EVN detection of the newly-discovered black hold candidate MAXI J1836-194

The X-ray transient MAXI J1836-194 is most likely a Galactic stellar-mass black hole. It has been shown to harden in the X-rays and brighten in the infrared. Here, we report on the detection of MAXI J1836-194 at 5 GHz with the European VLBI Network, in real-time e-VLBI observations on 2011 October 17. The transient source was detected with a flux density of 5.4 +- 0.3 mJy at RA 18h35m43.44555s, Dec. -19d19'10.4921" (J2000, 1 sigma formal uncertainty ~0.5 mas, note that the systematic error may be much larger due to the low elevation.)

Continuous monitoring of volatile organic compounds using microtrap based gas chromatographic systems

Continuous analysis allows a representative portion of a sample to flow continuously through an analytical instrument, which gives analytical information with little or no delay in time. A microtrap is a small diameter tube packed with adsorbents in series. When a gaseous sample containing volatile organic compounds (VOCs) flows through the microtrap, the VOCs can be trapped selectively by adsorbents. Then a pulse of electrical current is applied to the microtrap. This rapid heating results in a desorption that can act as a sharp injection for GC separation. Thus the microtrapped sample is the total amount of VOC present in the sample stream during the time period between two sequential injections. Three injection systems: the gas sampling valve, the sequential valve microtrap (SVM) and the on-line microtrap-backflushing system (OLMT-BF) were compared for response characteristics and detection limits. Both SVM and OLMT-BF systems were shown to have low detection limits, and the OLMT-BF system can obtain information almost continuously even during the time period between the pulses. A microtrap based nonmethane organic carbon (NMOC) analyzer was also developed for continuous monitoring of a gas stream. In the NMOC analysis, the microtrap served to separate all permanent gases from the organics as well as an on-line preconcentrator for NMOC. The microtrap based NMOC analyzer has low detection limits and low interference from CO2 and H2O. A method for continuous monitoring of VOCs in water has been developed using on-line membrane extraction and microtrap GC system. Aqueous sample containing VOCs is passed through a hollow fiber membrane. The VOCs selectively permeate across the membrane into an inert gas stream. The VOCs are concentrated and injected into GC column using the microtrap. Continuous monitoring is achieved by making a series of injections. A minitrap-canister system has been studied for analysis of VOCs in ambient air. An ambient air sample was collected in a Summa canister. Then the sample was concentrated using a multibed minitrap. The trapped VOCs were released rapidly by an electrical pulse and injected on to a GC column without any focusing. The detection limits for hexane and toluene are 0.02 ppb

High-yield production of Streptavidin with native C-terminal in Escherichia coli

To increase the production yield of functional recombinant streptavidin in Escherichia coli, the effects of host strains and culture conditions on expression of streptavidin with native C terminal (CNSA, amino acid residues 13 to 159) were investigated. Results show that the CNSA, encoded by the CNSA gene, was produced by E. coli BL21(DE3)pLysS strain in the inclusion body with a high yield up to 46.3% of the total cell protein (about 230 mg/g dry cell weight) after culture condition optimization. The dialysis method was adapted to refold CNSA and the refolding conditions were optimized. More than 90% of inclusion body protein was refolded to mature CNSA under optimized refolding conditions. The purity of the recombinant CNSA achieved 95.0% without using any affinity separation method. Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) analysis indicated that the biotin binding capability of our recombinant CNSA was similar to that of commercial products.Keywords: Streptavidin, Escherichia coli, protein refolding, recombinant protei

Probabilistic Forecasting of Photovoltaic Generation: An Efficient Statistical Approach

A novel efficient probabilistic forecasting approach is proposed to accurately quantify the variability and uncertainty of the power production from photovoltaic (PV) systems. Distinguished from most existing models, a linear programming based prediction interval construction model for PV power generation is constructed based on extreme learning machine and quantile regression, featuring high reliability and computational efficiency. The proposed approach is validated through the numerical studies on PV data from Denmark.Department of Electrical Engineerin

Development, Characterization, and Evaluation of PSMA-Targeted Glycol Chitosan Micelles for Prostate Cancer Therapy

