrifice of higher investment per unit output.
Non-Noether Conserved Quantity for Relativistic Nonholonomic System with Variable Mass

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Qiao Yongfen; Li Renjie; Ma Yongsheng

2005-01-01

Using form invariance under special infinitesimal transformations in which time is not variable, the non-Noether conserved quantity of the relativistic nonholonomic system with variable mass is studied. The differential equations of motion of the system are established. The definition and criterion of the form invariance of the system under infinitesimal transformations are studied. The necessary and sufficient condition under which the form invariance is a Lie symmetry is given. The condition under which the form invariance can be led to a non-Noether conserved quantity and the form of the conserved quantity are obtained. Finally, an example is given to illustrate the application of the result.
Using a consensus approach based on the conservation of inter-residue contacts to rank CAPRI models

KAUST Repository

Vangone, Anna

2013-10-17

Herein we propose the use of a consensus approach, CONSRANK, for ranking CAPRI models. CONSRANK relies on the conservation of inter-residue contacts in the analyzed decoys ensemble. Models are ranked according to their ability to match the most frequently observed contacts. We applied CONSRANK to 19 CAPRI protein-protein targets, covering a wide range of prediction difficulty and involved in a variety of biological functions. CONSRANK results are consistently good, both in terms of native-like (NL) solutions ranked in the top positions and of values of the Area Under the receiver operating characteristic Curve (AUC). For targets having a percentage of NL solutions above 3%, an excellent performance is found, with AUC values approaching 1. For the difficult target T46, having only 3.4% NL solutions, the number of NL solutions in the top 5 and 10 ranked positions is enriched by a factor 30, and the AUC value is as high as 0.997. AUC values below 0.8 are only found for targets featuring a percentage of NL solutions within 1.1%. Remarkably, a false consensus emerges only in one case, T42, which happens to be an artificial protein, whose assembly details remain uncertain, based on controversial experimental data. We also show that CONSRANK still performs very well on a limited number of models, provided that more than 1 NL solution is included in the ensemble, thus extending its applicability to cases where few dozens of models are available.© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
A Kinematic Conservation Law in Free Surface Flow

OpenAIRE

Gavrilyuk , Sergey; Kalisch , Henrik; Khorsand , Zahra

2015-01-01

The Green-Naghdi system is used to model highly nonlinear weakly dispersive waves propagating at the surface of a shallow layer of a perfect fluid. The system has three associated conservation laws which describe the conservation of mass, momentum, and energy due to the surface wave motion. In addition, the system features a fourth conservation law which is the main focus of this note. It will be shown how this fourth conservation law can be interpreted in terms of a concrete kinematic quanti...
Residual heat removal system diagnostic advisor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tripp, L.

1991-01-01

This paper reports on the Residual Heat Removal System (RHRS) Diagnostic Advisor which is an expert system designed to alert the operators to abnormal conditions that exits in the RHRS and offer advice about the cause of the abnormal conditions. The Advisor uses a combination of rule-based and model-based diagnostic techniques to perform its functions. This diagnostic approach leads to a deeper understanding of the RHRS by the Advisor and consequently makes it more robust to unexpected conditions. The main window of the interactive graphic display is a schematic diagram of the RHRS piping system. When a conclusion about a failed component can be reached, the operator can bring up windows that describe the failure mode of the component and a brief explanation about how the Advisor arrived at its conclusion
A direct Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian ADER-WENO finite volume scheme on unstructured tetrahedral meshes for conservative and non-conservative hyperbolic systems in 3D

Science.gov (United States)

Boscheri, Walter; Dumbser, Michael

2014-10-01

In this paper we present a new family of high order accurate Arbitrary-Lagrangian-Eulerian (ALE) one-step ADER-WENO finite volume schemes for the solution of nonlinear systems of conservative and non-conservative hyperbolic partial differential equations with stiff source terms on moving tetrahedral meshes in three space dimensions. A WENO reconstruction technique is used to achieve high order of accuracy in space, while an element-local space-time Discontinuous Galerkin finite element predictor on moving curved meshes is used to obtain a high order accurate one-step time discretization. Within the space-time predictor the physical element is mapped onto a reference element using a high order isoparametric approach, where the space-time basis and test functions are given by the Lagrange interpolation polynomials passing through a predefined set of space-time nodes. Since our algorithm is cell-centered, the final mesh motion is computed by using a suitable node solver algorithm. A rezoning step as well as a flattener strategy are used in some of the test problems to avoid mesh tangling or excessive element deformations that may occur when the computation involves strong shocks or shear waves. The ALE algorithm presented in this article belongs to the so-called direct ALE methods because the final Lagrangian finite volume scheme is based directly on a space-time conservation formulation of the governing PDE system, with the rezoned geometry taken already into account during the computation of the fluxes. We apply our new high order unstructured ALE schemes to the 3D Euler equations of compressible gas dynamics, for which a set of classical numerical test problems has been solved and for which convergence rates up to sixth order of accuracy in space and time have been obtained. We furthermore consider the equations of classical ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) as well as the non-conservative seven-equation Baer-Nunziato model of compressible multi-phase flows with
Residue number systems theory and applications

CERN Document Server

Mohan, P V Ananda

2016-01-01

This new and expanded monograph improves upon Mohan's earlier book, Residue Number Systems (Springer, 2002) with a state of the art treatment of the subject. Replete with detailed illustrations and helpful examples, this book covers a host of cutting edge topics such as the core function, the quotient function, new Chinese Remainder theorems, and large integer operations. It also features many significant applications to practical communication systems and cryptography such as FIR filters and elliptic curve cryptography. Starting with a comprehensive introduction to the basics and leading up to current research trends that are not yet widely distributed in other publications, this book will be of interest to both researchers and students alike.
Coevolving residues of (beta/alpha)(8)-barrel proteins play roles in stabilizing active site architecture and coordinating protein dynamics.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Hongbo; Xu, Feng; Hu, Hairong; Wang, Feifei; Wu, Qi; Huang, Qiang; Wang, Honghai

2008-12-01

Indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthase (IGPS) is a representative of (beta/alpha)(8)-barrel proteins-the most common enzyme fold in nature. To better understand how the constituent amino-acids work together to define the structure and to facilitate the function, we investigated the evolutionary and dynamical coupling of IGPS residues by combining statistical coupling analysis (SCA) and molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The coevolving residues identified by the SCA were found to form a network which encloses the active site completely. The MD simulations showed that these coevolving residues are involved in the correlated and anti-correlated motions. The correlated residues are within van der Waals contact and appear to maintain the active site architecture; the anti-correlated residues are mainly distributed on opposite sides of the catalytic cavity and coordinate the motions likely required for the substrate entry and product release. Our findings might have broad implications for proteins with the highly conserved (betaalpha)(8)-barrel in assessing the roles of amino-acids that are moderately conserved and not directly involved in the active site of the (beta/alpha)(8)-barrel. The results of this study could also provide useful information for further exploring the specific residue motions for the catalysis and protein design based on the (beta/alpha)(8)-barrel scaffold.
Study of passive residual heat removal system of a modular small PWR reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Araujo, Nathália N.; Su, Jian

2017-01-01

This paper presents a study on the passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) of a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) of 75MW. More advanced nuclear reactors, such as generation III + and IV, have passive safety systems that automatically go into action in order to prevent accidents. The purpose of the PRHRS is to transfer the decay heat from the reactor's nuclear fuel, keeping the core cooled after the plant has shut down. It starts operating in the event of fall of power supply to the nuclear station, or in the event of an unavailability of the steam generator water supply system. Removal of decay heat from the core of the reactor is accomplished by the flow of the primary refrigerant by natural circulation through heat exchangers located in a pool filled with water located above the core. The natural circulation is caused by the density gradient between the reactor core and the pool. A thermal and comparative analysis of the PRHRS was performed consisting of the resolution of the mass conservation equations, amount of movement and energy and using incompressible fluid approximations with the Boussinesq approximation. Calculations were performed with the aid of Mathematica software. A design of the heat exchanger and the cooling water tank was done so that the core of the reactor remained cooled for 72 hours using only the PRHRS
Valve arrangement for a nuclear plant residual heat removal system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fidler, G.L.; Hill, R.A.; Carrera, J.P.

1978-01-01

Disclosed is an improved valve arrangement for a two-train Residual Heat Removal System (RHRS) of a nuclear reactor plant which ensures operational integrity of the system under single failure circumstances including loss of one of two electrical power sources
Conservative treatment of immature teeth with apical periodontitis using triple antibiotic paste disinfection

OpenAIRE

Wang, Hsin-Ju; Chen, Yea-Huey Melody; Chen, Kuan-Liang

2016-01-01

The purpose of this report is to present conservative treatment for two immature premolars with apical periodontitis. A triple antibiotic paste was used to disinfect the root canal systems for revascularization. In both cases, residual vital pulp tissue was noted in the root canal system after the opening of each premolar. The canals in both cases were irrigated with copious sodium hypochlorite solution and medicated with a paste consisting of ciprofloxacin, metronidazole, and minocycline. Th...
Mutational analysis of Sep-tRNA:Cys-tRNA synthase reveals critical residues for tRNA-dependent cysteine formation.

Science.gov (United States)

Helgadóttir, Sunna; Sinapah, Sylvie; Söll, Dieter; Ling, Jiqiang

2012-01-02

In methanogenic archaea, Sep-tRNA:Cys-tRNA synthase (SepCysS) converts Sep-tRNA(Cys) to Cys-tRNA(Cys). The mechanism of tRNA-dependent cysteine formation remains unclear due to the lack of functional studies. In this work, we mutated 19 conserved residues in Methanocaldococcus jannaschii SepCysS, and employed an in vivo system to determine the activity of the resulting variants. Our results show that three active-site cysteines (Cys39, Cys42 and Cys247) are essential for SepCysS activity. In addition, combined with structural modeling, our mutational and functional analyses also reveal multiple residues that are important for the binding of PLP, Sep and tRNA. Our work thus represents the first systematic functional analysis of conserved residues in archaeal SepCysSs, providing insights into the catalytic and substrate binding mechanisms of this poorly characterized enzyme. Copyright © 2011 Federation of European Biochemical Societies. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Multi-Seasonal Nitrogen Recoveries from Crop Residue in Soil and Crop in a Temperate Agro-Ecosystem.

Science.gov (United States)

Hu, Guoqing; Liu, Xiao; He, Hongbo; Zhang, Wei; Xie, Hongtu; Wu, Yeye; Cui, Jiehua; Sun, Ci; Zhang, Xudong

2015-01-01

In conservation tillage systems, at least 30% of the soil surface was covered by crop residues which generally contain significant amounts of nitrogen (N). However, little is known about the multi-seasonal recoveries of the N derived from these crop residues in soil-crop systems, notably in northeastern China. In a temperate agro-ecosystem, 15N-labeled maize residue was applied to field surfaces in the 1st year (2009). From the 2nd to 4th year (2010-2012), one treatment halted the application of maize residue, whereas the soil in the second treatment was re-applied with unlabeled maize residue. Crop and soil samples were collected after each harvest, and their 15N enrichments were determined on an isotope ratio mass spectrometer to trace the allocation of N derived from the initially applied maize residue in the soil-crop systems. On average, 8.4% of the maize residue N was recovered in the soil-crop in the 1st year, and the vast majority (61.9%-91.9%) was recovered during subsequent years. Throughout the experiment, the cumulative recovery of the residue N in the crop increased gradually (18.2%-20.9%), but most of the residue N was retained in the soil, notably in the 0-10 cm soil layer. Compared to the single application, the sequential residue application significantly increased the recovery of the residue N in the soil profile (73.8% vs. 40.9%) and remarkably decreased the total and the initially applied residue derived mineral N along the soil profile. Our results suggested that the residue N was actively involved in N cycling, and its release and recovery in crop and soil profile were controlled by the decomposition process. Sequential residue application significantly enhanced the retention and stabilization of the initially applied residue N in the soil and retarded its translocation along the soil profile.
A global conservation system for climate-change adaptation.

Science.gov (United States)

Hannah, Lee

2010-02-01

Climate change has created the need for a new strategic framework for conservation. This framework needs to include new protected areas that account for species range shifts and management that addresses large-scale change across international borders. Actions within the framework must be effective in international waters and across political frontiers and have the ability to accommodate large income and ability-to-pay discrepancies between countries. A global protected-area system responds to these needs. A fully implemented global system of protected areas will help in the transition to a new conservation paradigm robust to climate change and will ensure the integrity of the climate services provided by carbon sequestration from the world's natural habitats. The internationally coordinated response to climate change afforded by such a system could have significant cost savings relative to a system of climate adaptation that unfolds solely at a country level. Implementation of a global system is needed very soon because the effects of climate change on species and ecosystems are already well underway.
Power-law and runaway growth in conserved aggregation systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamamoto, Hiroshi; Ohtsuki, Toshiya; Fujihara, Akihiro; Tanimoto, Satoshi

2006-01-01

The z-transform technique is used to analyze the Smoluchowski coagulation equation for conserved aggregation systems. A universal power law with the exponent -5/2 appears when a total 'mass' has a certain critical value. Below the threshold, ordinary scaling relations hold and the system exhibits a behavior like usual critical phenomena. Above the threshold, in contrast, the excess amount of mass coagulates into a runaway member, and remaining members follow the power law. Here the runaway growth coexists with the power law. It is argued that these behaviors are observed universally in conserved aggregation processes
Low-energy particle production and residual nuclei production from high-energy hadron-nucleus collisions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alsmiller, F.S.; Alsmiller, R.G. Jr.; Hermann, O.W.

1987-01-01

The high-energy hadron-nucleus collision model, EVENTQ, has been modified to include a calculation of the excitation and kinetic energy of the residual compound nucleus. The specific purpose of the modification is to make it possible to use the model in the high-energy radiation transport code, HETC, which, in conjunction with MORSE, is used to transport the low energy particles. It is assumed that the nucleons in the nucleus move in a one-dimensional potential well and have the momentum distribution of a degenerate Fermi gas. The low energy particles produced by the deexcitation of the residual compound nucleus, and the final residual nucleus, are determined from an evaporation model. Comparisons of multiplicities and residual nuclei distributions with experimental data are given. The ''grey'' particles, i.e., charged particles with 0.25 < β < 0.7, are in good agreement with experimental data but the residual nuclei distributions are not. 12 refs., 3 figs

MRI findings of the residual subluxation after reduction of developmental dysplasia of the hip

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wakabayashi, Kenjirou; Wada, Ikuo; Horiuchi, Osamu; Otsuka, Takanobu

2007-01-01

After reduction of developmental dysplasia of the hip (DDH), not a few patients suffer from residual subluxation as well as acetabular dysplasia. Corrective surgery for these residual subluxations is sometimes performed before school-child age. It is occasionally difficult to determine whether the patient is candidate for the corrective surgery in the case with minor morphologic aberration. Therefore, we studied various MRI findings in residual subluxation, and examined if these MRI findings have an effect on natural courses such as growth or concentricity of the hip joint after reduction for DDH. The usefulness of MRI for determining the indication for the corrective surgery was also investigated. We studied 235 patients who underwent primary treatment for DDH during the past decade (between October, 1988 and September, 1998). Of the 235 patients, we studied 23 patients (23 cases; all unilateral cases) who showed residual subluxation and whose MR images were taken when they were around 3 years old, and during a follow-up period was available. Corrective surgery is performed in 11 patients, whereas the remaining 12 patients were conservatively observed the course of the residual subluxation. We investigated the existence of high signal intensity area (hereinafter referred to as HSIA) within the weight-bearing acetabular cartilage on T2-weighted MR coronal section images. Furthermore, conservatively observed patients were divided into two groups according to T2-weighted MR images. Based on simple X-ray images with time in both groups, the acetabular angle and the CE angle were measured. As results, many patients with residual subluxation showed localized HSIA in the weight-bearing acetabular cartilage on T2-weighted MR images. Although all patients who underwent corrective surgery showed HSIA, HSIA disappeared or decreased after the surgery. Of patients who were conservatively observed the course of the residual subluxation, patients showed HSIA on MR image had poor
Impact of conservation agriculture on harnessing sustainability and building resilience against land degradation in the northern Ethiopian highlands

Science.gov (United States)

Araya, Tesfay; Cornelis, Wim M.; Govaerts, Bram; Bauer, Hans; Deckers, Jozef; Nyssen, Jan

2013-04-01

Conservation Agriculture (CA) aims at improving soil quality and crop yield whilst reducing runoff and topsoil erosion which raises the soil resilience to combat soil degradation. Different chemical, physical, and biological properties of a soil interact in complex ways that determine the crop productivity potential of the soil. Hence, a medium-term tillage experiment was carried out (2005 to 2011) on a Vertisol to evaluate changes in soil quality, runoff and soil loss due to CA-based field conservation practices in northern Ethiopia. The experimental layout was implemented in a randomized complete block design with three replications on permanent plots of 5 m by 19 m. The tillage treatments were derdero+ (DER+) with a furrow and permanent raised bed planting system, plowed once at planting by refreshing the furrow and with 30% standing crop residue retention, terwah+ (TER+) with plowing once at planting with 30% standing crop residue retention and contour furrows made at 1.5 m distance interval, and conventional tillage (CT) with a minimum of three tillage operations and removal of crop residues. All the plowing and reshaping of the furrows was done using the local ard plow mahresha. Local crop rotation practices followed during the seven years sequentially from the first to the seventh year included wheat-teff-wheat-barley-wheat-teff-grass pea. Glyphosate was sprayed starting from the third year (2007) at 2 l ha-1 before planting to control pre-emergent weed in DER+ and TER+. Significantly different (pindex, consistency index, cone index, air capacity and macroporosity were shown to significantly increase in soils subjected to DER+ planting system compared to CT, specifically at 0-10 cm depth. Aggregate instability index, crack size at harvest, relative water capacity and plastic limit were significantly larger in CT compared to CA treatments. Adoption of improved local practices of DER+ and TER+ planting systems that employ conservation agriculture principles
Comparison of effects of machine performance parameters and energy indices of soybean production in conservation and conventional tillage systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A Sharifi

2016-09-01

Full Text Available Introduction Nowadays, agricultural systems are seeking economic, ecological and bioenvironmental goals for production of agricultural crops with protection and sustainability of the environment. Therefore, there is need to extend sustainable agricultural systems such as conservation agriculture. One of the principles of conservation agriculture is conservation tillage. Conservation tillage is a kind of tillage that retains crop residues on the soil surface or mixes it with soil using related machines. It could also affect on machine performance parameters. Energy consumption for producing one kilogram crop could be studied for conservation tillage. Several researchers have conducted studies on this issue for production of different crops including wheat, sunflower and forage crops. This study conducted to assess machine performance parameters and energy indices of conservation tillage systems for soybean cultivation in Golestan province. Materials and Methods This study was conducted to investigate the effects of conservation tillage systems on machine performance and energy indices in soybean production at the Gorgan research station of Golestan Agricultural and Natural Resource Research Center in 2012. The precipitation was 450 mm. Soil texture was silty clay loam. Treatments were four tillage methods, including no-till using row crop direct planter, no-till using grain direct drill, conventional tillage usin a disk harrow with working depth of 10-15 cm and minimum tillage using chisel packer with a working depth of 20 cm. Machine performance parameters and energy indices studied in a farm covered by wheat residues in a randomized complete block design (RCBD with four treatments and four replications. Machine performance parameters consisted of field efficiency, field capacity, total field capacity and planting uniformity index were measured. Energy indices such as energy ratio, energy productivity, energy intensity and net energy gain were
Cover crops and crop residue management under no-till systems improve soils and environmental quality

Science.gov (United States)

Kumar, Sandeep; Wegner, Brianna; Vahyala, Ibrahim; Osborne, Shannon; Schumacher, Thomas; Lehman, Michael

2015-04-01

Crop residue harvest is a common practice in the Midwestern USA for the ethanol production. However, excessive removal of crop residues from the soil surface contributes to the degradation of important soil quality indicators such as soil organic carbon (SOC). Addition of a cover crop may help to mitigate these negative effects. The present study was set up to assess the impacts of corn (Zea mays L.) residue removal and cover crops on various soil quality indicators and surface greenhouse gas (GHG) fluxes. The study was being conducted on plots located at the North Central Agricultural Research Laboratory (NCARL) in Brookings, South Dakota, USA. Three plots of a corn and soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.) rotation under a no-till (NT) system are being monitored for soils and surface gas fluxes. Each plot has three residue removal (high residue removal, HRR; medium residue removal, MRR; and low residue removal, LRR) treatments and two cover crops (cover crops and no cover crops) treatments. Both corn and soybean are represented every year. Gas flux measurements were taken weekly using a closed static chamber method. Data show that residue removal significantly impacted soil quality indicators while more time was needed for an affect from cover crop treatments to be noticed. The LRR treatment resulted in higher SOC concentrations, increased aggregate stability, and increased microbial activity. The LRR treatment also increased soil organic matter (SOM) and particulate organic matter (POM) concentrations. Cover crops used in HRR (high corn residue removal) improved SOC (27 g kg-1) by 6% compared to that without cover crops (25.4 g kg-1). Cover crops significantly impacted POM concentration directly after the residue removal treatments were applied in 2012. CO2 fluxes were observed to increase as temperature increased, while N2O fluxes increased as soil moisture increased. CH4 fluxes were responsive to both increases in temperature and moisture. On average, soils under
High-resolution satellite imagery is an important yet underutilized resource in conservation biology.

Science.gov (United States)

Boyle, Sarah A; Kennedy, Christina M; Torres, Julio; Colman, Karen; Pérez-Estigarribia, Pastor E; de la Sancha, Noé U

2014-01-01

Technological advances and increasing availability of high-resolution satellite imagery offer the potential for more accurate land cover classifications and pattern analyses, which could greatly improve the detection and quantification of land cover change for conservation. Such remotely-sensed products, however, are often expensive and difficult to acquire, which prohibits or reduces their use. We tested whether imagery of high spatial resolution (≤5 m) differs from lower-resolution imagery (≥30 m) in performance and extent of use for conservation applications. To assess performance, we classified land cover in a heterogeneous region of Interior Atlantic Forest in Paraguay, which has undergone recent and dramatic human-induced habitat loss and fragmentation. We used 4 m multispectral IKONOS and 30 m multispectral Landsat imagery and determined the extent to which resolution influenced the delineation of land cover classes and patch-level metrics. Higher-resolution imagery more accurately delineated cover classes, identified smaller patches, retained patch shape, and detected narrower, linear patches. To assess extent of use, we surveyed three conservation journals (Biological Conservation, Biotropica, Conservation Biology) and found limited application of high-resolution imagery in research, with only 26.8% of land cover studies analyzing satellite imagery, and of these studies only 10.4% used imagery ≤5 m resolution. Our results suggest that high-resolution imagery is warranted yet under-utilized in conservation research, but is needed to adequately monitor and evaluate forest loss and conversion, and to delineate potentially important stepping-stone fragments that may serve as corridors in a human-modified landscape. Greater access to low-cost, multiband, high-resolution satellite imagery would therefore greatly facilitate conservation management and decision-making.
Abatement costs of soil conservation in China's Loess Plateau: balancing income with conservation in an agricultural system.

Science.gov (United States)

Hou, Lingling; Hoag, Dana L K; Keske, Catherine M H

2015-02-01

This study proposes the use of marginal abatement cost curves to calculate environmental damages of agricultural systems in China's Loess Plateau. Total system costs and revenues, management characteristics and pollution attributes are imputed into a directional output distance function, which is then used to determine shadow prices and abatement cost curves for soil and nitrogen loss. Marginal abatement costs curves are an effective way to compare economic and conservation tradeoffs when field-specific data are scarce. The results show that sustainable agricultural practices can balance soil conservation and agricultural production; land need not be retired, as is current policy. Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Towards Conservation Agriculture systems in Moldova

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Boris Boincean

2016-10-01

Full Text Available As the world population and food production demands rise, keeping agricultural soils and landscapes healthy and productive are of paramount importance to sustaining local and global food security and the flow of ecosystem services to society. The global population, expected to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050, will put additional pressure on the available land area and resources for agricultural production. Sustainable production intensification for food security is a major challenge to both industrialized and developing countries. The paper focuses on the results from long-term multi-factorial experiments involving tillage practices, crop rotations and fertilization to study the interactions amongst the treatments in the context of sustainable production intensification. The paper discusses the results in relation to reported performance of crops and soil quality in Conservation Agriculture systems that are based on no or minimum soil disturbance (no-till seeding and weeding, maintenance of soil mulch cover with crop biomass and cover crops, and diversified cropping s involving annuals and perennials. Conservation Agriculture also emphasizes the necessity of an agro-ecosystems approach to the management of agricultural land for sustainable production intensification, as well as to the site-specificity of agricultural production. Arguments in favor of avoiding the use of soil tillage are discussed together with agro-ecological principles for sustainable intensification of agriculture. More interdisciplinary systems research is required to support the transformation of agriculture from the conventional tillage agriculture to a more sustainable agriculture based on the principles and practices of Conservation Agriculture, along with other complementary practices of integrated crop, nutrient, water, pest, energy and farm power management.
Quantum-mechanical analysis of amino acid residues function in the proton transport during F0F1-ATP synthase catalytic cycle

Science.gov (United States)

Ivontsin, L. A.; Mashkovtseva, E. V.; Nartsissov, Ya R.

2017-11-01

Implications of quantum-mechanical approach to the description of proton transport in biological systems are a tempting subject for an overlapping of fundamental physics and biology. The model of proton transport through the integrated membrane enzyme FoF1-ATP synthase responsible for ATP synthesis was developed. The estimation of the mathematical expectation of the proton transfer time through the half-channel was performed. Observed set of proton pathways through the inlet half-channel showed the nanosecond timescale highly dependable of some amino acid residues. There were proposed two types of crucial amino acids: critically localized (His245) and being a part of energy conserving system (Asp119).
Molecular Basis for Enzymatic Sulfite Oxidation -- HOW THREE CONSERVED ACTIVE SITE RESIDUES SHAPE ENZYME ACTIVITY

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Bailey, Susan; Rapson, Trevor; Johnson-Winters, Kayunta; Astashkin, Andrei; Enemark, John; Kappler, Ulrike

2008-11-10

Sulfite dehydrogenases (SDHs) catalyze the oxidation and detoxification of sulfite to sulfate, a reaction critical to all forms of life. Sulfite-oxidizing enzymes contain three conserved active site amino acids (Arg-55, His-57, and Tyr-236) that are crucial for catalytic competency. Here we have studied the kinetic and structural effects of two novel and one previously reported substitution (R55M, H57A, Y236F) in these residues on SDH catalysis. Both Arg-55 and His-57 were found to have key roles in substrate binding. An R55M substitution increased Km(sulfite)(app) by 2-3 orders of magnitude, whereas His-57 was required for maintaining a high substrate affinity at low pH when the imidazole ring is fully protonated. This effect may be mediated by interactions of His-57 with Arg-55 that stabilize the position of the Arg-55 side chain or, alternatively, may reflect changes in the protonation state of sulfite. Unlike what is seen for SDHWT and SDHY236F, the catalytic turnover rates of SDHR55M and SDHH57A are relatively insensitive to pH (~;;60 and 200 s-1, respectively). On the structural level, striking kinetic effects appeared to correlate with disorder (in SDHH57A and SDHY236F) or absence of Arg-55 (SDHR55M), suggesting that Arg-55 and the hydrogen bonding interactions it engages in are crucial for substrate binding and catalysis. The structure of SDHR55M has sulfate bound at the active site, a fact that coincides with a significant increase in the inhibitory effect of sulfate in SDHR55M. Thus, Arg-55 also appears to be involved in enabling discrimination between the substrate and product in SDH.
The Replacement of 10 Non-Conserved Residues in the Core Protein of JFH-1 Hepatitis C Virus Improves Its Assembly and Secretion.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Loïc Etienne

Full Text Available Hepatitis C virus (HCV assembly is still poorly understood. It is thought that trafficking of the HCV core protein to the lipid droplet (LD surface is essential for its multimerization and association with newly synthesized HCV RNA to form the viral nucleocapsid. We carried out a mapping analysis of several complete HCV genomes of all genotypes, and found that the genotype 2 JFH-1 core protein contained 10 residues different from those of other genotypes. The replacement of these 10 residues of the JFH-1 strain sequence with the most conserved residues deduced from sequence alignments greatly increased virus production. Confocal microscopy of the modified JFH-1 strain in cell culture showed that the mutated JFH-1 core protein, C10M, was present mostly at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER membrane, but not at the surface of the LDs, even though its trafficking to these organelles was possible. The non-structural 5A protein of HCV was also redirected to ER membranes and colocalized with the C10M core protein. Using a Semliki forest virus vector to overproduce core protein, we demonstrated that the C10M core protein was able to form HCV-like particles, unlike the native JFH-1 core protein. Thus, the substitution of a few selected residues in the JFH-1 core protein modified the subcellular distribution and assembly properties of the protein. These findings suggest that the early steps of HCV assembly occur at the ER membrane rather than at the LD surface. The C10M-JFH-1 strain will be a valuable tool for further studies of HCV morphogenesis.
Residual stresses

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sahotra, I.M.

2006-01-01

The principal effect of unloading a material strained into the plastic range is to create a permanent set (plastic deformation), which if restricted somehow, gives rise to a system of self-balancing within the same member or reaction balanced by other members of the structure., known as residual stresses. These stresses stay there as locked-in stresses, in the body or a part of it in the absence of any external loading. Residual stresses are induced during hot-rolling and welding differential cooling, cold-forming and extruding: cold straightening and spot heating, fabrication and forced fitting of components constraining the structure to a particular geometry. The areas which cool more quickly develop residual compressive stresses, while the slower cooling areas develop residual tensile stresses, and a self-balancing or reaction balanced system of residual stresses is formed. The phenomenon of residual stresses is the most challenging in its application in surface modification techniques determining endurance mechanism against fracture and fatigue failures. This paper discusses the mechanism of residual stresses, that how the residual stresses are fanned and what their behavior is under the action of external forces. Such as in the case of a circular bar under limit torque, rectangular beam under limt moment, reclaiming of shafts welds and peening etc. (author)
Roles of the conserved cytoplasmic region and non-conserved carboxy-terminal region of SecE in Escherichia coli protein translocase.

Science.gov (United States)

Kontinen, V P; Yamanaka, M; Nishiyama, K; Tokuda, H

1996-06-01

SecE, an essential membrane component of the Escherichia coli protein translocase, consists of 127 amino acid residues. Only a part of the second putative cytoplasmic region comprising some 13 residues is essential for the SecE function as long as the proper topological arrangement is retained. The Trp84 and Pro85 residues of this region are conserved in all eubacterial SecE homologues. The conservation of positively charged residues corresponding to Arg80 and Lys81 is also substantial. We deleted or replaced these residues to assess their roles in the SecE function. Deletion of the Arg80-Lys81 dipeptide did not abolish the SecE function whereas that of Trp84 or Pro85 caused a loss of the function. Strikingly, however, replacement of Pro85 with either Gly, Ser, or Ala, and that of Trp84 with Lys did not abolish the SecE function. These results indicate that the strong conservation of these residues does not reflect their obligatory requirement for the SecE function. A chimeric SecE possessing the cytoplasmic region of the E. coli SecE and the following region of the Bacillus subtilis SecE was able to form the translocation machinery together with SecA, SecY, and SecG. Although a Leu to Arg mutation at position 108 has been thought to cause a loss of signal recognition fidelity and thereby suppress a signal sequence defect, the same mutation at position 111 caused a complete loss of the function. The levels of SecY and SecG in the secEcsE501 mutant, which expresses SecE at a decreased level and is sensitive to low temperature, increased upon the expression of functional SecE derivatives, irrespective of the site of mutation, suggesting that the levels of SecY and SecG are co-operatively determined by the level of functional, but not non-functional, SecE. Based on these results, the SecE function in the translocase is discussed.
Fault diagnosis for non-minimum phase systems using ℋ∞ optimization

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Niemann, Hans Henrik; Stoustrup, Jakob

2001-01-01

The analysis and design algorithms for residual generators for nonminimum phase systems are given. It is shown that the ℋ∞ optimization of residual generators applied directly to systems including nonminimum phase zeros can be very conservative. To remove this conservatism in the &Hscr...
Functional validation of Ca2+-binding residues from the crystal structure of the BK ion channel.

Science.gov (United States)

Kshatri, Aravind S; Gonzalez-Hernandez, Alberto J; Giraldez, Teresa

2018-04-01

BK channels are dually regulated by voltage and Ca 2+ , providing a cellular mechanism to couple electrical and chemical signalling. Intracellular Ca 2+ concentration is sensed by a large cytoplasmic region in the channel known as "gating ring", which is formed by four tandems of regulator of conductance for K + (RCK1 and RCK2) domains. The recent crystal structure of the full-length BK channel from Aplysia californica has provided new information about the residues involved in Ca 2+ coordination at the high-affinity binding sites located in the RCK1 and RCK2 domains, as well as their cooperativity. Some of these residues have not been previously studied in the human BK channel. In this work we have investigated, through site directed mutagenesis and electrophysiology, the effects of these residues on channel activation by voltage and Ca 2+ . Our results demonstrate that the side chains of two non-conserved residues proposed to coordinate Ca 2+ in the A. californica structure (G523 and E591) have no apparent functional role in the human BK Ca 2+ sensing mechanism. Consistent with the crystal structure, our data indicate that in the human channel the conserved residue R514 participates in Ca 2+ coordination in the RCK1 binding site. Additionally, this study provides functional evidence indicating that R514 also interacts with residues E902 and Y904 connected to the Ca 2+ binding site in RCK2. Interestingly, it has been proposed that this interaction may constitute a structural correlate underlying the cooperative interactions between the two high-affinity Ca 2+ binding sites regulating the Ca 2+ dependent gating of the BK channel. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Beyond the Structure-Function Horizon of Membrane Proteins edited by Ute Hellmich, Rupak Doshi and Benjamin McIlwain. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Nitrogen mineralization and denitrification as influenced by crop residue particle size

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ambus, P.; Jensen, E.S.

1997-01-01

1: N-15-labelled ground (less than or equal to 3 mm) and cut (25 mm) barley residue, and microcrystalline cellulose+glucose were mixed into a sandy loam soil with additional inorganic N. Experiment 2: inorganic N-15 and C2H2 were added to soils with barley and pea material after 3, 26, and 109 days......Managing the crop residue particle size has the potential to affect N conservation in agricultural systems. We investigated the influence of barley (Hordeum vulgare) and pea (Pisum sativum) crop residue particle size on N mineralization and denitrification in two laboratory experiments. Experiment...... for measuring gross N mineralization and denitrification. Net N immobilization over 60 days in Experiment 1 cumulated to 63 mg N kg(-1) soil (ground barley), 42 (cut barley), and 122 (cellulose+glucose). More N was seemingly net mineralized from ground barley (3.3 mg N kg(-1) soil) than from cut barley (2.7 mg...
On conditional residual lifetime and conditional inactivity time of k-out-of-n systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tavangar, Mahdi; Bairamov, Ismihan

2015-01-01

In designing structures of technical systems, the reliability engineers often deal with the reliability analysis of coherent systems. Coherent system has monotone structure function and all components of the system are relevant. This paper considers some particular models of coherent systems having identical components with independent lifetimes. The main purpose of the paper is to study conditional residual lifetime of coherent system, given that at a fixed time certain number of components have failed but still there are some functioning components. Different aging and stochastic properties of variables connected with the conditional residual lifetimes of the coherent systems are obtained. An expression for the parent distribution in terms of conditional mean residual lifetime is provided. The similar result is obtained for the conditional mean inactivity time of the failed components of coherent system. The conditional mean inactivity time of failed components presents an interest in many engineering applications where the reliability of system structure is important for designing and constructing of systems. Some illustrative examples with given particular distributions are also presented. - Highlights: • Comparisons of conditional residual lifetime of k-out-of-n systems are derived. • The behavior of the coherent system is explored for IHR distributions. • The parent distribution is expressed in terms of conditional MRL and MIT. • Some illustrative examples are given to clarify the results of the paper.
Using mutagenesis to explore conserved residues in the RNA-binding groove of influenza A virus nucleoprotein for antiviral drug development

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Chia-Lin; Hung, Hui-Chen; Lo, Shou-Chen; Chiang, Ching-Hui; Chen, I.-Jung; Hsu, John T.-A.; Hou, Ming-Hon

2016-02-01

Nucleoprotein (NP) is the most abundant type of RNA-binding viral protein in influenza A virus-infected cells and is necessary for viral RNA transcription and replication. Recent studies demonstrated that influenza NP is a valid target for antiviral drug development. The surface of the groove, covered with numerous conserved residues between the head and body domains of influenza A NP, plays a crucial role in RNA binding. To explore the mechanism by which NP binds RNA, we performed a series of site-directed mutagenesis in the RNA-binding groove, followed by surface plasmon resonance (SPR), to characterize the interactions between RNA and NP. Furthermore, a role of Y148 in NP stability and NP-RNA binding was evaluated. The aromatic residue of Y148 was found to stack with a nucleotide base. By interrupting the stacking interaction between Y148 and an RNA base, we identified an influenza virus NP inhibitor, (E, E)-1,7-bis(4-hydroxy-3-methoxyphenyl) -1,6-heptadiene-3,5-dione; this inhibitor reduced the NP’s RNA-binding affinity and hindered viral replication. Our findings will be useful for the development of new drugs that disrupt the interaction between RNA and viral NP in the influenza virus.
Spectrum Fatigue Lifetime and Residual Strength for Fiberglass Laminates; TOPICAL

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

WAHL, NEIL K.; MANDELL, JOHN F.; SAMBORSKY, DANIEL D.

2002-01-01

This report addresses the effects of spectrum loading on lifetime and residual strength of a typical fiberglass laminate configuration used in wind turbine blade construction. Over 1100 tests have been run on laboratory specimens under a variety of load sequences. Repeated block loading at two or more load levels, either tensile-tensile, compressive-compressive, or reversing, as well as more random standard spectra have been studied. Data have been obtained for residual strength at various stages of the lifetime. Several lifetime prediction theories have been applied to the results. The repeated block loading data show lifetimes that are usually shorter than predicted by the most widely used linear damage accumulation theory, Miner's sum. Actual lifetimes are in the range of 10 to 20 percent of predicted lifetime in many cases. Linear and nonlinear residual strength models tend to fit the data better than Miner's sum, with the nonlinear providing a better fit of the two. Direct tests of residual strength at various fractions of the lifetime are consistent with the residual strength models. Load sequencing effects are found to be insignificant. The more a spectrum deviates from constant amplitude, the more sensitive predictions are to the damage law used. The nonlinear model provided improved correlation with test data for a modified standard wind turbine spectrum. When a single, relatively high load cycle was removed, all models provided similar, though somewhat non-conservative correlation with the experimental results. Predictions for the full spectrum, including tensile and compressive loads were slightly non-conservative relative to the experimental data, and accurately captured the trend with varying maximum load. The nonlinear residual strength based prediction with a power law S-N curve extrapolation provided the best fit to the data in most cases. The selection of the constant amplitude fatigue regression model becomes important at the lower stress, higher
Conservative fourth-order time integration of non-linear dynamic systems

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Krenk, Steen

2015-01-01

An energy conserving time integration algorithm with fourth-order accuracy is developed for dynamic systems with nonlinear stiffness. The discrete formulation is derived by integrating the differential state-space equations of motion over the integration time increment, and then evaluating...... the resulting time integrals of the inertia and stiffness terms via integration by parts. This process introduces the time derivatives of the state space variables, and these are then substituted from the original state-space differential equations. The resulting discrete form of the state-space equations...... is a direct fourth-order accurate representation of the original differential equations. This fourth-order form is energy conserving for systems with force potential in the form of a quartic polynomial in the displacement components. Energy conservation for a force potential of general form is obtained...
Dependency of global primary bioenergy crop potentials in 2050 on food systems, yields, biodiversity conservation and political stability

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erb, Karl-Heinz; Haberl, Helmut; Plutzar, Christoph

2012-01-01

The future bioenergy crop potential depends on (1) changes in the food system (food demand, agricultural technology), (2) political stability and investment security, (3) biodiversity conservation, (4) avoidance of long carbon payback times from deforestation, and (5) energy crop yields. Using a biophysical biomass-balance model, we analyze how these factors affect global primary bioenergy potentials in 2050. The model calculates biomass supply and demand balances for eleven world regions, eleven food categories, seven food crop types and two livestock categories, integrating agricultural forecasts and scenarios with a consistent global land use and NPP database. The TREND scenario results in a global primary bioenergy potential of 77 EJ/yr, alternative assumptions on food-system changes result in a range of 26–141 EJ/yr. Exclusion of areas for biodiversity conservation and inaccessible land in failed states reduces the bioenergy potential by up to 45%. Optimistic assumptions on future energy crop yields increase the potential by up to 48%, while pessimistic assumptions lower the potential by 26%. We conclude that the design of sustainable bioenergy crop production policies needs to resolve difficult trade-offs such as food vs. energy supply, renewable energy vs. biodiversity conservation or yield growth vs. reduction of environmental problems of intensive agriculture. - Highlights: ► Global energy crop potentials in 2050 are calculated with a biophysical biomass-balance model. ► The study is focused on dedicated energy crops, forestry and residues are excluded. ► Depending on food-system change, global energy crop potentials range from 26–141 EJ/yr. ► Exclusion of protected areas and failed states may reduce the potential up to 45%. ► The bioenergy potential may be 26% lower or 45% higher, depending on energy crop yields.

P300/CBP acts as a coactivator to cartilage homeoprotein-1 (Cart1), paired-like homeoprotein, through acetylation of the conserved lysine residue adjacent to the homeodomain.

Science.gov (United States)

Iioka, Takashi; Furukawa, Keizo; Yamaguchi, Akira; Shindo, Hiroyuki; Yamashita, Shunichi; Tsukazaki, Tomoo

2003-08-01

The paired-like homeoprotein, Cart1, is involved in skeletal development. We describe here that the general coactivator p300/CBP controls the transcription activity of Cart1 through acetylation of a lysine residue that is highly conserved in other homeoproteins. Acetylation of this residue increases the interaction between p300/CBP and Cart1 and enhances its transcriptional activation. Cart1 encodes a paired-like homeoprotein expressed selectively in chondrocyte lineage during embryonic development. Although its target gene remains unknown, gene disruption studies have revealed that Cart1 plays an important role for craniofacial bone formation as well as limb development by cooperating with another homeoprotein, Alx4. In this report, we study the functional involvement of p300/CBP, coactivators with intrinsic histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity, in the transcriptional control of Cart1. To study the transcription activity of Cart1, a reporter construct containing a putative Cart1 binding site was transiently transfected with the expression vectors of each protein. The interaction between p300/CBP and Cart1 was investigated by glutathione S-transferase (GST) pull-down, yeast two-hybrid, and immunoprecipitation assays. In vitro acetylation assay was performed with the recombinant p300-HAT domain and Cart1 in the presence of acetyl-CoA. p300 and CBP stimulate Cart1-dependent transcription activity, and this transactivation is inhibited by E1A and Tax, oncoproteins that suppress the activity of p300/CBP. Cart1 binds to p300 in vivo and in vitro, and this requires the homeodomain of Cart 1 and N-terminal 139 amino acids of p300. Confocal microscopy analysis shows that Cart1 recruits overexpressed and endogenous p300 to a Cart1-specific subnuclear compartment. Cart1 is acetylated in vivo and sodium butyrate and trichostatin A, histone deacetylase inhibitors, markedly enhance the transcription activity of Cart1. Deletion and mutagenesis analysis identifies the 131st
The role of macroinvertebrates for conservation of freshwater systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Nieto, Carolina; Ovando, Ximena M C; Loyola, Rafael; Izquierdo, Andrea; Romero, Fátima; Molineri, Carlos; Rodríguez, José; Rueda Martín, Paola; Fernández, Hugo; Manzo, Verónica; Miranda, María José

2017-07-01

Freshwater ecosystems are the most threatened ecosystems worldwide. Argentinian-protected areas have been established mainly to protect vertebrates and plants in terrestrial ecosystems. In order to create a comprehensive biodiverse conservation plan, it is crucial to integrate both aquatic and terrestrial systems and to include macroinvertebrates. Here, we address this topic by proposing priority areas of conservation including invertebrates, aquatic ecosystems, and their connectivity and land uses. Northwest of Argentina. We modeled the ecological niches of different taxa of macroinvertebrates such as Coleoptera, Ephemeroptera, Hemiptera, Megaloptera, Lepidoptera, Odonata, Plecoptera, Trichoptera, Acari, and Mollusca. Based on these models, we analyzed the contribution of currently established protected areas in the conservation of the aquatic biodiversity and we propose a spatial prioritization taking into account possible conflict regarding different land uses. Our analysis units were the real watersheds, to which were added longitudinal connectivity up and down the rivers. A total of 132 species were modeled in the priority area analyses. The analysis 1 showed that only an insignificant percentage of the macroinvertebrates distribution is within the protected areas in the North West of Argentina. The analyses 2 and 3 recovered similar values of protection for the macroinvertebrate species. The upper part of Bermejo, Salí-Dulce, San Francisco, and the Upper part of Juramento basins were identified as priority areas of conservation. The aquatic ecosystems need special protection and 10% or even as much as 17% of land conservation is insufficient for species of macroinvertebrates. In turn the protected areas need to combine the aquatic and terrestrial systems and need to include macroinvertebrates as a key group to sustain the biodiversity. In many cases, the land uses are in conflict with the conservation of biodiversity; however, it is possible to apply the
A conserved motif in the linker domain of STAT1 transcription factor is required for both recognition and release from high-affinity DNA-binding sites.

