Preparation of pH-sensitive polymer by thermal initiation polymerization and its application in fluorescence immunoassay

A fluorescence immunoassay for human IgG (Ag) was developed using a pH-sensitive polymer prepared by thermal initiation or redox initiation polymerization as a carrier. In the competitive immunoassay, appropriate quantity of Ag was immobilized on the polymer and the standard Ag (or sample) solution, and a constant amount of fluorescein isothiocyanate labeled goat anti-human IgG antibody (Ab-FITC) was added. Immobilized Ag and the standard (or sample) Ag competed for binding to the Ab-FITC in 37 C in homogeneous format. After changing the pH to separate the polymer-immune complex precipitate, it was re-dissolved and determined by fluorescence method. The results showed that the immobilization efficiency, immunological reaction activities of immobilized Au and phase transition pH range were improved as Ag was immobilized by thermal initiation instead of redox initiation polymerization. Under optimum conditions, the calibration graphs for the Ag in both methods, thermal initiation and redox initiation, were linear over the concentration range of 0.0-1000 ng mL(-1), with detection limits 8 (thermal initiation) and 12 ng mL(1) (redox initiation), respectively. Moreover, some pH-sensitive polymer prepared only in organic solvent or under high temperature could also be used as an immunoreaction carrier by thermal initiation polymerization. Thermal initiation polymerization was a better immobilization mode. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Initiation and development of water film by seepage

When water seeps upwards through a saturated soil layer, the soil layer may become instability and water films occur and develop. Water film serves as a natural sliding surface because of its very small friction. Accordingly, debris flow may happen. To investigate this phenomenon, a pseudo-three-phase media is presented first. Then discontinuity method is used to analyze the expansion velocity of water film. Finally, perturbation method is used to analyze the case that a water flow is forced to seep upwards through the soil layer while the movement of the skeleton may be neglected relative to that of water. The theoretical evolutions of pore pressure gradient, effective stress, water velocity, the porosity and the eroded fine grains are obtained. It can be seen clearly that with the erosion and re-deposited of fine grains, permeability at some positions in the soil layer becomes smaller and smaller and, the pore pressure gradient becomes bigger and bigger, while the effective stress becomes smaller and smaller. When the effective stress equals zero, e.f. liquefaction, the water film occurs. It is shown also that once a water film occurs, it will be expanded in a speed of (U)(t)/(1 - E >).

FLOW-PIPE-SEEPAGE COUPLING ANALYSIS OF SPANNING INITIATION OF A PARTIALLY-EMBEDDED PIPELINE

The initiation of pipeline spanning involves the coupling between the flow over the pipeline and the seepage-flow in the soil underneath the pipeline. The pipeline spanning initiation is experimentally observed and discussed in this article. It is qualitatively indicated that the pressure-drop induced soil seepage failure is the predominant cause for pipeline spanning initiation. A flow-pipe-seepage sequential coupling Finite Element Method (FEM) model is proposed to simulate the coupling between the water flow-field and the soil seepage-field. A critical hydraulic gradient is obtained for oblique seepage failure of the sand in the direction tangent to the pipe. Parametric study is performed to investigate the effects of inflow velocity, pipe embedment on the pressure-drop, and the effects of soil internal friction angle and pipe embedment-to-diameter ratio on the critical flow velocity for pipeline spanning initiation. It is indicated that the dimensionless critical flow velocity changes approximately linearly with the soil internal friction angle for the submarine pipeline partially-embedded in a sandy seabed.

Initiation and termination of crazes in high impact polystyrene

Initiation and termination of crazes in high impact polystyrene (HIPS) were studied by transmission electron microscope. Instead of the first initiation of crazes in the vicinity of the equator or rubber particles, ribbon-shaped crazes beyond the region were observed on the TEM photos. The starting point and the end point of each ribbon were noticed not to be randomly located on the surface of the cellar particles in HIPS. The spots connecting to the ligaments between the PS rigid inclusions in the cellar particle are found to be the locations where crazes were initiated and terminated preferentially. In addition, the crazes generated at those spots were much thicker and longer. The thoughness of high impact polystyrene was enhanced by the multiple crazes formed in the matrices, through the reduction of the craze stress at room temperature with increasing the volume fraction of polybutadiene at these spots in the dispersed phase. These results conducted that not only the cell structure of the domains in HIPS was not homogeneous but also the polybutadiene ligaments between PS rigid inclusions in the domains were inhomogeneous. Therefore, the responsibility of those polybutadiene ligaments with different thickness to the stresses was different and it forced the crazing initiation and growing preferentially. The crazes were created in some regions in the matrices; On the contrary, rare crazes were formed in the other regions in spite of these regions surrounded around the same dispersed particles. The relation between the spots on the surface and the inner structure of the cellar particle was discussed in this paper.

