Algorithm and performance of a clinical IMRT beam-angle optimization system

This paper describes the algorithm and examines the performance of an IMRT beam-angle optimization (BAO) system. In this algorithm successive sets of beam angles are selected from a set of predefined directions using a fast simulated annealing (FSA) algorithm. An IMRT beam-profile optimization is performed on each generated set of beams. The IMRT optimization is accelerated by using a fast dose calculation method that utilizes a precomputed dose kernel. A compact kernel is constructed for each of the predefined beams prior to starting the FSA algorithm. The IMRT optimizations during the BAO are then performed using these kernels in a fast dose calculation engine. This technique allows the IMRT optimization to be performed more than two orders of magnitude faster than a similar optimization that uses a convolution dose calculation engine.Comment: Final version that appeared in Phys. Med. Biol. 48 (2003) 3191-3212. Original EPS figures have been converted to PNG files due to size limi

Parity Effect and Charge Binding Transition in Submicron Josephson Junction Arrays

We reconsider the issue of Berezinskii-Kosterlitz-Thouless (BKT) transition into an insulating state in the Coulomb-dominated Josephson junction arrays. We show that previously predicted picture of the Cooper-pair BKT transtion at T = T_2 is valid only under the condition that T_2 is considerably below the parity-effect temperature (which is usually almost 10 times below the value of superconductive transition temperature), and even in this case it is not a rigorous phase transition but only a crossover, whereas the real phase transition takes place at T_1 = T_2/4. Our theory is in agreement with available experimental data on Coulomb-dominated Josephson arrays and also sheds some light on the origin of unusual reentrant temperature dependence of resistivity in the array with nearly-criticial ratio of Coulomb to Josephson energies.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, to be published in JETP Letters, April 9

Characterization of Ni-Cd Nanostructured System Obtained by Chemical Reduction of Salts

The process of obtaining of highly dispersed metal powders of Ni-Cd system by reduction of their salts by hydrazine in aqueous medium at high alkalinity was investigated. The possibility of production metal powders containing up to 50 mol% of cadmium is established and conditions for their synthesis are optimized. Phase composition, structural parameters, dispersity of solid products during the reduction process were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and SAXS. The formation of metal solid solutions with FCC lattice contradicts to the known phase diagram for Ni-Cd and may be explained by increasing the energy of the particles in the nanostate. The formation of intermetallide NiCd5 in the studied compositions area is caused by sequential character of reduction process; as a result the metal product on the initial stage of reduction is significantly enriched with cadmium

A rapid non-iterative proper orthogonal decomposition based outlier detection and correction for PIV data

The present work proposes a novel method of detection and estimation of outliers in particle image velocimetry measurements by the modification of the temporal coefficients associated with a proper orthogonal decomposition of an experimental time series. Using synthetic outliers applied to two sequences of vector fields, the method is benchmarked against stateof-the-art approaches recently proposed to remove the influence of outliers. Compared with these methods, the proposed approach offers an increase in accuracy and robustness for the detection of outliers and comparable accuracy for their estimation

Dependent coordinates in path integral measure factorization

The transformation of the path integral measure under the reduction procedure in the dynamical systems with a symmetry is considered. The investigation is carried out in the case of the Wiener--type path integrals that are used for description of the diffusion on a smooth compact Riemannian manifold with the given free isometric action of the compact semisimple unimodular Lie group. The transformation of the path integral, which factorizes the path integral measure, is based on the application of the optimal nonlinear filtering equation from the stochastic theory. The integral relation between the kernels of the original and reduced semigroup are obtained.Comment: LaTeX2e, 28 page

Antibacterial effects of quaternary bis-phosphonium and ammonium salts of pyridoxine on Staphylococcus aureus cells: A single base hitting two distinct targets?