Science.gov (United States)

Hüntelmann, Bettina; Staab, Julia; Herrmann-Lingen, Christoph; Meyer, Thomas

2014-01-01

Binding to specific palindromic sequences termed gamma-activated sites (GAS) is a hallmark of gene activation by members of the STAT (signal transducer and activator of transcription) family of cytokine-inducible transcription factors. However, the precise molecular mechanisms involved in the signal-dependent finding of target genes by STAT dimers have not yet been very well studied. In this study, we have characterized a sequence motif in the STAT1 linker domain which is highly conserved among the seven human STAT proteins and includes surface-exposed residues in close proximity to the bound DNA. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we have demonstrated that a lysine residue in position 567 of the full-length molecule is required for GAS recognition. The substitution of alanine for this residue completely abolished both binding to high-affinity GAS elements and transcriptional activation of endogenous target genes in cells stimulated with interferon-γ (IFNγ), while the time course of transient nuclear accumulation and tyrosine phosphorylation were virtually unchanged. In contrast, two glutamic acid residues (E559 and E563) on each monomer are important for the dissociation of dimeric STAT1 from DNA and, when mutated to alanine, result in elevated levels of tyrosine-phosphorylated STAT1 as well as prolonged IFNγ-stimulated nuclear accumulation. In conclusion, our data indicate that the kinetics of signal-dependent GAS binding is determined by an array of glutamic acid residues located at the interior surface of the STAT1 dimer. These negatively charged residues appear to align the long axis of the STAT1 dimer in a position perpendicular to the DNA, thereby facilitating the interaction between lysine 567 and the phosphodiester backbone of a bound GAS element, which is a prerequisite for transient gene induction.
Violations of conservation laws in viscous liquid dynamics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dyre, Jeppe

2007-01-01

The laws expressing conservation of momentum and energy apply to any isolated system, but these laws are violated for highly viscous liquids under laboratory conditions because of the unavoidable interactions with the measuring equipment over the long times needed to study the dynamics. Moreover,......, although particle number conservation applies strictly for any liquid, the solidity of viscous liquids implies that even this conservation law is apparently violated in coarse-grained descriptions of density fluctuations.......The laws expressing conservation of momentum and energy apply to any isolated system, but these laws are violated for highly viscous liquids under laboratory conditions because of the unavoidable interactions with the measuring equipment over the long times needed to study the dynamics. Moreover...
A novel process for heavy residue hydroconversion using a recoverable pseudo-homogenous catalyst PHC system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Romocki, S.M.; Rhodey, W.G. [Mobis Energy Inc., Calgary, AB (Canada)

2008-10-15

This paper described a pseudo-homogenous catalyst (PHC) designed to refine heavy hydrocarbon residues containing sulfur, nitrogen, metals, and asphaltene impurities known to clog pores and deactivate traditional hydrocrackers. The heavy residue hydroconversion (HRH) process incorporated a single particle, chemically generated PHC uniformly distributed in the feed. Thermal decomposition within the reaction system of a water-in-oil emulsion containing ammonium paramolybdate was used to form molybdenum oxide, which was then sulfided within the feed in order to create an ultra-dispersed suspension of catalytically active molybdenum disulfide particles measuring between 2 and 9 nm. A proprietary online catalyst recovery and regeneration step was used to maintain high catalyst activity. The molybdenum was then recovered from a purge stream and then reintroduced to the catalyst preparation area as a catalyst precursor. After being conditioned, the feed was combined with hydrogen and a water-oil catalyst emulsion and introduced into a furnace. Heavy components were cracked, hydrogenated and converted to lighter products. The high performance catalyst system was able to convert 95 per cent of residues at pressures below 7.3 Mpa and at reaction temperatures ranging between 400 and 460 degrees C. The catalyst was tested at a pilot plant using Athabasca vacuum bottoms. It was concluded that the HRH process is now being successfully used to produce 200 barrels of heavy oil per day. Designs for commercial installations are now being prepared. 4 refs., 2 tabs., 2 figs.
Catchment-scale conservation units identified for the threatened Yarra pygmy perch (Nannoperca obscura) in highly modified river systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Brauer, Chris J; Unmack, Peter J; Hammer, Michael P; Adams, Mark; Beheregaray, Luciano B

2013-01-01

Habitat fragmentation caused by human activities alters metapopulation dynamics and decreases biological connectivity through reduced migration and gene flow, leading to lowered levels of population genetic diversity and to local extinctions. The threatened Yarra pygmy perch, Nannoperca obscura, is a poor disperser found in small, isolated populations in wetlands and streams of southeastern Australia. Modifications to natural flow regimes in anthropogenically-impacted river systems have recently reduced the amount of habitat for this species and likely further limited its opportunity to disperse. We employed highly resolving microsatellite DNA markers to assess genetic variation, population structure and the spatial scale that dispersal takes place across the distribution of this freshwater fish and used this information to identify conservation units for management. The levels of genetic variation found for N. obscura are amongst the lowest reported for a fish species (mean heterozygosity of 0.318 and mean allelic richness of 1.92). We identified very strong population genetic structure, nil to little evidence of recent migration among demes and a minimum of 11 units for conservation management, hierarchically nested within four major genetic lineages. A combination of spatial analytical methods revealed hierarchical genetic structure corresponding with catchment boundaries and also demonstrated significant isolation by riverine distance. Our findings have implications for the national recovery plan of this species by demonstrating that N. obscura populations should be managed at a catchment level and highlighting the need to restore habitat and avoid further alteration of the natural hydrology.
Conservation laws for certain time fractional nonlinear systems of partial differential equations

Science.gov (United States)

Singla, Komal; Gupta, R. K.

2017-12-01

In this study, an extension of the concept of nonlinear self-adjointness and Noether operators is proposed for calculating conserved vectors of the time fractional nonlinear systems of partial differential equations. In our recent work (J Math Phys 2016; 57: 101504), by proposing the symmetry approach for time fractional systems, the Lie symmetries for some fractional nonlinear systems have been derived. In this paper, the obtained infinitesimal generators are used to find conservation laws for the corresponding fractional systems.
Western Canadian wood residue production and consumption trends

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

McCloy, B.

2006-01-01

This presentation considered various trends in western Canadian wood residue production and consumption. Potential markets for wood residue products were also discussed. Trends were reviewed by province for the years 2000-2004. British Columbia (BC) is currently the largest producer of residue in the country, and also retains the largest surpluses of bark, sawdust and shavings. Wood residues in BC are used in pulp and plywood mill production, as well as in the creation of particleboard and MDF. Surplus mill wood residue production in the province has greatly increased due to the Mountain Pine Beetle (MPB) infestation, which has in turn spurred expansion of the BC interior sawmill industry. The infestation has also resulted in a glut of pulp chips. Current wood residue products in Alberta are mostly used in pulp mill combined heat and power (CHP) systems, as well as for wood pellet production and the creation of particleboard and MDF. It was noted that surplus residues are rapidly declining in the province. Saskatchewan's wood residue storage piles are estimated to contain 2,900,000 BDt, while Manitoba surpluses are relatively minor. It was suggested that high natural gas prices have increased the payback on wood energy systems to approximately 2 years. The value of wood residue is now greater than $100/BDt as a substitute for natural gas once the wood energy system has been fully depreciated. Sawmills may now wish to consider equipping themselves to sell wood residue products, as most sawmills only require 20 per cent of their residues for heating purposes. It was concluded that markets for hog fuel wood pellets should be developed in Canada and internationally. Future markets may also develop if natural gas currently used in pulp mill power boilers and lime kilns is replaced with wood residue energy systems. refs., tabs., figs
Mechanistic Basis for Type 2 Long QT Syndrome Caused by KCNH2 Mutations that Disrupt Conserved Arginine Residue in the Voltage Sensor

Science.gov (United States)

McBride, Christie M.; Smith, Ashley M.; Smith, Jennifer L.; Reloj, Allison R.; Velasco, Ellyn J.; Powell, Jonathan; Elayi, Claude S.; Bartos, Daniel C.; Burgess, Don E.

2013-01-01

KCNH2 encodes the Kv11.1 channel, which conducts the rapidly activating delayed rectifier K+ current (IKr) in the heart. KCNH2 mutations cause type 2 long QT syndrome (LQT2), which increases the risk for life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. LQT2 mutations are predicted to prolong the cardiac action potential (AP) by reducing IKr during repolarization. Kv11.1 contains several conserved basic amino acids in the fourth transmembrane segment (S4) of the voltage sensor that are important for normal channel trafficking and gating. This study sought to determine the mechanism(s) by which LQT2 mutations at conserved arginine residues in S4 (R531Q, R531W or R534L) alter Kv11.1 function. Western blot analyses of HEK293 cells transiently expressing R531Q, R531W or R534L suggested that only R534L inhibited Kv11.1 trafficking. Voltage-clamping experiments showed that R531Q or R531W dramatically altered Kv11.1 current (IKv11.1) activation, inactivation, recovery from inactivation and deactivation. Coexpression of wild type (to mimic the patients’ genotypes) mostly corrected the changes in IKv11.1 activation and inactivation, but deactivation kinetics were still faster. Computational simulations using a human ventricular AP model showed that accelerating deactivation rates was sufficient to prolong the AP, but these effects were minimal compared to simply reducing IKr. These are the first data to demonstrate that coexpressing wild type can correct activation and inactivation dysfunction caused by mutations at a critical voltage-sensing residue in Kv11.1. We conclude that some Kv11.1 mutations might accelerate deactivation to cause LQT2 but that the ventricular AP duration is much more sensitive to mutations that decrease IKr. This likely explains why most LQT2 mutations are nonsense or trafficking-deficient. PMID:23546015
Conservation laws in the quantum mechanics of closed systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hartle, J.B.; Laflamme, R.; Marolf, D.

1995-01-01

We investigate conservation laws in the quantum mechanics of closed systems and begin by reviewing an argument that exact decoherence implies the exact conservation of quantities that commute with the Hamiltonian. However, we also show that decoherence limits the alternatives that can be included in sets of histories that assess the conservation of these quantities. In the case of charge and energy, these limitations would be severe were these quantities not coupled to a gauge field. However, for the realistic cases of electric charge coupled to the electromagnetic field and mass coupled to spacetime curvature, we show that when alternative values of charge and mass decohere they always decohere exactly and are exactly conserved. Further, while decohering histories that describe possible changes in time of the total charge and mass are also subject to the limitations mentioned above, we show that these do not, in fact, restrict physical alternatives and are therefore not really limitations at all
Microbial System for Identification of Antibiotic Residues in Milk

OpenAIRE

Nagel, Orlando Guillermo; Molina Pons, Mª Pilar; Althaus, Rafael Lisandro

2011-01-01

[EN] The aim of this study was to evaluate the ResScreen (R) microbiological system for the identification of antibiotic residues in milk. This microbiological system consists of two methods, the BT (betalactams and tetracyclines) and BS (betalactams and sulfamides) bioassays, containing spores of G. stearothermophilus subsp. calidolactis, culture media and indicators (acid-base and redox). The detection limits of 29 antimicrobial agents were calculated using a logistic regression model. ...
Low-Intensity Agricultural Landscapes in Transylvania Support High Butterfly Diversity: Implications for Conservation

Science.gov (United States)

Loos, Jacqueline; Dorresteijn, Ine; Hanspach, Jan; Fust, Pascal; Rakosy, László; Fischer, Joern

2014-01-01

European farmland biodiversity is declining due to land use changes towards agricultural intensification or abandonment. Some Eastern European farming systems have sustained traditional forms of use, resulting in high levels of biodiversity. However, global markets and international policies now imply rapid and major changes to these systems. To effectively protect farmland biodiversity, understanding landscape features which underpin species diversity is crucial. Focusing on butterflies, we addressed this question for a cultural-historic landscape in Southern Transylvania, Romania. Following a natural experiment, we randomly selected 120 survey sites in farmland, 60 each in grassland and arable land. We surveyed butterfly species richness and abundance by walking transects with four repeats in summer 2012. We analysed species composition using Detrended Correspondence Analysis. We modelled species richness, richness of functional groups, and abundance of selected species in response to topography, woody vegetation cover and heterogeneity at three spatial scales, using generalised linear mixed effects models. Species composition widely overlapped in grassland and arable land. Composition changed along gradients of heterogeneity at local and context scales, and of woody vegetation cover at context and landscape scales. The effect of local heterogeneity on species richness was positive in arable land, but negative in grassland. Plant species richness, and structural and topographic conditions at multiple scales explained species richness, richness of functional groups and species abundances. Our study revealed high conservation value of both grassland and arable land in low-intensity Eastern European farmland. Besides grassland, also heterogeneous arable land provides important habitat for butterflies. While butterfly diversity in arable land benefits from heterogeneity by small-scale structures, grasslands should be protected from fragmentation to provide
Conservation-dissipation structure of chemical reaction systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Yong, Wen-An

2012-12-01

In this Brief Report, we show that balanced chemical reaction systems governed by the law of mass action have an elegant conservation-dissipation structure. From this structure a number of important conclusions can be easily deduced. In particular, with the help of this structure we can rigorously justify the classical partial equilibrium approximation in chemical kinetics.
The apotheosis of conservation agriculture- A review

OpenAIRE

Hossain, M.M.

2013-01-01

This paper focuses on conservation agriculture (CA), defined as minimal soil disturbance (no-till) and crop residue retention (mulch) combined with crop rotations. The paper then describes the principles based on which CA runs with briefing suggested improvement on conservation tillage, where no-till, mulch and rotations significantly improve soil properties and other biotic factors. This paper also describes some cons of CA with its future strategies. A Case study from the rice-wheat areas o...
Conservation properties and potential systems of vorticity-type equations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cheviakov, Alexei F.

2014-01-01

Partial differential equations of the form divN=0, N t +curl M=0 involving two vector functions in R 3 depending on t, x, y, z appear in different physical contexts, including the vorticity formulation of fluid dynamics, magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) equations, and Maxwell's equations. It is shown that these equations possess an infinite family of local divergence-type conservation laws involving arbitrary functions of space and time. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the equations of interest have a rather special structure of a lower-degree (degree two) conservation law in R 4 (t,x,y,z). The corresponding potential system has a clear physical meaning. For the Maxwell's equations, it gives rise to the scalar electric and the vector magnetic potentials; for the vorticity equations of fluid dynamics, the potentialization inverts the curl operator to yield the fluid dynamics equations in primitive variables; for MHD equations, the potential equations yield a generalization of the Galas-Bogoyavlenskij potential that describes magnetic surfaces of ideal MHD equilibria. The lower-degree conservation law is further shown to yield curl-type conservation laws and determined potential equations in certain lower-dimensional settings. Examples of new nonlocal conservation laws, including an infinite family of nonlocal material conservation laws of ideal time-dependent MHD equations in 2+1 dimensions, are presented
Multi-Seasonal Nitrogen Recoveries from Crop Residue in Soil and Crop in a Temperate Agro-Ecosystem.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guoqing Hu

Full Text Available In conservation tillage systems, at least 30% of the soil surface was covered by crop residues which generally contain significant amounts of nitrogen (N. However, little is known about the multi-seasonal recoveries of the N derived from these crop residues in soil-crop systems, notably in northeastern China. In a temperate agro-ecosystem, 15N-labeled maize residue was applied to field surfaces in the 1st year (2009. From the 2nd to 4th year (2010-2012, one treatment halted the application of maize residue, whereas the soil in the second treatment was re-applied with unlabeled maize residue. Crop and soil samples were collected after each harvest, and their 15N enrichments were determined on an isotope ratio mass spectrometer to trace the allocation of N derived from the initially applied maize residue in the soil-crop systems. On average, 8.4% of the maize residue N was recovered in the soil-crop in the 1st year, and the vast majority (61.9%-91.9% was recovered during subsequent years. Throughout the experiment, the cumulative recovery of the residue N in the crop increased gradually (18.2%-20.9%, but most of the residue N was retained in the soil, notably in the 0-10 cm soil layer. Compared to the single application, the sequential residue application significantly increased the recovery of the residue N in the soil profile (73.8% vs. 40.9% and remarkably decreased the total and the initially applied residue derived mineral N along the soil profile. Our results suggested that the residue N was actively involved in N cycling, and its release and recovery in crop and soil profile were controlled by the decomposition process. Sequential residue application significantly enhanced the retention and stabilization of the initially applied residue N in the soil and retarded its translocation along the soil profile.
Optimization of Residual Stress of High Temperature Treatment Using Genetic Algorithm and Neural Network

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

M. Susmikanti

2015-12-01

Full Text Available In a nuclear industry area, high temperature treatment of materials is a factor which requires special attention. Assessment needs to be conducted on the properties of the materials used, including the strength of the materials. The measurement of material properties under thermal processes may reflect residual stresses. The use of Genetic Algorithm (GA to determine the optimal residual stress is one way to determine the strength of a material. In residual stress modeling with several parameters, it is sometimes difficult to solve for the optimal value through analytical or numerical calculations. Here, GA is an efficient algorithm which can generate the optimal values, both minima and maxima. The purposes of this research are to obtain the optimization of variable in residual stress models using GA and to predict the center of residual stress distribution, using fuzzy neural network (FNN while the artificial neural network (ANN used for modeling. In this work a single-material 316/316L stainless steel bar is modeled. The minimal residual stresses of the material at high temperatures were obtained with GA and analytical calculations. At a temperature of 6500C, the GA optimal residual stress estimation converged at –711.3689 MPa at adistance of 0.002934 mm from center point, whereas the analytical calculation result at that temperature and position is -975.556 MPa . At a temperature of 8500C, the GA result was -969.868 MPa at 0.002757 mm from the center point, while with analytical result was -1061.13 MPa. The difference in residual stress between GA and analytical results at a temperatureof6500C is about 27 %, while at 8500C it is 8.67 %. The distribution of residual stress showed a grouping concentrated around a coordinate of (-76; 76 MPa. The residuals stress model is a degree-two polynomial with coefficients of 50.33, -76.54, and -55.2, respectively, with a standard deviation of 7.874.
Unified Symmetry and Conserved Quantities of Mechanical System in Phase Space

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Fang Jianhui; Ding Ning; Wang Peng

2006-01-01

In this paper, a new symmetry and its conserved quantities of a mechanical system in phase space are studied. The definition of this new symmetry, i.e., a unified one is presented, and the criterion of this symmetry is also given. The Noether, the generalized Hojman and the Mei conserved quantities of the unified symmetry of the system are obtained. The unified symmetry contains the Noether, the Lie and the Mei symmetries, and has more generalized significance.
Global alteration of the drug-binding pocket of human P-glycoprotein (ABCB1) by substitution of fifteen conserved residues reveals a negative correlation between substrate size and transport efficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Vahedi, Shahrooz; Chufan, Eduardo E; Ambudkar, Suresh V

2017-11-01

P-glycoprotein (P-gp), an ATP-dependent efflux pump, is linked to the development of multidrug resistance in cancer cells. However, the drug-binding sites and translocation pathways of this transporter are not yet well-characterized. We recently demonstrated the important role of tyrosine residues in regulating P-gp ATP hydrolysis via hydrogen bond formations with high affinity modulators. Since tyrosine is both a hydrogen bond donor and acceptor, and non-covalent interactions are key in drug transport, in this study we investigated the global effect of enrichment of tyrosine residues in the drug-binding pocket on the drug binding and transport function of P-gp. By employing computational analysis, 15 conserved residues in the drug-binding pocket of human P-gp that interact with substrates were identified and then substituted with tyrosine, including 11 phenylalanine (F72, F303, F314, F336, F732, F759, F770, F938, F942, F983, F994), two leucine (L339, L975), one isoleucine (I306), and one methionine (M949). Characterization of the tyrosine-rich P-gp mutant in HeLa cells demonstrated that this major alteration in the drug-binding pocket by introducing fifteen additional tyrosine residues is well tolerated and has no measurable effect on total or cell surface expression of this mutant. Although the tyrosine-enriched mutant P-gp could transport small to moderate size (transport large (>1000 Daltons) substrates such as NBD-cyclosporine A, Bodipy-paclitaxel and Bodipy-vinblastine was significantly decreased. This was further supported by the physico-chemical characterization of seventeen tested substrates, which revealed a negative correlation between drug transport and molecular size for the tyrosine-enriched P-gp mutant. Published by Elsevier Inc.
Mei Symmetry and New Conserved Quantities of Tzénoff Equations for the Variable Mass Higher-Order Nonholonomic System

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZHENG Shi-Wang; WANG Jian-Bo; CHEN Xiang-Wei; XIE Jia-Fang

2012-01-01

Operational systems of spacecraft are general variable mass mechanics systems,and their symmetries and conserved quantities imply profound physical rules of the space system.We study the Mei symmetry of Tzénoff equations for a variable mass nonholonomic system and the new conserved quantities derived.The function expression of the new conserved quantities and the criterion equation which deduces these conserved quantities are presented.This result has some theoretical values in further research of conservation laws obeyed by the variable mass system.%Operational systems of spacecraft are general variable mass mechanics systems, and their symmetries and conserved quantities imply profound physical rules of the space system. We study the Mei symmetry of Tzenoff equations for a variable mass nonholonomic system and the new conserved quantities derived. The function expression of the new conserved quantities and the criterion equation which deduces these conserved quantities are presented. This result has some theoretical values in further research of conservation laws obeyed by the variable mass system.

Plant Residual Management in different Crop Rotations System on Potato Tuber Yield Loss Affected by Wireworms

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

A. Zarea Feizabadi

2016-07-01

Full Text Available Introduction: Selection a proper crop rotation based on environmental conservation rules is a key factor for increasing long term productivity. On the other hand, the major problem in reaching agricultural sustainability is lack of soil organic matter. Recently, a new viewpoint has emerged based on efficient use of inputs, environmental protection, ecological economy, food supply and security. Crop rotation cannot supply and restore plant needed nutrients, so gradually the productivity of rotation system tends to be decreased. Returning the plant residues to the soil helps to increase its organic matter and fertility in long-term period. Wireworms are multi host pests and we can see them in wheat and barley too. The logic way for their control is agronomic practices like as crop rotation. Wireworms’ population and damages are increased with using grasses and small seed gramineas in mild winters, variation in cropping pattern, reduced chemical control, and cover crops in winter. In return soil cultivation, crop rotation, planting date, fertilizing, irrigation and field health are the examples for the effective factors in reducing wireworms’ damage. Materials and Methods: In order to study the effect of crop rotations, residue management and yield damage because of wireworms’ population in soil, this experiment was conducted using four rotation systems for five years in Jolgeh- Rokh agricultural research station. Crop rotations were included, 1 Wheat monoculture for the whole period (WWWWW, 2 Wheat- wheat- wheat- canola- wheat (WWWCW, 3 Wheat- sugar beet- wheat- potato- wheat (WSWPW, 4 Wheat- maize- wheat- potato- wheat (WMWPW as main plots and three levels of returning crop residues to soil (returning 0, 50 and 100% produced crop residues to soil were allocated as sub plots. This experiment was designed as split plot based on RCBD design with three replications. After ending each rotation treatment, the field was sowed with potato cv. Agria
Compared cycling in a soil-plant system of pea and barley residue nitrogen

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jensen, E.S.

1996-01-01

Field experiments were carried out on a temperate soil to determine the decline rate, the stabilization in soil organic matter and the plant uptake of N from N-15-labelled crop residues. The fate of N from field pea (Pisum sativum L.) and spring barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) residues was followed...... mineralization of N was highly correlated to the concentrations of soluble C and N and the lignin:N ratio of residues. The contribution of residue-derived N to the inorganic N pool was at its maximum 30 DAI (10-55%) and declined to on average 5% after 3 years of decomposition. Residual organic labelled N...... in the top 10 cm soil declined rapidly during the initial 86 DAI for all residue types. Leaching of soluble organic materials may have contributed to this decline. At 216 DAI 72, 59 and 45% of the barley, mature pea and green pea residue N, respectively, were present in organic N-forms in the topsoil. During...
Spin distribution of evaporation residues formed in complete and incomplete fusion in 16O+154Sm system

Science.gov (United States)

Singh, D.; Linda, Sneha B.; Giri, Pankaj K.; Mahato, Amritraj; Tripathi, R.; Kumar, Harish; Afzal Ansari, M.; Sathik, N. P. M.; Ali, Rahbar; Kumar, Rakesh; Muralithar, S.; Singh, R. P.

2017-11-01

Spin distributions for several evaporation residues populated in the 16O+154Sm system have been measured at projectile energy ≈ 6.2 MeV/A by using the charged particle-γ-coincidence technique. The measured spin distributions of the evaporation residues populated through incomplete fusion associated with 'fast' α and 2α-emission channels are found to be entirely different from fusion-evaporation channels. It is observed that the mean input angular momentum for the evaporation residues formed in incomplete fusion channel is relatively higher than that observed for evaporation residues in complete fusion channels. The feeding intensity profile of evaporation residues populated through complete fusion and incomplete fusion have also been studied. The incomplete fusion channels are found to have narrow range feeding only for high spin states, while complete fusion channels are strongly fed over a broad spin range and widely populated. Comparison of present results with earlier data suggests that the mean input angular momentum values are relatively smaller for spherical target than that of deformed target using the same projectile and incident energy highlighting the role of target deformation in incomplete fusion dynamics.
Spin distribution of evaporation residues formed in complete and incomplete fusion in 16O+154Sm system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

D. Singh

2017-11-01

Full Text Available Spin distributions for several evaporation residues populated in the 16O+154Sm system have been measured at projectile energy ≈ 6.2 MeV/A by using the charged particle–γ-coincidence technique. The measured spin distributions of the evaporation residues populated through incomplete fusion associated with ‘fast’ α and 2α-emission channels are found to be entirely different from fusion–evaporation channels. It is observed that the mean input angular momentum for the evaporation residues formed in incomplete fusion channel is relatively higher than that observed for evaporation residues in complete fusion channels. The feeding intensity profile of evaporation residues populated through complete fusion and incomplete fusion have also been studied. The incomplete fusion channels are found to have narrow range feeding only for high spin states, while complete fusion channels are strongly fed over a broad spin range and widely populated. Comparison of present results with earlier data suggests that the mean input angular momentum values are relatively smaller for spherical target than that of deformed target using the same projectile and incident energy highlighting the role of target deformation in incomplete fusion dynamics.
Antibiotics threaten wildlife: circulating quinolone residues and disease in Avian scavengers.

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Jesús A Lemus

Full Text Available Antibiotic residues that may be present in carcasses of medicated livestock could pass to and greatly reduce scavenger wildlife populations. We surveyed residues of the quinolones enrofloxacin and its metabolite ciprofloxacin and other antibiotics (amoxicillin and oxytetracycline in nestling griffon Gyps fulvus, cinereous Aegypius monachus and Egyptian Neophron percnopterus vultures in central Spain. We found high concentrations of antibiotics in the plasma of many nestling cinereous (57% and Egyptian (40% vultures. Enrofloxacin and ciprofloxacin were also found in liver samples of all dead cinereous vultures. This is the first report of antibiotic residues in wildlife. We also provide evidence of a direct association between antibiotic residues, primarily quinolones, and severe disease due to bacterial and fungal pathogens. Our results indicate that, by damaging the liver and kidney and through the acquisition and proliferation of pathogens associated with the depletion of lymphoid organs, continuous exposure to antibiotics could increase mortality rates, at least in cinereous vultures. If antibiotics ingested with livestock carrion are clearly implicated in the decline of the vultures in central Spain then it should be considered a primary concern for conservation of their populations.
Numerical viscosity of entropy stable schemes for systems of conservation laws. Final Report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tadmor, E.

1985-11-01

Discrete approximations to hyperbolic systems of conservation laws are studied. The amount of numerical viscosity present in such schemes is quantified and related to their entropy stability by means of comparison. To this end conservative schemes which are also entropy conservative are constructed. These entropy conservative schemes enjoy second-order accuracy; moreover, they admit a particular interpretation within the finite-element frameworks, and hence can be formulated on various mesh configurations. It is then shown that conservative schemes are entropy stable if and only if they contain more viscosity than the mentioned above entropy conservative ones
Promoting Effective Monitoring and Conservation through Online ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

... communicates major findings of submitted records to relevant authorities concerned with conservation and advocacy thus contributing to a much wider sharing and dissemination of important aspects while contributing to avifaunal conservation. Through networking the system provides a highly attractive and authoritative, ...
UTILIZATION OF AGROINDUSTRIALES RESIDUES AS BIOFUELS AND BIOREFINERY

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deyanira Muñoz-Muñoz

2014-12-01

Full Text Available The use of residues generated in the process agro-industrials are interest worldwide. At present, research is this in lignocellulosic biomass for energy, fuels, chemicals and biomaterials through clean technologies and closed systems that conserve the environment. In this research, based on the characteristics of the typical agro-industrial residues of Cauca Department, sugarcane bagasse, sisal dust, cassava bran and the mixtures, was evaluated use as biorefinery. Were determined the thermal, physical chemical and morphologic properties in seven samples of residues, were performed exploratory tests, were determined pretreatments and applications and the possible use were identified. We conclude that the sample M6 with 9,93 % moisture, 4,12% ash, 43,97% carbon, 5,86% hydrogen, 0,43% nitrogen, 15 MJ/kg of lower heating value and 22,25%of cellulose, 9,30% of hemicellulose and 4,56% lignin, presents characteristics appropriate to be used in furnaces and boilers less power for the rural sector by the amount of ash, which keeps the low heating power stable and reduces the emission of particulate matter. For the thermal, physical, chemical and morphological characteristics, all the samples of M1 to M7, they can be hydrolyzed, densified and taken advantage like biofuel and / or biorefinery
The Effect of Conservation Tillage and Cover Crop Residue on Beneficial Arthropods and Weed Seed Predation in Acorn Squash.

Science.gov (United States)

Quinn, N F; Brainard, D C; Szendrei, Z

2016-12-01

Conservation tillage combined with cover crops or mulching may enhance natural enemy activity in agroecosystems by reducing soil disturbance and increasing habitat structural complexity. In particular, weed seed predation can increase with vegetation cover and reduced tillage, indicating that mulches may improve the quality of the habitat for weed seed foraging. The purpose of this study was to quantify the effects of tillage and mulching for conservation biological control in cucurbit fields. The effects of mulch and reduced tillage on arthropods and rates of weed seed loss from arenas were examined in field trials on sandy soils in 2014 and 2015. Experimental factors included tillage and cover crop, each with two levels: strip-tillage or full-tillage, and cover crop mulch (rye residue) or no cover crop mulch (unmulched). Arthropod abundance on the crop foliage was not affected by tillage or cover crops. Contrary to expectations, epigeal natural enemies of insects and rates of weed seed removal either did not respond to treatments or were greater in full-tilled plots and plots without mulch. Our study demonstrates the potential importance of weed seed predators in reducing weed seedbanks in vegetable agroecosystems, and suggests that early-season tillage may not be detrimental to epigeal predator assemblages. © The Authors 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Entomological Society of America. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Sequence and structural analysis of the chitinase insertion domain reveals two conserved motifs involved in chitin-binding.

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Hai Li

2010-01-01

Full Text Available Chitinases are prevalent in life and are found in species including archaea, bacteria, fungi, plants, and animals. They break down chitin, which is the second most abundant carbohydrate in nature after cellulose. Hence, they are important for maintaining a balance between carbon and nitrogen trapped as insoluble chitin in biomass. Chitinases are classified into two families, 18 and 19 glycoside hydrolases. In addition to a catalytic domain, which is a triosephosphate isomerase barrel, many family 18 chitinases contain another module, i.e., chitinase insertion domain. While numerous studies focus on the biological role of the catalytic domain in chitinase activity, the function of the chitinase insertion domain is not completely understood. Bioinformatics offers an important avenue in which to facilitate understanding the role of residues within the chitinase insertion domain in chitinase function.Twenty-seven chitinase insertion domain sequences, which include four experimentally determined structures and span five kingdoms, were aligned and analyzed using a modified sequence entropy parameter. Thirty-two positions with conserved residues were identified. The role of these conserved residues was explored by conducting a structural analysis of a number of holo-enzymes. Hydrogen bonding and van der Waals calculations revealed a distinct subset of four conserved residues constituting two sequence motifs that interact with oligosaccharides. The other conserved residues may be key to the structure, folding, and stability of this domain.Sequence and structural studies of the chitinase insertion domains conducted within the framework of evolution identified four conserved residues which clearly interact with the substrates. Furthermore, evolutionary studies propose a link between the appearance of the chitinase insertion domain and the function of family 18 chitinases in the subfamily A.
Cloning of the cDNA for murine von Willebrand factor and identification of orthologous genes reveals the extent of conservation among diverse species.

Science.gov (United States)

Chitta, Mohan S; Duhé, Roy J; Kermode, John C

2007-05-01

Interaction of von Willebrand factor (VWF) with circulating platelets promotes hemostasis when a blood vessel is injured. The A1 domain of VWF is responsible for the initial interaction with platelets and is well conserved among species. Knowledge of the cDNA and genomic DNA sequences for human VWF allowed us to predict the cDNA sequence for murine VWF in silico and amplify its entire coding region by RT-PCR. The murine VWF cDNA has an open reading frame of 8,442 bp, encoding a protein of 2,813 amino acid residues with 83% identity to human pre-pro-VWF. The same strategy was used to predict in silico the cDNA sequence for the ortholog of VWF in a further six species. Many of these predictions diverged substantially from the putative Reference Sequences derived by ab initio methods. Our predicted sequences indicated that the VWF gene has a conserved structure of 52 exons in all seven mammalian species examined, as well as in the chicken. There is a minor structural variation in the pufferfish Takifugu rubripes insofar as the VWF gene in this species has 53 exons. Comparison of the translated amino acid sequences also revealed a high degree of conservation. In particular, the cysteine residues are conserved precisely throughout both the pro-peptide and the mature VWF sequence in all species, with a minor exception in the pufferfish VWF ortholog where two adjacent cysteine residues are omitted. The marked conservation of cysteine residues emphasizes the importance of the intricate pattern of disulfide bonds in governing the structure of pro-VWF and regulating the function of the mature VWF protein. It should also be emphasized that many of the conserved features of the VWF gene and protein were obscured when the comparison among species was based on the putative Reference Sequences instead of our predicted cDNA sequences.
The conservation pattern of short linear motifs is highly correlated with the function of interacting protein domains

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Wang Yiguo

2008-10-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Many well-represented domains recognize primary sequences usually less than 10 amino acids in length, called Short Linear Motifs (SLiMs. Accurate prediction of SLiMs has been difficult because they are short (often Results Our combined approach revealed that SLiMs are highly conserved in proteins from functional classes that are known to interact with a specific domain, but that they are not conserved in most other protein groups. We found that SLiMs recognized by SH2 domains were highly conserved in receptor kinases/phosphatases, adaptor molecules, and tyrosine kinases/phosphatases, that SLiMs recognized by SH3 domains were highly conserved in cytoskeletal and cytoskeletal-associated proteins, that SLiMs recognized by PDZ domains were highly conserved in membrane proteins such as channels and receptors, and that SLiMs recognized by S/T kinase domains were highly conserved in adaptor molecules, S/T kinases/phosphatases, and proteins involved in transcription or cell cycle control. We studied Tyr-SLiMs recognized by SH2 domains in more detail, and found that SH2-recognized Tyr-SLiMs on the cytoplasmic side of membrane proteins are more highly conserved than those on the extra-cellular side. Also, we found that SH2-recognized Tyr-SLiMs that are associated with SH3 motifs and a tyrosine kinase phosphorylation motif are more highly conserved. Conclusion The interactome of protein domains is reflected by the evolutionary conservation of SLiMs recognized by these domains. Combining scoring matrixes derived from peptide libraries and conservation analysis, we would be able to find those protein groups that are more likely to interact with specific domains.
Comparative Analysis of Wolbachia Genomes Reveals Streamlining and Divergence of Minimalist Two-Component Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Christensen, Steen; Serbus, Laura Renee

2015-01-01

Two-component regulatory systems are commonly used by bacteria to coordinate intracellular responses with environmental cues. These systems are composed of functional protein pairs consisting of a sensor histidine kinase and cognate response regulator. In contrast to the well-studied Caulobacter crescentus system, which carries dozens of these pairs, the streamlined bacterial endosymbiont Wolbachia pipientis encodes only two pairs: CckA/CtrA and PleC/PleD. Here, we used bioinformatic tools to compare characterized two-component system relays from C. crescentus, the related Anaplasmataceae species Anaplasma phagocytophilum and Ehrlichia chaffeensis, and 12 sequenced Wolbachia strains. We found the core protein pairs and a subset of interacting partners to be highly conserved within Wolbachia and these other Anaplasmataceae. Genes involved in two-component signaling were positioned differently within the various Wolbachia genomes, whereas the local context of each gene was conserved. Unlike Anaplasma and Ehrlichia, Wolbachia two-component genes were more consistently found clustered with metabolic genes. The domain architecture and key functional residues standard for two-component system proteins were well-conserved in Wolbachia, although residues that specify cognate pairing diverged substantially from other Anaplasmataceae. These findings indicate that Wolbachia two-component signaling pairs share considerable functional overlap with other α-proteobacterial systems, whereas their divergence suggests the potential for regulatory differences and cross-talk. PMID:25809075
Hydrologic Modeling of Conservation Farming Practices on the Palouse

Science.gov (United States)

van Wie, J.; Adam, J. C.; Ullman, J.

2009-12-01

The production of dryland crops such as wheat and barley in a semi-arid region requires a reliable and adequate water supply. This supply of water available for crop use is of heightened importance in areas such as the Palouse region of eastern Washington and northern Idaho where the majority of annual rainfall occurs during the winter months and must be retained in the soil through the dry summer growing season. Farmers can increase conservation of water at the field and watershed scales through the adoption of best management practices that incorporate tillage and crop residue management. This research analyzes conservation farming practices that may be implemented by representing them in a watershed-scale hydrologic model in order to determine whether these practices will effectively save water so that a stable crop yield may be insured. The Distributed Hydrology Soil Vegetation Model (DHSVM) is applied and calibrated to represent the physical changes to infiltration, evaporation, and runoff that result from altered soil and vegetation characteristics brought on by management practices. The model is calibrated with field observations at the basin scale as well as the point scale over individual plots that are under various implementations of conservation management scenarios. Conservation practices are accounted for in DHSVM by adjusting input parameters such as the porosity, roughness, and hydraulic conductivity of the soil to characterize varying levels of tillage. Vegetation parameters such as leaf area index and albedo are altered to represent different amounts of crop residue left on the field through the winter months. After calibration, the model is applied over the entire basin under scenarios representing traditional agricultural methods and a region-wide shift to conservation practices. The resulting water balance suggests that there is a potential to retain water in the seed-zone during the winter months by decreasing evaporation and runoff through
The role of a topologically conserved isoleucine in glutathione transferase structure, stability and function

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Achilonu, Ikechukwu; Gildenhuys, Samantha; Fisher, Loren; Burke, Jonathan; Fanucchi, Sylvia; Sewell, B. Trevor; Fernandes, Manuel; Dirr, Heini W.

2010-01-01

The role of a topologically conserved isoleucine in the structure of glutathione transferase was investigated by replacing the Ile71 residue in human GSTA1-1 by alanine or valine. The common fold shared by members of the glutathione-transferase (GST) family has a topologically conserved isoleucine residue at the N-terminus of helix 3 which is involved in the packing of helix 3 against two β-strands in domain 1. The role of the isoleucine residue in the structure, function and stability of GST was investigated by replacing the Ile71 residue in human GSTA1-1 by alanine or valine. The X-ray structures of the I71A and I71V mutants resolved at 1.75 and 2.51 Å, respectively, revealed that the mutations do not alter the overall structure of the protein compared with the wild type. Urea-induced equilibrium unfolding studies using circular dichroism and tryptophan fluorescence suggest that the mutation of Ile71 to alanine or valine reduces the stability of the protein. A functional assay with 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene shows that the mutation does not significantly alter the function of the protein relative to the wild type. Overall, the results suggest that conservation of the topologically conserved Ile71 maintains the structural stability of the protein but does not play a significant role in catalysis and substrate binding
The importance of incorporating functional habitats into conservation planning for highly mobile species in dynamic systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Webb, Matthew H; Terauds, Aleks; Tulloch, Ayesha; Bell, Phil; Stojanovic, Dejan; Heinsohn, Robert

2017-10-01

The distribution of mobile species in dynamic systems can vary greatly over time and space. Estimating their population size and geographic range can be problematic and affect the accuracy of conservation assessments. Scarce data on mobile species and the resources they need can also limit the type of analytical approaches available to derive such estimates. We quantified change in availability and use of key ecological resources required for breeding for a critically endangered nomadic habitat specialist, the Swift Parrot (Lathamus discolor). We compared estimates of occupied habitat derived from dynamic presence-background (i.e., presence-only data) climatic models with estimates derived from dynamic occupancy models that included a direct measure of food availability. We then compared estimates that incorporate fine-resolution spatial data on the availability of key ecological resources (i.e., functional habitats) with more common approaches that focus on broader climatic suitability or vegetation cover (due to the absence of fine-resolution data). The occupancy models produced significantly (P increase or decrease in the area of one functional habitat (foraging or nesting) did not necessarily correspond to an increase or decrease in the other. Thus, an increase in the extent of occupied area may not equate to improved habitat quality or function. We argue these patterns are typical for mobile resource specialists but often go unnoticed because of limited data over relevant spatial and temporal scales and lack of spatial data on the availability of key resources. Understanding changes in the relative availability of functional habitats is crucial to informing conservation planning and accurately assessing extinction risk for mobile resource specialists. © 2017 Society for Conservation Biology.
Conservative Semidiscrete Difference Schemes for Timoshenko Systems

OpenAIRE

Júnior, D. S. Almeida

2014-01-01

We present a parameterized family of finite-difference schemes to analyze the energy properties for linearly elastic constant-coefficient Timoshenko systems considering shear deformation and rotatory inertia. We derive numerical energies showing the positivity, and the energy conservation property and we show how to avoid a numerical anomaly known as locking phenomenon on shear force. Our method of proof relies on discrete multiplier techniques.
A Method of Sky Ripple Residual Nonuniformity Reduction for a Cooled Infrared Imager and Hardware Implementation.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yiyang; Jin, Weiqi; Li, Shuo; Zhang, Xu; Zhu, Jin

2017-05-08

Cooled infrared detector arrays always suffer from undesired ripple residual nonuniformity (RNU) in sky scene observations. The ripple residual nonuniformity seriously affects the imaging quality, especially for small target detection. It is difficult to eliminate it using the calibration-based techniques and the current scene-based nonuniformity algorithms. In this paper, we present a modified temporal high-pass nonuniformity correction algorithm using fuzzy scene classification. The fuzzy scene classification is designed to control the correction threshold so that the algorithm can remove ripple RNU without degrading the scene details. We test the algorithm on a real infrared sequence by comparing it to several well-established methods. The result shows that the algorithm has obvious advantages compared with the tested methods in terms of detail conservation and convergence speed for ripple RNU correction. Furthermore, we display our architecture with a prototype built on a Xilinx Virtex-5 XC5VLX50T field-programmable gate array (FPGA), which has two advantages: (1) low resources consumption; and (2) small hardware delay (less than 10 image rows). It has been successfully applied in an actual system.
ABCE1 is a highly conserved RNA silencing suppressor.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kairi Kärblane

Full Text Available ATP-binding cassette sub-family E member 1 (ABCE1 is a highly conserved protein among eukaryotes and archaea. Recent studies have identified ABCE1 as a ribosome-recycling factor important for translation termination in mammalian cells, yeast and also archaea. Here we report another conserved function of ABCE1. We have previously described AtRLI2, the homolog of ABCE1 in the plant Arabidopsis thaliana, as an endogenous suppressor of RNA silencing. In this study we show that this function is conserved: human ABCE1 is able to suppress RNA silencing in Nicotiana benthamiana plants, in mammalian HEK293 cells and in the worm Caenorhabditis elegans. Using co-immunoprecipitation and mass spectrometry, we found a number of potential ABCE1-interacting proteins that might support its function as an endogenous suppressor of RNA interference. The interactor candidates are associated with epigenetic regulation, transcription, RNA processing and mRNA surveillance. In addition, one of the identified proteins is translin, which together with its binding partner TRAX supports RNA interference.
A highly conserved glycine within linker I and the extreme C terminus of G protein alpha subunits interact cooperatively in switching G protein-coupled receptor-to-effector specificity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kostenis, Evi; Martini, Lene; Ellis, James

2004-01-01

Numerous studies have attested to the importance of the extreme C terminus of G protein alpha subunits in determining their selectivity of receptor recognition. We have previously reported that a highly conserved glycine residue within linker I is important for constraining the fidelity of receptor...... recognition by Galpha(q) proteins. Herein, we explored whether both modules (linker I and extreme C terminus) interact cooperatively in switching G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR)-to-effector specificity and created as models mutant Galpha(q) proteins in which glycine was replaced with various amino acids...... and the C-terminal five Galpha(q) residues with the corresponding Galpha(i) or Galpha(s) sequence. Coupling properties of the mutated Galpha(q) proteins were determined after coexpression with a panel of 13 G(i)-and G(s) -selective receptors and compared with those of Galpha proteins modified in only one...

