Heat treatment forming a dissipative metal base in wear-resistant chromium-alloyed cast iron

The maximum abrasive wear resistance is provided by a metal base from metastable retained austenite and martensite. Such a microstructure of 260Kh16M2 and 250Kh25MFT chromium cast irons with different types of Cr 7 C 3 and Cr 23 C 6 , carbides is created by high-temperature quenching with heating to temperatures of 1125-1170 °C and cooling in oil or air. Austenite is transformed to disperse martensite on the working surface as a result of the impact of abrasive particles during operation. Together with carbides, it provides a high hardening level and a high working capacity of the secondary microstructure of the cast irons. © 2018 Author(s)

Individual Style of a Politician in the Light of the Comic

The article analyzes public communication of a well-known Russian public and political figure, ex-Mayor of Ekaterinburg (2013-2018) Eu. V. Roizman. We understand an individual discourse of a politi­cian as a fragment of the national political discourse, which is characterized through the prism of current trends in the development of public communication. One of the trends is the interrelation of political and entertainment discourse in the media, which manifests itself among other things in the active use by pol­iticians and journalists of all kinds of comic tools. In this paper the comic is considered as a linguistic and pragmatic category with a certain semantic content, and a system of means and mechanisms of expression; the means of the comic are expected to provide a certain impact on the recipient of the political text. They vary in the terms of originality and pragmatic functions, and when incorporating into the political discourse they manifest themselves in the individual style of politicians, public figures and journalists in very different ways.The purpos.Статья посвящена анализу публичной речевой практики мэра Екатеринбурга Е. В. Ройзмана

Remobilization of leaf S compounds and senescence in response to restricted sulphate supply during the vegetative stage of oilseed rape are affected by mineral N availability

The impact of sulphur limitation on the remobilization of endogenous S compounds during the rosette stage of oilseed rape, and the interactions with N availability on these processes, were examined using a long-term 34SO42− labelling method combined with a study of leaf senescence progression (using SAG12/Cab as a molecular indicator) and gene expression of the transporters, BnSultr4;1 and BnSultr4;2, involved in vacuolar sulphate efflux. After 51 d on hydroponic culture at 0.3 mM 34SO42− (1 atom% excess), the labelling was stopped and plants were subject for 28 d to High S-High N (HS-HN, control), Low S-High N (LS-HN) or Low S-Low N (LS-LN) conditions. Compared with the control, LS-HN plants showed delayed leaf senescence and, whilst the shoot growth and the foliar soluble protein amounts were not affected, S, 34S, and SO42− amounts in the old leaves declined rapidly and were associated with the up-regulation of BnSultr4;1. In LS-LN plants, shoot growth was reduced, leaf senescence was accelerated, and the rapid S mobilization in old leaves was accompanied by decreased 34S and SO42−, higher protein mobilization, and up-regulation of BnSultr4;2, but without any change of expression of BnSultr4;1. The data suggest that to sustain the S demand for growth under S restriction (i) vacuolar SO42− is specifically remobilized in LS-HN conditions without any acceleration of leaf senescence, (ii) SO42− mobilization is related to an up-regulation of BnSultr4;1 and/or BnSultr4;2 expression, and (iii) the relationship between sulphate mobilization and up-regulation of expression of BnSultr4 genes is specifically dependent on the N availability

Экономическое развитие стран латиноамериканской ассоциации интеграции: тенденции и перспективы

