X-Ray Fluorescence Determination of Trace Gold in an Ion-Exchange Resin

The use of portable X ray optics with a secondary radiator in the determination of trace gold in an ion exchange resin within the mass fraction range of 1–50 ppm is described. It is shown that the secondary radiator design with primary radiation filtering allows one to determine trace gold in an ion exchange resin when the mass fraction of gold is lower than 1 ppm

Priority Development Projects of the Arctic Zone. Reconstruction of the Northern Sea Way

The article describes Arctic zone and the significance of its resources for the Russian Federation and foreign countries. The basic strategic documents of the Arctic zone are listed. Priority projects for the development of the Arctic zone are considered. The reference zones of development in the Arctic and the influence of their formation on the macro region are analyzed. Areas of the main projects implemented or planned for implementation in the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation in percentage terms are presented. The state program of the Russian Federation «Socio-economic development of the Arctic zone of the Russian Federation», stages of implementation are considered. The main events of the VII International Forum «The Arctic: the present and the future» are revealed. The characteristic of the Northern Sea Route is given, its social and economic efficiency for the Russian Federation and the regions of the North is justified. The Northern Sea Route and the Southern Sea Route are compared. The criteria for increasing the carrying capacity of the Northern Sea Route are given. Areas of funding for improving the infrastructure of the region are indicated. The problem directions of the Northern Sea Route development have been identified: financial support for Northern Sea Route rehabilitation projects, political confrontation and a lack of qualified personnel. The characteristic of professional standards and their benefits for the enterprises of the region is presented. Recommendations are given on involving people in production and in the region

КОРРЕЛЯЦИОННЫЙ И ФАКТОРНЫЙ АНАЛИЗ ПРИЗНАКА СЕМЕННОЙ ПРОДУКТИВНОСТИ КАПУСТЫ БЕЛОКОЧАННОЙ

The data of analysis of the interaction between the components determined the seed productivity of white head cabbage are presented. The positive correlation between the percent of seeding and poten tial/real seed productivity was revealed.Представлены данные анализа взаимодействия компонентов, определяющих семенную продуктивность капусты белокочанной. Выявлена тесная положительная связь между процентом семенификации и потенциальной / реальной семенной продуктивностью

Formalization and elaboration of a company’s business strategy

The article deals with issues of formalization and elaboration of business strategies. The authors have formulated a hypothesis that there is no universal strategy ensuring maxi¬mum benefit to an enterprise. The choice of a company’s strategy is considered from the point of view of a game-theoretical interpretation as a competition component. The process of engineering a company’s business strategy is presented in the form of a technological network. The study shows the possibility of automating the selection of a strategy by decision-making support systems. The article outlines the problem of classifying enterprise strategies by general features. The structure of a company’s strategy is formalized as a relationship of a set of strategic objectives in the S.M.A.R.T. technique and a set of means to achieve the goals limited by a company’s capabilities. The authors examine the indicator structure for achieving strategic goals. A definition is given to the type and form of a strategy based on the pattern concept. The article defines a methodology for assessing the probability of achieving the strategic goal. A new concept of a fluid strategy has been introduced along with several other variations of business strategies that might be encountered

The first search for bosonic super-WIMPs with masses up to 1 MeV/c2^2 with GERDA

We present the first search for bosonic super-WIMPs as keV-scale dark matter candidates performed with the GERDA experiment. GERDA is a neutrinoless double-beta decay experiment which operates high-purity germanium detectors enriched in $^{76}$Ge in an ultra-low background environment at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS) of INFN in Italy. Searches were performed for pseudoscalar and vector particles in the mass region from 60 keV/c$^2$ to 1 MeV/c$^2$. No evidence for a dark matter signal was observed, and the most stringent constraints on the couplings of super-WIMPs with masses above 120 keV/c$^2$ have been set. As an example, at a mass of 150 keV/c$^2$ the most stringent direct limits on the dimensionless couplings of axion-like particles and dark photons to electrons of $g_{ae} < 3 \cdot 10^{-12}$ and ${\alpha'}/{\alpha} < 6.5 \cdot 10^{-24}$ at 90% credible interval, respectively, were obtained.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letters, added list of authors, updated ref. [21