High hole mobility p-type GaN with low residual hydrogen concentration prepared by pulsed sputtering

Science.gov (United States)

Arakawa, Yasuaki; Ueno, Kohei; Kobayashi, Atsushi; Ohta, Jitsuo; Fujioka, Hiroshi

2016-08-01

We have grown Mg-doped GaN films with low residual hydrogen concentration using a low-temperature pulsed sputtering deposition (PSD) process. The growth system is inherently hydrogen-free, allowing us to obtain high-purity Mg-doped GaN films with residual hydrogen concentrations below 5 × 1016 cm-3, which is the detection limit of secondary ion mass spectroscopy. In the Mg profile, no memory effect or serious dopant diffusion was detected. The as-deposited Mg-doped GaN films showed clear p-type conductivity at room temperature (RT) without thermal activation. The GaN film doped with a low concentration of Mg (7.9 × 1017 cm-3) deposited by PSD showed hole mobilities of 34 and 62 cm2 V-1 s-1 at RT and 175 K, respectively, which are as high as those of films grown by a state-of-the-art metal-organic chemical vapor deposition apparatus. These results indicate that PSD is a powerful tool for the fabrication of GaN-based vertical power devices.
Eleven years' effect of conservation practices for temperate sandy loams: II. Soil pore characteristics

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Abdollahi, Lotfallah; Munkholm, Lars Juhl

2017-01-01

Conservation agriculture (CA) is regarded by many as a sustainable intensification strategy. Minimal soil disturbance in combination with residue retention are important CA components. This study examined the long-term effects of crop rotation, residue retention, and tillage on soil pore characte......Conservation agriculture (CA) is regarded by many as a sustainable intensification strategy. Minimal soil disturbance in combination with residue retention are important CA components. This study examined the long-term effects of crop rotation, residue retention, and tillage on soil pore...... characteristics of two Danish sandy loams. Rotation R2 is a rotation of winter crops (mainly cereals) with residues retained, rotation R3 a mix of winter and spring crops (mainly cereals) with residues removed, and rotation R4 the same mix of winter and spring crops, but with residues retained. Each rotation...... included the tillage treatments: moldboard plowing to 20-cm depth (MP), harrowing to 8- to 10-cm depth (H) and direct drilling (D). Soil cores were taken from the topsoil (4–8, 12–16, 18–27 cm) in mid-autumn 2013 and early spring 2014. Water retention, air permeability, and gas diffusivity was determined...
A Residual Approach for Balanced Truncation Model Reduction (BTMR of Compartmental Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

William La Cruz

2014-05-01

Full Text Available This paper presents a residual approach of the square root balanced truncation algorithm for model order reduction of continuous, linear and time-invariante compartmental systems. Specifically, the new approach uses a residual method to approximate the controllability and observability gramians, whose resolution is an essential step of the square root balanced truncation algorithm, that requires a great computational cost. Numerical experiences are included to highlight the efficacy of the proposed approach.
[Residual risk: The roles of triglycerides and high density lipoproteins].

Science.gov (United States)

Grammer, Tanja; Kleber, Marcus; Silbernagel, Günther; Scharnagl, Hubert; März, Winfried

2016-06-01

In clinical trials, the reduction of LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) with statins reduces the incidence rate of cardiovascular events by approximately one third. This means, that a sizeable "residual risk" remains. Besides high lipoprotein (a), disorders in the metabolism of triglyceride-rich lipoproteins and high density liproteins have been implicated as effectors of the residual risk. Both lipoprotein parameters correlate inversely with each other. Therefore, the etiological contributions of triglycerides and / or of HDL for developing cardiovascular disease can hardly be estimated from either observational studies or from intervention studies. The largely disappointing results of intervention studies with inhibitors of the cholesteryl ester transfer protein and in particular the available set of genetically-epidemiological studies suggest that in the last decade, the importance of HDL cholesterol has been overvalued, while the importance of triglycerides has been underestimated. High triglycerides not always atherogenic, but only if they are associated with the accumulation relatively cholesterol-enriched, incompletely catabolized remnants of chylomicrons and very low density lipoproteins (familial type III hyperlipidemia, metabolic syndrome, diabetes mellitus). The normalization of the concentration of triglycerides and remnants by inhibiting the expression of apolipoprotein C3 is hence a new, promising therapeutic target. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.
The MARS15-based FermiCORD code system for calculation of the accelerator-induced residual dose

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Grebe, A.; Leveling, A.; Lu, T.; Mokhov, N.; Pronskikh, V.

2018-01-01

The FermiCORD code system, a set of codes based on MARS15 that calculates the accelerator-induced residual doses at experimental facilities of arbitrary configurations, has been developed. FermiCORD is written in C++ as an add-on to Fortran-based MARS15. The FermiCORD algorithm consists of two stages: 1) simulation of residual doses on contact with the surfaces surrounding the studied location and of radionuclide inventories in the structures surrounding those locations using MARS15, and 2) simulation of the emission of the nuclear decay gamma-quanta by the residuals in the activated structures and scoring the prompt doses of these gamma-quanta at arbitrary distances from those structures. The FermiCORD code system has been benchmarked against similar algorithms based on other code systems and showed a good agreement. The code system has been applied for calculation of the residual dose of the target station for the Mu2e experiment and the results have been compared to approximate dosimetric approaches.
Elicitin-induced distal systemic resistance in plants is mediated through the protein-protein interactions influenced by selected lysine residues

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hana eUhlíková

2016-02-01

Full Text Available Elicitins are a family of small proteins with sterol-binding activity that are secreted by Phytophthora and Pythium spp. classified as oomycete PAMPs. Although alfa- and beta-elicitins bind with the same affinity to one high affinity binding site on the plasma membrane, beta-elicitins (possessing 6-7 lysine residues are generally 50- to 100-fold more active at inducing distal HR and systemic resistance than the alfa-isoforms (with only 1-3 lysine residues.To examine the role of lysine residues in elicitin biological activity, we employed site-directed mutagenesis to prepare a series of beta-elicitin cryptogein variants with mutations on specific lysine residues. In contrast to direct infiltration of protein into leaves, application to the stem revealed a rough correlation between protein’s charge and biological activity, resulting in protection against Phytophthora parasitica. A detailed analysis of proteins’ movement in plants showed no substantial differences in distribution through phloem indicating differences in consequent apoplastic or symplastic transport. In this process, an important role of homodimer formation together with the ability to form a heterodimer with potential partner represented by endogenous plants LTPs is suggested. Our work demonstrates a key role of selected lysine residues in these interactions and stresses the importance of processes preceding elicitin recognition responsible for induction of distal systemic resistance.
Analysis of residual chlorine in simple drinking water distribution system with intermittent water supply

Science.gov (United States)

Goyal, Roopali V.; Patel, H. M.

2015-09-01

Knowledge of residual chlorine concentration at various locations in drinking water distribution system is essential final check to the quality of water supplied to the consumers. This paper presents a methodology to find out the residual chlorine concentration at various locations in simple branch network by integrating the hydraulic and water quality model using first-order chlorine decay equation with booster chlorination nodes for intermittent water supply. The explicit equations are developed to compute the residual chlorine in network with a long distribution pipe line at critical nodes. These equations are applicable to Indian conditions where intermittent water supply is the most common system of water supply. It is observed that in intermittent water supply, the residual chlorine at farthest node is sensitive to water supply hours and travelling time of chlorine. Thus, the travelling time of chlorine can be considered to justify the requirement of booster chlorination for intermittent water supply.
Smart Water Conservation System for Irrigated Landscape

Science.gov (United States)

2016-05-01

controllers, centralized and site-specific sensor inputs, leak detection sensors, and the use of harvested water (i.e., rainwater and air condition water ...include ET functionality with soil moisture sensor, and leak detection via flow meter. ESTCP Final Report Smart Water Conservation System 58... leakage . The minimum static pressure was not achieved because tank water levels were less than 10 feet in the selected low profile tank.) Adjust break
Automatic Gamma-Scanning System for Measurement of Residual Heat in Spent Nuclear Fuel

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Osifo, Otasowie

2007-03-01

In Sweden, spent nuclear fuel will be encapsulated and placed in a deep geological repository. In this procedure, reliable and accurate spent fuel data such as discharge burnup, cooling time and residual heat must be available. The gamma scanning method was proposed in earlier work as a fast and reliable method for the experimental determination of such spent fuel data. This thesis is focused on the recent achievements in the development of a pilot gamma scanning system and its application in measuring spent fuel residual heat. The achievements include the development of dedicated spectroscopic data-acquisition and analysis software and the use of a specially designed calorimeter for calibrating the gamma scanning system. The pilot system is described, including an evaluation of the performance of the spectrum analysis software. Also described are the gamma-scanning measurements on 31 spent PWR fuel assemblies performed using the pilot system. The results obtained for the determination of residual heat are presented, showing an agreement of (2-3) % with both calorimetric and calculated data. In addition, the ability to verify declared data such as discharge burnup and cooling time is demonstrated
Soil and crop residue CO2-C emission under tillage systems in sugarcane-producing areas of southern Brazil

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luís Gustavo Teixeira

2013-10-01

Full Text Available Appropriate management of agricultural crop residues could result in increases on soil organic carbon (SOC and help to mitigate gas effect. To distinguish the contributions of SOC and sugarcane (Saccharum spp. residues to the short-term CO2-C loss, we studied the influence of several tillage systems: heavy offset disk harrow (HO, chisel plow (CP, rotary tiller (RT, and sugarcane mill tiller (SM in 2008, and CP, RT, SM, moldboard (MP, and subsoiler (SUB in 2009, with and without sugarcane residues relative to no-till (NT in the sugarcane producing region of Brazil. Soil CO2-C emissions were measured daily for two weeks after tillage using portable soil respiration systems. Daily CO2-C emissions declined after tillage regardless of tillage system. In 2008, total CO2-C from SOC and/or residue decomposition was greater for RT and lowest for CP. In 2009, emission was greatest for MP and CP with residues, and smallest for NT. SOC and residue contributed 47 % and 41 %, respectively, to total CO2-C emissions. Regarding the estimated emissions from sugarcane residue and SOC decomposition within the measurement period, CO2-C factor was similar to sugarcane residue and soil organic carbon decomposition, depending on the tillage system applied. Our approach may define new emission factors that are associated to tillage operations on bare or sugarcane-residue-covered soils to estimate the total carbon loss.
Energy Conservation In Compressed Air Systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yusuf, I.Y.; Dewu, B.B.M.

2004-01-01

Compressed air is an essential utility that accounts for a substantial part of the electricity consumption (bill) in most industrial plants. Although the general saying Air is free of charge is not true for compressed air, the utility's cost is not accorded the rightful importance due to its by most industries. The paper will show that the cost of 1 unit of energy in the form of compressed air is at least 5 times the cost electricity (energy input) required to produce it. The paper will also provide energy conservation tips in compressed air systems
Homologous high-throughput expression and purification of highly conserved E coli proteins

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Duchmann Rainer

2007-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Genetic factors and a dysregulated immune response towards commensal bacteria contribute to the pathogenesis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD. Animal models demonstrated that the normal intestinal flora is crucial for the development of intestinal inflammation. However, due to the complexity of the intestinal flora, it has been difficult to design experiments for detection of proinflammatory bacterial antigen(s involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Several studies indicated a potential association of E. coli with IBD. In addition, T cell clones of IBD patients were shown to cross react towards antigens from different enteric bacterial species and thus likely responded to conserved bacterial antigens. We therefore chose highly conserved E. coli proteins as candidate antigens for abnormal T cell responses in IBD and used high-throughput techniques for cloning, expression and purification under native conditions of a set of 271 conserved E. coli proteins for downstream immunologic studies. Results As a standardized procedure, genes were PCR amplified and cloned into the expression vector pQTEV2 in order to express proteins N-terminally fused to a seven-histidine-tag. Initial small-scale expression and purification under native conditions by metal chelate affinity chromatography indicated that the vast majority of target proteins were purified in high yields. Targets that revealed low yields after purification probably due to weak solubility were shuttled into Gateway (Invitrogen destination vectors in order to enhance solubility by N-terminal fusion of maltose binding protein (MBP, N-utilizing substance A (NusA, or glutathione S-transferase (GST to the target protein. In addition, recombinant proteins were treated with polymyxin B coated magnetic beads in order to remove lipopolysaccharide (LPS. Thus, 73% of the targeted proteins could be expressed and purified in large-scale to give soluble proteins in the range of 500
The economics of soil conservation in developing countries: the case of crop residue mulching

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Erenstein, O.C.A.

1999-01-01

The study contributes to the search for a methodology to assess soil conservation, particularly in developing countries. The study first assesses the economics of soil conservation in general - with special emphasis on the relationships between technology, economic analysis and policy implications.
The National Landscape Conservation System: A model for long term conservation of significant landscapes

Science.gov (United States)

Dave Harmon; Jeff Jarvis

2011-01-01

The Bureau of Land Management administers over 256 million surface acres, more than any other U.S. public agency, the vast majority of which is in the western half of the United States. A land protection system was initiated in 1970 with the creation of the King Range National Conservation Area. In 1976, the Federal Land Policy and Management Act (http://www.blm.gov/...
Enhancing Conservation with High Resolution Productivity Datasets for the Conterminous United States

Science.gov (United States)

Robinson, Nathaniel Paul

Human driven alteration of the earth's terrestrial surface is accelerating through land use changes, intensification of human activity, climate change, and other anthropogenic pressures. These changes occur at broad spatio-temporal scales, challenging our ability to effectively monitor and assess the impacts and subsequent conservation strategies. While satellite remote sensing (SRS) products enable monitoring of the earth's terrestrial surface continuously across space and time, the practical applications for conservation and management of these products are limited. Often the processes driving ecological change occur at fine spatial resolutions and are undetectable given the resolution of available datasets. Additionally, the links between SRS data and ecologically meaningful metrics are weak. Recent advances in cloud computing technology along with the growing record of high resolution SRS data enable the development of SRS products that quantify ecologically meaningful variables at relevant scales applicable for conservation and management. The focus of my dissertation is to improve the applicability of terrestrial gross and net primary productivity (GPP/NPP) datasets for the conterminous United States (CONUS). In chapter one, I develop a framework for creating high resolution datasets of vegetation dynamics. I use the entire archive of Landsat 5, 7, and 8 surface reflectance data and a novel gap filling approach to create spatially continuous 30 m, 16-day composites of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) from 1986 to 2016. In chapter two, I integrate this with other high resolution datasets and the MOD17 algorithm to create the first high resolution GPP and NPP datasets for CONUS. I demonstrate the applicability of these products for conservation and management, showing the improvements beyond currently available products. In chapter three, I utilize this dataset to evaluate the relationships between land ownership and terrestrial production
Design and analysis of a new passive residual heat removal system

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Lv, Xing [Key Subject Laboratory of Nuclear Safety and Simulation Technology, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150001 (China); Peng, Minjun, E-mail: heupmj@163.com [Key Subject Laboratory of Nuclear Safety and Simulation Technology, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150001 (China); Yuan, Xiao [Guangxi Fangchenggang Nuclear Power Co., Ltd (China); Xia, Genglei [Key Subject Laboratory of Nuclear Safety and Simulation Technology, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150001 (China)

2016-07-15

Highlights: • An air cooling passive residual heat removal System (PRHRs) is designed. • Using RELAP5/MOD3.4 code to analyze the operation characteristics of the PRHRs. • Noncondensable gas is used to simulate the hydrodynamic behavior in the air cooling tower. • The natural circulations could respectively establish in the primary circuit and the PRHRs circuit. • The PRHRs could remove the residual heat effectively. - Abstract: The inherent safety functions will mitigate the consequences of the accidents, and it can be accomplished through the passive safety systems which employed in the typical pressurized water reactor (PWR). In this paper, a new passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) is designed for a typical nuclear power plant. PRHRS consists of a steam generator (SG), a cooling tank with two groups of cooling pipes, an air-cooling heat exchanger (AHX), an air-cooling tower, corresponding pipes and valves. The cooling tank which works as an intermediate buffer device is used to transfer the core decay heat to the AHX, and then the core decay heat will be removed to the atmosphere finally. The RELAP5/MOD3.4 code is used to analyze the operation characteristics of PRHRS and the primary loop system. It shows PRHRS could remove the decay heat from the primary loop effectively, and the natural circulations can be established in the primary circuit and the PRHRS circuit respectively. Furthermore, the sensitivity study has also been done to research the effect of various factors on the heat removal capacity.
Lysine residue 185 of Rad1 is a topological but not a functional counterpart of lysine residue 164 of PCNA.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Niek Wit

Full Text Available Monoubiquitylation of the homotrimeric DNA sliding clamp PCNA at lysine residue 164 (PCNA(K164 is a highly conserved, DNA damage-inducible process that is mediated by the E2/E3 complex Rad6/Rad18. This ubiquitylation event recruits translesion synthesis (TLS polymerases capable of replicating across damaged DNA templates. Besides PCNA, the Rad6/Rad18 complex was recently shown in yeast to ubiquitylate also 9-1-1, a heterotrimeric DNA sliding clamp composed of Rad9, Rad1, and Hus1 in a DNA damage-inducible manner. Based on the highly similar crystal structures of PCNA and 9-1-1, K185 of Rad1 (Rad1(K185 was identified as the only topological equivalent of PCNA(K164. To investigate a potential role of posttranslational modifications of Rad1(K185 in DNA damage management, we here generated a mouse model with a conditional deletable Rad1(K185R allele. The Rad1(K185 residue was found to be dispensable for Chk1 activation, DNA damage survival, and class switch recombination of immunoglobulin genes as well as recruitment of TLS polymerases during somatic hypermutation of immunoglobulin genes. Our data indicate that Rad1(K185 is not a functional counterpart of PCNA(K164.
RNA expression in a cartilaginous fish cell line reveals ancient 3′ noncoding regions highly conserved in vertebrates

Science.gov (United States)

Forest, David; Nishikawa, Ryuhei; Kobayashi, Hiroshi; Parton, Angela; Bayne, Christopher J.; Barnes, David W.

2007-01-01

We have established a cartilaginous fish cell line [Squalus acanthias embryo cell line (SAE)], a mesenchymal stem cell line derived from the embryo of an elasmobranch, the spiny dogfish shark S. acanthias. Elasmobranchs (sharks and rays) first appeared >400 million years ago, and existing species provide useful models for comparative vertebrate cell biology, physiology, and genomics. Comparative vertebrate genomics among evolutionarily distant organisms can provide sequence conservation information that facilitates identification of critical coding and noncoding regions. Although these genomic analyses are informative, experimental verification of functions of genomic sequences depends heavily on cell culture approaches. Using ESTs defining mRNAs derived from the SAE cell line, we identified lengthy and highly conserved gene-specific nucleotide sequences in the noncoding 3′ UTRs of eight genes involved in the regulation of cell growth and proliferation. Conserved noncoding 3′ mRNA regions detected by using the shark nucleotide sequences as a starting point were found in a range of other vertebrate orders, including bony fish, birds, amphibians, and mammals. Nucleotide identity of shark and human in these regions was remarkably well conserved. Our results indicate that highly conserved gene sequences dating from the appearance of jawed vertebrates and representing potential cis-regulatory elements can be identified through the use of cartilaginous fish as a baseline. Because the expression of genes in the SAE cell line was prerequisite for their identification, this cartilaginous fish culture system also provides a physiologically valid tool to test functional hypotheses on the role of these ancient conserved sequences in comparative cell biology. PMID:17227856
The conservative physiology of the immune system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

N.M. Vaz

2003-01-01

Full Text Available Current immunological opinion disdains the necessity to define global interconnections between lymphocytes and regards natural autoantibodies and autoreactive T cells as intrinsically pathogenic. Immunological theories address the recognition of foreignness by independent clones of lymphocytes, not the relations among lymphocytes or between lymphocytes and the organism. However, although extremely variable in cellular/molecular composition, the immune system preserves as invariant a set of essential relations among its components and constantly enacts contacts with the organism of which it is a component. These invariant relations are reflected, for example, in the life-long stability of profiles of reactivity of immunoglobulins formed by normal organisms (natural antibodies. Oral contacts with dietary proteins and the intestinal microbiota also result in steady states that lack the progressive quality of secondary-type reactivity. Autoreactivity (natural autoantibody and autoreactive T cell formation is also stable and lacks the progressive quality of clonal expansion. Specific immune responses, currently regarded as the fundament of the operation of the immune system, may actually result from transient interruptions in this stable connectivity among lymphocytes. More permanent deficits in interconnectivity result in oligoclonal expansions of T lymphocytes, as seen in Omenn's syndrome and in the experimental transplantation of a suboptimal diversity of syngeneic T cells to immunodeficient hosts, which also have pathogenic consequences. Contrary to theories that forbid autoreactivity as potentially pathogenic, the physiology of the immune system is conservative and autoreactive. Pathology derives from failures of these conservative mechanisms.
"Toward High School Biology": Helping Middle School Students Understand Chemical Reactions and Conservation of Mass in Nonliving and Living Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Herrmann-Abell, Cari F.; Koppal, Mary; Roseman, Jo Ellen

2016-01-01

Modern biology has become increasingly molecular in nature, requiring students to understand basic chemical concepts. Studies show, however, that many students fail to grasp ideas about atom rearrangement and conservation during chemical reactions or the application of these ideas to biological systems. To help provide students with a better…

Mechanistic basis for type 2 long QT syndrome caused by KCNH2 mutations that disrupt conserved arginine residues in the voltage sensor.

Science.gov (United States)

McBride, Christie M; Smith, Ashley M; Smith, Jennifer L; Reloj, Allison R; Velasco, Ellyn J; Powell, Jonathan; Elayi, Claude S; Bartos, Daniel C; Burgess, Don E; Delisle, Brian P

2013-05-01

KCNH2 encodes the Kv11.1 channel, which conducts the rapidly activating delayed rectifier K+ current (I Kr) in the heart. KCNH2 mutations cause type 2 long QT syndrome (LQT2), which increases the risk for life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. LQT2 mutations are predicted to prolong the cardiac action potential (AP) by reducing I Kr during repolarization. Kv11.1 contains several conserved basic amino acids in the fourth transmembrane segment (S4) of the voltage sensor that are important for normal channel trafficking and gating. This study sought to determine the mechanism(s) by which LQT2 mutations at conserved arginine residues in S4 (R531Q, R531W or R534L) alter Kv11.1 function. Western blot analyses of HEK293 cells transiently expressing R531Q, R531W or R534L suggested that only R534L inhibited Kv11.1 trafficking. Voltage-clamping experiments showed that R531Q or R531W dramatically altered Kv11.1 current (I Kv11.1) activation, inactivation, recovery from inactivation and deactivation. Coexpression of wild type (to mimic the patients' genotypes) mostly corrected the changes in I Kv11.1 activation and inactivation, but deactivation kinetics were still faster. Computational simulations using a human ventricular AP model showed that accelerating deactivation rates was sufficient to prolong the AP, but these effects were minimal compared to simply reducing I Kr. These are the first data to demonstrate that coexpressing wild type can correct activation and inactivation dysfunction caused by mutations at a critical voltage-sensing residue in Kv11.1. We conclude that some Kv11.1 mutations might accelerate deactivation to cause LQT2 but that the ventricular AP duration is much more sensitive to mutations that decrease I Kr. This likely explains why most LQT2 mutations are nonsense or trafficking-deficient.
Energy conservation in pulp and paper industry: some thoughts

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sadawarte, N. S.; Prasad, A. K.; Khanolkar, V. D.; Shenoy, S. C.

1980-03-15

The pulp and paper industry is highly energy intensive. In view of the spiralling fuel prices and rising power costs, there is an urgent need to conserve energy through better management of various operations in the industry, from the optimal utilization of the forest residues to the shipment of the final product. The total energy concept, e.g., energy generation, distribution and utilization in Indian paper industry is discussed. The need for an energy audit is emphasized and the formats of energy reporting forms are included. Short and long term measures to be enforced to achieve energy savings in the pulp and paper mills are outlined. Some important energy conservation approaches are also discussed. Factors affecting energy efficiency in a pulp and paper mill are reviewed. Some areas where sustained R and D efforts should be focused to make the paper industry nearly self-sufficient in energy generation and utilization are also given. It is essential to have a National Energy Policy clearly defining achievable targets of energy conservation for industry. The Indian paper industry could advantageously form its own committee to review the operation of the various mills in the country and come out with concrete solutions for higher energy efficiency and more effective conservation of energy.
Integrating conservation costs into sea level rise adaptive conservation prioritization

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mingjian Zhu

2015-07-01

Full Text Available Biodiversity conservation requires strategic investment as resources for conservation are often limited. As sea level rises, it is important and necessary to consider both sea level rise and costs in conservation decision making. In this study, we consider costs of conservation in an integrated modeling process that incorporates a geomorphological model (SLAMM, species habitat models, and conservation prioritization (Zonation to identify conservation priorities in the face of landscape dynamics due to sea level rise in the Matanzas River basin of northeast Florida. Compared to conservation priorities that do not consider land costs in the analysis process, conservation priorities that consider costs in the planning process change significantly. The comparison demonstrates that some areas with high conservation values might be identified as lower priorities when integrating economic costs in the planning process and some areas with low conservation values might be identified as high priorities when considering costs in the planning process. This research could help coastal resources managers make informed decisions about where and how to allocate conservation resources more wisely to facilitate biodiversity adaptation to sea level rise.
UVB-induced photoperoxidation of lipids of human low and high density lipoproteins. A possible role of tryptophan residues

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Salmon, S.; Maziere, J.C.; Santus, R.; Bouchemal, N.; Morliere, P.

1990-01-01

Ultraviolet radiation of the UVB region readily destroys tryptophan (Trp) residues of low (LDL) and high (HDL) density lipoproteins. The photooxidation of tryptophan residues is accompanied by peroxidation of low and high density lipoproteins unsaturated fatty acids, as measured by thiobarbituric acid assay. Moreover, low and high density lipoproteins are natural carriers of vitamin E and carotenoids. These two antioxidants are also rapidly bleached by UVB. The UVA radiation promotes neither tryptophan residue destruction nor lipid photoperoxidation. The redox cycling Cu 2+ ions considerably increase lipid photoperoxidation. The synergistic action of photo and auto (Cu 2+ -induced) peroxidation induces marked post-irradiation modifications of apolipoproteins as illustrated by degradation of most tryptophan residues after overnight incubation in the dark of pre-irradiated samples. (author)
High-resolution finite-difference algorithms for conservation laws

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Towers, J.D.

1987-01-01

A new class of Total Variation Decreasing (TVD) schemes for 2-dimensional scalar conservation laws is constructed using either flux-limited or slope-limited numerical fluxes. The schemes are proven to have formal second-order accuracy in regions where neither u/sub x/ nor y/sub y/ vanishes. A new class of high-resolution large-time-step TVD schemes is constructed by adding flux-limited correction terms to the first-order accurate large-time-step version of the Engquist-Osher scheme. The use of the transport-collapse operator in place of the exact solution operator for the construction of difference schemes is studied. The production of spurious extrema by difference schemes is studied. A simple condition guaranteeing the nonproduction of spurious extrema is derived. A sufficient class of entropy inequalities for a conservation law with a flux having a single inflection point is presented. Finite-difference schemes satisfying a discrete version of each entropy inequality are only first-order accurate
Synthesis of high specific active tritiated Leu-enkephalin in the leucine residue

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Baba, S.; Hasegawa, H.; Shinohara, Y. (Tokyo Coll. of Pharmacy (Japan))

1989-12-01

Leu-enkephalin labelled with tritium in the Leu residue has been prepared. Synthesis of the precursor peptide, (4,5-dehydroLeu{sup 5}-)Leu-enkephalin, was carried out by solid phase synthesis using Fmoc amino acid derivatives. The peptide was tritiated catalytically yielding {sup 3}H-Leu-enkephalin with a specific radioactivity of 4.39 TBq/mmol. The distribution of tritium label was investigated by reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography with a synchronized accumulating radioisotope detector following acidic and enzymatic hydrolysis, which confirmed that the tritium label was entirely located at the Leu residue. (author).
Measurement of residual radioactivity in cooper exposed to high energy heavy ion beam

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Eunjoo; Nakamura, Takashi [Tohoku Univ., Sendai (Japan). Cyclotron and Radioisotope Center; Uwamino, Yoshitomo; Ito, Sachiko; Fukumura, Akifumi

1999-03-01

The residual radioactivities produced by high energy heavy ions have been measured using the heavy ion beams of the Heavy Ion Medical Accelerator (HIMAC) at National Institute of Radiological Sciences. The spatial distribution of residual radioactivities in 3.5 cm, 5.5 cm and 10 cm thick copper targets of 10 cm x 10 cm size bombarded by 290 MeV/u, 400 MeV/u-{sup 12}C ion beams and 400 MeV/u-{sup 20}Ne ion beam, respectively, were obtained by measuring the gamma-ray activities of 0.5 mm thick copper foil inserted in the target with a high purity Ge detector after about 1 hour to 6 hours irradiation. (author)
Conserving the Greater Sage-grouse: A social-ecological systems case study from the California-Nevada region

Science.gov (United States)

Duvall, Alison L; Metcalf, Alexander L.; Coates, Peter S.

2016-01-01

The Endangered Species Act (ESA) continues to serve as one of the most powerful and contested federal legislative mandates for conservation. In the midst of heated debates, researchers, policy makers, and conservation practitioners champion the importance of cooperative conservation and social-ecological systems approaches, which forge partnerships at multiple levels and scales to address complex ecosystem challenges. However, few real-world examples exist to demonstrate how multifaceted collaborations among stakeholders who share a common goal of conserving at-risk species may be nested within a systems framework to achieve social and ecological goals. Here, we present a case study of Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) conservation efforts in the “Bi-State” region of California and Nevada, United States. Using key-informant interviews, we explored dimensions and drivers of this landscape-scale conservation effort. Three themes emerged from the interviews, including 1) ESA action was transformed into opportunity for system-wide conservation; 2) a diverse, locally based partnership anchored collaboration and engagement across multiple levels and scales; and 3) best-available science combined with local knowledge led to “certainty of effectiveness and implementation”—the criteria used by the US Fish and Wildlife Service to evaluate conservation efforts when making listing decisions. Ultimately, collaborative conservation through multistakeholder engagement at various levels and scales led to proactive planning and implementation of conservation measures and precluded the need for an ESA listing of the Bi-State population of Greater Sage-grouse. This article presents a potent example of how a systems approach integrating policy, management, and learning can be used to successfully overcome the conflict-laden and “wicked” challenges that surround at-risk species conservation.
Mei Symmetry and New Conserved Quantities of Tzénoff Equations for the Variable Mass Higher-Order Nonholonomic System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zheng Shi-Wang; Wang Jian-Bo; Chen Xiang-Wei; Xie Jia-Fang

2012-01-01

Operational systems of spacecraft are general variable mass mechanics systems, and their symmetries and conserved quantities imply profound physical rules of the space system. We study the Mei symmetry of Tzénoff equations for a variable mass nonholonomic system and the new conserved quantities derived. The function expression of the new conserved quantities and the criterion equation which deduces these conserved quantities are presented. This result has some theoretical values in further research of conservation laws obeyed by the variable mass system. (general)
Application of grey model on analyzing the passive natural circulation residual heat removal system of HTR-10

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

ZHOU Tao; PENG Changhong; WANG Zenghui; WANG Ruosu

2008-01-01

Using the grey correlation analysis, it can be concluded that the reactor pressure vessel wall temperature has the strongest effect on the passive residual heat removal system in HTR (High Temperature gas-cooled Reactor),the chimney height takes the second place, and the influence of inlet air temperature of the chimney is the least. This conclusion is the same as that analyzed by the traditional method. According to the grey model theory, the GM(1,1) and GM(1, 3) model are built based on the inlet air temperature of chimney, pressure vessel temperature and the chimney height. Then the effect of three factors on the heat removal power is studied in this paper. The model plays an important role on data prediction, and is a new method for studying the heat removal power. The method can provide a new theoretical analysis to the passive residual heat removal system of HTR.
Conserved hydrogen bonds and water molecules in MDR HIV-1 protease substrate complexes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Liu, Zhigang [Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI (United States); Case Western Reserve Univ., Cleveland, OH (United States); Harbor Hospital Baltimore, MD (United States); Wang, Yong [Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI (United States); Yedidi, Ravikiran S. [Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI (United States); National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD (United States); Dewdney, Tamaria G. [Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI (United States); Reiter, Samuel J. [Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI (United States); Brunzelle, Joseph S. [Northwestern Univ. Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL (United States); Kovari, Iulia A. [Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI (United States); Kovari, Ladislau C. [Wayne State Univ., Detroit, MI (United States)

2012-12-19

Success of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in anti-HIV therapy is severely compromised by the rapidly developing drug resistance. HIV-1 protease inhibitors, part of HAART, are losing their potency and efficacy in inhibiting the target. Multi-drug resistant (MDR) 769 HIV-1 protease (resistant mutations at residues 10, 36, 46, 54, 62, 63, 71, 82, 84, 90) was selected for the present study to understand the binding to its natural substrates. The nine crystal structures of MDR769 HIV-1 protease substrate hepta-peptide complexes were analyzed in order to reveal the conserved structural elements for the purpose of drug design against MDR HIV-1 protease. Our structural studies demonstrated that highly conserved hydrogen bonds between the protease and substrate peptides, together with the conserved crystallographic water molecules, played a crucial role in the substrate recognition, substrate stabilization and protease stabilization. Additionally, the absence of the key flap-ligand bridging water molecule might imply a different catalytic mechanism of MDR769 HIV-1 protease compared to that of wild type (WT) HIV-1 protease.
A highly conserved tyrosine of Tim-3 is phosphorylated upon stimulation by its ligand galectin-9

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Weyer, Philipp S. van de; Muehlfeit, Michael; Klose, Christoph; Bonventre, Joseph V.; Walz, Gerd; Kuehn, E. Wolfgang

2006-01-01

Tim-3 is a member of the TIM family of proteins (T-cell immunoglobulin mucin) involved in the regulation of CD4+ T-cells. Tim-3 is a T H 1-specific type 1 membrane protein and regulates T H 1 proliferation and the development of tolerance. Binding of galectin-9 to the extracellular domain of Tim-3 results in apoptosis of T H 1 cells, but the intracellular pathways involved in the regulatory function of Tim-3 are unknown. Unlike Tim-1, which is expressed in renal epithelia and cancer, Tim-3 has not been described in cells other than neuronal or T-cells. Using RT-PCR we demonstrate that Tim-3 is expressed in malignant and non-malignant epithelial tissues. We have cloned Tim-3 from an immortalized liver cell carcinoma line and identified a highly conserved tyrosine in the intracellular tail of Tim-3 (Y265). We demonstrate that Y265 is specifically phosphorylated in vivo by the interleukin inducible T cell kinase (ITK), a kinase which is located in close proximity of the TIM genes on the allergy susceptibility locus 5q33.3. Stimulation of Tim-3 by its ligand galectin-9 results in increased phosphorylation of Y265, suggesting that this tyrosine residue plays an important role in downstream signalling events regulating T-cell fate. Given the role of TIM proteins in autoimmunity and cancer, the conserved SH2 binding domain surrounding Y265 could represent a possible target site for pharmacological intervention
The MARS15-based FermiCORD code system for calculation of the accelerator-induced residual dose

Science.gov (United States)

Grebe, A.; Leveling, A.; Lu, T.; Mokhov, N.; Pronskikh, V.

2018-01-01

The FermiCORD code system, a set of codes based on MARS15 that calculates the accelerator-induced residual doses at experimental facilities of arbitrary configurations, has been developed. FermiCORD is written in C++ as an add-on to Fortran-based MARS15. The FermiCORD algorithm consists of two stages: 1) simulation of residual doses on contact with the surfaces surrounding the studied location and of radionuclide inventories in the structures surrounding those locations using MARS15, and 2) simulation of the emission of the nuclear decay γ-quanta by the residuals in the activated structures and scoring the prompt doses of these γ-quanta at arbitrary distances from those structures. The FermiCORD code system has been benchmarked against similar algorithms based on other code systems and against experimental data from the CERF facility at CERN, and FermiCORD showed reasonable agreement with these. The code system has been applied for calculation of the residual dose of the target station for the Mu2e experiment and the results have been compared to approximate dosimetric approaches.
Antibody Binding Selectivity: Alternative Sets of Antigen Residues Entail High-Affinity Recognition.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yves Nominé

Full Text Available Understanding the relationship between protein sequence and molecular recognition selectivity remains a major challenge. The antibody fragment scFv1F4 recognizes with sub nM affinity a decapeptide (sequence 6TAMFQDPQER15 derived from the N-terminal end of human papilloma virus E6 oncoprotein. Using this decapeptide as antigen, we had previously shown that only the wild type amino-acid or conservative replacements were allowed at positions 9 to 12 and 15 of the peptide, indicating a strong binding selectivity. Nevertheless phenylalanine (F was equally well tolerated as the wild type glutamine (Q at position 13, while all other amino acids led to weaker scFv binding. The interfaces of complexes involving either Q or F are expected to diverge, due to the different physico-chemistry of these residues. This would imply that high-affinity binding can be achieved through distinct interfacial geometries. In order to investigate this point, we disrupted the scFv-peptide interface by modifying one or several peptide positions. We then analyzed the effect on binding of amino acid changes at the remaining positions, an altered susceptibility being indicative of an altered role in complex formation. The 23 starting variants analyzed contained replacements whose effects on scFv1F4 binding ranged from minor to drastic. A permutation analysis (effect of replacing each peptide position by all other amino acids except cysteine was carried out on the 23 variants using the PEPperCHIP® Platform technology. A comparison of their permutation patterns with that of the wild type peptide indicated that starting replacements at position 11, 12 or 13 modified the tolerance to amino-acid changes at the other two positions. The interdependence between the three positions was confirmed by SPR (Biacore® technology. Our data demonstrate that binding selectivity does not preclude the existence of alternative high-affinity recognition modes.
Conservative Management for Stable High Ankle Injuries in Professional Football Players.

Science.gov (United States)

Knapik, Derrick M; Trem, Anthony; Sheehan, Joseph; Salata, Michael J; Voos, James E

High ankle "syndesmosis" injuries are common in American football players relative to the general population. At the professional level, syndesmotic sprains represent a challenging and unique injury lacking a standardized rehabilitation protocol during conservative management. PubMed, Biosis Preview, SPORTDiscus, PEDro, and EMBASE databases were searched using the terms syndesmotic injuries, American football, conservative management, and rehabilitation. Clinical review. Level 3. When compared with lateral ankle sprains, syndesmosis injuries result in significantly prolonged recovery times and games lost. For stable syndesmotic injuries, conservative management features a brief period of immobilization and protected weightbearing followed by progressive strengthening exercises and running, and athletes can expect to return to competition in 2 to 6 weeks. Further research investigating the efficacy of dry needling and blood flow restriction therapy is necessary to evaluate the benefit of these techniques in the rehabilitation process. Successful conservative management of stable syndesmotic injuries in professional American football athletes requires a thorough understanding of the anatomy, injury mechanisms, diagnosis, and rehabilitation strategies utilized in elite athletes.
Study on the pelletizing of sulfate residue with magnetite concentrate in grate-kiln system

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Shufeng Y.

