NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dhavale, Vishal M.; Singh, Santosh K.; Nadeema, Ayasha; Gaikwad, Sachin S.; Kurungot, Sreekumar
2015-11-01
The size-controlled growth of nanocrystalline Fe-Fe2O3 particles (2-3 nm) and their concomitant dispersion on N-doped graphene (Fe-Fe2O3/NGr) could be attained when the mutually assisted redox reaction between NGr and Fe3+ ions could be controlled within the aqueous droplets of a water-in-oil emulsion. The synergistic interaction existing between Fe-Fe2O3 and NGr helped the system to narrow down the overpotential for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) by bringing a significant positive shift to the reduction onset potential, which is just 15 mV higher than its Pt-counterpart. In addition, the half-wave potential (E1/2) of Fe-Fe2O3/NGr is found to be improved by a considerable amount of 135 mV in comparison to the system formed by dispersing Fe-Fe2O3 nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide (Fe-Fe2O3/RGO), which indicates the presence of a higher number of active sites in Fe-Fe2O3/NGr. Despite this, the ORR kinetics of Fe-Fe2O3/NGr are found to be shifted significantly to the preferred 4-electron-transfer pathway compared to NGr and Fe-Fe2O3/RGO. Consequently, the H2O2% was found to be reduced by 78.3% for Fe-Fe2O3/NGr (13.0%) in comparison to Fe-Fe2O3/RGO (51.2%) and NGr (41.0%) at -0.30 V (vs. Hg/HgO). This difference in the yield of H2O2 formed between the systems along with the improvements observed in terms of the oxygen reduction onset and E1/2 in the case of Fe-Fe2O3/NGr reveals the activity modulation achieved for the latter is due to the coexistence of factors such as the presence of the mixed valancies of iron nanoparticles, small size and homogeneous distribution of Fe-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and the electronic modifications induced by the doped nitrogen in NGr. A controlled interplay of these factors looks like worked favorably in the case of Fe-Fe2O3/NGr. As a realistic system level validation, Fe-Fe2O3/NGr was employed as the cathode electrode of a single cell in a solid alkaline electrolyte membrane fuel cell (AEMFC). The system could display an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.73 V and maximum power and current densities of 54.40 mW cm-2 and 200 mA cm-2, respectively, which are comparable to the performance characteristics of a similar system derived by using 40 wt% Pt/C as the cathode electrode.The size-controlled growth of nanocrystalline Fe-Fe2O3 particles (2-3 nm) and their concomitant dispersion on N-doped graphene (Fe-Fe2O3/NGr) could be attained when the mutually assisted redox reaction between NGr and Fe3+ ions could be controlled within the aqueous droplets of a water-in-oil emulsion. The synergistic interaction existing between Fe-Fe2O3 and NGr helped the system to narrow down the overpotential for the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) by bringing a significant positive shift to the reduction onset potential, which is just 15 mV higher than its Pt-counterpart. In addition, the half-wave potential (E1/2) of Fe-Fe2O3/NGr is found to be improved by a considerable amount of 135 mV in comparison to the system formed by dispersing Fe-Fe2O3 nanoparticles on reduced graphene oxide (Fe-Fe2O3/RGO), which indicates the presence of a higher number of active sites in Fe-Fe2O3/NGr. Despite this, the ORR kinetics of Fe-Fe2O3/NGr are found to be shifted significantly to the preferred 4-electron-transfer pathway compared to NGr and Fe-Fe2O3/RGO. Consequently, the H2O2% was found to be reduced by 78.3% for Fe-Fe2O3/NGr (13.0%) in comparison to Fe-Fe2O3/RGO (51.2%) and NGr (41.0%) at -0.30 V (vs. Hg/HgO). This difference in the yield of H2O2 formed between the systems along with the improvements observed in terms of the oxygen reduction onset and E1/2 in the case of Fe-Fe2O3/NGr reveals the activity modulation achieved for the latter is due to the coexistence of factors such as the presence of the mixed valancies of iron nanoparticles, small size and homogeneous distribution of Fe-Fe2O3 nanoparticles and the electronic modifications induced by the doped nitrogen in NGr. A controlled interplay of these factors looks like worked favorably in the case of Fe-Fe2O3/NGr. As a realistic system level validation, Fe-Fe2O3/NGr was employed as the cathode electrode of a single cell in a solid alkaline electrolyte membrane fuel cell (AEMFC). The system could display an open circuit voltage (OCV) of 0.73 V and maximum power and current densities of 54.40 mW cm-2 and 200 mA cm-2, respectively, which are comparable to the performance characteristics of a similar system derived by using 40 wt% Pt/C as the cathode electrode. Electronic supplementary information (ESI) available: Experimental, deconvulated XPS of C 1s, and O 1s of Fe-Fe2O3/RGO, Fe-Fe2O3/NGr, RGO and NGr. Deconvoluted N 1s of Fe-Fe2O3/NGr and NGr, formulae, CV, LSV at different rpm, and K-L plots. See DOI: 10.1039/c5nr04929f
Anoxic and oxic removal of humic acids with Fe@Fe2O3 core-shell nanowires: a comparative study.
Wu, Hao; Ai, Zhihui; Zhang, Lizhi
2014-04-01
In this study we comparatively investigate the removal of humic acids with Fe@Fe2O3 core-shell nanowires under anoxic and oxic conditions. The products of humic acids after reacting with Fe@Fe2O3 core-shell nanowires under anoxic and oxic conditions were carefully examined with three-dimensional excitation emission matrix fluorescence spectroscopy and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. It was found that humic acids were removed by Fe@Fe2O3 core-shell nanowires via adsorption under anoxic condition. Langmuir adsorption isotherm was applicable to describe the adsorption processes. Kinetics of humic acids adsorption onto Fe@Fe2O3 core-shell nanowires was found to follow pseudo-second-order rate equation. By contrast, the oxic removal of humic acids with Fe@Fe2O3 core-shell nanowires involved adsorption and subsequent oxidation of humic acids because Fe@Fe2O3 core-shell nanowires could activate molecular oxygen to produce reactive oxygen species to oxidize humic acids. This subsequent oxidation of humic acids could improve the oxic removal rate to 2.5 times that of anoxic removal, accompanying with about 8.4% of mineralization. This study provides a new method for humic acids removal and also sheds light on the effects of humic acids on the pollutant removal by nano zero-valent iron. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
MIL-100-Fe derived N-doped Fe/Fe3C@C electrocatalysts for efficient oxygen reduction reaction
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Guo, Dakai; Han, Sancan; Wang, Jiacheng; Zhu, Yufang
2018-03-01
N-doped porous Fe/Fe3C@C electrocatalysts were prepared by the pyrolysis of the hexamethylenetetramine (HMT)-incorporated MIL-100-Fe at different temperatures (700-1000 °C) under N2 atmosphere. Rotary evaporation of MIL-100-Fe and HMT solution could make more N-enriched HMT molecules enter into the pores of MIL-100-Fe, thus improving nitrogen contents of the final pyrolyzed samples. All pyrolyzed samples show porous textures with middle specific surface areas. The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) results demonstrate the successful introduction of N atoms into carbon framework. Sample Fe-N2-800 prepared by annealing the precursors with the HMT/MIL-100-Fe weight ratio of 2 at 800 °C exhibits the best electrocatalytic activity towards the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) in terms of onset potential and current density because of high graphitic N and pyridinic N content. The enwrapped Fe/Fe3C nanoparticles and Fe-Nx active sites in these samples could also boost the ORR activity synergistically. Moreover, sample Fe-N2-800 demonstrates a dominant four electron reduction process, as well as excellent long-term operation stability and methanol crossover resistance. Thus, the N-doped Fe/Fe3C@C composites derived from the HMT-incorporated MIL-100-Fe are promising electrocatalysts to replace Pt/C for ORR in practical applications.
Song, Chunsen; Wu, Shikui; Shen, Xiaoping; Miao, Xuli; Ji, Zhenyuan; Yuan, Aihua; Xu, Keqiang; Liu, Miaomiao; Xie, Xulan; Kong, Lirong; Zhu, Guoxing; Ali Shah, Sayyar
2018-08-15
The development of simple and cost-effective synthesis methods for electrocatalysts of hydrogen evolution reaction (HER) and oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) is critical to renewable energy technologies. Herein, we report an interesting bifunctional HER and ORR electrocatalyst of Fe/Fe 3 C@N-doped-carbon porous hierarchical polyhedrons (Fe/Fe 3 C@N-C) by a simple metal-organic framework precursor route. The Fe/Fe 3 C@N-C polyhedrons consisting of Fe and Fe 3 C nanocrystals enveloped by N-doped carbon shells and accompanying with some carbon nanotubes on the surface were prepared by thermal annealing of Zn 3 [Fe(CN) 6 ] 2 ·xH 2 O polyhedral particles in nitrogen atmosphere. This material exhibits a large specific surface area of 182.5 m 2 g -1 and excellent ferromagnetic property. Electrochemical tests indicate that the Fe/Fe 3 C@N-C hybrid has apparent HER activity with a relatively low overpotential of 236 mV at the current density of 10 mA cm -2 and a small Tafel slope of 59.6 mV decade -1 . Meanwhile, this material exhibits excellent catalytic activity toward ORR with an onset potential (0.936 V vs. RHE) and half-wave potential (0.804 V vs. RHE) in 0.1 M KOH, which is comparable to commercial 20 wt% Pt/C (0.975 V and 0.820 V), and shows even better stability than the Pt/C. This work provides a new insight to developing multi-functional materials for renewable energy application. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Xu, Xin; Dai, Ying; Yu, Jia; Hao, Liang; Duan, Yaqiang; Sun, Ye; Zhang, Yanhong; Lin, Yuhui; Zou, Jinlong
2017-03-29
The critical issues in practical application of microbial fuel cells (MFCs) for wastewater treatment are the high cost and poor activity and durability of precious metal catalysts. To alleviate the activity loss and kinetic barriers for oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) on cathode, (Fe)/Fe 3 O 4 /FeS/N-doped graphitic carbon ((Fe)/Fe 3 O 4 /FeS/NGC) is prepared as ORR catalyst through a one-step method using waste pomelo skins as carbon source. Various characterization techniques and electrochemical analyses are conducted to illustrate the correlation between structural characteristics and catalytic activity. MFCs with Fe/Fe 3 O 4 /FeS/NGC (900 °C) cathode produces the maximum power density of 930 ± 10 mW m -2 (Pt/C of 489 mW m -2 ) and maintains a good long-term durability, which only declines 18% after 90 day operation. Coulombic efficiency (22.2%) obtained by Fe/Fe 3 O 4 /FeS/NGC (900 °C) cathode is significantly higher than that of Pt/C (17.3%). Metallic state FeS anchored in porous NGC skeleton can boost electron transport through the interconnected channels in spongelike structure to improve catalytic activity. Charge delocalization of C atoms can be strengthened by N atoms incorporation into carbon skeleton, which correspondingly contributes to the O 2 chemisorptions and O-O bond weakening during ORR. Energetically existed active components (Fe and N species) are more efficient than Pt to trap and consume electrons in catalyzing ORR in wastewater containing Pt-poisoning substances (bacterial metabolites). (Fe)/Fe 3 O 4 /FeS/NGC catalysts with the advantages of durable power outputs and environmental-friendly raw material can cover the shortages of Pt/C and provide an outlook for further applications of these catalysts.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Swartz, James
2017-01-25
Final Project Report describing work to elucidate mechanisms for the activation of [FeFe]-hydrogenases and to explore the impact of the polypeptide scaffolding on the function of the Fe-S redox and catalytic centers with emphasis on improving oxygen tolerance.
Fiedler, Adam T.; Shan, Xiaopeng; Mehn, Mark P.; Kaizer, József; Torelli, Stéphane; Frisch, Jonathan R.; Kodera, Masahito; Que, Lawrence
2009-01-01
With the goal of gaining insight into the structures of peroxo intermediates observed for oxygen activating nonheme diiron enzymes, a series of metastable synthetic diiron(III)-peroxo complexes with [FeIII2(µ-O)(µ-1,2-O2)] cores has been characterized by X-ray absorption and resonance Raman spectroscopy. EXAFS analysis shows that this basic core structure gives rise to an Fe-Fe distance of ~3.15 Å; the distance is decreased by 0.1 Å upon introduction of an additional carboxylate bridge. In corresponding resonance Raman studies, vibrations arising from both the Fe-O-Fe and the Fe-O-O-Fe units can be observed. A change in the Fe-Fe distance affects the ν(O-O) mode, as well as the νsym(Fe-O-Fe) and the νasym(Fe-O-Fe) modes. Indeed a linear correlation can be discerned between the ν(O-O) frequency of a complex and its Fe-Fe distance among the subset of complexes with [FeIII2(µ-OR)(µ-1,2-O2)] cores (R = H, alkyl, aryl, or no substituent). These experimental studies are complemented by a normal coordinate analysis and DFT calculations. PMID:18811130
Avilan, Luisana; Roumezi, Baptiste; Risoul, Véronique; Bernard, Christophe Sébastien; Kpebe, Arlette; Belhadjhassine, Mayssène; Rousset, Marc; Brugna, Myriam; Latifi, Amel
2018-04-24
The conversion of solar energy into hydrogen represents a highly attractive strategy for the production of renewable energies. Photosynthetic microorganisms have the ability to produce H 2 from sunlight but several obstacles must be overcome before obtaining a sustainable and efficient H 2 production system. Cyanobacteria harbor [NiFe] hydrogenases required for the consumption of H 2 . As a result, their H 2 production rates are low, which makes them not suitable for a high yield production. On the other hand, [FeFe] enzymes originating from anaerobic organisms such as Clostridium exhibit much higher H 2 production activities, but their sensitivity to O 2 inhibition impairs their use in photosynthetic organisms. To reach such a goal, it is therefore important to protect the hydrogenase from O 2 . The diazotrophic filamentous cyanobacteria protect their nitrogenases from O 2 by differentiating micro-oxic cells called heterocysts. Producing [FeFe] hydrogenase in the heterocyst is an attractive strategy to take advantage of their potential in a photosynthetic microorganism. Here, we present a biological engineering approach for producing an active [FeFe] hydrogenase (HydA) from Clostridium acetobutylicum in the heterocysts of the filamentous cyanobacterium Nostoc PCC7120. To further decrease the O 2 amount inside the heterocyst, the GlbN cyanoglobin from Nostoc commune was coproduced with HydA in the heterocyst. The engineered strain produced 400 μmol-H 2 per mg Chlorophyll a, which represents 20-fold the amount produced by the wild type strain. This result is a clear demonstration that it is possible to associate oxygenic photosynthesis with H 2 production by an O 2 -sensitive hydrogenase.
Liu, Jingyi; Hu, Wenyong; Sun, Maogui; Xiong, Ouyang; Yu, Haibin; Feng, Haopeng; Wu, Xuan; Tang, Lin; Zhou, Yaoyu
2018-06-13
The degradation of norfloxacin by Fenton reagent with core-shell Fe@Fe 2 O 3 nanomaterials was studied under neutral conditions in a closed batch system. Norfloxacin was significantly degraded (90%) in the Fenton system with Fe@Fe 2 O 3 in 30 min at the initial pH 7.0, but slightly degraded in Fenton system without Fe@Fe 2 O 3 under the same experimental conditions. The intermediate products were investigated by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry, and the possible Fenton oxidation pathway of norfloxacin in the presence of Fe@Fe 2 O 3 nanowires was proposed. Electron spin resonance spectroscopy was used to identify and characterize the free radicals generated, and the mechanism for norfloxacin degradation was also revealed. Finally, the reusability and the stability of Fe@Fe 2 O 3 nanomaterials were studied using x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscope, which indicated that Fe@Fe 2 O 3 is a stable catalyst and can be used repetitively in environmental pollution control.
Li, Guoning; Zhang, Jiajun; Li, Weisong; Fan, Kai; Xu, Chunjian
2018-05-17
Hierarchical porous N-doped carbon with Fe/Fe3C nanoparticles, high content of N dopants (10.51 wt%), and a 3D interconnected porous architecture constructed by flake-like nanostructure was facilely prepared by carbonization of a zeolitic imidazolate framework-8 (ZIF-8) as a self-sacrificing template and potassium ferricyanide (PF) as a multifunctional iron precursor. The unique porous structure can offer a continuous pathway for electron transfer and shorten the mass transfer pathway, which contribute to both an oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) and a supercapacitor. The influence of the carbonization temperature and iron content on the performance of ORR and supercapacitor was investigated. The as-prepared composites carbonized at 800 °C (Fe-CZIF-800-10) displayed comparable ORR activity with Pt/C in alkaline media as well as excellent long-term stability, superb methanol tolerance, and appreciable onset potential in acid media. Moreover, Fe-CZIF-800-10 exhibited excellent capacity of 246 F g-1 at a current density of 0.5 A g-1 and stability in 6 M KOH. This report provides a facile approach to prepare hierarchical porous Fe/N-doped carbon as a promising electrode material for both fuel cell and supercapacitor applications.
Waters, Brian M.; McInturf, Samuel A.; Amundsen, Keenan
2014-01-01
Summary Iron (Fe) and copper (Cu) homeostasis are tightly linked across biology. In previous work, Fe deficiency interacted with Cu regulated genes and stimulated Cu accumulation. The C940-fe (fefe) Fe uptake mutant of melon (Cucumis melo) was characterized, and the fefe mutant was used to test whether Cu deficiency could stimulate Fe uptake. Wild type and fefe mutant transcriptomes were determined by RNA-seq under Fe and Cu deficiency. FeFe regulated genes included core Fe uptake, metal homeostasis, and transcription factor genes. Numerous genes were regulated by both Fe and Cu. The fefe mutant was rescued by high Fe or by Cu deficiency, which stimulated ferric-chelate reductase activity, FRO2 expression, and Fe accumulation. Accumulation of Fe in Cu deficient plants was independent of the normal Fe uptake system. One of the four FRO genes in the melon and cucumber (Cucumis sativus) genomes was Fe regulated, and one was Cu regulated. Simultaneous Fe and Cu deficiency synergistically upregulated Fe uptake gene expression. Overlap in Fe and Cu deficiency transcriptomes highlights the importance of Fe– Cu crosstalk in metal homeostasis. The fefe gene is not orthologous to FIT, thus identification of this gene will provide clues to help understand regulation of Fe uptake in plants. PMID:24975482
Effects of metal ions on the reactivity and corrosion electrochemistry of Fe/FeS nanoparticles.
Kim, Eun-Ju; Kim, Jae-Hwan; Chang, Yoon-Seok; Turcio-Ortega, David; Tratnyek, Paul G
2014-04-01
Nano-zerovalent iron (nZVI) formed under sulfidic conditions results in a biphasic material (Fe/FeS) that reduces trichloroethene (TCE) more rapidly than nZVI associated only with iron oxides (Fe/FeO). Exposing Fe/FeS to dissolved metals (Pd(2+), Cu(2+), Ni(2+), Co(2+), and Mn(2+)) results in their sequestration by coprecipitation as dopants into FeS and FeO and/or by electroless precipitation as zerovalent metals that are hydrogenation catalysts. Using TCE reduction rates to probe the effect of metal amendments on the reactivity of Fe/FeS, it was found that Mn(2+) and Cu(2+) decreased TCE reduction rates, while Pd(2+), Co(2+), and Ni(2+) increased them. Electrochemical characterization of metal-amended Fe/FeS showed that aging caused passivation by growth of FeO and FeS phases and poisoning of catalytic metal deposits by sulfide. Correlation of rate constants for TCE reduction (kobs) with electrochemical parameters (corrosion potentials and currents, Tafel slopes, and polarization resistance) and descriptors of hydrogen activation by metals (exchange current density for hydrogen reduction and enthalpy of solution into metals) showed the controlling process changed with aging. For fresh Fe/FeS, kobs was best described by the exchange current density for activation of hydrogen, whereas kobs for aged Fe/FeS correlated with electrochemical descriptors of electron transfer.
Xu, Shou-Ying; He, Pei-Qing; Dewi, Seswita-Zilda; Zhang, Xue-Lei; Ekowati, Chasanah; Liu, Tong-Jun; Huang, Xiao-Hang
2013-05-01
Microbial fermentation is a promising technology for hydrogen (H(2)) production. H(2) producers in marine geothermal environments are thermophilic and halotolerant. However, no one has surveyed an environment specifically for thermophilic bacteria that produce H(2) through Fe-Fe hydrogenases (H(2)ase). Using heterotrophic medium, several microflora from a seaweed bed associated with marine hot springs were enriched and analyzed for H(2) production. A H(2)-producing microflora was obtained from Sargassum sp., 16S rRNA genes and Fe-Fe H(2)ase diversities of this enrichment were also analyzed. Based on 16S rRNA genes analysis, 10 phylotypes were found in the H(2)-producing microflora showing 90.0-99.5 % identities to known species, and belonged to Clostridia, Gammaproteobacteria, and Bacillales. Clostridia were the most abundant group, and three Clostridia phylotypes were most related to known H(2) producers such as Anaerovorax odorimutans (94.0 % identity), Clostridium papyrosolvens (98.4 % identity), and Clostridium tepidiprofundi (93.1 % identity). For Fe-Fe H(2)ases, seven phylotypes were obtained, showing 63-97 % identities to known Fe-Fe H(2)ases, and fell into four distinct clusters. Phylotypes HW55-3 and HM55-1 belonged to thermophilic and salt-tolerant H(2)-producing Clostridia, Halothermothrix orenii-like Fe-Fe H(2)ases (80 % identity), and cellulolytic H(2)-producing Clostridia, C. papyrosolvens-like Fe-Fe H(2)ases (97 % identity), respectively. The results of both 16S rRNA genes and Fe-Fe H(2)ases surveys suggested that the thermophilic and halotolerant H(2)-producing microflora in seaweed bed of hot spring area represented previously unknown H(2) producers, and have potential application for H(2) production.
Molecular Biomarkers for Detecting, Monitoring and Quantifying Reductive Microbial Processes
2013-07-01
Microbiomes database (IMG/M) versions 2.5...Termite Gut Metagenome, IMG/M ID 2005608198 5.6% [FeFe] Hydrogenase from Termite Gut Metagenome, IMG/M ID...2005622586 5.0% [FeFe] Hydrogenase from Termite Gut Metagenome, IMG/M ID 2005599188 4.2% [FeFe
Liu, Dong-Hai; Guo, Yue; Zhang, Lu-Hua; Li, Wen-Cui; Sun, Tao; Lu, An-Hui
2013-11-25
Magnetic hollow structures with microporous shell and highly dispersed active cores (Fe/Fe3 C nanoparticles) are rationally designed and fabricated by solution-phase switchable transport of active iron species combined with a solid-state thermolysis technique, thus allowing selective encapsulation of functional Fe/Fe3 C nanoparticles in the interior cavity. These engineered functional materials show high loading (≈54 wt%) of Fe, excellent chromium removal capability (100 mg g(-1)), fast adsorption rate (8766 mL mg(-1) h(-1)), and easy magnetic separation property (63.25 emu g(-1)). During the adsorption process, the internal highly dispersed Fe/Fe3 C nanoparticles supply a driving force for facilitating Cr(VI) diffusion inward, thus improving the adsorption rate and the adsorption capacity. At the same time, the external microporous carbon shell can also efficiently trap guest Cr(VI) ions and protect Fe/Fe3 C nanoparticles from corrosion and subsequent leaching problems. Copyright © 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
Vibrational spectroscopy reveals the initial steps of biological hydrogen evolution.
Katz, S; Noth, J; Horch, M; Shafaat, H S; Happe, T; Hildebrandt, P; Zebger, I
2016-11-01
[FeFe] hydrogenases are biocatalytic model systems for the exploitation and investigation of catalytic hydrogen evolution. Here, we used vibrational spectroscopic techniques to characterize, in detail, redox transformations of the [FeFe] and [4Fe4S] sub-sites of the catalytic centre (H-cluster) in a monomeric [FeFe] hydrogenase. Through the application of low-temperature resonance Raman spectroscopy, we discovered a novel metastable intermediate that is characterized by an oxidized [Fe I Fe II ] centre and a reduced [4Fe4S] 1+ cluster. Based on this unusual configuration, this species is assigned to the first, deprotonated H-cluster intermediate of the [FeFe] hydrogenase catalytic cycle. Providing insights into the sequence of initial reaction steps, the identification of this species represents a key finding towards the mechanistic understanding of biological hydrogen evolution.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Morard, G.; Andrault, D.; Antonangeli, D.; Nakajima, Y.; Auzende, A. L.; Boulard, E.; Cervera, S.; Clark, A.; Lord, O. T.; Siebert, J.; Svitlyk, V.; Garbarino, G.; Mezouar, M.
2017-09-01
Eutectic melting temperatures in the Fe-FeO and Fe-Fe3C systems have been determined up to 150 GPa. Melting criteria include observation of a diffuse scattering signal by in situ X-Ray diffraction, and textural characterisation of recovered samples. In addition, compositions of eutectic liquids have been established by combining in situ Rietveld analyses with ex situ chemical analyses. Gathering these new results together with previous reports on Fe-S and Fe-Si systems allow us to discuss the specific effect of each light element (Si, S, O, C) on the melting properties of the outer core. Crystallization temperatures of Si-rich core compositional models are too high to be compatible with the absence of extensive mantle melting at the core-mantle boundary (CMB) and significant amounts of volatile elements such as S and/or C (>5 at%, corresponding to >2 wt%), or a large amount of O (>15 at% corresponding to ∼5 wt%) are required to reduce the crystallisation temperature of the core material below that of a peridotitic lower mantle.
Helisch, A; Schirrmacher, E; Thews, O; Schirrmacher, R; Buchholz, H G; Dillenburg, W; Höhnemann, S; Tillmanns, J; Wessler, I; Buhl, R; Rösch, F; Bartenstein, P
2005-11-01
The new beta2 radioligand (R,R)(S,S) 5-(2-(2-[4-(2-[18F]fluoroethoxy)phenyl]-1-methylethylamino)-1-hydroxyethyl)-benzene-1,3-diol ([18F]FE-fenoterol; [18F]FEFE), a fluoroethylated derivative of racemic fenoterol, was evaluated in vivo and ex vivo using a guinea pig model. Dynamic PET studies over 60 min with [(18)F]FEFE were performed in nine Hartley guinea pigs in which a baseline (group 1, n=3), a predose (group 2, n=3; 2 mg/kg fenoterol 5 min prior to injection of [18F]FEFE) or a displacement study (group 3, n=3; 2 mg/kg fenoterol 5 min post injection of [18F]FEFE) was conducted. In all animal groups, the lungs could be visualised and semi-quantified separately by calculating uptake ratios to non-specific binding in the neck area. Premedication with non-radioactive fenoterol and displacement tests showed significant reduction of lung uptake, by 94% and 76%, respectively. These data demonstrate specific binding of the new radioligand to the pulmonary beta2-receptors in accordance with ex vivo measurements. Therefore, [18F]FEFE seems to be suitable for the in vivo visualisation and quantification of the pulmonary beta2-receptor binding in this animal model.
Katz, S.; Noth, J.; Shafaat, H. S.; Happe, T.; Hildebrandt, P.
2016-01-01
[FeFe] hydrogenases are biocatalytic model systems for the exploitation and investigation of catalytic hydrogen evolution. Here, we used vibrational spectroscopic techniques to characterize, in detail, redox transformations of the [FeFe] and [4Fe4S] sub-sites of the catalytic centre (H-cluster) in a monomeric [FeFe] hydrogenase. Through the application of low-temperature resonance Raman spectroscopy, we discovered a novel metastable intermediate that is characterized by an oxidized [FeIFeII] centre and a reduced [4Fe4S]1+ cluster. Based on this unusual configuration, this species is assigned to the first, deprotonated H-cluster intermediate of the [FeFe] hydrogenase catalytic cycle. Providing insights into the sequence of initial reaction steps, the identification of this species represents a key finding towards the mechanistic understanding of biological hydrogen evolution. PMID:28451119
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Haynes, Deborah C.; Chinadle, Nicole
2007-01-01
The Family Economics and Financial Education Project (FEFE) began in 2001 at Montana State University with an annual grant from Take Charge America, Inc., a credit counseling and debt management company headquartered in Phoenix, Arizona. FEFE's mission is to provide educators with curriculum materials and training to be effective teachers of…
Molecular orbital (SCF-Xα-SW) theory of metal-metal charge transfer processes in minerals
Sherman, David M.
1987-01-01
Electronic transitions between the Fe-Fe bonding and Fe-Fe antibonding orbitals results in the optically-induced intervalence charge transfer bands observed in the electronic spectra of mixed valence minerals. Such transitions are predicted to be polarized along the metal-metal bond direction, in agreement with experimental observations.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Le, Giang H.; Ha, Anh Q.; Nguyen, Quang K.; Nguyen, Kien T.; Dang, Phuong T.; Tran, Hoa T. K.; Vu, Loi D.; Nguyen, Tuyen V.; Lee, Gun D.; Vu, Tuan A.
2016-10-01
The nano Fe-Fe3O4/graphene oxide (GO) was successfully synthesized by the precipitation method and followed by chemical reduction using FeCl3 as iron sources and NaBH4 as reducing agent. The products were characterized by x-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, transmission electron microscopy (TEM), BET, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and VMS. From the obtained XRD and XPS results, it revealed the formation of both Fe and Fe3O4 nano particles on GO surface. TEM images showed that both Fe3O4/GO and Fe-Fe3O4/GO had small particle size of 10-20 nm and uniform size distribution. Fe3O4/GO and Fe-Fe3O4/GO were used as adsorbents for removal of Cd2+ and Cu2+ ions from aqueous solution. Maximum adsorption capacity (Q max) of Fe-Fe3O4/GO for Cu2+ and Cd2+ are 90.0 mg g-1 and 108.6 mg g-1, respectively. These values are much higher as compared to those of Fe3O4/GO as well as those reported in the literature. Additionally, this novel adsorbent can be reused by washing with diluted Hcl solution and easily recovered by applying the magnetic field. The Cd2+ adsorption isotherm fits better for the Langmuir model that of the Freundlich model and it obeys the pseudo-second order kinetic equation.
Nanoplatforms for highly sensitive fluorescence detection of cancer-related proteases.
Wang, Hongwang; Udukala, Dinusha N; Samarakoon, Thilani N; Basel, Matthew T; Kalita, Mausam; Abayaweera, Gayani; Manawadu, Harshi; Malalasekera, Aruni; Robinson, Colette; Villanueva, David; Maynez, Pamela; Bossmann, Leonie; Riedy, Elizabeth; Barriga, Jenny; Wang, Ni; Li, Ping; Higgins, Daniel A; Zhu, Gaohong; Troyer, Deryl L; Bossmann, Stefan H
2014-02-01
Numerous proteases are known to be necessary for cancer development and progression including matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs), tissue serine proteases, and cathepsins. The goal of this research is to develop an Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticle-based system for clinical diagnostics, which has the potential to measure the activity of cancer-associated proteases in biospecimens. Nanoparticle-based "light switches" for measuring protease activity consist of fluorescent cyanine dyes and porphyrins that are attached to Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticles via consensus sequences. These consensus sequences can be cleaved in the presence of the correct protease, thus releasing a fluorescent dye from the Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticle, resulting in highly sensitive (down to 1 × 10(-16) mol l(-1) for 12 proteases), selective, and fast nanoplatforms (required time: 60 min).
The bonding of FeN2, FeCO, and Fe2N2 - Model systems for side-on bonding of CO and N2
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Bauschlicher, Charles W., Jr.; Pettersson, Lars G. M.; Siegbahn, Per E. M.
1987-01-01
Qualitative calculations are performed to elucidate the nature of the side-on interaction of both N2 and CO with a single Fe atom. The systems are found to be quite similar, with bonding leading to an increase in the CO or N2 bond length and a decrease in the vibrational frequency. The CO or N2 stretching modes lead to a large dipole derivative along the metal-ligand bond axis. The populations show an almost identical, large donation from the Fe 3d orbitals into the CO or N2 Pi-asterisk. The larger system Fe2N2 is then considered, with the N2 bridging the Fe2, both parallel and perpendicular to the Fe2 bond axis for two different Fe-Fe distances. For FeN2, the shift in the observed N2 frequency is smaller than observed for the alpha state of N2/Fe(111). The shift in the N2 vibrational frequency increases when the N2 interacts with two Fe atoms, either at the Fe-Fe nearest neighbor distance or at the first layer Fe-Fe distance, when the side-on N2 axis is oriented perpendicular to an Fe-Fe bond.
Tang, Lin; Feng, Haopeng; Tang, Jing; Zeng, Guangming; Deng, Yaocheng; Wang, Jiajia; Liu, Yani; Zhou, Yaoyu
2017-06-15
High concentration of arsenic in acid wastewater and polluted river sediment caused by metallurgical industry has presented a great environmental challenge for decades. Nanoscale zero valent iron (nZVI) can detoxify arsenic-bearing wastewater and groundwater, but the low adsorption capacity and rapid passivation restrict its large-scale application. This study proposed a highly efficient arsenic treatment nanotechnology, using the core-shell Fe@Fe 2 O 3 nanobunches (NBZI) for removal of arsenic in acid wastewater with cyclic stability and transformation of arsenic speciation in sediment. The adsorption capacity of As(III) by NBZI was 60 times as high as that of nanoscale zero valent iron (nZVI) at neutral pH. Characterization of the prepared materials after reaction revealed that the contents of As(III) and As(V) were 65% and 35% under aerobic conditions, respectively, which is the evidence of oxidation included in the reaction process apart from adsorption and co-precipitation. The presence of oxygen was proved to improve the adsorption ability of the prepared NBZI towards As(III) with the removal efficiency increasing from 68% to 92%. In order to further enhance the performance of NBZI-2 in the absence of oxygen, a new Fenton-Like system of NBZI/H 2 O 2 to remove arsenic under the anoxic condition was also proposed. Furthermore, the removal efficiency of arsenic in acid wastewater remained to be 78% after 9 times of cycling. Meanwhile, most of the mobile fraction of arsenic in river sediment was transformed into residues after NBZI treatment for 20 days. The reaction mechanism between NBZI and arsenic was discussed in detail at last, indicating great potential of NBZI for the treatment of arsenic in wastewater and sediment. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tegafaw, Tirusew; Xu, Wenlong; Lee, Sang Hyup; Chae, Kwon Seok; Chang, Yongmin; Lee, Gang Ho
2017-02-01
Iron (Fe)-based nanoparticles are extremely valuable in biomedical applications owing to their low toxicity and high magnetization values at room temperature. In this study, we synthesized nearly monodisperse iron oxide (Fe3O4) and Fe@Fe3O4 (core: Fe, shell: Fe3O4) nanoparticles in aqueous medium under argon flow and then, coated them with various biocompatible ligands and silica. In this study, eight types of surface-modified nanoparticles were investigated, namely, Fe3O4@PAA (PAA = polyacrylic acid; Mw of PAA = 5100 amu and 15,000 amu), Fe3O4@PAA-FA (FA = folic acid; Mw of PAA = 5100 amu and 15,000 amu), Fe3O4@PEI-fluorescein (PEI = polyethylenimine; Mw of PEI = 1300 amu), Fe@Fe3O4@PEI (Mw of PEI = 10,000 amu), Fe3O4@SiO2 and Fe@Fe3O4@SiO2 nanoparticles. We characterized the prepared surface-modified nanoparticles using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) absorption spectroscopy, a superconducting quantum interference device (SQUID), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), photoluminescence (PL) spectroscopy and confocal microscopy. Finally, we measured the cytotoxicity of the samples. The results indicate that the surface-modified nanoparticles are biocompatible and are potential candidates for various biomedical applications.
Regioselectivity of H Cluster Oxidation
2011-01-01
The H2-evolving potential of [FeFe] hydrogenases is severely limited by the oxygen sensitivity of this class of enzymes. Recent experimental studies on hydrogenase from C. reinhardtii point to O2-induced structural changes in the [Fe4S4] subsite of the H cluster. Here, we investigate the mechanistic basis of this observation by means of density functional theory. Unexpectedly, we find that the isolated H cluster shows a pathological catalytic activity for the formation of reactive oxygen species such as O2– and HO2–. After protonation of O2–, an OOH radical may coordinate to the Fe atoms of the cubane, whereas H2O2 specifically reacts with the S atoms of the cubane-coordinating cysteine residues. Both pathways are accompanied by significant structural distortions that compromise cluster integrity and thus catalytic activity. These results explain the experimental observation that O2-induced inhibition is accompanied by distortions of the [Fe4S4] moiety and account for the irreversibility of this process. PMID:22106822
Lin, Kuen-Song; Adhikari, Abhijit Krishna; Wang, Chi-Yu; Hsu, Pei-Ju; Chan, Ho-Yang
2013-04-01
The decomposition of CO2 over oxygen deficient nickel ferrite nanoparticles (NFNs) and zinc ferrite nanoparticles (ZFNs) at 573 K was studied. The oxidation states with fine structure of Fe/Ni or Fe/Zn species were also measured in NFNs and ZFNs catalysts, respectively. Oxygen deficiency of catalysts was obtained by reduction in hydrogen. Decomposition of CO2 into carbon and oxygen has been carried out within few minutes when it comes into contact with oxygen deficient catalysts through incorporation of oxygen into ferrite nanoparticles. Oxygen and carbon rather than CO were produced in the decomposition process. The complete decomposition of CO2 was possible because of higher degree of oxygen deficiency andsurface-to-volume ratio of the catalysts. The pre-edge XANES spectra of Fe species in both catalysts exhibit an absorbance feature at 7114 eV for the 1s to 3d transition which is forbidden by the selection rule in case of perfect octahedral symmetry. The EXAFS data showed that the NFNs had two central Fe atoms coordinated by primarily Fe-O and Fe-Fe with bond distances of 1.871 and 3.051 angstroms, respectively. In case of ZFNs these values are 1.889 and 3.062 A, respectively. Methane gas was produced during the reactivation of NFNs by flowing hydrogen gas. Decomposition of CO2, moreover, recovery of valuable methane using heat energy of offgas produced from power generation plant or steel industry is an appealing alternative for energy recovery.
Sherman, David M.
1986-01-01
A molecular orbital description, based on spin-unrestricted X??-scattered wave calculations, is given for the electronic structures of mixed valence iron oxides and silicates. The cluster calculations show that electron hopping and optical intervalence charge-transger result from weak FeFe bonding across shared edges of FeO6 coordination polyhedra. In agreement with Zener's double exchange model, FeFe bonding is found to stabilize ferromagnetic coupling between Fe2+ and Fe3+ cations. ?? 1986.
Fabrication of superhydrophobic Pt3Fe/Fe surface for its application
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cui, Shuo; Lu, Shixiang; Xu, Wenguo; Wu, Bei
2017-10-01
Well-defined Pt3Fe/Fe superhydrophobic materials on iron sheet with special properties, such as corrosion resistance, superhydrophobicity and superoleophilicity, was fabricated. The fabrication process involved etching in hydrochloric acid aqueous solution and simple replacement deposition process without using any seed and organic solvent, and then annealing. The electrochemical measurements show that the resultant surface in 3.5% sodium chloride solution displays good corrosion resistance. Also, it is proved that the obtained surface has better mechanical abrasion resistance via scratch test. The superoleophilicity and low water adhesion force of the obtained surface endow it high oil/water separation capacity. The as-prepared nanocomposites display enhanced catalytic activity and kinetics toward degradation of methyl orange. In particular, it possesses the most efficient degradation capacity (95%) towards methyl orange at a high concentration (17.5 mg/L) in 80 min. The improved stability and excellent catalytic activity of the Pt3Fe/Fe nanocomposites promise new opportunities for the development of waste water treatment.
First aid - heart attack; First aid - cardiopulmonary arrest; First aid - cardiac arrest ... A heart attack occurs when the blood flow that carries oxygen to the heart is blocked. The heart muscle ...
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Bauschlicher, Charles W., Jr.
1986-01-01
The bonding in Fe2(CO)9 is analyzed using an self consistend field (SCF) wave function for a large basis set. There is no direct Fe-Fe metal-metal bond. The bridging CO's hold the two Fe(CO)3 fragments together by a sigma donation into the empty Fe-Fe d pi orbital and metal donation from the d pi* orbital into the CO 2pi* orbital. The bonding of the terminal CO is similar to that in Ni(CO)4 and the equatorial groups in Fe(CO)5.
Thrombolytic drugs for heart attack
... gov/ency/article/007488.htm Thrombolytic drugs for heart attack To use the sharing features on this page, ... supply blood and oxygen to the heart. A heart attack can occur if a blood clot stops the ...
Heart Attack Coronary Artery Disease
... our e-newsletter! Aging & Health A to Z Heart Attack Coronary Artery Disease, Angina Basic Facts & Information What ... and oxygen supply; this is what causes a heart attack. If the damaged area is small, however, your ...
Evers, Stefan; Rapoport, Alan
2017-04-01
Background Oxygen is recommended for the treatment of acute cluster headache attacks. However, it is not available worldwide. Methods The International Headache Society performed a survey among its national member societies on the availability and the restrictions for oxygen in the treatment of cluster headache. Results Oxygen is reimbursed in 50% of all countries responding ( n = 22). There are additional restrictions in the reimbursement of the facial mask and with respect to age. Conclusion Oxygen for the treatment of cluster headache attack is not reimbursed worldwide. Headache societies should pressure national/public health authorities to reimburse oxygen for cluster headache in all countries.
Tylus, Urszula; Jia, Qingying; Strickland, Kara; Ramaswamy, Nagappan; Serov, Alexey; Atanassov, Plamen; Mukerjee, Sanjeev
2014-05-01
Detailed understanding of the nature of the active centers in non-precious-metal-based electrocatalyst, and their role in oxygen reduction reaction (ORR) mechanistic pathways will have a profound effect on successful commercialization of emission-free energy devices such as fuel cells. Recently, using pyrolyzed model structures of iron porphyrins, we have demonstrated that a covalent integration of the Fe-N x sites into π-conjugated carbon basal plane modifies electron donating/withdrawing capability of the carbonaceous ligand, consequently improving ORR activity. Here, we employ a combination of in situ X-ray spectroscopy and electrochemical methods to identify the various structural and functional forms of the active centers in non-heme Fe/N/C catalysts. Both methods corroboratively confirm the single site 2e - × 2e - mechanism in alkaline media on the primary Fe 2+ -N 4 centers and the dual-site 2e - × 2e - mechanism in acid media with the significant role of the surface bound coexisting Fe/Fe x O y nanoparticles (NPs) as the secondary active sites.
Atomic Oxygen Erosion Yield Dependence Upon Texture Development in Polymers
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; Loftus, Ryan J.; Miller, Sharon K.
2016-01-01
The atomic oxygen erosion yield (volume of a polymer that is lost due to oxidation per incident atom) of polymers is typically assumed to be reasonably constant with increasing fluence. However polymers containing ash or inorganic pigments, tend to have erosion yields that decrease with fluence due to an increasing presence of protective particles on the polymer surface. This paper investigates two additional possible causes for erosion yields of polymers that are dependent upon atomic oxygen. These are the development of surface texture which can cause the erosion yield to change with fluence due to changes in the aspect ratio of the surface texture that develops and polymer specific atomic oxygen interaction parameters. The surface texture development under directed hyperthermal attack produces higher aspect ratio surface texture than isotropic thermal energy atomic oxygen attack. The fluence dependence of erosion yields is documented for low Kapton H (DuPont, Wilmington, DE) effective fluences for a variety of polymers under directed hyperthermal and isotropic thermal energy attack.
Ejaz, Sohail; Emmrich, Julius V; Sitnikov, Sergey L; Hong, Young T; Sawiak, Stephen J; Fryer, Tim D; Aigbirhio, Franklin I; Williamson, David J; Baron, Jean-Claude
2016-03-01
'True' transient ischaemic attacks are characterized not only clinically, but also radiologically by a lack of corresponding changes on magnetic resonance imaging. During a transient ischaemic attack it is assumed that the affected tissue is penumbral but rescued by early spontaneous reperfusion. There is, however, evidence from rodent studies that even brief focal ischaemia not resulting in tissue infarction can cause extensive selective neuronal loss associated with long-lasting sensorimotor impairment but normal magnetic resonance imaging. Selective neuronal loss might therefore contribute to the increasingly recognized cognitive impairment occurring in patients with transient ischaemic attacks. It is therefore relevant to consider treatments to reduce brain damage occurring with transient ischaemic attacks. As penumbral neurons are threatened by markedly constrained oxygen delivery, improving the latter by increasing arterial O2 content would seem logical. Despite only small increases in arterial O2 content, normobaric oxygen therapy experimentally induces significant increases in penumbral O2 pressure and by such may maintain the penumbra alive until reperfusion. Nevertheless, the effects of normobaric oxygen therapy on infarct volume in rodent models have been conflicting, although duration of occlusion appeared an important factor. Likewise, in the single randomized trial published to date, early-administered normobaric oxygen therapy had no significant effect on clinical outcome despite reduced diffusion-weighted imaging lesion growth during therapy. Here we tested the hypothesis that normobaric oxygen therapy prevents both selective neuronal loss and sensorimotor deficits in a rodent model mimicking true transient ischaemic attack. Normobaric oxygen therapy was applied from the onset and until completion of 15 min distal middle cerebral artery occlusion in spontaneously hypertensive rats, a strain representative of the transient ischaemic attack-prone population. Whereas normoxic controls showed normal magnetic resonance imaging but extensive cortical selective neuronal loss associated with microglial activation (present both at Day 14 in vivo and at Day 28 post-mortem) and marked and long-lasting sensorimotor deficits, normobaric oxygen therapy completely prevented sensorimotor deficit (P < 0.02) and near-completely Day 28 selective neuronal loss (P < 0.005). Microglial activation was substantially reduced at Day 14 and completely prevented at Day 28 (P = 0.002). Our findings document that normobaric oxygen therapy administered during ischaemia nearly completely prevents the neuronal death, microglial inflammation and sensorimotor impairment that characterize this rodent true transient ischaemic attack model. Taken together with the available literature, normobaric oxygen therapy appears a promising therapy for short-lasting ischaemia, and is attractive clinically as it could be started at home in at-risk patients or in the ambulance in subjects suspected of transient ischaemic attack/early stroke. It may also be a straightforward adjunct to reperfusion therapies, and help prevent subtle brain damage potentially contributing to long-term cognitive and sensorimotor impairment in at-risk populations. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Fabricating niobium test loops for the SP-100 space reactor
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Bryhan, Anthony J.; Chan, Ricky C.
