Consumer morality factors: do they influence the intention to buy a cause-related product?

The aim of the study. The study aims to determine the influence of moral identity and moral emotions (anticipatory guilt, empathy) on consumer decision to buy cause-related products

Consumer morality factors: do they influence the intention to buy a cause-related product?

The aim of the study. The study aims to determine the influence of moral identity and moral emotions (anticipatory guilt, empathy) on consumer decision to buy cause-related products

Oxygen implantation and behaviour into Ті thin films from water vapour plasma

The behavior of O atoms in Ti film is investigated under high-flux, low-energy molecular water ion implantation. After 10 min of irradiation at room temperature, the anomalously deep penetration of oxygen without formation of new chemical compounds observable by XRD has been registered in Ti films using Auger spectroscopy analysis. It is shown that the surface energy increases under ion irradiation, and the relaxation processes minimizing the surface energy initiate the redistribution of atoms. Two surface energy relaxation processes are considered: (i) the mixing of atoms on the surface resulting in annihilation of surface vacancies; and (ii) the annihilation of surface vacancies by atoms transported from the bulk. The theoretical considerations are in agreement with the experimental results if to assume that the mass-transport in the bulk is controlled by the processes on the surface and the adsorption of reactive atoms or molecules leads to local and long-range restructuring and adatom relocation at the surface. When you are citing the document, use the following link http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/2081

Application of COCOSYS code for investigation of gas mixing in mistra test facility

Paper presented at the 9th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Malta, 16-18 July, 2012.In the case of a severe accident in a water-cooled nuclear power plant large amounts of hydrogen could be generated due to fuel claddings oxidation and released to the containment. At certain concentrations of steam air and hydrogen the hydrogen combustion could occur and challenge the structural integrity of the containment, which is a last barrier preventing from radioactive material release to the environment. Therefore, a detailed knowledge of containment thermal-hydraulics is necessary to predict the local distribution of hydrogen, steam and air inside the containment. This paper presents the experience of Lithuanian Energy Institute in simulation of the experiments performed in MISTRA test facility for the case of the International Standard Problem ISP47. The MISTRA facility is located in the Saclay center of France Atomic Energy Commissariat (CEA) and is related to the research of containment thermal-hydraulics and hydrogen safety. The MISTRA facility and its operating conditions are designed with reference to the containment conditions of a pressurized water reactor (PWR) in accident situation. The facility comprises containment inside which three condensers are set up and external circuits. Containment volume is ~100 m3, with an internal diameter of 4.25 m and a height of 7.3 m. Containment is not temperature regulated, but preheated by steam condensation and thermally insulated. The relevant physical phenomena for simulation are the following: 1)centered steam and helium (instead of hydrogen) injection in the containment; 2) pressure and temperature increase in the containment; 3) wall condensation at regulated wall temperature; and 4) flow pattern in the containment and resulting gas temperature and concentration distribution. Test sequence consisted of several transient and steady state stages, when the measurements of the gas temperature and gas concentration profiles where performed. The presented analyses were performed employing the code COCOSYS versions V2.0v2 and V2.3 developed at GRS mbH (Germany). COCOSYS is a lumped-parameter code for the comprehensive simulation of all relevant phenomena, processes and plant states during severe accidents in the containment of light water reactors. The free convection, forced convection, radiation heat transfer and condensation may be considered in the analysis. The condensation model is based on the heat and mass transfer analogy (Stefan’s law). The water and gas flows are calculated separately, i.e. different junctions have to be specified for these flows. Several zone models could be selected by the user. The EQUIL._MOD zone model assumes the perfect steam, gas and water mixture inside a zone. Each component of the mixture is in thermal equilibrium. NONEQUILIB model considers the water and gas mixture, which is not necessarily in thermal equilibrium, i.e. water and gas may have different temperatures and calculated separately in the energy balance. The experimental and analytical analyses showed that gas stratification was not observed and well-mixed atmosphere conditions were reached for the investigated case.dc201

THUMP from archaeal tRNA:m(2)(2)G10 methyltransferase, a genuine autonomously folding domain

The tRNA:m(2)(2)G10 methyltransferase of Pyrococus abyssi (PAB1283, a member of COG1041) catalyzes the N(2),N(2)-dimethylation of guanosine at position 10 in tRNA. Boundaries of its THUMP (THioUridine synthases, RNA Methyltransferases and Pseudo-uridine synthases)—containing N-terminal domain [1–152] and C-terminal catalytic domain [157–329] were assessed by trypsin limited proteolysis. An inter-domain flexible region of at least six residues was revealed. The N-terminal domain was then produced as a standalone protein (THUMPα) and further characterized. This autonomously folded unit exhibits very low affinity for tRNA. Using protein fold-recognition (FR) methods, we identified the similarity between THUMPα and a putative RNA-recognition module observed in the crystal structure of another THUMP-containing protein (ThiI thiolase of Bacillus anthracis). A comparative model of THUMPα structure was generated, which fulfills experimentally defined restraints, i.e. chemical modification of surface exposed residues assessed by mass spectrometry, and identification of an intramolecular disulfide bridge. A model of the whole PAB1283 enzyme docked onto its tRNA(Asp) substrate suggests that the THUMP module specifically takes support on the co-axially stacked helices of T-arm and acceptor stem of tRNA and, together with the catalytic domain, screw-clamp structured tRNA. We propose that this mode of interactions may be common to other THUMP-containing enzymes that specifically modify nucleotides in the 3D-core of tRNA