2010-01-01

Full Text Available The experiment on the feasibility of pelletizing with magnetite concentrate and the wasted sulfate residue was carried out, to research the performance of pellet in grate-kiln system and simulate the grate-kiln pelletizing process in the micro-pellet roasting simulation system in laboratory, and the process experiments on preheating and roasting sections were conducted. The results show that in order to obtain pellet with good performance and the magnetite concentrate should be over 20 in mass percent, the suitable pelletizing time is about 10 min and moisture is around 12.5%. Also, according to the process parameters of drying and preheating sections obtained from experiment, it will be successful to use magnetite concentrate and the wasted sulfate residue for pelletizing, which exploits a new way for the use of sulfate residue.
77 FR 24671 - Compliance Guide for Residue Prevention and Agency Testing Policy for Residues

Science.gov (United States)

2012-04-25

... Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) inspection system, another important component of the NRP is to provide verification of residue control in HACCP systems. As part of the HACCP regulation... guide, and FSIS finds violative residues, the establishment's HACCP system may be inadequate under 9 CFR...
Explicit high-order non-canonical symplectic particle-in-cell algorithms for Vlasov-Maxwell systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Xiao, Jianyuan; Liu, Jian; He, Yang; Zhang, Ruili; Qin, Hong; Sun, Yajuan

2015-01-01

Explicit high-order non-canonical symplectic particle-in-cell algorithms for classical particle-field systems governed by the Vlasov-Maxwell equations are developed. The algorithms conserve a discrete non-canonical symplectic structure derived from the Lagrangian of the particle-field system, which is naturally discrete in particles. The electromagnetic field is spatially discretized using the method of discrete exterior calculus with high-order interpolating differential forms for a cubic grid. The resulting time-domain Lagrangian assumes a non-canonical symplectic structure. It is also gauge invariant and conserves charge. The system is then solved using a structure-preserving splitting method discovered by He et al. [preprint http://arxiv.org/abs/arXiv:1505.06076 (2015)], which produces five exactly soluble sub-systems, and high-order structure-preserving algorithms follow by combinations. The explicit, high-order, and conservative nature of the algorithms is especially suitable for long-term simulations of particle-field systems with extremely large number of degrees of freedom on massively parallel supercomputers. The algorithms have been tested and verified by the two physics problems, i.e., the nonlinear Landau damping and the electron Bernstein wave
Explicit high-order non-canonical symplectic particle-in-cell algorithms for Vlasov-Maxwell systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Xiao, Jianyuan [School of Nuclear Science and Technology and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, CAS, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; Qin, Hong [School of Nuclear Science and Technology and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08543, USA; Liu, Jian [School of Nuclear Science and Technology and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, CAS, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; He, Yang [School of Nuclear Science and Technology and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, CAS, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; Zhang, Ruili [School of Nuclear Science and Technology and Department of Modern Physics, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; Key Laboratory of Geospace Environment, CAS, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China; Sun, Yajuan [LSEC, Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2719, Beijing 100190, China

2015-11-01

Explicit high-order non-canonical symplectic particle-in-cell algorithms for classical particle-field systems governed by the Vlasov-Maxwell equations are developed. The algorithms conserve a discrete non-canonical symplectic structure derived from the Lagrangian of the particle-field system, which is naturally discrete in particles. The electromagnetic field is spatially discretized using the method of discrete exterior calculus with high-order interpolating differential forms for a cubic grid. The resulting time-domain Lagrangian assumes a non-canonical symplectic structure. It is also gauge invariant and conserves charge. The system is then solved using a structure-preserving splitting method discovered by He et al. [preprint arXiv: 1505.06076 (2015)], which produces five exactly soluble sub-systems, and high-order structure-preserving algorithms follow by combinations. The explicit, high-order, and conservative nature of the algorithms is especially suitable for long-term simulations of particle-field systems with extremely large number of degrees of freedom on massively parallel supercomputers. The algorithms have been tested and verified by the two physics problems, i.e., the nonlinear Landau damping and the electron Bernstein wave. (C) 2015 AIP Publishing LLC.
Key Role of Cysteine Residues in Catalysis and Subcellular Localization of Sulfur Oxygenase-Reductase of Acidianus tengchongensis

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Chen, Z. W.; Jiang, C. Y.; She, Qunxin

2005-01-01

). The thio-modifying reagent N-ethylmaleimide and Zn2+ strongly inhibited the activities of the SORs of A. tengchongensis, suggesting that cysteine residues are important. Site-directed mutagenesis was used to construct four mutant SORs with cysteines replaced by serine or alanine. The purified mutant......Analysis of known sulfur oxygenase-reductases (SORs) and the SOR-like sequences identified from public databases indicated that they all possess three cysteine residues within two conserved motifs (V-G-P-K-V-C31 and C101-X-X-C104; numbering according to the Acidianus tengchongensis numbering system...... proteins were investigated in parallel with the wild-type SOR. Replacement of any cysteine reduced SOR activity by 98.4 to 100%, indicating that all the cysteine residues are crucial to SOR activities. Circular-dichroism and fluorescence spectrum analyses revealed that the wild-type and mutant SORs have...

Single molecule TPM analysis of the catalytic pentad mutants of Cre and Flp site-specific recombinases: contributions of the pentad residues to the pre-chemical steps of recombination

Science.gov (United States)

Fan, Hsiu-Fang; Cheng, Yong-Song; Ma, Chien-Hui; Jayaram, Makkuni

2015-01-01

Cre and Flp site-specific recombinase variants harboring point mutations at their conserved catalytic pentad positions were characterized using single molecule tethered particle motion (TPM) analysis. The findings reveal contributions of these amino acids to the pre-chemical steps of recombination. They suggest functional differences between positionally conserved residues in how they influence recombinase-target site association and formation of ‘non-productive’, ‘pre-synaptic’ and ‘synaptic’ complexes. The most striking difference between the two systems is noted for the single conserved lysine. The pentad residues in Cre enhance commitment to recombination by kinetically favoring the formation of pre-synaptic complexes. These residues in Flp serve a similar function by promoting Flp binding to target sites, reducing non-productive binding and/or enhancing the rate of assembly of synaptic complexes. Kinetic comparisons between Cre and Flp, and between their derivatives lacking the tyrosine nucleophile, are consistent with a stronger commitment to recombination in the Flp system. The effect of target site orientation (head-to-head or head-to-tail) on the TPM behavior of synapsed DNA molecules supports the selection of anti-parallel target site alignment prior to the chemical steps. The integrity of the synapse, whose establishment/stability is fostered by strand cleavage in the case of Flp but not Cre, appears to be compromised by the pentad mutations. PMID:25765648
Residue Geometry Networks: A Rigidity-Based Approach to the Amino Acid Network and Evolutionary Rate Analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Fokas, Alexander S.; Cole, Daniel J.; Ahnert, Sebastian E.; Chin, Alex W.

2016-01-01

Amino acid networks (AANs) abstract the protein structure by recording the amino acid contacts and can provide insight into protein function. Herein, we describe a novel AAN construction technique that employs the rigidity analysis tool, FIRST, to build the AAN, which we refer to as the residue geometry network (RGN). We show that this new construction can be combined with network theory methods to include the effects of allowed conformal motions and local chemical environments. Importantly, this is done without costly molecular dynamics simulations required by other AAN-related methods, which allows us to analyse large proteins and/or data sets. We have calculated the centrality of the residues belonging to 795 proteins. The results display a strong, negative correlation between residue centrality and the evolutionary rate. Furthermore, among residues with high closeness, those with low degree were particularly strongly conserved. Random walk simulations using the RGN were also successful in identifying allosteric residues in proteins involved in GPCR signalling. The dynamic function of these residues largely remain hidden in the traditional distance-cutoff construction technique. Despite being constructed from only the crystal structure, the results in this paper suggests that the RGN can identify residues that fulfil a dynamical function. PMID:27623708
Converting biowaste corncob residue into high value added porous carbon for supercapacitor electrodes.

Science.gov (United States)

Qu, Wen-Hui; Xu, Yuan-Yuan; Lu, An-Hui; Zhang, Xiang-Qian; Li, Wen-Cui

2015-08-01

In this report, corncob residue, the main by-product in the furfural industry, is used as a precursor to prepare porous carbon by a simple and direct thermal treatment: one-step activation without pre-carbonization. As a consequence, the corncob residue derived porous carbon achieves a high surface area of 1210 m(2) g(-1) after ash-removal. The carbon material has the advantages of low cost and low environmental impact, with a superior electrochemical performance compared to those polymer-based synthetic carbons as electrode material for a supercapacitor. The carbon electrode exhibits a high capacitance of 314 F g(-1) in 6M KOH electrolyte. The corresponding sample also shows a superb cycling stability. Almost no capacitance decay was observed after 100,000 cycles. The excellent electrochemical performance is due to the combination of a high specific surface area with a fraction of mesopores and highly stable structure. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
A study of the indication for conservative surgery in adult hydronephrosis based on presurgery post-contrast computed tomography (CT) finding

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawai, Noriyasu; Tsugaya, Masayuki; Sakagami, Hiroshi; Sasaki, Shoichi; Kohri, Kenjiro

1997-01-01

The cases with adult hydronephrosis are usually performed either conservative surgery or nephrectomy according to the grade of residual renal function. The residual renal function of adult hydronephrosis are usually suspected with analysis of concentration and/or clearance of the renal urine content after percutaneous nephrostomy. However, percutaneous nephrostomy is invasive and risky. On the other hand, post-contrast computed tomography (CT) is non-invasive. We studied whether post-contrast CT is available for the assessment of residual renal function of adult hydronephrosis and also studied the indication for conservative surgery of adult hydronephrosis on post-contrast CT. Conservative surgery or nephrectomy was performed in 14 patients with adult hydronephrosis in the duration from April, 1986 to March, 1995. All of 14 patients (14 kidneys) hydronephrosis were retrospectively studied of the character in the indication for conservative surgery by post-contrast CT before surgery. The indication for conservative surgery of adult hydronephrosis on post-contrast CT are well enhanced renal parenchyma exist round the kidney, even if it is very thin, and excretion of contrast medium to renal calyx are showed. It was concluded that post-contrast CT might be useful for the assessment of residual renal function of adult hydronephrosis. (author)
Nanometer-scale structure of alkali-soluble bio-macromolecules of maize plant residues explains their recalcitrance in soil.

Science.gov (United States)

Adani, Fabrizio; Salati, Silvia; Spagnol, Manuela; Tambone, Fulvia; Genevini, Pierluigi; Pilu, Roberto; Nierop, Klaas G J

2009-07-01

The quantity and quality of plant litter in the soil play an important role in the soil organic matter balance. Besides other pedo-climatic aspects, the content of recalcitrant molecules of plant residues and their chemical composition play a major role in the preservation of plant residues. In this study, we report that intrinsically resistant alkali-soluble bio-macromolecules extracted from maize plant (plant-humic acid) (plant-HA) contribute directly to the soil organic matter (OM) by its addition and conservation in the soil. Furthermore, we also observed that a high syringyl/guaiacyl (S/G) ratio in the lignin residues comprising the plant tissue, which modifies the microscopic structure of the alkali-soluble plant biopolymers, enhances their recalcitrance because of lower accessibility of molecules to degrading enzymes. These results are in agreement with a recent study, which showed that the humic substance of soil consists of a mixture of identifiable biopolymers obtained directly from plant tissues that are added annually by maize plant residues.
Spatial overlap between environmental policy instruments and areas of high conservation value in forest.

Science.gov (United States)

Sverdrup-Thygeson, Anne; Søgaard, Gunnhild; Rusch, Graciela M; Barton, David N

2014-01-01

In order to safeguard biodiversity in forest we need to know how forest policy instruments work. Here we use a nationwide network of 9400 plots in productive forest to analyze to what extent large-scale policy instruments, individually and together, target forest of high conservation value in Norway. We studied both instruments working through direct regulation; Strict Protection and Landscape Protection, and instruments working through management planning and voluntary schemes of forest certification; Wilderness Area and Mountain Forest. As forest of high conservation value (HCV-forest) we considered the extent of 12 Biodiversity Habitats and the extent of Old-Age Forest. We found that 22% of productive forest area contained Biodiversity Habitats. More than 70% of this area was not covered by any large-scale instruments. Mountain Forest covered 23%, while Strict Protection and Wilderness both covered 5% of the Biodiversity Habitat area. A total of 9% of productive forest area contained Old-Age Forest, and the relative coverage of the four instruments was similar as for Biodiversity Habitats. For all instruments, except Landscape Protection, the targeted areas contained significantly higher proportions of HCV-forest than areas not targeted by these instruments. Areas targeted by Strict Protection had higher proportions of HCV-forest than areas targeted by other instruments, except for areas targeted by Wilderness Area which showed similar proportions of Biodiversity Habitats. There was a substantial amount of spatial overlap between the policy tools, but no incremental conservation effect of overlapping instruments in terms of contributing to higher percentages of targeted HCV-forest. Our results reveal that although the current policy mix has an above average representation of forest of high conservation value, the targeting efficiency in terms of area overlap is limited. There is a need to improve forest conservation and a potential to cover this need by better
Evolutionary conservativeness of electric field in the Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase active site. Evidence for co-ordinated mutation of charged amino acid residues.

Science.gov (United States)

Desideri, A; Falconi, M; Polticelli, F; Bolognesi, M; Djinovic, K; Rotilio, G

1992-01-05

Equipotential lines were calculated, using the Poisson-Boltzmann equation, for six Cu,Zn superoxide dismutases with different protein electric charge and various degrees of sequence homology, namely those from ox, pig, sheep, yeast, and the isoenzymes A and B from the amphibian Xenopus laevis. The three-dimensional structures of the porcine and ovine superoxide dismutases were obtained by molecular modelling reconstruction using the structure of the highly homologous bovine enzyme as a template. The three-dimensional structure of the evolutionary distant yeast Cu,Zn superoxide dismutase was recently resolved by us, while computer-modelled structures are available for X. laevis isoenzymes. The six proteins display large differences in the net protein charge and distribution of electrically charged surface residues but the trend of the equipotential lines in the proximity of the active sites was found to be constant in all cases. These results are in line with the very similar catlytic rate constants experimentally measured for the corresponding enzyme activities. This analysis shows that electrostatic guidance for the enzyme-substrate interaction in Cu,Zn superoxide dismutases is related to a spatial distribution of charges, arranged so as to maintain, in the area surrounding the active sites, an identical electrostatic potential distribution, which is conserved in the evolution of this protein family.
Protected River. A new concept for conservation management of fluvial systems in Colombia

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Andrade; German I

2011-01-01

Based upon the concept of Ecological Integrity, relevant geophysical, bio- ecological and social attributes for river systems area identified. It is argued that current conservation and environmental management instruments in Colombia, do not take into account the identified IE attributes simultaneously. The concept of Protected River, PR, is then presented, as a necessary complement for conservation strategies. The PR concept would be defined for the maintenance of the attributes of EI in some representative river systems, as a part of the biodiversity conservation objectives within the Convention of Biological Diversity. Some attributes and indicators, and thresholds of undesired change are discussed. A typology for PR is proposed, following the international protected area management categories.
Additional Surgery after Breast-Conserving Surgery Varies Widely

Science.gov (United States)

A study published in the Feb. 1, 2012, issue of JAMA found that the number of women who have one or more additional surgeries to remove suspected residual tumor tissue (re-excisions) following breast-conserving surgery (BCS) for breast cancer varies widely across surgeons and hospitals.
Customer system efficiency improvement assessment: Supply curves for transmission and distribution conservation options

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tepel, R.C.; Callaway, J.W.; De Steese, J.G.

1987-11-01

This report documents the results of Task 6 in the Customer System Efficiency Improvement (CSEI) Assessment Project. A principal objective of this project is to assess the potential for energy conservation in the transmission and distribution (TandD) systems of electric utilities in the BPA service area. The scope of this assessment covers BPA customers in the Pacific Northwest region and all non-federal TandD systems, including those that currently place no load on the BPA system. Supply curves were developed to describe the conservation resource potentially available from TandD-system efficiency improvements. These supply curves relate the levelized cost of upgrading existing equipment to the estimated amount of energy saved. Stated in this form, the resource represented by TandD loss reductions can be compared with other conservation options and regional electrical generation resources to determine the most cost-effective method of supplying power to the Pacific Northwest. The development of the supply curves required data acquisition and methodology development that are also described in this report. 11 refs., 11 figs., 16 tabs.
Insulator–metal transition in a conservative system: An evidence for ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

substrate, suggest that the mobility coalescence is responsible for the aging in island metal films. ... esting transition observed in a conservative system – after the stoppage of ... Oxidation of islands model and mobility coalescence model.
High-Order Entropy Stable Finite Difference Schemes for Nonlinear Conservation Laws: Finite Domains

Science.gov (United States)

Fisher, Travis C.; Carpenter, Mark H.

2013-01-01

Developing stable and robust high-order finite difference schemes requires mathematical formalism and appropriate methods of analysis. In this work, nonlinear entropy stability is used to derive provably stable high-order finite difference methods with formal boundary closures for conservation laws. Particular emphasis is placed on the entropy stability of the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. A newly derived entropy stable weighted essentially non-oscillatory finite difference method is used to simulate problems with shocks and a conservative, entropy stable, narrow-stencil finite difference approach is used to approximate viscous terms.
Residual gas analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Berecz, I.

1982-01-01

Determination of the residual gas composition in vacuum systems by a special mass spectrometric method was presented. The quadrupole mass spectrometer (QMS) and its application in thin film technology was discussed. Results, partial pressure versus time curves as well as the line spectra of the residual gases in case of the vaporization of a Ti-Pd-Au alloy were demonstrated together with the possible construction schemes of QMS residual gas analysers. (Sz.J.)
Residue Leu(940) Has a Crucial Role in the Linkage and Reaction Specificity of the Glucansucrase GTF180 of the Probiotic Bacterium Lactobacillus reuteri 180

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Meng, Xiangfeng; Dobruchowska, Justyna M.; Pijning, Tjaard; Lopez-Bautista, Cesar; Kamerling, Johannis P.; Dijkhuizen, Lubbert

2014-01-01

Highly conserved GH70 family glucansucrases are able to catalyze the synthesis of α-glucans with different structure from sucrose. The structural determinants of glucansucrase specificity have remained unclear. Residue L940 in domain B of GTF180, the glucansucrase of the probiotic bacterium
On residual gas analysis during high temperature baking of graphite tiles

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prakash, A A; Chaudhuri, P; Khirwadkar, S; Reddy, D Chenna; Saxena, Y C; Chauhan, N; Raole, P M

2008-01-01

Steady-state Super-conducting Tokamak-1 (SST-1) is a medium size tokamak with major radius of 1.1 m and minor radius of 0.20 m. It is designed for plasma discharge duration of 1000 seconds to obtain fully steady-state plasma operation. Plasma Facing Components (PFC), consisting of divertors, passive stabilizers, baffles and poloidal limiters are also designed to be UHV compatible for steady state operation. All PFC are made up of graphite tiles mechanically attached to the copper alloy substrate. Graphite is one of the preferred first wall armour material in present day tokamaks. High thermal shock resistance and low atomic number of carbon are the most important properties of graphite for this application. High temperature vacuum baking of graphite tiles is the standard process to remove the impurities. Residual Gas Analyzer (RGA) has been used for qualitative and quantitative measurements of released gases from graphite tiles during baking. Surface Analysis of graphite tiles has also been done before and after baking. This paper describes the residual gas analysis during baking and surface analysis of graphite tiles
On residual gas analysis during high temperature baking of graphite tiles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Prakash, A A; Chaudhuri, P; Khirwadkar, S; Reddy, D Chenna; Saxena, Y C [Institute for Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar - 382 428 (India); Chauhan, N; Raole, P M [Facilitation Center for Industrial Plasma Technologies, IPR, Gandhinagar (India)], E-mail: arun@ipr.res.in

2008-05-01

Steady-state Super-conducting Tokamak-1 (SST-1) is a medium size tokamak with major radius of 1.1 m and minor radius of 0.20 m. It is designed for plasma discharge duration of 1000 seconds to obtain fully steady-state plasma operation. Plasma Facing Components (PFC), consisting of divertors, passive stabilizers, baffles and poloidal limiters are also designed to be UHV compatible for steady state operation. All PFC are made up of graphite tiles mechanically attached to the copper alloy substrate. Graphite is one of the preferred first wall armour material in present day tokamaks. High thermal shock resistance and low atomic number of carbon are the most important properties of graphite for this application. High temperature vacuum baking of graphite tiles is the standard process to remove the impurities. Residual Gas Analyzer (RGA) has been used for qualitative and quantitative measurements of released gases from graphite tiles during baking. Surface Analysis of graphite tiles has also been done before and after baking. This paper describes the residual gas analysis during baking and surface analysis of graphite tiles.
Impact of Vial Capping on Residual Seal Force and Container Closure Integrity.

Science.gov (United States)

Mathaes, Roman; Mahler, Hanns-Christian; Roggo, Yves; Ovadia, Robert; Lam, Philippe; Stauch, Oliver; Vogt, Martin; Roehl, Holger; Huwyler, Joerg; Mohl, Silke; Streubel, Alexander

2016-01-01

The vial capping process is a critical unit operation during drug product manufacturing, as it could possibly generate cosmetic defects or even affect container closure integrity. Yet there is significant variability in capping equipment and processes, and their relation to potential defects or container closure integrity has not been thoroughly studied. In this study we applied several methods-residual seal force tester, a self-developed system of a piezo force sensor measurement, and computed tomography-to characterize different container closure system combinations that had been sealed using different capping process parameter settings. Additionally, container closure integrity of these samples was measured using helium leakage (physical container closure integrity) and compared to characterization data. The different capping equipment settings lead to residual seal force values from 7 to 115 N. High residual seal force values were achieved with high capping pre-compression force and a short distance between the capping plate and plunge. The choice of container closure system influenced the obtained residual seal force values. The residual seal force tester and piezoelectric measurements showed similar trends. All vials passed physical container closure integrity testing, and no stopper rupture was seen with any of the settings applied, suggesting that container closure integrity was warranted for the studied container closure system with the chosen capping setting ranges. The vial capping process is a critical unit operation during drug product manufacturing, as it could possibly generate cosmetic defects or even affect container closure integrity. Yet there is significant variability in capping equipment and processes, and their relation to potential defects or container closure integrity has not been thoroughly studied. In this study we applied several methods-residual seal force tester, a self-developed system of a piezo force sensor measurement, and
New families of conservative systems on $S^2$ possessing an integral of fourth degree in momenta

OpenAIRE

Selivanova, Elena N.

1997-01-01

There is a well-known example of integrable conservative system on $S^2$, the case of Kovalevskaya in the dynamics of a rigid body, possessing an integral of fourth degree in momenta. Goryachev proposed a one-parameter family of examples of conservative systems on $S^2$ possessing an integral of fourth degree in momenta which includes the case of Kovalevskaya. In this paper we proposed new examples of conservative systems on $S^2$ possessing an integral of fourth degree in momenta.
NOA36 Protein Contains a Highly Conserved Nucleolar Localization Signal Capable of Directing Functional Proteins to the Nucleolus, in Mammalian Cells

Science.gov (United States)

de Melo, Ivan S.; Jimenez-Nuñez, Maria D.; Iglesias, Concepción; Campos-Caro, Antonio; Moreno-Sanchez, David; Ruiz, Felix A.; Bolívar, Jorge

2013-01-01

NOA36/ZNF330 is an evolutionarily well-preserved protein present in the nucleolus and mitochondria of mammalian cells. We have previously reported that the pro-apoptotic activity of this protein is mediated by a characteristic cysteine-rich domain. We now demonstrate that the nucleolar localization of NOA36 is due to a highly-conserved nucleolar localization signal (NoLS) present in residues 1–33. This NoLS is a sequence containing three clusters of two or three basic amino acids. We fused the amino terminal of NOA36 to eGFP in order to characterize this putative NoLS. We show that a cluster of three lysine residues at positions 3 to 5 within this sequence is critical for the nucleolar localization. We also demonstrate that the sequence as found in human is capable of directing eGFP to the nucleolus in several mammal, fish and insect cells. Moreover, this NoLS is capable of specifically directing the cytosolic yeast enzyme polyphosphatase to the target of the nucleolus of HeLa cells, wherein its enzymatic activity was detected. This NoLS could therefore serve as a very useful tool as a nucleolar marker and for directing particular proteins to the nucleolus in distant animal species. PMID:23516598
A second-order, unconditionally positive, mass-conserving integration scheme for biochemical systems.

NARCIS (Netherlands)

F.J. Bruggeman (Frank); H. Burchard; B. Kooi; B.P. Sommeijer (Ben)

2006-01-01

textabstractBiochemical systems are bound by two mathematically-relevant restrictions. First, state variables in such systems represent non-negative quantities, such as concentrations of chemical compounds. Second, biochemical systems conserve mass and energy. Both properties must be reflected in

Semi-discrete approximations to nonlinear systems of conservation laws; consistency and L(infinity)-stability imply convergence. Final report

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tadmor, E.

1988-07-01

A convergence theory for semi-discrete approximations to nonlinear systems of conservation laws is developed. It is shown, by a series of scalar counter-examples, that consistency with the conservation law alone does not guarantee convergence. Instead, a notion of consistency which takes into account both the conservation law and its augmenting entropy condition is introduced. In this context it is concluded that consistency and L(infinity)-stability guarantee for a relevant class of admissible entropy functions, that their entropy production rate belongs to a compact subset of H(loc)sup -1 (x,t). One can now use compensated compactness arguments in order to turn this conclusion into a convergence proof. The current state of the art for these arguments includes the scalar and a wide class of 2 x 2 systems of conservation laws. The general framework of the vanishing viscosity method is studied as an effective way to meet the consistency and L(infinity)-stability requirements. How this method is utilized to enforce consistency and stability for scalar conservation laws is shown. In this context we prove, under the appropriate assumptions, the convergence of finite difference approximations (e.g., the high resolution TVD and UNO methods), finite element approximations (e.g., the Streamline-Diffusion methods) and spectral and pseudospectral approximations (e.g., the Spectral Viscosity methods)
Residual generation with unknown input observer for linear systems in the presence of unmatched uncertainties

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bagherpour, Esmaeel A.; HairiTazdi, Mohammad Reza; Mahjoob, Mohammad

2014-01-01

In this paper, we deal with residual vector generation for fault detection problems in linear systems via unknown input observer (UIO) when the so-called observer matching condition is not satisfied. Based on the relative degree between unknown input and output, a vector of the auxiliary output is introduced so that the observer matching condition is satisfied with respect to the vector. Auxiliary outputs are related to the derivatives of measured signals. However, differentiation leads to excessive amplification of measurement noise. A dynamically equivalent configuration of linear systems is developed using successive integrations to avoid differentiation. As such, auxiliary outputs are constructed without differentiation. Then, the equivalent dynamic system and its corresponding auxiliary outputs are used to generate the residual vector via an exponentially converging UIO. Fault detection in the generated residual vector is also investigated. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed method is shown via numerical simulation.
Mutations in conserved amino acids in the KCNQ1 channel and risk of cardiac events in type-1 long-QT syndrome

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Jons, Christian; Moss, Arthur J; Lopes, Coeli M

2009-01-01

BACKGROUND: Type-1 long-QT syndrome (LQT1) is caused by mutations in the KCNQ1 gene. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether KCNQ1 mutations in highly conserved amino acid residues within the voltage-gated potassium channel family are associated with an increased risk of cardiac even...
[Two- and three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasound in the follow-up of placenta accreta treated conservatively].

Science.gov (United States)

Roulot, A; Barranger, E; Morel, O; Soyer, P; Héquet, D

2015-02-01

To determinate the potential of 2D and 3D-ultrasound in the follow-up of patients with placenta accreta treated conservatively. Seven patients with placenta accreta treated conservatively during June 2007 and September 2009 were included. The follow-up consisted in clinical examination and 2D/3D-ultrasound once a month. Criteria studied included clinical outcome, echogenicity at 2D-ultrasound, vascularisation at colour Doppler, Mean Grey at 3D-ultrasound and vascularisation, flow and perfusion index. Seven women with invasive placenta (3 placentas accreta and 2 percreta) were studied. The mean follow-up was 228 days [75-369]. Mean delay for complete elimination of residual placenta was 280 days [120-365]. The two main results were: presence of an increased anechogenicpart in residual placenta before complete resorption for all patients; a systematic and concomitant stop of genital haemorrhage and vascularisation at colour Doppler. High degrees of variability in parameters measured at 3D-ultrasound were observed between patients so that correlations with clinical outcome were found. Long and regular follow-up is essential after conservative management but the role of 3D-ultrasound compared to 2D-ultrasound was not demonstrated in this study. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Species Richness and Community Structure on a High Latitude Reef: Implications for Conservation and Management

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Wayne Houston

2011-07-01

Full Text Available In spite of the wealth of research on the Great Barrier Reef, few detailed biodiversity assessments of its inshore coral communities have been conducted. Effective conservation and management of marine ecosystems begins with fine-scale biophysical assessments focused on diversity and the architectural species that build the structural framework of the reef. In this study, we investigate key coral diversity and environmental attributes of an inshore reef system surrounding the Keppel Bay Islands near Rockhampton in Central Queensland, Australia, and assess their implications for conservation and management. The Keppels has much higher coral diversity than previously found. The average species richness for the 19 study sites was ~40 with representatives from 68% of the ~244 species previously described for the southern Great Barrier Reef. Using scleractinian coral species richness, taxonomic distinctiveness and coral cover as the main criteria, we found that five out of 19 sites had particularly high conservation value. A further site was also considered to be of relatively high value. Corals at this site were taxonomically distinct from the others (representatives of two families were found here but not at other sites and a wide range of functionally diverse taxa were present. This site was associated with more stressful conditions such as high temperatures and turbidity. Highly diverse coral communities or biodiversity ‘hotspots’ and taxonomically distinct reefs may act as insurance policies for climatic disturbance, much like Noah’s Arks for reefs. While improving water quality and limiting anthropogenic impacts are clearly important management initiatives to improve the long-term outlook for inshore reefs, identifying, mapping and protecting these coastal ‘refugia’ may be the key for ensuring their regeneration against catastrophic climatic disturbance in the meantime.
Simple connection between conservation laws in the Korteweg--de Vriesand sine-Gordon systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chodos, A.

1980-01-01

An infinite sequence of conserved quantities follows from the Lax representation in both the Korteweg--de Vries and sine-Gordon systems. We show that these two sequences are related by a simple substitution. In an appendix, two different methods of deriving conservation laws from the Lax representation are presented
Evolutionary growth process of highly conserved sequences in vertebrate genomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ishibashi, Minaka; Noda, Akiko Ogura; Sakate, Ryuichi; Imanishi, Tadashi

2012-08-01

Genome sequence comparison between evolutionarily distant species revealed ultraconserved elements (UCEs) among mammals under strong purifying selection. Most of them were also conserved among vertebrates. Because they tend to be located in the flanking regions of developmental genes, they would have fundamental roles in creating vertebrate body plans. However, the evolutionary origin and selection mechanism of these UCEs remain unclear. Here we report that UCEs arose in primitive vertebrates, and gradually grew in vertebrate evolution. We searched for UCEs in two teleost fishes, Tetraodon nigroviridis and Oryzias latipes, and found 554 UCEs with 100% identity over 100 bps. Comparison of teleost and mammalian UCEs revealed 43 pairs of common, jawed-vertebrate UCEs (jUCE) with high sequence identities, ranging from 83.1% to 99.2%. Ten of them retain lower similarities to the Petromyzon marinus genome, and the substitution rates of four non-exonic jUCEs were reduced after the teleost-mammal divergence, suggesting that robust conservation had been acquired in the jawed vertebrate lineage. Our results indicate that prototypical UCEs originated before the divergence of jawed and jawless vertebrates and have been frozen as perfect conserved sequences in the jawed vertebrate lineage. In addition, our comparative sequence analyses of UCEs and neighboring regions resulted in a discovery of lineage-specific conserved sequences. They were added progressively to prototypical UCEs, suggesting step-wise acquisition of novel regulatory roles. Our results indicate that conserved non-coding elements (CNEs) consist of blocks with distinct evolutionary history, each having been frozen since different evolutionary era along the vertebrate lineage. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Loop 7 of E2 enzymes: an ancestral conserved functional motif involved in the E2-mediated steps of the ubiquitination cascade.

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Elena Papaleo

Full Text Available The ubiquitin (Ub system controls almost every aspect of eukaryotic cell biology. Protein ubiquitination depends on the sequential action of three classes of enzymes (E1, E2 and E3. E2 Ub-conjugating enzymes have a central role in the ubiquitination pathway, interacting with both E1 and E3, and influencing the ultimate fate of the substrates. Several E2s are characterized by an extended acidic insertion in loop 7 (L7, which if mutated is known to impair the proper E2-related functions. In the present contribution, we show that acidic loop is a conserved ancestral motif in E2s, relying on the presence of alternate hydrophobic and acidic residues. Moreover, the dynamic properties of a subset of family 3 E2s, as well as their binary and ternary complexes with Ub and the cognate E3, have been investigated. Here we provide a model of L7 role in the different steps of the ubiquitination cascade of family 3 E2s. The L7 hydrophobic residues turned out to be the main determinant for the stabilization of the E2 inactive conformations by a tight network of interactions in the catalytic cleft. Moreover, phosphorylation is known from previous studies to promote E2 competent conformations for Ub charging, inducing electrostatic repulsion and acting on the L7 acidic residues. Here we show that these active conformations are stabilized by a network of hydrophobic interactions between L7 and L4, the latter being a conserved interface for E3-recruitment in several E2s. In the successive steps, L7 conserved acidic residues also provide an interaction interface for both Ub and the Rbx1 RING subdomain of the cognate E3. Our data therefore suggest a crucial role for L7 of family 3 E2s in all the E2-mediated steps of the ubiquitination cascade. Its different functions are exploited thank to its conserved hydrophobic and acidic residues in a finely orchestrate mechanism.
Partial alignment and measurement of residual dipolar couplings of proteins under high hydrostatic pressure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Fu, Yinan; Wand, A. Joshua, E-mail: wand@mail.med.upenn.edu [University of Pennsylvania, Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Johnson Research Foundation (United States)

2013-08-15

High-pressure NMR spectroscopy has emerged as a complementary approach for investigating various structural and thermodynamic properties of macromolecules. Noticeably absent from the array of experimental restraints that have been employed to characterize protein structures at high hydrostatic pressure is the residual dipolar coupling, which requires the partial alignment of the macromolecule of interest. Here we examine five alignment media that are commonly used at ambient pressure for this purpose. We find that the spontaneous alignment of Pf1 phage, d(GpG) and a C12E5/n-hexnanol mixture in a magnetic field is preserved under high hydrostatic pressure. However, DMPC/DHPC bicelles and collagen gel are found to be unsuitable. Evidence is presented to demonstrate that pressure-induced structural changes can be identified using the residual dipolar coupling.
Symmetry of Hamiltonian and conserved quantity for a system of generalized classical mechanics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhang Yi

2011-01-01

This paper focuses on a new symmetry of Hamiltonian and its conserved quantity for a system of generalized classical mechanics. The differential equations of motion of the system are established. The definition and the criterion of the symmetry of Hamiltonian of the system are given. A conserved quantity directly derived from the symmetry of Hamiltonian of the generalized classical mechanical system is given. Since a Hamilton system is a special case of the generalized classical mechanics, the results above are equally applicable to the Hamilton system. The results of the paper are the generalization of a theorem known for the existing nonsingular equivalent Lagrangian. Finally, two examples are given to illustrate the application of the results. (electromagnetism, optics, acoustics, heat transfer, classical mechanics, and fluid dynamics)
Residual-stress distributions near stainless steel butt weldments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Elligson, W.A.; Shack, W.J.

1978-01-01

Concern for the integrity of stainless steel butt-weldments in boiling-water-reactor (BWR) piping systems has stimulated study of the conditions that cause stress corrosion cracking (SCC) in the heat-affected zones (HAZ) of the weldments. It is generally agreed that a high stress exceeding the initial yield strength is one of the essential elements for crack initiation. Since design procedures usually ensure that load stresses are below initial yield, the source of the high stresses necessary to produce SCC is thought to be the residual stresses due to welding. To examine the level of residual stresses in the weldments of interest, bulk residual stresses were measured on 100 mm (4-in.) and 254 mm (10-in.) diameter Schedule 80 piping weldments using strain relief techniques. Both laboratory welded specimens and field welded specimens from reactors in service were studied. Axial bulk residual stress distributions were obtained at 45 0 intervals around the circumference. At each azimuthal position, the residual stresses were measured at seven axial positions: on the weld centerline and 13, 20, and 25 mm on either side of the weld centerline on both the inside and outside surfaces
Advanced new technologies for residue upgrading

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gillis, D.

1997-01-01

Viewgraphs summarizing UOP technologies for residue are provided. The upgrading technologies include: (1) Aquaconversion, (2) the Discriminatory Destructive Distillation process (3D), and (3) the RCD uniflex process. The Aquaconversion process is based on catalytic hydrovisbreaking. It makes use of a homogeneous (liquid phase) catalyst. The hydrogen is derived from water. The advantages of this process are improved residue stability and quality at higher conversion levels, high synthetic crude yields, low operational complexity, reduced transportation costs. The 3D process is a unique carbon rejection contaminant removal process which can process whole crudes through viscous residues. FCC type equipment is used. Performance characteristics and advantages of the process were highlighted. The RCD uniflex process makes use of proven fixed bed and ebullated bed technologies in a new process configuration in which the fixed bed system is located upstream of the ebullated bed system. In this process, the catalyst volume increases exponentially with increasing processing severity. Performance characteristics, design features, benefits and development progress to date are described. 1 tab., 21 figs
From conservation laws to port-Hamiltonian representations of distributed-parameter systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Maschke, B.M.; van der Schaft, Arjan; Piztek, P.

Abstract: In this paper it is shown how the port-Hamiltonian formulation of distributed-parameter systems is closely related to the general thermodynamic framework of systems of conservation laws and closure equations. The situation turns out to be similar to the lumped-parameter case where the
Constrained dansyl derivatives reveal bacterial specificity of highly conserved thymidylate synthases.

Science.gov (United States)

Calò, Sanuele; Tondi, Donatella; Ferrari, Stefania; Venturelli, Alberto; Ghelli, Stefano; Costi, Maria Paola

2008-03-25

The elucidation of the structural/functional specificities of highly conserved enzymes remains a challenging area of investigation, and enzymes involved in cellular replication are important targets for functional studies and drug discovery. Thymidylate synthase (TS, ThyA) governs the synthesis of thymidylate for use in DNA synthesis. The present study focused on Lactobacillus casei TS (LcTS) and Escherichia coli TS (EcTS), which exhibit 50 % sequence identity and strong folding similarity. We have successfully designed and validated a chemical model in which linear, but not constrained, dansyl derivatives specifically complement the LcTS active site. Conversely, chemically constrained dansyl derivatives showed up to 1000-fold improved affinity for EcTS relative to the inhibitory activity of linear derivatives. This study demonstrates that the accurate design of small ligands can uncover functional features of highly conserved enzymes.
Determination of tylosin residues in pig tissues using high-performance liquid chromatography.

Science.gov (United States)

De Liguoro, M; Anfossi, P; Angeletti, R; Montesissa, C

1998-06-01

In accordance with the maximum residue limit of 100 micrograms kg-1 established by EU legislation, a simple and sensitive high-performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) method was developed for the measurement of tylosin residues in pig tissues (fat, kidney, liver and muscle). Tylosin, a macrolide antibiotic, is extracted with water-methanol and cleaned-up by solid-phase extraction (SPE) on cation-exchange cartridges using methanol elution. Tylosin was determined by reversed-phase HPLC with UV detection at 280 nm and the mean recovery from pig tissues fortified in the range 50-200 micrograms kg-1 was 70-85%, with intra- and inter-day RSDs in the ranges 3.4-9.1 and 3.9-10.1% respectively.
Integrating soil conservation practices and glyphosate-resistant crops: impacts on soil.

Science.gov (United States)

Locke, Martin A; Zablotowicz, Robert M; Reddy, Krishna N

2008-04-01

Conservation practices often associated with glyphosate-resistant crops, e.g. limited tillage and crop cover, improve soil conditions, but only limited research has evaluated their effects on soil in combination with glyphosate-resistant crops. It is assumed that conservation practices have similar benefits to soil whether or not glyphosate-resistant crops are used. This paper reviews the impact on soil of conservation practices and glyphosate-resistant crops, and presents data from a Mississippi field trial comparing glyphosate-resistant and non-glyphosate-resistant maize (Zea mays L.) and cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) under limited tillage management. Results from the reduced-tillage study indicate differences in soil biological and chemical properties owing to glyphosate-resistant crops. Under continuous glyphosate-resistant maize, soils maintained greater soil organic carbon and nitrogen as compared with continuous non-glyphosate-resistant maize, but no differences were measured in continuous cotton or in cotton rotated with maize. Soil microbial community structure based on total fatty acid methyl ester analysis indicated a significant effect of glyphosate-resistant crop following 5 years of continuous glyphosate-resistant crop as compared with the non-glyphosate-resistant crop system. Results from this study, as well as the literature review, indicate differences attributable to the interaction of conservation practices and glyphosate-resistant crop, but many are transient and benign for the soil ecosystem. Glyphosate use may result in minor effects on soil biological/chemical properties. However, enhanced organic carbon and plant residues in surface soils under conservation practices may buffer potential effects of glyphosate. Long-term field research established under various cropping systems and ecological regions is needed for critical assessment of glyphosate-resistant crop and conservation practice interactions. Copyright (c) 2008 by John Wiley & Sons
Conformal invariance and conserved quantities of Appell systems under second-class Mei symmetry

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yi-Ping, Luo; Jing-Li, Fu

2010-01-01

In this paper we introduce the new concept of the conformal invariance and the conserved quantities for Appell systems under second-class Mei symmetry. The one-parameter infinitesimal transformation group and infinitesimal transformation vector of generator are described in detail. The conformal factor in the determining equations under second-class Mei symmetry is found. The relationship between Appell system's conformal invariance and Mei symmetry are discussed. And Appell system's conformal invariance under second-class Mei symmetry may lead to corresponding Hojman conserved quantities when the conformal invariance satisfies some conditions. Lastly, an example is provided to illustrate the application of the result. (general)
Identification of a highly conserved domain in the EcoRII methyltransferase which can be photolabeled with S-adenosyl-L-[methyl-3H]methionine. Evidence for UV-induced transmethylation of cysteine 186

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Som, S.; Friedman, S.

1991-01-01

DNA methyltransferases can be photolabeled with S-adenosyl-L-methionine (AdoMet). Specific incorporation of radioactivity has been demonstrated after photolabeling with either [methyl-3H]AdoMet or [35S]AdoMet. The labeling is believed to occur at the AdoMet binding site. With the purpose of localizing the site responsible for [methyl-3H]AdoMet photolabeling, we cleaved the labeled EcoRII methyltransferase by chemical and enzymatic reactions and isolated the radiolabeled peptides by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis and high pressure liquid chromatography. The labeled peptides were identified by amino-terminal sequencing. A common region was localized which accounted for 65-70% of the total label. This region includes a highly conserved core sequence present in all DNA (cytosine 5)-methyltransferases. One such fragment was digested further with chymotrypsin, and amino acid analysis of the resulting 3H-labeled peptide was consistent with the sequence Ala-Gly-Phe-Pro-(Cys)-Gln-Pro-Phe-Ser-Leu. However, the cysteine residue was not recovered as carboxymethylcysteine. The Pro-Cys bond was found to be protected from cleavage at cysteine residues after cyanylation. These results suggest that the cysteine residue is modified by the labeling reaction. The chymotryptic fragment was hydrolyzed enzymatically to single amino acids, and the labeled amino acid was identified as S-methylcysteine by thin layer chromatography. These results indicate that the cysteine residue is located at or close to the AdoMet binding site of EcoRII methyltransferase
Monitoring of Conservation Tillage and Tillage Intensity by Ground and Satellite Imagery

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M.A Rostami

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Local information about tillage intensity and ground residue coverage is useful for policies in agricultural extension, tillage implement design and upgrading management methods. The current methods for assessing crop residue coverage and tillage intensity such as residue weighing methods, line-transect and photo comparison methods are tedious and time-consuming. The present study was devoted to investigate accurate methods for monitoring residue management and tillage practices. The satellite imagery technique was used as a rapid and spatially explicit method for delineating crop residue coverage and as an estimator of conservation tillage adoption and intensity. The potential of multispectral high-spatial resolution WorldView-2 local data was evaluated using the total of eleven satellite spectral indices and Linear Spectral Unmixing Analysis (LSUA. The total of ninety locations was selected for this study and for each location the residue coverage was measured by the image processing method and recorded as ground control. The output of indices and LSUA method were individually correlated to the control and the relevant R2 was calculated. Results indicated that crop residue cover was related to IPVI, RVI1, RVI2 and GNDVI spectral indices and satisfactory correlations were established (0.74 - 0.81. The crop residue coverage estimated from the LSUA approach was found to be correlated with the ground residue data (0.75. Two effective indices named as Infrared Percentage Vegetation Index (IPVI and Ratio Vegetation Index (RVI with maximum R2 were considered for classification of tillage intensity. Results indicated that the classification accuracy with IPVI and RVI indices in different conditions varied from 78-100 percent and therefore in good agreement with ground measurement, observations and field records.
Expression and genomic analysis of midasin, a novel and highly conserved AAA protein distantly related to dynein

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Gibbons I R

2002-07-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background The largest open reading frame in the Saccharomyces genome encodes midasin (MDN1p, YLR106p, an AAA ATPase of 560 kDa that is essential for cell viability. Orthologs of midasin have been identified in the genome projects for Drosophila, Arabidopsis, and Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Results Midasin is present as a single-copy gene encoding a well-conserved protein of ~600 kDa in all eukaryotes for which data are available. In humans, the gene maps to 6q15 and encodes a predicted protein of 5596 residues (632 kDa. Sequence alignments of midasin from humans, yeast, Giardia and Encephalitozoon indicate that its domain structure comprises an N-terminal domain (35 kDa, followed by an AAA domain containing six tandem AAA protomers (~30 kDa each, a linker domain (260 kDa, an acidic domain (~70 kDa containing 35–40% aspartate and glutamate, and a carboxy-terminal M-domain (30 kDa that possesses MIDAS sequence motifs and is homologous to the I-domain of integrins. Expression of hemagglutamin-tagged midasin in yeast demonstrates a polypeptide of the anticipated size that is localized principally in the nucleus. Conclusions The highly conserved structure of midasin in eukaryotes, taken in conjunction with its nuclear localization in yeast, suggests that midasin may function as a nuclear chaperone and be involved in the assembly/disassembly of macromolecular complexes in the nucleus. The AAA domain of midasin is evolutionarily related to that of dynein, but it appears to lack a microtubule-binding site.

