868 research outputs found
In-situ early age hydration of cement-based materials by synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction
Cement based binders are building materials of worldwide importance. Since these samples are very complex, the knowledge/control of their mineralogical composition are essential to design and predict materials with specific/improved performance. Rietveld quantitative phase analysis (RQPA) allows the quantification of crystalline phases and, when combined with specific methodologies, as the addition of an internal standard or the external standard approach (G-factor), amorphous and non-crystalline phases can also be quantified. However, to carry out a proper RQPA in hydrated cementitious-materials, a good powder diffraction pattern is necessary. In this work, synchrotron X-ray powder diffraction (SXRPD) has been used, allowing in-situ measurements during the early-age hydration process.
This work deals with the early hydration study of cement-based materials. The studied samples were: a laboratory-prepared belite calcium sulphoaluminate (BCSAF) clinker (non-active) mixed with 10wt% gypsum, labelled G10B0; two active laboratory-prepared BCSAF clinkers (activated with 2wt% borax), one mixed with 10wt% gypsum and the other one with 10wt% monoclinic-bassanite, hereafter named G10B2 and B10B2, respectively; and an environmentally-friendly cement sample from Henkel, composed of bassanite mixed with 15wt% Portland cement and 10wt% Metakaolin, labelled H1.
Anhydrous G10B0 contains beta-belite and orthorhombic-ye'elimite as main phases, while alpha'H-belite and pseudo-cubic-ye'elimite are stabilized in G10B2 and B10B2, with the corresponding sulphate source. Anhydrous H1 contains monoclinic and hexagonal bassanite and alite as main phases.
Ye'elimite, in the non-active BCSAF cement pastes, dissolves at a higher pace than in the active one (degree of reaction is α~25% and α~10% at 1 h, respectively) (both prepared with gypsum), with the corresponding differences in ettringite crystallisation (degree of precipitation is α~30% and α~5%, respectively).
Moreover, the type of sulphate source has important consequences on the hydration of the active BCSAF cement pastes. Bassanite is quickly dissolved and it precipitates as gypsum within the first hour of hydration (in B10B2). At that time, ettringite starts to crystallize, and after 12 hours is almost fully crystallized, similar to G10B2.
In H1, bassanite transforms into gypsum within the first hour, being the principal hydration product; ettringite starts to be formed just after few hydration minutes.
These results are crucial in the understanding and development of improved cement materials.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech
Male breast cancer in BRCA1 and BRCA1 mutation carriers: pathology data from the consortium of investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2
published_or_final_versio
Founder populations and their uses for breast cancer genetics
Numerous founder mutations have been reported in BRCA1 and BRCA2. For genetic screening of a population with a founder mutation, testing can be targeted to the mutation, allowing for a more rapid and less expensive test. In addition, more precise estimates of the prior probability of carrying a mutation and of the likelihood of a mutation carrier developing cancer should be possible. For a given founder mutation a large number of carriers are available, so that focused scientific studies of penetrance, expression, and genetic and environmental modifiers of risk can be performed. Finally, founder populations may be a powerful resource to localize additional breast cancer susceptibility loci, because of the reduction in locus heterogeneity
A comparison between the chemical behaviour of lead-gold and lead-bismuth eutectics towards 316L stainless steel
Lead-gold eutectic (LGE) has been recently proposed as an alternative target material for high power spallation sources. In order to compare the corrosive properties of LGE to the better-studied eutectic of lead-bismuth (LBE), an isothermal twin-loop made of SS 316L was built and operated at the Institute of Physics of the University of Latvia. We have measured the concentration of steel alloying elements dissolved in both alloys at the end of two test campaigns via ICP-OES. In case of LGE, a pronounced concentration increase of Fe, Ni, Mn and Cr is found in the liquid metal, which is significantly higher compared to LBE. Similar results were obtained during complementary investigations on material samples exposed to both alloys in this twin-loop at 400 ◦C and 450 ◦C. These findings indicate that in contact with LGE, SS 316L steel suffers from substantial chemical attack. Detailed investigations using structure materials other than SS 316L have to be undertaken before qualifying LGE as a serious alternative to LB
Measurements of the \gamma * p --> \Delta(1232) reaction at low Q2
We report new p measurements in the
resonance at the low momentum transfer region utilizing the
magnetic spectrometers of the A1 Collaboration at MAMI. The mesonic cloud
dynamics are predicted to be dominant and appreciably changing in this region
while the momentum transfer is sufficiently low to be able to test chiral
effective calculations. The results disagree with predictions of constituent
quark models and are in reasonable agreement with dynamical calculations with
pion cloud effects, chiral effective field theory and lattice calculations. The
reported measurements suggest that improvement is required to the theoretical
calculations and provide valuable input that will allow their refinements
Mutation analysis of BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in Iranian high risk breast cancer families
Background: Telomerase is a ribonucleoprotein enzyme that synthesises telomeres after cell
division and maintains chromosomal stability leading to cellular immortalization. Telomerase has
been associated with negative prognostic indicators in some studies. The present study aims to
detect any association between telomerase sub-units: hTERT and hTR and the prognostic
indicators including tumour's size and grade, nodal status and patient's age.