1993-01-01
This article describes the successful fabrication, operation, and evaluation of a series of niobium-alloy (Nb-1 Zr and PWC-11) thermal convection loops designed to contain and circulate molten lithium at 1,350 K. These loops were used to establish the fabrication variables of significance for a nuclear power supply for space. Approximately 200 weldments were evaluated for their tendency to be attacked by lithium as a function of varying atmospheric contamination. No attack occurred for any weldment free of contamination, with or without heat treatment, and no welds accidentally deviated from purity. The threshold oxygen content for weldment attack was determined to be 170-200 ppm. Attack varied directly with weldment oxygen and nitrogen contents.
[FeFe]- and [NiFe]-hydrogenase diversity, mechanism, and maturation.
Peters, John W; Schut, Gerrit J; Boyd, Eric S; Mulder, David W; Shepard, Eric M; Broderick, Joan B; King, Paul W; Adams, Michael W W
2015-06-01
The [FeFe]- and [NiFe]-hydrogenases catalyze the formal interconversion between hydrogen and protons and electrons, possess characteristic non-protein ligands at their catalytic sites and thus share common mechanistic features. Despite the similarities between these two types of hydrogenases, they clearly have distinct evolutionary origins and likely emerged from different selective pressures. [FeFe]-hydrogenases are widely distributed in fermentative anaerobic microorganisms and likely evolved under selective pressure to couple hydrogen production to the recycling of electron carriers that accumulate during anaerobic metabolism. In contrast, many [NiFe]-hydrogenases catalyze hydrogen oxidation as part of energy metabolism and were likely key enzymes in early life and arguably represent the predecessors of modern respiratory metabolism. Although the reversible combination of protons and electrons to generate hydrogen gas is the simplest of chemical reactions, the [FeFe]- and [NiFe]-hydrogenases have distinct mechanisms and differ in the fundamental chemistry associated with proton transfer and control of electron flow that also help to define catalytic bias. A unifying feature of these enzymes is that hydrogen activation itself has been restricted to one solution involving diatomic ligands (carbon monoxide and cyanide) bound to an Fe ion. On the other hand, and quite remarkably, the biosynthetic mechanisms to produce these ligands are exclusive to each type of enzyme. Furthermore, these mechanisms represent two independent solutions to the formation of complex bioinorganic active sites for catalyzing the simplest of chemical reactions, reversible hydrogen oxidation. As such, the [FeFe]- and [NiFe]-hydrogenases are arguably the most profound case of convergent evolution. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled: Fe/S proteins: Analysis, structure, function, biogenesis and diseases. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bondin, Mark I.; Borg, Stacey J.; Cheah, Mun-Hon; Best, Stephen P.
2006-11-01
Thiolate-bridged diiron compounds that are related to the active site of the [Fe-Fe] hydrogenase enzyme have been shown to act as electrocatalysts for reduction of protons. The use of XAFS for clarification of the structures of intermediates formed following reduction of related diiron carbonyl compounds is described. These measurements allow the determination of Fe-Fe and Fe-S bond lengths with good reliability and when used in conjunction with the standard bonding models this provides a means of validating the structures proposed for longer-lived ( t>20 s at -50 °C) reaction intermediates.
Iadecola, A; Joseph, B; Simonelli, L; Puri, A; Mizuguchi, Y; Takeya, H; Takano, Y; Saini, N L
2012-03-21
We have measured the local structure of superconducting K(0.8)Fe(1.6)Se(2) chalcogenide (T(c) = 31.8 K) by temperature dependent polarized extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) at the Fe and Se K-edges. We find that the system is characterized by a large local disorder. The Fe-Se and Fe-Fe distances are found to be shorter than the distances measured by diffraction, while the corresponding mean square relative displacements reveal large Fe-site disorder and relatively large c-axis disorder. The local force constant for the Fe-Se bondlength (k ~ 5.8 eV Å(-2)) is similar to the one found in the binary FeSe superconductor, however, the Fe-Fe bondlength appears to be flexible (k ~ 2.1 eV Å(-2)) in comparison to the binary FeSe (k ~ 3.5 eV Å(-2)), an indication of partly relaxed Fe-Fe networks in K(0.8)Fe(1.6)Se(2). The results suggest a glassy nature for the title system, with the superconductivity being similar to that in the granular materials. © 2012 IOP Publishing Ltd
Nanoparticulate mackinawite formation; a stopped and continuous flow XANES and EXAFS investigation
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Butler, I. B.; Bell, A. M.; Charnock, J. M.; Rickard, D.; Vaughan, D. J.; Oldroyd, A.
2009-12-01
The sequestration of sulfur and iron within sedimentary iron sulfides, and ultimately as pyrite, is a major sink in global biogeochemical cycles of those elements and has impacts on global carbon and oxygen cycles. The formation of the metastable black iron (II) monosulfide mackinawite is a key process because mackinawite forms in aqueous solutions where the Fe(II) and S(-II) IAP exceeds mackinawite’s Ksp. Mackinawite is the first formed iron sulfide phase, a consequence of Ostwald’s step rule and is a reactant phase during the formation of thermodynamically stable sedimentary iron sulfide minerals such as pyrite. The reaction of dissolved Fe(II) and sulfide is extremely fast and reactions in the environmentally significant near-neutral pH range tend to completion in <1 second. We have combined stopped and continuous flow techniques with X-ray absorption spectroscopy to evaluate the products of the fast precipitation kinetics of mackinawite over millisecond timescales. EXAFS spectra and data collected during flow experiments were compared with those from a well characterised freeze-dried nanoparticulate mackinawite standard and with published data. Published work has used Rietveld crystal structure refinement to determine bond distances of 2.2558 and 2.5976Å for Fe-S and Fe-Fe respectively. In our experiments Fe K edge XANES is consistent with tetrahedrally coordinated Fe in the precipitated sulfide phase. EXAFS data show that local Fe-S and Fe-Fe coordination and interatomic distances (Fe-S = 2.24Å; Fe-Fe = 2.57Å) are consistent with those determined for the standard mackinawite and published data. The coordination and spacing are developed in the precipitated phase after <10ms reaction at pH5, and considerably faster in experiments at near neutral to alkaline pH. No evidence for phases structurally intermediate between hexaqua Fe(II) and precipitated mackinawite was observed. Aqueous FeS° cluster complexes previously identified as intermediates during mackinawite formation and iron sulfide mineral transformations did not contribute significantly to the EXAFS spectra collected. For environmental, geological and biogeochemical applications, the precipitation of the mineral mackinawite can be considered to proceed rapidly from aqueous Fe(II) and S(-II) ions to the nanoparticulate crystalline mineral. The materials labelled “disordered mackinawite”, or “amorphous FeS” phase which have been widely quoted in the iron sulfide literature do not form at any stage of the precipitation of mackinawite from aqueous solutions. Physical and chemical properties previously ascribed to an amorphous or disordered structure are a consequence of the nanoparticulate form of the first precipitated solid.
Process and genes for expression and overexpression of active [FeFe] hydrogenases
Seibert, Michael; King, Paul W; Ghirardi, Maria Lucia; Posewitz, Matthew C; Smolinski, Sharon L
2014-09-16
A process for expression of active [FeFe]-hydrogenase in a host organism that does not contain either the structural gene(s) for [FeFe]-hydrogenases and/or homologues for the maturation genes HydE, HydF and HyG, comprising: cloning the structural hydrogenase gene(s) and/or the maturation genes HydE, HydF and HydG from an organisms that contains these genes into expression plasmids; transferring the plasmids into an organism that lacks a native [FeFe]-hydrogenase or that has a disrupted [FeFe]-hydrogenase and culturing it aerobically; and inducing anaerobiosis to provide [FeFe] hydrogenase biosynthesis and H?2#191 production.
Melting relations in the Fe-rich portion of the system FeFeS at 30 kb pressure
Brett, R.; Bell, P.M.
1969-01-01
The melting relations of FeFeS mixtures covering the composition range from Fe to Fe67S33 have been determined at 30 kb pressure. The phase relations are similar to those at low pressure. The eutectic has a composition of Fe72.9S27.1 and a temperature of 990??C. Solubility of S in Fe at elevated temperatures at 30 kb is of the same order of magnitude as at low pressure. Sulfur may have significantly lowered the melting point of iron in the upper mantle during the period of coalescence of metal prior to core formation in the primitive earth. ?? 1969.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Harris, Bradley J.; Cheng, Xiaolin; Frymier, Paul
2015-12-15
All-atom molecular dynamics (MD) simulation was used to study the solution dynamics and protein protein interactions of protein fusions of photosystem I (PSI) from Thermosynechococcus elongatus and an [FeFe]-hydrogenase (FeFe H 2ase) from Clostridium pasteurianum, a unique complex capable of photocatalytic hydrogen production. This study involved fusions of these two proteins via dithiol linkers of different length including decanedithiol, octanedithiol, and hexanedithiol, for which experimental data had previously been obtained. Evaluation of root-mean-squared deviations (RMSDs) relative to the respective crystal structures of PSI and the FeFe H 2ase shows that these fusion complexes approach stable equilibrium conformations during the MDmore » simulations. Investigating protein mobility via root-mean-squared fluctuations (RMSFs) reveals that tethering via the shortest hexanedithiol linker results in increased atomic fluctuations of both PSI and the hydrogenase in these fusion complexes. Furthermore, evaluation of the inter- and intraprotein electron transfer distances in these fusion complexes indicates that the structural changes in the FeFe H 2ase arising from ligation to PSI via the shortest hexanedithiol linker may hinder electron transport in the hydrogenase, thus providing a molecular level explanation for the observation that the medium-length octanedithiol linker gives the highest hydrogen production rate.« less
Waychunas, G.A.; Fuller, C.C.; Rea, B.A.; Davis, J.A.
1996-01-01
Wide angle X-ray scattering (WAXS) measurements have been made on a suite of "two-line" ferrihydrite (FHY2) samples containing varying amounts of coprecipitated arsenate. Samples prepared at pH 8 with counter ions chloride, nitrate, and a mixture of both also were examined. The raw WAXS scattering functions show that "two-line" ferrihydrite actually has a large number of non-Bragg (i.e., diffuse scattering) maxima up to our observation limit of 16 A??-1. The type of counter ion used during synthesis produces no significant change in this function. In unarsenated samples, Radial Distribution Functions (RDFs) produced from the scattering functions show a well-defined Fe-O peak at 2.02 A?? in excellent agreement with the mean distance of 2.01 A?? from extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) analysis. The area under the Fe-O peak is consistent with only octahedral oxygen coordination about iron, and an iron coordination about oxygen of 2.2, in agreement with the EXAFS results, the sample composition, and XANES measurements. The second peak observed in the RDFs is clearly divided into two populations of correlations, at 3.07 and 3.52 A??, respectively. These distances are close to the EXAFS-derived Fe-Fe subshell distances of 3.02-3.05 and 3.43-3.46 A??, respectively, though this is misleading as the RDF peaks also include contributions from O-Fe and O-O correlations. Simulated RDFs of the FeOOH polymorphs indicate how the observed RDF structure relates to the EXAFS pair-correlation function, and allow comparisons with an ordered ferrihydrite structure. The effect of increasing arsenate content is dramatic, as the RDF peaks are progressively smeared out, indicating a wider range of interatomic distances even at moderate surface coverages, and a loss of longer range correlations. At an As/Fe ratio of 0.68, the surface saturation level of arsenate, the RDF shows little order beyond what would be expected from small pieces of dioctahedral Fe oxyhydroxyl chains or small "sheet" units. Analysis of the first RDF peak yields components due to As-O and Fe-O correlations. As the As-O component at 1.67 A?? increases in size, the Fe-O component decreases, reflecting a decrease in Fe coordination about the average oxygen. This reduction is consistent with a decrease in mean crystallite size as suggested by EXAFS studies. Analysis of the second RDF peak components shows the progressive decrease in Fe-Fe correlations, and the enhancement of As-Fe correlations, as arsenate level increases. Comparison of the experimental RDF from coprecipitated arsenate-saturated FHY2 with simulated RDFs of model iron oxyhydroxyl structures further constrains possible sizes and geometry for the precipitates, and is consistent with sorbed complexes of the bidentate binuclear (apical oxygen sharing) type.
O'Brien, Megan; Ford, Janet H; Aurora, Sheena K; Govindan, Sriram; Tepper, Deborah E; Tepper, Stewart J
2017-10-01
Cluster headache (CH) is a primary headache disorder associated with low levels of diagnosis and high unmet medical need. The pain attacks, associated anxiety, and fear in anticipation of the attacks are extremely debilitating to a patient with CH. For acute therapy, treatment guidelines recommend inhalation of high flow oxygen during the period of an attack. However, the use of oxygen for treatment of CH remains largely underutilized. The objectives of the study, which covered each of the US states, were to map the current market landscape of medical grade oxygen for use in CH and to develop a cost simulator based on a patient's needs and geography. Desk research was undertaken to obtain price lists and product catalogs from wholesale and retail suppliers of medical grade oxygen across all US states. Base case scenarios for chronic and episodic forms of CH were assumed. A cost simulator was used to calculate the cost of oxygen use using inputs including the state in USA, tank size and price, exacerbations per year, duration of exacerbation, attacks per day, flow rate and duration of flow. Information was also collected to determine if healthcare insurers covered the costs of home oxygen use for CH. Out of the 42 US states where pricing information of medical grade oxygen was available from suppliers, in 38 states the annual cost of high-flow oxygen for a patient with episodic CH was estimated to be <$1000. In 39 states, the annual cost of high-flow oxygen for a patient with chronic CH was estimated to be <$5000. Most of the home oxygen suppliers were familiar with CH and stocked the special non-rebreather masks and regulators necessary for this condition. It was found that many of the private commercial healthcare insurance providers reimbursed the cost of oxygen use for CH. However, the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) maintains there is insufficient evidence for coverage and continues to deny coverage for US Medicare and Medicaid patients. Results from our study showed that the current costs for oxygen use as an acute therapy in CH are not prohibitively expensive for patients and healthcare insurance providers. Apart from CMS, many insurers do reimburse the cost of oxygen use for CH. Our study suggests that further research is needed to determine if a lack of physician awareness about treatments and ways to prescribe are barriers for patients to access the high-flow oxygen treatment. © 2017 American Headache Society.
Carbon dioxide hydrogenation to aromatic hydrocarbons by using an iron/iron oxide nanocatalyst.
Wang, Hongwang; Hodgson, Jim; Shrestha, Tej B; Thapa, Prem S; Moore, David; Wu, Xiaorong; Ikenberry, Myles; Troyer, Deryl L; Wang, Donghai; Hohn, Keith L; Bossmann, Stefan H
2014-01-01
The quest for renewable and cleaner energy sources to meet the rapid population and economic growth is more urgent than ever before. Being the most abundant carbon source in the atmosphere of Earth, CO2 can be used as an inexpensive C1 building block in the synthesis of aromatic fuels for internal combustion engines. We designed a process capable of synthesizing benzene, toluene, xylenes and mesitylene from CO2 and H2 at modest temperatures (T = 380 to 540 °C) employing Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticles as catalyst. The synthesis of the catalyst and the mechanism of CO2-hydrogenation will be discussed, as well as further applications of Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticles in catalysis.
Carbon dioxide hydrogenation to aromatic hydrocarbons by using an iron/iron oxide nanocatalyst
Hodgson, Jim; Shrestha, Tej B; Thapa, Prem S; Moore, David; Wu, Xiaorong; Ikenberry, Myles; Troyer, Deryl L; Wang, Donghai; Hohn, Keith L
2014-01-01
Summary The quest for renewable and cleaner energy sources to meet the rapid population and economic growth is more urgent than ever before. Being the most abundant carbon source in the atmosphere of Earth, CO2 can be used as an inexpensive C1 building block in the synthesis of aromatic fuels for internal combustion engines. We designed a process capable of synthesizing benzene, toluene, xylenes and mesitylene from CO2 and H2 at modest temperatures (T = 380 to 540 °C) employing Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticles as catalyst. The synthesis of the catalyst and the mechanism of CO2-hydrogenation will be discussed, as well as further applications of Fe/Fe3O4 nanoparticles in catalysis. PMID:24991513
Monte Carlo Technique Used to Model the Degradation of Internal Spacecraft Surfaces by Atomic Oxygen
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; Miller, Sharon K.
2004-01-01
Atomic oxygen is one of the predominant constituents of Earth's upper atmosphere. It is created by the photodissociation of molecular oxygen (O2) into single O atoms by ultraviolet radiation. It is chemically very reactive because a single O atom readily combines with another O atom or with other atoms or molecules that can form a stable oxide. The effects of atomic oxygen on the external surfaces of spacecraft in low Earth orbit can have dire consequences for spacecraft life, and this is a well-known and much studied problem. Much less information is known about the effects of atomic oxygen on the internal surfaces of spacecraft. This degradation can occur when openings in components of the spacecraft exterior exist that allow the entry of atomic oxygen into regions that may not have direct atomic oxygen attack but rather scattered attack. Openings can exist because of spacecraft venting, microwave cavities, and apertures for Earth viewing, Sun sensors, or star trackers. The effects of atomic oxygen erosion of polymers interior to an aperture on a spacecraft were simulated at the NASA Glenn Research Center by using Monte Carlo computational techniques. A two-dimensional model was used to provide quantitative indications of the attenuation of atomic oxygen flux as a function of the distance into a parallel-walled cavity. The model allows the atomic oxygen arrival direction, the Maxwell Boltzman temperature, and the ram energy to be varied along with the interaction parameters of the degree of recombination upon impact with polymer or nonreactive surfaces, the initial reaction probability, the reaction probability dependence upon energy and angle of attack, degree of specularity of scattering of reactive and nonreactive surfaces, and the degree of thermal accommodation upon impact with reactive and non-reactive surfaces to be varied to allow the model to produce atomic oxygen erosion geometries that replicate actual experimental results from space. The degree of erosion of various interior locations was compared with the erosion that would occur external to the spacecraft. Results of one cavity model indicate that, at depths into a two-dimensional cavity that are equal to 10 cavity widths, the erosion on the walls of the cavity is less than that on the top surface by over 2 orders of magnitude. Wall erosion near the surface of a cavity depends on which wall is receiving direct atomic oxygen attack. However, deep in the cavity little difference is present. Testing of various cavity models such as these gives spacecraft designers an indication of the level of threat to sensitive interior surfaces for different geometries. Even though the Monte Carlo model is two-dimensional, it can be used to provide qualitative information about spacecraft openings that are three-dimensional by offering reasonable insight as to the nature of the attenuation of damage that occurs within a spacecraft in low Earth orbit. As shown, there is more erosion on the side seeing direct atomic oxygen attack until a depth of approximately 5 times the width of the opening, where the erosion is the same on both sides.
Ardini, Matteo; Fiorillo, Annarita; Fittipaldi, Maria; Stefanini, Simonetta; Gatteschi, Dante; Ilari, Andrea; Chiancone, Emilia
2013-06-01
The ferroxidase center of DNA-binding protein from starved cells (Dps) is a major player in the iron oxidation/detoxification process that leads to a decreased reactive oxygen species production. The possible Mn(II) participation in this process has been studied in Dps from Kineococcus radiotolerans, a radiation-resistant bacterium with a high cytosolic Mn/Fe ratio and a high capacity to survive ionizing and stress conditions. The X-ray structure of recombinant K. radiotolerans Dps loaded with Mn(II) has been solved at 2.0Å resolution. Mn(II) binding to K. radiotolerans Dps and its effect on Fe(II) oxidation have been characterized in spectroscopic measurements. In K. radiotolerans Dps, the Fe-Fe ferroxidase center can have a Mn-Fe composition. Mn(II) binds only at the high affinity, so-called A site, whereas Fe(II) binds also at the low affinity, so-called B site. The Mn-Fe and Fe-Fe centers behave distinctly upon iron oxidation by O2. A site-bound Mn(II) or Fe(II) plays a catalytic role, while B site-bound Fe(II) behaves like a substrate and can be replaced by another Fe(II) after oxidation. When H2O2 is the Fe(II) oxidant, single electrons are transferred to aromatic residues near the ferroxidase center and give rise to intra-protein radicals thereby limiting OH release in solution. The presence of the Mn-Fe center results in significant differences in the development of such intra-protein radicals. Mn(II) bound at the Dps ferroxidase center A site undergoes redox cycling provided the B site contains Fe. The results provide a likely molecular mechanism for the protective role of Mn(II) under oxidative stress conditions as it participates in redox cycling in the hetero-binuclear ferroxidase center. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Hydrogen atom abstraction from aldehydes - OH + H2CO and O + H2CO
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Dupuis, M.; Lester, W. A., Jr.
1984-01-01
The essential features of the potential energy surfaces governing hydrogen abstraction from formaldehyde by oxygen atom and hydroxyl radical have been characterized with ab inito multiconfiguration Hartree-Fock (MCHF) and configuration interaction (CI) wave functions. The results are consistent with a very small activation energy for the OH + H2CO reaction, and an activation energy of a few kcal/mol for the O + H2CO reaction. In the transition state structure of both systems, the attacking oxygen atom is nearly collinear with the attacked CH bond.
Usenko, G A; Usenko, A G; Vasendin, D V
2015-01-01
During magnetic storms the observed increase in γ-background environment and the reduction of the rate of oxygen utilization by the tissues, but the increase in the number of angina attacks per day to magnetic storms the choleric, in the days of magnetic storms in sanguine, for 3-4 days at a phlegmatic, and 4-5 days in the melancholic especially in groups high anxiety phlegmatic and melancholic. Last-risk group severe arterial hypertension and ischemic heart disease. Antihypertensive therapy based on the blockade of the features of the psychosomatic status, significantly reduced the number of attacks and brought the values of the utilization of oxygen and coefficient of oxygen utilization bu the tissues of all the days to those in healthy individual relevant anxiety and temperament.
Rhenium-Oxygen Interactions at High Temperatures
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Jacobson, Nathan S.; Myers, Dwight L.; Zhu, Dongming; Humphrey, Donald
2000-01-01
The reaction of pure rhenium metal with dilute oxygen/argon mixtures was studied from 600 to 1400 C. Temperature, oxygen pressure, and flow rates were systematically varied to determine the rate-controlling steps. At lower temperatures the oxygen/rhenium chemical reaction is rate limiting; at higher temperatures gas-phase diffusion of oxygen through the static boundary layer is rate limiting. At all temperatures post-reaction microstructures indicate preferential attack along certain crystallographic planes and defects.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dong, Pu-Ting; Mohammad, Haroon; Hui, Jie; Wang, Xiaoyu; Li, Junjie; Liang, Lijia; Seleem, Mohamed N.; Cheng, Ji-Xin
2018-02-01
Given that the dearth of new antibiotic development loads an existential burden on successful infectious disease therapy, health organizations are calling for alternative approaches to combat methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. Here, we report a drug-free photonic approach to eliminate MRSA through photobleaching of staphyloxanthin, an indispensable membrane-bound antioxidant of S. aureus. The photobleaching process, uncovered through a transient absorption imaging study and quantitated by absorption spectroscopy and mass spectrometry, decomposes staphyloxanthin, and sensitizes MRSA to reactive oxygen species attack. Consequently, staphyloxanthin bleaching by low-level blue light eradicates MRSA synergistically with external or internal reactive oxygen species. The effectiveness of this synergistic therapy is validated in MRSA culture, MRSAinfected macrophage cells. Collectively, these findings highlight broad applications of staphyloxanthin photobleaching for treatment of MRSA infections.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Murrell, M. T.; Burnett, D. S.
1986-01-01
Experimental partitioning studies are reported of K, U, and Th between silicate and FeFeS liquids designed to test the proposal that actinide partitioning into sulfide liquids is more important then K partitioning in the radioactive heating of planetary cores. For a basaltic liquid at 1450 C and 1.5 GPa, U partitioning into FeFeS liquids is five times greater than K partitioning. A typical value for the liquid partition coefficient for U from a granitic silicate liquid at one atmosphere at 1150 C and low fO2 is about 0.02; the coefficient for Th is similar. At low fO2 and higher temperature, experiments with basaltic liquids produce strong Ca and U partitioning into the sulfide liquid with U coefficient greater than one. The Th coefficient is less strongly affected.
Mechanism of O2 diffusion and reduction in FeFe hydrogenases
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kubas, Adam; Orain, Christophe; de Sancho, David; Saujet, Laure; Sensi, Matteo; Gauquelin, Charles; Meynial-Salles, Isabelle; Soucaille, Philippe; Bottin, Hervé; Baffert, Carole; Fourmond, Vincent; Best, Robert B.; Blumberger, Jochen; Léger, Christophe
2017-01-01
FeFe hydrogenases are the most efficient H2-producing enzymes. However, inactivation by O2 remains an obstacle that prevents them being used in many biotechnological devices. Here, we combine electrochemistry, site-directed mutagenesis, molecular dynamics and quantum chemical calculations to uncover the molecular mechanism of O2 diffusion within the enzyme and its reactions at the active site. We propose that the partial reversibility of the reaction with O2 results from the four-electron reduction of O2 to water. The third electron/proton transfer step is the bottleneck for water production, competing with formation of a highly reactive OH radical and hydroxylated cysteine. The rapid delivery of electrons and protons to the active site is therefore crucial to prevent the accumulation of these aggressive species during prolonged O2 exposure. These findings should provide important clues for the design of hydrogenase mutants with increased resistance to oxidative damage.
Kuchenreuther, Jon M.; Guo, Yisong; Wang, Hongxin; Myers, William K.; George, Simon J.; Boyke, Christine A.; Yoda, Yoshitaka; Alp, E. Ercan; Zhao, Jiyong; Britt, R. David; Swartz, James R.; Cramer, Stephen P.
2013-01-01
The [FeFe] hydrogenase from Clostridium pasteurianum (CpI) harbors four Fe–S clusters that facilitate electron transfer to the H-cluster, a ligand-coordinated six-iron prosthetic group that catalyzes the redox interconversion of protons and H2. Here, we have used 57Fe nuclear resonance vibrational spectroscopy (NRVS) to study the iron centers in CpI, and we compare our data to that for a [4Fe–4S] ferredoxin as well as a model complex resembling the [2Fe]H catalytic domain of the H-cluster. In order to enrich the hydrogenase with 57Fe nuclei, we used cell-free methods to post-translationally mature the enzyme. Specifically, inactive CpI apoprotein with 56Fe-labeled Fe–S clusters was activated in vitro using 57Fe-enriched maturation proteins. This approach enabled us to selectively label the [2Fe]H subcluster with 57Fe, which NRVS confirms by detecting 57Fe–CO and 57Fe–CN normal modes from the H-cluster nonprotein ligands. The NRVS and iron quantification results also suggest that the hydrogenase contains a second 57Fe–S cluster. EPR spectroscopy indicates that this 57Fe-enriched metal center is not the [4Fe– 4S]H subcluster of the H-cluster. This finding demonstrates that the CpI hydrogenase retained an 56Fe-enriched [4Fe–4S]H cluster during in vitro maturation, providing unambiguous evidence for stepwise assembly of the H-cluster. In addition, this work represents the first NRVS characterization of [FeFe] hydrogenases. PMID:23249091
B4C as a stable non-carbon-based oxygen electrode material for lithium-oxygen batteries
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Song, Shidong; Xu, Wu; Cao, Ruiguo
Lithium-oxygen (Li-O 2) batteries have extremely high theoretical specific capacities and energy densities when compared with Li-ion batteries. However, the instability of both electrolyte and carbon-based oxygen electrode related to the nucleophilic attack of reduced oxygen species during oxygen reduction reaction and the electrochemical oxidation during oxygen evolution reaction are recognized as the major challenges in this field. Here we report the application of boron carbide (B 4C) as the non-carbon based oxygen electrode material for aprotic Li-O 2 batteries. B 4C has high resistance to chemical attack, good conductivity, excellent catalytic activity and low density that are suitable formore » battery applications. The electrochemical activity and chemical stability of B4C are systematically investigated in aprotic electrolyte. Li-O 2 cells using B4C based air electrodes exhibit better cycling stability than those used TiC based air electrode in 1 M LiTf-Tetraglyme electrolyte. The degradation of B 4C based electrode is mainly due to be the loss of active sites on B 4C electrode during cycles as identified by the structure and composition characterizations. These results clearly demonstrate that B 4C is a very promising alternative oxygen electrode material for aprotic Li-O 2 batteries. It can also be used as a standard electrode to investigate the stability of electrolytes.« less
Anemia Due to Excessive Bleeding
... the blood vessels is insufficient. The body’s oxygen supply is drastically reduced because the number of oxygen-carrying red blood cells has decreased so quickly. Either problem may lead to a heart attack , stroke , or death. Chronic blood loss Far more common than a sudden loss of ...
The Effect of Varying Oxygen Concentration on Corixid Survival.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Malcolm, Paul
1980-01-01
Describes a study using two genera of aquatic insects that demonstrates how nonlethal falls in oxygen concentration affect the rate of surfacing of bottom-feeding Coroxidae and how this affects their survival by increasing their proneness to attacks by surface-feeding Notonectidae. (CS)
The light element component of the Earth’s core: Constraints from in situ X-Radiography in the LHDAC
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lord, O. T.; Walter, M. J.; Walker, D.; Clark, S. M.
2009-12-01
The light element budget of the Earth’s core depends in part on the high-pressure melting relations of the relevant iron rich binary systems. Candidate alloying elements include H, C, O, Si and S, due to their cosmochemical abundance. Many of these systems are known to contain eutectic points, the temperatures and compositions of which are critical to reconstructing the phase relations of these systems. Thus far most studies reporting the composition of eutectic liquids depend on ex situ analysis with a potential for systematic errors introduced by quench induced exsolution. To circumvent this issue we have developed an in situ technique for the determination of liquid compositions in iron-rich binary systems at simultaneous high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. Samples consist of Fe(1-x)O or FeS, surrounded by a ring of iron forming a ‘donut’ with a diameter of ~100μm and a thickness of ~20μm. Pressure is monitored by ruby fluorescence. The sample is heated at the boundary between the iron and light element compound using two 100 W IR lasers in a double-sided configuration at beamline 12.2.2 at the Advanced Light Source. Temperature is measured by spectroradiometry. Before, during and after melting, X-radiographic images of the sample are taken by shining a defocused beam of synchrotron X-rays through the sample and onto a CdWO4 phosphor. The visible light from the phosphor is then focused onto a high resolution CCD, where absorption contrast images are recorded. The absorption of the molten region is then determined, and it’s composition calculated by comparison to the absorption of the two solid end members. In previous work we measured the composition of the Fe-FeS eutectic to 20 GPa and the Fe-Fe3C eutectic to 44 GPa [1,2]. Further, we saw no discernible solubility of oxygen in liquid iron up to 43 GPa [1]. Here we extend the data for sulfur up to 70 GPa and for oxygen up to 63 GPa. Our new sulfur data fit well with previous studies at lower pressure, and suggest that the sulfur content of the eutectic is tending to ~15wt% with increasing pressure. In the Fe-FeO system, upon reaching the Fe-FeO eutectic temperature (indicated by a plateau in the power-temperature function), no evidence of a melt was seen within the absorption contrast images. Only when the temperature was raised above this first plateau to a second plateau, representing the melting point of FeO did a ‘ledge’ appear in the absorption contrast image, suggesting the presence of a liquid with a composition intermediate between Fe and FeO. Further, the composition of this ledge was pressure insensitive, and close to a 50:50 mix of Fe and FeO. We interpret these results as the formation of a eutectic melt with an oxygen content below the detection limit (~1 wt%), followed by melting of the FeO end-member and the subsequent mixing of the two liquid phases. These results suggest that the solubility of oxygen remains below ~1wt% beyond 60 GPa, in contradiction with several recent studies [3]. [1] Walker, D., et al. Chem Geol., 2008. [2] Lord, O. T., et al. EPSL, 2009. [3] Seagle, C. T., et al. EPSL, 2008.
Strain induced superconductivity in the parent compound BaFe2As2
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Engelmann, J.; Grinenko, V.; Chekhonin, P.; Skrotzki, W.; Efremov, D. V.; Oswald, S.; Iida, K.; Hühne, R.; Hänisch, J.; Hoffmann, M.; Kurth, F.; Schultz, L.; Holzapfel, B.
2013-12-01
The discovery of superconductivity with a transition temperature, Tc, up to 65 K in single-layer FeSe (bulk Tc=8 K) films grown on SrTiO3 substrates has attracted special attention to Fe-based thin films. The high Tc is a consequence of the combined effect of electron transfer from the oxygen-vacant substrate to the FeSe thin film and lattice tensile strain. Here we demonstrate the realization of superconductivity in the parent compound BaFe2As2 (no bulk Tc) just by tensile lattice strain without charge doping. We investigate the interplay between strain and superconductivity in epitaxial BaFe2As2 thin films on Fe-buffered MgAl2O4 single crystalline substrates. The strong interfacial bonding between Fe and the FeAs sublattice increases the Fe-Fe distance due to the lattice misfit, which leads to a suppression of the antiferromagnetic spin density wave and induces superconductivity with bulk Tc≈10 K. These results highlight the role of structural changes in controlling the phase diagram of Fe-based superconductors.
Coatings Would Protect Polymers Against Atomic Oxygen
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; Rutledge, Sharon K.
1995-01-01
Proposed interposition of layers of silver oxide tens to hundreds of angstroms thick between polymeric substrates and overlying films helps protect substrates against chemical attack by monatomic oxygen. In original application, polymer substrate would be, sheet of polyimide supporting array of solar photovoltaic cells on spacecraft in low orbit around Earth. Concept also applicable to protection of equipment in terrestrial laboratory and industrial vacuum and plasma chambers in which monatomic oxygen present.
Effect of magnetic coupling on non-radiative relaxation time of Fe3+ sites on LaAl1-xFexO3 pigments
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Novatski, A.; Somer, A.; Maranha, F. G.; de Souza, E. C. F.; Andrade, A. V. C.; Antunes, S. R. M.; Borges, C. P. F.; Dias, D. T.; Medina, A. N.; Astrath, N. G. C.
2018-02-01
Inorganic pigments of the system LaAl1-xFexO3 were prepared by the Pechini and the Solid State Reaction (SSR) methods. Magnetic interactions and non-radiative relaxation time were analyzed by means of phase-resolved photoacoustic spectroscopy and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) techniques. EPR results show a change in the magnetic behavior from paramagnetic (x = 0.2 and 0.4) to antiferromagnetic (x = 1.0), which is believed to be a result of the SSR preparation method. Trends in the optical absorption bands of the Fe3+ are attributed to their electronic transitions, and the increase in the band's intensity at 480 and 550 nm was assigned to the increase in the magnetic coupling between Fe-Fe. The phase-resolved method is capable of distinguishing between the two preparation methods, and it is possible to infer that SSR modifies the magnetic coupling of Fe-Fe with x.
Ratzloff, Michael W; Wilker, Molly B; Mulder, David W; Lubner, Carolyn E; Hamby, Hayden; Brown, Katherine A; Dukovic, Gordana; King, Paul W
2017-09-20
Molecular complexes between CdSe nanocrystals and Clostridium acetobutylicum [FeFe] hydrogenase I (CaI) enabled light-driven control of electron transfer for spectroscopic detection of redox intermediates during catalytic proton reduction. Here we address the route of electron transfer from CdSe→CaI and activation thermodynamics of the initial step of proton reduction in CaI. The electron paramagnetic spectroscopy of illuminated CdSe:CaI showed how the CaI accessory FeS cluster chain (F-clusters) functions in electron transfer with CdSe. The H ox →H red H + reduction step measured by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed an enthalpy of activation of 19 kJ mol -1 and a ∼2.5-fold kinetic isotope effect. Overall, these results support electron injection from CdSe into CaI involving F-clusters, and that the H ox →H red H + step of catalytic proton reduction in CaI proceeds by a proton-dependent process.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Rao, Guodong; Tao, Lizhi; Suess, Daniel L. M.; Britt, R. David
2018-05-01
Biosynthesis of the [FeFe] hydrogenase active site (the 'H-cluster') requires the interplay of multiple proteins and small molecules. Among them, the radical S-adenosylmethionine enzyme HydG, a tyrosine lyase, has been proposed to generate a complex that contains an Fe(CO)2(CN) moiety that is eventually incorporated into the H-cluster. Here we describe the characterization of an intermediate in the HydG reaction: a [4Fe-4S][(Cys)Fe(CO)(CN)] species, 'Complex A', in which a CO, a CN- and a cysteine (Cys) molecule bind to the unique 'dangler' Fe site of the auxiliary [5Fe-4S] cluster of HydG. The identification of this intermediate—the first organometallic precursor to the H-cluster—validates the previously hypothesized HydG reaction cycle and provides a basis for elucidating the biosynthetic origin of other moieties of the H-cluster.
Min, Xiaobo; Li, Yangwenjun; Ke, Yong; Shi, Meiqing; Chai, Liyuan; Xue, Ke
2017-07-01
Arsenic is one of the major pollutants and a worldwide concern because of its toxicity and chronic effects on human health. An adsorbent of Fe-FeS 2 mixture for effective arsenic removal was successfully prepared by mechanical ball milling. The products before and after arsenic adsorption were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The adsorbent shows high arsenic removal efficiency when molar ratio of iron to pyrite is 5:5. The experimental data of As(III) adsorption are fitted well with the Langmuir isotherm model with a maximal adsorption capacity of 101.123 mg/g. And As(V) data were described perfectly by the Freundlich model with a maximal adsorption capacity of 58.341 L/mg. As(III) is partial oxidized to As(V) during the adsorption process. High arsenic uptake capability and cost-effectiveness of waste make it potentially attractive for arsenic removal.
Substrate temperature effect on the structural anisotropy in amorphous Tb-Fe films
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Harris, V. G.; Hellman, F.; Elam, W. T.; Koon, N. C.
1993-05-01
Using extended x-ray absorption fine structures (EXAFS) measurements we have investigated the atomic environment around the Fe atom in a series of amorphous Tb0.26Fe0.74 films having different magnetic anisotropy energies owing to different deposition temperatures. The polarization properties of synchrotron radiation allowed the separate study of structure parallel and perpendicular to the sample plane. An anisotropy between these two structures was observed. Modeling results indicate this anisotropy is due to anisotropic pair correlations where the Fe-Fe pairs are statistically preferred in-plane and the Fe-Tb pairs out-of-plane. The amplitude of this anisotropy scales with both the substrate temperature and the magnetic anisotropy energy. A ≊1% in-plane compression of the Fe-Fe distance was measured between the in-plane and out-of-plane structure of the sample grown at 77 K. This sample had no detectable local chemical anisotropy suggesting that intrinsic stress plays an important role in determining its magnetic anisotropy.
Charge transport in metal oxides: A theoretical study of hematite α-Fe2O3
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Iordanova, N.; Dupuis, M.; Rosso, K. M.
2005-04-01
Transport of conduction electrons and holes through the lattice of α-Fe2O3 (hematite) is modeled as a valence alternation of iron cations using ab initio electronic structure calculations and electron transfer theory. Experimental studies have shown that the conductivity along the (001) basal plane is four orders of magnitude larger than the conductivity along the [001] direction. In the context of the small polaron model, a cluster approach was used to compute quantities controlling the mobility of localized electrons and holes, i.e., the reorganization energy and the electronic coupling matrix element that enter Marcus' theory. The calculation of the electronic coupling followed the generalized Mulliken-Hush approach using the complete active space self-consistent field method. Our findings demonstrate an approximately three orders of magnitude anisotropy in both electron and hole mobility between directions perpendicular and parallel to the c axis, in good accord with experimental data. The anisotropy arises from the slowness of both electron and hole mobilities across basal oxygen planes relative to that within iron bilayers between basal oxygen planes. Interestingly, for elementary reaction steps along either of the directions considered, there is only less than one order of magnitude difference in mobility between electrons and holes, in contrast to accepted classical arguments. Our findings indicate that the most important quantity underlying mobility differences is the electronic coupling, albeit the reorganization energy contributes as well. The large values computed for the electronic coupling suggest that charge transport reactions in hematite are adiabatic in nature. The electronic coupling is found to depend on both the superexchange interaction through the bridging oxygen atoms and the d-shell electron spin coupling within the Fe-Fe donor-acceptor pair, while the reorganization energy is essentially independent of the electron spin coupling.
Herbivore derived fatty acid-amides elicit reactive oxygen species burst in plants
USDA-ARS?s Scientific Manuscript database
The formation of a reactive oxygen species (ROS) burst is a central response of plants to many forms of stress including pathogen attack, several abiotic stresses, damage and insect infestation. These ROS act as a direct defense as well as signaling and regulatory molecules. Perception of microbe or...
Petersen, Anja S; Barloese, Mads Cj; Lund, Nunu Lt; Jensen, Rigmor H
2017-03-01
Purpose The purpose of this article is to investigate possible differences in effect between three types of masks in the acute treatment of cluster headache (CH). Patients and methods Fifty-seven CH patients according to ICHD-II-criteria participated in a single-blinded, semi-randomized, placebo-controlled, crossover inpatient study, and 102 CH attacks were treated with 100% oxygen delivered by demand valve oxygen (DVO), O 2 ptimask or simple mask (15 liters/min) or placebo delivered by DVO for 15 minutes. Primary endpoint: Two-point decrease of pain on a five-point rating scale within 15 minutes. Results Only 10 CH patients had multiple attacks and reached the point of placebo. There were no significant differences between masks in the primary endpoints ( p = 0.412). After 15 minutes 48% had a two-point decrease using the DVO compared to 45% with placebo ( p = 0.867). After 30 minutes 68% were pain free or had pain relief using DVO and 45% by placebo ( p = 0.061). The DVO was preferred by 62% compared to 5% and 33% for simple mask ( p < 0.0001) and O 2 ptimask ( p = 0.061). In the first attack the DVO was significantly better at achieving pain relief at 15 minutes ( p = 0.018). Treatment with DVO or O 2 ptimask reduced the need for rescue medication compared to the simple mask (23%, 19%, 50%, respectively). No treatment-related adverse events were observed. Conclusion The primary endpoint with pain relief at 15 minutes was non-significant; however, a post hoc analysis of the first attack significantly favored DVO. Further, therapy by O 2 ptimask and DVO resulted in a decreased need for rescue medication. We recommend that CH patients be offered DVO or O 2 ptimask before oxygen therapy is abandoned.
Comments on the interaction of materials with atomic oxygen
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Torre, Larry P.; Pippin, H. Gary
1987-01-01
An explanation of the relative resistance of various materials to attack by atomic oxygen is presented. Data from both ground based and on-orbit experiments is interpreted. The results indicate the importance of bond strengths, size and structure of pendant groups, and fluorination to the resistance of certain polymers to atomic oxygen. A theory which provides a partial explanation of the degradation of materials in low Earth orbit due to surface recombination of oxygen atoms is also included. Finally, a section commenting on mechanisms of material degradation is provided.
Redox Biochemistry | Bioenergy | NREL
binuclear cofactors of the hydrogenase catalytic sites. (A) shows the NiFe cluster of [NiFe(Se font) are labeled. Ni, nickel; Se, selenium; Fe, iron. [FeFe]- and [NiFe]-hydrogenase diversity [NiFe]-hydrogenase diversity, mechanism, and maturation. Read more Previous Story Next Story Featured
Rhenium/Oxygen Interactions at Elevated Temperatures
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Jacobson, Nathan; Myers, Dwight; Zhu, Dong-Ming; Humphrey, Donald
2000-01-01
The oxidation of pure rhenium is examined from 600-1400 C in oxygen/argon mixtures. Linear weight loss kinetics are observed. Gas pressures, flow rates, and temperatures are methodically varied to determine the rate controlling steps. The reaction at 600 and 800 C appears to be controlled by a chemical reaction step at the surface; whereas the higher temperature reactions appear to be controlled by gas phase diffusion of oxygen to the rhenium surface. Attack of the rhenium appears to be along grain boundaries and crystallographic planes.
The Application of Magnesium(I) Compounds to Energy Storage Materials - Phase 2
2013-06-24
currently exploring the use of 10 as a catalyst for a number of other processes, e.g. the selective hydroboration of ketone , aldehydes and nitriles...hydroboration of ketones ; (vi) a variety of related results, including the preparation of an iron(I) dimer with the shortest Fe-Fe multiple bond
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Ratzloff, Michael W.; Wilker, Molly B.; Mulder, David W.