Carbon payments and low-cost conservation.

Science.gov (United States)

Crossman, Neville D; Bryan, Brett A; Summers, David M

2011-08-01

A price on carbon is expected to generate demand for carbon offset schemes. This demand could drive investment in tree-based monocultures that provide higher carbon yields than diverse plantings of native tree and shrub species, which sequester less carbon but provide greater variation in vegetation structure and composition. Economic instruments such as species conservation banking, the creation and trading of credits that represent biological-diversity values on private land, could close the financial gap between monocultures and more diverse plantings by providing payments to individuals who plant diverse species in locations that contribute to conservation and restoration goals. We studied a highly modified agricultural system in southern Australia that is typical of many temperate agriculture zones globally (i.e., has a high proportion of endangered species, high levels of habitat fragmentation, and presence of non-native species). We quantified the economic returns from agriculture and from carbon plantings (monoculture and mixed tree and shrubs) under six carbon-price scenarios. We also identified high-priority locations for restoration of cleared landscapes with mixed tree and shrub carbon plantings. Depending on the price of carbon, direct annual payments to landowners of AU$7/ha/year to $125/ha/year (US$6-120/ha/year) may be sufficient to augment economic returns from a carbon market and encourage tree plantings that contribute more to the restoration of natural systems and endangered species habitats than monocultures. Thus, areas of high priority for conservation and restoration may be restored relatively cheaply in the presence of a carbon market. Overall, however, less carbon is sequestered by mixed native tree and shrub plantings. © 2011 Society for Conservation Biology.
Identification and analysis of 21 novel disease-causing amino acid substitutions in the conserved part of ATP7A

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Moller, L.B.; Bukrinsky, J.T.; Mølgaard, Anne

2005-01-01

ATP7A encodes a copper. translocating ATPase that belongs to the large family of P-type ATPases. Eight conserved regions define the core of the P-type ATPase superfamily. We report here the identification of 21 novel missense mutations in the conserved part of ATP7A that encodes the residues p.V842...... clustered three-dimensionally than expected from the primary sequence. The location of the substituted residues in conserved regions supports the functional similarities between the two types of P-type ATPases. An immunofluorescence analysis of Menkes fibroblasts suggested that the localization of a large...
Construction of second order accurate monotone and stable residual distribution schemes for unsteady flow problems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abgrall, Remi; Mezine, Mohamed

2003-01-01

The aim of this paper is to construct upwind residual distribution schemes for the time accurate solution of hyperbolic conservation laws. To do so, we evaluate a space-time fluctuation based on a space-time approximation of the solution and develop new residual distribution schemes which are extensions of classical steady upwind residual distribution schemes. This method has been applied to the solution of scalar advection equation and to the solution of the compressible Euler equations both in two space dimensions. The first version of the scheme is shown to be, at least in its first order version, unconditionally energy stable and possibly conditionally monotonicity preserving. Using an idea of Csik et al. [Space-time residual distribution schemes for hyperbolic conservation laws, 15th AIAA Computational Fluid Dynamics Conference, Anahein, CA, USA, AIAA 2001-2617, June 2001], we modify the formulation to end up with a scheme that is unconditionally energy stable and unconditionally monotonicity preserving. Several numerical examples are shown to demonstrate the stability and accuracy of the method
Residual stress control and design of next-generation ultra-hard gear steels

Science.gov (United States)

Qian, Yana

In high power density transmission systems, Ni-Co secondary hardening steels have shown great potential for next-generation gear applications due to their excellent strength, toughness and superior fatigue performance. Study of residual stress generation and evolution in Ferrium C61 and C67 gear steels revealed that shot peening and laser peening processes effectively produce desired beneficial residual stress in the steels for enhanced fatigue performance. Surface residual stress levels of -1.4GPa and -1.5GPa were achieved in shot peened C61 and laser peened C67, respectively, without introducing large surface roughness or defects. Higher compressive residual stress is expected in C67 according to a demonstrated correlation between attainable residual stress and material hardness. Due to the lack of appropriate shot media, dual laser peening is proposed for future peening optimization in C67. A novel non-destructive synchrotron radiation technique was implemented and applied for the first time for residual stress distribution analysis in gear steels with large composition and property gradients. Observed substantial residual stress redistribution and material microstructure change during the rolling contact fatigue screening test with extremely high 5.4GPa load indicates the unsuitability of the test as a fatigue life predictor. To exploit benefits of higher case hardness and associated residual stress, a new material and process (CryoForm70) aiming at 70Rc surface hardness was designed utilizing the systems approach based on thermodynamics and secondary hardening mechanisms. The composition design was first validated by the excellent agreement between experimental and theoretical core martensite start temperature in the prototype. A novel cryogenic deformation process was concurrently designed to increase the case martensite volume fraction from 76% to 92% for enhanced strengthening efficiency and surface hardness. High temperature vacuum carburizing was
Residual life estimation of electrical insulation system for rotating equipment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Vashishtha, Y.D.; Gupta, A.K.; Bhattacharyya, A.K.; Verma, A.K.

1994-01-01

Residual life assessment gains significance towards the end of designed life for granting plant life extensions and resource planning for costly equipment replacement. A critical review of all the diagnostic techniques presently used to assess either health of insulation system or to infer qualitatively the remaining life for rotating machines is presented. However more emphasis is required on developing quantitative methods. This paper also formulates the experimental plan for progressively censored ageing tests, measurement of partial discharge parameters, micro-structural study for delamination and electrical tree growth and measurement of electrical breakdown strength. Partial discharge (PD) patterns, electrical tree growth and time to failure data shall be taken as training set for the neural network learning which can be useful to predict residual life with only one candidate parameter i.e. PD patterns. (author). 9 refs
Subfamily logos: visualization of sequence deviations at alignment positions with high information content

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Beitz Eric

2006-06-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recognition of relevant sequence deviations can be valuable for elucidating functional differences between protein subfamilies. Interesting residues at highly conserved positions can then be mutated and experimentally analyzed. However, identification of such sites is tedious because automated approaches are scarce. Results Subfamily logos visualize subfamily-specific sequence deviations. The display is similar to classical sequence logos but extends into the negative range. Positive, upright characters correspond to residues which are characteristic for the subfamily, negative, upside-down characters to residues typical for the remaining sequences. The symbol height is adjusted to the information content of the alignment position. Residues which are conserved throughout do not appear. Conclusion Subfamily logos provide an intuitive display of relevant sequence deviations. The method has proven to be valid using a set of 135 aligned aquaporin sequences in which established subfamily-specific positions were readily identified by the algorithm.
Insights into the smooth-to-rough transitioning in Mycobacterium bolletii unravels a functional Tyr residue conserved in all mycobacterial MmpL family members.

Science.gov (United States)

Bernut, Audrey; Viljoen, Albertus; Dupont, Christian; Sapriel, Guillaume; Blaise, Mickaël; Bouchier, Christiane; Brosch, Roland; de Chastellier, Chantal; Herrmann, Jean-Louis; Kremer, Laurent

2016-03-01

In mycobacteria, MmpL proteins represent key components that participate in the biosynthesis of the complex cell envelope. Whole genome analysis of a spontaneous rough morphotype variant of Mycobacterium abscessus subsp. bolletii identified a conserved tyrosine that is crucial for the function of MmpL family proteins. Isogenic smooth (S) and rough (R) variants differed by a single mutation linked to a Y842H substitution in MmpL4a. This mutation caused a deficiency in glycopeptidolipid production/transport in the R variant and a gain in the capacity to produce cords in vitro. In zebrafish, increased virulence of the M. bolletii R variant over the parental S strain was found, involving massive production of serpentine cords, abscess formation and rapid larval death. Importantly, this finding allowed us to demonstrate an essential role of Tyr842 in several different MmpL proteins, including Mycobacterium tuberculosis MmpL3. Structural homology models of MmpL4a and MmpL3 identified two additional critical residues located in the transmembrane regions TM10 and TM4 that are facing each other. We propose that these central residues are part of the proton-motive force that supplies the energy for substrate transport. Hence, we provide important insights into mechanistic/structural aspects of MmpL proteins as lipid transporters and virulence determinants in mycobacteria. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Experimental research on passive residual heat remove system for advanced PWR

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Huang Yanping; Zhuo Wenbin; Yang Zumao; Xiao Zejun; Chen Bingde

2003-01-01

The experimental and qualified results of MISAP in the research of passive residual heat remove system of advanced PWR performed in the Bubble physics and natural circulation laboratory in Nuclear Power Institute of China in the past ten years is overviewed. Further researches for engineering research and design are also suggested
Advanced technique for ultra-thin residue inspection with sub-10nm thickness using high-energy back-scattered electrons

Science.gov (United States)

Han, Jin-Hee

2018-03-01

Recently the aspect ratio of capacitor and via hole of memory semiconductor device has been dramatically increasing in order to store more information in a limited area. A small amount of remained residues after etch process on the bottom of the high aspect ratio structure can make a critical failure in device operation. Back-scattered electrons (BSE) are mainly used for inspecting the defect located at the bottom of the high aspect ratio structure or analyzing the overlay of the multi-layer structure because these electrons have a high linearity with the direction of emission and a high kinetic energy above 50eV. However, there is a limitation on that it cannot detect ultra-thin residue material having a thickness of several nanometers because the surface sensitivity is extremely low. We studied the characteristics of BSE spectra using Monte Carlo simulations for several cases which the high aspect ratio structures have extreme microscopic residues. Based on the assumption that most of the electrons emitted without energy loss are localized on the surface, we selected the detection energy window which has a range of 20eV below the maximum energy of the BSE. This window section is named as the high-energy BSE region. As a result of comparing the detection sensitivity of the conventional and the high-energy BSE detection mode, we found that the detection sensitivity for the residuals which have 2nm thickness is improved by more than 10 times in the high-energy BSE mode. This BSE technology is a new inspection method that can greatly be improved the inspection sensitivity for the ultra-thin residual material presented in the high aspect ratio structure, and its application will be expanded.
Evaluation of Some Pesticide Residues in Fruits import by High Performance Liquid Chromatography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lamees Munef Abdul-Latef

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Pesticide residues have been found in various fruits and vegetables. This studycollected 24 samples and reported a method based on High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC. For determination of pesticide residues used in Some fruits which were collected from different markets of Baghdad city to make 24 samples from (peel , core, mixture for each type of fruits markets as: Oranges( Egypt , Africa, Pomegranate ( Egypt, Mango ( Kenya , Pears (China, Plum fruits ( Africa , Kiwi (Turkey .That detective of ( 5 different pesticides (diazinon, malathion, chlorpyrifos ,parathion and cypermethrin. The results were detected of multi-residues of pesticides on the fruit in ( peel , core , mixture may be in the limit of Maximum residue limits(MRL or higher of it . The pesticides detected that exceeding the limits are: cypermethrin in Kiwi (peel, core and mixtureat(0.204,0.038, 0.537, in pomegranate detected in (peel and mixture at (0.509,0.189 mg/kg , Diazinondetccted in Egyptian orange in (peel ,core and mixture at (0.031,0.207, 0.099 mg/kg . Malathion and Parathion was not detected at any type of fruits and that results was compared with codex of FAO/WHO(2013. That data is important to monitor residues in food and to fill gaps in current knowledge would be helpful in assessing human exposure risks from ingestion of contaminated Fruits Imported to our country .
Catalytically important amino-acid residues of abalone alginate lyase HdAly assessed by site-directed mutagenesis

OpenAIRE

Yamamoto, Sayo; Sahara, Takehiko; Sato, Daisuke; Kawasaki, Kosei; Ohgiya, Satoru; Inoue, Akira; Ojima, Takao

2008-01-01

Alginate lyase is an enzyme that degrades alginate chains via β-elimination and has been used for the production of alginate oligosaccharides and protoplasts from brown algae. Previously, we deduced the amino-acid sequence of an abalone alginate lyase, HdAly, from its cDNA sequence and, through multiple amino-acid sequence alignment, found that several basic amino-acid residues were highly conserved among the polysaccharide-lyase family 14 (PL-14) enzymes including HdAly. In the present study...
High entomological inoculation rate of malaria vectors in area of high coverage of interventions in southwest Ethiopia: Implication for residual malaria transmission

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Misrak Abraham

2017-05-01

Finally, there was an indoor residual malaria transmission in a village of high coverage of bed nets and where the principal malaria vector is susceptibility to propoxur and bendiocarb; insecticides currently in use for indoor residual spraying. The continuing indoor transmission of malaria in such village implies the need for new tools to supplement the existing interventions and to reduce indoor malaria transmission.
Analysis of the Integral Response of CAREM Reactor and the Residual Heat Removal System During a Failure of the Steam Generators Feed Water System

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gimenez, Marcelo; Zanocco, Pablo; Schlamp, Miguel

2000-01-01

A global analysis of the behavior of Carem-25 Reactor and Residual Heat Removal System (RHRS) to mitigate a loss of heat sink accident is done in the present work.The proposed RHRS removes 2 MW of power and is duplicated to fulfill the redundancy criteria.It consists of two condensers with two tubes in a parallel array.Each tube has 2 S CH 160 TP 347 SS and 2 m 2 of area.The RHRS design requierements (for this accidental sequence) are: Short-term: primary circuit pressure must remain below the safety valves opening set point and the condensers must not flood in order to avoid instabilities. Long-term: reach hot-shutdown condition (primary circuit pressure below 2.3 MPa) at least before 48 hrs. Short-term reactor behavior is simulated using RELAP5 with a detail nodalization of the primary circuit and RHRS.Long term performance is simulated with a simple and conservative model, assuming a saturated primary circuit. This condition is expected during RHRS operation
Acute effects of high-dose furosemide on residual renal function in CAPD patients

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van Olden, Rudolf W.; Guchelaar, Henk-Jan; Struijk, Dirk G.; Krediet, Raymond T.; Arisz, Lambertus

2003-01-01

BACKGROUND: High doses of furosemide can increase urine volume in chronic peritoneal dialysis (CAPD) patients. However, no information is available about effects on urinary solute excretion in relation to residual glomerular filtration rate (GFR), urinary furosemide excretion, and peritoneal solute
Study of passive residual heat removal system of a modular small PWR reactor; Estudo do sistema passivo de remoção de calor residual de um reator PWR pequeno modular

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Araujo, Nathália N., E-mail: nathalianunes@poli.ufrj.br [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Departamento de Engenharia Nuclear; Faccini, José L.H., E-mail: faccini@ien.gov.br [Instituto de Engenharia Nuclear (IEN/CNEN-RJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Su, Jian, E-mail: sujian@lasme.coppe.ufrj.br [Coordenacao de Pos-Graduacao e Pesquisa de Engenharia (COPPE/UFRJ), Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil). Programa de Engenharia Nuclear

2017-07-01

This paper presents a study on the passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) of a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) of 75MW. More advanced nuclear reactors, such as generation III + and IV, have passive safety systems that automatically go into action in order to prevent accidents. The purpose of the PRHRS is to transfer the decay heat from the reactor's nuclear fuel, keeping the core cooled after the plant has shut down. It starts operating in the event of fall of power supply to the nuclear station, or in the event of an unavailability of the steam generator water supply system. Removal of decay heat from the core of the reactor is accomplished by the flow of the primary refrigerant by natural circulation through heat exchangers located in a pool filled with water located above the core. The natural circulation is caused by the density gradient between the reactor core and the pool. A thermal and comparative analysis of the PRHRS was performed consisting of the resolution of the mass conservation equations, amount of movement and energy and using incompressible fluid approximations with the Boussinesq approximation. Calculations were performed with the aid of Mathematica software. A design of the heat exchanger and the cooling water tank was done so that the core of the reactor remained cooled for 72 hours using only the PRHRS.
Recent advances in residual stress measurement

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Withers, P.J.; Turski, M.; Edwards, L.; Bouchard, P.J.; Buttle, D.J.

2008-01-01

Until recently residual stresses have been included in structural integrity assessments of nuclear pressure vessels and piping in a very primitive manner due to the lack of reliable residual stress measurement or prediction tools. This situation is changing the capabilities of newly emerging destructive (i.e. the contour method) and non-destructive (i.e. magnetic and high-energy synchrotron X-ray strain mapping) residual stress measurement techniques for evaluating ferritic and austenitic pressure vessel components are contrasted against more well-established methods. These new approaches offer the potential for obtaining area maps of residual stress or strain in welded plants, mock-up components or generic test-pieces. The mapped field may be used directly in structural integrity calculations, or indirectly to validate finite element process/structural models on which safety cases for pressurised nuclear systems are founded. These measurement methods are complementary in terms of application to actual plant, cost effectiveness and measurements in thick sections. In each case an exemplar case study is used to illustrate the method and to highlight its particular capabilities
Genes involved in complex adaptive processes tend to have highly conserved upstream regions in mammalian genomes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kohane Isaac

2005-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent advances in genome sequencing suggest a remarkable conservation in gene content of mammalian organisms. The similarity in gene repertoire present in different organisms has increased interest in studying regulatory mechanisms of gene expression aimed at elucidating the differences in phenotypes. In particular, a proximal promoter region contains a large number of regulatory elements that control the expression of its downstream gene. Although many studies have focused on identification of these elements, a broader picture on the complexity of transcriptional regulation of different biological processes has not been addressed in mammals. The regulatory complexity may strongly correlate with gene function, as different evolutionary forces must act on the regulatory systems under different biological conditions. We investigate this hypothesis by comparing the conservation of promoters upstream of genes classified in different functional categories. Results By conducting a rank correlation analysis between functional annotation and upstream sequence alignment scores obtained by human-mouse and human-dog comparison, we found a significantly greater conservation of the upstream sequence of genes involved in development, cell communication, neural functions and signaling processes than those involved in more basic processes shared with unicellular organisms such as metabolism and ribosomal function. This observation persists after controlling for G+C content. Considering conservation as a functional signature, we hypothesize a higher density of cis-regulatory elements upstream of genes participating in complex and adaptive processes. Conclusion We identified a class of functions that are associated with either high or low promoter conservation in mammals. We detected a significant tendency that points to complex and adaptive processes were associated with higher promoter conservation, despite the fact that they have emerged
Technique for the residual life assessment of high temperature components based on creep-rupture testing on welded miniature specimens

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Garzillo, A.; Guardamagna, C.; Moscotti, L.; Ranzani, L. [Ente Nazionale per l`Energia Elettrica, Milan (Italy)

1995-06-01

Following the present trend in the development of advanced methodologies for residual life assessment of high temperature components operating in power plants, particularly in non destructive methods, a testing technique has been set up at ENEL-CRAM based on creep-rupture testa in an argon on welded miniature specimens. Five experimental systems for creep-rupture tests in an argon atmosphere have been set up which include high accuracy systems, vacuum chambers and exrwnsometer devices. With the aim of establishing and validating the suitability of the experimental methodology, creep-rupture and interrupted creep testing programmes have been performed on miniature specimens (2 mm diameter and 10 mm gauge lenght). On the basis of experience gathered by various European research laboratories, a miniature specimen construction procedure has been developed using a laser welding technique for joining threaded heads to sample material. Low alloy ferritic steels, such as virgin 2.25CrlMo, 0.5Cr 0.5Mo 0.25V, and IN 738 superalloy miniature specimens have been investigated and the results, compared with those from standard specimens, show a regular trend in deformation vs time. Additional efforts to provide guidelines for material sampling from each plant component will be required in order to reduce uncertainties in residual life prediction.
Submillimeter residual losses in high-T_c superconductors

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Miller, David [Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

1993-09-01

Bolometry was used obtain accurate submillimeter residual loss data for epitaxial films of YBa₂Cu₃O₇ (YBCO), Tl₂Ca₂Ba₂Cu₃O₁₀, Tl₂CaBa₂Cu₂O₈ (TCBCO), and Ba_0.6K_0.4BiO₃ (BKBO). We were able to fit the absorptivity measured for Nb films to an Eliashberg strong coupling calculation; excellent agreement resulted between parameters from best fits and measured Residual Resistivity Ratio. Microwave surface resistance measurements made on the same YBCO and TCBCO films are in excellent agreement with submillimeter measurements. Absorptivities for all YBCO films studied are qualitatively similar, increasing smoothly with frequency, with no gap-like features below the well known absorption edge at 450 cm^-1. Losses in YBCO films were fit to a weakly coupled grain model for the a-b plane conductivity. Strong phonon structure was observed in TCBCO films between 60 and 700 cm^-1 (2 THz and 23 THz); these losses could not be fitted to the simple weakly coupled grain model, in contrast to the case for other high-T_c superconductors where phonon structure observed in ceramics are is absent in epitaxial oriented films and crystals because of electronic screening due to high conductivity of a-b planes. Absorptivity data for the BKBO films all show a strong absorption onset near the BCS tunneling gap of 3.5 k_BT_c. Comparison with strong coupling Eliashberg predictions and of a Kramers-Kronig analysis indicate that the absorption onset is consistent with a superconducting energy gap. Effects of magnetic field on residual losses in YBCO films show a resonant absorption feature in vicinity of predicted
Conserving social-ecological systems in Indonesia: human-nonhuman primate interconnections in Bali and Sulawesi.

Science.gov (United States)

Riley, Erin P; Fuentes, Agustín

2011-01-01

An important question asked by primatologists and conservationists alike is: what is the relevance of primates and primate conservation for ecosystem conservation? The goal of this article is to contribute to this dialogue by advocating the use of a research perspective that focuses on the dynamics of human-nonhuman primate sympatry and interaction (i.e., ethnoprimatology) in order to better understand complex social-ecological systems and to inform their conservation management. This perspective/approach is based largely on the recognition that human primates are important components of all ecological systems and that niche construction is a fundamental feature of their adaptive success. To demonstrate the relevance of the human-nonhuman primate interface for ecosystem conservation, we provide examples from our research from two islands in the Indonesian archipelago: Bali and Sulawesi. In Bali, humans and long-tail macaques coexist in a system that creates favorable environments for the macaques. This anthropogenic landscape and the economic and ecological relationships between humans and monkeys on Bali provide insight into sustainable systems of human/nonhuman primate coexistence. In Lore Lindu National Park in Central Sulawesi, villagers and Tonkean macaques overlap in their use of both forest and cultivated resources. The finding that the Arenga pinnata palm is extremely important for both villagers and macaques points to a conservation management recommendation that may help protect the overall ecosystem; the cultivation and propagation of mutually important tree species at forest-agricultural ecotone as a means to curb crop raiding and to alleviate farmer's perceived need to clear additional forest.

Toward High Carrier Mobility and Low Contact Resistance:Laser Cleaning of PMMA Residues on Graphene Surfaces

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

Yuehui Jia; Xin Gong; Pei Peng; Zidong Wang; Zhongzheng Tian; Liming Ren; Yunyi Fu; Han Zhang

2016-01-01

Poly(methyl methacrylate)(PMMA) is widely used for graphene transfer and device fabrication.However,it inevitably leaves a thin layer of polymer residues after acetone rinsing and leads to dramatic degradation of device performance.How to eliminate contamination and restore clean surfaces of graphene is still highly demanded.In this paper,we present a reliable and position-controllable method to remove the polymer residues on graphene films by laser exposure.Under proper laser conditions,PMMA residues can be substantially reduced without introducing defects to the underlying graphene.Furthermore,by applying this laser cleaning technique to the channel and contacts of graphene fieldeffect transistors(GFETs),higher carrier mobility as well as lower contact resistance can be realized.This work opens a way for probing intrinsic properties of contaminant-free graphene and fabricating high-performance GFETs with both clean channel and intimate graphene/metal contact.
SARS-coronavirus spike S2 domain flanked by cysteine residues C822 and C833 is important for activation of membrane fusion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Madu, Ikenna G.; Belouzard, Sandrine; Whittaker, Gary R.

2009-01-01

The S2 domain of the coronavirus spike (S) protein is known to be responsible for mediating membrane fusion. In addition to a well-recognized cleavage site at the S1-S2 boundary, a second proteolytic cleavage site has been identified in the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) S2 domain (R797). C-terminal to this S2 cleavage site is a conserved region flanked by cysteine residues C822 and C833. Here, we investigated the importance of this well conserved region for SARS-CoV S-mediated fusion activation. We show that the residues between C822-C833 are well conserved across all coronaviruses. Mutagenic analysis of SARS-CoV S, combined with cell-cell fusion and pseudotyped virion infectivity assays, showed a critical role for the core-conserved residues C822, D830, L831, and C833. Based on available predictive models, we propose that the conserved domain flanked by cysteines 822 and 833 forms a loop structure that interacts with components of the SARS-CoV S trimer to control the activation of membrane fusion.
Harvest time residues of pendimethalin and oxyfluorfen in vegetables and soil in sugarcane-based intercropping systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Kaur, Navneet; Bhullar, Makhan S

2015-05-01

Terminal residues of pendimethalin and oxyfluorfen applied in autumn sugarcane- and vegetables-based intercropping systems were analyzed in peas (Pisum sativum), cabbage (Brassica oleracea), garlic (Allium sativum), gobhi sarson (Brassica napus), and raya (Brassica juncea). The study was conducted in winter season in 2010-2011 and in 2011-2012 at Ludhiana, India. Pendimethalin at 0.56 kg and 0.75 kg ha(-1) was applied immediately after sowing of gobhi sarson, raya, peas, garlic, and 2 days before transplanting of cabbage seedlings. Oxyfluorfen at 0.17 kg and 0.23 kg ha(-1) was applied immediately after sowing of peas and garlic and 2 days before transplanting of cabbage seedlings intercropped in autumn sugarcane. Representative samples of these vegetables were collected at 75, 90, 100, and 165 days after application of herbicides and analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatograph (HPLC) with diode array detector for residues. The residue level of pendimethalin and oxyfluorfen in mature vegetables was found to be below the limit of quantification which is 0.05 mg kg(-1) for both the herbicides. The soil samples were collected at 0, 7, 15, 30, 45, and 60 days after the application of their herbicides. The residues of herbicides in soil samples were found to be below the detectability limit of 0.05 mg kg(-1) after 60 days in case of pendimethalin and after 45 days in case of oxyfluorfen.
pH-induced conformational change of IscU at low pH correlates with protonation/deprotonation of two conserved histidine residues.

Science.gov (United States)

Dai, Ziqi; Kim, Jin Hae; Tonelli, Marco; Ali, Ibrahim K; Markley, John L

2014-08-19

IscU, the scaffold protein for the major iron-sulfur cluster biosynthesis pathway in microorganisms and mitochondria (ISC pathway), plays important roles in the formation of [2Fe-2S] and [4Fe-4S] clusters and their delivery to acceptor apo-proteins. Our laboratory has shown that IscU populates two distinct, functionally relevant conformational states, a more structured state (S) and a more dynamic state (D), that differ by cis/trans isomerizations about two peptidyl-prolyl peptide bonds [Kim, J. H., Tonelli, M., and Markley, J. L. (2012) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A., 109, 454-459. Dai Z., Tonelli, M., and Markley, J. L. (2012) Biochemistry, 51, 9595-9602. Cai, K., Frederick, R. O., Kim, J. H., Reinen, N. M., Tonelli, M., and Markley, J. L. (2013) J. Biol. Chem., 288, 28755-28770]. Here, we report our findings on the pH dependence of the D ⇄ S equilibrium for Escherichia coli IscU in which the D-state is stabilized at low and high pH values. We show that the lower limb of the pH dependence curve results from differences in the pKa values of two conserved histidine residues (His10 and His105) in the two states. The net proton affinity of His10 is about 50 times higher and that of His105 is 13 times higher in the D-state than in the S-state. The origin of the high limb of the D ⇄ S pH dependence remains to be determined. These results show that changes in proton inventory need to be taken into account in the steps in iron-sulfur cluster assembly and transfer that involve transitions of IscU between its S- and D-states.
Evaluation of gas chromatography – electron ionization – full scan high resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry for pesticide residue analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mol, Hans G.J.; Tienstra, Marc; Zomer, Paul

2016-01-01

Gas chromatography with electron ionization and full scan high resolution mass spectrometry with an Orbitrap mass analyzer (GC-EI-full scan Orbitrap HRMS) was evaluated for residue analysis. Pesticides in fruit and vegetables were taken as an example application. The relevant aspects for GC-MS based residue analysis, including the resolving power (15,000 to 120,000 FWHM at m/z 200), scan rate, dynamic range, selectivity, sensitivity, analyte identification, and utility of existing EI-libraries, are assessed and discussed in detail. The optimum acquisition conditions in full scan mode (m/z 50–500) were a resolving power of 60,000 and an automatic-gain-control target value of 3E6. These conditions provided (i) an optimum mass accuracy: within 2 ppm over a wide concentration range, with/without matrix, enabling the use of ±5 ppm mass extraction windows (ii) adequate scan speed: minimum 12 scans/peak, (iii) an intra-scan dynamic range sufficient to achieve LOD/LOQs ≤0.5 pg in fruit/vegetable matrices (corresponding to ≤0.5 μg kg"−"1) for most pesticides. EI-Orbitrap spectra were consistent over a very wide concentration range (5 orders) with good match values against NIST (EI-quadrupole) spectra. The applicability for quantitative residue analysis was verified by validation of 54 pesticides in three matrices (tomato, leek, orange) at 10 and 50 μg/kg. The method involved a QuEChERS-based extraction with a solvent switch into iso-octane, and 1 μL hot splitless injection into the GC-HRMS system. A recovery between 70 and 120% and a repeatability RSD <10% was obtained in most cases. Linearity was demonstrated for the range ≤5–250 μg kg"−"1. The pesticides could be identified according to the applicable EU criteria for GC-HRMS (SANTE/11945/2015). GC-EI-full scan Orbitrap HRMS was found to be highly suited for quantitative pesticide residue analysis. The potential of qualitative screening to extend the scope makes it an attractive alternative to
Evaluation of gas chromatography – electron ionization – full scan high resolution Orbitrap mass spectrometry for pesticide residue analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mol, Hans G.J., E-mail: hans.mol@wur.nl; Tienstra, Marc; Zomer, Paul

2016-09-07

Gas chromatography with electron ionization and full scan high resolution mass spectrometry with an Orbitrap mass analyzer (GC-EI-full scan Orbitrap HRMS) was evaluated for residue analysis. Pesticides in fruit and vegetables were taken as an example application. The relevant aspects for GC-MS based residue analysis, including the resolving power (15,000 to 120,000 FWHM at m/z 200), scan rate, dynamic range, selectivity, sensitivity, analyte identification, and utility of existing EI-libraries, are assessed and discussed in detail. The optimum acquisition conditions in full scan mode (m/z 50–500) were a resolving power of 60,000 and an automatic-gain-control target value of 3E6. These conditions provided (i) an optimum mass accuracy: within 2 ppm over a wide concentration range, with/without matrix, enabling the use of ±5 ppm mass extraction windows (ii) adequate scan speed: minimum 12 scans/peak, (iii) an intra-scan dynamic range sufficient to achieve LOD/LOQs ≤0.5 pg in fruit/vegetable matrices (corresponding to ≤0.5 μg kg{sup −1}) for most pesticides. EI-Orbitrap spectra were consistent over a very wide concentration range (5 orders) with good match values against NIST (EI-quadrupole) spectra. The applicability for quantitative residue analysis was verified by validation of 54 pesticides in three matrices (tomato, leek, orange) at 10 and 50 μg/kg. The method involved a QuEChERS-based extraction with a solvent switch into iso-octane, and 1 μL hot splitless injection into the GC-HRMS system. A recovery between 70 and 120% and a repeatability RSD <10% was obtained in most cases. Linearity was demonstrated for the range ≤5–250 μg kg{sup −1}. The pesticides could be identified according to the applicable EU criteria for GC-HRMS (SANTE/11945/2015). GC-EI-full scan Orbitrap HRMS was found to be highly suited for quantitative pesticide residue analysis. The potential of qualitative screening to extend the scope makes it an attractive
2×2 systems of conservation laws with L data

Science.gov (United States)

Bianchini, Stefano; Colombo, Rinaldo M.; Monti, Francesca

Consider a hyperbolic system of conservation laws with genuinely nonlinear characteristic fields. We extend the classical Glimm-Lax (1970) result [13, Theorem 5.1] proving the existence of solutions for L initial datum, relaxing the assumptions taken therein on the geometry of the shock-rarefaction curves.
Simplified analysis of passive residual heat removal systems for small size PWR's

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Botelho, D.A.

1992-02-01

The function and general objectives of a passive residual heat removal system for small size PWR's are defined. The characteristic configuration, the components and the operation modes of this system are concisely described. A preliminary conceptual specification of this system, for a small size PWR of 400 MW thermal, is made analogous to the decay heat removal system of the AP-600 reactor. It is shown by analytic models that such passive systems can dissipate 2% of nominal power within the thermal limits allowed to the reactor fuel elements. (author)
Aging assessment of Residual Heat Removal systems in Boiling Water Reactors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lofaro, R.J.; Aggarwal, S.

1992-01-01

The effects of aging on Residual Heat Removal systems in Boiling Water Reactors have been studied as part of the Nuclear Plant Aging Research Program. The aging phenomena has been characterized by analyzing operating experience from various national data bases. In addition, actual plant data was obtained to supplement and validate the data base findings
Calculation of residual electricity mixes when accounting for the EECS (European Electricity Certificate System) - The need for a harmonised system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Raadal, H. L.; Nyland, C. A.; Hanssen, O. J.

2009-01-01

According to the Electricity Directive, suppliers of electricity must disclose their electricity portfolio with regards to energy source and environmental impact. This paper gives some examples of disclosure systems and residual electricity mixes in Norway, Sweden and Finland, compared to an approach based on a common regional disclosure. Disclosures based on the E-TRACK standard are presented, as well as the variation in CO 2 emissions from different residual mixes. The results from this study clearly show that there is a need for a harmonised, transparent and reliable system for the accounting of electricity disclosure in Europe. (author)
Mobis HRH process residue hydroconversion using a recoverable nano-catalyst

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Romocki, S.; Rhodey, G. [Mobis Energy Inc., Calgary, AB (Canada)

2009-07-01

This presentation described a newly developed pseudo-homogeneous catalyst (PHC) for hydroconversion of heavy hydrocarbon feeds with high levels of sulphur, nitrogen, resins, asphaltenes and metals. An active catalyst is formed in the reaction system, consisting of particles that are 2-9 nm in size and whose properties resemble those of a colloid solution at both room and reaction temperature. Residue processing with this pseudo-homogeneous catalyst system results in better cracking and hydrogenation at lower process severity. The PHC system in heavy residue hydroconversion (HRH) process achieves up to 95 per cent residue conversion at pressures below 7.3 MPa, reaction temperatures between 400 to 460 degrees C, and with feed space velocity between 1 to 2 per hour, thus rendering the PHC catalyst system suitable for deep conversion of hydrocarbon residues. As much as 95 per cent of the catalyst can be recovered and regenerated within the process. Pilot plants are in operation for the hydroconversion of Athabasca vacuum bottoms using this technology. The use of the HRH process in oilsands and refinery operations were discussed along with comparative yields and economics. tabs., figs.
Residual soil nitrate content and profitability of five cropping systems in northwest Iowa.

Science.gov (United States)

De Haan, Robert L; Schuiteman, Matthew A; Vos, Ronald J

2017-01-01

Many communities in the Midwestern United States obtain their drinking water from shallow alluvial wells that are vulnerable to contamination by NO3-N from the surrounding agricultural landscape. The objective of this research was to assess cropping systems with the potential to produce a reasonable return for farmers while simultaneously reducing the risk of NO3-N movement into these shallow aquifers. From 2009 to 2013 we conducted a field experiment in northwest Iowa in which we evaluated five cropping systems for residual (late fall) soil NO3-N content and profitability. Soil samples were taken annually from the top 30 cm of the soil profile in June and August, and from the top 180 cm in November (late fall). The November samples were divided into 30 cm increments for analysis. Average residual NO3-N content in the top 180 cm of the soil profile following the 2010 to 2013 cropping years was 134 kg ha-1 for continuous maize (Zea mays L.) with a cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) cover crop, 18 kg ha-1 for perennial grass, 60 kg ha-1 for a three year oat (Avena sativa L.)-alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.)-maize rotation, 85 kg ha-1 for a two year oat/red clover (Trifolium pratense L.)-maize rotation, and 90 kg ha-1 for a three year soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.)-winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)-maize rotation. However, residual NO3-N in the 90 to 180 cm increment of the soil profile was not significantly higher in the oat-alfalfa-maize cropping system than the perennial grass system. For 2010 to 2013, average profit ($ ha-1 yr-1) was 531 for continuous corn, 347 for soybean-winter wheat-maize, 264 for oat-alfalfa-maize, 140 for oat/red clover-maize, and -384 (loss) for perennial grass. Considering both residual soil NO3-N and profitability data, the oat-alfalfa-maize rotation performed the best in this setting. However, given current economic pressures widespread adoption is likely to require changes in public policy.
ENTRIA 2014. Memorandum on the disposal of high-level radioactive residuals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Roehlig, Klaus-Juergen; Walther, Clemens; Bach, Friedrich-Wilhelm

2014-01-01

The memorandum on the disposal of high-level radioactive residuals covers the following issues: description of the problem: a ''wicked problem'', risks and NIMBY, the site selection law, international boundary conditions; disposal strategy and types of facilities: safety and reversibility, long-term surface storage, deep storage; risk and safety; procedural justice and the site selection process; social innovations and the requirement of long-term institutions; conclusion - central stress fields.
On the case of Goryachev-Chaplygin and new examples of integrable conservative systems on S^2

OpenAIRE

Selivanova, E. N.

1998-01-01

The aim of this paper is to describe a class of conservative systems on $S^2$ possessing an integral cubic in momenta. We prove that this class of systems consists off the case of Goryachev-Chaplygin, the one-parameter family of systems which has been found by the author in the previous paper (dg-ga/9711005) and a new two-parameter family of conservative systems on $S^2$ possessing an integral cubic in momenta.
The numerical high cycle fatigue damage model of fillet weld joint under weld-induced residual stresses

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen Van Do, Vuong

2018-04-01

In this study, a development of nonlinear continuum damage mechanics (CDM) model for multiaxial high cycle fatigue is proposed in which the cyclic plasticity constitutive model has been incorporated in the finite element (FE) framework. T-joint FE simulation of fillet welding is implemented to characterize sequentially coupled three-dimensional (3-D) of thermo-mechanical FE formulation and simulate the welding residual stresses. The high cycle fatigue damage model is then taken account into the fillet weld joints under the various cyclic fatigue load types to calculate the fatigue life considering the residual stresses. The fatigue crack initiation and the propagation in the present model estimated for the total fatigue is compared with the experimental results. The FE results illustrated that the proposed high cycle fatigue damage model in this study could become a powerful tool to effectively predict the fatigue life of the welds. Parametric studies in this work are also demonstrated that the welding residual stresses cannot be ignored in the computation of the fatigue life of welded structures.
Energy conservation and conversion of electrical heating systems in detached houses

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gustavsson, Leif; Joelsson, Anna [Ecotechnology, Department of Engineering, Physics and Mathematics, Mid Sweden University, SE-831 25 Oestersund, (Sweden)

2007-06-15

In this study, a Swedish house built in 1974, heated with resistance heaters was analysed. Different options for changing the heating system and electricity production were compared for this type of detached house, assuming coal-based electricity production as a reference. Changes in the fuel used, the electricity production technology, the end-use heating technology and the heat demand were analysed. The aim was to show how these different parts of the energy system interact and to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of reducing CO{sub 2} emission and primary energy use by different combinations of changes. The results showed that the CO{sub 2} emission and primary energy use could be reduced by 95 and 70%, respectively, without increased heating costs in a national economic perspective. The choice of end-use heating system had a greater influence than the energy conservation measures on the parameters studied. The energy conservation measures were less cost-effective in combination with the more energy-efficient heating systems, although the fact that they reduced the heat demand, and thus also the investment cost of the new heating system, was taken into account. (Author)
Conservation of the Type IV secretion system throughout Wolbachia evolution

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Pichon, Samuel; Bouchon, Didier; Cordaux, Richard

2009-01-01

, encoding a T4SS were previously identified and characterized at two separate genomic loci. Using the largest data set of Wolbachia strains studied so far, we show that vir gene sequence and organization are strictly conserved among 37 Wolbachia strains inducing various phenotypes such as cytoplasmic...... incompatibility, feminization, or oogenesis in their arthropod hosts. In sharp contrast, extensive variation of genomic sequences flanking the virB8-D4 operon suggested its distinct location among Wolbachia genomes. Long term conservation of the T4SS may imply maintenance of a functional effector translocation...... system in Wolbachia, thereby suggesting the importance for the T4SS in Wolbachia biology and survival inside host cells....
Quantifying solute transport processes: are chemically "conservative" tracers electrically conservative?

Science.gov (United States)

Singha, Kamini; Li, Li; Day-Lewis, Frederick D.; Regberg, Aaron B.

2012-01-01

The concept of a nonreactive or conservative tracer, commonly invoked in investigations of solute transport, requires additional study in the context of electrical geophysical monitoring. Tracers that are commonly considered conservative may undergo reactive processes, such as ion exchange, thus changing the aqueous composition of the system. As a result, the measured electrical conductivity may reflect not only solute transport but also reactive processes. We have evaluated the impacts of ion exchange reactions, rate-limited mass transfer, and surface conduction on quantifying tracer mass, mean arrival time, and temporal variance in laboratory-scale column experiments. Numerical examples showed that (1) ion exchange can lead to resistivity-estimated tracer mass, velocity, and dispersivity that may be inaccurate; (2) mass transfer leads to an overestimate in the mobile tracer mass and an underestimate in velocity when using electrical methods; and (3) surface conductance does not notably affect estimated moments when high-concentration tracers are used, although this phenomenon may be important at low concentrations or in sediments with high and/or spatially variable cation-exchange capacity. In all cases, colocated groundwater concentration measurements are of high importance for interpreting geophysical data with respect to the controlling transport processes of interest.
Symmetries, conservation laws, and time reversibility for Hamiltonian systems with external forces

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Schaft, A.J. van der

1983-01-01

A system theoretic framework is given for the description of Hamiltonian systems with external forces and partial observations of the state. It is shown how symmetries and conservation laws can be defined within this framework. A generalization of Noether's theorem is obtained. Finally a precise
Prediction of Detailed Enzyme Functions and Identification of Specificity Determining Residues by Random Forests

Science.gov (United States)

Nagao, Chioko; Nagano, Nozomi; Mizuguchi, Kenji

2014-01-01

Determining enzyme functions is essential for a thorough understanding of cellular processes. Although many prediction methods have been developed, it remains a significant challenge to predict enzyme functions at the fourth-digit level of the Enzyme Commission numbers. Functional specificity of enzymes often changes drastically by mutations of a small number of residues and therefore, information about these critical residues can potentially help discriminate detailed functions. However, because these residues must be identified by mutagenesis experiments, the available information is limited, and the lack of experimentally verified specificity determining residues (SDRs) has hindered the development of detailed function prediction methods and computational identification of SDRs. Here we present a novel method for predicting enzyme functions by random forests, EFPrf, along with a set of putative SDRs, the random forests derived SDRs (rf-SDRs). EFPrf consists of a set of binary predictors for enzymes in each CATH superfamily and the rf-SDRs are the residue positions corresponding to the most highly contributing attributes obtained from each predictor. EFPrf showed a precision of 0.98 and a recall of 0.89 in a cross-validated benchmark assessment. The rf-SDRs included many residues, whose importance for specificity had been validated experimentally. The analysis of the rf-SDRs revealed both a general tendency that functionally diverged superfamilies tend to include more active site residues in their rf-SDRs than in less diverged superfamilies, and superfamily-specific conservation patterns of each functional residue. EFPrf and the rf-SDRs will be an effective tool for annotating enzyme functions and for understanding how enzyme functions have diverged within each superfamily. PMID:24416252

Cover Crops and Fertilization Alter Nitrogen Loss in Organic and Conventional Conservation Agriculture Systems

Science.gov (United States)

Shelton, Rebecca E.; Jacobsen, Krista L.; McCulley, Rebecca L.