Methods: Tumour samples from 46 patients with primary invasive breast cancer and 3 patients
with benign tumours were collected. RT-PCR analysis was used for the detection of hTR, hTERT,
and PGM1 (as a housekeeping) genes expression.
Results: The expression of hTR and hTERT was found in 31(67.4%) and 38 (82.6%) samples
respectively. We observed a significant association between hTR gene expression and younger age
at diagnosis (p = 0.019) when comparing patients ≤ 40 years with those who are older than 40
years. None of the benign tumours expressed hTR gene. However, the expression of hTERT gene
was revealed in 2 samples.
No significant association between hTR and hTERT expression and tumour's grade, stage and nodal
status was seen.
Conclusion: The expression of hTR and hTERT seems to be independent of tumour's stage. hTR
expression probably plays a greater role in mammary tumourogenesis in younger women (≤ 40
years) and this may have therapeutic implications in the context of hTR targeting strategies
The f_LT Response Function of D(e,e'p)n at Q^2=0.33(GeV/c)^2
The interference response function f_LT (R_LT) of the D(e,e'p)n reaction has
been determined at squared four-momentum transfer Q^2 = 0.33 (GeV/c)^2 and for
missing momenta up to p_miss= 0.29 (GeV/c). The results have been compared to
calculations that reproduce f_LT quite well but overestimate the cross sections
by 10 - 20% for missing momenta between 0.1 (GeV/c) and 0.2 (GeV/c) .Comment: 12 Pages, 10 figure
New detectors for the kaon and hypernuclear experiments with KaoS at MAMI and with PANDA at GSI
The KaoS spectrometer at the Mainz Microtron MAMI, Germany, is perceived as
the ideal candidate for a dedicated spectrometer in kaon and hypernuclei
electroproduction. KaoS will be equipped with new read-out electronics, a
completely new focal plane detector package consisting of scintillating fibres,
and a new trigger system. First prototypes of the fibre detectors and the
associated new front-end electronics are shown in this contribution. The Mainz
hypernuclei research program will complement the hypernuclear experiments at
the planned FAIR facility at GSI, Germany. At the proposed antiproton storage
ring the spectroscopy of double Lambda hypernuclei is one of the four main
topics which will be addressed by the PANDA Collaboration. The experiments
require the operation of high purity germanium (HPGe) detectors in high
magnetic fields (B= 1T) in the presence of a large hadronic background. The
performance of high resolution Ge detectors in such an environment has been
investigated.Comment: Presentation at International Symposium on the Development of
Detectors for Particle, Astroparticle and Synchrotron Radiation Experiments,
Stanford, Ca (SNIC06), 6 pages, LaTeX, 11 eps figure
Separated cross sections in \pi^0 electroproduction at threshold at Q^2 = 0.05 GeV^2/c^2
The differential cross sections \sigma_0=\sigma_T+\epsilon \sigma_L,
\sigma_{LT}, and \sigma_{TT} of \pi^0 electroproduction from the proton were
measured from threshold up to an additional center of mass energy of 40 MeV, at
a value of the photon four-momentum transfer of Q^2= 0.05 GeV^2/c^2 and a
center of mass angle of \theta=90^\circ. By an additional out-of-plane
measurement with polarized electrons \sigma_{LT'} was determined. This showed
for the first time the cusp effect above the \pi^+ threshold in the imaginary
part of the s-wave. The predictions of Heavy Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory
are in disagreement with these data. On the other hand, the data are somewhat
better predicted by the MAID phenomenological model and are in good agreement
with the dynamical model DMT.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure
Recommended from our members
Rapid progression of prostate cancer in men with a BRCA2 mutation.
Men with BRCA2 mutations have been found to be at increased risk of developing prostate cancer. There is a recent report that BRCA2 carriers with prostate cancer have poorer survival than noncarrier prostate cancer patients. In this study, we compared survival of men with a BRCA2 mutation and prostate cancer with that of men with a BRCA1 mutation and prostate cancer. We obtained the age at diagnosis, age at death or current age from 182 men with prostate cancer from families with a BRCA2 mutation and from 119 men with prostate cancer from families with a BRCA1 mutation. The median survival from diagnosis was 4.0 years for men with a BRCA2 mutation vs 8.0 years for men with a BRCA1 mutation, and the difference was highly significant (P<0.01). It may be important to develop targeted chemotherapies to treat prostate cancer in men with a BRCA2 mutation
- …