Observing \u3ci\u3eCSLA\u3c/i\u3e expression patterns in \u3ci\u3eArabidopsis thaliana\u3c/i\u3e using promoter-GUS fusion analysis

Plant cell walls are the world\u27s most abundant source of renewable biomass. Consisting mainly of carbohydrates, including mannans, plant cell walls are vital to humanity as a source of food, health products, and biofuels. Previous research suggests diverse functions of mannans and implicates several members of the CELLULOSE SYNTHASE-LIKE A (CSLA) gene family as mannan synthases, proteins involved in mannan backbone synthesis. Prior research using Arabidopsis thaliana (A. thaliana) cs/a single mutants showed no obvious phenotypic abnormalities, with the exception of cs/a7, which was embryo lethal; however, ectopic expression of CSLA9 complemented the csla7 mutant phenotype, suggesting csla7 and csla9 enzymes make similar carbohydrate products. Additionally, an -81% reduction in inflorescence stem glucomannan content, reduced quantity and growth rate of lateral roots, as well as a reduced susceptibility to Agrobacterium tumefaciens-mediated transformations have been observed in csla9 knockout mutants. Questions regarding the specific biological functions of CSLA proteins await further investigation. Thus, it was hypothesized in A. thaliana, AtCSLAl and AtCSLA9 have unique expression patterns in various tissues during specific stages of development. The expression patterns of the AtCSLA7 and AtCSLA9 genes during plant development were studied in A. thaliana using promoter-GUS fusion analysis. The results demonstrated unique expression patterns of the AtCSLA7 and AtCSLA9 genes, with numerous examples of overlapping expression at specific developmental stages, supporting the hypothesis. Understanding AtCSLA7 and AtCSLA9 gene expression patterns and functions will also improve understanding of the roles of mannan carbohydrates in plants

An Efficient Beam Steerable Antenna Array Concept for Airborne Applications

Deployment of a satellite borne, steerable antenna array with higher directivity and gain in Low Earth Orbit makes sense to reduce ground station complexity and cost, while still maintaining a reasonable link budget. The implementation comprises a digitally beam steerable phased array antenna integrated with a complete system, comprising the antenna, hosting platform, ground station, and aircraft based satellite emulator to facilitate convenient aircraft based testing of the antenna array and ground-space communication link. This paper describes the design, development and initial successful interim testing of the various subsystems. A two element prototype used in this increases the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) by 3 dB which is corresponding to more than 10 times better bit error rate (BER)

Microscopic study of 240Pu, mean-field and beyond

The influence of exact angular-momentum projection and configuration mixing on properties of a heavy, well-deformed nucleus is discussed for the example of Pu240. Starting from a self-consistent model using Skyrme interactions, we analyze the resulting modifications of the deformation energy, the fission barrier height, the excitation energy of the superdeformed minimum associated with the fission isomer, the structure of the lowest rotational bands with normal deformation and superdeformation, and the corresponding quadrupole moments and transition moments. We present results obtained with the Skyrme interactions SLy4 and SLy6, which have slightly different surface tensions.Comment: 7 pages REVTEX4, 4 figures. accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Spallation-Fission Competition in Heaviest Elements; HeliumIon-Induced Reactions in Uranium Isotopes

A radiochemical study of fission and spallation products produced by bombardment of U{sup 233}, U{sup 235}, and U{sup 238} with 18-46 Mev helium ions has been made. As in the case of similar studies using isotopes of plutonium as targets, most of the reaction cross section is taken up by fission. Also, the pronounced increase of the total cross section for ({alpha},xn) reactions with increasing mass number of the target that was observed for plutonium targets is observed for uranium targets

The contrasting fission potential-energy structure of actinides and mercury isotopes

