Turbine engine Hot Section Technology (HOST) project

The Hot Section Technology (HOST) Project is a NASA-sponsored endeavor to improve the durability of advanced gas turbine engines for commercial and military aircraft. Through improvements in the analytical models and life prediction systems, designs for future hot section components , the combustor and turbine, will be more accurately analyzed and will incorporate features required for longer life in the more hostile operating environment of high performance engines

An introduction to NASA's turbine engine hot section technology (HOST) project

An overview of research to develop and improve the accuracy of current analysis methods so that increased durability can be designed into future engines is presented. Emphasis is placed on improved accuracy in life prediction. Component design, including description of the thermal and aerodynamic environments, the material's mechanical response, the interactions between environmental and structural response, and high temperature instrumentation capable of measuring near-engine environment effects are addressed. Component tests, improved modeling of the physical phenomena, and tests to verify the proved models are also discussed

On the Trace Anomaly and the Anomaly Puzzle in N=1 Pure Yang-Mills

The trace anomaly of the energy-momentum tensor is usually quoted in the form which is proportional to the beta function of the theory. However, there are in general many definitions of gauge couplings depending on renormalization schemes, and hence many beta functions. In particular, N=1 supersymmetric pure Yang-Mills has the holomorphic gauge coupling whose beta function is one-loop exact, and the canonical gauge coupling whose beta function is given by the Novikov-Shifman-Vainshtein-Zakharov beta function. In this paper, we study which beta function should appear in the trace anomaly in N=1 pure Yang-Mills. We calculate the trace anomaly by employing the N=4 regularization of N=1 pure Yang-Mills. It is shown that the trace anomaly is given by one-loop exact form if the composite operator appearing in the trace anomaly is renormalized in a preferred way. This result gives the simplest resolution to the anomaly puzzle in N=1 pure Yang-Mills. The most important point is to examine in which scheme the quantum action principle is valid, which is crucial in the derivation of the trace anomaly.Comment: 25 pages, 1 figure; v2:slight correction in sec.5, minor addition in appendi

Pomeron in diffractive processes γ∗(Q2)p→ρ0p\gamma^*(Q^2)p\to\rho^0 p and γ∗(Q2)p→γ∗(Q2)p\gamma^*(Q^2)p\to\gamma^*(Q^2) p at large Q^2: the onset of pQCD

We study the reactions $\gamma^*(Q^2)p\to\rho^0 p$ and $\gamma^*(Q^2)p\to\gamma^*(Q^2) p$ at large Q^2 and $W^2/Q^2$ and small momentum transfer, $\kappa^2_\perp$, to the nucleon where the pomeron exchange dominates. At large Q^2 the virtual photon selects a hard $q\bar q$ pair, thus selecting the hard pomeron component (the BFKL pomeron). The amplitudes for both transverse and longitudinal polarizations of the initial photon and outgoing $\rho$-meson (photon) are calculated in the framework of the BFKL pomeron exchange. Our calculations show that one cannot expect the early onset of the pure perturbative regime in the discussed diffractive processes: the small interquark distances, $\rho_{q\bar q} <0.2$ fm, start to dominate not earlier than at $Q^2 \simeq 100 GeV^2, W^2/Q^2 \simeq 10^7$ in $\gamma^*(Q^2)p\to\rho^0 p$ and $Q^2 \simeq 50 GeV^2, W^2/Q^2 \simeq 10^6$ in $\gamma^*(Q^2)p\to\gamma^*(Q^2) p$.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, epsfig.st

POZylation: a new approach to enhance nanoparticle diffusion through mucosal barriers

The increasing use of nanoparticles in the pharmaceutical industry is generating concomitant interest in developing nanomaterials that can rapidly penetrate into, and permeate through, biological membranes to facilitate drug delivery and improve the bioavailability of active pharmaceutical ingredients. Here, we demonstrate that the permeation of thiolated silica nanoparticles through porcine gastric mucosa can be significantly enhanced by their functionalization with either 5 kDa poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) or poly(ethylene glycol). Nanoparticle diffusion was assessed using two independent techniques; Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis, and fluorescence microscopy. Our results show that poly(2-ethyl-2-oxazoline) and poly(ethylene glycol) have comparable abilities to enhance diffusion of silica nanoparticles in mucin dispersions and through the gastric mucosa. These findings provide a new strategy in the design of nanomedicines, by surface modification or nanoparticle core construction, for enhanced transmucosal drug delivery

