A Force-Balanced Control Volume Finite Element Method for Multi-Phase Porous Media Flow Modelling

Dr D. Pavlidis would like to acknowledge the support from the following research grants: Innovate UK ‘Octopus’, EPSRC ‘Reactor Core-Structure Re-location Modelling for Severe Nuclear Accidents’) and Horizon 2020 ‘In-Vessel Melt Retention’. Funding for Dr P. Salinas from ExxonMobil is gratefully acknowledged. Dr Z. Xie is supported by EPSRC ‘Multi-Scale Exploration of Multi-phase Physics in Flows’. Part funding for Prof Jackson under the TOTAL Chairs programme at Imperial College is also acknowledged. The authors would also like to acknowledge Mr Y. Debbabi for supplying analytic solutions.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Dynamics of social and demographic development of rural settlements of the Central Black earth region in the 18th – first quarter of the 19th centuries

Introduction. The article deals with socio-economic issues of the local history of the Central Black earth region in the 18th - first quarter of the 19th century. The demographic processes that took place in the village of Panikovets, Yelets district and the village of Pikalovo, Livensky district. The gender and age characteristics of the rural society are given, as well as statistical data on the forms of organization of family and clan groups.Materials and methods. This article is the result of a study of mass sources relating to the 18th – the first quarter of the 19th centuries. The materials for the work were the Landrad census of 1716, revision lists of 1782 and 1811, as well as “Economic notes on the plans for general land surveying” (1795 and 1832). Analytical comparison of information from the above sources is the main task of the study.Results. The subject of the study was aspects of the social development of two large settlements of the modern Lipetsk region. The authors come to the conclusion that the decrease in the inhabitants of the village of Panikovets in the epoch of Peter I exceeded the birth rate. In the future, stable improvements in demographic indicators were recorded in both villages. A significant increase in the population was observed in the second half of the 18th - first quarter of the 19th centuries.Conclusion. The predominant social group both in the village of Panikovets, and Pikalovo were odnodvortsy, who settled in this area back in the 17th century. The agricultural activities were hampered by the insufficient number of the peasants. The mention of the owner's peasants is found only in the sources of the end of the 18th century. The study made it possible to establish that in the beginning of the XIX century both in Panikovets and in Pikalovo, there was a tendency to expand the yards and increase the number of families. For a hundred years, there was an increase in the number of children in families. The local society was constantly integrating into the socio-economics of the nearest settlements. The rural society was a dynamic social organization

Game-based approaches for specializing in information technology

The paper deals with game-based learning approaches to teaching English as a foreign language to students majoring in IT at Kazan Federal University, Russian Federation. As there appeared a lot of game-based teaching methods, the techniques called gamification as well as differences between them are reviewed because both of them are supposed to be similar in education of late. Another problem with games in education is that some scholars still do not differentiate properly between gamification and game-based learning. This misconception is reflected even in their recent scientific works where gamification sometimes is regarded as mere usage of games in learning process. According to researches, the impact of games on learning process is efficient in terms of developing vocabulary and speaking skills, improving foreign language acquisition, boosting motivation and engagement of students and creating opportunities to apply acquired knowledge in practice. Moreover, implementing games in class environment (depending on the type of the game used) enhances critical and logical thinking, problem solving, team work skills. Using various games in the learning process is particularly efficient for IT students, since it is related to their major. Another advantage of game-based learning is that it can be realized within the learning management system (LMS). In conclusion, the experience of the English teachers at Kazan Federal University in introducing game-based methods to teaching process, including its outcomes, is presented.peer-reviewe

Cloning and Characterization of Subunits of the T-Cell Receptor and Murine Leukemia Virus Enhancer Core-Binding Factor.

