Studies on Herbicide Binding in Photosystem II Membrane Fragments from Spinach

The mechanism of atrazine binding and its modification by Chelex-100-induced Ca2+ depletion and proteolytic degradation by trypsin, was analyzed in PS II membrane fragments from spinach. It was found: 1) Chelex-100 treatment leads in a comparatively slow process (t1/2 = 5 - 10 min) to Ca2+ re moval from a site that is characterized by a high affinity as reflected by KD values of the order of 10-7M. The number of these binding sites was found to be almost one per PS II in samples washed twice with Ca2+ -free buffer. 2) Chelex-100 treatment does not affect the affinity of atrazine binding but increases the susceptibility to proteolytic attack by trypsin. 3) The electron transport activity is only slightly affected by Chelex-100 treatment. 4) The atrazine binding exhibits a rather small T-dependence within the physiological range of 7 °C to 27 °C. The implications of these findings for herbicide binding are discussed

Scour influence on the fatigue life of operational monopile-supported offshore wind turbines

Offshore wind turbines supported on monopiles are an important source for renewable energy. Their fatigue life is governed by the environmental loads and in the dynamic behavior, depending on the support stiffness and thus soil-structure interaction. The effects of scour on the short-term and long-term responses of the NREL 5-MW wind turbine under operational conditions have been analyzed by using a finite element beam model with Winkler springs to model soil-structure interaction. It was found that due to scour, the modal properties of the wind turbine do not change significantly. However, the maximum bending moment in the monopile increases, leading to a significant reduction in fatigue life. Backfilling the scour hole can recover the fatigue life, depending mostly on the depth after backfilling. An approximate fatigue analysis method is proposed, based on the full time-domain analysis for 1 scour depth, predicting with good accuracy the fatigue life for different scour depths from the quasi-static changes in the bending moment

Nondestructive ultrasonic quality testing of endovascular devices

Endovascular medical devices such as catheters are composed of multiple thermal plastic components joined by butt-welding. High quality joining of components is required to ensure patient safety. The current practice for assuring quality is limited to process validation and destructive testing. An ultrasonic system for endovascular weld inspection was developed to detect faults (porosity and contamination) post welding in polyamide (Pebax-72D). Results from angled ultrasonic measurements were compared to micro-CT and found to correlate well with weld quality as a potential nondestructive index for 100% in-line verification of the joining process

Dose, exposure time, and resolution in Serial X-ray Crystallography

The resolution of X-ray diffraction microscopy is limited by the maximum dose that can be delivered prior to sample damage. In the proposed Serial Crystallography method, the damage problem is addressed by distributing the total dose over many identical hydrated macromolecules running continuously in a single-file train across a continuous X-ray beam, and resolution is then limited only by the available molecular and X-ray fluxes and molecular alignment. Orientation of the diffracting molecules is achieved by laser alignment. We evaluate the incident X-ray fluence (energy/area) required to obtain a given resolution from (1) an analytical model, giving the count rate at the maximum scattering angle for a model protein, (2) explicit simulation of diffraction patterns for a GroEL-GroES protein complex, and (3) the frequency cut off of the transfer function following iterative solution of the phase problem, and reconstruction of an electron density map in the projection approximation. These calculations include counting shot noise and multiple starts of the phasing algorithm. The results indicate counting time and the number of proteins needed within the beam at any instant for a given resolution and X-ray flux. We confirm an inverse fourth power dependence of exposure time on resolution, with important implications for all coherent X-ray imaging. We find that multiple single-file protein beams will be needed for sub-nanometer resolution on current third generation synchrotrons, but not on fourth generation designs, where reconstruction of secondary protein structure at a resolution of 0.7 nm should be possible with short exposures.Comment: 19 pages, 7 figures, 1 tabl

Electroweak Baryogenesis in Non-minimal Composite Higgs Models

We address electroweak baryogenesis in the context of composite Higgs models, pointing out that modifications to the Higgs and top quark sectors can play an important role in generating the baryon asymmetry. Our main observation is that composite Higgs models that include a light, gauge singlet scalar in the spectrum [as in the model based on the symmetry breaking pattern SO(6)/SO(5)], provide all necessary ingredients for viable baryogenesis. In particular, the singlet leads to a strongly first-order electroweak phase transition and introduces new sources of CP violation in dimension-five operators involving the top quark. We discuss the amount of baryon asymmetry produced and the experimental constraints on the model.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figure