Prostate cancer-binding peptides- (PCP-) modified polymeric micelles were prepared and used for the treatment of prostate-specific membrane antigen- (PSMA-) expressing prostate cancer in a target-specific manner. Cholesterol-modified glycol chitosan (CHGC) was synthesized. PCP-conjugated CHGC (PCP-CHGC) micelles were fabricated and characterized. The degree of substitution was 5.2 PCP groups and 5.8 cholesterol groups per 100 sugar residues of glycol chitosan. The critical aggregation concentration (CAC) of PCP-CHGC copolymer was 0.0254 mg/mL. Doxorubicin (DOX) was chosen as a model antitumor drug. The DOX-loaded micelles were prepared by an o/w method. The mean diameter of DOX-loaded PCP-CHGC (DOX-PCP-CHGC) micelles was 293 nm determined by dynamic light scattering (DLS). DOX released from drug-loaded micelles was in a biphasic manner. DOX-PCP-CHGC micelles exhibited higher cytotoxicity in vitro against PSMA-expressing LNCaP cells than DOX-loaded CHGC (DOX-CHGC) micelles. Moreover, the cellular uptake of DOX-PCP-CHGC micelles determined by confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM) and flow cytometry was higher than that of DOX-CHGC micelles in LNCaP cells. Importantly, DOX-PCP-CHGC micelles demonstrated stronger antitumor efficacy against LNCaP tumor xenograft models than doxorubicin hydrochloride and DOX-CHGC micelles. Taken together, this study provides a potential way in developing PSMA-targeted drug delivery system for prostate cancer therapy

Validation of Sentinel-2, MODIS, CGLS, SAF, GLASS and C3S leaf area index products in maize crops

Altres ajuts: this research was funded by the Copernicus Global Land Service (CGLOPS-1, 199494-JRC).We proposed a direct approach to validate hectometric and kilometric resolution leaf area index (LAI) products that involved the scaling up of field-measured LAI via the validation and recalibration of the decametric Sentinel-2 LAI product. We applied it over a test study area of maize crops in northern China using continuous field measurements of LAINet along the year 2019. Sentinel-2 LAI showed an overall accuracy of 0.67 in terms of Root Mean Square Error (RMSE) and it was used, after recalibration, as a benchmark to validate six coarse resolution LAI products: MODIS, Copernicus Global Land Service 1 km Version 2 (called GEOV2) and 300 m (GEOV3), Satellite Application Facility EUMETSAT Polar System (SAF EPS) 1.1 km, Global LAnd Surface Satellite (GLASS) 500 m and Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) 1 km V2. GEOV2, GEOV3 and MODIS showed a good agreement with reference LAI in terms of magnitude (RMSE ≤ 0.29) and phenology. SAF EPS (RMSE = 0.68) and C3S V2 (RMSE = 0.41), on the opposite, systematically underestimated high LAI values and showed systematic differences for phenological metrics: a delay of 6 days (d), 20 d and 24 d for the start, peak and the end of growing season, respectively, for SAF EPS and an advance of −4 d, −6 d and −6 d for C3S

Microbial diversity and physicochemical properties in farmland soils amended by effective microorganisms and fulvic acid for cropping Asian ginseng

Demand for products made from the dry mass of Asian ginseng (Panax ginseng) is growing, but harvest is limited by fungal disease infection when ginseng is replanted in the same field. Rotated cropping with maize can cope with the replant limit, but it may take decades. We aimed to amend post-maize-cropping farmland soils for cultivating Asian ginseng, using effective microorganisms EMs and fulvic acid (FA) additives and detecting and comparing their effects on soil microbial diversity and physiochemical properties. Amendments promoted seedling survival and depressed disease-infection. Both EMs and FA increased the relative abundances of Pseudomonas, Flavobacterium, Duganella, and Massilia spp., but, decreased the relative abundances of Fusarium and Sistotrema. In addition, soil nutrient availability and properties that benefitted nutrient availabilities were promoted. In conclusion, amendments with EMs and FA improved the fertility of farmland soils, and the quality of Asian ginseng, and revealed the relationship between soil microbial diversity and physiochemical properties

No bursts detected from FRB121102 in two 5-hour observing campaigns with the Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope

Here, we report non-detection of radio bursts from Fast Radio Burst FRB 121102 during two 5-hour observation sessions on the Robert C. Byrd 100-m Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia, USA, on December 11, 2017, and January 12, 2018. In addition, we report non-detection during an abutting 10-hour observation with the Kunming 40-m telescope in China, which commenced UTC 10:00 January 12, 2018. These are among the longest published contiguous observations of FRB 121102, and support the notion that FRB 121102 bursts are episodic. These observations were part of a simultaneous optical and radio monitoring campaign with the the Caltech HIgh- speed Multi-color CamERA (CHIMERA) instrument on the Hale 5.1-m telescope.Comment: 1 table, Submitted to RN of AA