The effect of Al2O3-MgO additives on the microstructure of spark plasma sintered silicon nitride

It was shown that spark plasma sintered silicon nitride with a high content of Al2O3 and MgO consists of α and β silicon nitride, the main phase being α silicon nitride. The increase in the sintering temperature did not lead to significant changes in the phase composition as occurs in silicon nitride added with Al2O3-Y2O3. It was found that increasing in SPS temperature above 1650 ° C leads to an insignificant increase in the density. A complex shaped equiaxed grain microstructure was shown in both case

Dielectric properties of silicon nitride ceramics produced by free sintering

The silicon nitride ceramics with a beneficial combination of low dielectric losses and improved physical properties was fabricated by cold isostatic pressing and pressureless sintering. The fine grain microstructure, three-phase composition based on the β-SiAlON, the small amount of the glass phase and relatively small porosity promote a unique combination of a low thermal conductivity 14.51 W m¯¹ K¯¹ and low dielectric loss 1.4·10¯¯³. A novel method is proposed to overcome the main drawbacks of the commercial and high-cost technologie

Microstructure and phase composition of cold Isostatically pressed and pressureless sintered silicon nitride

The microstructure and physical properties of new Y₂O₃ and Al₂O₃ oxide-doped silicon nitride ceramics fabricated by cold isostatic pressing and free sintering were investigated. The phase composition of produced material was also studied by X-ray diffraction at room and elevated temperature. The fabricated ceramics featured a microstructure of Si₅AlON₇ grains with a fine-grained α-Si₃N₄ with a small amount of Y₂SiAlON₅. Described ceramics is attractive for many high-temperature structural applications due to beneficial combination of fine-grained structure with improved mechanical properties and small weight los

Polar cap index (PC) as a proxy for ionospheric electric field in the near‐pole region

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/95640/1/grl13514.pd

Improvement of forms and methods of teaching in higher education

Розглянуто поняття форм і методів навчання у вищому навчальному закладі як складових компонентів авторських педагогічних систем та розглянуто їх характеристику. Виділено організаційні форми навчання, які одночасно є способами безперервного управління пізнавальною діяльністю студентів. До них відносять: лекції, семінарські заняття, лабораторні роботи, практикуми, самостійну роботу, науково-дослідну роботу студентів, різного виду практику тощо. Показано, що ефективність навчання безпосередньо залежить від форм і методів, які викладач буде використовувати в навчально-виховному процесі. Вміле їх поєднання дозволить активізувати студента і викликати в ньому інтерес до процесу навчання.The concepts of forms and methods of teaching in higher education as constituent components of the author's pedagogical systems were considered and their characteristics were considered too. Organizational forms of education were given. They are method of continuous management of cognitive activity of the students. These include: lectures, seminars, laboratory works, self-work, research work of students, various types of practice, etc. It is shown that the effectiveness of teaching depends directly on the forms and methods that the teacher will use in the educational process. Skillful combination of them will allow activating the student and arouse interest in him in the learning process

Improved Cellular Specificity of Plasmonic Nanobubbles versus Nanoparticles in Heterogeneous Cell Systems

The limited specificity of nanoparticle (NP) uptake by target cells associated with a disease is one of the principal challenges of nanomedicine. Using the threshold mechanism of plasmonic nanobubble (PNB) generation and enhanced accumulation and clustering of gold nanoparticles in target cells, we increased the specificity of PNB generation and detection in target versus non-target cells by more than one order of magnitude compared to the specificity of NP uptake by the same cells. This improved cellular specificity of PNBs was demonstrated in six different cell models representing diverse molecular targets such as epidermal growth factor receptor, CD3 receptor, prostate specific membrane antigen and mucin molecule MUC1. Thus PNBs may be a universal method and nano-agent that overcome the problem of non-specific uptake of NPs by non-target cells and improve the specificity of NP-based diagnostics, therapeutics and theranostics at the cell level

