High-Power Laser Systems of UV and Visible Spectral Ranges

Three high-power excimer laser systems with apertures of 25 and 40 cm of the output laser beam are described. The first and second laser systems consist of four and five excimer lasers, respectively. Third system consists of Ti:Sa front end and XeF(C-A) amplifier. The experimental results of the generation of the high-quality and high-power laser pulses are presented. Laser beams with pulse energy of up to 330 J (308 nm, 250 ns) and peak power 14 TW (450 nm, 50 fs) were obtained

A Newly Discovered Bordetella Species Carries a Transcriptionally Active CRISPR-Cas with a Small Cas9 Endonuclease

Background Clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR) and CRISPR-associated genes (cas) are widely distributed among bacteria. These systems provide adaptive immunity against mobile genetic elements specified by the spacer sequences stored within the CRISPR. Methods The CRISPR-Cas system has been identified using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) against other sequenced and annotated genomes and confirmed via CRISPRfinder program. Using Polymerase Chain Reactions (PCR) and Sanger DNA sequencing, we discovered CRISPRs in additional bacterial isolates of the same species of Bordetella. Transcriptional activity and processing of the CRISPR have been assessed via RT-PCR. Results Here we describe a novel Type II-C CRISPR and its associated genes—cas1, cas2, and cas9—in several isolates of a newly discovered Bordetella species. The CRISPR-cas locus, which is absent in all other Bordetella species, has a significantly lower GC-content than the genome-wide average, suggesting acquisition of this locus via horizontal gene transfer from a currently unknown source. The CRISPR array is transcribed and processed into mature CRISPR RNAs (crRNA), some of which have homology to prophages found in closely related species B. hinzii. Conclusions Expression of the CRISPR-Cas system and processing of crRNAs with perfect homology to prophages present in closely related species, but absent in that containing this CRISPR-Cas system, suggest it provides protection against phage predation. The 3,117-bp cas9 endonuclease gene from this novel CRISPR-Cas system is 990 bp smaller than that of Streptococcus pyogenes, the 4,017-bp allele currently used for genome editing, and which may make it a useful tool in various CRISPR-Cas technologies

Observation of the thermosiphon effect in the circulation of liquid nitrogen in HTS cable cooling system

AbstractIt is traditionally considered that superconducting technology is just the way that will help to overcome the energy crisis and improve the environmental safety of the electricity production. However, real achievements in this field still insufficient to build commercial long power transmission lines. In particular, cooling systems constructed using expensive coolant circulation pumps have to be improved. Our previous calculations show that the use of a thermosiphon effect may reduce both the heat load and the required coolant circulation pump power and, ideally, would completely abandon the forced circulation. Direct experimental verification of this approach has been carried out at the new 200-meter HTS DC experimental facility of the Chubu University. The thermosiphon effect was clearly observed in satisfactory agreement with theory, although the change in elevation of the cryopipe was small. Our results will be used to design an effective HTS cable cooling system based on natural circulation of the coolant

Оценка регуляторного влияния нормативно-правового акта в сфере налогообложения на субъекты малого предпринимательства