2018-01-01

Agroecosystem nitrogen (N) loss produces greenhouse gases, induces eutrophication, and is costly for farmers; therefore, conservation agricultural management practices aimed at reducing N loss are increasingly adopted. However, the ecosystem consequences of these practices have not been well-studied. We quantified N loss via leaching, NH3 volatilization, N2O emissions, and N retention in plant and soil pools of corn conservation agroecosystems in Kentucky, USA. Three systems were evaluated: (1) an unfertilized, organic system with cover crops hairy vetch (Vicia villosa), winter wheat (Triticum aestivum), or a mix of the two (bi-culture); (2) an organic system with a hairy vetch cover crop employing three fertilization schemes (0 N, organic N, or a fertilizer N-credit approach); and (3) a conventional system with a winter wheat cover crop and three fertilization schemes (0 N, urea N, or organic N). In the unfertilized organic system, cover crop species affected NO3-N leaching (vetch > bi-culture > wheat) and N2O-N emissions and yield during corn growth (vetch, bi-culture > wheat). Fertilization increased soil inorganic N, gaseous N loss, N leaching, and yield in the organic vetch and conventional wheat systems. Fertilizer scheme affected the magnitude of growing season N2O-N loss in the organic vetch system (organic N > fertilizer N-credit) and the timing of loss (organic N delayed N2O-N loss vs. urea) and NO3-N leaching (urea >> organic N) in the conventional wheat system, but had no effect on yield. Cover crop selection and N fertilization techniques can reduce N leaching and greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing yield, thereby enhancing N conservation in both organic and conventional conservation agriculture systems. PMID:29403512
Cover Crops and Fertilization Alter Nitrogen Loss in Organic and Conventional Conservation Agriculture Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rebecca E. Shelton

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Agroecosystem nitrogen (N loss produces greenhouse gases, induces eutrophication, and is costly for farmers; therefore, conservation agricultural management practices aimed at reducing N loss are increasingly adopted. However, the ecosystem consequences of these practices have not been well-studied. We quantified N loss via leaching, NH3 volatilization, N2O emissions, and N retention in plant and soil pools of corn conservation agroecosystems in Kentucky, USA. Three systems were evaluated: (1 an unfertilized, organic system with cover crops hairy vetch (Vicia villosa, winter wheat (Triticum aestivum, or a mix of the two (bi-culture; (2 an organic system with a hairy vetch cover crop employing three fertilization schemes (0 N, organic N, or a fertilizer N-credit approach; and (3 a conventional system with a winter wheat cover crop and three fertilization schemes (0 N, urea N, or organic N. In the unfertilized organic system, cover crop species affected NO3-N leaching (vetch > bi-culture > wheat and N2O-N emissions and yield during corn growth (vetch, bi-culture > wheat. Fertilization increased soil inorganic N, gaseous N loss, N leaching, and yield in the organic vetch and conventional wheat systems. Fertilizer scheme affected the magnitude of growing season N2O-N loss in the organic vetch system (organic N > fertilizer N-credit and the timing of loss (organic N delayed N2O-N loss vs. urea and NO3-N leaching (urea >> organic N in the conventional wheat system, but had no effect on yield. Cover crop selection and N fertilization techniques can reduce N leaching and greenhouse gas emissions without sacrificing yield, thereby enhancing N conservation in both organic and conventional conservation agriculture systems.
Effect of the replacement of aspartic acid/glutamic acid residues with asparagine/glutamine residues in RNase He1 from Hericium erinaceus on inhibition of human leukemia cell line proliferation.

Science.gov (United States)

Kobayashi, Hiroko; Motoyoshi, Naomi; Itagaki, Tadashi; Suzuki, Mamoru; Inokuchi, Norio

2015-01-01

RNase He1 from Hericium erinaceus, a member of the RNase T1 family, has high identity with RNase Po1 from Pleurotus ostreatus with complete conservation of the catalytic sequence. However, the optimal pH for RNase He1 activity is lower than that of RNase Po1, and the enzyme shows little inhibition of human tumor cell proliferation. Hence, to investigate the potential antitumor activity of recombinant RNase He1 and to possibly enhance its optimum pH, we generated RNase He1 mutants by replacing 12 Asn/Gln residues with Asp/Glu residues; the amino acid sequence of RNase Po1 was taken as reference. These mutants were then expressed in Escherichia coli. Using site-directed mutagenesis, we successfully modified the optimal pH for enzyme activity and generated a recombinant RNase He1 that inhibited the proliferation of cells in the human leukemia cell line. These properties are extremely important in the production of anticancer biologics that are based on RNase activity.
Systems of conservation laws with third-order Hamiltonian structures

Science.gov (United States)

Ferapontov, Evgeny V.; Pavlov, Maxim V.; Vitolo, Raffaele F.

2018-02-01

We investigate n-component systems of conservation laws that possess third-order Hamiltonian structures of differential-geometric type. The classification of such systems is reduced to the projective classification of linear congruences of lines in P^{n+2} satisfying additional geometric constraints. Algebraically, the problem can be reformulated as follows: for a vector space W of dimension n+2 , classify n-tuples of skew-symmetric 2-forms A^{α } \\in Λ ^2(W) such that φ _{β γ }A^{β }\\wedge A^{γ }=0, for some non-degenerate symmetric φ.
Thermal treatment system of hazardous residuals in three heating zones based on a microprocessor; Sistema de tratamiento termico de residuos peligrosos en tres zonas de calentamiento a base de un microcontrolador.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luna H, C L

1997-12-01

Thermal treatment system consists of a high power electric oven of three heating zones where each zone works up to 1200 Centigrades; it has the capacity of rising the central zone temperature up to 1000 Centigrades in 58 minutes approximately. This configuration of three zones could be programmed to different temperatures and they will be digitally controlled by a control microprocessor, which has been controlled by its own assembler language, in function of the PID control. There are also other important controls based on this microprocessor, as a signal amplification, starting and shutdown of high power step relays, activation and deactivation of both analogic/digital and digital/analogic convertors, port activation and basic data storage of the system. Two main characteristics were looked for this oven design; the first was the possibility of controlling the three zone temperature and the second was to reduce the rising and stabilization operation time and its digitized control. The principal function of the three zone oven is to accelerate the degradation of hazardous residuals by an oxidation instead combustion, through relatively high temperatures (minimum 800 Centigrades and maximum 1200 Centigrades); this process reduces the ash and volatile particulate production. The hazardous residuals will be pumped into the degradation system and after atomized through a packaged column; this step will avoid the direct contact of the residuals with the oven cores. These features make this system as closed process, which means that the residuals can not leak to the working area, reducing the exposure risk to the personnel. This three step oven system is the first stage of the complete hazardous residuals degradation system; after this, the flow will go into a cold plasma region where the process is completed, making a closed system. (Author).
Development of an on-site measurement method for residual stress in primary system piping of nuclear power plants

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Maekawa, Akira; Takahashi, Shigeru; Fujiwara, Masaharu

2014-01-01

In residual stress measurement for large-scale pipes and vessels in high radiation areas and highly contaminated areas of nuclear plants, it is difficult to bring the radioactivated pipes and vessels out of the areas as they are. If they can brought out, it is very burdensome to handle them for the measurement. Development of an on-site measurement method of residual stress which can be quickly applied and has sufficient measurement accuracy is desirable. In this study, a new method combining an electric discharge skim-cut method with a microscopic strain measurement method using markers was proposed to realize the on-site residual stress measurement on pipes in high radiation areas and highly contaminated areas. In the electric discharge skim-cut method, a boat-type sample is skimmed out of a pipe outer/inner surface using electric discharge machining and released residual stress is measured. The on-site measurement of residual stress by the method can be done using a small, portable electric discharge machine. In the microscopic strain measurement method using markers, the residual stress is estimated by microscopic measurement of the distance between markers after the stress release. The combination of both methods can evaluate the residual stress with the same accuracy as conventional methods offer and it can achieve reduction of radiation exposure in the measurement because the work is done simply and rapidly. In this study, the applicability of the electric discharge skim-cut method was investigated because the applicability of the microscopic strain measurement method using markers was confirmed previously. The experimental examination clarified the applicable conditions for the residual stress measurement with the same accuracy as the conventional methods. Furthermore, the electric discharge machining conditions using pure water as the machining liquid was found to eliminate the amount of liquid radioactive waste completely. (author)
Residual entanglement and sudden death: A direct connection

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oliveira, J.G.G. de; Peixoto de Faria, J.G.; Nemes, M.C.

2011-01-01

We explore the results of [V. Coffman, et al., Phys. Rev. A 61 (2000) 052306] derived for general tripartite states in a dynamical context. We study a class of physically motivated tripartite systems. We show that whenever entanglement sudden death occurs in one of the partitions residual entanglement will appear. For fourpartite systems however, the appearance of residual entanglement is not conditioned by sudden death of entanglement. We can only say that if sudden death of entanglement occurs in some partition there will certainly be residual entanglement. -- Highlights: ► For tripartite systems we show there exists residual entanglement if sudden death occurs. ► For fourpartite systems, the residual entanglement is not conditioned by sudden death. ► If sudden death of entanglement occurs there will certainly be residual entanglement.
Pulmonary stenosis and pulmonary regurgitation: both ends of the spectrum in residual hemodynamic impairment after tetralogy of Fallot repair

Science.gov (United States)

Park, Han Ki

2013-01-01

Repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) has shown excellent outcomes. However it leaves varying degrees of residual hemodynamic impairment, with severe pulmonary stenosis (PS) and free pulmonary regurgitation (PR) at both ends of the spectrum. Since the 1980s, studies evaluating late outcomes after TOF repair revealed the adverse impacts of residual chronic PR on RV volume and function; thus, a turnaround of operational strategies has occurred from aggressive RV outflow tract (RVOT) reconstruction for complete relief of RVOT obstruction to conservative RVOT reconstruction for limiting PR. This transformation has raised the question of how much residual PS after conservative RVOT reconstruction is acceptable. Besides, as pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) increases in patients with RV deterioration from residual PR, there is concern regarding when it should be performed. Regarding residual PS, several studies revealed that PS in addition to PR was associated with less PR and a small RV volume. This suggests that PS combined with PR makes RV diastolic property to protect against dilatation through RV hypertrophy and supports conservative RVOT enlargement despite residual PS. Also, several studies have revealed the pre-PVR threshold of RV parameters for the normalization of RV volume and function after PVR, and based on these results, the indications for PVR have been revised. Although there is no established strategy, better understanding of RV mechanics, development of new surgical and interventional techniques, and evidence for the effect of PVR on RV reverse remodeling and its late outcome will aid us to optimize the management of TOF. PMID:23807889
Pulmonary stenosis and pulmonary regurgitation: both ends of the spectrum in residual hemodynamic impairment after tetralogy of Fallot repair.

Science.gov (United States)

Yoo, Byung Won; Park, Han Ki

2013-06-01

Repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) has shown excellent outcomes. However it leaves varying degrees of residual hemodynamic impairment, with severe pulmonary stenosis (PS) and free pulmonary regurgitation (PR) at both ends of the spectrum. Since the 1980s, studies evaluating late outcomes after TOF repair revealed the adverse impacts of residual chronic PR on RV volume and function; thus, a turnaround of operational strategies has occurred from aggressive RV outflow tract (RVOT) reconstruction for complete relief of RVOT obstruction to conservative RVOT reconstruction for limiting PR. This transformation has raised the question of how much residual PS after conservative RVOT reconstruction is acceptable. Besides, as pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) increases in patients with RV deterioration from residual PR, there is concern regarding when it should be performed. Regarding residual PS, several studies revealed that PS in addition to PR was associated with less PR and a small RV volume. This suggests that PS combined with PR makes RV diastolic property to protect against dilatation through RV hypertrophy and supports conservative RVOT enlargement despite residual PS. Also, several studies have revealed the pre-PVR threshold of RV parameters for the normalization of RV volume and function after PVR, and based on these results, the indications for PVR have been revised. Although there is no established strategy, better understanding of RV mechanics, development of new surgical and interventional techniques, and evidence for the effect of PVR on RV reverse remodeling and its late outcome will aid us to optimize the management of TOF.
Pulmonary stenosis and pulmonary regurgitation: both ends of the spectrum in residual hemodynamic impairment after tetralogy of Fallot repair

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Byung Won Yoo

2013-06-01

Full Text Available Repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF has shown excellent outcomes. However it leaves varying degrees of residual hemodynamic impairment, with severe pulmonary stenosis (PS and free pulmonary regurgitation (PR at both ends of the spectrum. Since the 1980s, studies evaluating late outcomes after TOF repair revealed the adverse impacts of residual chronic PR on RV volume and function; thus, a turnaround of operational strategies has occurred from aggressive RV outflow tract (RVOT reconstruction for complete relief of RVOT obstruction to conservative RVOT reconstruction for limiting PR. This transformation has raised the question of how much residual PS after conservative RVOT reconstruction is acceptable. Besides, as pulmonary valve replacement (PVR increases in patients with RV deterioration from residual PR, there is concern regarding when it should be performed. Regarding residual PS, several studies revealed that PS in addition to PR was associated with less PR and a small RV volume. This suggests that PS combined with PR makes RV diastolic property to protect against dilatation through RV hypertrophy and supports conservative RVOT enlargement despite residual PS. Also, several studies have revealed the pre-PVR threshold of RV parameters for the normalization of RV volume and function after PVR, and based on these results, the indications for PVR have been revised. Although there is no established strategy, better understanding of RV mechanics, development of new surgical and interventional techniques, and evidence for the effect of PVR on RV reverse remodeling and its late outcome will aid us to optimize the management of TOF.
High-throughput sequencing, characterization and detection of new and conserved cucumber miRNAs.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Germán Martínez

Full Text Available Micro RNAS (miRNAs are a class of endogenous small non coding RNAs involved in the post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. In plants, a great number of conserved and specific miRNAs, mainly arising from model species, have been identified to date. However less is known about the diversity of these regulatory RNAs in vegetal species with agricultural and/or horticultural importance. Here we report a combined approach of bioinformatics prediction, high-throughput sequencing data and molecular methods to analyze miRNAs populations in cucumber (Cucumis sativus plants. A set of 19 conserved and 6 known but non-conserved miRNA families were found in our cucumber small RNA dataset. We also identified 7 (3 with their miRNA* strand not previously described miRNAs, candidates to be cucumber-specific. To validate their description these new C. sativus miRNAs were detected by northern blot hybridization. Additionally, potential targets for most conserved and new miRNAs were identified in cucumber genome.In summary, in this study we have identified, by first time, conserved, known non-conserved and new miRNAs arising from an agronomically important species such as C. sativus. The detection of this complex population of regulatory small RNAs suggests that similarly to that observe in other plant species, cucumber miRNAs may possibly play an important role in diverse biological and metabolic processes.
Energy conservation and management system using efficient building automation

Science.gov (United States)

Ahmed, S. Faiz; Hazry, D.; Tanveer, M. Hassan; Joyo, M. Kamran; Warsi, Faizan A.; Kamarudin, H.; Wan, Khairunizam; Razlan, Zuradzman M.; Shahriman A., B.; Hussain, A. T.

2015-05-01

In countries where the demand and supply gap of electricity is huge and the people are forced to endure increasing hours of load shedding, unnecessary consumption of electricity makes matters even worse. So the importance and need for electricity conservation increases exponentially. This paper outlines a step towards the conservation of energy in general and electricity in particular by employing efficient Building Automation technique. It should be noted that by careful designing and implementation of the Building Automation System, up to 30% to 40% of energy consumption can be reduced, which makes a huge difference for energy saving. In this study above mentioned concept is verified by performing experiment on a prototype experimental room and by implementing efficient building automation technique. For the sake of this efficient automation, Programmable Logic Controller (PLC) is employed as a main controller, monitoring various system parameters and controlling appliances as per required. The hardware test run and experimental findings further clarifies and proved the concept. The added advantage of this project is that it can be implemented to both small and medium level domestic homes thus greatly reducing the overall unnecessary load on the Utility provider.
Effect of tillage and crop residue on soil temperature following planting for a Black soil in Northeast China.

Science.gov (United States)

Shen, Yan; McLaughlin, Neil; Zhang, Xiaoping; Xu, Minggang; Liang, Aizhen

2018-03-14

Crop residue return is imperative to maintain soil health and productivity but some farmers resist adopting conservation tillage systems with residue return fearing reduced soil temperature following planting and crop yield. Soil temperatures were measured at 10 cm depth for one month following planting from 2004 to 2007 in a field experiment in Northeast China. Tillage treatments included mouldboard plough (MP), no till (NT), and ridge till (RT) with maize (Zea mays L.) and soybean (Glycine max Merr.) crops. Tillage had significant effects on soil temperature in 10 of 15 weekly periods. Weekly average NT soil temperature was 0-1.5 °C lower than MP, but the difference was significant (P Northeast China representative of a cool to temperate zone.
Electric energy utilization and conservation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tripathy, S.C.

1991-01-01

Various aspects of electric energy utilization and conservation are discussed. First chapter reviews thermodynamic aspects of energy conservation. Subsequent chapters describe possibilities and methods of energy conservation in thermal power plants, airconditioning and ventilation systems, electric lighting systems, electric heating systems in industries, and railway electrification. Chapter 8 describes various modes of energy storage and compares their economies. The next chapter discusses various facets of energy economics and the last chapter discusses the practical aspects of energy conservation in different industries and power utilities. (M.G.B.). 100 refs
Influence of organic waste and residue mud additions on chemical, physical and microbial properties of bauxite residue sand.

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, Benjamin E H; Haynes, Richard J; Phillips, Ian R

2011-02-01

In an alumina refinery, bauxite ore is treated with sodium hydroxide at high temperatures and pressures and for every tone of alumina produced, about 2 tones of alkaline, saline bauxite processing waste is also produced. At Alcoa, a dry stacking system of disposal is used, and it is the sand fraction of the processing waste that is rehabilitated. There is little information available regarding the most appropriate amendments to add to the processing sand to aid in revegetation. The purpose of this study was to investigate how the addition of organic wastes (biosolids and poultry manure), in the presence or absence of added residue mud, would affect the properties of the residue sand and its suitability for revegetation. Samples of freshly deposited residue sand were collected from Alcoa's Kwinana refinery. Samples were treated with phosphogypsum (2% v/v), incubated, and leached. A laboratory experiment was then set up in which the two organic wastes were applied at 0 or the equivalent to 60 tones ha(-1) in combination with residue mud added at rates of 0%, 10% and 20% v/v. Samples were incubated for 8 weeks, after which, key chemical, physical and microbial properties of the residue sand were measured along with seed germination. Additions of residue mud increased exchangeable Na(+), ESP and the pH, and HCO (3) (-) and Na(+) concentrations in saturation paste extracts. Additions of biosolids and poultry manure increased concentrations of extractable P, NH (4) (+) , K, Mg, Cu, Zn, Mn and Fe. Addition of residue mud, in combination with organic wastes, caused a marked decrease in macroporosity and a concomitant increase in mesoporosity, available water holding capacity and the quantity of water held at field capacity. With increasing residue mud additions, the percentage of sample present as sand particles (2 mm diameter) increased; greatest aggregation occurred where a combination of residue mud and poultry manure were added. Stability of aggregates, as measured by
Development of uranium reduction system for incineration residue generated at LWR nuclear fuel fabrication plants in Japan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sampei, T.; Sato, T.; Suzuki, N.; Kai, H.; Hirata, Y.

1993-01-01

The major portion of combustible solid wastes generated at LWR nuclear fuel fabrication plants in Japan is incinerated and stored in a warehouse. The uranium content in the incineration residue is higher compared with other categories of wastes, although only a small amount of incineration residue is generated. Hence, in the future uranium should be removed from incineration residues before they are reduced to a level appropriate for the final disposal. A system for processing the incineration residue for uranium removal has been developed and tested based on the information obtained through laboratory experiments and engineering scale tests
Test of post-newtonian conservation laws in the binary system PSR 1913+16

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Will, C.M.

1976-01-01

Observations that set upper limits on secular changes in the pulsar period and orbital period in the binary system PSR 1913+16 may provide a test of post-Newtonian conservation laws. According to some metric theories of gravitation, the center of mass of a binary system may be accelerated in the direction of the periastron of the orbit because of a violation of post-Newtonian momentum conservation. In the binary system PSR 1913+16, this effect could produce secular changes in both pulsar and orbital periods (changing overall Doppler shift) as large as two parts in 10 6 per year. The size of the effect is proportional to the sine of the angle of periastron, to the difference in the masses of the components of the binary system, and to the combination of parametrized post-Newtonian parameters α 3 +zeta 2 -zeta/subw/. This combination is zero in any theory that predicts conserved total momentum for isolated systems (including general relativity and Brans-Dicke theory). Although solar-system experiments constrain α 3 and zeta/subw/ to be small, no decent direct limit has been placed on zeta 2 . Other possible sources of secular period changes in PSR 1913+16 are discussed and compared with this effect. It is also shown that a breakdown in the equality of active and passive gravitational masses (violation of ''Newton's third law'') leads only to periodic, unobservable orbital effects in a system like PSR 1913+16
Harvesting and handling agricultural residues for energy

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jenkins, B.M.; Summer, H.R.

1986-05-01

Significant progress in understanding the needs for design of agricultural residue collection and handling systems has been made but additional research is required. Recommendations are made for research to (a) integrate residue collection and handling systems into general agricultural practices through the development of multi-use equipment and total harvest systems; (b) improve methods for routine evaluation of agricultural residue resources, possibly through remote sensing and image processing; (c) analyze biomass properties to obtain detailed data relevant to engineering design and analysis; (d) evaluate long-term environmental, social, and agronomic impacts of residue collection; (e) develop improved equipment with higher capacities to reduce residue collection and handling costs, with emphasis on optimal design of complete systems including collection, transportation, processing, storage, and utilization; and (f) produce standard forms of biomass fuels or products to enhance material handling and expand biomass markets through improved reliability and automatic control of biomass conversion and other utilization systems. 118 references.
Conservation Physiology and Conservation Pathogens: White-Nose Syndrome and Integrative Biology for Host-Pathogen Systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Willis, Craig K R

2015-10-01

Conservation physiology aims to apply an understanding of physiological mechanisms to management of imperiled species, populations, or ecosystems. One challenge for physiologists hoping to apply their expertise to conservation is connecting the mechanisms we study, often in the laboratory, with the vital rates of populations in the wild. There is growing appreciation that infectious pathogens can threaten populations and species, and represent an important issue for conservation. Conservation physiology has much to offer in terms of addressing the threat posed to some host species by infectious pathogens. At the same time, the well-developed theoretical framework of disease ecology could provide a model to help advance the application of physiology to a range of other conservation issues. Here, I use white-nose syndrome (WNS) in hibernating North American bats as an example of a conservation problem for which integrative physiological research has been a critical part of research and management. The response to WNS highlights the importance of a well-developed theoretical framework for the application of conservation physiology to a particular threat. I review what is known about physiological mechanisms associated with mortality from WNS and emphasize the value of combining a strong theoretical background with integrative physiological studies in order to connect physiological mechanisms with population processes and thereby maximize the potential benefits of conservation physiology. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Anaerobia Treatments of the domestic residual waters. Limitations potentialities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Giraldo Gomez, Eugenio

1993-01-01

The quick growth of the Latin American cities has prevented that an appropriate covering of public services is achieved for the whole population, One of the undesirable consequences of this situation is the indiscriminate discharge from the domestic and industrial residual waters to the nearest bodies of water with its consequent deterioration and with disastrous consequences about the ecology and the public health. The developed countries have controlled this situation using systems of purification of the residual waters previously to their discharge in the receptor source. The same as the technology of the evacuation of the served waters, they have become numerous efforts for the application of the purification systems used in the countries developed to the socioeconomic, climatic and cultural conditions of our means. One of the results obtained in these efforts is the economic inability of the municipalities to pay the high investment costs and of operation of the traditional systems for the treatment of the residual waters. Contrary to another type of public services, the treatment of the residual waters needs of appropriate technological solutions for the Climatic and socioeconomic means of the developing countries, One of the technological alternatives for the purification of the residual waters that has had a great development in the last decades has been that of the biological treatments in t anaerobia ambient. The objective of this contribution is to present, to author's trial, the limitations and potentialities of this technology type with special emphasis in the case of the domestic residual waters

Analysis of Metal Flow Behavior and Residual Stress Formation of Complex Functional Profiles under High-Speed Cold Roll-Beating

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Fengkui Cui

2018-01-01

Full Text Available To obtain a good surface layer performance of the complex functional profile during the high-speed cold roll-beating forming process, this paper analyzed the metal plastic flow and residual stress-formed mechanism by using a theoretical model of the metal flow and residual stress generation. By using simulation software, the cold roll-beating forming process of a spline shaft was simulated and analyzed. The metal flow and residual stress formation law in the motion were researched. In a practical experiment, the changes in the grains in the spline tooth profile section and the residual stress distribution on the tooth profile were studied. A microcorrespondence relationship was established between the metal plastic flow and the residual stress generation. The conclusions indicate that the rate at which the metal flow decreases changes gradually at different metal layers. The residual stress value is directly related to the plastic flow difference. As the roll-beating speed increases, the uneven degree of plastic deformation at the workpiece surface increases, and the residual stress in the tooth profile is generally greater. At the same roll-beating speed, the rate change trend of the metal flow decreases gradually from the surface to the inner layer and from the dedendum to the addendum. The residual stress distribution on the surface of the tooth profile decreases from the dedendum to the addendum. These findings provide a basis and guidance for the controlled use of residual stress, obtaining better surface layer quality in the high-speed cold roll-beating process of the complex functional profile.
Contractive relaxation systems and interacting particles for scalar conservation laws

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Katsoulakis, M.A.; Tzavaras, A.E.

1996-01-01

We consider a class of semi linear hyperbolic systems with relaxation that are contractive in the L 1 -norm and admit invariant regions. We show that, as the relaxation parameter ξ goes to zero, their solutions converge to a weak solution of the scalar multidimensional conversation law that satisfies the Kruzhkov conditions. In the case of one space dimension, we propose certain interacting particle systems, whose mesoscopic limit is the systems with relaxation and their macroscopic dynamics is described by entropy solutions of a scalar conservation law. (author)
Dynamic Epigenetic Control of Highly Conserved Noncoding Elements

KAUST Repository

Seridi, Loqmane

2014-10-07

Background Many noncoding genomic loci have remained constant over long evolutionary periods, suggesting that they are exposed to strong selective pressures. The molecular functions of these elements have been partially elucidated, but the fundamental reason for their extreme conservation is still unknown. Results To gain new insights into the extreme selection of highly conserved noncoding elements (HCNEs), we used a systematic analysis of multi-omic data to study the epigenetic regulation of such elements during the development of Drosophila melanogaster. At the sequence level, HCNEs are GC-rich and have a characteristic oligomeric composition. They have higher levels of stable nucleosome occupancy than their flanking regions, and lower levels of mononucleosomes and H3.3, suggesting that these regions reside in compact chromatin. Furthermore, these regions showed remarkable modulations in histone modification and the expression levels of adjacent genes during development. Although HCNEs are primarily initiated late in replication, about 10% were related to early replication origins. Finally, HCNEs showed strong enrichment within lamina-associated domains. Conclusion HCNEs have distinct and protective sequence properties, undergo dynamic epigenetic regulation, and appear to be associated with the structural components of the chromatin, replication origins, and nuclear matrix. These observations indicate that such elements are likely to have essential cellular functions, and offer insights into their epigenetic properties.
Dynamic Epigenetic Control of Highly Conserved Noncoding Elements

KAUST Repository

Seridi, Loqmane; Ryu, Tae Woo; Ravasi, Timothy

2014-01-01

Background Many noncoding genomic loci have remained constant over long evolutionary periods, suggesting that they are exposed to strong selective pressures. The molecular functions of these elements have been partially elucidated, but the fundamental reason for their extreme conservation is still unknown. Results To gain new insights into the extreme selection of highly conserved noncoding elements (HCNEs), we used a systematic analysis of multi-omic data to study the epigenetic regulation of such elements during the development of Drosophila melanogaster. At the sequence level, HCNEs are GC-rich and have a characteristic oligomeric composition. They have higher levels of stable nucleosome occupancy than their flanking regions, and lower levels of mononucleosomes and H3.3, suggesting that these regions reside in compact chromatin. Furthermore, these regions showed remarkable modulations in histone modification and the expression levels of adjacent genes during development. Although HCNEs are primarily initiated late in replication, about 10% were related to early replication origins. Finally, HCNEs showed strong enrichment within lamina-associated domains. Conclusion HCNEs have distinct and protective sequence properties, undergo dynamic epigenetic regulation, and appear to be associated with the structural components of the chromatin, replication origins, and nuclear matrix. These observations indicate that such elements are likely to have essential cellular functions, and offer insights into their epigenetic properties.
Intermediate-Scale High-Solids Anaerobic Digestion System Operational Development

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rivard, C. J.

1995-02-01

Anaerobic bioconversion of solid organic wastes represents a disposal option in which two useful products may be produced, including a medium Btu fuel gas (biogas) and a compost-quality organic residue. The application of high-solids technology may offer several advantages over conventional low-solids digester technology. The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has developed a unique digester system capable of uniformly mixing high-solids materials at low cost. During the first 1.5 years of operation, a variety of modifications and improvements were instituted to increase the safety, reliability, and performance of the system. Those improvements, which may be critical in further scale-up efforts using ,the NREL high-solids digester design are detailed in this report.
A highly sensitive underwater video system for use in turbid aquaculture ponds.

Science.gov (United States)

Hung, Chin-Chang; Tsao, Shih-Chieh; Huang, Kuo-Hao; Jang, Jia-Pu; Chang, Hsu-Kuang; Dobbs, Fred C

2016-08-24

The turbid, low-light waters characteristic of aquaculture ponds have made it difficult or impossible for previous video cameras to provide clear imagery of the ponds' benthic habitat. We developed a highly sensitive, underwater video system (UVS) for this particular application and tested it in shrimp ponds having turbidities typical of those in southern Taiwan. The system's high-quality video stream and images, together with its camera capacity (up to nine cameras), permit in situ observations of shrimp feeding behavior, shrimp size and internal anatomy, and organic matter residues on pond sediments. The UVS can operate continuously and be focused remotely, a convenience to shrimp farmers. The observations possible with the UVS provide aquaculturists with information critical to provision of feed with minimal waste; determining whether the accumulation of organic-matter residues dictates exchange of pond water; and management decisions concerning shrimp health.
Binding of the human "electron transferring flavoprotein" (ETF) to the medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) involves an arginine and histidine residue.

Science.gov (United States)

Parker, Antony R

2003-10-01

The interaction between the "electron transferring flavoprotein" (ETF) and medium chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase (MCAD) enables successful flavin to flavin electron transfer, crucial for the beta-oxidation of fatty acids. The exact biochemical determinants for ETF binding to MCAD are unknown. Here we show that binding of human ETF, to MCAD, was inhibited by 2,3-butanedione and diethylpyrocarbonate (DEPC) and reversed by incubation with free arginine and hydroxylamine respectively. Spectral analyses of native ETF vs modified ETF suggested that flavin binding was not affected and that the loss of ETF activity with MCAD involved modification of one ETF arginine residue and one ETF histidine residue respectively. MCAD and octanoyl-CoA protected ETF against inactivation by both 2,3-butanedione and DEPC indicating that the arginine and histidine residues are present in or around the MCAD binding site. Comparison of exposed arginine and histidine residues among different ETF species, however, indicates that arginine residues are highly conserved but that histidine residues are not. These results lead us to conclude that this single arginine residue is essential for the binding of ETF to MCAD, but that the single histidine residue, although involved, is not.
Study on grey theoretical model of passive residual heat removal system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhou Tao; Yang Ruichang; Su, G.H.; Jia Dounan; Sugiyama, K.

2004-01-01

Natural Circulation Passive Residual Heat Removal System is treated as a Grey System by taking into account of its complexity and uncertainty of effect for factors each other. The magnitude and degree of some factors are confirmed by grey incidence analysis method; The one-one relationship of some variables is built by GM (1, 1) model; The relationship between key factor and other effect factors is built (1, 4) model. Grey model shows its more advantage of precision through comparing with multivariate model. (author)
Low-power implementation of polyphase filters in Quadratic Residue Number System

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Cardarilli, Gian Carlo; Re, Andrea Del; Nannarelli, Alberto

2004-01-01

The aim of this work is the reduction of the power dissipated in digital filters, while maintaining the timing unchanged. A polyphase filter bank in the Quadratic Residue Number System (QRNS) has been implemented and then compared, in terms of performance, area, and power dissipation...... to the implementation of a polyphase filter bank in the traditional two's complement system (TCS). The resulting implementations, designed to have the same clock rates, show that the QRNS filter is smaller and consumes less power than the TCS one....
Extrapolating effects of conservation tillage on yield, soil moisture and dry spell mitigation using simulation modelling

Science.gov (United States)

Mkoga, Z. J.; Tumbo, S. D.; Kihupi, N.; Semoka, J.

There is big effort to disseminate conservation tillage practices in Tanzania. Despite wide spread field demonstrations there has been some field experiments meant to assess and verify suitability of the tillage options in local areas. Much of the experiments are short lived and thus long term effects of the tillage options are unknown. Experiments to study long term effects of the tillage options are lacking because they are expensive and cannot be easily managed. Crop simulation models have the ability to use long term weather data and the local soil parameters to assess long term effects of the tillage practices. The Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) crop simulation model; was used to simulate long term production series of soil moisture and grain yield based on the soil and weather conditions in Mkoji sub-catchment of the great Ruaha river basin in Tanzania. A 24 year simulated maize yield series based on conventional tillage with ox-plough, without surface crop residues (CT) treatment was compared with similar yield series based on conservation tillage (ox-ripping, with surface crop residues (RR)). Results showed that predicted yield averages were significantly higher in conservation tillage than in conventional tillage ( P APSIM simulation model, showed that average soil moisture in the conservation tillage was significantly higher ( P < 0.05) (about 0.29 mm/mm) than in conventional tillage (0.22 mm/mm) treatment during the seasons which received rainfall between 468 and 770 mm. Similarly the conservation tillage treatment recorded significantly higher yields (4.4 t/ha) ( P < 0.01) than the conventional tillage (3.6 t/ha) treatment in the same range of seasonal rainfall. On the other hand there was no significant difference in soil moisture for the seasons which received rainfall above 770 mm. In these seasons grain yield in conservation tillage treatment was significantly lower (3.1 kg/ha) than in the conventional tillage treatment (4.8 kg
Analysis of plastic residues in maple sap and syrup collected from tubing systems sanitized with isopropyl alcohol

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luc Lagacé

2017-05-01

Full Text Available A plastic tubing system operated under vacuum is usually used to collect sap from maple trees during spring time to produce maple syrup. This system is commonly sanitized with isopropyl alcohol (IPA to remove microbial contamination colonizing the system during the sugar season. Questions have been raised whether IPA would contribute to the leaching of plastic residues in maple sap and syrup coming from sanitized systems. First, an extraction experiment was performed in the lab on commercial plastic tubing materials that were submitted to IPA under harsh conditions. The results of the GC-MS analysis revealed the presence of many compounds that served has target for further tests. Secondly, tests were done on early and mid-season maple sap and syrup coming from many sugarbushes using IPA or not to determine potential concentrations of plastic residues. Results obtained from sap and syrup samples showed that no quantifiable (< 1–75 μg/L concentration of any plastic molecules tested was determined in all samples coming from IPA treated or not treated systems. However, some samples of first sap run used as a rinse solution to be discarded before the season start and that were coming from non sanitized or IPA sanitized systems, showed quantifiable concentrations of chemical residue such as ultraviolet protector (octabenzone. These results show that IPA can be safely used to sanitize maple sap collection system in regards to the leaching of plastic residues in maple sap and syrup and reinforced the need to thoroughly rinse the tubing system at the beginning of the season for both sanitized and non sanitized systems. Keywords: Food science, Food safety, Materials chemistry
Coptis teeta-based agroforestry system and its conservation potential: a case study from northwest Yunnan.

Science.gov (United States)

Huang, Ji; Long, Chunlin

2007-06-01

Coptis teeta (Ranunculaceae), is a nontimber forest product (NTFP) that only grows in northwest Yunnan and northeast India. Its tenuous rhizome, known as "Yunnan goldthread" in the traditional Chinese medicine system, has been used as an antibacterial and as an antiinflammatory medicine for a long time. The increasing demand has resulted in commercial harvesting pressure on wild populations that were already dwindling as a result of deforestation, and wild populations are at risk of extinction. Fortunately, there exists at least 2000 hectares of a C. teeta-based agroforestry system initiated by the Lisu people in Nujiang, northwest Yunnan. This cultivation supplies us with a valuable study case for the balance between conservation and sustainable use. This case study investigated the traditional management system and history of C. teeta in Nujiang through ethnobotanical methods and field investigation. We also contrasted initial costs, economic returns, and labor demands for C. teeta cultivation with other major land uses in the region. Compared with swidden agriculture, the major land-use type in the region, C. teeta cultivation offers high economic returns and low labor and initial costs; moreover, C. teeta cultivation does not interfere with subsistence agricultural duties. This agroforestry system reflected that the cultivation of NTFPs is a conservation strategy for maintaining forest diversity, while providing a stable economic return to local forest communities, and indicates how local people manage biodiversity effectively.
Experience in determining the residual life expectancy of conventional thermal power stations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tolksdorf, E.

1990-01-01

A combination of computer analysis, degree of damage and approximate conversion to residual life expectancy gives acceptable results. There is considerable uncertainty in converting degree of damage to residual life expectancy, since structural component characteristics play a major role here. Structure damages play a major part in establishing the degree of damage. Damage categories are given, together with action if operations are to continue. Exhaustion calculations to TRD 508 are to be taken as conservative and as possible evidence of trends. 14 figs., 12 refs
A Note on Weak Solutions of Conservation Laws and Energy/Entropy Conservation

Science.gov (United States)

Gwiazda, Piotr; Michálek, Martin; Świerczewska-Gwiazda, Agnieszka

2018-03-01

A common feature of systems of conservation laws of continuum physics is that they are endowed with natural companion laws which are in such cases most often related to the second law of thermodynamics. This observation easily generalizes to any symmetrizable system of conservation laws; they are endowed with nontrivial companion conservation laws, which are immediately satisfied by classical solutions. Not surprisingly, weak solutions may fail to satisfy companion laws, which are then often relaxed from equality to inequality and overtake the role of physical admissibility conditions for weak solutions. We want to answer the question: what is a critical regularity of weak solutions to a general system of conservation laws to satisfy an associated companion law as an equality? An archetypal example of such a result was derived for the incompressible Euler system in the context of Onsager's conjecture in the early nineties. This general result can serve as a simple criterion to numerous systems of mathematical physics to prescribe the regularity of solutions needed for an appropriate companion law to be satisfied.
Formation of toroidal pre-heat plasma without residual magnetic field for high-beta pinch experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ikeda, Nagayasu; Tamaru, Ken; Nagata, Akiyoshi.

1979-01-01

Formation of toroidal pre-heat plasma was studied. The pre-heat plasma without residual magnetic field was made by chopping the current for pre-heat, A small toroidal-pinch system was used for the experiment. The magnetic field was measured with a magnetic probe. One turn loop was used for the measurement of the toroidal one-turn electric field. A pair of Rogoski coil was used for the measurement of plasma current. The dependence of residual magnetic field on chopping time was measured. By fast chopping of the primary current in the pre-heating circuit, the poloidal magnetic field was reduced to several percent within 5 microsecond. After chopping, no instability was observed in the principal discharge plasma produced within several microsecond. As the conclusion, it can be said that the control of residual field can be made by current chopping. (Kato, T.)
Residual stress by repair welds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mochizuki, Masahito; Toyoda, Masao

2003-01-01

Residual stress by repair welds is computed using the thermal elastic-plastic analysis with phase-transformation effect. Coupling phenomena of temperature, microstructure, and stress-strain fields are simulated in the finite-element analysis. Weld bond of a plate butt-welded joint is gouged and then deposited by weld metal in repair process. Heat source is synchronously moved with the deposition of the finite-element as the weld deposition. Microstructure is considered by using CCT diagram and the transformation behavior in the repair weld is also simulated. The effects of initial stress, heat input, and weld length on residual stress distribution are studied from the organic results of numerical analysis. Initial residual stress before repair weld has no influence on the residual stress after repair treatment near weld metal, because the initial stress near weld metal releases due to high temperature of repair weld and then stress by repair weld regenerates. Heat input has an effect for residual stress distribution, for not its magnitude but distribution zone. Weld length should be considered reducing the magnitude of residual stress in the edge of weld bead; short bead induces high tensile residual stress. (author)
Safety analysis of increase in heat removal from reactor coolant system with inadvertent operation of passive residual heat removal at no load conditions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Shao, Ge; Cao, Xuewu [School of Mechanical and Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai (China)

2015-06-15

The advanced passive pressurized water reactor (PWR) is being constructed in China and the passive residual heat removal (PRHR) system was designed to remove the decay heat. During accident scenarios with increase of heat removal from the primary coolant system, the actuation of the PRHR will enhance the cooldown of the primary coolant system. There is a risk of power excursion during the cooldown of the primary coolant system. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the thermal hydraulic behavior of the reactor coolant system (RCS) at this condition. The advanced passive PWR model, including major components in the RCS, is built by SCDAP/RELAP5 code. The thermal hydraulic behavior of the core is studied for two typical accident sequences with PRHR actuation to investigate the core cooling capability with conservative assumptions, a main steam line break (MSLB) event and inadvertent opening of a steam generator (SG) safety valve event. The results show that the core is ultimately shut down by the boric acid solution delivered by Core Makeup Tank (CMT) injections. The effects of CMT boric acid concentration and the activation delay time on accident consequences are analyzed for MSLB, which shows that there is no consequential damage to the fuel or reactor coolant system in the selected conditions.
Effective deleting of residual photoconductivity in high-resistance layers GaAs

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sadaev, B.S.; Kadirova, I.T.; Sharipov, E.I.

