Future space transport

Prospects for the mastery of space and the basic problems which must be solved in developing systems for both manned and cargo spacecraft are examined. The achievements and flaws of rocket boosters are discussed as well as the use of reusable spacecraft. The need for orbiting satellite solar power plants and related astrionics for active control of large space structures for space stations and colonies in an age of space industrialization is demonstrated. Various forms of spacecraft propulsion are described including liquid propellant rocket engines, nuclear reactors, thermonuclear rocket engines, electrorocket engines, electromagnetic engines, magnetic gas dynamic generators, electromagnetic mass accelerators (rail guns), laser rocket engines, pulse nuclear rocket engines, ramjet thermonuclear rocket engines, and photon rockets. The possibilities of interstellar flight are assessed

Особенности правоотношений административной ответственности, складывающихся в деятельности органов и учреждений уголовно-исполнительной системы

The subject of the research is the modern administrative law and administrative procedural doctrine shaping the view of the contents and nature of the legal relationship of administrative liability involving correctional agencies.The purpose of the article is to confirm or disprove the hypothesis about significant features of legal relations of administrative liability arising, developing and terminating in the field of execution of criminal penalties.The methodology includes systematic analysis of legal academic literature, interpretation of Russian legislation on administrative offences.The main results. The static (universal for all law enforcement agencies) structure of the institution of administrative liability acquires its qualitative originality in the process of its practical implementation in the law enforcement activities of the relevant bodies and officials authorized by the state to bring to administrative responsibility through appropriate legal relations. The main part of the legal relations of administrative responsibility that develop in the activities of correctional institutions and pre-trial detention centers are of a security nature. These relations are primarily aimed not at implementing the main tasks of the legislation on administrative responsibility, but at achieving the basic goal of the functioning of penitentiary institutions, i.e. ensuring the public safety of objects of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia. Identification and proper procedural registration of the fact of an administrative offense will be the basis for the emergence of the corresponding protective legal relationship. The authors make proposals aimed at improvement of normative regulation and practice of application of administrative coercive measures, enforced by employees of the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia. It is necessary to radically change the approach to the administrative and jurisdictional practice of correctional agencies by expanding the application of administrative responsibility to convicted persons and persons held in pre-trial detention centers.Conclusions. Administrative liability relations involving correctional agencies have specific features. The application of such liability is aimed at maintaining the normal legal regime and ensuring the public safety of the relevant penitentiary facility. Administrative responsibility should be applied by correctional agencies to citizens who are located on the territory of the penitentiary institution and pre-trial detention center, civil personnel of the penitentiary system and special agents. A doctrinal definition of the legal relationship of administrative liability involving correctional agencies is formulated by authors.Рассматриваются особенности применения административных наказаний и принудительных мер административно-процессуального обеспечения в правоотношениях с участием органов и учреждений уголовно-исполнительной системы. Формулируется авторское определение такого правоотношения

Stabilization of a-conotoxin AuIB: influences of disulfide connectivity and backbone cyclization

a-Conotoxins are peptides isolated from the venom ducts of cone snails that target nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs). They are valuable pharmacological tools and have potential applications for treating a range of conditions in humans, including pain. However, like all peptides, conotoxins are susceptible to degradation, and to enhance their therapeutic potential it is important to elucidate the factors contributing to instability and to develop approaches for improving stability. AuIB is a unique member of the a-conotoxin family because the nonnative "ribbon" disulfide isomer exhibits enhanced activity at the nAChR in rat parasympathetic neurons compared with the native "globular" isomer. Here we show that the ribbon isomer of AuIB is also more resistant to disulfide scrambling, despite having a nonnative connectivity and flexible structure. This resistance to disulfide scrambling does not correlate with overall stability in serum because the ribbon isomer is degraded in human serum more rapidly than the globular isomer. Cyclization via the joining of the N- and C-termini with peptide linkers of four to seven amino acids prevented degradation of the ribbon isomer in serum and stabilized the globular isomers to disulfide scrambling. The linker length used for cyclization strongly affected the relative proportions of the disulfide isomers produced by oxidative folding. Overall, the results of this study provide important insights into factors influencing the stability and oxidative folding of a-conotoxin AuIB and might be valuable in the design of more stable antagonists of nAChRs

Structure similarity measure with penalty for close non-equivalent residues

Motivation:Recent improvement in homology-based structure modeling emphasizes the importance of sensitive evaluation measures that help identify and correct modest distortions in models compared with the target structures. Global Distance Test Total Score (GDT_TS), otherwise a very powerful and effective measure for model evaluation, is still insensitive to and can even reward such distortions, as observed for remote homology modeling in the latest CASP8 (Comparative Assessment of Structure Prediction)