In terms of deregulating small businesses one of the important tasks is to enact such legislation, which would create a proper business climate for small businesses. A high level of administrative load, which resulted from enacting unreasonable legislation in the taxation sphere, hinders small business development. It substantiates the necessity of adequate assessment of the legislation in the taxation sphere as early as at the stage of its enactment to argue the expediency or inexpediency of implementing the regulatory act. Using a certain example, the article considers using methods of assessing norm performance for projects of statutory and legal acts in taxation sphere in terms of deregulating small businesses. The difference of the given methods from the existing ones in the sphere of fuzzy sets is calculating a fuzzy set membership (but not a precisely determined one) of the earlier given intervals, as well as calculating the membership probability ( but not the membership) for a fuzzy number of a fuzzy set, which allows to avoid the ambiguity that results from convolving specific criteria into a certain global indicator of quality the extremum of which determines the point of optimum ( thus dropping the necessity of determining significances of each indicator. In order to assess norm performance for projects of statutory and legal acts in taxation sphere in view of deregulating small businesses, the article builds membership fuzzy sets for time parameters for registering economic entities as VAT payers that characterize decrease or increase of administrative burden on small business. It estimates the parameter membership probability in terms of the given conditions. Consequently, a conclusion is made that using methods of assessing norm performance for projects of statutory and legal acts in taxation sphere in view of deregulating will allow to not only argue the expediency or inexpediency of the regulatory act inaction, but also to choose the best variant of solving a certain problem in the field of small businesses deregulation in the taxation sphere.В условиях дерегулирования малого предпринимательства одной из важных задач является принятие такого законодательства, которое бы создавало для него надлежащий бизнес-климат. Высокий уровень административной нагрузки, возникший в результате принятия необоснованного законодательства в сфере налогообложения, создает препятствия развитию малого предпринимательства. Это обосновывает необходимость адекватной оценки законодательства в сфере налогообложения еще на этапе его принятия с целью аргументации целесообразности или нецелесообразности введения регуляторного акта. В статье описывается применение методики оценки результативности норм проектов нормативно-правовых актов в сфере налогообложения с позиции дерегулирования малого предпринимательства. Отличием указанной методики от существующих в сфере нечетких множеств является расчет принадлежности нечеткого числа ранее заданным интервалам, а также расчет вероятности его принадлежности нечеткому множеству, что позволяет избежать неоднозначности, возникающей при свертке частных критериев в некий глобальный показатель качества, экстремум которого определяет точку оптимума (при этом отпадает необходимость в определении значимости каждого из показателей). С целью оценки результативности норм проектов нормативно-правовых актов в сфере налогообложения с позиции дерегулирования малого предпринимательства в статье построены нечеткие множества принадлежности параметра времени регистрации субъектов хозяйствования, как плательщиков НДС, характеризующих снижение/повышение административной нагрузки на малое предпринимательство. Рассчитаны также вероятности принадлежности параметра заданным состояниям. В результате был сделан вывод, что использование методики оценки результативности норм проектов нормативно-правовых актов в сфере налогообложения с позиции дерегулирования позволит не только аргументировать целесообразность или нецелесообразность введения регуляторного акта, но и выбрать лучший вариант решения определенной проблемы в этой области

XPS study of ion irradiated and unirradiated CeO2 bulk and thin film samples

This work considers the effect of fission-energy ion irradiation on the electronic structure at the surface of bulk and thin film samples of CeO2 as a simulant for UO2 nuclear fuel. For this purpose, thin films of CeO2 grown on Si substrates and bulk CeO2 samples were irradiated by Xe ions (92 MeV, 4.8 × 1015 ions/cm2) to simulate the fission damage that occurs within nuclear fuels. The irradiated and unirradiated samples were characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. A technique of the quantitative evaluation of cerium ionic composition on the surface of the samples has been successfully applied to the obtained XPS spectra. This technique is based on the intensity of only one of the reliably identifiable high-energy peak at 916.6 eV in the Ce 3d XPS spectra. The as-produced samples were found to contain mostly the Ce4+ ions with a small fraction of Ce3+ ions formed on the surface in the air or under X-rays. The core-electron XPS structure of CeO2 was associated with the complex final state with vacancies (holes) resulting from the photoemission of an inner electron. The Xe ion irradiation was found to increase the Ce3+ content in the samples of CeO2, with the thin films being more sensitive than the bulks samples

Localization of the gamma-radiation sources using the gamma-visor

The search of the main gamma-radiation sources at the site of the temporary storage of solid radioactive wastes was carried out. The relative absorbed dose rates were measured for some of the gamma-sources before and after the rehabilitation procedures. The effectiveness of the rehabilitation procedures in the years 2006-2007 was evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively. The decrease of radiation background at the site of the temporary storage of the solid radioactive wastes after the rehabilitation procedures allowed localizing the new gamma-source

An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of uranyl-chitosan interaction

An X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy study of uranium sorption by spherically-granulated chitosan in sulphate solutions, as well as the study of the nature of the U(VI) - chitosan interaction was carried out in this work. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy analysis showed that the uranyl - chitosan interaction results in the formation of complexes with aminogroup nitrogen, and possibly chitin ring oxygens and free hydroxyl groups in the equatorial plane. Under the UHV in the spectrometer chamber, the uranyl-amin and uranyl-hyroxide bonds were shown to break and tetravalent uranium compounds were shown to form on the sample surface. Hydroxyl groups were shown to evaporate. The calculated DG0 = -1,3 kJ/mol can be an evidence of several concurrent processes, some of which require energy, as well as of the formation of a surface chemical compound

Features of formation of structural-phase states on the surface of titanium alloy VT1-0 after electron-ion-plasma treatment

Complex modification of a surface of commercially pure titanium is realized. Firstly plasma is created by electrical explosion of a carbon-graphite fiber, of which surface was placed nanosized TiB2 powder. Then the surface of technically pure titanium is processed with this plasma. Finally, the modified surface was irradiated by an electron beam. Formation of multi-layer multiphase nanosized structure is revealed. It is shown that the maximum microhardness reached in a near-surface layer exceeds microhardness of a initial material more than by 10 times. Wear resistance of a blanket increases in 7.5; the friction coefficient decreases by 1.15 times