2004-01-01

Full text: The phenomenon of residual photoconductivity as the storage of optical memory (OM) represents practical interest in micro and optoelectronics. The finding - out of the nature OM represents undoubtedly and scientific interest. Now residual photoconductivity (RPC) is explained by potential barriers arising because of non-monocharacteristical of distribution components of the semiconductor or carriers of a current in volume. Depending on a nature non-monocharacteristical the time relaxation RPC changes in a wide limit. The special interest represents RPC created by impurity. In the given work the results of research of a nature RPC created photos by ionization of the filled centres of chrome in compensated epitaxilogic layers arsenide galls are resulted. Epitaxilogic layers were brought up by a vertical method ZFE. Highness was reached (achieved) by special indemnification of the residual donors deep acceptors of chrome. Substrates served n-GoAs. Lassitude of i-layers has made 70-80 microns. Specific resistance of layers has made (1/3) 108 om·sm. (T= 300 K). The structures were photosensitive as at low (T = 77 K) and at room temperatures. The photosensitivity of structures in impurity to a strip of absorption chrome (= 1,4 microns) was comparable (compared) with own. The researches show, that the structures have RPC. Size RPC the greatest ambassador impurity of illumination is carrying out photoionization Cr2 + - of the centres. That is established, RPC impurity of a photocurrent is effectively erased only at certain length of a wave of external illumination
Residual stress evaluation by Barkhausen signals with a magnetic field sensor for high efficiency electrical motors

Science.gov (United States)

Tsuchida, Yuji; Enokizono, Masato

2018-04-01

The iron loss of industrial motors increases by residual stress during manufacturing processes. It is very important to make clear the distribution of the residual stress in the motor cores to reduce the iron loss in the motors. Barkhausen signals which occur on electrical steel sheets can be used for the evaluation of the residual stress because they are very sensitive to the material properties. Generally, a B-sensor is used to measure Barkhausen signals, however, we developed a new H-sensor to measure them and applied it into the stress evaluation. It is supposed that the Barkhausen signals by using a H-sensor can be much effective to the residual stress on the electrical steel sheets by referring our results regarding to the stress evaluations. We evaluated the tensile stress of the electrical steel sheets by measuring Barkhausen signals by using our developed H-sensor for high efficiency electrical motors.
Calculation of Residual Electricity Mixes when Accounting for the EECS (European Electricity Certificate System — the Need for a Harmonised System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ole Jørgen Hanssen

2009-07-01

Full Text Available According to the Electricity Directive, suppliers of electricity must disclose their electricity portfolio with regards to energy source and environmental impact. This paper gives some examples of disclosure systems and residual electricity mixes in Norway, Sweden and Finland, compared to an approach based on a common regional disclosure. Disclosures based on the E-TRACK standard are presented, as well as the variation in CO2 emissions from different residual mixes. The results from this study clearly show that there is a need for a harmonised, transparent and reliable system for the accounting of electricity disclosure in Europe.

Experimental and analytical studies on the passive residual heat removal system for the advanced integral type reactor

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Park, Hyun-Sik; Choi, Ki-Yong; Cho, Seok; Park, Choon-Kyung; Lee, Sung-Jae; Song, Chul-Hwa; Chung, Moon-Ki

2004-01-01

An experiment on the thermal-hydraulic characteristics of the passive residual heat removal system (PRHRS) for an advanced integral type reactor, SMART-P, has been performed, and its experimental results have been analyzed using a best-estimated system analysis code, MARS. The experiment is performed to investigate the performance of the passive residual heat removal system using the high temperature and high pressure thermal-hydraulic test facility (VISTA) which simulates the SMART-P. The natural circulation performance of the PRHRS, the heat transfer characteristics of the PRHRS heat exchangers and the emergency cooldown tank (ECT), and the thermal-hydraulic behavior of the primary loop are investigated. The experimental results show that the coolant flows steadily in the PRHRS loop and the heat transfer through the PRHRS heat exchanger in the emergency cooldown tank is sufficient enough to enable a natural circulation of the coolant. Analysis on a typical PRHRS test has been carried out using the MARS code. The overall trends of the calculated flow rate, pressure, temperature, and heat transfer rate in the PRHRS are similar to the experimental data. There is good agreement between the experimental data and the calculated one for the fluid temperature in the PRHRS steam line. However, the calculated fluid temperature in the PRHRS condensate line is higher, the calculated coolant outlet temperature is lower, and the heat transfer rate through the PRHRS heat exchanger is lower than the experimental data. It seems that it is due to an insufficient heat transfer modeling in the pool such as the emergency cooldown tank in the MARS calculation. (author)
Prospects for Parity Non-conservation Experiments with Highly Charged Heavy Ions

OpenAIRE

Maul, M.; Schäfer, A.; Greiner, W.; Indelicato, P.

1996-01-01

We discuss the prospects for parity non-conservation experiments with highly charged heavy ions. Energy levels and parity mixing for heavy ions with two to five electrons are calculated. We investigate two-photon-transitions and the possibility to observe interference effects between weak-matrix elements and Stark matrix elements for periodic electric field configurations.
Allowable residual contamination levels: transuranic advanced disposal systems for defense waste

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kennedy, W.E. Jr.; Napier, B.A.

1982-01-01

An evaluation of advanced disposal systems for defense transuranic (TRU) wastes is being conducted using the Allowable Residual Contamination Level (ARCL) method. The ARCL method is based on compliance with a radiation dose rate limit through a site-specific analysis of the potential for radiation exposure to individuals. For defense TRU wastes at the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington, various advanced disposal techniques are being studied to determine their potential for application. This paper presents a discussion of the results of the first stage of the TRU advanced disposal systems project
Gains of ubiquitylation sites in highly conserved proteins in the human lineage

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kim Dong Seon

2012-11-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Post-translational modification of lysine residues of specific proteins by ubiquitin modulates the degradation, localization, and activity of these target proteins. Here, we identified gains of ubiquitylation sites in highly conserved regions of human proteins that occurred during human evolution. Results We analyzed human ubiquitylation site data and multiple alignments of orthologous mammalian proteins including those from humans, primates, other placental mammals, opossum, and platypus. In our analysis, we identified 281 ubiquitylation sites in 252 proteins that first appeared along the human lineage during primate evolution: one protein had four novel sites; four proteins had three sites each; 18 proteins had two sites each; and the remaining 229 proteins had one site each. PML, which is involved in neurodevelopment and neurodegeneration, acquired three sites, two of which have been reported to be involved in the degradation of PML. Thirteen human proteins, including ERCC2 (also known as XPD and NBR1, gained human-specific ubiquitylated lysines after the human-chimpanzee divergence. ERCC2 has a Lys/Gln polymorphism, the derived (major allele of which confers enhanced DNA repair capacity and reduced cancer risk compared with the ancestral (minor allele. NBR1 and eight other proteins that are involved in the human autophagy protein interaction network gained a novel ubiquitylation site. Conclusions The gain of novel ubiquitylation sites could be involved in the evolution of protein degradation and other regulatory networks. Although gains of ubiquitylation sites do not necessarily equate to adaptive evolution, they are useful candidates for molecular functional analyses to identify novel advantageous genetic modifications and innovative phenotypes acquired during human evolution.
Prize-winning energy conservation house equipped with air collectors at Bad Vilbel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Urbanek, A.

An energy conservation house is the winner out of a total of 60 designs and is displayed at the prefabricated-house exhibition at Bad Vilbel. Similar to Socrates' building in antiquity, this house constitutes a triangle both perpendicularly and horizontally opening its largest possible surface to the South. Any 'residual heat' needed for the Northern roof planted over, is supplied by the air collectors either directly or by means of a high-performance heat pump via heating of the controlled feed air through a novel air floor heating installation while removing energy, too, from the exhaust air through heat recovery. In a survey supported by photos of models and buildings, lay-out plans and connector diagrams of energy supply, technical details of the heat protection concept (aerated concrete for walls, ceilings, roofing structures) and the energy concept with air collectors are described along with a discussion of heat pump operation, the novel air floor heating system and the solar cycle control system. Every room has a miniature heat exchanger allocated in the central unit so that re-heated air can be demanded via the separate room thermostat depending on reflow-air temperature.
Less Conservative ℋ∞ Fuzzy Control for Discrete-Time Takagi-Sugeno Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Leonardo Amaral Mozelli

2011-01-01

Full Text Available New analysis and control design conditions of discrete-time fuzzy systems are proposed. Using fuzzy Lyapunov's functions and introducing slack variables, less conservative conditions are obtained. The controller guarantees system stabilization and ℋ∞ performance. Numerical tests and a practical experiment in Chua's circuit are presented to show the effectiveness.
Behavior of surface residual stress in explosion hardened high manganese austenitic cast steel due to repeated impact loads

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Oda, Akira; Miyagawa, Hideaki

1985-01-01

Explosion hardened high manganese austenitic cast steel is being tried for rail crossing recently. From the previous studies, it became clear that high tensile residual stress was generated in the hardened surface layer by explosion and microcracks were observed. In this study, therefore, the behavior of surface residual stress in explosion hardened steel due to repeated impact loads was examined and compared with those of the original and shot peened steels. The results obtained are summarized as follows: (1) In the initial stage of the repetition of impact, high tensile surface residual stress in explosion hardened steel decreased rapidly with the repetition of impact, while those of the original and shot peened steels increased rapidly. This difference was attributed to the difference in depth of the work hardened layer in three testing materials. (2) Beyond 20 impacts the residual stress of three test specimens decreased gradually, and at more than 2000 impacts the compressive stress of about 500 MPa was produced regardless of the histories of working of testing materials. (3) The linear law in the second stage of residual stress fading was applicable to this case, and the range of the linear relationship was related to the depth of the work hardened layer of testing material. (4) From the changes in half-value breadth and peak intensity of diffraction X-ray, it was supposed that a peculiar microscopic strain exists in explosion hardened steel. (author)
Improvement of the Raman detection system for pesticide residues on/in fruits and vegetables

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Yan; Peng, Yankun; Zhai, Chen; Chao, Kuanglin; Qin, Jianwei

2017-05-01

Pesticide residue is one of the major challenges to fruits safety, while the traditional detection methods of pesticide residue on fruits and vegetables can't afford the demand of rapid detection in actual production because of timeconsuming. Thus rapid identification and detection methods for pesticide residue are urgently needed at present. While most Raman detection systems in the market are spot detection systems, which limits the range of application. In the study, our lab develops a Raman detection system to achieve area-scan thorough the self-developed spot detection Raman system with a control software and two devices. In the system, the scanning area is composed of many scanning spots, which means every spot needs to be detected and more time will be taken than area-scan Raman system. But lower detection limit will be achieved in this method. And some detection device is needed towards fruits and vegetables in different shape. Two detection devices are developed to detect spherical fruits and leaf vegetables. During the detection, the device will make spherical fruit rotate along its axis of symmetry, and leaf vegetables will be pressed in the test surface smoothly. The detection probe will be set to keep a proper distance to the surface of fruits and vegetables. It should make sure the laser shins on the surface of spherical fruit vertically. And two software are used to detect spherical fruits and leaf vegetables will be integrated to one, which make the operator easier to switch. Accordingly two detection devices for spherical fruits and leaf vegetables will also be portable devices to make it easier to change. In the study, a new way is developed to achieve area-scan result by spot-scan Raman detection system.
[The importance of C-terminal aspartic acid residue (D141) to the antirestriction activity of the ArdB (R64) protein].

Science.gov (United States)

Kudryavtseva, A A; Osetrova, M S; Livinyuk, V Ya; Manukhov, I V; Zavilgelsky, G B

2017-01-01

Antirestriction proteins of the ArdB/KlcA family are specific inhibitors of restriction (endonuclease) activity of type-I restriction/modification enzymes. The effect of conserved amino acid residues on the antirestriction activity of the ArdB protein encoded by the transmissible R64 (IncI1) plasmid has been investigated. An analysis of the amino acid sequences of ArdB homologues demonstrated the presence of four groups of conserved residues ((1) R16, E32, and W51; (2) Y46 and G48; (3) S81, D83 and E132, and (4) N77, L(I)140, and D141) on the surface of the protein globule. Amino acid residues of the fourth group showed a unique localization pattern with the terminal residue protruding beyond the globule surface. The replacement of two conserved amino acids (D141 and N77) located in the close vicinity of each other on the globule surface showed that the C-terminal D141 is essential for the antirestriction activity of ArdB. The deletion of this residue, as well as replacement by a hydrophobic threonine residue (D141T), completely abolished the antirestriction activity of ArdB. The synonymous replacement of D141 by a glutamic acid residue (D141E) caused an approximately 30-fold decrease of the antirestriction activity of ArdB, and the point mutation N77A caused an approximately 20-fold decrease in activity. The residues D141 and N77 located on the surface of the protein globule are presumably essential for the formation of a contact between ArdB and a currently unknown factor that modulates the activity of type-I restriction/modification enzymes.
Lax pairs and conservation laws for two differential-difference systems

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Chunxia

2003-01-01

A coupled extended Lotka-Volterra lattice and a special Toda lattice are derived from the existing bilinear equations. Starting from the corresponding bilinear Baecklund transformation, Lax pairs for these two differential-difference systems are obtained. Furthermore, an infinite number of conservation laws for the differential-difference equations are deduced from the Lax pairs in a systematic way
ANALISIS RESIDU KLORPIRIFOS DALAM SAYUR-SAYURAN DENGAN TEKNIK HIGH PERFORMANCE LIQUID CHROMATOGRAPHY (HPLC

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Aman Sentosa Panggabean

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The research about analysis of chlorpyrifos residue in vegetables by using High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC technique has been done. To obtain the optimal measurement results, the measurement performed several important parameters in the chromatographic system was composition of mobile phase, volume injection sample, flow rate and pH eluent. Optimum measurement conditions obtained was mobile phase composition (water : methanol with 70 : 30, volume injection sample are 5 mL, flow rate are 0.5mL/menit and pH eluent are 7. The analytical performance that obtained is good showed with the reproducibility value as percentage coefficient variance (% CV was 0.0664%, limit of detection (LOD was 0.44 ppm, with a recovery percentage of > 95%. The results obtained showed the HPLC technique can be used for the routine analysis in the determination of chlorpyrifos for the vegetable samples. Keywords: Chlorpyrifos, Vegetables, HPLC.
High energy x-ray synchrotron radiation analysis of residual stress distribution of shot-peened steels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanaka, Keisuke; Akiniwa, Yoshiaki; Kimachi, Hirohisa; Suzuki, Kenji; Yanase, Etsuya; Nishio, Kouji; Kusumi, Yukihiro

2001-01-01

A high energy X-ray beam from synchrotron radiation source SPring-8 was used to determine the residual stress distribution beneath the shot-peened surface of carbon steel plates. By using the monochromatic X-ray beam with an energy of 72 keV, the relation between 2θ and sin 2 ψ was obtained by the side-inclination method upto sin 2 ψ = 0.9. The distribution of the residual stress was determined from the non-linearity of the relation between 2θ and sin 2 ψ. (author)
Residual soil nitrate content and profitability of five cropping systems in northwest Iowa.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert L De Haan

Full Text Available Many communities in the Midwestern United States obtain their drinking water from shallow alluvial wells that are vulnerable to contamination by NO3-N from the surrounding agricultural landscape. The objective of this research was to assess cropping systems with the potential to produce a reasonable return for farmers while simultaneously reducing the risk of NO3-N movement into these shallow aquifers. From 2009 to 2013 we conducted a field experiment in northwest Iowa in which we evaluated five cropping systems for residual (late fall soil NO3-N content and profitability. Soil samples were taken annually from the top 30 cm of the soil profile in June and August, and from the top 180 cm in November (late fall. The November samples were divided into 30 cm increments for analysis. Average residual NO3-N content in the top 180 cm of the soil profile following the 2010 to 2013 cropping years was 134 kg ha-1 for continuous maize (Zea mays L. with a cereal rye (Secale cereale L. cover crop, 18 kg ha-1 for perennial grass, 60 kg ha-1 for a three year oat (Avena sativa L.-alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.-maize rotation, 85 kg ha-1 for a two year oat/red clover (Trifolium pratense L.-maize rotation, and 90 kg ha-1 for a three year soybean (Glycine max (L. Merr.-winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.-maize rotation. However, residual NO3-N in the 90 to 180 cm increment of the soil profile was not significantly higher in the oat-alfalfa-maize cropping system than the perennial grass system. For 2010 to 2013, average profit ($ ha-1 yr-1 was 531 for continuous corn, 347 for soybean-winter wheat-maize, 264 for oat-alfalfa-maize, 140 for oat/red clover-maize, and -384 (loss for perennial grass. Considering both residual soil NO3-N and profitability data, the oat-alfalfa-maize rotation performed the best in this setting. However, given current economic pressures widespread adoption is likely to require changes in public policy.
Solid phase microextraction sampling of high explosive residues in the presence of radionuclides and radionuclide surrogate metals

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Duff, M.C.; Crump, S.L.; Ray, R.J.; Beals, D.; Cotham, W.E.; Mount, K.; Koons, R.D.; Leggitt, J.

2008-01-01

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Laboratory currently does not have on site facilities for handling radioactive evidentiary materials and there are no established FBI methods or procedures for decontaminating high explosive (HE) evidence while maintaining evidentiary value. One experimental method for the isolation of HE residue involves using solid phase microextraction (SPME) fibers to remove residue of interest. Due to their high affinity for organics, SPME fibers should have little affinity for most metals. However, no studies have measured the affinity of radionuclides for SPME fibers. The focus of this research was to examine the affinity of dissolved radionuclide ( 239/240 Pu, 238 U, 237 Np, 85 Sr, 133 Ba, 137 Cs, 60 Co and 226 Ra) and stable radionuclide surrogate metals (Sr, Co, Ir, Re, Ni, Ba, Cs, Nb, Ru, and Nd) for SPME fibers at the exposure conditions that favor the uptake of HE residues. Our results from radiochemical and mass spectrometric analyses indicate these metals have little measurable affinity for these SPME fibers during conditions that are conducive to HE residue uptake with subsequent analysis by liquid or gas phase chromatography with mass spectrometric detection. (author)
A novel, highly conserved metallothionein family in basidiomycete fungi and characterization of two representative SlMTa and SlMTb genes in the ectomycorrhizal fungus Suillus luteus.

Science.gov (United States)

Nguyen, Hoai; Rineau, François; Vangronsveld, Jaco; Cuypers, Ann; Colpaert, Jan V; Ruytinx, Joske

2017-07-01

The basidiomycete Suillus luteus is an important member of the ectomycorrhizal community that thrives in heavy metal polluted soils covered with pioneer pine forests. This study aimed to identify potential heavy metal chelators in S. luteus. Two metallothionein (MT) coding genes, SlMTa and SlMTb, were identified. When heterologously expressed in yeast, both SlMTa and SlMTb can rescue the Cu sensitive mutant from Cu toxicity. In S. luteus, transcription of both SlMTa and SlMTb is induced by Cu but not Cd or Zn. Several putative Cu-sensing and metal-response elements are present in the promoter sequences. These results indicate that SlMTa and SlMTb function as Cu-thioneins. Homologs of the S. luteus MTs are present in 49 species belonging to 10 different orders of the subphylum Agaricomycotina and are remarkably conserved. The length of the proteins, number and distribution of cysteine residues indicate a novel family of fungal MTs. The ubiquitous and highly conserved features of these MTs suggest that they are important for basic cellular functions in species in the subphylum Agaricomycotina. © 2017 Society for Applied Microbiology and John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Integrating factors and conservation theorems for Hamilton's canonical equations of motion of variable mass nonholonomic nonconservative dynamical systems

Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

李仁杰; 乔永芬; 刘洋

2002-01-01

We present a general approach to the construction of conservation laws for variable mass nonholonomic noncon-servative systems. First, we give the definition of integrating factors, and we study in detail the necessary conditionsfor the existence of the conserved quantities. Then, we establish the conservation theorem and its inverse theorem forHamilton's canonical equations of motion of variable mass nonholonomic nonconservative dynamical systems. Finally,we give an example to illustrate the application of the results.
Explaining an Unusually Fast Parasitic Enzyme: Folate Tail-Binding Residues Dictate Substrate Positioning and Catalysis in Cryptosporidium hominis Thymidylate Synthase

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Martucci,W.; Vargo, M.; Anderson, K.

2008-01-01

The essential enzyme TS-DHFR from Cryptosporidium hominis undergoes an unusually rapid rate of catalysis at the conserved TS domain, facilitated by two nonconserved residues, Ala287 and Ser290, in the folate tail-binding region. Mutation of these two residues to their conserved counterparts drastically affects multiple steps of the TS catalytic cycle. We have determined the crystal structures of all three mutants (A287F, S290G, and A287F/S290G) in complex with active site ligands dUMP and CB3717. The structural data show two effects of the mutations: an increased distance between the ligands in the active site and increased flexibility of the folate ligand in the partially open enzyme state that precedes conformational change to the active catalytic state. The latter effect is able to be rescued by the mutants containing the A287F mutation. In addition, the conserved water network of TS is altered in each of the mutants. The structural results point to a role of the folate tail-binding residues in closely positioning ChTS ligands and restricting ligand flexibility in the partially open state to allow for a rapid transition to the active closed state and enhanced rate of catalysis. These results provide an explanation on how folate tail-binding residues at one end of the active site affect long-range interactions throughout the TS active site and validate these residues as targets for species-specific drug design.
Productivity and cost analysis of a mobile pyrolysis system deployed to convert mill residues into biochar

Science.gov (United States)

Woodam Chung; Dongyeob Kim; Nathaniel Anderson

2012-01-01

Forest and mill residues are a promising source of biomass feedstock for the production of bioenergy, biofuels and bioproducts. However, high costs of transportation and handling of feedstock often make utilization of forest residues, such as logging slash, financially unviable. As a result, these materials are often considered waste and left on site to decompose or...
Sarcoptic mange and cheetah conservation in Masai Mara (Kenya): Epidemiological study in a wildlife/livestock system

OpenAIRE

Gakuya, Francis; Ombui, Jackson; Maingi, Ndichu; Muchemi, Gerald; Ogara, William; Soriguer, Ramón C.; Alasaad, Samer

2012-01-01

The sanitary control of threatened wild animals is of pivotal interest for their conservation. This task, however, is highly complex in wildlife/livestock systems. In this paper we report findings from a 2-year cross-sectional study of the epidemiology and attempted control of a Sarcoptes mite infestation in the threatened cheetah population in Masai Mara (Kenya), and discuss its interaction with sympatric wild (lion, wildebeest and Thomson's gazelle) and domestic (dog, cattle and sheep) anim...
A productivity and cost comparison of two systems for producing biomass fuel from roadside forest treatment residues

Science.gov (United States)

Nathaniel Anderson; Woodam Chung; Dan Loeffler; John Greg Jones

2012-01-01

Forest operations generate large quantities of forest biomass residues that can be used for production of bioenergy and bioproducts. However, a significant portion of recoverable residues are inaccessible to large chip vans, making use financially infeasible. New production systems must be developed to increase productivity and reduce costs to facilitate use of these...

Tillage and residue management effect on soil properties, crop performance and energy relations in greengram (Vigna radiata L. under maize-based cropping systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

J.R. Meena

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Effect of tillage and crop residue management on soil properties, crop performance, energy relations and economics in greengram (Vigna radiata L. was evaluated under four maize-based cropping systems in an Inceptisol of Delhi, India. Soil bulk density, hydraulic conductivity and aggregation at 0–15 cm layer were significantly affected both by tillage and cropping systems, while zero tillage significantly increased the soil organic carbon content. Yields of greengram were significantly higher in maize–chickpea and maize–mustard systems, more so with residue addition. When no residue was added, conventional tillage required 20% higher energy inputs than the zero tillage, while the residue addition increased the energy output in both tillage practices. Maize–wheat–greengram cropping system involved the maximum energy requirement and the cost of production. However, the largest net return was obtained from the maize–chickpea–greengram system under the conventional tillage with residue incorporation. Although zero tillage resulted in better aggregation, C content and N availability in soil, and reduced the energy inputs, cultivation of summer greengram appeared to be profitable under conventional tillage system with residue incorporation.
Nonsensing residues in S3-S4 linker's C terminus affect the voltage sensor set point in K+ channels.

Science.gov (United States)

Carvalho-de-Souza, Joao L; Bezanilla, Francisco

2018-02-05

Voltage sensitivity in ion channels is a function of highly conserved arginine residues in their voltage-sensing domains (VSDs), but this conservation does not explain the diversity in voltage dependence among different K + channels. Here we study the non-voltage-sensing residues 353 to 361 in Shaker K + channels and find that residues 358 and 361 strongly modulate the voltage dependence of the channel. We mutate these two residues into all possible remaining amino acids (AAs) and obtain Q-V and G-V curves. We introduced the nonconducting W434F mutation to record sensing currents in all mutants except L361R, which requires K + depletion because it is affected by W434F. By fitting Q-Vs with a sequential three-state model for two voltage dependence-related parameters ( V 0 , the voltage-dependent transition from the resting to intermediate state and V 1 , from the latter to the active state) and G-Vs with a two-state model for the voltage dependence of the pore domain parameter ( V 1/2 ), Spearman's coefficients denoting variable relationships with hydrophobicity, available area, length, width, and volume of the AAs in 358 and 361 positions could be calculated. We find that mutations in residue 358 shift Q-Vs and G-Vs along the voltage axis by affecting V 0 , V 1 , and V 1/2 according to the hydrophobicity of the AA. Mutations in residue 361 also shift both curves, but V 0 is affected by the hydrophobicity of the AA in position 361, whereas V 1 and V 1/2 are affected by size-related AA indices. Small-to-tiny AAs have opposite effects on V 1 and V 1/2 in position 358 compared with 361. We hypothesize possible coordination points in the protein that residues 358 and 361 would temporarily and differently interact with in an intermediate state of VSD activation. Our data contribute to the accumulating knowledge of voltage-dependent ion channel activation by adding functional information about the effects of so-called non-voltage-sensing residues on VSD dynamics. © 2018
Nonlinear Conservation Laws and Finite Volume Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Leveque, Randall J.

Introduction Software Notation Classification of Differential Equations Derivation of Conservation Laws The Euler Equations of Gas Dynamics Dissipative Fluxes Source Terms Radiative Transfer and Isothermal Equations Multi-dimensional Conservation Laws The Shock Tube Problem Mathematical Theory of Hyperbolic Systems Scalar Equations Linear Hyperbolic Systems Nonlinear Systems The Riemann Problem for the Euler Equations Numerical Methods in One Dimension Finite Difference Theory Finite Volume Methods Importance of Conservation Form - Incorrect Shock Speeds Numerical Flux Functions Godunov's Method Approximate Riemann Solvers High-Resolution Methods Other Approaches Boundary Conditions Source Terms and Fractional Steps Unsplit Methods Fractional Step Methods General Formulation of Fractional Step Methods Stiff Source Terms Quasi-stationary Flow and Gravity Multi-dimensional Problems Dimensional Splitting Multi-dimensional Finite Volume Methods Grids and Adaptive Refinement Computational Difficulties Low-Density Flows Discrete Shocks and Viscous Profiles Start-Up Errors Wall Heating Slow-Moving Shocks Grid Orientation Effects Grid-Aligned Shocks Magnetohydrodynamics The MHD Equations One-Dimensional MHD Solving the Riemann Problem Nonstrict Hyperbolicity Stiffness The Divergence of B Riemann Problems in Multi-dimensional MHD Staggered Grids The 8-Wave Riemann Solver Relativistic Hydrodynamics Conservation Laws in Spacetime The Continuity Equation The 4-Momentum of a Particle The Stress-Energy Tensor Finite Volume Methods Multi-dimensional Relativistic Flow Gravitation and General Relativity References
Residual stresses in plastic random systems

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Alava, M.J.; Karttunen, M.E.J.; Niskanen, K.J.

1995-01-01

We show that yielding in elastic plastic materials creates residual stresses when local disorder is present. The intensity of these stresses grows with the external stress and degree of initial disorder. The one-dimensional model we employ also yields a discontinuous transition to perfect plasticity
Vision-Inspection System for Residue Monitoring of Ready-Mixed Concrete Trucks

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deok-Seok Seo

2015-01-01

Full Text Available The objective of this study is to propose a vision-inspection system that improves the quality management for ready-mixed concrete (RMC. The proposed system can serve as an alternative to the current visual inspection method for the detection of residues in agitator drum of RMC truck. To propose the system, concept development and the system-level design should be executed. The design considerations of the system are derived from the hardware properties of RMC truck and the conditions of RMC factory, and then 6 major components of the system are selected in the stage of system level design. The prototype of system was applied to a real RMC plant and tested for verification of its utility and efficiency. It is expected that the proposed system can be employed as a practical means to increase the efficiency of quality management for RMC.
A Conserved C-terminal Element in the Yeast Doa10 and Human MARCH6 Ubiquitin Ligases Required for Selective Substrate Degradation.

Science.gov (United States)

Zattas, Dimitrios; Berk, Jason M; Kreft, Stefan G; Hochstrasser, Mark

2016-06-03

Specific proteins are modified by ubiquitin at the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and are degraded by the proteasome, a process referred to as ER-associated protein degradation. In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, two principal ER-associated protein degradation ubiquitin ligases (E3s) reside in the ER membrane, Doa10 and Hrd1. The membrane-embedded Doa10 functions in the degradation of substrates in the ER membrane, nuclear envelope, cytoplasm, and nucleoplasm. How most E3 ligases, including Doa10, recognize their protein substrates remains poorly understood. Here we describe a previously unappreciated but highly conserved C-terminal element (CTE) in Doa10; this cytosolically disposed 16-residue motif follows the final transmembrane helix. A conserved CTE asparagine residue is required for ubiquitylation and degradation of a subset of Doa10 substrates. Such selectivity suggests that the Doa10 CTE is involved in substrate discrimination and not general ligase function. Functional conservation of the CTE was investigated in the human ortholog of Doa10, MARCH6 (TEB4), by analyzing MARCH6 autoregulation of its own degradation. Mutation of the conserved Asn residue (N890A) in the MARCH6 CTE stabilized the normally short lived enzyme to the same degree as a catalytically inactivating mutation (C9A). We also report the localization of endogenous MARCH6 to the ER using epitope tagging of the genomic MARCH6 locus by clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas9-mediated genome editing. These localization and CTE analyses support the inference that MARCH6 and Doa10 are functionally similar. Moreover, our results with the yeast enzyme suggest that the CTE is involved in the recognition and/or ubiquitylation of specific protein substrates. © 2016 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Role of four conserved aspartic acid residues of EF-loops in the metal ion binding and in the self-assembly of ciliate Euplotes octocarinatus centrin.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wen; Duan, Lian; Sun, Tijian; Yang, Binsheng

2016-12-01

Ciliate Euplotes octocarinatus centrin (EoCen) is an EF-hand calcium-binding protein closely related to the prototypical calcium sensor protein calmodulin. Four mutants (D37K, D73K, D110K and D146K) were created firstly to elucidate the importance of the first aspartic acid residues (Asp37, Asp73, Asp110 and Asp146) in the beginning of the four EF-loops of EoCen. Aromatic-sensitized Tb 3+ fluorescence indicates that the aspartic acid residues are very important for the metal-binding of EoCen, except for Asp73 (in EF-loop II). Resonance light scattering (RLS) measurements for different metal ions (Ca 2+ and Tb 3+ ) binding proteins suggest that the order of four conserved aspartic acid residues for contributing to the self-assembly of EoCen is Asp37 > Asp146 > Asp110 > Asp73. Cross-linking experiment also exhibits that Asp37 and Asp146 play critical role in the self-assembly of EoCen. Asp37, in site I, which is located in the N-terminal domain, plays the most important role in the metal ion-dependent self-assembly of EoCen, and there is cooperativity between N-terminal and C-terminal domain (especially the site IV). In addition, the dependence of Tb 3+ induced self-assembly of EoCen and the mutants on various factors, including ionic strength and pH, were characterized using RLS. Finally, 2-p-toluidinylnaphthalene-6-sulfonate (TNS) binding, ionic strength and pH control experiments indicate that in the process of EoCen self-assembly, molecular interactions are mediated by both electrostatic and hydrophobic forces, and the hydrophobic interaction has the important status.
Cellular bases of radiation-induced residual insufficiency in the haematopoietic system

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Wangenheim, K.H. v.; Peterson, H.P.; Feinendegen, L.E.

1984-01-01

Following radiation exposure, man's survival and further well-being largely depends on the degree of damage to his heamatopietic system. Stem cells are particualarly sensitive to radiation. Over and beyond acute radiation damge, residual radiation damage is of significance since it reduces the performance of the haematopietic system and enhances the risk of leukaemia. Knowledge concerning cellular bases may be important for preventive and therapeutic measures. The measurement method presented is based on the fact that stem cells from transfused bone marrow will settle in the spleen of highly irradiated mice and be able to reconstruct the haematopietic system. Initally individual colonies can be observed which originate from a single stem cell and the proliferation of its descendants. Counting these colonies will give the number of stem cells. The reduction of the proliferation factor measured in the stem-cell quality test apparently is not due to a shift in the age structure of the stem cell compartment but to a damage which is located within a more or less substantial proportion of the stem cells themselves. This damage is the cause of stem cell descendant growth retarded on an average. It is probable that recovery observed after irradiation is brought about by less-damaged or undamaged stem cells replacing damaged ones. Initial results point to the fact that this replacement can be influenced by treatment after irradiation. (orig./MG) [de
75 FR 27182 - Energy Conservation Program: Web-Based Compliance and Certification Management System

Science.gov (United States)

2010-05-14

... Conservation Program: Web-Based Compliance and Certification Management System AGENCY: Office of Energy... following means: 1. Compliance and Certification Management System (CCMS)--via the Web portal: http... certification reports to the Department of Energy (DOE) through an electronic Web-based tool, the Compliance and...
Biochemical and structural characterization of Cren7, a novel chromatin protein conserved among Crenarchaea.

Science.gov (United States)

Guo, Li; Feng, Yingang; Zhang, Zhenfeng; Yao, Hongwei; Luo, Yuanming; Wang, Jinfeng; Huang, Li

2008-03-01

Archaea contain a variety of chromatin proteins consistent with the evolution of different genome packaging mechanisms. Among the two main kingdoms in the Archaea, Euryarchaeota synthesize histone homologs, whereas Crenarchaeota have not been shown to possess a chromatin protein conserved at the kingdom level. We report the identification of Cren7, a novel family of chromatin proteins highly conserved in the Crenarchaeota. A small, basic, methylated and abundant protein, Cren7 displays a higher affinity for double-stranded DNA than for single-stranded DNA, constrains negative DNA supercoils and is associated with genomic DNA in vivo. The solution structure and DNA-binding surface of Cren7 from the hyperthermophilic crenarchaeon Sulfolobus solfataricus were determined by NMR. The protein adopts an SH3-like fold. It interacts with duplex DNA through a beta-sheet and a long flexible loop, presumably resulting in DNA distortions through intercalation of conserved hydrophobic residues into the DNA structure. These data suggest that the crenarchaeal kingdom in the Archaea shares a common strategy in chromatin organization.
Controlling BWR pipe cracking by residual stress modification

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gilman, J.D.; Giannuzzi, A.J.; Childs, W.J.

1983-01-01

Intergranular stress corrosion cracking may occur in the weld heat-affected zone of susceptible stainless steel materials which have been used in some boiling water reactor piping systems. One of the prerequisite conditions for stress corrosion attack is a high tensile stress in the exposed, locally sensitized material near the weld root. Several processes have been developed which can deter stress corrosion attack by altering the residual stress distributions near the welds to ensure that low stresses prevail in critical locations. These residual stress modification remedies and their qualification testing are described in this paper. (author)
A glycine residue essential for high ivermectin sensitivity in Cys-loop ion channel receptors

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lynagh, Timothy; Lynch, Joseph W.

2010-01-01

Ivermectin exerts its anthelmintic effect by activating nematode Cys-loop glutamate-gated receptors. Here we show that a glycine residue at a specific transmembrane domain location is essential for high ivermectin sensitivity in both glycine- and glutamate-gated Cys-loop receptors. We also show...
Feedback between residual circulations and sediment distribution in highly turbid estuaries: an analytical model

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Talke, S.A.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/304823554; de Swart, H.E.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/073449725; Schuttelaars, H.|info:eu-repo/dai/nl/164035656

2009-01-01

Motivated by field studies of the Ems estuary which show longitudinal gradients in bottom sediment concentration as high as O(0.01 kg/m4), we develop an analytical model for estuarine residual circulation based on currents from salinity gradients, turbidity gradients, and freshwater discharge.
Nonstandard conserved Hamiltonian structures in dissipative/damped systems: Nonlinear generalizations of damped harmonic oscillator

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pradeep, R. Gladwin; Chandrasekar, V. K.; Senthilvelan, M.; Lakshmanan, M.

2009-01-01

In this paper we point out the existence of a remarkable nonlocal transformation between the damped harmonic oscillator and a modified Emden-type nonlinear oscillator equation with linear forcing, xe+αxx+βx 3 +γx=0, which preserves the form of the time independent integral, conservative Hamiltonian, and the equation of motion. Generalizing this transformation we prove the existence of nonstandard conservative Hamiltonian structure for a general class of damped nonlinear oscillators including Lienard-type systems. Further, using the above Hamiltonian structure for a specific example, namely, the generalized modified Emden equation xe+αx q x+βx 2q+1 =0, where α, β, and q are arbitrary parameters, the general solution is obtained through appropriate canonical transformations. We also present the conservative Hamiltonian structure of the damped Mathews-Lakshmanan oscillator equation. The associated Lagrangian description for all the above systems is also briefly discussed.
Conservative management of epithelial ovarian cancer.

Science.gov (United States)

Dexeus, S; Labastida, R; Dexeus, D

2005-01-01

We are currently faced with a progressive delay in the age at which women conceive for the first time. This raises the possibility of the appearance of gynecologic disorders that may affect fertility, including neoplasms of the ovary. Fertility-sparing surgery is defined as the preservation of ovarian tissue in one or both adnexa and/or the uterus. Borderline ovarian tumor should be treated with conservative surgery. Salpingo-oophorectomy, or even ovarian cystectomy, are the procedures of choice, with recurrence rates of 2-3% and up to 20% if a simple cystectomy is performed. Cystectomy is indicated in patients with bilateral borderline tumors or in patients with a residual ovary. Borderline tumors with invasive peritoneal implants behave as an invasive cancer in 10-30% of cases with a survival rate of 10-66% compared with 100% in borderline tumors without invasive implants. Prophylactic oophorectomy is recommended when desire of conception has been accomplished. Conservative surgery in invasive epithelial ovarian cancer is limited to Stage IA, grade 1 tumor, and in some highly selected grade 2 tumors of serous, mucinous or endometrioid type, well-encapsulated and free of adhesions. The standard oncological surgical procedure with preservation of the uterus and normal appearing ovary is recommended. This includes salpingo-oophorectomy, excision of any suspicious peritoneal lesion, multiple peritoneal biopsies, appendectomy (particularly in mucinous tumors), and pelvic and paraaortic lymphadenectomy.
Studies on the primary and secondary residues from the dissolution of high-burnup nuclear fuels

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schmid, M.

1986-01-01

To clarify the composition of residues from the dissolution of high-burnup nuclear fuels a sample with a burnup of 4.5 GWd and a two year cooling period was studied with the help of REM-EDX. In a parallel experiment an inactive simulator of a solution was subjected to a similar chemical treatment. The residues which resulted from this were analysed analogously. As a result of the results the chemistry of the following compounds in HNO 3 were studied: MoO 3 , ZrMo 2 O 5 (OH) 2 x2H 2 O, the oxide of antimony as well as Sb 4 O 4 (OH) 2 (NO 3 ) 2 , PdO.xH 2 O, Ag 2 Se, Ag 2 Te, and CsTcO 4 . Of special interest here were the solubility and precipitation formation of these compounds as well as the influence of a high (ca. 1 mol/l) concentration of uranium on these characteristics. With high radiation doses to the simulated solution a radiolytical reduction of Pd 2+ was established and was studied more closely with pure Pd(NO 3 ) 2 solutions. In primary dissolution residues the presence of the radionuclides Ru-106, Ag-110m, Sb-125, Cs-134, and Cs-137 was γ-spectrometrically proven. The residue was made up primarily of an element combination of Mo and Ru. As other components Rh, Pd and Tc appear in an alloy as the so-called ε phase, which already has to be present in the fuel, because this phase was not exhibited in the similarly handled simulator. Zirconium molybdate was not identified in the real feed slurries, but was definitely present in the precipitation of the simulated feed solution. The analysis of the primary residues also showed pure zirconium particles, presumably from the zirconium alloy of the fuel cans, as well as undissolved fuel particles. The precipitation from the fuel solution was made up of agglomerates of the smallest particles of the ε phase, upon which silver halogenides were crystallized. Radiochemically reduced Pd was also found. (orig./RB) [de
A New type of conserved quantity deduced from Mei symmetry of nonholonomic systems in terms of quasi-coordinates

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ting, Pang; Jian-Hui, Fang; Ming-Jiang, Zhang; Peng, Lin; Kai, Lu

2009-01-01

This paper studies the new type of conserved quantity which is directly induced by Mei symmetry of nonholonomic systems in terms of quasi-coordinates. A coordination function is introduced, and the conditions for the existence of the new conserved quantities as well as their forms are proposed. Some special cases are given to illustrate the generalized significance of the new type conserved quantity. Finally, an illustrated example is given to show the application of the nonholonomic system's results. (general)
Discontinuous Residue and Theme in Higher-Order Semiotic: A Case for Interlocking Systems

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ali Akbar Farahani

2008-11-01

Full Text Available The fallacy persists in discourse analysis research to explore lexicogrammatical phenomena detached from any adjacent plane of the meaning potential. In an attempt to dispel this and toss out some preconceived notions about what a modern SFG vantage point should involve, this study homes in on one aspect of SFG within prose fiction in particular, which is very revealing in terms of how separate system networks are actually in synergistic simultaneity, and how SFG allows one , phenomenally well, to bring such synergies out, getting to the heart of the fact that language pervasively operates on multiple planes of textuality simultaneously. Thus, building upon Halliday’s 2004 work, the quest is if it is interpersonally significant when the Residue is split into two parts; more importantly, if it is also laced with some lexicogrammatical quality on the textual plane, in light of the fairly well-entrenched assumption that there is always Theme at work when the Residue is split. Halliday is the only scholar to touch upon the topic of Discontinuous Residue and its relationship to Marked Theme in the culmination of his groundbreaking career, i.e. his 2004 work. Having driven home the proposal to make into a watchword the ubiquity of interlocking macro-semantic system networks, some pedagogical and research implications and suggestions flowing from this are brought up.
Stresses and residual stresses optical measurements systems evaluation; Avaliacao de sistemas opticos de medicao de tensoes e tensoes residuais em dutos

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Peixoto Filho, Flavio Tito; Goncalves Junior, Armando Albertazzi [Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC), Florianopolis, SC (Brazil). Lab. de Metrologia e Automatizacao (LABMETRO)

2004-07-01

There is always a constant concern about the pipelines' integrity. An important control parameter is the level of total mechanical stresses acting over the pipeline. However, the loading and residual stresses acting on a pipeline are not measured in the field as much as necessary. Technical difficulties and the high cost of the nowadays techniques and the hostile measurement conditions are the main reason for that. An alternative method has been developed at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC) since 1992. A new optical measurement device is used to measure strains, mechanical stresses and residual stresses acting over the structure. A metrological and functional evaluation of this system is the main focus of this paper. (author)
Effects of Plant Residues in Two Types of Soil Texture on Soil characteristics and corn (Zea mays L. NS640 Yield in a Reduced -Tillage cropping System

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

E Hesami

2018-05-01

Full Text Available Introduction The impact of agronomy on the subsequent product in rotational cropping systems depends on factors such as plant type, duration of crop growth, soil moisture content, tillage type, irrigation method, the amount of nitrogen fertilizer, quantity and quality of returned crop residues to the soil. Prior cultivated crops improve the next crop yield by causing different conditions (nitrogen availability, organic matter and volume of available water in soil. This study was conducted due to importance of corn cultivation in Khuzestan and necessity of increasing the soil organic matter, moisture conservation and in the other hand the lack of sufficient information about the relationship between soil texture, type of preparatory crop in low-tillage condition and some soil characteristics and corn growth habits. The purpose of this experiment was to evaluate the effect of residue of preparatory crops in low plowing condition in two soil types on corn yield and some soil characteristics. Materials and Methods This experiment was carried out at Shooshtar city located in Khuzestan province. An experiment was performed by combined analysis in randomized complete block design in two fields and in two consecutive years with four replications. Two kinds of soil texture including: clay loam and clay sand. Five preparatory crops including: broad bean, wheat, canola, cabbage and fallow as control assigned as sub plots. SAS Ver. 9.1 statistical software was used for analysis of variance and comparison of means. Graphs were drawn using MS Excel software. All means were compared by Duncan test at 5% probability level. Results and Discussion The soil texture and the type of preparatory crop influenced the characteristics of the soil and corn grain yield. Returning the broad bean residue into two types of soil caused the highest grain yield of corn 10128.6 and 9547.9 kgha-1, respectively. The control treatment in sandy loam texture had the lowest corn seed

Developing conservation targets in social-ecological systems

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Phillip S. Levin

2015-12-01

Full Text Available The development of targets is foundational in conservation. Although progress has been made in setting targets, the diverse linkages among ecological and social components make target setting for coupled social-ecological systems extremely challenging. Developing integrated social-ecological targets is difficult because it forces policy makers to consider how management actions propagate throughout social-ecological systems, and because ultimately it is society, not scientists, that defines targets. We developed an interdisciplinary approach for identifying management targets and illustrate this approach using an example motivated by Puget Sound, USA. Our approach blends ecological modeling with empirical social science to articulate trade-offs and reveal societal preferences for different social-ecological states. The framework aims to place information in the hands of decision makers and promote discussion in the appropriate forums. Our ultimate objective is to encourage the informed participation of citizens in the development of social-ecological targets that reflect their values while also protecting key ecosystem attributes.
Space, time and conservation laws

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aronov, R.A.; Ugarov, V.A.