Synthetic Nanoparticles for Vaccines and Immunotherapy

The immune system plays a critical role in our health. No other component of human physiology plays a decisive role in as diverse an array of maladies, from deadly diseases with which we are all familiar to equally terrible esoteric conditions: HIV, malaria, pneumococcal and influenza infections; cancer; atherosclerosis; autoimmune diseases such as lupus, diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. The importance of understanding the function of the immune system and learning how to modulate immunity to protect against or treat disease thus cannot be overstated. Fortunately, we are entering an exciting era where the science of immunology is defining pathways for the rational manipulation of the immune system at the cellular and molecular level, and this understanding is leading to dramatic advances in the clinic that are transforming the future of medicine.1,2 These initial advances are being made primarily through biologic drugs– recombinant proteins (especially antibodies) or patient-derived cell therapies– but exciting data from preclinical studies suggest that a marriage of approaches based in biotechnology with the materials science and chemistry of nanomaterials, especially nanoparticles, could enable more effective and safer immune engineering strategies. This review will examine these nanoparticle-based strategies to immune modulation in detail, and discuss the promise and outstanding challenges facing the field of immune engineering from a chemical biology/materials engineering perspectiveNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Grants AI111860, CA174795, CA172164, AI091693, and AI095109)United States. Department of Defense (W911NF-13-D-0001 and Awards W911NF-07-D-0004

Markov dynamic models for long-timescale protein motion

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulation is a well-established method for studying protein motion at the atomic scale. However, it is computationally intensive and generates massive amounts of data. One way of addressing the dual challenges of computation efficiency and data analysis is to construct simplified models of long-timescale protein motion from MD simulation data. In this direction, we propose to use Markov models with hidden states, in which the Markovian states represent potentially overlapping probabilistic distributions over protein conformations. We also propose a principled criterion for evaluating the quality of a model by its ability to predict long-timescale protein motions. Our method was tested on 2D synthetic energy landscapes and two extensively studied peptides, alanine dipeptide and the villin headpiece subdomain (HP-35 NleNle). One interesting finding is that although a widely accepted model of alanine dipeptide contains six states, a simpler model with only three states is equally good for predicting long-timescale motions. We also used the constructed Markov models to estimate important kinetic and dynamic quantities for protein folding, in particular, mean first-passage time. The results are consistent with available experimental measurements

Edible bio-based nanostructures: delivery, absorption and potential toxicity

The development of bio-based nanostructures as nanocarriers of bioactive compounds to specific body sites has been presented as a hot topic in food, pharmaceutical and nanotechnology fields. Food and pharmaceutical industries seek to explore the huge potential of these nanostructures, once they can be entirely composed of biocompatible and non-toxic materials. At the same time, they allow the incorporation of lipophilic and hydrophilic bioactive compounds protecting them against degradation, maintaining its active and functional performance. Nevertheless, the physicochemical properties of such structures (e.g., size and charge) could change significantly their behavior in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. The main challenges in the development of these nanostructures are the proper characterization and understanding of the processes occurring at their surface, when in contact with living systems. This is crucial to understand their delivery and absorption behavior as well as to recognize potential toxicological effects. This review will provide an insight into the recent innovations and challenges in the field of delivery via GI tract using bio-based nanostructures. Also, an overview of the approaches followed to ensure an effective deliver (e.g., avoiding physiological barriers) and to enhance stability and absorptive intestinal uptake of bioactive compounds will be provided. Information about nanostructures potential toxicity and a concise description of the in vitro and in vivo toxicity studies will also be given.Joana T. Martins, Oscar L. Ramos, Ana C. Pinheiro, Ana I. Bourbon, Helder D. Silva and Miguel A. Cerqueira (SFRH/BPD/89992/2012, SFRH/BPD/80766/2011, SFRH/BPD/101181/2014, SFRH/BD/73178/2010, SFRH/BD/81288/2011, and SFRH/BPD/72753/2010, respectively) are the recipients of a fellowship from the Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT, POPH-QREN and FSE, Portugal). The authors thank the FCT Strategic Project PEst-OE/EQB/LA0023/2013 and the project "BioInd-Biotechnology and Bioengineering for improved Industrial and Agro-Food processes," REF.NORTE-07-0124-FEDER-000028, co-funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte (ON.2-O Novo Norte), QREN, FEDER. We also thank to the European Commission: BIOCAPS (316265, FP7/REGPOT-2012-2013.1) and Xunta de Galicia: Agrupamento INBIOMED (2012/273) and Grupo con potencial de crecimiento. The support of EU Cost Action FA1001 is gratefully acknowledged

I Rest My Case! The Possibilities and Limitations of Blockchain-Based IP Protection

We have identified, mapped and discussed existing research on Blockchain-based solutions for intellectual property (IP) protection, an investigation that emerged from a case in antibody production for scientific and medical applications. To that end, we have performed a systematic literature review and created an instrument that classifies the contributions according to the materiality of the object they protect (from immaterial to physical), the type of protection (authorship notarization or prevention of illegal use) and the type of research (conceptual or empirical). Our results can be used to understand which avenues to pursue in the effort to create a new generation of more effective technology-assisted IP protection systems, a priority for 152 signatory countries of the patent cooperation treaty