We studied the effects of quaternary bis-phosphonium and bis-ammonium salts of pyridoxine with lipophilic substituents on the survival and morphology of Staphylococcus aureus cells. We found that, while originating from the same base, they exhibit considerably different antimicrobial mechanisms. In the presence of Ca(2+) ions the MIC and MBC values of ammonium salt increased 100-fold, suggesting that Ca(2+) ions can successfully impede the membrane Ca(2+) ions exchange required for ammonium salt incorporation. In contrast, in the presence of quaternary phosphonium salt, the artificial capsular-like material was formed around the cells and the filamentous and chain-like growth of the cells was observed suggesting the disruption of the cell division mechanisms. Altogether, both pyridoxine derivatives successfully inhibited the growth of gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis) and Escherichia coli considerably, while demonstrated nearly no effect against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We suggest that due to their effects on distinct and likely complementary targets the derivatives of pyridoxine represent potentially perspective antibacterials with complicated adaptation and thus with lower risk of drug resistance development

The Temperature Effect on Properties of Fe-Co-Ni Nanostructured System

The influence of heating process (up to 200, 400 and 600 °C) on the phase transformation of non-equilibrium biphase Fe-Co-Ni systems was studied. The system was not changed at 200 °C, it remained nanostructured, and there were no phase transformations. At higher temperatures phase transformation BCC- into FCC-phase (high-temperature phase modification) was observed. The degree of phase transformation depended on the system composition. At 400–600 °C there was coarsening of the crystallites. In addition, there was the phenomenon of system oxidizing attended by iron outflow from phase; as a result, the lattice parameters were decreased. According to the measurements of the lattice parameters at coolingdown, parameters dependences on temperature and coefficients of thermal expansion were obtained. Changing of the system composition (due to metal oxidation) had low impact on the coefficients. The phases with different compositions and close lattice parameters had different coefficients of expansion. It was supposed that the expansion coefficients dependence from the composition was not additive. Magnetic characteristics of the samples were measured. It was found that heating changed it essentially. The main reasons of it was coarsening of grains (crystallites) and changes of the phase composition. The dependence of the magnetic properties of systems on phase composition and size of the crystallites (particles), as well as changes occurring under the temperature effect were required a more detailed study

Antibacterial effects of quaternary bis-phosphonium and ammonium salts of pyridoxine on Staphylococcus aureus cells: A single base hitting two distinct targets?

© 2015, Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. We studied the effects of quaternary bis-phosphonium and bis-ammonium salts of pyridoxine with lipophilic substituents on the survival and morphology of Staphylococcus aureus cells. We found that, while originating from the same base, they exhibit considerably different antimicrobial mechanisms. In the presence of Ca2+ ions the MIC and MBC values of ammonium salt increased 100-fold, suggesting that Ca2+ ions can successfully impede the membrane Ca2+ ions exchange required for ammonium salt incorporation. In contrast, in the presence of quaternary phosphonium salt, the artificial capsular-like material was formed around the cells and the filamentous and chain-like growth of the cells was observed suggesting the disruption of the cell division mechanisms. Altogether, both pyridoxine derivatives successfully inhibited the growth of gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis) and Escherichia coli considerably, while demonstrated nearly no effect against Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. We suggest that due to their effects on distinct and likely complementary targets the derivatives of pyridoxine represent potentially perspective antibacterials with complicated adaptation and thus with lower risk of drug resistance development

New derivatives of pyridoxine exhibit high antibacterial activity against biofilm-embedded staphylococcus cells

© 2015 Airat R. Kayumov et al. Opportunistic bacteria Staphylococcus aureus and Staphylococcus epidermidis often form rigid biofilms on tissues and inorganic surfaces. In the biofilm bacterial cells are embedded in a self-produced polysaccharide matrix and thereby are inaccessible to biocides, antibiotics, or host immune system. Here we show the antibacterial activity of newly synthesized cationic biocides, the quaternary ammonium, and bisphosphonium salts of pyridoxine (vitamin B6) against biofilm-embedded Staphylococci. The derivatives of 6-hydroxymethylpyridoxine were ineffective against biofilm-embedded S. aureus and S. epidermidis at concentrations up to 64 g/mL, although all compounds tested exhibited low MICs (2 g/mL) against planktonic cells. In contrast, the quaternary ammonium salt of pyridoxine (N,N-dimethyl-N-((2,2,8-trimethyl-4H-[1,3]dioxino[4,5-c]pyridin-5-yl)methyl)octadecan-1-aminium chloride (3)) demonstrated high biocidal activity against both planktonic and biofilm-embedded bacteria. Thus, the complete death of biofilm-embedded S. aureus and S. epidermidis cells was obtained at concentrations of 64 and 16 g/mL, respectively. We suggest that the quaternary ammonium salts of pyridoxine are perspective to design new synthetic antibiotics and disinfectants for external application against biofilm-embedded cells