Living with ‘melanoma’…for a day: a phenomenological analysis of medical students’ simulated experiences

Background Despite the rising incidence of melanoma, medical students have progressively fewer opportunities to encounter patients with this important condition. Curricula tend to attach the greatest value to intellectual forms of learning. Compared to intellectual learning, however, experiential learning affords students deep insights about a condition. Doctors who experience ill health are more empathic towards patients. However opportunities to learn about cancer experientially are limited. Temporary transfer tattoos can simulate the ill health associated with melanoma. We reasoned that, if doctors who have been sick are more empathic, temporarily ‘having’ melanoma might have a similar effect. Objectives Explore the impact of wearing a melanoma tattoo on medical students’ understanding of patienthood and attitudes towards patients with melanoma. Methods Ten fourth year medical students were recruited to a simulation. They wore a melanoma tattoo for 24 hours and listened to a patient’s account of receiving their diagnosis. Data were captured using audio-diaries and face-to-face interviews, transcribed, and analysed phenomenologically using the template analysis method. Results There were four themes: 1) Melanoma simulation: opening up new experiences; 2) Drawing upon past experiences; 3) A transformative introduction to patienthood; 4) Doctors in the making: seeing cancer patients in a new light. Conclusions By means of a novel simulation, medical students were introduced to lived experiences of having a melanoma. Such an inexpensive simulation can prompt students to reflect critically on the empathetic care of such patients in the future

Fatigue life sensitivity of monopile-supported offshore wind turbines to damping

Offshore wind energy is an important renewable electricity source in the UK and Europe. Monopiles are currently the most commonly used substructures to support offshore wind turbines. The fatigue life of offshore wind turbines is directly linked to the oscillatory bending stresses caused by wind and wave loading. The dynamic response of the structure is highly dependent on the combined aerodynamic, hydrodynamic, structural, and soil damping present. The fatigue life sensitivity of a reference 5 MW wind turbine under operational and non-operational conditions has been investigated using time-domain finite element simulations. The model uses beam elements for the monopile and tower and includes nonlinear p-y curves for soil-structure interaction. The effects of the wind turbine operation, environmental loads, and variable damping levels on the fatigue life were investigated systematically. The fatigue life increases significantly as a result of reductions in the bending stress caused by increased damping. From a practical point of view, significant cost-savings could be achieved in the design of a wind turbine by fitting supplemental damping devices. An efficient approximate method is proposed to assess the influence of damping, by scaling the vibration amplitudes around the first natural frequency of the system

Crystallization of Intact and Subunit L-Deficient Monomers from Synechocystis PCC 6803 Photosystem I

Photosystem I monomers from wildtype cells of Synechocystis PCC 6803 and from a mu­tant deficient in the psaL gene were crystallized. PsaL encodes for the hydrophobic subunit L, which has been proposed to constitute the trimerization domain in the PS I trimer. The absence of subunit L facilitated crystallization of the PS I monomer. The unit cell dimensions and the space group for the crystals from this preparation could be determined to be a = b = 132 Å , c -525 Å, α = β = 90°, y = 120°, the space group is P61 or P65. The results show the potential of using specifically designed deletion mutants of an integral membrane protein for the systematic improvement of crystal structure data

Nonlinear ultrasonic evaluation of disorderedly clustered pitting damage using an in situ sensor network

Pervasive but insidious, pitting damage—from pitting corrosion in maritime structures through electrical pitting in bearings to debris cloud–induced pitting craters in spacecraft—is a typical modality of material degradation and lesion in engineering assets in harsh service environment. Pitting damage may feature hundreds of clustered, localized craters, cracks, and diverse microscopic defects (e.g. dislocation, micro-voids, and cracks) disorderedly scattered over a wide area. Targeting accurate, holistic evaluation of pitting damage (mainly the existence, location, and size of the pitted area), an insight into the generation of nonlinear features in guided ultrasonic waves (i.e. high-order harmonics) that are triggered by pitting damage, is achieved using a semi-analytical finite element approach, based on which a monotonic correlation between the nonlinear ultrasonic features and the holistic severity of pitting damage is established. With such correlation, a structural health monitoring framework is developed, in conjunction with the use of an in situ sensor network comprising miniaturized piezoelectric wafers, to characterize pitting damage accurately and monitor material deterioration progress continuously. The framework is experimentally validated, in which highly complex pitting damage in a space structure, engendered by a hypervelocity debris cloud, is evaluated precisely