J-INTEGRAL STUDIES OF CRACK INITIATION AND CRACK TIP-BLUNTING OF PHENOLPHTHALEIN POLYETHER KETONE

The J-integral is applied to characterize the fracture initiation of phenolphthalein polyether ketone (PEK-C) for which the concepts of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM) are inapplicable at high temperatures for reasonably-sized specimens due to ex

DETERMINATION OF INITIATION VALUE OF MODE-I INTERLAMINAR FRACTURE-TOUGHNESS OF UNIDIRECTIONAL POLYMER COMPOSITES

The use of interlaminar fracture tests to measure the delamination resistance of unidirectional composite laminates is now widespread. However, because of the frequent occurrence of fiber bridging and multiple cracking during the tests, it leads to artificially high values of delamination resistance, which will not represent the behavior of the laminates. Initiation fracture from the crack starter, on the other hand, does not involve bridging, and should be more representative of the delamination resistance of the composite laminates. Since there is some uncertainty involved in determining the initiation value of delamination resistance in mode I tests in the literature, a power law of the form G(IC) = A.DELTA alpha(b) (where G(IC) is mode I interlaminar fracture toughness and DELTA alpha is delamination growth) is presented in this paper to determine initiation value of mode I interlaminar fracture toughness. It is found that initiation values of the mode I interlaminar fracture toughness, G(IC)(ini), can be defined as the G(IC) value at which 1 mm of delamination from the crack starter has occurred. Examples of initiation values determined by this method are given for both carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic and thermosetting polymers.

A unified criterion for initiation of sediment motion and inception of sheet flow under water waves

A unified criterion is developed for initiation of non-cohesive sediment motion and inception of sheet flow under water waves over a horizontal bed of sediment based on presently available experimental data. The unified threshold criterion is of the single form, U-o = 2 pi C[1 + 5(T-R/T)(2)](-1/4), where U-o is the onset velocity of sediment motion or sheet flow, T is wave period, and C and T-R are the coefficients. It is found that for a given sediment, U-o initially increases sharply with wave period, then gradually approaches the maximum onset velocity U-o = 2 pi C and becomes independent of T when T is larger. The unified criterion can also be extended to define sediment initial motion and sheet flow under irregular waves provided the significant wave orbital velocity and period of irregular waves are introduced in this unified criterion.

Le développement de la compétence argumentative et l'initiation au discours académique

The aim of the paper is to present the specificity of oral argumentative competence in a foreign language and to propose a tentative model of task-based learning of argumentative discourse. It is assumed in the paper that the communicative situation tasks proposed during classes of French as a foreign language in the French Philology Department should contribute to the academic discourse learning. In the paper we present an analysis of two fragments of argumentative situations; the first one concerns the so-called everyday argumentative situation and another one illustrates an argumentative orientation of academic discourse.

Visualising ribosome profiling and using it for reading frame detection and exploration of eukaryotic translation initiation

Ribosome profiling (ribo-seq) is a recently developed technique that provides genomewide information on protein synthesis (GWIPS) in vivo. The high resolution of ribo-seq is one of the exciting properties of this technique. In Chapter 2, I present a computational method that utilises the sub-codon precision and triplet periodicity of ribosome profiling data to detect transitions in the translated reading frame. Application of this method to ribosome profiling data generated for human HeLa cells allowed us to detect several human genes where the same genomic segment is translated in more than one reading frame. Since the initial publication of the ribosome profiling technique in 2009, there has been a proliferation of studies that have used the technique to explore various questions with respect to translation. A review of the many uses and adaptations of the technique is provided in Chapter 1. Indeed, owing to the increasing popularity of the technique and the growing number of published ribosome profiling datasets, we have developed GWIPS-viz (http://gwips.ucc.ie), a ribo-seq dedicated genome browser. Details on the development of the browser and its usage are provided in Chapter 3. One of the surprising findings of ribosome profiling of initiating ribosomes carried out in 3 independent studies, was the widespread use of non-AUG codons as translation initiation start sites in mammals. Although initiation at non-AUG codons in mammals has been documented for some time, the extent of non-AUG initiation reported by these ribo-seq studies was unexpected. In Chapter 4, I present an approach for estimating the strength of initiating codons based on the leaky scanning model of translation initiation. Application of this approach to ribo-seq data illustrates that initiation at non-AUG codons is inefficient compared to initiation at AUG codons. In addition, our approach provides a probability of initiation score for each start site that allows its strength of initiation to be evaluated.