Relevance. Catch-up countries are at a disadvantage in the world economy and are forced to fight for world market share. For this purpose, they form political and economic alliances and associations designed to counter the aggressive policies of the developed countries. All this applies fully to countries that are members of the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA). In our opinion, the assessment of the position of the participating countries on the geopolitical map of the world deserves special attention.Purpose of the study consists in the formation of an author’s methodology for studying the economic development of countries that are members of the Latin American Integration Association and building a forecast in the medium term on the basis of statistical tools. Materials and methods. The study used general research methods, such as analysis, comparisons, historical, as well as mathematical and statistical, in particular tabular and graphical, descriptive statistics and elements of correlation-regression analysis. A set of these methods and algorithms made it possible to identify the patterns that have developed at the moment in the economies of the Latin American Integration Association countries, assess their positions regarding world leaders, and also build short-term development forecasts.Results. With considerable resources, the countries of the Latin American Integration Association have not been able to significantly increase the share of world GDP during the existence of the association, which throughout the period does not exceed 5%. Within the association, there is a considerable differentiation. So the dominant positions are occupied by Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, while the positions of outsiders, by a significant margin, are occupied by Uruguay, Ecuador and Cuba. The structure of the economies of the association countries is largely different from the developed countries: the former are dominated by manufacturing, while the latter are dominated by services. A causal analysis of the impact of industries on GDP per capita, conducted in two time slices in 1990 and 2019, showed that during this time the countries that are members of the association have not been able to reformat the structure of their economies, which does not allow successful competition with developed countries. An element of the scientific novelty of the study is the formation of a theoretical and methodological approach to the study of the economic development of the geopolitical structure, which is the Latin American Integration Association, as well as the testing of this approach based on the actual data of international organizations.Conclusion. The testing of the author’s methodology aimed at studying the economic development of LAIA member countries allows us to argue about the operability of the algorithm, which made it possible to establish the low efficiency of the integration policy of Latin American countries, which, despite the significant level of national wealth, does not allow us to form a trend towards economic growth, a decrease in dependence on the export of natural capital, and an increase in the standard of living of the population. Some research findings from the study can be used in training activities for the disciplines of “Macroeconomics”, “International Statistics”, “Geoeconomics”, “Econometrics”, as well as in the analysis of the joint dynamics of political and economic communities, associations and groups. In subsequent publications, an in-depth analysis of the causes of the economic decline in each member country of the association will be carried out, dominant factors affecting growth and GDP decline will be identified.Актуальность. Страны догоняющего развития занимают невыгодные позиции в мировой экономике и вынуждены бороться за долю мирового рынка. Для этого они образуют политико-экономические союзы и ассоциации, призванные противостоять агрессивной политике развитых стран. Все это в полной мере относится к странам, входящим в Латиноамериканскую ассоциацию интеграции. По нашему мнению, оценка позиции стран-участниц на геополитической карте мира заслуживает отдельного внимания.Цель исследования заключается в формировании авторской методики изучения экономического развития стран, входящих в Латиноамериканскую ассоциацию интеграции и построение прогноза в среднесрочной перспективе на основе статистического инструментария.Материалы и методы. В рамках проведенного исследования были использованы общенаучные методы исследования, такие как анализ, сравнения, исторический, а также математико-статистические, в частности табличный и графический, дескриптивные статистики и элементы корреляционно-регрессионного анализа. Набор указанных методов и алгоритмов позволил выявить закономерности, сложившиеся на текущий момент в экономике стран Латиноамериканской ассоциации интеграции, оценить их позиции относительно мировых лидеров, а также построить прогнозы развития на краткосрочную перспективу.Результаты. Обладая значительными ресурсами, страны Латиноамериканской ассоциации интеграции за период существования ассоциации не смогли значительно увеличить долю в мировом ВВП, которая на протяжении всего периода не превышает 5%. Внутри совокупности стран ассоциации наблюдается значительная дифференциация. Так доминирующие позиции занимают Бразилия, Мексика, Аргентина, тогда как позиции аутсайдеров, со значительным отрывом, занимают Уругвай, Эквадор и Куба. Структура экономики стран ассоциации в значительной степени отличается от развитых стран: у первых доминирует обрабатывающая промышленность, тогда как у вторых, виды деятельности сферы услуг. Причинно-следственный анализ влияния отраслей на ВВП на душу населения, проведенный в двух временных срезах 1990 г. и 2019 г., показал, что за данное время страны, входящие в ассоциацию, не смогли переформатировать структуру своей экономии, что не позволяет успешно конкурировать с развитыми странами. Элементом научной новизны проведенного исследования является формирование теоретико-методологического подхода к изучению экономического развития геополитической структуры, которой является Латиноамериканской ассоциации интеграции, а также апробация данного подхода на основе фактических данных международных организаций.Заключение. Апробация авторской методики, направленной на изучение экономического развития стран-членов ЛАИ, позволяет утверждать о работоспособности алгоритма, который позволил установить низкую эффективность интеграционной политики латиноамериканских стран, что несмотря на значительный уровень национального богатства не позволяет сформировать тренд на рост экономики, снижение зависимость от экспорта природного капитала, и повышения уровня жизни населения. Некоторые научные наработки, полученные в ходе выполнения исследования, могут быть использованы в учебной деятельности для проведения занятий по дисциплинам «макроэкономика», «международная статистика», «геоэкономика», «эконометрика», а также при проведении анализа совместной динамики политико-экономических содружеств, ассоциаций и групп. В последующих публикациях будет проведен углубленный анализ причин экономического спада в каждой стране-участнице ассоциации, выделены доминанты, влияющие на рост и снижение ВВП

Genetic analysis of a major international collection of cultivated apple varieties reveals previously unknown historic heteroploid and inbred relationships