Biofriendly nanocomposite containers with inhibition properties for the protection of metallic surfaces

© 2017 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.An attempt to combine two 'green' compounds in nanocomposite microcontainers in order to increase protection properties of waterborne acryl-styrene copolymer (ASC) coatings has been made. Nlauroylsarcosine (NLS) served as a corrosion inhibitor, and linseed oil (LO) as a carrier-forming component. LO is compatible with this copolymer and can impart to the coating self-healing properties. For the evaluation of the protective performance, three types of coatings were compared. In the first two, NLS was introduced in the coating formulation in the forms of free powder and micro-containers filled with LO, correspondingly. The last one was a standard ASC coating without inhibitor at all. Low-carbon steel substrates were coated by these formulations by spraying and subjected subsequently to the neutral salt spray test according to DIN ISO 9227. Results of these tests as well as the data obtained by electrochemical study suggest that such containers can be used for the improvement of adhesion of ASC-based coatings to the substrate and for the enhancement of their protective performance upon integrity damage, whereas the barrier properties of intact coatings were decreased

Transactivation of EGFR by LPS induces COX-2 expression in enterocytes

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is the leading cause of gastrointestinal morbidity and mortality in preterm infants. NEC is characterized by an exaggerated inflammatory response to bacterial flora leading to bowel necrosis. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) mediates inflammation through TLR4 activation and is a key molecule in the pathogenesis of NEC. However, LPS also induces cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), which promotes intestinal barrier restitution through stimulation of intestinal cell survival, proliferation, and migration. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) activation prevents experimental NEC and may play a critical role in LPS-stimulated COX-2 production. We hypothesized that EGFR is required for LPS induction of COX-2 expression. Our data show that inhibiting EGFR kinase activity blocks LPS-induced COX-2 expression in small intestinal epithelial cells. LPS induction of COX-2 requires Src-family kinase signaling while LPS transactivation of EGFR requires matrix metalloprotease (MMP) activity. EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors block LPS stimulation of mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK, suggesting an important role of the MAPK/ERK pathway in EGFR-mediated COX-2 expression. LPS stimulates proliferation of IEC-6 cells, but this stimulation is inhibited with either the EGFR kinase inhibitor AG1478, or the selective COX-2 inhibitor Celecoxib. Taken together, these data show that EGFR plays an important role in LPS-induction of COX-2 expression in enterocytes, which may be one mechanism for EGF in inhibition of NEC

Observing Non-Gaussian Sources in Heavy-Ion Reactions

We examine the possibility of extracting non-Gaussian sources from two-particle correlations in heavy-ion reactions. Non-Gaussian sources have been predicted in a variety of model calculations and may have been seen in various like-meson pair correlations. As a tool for this investigation, we have developed an improved imaging method that relies on a Basis spline expansion of the source functions with an improved implementation of constraints. We examine under what conditions this improved method can distinguish between Gaussian and non-Gaussian sources. Finally, we investigate pion, kaon, and proton sources from the p-Pb reaction at 450 GeV/nucleon and from the S-Pb reaction at 200 GeV/nucleon studied by the NA44 experiment. Both the pion and kaon sources from the S-Pb correlations seem to exhibit a Gaussian core with an extended, non-Gaussian halo. We also find evidence for a scaling of the source widths with particle mass in the sources from the p-Pb reaction.Comment: 16 pages, 15 figures, 5 tables, uses RevTex3.

Michigan ultra-cold polarized atomic hydrogen jet target

To study spin effects in high energy collisions, we are developing an ultra-cold high-density jet target of proton-spin-polarized hydrogen atoms. The target uses a 12 Tesla magnetic field and a 0.3 K separation cell coated with superfluid helium-4 to produce a slow monochromatic electron-spin-polarized atomic hydrogen beam, which is then focused by a superconducting sextupole into the interaction region. In recent tests, we studied a polarized beam of hydrogen atoms focused by the superconducting sextupole into a compression tube detector, which measured the polarized atoms’ intensity. The Jet produced, at the detector, a spin-polarized atomic hydrogen beam with a measured intensity of about 2.8⋅1015 H s−12.8⋅1015Hs−1 and a FWHM area of less than 0.13 cm2. This intensity corresponds to a free jet density of about 1⋅1012 H cm−31⋅1012Hcm−3 with a proton polarization of about 50%. When the transition RF unit is installed, we expect a proton polarization higher than 90%. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87742/2/856_1.pd

Energetics of Propellant Options for High-Power Hall Thrusters

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/76265/1/AIAA-16376-173.pd