Relation between composition and vacant oxygen sites in the mixed ionicelectronic conductors La5.4W1 yMyO12 delta M Mo, Re; 0 lt; y lt; 0.2 and their mother compound La6 xWO12 delta 0.4 lt; x lt; 0.8

A detailed analysis of specimen composition, water uptake and their interrelationship in the systems La6 xWO12 amp; 948; 0.4 amp; 8804; x amp; 8804;0.8 and La6 xW1 yMyO12 amp; 948; 0 amp; 8804;y amp; 8804;0.2; M Mo, Re is presented. The three specimen series were investigated in dry and wet D2O conditions. A systematic trend in mass loss and onset temperature variation was observed in La6 xWO12 amp; 948; 0.4 amp; 8804;x amp; 8804;0.8 . Even very small amounts lt; 1 wt of secondary phases were found to notably modify the specimen s water uptake and onset temperature of mass loss. The theoretical model for vacancy concentration available was used to calculate the vacant oxygen sites starting from mass loss values determined by thermogravimetry. A discrepancy between the calculated and observed concentration of vacant oxygen sites is observed for all three systems. The effect of substitution of W by Re or Mo on the vacancy amount is explained taking into account diffraction measurements and information on the oxidation state of the substituting elements Mo and R

Synthesis and Raman micro-spectroscopy investigation of Li7La3Zr2O12

The Li+ ion conductor Li7La3Zr2O12 was synthesized by solid state reaction as a ceramic with tetragonal and cubic crystal structure. The synthesis parameterswere varied for these polycrystalline samples, e.g. the starting materials for Li and Zr, the cruciblematerials and the thermal treatments. Product formation is sensitive to the ZrO2 starting powder aswell as the crucible material due to reactions between the powdermixture and the cruciblewall. In this study, only the use of an alumina crucible or the addition of alumina resulted in the successful preparation of cubic Li7La3Zr2O12. For single-crystal preparation, flux growth experiments were carried out at 1000 and 1200 \ub0C either in alumina crucibles lined with a gold foil or in magnesia crucibles and using Li2CO3 (Li2O) as flux. The small crystals were separated from the solidified flux by washing larger lumps in water. Irrespective of the additions of alumina, only tetragonal micro-crystals of Li7La3Zr2O12 were obtained. These micro-crystals were studied by micro-Raman scattering spectroscopy. Polarized Raman spectra were recorded either in nearly backscattering or 90\ub0 geometry. The majority of Raman modes expected for the tetragonal phase (space group I41/acd, Z=8) were satisfactorily displayed. So far, it has not been possible to make unambiguous symmetry assignments of the observed peaks because of the unknown orientation of the micro-crystals

Using observed incidence to calibrate the transmission level of a mathematical model for Plasmodium vivax dynamics including case management and importation

In this work, we present a simple and flexible model for Plasmodium vivax dynamics which can be easily combined with routinely collected data on local and imported case counts to quantify transmission intensity and simulate control strategies. This model extends the model from White et al. (2016) by including case management interventions targeting liver-stage or blood-stage parasites, as well as imported infections. The endemic steady state of the model is used to derive a relationship between the observed incidence and the transmission rate in order to calculate reproduction numbers and simulate intervention scenarios. To illustrate its potential applications, the model is used to calculate local reproduction numbers in Panama and identify areas of sustained malaria transmission that should be targeted by control interventions

Al13H−: Hydrogen atom site selectivity and the shell model

Using a combination of anion photoelectron spectroscopy and density functional theory calculations, we explored the influence of the shell model on H atom site selectivity in Al13H−. Photoelectron spectra revealed that Al13H− has two anionic isomers and for both of them provided vertical detachment energies (VDEs). Theoretical calculations found that the structures of these anionic isomers differ by the position of the hydrogen atom. In one, the hydrogen atom is radially bonded, while in the other, hydrogen caps a triangular face. VDEs for both anionic isomers as well as other energetic relationships were also calculated. Comparison of the measured versus calculated VDE values permitted the structure of each isomer to be confirmed and correlated with its observed photoelectron spectrum. Shell model, electron-counting considerations correctly predicted the relative stabilities of the anionic isomers and identified the stable structure of neutral Al13H

Features of MOG required for recognition by patients with MOG antibody-associated disorders

