Авария на японской АЭС "Фукусима"

В данной статье приведено краткое описание АЭС Фукусима. Рассматривается крупнейшее землетрясение в Японии 2011 года и авария на АЭС Фукусима. Представлена хроника событий аварии, ее ликвидация, а также проанализированы последствия данной аварии. This article provides a brief description of the Fukushima nuclear power plant. It is considered the largest earthquake in Japan 2011 and the accident at the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Presentation of the chronicle of events of the accident, its elimination, as well as analyzed the consequences of the accident

Three-dimensional track reconstruction for directional Dark Matter detection

Directional detection of Dark Matter is a promising search strategy. However, to perform such detection, a given set of parameters has to be retrieved from the recoiling tracks : direction, sense and position in the detector volume. In order to optimize the track reconstruction and to fully exploit the data of forthcoming directional detectors, we present a likelihood method dedicated to 3D track reconstruction. This new analysis method is applied to the MIMAC detector. It requires a full simulation of track measurements in order to compare real tracks to simulated ones. We conclude that a good spatial resolution can be achieved, i.e. sub-mm in the anode plane and cm along the drift axis. This opens the possibility to perform a fiducialization of directional detectors. The angular resolution is shown to range between 20$^\circ$ to 80$^\circ$, depending on the recoil energy, which is however enough to achieve a high significance discovery of Dark Matter. On the contrary, we show that sense recognition capability of directional detectors depends strongly on the recoil energy and the drift distance, with small efficiency values (50%-70%). We suggest not to consider this information either for exclusion or discovery of Dark Matter for recoils below 100 keV and then to focus on axial directional data.Comment: 27 pages, 20 figure

The Shaker Potassium Channel Is No Target for Xenon Anesthesia in Short-Sleeping Drosophila melanogaster Mutants

Background. Xenon seems to be an ideal anesthetic drug. To explore if next to the antagonism at the NMDA-receptor other molecular targets are involved, we tested the xenon requirement in short sleeping Drosophila shaker mutants and in na[har38]. Methods. The Drosophila melanogaster strains wildtype Canton-S, na[har38], sh102 and shmns, were raised and sleep was measured. Based on the response of the flies at different xenon concentrations, logEC50 values were calculated. Results. The logEC50-values for WT Canton-S were 1.671 (1.601–1.742 95%-confidence intervall; n = 238; P versus sh102 > 0,05), for shmns 1.711 (1.650–1.773; n = 242; P versus WT Canton-S > 0,05). The logEC50-value for sh102 was 1.594 (1.493–1.694; n = 261; P versus shmns > 0.05). The logEC-value of na[har38] was 2.076 (1.619–2.532; n = 207; P versus shmns < 0.05, versus sh102 < 0.05, versus WT Canton-S < 0.05). P values for all shaker mutants were P > 0.05, while na[har38] was found to be hyposensitive compared to wildtype (P < 0.05). Conclusions. The xenon requirement in Drosophila melanogaster is not influenced by a single gene mutation at the shaker locus, whereas a reduced expression of a nonselective cation channel leads to an increased xenon requirement. This supports the thesis that xenon mediates its effects not only via an antagonism at the NMDA-receptor

Nanoscale analysis of the oxidation state and surface termination of praseodymium oxide ultrathin films on ruthenium(0001)

The complex structure and morphology of ultrathin praseodymia films deposited on a ruthenium(0001) single crystal substrate by reactive molecular beam epitaxy is analyzed by intensity-voltage low-energy electron microscopy in combination with theoretical calculations within an ab initio scattering theory. A rich coexistence of various nanoscale crystalline surface structures is identified for the as-grown samples, notably comprising two distinct oxygen-terminated hexagonal Pr2O3(0001) surface phases as well as a cubic Pr2O3(111) and a fluorite PrO2(111) surface component. Furthermore, scattering theory reveals a striking similarity between the electron reflectivity spectra of praseodymia and ceria due to very efficient screening of the nuclear charge by the extra 4f electron in the former case

Prospects for the Measurement of the Higgs Yukawa Couplings to b and c quarks, and muons at CLIC

The investigation of the properties of the Higgs boson, especially a test of the predicted linear dependence of the branching ratios on the mass of the final state is going to be an integral part of the physics program at colliders at the energy frontier for the foreseeable future. The large Higgs boson production cross section at a 3TeV CLIC machine allows for a precision measurement of the Higgs branching ratios. The cross section times branching ratio of the decays H->bb, H->cc and H->{\mu}{\mu} of a Standard Model Higgs boson with a mass of 120 GeV can be measured with a statistical uncertainty of 0.23%, 3.1% and 15%, respectively, assuming an integrated luminosity of 2 ab-1.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Servicio SURAD, 2011 primer año de funcionamiento

1 copia .pdf del póster original, presentado en tamaño din A0 en las 4as Jornadas de Análisis de la Red de Bibliotecas del CSIC (Madrid. 26-27 abril, 2012). Más información de las Jornadas en: http://jornadas.urici.csic.es/IVjornadas/El servicio SURAD presenta los resultados del 2011, su primer año de actividad. SURAD es el servicio de localización y suministro de documentos científicos para la comunidad investigadora del CSIC, que atiende aquellas solicitudes que no pueden gestionar en primera instancia sus bibliotecas. SURAD se gestiona a través de la Unidad de Recursos de la Información Científica para la Investigación y integrado dentro del Plan 100% Digital del CSIC. Su objetivo es dar un servicio de acceso al documento a la comunidad científica del CSIC que carece de servicio de biblioteca presencial en su centro/instituto y actuar como servicio de último recurso de obtención de documentos para las bibliotecas de la Red, proporcionando los documentos que éstas no puedan obtener.Peer reviewe

Modular peptide binders - development of a predictive technology as alternative for reagent antibodies

Current biomedical research and diagnostics critically depend on detection agents for specific recognition and quantification of protein molecules. Monoclonal antibodies have been used for this purpose over decades and facilitated numerous biological and biomedical investigations. Recently, however, it has become apparent that many commercial reagent antibodies lack specificity or do not recognize their target at all. Thus, synthetic alternatives are needed whose complex designs are facilitated by multidisciplinary approaches incorporating experimental protein engineering with computational modeling. Here, we review the status of such an engineering endeavor based on the modular armadillo repeat protein scaffold and discuss challenges in its implementation. Keywords: affinity reagent; armadillo repeat proteins; computational design; directed evolution; library generation; protein-peptide interfac