The genetic history of admixture across inner Eurasia

This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from Nature Research via the DOI in this record.Data Availability. Genome-wide sequence data of two Botai individuals (BAM format) are available at the European Nucleotide Archive under the accession number PRJEB31152 (ERP113669). Eigenstrat format array genotype data of 763 present-day individuals and 1240K pulldown genotype data of two ancient Botai individuals are available at the Edmond data repository of the Max Planck Society (https://edmond.mpdl.mpg.de/imeji/collection/Aoh9c69DscnxSNjm?q=).The indigenous populations of inner Eurasia, a huge geographic region covering the central Eurasian steppe and the northern Eurasian taiga and tundra, harbor tremendous diversity in their genes, cultures and languages. In this study, we report novel genome-wide data for 763 individuals from Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. We furthermore report additional damage-reduced genome-wide data of two previously published individuals from the Eneolithic Botai culture in Kazakhstan (~5,400 BP). We find that present-day inner Eurasian populations are structured into three distinct admixture clines stretching between various western and eastern Eurasian ancestries, mirroring geography. The Botai and more recent ancient genomes from Siberia show a decrease in contribution from so-called “ancient North Eurasian” ancestry over time, detectable only in the northern-most “forest-tundra” cline. The intermediate “steppe-forest” cline descends from the Late Bronze Age steppe ancestries, while the “southern steppe” cline further to the South shows a strong West/South Asian influence. Ancient genomes suggest a northward spread of the southern steppe cline in Central Asia during the first millennium BC. Finally, the genetic structure of Caucasus populations highlights a role of the Caucasus Mountains as a barrier to gene flow and suggests a post-Neolithic gene flow into North Caucasus populations from the steppe.Max Planck SocietyEuropean Research Council (ERC)Russian Foundation for Basic Research (RFBR)Russian Scientific FundNational Science FoundationU.S. National Institutes of HealthAllen Discovery CenterUniversity of OstravaCzech Ministry of EducationXiamen UniversityFundamental Research Funds for the Central UniversitiesMES R

Altered gene expression and DNA damage in peripheral blood cells from Friedreich's ataxia patients: Cellular model of pathology

The neurodegenerative disease Friedreich's ataxia (FRDA) is the most common autosomal-recessively inherited ataxia and is caused by a GAA triplet repeat expansion in the first intron of the frataxin gene. In this disease, transcription of frataxin, a mitochondrial protein involved in iron homeostasis, is impaired, resulting in a significant reduction in mRNA and protein levels. Global gene expression analysis was performed in peripheral blood samples from FRDA patients as compared to controls, which suggested altered expression patterns pertaining to genotoxic stress. We then confirmed the presence of genotoxic DNA damage by using a gene-specific quantitative PCR assay and discovered an increase in both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA damage in the blood of these patients (p<0.0001, respectively). Additionally, frataxin mRNA levels correlated with age of onset of disease and displayed unique sets of gene alterations involved in immune response, oxidative phosphorylation, and protein synthesis. Many of the key pathways observed by transcription profiling were downregulated, and we believe these data suggest that patients with prolonged frataxin deficiency undergo a systemic survival response to chronic genotoxic stress and consequent DNA damage detectable in blood. In conclusion, our results yield insight into the nature and progression of FRDA, as well as possible therapeutic approaches. Furthermore, the identification of potential biomarkers, including the DNA damage found in peripheral blood, may have predictive value in future clinical trials

Dielectric properties of silicon nitride ceramics produced by free sintering

The silicon nitride ceramics with a beneficial combination of low dielectric losses and improved physical properties was fabricated by cold isostatic pressing and pressureless sintering. The fine grain microstructure, three-phase composition based on the β-SiAlON, the small amount of the glass phase and relatively small porosity promote a unique combination of a low thermal conductivity 14.51 W m¯¹ K¯¹ and low dielectric loss 1.4·10¯¯³. A novel method is proposed to overcome the main drawbacks of the commercial and high-cost technologie