Antibodies to myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG-Abs) define a distinct disease entity. Here we aimed to understand essential structural features of MOG required for recognition by autoantibodies from patients. We produced the N-terminal part of MOG in a conformationally correct form; this domain was insufficient to identify patients with MOG-Abs by ELISA even after site-directed binding. This was neither due to a lack of lipid embedding nor to a missing putative epitope at the C-terminus, which we confirmed to be an intracellular domain. When MOG was displayed on transfected cells, patients with MOG-Abs recognized full-length MOG much better than its N-terminal part with the first hydrophobic domain (P < 0.0001). Even antibodies affinity-purified with the extracellular part of MOG recognized full-length MOG better than the extracellular part of MOG after transfection. The second hydrophobic domain of MOG enhanced the recognition of the extracellular part of MOG by antibodies from patients as seen with truncated variants of MOG. We confirmed the pivotal role of the second hydrophobic domain by fusing the intracellular part of MOG from the evolutionary distant opossum to the human extracellular part; the chimeric construct restored the antibody binding completely. Further, we found that in contrast to 8-18C5, MOG-Abs from patients bound preferentially as F(ab')(2) rather than Fab. It was previously found that bivalent binding of human IgG1, the prominent isotype of MOG-Abs, requires that its target antigen is displayed at a distance of 13-16 nm. We found that, upon transfection, molecules of MOG did not interact so closely to induce a Forster resonance energy transfer signal, indicating that they are more than 6 nm apart. We propose that the intracellular part of MOG holds the monomers apart at a suitable distance for bivalent binding; this could explain why a cell-based assay is needed to identify MOG-Abs. Our finding that MOG-Abs from most patients require bivalent binding has implications for understanding the pathogenesis of MOG-Ab associated disorders. Since bivalently bound antibodies have been reported to only poorly bind C1q, we speculate that the pathogenicity of MOG-Abs is mostly mediated by other mechanisms than complement activation. Therefore, therapeutic inhibition of complement activation should be less efficient in MOG-Ab associated disorders than in patients with antibodies to aquaporin-4

Persistence of functional memory B cells recognizing SARS-CoV-2 variants despite loss of specific IgG

Although some COVID-19 patients maintain SARS-CoV-2-specific serum immunoglobulin G (IgG) for more than 6 months postinfection, others eventually lose IgG levels. We assessed the persistence of SARS-CoV-2-specific B cells in 17 patients, 5 of whom had lost specific IgGs after 5–8 months. Differentiation of blood-derived B cells in vitro revealed persistent SARS-CoV-2-specific IgG B cells in all patients, whereas IgA B cells were maintained in 11. Antibodies derived from cultured B cells blocked binding of viral receptor-binding domain (RBD) to the cellular receptor ACE-2, had neutralizing activity to authentic virus, and recognized the RBD of the variant of concern Alpha similarly to the wild type, whereas reactivity to Beta and Gamma were decreased. Thus, differentiation of memory B cells could be more sensitive for detecting previous infection than measuring serum antibodies. Understanding the persistence of SARS-CoV-2-specific B cells even in the absence of specific serum IgG will help to promote long-term immunity

Maximizing the profit of a HPP cascadeconsidering hydraulic link via reservoirs

At the conditions of market relationships and economic and financial independence of power companies, these are guided by the principle of achieving maximum efficiency in their actions. In the article is considered the problem formulation of HPP cascade operational mode determination, ensuring maximum profit from the sales of the generated electric power at the day-ahead market. Dynamic volumes of reservoirs are taken into account using the lag time between the waves of HPP water flow. The problem solution using the method of statistical modelling is approbated on the example of hypothetical cascade of three HPP. The results of the modelling of cascade operating regime are illustrated graphically

Deep-Inelastic Inclusive ep Scattering at Low x and a Determination of alpha_s

A precise measurement of the inclusive deep-inelastic e^+p scattering cross section is reported in the kinematic range 1.5<= Q^2 <=150 GeV^2 and 3*10^(-5)<= x <=0.2. The data were recorded with the H1 detector at HERA in 1996 and 1997, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 20 pb^(-1). The double differential cross section, from which the proton structure function F_2(x,Q^2) and the longitudinal structure function F_L(x,Q^2) are extracted, is measured with typically 1% statistical and 3% systematic uncertainties. The measured partial derivative (dF_2(x,Q^2)/dln Q^2)_x is observed to rise continuously towards small x for fixed Q^2. The cross section data are combined with published H1 measurements at high Q^2 for a next-to-leading order DGLAP QCD analysis.The H1 data determine the gluon momentum distribution in the range 3*10^(-4)<= x <=0.1 to within an experimental accuracy of about 3% for Q^2 =20 GeV^2. A fit of the H1 measurements and the mu p data of the BCDMS collaboration allows the strong coupling constant alpha_s and the gluon distribution to be simultaneously determined. A value of alpha _s(M_Z^2)=0.1150+-0.0017 (exp) +0.0009-0.0005 (model) is obtained in NLO, with an additional theoretical uncertainty of about +-0.005, mainly due to the uncertainty of the renormalisation scale.Comment: 68 pages, 24 figures and 18 table