Molecular complexes between CdSe nanocrystals and Clostridium acetobutylicum [FeFe] hydrogenase I (CaI) enabled light-driven control of electron transfer for spectroscopic detection of redox intermediates during catalytic proton reduction. Here in this paper we address the route of electron transfer from CdSe→CaI and activation thermodynamics of the initial step of proton reduction in CaI. The electron paramagnetic spectroscopy of illuminated CdSe:CaI showed how the CaI accessory FeS cluster chain (F-clusters) functions in electron transfer with CdSe. The H ox→H redH + reduction step measured by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed an enthalpy of activation of 19 kJ mol -1 and a ~2.5-foldmore » kinetic isotope effect. Overall these results support electron injection from CdSe into CaI involving F-clusters, and that the H ox→H redH + step of catalytic proton reduction in CaI proceeds by a proton-dependent process.« less
Watt, John Daniel; Bleier, Grant C.; Romero, Zachary William; ...
2018-05-15
In this paper, significant reductions recently seen in the size of wide-bandgap power electronics have not been accompanied by a relative decrease in the size of the corresponding magnetic components. To achieve this, a new generation of materials with high magnetic saturation and permeability are needed. Here, we develop gram-scale syntheses of superparamagnetic Fe/Fe xO y core–shell nanoparticles and incorporate them as the magnetic component in a strongly magnetic nanocomposite. Nanocomposites are typically formed by the organization of nanoparticles within a polymeric matrix. However, this approach can lead to high organic fractions and phase separation; reducing the performance of themore » resulting material. Here, we form aminated nanoparticles that are then cross-linked using epoxy chemistry. The result is a magnetic nanoparticle component that is covalently linked and well separated. By using this ‘matrix-free’ approach, we can substantially increase the magnetic nanoparticle fraction, while still maintaining good separation, leading to a superparamagnetic nanocomposite with strong magnetic properties.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Watt, John Daniel; Bleier, Grant C.; Romero, Zachary William
In this paper, significant reductions recently seen in the size of wide-bandgap power electronics have not been accompanied by a relative decrease in the size of the corresponding magnetic components. To achieve this, a new generation of materials with high magnetic saturation and permeability are needed. Here, we develop gram-scale syntheses of superparamagnetic Fe/Fe xO y core–shell nanoparticles and incorporate them as the magnetic component in a strongly magnetic nanocomposite. Nanocomposites are typically formed by the organization of nanoparticles within a polymeric matrix. However, this approach can lead to high organic fractions and phase separation; reducing the performance of themore » resulting material. Here, we form aminated nanoparticles that are then cross-linked using epoxy chemistry. The result is a magnetic nanoparticle component that is covalently linked and well separated. By using this ‘matrix-free’ approach, we can substantially increase the magnetic nanoparticle fraction, while still maintaining good separation, leading to a superparamagnetic nanocomposite with strong magnetic properties.« less
Ratzloff, Michael W.; Wilker, Molly B.; Mulder, David W.; ...
2017-08-29
Molecular complexes between CdSe nanocrystals and Clostridium acetobutylicum [FeFe] hydrogenase I (CaI) enabled light-driven control of electron transfer for spectroscopic detection of redox intermediates during catalytic proton reduction. Here in this paper we address the route of electron transfer from CdSe→CaI and activation thermodynamics of the initial step of proton reduction in CaI. The electron paramagnetic spectroscopy of illuminated CdSe:CaI showed how the CaI accessory FeS cluster chain (F-clusters) functions in electron transfer with CdSe. The H ox→H redH + reduction step measured by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy showed an enthalpy of activation of 19 kJ mol -1 and a ~2.5-foldmore » kinetic isotope effect. Overall these results support electron injection from CdSe into CaI involving F-clusters, and that the H ox→H redH + step of catalytic proton reduction in CaI proceeds by a proton-dependent process.« less
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Murrell, M. T.; Burnett, D. S.
1986-07-01
The possibility of heating of planetary cores by K radioactivity has been extensively discussed, as well as the possibility that K partitioning into the terrestrial core is the reason for the difference between the terrestrial and chondritic K/U. We had previously suggested that U and Th partitioning into FeFeS liquids was more important than K. Laboratory FeFeS liquid, silicate liquid partition coefficient measurements (D) for K, U, and Th were made to test this suggestion. For a basaltic liquid at 1450°C and 1.5 GPa, DU is 0.013 and DK is 0.0026; thus U partitioning into FeFeS liquids is 5 times greater than K partitioning under these conditions. There are problems with 1-atm experiments in that they do not appear to equilibrate or reverse. However, measurable U and Th partitioning into sulfide was nearly always observed, but K partitioning was normally not observed (DK <~ 10-4). A typical value for DU from a granitic silicate liquid at one atmosphere, 1150°C, and low f02 is about 0.02; DTh is similar. At low f02 and higher temperature, experiments with basaltic liquids produce strong Ca and U partitioning into the sulfide liquid with DU > 1. DTh is less strongly affected. Because of the consistently low DK/DU, pressure effects near the core-mantle boundary would need to increase DK by factors of ~103 with much smaller increases in DU in order to have the terrestrial K and U abundances at chondritic levels. In addition, if radioactive heating is important for planetary cores, U and Th will be more important than K unless the lower mantle has K/U greater than 10 times chondritic or large changes in partition coefficients with conditions reverse the relative importance of K versus U and Th from our measurements.
Myocardial perfusion imaging study of CO(2)-induced panic attack.
Soares-Filho, Gastão L F; Machado, Sergio; Arias-Carrión, Oscar; Santulli, Gaetano; Mesquita, Claudio T; Cosci, Fiammetta; Silva, Adriana C; Nardi, Antonio E
2014-01-15
Chest pain is often seen alongside with panic attacks. Moreover, panic disorder has been suggested as a risk factor for cardiovascular disease and even a trigger for acute coronary syndrome. Patients with coronary artery disease may have myocardial ischemia in response to mental stress, in which panic attack is a strong component, by an increase in coronary vasomotor tone or sympathetic hyperactivity setting off an increase in myocardial oxygen consumption. Indeed, coronary artery spasm was presumed to be present in cases of cardiac ischemia linked to panic disorder. These findings correlating panic disorder with coronary artery disease lead us to raise questions about the favorable prognosis of chest pain in panic attack. To investigate whether myocardial ischemia is the genesis of chest pain in panic attacks, we developed a myocardial perfusion study through research by myocardial scintigraphy in patients with panic attacks induced in the laboratory by inhalation of 35% carbon dioxide. In conclusion, from the data obtained, some hypotheses are discussed from the viewpoint of endothelial dysfunction and microvascular disease present in mental stress response. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
SEM, optical, and Moessbauer studies of submicrometer chromite in Allende
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Housley, R. M.
1982-01-01
New scanning electron and optical microscope results are presented showing that sub-micrometer chromite is abundant along healed cracks and grain boundaries in Allende chondrule olivine. Some wider healed cracks also contain pentlandite and euhedral Ni3Fe grains. Also reported are Moessbauer measurements on Allende HF-HCl residues confirming a high Fe(+++)/Fe(++) ratio.
Heart Failure in Children and Adolescents
... the lungs where oxygen is added. Watch an animation of blood flow in the heart All the ... resources here Popular Articles 1 Understanding Blood Pressure Readings 2 Sodium and Salt 3 Heart Attack Symptoms ...
Fuel clad chemical interactions in fast reactor MOX fuels
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Viswanathan, R.
2014-01-01
Clad corrosion being one of the factors limiting the life of a mixed-oxide fast reactor fuel element pin at high burn-up, some aspects known about the key elements (oxygen, cesium, tellurium, iodine) in the clad-attack are discussed and many Fuel-Clad-Chemical-Interaction (FCCI) models available in the literature are also discussed. Based on its relatively superior predictive ability, the HEDL (Hanford Engineering Development Laboratory) relation is recommended: d/μm = ({0.507 ṡ [B/(at.% fission)] ṡ (T/K-705) ṡ [(O/M)i-1.935]} + 20.5) for (O/M)i ⩽ 1.98. A new model is proposed for (O/M)i ⩾ 1.98: d/μm = [B/(at.% fission)] ṡ (T/K-800)0.5 ṡ [(O/M)i-1.94] ṡ [P/(W cm-1)]0.5. Here, d is the maximum depth of clad attack, B is the burn-up, T is the clad inner surface temperature, (O/M)i is the initial oxygen-to-(uranium + plutonium) ratio, and P is the linear power rating. For fuels with [n(Pu)/n(M = U + Pu)] > 0.25, multiplication factors f are recommended to consider the potential increase in the depth of clad-attack.
The effects of atomic oxygen on the thermal emittance of high temperature radiator surfaces
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Rutledge, Sharon K.; Hotes, Deborah L.; Paulsen, Phillip E.
1989-01-01
Radiator surfaces on high temperature space power systems such as SP-100 space nuclear power system must maintain a high emittance level in order to reject waste heat effectively. One of the primary materials under consideration for the radiators is carbon-carbon composite. Since carbon is susceptible to attack by atomic oxygen in the low earth orbital environment, it is important to determine the durability of carbon composites in this environment as well as the effect atomic oxygen has on the thermal emittance of the surface if it is to be considered for use as a radiator. Results indicate that the thermal emittance of carbon-carbon composite (as low as 0.42) can be enhanced by exposure to a directed beam of atomic oxygen to levels above 0.85 at 800 K. This emittance enhancement is due to a change in the surface morphology as a result of oxidation. High aspect ratio cones are formed on the surface which allow more efficient trapping of incident radiation. Erosion of the surface due to oxidation is similar to that for carbon, so that at altitudes less than approximately 600 km, thickness loss of the radiator could be significant (as much as 0.1 cm/year). A protective coating or oxidation barrier forming additive may be needed to prevent atomic oxygen attack after the initial high emittance surface is formed. Textured surfaces can be formed in ground based facilities or possibly in space if emittance is not sensitive to the orientation of the atomic oxygen arrival that forms the texture.
Renewable Bio-Solar Hydrogen Production: The Second Generation (Part C)
2014-11-28
enzymes in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, (b) increasing the levels of algal cellular starch , (c) understanding the mechanism of [FeFe... starch hyperaccumulation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which can be used to make a variety of glucose based products. The Nannochloropsis genus of...Another significant advance was the generation of starch hyperaccumulating mutants. By overexpressing the isoamlyase gene in Chlamydomonas, central
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yang, Erqi; Qi, Xiaosi; Xie, Ren; Bai, Zhongchen; Jiang, Yang; Qin, Shuijie; Zhong, Wei; Du, Youwei
2018-05-01
High encapsulation efficiency of core@shell@shell structured carbon-based magnetic ternary nanohybrids have been synthesized in high yield by chemical vapor deposition of acetylene directly over octahedral-shaped Fe2O3 nanoparticles. By controlling the pyrolysis temperature, Fe3O4@Fe3C@carbon nanotubes (CNTs) and Fe@Fe3C@CNTs ternary nanohybrids could be selectively produced. The optimal RL values for the as-prepared ternary nanohybrids could reach up to ca. -46.7, -52.7 and -29.5 dB, respectively. The excellent microwave absorption properties of the obtaiend ternary nanohybrids were proved to ascribe to the quarter-wavelength matching model. Moreover, the as-prepared Fe@Fe3C@CNTs ternary nanohybrids displayed remarkably enhanced EM wave absorption capabilities compared to Fe3O4@Fe3C@CNTs due to their excellent dielectric loss abilities, good complementarities between the dielectric loss and the magnetic loss, and high attenuation constant. Generally, this strategy can be extended to explore other categories of core@shell or core@shell@shell structured carbon-based nanohybrids, which is very beneficial to accelerate the advancements of high performance MAMs.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
López-Sánchez, J.; Muñoz-Noval, A.; Castellano, C.; Serrano, A.; del Campo, A.; Cabero, M.; Varela, M.; Abuín, M.; de la Figuera, J.; Marco, J. F.; Castro, G. R.; Rodríguez de la Fuente, O.; Carmona, N.
2017-12-01
The current study unveils the structural origin of the magnetic transition of the ɛ-Fe2O3 polymorph from an incommensurate magnetic order to a collinear ferrimagnetic state at low temperature. The high crystallinity of the samples and the absence of other iron oxide polymorphs have allowed us to carry out temperature-dependent x-ray absorption fine structure spectroscopy experiments out. The deformation of the structure is followed by the Debye-Waller factor for each selected Fe-O and Fe-Fe sub-shell. For nanoparticle sizes between 7 and 15 nm, the structural distortions between the Fete and Fe-D1oc sites are localized in a temperature range before the magnetic transition starts. On the contrary, the inherent interaction between the other sub-shells (named Fe-O1,2 and Fe-Fe1) provokes cooperative magneto-structural changes in the same temperature range. This means that the Fete with Fe-D1oc polyhedron interaction seems to be uncoupled with temperature dealing with these nanoparticle sizes wherein the structural distortions are likely moderate due to surface effects.
The cyanophages are a group of DNA viruses that attack host organisms found within the cyanobacteria or blue-green algae, a group of oxygenic photosynthetic procaryotes. A continuing dichotomy has occurred as to the nomenclature and taxonomy of these microorganisms. Many of the e...
DFT Studies of SN2 Dechlorination of Polychlorinated Biphenyls.
Krzemińska, Agnieszka; Paneth, Piotr
2016-06-21
Nucleophilic dechlorination of all 209 PCBs congeners by ethylene glycol anion has been studied theoretically at the DFT level. The obtained Gibbs free energies of activation are in the range 7-22 kcal/mol. The reaction Gibbs free energies indicate that all reactions are virtually irreversible. Due to geometric constrains these reactions undergo rather untypical attack with attacking oxygen atom being nearly perpendicular to the attacked C-Cl bond. The most prone to substitution are chlorine atoms that occupy ortho- (2, 2', 6, 6') positions. These results provide extensive information on the PEG/KOH dependent PCBs degradation. They can also be used in further developments of reaction class transition state theory (RC-TST) for description of complex reactive systems encountered for example in combustion processes.
Charge Transport in Metal Oxides: A Theoretical Study of Hematite α-Fe2O3
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Iordanova, Nellie I.; Dupuis, Michel; Rosso, Kevin M.
2005-04-08
Transport of conduction electrons and holes through the lattice of ??Fe2O3 (hematite) is modeled as a valence alternation of iron cations using ab initio electronic structure calculations and electron transfer theory. Experimental studies have shown that the conductivity along the (001) basal plane is four orders of magnitude larger than the conductivity along the [001] direction. In the context of the small polaron model, a cluster approach was used to compute quantities controlling the mobility of localized electrons and holes, i.e. the reorganization energy and the electronic coupling matrix element that enter Marcus? theory. The calculation of the electronic couplingmore » followed the Generalized Mulliken-Hush approach using the complete active space self-consistent field (CASSCF) method. Our findings demonstrate an approximately three orders of magnitude anisotropy in both electron and hole mobility between directions perpendicular and parallel to the c-axis, in good accord with experimental data. The anisotropy arises from the slowness of both electron and hole mobility across basal oxygen planes relative to that within iron bi-layers between basal oxygen planes. Interestingly, for elementary reaction steps along either of the directions considered, there is only approximately one order of magnitude difference in mobility between electrons and holes, in contrast to accepted classical arguments. Our findings indicate that the most important quantity underlying mobility differences is the electronic coupling, albeit the reorganization energy contributes as well. The large values computed for the electronic coupling suggest that charge transport reactions in hematite are adiabatic in nature. The electronic coupling is found to depend on both the superexchange interaction through the bridging oxygen atoms and the d-shell electron spin coupling within the Fe?Fe donor-acceptor pair, while the reorganization energy is essentially independent of the electron spin coupling.« less
Development of a Computerized Data Base to Monitor Wheeled Vehicle Corrosion
1989-10-01
the region which corrodes. This potential difference , or voltage of these little batteries or cells, is due to the difference in the oxygen...availability at the point of attack. Differential aeration cells occur at all places where there is a difference in the availability of oxygen and can only...program is actually an evaluation of the various corrosion prevention systems and methods which were applied to the wheeled vehicles when they were
Scattered Atomic Oxygen Effects on Spacecraft Materials
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; Miller, Sharon K. R.; deGroh, Kim K.; Demko, Rikako
2003-01-01
Low Earth orbital (LEO) atomic oxygen cannot only erode the external surfaces of polymers on spacecraft, but can cause degradation of surfaces internal to components on the spacecraft where openings to the space environment exist. Although atomic oxygen attack on internal or interior surfaces may not have direct exposure to the LEO atomic oxygen flux scattered impingement can have serious degradation effects where sensitive interior surfaces are present. The effects of atomic oxygen erosion of polymer interior to an aperture on a spacecraft is simulated using Monte Carlo computational techniques. A 2-dimensional model is used to provide quantitative indications of the attenuation of atomic oxygen flux as a function of distance into a parallel walled cavity. The degree of erosion re1ative is compared between the various interior locations and the external surface of a LEO spacecraft.
Atomic Oxygen Effects on Spacecraft Materials
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; Miller, Sharon K. R.; deGroh, Kim K.; Demko, Rikako
2003-01-01
Low Earth orbital (LEO) atomic oxygen cannot only erode the external surfaces of polymers on spacecraft, but can cause degradation of surfaces internal to components on the spacecraft where openings to the space environment exist. Although atomic oxygen attack on internal or interior surfaces may not have direct exposure to the LEO atomic oxygen flux, scattered impingement can have can have serious degradation effects where sensitive interior surfaces are present. The effects of atomic oxygen erosion of polymers interior to an aperture on a spacecraft is simulated using Monte Carlo computational techniques. A 2-dimensional model is used to provide quantitative indications of the attenuation of atomic oxygen flux as a function of distance into a parallel walled cavity. The degree of erosion relative is compared between the various interior locations and the external surface of an LEO spacecraft.
Atomic Oxygen Durability of Second Surface Silver Microsheet Glass Concentrators
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
deGroh, Kim K.; Jaworske, Donald A.; Smith, Daniela C.; Mroz, Thaddeus S.
1996-01-01
Second surface silver microsheet glass concentrators are being developed for potential use in future solar dynamic space power systems. Traditional concentrators are aluminum honeycomb sandwich composites with either aluminum or graphite epoxy face sheets, where a reflective aluminum layer is deposited onto an organic leveling layer on the face sheet. To protect the underlying layers, a SiO2 layer is applied on top of the aluminum reflective layer. These concentrators may be vulnerable to atomic oxygen degradation due to possible atomic oxygen attack of the organic layers at defect sites in the protective and reflective coatings. A second surface microsheet glass concentrator would be inherently more atomic oxygen durable than these first surface concentrators. In addition, a second surface microsheet glass concentrator design provides a smooth optical surface and allows for silver to be used as a reflective layer, which would improve the reflectivity of the concentrator and the performance of the system. A potential threat to the performance of second surface microsheet glass concentrators is atomic oxygen attack of the underlying silver at seams and edges or at micrometeoroid and debris (MMD) impacts sites. Second surface silver microsheet glass concentrator samples were fabricated and tested for atomic oxygen durability. The samples were iteratively exposed to an atomic oxygen environment in a plasma asher. Samples were evaluated for potential degradation at fabrication seams, simulated MMD impact sites, and edges. Optical microscopy was used to evaluate atomic oxygen degradation. Reflectance was obtained for an impacted sample prior to and after atomic oxygen exposure. After an initial atomic oxygen exposure to an effective fluence of approx. 1 x 10(exp 21) atoms/cm(exp 2), oxidation of the silver at defect sites and edges was observed. Exposure to an additional approx. 1 x 10(exp 21) atoms/cm(exp 2) caused no observed increase in oxidation. Oxidation at an impact site caused negligible changes in reflectance. In all cases oxidation was found to be confined to the vicinity of the seams, impact sites, edges or defect sites. Asher to in-space atomic oxygen correlation issues will be addressed.
Monte Carlo modeling of atomic oxygen attack of polymers with protective coatings on LDEF
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; Degroh, Kim K.; Auer, Bruce M.; Gebauer, Linda; Edwards, Jonathan L.
1993-01-01
Characterization of the behavior of atomic oxygen interaction with materials on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) assists in understanding of the mechanisms involved. Thus the reliability of predicting in-space durability of materials based on ground laboratory testing should be improved. A computational model which simulates atomic oxygen interaction with protected polymers was developed using Monte Carlo techniques. Through the use of an assumed mechanistic behavior of atomic oxygen interaction based on in-space atomic oxygen erosion of unprotected polymers and ground laboratory atomic oxygen interaction with protected polymers, prediction of atomic oxygen interaction with protected polymers on LDEF was accomplished. However, the results of these predictions are not consistent with the observed LDEF results at defect sites in protected polymers. Improved agreement between observed LDEF results and predicted Monte Carlo modeling can be achieved by modifying of the atomic oxygen interactive assumptions used in the model. LDEF atomic oxygen undercutting results, modeling assumptions, and implications are presented.
μ(4)-Orthothio-carbonato-tetra-kis-[tri-carbonyl-iron(I)](2 Fe-Fe).
Shi, Yao-Cheng; Cheng, Huan-Ren; Yuan, Li-Min; Li, Qian-Kun
2011-11-01
The fused bis-butterfly-shaped title compound, [Fe(4)(CS(4))(CO)(12)], possesses an orthothio-carbonate (CS(4) (4-)) ligand that acts as a bridge between two Fe(2)(CO)(6) units. A short intra-molecular S⋯S contact [2.6984 (8) and 2.6977 (8) Å] occurs in each S(2)Fe(2)(CO)(6) fragment.
CO-Bridged H-Cluster Intermediates in the Catalytic Mechanism of [FeFe]-Hydrogenase CaI
Ratzloff, Michael W.; Artz, Jacob H.; Mulder, David W.; ...
2018-05-23
The [FeFe]-hydrogenases ([FeFe] H 2ases) catalyze reversible H 2 activation at the H-cluster, which is composed of a [4Fe-4S] H subsite linked by a cysteine thiolate to a bridged, organometallic [2Fe-2S] ([2Fe] H) subsite. Profoundly different geometric models of the H-cluster redox states that orchestrate the electron/proton transfer steps of H 2 bond activation have been proposed. We have examined this question in the [FeFe] H 2ase I from Clostridium acetobutylicum (CaI) by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy with temperature annealing and H/D isotope exchange to identify the relevant redox states and define catalytic transitions. One-electron reduction of H ox ledmore » to formation of H redH + ([4Fe-4S] H 2+-Fe I-Fe I) and H red' ([4Fe-4S] H 1+-Fe II-Fe I), with both states characterized by low frequency μ-CO IR modes consistent with a fully bridged [2Fe] H. Similar μ-CO IR modes were also identified for H redH + of the [FeFe] H 2ase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (CrHydA1). The CaI proton-transfer variant C298S showed enrichment of an H/D isotope-sensitive μ-CO mode, a component of the hydride bound H-cluster IR signal, H hyd. Equilibrating CaI with increasing amounts of NaDT, and probed at cryogenic temperatures, showed H redH + was converted to H hyd. Over an increasing temperature range from 10 to 260 K catalytic turnover led to loss of Hhyd and appearance of H ox, consistent with enzymatic turnover and H 2 formation. The results show for CaI that the μ-CO of [2Fe] H remains bridging for all of the 'H red' states and that H redH + is on pathway to H hyd and H 2 evolution in the catalytic mechanism. Here, this provides a blueprint for designing small molecule catalytic analogs« less
CO-Bridged H-Cluster Intermediates in the Catalytic Mechanism of [FeFe]-Hydrogenase CaI
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Ratzloff, Michael W.; Artz, Jacob H.; Mulder, David W.
The [FeFe]-hydrogenases ([FeFe] H 2ases) catalyze reversible H 2 activation at the H-cluster, which is composed of a [4Fe-4S] H subsite linked by a cysteine thiolate to a bridged, organometallic [2Fe-2S] ([2Fe] H) subsite. Profoundly different geometric models of the H-cluster redox states that orchestrate the electron/proton transfer steps of H 2 bond activation have been proposed. We have examined this question in the [FeFe] H 2ase I from Clostridium acetobutylicum (CaI) by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy with temperature annealing and H/D isotope exchange to identify the relevant redox states and define catalytic transitions. One-electron reduction of H ox ledmore » to formation of H redH + ([4Fe-4S] H 2+-Fe I-Fe I) and H red' ([4Fe-4S] H 1+-Fe II-Fe I), with both states characterized by low frequency μ-CO IR modes consistent with a fully bridged [2Fe] H. Similar μ-CO IR modes were also identified for H redH + of the [FeFe] H 2ase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (CrHydA1). The CaI proton-transfer variant C298S showed enrichment of an H/D isotope-sensitive μ-CO mode, a component of the hydride bound H-cluster IR signal, H hyd. Equilibrating CaI with increasing amounts of NaDT, and probed at cryogenic temperatures, showed H redH + was converted to H hyd. Over an increasing temperature range from 10 to 260 K catalytic turnover led to loss of Hhyd and appearance of H ox, consistent with enzymatic turnover and H 2 formation. The results show for CaI that the μ-CO of [2Fe] H remains bridging for all of the 'H red' states and that H redH + is on pathway to H hyd and H 2 evolution in the catalytic mechanism. Here, this provides a blueprint for designing small molecule catalytic analogs« less
CO-Bridged H-Cluster Intermediates in the Catalytic Mechanism of [FeFe]-Hydrogenase CaI.
Ratzloff, Michael W; Artz, Jacob H; Mulder, David W; Collins, Reuben T; Furtak, Thomas E; King, Paul W
2018-06-20
The [FeFe]-hydrogenases ([FeFe] H 2 ases) catalyze reversible H 2 activation at the H-cluster, which is composed of a [4Fe-4S] H subsite linked by a cysteine thiolate to a bridged, organometallic [2Fe-2S] ([2Fe] H ) subsite. Profoundly different geometric models of the H-cluster redox states that orchestrate the electron/proton transfer steps of H 2 bond activation have been proposed. We have examined this question in the [FeFe] H 2 ase I from Clostridium acetobutylicum (CaI) by Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy with temperature annealing and H/D isotope exchange to identify the relevant redox states and define catalytic transitions. One-electron reduction of H ox led to formation of H red H + ([4Fe-4S] H 2+ -Fe I -Fe I ) and H red ' ([4Fe-4S] H 1+ -Fe II -Fe I ), with both states characterized by low frequency μ-CO IR modes consistent with a fully bridged [2Fe] H . Similar μ-CO IR modes were also identified for H red H + of the [FeFe] H 2 ase from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (CrHydA1). The CaI proton-transfer variant C298S showed enrichment of an H/D isotope-sensitive μ-CO mode, a component of the hydride bound H-cluster IR signal, H hyd . Equilibrating CaI with increasing amounts of NaDT, and probed at cryogenic temperatures, showed H red H + was converted to H hyd . Over an increasing temperature range from 10 to 260 K catalytic turnover led to loss of H hyd and appearance of H ox , consistent with enzymatic turnover and H 2 formation. The results show for CaI that the μ-CO of [2Fe] H remains bridging for all of the "H red " states and that H red H + is on pathway to H hyd and H 2 evolution in the catalytic mechanism. These results provide a blueprint for designing small molecule catalytic analogs.
How the oxygen tolerance of a [NiFe]-hydrogenase depends on quaternary structure.
Wulff, Philip; Thomas, Claudia; Sargent, Frank; Armstrong, Fraser A
2016-03-01
'Oxygen-tolerant' [NiFe]-hydrogenases can catalyze H2 oxidation under aerobic conditions, avoiding oxygenation and destruction of the active site. In one mechanism accounting for this special property, membrane-bound [NiFe]-hydrogenases accommodate a pool of electrons that allows an O2 molecule attacking the active site to be converted rapidly to harmless water. An important advantage may stem from having a dimeric or higher-order quaternary structure in which the electron-transfer relay chain of one partner is electronically coupled to that in the other. Hydrogenase-1 from E. coli has a dimeric structure in which the distal [4Fe-4S] clusters in each monomer are located approximately 12 Å apart, a distance conducive to fast electron tunneling. Such an arrangement can ensure that electrons from H2 oxidation released at the active site of one partner are immediately transferred to its counterpart when an O2 molecule attacks. This paper addresses the role of long-range, inter-domain electron transfer in the mechanism of O2-tolerance by comparing the properties of monomeric and dimeric forms of Hydrogenase-1. The results reveal a further interesting advantage that quaternary structure affords to proteins.
Oxidation of Boron Nitride in Composites
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Jacobson, Nathan S.
1998-01-01
Boron nitride (BN) is a prime candidate for fiber coatings in silicon carbide (SiC) fiber-reinforced SiC matrix composites. The properties of BN allow the fiber to impart beneficial composite properties to the matrix, even at elevated temperatures. The problem with BN is that it is readily attacked by oxygen. Although BN is an internal component of the composite, a matrix crack or pore can create a path for hot oxygen to attack the BN. This type of attack is not well understood. A variety of phenomena have been observed. These include borosilicate glass formation, volatilization of the BN, and under some conditions, preservation of the BN. In this study at the NASA Lewis Research Center, a series of BN materials and BN-containing model composites were methodically examined to understand the various issues dealing with the oxidation of BN in composites. Initial studies were done with a series of monolithic BN materials prepared by hot pressing and chemical vapor deposition (CVD). From these studies, we found that BN showed a strong orientation effect in oxidation and was extremely sensitive to the presence of water vapor in the environment. In addition, CVD material deposited at a high temperature showed much better oxidation behavior than CVD material deposited at a lower temperature.
Environmental protection of titanium alloys at high temperatures
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Wright, I. G.; Wood, R. A.; Seltzer, M. S.
1974-01-01
Various concepts were evaluated for protecting titanium alloys from oxygen contamination at 922 K (1200 F) and from hot-salt stress-corrosion at 755 K (900 F). It is indicated that oxygen-contamination resistance can be provided by a number of systems, but for hot-salt stress-corrosion resistance, factors such as coating integrity become very important. Titanium aluminides resist oxygen ingress at 922 K through the formation of alumina (on TiAl3) or modified TiO2 (on Ti3Al, TiAl) scales. TiAl has some resistance to attack by hot salt, but has limited ductility. Ductile Ti-Ni and Ti-Nb-Cr-Al alloys provide limited resistance to oxygen ingress, but are not greatly susceptible to hot-salt stress-corrosion cracking.
Cluster headache: clinical features and therapeutic options.
Gaul, Charly; Diener, Hans-Christoph; Müller, Oliver M
2011-08-01
Cluster headache is the most common type of trigemino-autonomic headache, affecting ca. 120 000 persons in Germany alone. The attacks of pain are in the periorbital area on one side, last 90 minutes on average, and are accompanied by trigemino-autonomic manifestations and restlessness. Most patients have episodic cluster headache; about 15% have chronic cluster headache, with greater impairment of their quality of life. The attacks often possess a circadian and seasonal rhythm. Selective literature review Oxygen inhalation and triptans are effective acute treatment for cluster attacks. First-line drugs for attack prophylaxis include verapamil and cortisone; alternatively, lithium and topiramate can be given. Short-term relief can be obtained by the subcutaneous infiltration of local anesthetics and steroids along the course of the greater occipital nerve, although most of the evidence in favor of this is not derived from randomized clinical trials. Patients whose pain is inadequately relieved by drug treatment can be offered newer, invasive treatments, such as deep brain stimulation in the hypothalamus (DBS) and bilateral occipital nerve stimulation (ONS). Pharmacotherapy for the treatment of acute attacks and for attack prophylaxis is effective in most patients. For the minority who do not gain adequate relief, newer invasive techniques are available in some referral centers. Definitive conclusions as to their value cannot yet be drawn from the available data.
Electrolytic production of metals using a resistant anode
Tarcy, Gary P.; Gavasto, Thomas M.; Ray, Siba P.
1986-01-01
An electrolytic process comprising evolving oxygen on an anode in a molten salt, the anode comprising an alloy comprising a first metal and a second metal, both metals forming oxides, the oxide of the first metal being more resistant than the second metal to attack by the molten salt, the oxide of the second metal being more resistant than the first metal to the diffusion of oxygen. The electrode may also be formed of CuAlO.sub.2 and/or Cu.sub.2 O.
Atomic oxygen effects on metals
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Fromhold, Albert T.
1987-01-01
The effect of specimen geometry on the attack of metals by atomic oxygen is addressed. This is done by extending the coupled-currents approach in metal oxidation to spherical and cylindrical geometries. Kinetic laws are derived for the rates of oxidation of samples having these geometries. It is found that the burn-up time for spherical particles of a given diameter can be as much as a factor of 3 shorter than the time required to completely oxidize a planar sample of the same thickness.
Wilker, Molly B.; Utterback, James K.; Greene, Sophie; ...
2017-12-08
Complexes of CdS nanorods and [FeFe] hydrogenase from Clostridium acetobutylicum have been shown to photochemically produce H 2. This study examines the role of the ligands that passivate the nanocrystal surfaces in the electron transfer from photoexcited CdS to hydrogenase and the H 2 generation that follows. We functionalized CdS nanorods with a series of mercaptocarboxylate surface-capping ligands of varying lengths and measured their photoexcited electron relaxation by transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy before and after hydrogenase adsorption. Rate constants for electron transfer from the nanocrystals to the enzyme, extracted by modeling of TA kinetics, decrease exponentially with ligand length, suggestingmore » that the ligand layer acts as a barrier to charge transfer and controls the degree of electronic coupling. Relative light-driven H 2 production efficiencies follow the relative quantum efficiencies of electron transfer, revealing the critical role of surface-capping ligands in determining the photochemical activity of these nanocrystal-enzyme complexes. Our results suggest that the H 2 production in this system could be maximized with a choice of a surface-capping ligand that decreases the distance between the nanocrystal surface and the electron injection site of the enzyme.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Wilker, Molly B.; Utterback, James K.; Greene, Sophie
Complexes of CdS nanorods and [FeFe] hydrogenase from Clostridium acetobutylicum have been shown to photochemically produce H 2. This study examines the role of the ligands that passivate the nanocrystal surfaces in the electron transfer from photoexcited CdS to hydrogenase and the H 2 generation that follows. We functionalized CdS nanorods with a series of mercaptocarboxylate surface-capping ligands of varying lengths and measured their photoexcited electron relaxation by transient absorption (TA) spectroscopy before and after hydrogenase adsorption. Rate constants for electron transfer from the nanocrystals to the enzyme, extracted by modeling of TA kinetics, decrease exponentially with ligand length, suggestingmore » that the ligand layer acts as a barrier to charge transfer and controls the degree of electronic coupling. Relative light-driven H 2 production efficiencies follow the relative quantum efficiencies of electron transfer, revealing the critical role of surface-capping ligands in determining the photochemical activity of these nanocrystal-enzyme complexes. Our results suggest that the H 2 production in this system could be maximized with a choice of a surface-capping ligand that decreases the distance between the nanocrystal surface and the electron injection site of the enzyme.« less
Karatapanis, Andreas E; Petrakis, Dimitrios E; Stalikas, Constantine D
2012-05-13
Magnetically driven separation techniques have received considerable attention in recent decade because of their great potential application. In this study, we investigate the application of an unmodified layered magnetic Fe/Fe(2)O(3) nanoscavenger for the analytical enrichment and determination of sub-parts per billion concentrations of Cd(II), Pb(II), Ni(II), Cr(VI) and As(V) from water samples. The synthesized nanoscavenger was characterized by BET, TGA, XRD and IR and the parameters influencing the extraction and recovery of the preconcentration process were assessed by atomic absorption spectrometry. The possible mechanism of the enrichment of heavy metals on Fe/Fe(2)O(3) was proposed, which involved the dominant adsorption and reduction. The nanoscale size offers large surface area and high reactivity of sorption and reduction reactions. The obtained limits of detection for the metals studied were in the range of 20-125 ng L(-1) and the applicability of the nanomaterial was verified using a real sample matrix. The method is environmentally friendly as only 15 mg of nanoscavenger are used, no organic solvent is required for the extraction and the experiment is performed without the need for filtration or preparation of packed preconcentration columns. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Purification and properties of gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase from Moraxella osloensis.
Crawford, R L; Hutton, S W; Chapman, P J
1975-01-01
Gentisate:oxygen 1,2-oxidoreductase (decyclizing) (EC 1.13.11.4; gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase) from Moraxella osloensis was purified to homogeneity as shown by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme has a molecular weight of about 154,000 and gives rise to subunits of molecular weight 40,000 in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. Gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase showed broad substrate specificity and attacked a range of halogen- and alkyl-substituted gentisic acids. Maleylpyruvate, the product formed from gentisate, was degraded by cell extracts supplemented with reduced glutathione, but substituted maleylpyruvates were not attacked under these conditions. PMID:234947
Purification and properties of gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase from Moraxella osloensis.
Crawford, R L; Hutton, S W; Chapman, P J
1975-03-01
Gentisate:oxygen 1,2-oxidoreductase (decyclizing) (EC 1.13.11.4; gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase) from Moraxella osloensis was purified to homogeneity as shown by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The enzyme has a molecular weight of about 154,000 and gives rise to subunits of molecular weight 40,000 in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate. Gentisate 1,2-dioxygenase showed broad substrate specificity and attacked a range of halogen- and alkyl-substituted gentisic acids. Maleylpyruvate, the product formed from gentisate, was degraded by cell extracts supplemented with reduced glutathione, but substituted maleylpyruvates were not attacked under these conditions.
The effect of leveling coatings on the atomic oxygen durability of solar concentrator surfaces
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Degroh, Kim K.; Dever, Therese M.; Quinn, William F.
1990-01-01
Space power systems for Space Station Freedom will be exposed to the harsh environment of low earth orbit (LEO). Neutral atomic oxygen is the major constituent in LEO and has the potential of severely reducing the efficiency of solar dynamic power systems through degradation of the concentrator surfaces. Several transparent dielectric thin films have been found to provide atomic oxygen protection, but atomic oxygen undercutting at inherent defect sites is still a threat to solar dynamic power system survivability. Leveling coatings smooth microscopically rough surfaces, thus eliminating potential defect sites prone to oxidation attack on concentrator surfaces. The ability of leveling coatings to improve the atomic oxygen durability of concentrator surfaces was investigated. The application of a EPO-TEK 377 epoxy leveling coating on a graphite epoxy substrate resulted in an increase in solar specular reflectance, a decrease in the atomic oxygen defect density by an order of magnitude and a corresponding order of magnitude decrease in the percent loss of specular reflectance during atomic oxygen plasma ashing.
Protection of Polymers from the Space Environment by Atomic Layer Deposition
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lindholm, Ned F.; Zhang, Jianming; Minton, Timothy K.; O'Patchen, Jennifer; George, Steven M.; Groner, Markus D.
2009-01-01
Polymers in space may be subjected to a barrage of incident atoms, photons, and/or ions. For example, oxygen atoms can etch and oxidize these materials. Photons may act either alone or in combination with oxygen atoms to degrade polymers and paints and thus limit their usefulness. Colors fade under the intense vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) solar radiation. Ions can lead to the build-up of static charge on polymers. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) techniques can provide coatings that could mitigate many challenges for polymers in space. ALD is a gas-phase technique based on two sequential, self-limiting surface reactions, and it can deposit very uniform, conformal, and pinhole-free films with atomic layer control. We have studied the efficacy of various ALD coatings to protect Kapton® polyimide, FEP Teflon®, and poly(methyl methacrylate) films from atomic-oxygen and VUV attack. Atomic-oxygen and VUV studies were conducted with the use of a laser-breakdown source for hyperthermal O atoms and a D2 lamp as a source of VUV light. These studies used a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) to monitor mass loss in situ, as well as surface profilometry and scanning electron microscopy to study the surface recession and morphology changes ex situ. Al2O3 ALD coatings applied to polyimide and FEP Teflon® films protected the underlying substrates from O-atom attack, and ZnO coatings protected the poly(methyl methacrylate) substrate from VUV-induced damage.
Proximal detection of energetic materials on fabrics by UV-Raman spectroscopy
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Chirico, R.; Almaviva, S.; Colao, F.; Fiorani, L.; Nuvoli, M.; Schweikert, W.; Schnürer, F.; Cassioli, L.; Grossi, S.; Mariani, L.; Angelini, F.; Menicucci, I.; Palucci, A.
2014-05-01
In the last decades there have been several terroristic attacks with improvised explosive devices (IED) that have raised the need for new instrumentation, for homeland security applications, to obtain a reliable and effective fight against terrorism. Public transportation has been around for about 150 years, but terroristic attacks against buses, trains, subways, etc., is a relatively recent phenomenon [1]. Since 1970, transportation has been an increasingly attractive target for terrorists. Most of the attacks to transport infrastructures take place in countries where public transportation is the primary way to move. Terrorists prefer to execute a smaller-scale attack with certainty of success rather than a complex and demanding operation to cause massive death and destruction. [1]. Many commonly available materials, such as fertilizer, gunpowder, and hydrogen peroxide, can be used as explosives and other materials, such as nails, glass, or metal fragments, can be used to increase the amount of shrapnel propelled by the explosion. The majority of substances that are classified as chemical explosives generally contain oxygen, nitrogen and oxidable elements such as carbon and hydrogen [2]. The most common functional group in military explosives is NO2. That functionality can be attached to oxygen (ONO2) in the nitrate esters (PETN), to carbon (C-NO2) in the nitroarenes (TNT) and nitroalkanes (Nitromethane), and to nitrogen (N-NO2) as in the nitramines (RDX). Some organic peroxides, such as TATP and HMTD, are popular amongst terrorists because they are powerful initiators that can be easily prepared from easily available ingredients. Azides are also powerful primary explosives commonly used as initiators (commercial detonators) in civilian and military operations, therefore they could be potentially used by terrorists as initiators for IEDs.
An e.s.c.a. study of atomic oxygen interactions with phosphazene-coated polyimide films
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Fewell, Larry L.; Finney, Lorie
1991-01-01
Metallic as well as most nonmetallic materials experience oxidation and mass loss via surface erosion in low earth orbit as shown in previous Space Shuttle flights. This study is an evaluation of select polyphosphazene polymers and their resistance to atomic oxygen attack. Electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis examinations of the surfaces of polyphosphazene coatings were monitored for microstructural changes induced during exposures to atomic oxygen. Sample exposures in oxygen plasmas and O(3P) beam were compared as to their effect on surface compositional changes in the polyphosphazene coating. High resolution line scans revealed rearrangements in the polymer backbone and scissioning reactions involving fluorocarbon units of long chain fluoroalkoxy pendant groups. Atom percents and peak areas of all species provided a detailed profile of the microstructural changes induced in phosphazene polymers as a result of exposures to atomic oxygen.
Monte Carlo modeling of atomic oxygen attack of polymers with protective coatings on LDEF
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; Degroh, Kim K.; Sechkar, Edward A.
1992-01-01
Characterization of the behavior of atomic oxygen interaction with materials on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) will assist in understanding the mechanisms involved, and will lead to improved reliability in predicting in-space durability of materials based on ground laboratory testing. A computational simulation of atomic oxygen interaction with protected polymers was developed using Monte Carlo techniques. Through the use of assumed mechanistic behavior of atomic oxygen and results of both ground laboratory and LDEF data, a predictive Monte Carlo model was developed which simulates the oxidation processes that occur on polymers with applied protective coatings that have defects. The use of high atomic oxygen fluence-directed ram LDEF results has enabled mechanistic implications to be made by adjusting Monte Carlo modeling assumptions to match observed results based on scanning electron microscopy. Modeling assumptions, implications, and predictions are presented, along with comparison of observed ground laboratory and LDEF results.
Reductive amination of tertiary anilines and aldehydes.
Lv, Yunhe; Zheng, Yiying; Li, Yan; Xiong, Tao; Zhang, Jingping; Liu, Qun; Zhang, Qian
2013-10-09
An unprecedented oxidant-mediated reductive amination of tertiary anilines and aldehydes without external reducing agents was developed via the nucleophilic attack of the oxygen atom of the carbonyl group to in situ generated iminium ions, in which tertiary anilines were used as both nitrogen source and reducing agent for the first time.
Electrolytic production of metals using a resistant anode
Tarcy, G.P.; Gavasto, T.M.; Ray, S.P.
1986-11-04
An electrolytic process is described comprising evolving oxygen on an anode in a molten salt, the anode comprising an alloy comprising a first metal and a second metal, both metals forming oxides, the oxide of the first metal being more resistant than the second metal to attack by the molten salt, the oxide of the second metal being more resistant than the first metal to the diffusion of oxygen. The electrode may also be formed of CuAlO[sub 2] and/or Cu[sub 2]O. 2 figs.