Predictors of post-operative mortality following treatment for non-ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm

The aim of this prospective study of patients undergoing repair of non-ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm between 1999 and 2003 was to evaluate and compare risk factors for mortality after surgery, to determine a complex of informative factors for lethal outcome, and to define patient risk groups. Logistic regression analysis revealed a complex of informative factors, including female gender, previous myocardial infarction, age greater than 75 years, and clinical course of abdominal aortic aneurysm as important indicators for lethal outcome. A risk score model identified low-, moderate- and high-risk groups with mortality rates of 2.9%, 8.0% and 44.4%, respectively

Quantitative Mass Spectrometry Analysis Using PAcIFIC for the Identification of Plasma Diagnostic Biomarkers for Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm

BACKGROUND: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is characterized by increased aortic vessel wall diameter (>1.5 times normal) and loss of parallelism. This disease is responsible for 1-4% mortality occurring on rupture in males older than 65 years. Due to its asymptomatic nature, proteomic techniques were used to search for diagnostic biomarkers that might allow surgical intervention under nonlife threatening conditions. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Pooled human plasma samples of 17 AAA and 17 control patients were depleted of the most abundant proteins and compared using a data-independent shotgun proteomic strategy, Precursor Acquisition Independent From Ion Count (PAcIFIC), combined with spectral counting and isobaric tandem mass tags. Both quantitative methods collectively identified 80 proteins as statistically differentially abundant between AAA and control patients. Among differentially abundant proteins, a subgroup of 19 was selected according to Gene Ontology classification and implication in AAA for verification by Western blot (WB) in the same 34 individual plasma samples that comprised the pools. From the 19 proteins, 12 were detected by WB. Five of them were verified to be differentially up-regulated in individual plasma of AAA patients: adiponectin, extracellular superoxide dismutase, protein AMBP, kallistatin and carboxypeptidase B2. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Plasma depletion of high abundance proteins combined with quantitative PAcIFIC analysis offered an efficient and sensitive tool for the screening of new potential biomarkers of AAA. However, WB analysis to verify the 19 PAcIFIC identified proteins of interest proved inconclusive save for five proteins. We discuss these five in terms of their potential relevance as biological markers for use in AAA screening of population at risk

A Forward-Genetic Screen and Dynamic Analysis of Lambda Phage Host-Dependencies Reveals an Extensive Interaction Network and a New Anti-Viral Strategy

Latently infecting viruses are an important class of virus that plays a key role in viral evolution and human health. Here we report a genome-scale forward-genetics screen for host-dependencies of the latently-infecting bacteriophage lambda. This screen identified 57 Escherichia coli (E. coli) genes—over half of which have not been previously associated with infection—that when knocked out inhibited lambda phage's ability to replicate. Our results demonstrate a highly integrated network between lambda and its host, in striking contrast to the results from a similar screen using the lytic-only infecting T7 virus. We then measured the growth of E. coli under normal and infected conditions, using wild-type and knockout strains deficient in one of the identified host genes, and found that genes from the same pathway often exhibited similar growth dynamics. This observation, combined with further computational and experimental analysis, led us to identify a previously unannotated gene, yneJ, as a novel regulator of lamB gene expression. A surprising result of this work was the identification of two highly conserved pathways involved in tRNA thiolation—one pathway is required for efficient lambda replication, while the other has anti-viral properties inhibiting lambda replication. Based on our data, it appears that 2-thiouridine modification of tRNAGlu, tRNAGln, and tRNALys is particularly important for the efficient production of infectious lambda phage particles

Forward modeling of collective Thomson scattering for Wendelstein 7-X plasmas: Electrostatic approximation

In this paper, we present a method for numerical computation of collective Thomson scattering (CTS). We developed a forward model, eCTS, in the electrostatic approximation and benchmarked it against a full electromagnetic model. Differences between the electrostatic and the electromagnetic models are discussed. The sensitivity of the results to the ion temperature and the plasma composition is demonstrated. We integrated the model into the Bayesian data analysis framework Minerva and used it for the analysis of noisy synthetic data sets produced by a full electromagnetic model. It is shown that eCTS can be used for the inference of the bulk ion temperature. The model has been used to infer the bulk ion temperature from the first CTS measurements on Wendelstein 7-X

Towards a new image processing system at Wendelstein 7-X: From spatial calibration to characterization of thermal events

Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is the most advanced fusion experiment in the stellarator line and is aimed at proving that the stellarator concept is suitable for a fusion reactor. One of the most important issues for fusion reactors is the monitoring of plasma facing components when exposed to very high heat loads, through the use of visible and infrared (IR) cameras. In this paper, a new image processing system for the analysis of the strike lines on the inboard limiters from the first W7-X experimental campaign is presented. This system builds a model of the IR cameras through the use of spatial calibration techniques, helping to characterize the strike lines by using the information given by real spatial coordinates of each pixel. The characterization of the strike lines is made in terms of position, size, and shape, after projecting the camera image in a 2D grid which tries to preserve the curvilinear surface distances between points. The description of the strike-line shape is made by means of the Fourier Descriptors