Pulse shape analysis in Gerda Phase II

The GERmanium Detector Array (Gerda) collaboration searched for neutrinoless double-$$\beta$$ decay in $$^{76}$$Ge using isotopically enriched high purity germanium detectors at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso of INFN. After Phase I (2011–2013), the experiment benefited from several upgrades, including an additional active veto based on LAr instrumentation and a significant increase of mass by point-contact germanium detectors that improved the half-life sensitivity of Phase II (2015–2019) by an order of magnitude. At the core of the background mitigation strategy, the analysis of the time profile of individual pulses provides a powerful topological discrimination of signal-like and background-like events. Data from regular $$^{228}$$Th calibrations and physics data were both considered in the evaluation of the pulse shape discrimination performance. In this work, we describe the various methods applied to the data collected in Gerda Phase II corresponding to an exposure of 103.7 kg year. These methods suppress the background by a factor of about 5 in the region of interest around $$Q_{\beta \beta }= 2039$$ keV, while preserving $$(81\pm 3)$$% of the signal. In addition, an exhaustive list of parameters is provided which were used in the final data analysis

Influence of metals and metalloids on the composition and fluorescence quenching of the extracellular polymeric substances produced by the polymorphic fungus <i>Aureobasidium pullulans</i>

Aureobasidium pullulansis a ubiquitous and widely distributed fungus in the environment, and exhibits substantial tolerance against toxic metals. However, the interactions between metals and metalloids with the copious extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) produced byA. pullulansand possible relationships to tolerance are not well understood. In this study, it was found that mercury (Hg) and selenium (Se), as selenite, not only significantly inhibited growth ofA. pullulansbut also affected the composition of produced EPS. Lead (Pb) showed little influence on EPS yield or composition. The interactions of EPS fromA. pullulanswith the tested metals and metalloids depended on the specific element and their concentration. Fluorescence intensity measurements of the EPS showed that the presence of metal(loid)s stimulated the production of extracellular tryptophan-like and aromatic protein-like substances. Examination of fluorescence quenching and calculation of binding constants revealed that the fluorescence quenching process for Hg; arsenic (As), as arsenite; and Pb to EPS were mainly governed by static quenching which resulted in the formation of a stable non-fluorescent complexes between the EPS and metal(loid)s. Se showed no significant interaction with the EPS according to fluorescence quenching. These results provide further understanding of the interactions between metals and metalloids and EPS produced by fungi and their contribution to metal(loid) tolerance

GW8510 Increases Insulin Expression in Pancreatic Alpha Cells through Activation of p53 Transcriptional Activity

Background: Expression of insulin in terminally differentiated non-beta cell types in the pancreas could be important to treating type-1 diabetes. Previous findings led us to hypothesize involvement of kinase inhibition in induction of insulin expression in pancreatic alpha cells. Methodology/Principal Findings: Alpha (αTC1.6) cells and human islets were treated with GW8510 and other small-molecule inhibitors for up to 5 days. Alpha cells were assessed for gene- and protein-expression levels, cell-cycle status, promoter occupancy status by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), and p53-dependent transcriptional activity. GW8510, a putative CDK2 inhibitor, up-regulated insulin expression in mouse alpha cells and enhanced insulin secretion in dissociated human islets. Gene-expression profiling and gene-set enrichment analysis of GW8510-treated alpha cells suggested up-regulation of the p53 pathway. Accordingly, the compound increased p53 transcriptional activity and expression levels of p53 transcriptional targets. A predicted p53 response element in the promoter region of the mouse Ins2 gene was verified by chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP). Further, inhibition of Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38 kinase activities suppressed insulin induction by GW8510. Conclusions/Significance: The induction of Ins2 by GW8510 occurred through p53 in a JNK- and p38-dependent manner. These results implicate p53 activity in modulation of Ins2 expression levels in pancreatic alpha cells, and point to a potential approach toward using small molecules to generate insulin in an alternative cell type.Chemistry and Chemical BiologyMolecular and Cellular Biolog