Moloney murine leukemia virus causes thymic leukemias when injected into newborn mice. A major determinant of the thymic disease specificity of Moloney virus genetically maps to the conserved viral core motif in the Moloney virus enhancer. Point mutations introduced into the core site significantly shifted the disease specificity of the Moloney virus from thymic leukemia to erythroid leukemia (N.A. Speck, B. Renjifo, E. Golemis, T.N. Fredrickson, J.W. Hartley, and N. Hopkins, Genes Dev. 4:233-242, 1990). We previously reported the purification of core-binding factors (CBF) from calf thymus nuclei (S. Wang and N.A. Speck, Mol. Cell. Biol. 12:89-102, 1992). CBF binds to core sites in murine leukemia virus and T-cell receptor enhancers. Affinity-purified CBF contains multiple polypeptides. In this study, we sequenced five tryptic peptides from two of the bovine CBF proteins and isolated three cDNA clones from a mouse thymus cDNA library encoding three of the tryptic peptides from the bovine proteins. The cDNA clones, which we call CBF beta p22.0, CBF beta p21.5, and CBF beta p17.6, encode three highly related but distinct proteins with deduced molecular sizes of 22.0, 21.5, and 17.6 kDa that appear to be translated from multiply spliced mRNAs transcribed from the same gene. CBF beta p22.0, CBF beta p21.5, and CBF beta p17.6 do not by themselves bind the core site. However, CBF beta p22.0 and CBF beta p21.5 form a complex with DNA-binding CBF alpha subunits and as a result decrease the rate of dissociation of the CBF protein-DNA complex. Association of the CBF beta subunits does not extend the phosphate contacts in the binding site. We propose that CBF beta is a non-DNA-binding subunit of CBF and does not contact DNA directly

3D printing of weft knitted textile based structures by selective laser sintering of nylon powder

3D printing is a form of additive manufacturing whereby the building up of layers of material creates objects. The selective laser sintering process (SLS) uses a laser beam to sinter powdered material to create objects. This paper builds upon previous research into 3D printed textile based material exploring the use of SLS using nylon powder to create flexible weft knitted structures. The results show the potential to print flexible textile based structures that exhibit the properties of traditional knitted textile structures along with the mechanical properties of the material used, whilst describing the challenges regarding fineness of printing resolution. The conclusion highlights the potential future development and application of such pieces

Асимптотика стационарного решения с внутренним переходным слоем для системы типа ФитцХью–Нагумо

Creating adequate mathematical models of processes in living nature is an important task of modern biophysics. Blood clotting, nerve impulse propagation, reduction of the heart muscle, the pattern-formation in nature are auto-wave processes. FitzHugh–Nagumo system of equations is used to describe the auto-wave processes in active media. Such math problems are usually solved by numerical methods. The use of resource-intensive algorithms is required in the case of auto-wave solutions with sharp gradients. Therefore, it is appropriate to use the analytical methods for this type of problems. In this paper, the asymptotic method of contrast structures theory is used to obtain an approximate solution of a singularly perturbed system of FitzHugh–Nagumo type. The method allows to reduce the non-linear system of equations to a number of problems that can be solved analytically or with a stable numerical algorithm. This study presents the asymptotic approximation of a stationary auto-wave solution of the considered system. Additionally, this paper provides a formula that specifies the location of internal transition layers. The results were compared with the numerical solution. The application of contrast structures theory to the study of active media models can be used for analytical studies of other such systems, improving existing models and increasing the efficiency of the numerical calculations.Важной частью развития современной биофизики является создание адекватных математических моделей процессов в живой природе. Процессы свертывания крови, распространения нервного импульса, сокращение сердечной мышцы, формирования структур в живой природе относятся к типу автоволновых. Для описания автоволновых процессов в активных средах часто применяется система уравнений ФитцХью–Нагумо. При решении соответствующей математической задачи стандартно используются численные методы. Но автоволновые решения с резкими градиентами требуют применения ресурсоемких алгоритмов. Задачи такого типа целесообразно исследовать аналитическими методами. В данной работе для получения приближенного решения сингулярно возмущенной системы типа ФитцХью-Нагумо применяется асимптотический метод теории контрастных структур. Метод позволяет редуцировать нелинейную систему уравнений к ряду задач, которые решаются аналитически или устойчивыми численными алгоритмами. В работе получено асимптотическое приближение стационарного автоволнового решения нелинейной системы и определена формула, задающая локализацию внутренних переходных слоев. Для оценки результатов проведено сравнение с численным решением. Описанное в работе применение теории контрастных структур к исследованию моделей активных сред может быть использовано для аналитического исследования других подобных систем, совершенствования имеющихся моделей и повышения эффективности численных расчетов

