Fresh and mechanical properties of self compacting concrete containing copper slag as fine aggregates

An investigation is carried out on the development of Self Compacting Concrete (SCC) using copper slag (CS) as fine aggregates with partial and full replacement of sand. Six different SCC mixes (60% OPC and 40% Fly Ash) with 0% as control mix, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% of copper slag substituting sand with constant w/b ratio of 0.45 were cast and tested for fresh properties of SCC. Compressive strength and splitting tensile strength were evaluated at different ages and microstructural analysis was observed at 120 days. It has been observed that the fluidity of SCC mixes was significantly enhanced with the increment of copper slag. The test results showed that the compressive strength increases up to 60% copper slag as replacement of sand, beyond which decrease in strength was observed. The highest compressive strength was obtained at 20% copper slag substitution at different curing ages among all the mixes, except for 7 days curing. The splitting tensile strength of the CS substituted mixes in comparison to control concrete was found to increase at all the curing ages but the remarkable achievement of strength was detected at 60% copper slag replacement. The microscopic view from Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) demonstrated more voids, capillary channels, and micro cracks with the increment of copper slag as substitution of sand as compared to the control mix

Thermostable Hexameric Form of Eis (Rv2416c) Protein of M. tuberculosis Plays an Important Role for Enhanced Intracellular Survival within Macrophages

Eis protein is reported to enhance the intracellular survival of Mycobacterium tuberculosis in human macrophages. Eis protein is not only known to skew away the immunity by disturbing the protective TH1 response, but aminoglycoside acetyltransferase activity of Eis is reported to regulate autophagy, inflammation and cell death. Here we have gained insight into the structure-function properties of Eis. Eis protein is a hexameric αβ protein. Although urea and guanidinium hydrochloride (GdmCl) was found to induce one-step unfolding of Eis but size exclusion chromatography showed that GdmCl treated Eis maintained its hexameric form. SDS-PAGE assay confirmed that hexameric form of Eis is partially stable to SDS and converts into trimers and monomers. Out of these three forms, aminoglycoside acetyltransferase activity is found to be associated only with hexamers. The Tm of Eis was found to be ∼75°C. Aminoglycoside acetyltransferase Eis demonstrated remarkable heat stability retaining >80% of their activity at 70°C which falls down to ∼50% at 75°C and is completely inactive at 80°C. Further, intracellular survival assay with heated samples of M. smegmatis harboring eis gene of M. tuberculosis H37Rv demonstrated a possible role for the thermostability associated with Eis protein in the enhanced intracellular survival within macrophages. In sum, these data reveal that only hexameric form of Eis has a thermostable aminoglycoside acetyltransferase activity. This is the first report showing the thermostability associated with aminoglycoside acetyltransferase activity of Eis protein being one of the essential features for the execution of its biological role

Optical control of resonant light transmission for an atom-cavity system

We demonstrate the manipulation of transmitted light through an optical Fabry-Pérot cavity, built around a spectroscopy cell containing enriched rubidium vapor. Light resonant with the 87RbD2 (F=2,F=1) ↔F′ manifold is controlled by the transverse intersection of the cavity mode by another resonant light beam. The cavity transmission can be suppressed or enhanced depending on the coupling of atomic states due to the intersecting beams. The extreme manifestation of the cavity-mode control is the precipitous destruction (negative logic switching) or buildup (positive logic switching) of the transmitted light intensity on intersection of the transverse control beam with the cavity mode. Both the steady-state and transient responses are experimentally investigated. The mechanism behind the change in cavity transmission is discussed in brief

Generalized analysis on B→K∗ρB\to K^* \rho within and beyond the Standard Model −- Can it help understand the B→KπB \to K \pi puzzle?

We study $B \to K^* \rho$ modes that are analogues of the much studied $B\to K \pi$ modes with B decaying to two vector mesons instead of pseudoscalar mesons, using topological amplitudes in the quark diagram approach. We show how $B \to K^*\rho$ modes can be used to obtain many more observables than those for $B \to K \pi$ modes, even though the quark level subprocesses of both modes are exactly the same. All the theoretical parameters (except for the weak phase $\gamma$), such as the magnitudes of the topological amplitudes and their strong phases, can be determined in terms of the observables without any model-dependent assumption. We demonstrate how $B\to K^*\rho$ can also be used to verify if there exist any relations between theoretical parameters, such as the hierarchy relations between the topological amplitudes and possible relations between the strong phases. Conversely, if there exist reliable theoretical estimates of amplitudes and strong phases, the presence of New physics could be probed. We show that if the tree and color-supressed tree are related to the electroweak penguins and color-supressed electroweak penguins, it is not only possible to verify the validity of such relations but also to have a clean measurement of New Physics parameters. We also present a numerical study to examine which of the observables are more sensitive to New Physics.Comment: 25 pages, 2 figure