MYC activity mitigates response to rapamycin in prostate cancer through eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1-mediated inhibition of autophagy.

Loss of PTEN and activation of phosphoinositide 3-kinase are commonly observed in advanced prostate cancer. Inhibition of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a downstream target of phosphoinositide 3-kinase signaling, results in cell cycle arrest and apoptosis in multiple in vitro and in vivo models of prostate cancer. However, single-agent use of mTOR inhibition has limited clinical success, and the identification of molecular events mitigating tumor response to mTOR inhibition remains a critical question. Here, using genetically engineered human prostate epithelial cells (PrEC), we show that MYC, a frequent target of genetic gain in prostate cancers, abrogates sensitivity to rapamycin by decreasing rapamycin-induced cytostasis and autophagy. Analysis of MYC and the mTOR pathway in human prostate tumors and PrEC showed selective increased expression of eukaryotic initiation factor 4E-binding protein 1 (4EBP1) with gain in MYC copy number or forced MYC expression, respectively. We have also found that MYC binds to regulatory regions of the 4EBP1 gene. Suppression of 4EBP1 expression resulted in resensitization of MYC-expressing PrEC to rapamycin and increased autophagy. Taken together, our findings suggest that MYC expression abrogates sensitivity to rapamycin through increased expression of 4EBP1 and reduced autophagy.

Reinforcement corrosion initiation and activation times in concrete structures exposed to severe marine environments

The corrosion of steel reinforcement bars in reinforced concrete structures exposed to severe marine environments usually is attributed to the aggressive nature of chloride ions. In some cases in practice corrosion has been observed to commence already within a few years of exposure even with considerable concrete cover to the reinforcement and apparently high quality concretes. However, there are a number of other cases in practice for which corrosion initiation took much longer, even in cases with quite modest concrete cover and modest concrete quality. Many of these structures show satisfactory long-term structural performance, despite having high levels of localized chloride concentrations at the reinforcement. This disparity was noted already more than 50 years ago, but appears still not fully explained. This paper presents a systematic overview of cases reported in the engineering and corrosion literature and considers possible reasons for these differences. Consistent with observations by others, the data show that concretes made from blast furnace cements have better corrosion durability properties. The data also strongly suggest that concretes made with limestone or non-reactive dolomite aggregates or sufficiently high levels of other forms of calcium carbonates have favourable reinforcement corrosion properties. Both corrosion initiation and the onset of significant damage are delayed. Some possible reasons for this are explored briefly.

High-resolution view of the spring bloom initiation and net community production in the Subantarctic Southern Ocean using glider data

In the Southern Ocean, there is increasing evidence that seasonal to subseasonal temporal scales, and meso- to submesoscales play an important role in understanding the sensitivity of ocean primary productivity to climate change. This drives the need for a high-resolution approach to re- solving biogeochemical processes. In this study, 5.5 months of continuous, high-resolution (3 h, 2 km horizontal resolution) glider data from spring to summer in the Atlantic Subantarctic Zone is used to investigate: (i) the mechanisms that drive bloom initiation and high growth rates in the region and (ii) the seasonal evolution of water column production and respiration. Bloom initiation dates were analysed in the context of upper ocean boundary layer physics highlighting sensitivities of different bloom detection methods to different environmental processes. Model results show that in early spring (September to mid-November) increased rates of net community production (NCP) are strongly affected by meso- to submesoscale features. In late spring/early summer (late-November to mid-December) seasonal shoaling of the mixed layer drives a more spatially homogenous bloom with maximum rates of NCP and chlorophyll biomass. A comparison of biomass accumulation rates with a study in the North Atlantic highlights the sensitivity of phytoplankton growth to fine-scale dynamics and emphasizes the need to sample the ocean at high resolution to accurately resolve phytoplankton phenology and improve our ability to estimate the sensitivity of the biological carbon pump to climate change.