Corrosion-electrochemical behavior of nickel in an alkali metal carbonate melt under a chlorine-containing atmosphere

The corrosion-electrochemical behavior of a nickel electrode is studied in the melt of lithium, sodium, and potassium (40: 30: 30 mol %) carbonates in the temperature range 500-600°C under an oxidizing atmosphere CO2 + 0.5O2 (2: 1), which is partly replaced by gaseous chlorine (30, 50, 70%) in some experiments. In other experiments, up to 5 wt % chloride of sodium peroxide is introduced in a salt melt. A change in the gas-phase composition is shown to affect the mechanism of nickel corrosion. © 2013 Pleiades Publishing, Ltd

Densification, morphological and transport properties of functional La1–xBaxYbO3– δ ceramic materials

The effective operation of protonic ceramic electrochemical cells requires the design of electrolytes having not only high ionic conductivity, but also excellent stability with respect to carbonisation. In the present work, the La-based oxides (La1–xBaxYbO3–δ, 0.03 ≤ x ≤ 0.10) are proposed as a possible alternative to the convenient Ba(Ce,Zr)O3-based electrolytes due to their high chemical stability. It was discovered that Ba-doping results in a deterioration of sintering behaviour; as a result, the relative density decreases and open porosity appears (for x = 0.10). A thorough analysis of transport properties by means of AC and DC measurement techniques enables a selection of the La0.97Ba0.03YbO3–δ sample, which demonstrates the highest conductivity compared with those samples where x = 0.5 and 0.10. Due to its excellent densification behaviour, stability and ionic conductivity, La0.97Ba0.03YbO3–δ can be considered as a promising proton-conducting electrolyte in the La-based family. © 2019 Elsevier Lt

TCRep 3D: An Automated In Silico Approach to Study the Structural Properties of TCR Repertoires

TCRep 3D is an automated systematic approach for TCR-peptide-MHC class I structure prediction, based on homology and ab initio modeling. It has been considerably generalized from former studies to be applicable to large repertoires of TCR. First, the location of the complementary determining regions of the target sequences are automatically identified by a sequence alignment strategy against a database of TCR Vα and Vβ chains. A structure-based alignment ensures automated identification of CDR3 loops. The CDR are then modeled in the environment of the complex, in an ab initio approach based on a simulated annealing protocol. During this step, dihedral restraints are applied to drive the CDR1 and CDR2 loops towards their canonical conformations, described by Al-Lazikani et. al. We developed a new automated algorithm that determines additional restraints to iteratively converge towards TCR conformations making frequent hydrogen bonds with the pMHC. We demonstrated that our approach outperforms popular scoring methods (Anolea, Dope and Modeller) in predicting relevant CDR conformations. Finally, this modeling approach has been successfully applied to experimentally determined sequences of TCR that recognize the NY-ESO-1 cancer testis antigen. This analysis revealed a mechanism of selection of TCR through the presence of a single conserved amino acid in all CDR3β sequences. The important structural modifications predicted in silico and the associated dramatic loss of experimental binding affinity upon mutation of this amino acid show the good correspondence between the predicted structures and their biological activities. To our knowledge, this is the first systematic approach that was developed for large TCR repertoire structural modeling

A regenerative microwave amplifier in diodes with intervalley electron transfer

The paper considers interaction between weak microwave signal and a diode with intervalley transfer of electrons when the diode stabilization is performed by load. It is shown that the input signal not exceeding several fractions of a microwatt can put the diode into the oscillation mode of operation. The output power under these conditions may exceed 10 mW in the 3-cm range of wavelengths, thus sustaining the regenerative amplification. The design of the amplification module is adapted to maintenance conditions as a part of the radio-wave information-and-control system of magnetically levitated vehicles