The rise and fall of the Phytophthora infestans lineage that triggered the Irish potato famine

Phytophthora infestans, the cause of potato late blight, is infamous for having triggered the Irish Great Famine in the 1840s. Until the late 1970s, P. infestans diversity outside of its Mexican center of origin was low, and one scenario held that a single strain, US-1, had dominated the global population for 150 years; this was later challenged based on DNA analysis of historical herbarium specimens. We have compared the genomes of 11 herbarium and 15 modern strains. We conclude that the nineteenth century epidemic was caused by a unique genotype, HERB-1, that persisted for over 50 years. HERB-1 is distinct from all examined modern strains, but it is a close relative of US-1, which replaced it outside of Mexico in the twentieth century. We propose that HERB-1 and US-1 emerged from a metapopulation that was established in the early 1800s outside of the species' center of diversity.Comment: To be published in eLIF

Radiative Neutralino Production in Low Energy Supersymmetric Models

We study the production of the lightest neutralinos in the radiative process $e^+e^- \to \tilde\chi^0_1 \tilde\chi^0_1\gamma$ in low energy supersymmetric models for the International Linear Collider energies. This includes the minimal supersymmetric standard model as well as its extension with an additional chiral Higgs singlet superfield, the nonminimal supersymmetric standard model. We compare and contrast the dependence of the signal cross section on the parameters of the neutralino sector of the minimal and nonminimal supersymmetric standard model. We also consider the background to this process coming from the Standard Model process $e^+e^- \to \nu \bar\nu \gamma$, as well as from the radiative production of the scalar partners of the neutrinos (sneutrinos) $e^+e^- \to \tilde\nu \tilde\nu^\ast \gamma$, which can be a background to the radiative neutralino production when the sneutrinos decay invisibly. In low energy supersymmetric models radiative production of the lightest neutralinos may be the only channel to study supersymmetric partners of the Standard Model particles at the first stage of a linear collider, since heavier neutralinos, charginos and sleptons may be too heavy to be pair-produced at a $e^+ e^-$ machine with \sqrt{s} =500\GeV.Comment: LaTeX, 21 pages, 19 figures, figures and text added, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Estradiol-treated mesenchymal stem cells improve myocardial recovery after ischemia

BACKGROUND: Stem cell therapy is a promising treatment modality for injured cardiac tissue. A novel mechanism for this cardioprotection may include paracrine actions. Our lab has recently shown that gender differences exist in mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) paracrine function. Estrogen is implicated in the cardioprotection found in females. It remains unknown whether 17beta-estradiol (E2) affects MSC paracrine function and whether E2-treated MSCs may better protect injured cardiac tissue. We hypothesize that E2-exposed MSCs infused into hearts prior to ischemia may demonstrate increased vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) production and greater protection of myocardial function compared to untreated MSCs. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Untreated and E2-treated MSCs were isolated, cultured, and plated and supernatants were harvested for VEGF assay (enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay). Adult male Sprague-Dawley rat hearts (n = 13) were isolated and perfused via Langendorff model and subjected to 15 min equilibration, 25 min warm global ischemia, and 40 min reperfusion. Hearts were randomly assigned to perfusate vehicle, untreated male MSC, or E2-treated male MSC. Transcoronary delivery of 1 million MSCs was performed immediately prior to ischemia in experimental hearts. RESULTS: E2-treated MSCs provoked significantly more VEGF production than untreated MSCs (933.2 +/- 64.9 versus 595.8 +/- 10.7 pg/mL). Postischemic recovery of left ventricular developed pressure was significantly greater in hearts infused with E2-treated MSCs (66.9 +/- 3.3%) than untreated MSCs (48.7 +/- 3.7%) and vehicle (28.9 +/- 4.6%) at end reperfusion. There was also greater recovery of the end diastolic pressure with E2-treated MSCs than untreated MSCs and vehicle. CONCLUSIONS: Preischemic infusion of MSCs protects myocardial function and viability. E2-treated MSCs may enhance this paracrine protection, which suggests that ex vivo modification of MSCs may improve therapeutic outcome