Environmental Enrichment Mitigates Cognitive Deficits in a Mouse Model of Alzheimer's Disease

Epidemiological studies suggest that individuals with greater education or more cognitively demanding occupations have diminished risk of developing dementia. We wanted to test whether this effect could be recapitulated in rodents using environmental enrichment, a paradigm well documented to attenuate behavioral deficits induced by various pathological insults. Here, we demonstrate that learning and memory deficits observed in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer's disease can be ameliorated by enrichment. Female transgenic mice overexpressing amyloid precursor protein and/or presenilin-1 and nontransgenic controls were placed into enriched or standard cages at 2 months of age and tested for cognitive behavior after 6 months of differential housing. Enrichment significantly improved performance of all genotypes in the radial water maze and in the classic and repeated-reversal versions of the Morris water maze. However, enrichment did not benefit all genotypes equally. Mice overproducing amyloid-β (Aβ), particularly those with amyloid deposits, showed weaker memory for the platform location in the classic Morris water maze and learned new platform positions in the repeated-reversals task less quickly than their nontransgenic cagemates. Nonetheless, enrichment normalized the performance of Aβ-overproducing mice to the level of standard-housed nontransgenic mice. Moreover, this functional preservation occurred despite increased neuritic plaque burden in the hippocampus of double-transgenic animals and elevated steady-state Aβ levels, because both endogenous and transgene-derived Aβ are increased in enriched animals. These results demonstrate that the generation of Aβ in vivo and its impact on the function of the nervous system can be strongly modulated by environmental factors

CREB Inhibits AP-2α Expression to Regulate the Malignant Phenotype of Melanoma

The loss of AP-2alpha and increased activity of cAMP-responsive element binding (CREB) protein are two hallmarks of malignant progression of cutaneous melanoma. However, the molecular mechanism responsible for the loss of AP-2alpha during melanoma progression remains unknown.Herein, we demonstrate that both inhibition of PKA-dependent CREB phosphorylation, as well as silencing of CREB expression by shRNA, restored AP-2alpha protein expression in two metastatic melanoma cell lines. Moreover, rescue of CREB expression in CREB-silenced cell lines downregulates expression of AP-2alpha. Loss of AP-2alpha expression in metastatic melanoma occurs via a dual mechanism involving binding of CREB to the AP-2alpha promoter and CREB-induced overexpression of another oncogenic transcription factor, E2F-1. Upregulation of AP-2alpha expression following CREB silencing increases endogenous p21(Waf1) and decreases MCAM/MUC18, both known to be downstream target genes of AP-2alpha involved in melanoma progression.Since AP-2alpha regulates several genes associated with the metastatic potential of melanoma including c-KIT, VEGF, PAR-1, MCAM/MUC18, and p21(Waf1), our data identified CREB as a major regulator of the malignant melanoma phenotype

Langmuir monolayers and thin films of amphifilic thiacalix[4]arenes. properties and matrix for the immobilization of cytochrome c

© 2014 American Chemical Society. Formation and properties of Langmuir films of thiacalix[4]arene (TCA) derivatives containing N-donor groups on the lower rim (Y=O(CH2)3CN; OCH2CN; NH2; OCH2ArCN-p) in 1,3-alternate conformation on aqueous subphase and solid substrates have been studied. Only tetra-cyanopropoxy-p-tert-butylthiacalix[4]arene 1 forms a typical monomolecular layer with perpendicular orientation of the macrocycle relative to the water-air interface that is able to immobilize cytochrome c in the entire range of the surface pressure. Obtained monolayers were transferred by Langmuir-Schaefer technique onto quartz, indium-tin oxide (ITO), and silicon. It was demonstrated that protein activity is retained after immobilization on the substrate