Fission-fragment mass distributions are asymmetric in fission of typical actinide nuclei for nucleon number $A$ in the range $228 \lnsim A \lnsim 258$ and proton number $Z$ in the range $90\lnsim Z \lnsim 100$. For somewhat lighter systems it has been observed that fission mass distributions are usually symmetric. However, a recent experiment showed that fission of $^{180}$Hg following electron capture on $^{180}$Tl is asymmetric. We calculate potential-energy surfaces for a typical actinide nucleus and for 12 even isotopes in the range $^{178}$Hg--$^{200}$Hg, to investigate the similarities and differences of actinide compared to mercury potential surfaces and to what extent fission-fragment properties, in particular shell structure, relate to the structure of the static potential-energy surfaces. Potential-energy surfaces are calculated in the macroscopic-microscopic approach as functions of fiveshape coordinates for more than five million shapes. The structure of the surfaces are investigated by use of an immersion technique. We determine properties of minima, saddle points, valleys, and ridges between valleys in the 5D shape-coordinate space. Along the mercury isotope chain the barrier heights and the ridge heights and persistence with elongation vary significantly and show no obvious connection to possible fragment shell structure, in contrast to the actinide region, where there is a deep asymmetric valley extending from the saddle point to scission. The mechanism of asymmetric fission must be very different in the lighter proton-rich mercury isotopes compared to the actinide region and is apparently unrelated to fragment shell structure. Isotopes lighter than $^{192}$Hg have the saddle point blocked from a deep symmetric valley by a significant ridge. The ridge vanishes for the heavier Hg isotopes, for which we would expect a qualitatively different asymmetry of the fragments.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Effective moment of inertia for several fission reaction systems induced by nucleons, light particles and heavy ions

Compound nucleus effective moment of inertia has been calculated for several fission reaction systems induced by nucleons, light particles, and heavy ions. Determination of this quantity for these systems is based upon the comparison between the experimental data of the fission fragment angular distributions as well as the prediction of the standard saddle-point statistical model (SSPSM). For the systems, the two cases, namely with and without neutron emission corrections were considered. In these calculations, it is assumed that all the neutrons are emitted before reaching the saddle point.It should be noted that the above method for determining of the effective moment of inertia had not been reported until now and this method is used for the first time to determine compound nucleus effective moment of inertia. Hence, our calculations are of particular importance in obtaining this quantity, and have a significant rule in the field of fission physics. Afterwards, our theoretical results have been compared with the data obtained from the rotational liquid drop model as well as the Sierk model, and satisfactory agreements were found. Finally, we have considered the effective moment of inertia of compound nuclei for the systems that formed similar compound nuclei at similar excitation energies.Comment: 9 pages, 2 Figures, 2 Table

An evaporation-based model of thermal neutron induced ternary fission of plutonium

Ternary fission probabilities for thermal neutron induced fission of plutonium are analyzed within the framework of an evaporation-based model where the complexity of time-varying potentials, associated with the neck collapse, are included in a simplistic fashion. If the nuclear temperature at scission and the fission-neck-collapse time are assumed to be ~1.2 MeV and ~10^-22 s, respectively, then calculated relative probabilities of ternary-fission light-charged-particle emission follow the trends seen in the experimental data. The ability of this model to reproduce ternary fission probabilities spanning seven orders of magnitude for a wide range of light-particle charges and masses implies that ternary fission is caused by the coupling of an evaporation-like process with the rapid re-arrangement of the nuclear fluid following scission.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in IJMP

Time-dependent approach to many-particle tunneling in one-dimension

Employing the time-dependent approach, we investigate a quantum tunneling decay of many-particle systems. We apply it to a one-dimensional three-body problem with a heavy core nucleus and two valence protons. We calculate the decay width for two-proton emission from the survival probability, which well obeys the exponential decay-law after a sufficient time. The effect of the correlation between the two emitted protons is also studied by observing the time evolution of the two-particle density distribution. It is shown that the pairing correlation significantly enhances the probability for the simultaneous diproton decay.Comment: 9 pages, 10 eps figure

Characterization of a Plain Broadband Textile PIFA

Bandwidth characteristic of a wearable antenna is one of the major factors in determining its usability on the human body. In this work, a planar inverted-F antenna (PIFA) structure is proposed to achieve a large bandwidth to avoid serious antenna reflection coefficient detuning when placed in proximity of the body. The proposed structure is designed based on a simple structure, in order to provide practicality in application and maintain fabrication simplicity. Two different types of conductive textiles, namely Pure Copper Polyester Taffeta Fabric (PCPTF) and ShieldIt, are used in order to proof its concept, in comparison with a metallic antenna made from copper foil. The design is spaced and fabricated using a 6 mm thick fleece fabric. To cater for potential fabrication and material measurement inaccuracies, both antennas' performance are also investigated and analyzed with varying physical and material parameters. From this investigation, it is found that the proposed structure's extended bandwidth enabled the antenna to function with satisfactory on-body reflection coefficients, despite unavoidable gain and efficiency reduction