Domesticated apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) is a major global crop and the genetic diversity held within the pool of cultivated varieties is important for the development of future cultivars. The aim of this study was to investigate the diversity held within the domesticated form, through the analysis of a major international germplasm collection of cultivated varieties, the UK National Fruit Collection, consisting of over 2,000 selections of named cultivars and seedling varieties. We utilised Diversity Array Technology (DArT) markers to assess the genetic diversity within the collection. Clustering attempts, using the software STRUCTURE revealed that the accessions formed a complex and historically admixed group for which clear clustering was challenging. Comparison of accessions using the Jaccard similarity coefficient allowed us to identify clonal and duplicate material as well as revealing pairs and groups that appeared more closely related than a standard parent-offspring or full-sibling relations. From further investigation, we were able to propose a number of new pedigrees, which revealed that some historically important cultivars were more closely related than previously documented and that some of them were partially inbred. We were also able to elucidate a number of parent-offspring relationships that had resulted in a number of important polyploid cultivars. This included reuniting polyploid cultivars that in some cases dated as far back as the 18th century, with diploid parents that potentially date back as far as the 13th century

BRAFV600E mutation in anaplastic thyroid carcinomas and their accompanying differentiated carcinomas

Frequency of a BRAFV600E mutation in anaplastic thyroid carcinoma, which is thought to be derived mainly from papillary carcinoma by multi-step carcinogenesis, is much lower than that in papillary carcinomas. To clarify this phenomenon, we analysed BRAFV600E mutation in 20 cases of anaplastic carcinoma and 13 accompanying differentiated carcinomas. Among twenty cases of anaplastic carcinomas, nine and four accompanied papillary and follicular carcinomas, respectively. BRAFV600E mutation was found in four (20%) cases. BRAFV600E mutation was found in three of nine (33.3%), none of four and one of seven (14.3%) anaplastic carcinomas with papillary carcinoma, follicular carcinoma and without differentiated components, respectively. All three papillary carcinomas accompanied by anaplastic carcinoma with a BRAFV600E mutation were also shown to have a BRAFV600E mutation. In summary, BRAFV600E mutation was occasionally observed in anaplastic carcinomas with papillary carcinoma, and the low frequency of BRAFV600E mutation in anaplastic carcinoma was thought to be due to the low frequency of anaplastic carcinomas with papillary carcinoma. These findings raise a question about the classical model of anaplastic transformation and suggest some roles of thyroid cancer stem cells in the generation of anaplastic carcinoma

Absence of a specific radiation signature in post-Chernobyl thyroid cancers

Thyroid cancers have been the main medical consequence of the Chernobyl accident. On the basis of their pathological features and of the fact that a large proportion of them demonstrate RET-PTC translocations, these cancers are considered as similar to classical sporadic papillary carcinomas, although molecular alterations differ between both tumours. We analysed gene expression in post-Chernobyl cancers, sporadic papillary carcinomas and compared to autonomous adenomas used as controls. Unsupervised clustering of these data did not distinguish between the cancers, but separates both cancers from adenomas. No gene signature separating sporadic from post-Chernobyl PTC (chPTC) could be found using supervised and unsupervised classification methods although such a signature is demonstrated for cancers and adenomas. Furthermore, we demonstrate that pooled RNA from sporadic and chPTC are as strongly correlated as two independent sporadic PTC pools, one from Europe, one from the US involving patients not exposed to Chernobyl radiations. This result relies on cDNA and Affymetrix microarrays. Thus, platform-specific artifacts are controlled for. Our findings suggest the absence of a radiation fingerprint in the chPTC and support the concept that post-Chernobyl cancer data, for which the cancer-causing event and its date are known, are a unique source of information to study naturally occurring papillary carcinomas

DNA topoisomerases participate in fragility of the oncogene RET

Fragile site breakage was previously shown to result in rearrangement of the RET oncogene, resembling the rearrangements found in thyroid cancer. Common fragile sites are specific regions of the genome with a high susceptibility to DNA breakage under conditions that partially inhibit DNA replication, and often coincide with genes deleted, amplified, or rearranged in cancer. While a substantial amount of work has been performed investigating DNA repair and cell cycle checkpoint proteins vital for maintaining stability at fragile sites, little is known about the initial events leading to DNA breakage at these sites. The purpose of this study was to investigate these initial events through the detection of aphidicolin (APH)-induced DNA breakage within the RET oncogene, in which 144 APHinduced DNA breakpoints were mapped on the nucleotide level in human thyroid cells within intron 11 of RET, the breakpoint cluster region found in patients. These breakpoints were located at or near DNA topoisomerase I and/or II predicted cleavage sites, as well as at DNA secondary structural features recognized and preferentially cleaved by DNA topoisomerases I and II. Co-treatment of thyroid cells with APH and the topoisomerase catalytic inhibitors, betulinic acid and merbarone, significantly decreased APH-induced fragile site breakage within RET intron 11 and within the common fragile site FRA3B. These data demonstrate that DNA topoisomerases I and II are involved in initiating APH-induced common fragile site breakage at RET, and may engage the recognition of DNA secondary structures formed during perturbed DNA replication