Durability Issues for the Protection of Materials from Atomic Oxygen Attack in Low Earth Orbit
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce; Lenczewski, Mary; Demko, Rikako
2002-01-01
Low Earth orbital atomic oxygen is capable of eroding most polymeric materials typically used on spacecraft. Solar array blankets, thermal control polymers, and carbon fiber matrix composites are readily oxidized to become thinner and less capable of supporting the loads imposed upon them. Protective coatings have been developed that are durable to atomic oxygen to prevent oxidative erosion of the underlying polymers. However, the details of the surface roughness, coating defect density, and coating configuration can play a significant role as to whether or not the coating provides long duration atomic oxygen protection. Identical coatings on different surface roughness surfaces can have drastically different durability results. Examples and analysis of the causes of resultant differences in atomic oxygen protection are presented. Implications based on in-space experiences, ground laboratory testing, and computational modeling indicate that thin film vacuum-deposited aluminum protective coatings offer much less atomic oxygen protection than sputter-deposited silicon dioxide coatings.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; Stueber, Thomas J.; Norris, Mary Jo
1998-01-01
A Monte Carlo computational model has been developed which simulates atomic oxygen attack of protected polymers at defect sites in the protective coatings. The parameters defining how atomic oxygen interacts with polymers and protective coatings as well as the scattering processes which occur have been optimized to replicate experimental results observed from protected polyimide Kapton on the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) mission. Computational prediction of atomic oxygen undercutting at defect sites in protective coatings for various arrival energies was investigated. The atomic oxygen undercutting energy dependence predictions enable one to predict mass loss that would occur in low Earth orbit, based on lower energy ground laboratory atomic oxygen beam systems. Results of computational model prediction of undercut cavity size as a function of energy and defect size will be presented to provide insight into expected in-space mass loss of protected polymers with protective coating defects based on lower energy ground laboratory testing.
Atomic oxygen durability of solar concentrator materials for Space Station Freedom
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Degroh, Kim K.; Terlep, Judith A.; Dever, Therese M.
1990-01-01
The findings are reviewed of atomic oxygen exposure testing of candidate solar concentrator materials containing SiO2 and Al2O3 protective coatings for use on Space Station Freedom solar dynamic power modules. Both continuous and iterative atomic oxygen exposure tests were conducted. Iterative air plasma ashing resulted in larger specular reflectance decreases and solar absorptance increases than continuous ashing to the same fluence, and appears to provide a more severe environment than the continuous atomic oxygen exposure that would occur in the low Earth orbit environment. First generation concentrator fabrication techniques produced surface defects including scratches, macroscopic bumps, dendritic regions, porosity, haziness, and pin hole defects. Several of these defects appear to be preferential sites for atomic oxygen attack leading to erosive undercutting. Extensive undercutting and flaking of reflective and protective coatings were found to be promoted through an undercutting tearing propagation process. Atomic oxygen erosion processes and effects on optical performance is presented.
[Case of tension pneumothorax associated with asthma attack during general anesthesia].
Komasawa, Nobuyasu; Ueki, Ryusuke; Kusuyama, Kazuki; Okano, Yukari; Tatara, Tsuneo; Tashiro, Chikara
2010-05-01
We report a case of tension pneumothorax associated with asthma attack during general anesthesia. An 86-year-old woman with dementia underwent cataract surgery under general anesthesia. At 70 min after the start of operation, airway pressure suddenly increased from 19 to 28 cm HO2O. In spite of bag ventilation with 100% oxygen, Sp(O2) decreased to 81%. Chest-Xp showed typical image of tension pneumothorax. Chest drainage was immediately performed, after which Pa(O2) recovered soon. She was extubated on postoperative day 1 without any neurological disorder. Hyperinflation of fragile alveoli by mechanical ventilation was likely a cause of tension pneumothorax.
Zeng, Lizhang; Zhou, Jun; Li, Bo; Xing, Da
2015-01-01
Biotic stressors, especially pathogenic microorganisms, are rather difficult to detect. In plants, one of the earliest cellular responses following pathogen infection is the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS). In this study, a novel optical device for the early monitoring of Pseudomonas attack was developed; this device measures the ROS level via oxidation-sensitive 2′, 7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (H2DCFDA)-mediated fluorescence, which could provide early monitoring of attacks by a range of plant pathogen; ROS bursts were detected in vivo in Arabidopsis thaliana with higher sensitivity and accuracy than those of a commercial luminescence spectrophotometer. Additionally, the DCF fluorescence truly reflected early changes in the ROS level, as indicated by an evaluation of the H2O2 content and the tight association between the ROS and Pseudomonas concentration. Moreover, compared with traditional methods for detecting plant pathogen attacks based on physiological and biochemical measurements, our proposed technique also offers significant advantages, such as low cost, simplicity, convenient operation and quick turnaround. These results therefore suggest that the proposed optical device could be useful for the rapid monitoring of attacks by plant pathogen and yield results considerably earlier than the appearance of visual changes in plant morphology or growth. PMID:25767474
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Sturza, Mihai; Allred, Jared M.; Malliakas, Christos D.
Effecting and controlling ferromagnetic-like properties hi senticonductors has proven to be a complex problem, especially when approaching room temperature. Here, we demonstrate the important role of defects in the magnetic properties of semiconductors by reporting the structures and properties of the iron chalcogenides (BaF)(2)Fe2-x Q(3) (Q= S, Se), which exhibit anomalous Magnetic properties that are correlated' with detects in the Fe-sublattice, The compounds form in both long-range ordered and disordered polytypes of a new structure typified by the alternate stacking of fluorite (BaF)(2)(2+) and (Fe(2-x)Q(3))(2-) layers. The latter layers exhibit an ordered array of strong Pe-Pe dimers in edge-Sharing tetrahedra.more » Given the strong Fe-Fe interaction, it is expected that the Fe-Fe dimer is,antiferromagnetically coupled, yet crystals exhibit a Weak ferromagnetic moment that orders at relatively-high temperature: below 280-315 K and 240275 K for the sulfide and selenide analogues, respectively. This transition temperature positively correlates with the concentration of defect in the Fe-sublattice, as determined by single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Our results indicate that internal defects in Fe(2-x)Q(3) layers play an important role in dictating the magnetic properties of newly discovered (BaF)2Fe(2),Q-3, (Q= 5-, Se), which can yield switchable ferromagnetically ordered mother-its at or above room temperature.« less
Zahran, Zaki N; Mohamed, Eman A; Naruta, Yoshinori
2016-04-18
Efficient reduction of CO2 into useful carbon resources particularly CO is an essential reaction for developing alternate sources of fuels and for reducing the greenhouse effect of CO2. The binuclear Ni, Fe-containing carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODHs) efficiently catalyzes the reduction of CO2 to CO. The location of Ni and Fe at proper positions allows their cooperation for CO2 to CO conversion through a push-pull mechanism. Bio-inspired from CODHs, we used several cofacial porphyrin dimers with different substituents as suitable ligands for holding two Fe ions with suitable Fe-Fe separation distance to efficiently and selectively promote CO2 to CO conversion with high turnover frequencies, TOFs. The substituents on the porphyrin rings greatly affect the catalysis process. By introducing electron-withdrawing/-donating groups, e.g. electron-withdrawing perfluorophenyl, at all meso positions of the porphyrin rings, the catalysis overpotential, η was minimized by ≈0.3 V compared to that obtained by introducing electron-donating mesityl groups. The Fe porphyrin dimers among reported catalysts are the most efficient ones for CO2 to CO conversion. Control experiments indicate that the high performance of the current CO2 to CO conversion catalysts is due to the presence of binuclear Fe centers at suitable Fe-Fe separation distance.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zahran, Zaki N.; Mohamed, Eman A.; Naruta, Yoshinori
2016-04-01
Efficient reduction of CO2 into useful carbon resources particularly CO is an essential reaction for developing alternate sources of fuels and for reducing the greenhouse effect of CO2. The binuclear Ni, Fe-containing carbon monoxide dehydrogenase (CODHs) efficiently catalyzes the reduction of CO2 to CO. The location of Ni and Fe at proper positions allows their cooperation for CO2 to CO conversion through a push-pull mechanism. Bio-inspired from CODHs, we used several cofacial porphyrin dimers with different substituents as suitable ligands for holding two Fe ions with suitable Fe-Fe separation distance to efficiently and selectively promote CO2 to CO conversion with high turnover frequencies, TOFs. The substituents on the porphyrin rings greatly affect the catalysis process. By introducing electron-withdrawing/-donating groups, e.g. electron-withdrawing perfluorophenyl, at all meso positions of the porphyrin rings, the catalysis overpotential, η was minimized by ≈0.3 V compared to that obtained by introducing electron-donating mesityl groups. The Fe porphyrin dimers among reported catalysts are the most efficient ones for CO2 to CO conversion. Control experiments indicate that the high performance of the current CO2 to CO conversion catalysts is due to the presence of binuclear Fe centers at suitable Fe-Fe separation distance.
Delhaye, Jessica; Salamin, Nicolas; Roulin, Alexandre; Criscuolo, François; Bize, Pierre; Christe, Philippe
2016-12-01
Mitochondrial respiration releases reactive oxygen species (ROS) as by-products that can damage the soma and may in turn accelerate ageing. Hence, according to "the oxidative stress theory of ageing", longer-lived organisms may have evolved mechanisms that improve mitochondrial function, reduce ROS production and/or increase cell resistance to oxidative damage. Cardiolipin, an important mitochondrial inner-membrane phospholipid, has these properties by binding and stabilizing mitochondrial inner-membrane proteins. Here, we investigated whether ROS production, cardiolipin content and cell membrane resistance to oxidative attack in freshly collected red blood cells (RBCs) are associated with longevity (range 5-35 years) in 21 bird species belonging to seven Orders. After controlling for phylogeny, body size and oxygen consumption, variation in maximum longevity was significantly explained by mitochondrial ROS production and cardiolipin content, but not by membrane resistance to oxidative attack. RBCs of longer-lived species produced less ROS and contained more cardiolipin than RBCs of shorter-lived species did. These results support the oxidative stress theory of ageing and shed light on mitochondrial cardiolipin as an important factor linking ROS production to longevity.
[Studies on organic protective coatings for anti-atomic oxygen effects by spectrum analysis].
Zhang, Lei
2004-11-01
This paper describes organic protective coatings on space material for anti-AO effects and the experiments to assess properties of the coatings. Organic protection was analyzed after exposures to ground state fast atomic (AO) radiation in the atomic oxygen beam facility for ground simulation experiments. The tests results have been analyzed with advanced FTIR, XPS and SEM. The test indicated that epoxy, alkyd and urethane organic coatings were highly reactive to AO with a strong degradation and changed in morphology of the surface layer. It is evident that siloxane coatings have excellent properties for anti-AO effects. The erosion product has SiO2 left on the surface, thus providing protection from further attack by the energetic oxygen atoms.
Brady, M. P.; Keiser, J. R.; Leonard, D. N.; ...
2017-01-31
Co-processing of bio-oils with conventional petroleum-based feedstocks is an attractive initial option to make use of renewable biomass as a fuel source while leveraging existing refinery infrastructures. But, bio-oils and their processing intermediates have high concentrations of organic oxygenates, which, among their other negative qualities, can result in increased corrosion issues. A range of stainless steel alloys (409, 410, 304L, 316L, 317L, and 201) was exposed at the base of the riser in a fluid catalytic cracking pilot plant while co-processing vacuum gas oil with pine-derived pyrolysis bio-oils that had been catalytically hydrodeoxygenated to ~ 2 to 28% oxygen. Wemore » studied the processing using a catalyst temperature of 704 °C, a reaction exit temperature of 520 °C, and total co-processing run times of 57–75 h. External oxide scaling 5–30 μm thick and internal attack 1–5 μm deep were observed in these short-duration exposures. The greatest extent of internal attack was observed for co-processing with the least stabilized bio-oil, and more so for types 409, 410, 304L, 316L, 317L stainless steel than for type 201. Finally, the internal attack involved porous Cr-rich oxide formation, associated with local Ni-metal enrichment and S-rich nanoparticles, primarily containing Cr or Mn. Implications for alloy selection and corrosion are discussed.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Brady, M. P.; Keiser, J. R.; Leonard, D. N.
Co-processing of bio-oils with conventional petroleum-based feedstocks is an attractive initial option to make use of renewable biomass as a fuel source while leveraging existing refinery infrastructures. But, bio-oils and their processing intermediates have high concentrations of organic oxygenates, which, among their other negative qualities, can result in increased corrosion issues. A range of stainless steel alloys (409, 410, 304L, 316L, 317L, and 201) was exposed at the base of the riser in a fluid catalytic cracking pilot plant while co-processing vacuum gas oil with pine-derived pyrolysis bio-oils that had been catalytically hydrodeoxygenated to ~ 2 to 28% oxygen. Wemore » studied the processing using a catalyst temperature of 704 °C, a reaction exit temperature of 520 °C, and total co-processing run times of 57–75 h. External oxide scaling 5–30 μm thick and internal attack 1–5 μm deep were observed in these short-duration exposures. The greatest extent of internal attack was observed for co-processing with the least stabilized bio-oil, and more so for types 409, 410, 304L, 316L, 317L stainless steel than for type 201. Finally, the internal attack involved porous Cr-rich oxide formation, associated with local Ni-metal enrichment and S-rich nanoparticles, primarily containing Cr or Mn. Implications for alloy selection and corrosion are discussed.« less
Xiong, Ying; Zhan, Chang-Guo
2010-01-01
The transition state structures and free energy barriers for the rate-determining step (i.e. the formation of a tetrahedral intermediate) of base-catalyzed hydrolysis of a series of amides in aqueous solution have been studied by performing first-principle electronic structure calculations using a hybrid supermolecule-polarizable continuum approach. The calculated results and a revisit of recently reported experimental proton inventory data reveal that the favorable transition state structure optimized for the tetrahedral intermediate formation of hydroxide ion-catalyzed hydrolysis of formamide may have three solvating water molecules remaining on the attacking hydroxide oxygen and two additional water molecules attached to the carbonyl oxygen of formamide. The calculated results have also demonstrated interesting substituent effects on the optimized transition state geometries, on the transition-state stabilization, and on the calculated free energy barriers for the base-catalyzed hydrolysis of amides. When some or all of the hydrogen atoms of formamide are replaced by methyl groups, the total number of water molecules hydrogen-bonding with the attacking hydroxide in the transition state decreases from three for formamide to two for N-methylacetamide, N,N-dimethylformamide (DMF), and N,N-dimethylacetamide (DMA). The larger substituents of the amide hinder the solvent water molecules approaching the attacking hydroxide oxygen in the transition state and, therefore, destabilize the transition state structure and increase the free energy barrier. By using the optimized most favorable transition state structures, the calculated free energy barriers, i.e. 21.6 (or 21.7), 22.7, 23.1, and 26.0 kcal/mol for formamide, N-methylacetamide, DMF, and DMA, respectively, are in good agreement with the available experimental free energy barriers, i.e. 21.2, 21.5, 22.6, and 24.1 kcal/mol for formamide, N-methylacetamide, DMF, and DMA, respectively. PMID:17107116
Discovery of External Modulators of the Fe-Fe Hydrogenase Enzyme in Clostridium acetobutylicum
2015-02-01
I-TASSER (orange) with the experimental structure ( PDB ID: 1FEH, blue) ................5 Fig. 4 Putative docking site 1 of Fd (blue) to Fe-only...dock small molecules to a homologous structure of the C. acet. HydA from Clostridium pasteurianum (C. past.; protein data bank [ PDB ] id: 1FEH1) (Fig. 2...Agreement among these models was excellent, as well as agreement with the C. past. crystal structure ( PDB id: 1FEH1). Alignment and comparison with the
Brusie, James P.
2004-07-13
The method of determining the extent to which a nickel structure has been attacked by a halogen containing gas to which it has been exposed which comprises preparing a quantity of water substantially free from dissolved oxygen, passing ammonia gas through a cuprammonium solution to produce ammonia substantially free from oxygen, dissolving said oxygen-free ammonia in said water to produce a saturated aqueous ammonia solution free from uncombined oxygen, treating at least a portion of said nickel structure of predetermined weight with said solution to dissolve nickel compounds from the surface of said structure without dissolving an appreciable amount of said nickel and analyzing the resulting solution to determine the quantity of said nickel compounds that was associated with said said portion of said structure to determine the proportion of combined nickel in said nickel structure.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Addington, L. A.; Ownby, P. D.; Yu, B. B.; Barsoum, M. W.; Romero, H. V.; Zealer, B. G.
1979-01-01
The development and evaluation of proprietary coatings of pure silicon carbide, silicon nitride, and aluminum nitride on less pure hot pressed substrates of the respective ceramic materials, is described. Silicon sessile drop experiments were performed on coated test specimens under controlled oxygen partial pressure. Prior to testing, X-ray diffraction and SEM characterization was performed. The reaction interfaces were characterized after testing with optical and scanning electron microscopy and Auger electron spectroscopy. Increasing the oxygen partial pressure was found to increase the molten silicon contact angle, apparently because adsorbed oxygen lowers the solid-vapor interfacial free energy. It was also found that adsorbed oxygen increased the degree of attack of molten silicon upon the chemical vapor deposited coatings. Cost projections show that reasonably priced, coated, molten silicon resistant refractory material shapes are obtainable.
Modeling tyrosinase activity. Effect of ligand topology on aromatic ring hydroxylation: an overview.
De, Anindita; Mandal, Sukanta; Mukherjee, Rabindranath
2008-01-01
Synthetic modeling of tyrosinase (o-phenol ring hydroxylation) has emerged as a novel class of successful biomimetic studies. It is a well-established fact that the reaction of dioxygen with copper(I) complexes of m-xylyl-based ligands generate putative copper-oxygen intermediate species such as side-on peroxo {CuII2(mu-O2)}2+ [in some cases bis-oxo {CuIII2(mu-O)2}2+ in equilibrium with isomeric side-on peroxo], due to oxygen activation. Electrophilic attack of such species brings about monooxygenase activity by incorporating one of the oxygens to m-xylyl ring of the ligand and the other oxygen is reduced to hydroxide ion. The goal of this review is to provide a concise overview of the present day knowledge in this field of research to emphasize the important role the designed ligands play in eliciting the desired tyrosinase-like chemistry.
LaMacchia, John C.
2015-01-01
Periods of oxygen deprivation can lead to ion and water imbalances in affected tissues that manifest as swelling (edema). Although oxygen deprivation-induced edema is a major contributor to injury in clinical ischemic diseases such as heart attack and stroke, the pathophysiology of this process is incompletely understood. In the present study we investigate the impact of aquaporin-mediated water transport on survival in a Caenorhabditis elegans model of edema formation during complete oxygen deprivation (anoxia). We find that nematodes lacking aquaporin water channels in tissues that interface with the surrounding environment display decreased edema formation and improved survival rates in anoxia. We also find that these animals have significantly reduced demand for glycogen as an energetic substrate during anoxia. Together, our data suggest that reductions in membrane water permeability may be sufficient to induce a hypometabolic state during oxygen deprivation that reduces injury and extends survival limits. PMID:26017147
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Dalins, I.; Karimi, M.
1992-01-01
Monochromatized angularly resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (ARXPS) was used to study PTFE (Teflon) that had been exposed to an earth orbital environment for approximately six years. The primary interest of the research is on a very reactive component of this environment (atomic oxygen) which, because of the typical orbital velocities of a spacecraft, impinge on exposed surfaces with 5 eV energy. This presentation deals with the method of analysis, the findings as they pertain to a rather complex carbon, oxygen, and fluorine XPS peak analysis, and the character of the valence bands. An improved bias referencing method, based on ARXPS, is also demonstrated for evaluating specimen charging effects. It was found that the polymer molecule tends to resist the atomic oxygen attack by reorienting itself, so that the most electronegative CF3 groups are facing the incoming hyperthermal oxygen atoms. The implications of these findings to ground-based laboratory studies are discussed.
Atomic oxygen degradation of Intelsat 4-type solar array interconnects: Laboratory investigations
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Koontz, S. L.; Cross, J. B.; Hoffbauer, M. A.; Kirkendahl, T. D.
1991-01-01
A Hughes 506 type communication satellite belonging to the Intelsat organization was marooned in low Earth orbit on March 14, 1990, following failure of the Titan third stage to separate properly. The satellite, Intelsat VI, was designed for service in geosynchronous orbit and contains several material configurations which are susceptible to attack by atomic oxygen. Analysis showed the silver foil interconnects in the satellite photovoltaic array to be the key materials issue because the silver is exposed directly to the atomic oxygen ram flux. The results are reported of atomic oxygen degradation testing of Intelsat VI type silver foil interconnects both as virgin material and in a configured solar cell element. Test results indicate that more than 80 pct. of the original thickness of silver in the Intelsat VI solar array interconnects should remain after completion of the proposed Space Shuttle rescue and/or reboost mission.
Anfruns-Estrada, Eduard; Bruguera-Casamada, Carmina; Salvadó, Humbert; Brillas, Enric; Sirés, Ignasi; Araujo, Rosa M
2017-12-01
This work aims at comparing the ability of two kinds of electrochemical technologies, namely electrocoagulation (EC) and electro-Fenton (EF), to disinfect primary and secondary effluents from municipal wastewater treatment plants. Heterotrophic bacteria, Escherichia coli, enterococci, Clostridium perfringens spores, somatic coliphages and eukaryotes (amoebae, flagellates, ciliates and metazoa) were tested as indicator microorganisms. EC with an Fe/Fe cell at 200 A m -2 and natural pH allowed >5 log unit removal of E. coli and final concentration below 1 bacteria mL -1 of coliphages and eukaryotes from both effluents in ca. 60 min, whereas heterotrophic bacteria, enterococci and spores were more resistant. A larger removal was obtained for the primary effluent, probably because the flocs remove higher amount of total organic carbon (TOC), entrapping more easily the microbiota. EF with a boron-doped diamond (BDD) anode and an air-diffusion cathode that produces H 2 O 2 on site was first performed at pH 3.0, with large or even total inactivation of microorganisms within 30 min. A more effective microorganism removal was attained as compared to EC thanks to • OH formed from Fenton's reaction. A quicker disinfection was observed for the secondary effluent owing to its lower TOC content, allowing the attack of greater quantities of electrogenerated oxidants on microorganisms. Wastewater disinfection by EF was also feasible at natural pH (∼7), showing similar abatement of active microorganisms as a result of the synergistic action of generated oxidants like active chlorine and coagulation with iron hydroxides. A sequential EC/EF treatment (30 min each) was more effective for a combined decontamination and disinfection of urban wastewater. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
In situ characterization of the oxidative degradation of a polymeric light emitting device
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Cumpston, B. H.; Parker, I. D.; Jensen, K. F.
1997-04-01
Light-emitting devices with polymeric emissive layers have great promise for the production of large-area, lightweight, flexible color displays, but short lifetimes currently limit applications. We address mechanisms of bulk polymer degradation in these devices and show through in situ Fourier transform infrared characterization of working light-emitting devices with active layers of poly[2-methoxy,5-(2'-ethyl-hexoxy)-1,4-phenylene vinylene] that oxygen is responsible for the degradation of the polymer film. A mechanism is given based on the formation of singlet oxygen from oxygen impurities in the film via energy transfer from a nonradiative exciton. Fourier transform infrared and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy results are consistent with the mechanism, involving singlet oxygen attack followed by free radical processes. We further show that oxygen readily diffuses into the active polymer layer, changing the electrical characteristics of the film even at low concentrations. Thus, polyphenylene-vinylene-based light-emitting devices will self-destruct during operation if fabricated without special attention to eliminating oxygen contamination during fabrication and device operation.
Low Earth Orbital Atomic Oxygen Interactions With Materials
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; Miller, Sharon K.; deGroh, Kim K.
2004-01-01
Atomic oxygen is formed in the low Earth orbital environment (LEO) by photo dissociation of diatomic oxygen by short wavelength (< 243 nm) solar radiation which has sufficient energy to break the 5.12 eV O2 diatomic bond in an environment where the mean free path is sufficiently long ( 108 meters) that the probability of reassociation or the formation of ozone (O3) is small. As a consequence, between the altitudes of 180 and 650 km, atomic oxygen is the most abundant species. Spacecraft impact the atomic oxygen resident in LEO with sufficient energy to break hydrocarbon polymer bonds, causing oxidation and thinning of the polymers due to loss of volatile oxidation products. Mitigation techniques, such as the development of materials with improved durability to atomic oxygen attack, as well as atomic oxygen protective coatings, have been employed with varying degrees of success to improve durability of polymers in the LEO environment. Atomic oxygen can also oxidize silicones and silicone contamination to produce non-volatile silica deposits. Such contaminants are present on most LEO missions and can be a threat to performance of optical surfaces. The LEO atomic oxygen environment, its interactions with materials, results of space testing, computational modeling, mitigation techniques, and ground laboratory simulation procedures and issues are presented.
2015-01-01
The glmS ribozyme catalyzes a self-cleavage reaction at the phosphodiester bond between residues A-1 and G1. This reaction is thought to occur by an acid–base mechanism involving the glucosamine-6-phosphate cofactor and G40 residue. Herein quantum mechanical/molecular mechanical free energy simulations and pKa calculations, as well as experimental measurements of the rate constant for self-cleavage, are utilized to elucidate the mechanism, particularly the role of G40. Our calculations suggest that an external base deprotonates either G40(N1) or possibly A-1(O2′), which would be followed by proton transfer from G40(N1) to A-1(O2′). After this initial deprotonation, A-1(O2′) starts attacking the phosphate as a hydroxyl group, which is hydrogen-bonded to deprotonated G40, concurrent with G40(N1) moving closer to the hydroxyl group and directing the in-line attack. Proton transfer from A-1(O2′) to G40 is concomitant with attack of the scissile phosphate, followed by the remainder of the cleavage reaction. A mechanism in which an external base does not participate, but rather the proton transfers from A-1(O2′) to a nonbridging oxygen during nucleophilic attack, was also considered but deemed to be less likely due to its higher effective free energy barrier. The calculated rate constant for the favored mechanism is in agreement with the experimental rate constant measured at biological Mg2+ ion concentration. According to these calculations, catalysis is optimal when G40 has an elevated pKa rather than a pKa shifted toward neutrality, although a balance among the pKa’s of A-1, G40, and the nonbridging oxygen is essential. These results have general implications, as the hammerhead, hairpin, and twister ribozymes have guanines at a similar position as G40. PMID:25526516
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Floran, R J; Caulfield, J B.D.; Harlow, G E
The Simondium, Pinnaroo, and Hainholz mesosiderites are interpreted to be clast-laden impact melts that crystallized from immiscible silicate, metallic (Fe-FeS) liquids. The existence of silicate melts is shown by intergranular basaltic textures. Metallic melts are inferred on the basis of smooth boundaries between metal and troilite and the occurrence of troilite as anastomosing areas that radiate outward into the silicate fractions. These relations suggest that troilite crystallized after silicates, concentrating as a late-stage residuum. Evidence for impact melting includes: diversity and abundance of clast types (mineral, metal, lithic) in various stages of recrystallization and assimilation; differences in mineral chemistries betweenmore » clasts and igneous-textured matrix silicates; unusual metal plus silicate bulk composition. Silicate clasts consist primarily of orthopyroxene and minor olivine with a range of Fe/Fe + Mg ratios, anorthitic plagioclase, and rare orthopyroxenite (diogenite) fragments. Substantial amounts of Fe-Ni metal were melted during the impact events and minor amounts were incorporated into the melts as clasts. The clast populations suggest that at least four rock types were melted and mixed: (a) diogenite, (b) a plagioclase-rich source, possibly cumulate eucrite, (c) dunite, and (d) metal. Most orthopyroxene appears to have been derived from fragmentation of diogenites. Orthopyroxene (En/sub 82-61/) and olivine (Fo/sub 86-67/) clasts include much material unsampled as individual meteorites and probably represent a variety of source rocks.« less
Top-down freezing in a Fe-FeS core and Ganymede's present-day magnetic field
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Rückriemen, Tina; Breuer, Doris; Spohn, Tilman
2018-06-01
Ganymede's core most likely possesses an active dynamo today, which produces a magnetic field at the surface of ∼ 719 nT. Thermochemical convection triggered by cooling of the core is a feasible power source for the dynamo. Experiments of different research groups indicate low pressure gradients of the melting temperatures for Fe-FeS core alloys at pressures prevailing in Ganymede's core ( < 10 GPa). This may entail that the core crystallizes from the top instead of from the bottom as is expected for Earth's core. Depending on the core sulfur concentration being more iron- or more sulfur-rich than the eutectic concentration either snowing iron crystals or a solid FeS layer can form at the top of the core. We investigate whether these two core crystallization scenarios are capable of explaining Ganymede's present magnetic activity. To do so, we set up a parametrized one-dimensional thermal evolution model. We explore a wide range of parameters by running a large set of Monte Carlo simulations. Both freezing scenarios can explain Ganymede's present-day magnetic field. Dynamos of iron snow models are rather young ( < 1 Gyr), whereas dynamos below the FeS layer can be both young and much older ( ∼ 3.8 Gyr). Successful models preferably contain less radiogenic heat sources in the mantle than the chondritic abundance and show a correlation between the reference viscosity in the mantle and the initial core sulfur concentration.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Munoz-Munoz, Jose Luis; Berna, Jose; Garcia-Molina, Maria del Mar
2012-07-27
Highlights: Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The action the copper complexes and tyrosinase on phenols is equivalent. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Isotope effect showed that nucleophilic attack to copper atom may be the slower step. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer The value of {rho} (Hammett constant) supports an electrophilic aromatic substitution. Black-Right-Pointing-Pointer Data obtained in steady state pH 7 conditions support the mechanism of Scheme 1SM. -- Abstract: A study of the monophenolase activity of tyrosinase by measuring the steady state rate with a group of p-substituted monophenols provides the following kinetic information: k{sub cat}{sup m} and the Michaelis constant, K{sub M}{sup m}. Analysis of these data taking into account chemicalmore » shifts of the carbon atom supporting the hydroxyl group ({delta}) and {sigma}{sub p}{sup +}, enables a mechanism to be proposed for the transformation of monophenols into o-diphenols, in which the first step is a nucleophilic attack on the copper atom on the form E{sub ox} (attack of the oxygen of the hydroxyl group of C-1 on the copper atom) followed by an electrophilic attack (attack of the hydroperoxide group on the ortho position with respect to the hydroxyl group of the benzene ring, electrophilic aromatic substitution with a reaction constant {rho} of -1.75). These steps show the same dependency on the electronic effect of the substituent groups in C-4. Furthermore, a study of a solvent deuterium isotope effect on the oxidation of monophenols by tyrosinase points to an appreciable isotopic effect. In a proton inventory study with a series of p-substituted phenols, the representation of k{sub cat}{sup f{sub n}}/k{sub cat}{sup f{sub 0}} against n (atom fractions of deuterium), where k{sub cat}{sup f{sub n}} is the catalytic constant for a molar fraction of deuterium (n) and k{sub cat}{sup f{sub 0}} is the corresponding kinetic parameter in a water solution, was linear for all substrates. These results indicate that only one of the proton transfer processes from the hydroxyl groups involved the catalytic cycle is responsible for the isotope effects. We suggest that this step is the proton transfer from the hydroxyl group of C-1 to the peroxide of the oxytyrosinase form (E{sub ox}). After the nucleophilic attack, the incorporation of the oxygen in the benzene ring occurs by means of an electrophilic aromatic substitution mechanism in which there is no isotopic effect.« less
Brault, D
1985-01-01
Haloalkane toxicity originates from attack on biological targets by reactive intermediates derived from haloalkane metabolism by a hemoprotein, cytochrome P-450. Carbon-centered radicals and their peroxyl derivatives are most likely involved. The reactions of iron porphyrin--a model for cytochrome P-450--with various carbon-centered and peroxyl radicals generated by pulse radiolysis are examined. Competition between iron porphyrin and unsaturated fatty acids for attack by peroxyl radicals is pointed out. These kinetic data are used to derive a model for toxicity of haloalkanes with particular attention to carbon tetrachloride and halothane. The importance of local oxygen concentration and structural arrangement of fatty acids around cytochrome P-450 is emphasized. PMID:3007100
Anticonvulsant and neuroprotective effects of Pimpinella anisum in rat brain
2012-01-01
Background Essential oil of Pimpinella anisum L. Apiaceae (anise oil) has been widely used in traditional Persian medicine to treat a variety of diseases, including some neurological disorders. This study was aimed to test the possible anti-seizure and anti-hypoxia effects of anise oil. Methods The effects of different concentrations of anise oil were tested on seizure attacks induced by pentylenetetrazol (PTZ) injection and neuronal hypoxia induced by oxygen withdrawal as well as on production of dark neurons and induction of long-term potentiation (LTP) in in vivo and in vitro experimental models of rat brain. Results Anise oil significantly prolonged the latency of seizure attacks and reduced the amplitude and duration of epileptiform burst discharges induced by injection of intraperitoneal PTZ. In addition, anise oil significantly inhibited production of dark neurons in different regions of the brain in epileptic rats. Anise oil also significantly enhanced the duration of the appearance of anoxic terminal negativity induced by oxygen withdrawal and inhibited induction of LTP in hippocampal slices. Conclusions Our data indicate the anticonvulsant and neuroprotective effects of anise oil, likely via inhibition of synaptic plasticity. Further evaluation of anise oil to use in the treatment of neurological disorders is suggested. PMID:22709243
Environmental Durability of Coated GRCop-84 Copper Alloys
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Raj, Sai V.; Robinson, C.; Barrett, C.; Humphrey, D.
2005-01-01
An advanced Cu-8(at.%)Cr-4%Nb alloy developed at NASA's Glenn Research Center, and designated as GRCop-84, is currently being considered for use as liners in combustor chambers and nozzle ramps in NASA s future generations of reusable launch vehicles (RLVs). However, past experience has shown that unprotected copper alloys undergo an environmental attack called "blanching" in rocket engines using liquid hydrogen as fuel and liquid oxygen as the oxidizer. Potential for sulfidation attack of the liners in hydrocarbon-fueled engines is also of concern. As a result, protective overlay coatings alloys are being developed for GRCop-84. The oxidation behavior of several new coating alloys has been evaluated. GRCop-84 specimens were coated with several copper and nickel-based coatings, where the coatings were deposited by either vacuum plasma spraying or cold spraying techniques. Coated and uncoated specimens were thermally cycled in a furnace at different temperatures in order to evaluate the performance of the coatings. Additional studies were conducted in a high pressure burner rig using a hydrocarbon fuel and subjected to a high heat flux hydrogen-oxygen combustion flame in NASA s Quick Access Rocket Exhaust (QARE) rig. The performance of these coatings are discussed.
1949-09-01
ON LOAN FROM 7k a. **+dU fefeÄtüiÄ: .<*-#=« Investigation of Electrodeposited Alloys and Pure Metals as Substitutes for Zinc and Cadmium for...graphs Eight alloys, selected as being superior to pure zinc or cadmium for protecting steel, were evaluated on the basis of static and dynamic... zinc -silver alloy of 25% silver. A tabulated summary of the testing program on all cast and electrodeposited alloys tested is included. * and
Structure Biology of Membrane Bound Enzymes
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Fu, Dax
The overall goal of the proposed research is to understand the membrane-associated active processes catalyzed by an alkanemore » $$\\square$$-hydroxylase (AlkB) from eubacterium Pseudomonase oleovorans. AlkB performs oxygenation of unactivated hydrocarbons found in crude oils. The enzymatic reaction involves energy-demanding steps in the membrane with the uses of structurally unknown metal active sites featuring a diiron [FeFe] center. At present, a critical barrier to understanding the membrane-associated reaction mechanism is the lack of structural information. The structural biology efforts have been challenged by technical difficulties commonly encountered in crystallization and structural determination of membrane proteins. The specific aims of the current budget cycle are to crystalize AlkB and initiate X-ray analysis to set the stage for structural determination. The long-term goals of our structural biology efforts are to provide an atomic description of AlkB structure, and to uncover the mechanisms of selective modification of hydrocarbons. The structural information will help elucidating how the unactivated C-H bonds of saturated hydrocarbons are oxidized to initiate biodegradation and biotransformation processes. The knowledge gained will be fundamental to biotechnological applications to biofuel transformation of non-edible oil feedstock. Renewable biodiesel is a promising energy carry that can be used to reduce fossil fuel dependency. The proposed research capitalizes on prior BES-supported efforts on over-expression and purification of AlkB to explore the inner workings of a bioenergy-relevant membrane-bound enzyme.« less
Kadouri, Daniel E; Tran, Aimy
2013-09-01
Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Micavibrio aeruginosavorus are Gram-negative bacteria characterized by predatory behavior. The aim of this study was to evaluate the ability of the predators to prey in different oxygen environments. When placed on an orbital shaker, a positive association between the rate of aeration and predation was observed. To further examine the effects of elevated ambient oxygen levels on predation, a simple gasbag system was developed. Using the system, we were able to conduct experiments at ambient oxygen levels of 3% to 86%. When placed in gasbags and inflated with air, 50% O2, and 100% O2, positive predation was seen on both planktonic and biofilm-grown prey cells. However, in low-oxygen environments, predatory bacteria were able to attack only prey cells grown as biofilms. To further evaluate the gasbag system, biofilm development of Gram-positive and Gram-negative microorganisms was also measured. Although the gasbag system was found to be suitable for culturing bacteria that require a low-oxygen environment, it was not capable of supporting, with its current configuration, the growth of obligate anaerobes in liquid or agar medium.
Zhang, Yi; Zhou, Minghua; Hao, Xiaolong; Lei, Lecheng
2007-03-01
The effect of gas bubbling on the removal efficiency of 4-chlorophenol (4-CP) in aqueous solution has been investigated using a novel pulsed high voltage gas-liquid hybrid discharge reactor, which generates gas-phase discharge above the water surface simultaneously with the spark discharge directly in the liquid. The time for 100% of 4-CP degradation in the case of oxygen bubbling (7 min) was much shorter than that in the case of nitrogen bubbling (25 min) as plenty of hydrogen peroxide and ozone formed in oxygen atmosphere enhanced the removal efficiency of 4-CP. Except for the main similar intermediates (4-chlorocatechol, hydroquinone and 1,4-benzoquinone) produced in the both cases of oxygen and nitrogen bubbling, special intermediates (5-chloro-3-nitropyrocatechol, 4-chloro-2-nitrophenol, nitrate and nitrite ions) were produced in nitrogen atmosphere. The reaction pathway of 4-CP in the case of oxygen bubbling was oxygen/ozone attack on the radical hydroxylated derivatives of 4-CP. However, in the case of nitrogen bubbling, hydroxylation was the main reaction pathway with effect of N atom on degradation of 4-CP.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Miller, Keith A.; Felton, Robert; Vaughan, Courtenay Thomas
2005-04-01
Numotech Inc. has developed the Numobag{trademark}, a disposable, lightweight, wound healing device which produces Topical Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (THOT). The Numobag{trademark} is cost effective and has been clinically validated to heal large skin lesions rapidly and has proven to arrest wound advancement from several insidious forms of biological attack including dermal anthrax, small pox, necrotizing fasciitis etc. The Numobag{trademark} can treat mass casualties wounded by chemical/radiological burns or damaging biological exposures. The Numobag{trademark} can be a frontline tool as an isolation unit, reducing cross-contamination and infection of medical personnel. The heightened oxygen content kills organisms on the skin and inmore » the wound, avoids expensive hospital trash disposal procedures, and helps the flesh heal. The Numobag{trademark} requires high purity oxygen. Numotech Inc. is teaming with Sandia National Laboratories and Spektr Conversion in Russia to develop a cost effective, portable, low power oxygen generator.« less
Theoretical approach to oxygen atom degradation of silver
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Fromhold, Albert T., Jr.; Noh, Seung; Beshears, Ronald; Whitaker, Ann F.; Little, Sally A.
1987-01-01
Based on available Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS), proton induced X-ray emission (PIXE) and ellipsometry data obtained on silver specimens subjected to atomic oxygen attack in low Earth orbit STS flight 41-G, a theory was developed to model the oxygen atom degradation of silver. The diffusion of atomic oxygen in a microscopically nonuniform medium is an essential constituent of the theory. The driving force for diffusion is the macroscopic electrochemical potential gradient developed between the specimen surface exposed to the ambient and the bulk of the silver specimen. The longitudinal electric effect developed parallel to the gradient is modified by space charge of the diffusing charged species. Lateral electric fields and concentration differences also exist due to the nonuniform nature of the medium. The lateral concentration differences are found to be more important than the lateral electric fields in modifying the diffusion rate. The model was evaluated numerically. Qualitative agreement exists between the kinetics predicted by the theory and kinetic data taken in ground-based experiments utilizing a plasma asher.
The survivability of large space-borne reflectors under atomic oxygen and micrometeoroid impact
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Gulino, D. A.
1987-01-01
Solar dynamic power system mirrors for use on space station and other spacecraft flown in low Earth orbit (LEO) are exposed to the harshness of the LEO environment. Both atomic oxygen and micrometeoroids/space debris can degrade the performance of such mirrors. Protective coatings will be required to protect oxidizable reflecting media, such as silver and aluminum, from atomic oxygen attack. Several protective coating materials have been identified as good candidates for use in this application. The durability of these coating/mirror systems after pinhole defects have been inflicted during their fabrication and deployment or through micrometeoroid/space debris impact once on-orbit is of concern. Studies of the effect of an oxygen plasma environment on protected mirror surfaces with intentionally induced pinhole defects have been conducted at NASA Lewis and are reviewed. It has been found that oxidation of the reflective layer and/or the substrate in areas adjacent to a pinhole defect, but not directly exposed by the pinhole, can occur.
Gogniat, Gaëtan; Dukan, Sam
2007-12-01
Here, we show that resistance of Escherichia coli to TiO2 photocatalysis involves defenses against reactive oxygen species. Results support the idea that TiO2 photocatalysis generates damage which later becomes deleterious during recovery. We found this to be partly due to DNA attack via hydroxyl radicals generated by the Fenton reaction during recovery.
Sun, Hezhi; Jin, Zhe; Quan, Hong; Sun, Cuirong; Pan, Yuanjiang
2015-03-07
The benzylsilver cation which emerges from the collisional dissociation of silver(I)-N-benzylbenzamide complexes was characterized by deuterium-labeling experiments, theoretical calculations, breakdown curves and substituent effects. The nucleophilic attack of the carbonyl oxygen on an α-hydrogen results in the generation of the benzylsilver cation, which is competitive to the AgH loss with the α-hydrogen.
Corrosion due to use of carbon dioxide for enhanced oil recovery. Final report. SumX No. 78-003
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
DeBerry, D.W.; Clark, W.S.
1979-09-01
This study documents the specific effects of CO/sub 2/ on corrosion and identifies promising methods for controlling corrosion in fields using CO/sub 2/ injection. Information has been assembled on: CO/sub 2/ corrosion problems in general, surface and downhole corrosion problems specifically associated with CO/sub 2/ enhanced oil recovery, and methods to reduce corrosion problems in CO/sub 2/ environments. Corrosion mechanisms, kinetic behavior, and the effects of various parameters on corrosion by CO/sub 2/ are presented in this study. Engineering metals are not attacked by CO/sub 2/ under oil field environments unless liquid water is also present. Plain and low alloymore » steels are attacked by mixtures of CO/sub 2/ and liquid water. Attack on these bare metals may become serious at a CO/sub 2/ partial pressure as low as 4 psi and it increases with CO/sub 2/ partial pressure although not in direct proportion. Fluid flow rate is an important factor in CO/sub 2//water corrosion. Practically all stainless steels and similar resistant alloys are not particularly subject to corrosion by CO/sub 2//water mixtures alone, even at high CO/sub 2/ pressures. Elevated levels of CO/sub 2/ can aggravate the corrosive effects of other species such as hydrogen sulfide, oxygen, and chloride. Mixtures of CO/sub 2/, carbon monoxide (CO), and water can cause stress corrosion cracking of plain steels. Corrosion problems in CO/sub 2/ systems should be circumvented when possible by avoiding combination of the corrosive components. Although water cannot be excluded throughout the CO/sub 2/ injection-oil production-CO/sub 2/ and water reinjection chain, air in-leakage can be minimized and oxygen scavengers used to remove any residual. Exclusion of oxygen is important to the successful use of other corrosion control measures. A discussion is given of the main control methods including metal selection, protective coatings and nonmetallic materials, and chemical inhibition. (DLC)« less
Hsieh, En-Jung; Waters, Brian M.
2016-01-01
Iron (Fe) is an essential mineral that has low solubility in alkaline soils, where its deficiency results in chlorosis. Whether low Fe supply and alkaline pH stress are equivalent is unclear, as they have not been treated as separate variables in molecular physiological studies. Additionally, molecular responses to these stresses have not been studied in leaf and root tissues simultaneously. We tested how plants with the Strategy I Fe uptake system respond to Fe deficiency at mildly acidic and alkaline pH by measuring root ferric chelate reductase (FCR) activity and expression of selected Fe uptake genes and riboflavin synthesis genes. Alkaline pH increased cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) root FCR activity at full Fe supply, but alkaline stress abolished FCR response to low Fe supply. Alkaline pH or low Fe supply resulted in increased expression of Fe uptake genes, but riboflavin synthesis genes responded to Fe deficiency but not alkalinity. Iron deficiency increased expression of some common genes in roots and leaves, but alkaline stress blocked up-regulation of these genes in Fe-deficient leaves. In roots of the melon (Cucumis melo L.) fefe mutant, in which Fe uptake responses are blocked upstream of Fe uptake genes, alkaline stress or Fe deficiency up-regulation of certain Fe uptake and riboflavin synthesis genes was inhibited, indicating a central role for the FeFe protein. These results suggest a model implicating shoot-to-root signaling of Fe status to induce Fe uptake gene expression in roots. PMID:27605716
Study Program to Develop and Evaluate Die and Container Materials for the Growth of Silicon Ribbons
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Ounby, P. D.; Yu, B. B.; Barsoum, M. W.