1978-01-01

The Neter theorem establishing correspondence between conservation laws and symmetry properties (space and time in particular) is considered. The theorem is based on one of the possible ways of finding equations of motion for a physical system. From a certain expression (action functional) equations of motion for a system can be obtained which do not contain new physical assertions in principal in comparison with the Newtonian laws. Neter suggested a way of deriving conservation laws by transforming space and time coordinates. Neter theorem consequences raise a number of problems: 1). Are conservation laws (energy, momentum) consequences of space and time symmetry properties. 2). Is it possible to obtain conservation laws in theory neglecting equations of motion. 3). What is of the primary importance: equations of motion, conservation laws or properties of space and time symmetry. It is shown that direct Neter theorem does not testify to stipulation of conservation laws by properties of space and time symmetry and symmetry properties of other non-space -time properties of material systems in objective reality. It says nothing of whether there is any subordination between symmetry properties and conservation laws
A highly conserved basidiomycete peptide synthetase produces a trimeric hydroxamate siderophore.

Science.gov (United States)

Brandenburger, Eileen; Gressler, Markus; Leonhardt, Robin; Lackner, Gerald; Habel, Andreas; Hertweck, Christian; Brock, Matthias; Hoffmeister, Dirk

2017-08-25

The model white-rot basidiomycete Ceriporiopsis ( Gelatoporia ) subvermispora B encodes putative natural product biosynthesis genes. Among them is the gene for the seven-domain nonribosomal peptide synthetase CsNPS2. It is a member of the as-yet uncharacterized fungal type VI siderophore synthetase family which is highly conserved and widely distributed among the basidiomycetes. These enzymes include only one adenylation (A) domain, i.e., one complete peptide synthetase module and two thiolation/condensation (T-C) di-domain partial modules which, together, constitute an AT 1 C 1 T 2 C 2 T 3 C 3 domain setup. The full-length CsNPS2 enzyme (274.5 kDa) was heterologously produced as polyhistidine fusion in Aspergillus niger as soluble and active protein. N 5 -acetyl- N 5 -hydroxy-l-ornithine (l-AHO) and N 5 - cis -anhydromevalonyl- N 5 -hydroxy-l-ornithine (l-AMHO) were accepted as substrates, as assessed in vitro using the substrate-dependent [ 32 P]ATP-pyrophosphate radioisotope exchange assay. Full-length holo -CsNPS2 catalyzed amide bond formation between three l-AHO molecules to release the linear l-AHO trimer, called basidioferrin, as product in vitro , which was verified by LC-HRESIMS. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that type VI family siderophore synthetases are widespread in mushrooms and have evolved in a common ancestor of basidiomycetes. Importance : The basidiomycete nonribosomal peptide synthetase CsNPS2 represents a member of a widely distributed but previously uninvestigated class (type VI) of fungal siderophore synthetases. Genes orthologous to CsNPS2 are highly conserved across various phylogenetic clades of the basidiomycetes. Hence, our work serves as a broadly applicable model for siderophore biosynthesis and iron metabolism in higher fungi. Also, our results on the amino acid substrate preference of CsNPS2 supports further understanding of the substrate selectivity of fungal adenylation domains. Methodologically, this report highlights the
Potential ligand-binding residues in rat olfactory receptors identified by correlated mutation analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Singer, M. S.; Oliveira, L.; Vriend, G.; Shepherd, G. M.

1995-01-01

A family of G-protein-coupled receptors is believed to mediate the recognition of odor molecules. In order to identify potential ligand-binding residues, we have applied correlated mutation analysis to receptor sequences from the rat. This method identifies pairs of sequence positions where residues remain conserved or mutate in tandem, thereby suggesting structural or functional importance. The analysis supported molecular modeling studies in suggesting several residues in positions that were consistent with ligand-binding function. Two of these positions, dominated by histidine residues, may play important roles in ligand binding and could confer broad specificity to mammalian odor receptors. The presence of positive (overdominant) selection at some of the identified positions provides additional evidence for roles in ligand binding. Higher-order groups of correlated residues were also observed. Each group may interact with an individual ligand determinant, and combinations of these groups may provide a multi-dimensional mechanism for receptor diversity.
Effects of high-speed homogenization and high-pressure homogenization on structure of tomato residue fibers.

Science.gov (United States)

Hua, Xiao; Xu, Shanan; Wang, Mingming; Chen, Ying; Yang, Hui; Yang, Ruijin

2017-10-01

Tomato residue fibers obtained after derosination and deproteinization were processed by high-speed homogenization (HSH) and high-pressure homogenization (HPH), and their effects on fiber structure was investigated, respectively. Characterizations including particle size distribution, SEM, TEM and XRD were performed. HSH could break raw fibers to small particles of around 60μm, while HPH could reshape fibers to build network structure. Microfibrils were released and their nanostructure consisting of elementary fibrils was observed by TEM. XRD patterns indicated both HSH and HPH could hardly alter the nanostructure of the fibers. Physicochemical properties including expansibility, WHC and OHC were determined. Both HSH and HPH could increase the soluble fiber content by about 8%, but HSH-HPH combined processing did not show better result. Acid (4mol/L HCl) was used in replacement of water medium and the acidic degradation of fibers could be promoted by high speed shearing or high pressure processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Swertia chirayta, a Threatened High-Value Medicinal Herb: Microhabitats and Conservation Challenges in Sikkim Himalaya, India

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bharat Kumar Pradhan

2015-11-01

Full Text Available Assessing the impact of threats, identifying favorable growing conditions, and predicting future population scenarios are vital for the conservation and management of threatened species. This study investigated the availability, microhabitat characteristics, threat status, and community associations of Swertia chirayta, a highly threatened Himalayan medicinal herb, in 22 populations in Sikkim, India, using the vertical belt transect method. Of the 14 microhabitats identified, open grassy slope emerged as the most favorable and wet grassy slope as the least favorable for S. chirayta. The species was dominant in 8 of the 10 major plant communities identified. Among 9 major types of disturbance identified, human movement and collection of non-timber forest products appeared as the biggest threats to S. chirayta. Disturbances significantly affected the availability of the species. S. chirayta, though under high anthropogenic threat, maintains high microhabitat pliability, which is vital for its conservation and management, provided immediate conservation measures are taken.
Sequence, structure and function relationships in flaviviruses as assessed by evolutive aspects of its conserved non-structural protein domains.

Science.gov (United States)

da Fonseca, Néli José; Lima Afonso, Marcelo Querino; Pedersolli, Natan Gonçalves; de Oliveira, Lucas Carrijo; Andrade, Dhiego Souto; Bleicher, Lucas

2017-10-28

Flaviviruses are responsible for serious diseases such as dengue, yellow fever, and zika fever. Their genomes encode a polyprotein which, after cleavage, results in three structural and seven non-structural proteins. Homologous proteins can be studied by conservation and coevolution analysis as detected in multiple sequence alignments, usually reporting positions which are strictly necessary for the structure and/or function of all members in a protein family or which are involved in a specific sub-class feature requiring the coevolution of residue sets. This study provides a complete conservation and coevolution analysis on all flaviviruses non-structural proteins, with results mapped on all well-annotated available sequences. A literature review on the residues found in the analysis enabled us to compile available information on their roles and distribution among different flaviviruses. Also, we provide the mapping of conserved and coevolved residues for all sequences currently in SwissProt as a supplementary material, so that particularities in different viruses can be easily analyzed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Transient chaos in a globally coupled system of nearly conservative Hamiltonian Duffing oscillators

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sabarathinam, S.; Thamilmaran, K.

2015-01-01

Highlights: •We have examined transient chaos in globally coupled oscillators. •We analyze transient chaos using new techniques. •We give experimental confirmation of transient chaos. -- Abstract: In this work, transient chaos in a ring and globally coupled system of nearly conservative Hamiltonian Duffing oscillators is reported. The networks are formed by coupling of three, four and six Duffing oscillators. The nearly conservative Hamiltonian nature of the coupled system is proved by stability analysis. The transient phenomenon is confirmed through various numerical investigations such as recurrence analysis, 0–1 test and Finite Time Lyapunov Exponents. Further, the effect of damping and the average transient lifetime of three, four and six coupled schemes for randomly generated initial conditions have been analyzed. The experimental confirmation of transient chaos in an illustrative system of three ringly coupled Duffing oscillators is also presented
Coupled human and natural systems approach to wildlife research and conservation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Neil H. Carter

2014-09-01

Full Text Available Conserving wildlife while simultaneously meeting the resource needs of a growing human population is a major sustainability challenge. As such, using combined social and environmental perspectives to understand how people and wildlife are interlinked, together with the mechanisms that may weaken or strengthen those linkages, is of utmost importance. However, such integrated information is lacking. To help fill this information gap, we describe an integrated coupled human and natural systems (CHANS approach for analyzing the patterns, causes, and consequences of changes in wildlife population and habitat, human population and land use, and their interactions. Using this approach, we synthesize research in two sites, Wolong Nature Reserve in China and Chitwan National Park in Nepal, to explicate key relationships between people and two globally endangered wildlife conservation icons, the giant panda and the Bengal tiger. This synthesis reveals that local resident characteristics such as household socioeconomics and demography, as well as community-level attributes such as resource management organizations, affect wildlife and their habitats in complex and even countervailing ways. Human impacts on wildlife and their habitats are in turn modifying the suite of ecosystem services that they provide to local residents in both sites, including access to forest products and cultural values. These interactions are further complicated by human and natural disturbance (e.g., civil wars, earthquakes, feedbacks (including policies, and telecouplings (socioeconomic and environmental interactions over distances that increasingly link the focal systems with other distant systems. We highlight several important implications of using a CHANS approach for wildlife research and conservation that is useful not only in China and Nepal but in many other places around the world facing similar challenges.
Validation of a Residual Stress Measurement Method by Swept High-Frequency Eddy Currents

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, C.; Shen, Y.; Lo, C. C. H.; Nakagawa, N.

2007-01-01

This paper reports on a swept high-frequency eddy current (SHFEC) measurement method developed for electromagnetic nondestructive characterization of residual stresses in shot peened aerospace materials. In this approach, we regard shot-peened surfaces as modified surface layers of varying conductivity, and determine the conductivity deviation profile by inversion of the SHFEC data. The SHFEC measurement system consists of a pair of closely matched printed-circuit-board coils driven by laboratory instrument under software control. This provides improved sensitivity and high frequency performance compared to conventional coils, so that swept frequency EC measurements up to 50 MHz can be made to achieve the smallest skin depth of 80 μm for nickel-based superalloys. We devised a conductivity profile inversion procedure based on the laterally uniform multi-layer theory of Cheng, Dodd and Deeds. The main contribution of this paper is the methodology validation. Namely, the forward and inverse models were validated against measurements on artificial layer specimens consisting of metal films with different conductivities placed on a metallic substrate. The inversion determined the film conductivities which were found to agree with those measured using the direct current potential drop (DCPD) method
Validation of a Residual Stress Measurement Method by Swept High-Frequency Eddy Currents

Science.gov (United States)

Lee, C.; Shen, Y.; Lo, C. C. H.; Nakagawa, N.

2007-03-01

This paper reports on a swept high-frequency eddy current (SHFEC) measurement method developed for electromagnetic nondestructive characterization of residual stresses in shot peened aerospace materials. In this approach, we regard shot-peened surfaces as modified surface layers of varying conductivity, and determine the conductivity deviation profile by inversion of the SHFEC data. The SHFEC measurement system consists of a pair of closely matched printed-circuit-board coils driven by laboratory instrument under software control. This provides improved sensitivity and high frequency performance compared to conventional coils, so that swept frequency EC measurements up to 50 MHz can be made to achieve the smallest skin depth of 80 μm for nickel-based superalloys. We devised a conductivity profile inversion procedure based on the laterally uniform multi-layer theory of Cheng, Dodd and Deeds. The main contribution of this paper is the methodology validation. Namely, the forward and inverse models were validated against measurements on artificial layer specimens consisting of metal films with different conductivities placed on a metallic substrate. The inversion determined the film conductivities which were found to agree with those measured using the direct current potential drop (DCPD) method.
Residue-based Coordinated Selection and Parameter Design of Multiple Power System Stabilizers (PSSs)

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Su, Chi; Hu, Weihao; Fang, Jiakun

2013-01-01

data from time domain simulations. Then a coordinated approach for multiple PSS selection and parameter design based on residue method is proposed and realized in MATLAB m-files. Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is adopted in the coordination process. The IEEE 39-bus New England system model...
Turing patterns in parabolic systems of conservation laws and numerically observed stability of periodic waves

Science.gov (United States)

Barker, Blake; Jung, Soyeun; Zumbrun, Kevin

2018-03-01

Turing patterns on unbounded domains have been widely studied in systems of reaction-diffusion equations. However, up to now, they have not been studied for systems of conservation laws. Here, we (i) derive conditions for Turing instability in conservation laws and (ii) use these conditions to find families of periodic solutions bifurcating from uniform states, numerically continuing these families into the large-amplitude regime. For the examples studied, numerical stability analysis suggests that stable periodic waves can emerge either from supercritical Turing bifurcations or, via secondary bifurcation as amplitude is increased, from subcritical Turing bifurcations. This answers in the affirmative a question of Oh-Zumbrun whether stable periodic solutions of conservation laws can occur. Determination of a full small-amplitude stability diagram - specifically, determination of rigorous Eckhaus-type stability conditions - remains an interesting open problem.
Residual tree damage during selection cuts using two skidding systems in the Missouri Ozarks

Science.gov (United States)

Robert L. Ficklin; John P. Dwyer; Bruce E. Cutter; Tom Draper

1997-01-01

Today, there is an interest in using alternative silvicultural systems like selection and two-aged management, because the public finds these systems more acceptable than clearcutting. However, repeated entries into forest stands to remove timber increase the risk of residual stand damage. Harvest techniques are desirable that (1) reduce the risk of stand damage and (2...
Conservative treatment of immature teeth with apical periodontitis using triple antibiotic paste disinfection

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hsin-Ju Wang

2016-06-01

Full Text Available The purpose of this report is to present conservative treatment for two immature premolars with apical periodontitis. A triple antibiotic paste was used to disinfect the root canal systems for revascularization. In both cases, residual vital pulp tissue was noted in the root canal system after the opening of each premolar. The canals in both cases were irrigated with copious sodium hypochlorite solution and medicated with a paste consisting of ciprofloxacin, metronidazole, and minocycline. The teeth were sealed with mineral trioxide aggregate and restored with composite resin. There were satisfactory outcomes after 18 months. The patients were asymptomatic, with radiographic evidence of complete resolution of radiolucency, continual thickening of dentinal walls, apical closure, and increased root length.
Calcination/dissolution residue treatment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Knight, R.C.; Creed, R.F.; Patello, G.K.; Hollenberg, G.W.; Buehler, M.F.; O'Rourke, S.M.; Visnapuu, A.; McLaughlin, D.F.

1994-09-01

Currently, high-level wastes are stored underground in steel-lined tanks at the Hanford site. Current plans call for the chemical pretreatment of these wastes before their immobilization in stable glass waste forms. One candidate pretreatment approach, calcination/dissolution, performs an alkaline fusion of the waste and creates a high-level/low-level partition based on the aqueous solubilities of the components of the product calcine. Literature and laboratory studies were conducted with the goal of finding a residue treatment technology that would decrease the quantity of high-level waste glass required following calcination/dissolution waste processing. Four elements, Fe, Ni, Bi, and U, postulated to be present in the high-level residue fraction were identified as being key to the quantity of high-level glass formed. Laboratory tests of the candidate technologies with simulant high-level residues showed reductive roasting followed by carbonyl volatilization to be successful in removing Fe, Ni, and Bi. Subsequent bench-scale tests on residues from calcination/dissolution processing of genuine Hanford Site tank waste showed Fe was separated with radioelement decontamination factors of 70 to 1,000 times with respect to total alpha activity. Thermodynamic analyses of the calcination of five typical Hanford Site tank waste compositions also were performed. The analyses showed sodium hydroxide to be the sole molten component in the waste calcine and emphasized the requirement for waste blending if fluid calcines are to be achieved. Other calcine phases identified in the thermodynamic analysis indicate the significant thermal reconstitution accomplished in calcination
Investigation of the possibility of using residual heat reactor energy

Science.gov (United States)

Aminov, R. Z.; Yurin, V. E.; Bessonov, V. N.

2017-11-01

The largest contribution to the probable frequency of core damage is blackout events. The main component of the heat capacity at each reactor within a few minutes following a blackout is the heat resulting from the braking of beta-particles and the transfer of gamma-ray energy by the fission fragments and their decay products, which is known as the residual heat. The power of the residual heat changes gradually over a long period of time and for a VVER-1000 reactor is about 15-20 MW of thermal power over 72 hours. Current cooldown systems increase the cost of the basic nuclear power plants (NPP) funds without changing the amount of electricity generated. Such systems remain on standby, accelerating the aging of the equipment and accordingly reducing its reliability. The probability of system failure increases with the duration of idle time. Furthermore, the reactor residual heat energy is not used. A proposed system for cooling nuclear power plants involves the use of residual thermal power to supply the station’s own needs in emergency situations accompanied by a complete blackout. The thermal power of residual heat can be converted to electrical energy through an additional low power steam turbine. In normal mode, the additional steam turbine generates electricity, which makes it possible to ensure spare NPP and a return on the investment in the reservation system. In this work, experimental data obtained from a Balakovo NPP was analyzed to determine the admissibility of cooldown of the reactors through the 2nd circuit over a long time period, while maintaining high-level parameters for the steam generated by the steam generators.
Aging/Systems Interaction Study, Component Residual Lifetime Evaluation and Feasibility of Relicensing. Progress report, FY 1985

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Close, J.A.; Jacobs, P.T.; Korth, G.E.; Mudlin, J.M.; Server, W.L.; Spaletta, H.W.

1985-10-01

This report documents the work performed on four research tasks in Fiscal Year 1985 (FY-1985) which were part of the Aging/Systems Interaction Study, Component Residual Lifetime Evaluation and Feasibility of Relicensing Project. The technical and management/institutional objectives for the project are described, followed by a description of the results of each task. The work on Task 1 involved identifying and prioritizing new research activities for the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Nuclear Plant Aging Research (NPAR) Program. A proposed methodology and plan for aging-system interaction studies was developed in Task 2. The description of Task 3 work comprises a summary of nuclear plant life extension activities in the US, the technical basis associated with the residual life of metallic materials and a proposed plan for research on residual life assessment. Task 4 describes the initial evaluation of selected Standard Review Plan (NUREG-0800) sections to investigate the feasibility of relicensing. 14 refs., 13 figs., 20 tabs
Kac-Moody-Virasoro Symmetries and Related Conservation Laws

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lou, S. Y.; Jia, M.; Tang, X. Y.

2010-01-01

In this report, some important facts on the symmetries and conservation laws of high dimensional integrable systems are discussed. It is summarized that almost all the known (2+1)-dimensional integrable models possess the Kac-Moody-Virasoro (KMV) symmetry algebras. One knows that infinitely many partial differential equations may possess a same KMV symmetry algebra. It is found that the KMV symmetry groups can be explicitly obtained by using some direct methods. For some quite general variable coefficient nonlinear systems, their sufficient and necessary condition for the existence of the KMV symmetry algebra is they can be changed to the related known constant coefficient models. Finally, it is found that every one symmetry may be related to infinitely many conservation laws and then infinitely many models may possess a same set of infinitely many conservation laws.
Stabilization of APC residues from waste incineration with ferrous sulfate on a semi-industrial scale

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Lundtorp, Kasper; Jensen, Dorthe Lærke; Christensen, Thomas Højlund

2002-01-01

A stabilization method for air pollution control (APC) residues from municipal solid waste incineration (MSWI) involving mixing of the residue with water and FeSO4 has been demonstrated on a semi-industrial scale on three types of APC residues: a semidy (SD) APC residue, a fly ash (FA), and an FA...... mixed with sludge (FAS) from a wet flue gas cleaning system. The process was performed in batches of 165-175 kg residue. It generates a wastewater that is highly saline but has a low content of heavy metals such as Cd, Cr, and Pb. The stabilized and raw residues have been subject to a range of leaching...

Unavailability of the residual system heat removal of Angra 1 by Bayesian networks considering dependent failures

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gomes, Many R.S.; Melo, Paulo F.F.F. e

2015-01-01

This work models by Bayesian networks the residual heat removal system (SRCR) of Angra I nuclear power plant, using fault tree mapping for systematically identifying all possible modes of occurrence caused by a large loss of coolant accident (large LOCA). The focus is on dependent events, such as the bridge system structure of the residual heat removal system and the occurrence of common-cause failures. We used the Netica™ tool kit, Norsys Software Corporation and Python 2.7.5 for modeling Bayesian networks and Microsoft Excel for modeling fault trees. Working with dependent events using Bayesian networks is similar to the solutions proposed by other models, beyond simple understanding and ease of application and modification throughout the analysis. The results obtained for the unavailability of the system were satisfactory, showing that in most cases the system will be available to mitigate the effects of an accident as described above. (author)
Unavailability of the residual system heat removal of Angra 1 by Bayesian networks considering dependent failures

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gomes, Many R.S.; Melo, Paulo F.F.F. e, E-mail: mgomes@con.ufrj.br, E-mail: frutuoso@nuclear.ufrj.br [Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), RJ (Brazil). Programa de Pos-Graduacao em Engenharia Nuclear

2015-07-01

This work models by Bayesian networks the residual heat removal system (SRCR) of Angra I nuclear power plant, using fault tree mapping for systematically identifying all possible modes of occurrence caused by a large loss of coolant accident (large LOCA). The focus is on dependent events, such as the bridge system structure of the residual heat removal system and the occurrence of common-cause failures. We used the Netica™ tool kit, Norsys Software Corporation and Python 2.7.5 for modeling Bayesian networks and Microsoft Excel for modeling fault trees. Working with dependent events using Bayesian networks is similar to the solutions proposed by other models, beyond simple understanding and ease of application and modification throughout the analysis. The results obtained for the unavailability of the system were satisfactory, showing that in most cases the system will be available to mitigate the effects of an accident as described above. (author)
Fuel-Conservation Guidance System for Powered-Lift Aircraft

Science.gov (United States)

Erzberger, Heinz; McLean, John D.

1981-01-01

A technique is described for the design of fuel-conservative guidance systems and is applied to a system that was flight tested on board NASA's sugmentor wing jet STOL research aircraft. An important operational feature of the system is its ability to rapidly synthesize fuel-efficient trajectories for a large set of initial aircraft positions, altitudes, and headings. This feature allows the aircraft to be flown efficiently under conditions of changing winds and air traffic control vectors. Rapid synthesis of fuel-efficient trajectories is accomplished in the airborne computer by fast-time trajectory integration using a simplified dynamic performance model of the aircraft. This technique also ensures optimum flap deployment and, for powered-lift STOL aircraft, optimum transition to low-speed flight. Also included in the design is accurate prediction of touchdown time for use in four-dimensional guidance applications. Flight test results have demonstrated that the automatically synthesized trajectories produce significant fuel savings relative to manually flown conventional approaches.
Image Analysis to Estimate Mulch Residual on Soil

Science.gov (United States)

Moreno Valencia, Carmen; Moreno Valencia, Marta; Tarquis, Ana M.

2014-05-01

Organic farmers are currently allowed to use conventional polyethylene mulch, provided it is removed from the field at the end of the growing or harvest season. To some, such use represents a contradiction between the resource conservation goals of sustainable, organic agriculture and the waste generated from the use of polyethylene mulch. One possible solution is to use biodegradable plastic or paper as mulch, which could present an alternative to polyethylene in reducing non-recyclable waste and decreasing the environmental pollution associated with it. Determination of mulch residues on the ground is one of the basic requisites to estimate the potential of each material to degrade. Determination the extent of mulch residue on the field is an exhausting job while there is not a distinct and accurate criterion for its measurement. There are several indices for estimation the residue covers while most of them are not only laborious and time consuming but also impressed by human errors. Human vision system is fast and accurate enough in this case but the problem is that the magnitude must be stated numerically to be reported and to be used for comparison between several mulches or mulches in different times. Interpretation of the extent perceived by vision system to numerals is possible by simulation of human vision system. Machine vision comprising image processing system can afford these jobs. This study aimed to evaluate the residue of mulch materials over a crop campaign in a processing tomato (Solanum lycopersicon L.) crop in Central Spain through image analysis. The mulch materials used were standard black polyethylene (PE), two biodegradable plastic mulches (BD1 and BD2), and one paper (PP1) were compared. Meanwhile the initial appearance of most of the mulches was sort of black PE, at the end of the experiment the materials appeared somewhat discoloured, soil and/or crop residue was impregnated being very difficult to completely remove them. A digital camera
Confirmation of a new conserved linear epitope of Lyssavirus nucleoprotein.

Science.gov (United States)

Xinjun, Lv; Xuejun, Ma; Lihua, Wang; Hao, Li; Xinxin, Shen; Pengcheng, Yu; Qing, Tang; Guodong, Liang

2012-05-01

Bioinformatics analysis was used to predict potential epitopes of Lyssavirus nucleoprotein and highlighted some distinct differences in the quantity and localization of the epitopes disclosed by epitope analysis of monoclonal antibodies against Lyssavirus nucleoprotein. Bioinformatics analysis showed that the domain containing residues 152-164 of Lyssavirus nucleoprotein was a conserved linear epitope that had not been reported previously. Immunization of two rabbits with the corresponding synthetic peptide conjugated to the Keyhole Limpe hemocyanin (KLH) macromolecule resulted in a titer of anti-peptide antibody above 1:200,000 in rabbit sera as detected by indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Western blot analysis demonstrated that the anti-peptide antibody recognized denatured Lyssavirus nucleoprotein in sodium dodecylsulfonate-polyacrylate gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). Affinity chromatography purification and FITC-labeling of the anti-peptide antibody in rabbit sera was performed. FITC-labeled anti-peptide antibody could recognize Lyssavirus nucleoprotein in BSR cells and canine brain tissues even at a 1:200 dilution. Residues 152-164 of Lyssavirus nucleoprotein were verified as a conserved linear epitope in Lyssavirus. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
The transition to chaos conservative classical systems and quantum manifestations

CERN Document Server

Reichl, Linda E

2004-01-01

This book provides a thorough and comprehensive discussion of classical and quantum chaos theory for bounded systems and for scattering processes Specific discussions include • Noether’s theorem, integrability, KAM theory, and a definition of chaotic behavior • Area-preserving maps, quantum billiards, semiclassical quantization, chaotic scattering, scaling in classical and quantum dynamics, dynamic localization, dynamic tunneling, effects of chaos in periodically driven systems and stochastic systems • Random matrix theory and supersymmetry The book is divided into several parts Chapters 2 through 4 deal with the dynamics of nonlinear conservative classical systems Chapter 5 and several appendices give a thorough grounding in random matrix theory and supersymmetry techniques Chapters 6 and 7 discuss the manifestations of chaos in bounded quantum systems and open quantum systems respectively Chapter 8 focuses on the semiclassical description of quantum systems with underlying classical chaos, and Chapt...
Regional application of a cropping systems simulation model: crop residue retention in maize production systems of Jalisco, Mexico

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Hartkamp, A.D.; White, J.W.; Rossing, W.A.H.; Ittersum, van M.K.; Bakker, E.J.; Rabbinge, R.

2004-01-01

To ensure the productivity of smallholder maize production systems in Central America, increased attention must be paid to conserving soil and water resources. Various stakeholders from national agricultural research services (NARS), networks, non-governmental organizations (NGO's) and research
High qualitative and quantitative conservation of alternative splicing in Caenorhabditis elegans and Caenorhabditis briggsae

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rukov, Jakob Lewin; Irimia, Manuel; Mørk, Søren

2007-01-01

Alternative splicing (AS) is an important contributor to proteome diversity and is regarded as an explanatory factor for the relatively low number of human genes compared with less complex animals. To assess the evolutionary conservation of AS and its developmental regulation, we have investigated...... the qualitative and quantitative expression of 21 orthologous alternative splice events through the development of 2 nematode species separated by 85-110 Myr of evolutionary time. We demonstrate that most of these alternative splice events present in Caenorhabditis elegans are conserved in Caenorhabditis briggsae....... Moreover, we find that relative isoform expression levels vary significantly during development for 78% of the AS events and that this quantitative variation is highly conserved between the 2 species. Our results suggest that AS is generally tightly regulated through development and that the regulatory...
Residual nilpotence and residual solubility of groups

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mikhailov, R V

2005-01-01

The properties of the residual nilpotence and the residual solubility of groups are studied. The main objects under investigation are the class of residually nilpotent groups such that each central extension of these groups is also residually nilpotent and the class of residually soluble groups such that each Abelian extension of these groups is residually soluble. Various examples of groups not belonging to these classes are constructed by homological methods and methods of the theory of modules over group rings. Several applications of the theory under consideration are presented and problems concerning the residual nilpotence of one-relator groups are considered.
Applications of bauxite residue: A mini-review.

Science.gov (United States)

Verma, Ajay S; Suri, Narendra M; Kant, Suman

2017-10-01

Bauxite residue is the waste generated during alumina production by Bayer's process. The amount of bauxite residue (40-50 wt%) generated depends on the quality of bauxite ore used for the processing. High alkalinity and high caustic content in bauxite residue causes environmental risk for fertile soil and ground water contamination. The caustic (NaOH) content in bauxite residue leads to human health risks, like dermal problems and irritation to eyes. Moreover, disposal of bauxite residue requires a large area; such problems can only be minimised by utilising bauxite residue effectively. For two decades, bauxite residue has been used as a binder in cement industries and filler/reinforcement for composite materials in the automobile industry. Valuable metals and oxides, like alumina (Al 2 O 3 ), titanium oxide (TiO 2 ) and iron oxide Fe 2 O 3 , were extracted from bauxite residue to reduce waste. Bauxite residue was utilised in construction and structure industries to make geopolymers. It was also used in the making of glass-ceramics and a coating material. Recently bauxite residue has been utilised to extract rare earth elements like scandium (Sc), yttrium (Y), lanthanum (La), cerium (Ce), neodymium (Nd) and dysprosium (Dy). In this review article, the mineralogical characteristics of bauxite residue are summarised and current progresses on utilisation of bauxite residue in different fields of science and engineering are presented in detail.
The BID Domain of Type IV Secretion Substrates Forms a Conserved Four-Helix Bundle Topped with a Hook.

Science.gov (United States)

Stanger, Frédéric V; de Beer, Tjaart A P; Dranow, David M; Schirmer, Tilman; Phan, Isabelle; Dehio, Christoph

2017-01-03

The BID (Bep intracellular delivery) domain functions as secretion signal in a subfamily of protein substrates of bacterial type IV secretion (T4S) systems. It mediates transfer of (1) relaxases and the attached DNA during bacterial conjugation, and (2) numerous Bartonella effector proteins (Beps) during protein transfer into host cells infected by pathogenic Bartonella species. Furthermore, BID domains of Beps have often evolved secondary effector functions within host cells. Here, we provide crystal structures for three representative BID domains and describe a novel conserved fold characterized by a compact, antiparallel four-helix bundle topped with a hook. The conserved hydrophobic core provides a rigid scaffold to a surface that, despite a few conserved exposed residues and similarities in charge distribution, displays significant variability. We propose that the genuine function of BID domains as T4S signal may primarily depend on their rigid structure, while the plasticity of their surface may facilitate adaptation to secondary effector functions. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Integrated conservation planning for coral reefs: Designing conservation zones for multiple conservation objectives in spatial prioritisation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rafael A. Magris

2017-07-01

Full Text Available Decision-makers focus on representing biodiversity pattern, maintaining connectivity, and strengthening resilience to global warming when designing marine protected area (MPA systems, especially in coral reef ecosystems. The achievement of these broad conservation objectives will likely require large areas, and stretch limited funds for MPA implementation. We undertook a spatial prioritisation of Brazilian coral reefs that considered two types of conservation zones (i.e. no-take and multiple use areas and integrated multiple conservation objectives into MPA planning, while assessing the potential impact of different sets of objectives on implementation costs. We devised objectives for biodiversity, connectivity, and resilience to global warming, determined the extent to which existing MPAs achieved them, and designed complementary zoning to achieve all objectives combined in expanded MPA systems. In doing so, we explored interactions between different sets of objectives, determined whether refinements to the existing spatial arrangement of MPAs were necessary, and tested the utility of existing MPAs by comparing their cost effectiveness with an MPA system designed from scratch. We found that MPAs in Brazil protect some aspects of coral reef biodiversity pattern (e.g. threatened fauna and ecosystem types more effectively than connectivity or resilience to global warming. Expanding the existing MPA system was as cost-effective as designing one from scratch only when multiple objectives were considered and management costs were accounted for. Our approach provides a comprehensive assessment of the benefits of integrating multiple objectives in the initial stages of conservation planning, and yields insights for planners of MPAs tackling multiple objectives in other regions.
Rigid Residue Scan Simulations Systematically Reveal Residue Entropic Roles in Protein Allostery.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Robert Kalescky

2016-04-01

Full Text Available Intra-protein information is transmitted over distances via allosteric processes. This ubiquitous protein process allows for protein function changes due to ligand binding events. Understanding protein allostery is essential to understanding protein functions. In this study, allostery in the second PDZ domain (PDZ2 in the human PTP1E protein is examined as model system to advance a recently developed rigid residue scan method combining with configurational entropy calculation and principal component analysis. The contributions from individual residues to whole-protein dynamics and allostery were systematically assessed via rigid body simulations of both unbound and ligand-bound states of the protein. The entropic contributions of individual residues to whole-protein dynamics were evaluated based on covariance-based correlation analysis of all simulations. The changes of overall protein entropy when individual residues being held rigid support that the rigidity/flexibility equilibrium in protein structure is governed by the La Châtelier's principle of chemical equilibrium. Key residues of PDZ2 allostery were identified with good agreement with NMR studies of the same protein bound to the same peptide. On the other hand, the change of entropic contribution from each residue upon perturbation revealed intrinsic differences among all the residues. The quasi-harmonic and principal component analyses of simulations without rigid residue perturbation showed a coherent allosteric mode from unbound and bound states, respectively. The projection of simulations with rigid residue perturbation onto coherent allosteric modes demonstrated the intrinsic shifting of ensemble distributions supporting the population-shift theory of protein allostery. Overall, the study presented here provides a robust and systematic approach to estimate the contribution of individual residue internal motion to overall protein dynamics and allostery.
High-resolution velocity measurements on fully identified light nuclides produced in {sup 56}Fe + protons and {sup 56}Fe + titanium systems

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Napolitani, P. [Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung mbH, Darmstadt (Germany)]|[Institut de Physique Nucleaire (IPN), 91 - Orsay (France); Schmidt, K.H. [Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung mbH, Darmstadt (Germany); Botvina, A.S. [Gesellschaft fuer Schwerionenforschung mbH, Darmstadt (Germany)]|[Rossijskaya Akademiya Nauk, Moscow (Russian Federation). Inst. Yadernykh Issledovanij; Rejmund, F.; Tassan-Got, L. [Institut de Physique Nucleaire (IPN), 91 - Orsay (France); Villagrasa, C. [CEA Centre d' Etudes Nucleaires de Saclay, 91 - Gif-sur-Yvette (FR). Dept. d' Astrophysique, de Physique des Particules, de Physique Nucleaire et de l' Instrumentation Associee (DAPNIA)

2004-07-01

New experimental results on the kinematics and the residue production are obtained for the interactions of {sup 56}Fe projectiles with protons and {sup nat}Ti target nuclei, respectively, at the incident energy of 1 A GeV. The titanium-induced reaction serves as a reference case for multifragmentation. Already in the proton-induced reaction, the characteristics of the isotopic cross sections and the shapes of the velocity spectra of light residues indicate that high thermal energy is deposited in the system during the collision. In the {sup 56}Fe+p system the high excitation seems to favour the onset of fast break-up decays dominated by very asymmetric partitions of the disassembling system. This configuration leads to the simultaneous formation of one or more light fragments together with one heavy residue. (orig.)
Bacillus cereus as indicator in the sterilization of residual water with high energy electrons; Bacillus cereus como indicador en la desinfeccion de aguas residuales con electrones de alta energia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mejia Z, E

2000-07-01

One of the main causes of water pollution is the presence of microorganisms that provoke infections, moreover of chemical substances. The processes of residual water treatment finally require of the disinfection for its use or final disposition. The radiation technology for the residual water treatment by mean of electron beams is an innovator process because as well as decomposing the chemical substance or to degrade them, also it provokes a disinfection by which this is proposed as alternative for disinfection of residual water, with the purpose in reusing the water treated in the agriculture, recreation and industry among others secondary activities, solving environmental or health problems. The objective of this work is to evaluate the use of Bacillus cereus as biological indicator in the disinfection by radiation, using High Energy Electrons. To fulfil with this objective, the work was developed in three stages, the first one consisted in the acquisition, propagation and conservation of the Bacillus cereus stumps, considering Escherichia coli and Salmonella typhimurium as pathogenic germs present in residual water. Moreover, the inocule standardization and the conditions of the Electron accelerator Type Pelletron. In the second stage it was performed the irradiation of aqueous samples of the microorganisms simulating biological pollution and the application to problem samples of a treatment plant sited in the Lerma River zone of mixed residual water. And in the third stage was performed a regression analysis to the reported survival for each kind of microorganisms. The results obtained show that with the use of Electron beams was reduced 6 logarithmic units de E. coli at 129 Gy, for S. typhimurium it was reduced 8 logarithmic units at 383 Gy and the B. cereus at 511 Gy was reduced 6.8 logarithmic units. Of the problem samples irradiated at 500 Gy, the concentration of the total account diminished from 8.70 x 10{sup 7} UFC/ml to 550 UFC/ml, the presence of B
Functional Differentiation of Antiporter-Like Polypeptides in Complex I; a Site-Directed Mutagenesis Study of Residues Conserved in MrpA and NuoL but Not in MrpD, NuoM, and NuoN.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Eva Sperling

Full Text Available It has long been known that the three largest subunits in the membrane domain (NuoL, NuoM and NuoN of complex I are homologous to each other, as well as to two subunits (MrpA and MrpD from a Na+/H+ antiporter, Mrp. MrpA and NuoL are more similar to each other and the same is true for MrpD and NuoN. This suggests a functional differentiation which was proven experimentally in a deletion strain model system, where NuoL could restore the loss of MrpA, but not that of MrpD and vice versa. The simplest explanation for these observations was that the MrpA and MrpD proteins are not antiporters, but rather single subunit ion channels that together form an antiporter. In this work our focus was on a set of amino acid residues in helix VIII, which are only conserved in NuoL and MrpA (but not in any of the other antiporter-like subunits. and to compare their effect on the function of these two proteins. By combining complementation studies in B. subtilis and 23Na-NMR, response of mutants to high sodium levels were tested. All of the mutants were able to cope with high salt levels; however, all but one mutation (M258I/M225I showed differences in the efficiency of cell growth and sodium efflux. Our findings showed that, although very similar in sequence, NuoL and MrpA seem to differ on the functional level. Nonetheless the studied mutations gave rise to interesting phenotypes which are of interest in complex I research.
Assessment of the advantages of a residual heat removal system inside the reactor pressure vessel

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gautier, G.M. [Commissariat a l`Energie Atomique, Saint-Paul-Lez-Durance (France)

1995-09-01

In the framework of research on diversified means for removing residual heat from pressurized water reactors, the CEA is studying a passive system called RRP (Refroidissement du Reacteur au Primaire, or primary circuit cooling system). This system consists of integrated heat-exchangers and a layout of the internal structures so as to obtain convection from the primary circuit inside the vessel, whatever the state of the loops. This system is operational for all primary circuit temperatures and pressures, as well as for a wide range of conditions: such as independent from the state of the loops, low volume of water in the primary circuit, compatibility with either a passive or an active operation mode, and compatibility with any other decay heat removal systems. This paper presents an evaluation of the performance of the RRP system in the event of a small primary circuit break in a totally passive operation mode without the intervention of any another system. The results of this evaluation show the potential interest of such a system: a clear increase of the time-delay for the implementation of a low pressure safety injection system and no need for the use of a high pressure safety injection system.
A new rate-dependent model for high-frequency tracking performance enhancement of piezoactuator system

Science.gov (United States)

Tian, Lizhi; Xiong, Zhenhua; Wu, Jianhua; Ding, Han

2017-05-01

Feedforward-feedback control is widely used in motion control of piezoactuator systems. Due to the phase lag caused by incomplete dynamics compensation, the performance of the composite controller is greatly limited at high frequency. This paper proposes a new rate-dependent model to improve the high-frequency tracking performance by reducing dynamics compensation error. The rate-dependent model is designed as a function of the input and input variation rate to describe the input-output relationship of the residual system dynamics which mainly performs as phase lag in a wide frequency band. Then the direct inversion of the proposed rate-dependent model is used to compensate the residual system dynamics. Using the proposed rate-dependent model as feedforward term, the open loop performance can be improved significantly at medium-high frequency. Then, combining the with feedback controller, the composite controller can provide enhanced close loop performance from low frequency to high frequency. At the frequency of 1 Hz, the proposed controller presents the same performance as previous methods. However, at the frequency of 900 Hz, the tracking error is reduced to be 30.7% of the decoupled approach.
Interactive surface in the PapD chaperone cleft is conserved in pilus chaperone superfamily and essential in subunit recognition and assembly.

OpenAIRE

Slonim, L N; Pinkner, J S; Brändén, C I; Hultgren, S J

1992-01-01

The assembly of adhesive pili in Gram-negative bacteria is modulated by specialized periplasmic chaperone systems. PapD is the prototype member of the superfamily of periplasmic pilus chaperones. Previously, the alignment of chaperone sequences superimposed on the three dimensional structure of PapD revealed the presence of invariant, conserved and variable amino acids. Representative residues that protruded into the PapD cleft were targeted for site directed mutagenesis to investigate the pi...
Critical interfaces in geosynthetic multilayer liner system of a landfill

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Qian Xuede

2008-12-01

Full Text Available This study is to identify the critical interface in a geosynthetic multilayer liner system by examining the effects of the interface shear strength of liner components, leachate level, leachate buildup cases, and peak and residual interface strengths. According to current landfill design procedures, conducting stability analysis along the same interface at both the back slope and base may result in a non-conservative result. The critical interfaces with the minimum factor of safety are generally found at different locations along the back slope and base. The critical interface for a multilayer liner system cannot simply be assumed during stability analysis. It can shift from one interface to another with changes in the leachate level and with different leachate buildup cases. The factor of safety for an interface with a high friction angle and low apparent cohesion generally drops much more quickly than it does under inverse conditions when the leachate level increases. The failure interface in a liner system under residual conditions is usually different from the failure interface under peak conditions.

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