Application of infrared vision system for potato thermal control

The article proposes a solution to the problem of determining the values of potato tubers tissue thermophysical characteristics. The solution of this problem makes it possible to calculate the optimal regime parameters of potato quality active thermal control, which can be used for automatic sorting. In order to solve this problem, we propose a non-contact non-destructive control method based on a pulsed laser heating of a potato tuber flat surface area and subsequent use of time integral characteristics of temperature and heat flow, as well as a measuring device developed on the basis of physical and mathematical models of the method. The method was used by the authors to determine the thermal conductivity, heat capacity and coefficient of thermal diffusivity of different quality potato tissues: both healthy and affected by phyto-diseases. The studies have shown that the thermal conductivity of plant tissues depends on the presence of structural disturbances in them as a result of phyto-diseases. This fact confirms the possibility of using thermal non-destructive control of potatoes tissues provided the correct choice of power and the duration of the thermal effect on the object of control

V. P. Omelchenko in the history of professional education Chelyabinsk region

В статье на основе фактического материала представлена биография крупного организатора и педагога профессионального образования, начальника областного управления професссионально-технического образования Челябинской области В. П. Омельченко.On the basis of rich factual material presented biography of a great organizer and teacher of vocational education, head of the regional professional education Chelyabinsk Region Omelchenko

Evaluation of new regenerated fiber Bragg grating high-temperature sensors in an ISO 834 fire test

[EN] Temperature, one of the most important parameters in building fires, is now mostly measured with high-temperature thermocouples, which have the typical drawbacks of electric sensors, such as their sensitivity to electrical and magnetic interference. Fiber optic sensors are an alternative to electric sensors and offer many advantages, although their use in fire engineering is somewhat limited at the present time. This paper presents a set of new fiber optic sensors for measuring high temperatures, based on Regenerated Fiber Bragg Gratings (RFBGs). The sensors were placed near the surface of two concrete specimens and then tested under ISO 834 fire curve conditions for one hour. We consider this an important step forward in the application of high-temperature fiber optic sensors in fire engineering, as the sensors were subjected to direct flames and temperature increments of the order of 200 degrees C/min, similar to those in a real fire. The RFBG sensors measured maximum gas temperatures of circa 970 degrees C, in good agreement with those provided by thermocouples in the same position. The gas temperature measurements of the FOSs were also compared with the adiabatic temperatures measured by plate thermometers and concrete specimens surface temperatures calculated with numerical heat transfer models. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This work has been possible thanks to the financial support of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (Research Projects BIA 2011-27104 and TEC2011-29120-C05-05). Funding for this research was provided to Paula Rinaudo by the European Commission (Erasmus Mundus Project Action 2 ARCOIRIS).Rinaudo, P.; Torres Górriz, B.; Paya-Zaforteza, I.; Calderón García, PA.; Sales Maicas, S. (2015). Evaluation of new regenerated fiber Bragg grating high-temperature sensors in an ISO 834 fire test. Fire Safety Journal. 71:332-339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.firesaf.2014.11.024S3323397

Copy Number Variants in Patients with Severe Oligozoospermia and Sertoli-Cell-Only Syndrome

A genetic origin is estimated in 30% of infertile men with the common phenotypes of oligo- or azoospermia, but the pathogenesis of spermatogenic failure remains frequently obscure. To determine the involvement of Copy Number Variants (CNVs) in the origin of male infertility, patients with idiopathic severe oligozoospermia (N = 89), Sertoli-cell-only syndrome (SCOS, N = 37)) and controls with normozoospermia (N = 100) were analysed by array-CGH using the 244A/400K array sets (Agilent Technologies). The mean number of CNVs and the amount of DNA gain/loss were comparable between all groups. Ten recurring CNVs were only found in patients with severe oligozoospermia, three only in SCOS and one CNV in both groups with spermatogenic failure but not in normozoospermic men. Sex-chromosomal, mostly private CNVs were significantly overrepresented in patients with SCOS. CNVs found several times in all groups were analysed in a case-control design and four additional candidate genes and two regions without known genes were associated with SCOS (P<1×10−3). In conclusion, by applying array-CGH to study male infertility for the first time, we provide a number of candidate genes possibly causing or being risk factors for the men's spermatogenic failure. The recurring, patient-specific and private, sex-chromosomal CNVs as well as those associated with SCOS are candidates for further, larger case-control and re-sequencing studies

Sperm Chromatin-Induced Ectopic Polar Body Extrusion in Mouse Eggs after ICSI and Delayed Egg Activation

Meiotic chromosomes in an oocyte are not only a maternal genome carrier but also provide a positional signal to induce cortical polarization and define asymmetric meiotic division of the oocyte, resulting in polar body extrusion and haploidization of the maternal genome. The meiotic chromosomes play dual function in determination of meiosis: 1) organizing a bipolar spindle formation and 2) inducing cortical polarization and assembly of a distinct cortical cytoskeleton structure in the overlying cortex for polar body extrusion. At fertilization, a sperm brings exogenous paternal chromatin into the egg, which induces ectopic cortical polarization at the sperm entry site and leads to a cone formation, known as fertilization cone. Here we show that the sperm chromatin-induced fertilization cone formation is an abortive polar body extrusion due to lack of spindle induction by the sperm chromatin during fertilization. If experimentally manipulating the fertilization process to allow sperm chromatin to induce both cortical polarization and spindle formation, the fertilization cone can be converted into polar body extrusion. This suggests that sperm chromatin is also able to induce polar body extrusion, like its maternal counterpart. The usually observed cone formation instead of ectopic polar body extrusion induced by sperm chromatin during fertilization is due to special sperm chromatin compaction which restrains it from rapid spindle induction and therefore provides a protective mechanism to prevent a possible paternal genome loss during ectopic polar body extrusion

Taming the tiger by the tail: modulation of DNA damage responses by telomeres

Telomeres are by definition stable and inert chromosome ends, whereas internal chromosome breaks are potent stimulators of the DNA damage response (DDR). Telomeres do not, as might be expected, exclude DDR proteins from chromosome ends but instead engage with many DDR proteins. However, the most powerful DDRs, those that might induce chromosome fusion or cell-cycle arrest, are inhibited at telomeres. In budding yeast, many DDR proteins that accumulate most rapidly at double strand breaks (DSBs), have important functions in physiological telomere maintenance, whereas DDR proteins that arrive later tend to have less important functions. Considerable diversity in telomere structure has evolved in different organisms and, perhaps reflecting this diversity, different DDR proteins seem to have distinct roles in telomere physiology in different organisms. Drawing principally on studies in simple model organisms such as budding yeast, in which many fundamental aspects of the DDR and telomere biology have been established; current views on how telomeres harness aspects of DDR pathways to maintain telomere stability and permit cell-cycle division are discussed

Differentiation polynomials in local fractional analysis based on d-operator

It is shown that in local fractional analysis there are rather simple integrable fractional-order functions, a certain order base primitive of which equals zero

The generalized G-operator of complex orders of real variable

The author introduces the local differentiation and integration G-operator of a complex order real variable which is the generalization of d-operator of real orders in the case of infinite number of local operators for which the conformity principle is fulfilled. The paper considers its several properties and special cases