ПОВЫШЕНИЕ СЕМЕННОЙ ПРОДУКТИВНОСТИ РОДИТЕЛЬСКОЙ ЛИНИИ ГИБРИДА F1 КАПУСТЫ БЕЛОКОЧАННОЙ ПОД ДЕЙСТВИЕМ СТЕРОИДНЫХ ГЛИКОЗИДОВ

Development of F1 cabbage hybrids is concerned to difficulties of artificial pollination, low ability to developovary leading to low seed productivity in parental lines. The aim of the study is to improve the seed productivity of self-pollinated parental line 3/14C for F1 cabbage hybrid ‘Krasotka’. Secondary plant metabolites such as steroid glycosides can help overcome these difficulties and increase the seed productivity (Blandinskaya et al., 2013). 3/14C-line was propagated by backcrossing flowers in bud stage with artificial self-pollination, using water solutions of steroid glycosides ‘Moldstim’ and ‘Melongozid’ (in concentrations 0.1%, 0.01%, 0.001% and 0.0001%). Seed productivity was evaluated according to methods that were elaborated earlier (Bukharov A.F. et al., 2011, 2013). It was established that all parameters of seed formation and development were increased significantly under treatment of steroid glycosides ‘Moldstim’ and ‘Melongozid’ in mentioned concentration. Differences were significant at the 5%-level of significance. Concentration of 0.001% was more effective than other both preparations. These preparations stimulated all phases of seed development. Number of fruits was increased by 16-39%, a number of seeds per one the pod was also increased by 17-38%, mass of 1000 seeds was increased by 9-12%. Thus, the seed productivity of parental line 3/14C F1cabbage hybrid named ‘Krasotka’ was increased by 44 to 105% as result of the action of steroid glycosides. Thus, ‘Moldstim’ and ‘Melongozid’ in concentration of 0.001% can be recommend as physiological stimulators to improve seed productivity in parental lines necessary for development of F1 cabbage hybrids.Получение F1 гибридов капусты белокочанной связано с трудностями принудительного опыления: слабой завязываемостью семян и низкой семенной продуктивностью исходных родительских линий. Цель настоящей работы: повысить семенную продуктивность самонесовместимой родительской линии 3/14С F1 гибрида капусты белокочанной Красотка с использованием вторичных метаболитов растений – стероидных гликозидов. Эксперимент провели в 2013-2015 годах на базе ВНИИ овощеводства. Размножение линии 3/14С осуществляли путем инцухтирования цветков в состоянии бутона, используя в качестве стимулирующих факторов водные растворы стероидных гликозидов молдстима и мелонгозида в концентрациях 0,1%, 0,01%, 0,001% и 0,0001%. Установлено, что стероидные гликозиды молдстим и мелонгозид в исследуемых концентрациях существенно повышают все показатели образования и развития семени. Положительные эффекты препаратов проявились на всех этапах опыления-оплодотворения и развития семени и выразились в существенном повышении всех параметров семенной продуктивности. Различия были существенны на 5%-ном уровне значимости. Наиболее эффективной для обоих препаратов была концентрация 0,001%. Завязываемость плодов выросла на 16-39%, осеменённость плода – на 17-38%, масса 1000 семян – на 9-12%. В результате семенная продуктивность родительской линии3/14С F1 гибрида капусты белокочанной Красотка увеличилась на 44-105%. Следовательно, препараты молдстим и мелонгозид (в концентрации 0,001%) можно рекомендовать как физиологические стимуляторы для повышения семенной продуктивности самонесовместимых линий в процессе получения F1 гибридов капусты белокочанной методом принудительного опыления

Roles of AP-2 in clathrin-mediated endocytosis.

The notion that AP-2 clathrin adaptor is an essential component of an endocytic clathrin coat appears to conflict with recent observations that substantial AP-2 depletion, using RNA interference with synthesis of AP-2 subunits, fails to block uptake of certain ligands known to internalize through a clathrin-based pathway