1979-01-01
The completion of a major hardware delivery milestone was accomplished with the delivery of three CNTD Si3N4 coated hot pressed Si3N4 crucibles. A limited characterization of the coating was performed at MRL prior to delivery. The coatings were fine grained alpha - Si3N4. It was determined that a two piece die design is required. The importance of the role of oxygen in influencing the attack of the CNTD materials by molten silicon was demonstrated. The stability is greatly enhanced by maintaining the oxygen partial pressure near or below the Si + O2 = SiO2 equilibrium.
[Degradation of anthraquinone blue by Trametes trogii].
Levin, L; Jordan, A; Forchiassin, F; Viale, A
2001-01-01
The ability of the white rot fungus Trametes trogii BAFC 463 (high producer of ligninolytic enzymes, especially laccase and manganese peroxidase) to degrade the dye anthraquinone blue, refractory to bacterial attack, was evaluated. Both tropho- and idiophasic T. trogii cultures in synthetic medium (glucose/asparagine) and complex medium (malt extract/glucose) were able to transform up to 88% dye in 4 hours. The activity of laccase, an oxygen-dependent phenoloxidase which was present at high levels in all the conditions assayed, might be related to the ability of the fungus to degrade the colorant. This is supported by the fact that in bioreactor experiences carried out at pH 4.5 the addition of anthraquinone blue caused a decrease in the levels of soluble oxygen. However, although high levels of laccase were produced at pH 7.5, the enzyme was not active, and neither dye transformation nor loss in the levels of soluble oxygen were quantified.
Adir, Y; Bitterman, H; Kol, S; Melamed, Y
1991-01-01
During the recent Persian Gulf war, the civilian population in Israel was frequently instructed to stay in sealed rooms in preparation for a possible chemical missile attack. The war broke out in mid-winter, and in many instances it was necessary to heat the rooms. The use of open fires or malfunctioning heating appliances inside sealed rooms could create ideal conditions for carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning. Six patients with CO intoxication resulting from confinement inside sealed rooms were referred for hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) treatment. Indications for HBO therapy were loss of consciousness and metabolic acidosis. The treatment protocol consisted of 90-min exposure to 100% oxygen at 2.5 atmospheres absolute (ATA), with repeated exposures when required. All patients made a full recovery. The risk of CO poisoning should be taken into consideration and should determine the selection of heating devices for future use in similar circumstances.
The structure of antimalarial dispiro-1,2,4-trioxolanes: A density functional approach
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Moroni, L.; Salvi, P. R.
2006-02-01
Ab initio DF/B3-LYP/cc-pVDZ calculations have been performed on three dispiro-1,2,4-trioxolane systems ( 2)-( 4). Interest in these systems comes from the fact that a water-soluble derivative of ( 3), known as OZ277, has been synthesized and identified as antimalarial drug with activity superior to those of semisynthetic artemisinins. Structural data have been obtained regarding the atomic arrangement around the peroxide bond for the three systems. Making reference to ( 3), two conformers have been calculated depending on the axial or equatorial bond of spirocyclohexane with the peroxide oxygen of 1,2,4-trioxolane. In particular, while the peroxide oxygen on the spiroadamantane side is sterically hindered for both the axial and the equatorial conformer, the peroxide oxygen on the spirocyclohexane side is more accessible to external attack when the conformer is axial than when is equatorial.
ROS open roads to roundworm infection.
Feng, Baomin; Shan, Libo
2014-04-08
The rapid production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) upon pathogen attack is generally considered a defense mechanism for microbial killing and an initiation of host defense responses in plants and animals. In this issue, Siddique et al. show that nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate oxidase-derived ROS function as a pathogenicity factor to promote the roundworm nematode infection in Arabidopsis thaliana, revealing the complex action of ROS in host-pathogen interactions.
Pre-Conditioning with Low-Level Laser (Light) Therapy: Light Before the Storm
Agrawal, Tanupriya; Gupta, Gaurav K.; Rai, Vikrant; Carroll, James D.; Hamblin, Michael R.
2014-01-01
Pre-conditioning by ischemia, hyperthermia, hypothermia, hyperbaric oxygen (and numerous other modalities) is a rapidly growing area of investigation that is used in pathological conditions where tissue damage may be expected. The damage caused by surgery, heart attack, or stroke can be mitigated by pre-treating the local or distant tissue with low levels of a stress-inducing stimulus, that can induce a protective response against subsequent major damage. Low-level laser (light) therapy (LLLT) has been used for nearly 50 years to enhance tissue healing and to relieve pain, inflammation and swelling. The photons are absorbed in cytochrome(c) oxidase (unit four in the mitochondrial respiratory chain), and this enzyme activation increases electron transport, respiration, oxygen consumption and ATP production. A complex signaling cascade is initiated leading to activation of transcription factors and up- and down-regulation of numerous genes. Recently it has become apparent that LLLT can also be effective if delivered to normal cells or tissue before the actual insult or trauma, in a pre-conditioning mode. Muscles are protected, nerves feel less pain, and LLLT can protect against a subsequent heart attack. These examples point the way to wider use of LLLT as a pre-conditioning modality to prevent pain and increase healing after surgical/medical procedures and possibly to increase athletic performance. PMID:25552961
NiAl Coatings Investigated for Use in Reusable Launch Vehicles
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Raj, Sai V.; Ghosn, Louis J.; Barrett, Charles A.
2003-01-01
As part of its major investment in the area of advanced space transportation, NASA is developing new technologies for use in the second- and third-generation designs of reusable launch vehicles. Among the prototype rocket engines being considered for these launch vehicles are those designed to use liquid hydrogen as the fuel and liquid oxygen as the oxidizer. Advanced copper alloys, such as copper-chromium-niobium (Cu-8(at.%)Cr- 4(at.%)Nb, also referred to as GRCop-84), which was invented at the NASA Glenn Research Center, are being considered for use as liner materials in the combustion chambers and nozzle ramps of these engines. However, previous experience has shown that, in rocket engines using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, copper alloys are subject to a process called blanching, where the material undergoes environmental attack under the action of the combustion gases. In addition, the copper alloy liners undergo thermomechanical fatigue, which often results in an initially square cooling channel deforming into a dog-house shape. Clearly, there is an urgent need to develop new coatings to protect copper liners from environmental attack inside rocket chambers and to lower the temperature of the liners to reduce the probability of deformation and failure by thermomechanical fatigue.
Ye, Shengfa; Riplinger, Christoph; Hansen, Andreas; Krebs, Carsten; Bollinger, J. Martin; Neese, Frank
2014-01-01
α-Ketoglutarate (αKG)-dependent nonheme iron enzymes utilize a high-spin (HS) ferrous center to couple the activation of oxygen to the decarboxylation of the cosubstrate αKG to yield succinate and CO2, and to generate a high-valent ferryl species that then acts as an oxidant to functionalize the target C–H bond. Herein a detailed analysis of the electronic-structure changes that occur in the oxygen activation by this enzyme was performed. The rate-limiting step, which is identical on the septet and quintet surfaces, is the nucleophilic attack of the distal O atom of the O2 adduct on the carbonyl group in αKG through a bicyclic transition state (5,7TS1). Due to the different electronic structures in 5,7TS1, the decay of 7TS1 leads to a ferric oxyl species, which undergoes a rapid intersystem crossing to form the ferryl intermediate. By contrast, a HS ferrous center ligated by a peroxosuccinate is obtained on the quintet surface following 5TS1. Thus, additional two single-electron transfer steps are required to afford the same FeIV–oxo species. However, the triplet reaction channel is catalytically irrelevant. The biological role of αKG played in the oxygen-activation reaction is dual. The αKG LUMO (C=O π*) serves as an electron acceptor for the nucleophilic attack of the superoxide monoanion. On the other hand, the αKG HOMO (C1–C2 σ) provides the second and third electrons for the further reduction of the superoxide. In addition to density functional theory, high-level ab initio calculations have been used to calculate the accurate energies of the critical points on the alternative potential-energy surfaces. Overall, the results delivered by the ab initio calculations are largely parallel to those obtained with the B3LYP density functional, thus lending credence to our conclusions. PMID:22511515
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Chu, Xinzhao; Yu, Zhibin
2017-06-01
With a thermosphere-ionosphere Fe/Fe+ (TIFe) model developed from first principles at the University of Colorado, we present the first quantitative investigation of formation mechanisms of thermospheric Fe layers observed by lidar in Antarctica. These recently discovered neutral metal layers in the thermosphere between 100 and 200 km provide unique tracers for studies of fundamental processes in the space-atmosphere interaction region. The TIFe model formulates and expands the TIFe theory originally proposed by Chu et al. that the thermospheric Fe layers are produced through the neutralization of converged Fe+ layers. Through testing mechanisms and reproducing the 28 May 2011 event at McMurdo, we conceive the lifecycle of meteoric metals via deposition, transport, chemistry, and wave dynamics for thermospheric Fe layers with gravity wave signatures. While the meteor injection of iron species is negligible above 120 km, the polar electric field transports metallic ions Fe+ upward from their main deposition region into the E-F regions, providing the major source of Fe+ (and accordingly Fe) in the thermosphere. Atmospheric wave-induced vertical shears of vertical and horizontal winds converge Fe+ to form dense Fe+ layers. Direct electron-Fe+ recombination is the major channel to neutralize Fe+ layers to form Fe above 120 km. Fe layer shapes are determined by multiple factors of neutral winds, electric field, and aurora activity. Gravity-wave-induced vertical wind plays a key role in forming gravity-wave-shaped Fe layers. Aurora particle precipitation enhances Fe+ neutralization by increasing electron density while accelerating Fe loss via charge transfer with enhanced NO+ and O2+ densities.
2012-01-01
Background Chest pain, a key element in the investigation of coronary artery disease is often regarded as a benign prognosis when present in panic attacks. However, panic disorder has been suggested as an independent risk factor for long-term prognosis of cardiovascular diseases and a trigger of acute myocardial infarction. Objective Faced with the extreme importance in differentiate from ischemic to non-ischemic chest pain, we report a case of panic attack induced by inhalation of 35% carbon dioxide triggering myocardial ischemia, documented by myocardial perfusion imaging study. Discussion Panic attack is undoubtedly a strong component of mental stress. Patients with coronary artery disease may present myocardial ischemia in mental stress response by two ways: an increase in coronary vasomotor tone or a sympathetic hyperactivity leading to a rise in myocardial oxygen consumption. Coronary artery spasm was presumed to be present in cases of cardiac ischemia linked to panic disorder. Possibly the carbon dioxide challenge test could trigger myocardial ischemia by the same mechanisms. Conclusion The use of mental stress has been suggested as an alternative method for myocardial ischemia investigation. Based on translational medicine objectives the use of CO2 challenge followed by Sestamibi SPECT could be a useful method to allow improved application of research-based knowledge to the medical field, specifically at the interface of PD and cardiovascular disease. PMID:22999016
Soares-Filho, Gastão Luiz Fonseca; Mesquita, Claudio Tinoco; Mesquita, Evandro Tinoco; Arias-Carrión, Oscar; Machado, Sergio; González, Manuel Menéndez; Valença, Alexandre Martins; Nardi, Antonio Egidio
2012-09-21
Chest pain, a key element in the investigation of coronary artery disease is often regarded as a benign prognosis when present in panic attacks. However, panic disorder has been suggested as an independent risk factor for long-term prognosis of cardiovascular diseases and a trigger of acute myocardial infarction. Faced with the extreme importance in differentiate from ischemic to non-ischemic chest pain, we report a case of panic attack induced by inhalation of 35% carbon dioxide triggering myocardial ischemia, documented by myocardial perfusion imaging study. Panic attack is undoubtedly a strong component of mental stress. Patients with coronary artery disease may present myocardial ischemia in mental stress response by two ways: an increase in coronary vasomotor tone or a sympathetic hyperactivity leading to a rise in myocardial oxygen consumption. Coronary artery spasm was presumed to be present in cases of cardiac ischemia linked to panic disorder. Possibly the carbon dioxide challenge test could trigger myocardial ischemia by the same mechanisms. The use of mental stress has been suggested as an alternative method for myocardial ischemia investigation. Based on translational medicine objectives the use of CO2 challenge followed by Sestamibi SPECT could be a useful method to allow improved application of research-based knowledge to the medical field, specifically at the interface of PD and cardiovascular disease.
The Effect of Low Earth Orbit Atomic Oxygen Exposure on Phenylphosphine Oxide-Containing Polymers
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Connell, John W.
2000-01-01
Thin films of phenylphosphine oxide-containing polymers were exposed to low Earth orbit aboard a space shuttle flight (STS-85) as part of flight experiment designated Evaluation of Space Environment and Effects on Materials (ESEM). This flight experiment was a cooperative effort between the NASA Langley Research Center (LaRC) and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA). The thin film samples described herein were part of an atomic oxygen exposure experiment (AOE) and were exposed to primarily atomic oxygen (1 X 1019 atoms/cm2). The thin film samples consisted of three phosphine oxide containing polymers (arylene ether, benzimidazole and imide). Based on post-flight analyses using atomic force microscopy, X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and weight loss data, it was found that atomic oxygen exposure of these materials efficiently produces a phosphate layer at the surface of the samples. This layer provides a barrier towards further attack by AO. Consequently, these materials do not exhibit linear erosion rates which is in contrast with most organic polymers. Qualitatively, the results obtained from these analyses compare favorably with those obtained from samples exposed to atomic oxygen and or oxygen plasma in ground based exposure experiments. The results of the low Earth orbit atomic oxygen exposure on these materials will be compared with those of ground based exposure to AO.
Vaddypally, Shivaiah; Kondaveeti, Sandeep K; Karki, Santosh; Van Vliet, Megan M; Levis, Robert J; Zdilla, Michael J
2017-04-05
The molecular mechanism of the Oxygen Evolving Center of photosystem II has been under debate for decades. One frequently cited proposal is the nucleophilic attack by water hydroxide on a pendant Mn═O moiety, though no chemical example of this reactivity at a manganese cubane cluster has been reported. We describe here the preparation, characterization, and a reactivity study of a synthetic manganese cubane cluster with a pendant manganese-oxo moiety. Reaction of this cluster with alkenes results in oxygen and hydrogen atom transfer reactions to form alcohol- and ketone-based oxygen-containing products. Nitrene transfer from core imides is negligible. The inorganic product is a cluster identical to the precursor, but with the pendant Mn═O moiety replaced by a hydrogen abstracted from the organic substrate, and is isolated in quantitative yield. 18 O and 2 H isotopic labeling studies confirm the transfer of atoms between the cluster and the organic substrate. The results suggest that the core cubane structure of this model compound remains intact, and that the pendant Mn═O moiety is preferentially reactive.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Allen, E. C.
1972-01-01
Experimental aerodynamic investigations were conducted at the MSFC 14 x 14 inch trisonic wind tunnel on a .0044 scale model of the space shuttle orbiter, 110C. The test configurations included the orbiter alone and with external oxygen/hydrogen belly tanks. The six component aerodynamic force and moment data obtained cover a Mach number range from 0.6 to 4.96 at angles of attack from 10 to 60 deg at 0 deg sideslip angle and -10 to 10 deg at -6 deg sideslip angle. Reynolds number per unit length varied somewhat with Mach number but was a nominal 6.8 million per foot.
Reactive oxygen species and plant resistance to fungal pathogens.
Lehmann, Silke; Serrano, Mario; L'Haridon, Floriane; Tjamos, Sotirios E; Metraux, Jean-Pierre
2015-04-01
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been studied for their role in plant development as well as in plant immunity. ROS were consistently observed to accumulate in the plant after the perception of pathogens and microbes and over the years, ROS were postulated to be an integral part of the defence response of the plant. In this article we will focus on recent findings about ROS involved in the interaction of plants with pathogenic fungi. We will describe the ways to detect ROS, their modes of action and their importance in relation to resistance to fungal pathogens. In addition we include some results from works focussing on the fungal interactor and from studies investigating roots during pathogen attack. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Experimental constraints on the sulfur content in the Earth's core
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Fei, Y.; Huang, H.; Leng, C.; Hu, X.; Wang, Q.
2015-12-01
Any core formation models would lead to the incorporation of sulfur (S) into the Earth's core, based on the cosmochemical/geochemical constraints, sulfur's chemical affinity for iron (Fe), and low eutectic melting temperature in the Fe-FeS system. Preferential partitioning of S into the melt also provides petrologic constraint on the density difference between the liquid outer and solid inner cores. Therefore, the center issue is to constrain the amount of sulfur in the core. Geochemical constraints usually place 2-4 wt.% S in the core after accounting for its volatility, whereas more S is allowed in models based on mineral physics data. Here we re-examine the constraints on the S content in the core by both petrologic and mineral physics data. We have measured S partitioning between solid and liquid iron in the multi-anvil apparatus and the laser-heated diamond anvil cell, evaluating the effect of pressure on melting temperature and partition coefficient. In addition, we have conducted shockwave experiments on Fe-11.8wt%S using a two-stage light gas gun up to 211 GPa. The new shockwave experiments yield Hugoniot densities and the longitudinal sound velocities. The measurements provide the longitudinal sound velocity before melting and the bulk sound velocity of liquid. The measured sound velocities clearly show melting of the Fe-FeS mix with 11.8wt%S at a pressure between 111 and 129 GPa. The sound velocities at pressures above 129GPa represent the bulk sound velocities of Fe-11.8wt%S liquid. The combined data set including density, sound velocity, melting temperature, and S partitioning places a tight constraint on the required sulfur partition coefficient to produce the density and velocity jumps and the bulk sulfur content in the core.
Cysteine as a ligand platform in the biosynthesis of the FeFe hydrogenase H cluster
Suess, Daniel L. M.; Bürstel, Ingmar; De La Paz, Liliana; ...
2015-08-31
Hydrogenases catalyze the redox interconversion of protons and H 2, an important reaction for a number of metabolic processes and for solar fuel production. In FeFe hydrogenases, catalysis occurs at the H cluster, a metallocofactor comprising a [4Fe–4S] H subcluster coupled to a [2Fe] H subcluster bound by CO, CN–, and azadithiolate ligands. The [2Fe] H subcluster is assembled by the maturases HydE, HydF, and HydG. HydG is a member of the radical S-adenosyl-L-methionine family of enzymes that transforms Fe and L-tyrosine into an [Fe(CO) 2(CN)] synthon that is incorporated into the H cluster. Though it is thought that themore » site of synthon formation in HydG is the “dangler” Fe of a [5Fe] cluster, many mechanistic aspects of this chemistry remain unresolved including the full ligand set of the synthon, how the dangler Fe initially binds to HydG, and how the synthon is released at the end of the reaction. In order to address these questions, we show in this paper that L-cysteine (Cys) binds the auxiliary [4Fe–4S] cluster of HydG and further chelates the dangler Fe. We demonstrate that a [4Fe–4S] aux[CN] species is generated during HydG catalysis, a process that entails the loss of Cys and the [Fe(CO) 2(CN)] fragment; on this basis, we suggest that Cys likely completes the coordination sphere of the synthon. Finally, through spectroscopic analysis of HydG before and after the synthon is formed, we conclude that Cys serves as the ligand platform on which the synthon is built and plays a role in both Fe 2+ binding and synthon release.« less
Hsieh, En-Jung; Waters, Brian M
2016-10-01
Iron (Fe) is an essential mineral that has low solubility in alkaline soils, where its deficiency results in chlorosis. Whether low Fe supply and alkaline pH stress are equivalent is unclear, as they have not been treated as separate variables in molecular physiological studies. Additionally, molecular responses to these stresses have not been studied in leaf and root tissues simultaneously. We tested how plants with the Strategy I Fe uptake system respond to Fe deficiency at mildly acidic and alkaline pH by measuring root ferric chelate reductase (FCR) activity and expression of selected Fe uptake genes and riboflavin synthesis genes. Alkaline pH increased cucumber (Cucumis sativus L.) root FCR activity at full Fe supply, but alkaline stress abolished FCR response to low Fe supply. Alkaline pH or low Fe supply resulted in increased expression of Fe uptake genes, but riboflavin synthesis genes responded to Fe deficiency but not alkalinity. Iron deficiency increased expression of some common genes in roots and leaves, but alkaline stress blocked up-regulation of these genes in Fe-deficient leaves. In roots of the melon (Cucumis melo L.) fefe mutant, in which Fe uptake responses are blocked upstream of Fe uptake genes, alkaline stress or Fe deficiency up-regulation of certain Fe uptake and riboflavin synthesis genes was inhibited, indicating a central role for the FeFe protein. These results suggest a model implicating shoot-to-root signaling of Fe status to induce Fe uptake gene expression in roots. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology.
Niazi, Adnan; Bongcam-Rudloff, Erik; Schnürer, Anna
2015-01-01
This paper describes the genome-based analysis of Tepidanaerobacter acetatoxydans strain Re1, a syntrophic acetate-oxidising bacterium (SAOB). Principal issues such as environmental adaptations, metabolic capacities, and energy conserving systems have been investigated and the potential consequences for syntrophic acetate oxidation discussed. Briefly, in pure culture, T. acetatoxydans grows with different organic compounds and produces acetate as the main product. In a syntrophic consortium with a hydrogenotrophic methanogen, it can also reverse its metabolism and instead convert acetate to formate/H2 and CO2. It can only proceed if the product formed is continuously removed. This process generates a very small amount of energy that is scarcely enough for growth, which makes this particular syntrophy of special interest. As a crucial member of the biogas-producing community in ammonium-rich engineered AD processes, genomic features conferring ammonium resistance, bacterial defense, oxygen and temperature tolerance were found, as well as attributes related to biofilm formation and flocculation. It is likely that T. acetatoxydans can form an electrochemical gradient by putative electron-bifurcating Rnf complex and [Fe-Fe] hydrogenases, as observed in other acetogens. However, genomic deficiencies related to acetogenic metabolism and anaerobic respiration were discovered, such as the lack of formate dehydrogenase and F1F0 ATP synthase. This has potential consequences for the metabolic pathways used under SAO and non-SAO conditions. The two complete sets of bacteriophage genomes, which were found to be encoded in the genome, are also worthy of mention. PMID:25811859
ROS signaling and stomatal movement in plant responses to drought stress and pathogen attack.
Qi, Junsheng; Song, Chun-Peng; Wang, Baoshan; Zhou, Jianmin; Kangasjärvi, Jaakko; Zhu, Jian-Kang; Gong, Zhizhong
2018-04-16
Stomata, the pores formed by a pair of guard cells, are the main gateways for water transpiration and photosynthetic CO 2 exchange, as well as pathogen invasion in land plants. Guard cell movement is regulated by a combination of environmental factors including water status, light, CO 2 levels and pathogen attack, as well as endogenous signals such as abscisic acid and apoplastic reactive oxygen species (ROS). Under abiotic and biotic stress conditions, extracellular ROS are mainly produced by plasma membrane-localized NADPH oxidases, whereas intracellular ROS are produced in multiple organelles. These ROS form a sophisticated cellular signaling network, with the accumulation of apoplastic ROS an early hallmark of stomatal movement. Here, we review recent progress in understanding the molecular mechanisms of the ROS signaling network, primarily during drought stress and pathogen attack. We summarize the roles of apoplastic ROS in regulating stomatal movement, ABA and CO 2 signaling, and immunity responses. Finally, we discuss ROS accumulation and communication between organelles and cells. This information provides a conceptual framework for understanding how ROS signaling is integrated with various signaling pathways during plant responses to abiotic and biotic stress stimuli. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
Sun, Hongwei; Li, Guiying; Nie, Xin; Shi, Huixian; Wong, Po-Keung; Zhao, Huijun; An, Taicheng
2014-08-19
A systematic approach was developed to understand, in-depth, the mechanisms involved during the inactivation of bacterial cells using photoelectrocatalytic (PEC) processes with Escherichia coli K-12 as the model microorganism. The bacterial cells were found to be inactivated and decomposed primarily due to attack from photogenerated H2O2. Extracellular reactive oxygen species (ROSs), such as H2O2, may penetrate into the bacterial cell and cause dramatically elevated intracellular ROSs levels, which would overwhelm the antioxidative capacity of bacterial protective enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and catalase. The activities of these two enzymes were found to decrease due to the ROSs attacks during PEC inactivation. Bacterial cell wall damage was then observed, including loss of cell membrane integrity and increased permeability, followed by the decomposition of cell envelope (demonstrated by scanning electronic microscope images). One of the bacterial building blocks, protein, was found to be oxidatively damaged due to the ROSs attacks, as well. Leakage of cytoplasm and biomolecules (bacterial building blocks such as proteins and nucleic acids) were evident during prolonged PEC inactivation process. The leaked cytoplasmic substances and cell debris could be further degraded and, ultimately, mineralized with prolonged PEC treatment.
A physics link between venous stenosis and multiple sclerosis.
Tucker, Trevor W
2011-12-01
This paper hypothesizes that a stenosis or obstruction at a lower extremity of an internal jugular vein (IJV) would, in accordance with the physics of fluid dynamics, cause a standing pressure wave within the vein. This pressure wave would possess regions of large pressure fluctuations and other regions of relatively little fluctuation which also have substantially lower peak pressure values. If the wavelength of the hypothesized pressure wave is comparable to the distance from the obstruction to the venule end of the capillary bed, then a region of high pressure fluctuation would exist at the venules. Depending on the degree of obstruction, the pressure fluctuations at the venules of the capillary bed would be substantially greater than those that would exist in a healthy unobstructed vein. This increase in blood pressure fluctuation located at the venule end of the capillary bed, which would be equivalent to local hypertension, is predicted to reduce the pressure drop across the bed which, in turn, would reduce blood flow through the bed in accordance with Darcy's Law. Such a reduction in blood flow through the bed would be accompanied by a reduction in the transfer of oxygen, glucose and other nutrients into the brain tissue in accordance with Fick's Principle. The reduction in oxygen levels in the brain tissue (i.e. hypoxia), would, in turn, be associated with increased fatigue and decreased mental acuity in the subject patient. Also the deprivation of oxygen in the brain tissue may result in the death of oligodendrocyte cells, which, in turn would result in the deterioration of the myelin surrounding the brain's neural axons. In addition, the paper also predicts that, in cases of extreme obstruction, the predicted localized hypertension at the venule end of the capillary bed may be sufficiently high to cause a localized disruption in the blood-brain barrier. Such a disruption of the blood-brain barrier could then allow the migration of leukocytes (auto-immune attack cells), from the blood into the brain tissue, enabling them to attack myelin, which has degenerated or deteriorated from the reduction in repair function normally provided by oligodendrocyte cells. Such leukocyte attack on myelin has long been associated with multiple sclerosis. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Gas Phase Reactivity of Carboxylates with N-Hydroxysuccinimide Esters
Peng, Zhou; McGee, William M.; Bu, Jiexun; Barefoot, Nathan Z.; McLuckey, Scott A.
2015-01-01
N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS) esters have been used for gas phase conjugation reactions with peptides at nucleophilic sites, such as primary amines (N-terminus, ε-amine of lysine) or guanidines, by forming amide bonds through a nucleophilic attack on the carbonyl carbon. The carboxylate has recently been found to also be a reactive nucleophile capable of initiating a similar nucleophilic attack to form a labile anhydride bond. The fragile bond is easily cleaved, resulting in an oxygen transfer from the carboxylate-containing species to the reagent, nominally observed as a water transfer. This reactivity is shown for both peptides and non-peptidic species. Reagents isotopically labeled with O18 were used to confirm reactivity. This constitutes an example of distinct differences in reactivity of carboxylates between the gas-phase, where they are shown to be reactive, and the solution-phase, where they are not regarded as reactive with NHS esters. PMID:25338221
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Waters, Deborah L.; Banks, Bruce A.; Thorson, Stephen D.; deGroh, Kim, K.; Miller, Sharon K.
2007-01-01
Atomic oxygen readily reacts with most spacecraft polymer materials exposed to the low Earth orbital (LEO) environment. If the atomic oxygen arrival comes from a fixed angle of impact, the resulting erosion will foster the development of a change in surface morphology as material thickness decreases. Hydrocarbon and halopolymer materials, as well as graphite, are easily oxidized and textured by directed atomic oxygen in LEO at energies of approx.4.5 eV. What has been curious is that the ratio of cone height to erosion depth is quite different for different materials. The formation of cones under fixed direction atomic oxygen attack may contribute to a reduction in material tensile strength in excess of that which would occur if the cone height to erosion depth ratio was very low because of greater opportunities for crack initiation. In an effort to understand how material composition affects the ratio of cone height to erosion depth, an experimental investigation was conducted on 18 different materials exposed to a hyperthermal energy directed atomic oxygen source (approx.70 eV). The materials were first salt-sprayed to provide microscopic local areas that would be protected from atomic oxygen. This allowed erosion depth measurements to be made by scanning microscopy inspection. The polymers were then exposed to atomic oxygen produced by an end Hall ion source that was operated on pure oxygen. Samples were exposed to an atomic oxygen effective fluence of 1.0x10(exp 20) atoms/sq cm based on Kapton H polyimide erosion. The average erosion depth and average cone height were determined using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). The experimental ratio of average cone height to erosion depth is compared to polymer composition and other properties.
Protective interlayer for high temperature solid electrolyte electrochemical cells
Isenberg, Arnold O.; Ruka, Roswell J.
1986-01-01
A high temperature, solid electrolyte electrochemical cell is made, having a first and second electrode with solid electrolyte between them, where the electrolyte is formed by hot chemical vapor deposition, where a solid, interlayer material, which is electrically conductive, oxygen permeable, and protective of electrode material from hot metal halide vapor attack, is placed between the first electrode and the electrolyte, to protect the first electrode from the hot metal halide vapors during vapor deposition.
Protective interlayer for high temperature solid electrolyte electrochemical cells
Isenberg, Arnold O.; Ruka, Roswell J.; Zymboly, Gregory E.
1985-01-01
A high temperature, solid electrolyte electrochemical cell is made, having a first and second electrode with solid electrolyte between them, where the electrolyte is formed by hot chemical vapor deposition, where a solid, interlayer material, which is electrically conductive, oxygen permeable, and protective of electrode material from hot metal halide vapor attack, is placed between the first electrode and the electrolyte, to protect the first electrode from the hot metal halide vapors during vapor deposition.
Protective interlayer for high temperature solid electrolyte electrochemical cells
Isenberg, Arnold O.; Ruka, Roswell J.
1987-01-01
A high temperature, solid electrolyte electrochemical cell is made, having a first and second electrode with solid electrolyte between them, where the electrolyte is formed by hot chemical vapor deposition, where a solid, interlayer material, which is electrically conductive, oxygen permeable, and protective of electrode material from hot metal halide vapor attack, is placed between the first electrode and the electrolyte, to protect the first electrode from the hot metal halide vapors during vapor deposition.
Lee, Hee Jong; Song, Hyun Hoo; Jeong, Mi Ae; Yeom, Jong Hoon; Kim, Dong Won
2013-01-01
Background The reperfusion following ischemia produces reactive oxygen species (ROS). We studied the influences of methylprednisolone (MPD) and hydrocortisone (CRT) on ROS effects using the endothelium of rabbit abdominal aorta. Methods Isolated rabbit aortic rings were suspended in an organ bath filled with Krebs-Henseleit (K-H) solution. After precontraction with norepinephrine, changes in arterial tension were recorded following the cumulative administration of acetylcholine (ACh). The percentages of ACh-induced relaxation of aortic rings before and after exposure to ROS, generated by electrolysis of K-H solution, were used as the control and experimental values, respectively. The aortic rings were pretreated with MPD or CRT at the same concentrations, and the effects of these agents were compared with the effects of ROS scavenger inhibitors: superoxide dismutase inhibitor, diethylthiocarbamate (DETCA), and the catalase inhibitor, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (3AT). Results Both MPD and CRT maintained endothelium-dependent relaxation induced by ACh in a dose-related manner in spite of ROS attack. The restored ACh-induced relaxation of MPD and CRT group was not attenuated by pretreatment of 3AT and DETCA. Conclusions MPD and CRT preserve the endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation against the attack of ROS, in a dose-related manner. Endothelial protection mechanisms of MPD and CRT may be not associated with hydrogen peroxide and superoxide scavenging. PMID:23372887
Intelsat solar array coupon atomic oxygen flight experiment
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Koontz, S.; King, G.; Dunnet, A.; Kirkendahl, T.; Linton, R.; Vaughn, J.
1994-01-01
A Hughes communications satellite (INTELSAT series) belonging to the INTELSAT Organization was marooned in low-Earth orbit (LEO) on March 14, 1990, following failure of the Titan launch vehicle third stage to separate properly. The satellite, INTELSAT 6, was designed for service in geosynchronous orbit and contains several materials that are potentially susceptible to attack by atomic oxygen. Analysis showed that direct exposure of the silver interconnects in the satellite photovoltaic array to atomic oxygen in LEO was the key materials issue. Available data on atomic oxygen degradation of silver are limited and show high variance, so solar array configurations of the INTELSAT 6 type and individual interconnects were tested in ground-based facilities and during STS-41 (Space Shuttle Discovery, October 1990) as part of the ISAC flight experiment. Several materials for which little or no flight data exist were also tested for atomic oxygen reactivity. Dry lubricants, elastomers, and polymeric and inorganic materials were exposed to an oxygen atom fluence of 1.1 x 10(exp 20) atoms cm(exp 2). Many of the samples were selected to support Space Station Freedom design and decision making. This paper provides an overview of the ISAC flight experiment and a brief summary of results. In addition to new data on materials not before flown, ISAC provided data supporting the decision to rescue INTELSAT 6, which was successfully undertaken in May 1992.
Singlet Oxygen Reactions with Flavonoids. A Theoretical – Experimental Study
Morales, Javier; Günther, Germán; Zanocco, Antonio L.; Lemp, Else
2012-01-01
Detection of singlet oxygen emission, λmax = 1270 nm, following laser excitation and steady-state methods were employed to measure the total reaction rate constant, kT, and the reactive reaction rate constant, kr, for the reaction between singlet oxygen and several flavonoids. Values of kT determined in deuterated water, ranging from 2.4×107 M−1s−1 to 13.4×107 M−1s−1, for rutin and morin, respectively, and the values measured for kr, ranging from 2.8×105 M−1s−1 to 65.7×105 M−1s−1 for kaempferol and morin, respectively, being epicatechin and catechin chemically unreactive. These results indicate that all the studied flavonoids are good quenchers of singlet oxygen and could be valuable antioxidants in systems under oxidative stress, in particular if a flavonoid-rich diet was previously consumed. Analysis of the dependence of rate constant values with molecular structure in terms of global descriptors and condensed Fukui functions, resulting from electronic structure calculations, supports the formation of a charge transfer exciplex in all studied reactions. The fraction of exciplex giving reaction products evolves through a hydroperoxide and/or an endoperoxide intermediate produced by singlet oxygen attack on the double bond of the ring C of the flavonoid. PMID:22802966
Singlet oxygen reactions with flavonoids. A theoretical-experimental study.
Morales, Javier; Günther, Germán; Zanocco, Antonio L; Lemp, Else
2012-01-01
Detection of singlet oxygen emission, λ(max) = 1270 nm, following laser excitation and steady-state methods were employed to measure the total reaction rate constant, k(T), and the reactive reaction rate constant, k(r), for the reaction between singlet oxygen and several flavonoids. Values of k(T) determined in deuterated water, ranging from 2.4×10(7) M(-1) s(-1) to 13.4×10(7) M(-1) s(-1), for rutin and morin, respectively, and the values measured for k(r), ranging from 2.8×10(5) M(-1) s(-1) to 65.7×10(5) M(-1) s(-1) for kaempferol and morin, respectively, being epicatechin and catechin chemically unreactive. These results indicate that all the studied flavonoids are good quenchers of singlet oxygen and could be valuable antioxidants in systems under oxidative stress, in particular if a flavonoid-rich diet was previously consumed. Analysis of the dependence of rate constant values with molecular structure in terms of global descriptors and condensed Fukui functions, resulting from electronic structure calculations, supports the formation of a charge transfer exciplex in all studied reactions. The fraction of exciplex giving reaction products evolves through a hydroperoxide and/or an endoperoxide intermediate produced by singlet oxygen attack on the double bond of the ring C of the flavonoid.
Space Survivability of Main-Chain and Side-Chain POSS-Kapton Polyimides
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tomczak, Sandra J.; Wright, Michael E.; Guenthner, Andrew J.; Pettys, Brian J.; Brunsvold, Amy L.; Knight, Casey; Minton, Timothy K.; Vij, Vandana; McGrath, Laura M.; Mabry, Joseph M.
2009-01-01
Kapton® polyimde (PI) is extensively used in solar arrays, spacecraft thermal blankets, and space inflatable structures. Upon exposure to atomic oxygen (AO) in low Earth orbit (LEO), Kapton® is severely degraded. An effective approach to prevent this erosion is chemically bonding polyhedral oligomeric silsesquioxane (POSS) into the polyimide matrix by copolymerization of POSS-diamine with the polyimide monomers. POSS is a silicon and oxygen cage-like structure surrounded by organic groups and can be polymerizable. The copolymerization of POSS provides Si and O in the polymer matrix on the nano level. During POSS polyimide exposure to atomic oxygen, organic material is degraded and a silica passivation layer is formed. This silica layer protects the underlying polymer from further degradation. Ground-based studies and MISSE-1 and MISSE-5 flight results have shown that POSS polyimides are resistant to atomic-oxygen attack in LEO. In fact, 3.5 wt% Si8O11 main-chain POSS polyimide eroded about 2 μm during the 3.9 year flight in LEO, whereas 32 μm of 0 wt% POSS polyimide would have eroded within 4 mos. The atomic-oxygen exposure of main-chain POSS polyimides and new side-chain POSS polyimides has shown that copolymerized POSS imparts similar AO resistance to polyimide materials regardless of POSS monomer structure.
Atomic Oxygen Durability Testing of an International Space Station Solar Array Validation Coupon
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Forkapa, Mark J.; Stidham, Curtis; Banks, Bruce A.; Rutledge, Sharon K.; Ma, David H.; Sechkar, Edward A.
1996-01-01
An International Space Station solar array validation coupon was exposed in a directed atomic oxygen beam for space environment durability testing at the NASA Lewis Research Center. Exposure to atomic oxygen and intermittent tensioning of the solar array were conducted to verify the solar array#s durability to low Earth orbital atomic oxygen and to the docking threat of plume loading both of which are anticipated over its expected mission life of fifteen years. The validation coupon was mounted on a specially designed rotisserie. The rotisserie mounting enabled the solar and anti-solar facing side of the array to be exposed to directed atomic oxygen in a sweeping arrival process replicating space exposure. The rotisserie mounting also enabled tensioning, in order to examine the durability of the array and its hinge to simulated plume loads. Flash testing to verify electrical performance of the solar array was performed with a solar simulator before and after the exposure to atomic oxygen and tensile loading. Results of the flash testing indicated little or no degradation in the solar array#s performance. Photographs were also taken of the array before and after the durability testing and are included along with comparisons and discussions in this report. The amount of atomic oxygen damage appeared minor with the exception of a very few isolated defects. There were also no indications that the simulated plume loadings had weakened or damaged the array, even though there was some erosion of Kapton due to atomic oxygen attack. Based on the results of this testing, it is apparent that the International Space Station#s solar arrays should survive the low Earth orbital atomic oxygen environment and docking threats which are anticipated over its expected mission life.
Yang, Qiulin; Shi, Jianbin; Lin, Lu; Zhuang, Junping; Pang, Chunsheng; Xie, Tujun; Liu, Ying
2012-05-09
A novel, efficient, and environmentally friendly technology is used in cornstalk cooking, active oxygen (O₂ and H₂O₂) cooking with solid alkali (MgO). After the cooking, the milled wood lignin in the raw material and pulp and the water-soluble and insoluble lignin in the yellow liquor were all characterized by attenuated total reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and two-dimensional heteronuclear single-quantum coherence NMR. The results showed that the cooking procedure with solid alkali and active oxygen had a high selectivity for delignification, which could remove 85.5% of the lignin from the raw material. The syringyl (S/S'/S') units could be dissolved preferentially because of their high reactivity, and a novel guaiacyl unit with a carbonyl group (G') was generated in the cooking process. Moreover, during the cooking, the β-O-4' (A/A'/A″) structures as the main side-chain linkages in all the lignins could be partly broken and the β-O-4' (A') with a ring-conjugated structure was readily attacked by oxygen, whereas the H unit and β-5' and β-β' structures were found to stay stable without characteristic reaction.
Gas Phase Ion-Molecule Chemistry of Carbon, Nitrogen and Oxygen Compounds.
1985-01-29
silyl anions aza allyl anion) phosphide anion sulfides) Reactivity; nitrite estersj electron affinityMechanism’, sulfur dioxidej. (cont’d) M L..J A6*rAcr...use of silane chemistry to attack a problem of fundamental importance to all organic chemistry, the relative acidity of the alkanes.20 While it is well...alkane lost are a measure of the relative acidity of RH. For example, because ethane is lost less easily than methane, we believe that the ethyl anion
Process of afterburning combustible constituents of exhaust gases from rotary kilns
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Schnabel, W.; Scheu, E.; Serbent, H.
1984-03-13
In order to avoid incrustation and an excessively strong thermal attack on the afterburning chamber, the exhaust gases which contain gaseous and solid constituents which are combustible are afterburned in a plurality of stages, which are connected in series. The rate at which oxygen is supplied to each stage is so controlled that part of the combustible constituents is afterburned in each stage. The gas which is about to enter each succeeding stage is cooled by injected water.
DNA Lesions Caused by ROS and RNOS: A Review of Interactions and Reactions Involving Guanine
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Shukla, P. K.; Mishra, P. C.
DNA is constantly attacked by a large number of endogenous and exogenous reactive oxygen species (ROS), reactive nitrogen oxide species (RNOS), and alkylating agents which produce a wide variety of modifications of its constituents, particularly the bases. Some of these modifications (lesions) are hazardous to normal cell functioning, and are implicated in several lethal conditions including chronic inflammatory diseases, atherosclerosis, aging, mutation, cancer, and neurodegenerative disorders, such as the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.
Bennett, Michael H; French, Christopher; Schnabel, Alexander; Wasiak, Jason; Kranke, Peter; Weibel, Stephanie
2015-12-28
Migraine and cluster headaches are severe and disabling. Migraine affects up to 18% of women, while cluster headaches are much less common (0.2% of the population). A number of acute and prophylactic therapies are available. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) is the therapeutic administration of 100% oxygen at environmental pressures greater than one atmosphere, while normobaric oxygen therapy (NBOT) is oxygen administered at one atmosphere. This is an updated version of the original Cochrane review published in Issue 3, 2008 under the title 'Normobaric and hyperbaric oxygen for migraine and cluster headache'. To examine the efficacy and safety of normobaric oxygen therapy (NBOT) and hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in the treatment and prevention of migraine and cluster headache. We updated searches of the following databases up to 15 June 2015: CENTRAL (the Cochrane Library), MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL. For the original review we searched the following databases up to May 2008: CENTRAL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, DORCTIHM, and reference lists from relevant articles. We handsearched relevant journals and contacted researchers to identify trials. Randomised controlled trials comparing HBOT or NBOT with one another, other active therapies, placebo (sham) interventions, or no treatment in participants with migraine or cluster headache. Three review authors independently extracted data and assessed the quality of the evidence using the GRADE approach. In this update, we included 11 trials with 209 participants. Five trials (103 participants) compared HBOT versus sham therapy for acute migraine, three trials compared NBOT to sham therapy or ergotamine tartrate for cluster headache (145 participants), two trials evaluated HBOT for cluster headache (29 participants), and one trial (56 participants) compared NBOT to sham for a mixed group of headache. The risk of bias varied considerably across these trials but in general trial quality was poor to moderate. One trial may not have been truly randomised and two included studies were reported as abstracts only. Seven trials did not indicate allocation concealment or randomisation method. Notably, 10 of the 11 trials used a sham comparator therapy and masked the outcome assessor to allocation.We pooled data from three trials, which suggested that HBOT was effective in relieving migraine headaches compared to sham therapy (risk ratio (RR) 6.21, 95% CI 2.41 to 16.00; 58 participants, three trials). The quality of evidence was low, having been downgraded for small crossover studies with incomplete reporting. There was no evidence that HBOT could prevent migraine episodes, reduce the incidence of nausea and vomiting, or reduce the requirement for rescue medication. There was no evidence that HBOT was effective for the termination of cluster headache (RR 11.38, 95% CI 0.77 to 167.85; P = 0.08) (one trial), but this trial had low power.NBOT was effective in terminating cluster headache compared to sham in a single small study (RR 7.88, 95% CI 1.13 to 54.66), but not superior to ergotamine administration in another small trial (RR 1.17, 95% CI 0.94 to 1.46; P = 0.16). A third trial reported a statistically significant difference in the proportion of attacks successfully treated with oxygen (117 of 150 attacks were successfully treated with NBOT (78%) versus 30 of 148 attacks treated with NBOT (20%)). The proportion of responders was consistent across these three trials, and suggested more than 75% of headaches were likely to respond to NBOT.No serious adverse events during HBOT or NBOT were reported. Since the last version of this review, two new included studies have provided additional information to change the conclusions. There was some evidence that HBOT was effective for the termination of acute migraine in an unselected population, and some evidence that NBOT was similarly effective in cluster headache. Given the cost and poor availability of HBOT, more research should be done on patients unresponsive to standard therapy. NBOT is cheap, safe, and easy to apply, so will probably continue to be used despite the limited evidence in this review.
