Influence of Adding Ammonium Bifluoride when Leaching Monazite Using Sulphur Acid

The following shows the results of the leaching of monazite concentrate with sulfuric acid in the presence of ammonium bifluoride. It was established that the addition of ammonium bifluoride increases the degree of the leaching monazite concentrate and allows the separation of phosphorous from a mixture of rare earth and radioactive elements

Thermocatalytic conversion of petroleum paraffin in the presence of tungsten carbide powders

Russia occupies the third place in the world in terms of stocks of heavy oil raw materials. The development of deposits of light and medium oils makes it inevitable to involve heavy, as well as residual, petroleum raw materials in processing to meet the growing demand for petroleum products. Increase of the depth of oil processing possible in various ways, one of which is the use of new efficient catalysts, resistant to corrosion, poisoning and coking. Tungsten carbide, meeting these requirements, is a promising starting compound for the production of cracking catalysts for heavy oil feedstocks. The influence of tungsten carbide and its calcination temperature on the composition and yield of oil paraffin cracking products on the resulting catalysts was studied to investigate its catalytic activity, the optimum treatment temperature of tungsten carbide was determined. The high catalytic activity of a WC sample calcined at 420°C is shown. Using the physicochemical methods of investigation, the properties of tungsten carbide samples, as well as the composition and properties of the paraffin cracking products in the presence of the catalysts obtained, were studied

Extending the time of coherent optical response in ensemble of singly-charged InGaAs quantum dots

The ability to extend the time scale of the coherent optical response from large ensembles of quantum emitters is highly appealing for applications in quantum information devices. In semiconductor nanostructures, spin degrees of freedom can be used as auxiliary, powerful tools to modify the coherent optical dynamics. Here, we apply this approach to negatively charged (In,Ga)As/GaAs self-assembled quantum dots which are considered as excellent quantum emitters with robust optical coherence and high bandwidth. We study three-pulse spin-dependent photon echoes subject to moderate transverse magnetic fields up to 1 T. We demonstrate that the timescale of coherent optical response can be extended by at least an order of magnitude by the field. Without magnetic field, the photon echo decays with T2 = 0.45 ns which is determined by the radiative lifetime of trions T1 = 0.26 ns. In the presence of the transverse magnetic field, the decay of the photon echo signal is given by spin dephasing time of the ensemble of resident electrons T2,e ∼ 4 ns. We demonstrate that the non-zero transverse g-factor of the heavy holes in the trion state plays a crucial role in the temporal evolution and magnetic field dependence of the long-lived photon echo signal

Preparation of Tl2Ba2Ca1-yCeyCu2O8-x/2FxCe - and F-Substituted Superconductors

High-Tc superconducting ceramics with the compositions Tl2Ba2CaCu2O8 -x/2(

Thallium-Based High-Temperature 2212 Superconductor with Partial Substitution of Oxygen by Fluorine and of Calcium by Cerium

Синтезированы фтор- и церий замещенные высокотемпературные сверхпроводники 2212 на основе таллия, исследованы пределы растворимости заменителей, измерены критические температуры сверхпроводящих переходов, а локальная структура уточнена с помощью мессбауэровского метода. Fluorine- and cerium-substituted thallium-based high-temperature 2212 superconductors are synthesized, the limits of solubility of the substitutes are investigated, the critical temperatures of the superconducting transitions are measured, and the local structure is refined using the Mossbauer technique

Effect of fluorine and cerium substitutions on the properties of the Tl2Ba2CaCu1.98Fe0.02O8 superconductor

Fluorine and cerium substituted Tl-2212 high-Tc superconductors were produced. X-ray diffraction, Mossbauer effect method, temperature measuring of the resistances and a.c. susceptibilities for all Tl2Ba2Ca1-yCeyCu1.98Fe0.02O8-x/2Fx(0 6 x 6 0.2 and 0 6 y 6 0.1) were applied. It was found that the cerium admixture does not affect significantly the Tl-2212 superconductor properties. Fluorine admixture alone appreciably affects the value of superconducting transition temperature. The biggest increase in Tc is 10 K and is realised for x = 0.10-0.20. Substituting admixtures are not clearly exhibited in Mossbauer parameters, i.e. do not influence Fe-O bonding tangibly

Chemical, Physical and Biological Triggers of Evolutionary Conserved Bcl-xL-Mediated Apoptosis

Background: The evidence that pan-Bcl-2 or Bcl-xL-specific inhibitors prematurely kill virus-infected or RNA/DNA-transfected cells provides rationale for investigating these apoptotic inducers further. We hypothesized that not only invasive RNA or DNA (biological factors) but also DNA/RNA-damaging chemical or physical factors could trigger apoptosis that have been sensitized with pan-Bcl-2 or Bcl-xL-specific agents; Methods: We tested chemical and physical factors plus Bcl-xL-specific inhibitor A-1155463 in cells of various origins and the small roundworms (C. elegans); Results: We show that combination of a A-1155463 along with a DNA-damaging agent, 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO), prematurely kills cells of various origins as well as C. elegans. The synergistic effect is p53-dependent and associated with the release of Bad and Bax from Bcl-xL, which trigger mitochondrial outer membrane permeabilization. Furthermore, we found that combining Bcl-xL-specific inhibitors with various chemical compounds or physical insults also induced cell death; Conclusions: Thus, we were able to identify several biological, chemical and physical triggers of the evolutionarily conserved Bcl-xL-mediated apoptotic pathway, shedding light on strategies and targets for novel drug development

Antiviral Properties of Chemical Inhibitors of Cellular Anti-Apoptotic Bcl-2 Proteins

Viral diseases remain serious threats to public health because of the shortage of effective means of control. To combat the surge of viral diseases, new treatments are urgently needed. Here we show that small-molecules, which inhibit cellular anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins (Bcl-2i), induced the premature death of cells infected with different RNA or DNA viruses, whereas, at the same concentrations, no toxicity was observed in mock-infected cells. Moreover, these compounds limited viral replication and spread. Surprisingly, Bcl-2i also induced the premature apoptosis of cells transfected with viral RNA or plasmid DNA but not of mock-transfected cells. These results suggest that Bcl-2i sensitizes cells containing foreign RNA or DNA to apoptosis. A comparison of the toxicity, antiviral activity, and side effects of six Bcl-2i allowed us to select A-1155463 as an antiviral lead candidate. Thus, our results pave the way for the further development of Bcl-2i for the prevention and treatment of viral diseases.Peer reviewe

Antiviral properties of chemical inhibitors of cellular anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins

Viral diseases remain serious threats to public health because of the shortage of effective means of control. To combat the surge of viral diseases, new treatments are urgently needed. Here we show that small-molecules, which inhibit cellular anti-apoptotic Bcl-2 proteins (Bcl-2i), induced the premature death of cells infected with different RNA or DNA viruses, whereas, at the same concentrations, no toxicity was observed in mock-infected cells. Moreover, these compounds limited viral replication and spread. Surprisingly, Bcl-2i also induced the premature apoptosis of cells transfected with viral RNA or plasmid DNA but not of mock-transfected cells. These results suggest that Bcl-2i sensitizes cells containing foreign RNA or DNA to apoptosis. A comparison of the toxicity, antiviral activity, and side effects of six Bcl-2i allowed us to select A-1155463 as an antiviral lead candidate. Thus, our results pave the way for the further development of Bcl-2i for the prevention and treatment of viral diseases.</p

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements