The Importance of Space Radiation Shielding Weight

The shielding weights required to protect astronauts against space radiation should be considered in relation to the weights of the meteoroid shielding and the life support systems. Comparisons have been carried out for a variety of crew sizes and mission durations. The radiation shield weights were based upon a 1percent probability and were obtained from Webber's data on solar proton events. A mission dose of 100 rad was used as the allowed limit. The doses allowed from solar events were reduced by 45 mrad/day due to galactic radiation and by the amount of radiation expected for two high thrust trips through the earth's trapped radiation belts. In the calculation of the shield weights, the "storm cellar" concept was employed, allotting 50 ft a per man. The meteoroid shield weights were based upon the work of Bjork and the NASA-Ames Research Center criterion. The single shield thicknesses calculated were modified to take into account the reduced penetration where two facing sheets with space between them are used as the meteoroid shield. A percent probability of penetration was assumed in the calculations. The weights of the life support system are dependent upon the assumptions made regarding the particular subsystems to use for a specific mission. Two systems were used for this comparison. The system selected for the 30-day mission provides for body waste storage rather than reprocessing. Each system assumes a cabin leakage rate of 10 Ibs/day and a power penalty weight of 320 lbs/kWe

Unit Transportation Cost Index for Decommissioning Offshore Platforms in Malaysia

Decommissioning of offshore installations presents a major liability due to the complexity in a sensitive environment as well as the huge sum of money involve in its operations. Therefore, an appropriate cost planning of decommissioning is needed. This study is aimed at developing a site specific unit cost index pertaining to year of decommissioning offshore platform. In particular, this study will focus on the transportation aspect of decommissioning of offshore platform because it contribute high percentage in cost of decommissioning. Laspeyres index formulas were used to compute a series of years from 2009 to 2013 for unit transportation cost index. With a series of cost index, the rate of inflation for the transportation were predicted based on the previous data. Analysis and interpretation on the price level is discussed in this report. The inflationary trend is used to project the upcoming price level. In conclusion, cost index is very useful in planning the decommissioning of offshore platform installation and more importantly it also helps in producing reliable cost estimation. For future research, it is recommended to have a series of inflationary trend on transportation for at least more than 10 years to obtain accurate projection of price level. In addition, this research study can initiate another set of unit cost index for different cost element for decommissioning such as equipment. It has also been recommended that, further research should be conducted to establish cost index for the whole platform

Unit Transportation Cost Index for Decommissioning Offshore Platforms in Malaysia

Decommissioning of offshore installations presents a major liability due to the complexity in a sensitive environment as well as the huge sum of money involve in its operations. Therefore, an appropriate cost planning of decommissioning is needed. This study is aimed at developing a site specific unit cost index pertaining to year of decommissioning offshore platform. In particular, this study will focus on the transportation aspect of decommissioning of offshore platform because it contribute high percentage in cost of decommissioning. Laspeyres index formulas were used to compute a series of years from 2009 to 2013 for unit transportation cost index. With a series of cost index, the rate of inflation for the transportation were predicted based on the previous data. Analysis and interpretation on the price level is discussed in this report. The inflationary trend is used to project the upcoming price level. In conclusion, cost index is very useful in planning the decommissioning of offshore platform installation and more importantly it also helps in producing reliable cost estimation. For future research, it is recommended to have a series of inflationary trend on transportation for at least more than 10 years to obtain accurate projection of price level. In addition, this research study can initiate another set of unit cost index for different cost element for decommissioning such as equipment. It has also been recommended that, further research should be conducted to establish cost index for the whole platform

Direct electrochemistry of Heme Proteins on Electrodes Modified with Didodecyldimethyl Ammonium Bromide and Carbon Black

A novel matrix based on commercially available carbon black (CB) N220 and didodecyldimethyl ammonium bromide (DDAB) was shown to be a reliable support for direct electron transfer reactions between screen printed electrode (SPE) and Fe(III)-heme proteins. Cytochrome c(cytc), myoglobin (Mb), horseradish peroxidase (HRP) and cytochromes P450 (CYP 51A1, CYP 3A4, CYP 2B4) generated well-shaped cyclic voltammograms on SPE/CB/ DDAB electrodes (both in solution and in immobilized state). The attractive performance characteristics of CB modified electrodes are advantageous over single-walled carbon nanotubes (SW CNT) based ones. The achieved direct electrochemistry of heme proteins on CB/DDAB-modified electrodes provided successful elaboration of the immunosensor for cardiac Mb. The immunosensor showed applicability for diagnostics of myocardial infarction displaying significant difference in cardiac Mb content of human blood plasma samples taken from the corresponding patients

DNA looping by FokI: the impact of twisting and bending rigidity on protein-induced looping dynamics

Protein-induced DNA looping is crucial for many genetic processes such as transcription, gene regulation and DNA replication. Here, we use tethered-particle motion to examine the impact of DNA bending and twisting rigidity on loop capture and release, using the restriction endonuclease FokI as a test system. To cleave DNA efficiently, FokI bridges two copies of an asymmetric sequence, invariably aligning the sites in parallel. On account of the fixed alignment, the topology of the DNA loop is set by the orientation of the sites along the DNA. We show that both the separation of the FokI sites and their orientation, altering, respectively, the twisting and the bending of the DNA needed to juxtapose the sites, have profound effects on the dynamics of the looping interaction. Surprisingly, the presence of a nick within the loop does not affect the observed rigidity of the DNA. In contrast, the introduction of a 4-nt gap fully relaxes all of the torque present in the system but does not necessarily enhance loop stability. FokI therefore employs torque to stabilise its DNA-looping interaction by acting as a ‘torsional’ catch bond

Mediated amperometric immunosensing using single walled carbon nanotube forests

A prototype amperometric immunosensor was evaluated based on the adsorption of antibodies onto perpendicularly oriented assemblies of single wall carbon nanotubes called SWNT forests. The forests were self-assembled from oxidatively shortened SWNTs onto Nafion/iron oxide coated pyrolytic graphite electrodes. The nanotube forests were characterized using atomic force microscopy and resonance Raman spectroscopy. Anti-biotin antibody strongly adsorbed to the SWNT forests. In the presence of a soluble mediator, the detection limit for horseradish peroxidase (HRP) labeled biotin was 2.5 pmol ml[-1] (2.5 nM). Unlabelled biotin was detected in a competitive approach with a detection limit of 16 nmol ml[-1] (16 μM) and a relative standard deviation of 12%. The immunosensor showed low non-specific adsorption of biotin-HRP (approx. 0.1%) when blocked with bovine serum albumin. This immunosensing approach using high surface area, patternable, conductive SWNT assemblies may eventually prove useful for nano-biosensing arrays

Optimal design of parallel triplex forming oligonucleotides containing Twisted Intercalating Nucleic Acids—TINA

Twisted intercalating nucleic acid (TINA) is a novel intercalator and stabilizer of Hoogsteen type parallel triplex formations (PT). Specific design rules for position of TINA in triplex forming oligonucleotides (TFOs) have not previously been presented. We describe a complete collection of easy and robust design rules based upon more than 2500 melting points (Tm) determined by FRET. To increase the sensitivity of PT, multiple TINAs should be placed with at least 3 nt in-between or preferable one TINA for each half helixturn and/or whole helixturn. We find that ΔTm of base mismatches on PT is remarkably high (between 7.4 and 15.2°C) compared to antiparallel duplexes (between 3.8 and 9.4°C). The specificity of PT by ΔTm increases when shorter TFOs and higher pH are chosen. To increase ΔTms, base mismatches should be placed in the center of the TFO and when feasible, A, C or T to G base mismatches should be avoided. Base mismatches can be neutralized by intercalation of a TINA on each side of the base mismatch and masked by a TINA intercalating direct 3′ (preferable) or 5′ of it. We predict that TINA stabilized PT will improve the sensitivity and specificity of DNA based clinical diagnostic assays

Protein conduction and negative differential resistance in large-scale nanojunction arrays.

2005 Journal Impact Factor: 6.02