Durability Issues for the Protection of Materials from Atomic Oxygen Attack in Low Earth Orbit
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Banks, B. A.; Lenczewski, M.; Demko, R.
2002-01-01
Low Earth orbital atomic oxygen is capable of eroding most polymeric materials typically used on spacecraft. Solar array blankets, thermal control polymers, and carbon fiber matrix composites are readily oxidized to become thinner and less capable of supporting the loads imposed upon them. Protective coatings have been developed that are or become durable to atomic oxygen to prevent oxidative erosion of the underlying polymers. However, the details of the chemistry, surface roughness and coating configuration can play a significant role as to whether or not the coating provides long duration atomic oxygen protection. Identical coatings on different surface roughness surfaces can produce drastically have drastically different durability results. Poor choice of protective coatings or self-protecting materials can also result in contamination of surrounding spacecraft surfaces. Such contamination can deposit on optical or thermal control surfaces resulting in changes in solar absorbtance, transmittance and reflectance of surfaces. Examples of successful and unsuccessful techniques used for atomic oxygen durability or protection will be presented based on actual results from low Earth orbital spacecraft. Investigations of the causes of undesired consequences or protective coating failures will be presented including ground laboratory experimental analysis as well as computational modeling. Atomic oxygen protective coating results from various low Earth orbital missions including the Long Duration Exposure Facility, the European Retrievable Carrier, Mir, and International Space Station will be presented to illustrate examples of protection successes as well as failures including analyses of the causes for the differences and proposed solutions.
Mitochondrial role in cell aging
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Miquel, J.; Fleming, J.; Economos, A. C.; Johnson, J. E., Jr.
1980-01-01
The experimental studies on the mitochondria of insect and mammalian cells are examined with a view to an analysis of intrinsic mitochondrial senescence, and its relation to the age-related changes in other cell organelles. The fine structural and biochemical data support the concept that the mitochondria of fixed postmitotic cells may be the site of intrinsic aging because of the attack by free radicals and lipid peroxides originating in the organelles as a by-product of oxygen reduction during respiration. Although the cells have numerous mechanisms for counteracting lipid peroxidation injury, there is a slippage in the antioxidant protection. Intrinsic mitochondrial aging could thus be considered as a specific manifestation of oxygen toxicity. It is proposed that free radical injury renders an increasing number of the mitochondria unable to divide, probably because of damage to the lipids of the inner membrane and to mitochondrial DNA.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; deGroh, Kim K.; Rutledge, Sharon K.; Haytas, Christy A.
1999-01-01
The exposure of silicones to atomic oxygen in low Earth orbit causes oxidation of the surface, resulting in conversion of silicone to silica. This chemical conversion increases the elastic modulus of the surface and initiates the development of a tensile strain. Ultimately, with sufficient exposure, tensile strain leads to cracking of the surface enabling the underlying unexposed silicone to be converted to silica resulting in additional depth and extent of cracking. The use of silicone coatings for the protection of materials from atomic oxygen attack is limited because of the eventual exposure of underlying unprotected polymeric material due to deep tensile stress cracking of the oxidized silicone. The use of moderate to high volatility silicones in low Earth orbit has resulted in a silicone contamination arrival at surfaces which are simultaneously being bombarded with atomic oxygen, thus leading to conversion of the silicone contaminant to silica. As a result of these processes, a gradual accumulation of contamination occurs leading to deposits which at times have been up to several microns thick (as in the case of a Mir solar array after 10 years in space). The contamination species typically consist of silicon, oxygen and carbon. which in the synergistic environment of atomic oxygen and UV radiation leads to increased solar absorptance and reduced solar transmittance. A comparison of the results of atomic oxygen interaction with silicones and silicone contamination will be presented based on the LDEF, EOIM-111, Offeq-3 spacecraft and Mir solar array in-space results. The design of a contamination pin-hole camera space experiment which uses atomic oxygen to produce an image of the sources of silicone contamination will also be presented.
Action mechanism of tyrosinase on meta- and para-hydroxylated monophenols.
Fenoll, L G; Rodríguez-López, J N; Varón, R; García-Ruiz, P A; García-Cánovas, F; Tudela, J
2000-04-01
The relationship between the structure and activity of meta- and para-hydroxylated monophenols was studied during their tyrosinase-catalysed hydroxylation and the rate-limiting steps of the reaction mechanism were identified. The para-hydroxylated substrates permit us to study the effect of a substituent (R) in the carbon-1 position (C-1) of the benzene ring on the nucleophilic attack step, while the meta group permits a similar study of the effect on the electrophilic attack step. Substrates with a -OCH3 group on C-1, as p-hydroxyanisol (4HA) and m-hydroxyanisol (3HA), or with a -CH2OH group, as p-hydroxybenzylalcohol (4HBA) and m-hydroxybenzylalcohol (3HBA), were used because the effect of the substituent (R) size was assumed to be similar. However, the electron-donating effect of the -OCH3 group means that the carbon-4 position (C-4) is favoured for nucleophilic attack (para-hydroxylated substrates) or for electrophilic attack (meta-hydroxylated substrates). The electron-attracting effect of the -CH2OH group has the opposite effect, hindering nucleophilic (para) or electrophilic (meta) attack of C-4. The experimental data point to differences between the maximum steady-state rate (V(M)Max) of the different substrates, the value of this parameter depends on the nucleophilic and electrophilic attack. However, differences are greatest in the Michaelis constants (K(M)m), with the meta-hydroxylated substrates having very large values. The catalytic efficiency k(M)cat/K(M)m is much greater for thepara-hydroxylated substrates although it varies greatly between one substrate and the other. However, it varies much less in the meta-hydroxylated substrates since this parameter describes the power of the nucleophilic attack, which is weaker in the meta OH. The large increase in the K(M)m of the meta-hydroxylated substrates might suggest that the phenolic OH takes part in substrate binding. Since this is a weaker nucleophil than the para-hydroxylated substrates, the binding constant decreases, leading to an increase in K(M)m. The catalytic efficiency of tyrosinase on a monophenol (para or meta) is directly related to the nucleophilic power of the oxygen of the phenolic OH. The oxidation step is not limiting since if this were the case, the para and meta substrates would have the same V(M)max. The small difference between the absolute values of V(M)max suggests that the rate constants of the nucleophilic and electrophilic attacks are on the same order of magnitude.
Unravelling the reaction mechanism of matrix metalloproteinase 3 using QM/MM calculations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Feliciano, Gustavo Troiano; da Silva, Antônio José Roque
2015-07-01
The matrix metalloproteinase family (MMP) constitutes a family of zinc (Zn) proteases that catalyze the breaking of peptide bonds in proteins. These enzymes are very promising drug targets, since they are involved in remodeling and degradation of the extracellular matrix, which is a key process required for cancer metastasis, and thus, their reaction mechanism has been an area of intensive research. Early proposal based on acid base catalyzed hydrolysis, suggested that a conserved zinc bound water molecule acted as the nucleophile attacking the peptide bond carbon, after being activated by essential glutamate. The possibility of a direct nucleophilic attack by the enzyme, performed by the glutamate was also suggested. These are the key yet unsolved issues about MMP reaction mechanism. In the present work, we used hybrid quantum/classical calculations to analyze the structure and energetics of different possible hydrolysis reaction paths. The results support a water mediated mechanism, where both the nucleophile water molecule and the carbonyl oxygen of the scissile peptide bond are coordinated to zinc in the reactive configuration, while the essential glutamate acts as the base accepting the proton from the nucleophilic water. Formation of the carbon-oxygen bond and breaking of carbon-nitrogen bond were found to be concerted events, with a computed barrier of 14.8 kcal/mol. Substrate polarization was found to be important for the observed reaction mechanism, and a substantial change in the metal coordination environment was observed, particularly, regarding the zinc-histidine coordination.
[Oxidative stress and infectious pathology].
Romero Alvira, D; Guerrero Navarro, L; Gotor Lázaro, M A; Roche Collado, E
1995-03-01
Pathogenic organism can be considered as pro-oxidant agents because they produce cell death and tissue damage. In addition organism can be eliminated by specific cell defense mechanism which utilize in part, reactive oxygen radicals formed by oxidative stress responses. The cause of the necessarily defense process results in cell damage thereby leading to development of inflammation, a characteristic oxidative stress situation. This fact shows the duality of oxidative stress in infections and inflammation: oxygen free radicals protect against microorganism attack and can produce tissue damage during this protection to trigger inflammation. Iron, a transition metal which participates generating oxygen free radicals, displays also this duality in infection. We suggest also that different infectious pathologies, such as sickle cell anemia/malaria and AIDS, may display in part this duality. In addition, it should be noted that oxidative damage observed in infectious diseases is mostly due the inflammatory response than to the oxidative potential of the pathogenic agent, this last point is exemplified in cases of respiratory distress and in glomerulonephritis. This review analyzes these controversial facts of infectious pathology in relation with oxidative stress.
2014-01-01
The mechanism of cis-dihydroxylation of nitrobenzene and 2-nitrotoluene catalyzed by nitrobenzene 1,2-dioxygenase (NBDO), a member of the naphthalene family of Rieske non-heme iron dioxygenases, was studied by means of the density functional theory method using four models of the enzyme active site. Different possible reaction pathways for the substrate dioxygenation initiated either by the FeIII–OOH or HO–FeV=O attack on the aromatic ring were considered and the computed activation barriers compared with the Gibbs free energy of activation for the oxygen–oxygen cleavage leading to the formation of the iron(V)–oxo species from its ferric hydroperoxo precursor. The mechanism of the substrate cis-dihydroxylation leading to the formation of a cis-dihydrodiol was then investigated, and the most feasible mechanism was found to be starting with the attack of the high-valent iron–oxo species on the substrate ring yielding a radical intermediate, which further evolves toward the final product. PMID:24624972
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lambrinou, Konstantina; Charalampopoulou, Evangelia; Van der Donck, Tom; Delville, Rémi; Schryvers, Dominique
2017-07-01
This work addresses the dissolution corrosion behaviour of 316L austenitic stainless steels. For this purpose, solution-annealed and cold-deformed 316L steels were simultaneously exposed to oxygen-poor (<10-8 mass%) static liquid lead-bismuth eutectic (LBE) for 253-3282 h at 500 °C. Corrosion was consistently more severe for the cold-drawn steels than the solution-annealed steel, indicating the importance of the steel thermomechanical state. The thickness of the dissolution-affected zone was non-uniform, and sites of locally-enhanced dissolution were occasionally observed. The progress of LBE dissolution attack was promoted by the interplay of certain steel microstructural features (grain boundaries, deformation twin laths, precipitates) with the dissolution corrosion process. The identified dissolution mechanisms were selective leaching leading to steel ferritization, and non-selective leaching; the latter was mainly observed in the solution-annealed steel. The maximum corrosion rate decreased with exposure time and was found to be inversely proportional to the depth of dissolution attack.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Chu, X.; Xu, Z.; Zhao, J.; Yu, Z.; Knipp, D. J.; Kilcommons, L. M.; Chen, C.; Fong, W.; Barry, I. F.; Hartinger, M.
2016-12-01
The discovery of thermospheric neutral Fe layers by lidar observations in Antarctica has opened a new door to explore the space-atmosphere interactions with ground-based instruments, especially in the least understood but crucially important altitude range of 100-200 km. These neutral metal layers provide excellent tracers for modern resonance lidars to measure the neutral wind and temperature directly, complementing the radar measurements of the ionosphere and the magnetometer measurements of the geomagnetic field. Even more exciting, the neutral metal layers in the thermosphere provide a natural laboratory to test our fundamental understandings of the atmosphere-ionosphere-magnetosphere (AIM) coupling and processes. The stunning Fe layer event on 28 May 2011 with clear gravity wave signatures has been simulated successfully with the University of Colorado Thermosphere-Ionosphere Fe/Fe+ (TIFe) model, confirming the theoretical hypothesis that such thermospheric Fe layers are produced through the neutralization of converged Fe+layers. Over 5.5 years of lidar observations at McMurdo have revealed many more cases with variety of patterns - besides the `gravity wave' patterns, there are `diffusive' patterns with both upward and downward phase progressions of Fe layers, and `superposition' patterns with both gravity wave signature and diffusive background. Surprisingly, these Fe layer events exhibit close correlations with geomagnetic storms. They also correspond to remarkable activity of extreme solar wind events, e.g., high-speed stream (HSS) and coronal mass ejection (CME), etc. This paper conducts a systematic investigation of the coupling among TIFe layers, geomagnetic storms, solar wind and IMF via combining ground-based lidar, magnetometer, and SuperDARN data with DMSP, ACE and WIND satellite data along with the TIFe model simulations. We aim to quantitatively determine the relationship between TIFe and magnetic storms, and explore the mechanisms responsible for such correlations. The new insights gained through this investigation will certainly advance our understandings of the AIM coupling processes, especially the neutral atmosphere responses to geomagnetic storms and solar activity.
Ascorbic acid/Fe@Fe2O3: A highly efficient combined Fenton reagent to remove organic contaminants.
Hou, Xiaojing; Huang, Xiaopeng; Ai, Zhihui; Zhao, Jincai; Zhang, Lizhi
2016-06-05
In this study, we demonstrate that the combination of ascorbic acid and Fe@Fe2O3 core-shell nanowires (AA/Fe@Fe2O3) offers a highly efficient Fenton reagent. This combined Fenton reagent exhibited extremely high activity on the decomposition of H2O2 to produce OH for the degradation of various organic contaminants, including rhodamine B, methylene blue, alachlor, atrazine, siduron, lincomycin, and chloroamphenicol. The contaminant degradation constants in the AA/Fe@Fe2O3/H2O2 Fenton systems were 38-53 times higher than those in the conventional homogeneous Fenton system (Fe(II)/H2O2) at pH 3.8. Moreover, the OH generation rate constant in the AA/Fe@Fe2O3/H2O2 Fenton system was 1-3 orders of magnitudes greater than those of heterogeneous Fenton systems developed with other iron-containing materials (α-FeOOH, α-Fe2O3, FeOCl, and so on). The high activity of AA/Fe@Fe2O3 was attributed to the effective Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle and the iron-ascorbate complex formation to stabilize ferrous ions with desirable and steady concentrations. During the AA/Fe@Fe2O3/H2O2 Fenton process, ascorbic acid served as a reducing and complexing reagent, enabling the reuse of Fe@Fe2O3 nanowires. We systematically investigated the alachlor and ascorbic acid degradation and found that they could be effectively degraded in the AA/Fe@Fe2O3/H2O2 system, accompanying with 100% of dechlorination and 92% of denitrification. This study sheds light on the importance of Fe(III)/Fe(II) cycle for the design of high efficient Fenton system and provides an alternative pathway for the organic contaminants removal. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Long, Minnan; Liu, Jingjing; Chen, Zhifeng; Bleijlevens, Boris; Roseboom, Winfried; Albracht, Simon P J
2007-01-01
A soluble hydrogenase from Allochromatium vinosum was purified. It consisted of a large (M (r) = 52 kDa) and a small (M (r) = 23 kDa) subunit. The genes encoding for both subunits were identified. They belong to an open reading frame where they are preceded by three more genes. A DNA fragment containing all five genes was cloned and sequenced. The deduced amino acid sequences of the products characterized the complex as a member of the HoxEFUYH type of [NiFe] hydrogenases. Detailed sequence analyses revealed binding sites for eight Fe-S clusters, three [2Fe-2S] clusters and five [4Fe-4S] clusters, six of which are also present in homologous subunits of [FeFe] hydrogenases and NADH:ubiquione oxidoreductases (complex I). This makes the HoxEFUYH type of hydrogenases the one that is evolutionary closest to complex I. The relative positions of six of the potential Fe-S clusters are predicted on the basis of the X-ray structures of the Clostridium pasteurianum [FeFe] hydrogenase I and the hydrophilic domain of complex I from Thermus thermophilus. Although the HoxF subunit contains binding sites for flavin mononucleotide and NAD(H), cell-free extracts of A. vinosum did not catalyse a H(2)-dependent reduction of NAD(+). Only the hydrogenase module (HoxYH) could be purified. Its electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) and IR spectral properties showed the presence of a Ni-Fe active site and a [4Fe-4S] cluster. Its activity was sensitive to carbon monoxide. No EPR signals from a light-sensitive Ni(a)-C* state could be observed. This study presents the first IR spectroscopic data on the HoxYH module of a HoxEFUYH type of [NiFe] hydrogenase.
Hong, G; Cornish, A J; Hegg, E L; Pachter, R
2011-05-01
Proton transfer to the [Fe-Fe](H) sub-cluster in the Desulfovibrio desulfuricans (DdH) and Clostridium pasteurianum (CpI) [Fe-Fe] hydrogenases was investigated by a combination of first principles and empirical molecular dynamics simulations. Pathways that can be inferred from the X-ray crystal structures of DdH and CpI, i.e., (Glu159→Ser198→Glu156→water460→Cys178→DTMA([Fe-Fe](H)) and (Glu282→Ser319→Glu279→water612→Cys299), respectively, were considered. Proton transfer from Cys178 to DTMA in the [Fe-Fe](H) sub-cluster in DdH was readily observed in our results, specifically when [Fe-Fe](H) was in the reduced state ([Fe(I)-Fe(I)]) or in the mixed valence state for the protonated distal iron Fe(d) ([Fe(I)-Fe(II)-H(-)](H)). A concerted mechanism is proposed, where proton transfer in DdH from Glu159 to Glu156 via Ser198 and Glu156 to Cys178 via water460 readily occurred, as well as from Glu282 to Glu279 via Ser319 and Glu279 to Cys299 via water612 in CpI. The theoretical prediction of the proton transfer characteristics is consistent with the assumed biocatalytic mechanism of the [Fe-Fe] hydrogenases in which the proton binds at Fe(d), providing confirmation that has not been explored so far. The computational results were qualitatively validated by the agreement with experimental hydrogen production activity data for mutated CpI enzymes, relative to the wild-type protein. Finally, the insight provided by the simulations, combined, in part, with experimental validation, are important for establishing an approach in future exploration of proton transfer to the active site in this class of enzymes, and possibly also for biomimetic analogs. Published by Elsevier B.V.
Characterization and Oxidation Behavior of Rayon-Derived Carbon Fibers
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Jacobson, Nathan; Hull, David
2010-01-01
Rayon-derived fibers are the central constituent of reinforced carbon/ carbon (RCC) composites. Optical, scanning electron, and transmission electron microscopy were used to characterize the as-fabricated fibers and the fibers after oxidation. Oxidation rates were measured with weight loss techniques in air and oxygen. The as-received fibers are approximately 10 micron in diameter and characterized by grooves or crenulations around the edges. Below 800 C, in the reaction-controlled region, preferential attack began in the crenulations and appeared to occur down fissures in the fibers.
Welsh, Emma J; Carr, Robin
2015-09-27
We became aware through talking with people with asthma that some are using pulse oximeters to monitor their own blood oxygen levels during an asthma attack. Pulse oximeters are marketed by some suppliers as essential equipment for the home medicine cabinet. We wanted to find out if reliable evidence is available on use of pulse oximeters to self monitor asthma exacerbations at home. We decided to include only trials that used pulse oximeters as part of a personalised asthma action plan because it is important that decisions are made on the basis of symptoms as well as oxygen saturation, and that patients have a clear protocol to follow when their asthma worsens. To determine whether pulse oximeters used as part of a personalised asthma action plan for people with asthma are safer and more effective than a personalised asthma action plan alone. We searched the Cochrane Airways Group Specialised Register (CAGR), which includes reports identified through systematic searches of bibliographic databases including the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), MEDLINE, EMBASE, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), the Allied and Complementary Medicine Database (AMED) and PsycINFO, and by handsearching. We also searched ClinicalTrials.gov and the World Health Organization (WHO) trials portal. We planned to include randomised controlled trials (RCTs). Participants would have included adults, children or both with a diagnosis of asthma. We planned to include trials in which investigators compared participants who used pulse oximeters to monitor oxygen levels at home during an asthma exacerbation as part of a personalised asthma action plan (PAAP) versus those who used a PAAP without a pulse oximeter. We planned to include studies involving people receiving any treatment regimen provided that no medicine was included as part of the randomisation schedule. We planned to use standard methods as recommended by The Cochrane Collaboration. We found no studies and no evidence to support or refute the use of home pulse oximetry in self management of asthma; therefore, we can make no recommendations about use of a pulse oximeter as part of a PAAP. We found no reliable data to support or refute patient use of pulse oximeters to monitor oxygen saturation levels when experiencing an asthma attack. People should not use a pulse oximeter without seeking advice from a qualified healthcare professional.We identified no compelling rationale for home monitoring of oxygen levels in isolation for most people with asthma. Some people have a reduced perception of the severity of their own breathlessness when exposed to hypoxia. If trials on self monitoring of oxygen levels in the blood by pulse oximeter at home by people with asthma are conducted, the pulse oximeter must be given as part of a personalised asthma action plan.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Reed, S. J. B.; Chinner, G. A.
1993-07-01
Introduction: A 59-g piece of stony meteorite with black fusion crust and medium grey interior was recovered in 1992 from Northern Ghana by Dr. S. Abudulai of the Centre for African Studies, University of Cambridge. This meteorite was reported to be part of a fall that occurred in the vicinity of Bawku (11 degrees 05'N, 0 degrees 11'W) at 1630 hours (local time) on December 29, 1989; the meteorite was found between the villages of Naarango-Anisi and Kpukparigu, east of Bawku. A further mass of 1.5 kg was recovered by Dr. Abudulai during a visit in January 1993. The name "Bawku" is proposed for this meteorite. Description: The Bawku chondrite is a monomict breccia. Some well-preserved chondrules with a variety of textures are present. Olivine exhibits undulose extinction and extensive irregular cracking. Other shock features include cracks infilled with metal/troilite. Electron microprobe analyses of olivines gave a mean Fe/Fe + Mg ratio of 26.8%, with a standard deviation of 1.0% (relative) and an average CaO content of 0.03% (by weight). The mean Fe/Fe + Mg content of orthopyroxene was found to be 22.6% (standard deviation 1.2% relative). Small (10-micrometer) grains of plagioclase (75-85% Ab) were found. Automated point counting (700 points) gave volume fractions of 4.6% troilite and 1.3% metal. Compositions of 200 randomly selected points on metal grains fell into three groups, corresponding to kamacite (4-7% Ni, 1.4% Co), taenite (34-38% Ni, 0.35% Co), and tetrataenite (48-56% Ni, 0.2% Co). The inferred volume fractions of these phases were 52%, 45%, and 3% respectively. The average Ni content of the metal was 21%, with 0.9% Co. On etching, Neumann lamellae became visible in kamacite, while the taenite took on a cloudy appearance. Tetrataenite was observed as narrow rims adjacent to cloudy taenite, but also occurred sometimes in larger areas. Minor phases noted included chromite, ilmenite, apatite, and whitlockite. Classification: The Fe/Fe + Mg ratios of olivine and pyroxene place this chondrite at the lower limit of the range for the LL group, adjacent to the hiatus between LL and L [1]. The low metal content is consistent with this classification. The relatively high proportion of kamacite compared to other LL chondrites is in accordance with Prior's law, which applies within this group, unlike others [2]. The homogeneity of olivine and orthopyroxene, the existence of moderately abundant preserved chondrules, and the presence of feldspar grains comparable in size to those observed in LL5 chondrites [3] point to Bawku being a member of this class. The undulose extinction and irregular fracturing of olivine are indicative of shock class S2 [4]. References: [1] Fredriksson K. et al. (1978) In Origin and Distribution of the Elements (L. Ahrens, ed.), 457-466, Pergamon, Oxford. [2] Sears D. W. and Axon H. J. (1976) Meteoritics, 11, 97-100. [3] Heyse J. V. (1978) EPSL, 40, 365-381. [4] Stoffler D. et al. (1991) GCA, 55, 3845-3867.
The surface reactivity of acrylonitrile with oxygen atoms on an analogue of interstellar dust grains
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kimber, Helen J.; Toscano, Jutta; Price, Stephen D.
2018-06-01
Experiments designed to reveal the low-temperature reactivity on the surfaces of interstellar dust grains are used to probe the heterogeneous reaction between oxygen atoms and acrylonitrile (C2H3CN, H2C=CH-CN). The reaction is studied at a series of fixed surface temperatures between 14 and 100 K. After dosing the reactants on to the surface, temperature-programmed desorption, coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry, reveals the formation of a product with the molecular formula C3H3NO. This product results from the addition of a single oxygen atom to the acrylonitrile reactant. The oxygen atom attack appears to occur exclusively at the C=C double bond, rather than involving the cyano(-CN) group. The absence of reactivity at the cyano site hints that full saturation of organic molecules on dust grains may not always occur in the interstellar medium. Modelling the experimental data provides a reaction probability of 0.007 ± 0.003 for a Langmuir-Hinshelwood style (diffusive) reaction mechanism. Desorption energies for acrylonitrile, oxygen atoms, and molecular oxygen, from the multilayer mixed ice their deposition forms, are also extracted from the kinetic model and are 22.7 ± 1.0 kJ mol-1 (2730 ± 120 K), 14.2 ± 1.0 kJ mol-1 (1710 ± 120 K), and 8.5 ± 0.8 kJ mol-1 (1020 ± 100 K), respectively. The kinetic parameters we extract from our experiments indicate that the reaction between atomic oxygen and acrylonitrile could occur on interstellar dust grains on an astrophysical time-scale.
Synthesis of 1,2,4-trioxepanes via application of thiol-olefin co-oxygenation methodology.
Amewu, Richard; Stachulski, Andrew V; Berry, Neil G; Ward, Stephen A; Davies, Jill; Labat, Gael; Rossignol, Jean-Francois; O'Neill, Paul M
2006-12-01
Thiol-olefin co-oxygenation (TOCO) of substituted allylic alcohols generates beta-hydroxy peroxides that can be condensed in situ with various ketones, to afford a series of functionalised 1,2,4-trioxepanes in good yields. Manipulation of the phenylsulfenyl group in 8a-8c allows for convenient modification to the spiro-trioxepane substituents. Surprisingly, and in contrast to the 1,2,4-trioxanes examined, 1,2,4-trioxepanes are inactive as antimalarials up to 1000 nM and we rationalize this observation based on the inherent stability of these systems to ferrous mediated degradation. FMO calculations clearly show that the sigma* orbital of the peroxide moiety of 1,2,4-trioxane derivatives 4a and 14b are lower in energy and more accessible to attack by Fe(II) compared to their trioxepane analogues 8b and 9b.
Design a Wearable Device for Blood Oxygen Concentration and Temporal Heart Beat Rate
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Myint, Cho Zin; Barsoum, Nader; Ing, Wong Kiing
2010-06-01
The wireless network technology is increasingly important in healthcare as a result of the aging population and the tendency to acquire chronic disease such as heart attack, high blood pressure amongst the elderly. A wireless sensor network system that has the capability to monitor physiological sign such as SpO2 (Saturation of Arterial Oxygen) and heart beat rate in real-time from the human's body is highlighted in this study. This research is to design a prototype sensor network hardware, which consists of microcontroller PIC18F series and transceiver unit. The sensor is corporate into a wearable body sensor network which is small in size and easy to use. The sensor allows a non invasive, real time method to provide information regarding the health of the body. This enables a more efficient and economical means for managing the health care of the population.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
deGroh, Kim K.; Banks, Bruce A.; Ma, David
2004-01-01
The objective of this research was to calibrate the ground-to-space effective atomic oxygen fluence for DC 93-500 silicone in a thermal energy electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) oxygen plasma facility. Silicones, commonly used spacecraft materials, do not chemically erode with atomic oxygen attack like other organic materials but form an oxidized hardened silicate surface layer. Therefore, the effective atomic oxygen fluence in a ground test facility should not be determined based on mass loss measurements, as they are with organic polymers. A technique has been developed at the Glenn Research Center to determine the equivalent amount of atomic oxygen exposure in an ECR ground test facility to produce the same degree of atomic oxygen damage as in space. The approach used was to compare changes in the surface hardness of ground test (ECR) exposed DC 93-500 silicone with DC 93-500 exposed to low Earth orbit (LEO) atomic oxygen as part of a shuttle flight experiment. The ground to in-space effective atomic oxygen fluence correlation was determined based on the fluence in the ECR source that produced the same hardness for the fluence in-space. Nanomechanical hardness versus contact depth measurements were obtained for five ECR exposed DC 93-500 samples (ECR exposed for 18 to 40 hrs, corresponding to Kapton effective fluences of 4.2 x 10(exp 20) to 9.4 x 10(exp 20) atoms/sq cm, respectively) and for space exposed DC 93-500 from the Evaluation of Oxygen Interactions with Materials III (EOIM III) shuttle flight experiment, exposed to LEO atomic oxygen for 2.3 x 10(exp 20) atoms/sq cm. Pristine controls were also evaluated. A ground-to-space correlation value was determined based on correlation values for four contact depths (150, 200, 250, and 300 nm), which represent the near surface depth data. The results indicate that the Kapton effective atomic oxygen fluence in the ECR facility needs to be 2.64 times higher than in LEO to replicate equivalent exposure damage in the ground test silicone as occurred in the space exposed silicone.
Compatibility studies of metallic materials with lithium-based oxides
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Hofmann, P.; Dienst, W.
1988-07-01
The compatibility of Li 2O, Li 4SiO 4 and Li 2SiO 3 with the cladding materials AISI 316, 1.4914, Hastelloy X and Inconel 625 was investigated at 800-1000°C for annealing times up to 1000 h. A controlled oxygen reactivity was established by adding 1 mol% NiO per mole Li 2O to the Li-based oxides. In addition, some compatibility tests were performed at 600-900°C on Be, which is of interest as a neutron multiplier material, with Li 2SiO 3 as well as AISI 316. Li 2O accounted for the strongest cladding attack, followed by Li 4SiO 4 and Li 2SiO 3. In the absence of NiO, Li 2SiO 3 caused no chemical interactions at all. With respect to the cladding materials, there was no considerable difference in the reaction rates of AISI 316, Hastelloy X and Inconel 625. However, the steel 1.4914 was clearly more heavily attacked at and above 800°C. The compatibility of Be with Li 2SiO 3 or AISI 316 seems to be tolerable up to about 650°C. At higher temperatures a liquid Li suicide phase is formed which results in strong local attack and penetration into Li 2SiO 3.
The usual treatment of trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias.
Pareja, Juan A; Álvarez, Mónica
2013-10-01
Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias include cluster headache, paroxysmal hemicrania, and short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache attacks with conjunctival injection, tearing, and rhinorrhea (SUNCT). Conventional pharmacological therapy can be successful in the majority of trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias patients. Most cluster headache attacks respond to 100% oxygen inhalation, or 6 mg subcutaneous sumatriptan. Nasal spray of sumatriptan (20 mg) or zolmitriptan (5 mg) are recommended as second choice. The bouts can be brought under control by a short course of corticosteroids (oral prednisone: 60-100 mg/day, or intravenous methylprednisolone: 250-500 mg/day, for 5 days, followed by tapering off the dosage), or by long-term prophylaxis with verapamil (at least 240 mg/day). Alternative long-term preventive medications include lithium carbonate (800-1600 mg/day), methylergonovine (0.4-1.2 mg/day), and topiramate (100-200 mg/day). As a rule, paroxysmal hemicrania responds to preventive treatment with indomethacin (75-150 mg/day). A short course of intravenous lidocaine (1-4 mg/kg/hour) can reduce the flow of attacks during exacerbations of SUNCT. Lamotrigine (100-300 mg/day) is the preventive drug of choice for SUNCT. Gabapentin (800-2700 mg/day), topiramate (50-300 mg/day), and carbamazepine (200-1600 mg/day) may be of help. © 2013 American Headache Society.
Local order study of YFe 2D x (0⩽ x⩽3.5) compounds by X-ray absorption and Mössbauer spectroscopy
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Paul-Boncour, V.; Wiesinger, G.; Reichl, Ch.; Latroche, M.; Percheron-Guégan, A.; Cortes, R.
2001-12-01
The local order in YFe 2D x deuterides has been characterized by EXAFS and 57Fe Mössbauer spectroscopy. For all the deuterides several Fe sites and a large distribution of Fe-Fe distances are observed. The Y-Fe and Y-Y distances are close to those calculated for a cubic C15 type structure, but with significant static disorder. These large distance distributions are related to the influence of hydrogen atoms which induce local distortions of the interstitial sites with a displacement of Y and Fe atoms. However, the bulk and mean local magnetic properties remain sensitive to the long range order structure of the deuterides.
Santos-Escobar, Fernando; Gutiérrez-Corona, J. Félix
2014-01-01
Chromium pollution is potentially detrimental to bacterial soil communities, compromising carbon and nitrogen cycles that are essential for life on earth. It has been proposed that intracellular reduction of hexavalent chromium [Cr(VI)] to trivalent chromium [Cr(III)] may cause bacterial death by a mechanism that involves reactive oxygen species (ROS)-induced DNA damage; the molecular basis of the phenomenon was investigated in this work. Here, we report that Bacillus subtilis cells lacking a functional error prevention oxidized guanine (GO) system were significantly more sensitive to Cr(VI) treatment than cells of the wild-type (WT) strain, suggesting that oxidative damage to DNA is involved in the deleterious effects of the oxyanion. In agreement with this suggestion, Cr(VI) dramatically increased the ROS concentration and induced mutagenesis in a GO-deficient B. subtilis strain. Alkaline gel electrophoresis (AGE) analysis of chromosomal DNA of WT and ΔGO mutant strains subjected to Cr(VI) treatment revealed that the DNA of the ΔGO strain was more susceptible to DNA glycosylase Fpg attack, suggesting that chromium genotoxicity is associated with 7,8-dihydro-8-oxodeoxyguanosine (8-oxo-G) lesions. In support of this notion, specific monoclonal antibodies detected the accumulation of 8-oxo-G lesions in the chromosomes of B. subtilis cells subjected to Cr(VI) treatment. We conclude that Cr(VI) promotes mutagenesis and cell death in B. subtilis by a mechanism that involves radical oxygen attack of DNA, generating 8-oxo-G, and that such effects are counteracted by the prevention and repair GO system. PMID:24973075
Gorenstein, D G; Taira, K
1984-01-01
Ab initio molecular orbital calculations have been performed on the reaction profile for the addition/elimination reaction between ammonia and formic acid, proceeding via a tetrahedral intermediate: NH3 + HCO2H----H2NCH(OH)2----NH2CHO + H2O. Calculated transition state energies for the first addition step of the reaction revealed that a lone pair on the oxygen of the OH group, which is antiperiplanar to the attacking nitrogen, stabilized the transition state by 3.9 kcal/mol, thus supporting the hypothesis of stereoelectronic control for this reaction. In addition, a secondary, counterbalancing stereoelectronic effect stabilizes the second step, water elimination, transition state by 3.1 kcal/mol if the lone pair on the leaving water oxygen is not antiperiplanar to the C-N bond. The best conformation for the transition states was thus one with a lone pair antiperiplanar to the adjacent scissile bond and also one without a lone-pair orbital on the scissile bond oxygen or nitrogen antiperiplanar to the adjacent polar bond. The significance of these stereoelectronic effects for the mechanism of action of serine proteases is discussed. PMID:6394065
Guccione, Edward J.; Kendall, John J.; Hitchcock, Andrew; Garg, Nitanshu; White, Michael A.; Mulholland, Francis; Poole, Robert K.
2017-01-01
Summary Campylobacter jejuni, the most frequent cause of food‐borne bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide, is a microaerophile that has to survive high environmental oxygen tensions, adapt to oxygen limitation in the intestine and resist host oxidative attack. Here, oxygen‐dependent changes in C. jejuni physiology were studied at constant growth rate using carbon (serine)‐limited continuous chemostat cultures. We show that a perceived aerobiosis scale can be calibrated by the acetate excretion flux, which becomes zero when metabolism is fully aerobic (100% aerobiosis). Transcriptome changes in a downshift experiment from 150% to 40% aerobiosis revealed many novel oxygen‐regulated genes and highlighted re‐modelling of the electron transport chains. A label‐free proteomic analysis showed that at 40% aerobiosis, many proteins involved in host colonisation (e.g., PorA, CadF, FlpA, CjkT) became more abundant. PorA abundance increased steeply below 100% aerobiosis. In contrast, several citric‐acid cycle enzymes, the peptide transporter CstA, PEB1 aspartate/glutamate transporter, LutABC lactate dehydrogenase and PutA proline dehydrogenase became more abundant with increasing aerobiosis. We also observed a co‐ordinated response of oxidative stress protection enzymes and Fe‐S cluster biogenesis proteins above 100% aerobiosis. Our approaches reveal key virulence factors that respond to restricted oxygen availability and specific transporters and catabolic pathways activated with increasing aerobiosis. PMID:28892295
Ou, Hsin-Hung; Lo, Shang-Lien
2007-07-19
Batch photocatalytic degradation of 80+/-2.5 ppm V trichloroethylene (TCE) was conducted to investigate the effect of the oxygen and relative humidity (RH) on the formation of the dichloroacetyl chloride (DCAC) and phosgene. Based on the simultaneous ordinary differential equations (ODEs), the reaction rate constants of TCE ((2.31+/-0.28) approximately (9.41+/-0.63)x10(-2) min(-1)) are generally larger than that of DCAC ((0.94+/-1.25) approximately (9.35+/-1.71)x10(-3) min(-1)) by approximate one order. The phenomenon indicates the degradation potential of TCE is superior to that of DCAC. DCAC appreciably delivers the same degradation behavior with TCE that means there exists an optimum RH and oxygen concentration for photocatalysis of TCE and DCAC. At the time the peak yield of DCAC appears, the conversion ratio based on the carbon atom from TCE to DCAC is within the range of 30-83% suggesting that the DCAC generation is significantly attributed to TCE degradation. Regarding the phosgene formation, the increasing oxygen amount leads to the inhibitory effect on the phosgene yield which fall within the range of 5-15%. The formation mechanism of phosgene was also inferred that the Cl atoms attacking the C-C bond of DCAC results to the generation of phosgene rather than directly from the TCE destruction.
Vatansever, Fatma; de Melo, Wanessa C.M.A.; Avci, Pinar; Vecchio, Daniela; Sadasivam, Magesh; Gupta, Asheesh; Chandran, Rakkiyappan; Karimi, Mahdi; Parizotto, Nivaldo A; Yin, Rui; Tegos, George P; Hamblin, Michael R
2013-01-01
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) can attack a diverse range of targets to exert antimicrobial activity, which accounts for their versatility in mediating host defense against a broad range of pathogens. Most ROS are formed by the partial reduction of molecular oxygen. Four major ROS are recognized comprising: superoxide (O2•−), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), hydroxyl radical (•OH), and singlet oxygen (1O2), but they display very different kinetics and levels of activity. The effects of O2•− and H2O2 are less acute than those of •OH and 1O2, since the former are much less reactive and can be detoxified by endogenous antioxidants (both enzymatic and non-enzymatic) that are induced by oxidative stress. In contrast, no enzyme can detoxify •OH or 1O2, making them extremely toxic and acutely lethal. The present review will highlight the various methods of ROS formation and their mechanism of action. Antioxidant defenses against ROS in microbial cells and the use of ROS by antimicrobial host defense systems are covered. Antimicrobial approaches primarily utilizing ROS comprise both bactericidal antibiotics, and non-pharmacological methods such as photodynamic therapy, titanium dioxide photocatalysis, cold plasma and medicinal honey. A brief final section covers, reactive nitrogen species, and related therapeutics, such as acidified nitrite and nitric oxide releasing nanoparticles. PMID:23802986
Flame-Resistant Composite Materials For Structural Members
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Spears, Richard K.
1995-01-01
Matrix-fiber composite materials developed for structural members occasionally exposed to hot, corrosive gases. Integral ceramic fabric surface layer essential for resistance to flames and chemicals. Endures high temperature, impedes flame from penetrating to interior, inhibits diffusion of oxygen to interior where it degrades matrix resin, resists attack by chemicals, helps resist erosion, and provides additional strength. In original intended application, composite members replace steel structural members of rocket-launching structures that deteriorate under combined influences of atmosphere, spilled propellants, and rocket exhaust. Composites also attractive for other applications in which corrosion- and fire-resistant structural members needed.
Eichner, E R
1986-10-01
In brief: Physical activity makes the blood more fluid and less likely to clot. The healthy hematologic adaptations to exercise (enhanced fibrinolysis, expanded plasma volume, decreased hematocrit, increased red cell deformability, and decreased blood viscosity) seem to enhance the delivery of oxygen and decrease the risk of thrombosis. Regular exercise, then, by changing the blood, may offer the elite athlete enhanced performance and the general population reduced risk of heart attack. Increased amounts of fish in the diet and-for selected persons-low-dose aspirin, may be useful antithrombotic adjuncts to exercise.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Calo, J.M.; Suuberg, E.M.; Hradil, G.
This project is concerned with the study of the nature and behavior of ''active sites'' in char gasification. The research strategy involves use of model chars produced from the phenol-formaldehyde family of resins. These materials have been chosen since they have structural features similar to those in coals, but are much ''cleaner'' in that the concentration of potentially catalytic impurities can be maintained at low levels. It should be borne in mind that the objective of this work is to study non-catalytic gasification processes. In the previous quarterly report, we presented evidence that low temperature oxygen chemisorption does not providemore » a site-specific titration of active sites in chars; the uptake of oxygen by a cleaned char surface was unquestionably shown to be a function of temperature and oxygen partial pressure, and the importance of these variables differs from char to char. The fact that ''active surface area'' (ASA) determined by various arbitrary methods does seem to generally correlate with reactivity, seems to suggest that reactivities under various gasification and chemisorption conditions are correlated but that mechanisitic inferences cannot necessarily be drawn from such data. In the present report, we have extended the study of low temperature oxidation of chars, considering mass loss as well as oxygen uptake, since the two processes are essentially inseparable under a wide range of conditions. This work represents more than a simple attempt at trying to learn more about the oxygen chemisorption technique; rather it offers the opportunity to study the mechanism of oxygen attack on char under conditions that allow for better understanding of the fundamental processes. For these reasons, this work was performed in the pyrogasifier reactor (developed for CO/sub 2/ gasification reactivity studies), and complements the ongoing work in the TGA apparatus. 6 refs., 9 figs., 1 tab.« less
Inactivation of Laccase by the Attack of As (III) Reaction in Water.
Hu, Jinyuan; Lu, Kun; Dong, Shipeng; Huang, Qingguo; Mao, Liang
2018-03-06
Laccase is a multicopper oxidase containing four coppers as reaction sites, including one type 1, one type 2, and two type 3. We here provide the first experimental data showing that As (III) can be effectively removed from water and transformed to As (V) through reactions mediated by laccase with the presence of oxygen. To this end, the As (III) removal, As (V) yields, total protein, active laccase, and copper concentrations in the aqueous phase were determined, respectively. Additionally, electron paramagnetic resonance spectra and UV-vis spectra were applied to probe possible structural changes of the laccase during the reaction. The data offer the first evidence that laccase can be inactivated by As (III) attack thus leading to the release of type 2 copper. The released copper has no reactivity with the As (III). These findings provide new ideas into a significant pathway likely to master the environmental transformation of arsenite, and advance the understanding of laccase inactivation mechanisms, thus providing a foundation for optimization of enzyme-based processes and potential development for removal and remediation of arsenite contamination in the environment.
Kinetic study of the oxidation of 3-hydroxyanisole catalysed by tyrosinase.
Fenoll, L G; Rodríguez-López, J N; Varón, R; García-Ruiz, P A; García-Cánovas, F; Tudela, J
2000-02-14
Tyrosinase hydroxylates 3-hydroxyanisole in the 4-position. The reaction product accumulates in the reaction medium with a lag time (tau) which diminishes with increasing concentrations of enzyme and lengthens with increasing concentrations of substrate, thus fulfilling all the predictions of the mechanism proposed by us for 4-hydroxyphenols. The kinetic constants obtained, kcatM = (46.87 +/- 2.06) s-1 and KmM = (5.40 +/- 0.60) mM, are different from those obtained with 4-hydroxyanisole, kcatM = (184.20 +/- 6.1) s-1 and KmM = (0.08 +/- 0.004) mM. The catalytic efficiency, kcatM/KmM is, therefore, 265.3 times greater with 4-hydroxyanisole. The possible rate-determining steps for the reaction mechanism of tyrosinase on 3- and 4-hydroxyanisole, based on the NMR spectra of both monophenols, are discussed. These possible rate-determining steps are the nucleophilic attack of hydroxyl's oxygen on the copper and the electrophilic attack of the peroxide on the aromatic ring. Both steps may be of similar magnitude, i.e. take place in the same time scale.
Electrochemical aspects of copper atmospheric corrosion in the presence of sodium chloride
Schindelholz, Eric John; Cong, Hongbo; Jove-Colon, Carlos F.; ...
2018-04-26
Here, this study describes the evolving state of electrolyte and corrosion processes associated with sodium chloride on copper at the initial stage of corrosion and the critical implications of this behavior on controlling kinetics and damage distributions. Sodium chloride droplets were placed on copper in humid conditions and the resulting electrolyte properties, corrosion products and damage were characterized over time using time-lapse imaging, micro Raman spectroscopy, TOF-SIMS and optical profilometry. Within minutes of NaCl droplet placement, NaOH-rich films resultant from oxygen reduction advanced stepwise from the droplets, leaving behind concentric trenching attack patterns suggestive of moving anode-cathode pairs at themore » alkaline film front. Corrosion attack under these spreading alkaline films was up to 10x greater than under the original NaCl drops. Furthermore, solid Cu 2Cl(OH) 3 shells formed over the surface of the NaCl drops within hours of exposure. Thermodynamic modeling along with immersed electrochemical experiments in simulated droplet and films electrolytes were used to rationalize this behavior and build a description of the rapidly evolving corroding system.« less
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tsisar, Valentyn; Schroer, Carsten; Wedemeyer, Olaf; Skrypnik, Aleksandr; Konys, Jürgen
2017-10-01
Corrosion behavior of two heats of T91 ferritic/martensitic steel, with slightly different Cr content, was investigated in flowing (2 m/s) Pb-Bi with 10-7 mass%O at 450 and 550 °C. The observed corrosion modes are: protective scale formation; accelerated oxidation and solution-based corrosion attack. Accelerated oxidation at 450 °C results in general metal recession of about 10 μm after ∼9000 h exposure and ∼15 μm at 550 °C after 2000 h. More severe and local solution-based corrosion results in a maximum depth of attack of 50-960 μm and 115-190 μm, correspondingly. Incubation period for solution-based corrosion is 500-5000 h at 450 °C and ≤500 h at 550 °C. The slightly higher chromium content in one of the heat of T91 steel prolongs the incubation period by improving the stability of the Cr-based oxide film.
Farrell, Jordan S; Gaxiola-Valdez, Ismael; Wolff, Marshal D; David, Laurence S; Dika, Haruna I; Geeraert, Bryce L; Rachel Wang, X; Singh, Shaily; Spanswick, Simon C; Dunn, Jeff F; Antle, Michael C; Federico, Paolo; Teskey, G Campbell
2016-01-01
Seizures are often followed by sensory, cognitive or motor impairments during the postictal phase that show striking similarity to transient hypoxic/ischemic attacks. Here we show that seizures result in a severe hypoxic attack confined to the postictal period. We measured brain oxygenation in localized areas from freely-moving rodents and discovered a severe hypoxic event (pO2 < 10 mmHg) after the termination of seizures. This event lasted over an hour, is mediated by hypoperfusion, generalizes to people with epilepsy, and is attenuated by inhibiting cyclooxygenase-2 or L-type calcium channels. Using inhibitors of these targets we separated the seizure from the resulting severe hypoxia and show that structure specific postictal memory and behavioral impairments are the consequence of this severe hypoperfusion/hypoxic event. Thus, epilepsy is much more than a disease hallmarked by seizures, since the occurrence of postictal hypoperfusion/hypoxia results in a separate set of neurological consequences that are currently not being treated and are preventable. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.7554/eLife.19352.001 PMID:27874832
Electrochemical aspects of copper atmospheric corrosion in the presence of sodium chloride
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Schindelholz, Eric John; Cong, Hongbo; Jove-Colon, Carlos F.
Here, this study describes the evolving state of electrolyte and corrosion processes associated with sodium chloride on copper at the initial stage of corrosion and the critical implications of this behavior on controlling kinetics and damage distributions. Sodium chloride droplets were placed on copper in humid conditions and the resulting electrolyte properties, corrosion products and damage were characterized over time using time-lapse imaging, micro Raman spectroscopy, TOF-SIMS and optical profilometry. Within minutes of NaCl droplet placement, NaOH-rich films resultant from oxygen reduction advanced stepwise from the droplets, leaving behind concentric trenching attack patterns suggestive of moving anode-cathode pairs at themore » alkaline film front. Corrosion attack under these spreading alkaline films was up to 10x greater than under the original NaCl drops. Furthermore, solid Cu 2Cl(OH) 3 shells formed over the surface of the NaCl drops within hours of exposure. Thermodynamic modeling along with immersed electrochemical experiments in simulated droplet and films electrolytes were used to rationalize this behavior and build a description of the rapidly evolving corroding system.« less
Maffei, Massimo; Bossi, Simone; Spiteller, Dieter; Mithöfer, Axel; Boland, Wilhelm
2004-01-01
Membrane potentials (Vm) and intracellular calcium variations were studied in Lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) leaves when the Mediterranean climbing cutworm (Spodoptera littoralis) was attacking the plants. In addition to the effect of the feeding insect the impact of several N-acyl Glns (volicitin, N-palmitoyl-Gln, N-linolenoyl-Gln) from the larval oral secretion was studied. The results showed that the early events upon herbivore attack were: a) a strong Vm depolarization at the bite zone and an isotropic wave of Vm depolarization spreading throughout the entire attacked leaf; b) a Vm depolarization observed for the regurgitant but not with volicitin {N-(17-hydroxy-linolenoyl)-Gln} alone; c) an enhanced influx of Ca2+ at the very edge of the bite, which is halved, if the Ca2+ channel blocker Verapamil is used. Furthermore, the dose-dependence effects of N-acyl Gln conjugates-triggered influx of Ca2+ studied in transgenic aequorin-expressing soybean (Glycine max) cells, showed: a) a concentration-dependent influx of Ca2+; b) a configuration-independent effect concerning the stereochemistry of the amino acid moiety; c) a slightly reduced influx of Ca2+ after modification of the fatty acid backbone by functionalization with oxygen and; d) a comparable effect with the detergent SDS. Finally, the herbivore wounding causes a response in the plant cells that cannot be mimicked by mechanical wounding. The involvement of Ca2+ in signaling after herbivore wounding is discussed. PMID:15051862
Subcomponent self-assembly and guest-binding properties of face-capped Fe4L4(8+) capsules.
Bilbeisi, Rana A; Clegg, Jack K; Elgrishi, Noémie; de Hatten, Xavier; Devillard, Marc; Breiner, Boris; Mal, Prasenjit; Nitschke, Jonathan R
2012-03-21
A general method for preparing Fe(4)L(4) face-capped tetrahedral cages through subcomponent self-assembly was developed and has been demonstrated using four different C(3)-symmetric triamines, 2-formylpyridine, and iron(II). Three of the triamines were shown also to form Fe(2)L(3) helicates when the appropriate stoichiometry of subcomponents was used. Two of the cages were observed to have nearly identical Fe-Fe distances in the solid state, which enabled their ligands to be coincorporated into a collection of mixed cages. Only one of the cages combined a sufficiently large cavity with the sufficiently small pores required for guest binding, taking up a wide variety of guest species in size- and shape-selective fashion.
Key characteristics of the Fe-snow regime in Ganymede's core
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Rückriemen, Tina; Breuer, Doris; Spohn, Tilman
2014-05-01
Ganymede shows signs of an internally produced dipolar magnetic field (|Bdip|≡719 nT) [1]. For small planetary bodies such as Ganymede the Fe-snow regime, i.e. the top-down solidification of iron, has been suggested to play an important role in the core cooling history [2,3]. In that regime, iron crystals form first at the core-mantle boundary (CMB) due to shallow or negative slopes of the melting temperature [2,3]. The solid iron particles are heavier than the surrounding Fe-FeS fluid, i.e. a snow zone forms, settle to deeper core regions, where the core temperature is higher than the melting temperature, and remelt again. As a consequence, a stable chemical gradient in the Fe-FeS fluid arises within the snow zone. We speculate this style of convection via sedimentation to be small scale, therefore it lacks an important criterion necessary for dynamo action [4]. Below this zone, whose thickness increases with time, the process of remelting of iron creates a gravitationally unstable situation. We propose that this could be the driving mechanism for a potential dynamo. However, dynamo action would be restricted to the time period the snow zone needs to grow across the core. With a 1D thermo-chemical evolution model, we investigate key characteristics of the Fe-snow regime within Ganymede's core: the compositional density gradient of the fluid Fe-FeS within the snow zone and the time period necessary to grow the snow zone across the core. Additionally, we determine the dipolar magnetic field strength associated with a dynamo in Ganymede's deeper fluid core. We vary important input paramters such as the initial sulfur concentration (7-19 wt.%), the core heat flux (2-6 mW/m2) and the thermal conductivity (20-60 W/mK) with the nominal model being: xs=10 wt.%, qcmb=4 mW/m2, kc=32 W/mK. We find, that heat fluxes higher than 6 or 22 mW/m2 are required for double-diffusive or overturning convection to overcome the compositional density gradient within the snow zone, respectively. Since Ganymede's core heat flux does not exceed values of 4 mW/m2 [2], we consider the snow zone to be stable against thermal convection. The time necessary to grow the snow zone across the core is between 230-1900 Myr. For representative models we calculate the temporal evolution of the surface dipolar magnetic field strength according to [5]. All models show surface dipolar magnetic field strengths during the evolution of the snow zone that match the observed value of |Bdip|≡719 nT. In conclusion, we find that the Fe-snow regime produces a stably-stratified liquid layer in the snow zone below which a magnetic field of observed strength can be generated. Such a chemical dynamo is restricted in time and stops as soon as an inner solid core starts to grow suggesting the absence of such an inner core in Ganymede. The present model further suggests a core with high initial sulfur concentration, because this leads to a late start and a long duration of the dynamo necessary to explain the present magnetic field. References [1] Kivelson, M et al. (1996), Nature, 384(6609), [2] Hauck II, S. et al. (2006), JGR, 111(E9), [3] Williams, Q. (2009), EPSL, 284(3), [4] Christensen, U. and J. Wicht (2007), Treatise of Geophysics, Elsevier, [5] Christensen, U., and J. Aubert (2006), GJI, 166(1)
Surface characterisation of ethylene propylene diene rubber upon exposure to aqueous acidic solution
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Mitra, Susanta; Ghanbari-Siahkali, Afshin; Kingshott, Peter; Hvilsted, Søren; Almdal, Kristoffer
2006-07-01
Two types of pure ethylene propylene diene rubbers were exposed to two different acids for varying period of time. Surface characterisation was carried out using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Two EPDM rubbers selected for this study were comparable in co-monomer compositions but significantly different with respect to molar mass and the presence of long chain branching. Both rubbers contained 5-ethylidene-2-norbornene (ENB) as diene. Solution cast films of pure EPDM samples were exposed in two different acidic solutions, viz. chromosulphuric (Cr (VI)/H 2SO 4) and sulphuric acid (H 2SO 4) (20%, v/v) at ambient temperature from 1 to 12 weeks. XPS analysis indicated that several oxygenated species were formed on the surface of both rubbers after exposure. It was postulated from the XPS analyses that both aqueous acidic solutions attacked the olefinic double bonds (C dbnd C) of ENB. Furthermore, 20% Cr (VI)/H 2SO 4 also attacked the allylic carbon-hydrogen (C sbnd H) bonds of ENB resulting in more oxygenated species on the surface compared to 20% H 2SO 4 under identical conditions. Cr (VI) in the 20% Cr (VI)/H 2SO 4 was found to play an important role in alteration of surface chemistry. Studies using a model system consisting of EPDM mixed with Cr (VI) and Cr (III) salts revealed that the change of oxidation state from Cr (VI) to Cr (III) as a consequence of direct involvement of Cr (VI) in the chemical alteration of EPDM surfaces. Interestingly, the presence of long chain branching and molar mass did not significantly influence the chemical processes owing to the acid treatment.
MISSE Scattered Atomic Oxygen Characterization Experiment
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; deGroh, Kim K.; Miller, Sharon K.
2006-01-01
An experiment designed to measure the atomic oxygen (AO) erosion profile of scattered AO was exposed to Low Earth Orbital (LEO) AO for almost four years as part of the Materials International Space Station Experiment 1 and 2 (MISSE 1 and 2). The experiment was flown in MISSE Passive Experiment Carrier 2 (PEC 2), Tray 1, attached to the exterior of the International Space Station (ISS) Quest Airlock. The experiment consisted of an aperture disk lid of Kapton H (DuPont) polyimide coated on the space exposed surface with a thin AO durable silicon dioxide film. The aperture lid had a small hole in its center to allow AO to enter into a chamber and impact a base disk of aluminum. The AO that scattered from the aluminum base could react with the under side of the aperture lid which was coated sporadically with microscopic sodium chloride particles. Scattered AO erosion can occur to materials within a spacecraft that are protected from direct AO attack but because of apertures in the spacecraft the AO can attack the interior materials after scattering. The erosion of the underside of the Kapton lid was sufficient to be able to use profilometry to measure the height of the buttes that remained after washing off the salt particles. The erosion pattern indicated that peak flux of scattered AO occurred at and angle of approximately 45 from the incoming normal incidence on the aluminum base unlike the erosion pattern predicted for scattering based on Monte Carlo computational predictions for AO scattering from Kapton H polyimide. The effective erosion yield for the scattered AO was found to be a factor of 0.214 of that for direct impingement on Kapton H polyimide.
Kumar, Nitin; Radin, Maxwell D.; Wood, Brandon C.; ...
2015-04-13
A viable Li/O 2 battery will require the development of stable electrolytes that do not continuously decompose during cell operation. In some recent experiments it is suggested that reactions occurring at the interface between the liquid electrolyte and the solid lithium peroxide (Li 2O 2) discharge phase are a major contributor to these instabilities. To clarify the mechanisms associated with these reactions, a variety of atomistic simulation techniques, classical Monte Carlo, van der Waals-augmented density functional theory, ab initio molecular dynamics, and various solvation models, are used to study the initial decomposition of the common electrolyte solvent, dimethoxyethane (DME), onmore » surfaces of Li 2O 2. Comparisons are made between the two predominant Li 2O 2 surface charge states by calculating decomposition pathways on peroxide-terminated (O 2 2–) and superoxide-terminated (O 2 1–) facets. For both terminations, DME decomposition proceeds exothermically via a two-step process comprised of hydrogen abstraction (H-abstraction) followed by nucleophilic attack. In the first step, abstracted H dissociates a surface O 2 dimer, and combines with a dissociated oxygen to form a hydroxide ion (OH –). In the remaining surface oxygen then attacks the DME, resulting in a DME fragment that is strongly bound to the Li 2O 2 surface. DME decomposition is predicted to be more exothermic on the peroxide facet; nevertheless, the rate of DME decomposition is faster on the superoxide termination. The impact of solvation (explicit vs implicit) and an applied electric field on the reaction energetics are investigated. Finally, our calculations suggest that surface-mediated electrolyte decomposition should out-pace liquid-phase processes such as solvent auto-oxidation by dissolved O 2.« less
Lee, Seung Yoon; Choi, Jin Hwa; Jeon, Woo Jae; Cheong, Mi Ae
2010-01-01
Background Reactive oxygen species (ROS) induce lipid peroxidation and tissue damage in endothelium. We studied the influences of ketorolac and diclofenac on ROS effects using the endothelium of rabbit abdominal aorta. Methods Isolated rabbit aortic rings were suspended in an organ bath filled with Krebs-Henseleit (K-H) solution bubbled with 5% CO2 and 95% O2 at 37.5℃. After being stimulated to contract with phenylephrine (PE, 10-6 M), changes in arterial tension were recorded following the cumulative administration of acetylcholine (ACh, 3 × 10-8 to 10-6 M). The percentages of ACh-induced relaxation of aortic rings before and after exposure to ROS, generated by electrolysis of K-H solution, were used as the control and experimental values, respectively. The aortic rings were pretreated with ketorolac or diclofenac at the same concentrations (10-5 M to 3 × 10-4 M), and the effects of these agents were compared with the effects of ROS scavengers: catalase, mannitol, sodium salicylate and deferoxamine and the catalase inhibitor, 3-amino-1,2,4-triazole (3AT). Results Both ketorolac and diclofenac maintained endothlium-dependent relaxation induced by ACh in a dose-related manner inspite of ROS attack (P < 0.05 vs. control value). The 3AT pretreated ketorolac (3 × 10-3 M) group was decreased more significantly than un-pretreated ketorolac (P < 0.05). Conclusions These findings suggest that ketorlac and diclofenac preserve the endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation against the attack of ROS, in a concentration-related manner. One of the endothelial protection mechanisms of ketorolac may be hydrogen peroxide scavenging. PMID:20877705
Reactive oxygen species, essential molecules, during plant-pathogen interactions.
Camejo, Daymi; Guzmán-Cedeño, Ángel; Moreno, Alexander
2016-06-01
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are continually generated as a consequence of the normal metabolism in aerobic organisms. Accumulation and release of ROS into cell take place in response to a wide variety of adverse environmental conditions including salt, temperature, cold stresses and pathogen attack, among others. In plants, peroxidases class III, NADPH oxidase (NOX) locates in cell wall and plasma membrane, respectively, may be mainly enzymatic systems involving ROS generation. It is well documented that ROS play a dual role into cells, acting as important signal transduction molecules and as toxic molecules with strong oxidant power, however some aspects related to its function during plant-pathogen interactions remain unclear. This review focuses on the principal enzymatic systems involving ROS generation addressing the role of ROS as signal molecules during plant-pathogen interactions. We described how the chloroplasts, mitochondria and peroxisomes perceive the external stimuli as pathogen invasion, and trigger resistance response using ROS as signal molecule. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.
Deuterium and oxygen-18 isotope effects on nucleophilic displacement by water
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Lee, J.
1981-01-01
Kinetic deuterium isotope effects (k/sub H/sub 2/O//k/sub D/sub 2/O/) have been measured for nucleophilic attack by water at primary alkyl carbon (S-methylthiophenium ion (MeTh+), methyl trifluoromethane-sulfonate (MeOTf), methyl and ethyl perchlorate (MeOClO/sub 3/, EtOClO/sub 3/)) in aprotic solvents (acetonitrile (MeCN) and tetrahydrothiophene-1, 1-dioxide (TMSO/sub 2/; solfolane)) and L/sub 2/O. In L/sub 2/O solvent k/sub H/sub 2/O//k/sub D/sub 2/O/ is significantly greater than unity while it is reduced to near unity in aprotic solvents. The oxygen-18 isotope effect has also been observed to be 1.002 +- 0.004 for the reaction of MeTh/sup +/ with dilute H/sub 2/O in TMSO/sub 2/ atmore » 35/sup 0/C. For the reaction of MeTh/sup +/ and MeOClO/sub 3/ in aprotic solvents the chemical reaction kinetics are discussed.« less
Apparatus and method for depositing coating onto porous substrate
Isenberg, Arnold O.; Zymboly, Gregory E.
1986-01-01
Disclosed is an apparatus for forming a chemically vapor deposited coating on a porous substrate where oxygen from a first gaseous reactant containing a source of oxygen permeates through the pores of the substrate to react with a second gaseous reactant that is present on the other side of the substrate. The apparatus includes means for controlling the pressure and flow rate of each gaseous reactant, a manometer for measuring the difference in pressure between the gaseous reactants on each side of the substrate, and means for changing the difference in pressure between the gaseous reactants. Also disclosed is a method of detecting and closing cracks in the coating by reducing the pressure difference between the two gaseous reactants whenever the pressure difference falls suddenly after gradually rising, then again increasing the pressure difference on the two gases. The attack by the by-products of the reaction on the substrate are reduced by maintaining the flow rate of the first reactant through the pores of the substrate.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhang, Yu; Li, Min; Gu, Yizhuo; Wang, Shaokai; Zhang, Zuoguang
2017-04-01
Space aircrafts circling in low earth orbit are suffered from highly reactive atomic oxygen (AO). To shield AO, a flexible thin film with 80 wt.% hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and h-BN/epoxy film were fabricated through vacuum filtration and adding nanofibrillated cellulose fibers. H-BN nanosheets were hydroxylated for enhancing interaction in the films. Mass loss and erosion yield at accumulated AO fluence about 3.04 × 1020 atoms/cm2 were adopted to evaluate the AO resistance properties of the films. A carpet-like rough surface, chemical oxidations and change in crystal structure of h-BN were found after AO treatment, and the degrading mechanism was proposed. The mass loss and erosion yield under AO attack were compared between h-BN film and h-BN/epoxy film, and the comparison was also done for various types of shielding AO materials. Excellent AO resistance property of h-BN film is shown, and the reasons are analyzed.
Point-of-care optical tool to detect early stage of hemorrhage and shock
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gurjar, Rajan S.; Riccardi, Suzannah L.; Johnson, Blair D.; Johnson, Christopher P.; Paradis, Norman A.; Joyner, Michael J.; Wolf, David E.
2014-02-01
There is a critical unmet clinical need for a device that can monitor and predict the onset of shock: hemorrhagic shock or bleeding to death, septic shock or systemic infection, and cardiogenic shock or blood flow and tissue oxygenation impairment due to heart attack. Together these represent 141 M patients per year. We have developed a monitor for shock based on measuring blood flow in peripheral (skin) capillary beds using diffuse correlation spectroscopy, a form of dynamic light scattering, and have demonstrated proof-of-principle both in pigs and humans. Our results show that skin blood flow measurement, either alone or in conjunction with other hemodynamic properties such as heart rate variability, pulse pressure variability, and tissue oxygenation, can meet this unmet need in a small self-contained patch-like device in conjunction with a hand-held processing unit. In this paper we describe and discuss the experimental work and the multivariate statistical analysis performed to demonstrate proof-of-principle of the concept.
Liu, Haibo; Li, Qian-shu; Xie, Yaoming; King, R Bruce; Schaefer, Henry F
2010-08-12
The triple-decker sandwich compound trans-Cp(2)V(2)(eta(6):eta(6)-mu-C(6)H(6)) has been synthesized, as well as "slipped" sandwich compounds of the type trans-Cp(2)Co(2)(eta(4):eta(4)-mu-arene) and the cis-Cp(2)Fe(2)(eta(4):eta(4)-mu-C(6)R(6)) derivatives with an Fe-Fe bond (Cp = eta(5)-cyclopentadienyl). Theoretical studies show that the symmetrical triple-decker sandwich structures trans-Cp(2)M(2)(eta(6):eta(6)-mu-C(6)H(6)) are the global minima for M = Ti, V, and Mn but lie approximately 10 kcal/mol above the global minimum for M = Cr. The nonbonding M...M distances and spin states in these triple decker sandwich compounds can be related to the occupancies of the frontier bonding molecular orbitals. The global minimum for the chromium derivative is a singlet spin state cis-Cp(2)Cr(2)(eta(4):eta(4)-mu-C(6)H(6)) structure with a very short CrCr distance of 2.06 A, suggesting a formal quadruple bond. A triplet state cis-Cp(2)Cr(2)(eta(4):eta(4)-mu-C(6)H(6)) structure with a predicted Cr[triple bond]Cr distance of 2.26 A lies only approximately 3 kcal/mol above this global minimum. For the later transition metals the global minima are predicted to be cis-Cp(2)M(2)(eta(6):eta(6)-mu-C(6)H(6)) structures with a metal-metal bond, rather than triple decker sandwiches. These include singlet cis-Cp(2)Fe(2)(eta(4):eta(4)-mu-C(6)H(6)) with a predicted Fe=Fe double bond distance of 2.43 A, singlet cis-Cp(2)Co(2)(eta(3):eta(3)-mu-C(6)H(6)) with a predicted Co-Co single bond distance of 2.59 A, and triplet cis-Cp(2)Ni(2)(eta(3):eta(3)-mu-C(6)H(6)) with a predicted Ni-Ni distance of 2.71 A.
Gao, Shang; Fan, Jiangli; Sun, Shiguo; Song, Fengling; Peng, Xiaojun; Duan, Qian; Jiang, Dayong; Liang, Qingcheng
2012-10-21
Di/mono-nuclear iron(I)/(II) complexes containing conjugated and electron-withdrawing S-to-S linkers, [{(μ-S)(2)(C(4)N(2)H(2))}Fe(2)(CO)(6)] (1), [{(μ-S)(2)(C(4)N(2)H(2))}Fe(2)(CO)(5)(PMe(3))] (1P), and [{(μ-S)(2)(C(4)N(2)H(2))}Fe(CO)(2)(PMe(3))(2)] (2) were prepared as biomimetic models for the 2Fe2S subunit and distal Fe moiety of the active site of [FeFe] hydrogenases. The N atoms in the heterocyclic pyrazines of 1 and 2 were protonated in the presence of proton acid to generate one and two hydrides, [1(NH)](+) CF(3)SO(3)(-), [2(NH)](+) CF(3)SO(3)(-), and [2(NH)(2)](2+) (CF(3)SO(3)(-))(2), respectively. The protonation processes were evidenced by in situ IR and NMR spectroscopy. The molecular structures of the protonated species [1(NH)](+) CF(3)SO(3)(-) and [2(NH)(2)](2+) (CF(3)SO(3)(-))(2) together with their originating complexes and , and the mono-PMe(3) substituted diiron complex were identified by X-ray crystallography. The IR and single-crystal analysis data all suggested that the electron-withdrawing bridge, pyrazine, led to decreased electron density at the Fe centers of the model complexes, which was consistent with the electrochemical studies. The cyclic voltammograms indicated that complex exhibited a low primary reduction potential at -1.17 V vs. Fc-Fc(+) with a 270 mV positive shift compared with that of the benzene-1,2-dithiolate (bdt) bridged analogue [(μ-bdt)Fe(2)(CO)(6)]. Under the weak acid conditions, complexes 1 and 2 could electrochemically catalyze the proton reduction. More interestingly, the mononuclear ferrous complex 2 showed two catalytic peaks during the formation of hydrogen, confirming its potential as a catalyst for hydrogen production.
Mwamburi, Mkaya; Liebler, Eric J; Tenaglia, Andrew T
2017-11-01
Cluster headache is a debilitating disease characterized by excruciatingly painful attacks that affects 0.15% to 0.4% of the US population. Episodic cluster headache manifests as circadian and circannual seasonal bouts of attacks, each lasting 15 to 180 minutes, with periods of remission. In chronic cluster headache, the attacks occur throughout the year with no periods of remission. While existing treatments are effective for some patients, many patients continue to suffer. There are only 2 FDA-approved medications for episodic cluster headache in the United States, while others, such as high-flow oxygen, are used off-label. Episodic cluster headache is associated with comorbidities and affects work, productivity, and daily functioning. The economic burden of episodic cluster headache is considerable, costing more than twice that of nonheadache patients. gammaCore adjunct to standard of care (SoC) was found to have superior efficacy in treatment of acute episodic cluster headaches compared with sham-gammaCore used with SoC in ACT1 and ACT2 trials. However, the economic impact has not been characterized for this indication. We conducted a cost-effectiveness analysis of gammaCore adjunct to SoC compared with SoC alone for the treatment of acute pain associated with episodic cluster headache attacks. The model structure was based on treatment of acute attacks with 3 outcomes: failures, nonresponders, and responders. The time horizon of the model is 1 year using a payer perspective with uncertainty incorporated. Parameter inputs were derived from primary data from the randomized controlled trials for gammaCore. The mean annual costs associated with the gammaCore-plus-SoC arm was $9510, and mean costs for the SoC-alone arm was $10,040. The mean quality-adjusted life years for gammaCore-plus-SoC arm were 0.83, and for the SoC-alone arm, they were 0.74. The gammaCore-plus-SoC arm was dominant over SoC alone. All 1-way and multiway sensitivity analyses were cost-effective using a threshold of $20,000. gammaCore dominance, representing savings, was driven by superior efficacy, improvement in quality of life (QoL), and reduction in costs associated with successful and consistent abortion of episodic attacks. These findings serve as additional economic evidence to support coverage for gammaCore. Additional real-world data are needed to characterize the long-term impact of gammaCore on comorbidities, utilization, QoL, daily functioning, productivity, and social engagement of these patients, and for other indications.
Galek, H; Osswald, W F; Elstner, E F
1990-01-01
Aqueous leaf extracts from Dionaea muscipula contain quinones such as the naphthoquinone plumbagin that couple to different NADH-dependent diaphorases, producing superoxide and hydrogen peroxide upon autoxidation. Upon preincubation of Dionaea extracts with certain diaphorases and NADH in the presence of serumalbumin (SA), subsequent tryptic digestion of SA is facilitated. Since the secretroy glands of Droseracea contain proteases and possibly other degradative enzymes it is suggested that the presence of oxygen-activating redox cofactors in the extracts function as extracellular predigestive oxidants which render membrane-bound proteins of the prey (insects) more susceptible to proteolytic attacks.
Neuron specific metabolic adaptations following multi-day exposures to oxygen glucose deprivation.
Zeiger, Stephanie L H; McKenzie, Jennifer R; Stankowski, Jeannette N; Martin, Jacob A; Cliffel, David E; McLaughlin, BethAnn
2010-11-01
Prior exposure to sub toxic insults can induce a powerful endogenous neuroprotective program known as ischemic preconditioning. Current models typically rely on a single stress episode to induce neuroprotection whereas the clinical reality is that patients may experience multiple transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) prior to suffering a stroke. We sought to develop a neuron-enriched preconditioning model using multiple oxygen glucose deprivation (OGD) episodes to assess the endogenous protective mechanisms neurons implement at the metabolic and cellular level. We found that neurons exposed to a five minute period of glucose deprivation recovered oxygen utilization and lactate production using novel microphysiometry techniques. Using the non-toxic and energetically favorable five minute exposure, we developed a preconditioning paradigm where neurons are exposed to this brief OGD for three consecutive days. These cells experienced a 45% greater survival following an otherwise lethal event and exhibited a longer lasting window of protection in comparison to our previous in vitro preconditioning model using a single stress. As in other models, preconditioned cells exhibited mild caspase activation, an increase in oxidized proteins and a requirement for reactive oxygen species for neuroprotection. Heat shock protein 70 was upregulated during preconditioning, yet the majority of this protein was released extracellularly. We believe coupling this neuron-enriched multi-day model with microphysiometry will allow us to assess neuronal specific real-time metabolic adaptations necessary for preconditioning. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Klaessens, John H. G. M.; Nelisse, Martin; Verdaasdonk, Rudolf M.; Noordmans, Herke Jan
2013-03-01
During clinical interventions objective and quantitative information of the tissue perfusion, oxygenation or temperature can be useful for the surgical strategy. Local (point) measurements give limited information and affected areas can easily be missed, therefore imaging large areas is required. In this study a LED based multispectral imaging system (MSI, 17 different wavelengths 370nm-880nm) and a thermo camera were applied during clinical interventions: tissue flap transplantations (ENT), local anesthetic block and during open brain surgery (epileptic seizure). The images covered an area of 20x20 cm, when doing measurements in an (operating) room, they turned out to be more complicated than laboratory experiments due to light fluctuations, movement of the patient and limited angle of view. By constantly measuring the background light and the use of a white reference, light fluctuations and movement were corrected. Oxygenation concentration images could be calculated and combined with the thermal images. The effectively of local anesthesia of a hand could be predicted in an early stage using the thermal camera and the reperfusion of transplanted skin flap could be imaged. During brain surgery, a temporary hyper-perfused area was witnessed which was probably related to an epileptic attack. A LED based multispectral imaging system combined with thermal imaging provide complementary information on perfusion and oxygenation changes and are promising techniques for real-time diagnostics during clinical interventions.
Corrosion behavior of steels in liquid lead bismuth with low oxygen concentrations
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kurata, Yuji; Futakawa, Masatoshi; Saito, Shigeru
2008-02-01
Corrosion tests in pots were conducted to elucidate corrosion behavior of various steels in liquid lead-bismuth for 3000 h under the condition of an oxygen concentration of 5 × 10 -8 wt% at 450 °C and an oxygen concentration of 3 × 10 -9 wt% at 550 °C, respectively. Significant corrosion was not observed at 450 °C for ferritic/martensitic steels, F82H, Mod.9Cr-1Mo steel, 410SS, 430SS except 2.25Cr-1Mo steel. Pb-Bi penetration into steels and dissolution of elements into Pb-Bi were severe at 550 °C even for ferritic/martensitic steels. Typical dissolution attack occurred for pure iron both at 550 °C without surface Fe 3O 4 and at 450 °C with a thin Fe 3O 4 film. Ferritization due to dissolution of Ni and Cr, and Pb-Bi penetration were recognized for austenitic stainless steels, 316SS and 14Cr-16Ni-2Mo steel at both temperatures of 450 °C and 550 °C. The phenomena were mitigated for 18Cr-20Ni-5Si steel. In some cases oxide films could not be a corrosion barrier in liquid lead-bismuth.
Ab initio simulations of water splitting on hematite
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Seriani, Nicola
2017-11-01
In recent years, hematite has attracted great interest as a photocatalyst for water splitting, but many questions remain unanswered about the mechanisms and the main limiting factors. For this reason, density functional theory has been used to understand the optical, electronic and chemical properties of this material at an atomistic level. Bulk doping can be used to reduce the band gap, and to increase photoabsorption and charge mobility. Charge transport takes place through adiabatic polaron hopping. The stable (0 0 0 1) surface has a stoichiometric termination when exposed to oxygen, it becomes hydroxylated in water, and it has an oxygen-rich termination under illumination in a photoelectrochemical setup. On the oxygen-rich termination, surface states are present that might act as recombination centres for electrons and holes. On the contrary, on the hydroxylated termination surface states appear only on reaction intermediates. The intrinsic surface states disappear in the presence of an overlayer of gallium oxide. The reaction of water oxidation is assumed to proceed by four proton-coupled electron transfers and it is shown to involve a nucleophilic attack with the formation of an OOH group. Calculated overpotentials are in the range of 0.5-0.6 V. Open questions and future research directions are briefly discussed.
Studies of the di-iron(VI) Intermediate in ferrate-dependent oxygen evolution from water.
Sarma, Rupam; Angeles-Boza, Alfredo M; Brinkley, David W; Roth, Justine P
2012-09-19
Molecular oxygen is produced from water via the following reaction of potassium ferrate (K(2)FeO(4)) in acidic solution: 4[H(3)Fe(VI)O(4)](+) + 8H(3)O(+) → 4Fe(3+) + 3O(2) + 18H(2)O. This study focuses upon the mechanism by which the O-O bond is formed. Stopped-flow kinetics at variable acidities in H(2)O and D(2)O are used to complement the analysis of competitive oxygen-18 kinetic isotope effects ((18)O KIEs) upon consumption of natural abundance water. The derived (18)O KIEs provide insights concerning the identity of the transition state. Water attack (WA) and oxo-coupling (OC) transition states were evaluated for various reactions of monomeric and dimeric ferrates using a calibrated density functional theory protocol. Vibrational frequencies from optimized isotopic structures are used here to predict (18)O KIEs for comparison to experimental values determined using an established competitive isotope-fractionation method. The high level of agreement between experimental and theoretic isotope effects points to an intramolecular OC mechanism within a di-iron(VI) intermediate, consistent with the analysis of the reaction kinetics. Alternative mechanisms are excluded based on insurmountably high free energy barriers and disagreement with calculated (18)O KIEs.
Cysteine protects rabbit spermatozoa against reactive oxygen species-induced damages
Fan, Xiaoteng; Pan, Yang; Lv, Shan; Pan, Chuanying; Lei, Anmin
2017-01-01
The process of cryopreservation results in over-production of reactive oxygen species, which is extremely detrimental to spermatozoa. The aim of this study was to investigate whether addition of cysteine to freezing extender would facilitate the cryosurvival of rabbit spermatozoa, and if so, how cysteine protects spermatozoa from cryodamages. Freshly ejaculated semen was diluted with Tris-citrate-glucose extender supplemented with different concentrations of cysteine. The motility, intact acrosomes, membrane integrity, mitochondrial potentials, 8-hydroxyguanosine level and sperm-zona pellucida binding capacity were examined. Furthermore, glutathione peroxidase (GPx) activity, glutathione content (GSH), and level of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and hydrogen peroxide of spermatozoa were analyzed. The values of motility, intact acrosomes, membrane integrity, mitochondrial potentials and sperm-zona pellucida binding capacity of the frozen-thawed spermatozoa in the treatment of cysteine were significantly higher than those of the control. Addition of cysteine to extenders improved the GPx activity and GSH content of spermatozoa, while lowered the ROS, DNA oxidative alterations and lipid peroxidation level, which makes spermatozoa avoid ROS to attack DNA, the plasma membrane and mitochondria. In conclusion, cysteine protects spermatozoa against ROS-induced damages during cryopreservation and post-thaw incubation. Addition of cysteine is recommended to facilitate the improvement of semen preservation for the rabbit breeding industry. PMID:28700739
Kuttassery, Fazalurahman; Mathew, Siby; Sagawa, Shogo; Remello, Sebastian Nybin; Thomas, Arun; Yamamoto, Daisuke; Onuki, Satomi; Nabetani, Yu; Tachibana, Hiroshi; Inoue, Haruo
2017-05-09
We report herein a new molecular catalyst for efficient water splitting, aluminum porphyrins (tetra-methylpyridiniumylporphyrinatealuminum: AlTMPyP), containing earth's most abundant metal as the central ion. One-electron oxidation of the aluminum porphyrin initiates the two-electron oxidation of water to form hydrogen peroxide as the primary reaction product with the lowest known overpotential (97 mV). The aluminum-peroxo complex was detected by a cold-spray ionization mass-spectrometry in high-resolution MS (HRMS) mode and the structure of the intermediate species was further confirmed using laser Raman spectroscopy, indicating the hydroperoxy complex of AlTMPyP to be the key intermediate in the reaction. The two-electron oxidation of water to form hydrogen peroxide was essentially quantitative, with a Faradaic efficiency of 99 %. The catalytic reaction was found to be highly efficient, with a turnover frequency up to ∼2×10 4 s -1 . A reaction mechanism is proposed involving oxygen-oxygen bond formation by the attack of a hydroxide ion on the oxyl-radical-like axial ligand oxygen atom in the one-electron-oxidized form of AlTMPyP(O - ) 2 , followed by a second electron transfer to the electrode. © 2017 Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.
Management of a severe forceful breather with Rett syndrome using carbogen.
Smeets, Eric E J; Julu, Peter O O; van Waardenburg, Dick; Engerström, Ingegerd Witt; Hansen, Stig; Apartopoulos, Flora; Curfs, Leopold M G; Schrander-Stumpel, Connie T R M
2006-11-01
We have used a novel neurophysiological technique in the NeuroScope system in combination with conventional electroencephalography (EEG) to monitor both brainstem and cortical activity simultaneously in real-time in a girl with Rett syndrome. The presenting clinical features in our patient were severe sleep disturbances, irregular breathing in the awake state dominated by Valsalva's type of breathing followed by tachypnoea and very frequent attacks of seizures and vacant spells. Our novel neurophysiological data showed that the patient was a Forceful Breather according to the breathing categories in Rett syndrome. She had frequent abnormal spontaneous brainstem activation (ASBA) preceded by severe attacks of hypocapnoea, which was caused by a combination of Valsalva's type of breathing and tachypnoea and all these together were responsible for the seizures and non-epileptic vacant spells. The ASBA was not detectable in conventional EEG and there were no epileptiform changes in the EEG during the seizures and vacant spells caused by the hypocapnic attacks, therefore these were pseudo-seizures. The record of brainstem activity confirmed that these were autonomic events, a kind of "brainstem epilepsy". We successfully treated the sleep disturbance with Pipamperone, a 5-hydroxytryptophan antagonist of receptor type 2 and we prevented the severe hypocapnoea during Valsalva's type of breathing and during tachypnoea using carbogen (a mixture of 5% carbon dioxide and 95% oxygen), which we gave by inhalation. Our treatment drastically reduced the autonomic events, promoted whole night sleep and significantly improved the quality of life in our patient. She can now participate in normal family activity which was previously impossible before treatment.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Fu, Ross; Nielsen, Robert J.; Goddard, William A.
2014-11-11
In the search for new organometallic catalysts for low-temperature selective conversion of CH4 to CH3OH, we apply quantum mechanical virtual screening to select the optimum combination of ligand and solvent on rhodium to achieve low barriers for CH4 activation and functionalization to recommend for experimental validation. Here, we considered Rh because its lower electronegativity compared with Pt and Pd may allow it to avoid poisoning by coordinating media. We report quantum mechanical predictions (including implicit and explicit solvation) of the mechanisms for RhIII(NN) and RhIII(NNF) complexes [where (NN) = bis(N-phenyl)benzylamidinate and (NNF) = bis(N-pentafluorophenyl)pentafluorobenzylamidinate] to catalytically activate and functionalize methanemore » using trifluoroacetic acid (TFAH) or water as a solvent. In particular, we designed the (NNF) ligand as a more electrophilic analogue to the (NN) ligand, and our results predict the lowest transition state barrier (ΔG‡ = 27.6 kcal/mol) for methane activation in TFAH from a pool of four different classes of ligands. To close the catalytic cycle, the functionalization of methylrhodium intermediates was also investigated, involving carbon–oxygen bond formation via SN2 attack by solvent, or SR2 attack by a vanadium oxo. Activation barriers for the functionalization of methylrhodium intermediates via nucleophilic attack are lower when the solvent is water, but CH4 activation barriers are higher. In addition, we have found a correlation between CH4 activation barriers and rhodium–methyl bond energies that allow us to predict the activation transition state energies for future ligands, as well.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Parker, David S.
2017-06-13
We present a comparative theoretical study of the hexagonal forms of the Fe-chalcogenides FeS, FeSe and FeTe with their better known tetragonal forms. While the tetragonal forms exhibit only an incipient antiferromagnetism and experimentally show superconductivity when doped, the hexagonal forms of FeS and FeSe display a robust magnetism. We show that this strong magnetism arises from a van Hove singularity associated with the direct Fe-Fe c-axis chains in the generally more three-dimensional NiAs structure. We also find that hexagonal FeTe is much less magnetic than the other two hexagonal materials, so that unconventional magnetically-mediated superconductivity is possible, although amore » large T c value is unlikely.« less
Shock compression of Fe-FeS mixture up to 204 GPa
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Huang, Haijun; Wu, Shijie; Hu, Xiaojun; Wang, Qingsong; Wang, Xiang; Fei, Yingwei
2013-02-01
Plant innate immunity – sunny side up?
Stael, Simon; Kmiecik, Przemyslaw; Willems, Patrick; Van Der Kelen, Katrien; Coll, Nuria S.; Teige, Markus; Van Breusegem, Frank
2016-01-01
Reactive oxygen species (ROS)- and calcium- dependent signaling pathways play well-established roles during plant innate immunity. Chloroplasts host major biosynthetic pathways and have central roles in energy production, redox homeostasis, and retrograde signaling. However, the organelle’s importance in immunity has been somehow overlooked. Recent findings suggest that the chloroplast also has an unanticipated function as a hub for ROS- and calcium-signaling that affects immunity responses at an early stage after pathogen attack. In this opinion article, we discuss a chloroplastic calcium-ROS signaling branch of plant innate immunity. We propose that this chloroplastic branch acts as a light-dependent rheostat that, through the production of ROS, influences the severity of the immune response. PMID:25457110
Thin coatings for protecting titanium aluminides in high-temperature oxidizing environments
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Wiedemann, K. E.; Taylor, P. J.; Clark, R. K.; Wallace, T. A.
1991-01-01
Titanium aluminides have high specific strengths at high temperatures but are susceptible to environmental attack. Their use in many aerospace applications would require that they be protected with coatings that, for structural efficiency, must be thin. It is conceivable that acceptable coatings might be found in several oxide systems, and consequently, oxide coatings of many compositions were prepared from sol-gels for study. Response-surface methodology was used to refine coating compositions and factorial experiments were used to develop coating strategies. Oxygen permeability diagrams of two-layer coatings for several oxide systems, an analysis of multiple-layer coatings on rough and polished surfaces, and modeling of the oxidation weight gain are presented.
Fimberger, Martin; Luef, Klaus P.; Payerl, Claudia; Fischer, Roland C.; Stelzer, Franz; Kállay, Mihály; Wiesbrock, Frank
2015-01-01
The single crystal X-ray analysis of the ester-functionalized 2-oxazoline, methyl 3-(4,5-dihydrooxazol-2-yl)propanoate, revealed π-electron delocalization along the N–C–O segment in the 2-oxazoline pentacycle to significant extent, which is comparable to its counterpart along the O–C–O segment in the ester. Quantum chemical calculations based on the experimental X-ray geometry of the molecule supported the conjecture that the N–C–O segment has a delocalized electronic structure similar to an ester group. The calculated bond orders were 1.97 and 1.10 for the N=C and C–O bonds, and the computed partial charges for the nitrogen and oxygen atoms of −0.43 and −0.44 were almost identical. In the ester group, the bond orders were 1.94 and 1.18 for the C–O bonds, while the partial charges of the oxygen atom are −0.49 and −0.41, which demonstrates the similar electronic structure of the N–C–O and O–C–O segments. In 2-oxazolines, despite the higher electronegativity of the oxygen atom (compared to the nitrogen atom), the charges of the hetero atoms oxygen and nitrogen are equalized due to the delocalization, and it also means that a cationic attack on the nitrogen is possible, enabling regioselectivity during the initiation of the cationic ring-opening polymerization of 2-oxazoline monomers, which is a prerequisite for the synthesis of materials with well-defined structures. PMID:28184258
Effect of the oral administration homeopathic Arnica montana on mitochondrial oxidative stress.
de Camargo, Ronaldo Antônio; da Costa, Ellen Dias; Catisti, Rosana
2013-01-01
To analyze the effect of homeopathic Arnica on mitochondrial oxidative stress induced by Ca(2+) plus inorganic phosphate and/or Fe(2+)-citrate-mediated lipid peroxidation through changes in oxygen consumption rates. Mitochondria were isolated by differential centrifugation from the livers of adult male Wistar rats which had been treated with Arnica montana 6cH, 12cH, 30cH or succussed 30% ethanol (control) for 21 days. In the presence of antimycin-A, electron transport chain inhibitor, as evidenced by antimycin-A insensitive O(2) consumption, Arnica inhibited lipid peroxidation of mitochondrial membranes. In oxidative stress conditions, in the presence of Ca(2+) and inorganic phosphate, animals receiving Arnica 30cH had a significant decrease in mitochondrial O(2) consumption compared to control animals. When administrated orally, Arnica 30cH protects against hepatic mitochondrial membrane permeabilization induced by Ca(2+) and/or Fe(2+)-citrate-mediated lipid peroxidation and fragmentation of proteins due to the attack by reactive oxygen species. Copyright © 2012 The Faculty of Homeopathy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Photodynamic inactivation of biofilm: taking a lightly colored approach to stubborn infection
de Melo, Wanessa CMA; Avci, Pinar; de Oliveira, Milene Nóbrega; Gupta, Asheesh; Vecchio, Daniela; Sadasivam, Magesh; Chandran, Rakkiyappan; Huang, Ying-Ying; Yin, Rui; Perussi, Livia R; Tegos, George P; Perussi, Janice R; Dai, Tianhong; Hamblin, Michael R
2015-01-01
Microbial biofilms are responsible for a variety of microbial infections in different parts of the body, such as urinary tract infections, catheter infections, middle-ear infections, gingivitis, caries, periodontitis, orthopedic implants, and so on. The microbial biofilm cells have properties and gene expression patterns distinct from planktonic cells, including phenotypic variations in enzymic activity, cell wall composition and surface structure, which increase the resistance to antibiotics and other antimicrobial treatments. There is consequently an urgent need for new approaches to attack biofilm-associated microorganisms, and antimicrobial photodynamic therapy (aPDT) may be a promising candidate. aPDT involves the combination of a nontoxic dye and low-intensity visible light which, in the presence of oxygen, produces cytotoxic reactive oxygen species. It has been demonstrated that many biofilms are susceptible to aPDT, particularly in dental disease. This review will focus on aspects of aPDT that are designed to increase efficiency against biofilms modalities to enhance penetration of photosensitizer into biofilm, and a combination of aPDT with biofilm-disrupting agents. PMID:23879608
Graphite intercalation compound with iodine as the major intercalant
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Hung, Ching-Cheh; Kucera, Donald
1992-01-01
Halogenated CBr(sub x)I(sub y) (1 less than y/x less than 10) was made by exposing graphite materials with interplanar spacing in the 3.35 to 3.41 A range to either pure Br2 or an I2-Br2 mixture, and then to iodine vapor containing a small amount of Br2. The electrical resistivity of this product is from 3 to 6.5 times the pristine value. The presence of a small amount of isoprene rubber in the reaction significantly increased the iodine to bromine ratio in the product. In this reaction, rubber is known to generate HBr and to slowly remove bromine from the vapor. The halogenation generally caused a 22 to 25 percent weight increase. The halogens were found uniformly distributed in the product interior. However, although the surface contains very little iodine, it has high concentrations of bromine and oxygen. It is believed that the high concentrations of bromine and oxygen in this surface cause the halogenated fiber to be more resistant to fluorine attack during subsequent fluorination to fabricate graphite fluoride fibers.
Occupational demand and human rights. Public safety officers and cardiorespiratory fitness.
Shephard, R J
1991-08-01
The issue of discrimination in physically demanding employment, such as police, firefighters, prison guards and military personnel, is contentious. In terms of oxygen transport, the 'action limit' (calling for personnel selection or task redesign) is a steady oxygen consumption of 0.7 L/min, while the maximum permissible limit is 2.1 L/min. Note is taken of the commonly expressed belief that public safety duties are physically demanding, calling for personnel with an aerobic power of at least 3 L/min, or 42 to 45 ml/kg/min. The actual demands of such work can be assessed on small samples by physiological measurements (using heart rate or oxygen consumption meters), but the periods sampled may not be typical of a normal day. A Gestalt can also be formed as to the heaviness of a given job, or a detailed task analysis can be performed; most such analyses of public safety work list distance running and other aerobic activities infrequently. An arbitrary requirement of 'above average fitness' is no longer accepted by courts, but a further approach is to examine the characteristics of those currently meeting the demands of public safety jobs satisfactorily. Young men commonly satisfy the 3 L/min standard, but this is not usually the case for women or older men; in the case of female employees, it also seems unreasonable that they should be expected to satisfy the same standards as men, since a lower body mass reduces the energy cost of most of the tasks that they must perform. A second criterion sometimes applied to physically demanding work (a low vulnerability to heart attacks) is examined critically. It is concluded that the chances that a symptom-free public safety officer will develop a heart attack during a critical solo mission are so low that cardiac risk should not be a condition of employment. Arbitrary age- and sex-related employment criteria are plainly discriminatory, since some women and 65-year-old men have higher levels of physical fitness than the average young man of 25 years. Neither laboratory nor field tests offer a satisfactory means of distinguishing such individuals, and the only equitable basis of selecting personnel for physically demanding work seems a probationary period of employment.
Long, Hai; Chang, Christopher H.; King, Paul W.; Ghirardi, Maria L.; Kim, Kwiseon
2008-01-01
The [FeFe] hydrogenase from the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii can catalyze the reduction of protons to hydrogen gas using electrons supplied from photosystem I and transferred via ferredoxin. To better understand the association of the hydrogenase and the ferredoxin, we have simulated the process over multiple timescales. A Brownian dynamics simulation method gave an initial thorough sampling of the rigid-body translational and rotational phase spaces, and the resulting trajectories were used to compute the occupancy and free-energy landscapes. Several important hydrogenase-ferredoxin encounter complexes were identified from this analysis, which were then individually simulated using atomistic molecular dynamics to provide more details of the hydrogenase and ferredoxin interaction. The ferredoxin appeared to form reasonable complexes with the hydrogenase in multiple orientations, some of which were good candidates for inclusion in a transition state ensemble of configurations for electron transfer. PMID:18621810
Modified magnetism within the coherence volume of superconducting Fe1+δSexTe1-x
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Leiner, J.; Thampy, V.; Christianson, A. D.; Abernathy, D. L.; Stone, M. B.; Lumsden, M. D.; Sefat, A. S.; Sales, B. C.; Hu, Jin; Mao, Zhiqiang; Bao, Wei; Broholm, C.
2014-09-01
Neutron scattering is used to probe magnetic interactions as superconductivity develops in optimally doped Fe1+δSexTe1-x. Applying the first moment sum rule to comprehensive neutron scattering data, we extract the change in magnetic exchange energy Δ [JR -R'
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bouachraoui, Rachid; El Hachimi, Abdel Ghafour; Ziat, Younes; Bahmad, Lahoucine; Tahiri, Najim
2018-06-01
Electronic and magnetic properties of hexagonal Iron (II) Sulfide (hexagonal FeS) have been investigated by combining the Density functional theory (DFT) and Monte Carlo simulations (MCS). This compound is constituted by magnetic hexagonal lattice occupied by Fe2+ with spin state (S = 2). Based on ab initio method, we calculated the exchange coupling JFe-Fe between two magnetic atoms Fe-Fe in different directions. Also phase transitions, magnetic stability and magnetizations have been investigated in the framework of Monte Carlo simulations. Within this method, a second phase transition is observed at the Néel temperature TN = 450 K. This finding in good agreement with the reported data in the literature. The effect of the applied different parameters showed how can these parameters affect the critical temperature of this system. Moreover, we studied the density of states and found that the hexagonal FeS will be a promoting material for spintronic applications.
Large magnetization and high Curie temperature in highly disordered nanoscale Fe2CrAl thin films
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Dulal, Rajendra P.; Dahal, Bishnu R.; Forbes, Andrew; Pegg, Ian L.; Philip, John
2017-02-01
We have successfully grown nanoscale Fe2CrAl thin films on polished Si/SiO2 substrates using an ultra-high vacuum deposition with a base pressure of 9×10-10 Torr. The thickness of thin films ranges from 30 to 100 nm. These films exhibit cubic crystal structure with lattice disorder and display ferromagnetic behavior. The Curie temperature is greater than 400 K, which is much higher than that reported for bulk Fe2CrAl. The magnetic moments of the films varies from 2.5 to 2.8 μB per formula unit, which is larger than the reported bulk values. Thus, the disordered nanoscale Fe2CrAl films exhibit strong Fe-Fe exchange interactions through Fe-Cr-Fe and Fe-Al-Fe layers, resulting in both a large magnetization and a high Curie temperature.
Cook, Brian J; Pink, Maren; Pal, Kuntal; Caulton, Kenneth G
2018-05-21
The bis-pyrazolato pyridine complex LCo(PEt 3 ) 2 serves as a masked form of three-coordinate Co II and shows diverse reactivity in its reaction with several potential outer sphere oxidants and oxygen atom transfer reagents. N-Methylmorpholine N-oxide (NMO) oxidizes coordinated PEt 3 from LCo(PEt 3 ) 2 , but the final cobalt product is still divalent cobalt, in LCo(NMO) 2 . The thermodynamics of a variety of oxygen atom transfer reagents, including NMO, are calculated by density functional theory, to rank their oxidizing power. Oxidation of LCo(PEt 3 ) 2 with AgOTf in the presence of LiCl as a trapping nucleophile forms the unusual aggregate [LCo(PEt 3 ) 2 Cl(LiOTf) 2 ] 2 held together by Li + binding to very nucleophilic chloride on Co(III) and triflate binding to those Li + . In contrast, Cp 2 Fe + effects oxidation to trivalent cobalt, to form (HL)Co(PEt 3 ) 2 Cl + ; proton and the chloride originate from solvent in a rare example of CH 2 Cl 2 dehydrochlorination. An unexpected noncomplementary redox reaction is reported involving attack by 2e reductant PEt 3 nucleophile on carbon of the 1e oxidant radical Cp 2 Fe + , forming a P-C bond and H + ; this reaction competes in the reaction of LCo(PEt 3 ) 2 with Cp 2 Fe + .
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Zheng, Jianming; Yan, Pengfei; Zhang, Jiandong
The capacity degradation mechanism in lithium nickel–manganese–cobalt oxide (NMC) cathodes (LiNi 1/3Mn 1/3Co 1/3O 2 (NMC 333) and LiNi 0.4Mn 0.4Co 0.2O 2 (NMC 442)) during high-voltage (cut-off of 4.8 V) operation has been investigated. In contrast to NMC 442, NMC 333 exhibits rapid structural changes including severe micro-crack formation and phase transformation from a layered to a disordered rock-salt structure, as well as interfacial degradation during high-voltage cycling, leading to a rapid increase of the electrode resistance and fast capacity decline. The fundamental reason behind the poor structural and interfacial stability of NMC 333 was found to be correlatedmore » to its high Co content and the significant overlap between the Co 3+/4+ t 2g and O 2- 2p bands, resulting in oxygen removal and consequent structural changes at high voltages. In addition, oxidation of the electrolyte solvents by the extracted oxygen species generates acidic species, which then attack the electrode surface and form highly resistive LiF. These findings highlight that both the structural and interfacial stability should be taken into account when tailoring cathode materials for high voltage battery systems.« less
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Zheng, Jianming; Yan, Pengfei; Zhang, Jiandong
The capacity degradation mechanism in lithium nickel-manganese-cobalt oxide (NMC) cathodes (LiNi1/3Mn1/3Co1/3O2 (NMC333) and LiNi0.4Mn0.4Co0.2O2 (NMC442)) during high-voltage (cut-off of 4.8 V) operation has been investigated. In contrast to NMC442, NMC333 exhibits rapid structural changes including severe micro-crack formation and phase transformation from a layered to a disordered rock-salt structure, as well as interfacial degradation during high-voltage cycling, leading to a rapid increase of the electrode resistance and fast capacity decline. The fundamental reason behind the poor structural and interfacial stability of NMC333 was found to be correlated to its high Co content and the significant overlap between the Co3+/4+ t(2g)more » and O2- 2p bands, resulting in oxygen removal and consequent structural changes at high voltages. In addition, oxidation of the electrolyte solvents by the extracted oxygen species generates acidic species, which then attack the electrode surface and form highly resistive LiF. These findings highlight that both the structural and interfacial stability should be taken into account when tailoring cathode materials for high voltage battery systems« less
Mechanisms of Exchange Reactions of Primary and Secondary Alkyl Iodides with Elementary Iodine
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Bujake, John E.; Pratt, M. W. T.; Noyes, Richard M.
1961-04-01
Several primary and secondary alkyl iodides exchange thermally with I/ sup 131/ in hexachlorobutadiene between 130 and 200 deg . If the solutions are saturated with oxygen at one atmosphere, rates of exchange fit the kinetic expression k/sub b/STARI! STAl/sub 2/!1/2. Degassed solutions always exchange faster than oxygen saturated ones, but methyl, ethyl, and n-propyl iodides show the same kinetics as with oxygen. Exchange rates of degassed isopropyl and neopentyl iodides also show contributions from a k/sub a/STARI! term. Exchange in degassed ethylene dichloride is 3 to 4 times as fast as in degassed hexachlorobutadiene. Activation energies for k/sub b/more » are usually about 27 to 31 kcal/mole. Effects of substitution on alpha carbon are illustrated by the rate sequence methyl < ethyl < i-propyl = sec-butyl. Effects of substitution on beta carbon are illustrated by the rate sequence ethyl < npropyl>> neopentyl. Since the rates of exchange of methyl, ethyl, and i-propyl iodides vary in the opposite direction from the sequence for bimolecular nucleophilic substitution, the explanation proposed suggests that for nucleophilic substitution the effect of added methyl groups on an alpha carbon is a steric hindrance to solvation by solvent dipoles rather than a steric hindrance to the group attacking the carbon atom itself.« less
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
van den Berg, Klaas Jan; Ingemann, Steen; Nibbering, Nico M. M.
1994-06-01
The gas-phase reactions of the O- ion with ([eta]5-cyclopentadienyl)tricarbonylmanganese(I), CpMn(CO)3, and ([eta]5-methylcyclopentadienyl)tricarbonylmanganese(I), CH3CpMn(CO)3, have been studied with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance. The main reactions are (i) proton abstraction, (ii) loss of CO2, and (iii) expulsion of two or three CO molecules from the collision complex. Initial attack on a CO ligand is the main process as indicated by experiments with 18O- and the ion/molecule reactions of the product ions resulting from the loss of three CO molecules with water, aliphatic alcohols, methanethiol and SO2. The attack on a CO ligand followed by loss of three CO molecules is suggested to yield C5H5MnO- ions with a (cyclopentadienone)MnH- structure in the reaction with CpMn(CO)3 and (methylcyclopentadienone)MnH- ions if CH3CpMn(CO)3 is the substrate. A possible mechanism for the process leading to the indicated transformation of the Cp and CH3Cp ligands into C5H4O and CH3C5H3O ligands, respectively, is discussed together with the formation of (fulvene)Mn(OH)- ions following attack of O- on CH3CpMn(CO)3. The (cyclopentadienone)MnH- and (methylcyclopentadienone)MnH- ions react with N2O by oxygen atom abstraction to form C5H5MnO-2 and C6H7MnO-2 ions, respectively.
Simulated airplane headache: a proxy towards identification of underlying mechanisms.
Bui, Sebastian Bao Dinh; Petersen, Torben; Poulsen, Jeppe Nørgaard; Gazerani, Parisa
2017-12-01
Airplane Headache (AH) occurs during flights and often appears as an intense, short lasting headache during take-off or landing. Reports are limited on pathological mechanisms underlying the occurrence of this headache. Proper diagnosis and treatments would benefit from identification of potential pathways involved in AH pathogenesis. This study aimed at providing a simulated airplane headache condition as a proxy towards identification of its underlying mechanisms. Fourteen participants including 7 volunteers suffering from AH and 7 healthy matched controls were recruited after meeting the diagnostic and safety criteria based on an approved study protocol. Simulation of AH was achieved by entering a pressure chamber with similar characteristics of an airplane flight. Selected potential biomarkers including salivary prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2 ), cortisol, facial thermo-images, blood pressure, pulse, and saturation pulse oxygen (SPO) were defined and values were collected before, during and after flight simulation in the pressure chamber. Salivary samples were analyzed with ELISA techniques, while data analysis and statistical tests were handled with SPSS version 22.0. All participants in the AH-group experienced a headache attack similar to AH experience during flight. The non-AH-group did not experience any headaches. Our data showed that the values for PGE 2 , cortisol and SPO were significantly different in the AH-group in comparison with the non-AH-group during the flight simulation in the pressure chamber. The pressure chamber proved useful not only to provoke AH-like attack but also to study potential biomarkers for AH in this study. PGE 2 , and cortisol levels together with SPO presented dysregulation during the simulated AH-attack in affected individuals compared with healthy controls. Based on these findings we propose to use pressure chamber as a model to induce AH, and thus assess new potential biomarkers for AH in future studies.
The Active Oxidation of Silicon Carbide
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Jacobson, Nathan S.; Myers, Dwight L.
2009-01-01
The high temperature oxidation of silicon carbide occurs in two very different modes. Passive oxidation forms a protective oxide film which limits further attack of the SiC: SiC(s) + 3/2 O2(g) = SiO2(s) + CO(g) Active oxidation forms a volatile oxide and may lead to extensive attack of the SiC: SiC(s) + O2(g) = SiO(g) + CO(g) Generally passive oxidation occurs at higher oxidant pressures and active oxidation occurs at lower oxidant pressures and elevated temperatures. Active oxidation is a concern for reentry, where the flight trajectory involves the latter conditions. Thus the transition points and rates of active oxidation are a major concern. Passive/active transitions have been studied by a number of investigators. An examination of the literature indicates many questions remain regarding the effect of impurity, the hysteresis of the transition (i.e. the difference between active-to-passive and passive-toactive), and the effect of total pressure. In this study we systematically investigate each of these effects. Experiments were done in both an alumina furnace tube and a quartz furnace tube. It is known that alumina tubes release impurities such as sodium and increase the kinetics in the passive region [1]. We have observed that the active-to-passive transition occurs at a lower oxygen pressure when the experiment is conducted in alumina tubes and the resultant passive silica scale contains sodium. Thus the tests in this study are conducted in quartz tubes. The hysteresis of the transition has been discussed in the detail in the original theoretical treatise of this problem for pure silicon by Wagner [2], yet there is little mention of it in subsequent literature. Essentially Wagner points out that the active-to-passive transition is governed by the criterion for a stable Si/SiO2 equilibria and the passive-to-active transition is governed by the decomposition of the SiO2 film. A series of experiments were conducted for active-to-passive and passive-to-active transitions by increasing and decreasing oxygen pressure, respectively. For pure silicon a dramatic difference was found; whereas for SiC the difference was not as great. This may be due to the oxidation of the carbon in SiC which may break down the scale [3]. The third area is the effect of total pressure. In the literature, low oxygen potentials are achieved via either low total pressure or low oxygen pressure in an O2/Ar mixture. Both types of experiments are done in this study and the differences are discussed with regard to the presence or absence of a boundary layer.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Jacobson, Nathan S.; Myers,Dwight L.; Harder, Bryan J.
2011-01-01
The high temperature oxidation of silicon carbide occurs in either a passive or active mode, depending on temperature and oxygen potential. Passive oxidation forms a protective oxide film which limits attack of the SiC:SiC(s) + 3/2 O2(g) = SiO2(s) + CO(g.) Active oxidation forms a volatile oxide and leads to extensive attack of the SiC: SiC(s) + O2(g) = SiO(g) + CO(g). The transition points and rates of active oxidation are a major issue. Previous studies are reviewed and the leading theories of passive/active transitions summarized. Comparisons are made to the active/passive transitions in pure Si, which are relatively well-understood. Critical questions remain about the difference between the active-to-passive transition and passive-to-active transition. For Si, Wagner [2] points out that the active-to-passive transition is governed by the criterion for a stable Si/SiO2 equilibria and the passive-to-active transition is governed by the decomposition of the SiO2 film. This suggests a significant oxygen potential difference between these two transitions and our experiments confirm this. For Si, the initial stages of active oxidation are characterized by the formation of SiO(g) and further oxidation to SiO2(s) as micron-sized rods, with a distinctive morphology. SiC shows significant differences. The active-to-passive and the passive-to-active transitions are close. The SiO2 rods only appear as the passive film breaks down. These differences are explained in terms of the reactions at the SiC/SiO2 interface. In order to understand the breakdown of the passive film, pre-oxidation experiments are conducted. These involve forming dense protective scales of 0.5, 1, and 2 microns and then subjecting the samples with these scales to a known active oxidation environment. Microstructural studies show that SiC/SiO2 interfacial reactions lead to a breakdown of the scale with a distinct morphology.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bačík, Peter; Dikej, Jakub; Fridrichová, Jana; Miglierini, Marcel; Števko, Martin
2017-09-01
Tourmaline-supergroup minerals are common gangue minerals in Sb-hydrothermal veins on Betliar - Straková, Čučma - Gabriela and Rožňava - Peter-Pavol vein deposits in the Rožňava area, Slovakia. Tourmaline-supergroup minerals form relatively large prismatic to radial aggregates of parallel black to greyish-black crystals. Tourmaline-supergroup minerals from Betliar - Straková and Rožňava - Peter-Pavol are almost homogeneous with intermediate schorl-dravite composition. Čučma - Gabriela tourmaline have distinct zoning with massive core of the schorlitic-to-feruvitic shifting to schorlitic-to-dravitic composition, and dravitic to magnesio-foititic rim. The tourmaline composition is influenced by two main substitutions, namely Ca(Mg,Fe)Na-1Al-1 and X □AlNa-1(Mg,Fe)-1. Betliar - Straková and Rožňava - Peter-Pavol tourmaline-supergroup minerals exhibit only small extents of the X □AlNa-1(Mg,Fe)-1 substitution. This substitution shifts the composition to magnesio-foitite in Čučma - Gabriela tourmaline. The decrease of Al in the core of Čučma - Gabriela tourmaline crystals is caused by extensive Ca(Mg,Fe)Na-1Al-1 substitution. The unit-cell dimensions of all investigated tourmaline-supergroup minerals indicate an octahedral disorder with the Z (Fe3++Mg) proportion calculated from empirical equations varying between 0.85 and 0.87 apfu (atoms per formula unit). Based on Mössbauer spectra, the Z Fe3+ content varied between 0.25 apfu in Betliar - Straková tourmaline and 0.45 apfu in Čučma - Gabriela sample. Based on Fe/(Fe + Mg) ratio, Betliar - Straková tourmaline is slightly enriched in Fe compared to Rožňava - Peter-Pavol, suggesting the impact of the host-rock composition; first are grown in Fe-richer acidic metarhyolitic rocks, latter in metapelites. In Čučma - Gabriela, the variations in Fe/(Fe + Mg) are very likely reflecting the change in fluid composition. Magnesio-foitite is the product of second-stage crystallization forming rims and crack fills. The relatively low Fe3+/Fe2+ ratio suggests only minor proportion of meteoric fluids forming tourmaline.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
van Genuchten, C. M.; Pena, J.; Addy, S.; Gadgil, A.
2010-12-01
Millions of people worldwide are exposed to arsenic-contamination in groundwater drinking supplies. The majority of affected people live in rural Bangladesh. Electrocoagulation (EC) using iron electrodes is a promising arsenic removal strategy that is based on the generation of iron precipitates with a high affinity for arsenic through the electrochemical dissolution of a sacrificial iron anode. Many studies of iron hydrolysis in the presence of co-occurring ions in groundwater such as PO43-, SiO44-, and AsO43- suggest that these ions influence the polymerization and formation of iron oxide phases. However, the combined impact of these ions on precipitates generated by EC is not well understood. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was used to examine EC precipitates generated in synthetic Bangladeshi groundwater (SBGW). The iron oxide structure and arsenic binding geometry were investigated as a function of EC operating conditions. As and Fe k-edge spectra were similar between samples regardless of the large range of current density (0.02, 1.1, 5.0, 100 mA/cm2) used during sample generation. This result suggests that current density does not play a large role in the formation EC precipitates in SBGW. Shell-by-shell fits of Fe K-edge data revealed the presence of a single Fe-Fe interatomic distance at approximately 3.06 Å. The absence of longer ranged Fe-Fe correlations suggests that EC precipitates consist of nano-scale chains (polymers) of FeO6 octahedra sharing equatorial edges. Shell-by-shell fits of As K-edge spectra show arsenic bound in primarily bidentate, binuclear corner sharing complexes. In this coordination geometry, arsenic prevents the formation of FeO6 corner-sharing linkages, which are necessary for 3-dimensional crystal growth. The individual and combined effects of other anions, such as PO43- and SiO44- present in SBGW are currently being investigated to determine the role of these ions in stunting crystal growth. The results provided by this study are useful in explaining the large adsorption capacity of EC precipitates. This study will also lead to better predictions of arsenic removal efficiency during EC and a better understanding of the long-term stability of arsenic-laden EC sludge.
Mehdi, Mohammad Murtaza; Rizvi, Syed Ibrahim
2013-02-01
Oxidative stress is thought to play a major role in the development of several age-dependent diseases. Proteins are major targets for oxidative attack. Protein hydroperoxides are formed by hydroxyl and singlet oxygen attack on protein, forming relatively stable hydroperoxides on histidine, tyrosine and tryptophan residues. This study investigated the levels of plasma protein hydroperoxides and antioxidant potential of plasma during aging in humans. We correlated the protein hydroperoxide formation with plasma antioxidant potential, paraoxonase 1 (PON1) arylesterase activity and plasma total thiols. The protein hydroperoxides and antioxidant potential were measured in plasma of human subjects aged between 20 and 81 years of both genders. Increase in plasma protein hydroperoxides and decrease in plasma antioxidant potential were observed as function of human age. This study provides strong correlation between plasma protein hydroperoxides formation and decrease in plasma antioxidant potential during aging. PON1 arylesterase activity and plasma total thiols levels were also found to show significant correlation with increasing levels of plasma protein hydroperoxides during aging. The plasma protein hydroperoxides provide a reliable marker of long-term redox balance and degree of oxidative stress during aging process. Copyright © 2013 IMSS. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Mancuso, Raffaella; Ziccarelli, Ida; Armentano, Donatella; Marino, Nadia; Giofrè, Salvatore V; Gabriele, Bartolo
2014-04-18
2-Alkynylbenzamides underwent different reaction pathways when allowed to react under PdI2-catalyzed oxidative carbonylation conditions, depending on the nature of the external nucleophile and reaction conditions. Thus, oxidative carbonylation of 2-ethynylbenzamides, bearing a terminal triple bond, carried out in the presence of a secondary amine as external nucleophile, selectively led to the formation of 3-[(dialkylcarbamoyl)methylene]isoindolin-1-ones through the intermediate formation of the corresponding 2-ynamide derivatives followed by intramolecular nucleophilic attack by the nitrogen of the benzamide moiety on the conjugated triple bond. On the other hand, 3-[(alkoxycarbonyl)methylene]isobenzofuran-1(3H)imines were selectively obtained when the oxidative carbonylation of 2-alkynylbenzamides, bearing a terminal or an internal triple bond, was carried out in the presence of an alcohol R'OH (such as methanol or ethanol) as the external nucleophile and HC(OR')3 as a dehydrating agent, necessary to avoid substrate hydrolysis. In this latter case, the reaction pathway leading to the isobenzofuranimine corresponded to the 5-exo-dig intramolecular nucleophilic attack of the oxygen of the benzamide moiety on the triple bond coordinated to the metal center followed by alkoxycarbonylation. The structures of representative products have been confirmed by X-ray crystallographic analysis.
Müller, Kerstin; Linkies, Ada; Vreeburg, Robert A.M.; Fry, Stephen C.; Krieger-Liszkay, Anja; Leubner-Metzger, Gerhard
2009-01-01
Loosening of cell walls is an important developmental process in key stages of the plant life cycle, including seed germination, elongation growth, and fruit ripening. Here, we report direct in vivo evidence for hydroxyl radical (·OH)-mediated cell wall loosening during plant seed germination and seedling growth. We used electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy to show that ·OH is generated in the cell wall during radicle elongation and weakening of the endosperm of cress (Lepidium sativum; Brassicaceae) seeds. Endosperm weakening precedes radicle emergence, as demonstrated by direct biomechanical measurements. By 3H fingerprinting, we showed that wall polysaccharides are oxidized in vivo by the developmentally regulated action of apoplastic ·OH in radicles and endosperm caps: the production and action of ·OH increased during endosperm weakening and radicle elongation and were inhibited by the germination-inhibiting hormone abscisic acid. Both effects were reversed by gibberellin. Distinct and tissue-specific target sites of ·OH attack on polysaccharides were evident. In vivo ·OH attack on cell wall polysaccharides were evident not only in germinating seeds but also in elongating maize (Zea mays; Poaceae) seedling coleoptiles. We conclude that plant cell wall loosening by ·OH is a controlled action of this type of reactive oxygen species. PMID:19493972
Robustness of non-interdependent and interdependent networks against dependent and adaptive attacks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Tyra, Adam; Li, Jingtao; Shang, Yilun; Jiang, Shuo; Zhao, Yanjun; Xu, Shouhuai
2017-09-01
Robustness of complex networks has been extensively studied via the notion of site percolation, which typically models independent and non-adaptive attacks (or disruptions). However, real-life attacks are often dependent and/or adaptive. This motivates us to characterize the robustness of complex networks, including non-interdependent and interdependent ones, against dependent and adaptive attacks. For this purpose, dependent attacks are accommodated by L-hop percolation where the nodes within some L-hop (L ≥ 0) distance of a chosen node are all deleted during one attack (with L = 0 degenerating to site percolation). Whereas, adaptive attacks are launched by attackers who can make node-selection decisions based on the network state in the beginning of each attack. The resulting characterization enriches the body of knowledge with new insights, such as: (i) the Achilles' Heel phenomenon is only valid for independent attacks, but not for dependent attacks; (ii) powerful attack strategies (e.g., targeted attacks and dependent attacks, dependent attacks and adaptive attacks) are not compatible and cannot help the attacker when used collectively. Our results shed some light on the design of robust complex networks.
Petrogenesis of Mesoproterozoic granitic plutons, eastern Llano Uplift, central Texas, USA
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Smith, R. K.; Gray, Walt; Gibbs, Tyson; Gallegos, M. A.
2010-08-01
The Llano Uplift of central Texas is a gentle structural dome exposing ˜ 1370 to 1230 Ma metaigneous and metasedimentary rocks of Grenville affinity along the southern margin of Laurentia. The metamorphic rocks were subsequently intruded by ˜ 1119 to 1070 Ma late syn- to post-tectonic granites collectively known as the Town Mountain Granite (TMG). The eastern most of the TMG, the Marble Falls (MF), Kingsland (KL), and Lone Grove (LG) plutons, are metaluminous to marginally peraluminous, high-K, calc-alkaline, ferroan, biotite-calcic amphibole granites [Fe/(Fe + Mg) = 0.71-0.92 and 0.78-0.91 for biotite and calcic amphibole, respectively] displaying distinct variation trends with increasing silica content. They are chemically and texturally zoned and have mineralogical and chemical characteristics similar to A-type granites; i.e., 1) Fe-rich biotites, calcic amphiboles, accessory fluorite, and sporadic rapakivi texture, 2) high K 2O (> 4 wt.%), 3) low Al 2O 3 (< 16 wt.%) and CaO (< 3 wt.%), 4) high Fe/(Fe + Mg), 5) enrichments in Zr, Nb, REE, Ga/Al, and 6) depleted Eu. However, in contrast to typical A-type granites (having low Sr and Ba) the MF, KL,and LG plutons are enriched in Sr and Ba; i.e., up to 229 ppm and 1090 ppm, respectively. On granite discrimination diagrams [(K 2O + Na 2O)/CaO vs. Zr + Nb + Ce + Y (ppm) and Zr (ppm) vs. Ga/Al*10,000] the KL and MF plutons plot within the A-type field, whereas the LG pluton compositions are divided between A-type and fractionated granite fields (I-, S- and M-types). On tectonic discrimination diagrams (Y vs. Nb ) the MF and KL granites plot in the "within-plate" granite field, but the LG pluton plots across several fields including "within-plate" and "volcanic arc plus syn-collisional" fields. Consequently the tectonic classification on a geochemical basis for the LG pluton is unclear. Based on thermal metamorphic mineral assemblages, normative Q-Ab-Or plots, and Q-Ab-Or-H 2O experimental data (Johannes and Holtz, 1996), crystallization temperatures and pressures are estimated to range from 750 to 850 °C and 200 to 500 MPa, respectively. The assemblage of titanite + magnetite + quartz suggests crystallization at low fO2 [confirmed by Fe/(Fe + Mg) vs. [4] Al microprobe analyses of calcic amphibole] and a water content of less than 1.5 wt.% (Wones, 1989). Like other Town Mountain-type plutons, the MF, KL, and LG granites display comparable iron contents at similar alkali and silica enrichments. Melting models (Ba vs. Sr) suggest the MF, KL, and LG plutons may have evolved from the partial melting (anatexis) of juvenile, tonalitic, lower crustal rocks, followed by plagioclase and pyroxene dominated fractionation. Nd isotopic data for the MF pluton ( ɛNd = + 3.4 at 1.06 Ga; Patchett and Ruiz, 1989) and whole-rock δ18O values for the MF, KL, and LG plutons (+ 7.0 < δ 18O >+10.1‰; Rangel et al., 2008) suggest that the magmas in the eastern Llano Uplift may contain a significant mantle component, whereas relatively high δ18O values (+ 9.3 to + 9.7‰; Bebout and Carlson, 1986) for other coeval TMG rocks suggest that a significant crustal component is involved. Whole-rock and trace-element chemistry indicate that the MF and KL plutons, along with the coarser grained textures of the LG pluton, are 'A-type' granites. However, with no coeval mafic dikes, syenitic compositions, or volcanic rocks it is clear that the TMG plutons do not represent anorogenic granites. The available evidence is most compatible with emplacement of the TMG plutons in a post-orogenic (Grenville), relaxation and extensional (i.e., slab breakoff) setting.
The contribution of collective attack tactics in differentiating handball score efficiency.
Rogulj, Nenad; Srhoj, Vatromir; Srhoj, Ljerka
2004-12-01
The prevalence of 19 elements of collective tactics in score efficient and score inefficient teams was analyzed in 90 First Croatian Handball League--Men games during the 1998-1999 season. Prediction variables were used to describe duration, continuity, system, organization and spatial direction of attacks. Analysis of the basic descriptive and distribution statistical parameters revealed normal distribution of all variables and possibility to use multivariate methods. Canonic discrimination analysis and analysis of variance showed the use of collective tactics elements on attacks to differ statistically significantly between the winning and losing teams. Counter-attacks and uninterrupted attacks predominate in winning teams. Other types of attacks such as long position attack, multiply interrupted attack, attack with one circle runner attack player/pivot, attack based on basic principles, attack based on group cooperation, attack based on independent action, attack based on group maneuvering, rightward directed attack and leftward directed attack predominate in losing teams. Winning teams were found to be clearly characterized by quick attacks against unorganized defense, whereas prolonged, interrupted position attacks against organized defense along with frequent and diverse tactical actions were characteristic of losing teams. The choice and frequency of using a particular tactical activity in position attack do not warrant score efficiency but usually are consequential to the limited anthropologic potential and low level of individual technical-tactical skills of the players in low-quality teams.
Chu, Haoke; Dai, Qiang; Jiang, Yan; Cheng, Jiang
2017-08-04
A cyanide-free one-pot procedure was developed to access 2-amino-3-hydroxy-3H-indoles, which involved: (1) in situ formation of ketenimines by the reaction of N'-(1-(2-aminophenyl)ethylidene)-p-tosylhydrazones with isonitriles; (2) the intramolecular nucleophilic attack of ketenimines by the amino in phenyl furnishing the ring closure leading to 2-aminoindoles; (3) the oxidation of 2-aminoindoles by O 2 leading to 2-amino-3-hydroxy-3H-indoles. This strategy represents not only a key compliment to the sporadic synthetic methods toward 2-amino-3-hydroxy-3H-indoles but also progress in N-tosylhydrazone, isonitrile, and ketenimine chemistry.
A potentiodynamic study of aluminum-lithium alloys in an aqueous sodium chloride environment
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Tsao, C.-H. T.; Pizzo, P. P.
1985-01-01
The characteristics of the potentiodynamic curves for Al-Li alloys in 3.5 percent NaCl aqueous solution are explained and the electrochemical parameters of the potentiodynamic technique are correlated to observed pitting and intergranular cracking behavior. It is shown that the oxygen content of the sodium chloride electrolyte plays an important role in the electrochemical behavior of Al-Li alloys. The potentiodynamic behavior of the alloys is found to be insensitive to variation in compositional content and heat treatment, both of which affect the stress-corrosion behavior. Stringer oxide particle attack and random pitting are observed. It is shown that alternate-immersion exposure prior to potentiodynamic polarization may offer a means of assessing susceptibility to stress-corrosion cracking.
A study on the bacterial photo-toxicity of phenothiazinium based photosensitisers.
Sayed, Zia; Harris, Frederick; Phoenix, David A
2005-03-01
"Comet assay" showed light activated (3.15 Jcm-2 over 30 min) phenothiazinium based photosensitisers (PhBPs) to induce photo-damage of Staphylococcus aureus DNA, as indicated by DNA "tails" between 80 and 120 microm. In general, PhBPs exhibited significant singlet oxygen yields (Phi(DeltaPhBP)>0.7), suggesting the use of type II mechanisms of photo-oxidation. However, the photodynamic action of PhBPs on DNA showed generally insignificant production of 7,8-dihydro-8-oxo-2'-deoxyguanosine, normally a major product of type II DNA photo-oxidation. These combined results show DNA to be a major site of action of PhBPs and suggest that this action may involve type II attack on a nucleoside(s) other than guanosine.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gibson, Gregory; Morgan, Ashley; Hu, P.; Lin, Wen-Feng
2016-06-01
The viable mechanisms for O3 generation via the electrocatalytic splitting of H2O over β-PbO2 catalyst were identified through Density Functional Theory calculations. H2O adsorbed onto the surface was oxidized to form OH then O; the latter reacted with a surface bridging O to form O2 which in turn reacted with another surface O to form O3. The final step of the mechanisms occurs via an Eley-Rideal style interaction where surface O2 desorbs and then attacks the surface bridging oxygen, forming O3. A different reaction pathway via an O3H intermediate was found less favoured both thermodynamically and kinetically.
Polymers Erosion and Contamination Experiment Being Developed
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
deGroh, Kim K.; Banks, Bruce A.; Barney-Barton, Elyse A.; Sechkar, Edward; Hunt, Patricia
1999-01-01
The Polymers Erosion and Contamination Experiment (PEACE) is currently being developed at the NASA Lewis Research Center by the Electro-Physics Branch in conjunction with students and faculty from Hathaway Brown School in Cleveland. The experiment is a Get Away Special Canister shuttle flight experiment sponsored by the American Chemical Society. The two goals of this experiment are (1) to measure ram atomic oxygen erosion rates of approximately 40 polymers that have potential use in space applications and (2) to validate a method for identifying sources of silicone contamination that occur in the shuttle bay. Equipment to be used in this flight experiment is shown in the schematic diagram. Spacecraft materials subjected to attack by atomic oxygen in the space environment experience significant degradation over the span of a typical mission. Therefore, learning the rates of atomic oxygen erosion of a wide variety of polymers would be of great benefit to future missions. PEACE will use two independent techniques to determine the atomic oxygen erosion rates of polymers. Large (1-in.-diameter) samples will be used for obtaining mass loss. Preflight and postflight dehydrated masses will be obtained, and the mass lost during flight will be determined. Small (0.5-in.-diameter) samples will be protected with isolated particles (such as NaCl crystals) and then exposed to the space environment. After flight, the protective particles will be removed (washed off) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) will be used to measure the erosion depth from protected mesas. Erosion depth measurements are more sensitive than traditional mass measurements and are very useful for materials with low erosion yields or with very low fluence missions.
Winterbourn, Christine C
2014-02-01
Small molecule fluorescent probes are vital tools for monitoring reactive oxygen species in cells. The types of probe available, the extent to which they are specific or quantitative and complications in interpreting results are discussed. Most commonly used probes (e.g. dihydrodichlorofluorescein, dihydrorhodamine) have some value in providing information on changes to the redox environment of the cell, but they are not specific for any one oxidant and the response is affected by numerous chemical interactions and not just increased oxidant generation. These probes generate the fluorescent end product by a free radical mechanism, and to react with hydrogen peroxide they require a metal catalyst. Probe radicals can react with oxygen, superoxide, and various antioxidant molecules, all of which influence the signal. Newer generation probes such as boronates act by a different mechanism in which nucleophilic attack by the oxidant on a blocking group releases masked fluorescence. Boronates react with hydrogen peroxide, peroxynitrite, hypochlorous acid and in some cases superoxide, so are selective but not specific. They react with hydrogen peroxide very slowly, and kinetic considerations raise questions about how the reaction could occur in cells. Data from oxidant-sensitive fluorescent probes can provide some information on cellular redox activity but is widely misinterpreted. Recently developed non-redox probes show promise but are not generally available and more information on specificity and cellular reactions is needed. We do not yet have probes that can quantify cellular production of specific oxidants. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled Current methods to study reactive oxygen species - pros and cons and biophysics of membrane proteins. Guest Editor: Christine Winterbourn. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Xia, Chun; Fernandes, Russel; Cho, Franklin H; Sudhakar, Niranjan; Buonacorsi, Brandon; Walker, Sean; Xu, Meng; Baugh, Jonathan; Nazar, Linda F
2016-09-07
Advanced large-scale electrochemical energy storage requires cost-effective battery systems with high energy densities. Aprotic sodium-oxygen (Na-O2) batteries offer advantages, being comprised of low-cost elements and possessing much lower charge overpotential and higher reversibility compared to their lithium-oxygen battery cousins. Although such differences have been explained by solution-mediated superoxide transport, the underlying nature of this mechanism is not fully understood. Water has been suggested to solubilize superoxide via formation of hydroperoxyl (HO2), but direct evidence of these HO2 radical species in cells has proven elusive. Here, we use ESR spectroscopy at 210 K to identify and quantify soluble HO2 radicals in the electrolyte-cold-trapped in situ to prolong their lifetime-in a Na-O2 cell. These investigations are coupled to parallel SEM studies that image crystalline sodium superoxide (NaO2) on the carbon cathode. The superoxide radicals were spin-trapped via reaction with 5,5-dimethyl-pyrroline N-oxide at different electrochemical stages, allowing monitoring of their production and consumption during cycling. Our results conclusively demonstrate that transport of superoxide from cathode to electrolyte leads to the nucleation and growth of NaO2, which follows classical mechanisms based on the variation of superoxide content in the electrolyte and its correlation with the crystallization of cubic NaO2. The changes in superoxide content upon charge show that charge proceeds through the reverse solution process. Furthermore, we identify the carbon-centered/oxygen-centered alkyl radicals arising from attack of these solubilized HO2 species on the diglyme solvent. This is the first direct evidence of such species, which are likely responsible for electrolyte degradation.
Viscoelastic characterization of thin-film polymers exposed to low Earth orbit
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Letton, Alan; Farrow, Allan; Strganac, Thomas
1993-01-01
The materials made available through the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite provide a set of specimens that can be well characterized and have a known exposure history with reference to atomic oxygen and ultraviolet radiation exposure. Mechanical characteristics measured from control samples and exposed samples provide a data base for predicting the behavior of polymers in low earth orbit. Samples of 1.0 mil thick low density polyethylene were exposed to the low earth orbit environment for a period of six years. These materials were not directly exposed to ram atomic oxygen and offer a unique opportunity for measuring the effect of atomic oxygen and UV radiation on mechanical properties with little concern to the effect of erosion. The viscoelastic characteristics of these materials were measured and compared to the viscoelastic characteristics of control samples. To aid in differentiating the effects of changes in crystallinity resulting from thermal cycling, from the effects of changes in chemical structure resulting from atomic oxygen/UV attack to the polymer, a second set of control specimens, annealed to increase crystallinity, were measured as well. The resulting characterization of these materials will offer insight into the impact of atomic oxygen/UV on the mechanical properties of polymeric materials. The viscoelastic properties measured for the control, annealed, and exposed specimens were the storage and loss modulus as a function of frequency and temperature. From these datum is calculated the viscoelastic master curve derived using the principle of time/temperature superposition. Using the master curve, the relaxation modulus is calculated using the method of Ninomiya and Ferry. The viscoelastic master curve and the stress relaxation modulus provide a direct measure of the changes in the chemical or morphological structure. In addition, the effect of these changes on long-term and short-term mechanical properties is known directly. It should be noted that the dependence on directionality for the polymer films was considered since these films were manufactured by a blown-film process.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Napier, Mary E.; Stair, Peter C.
1992-01-01
Polymeric perfluoroalkylethers are being considered for use as lubricants in high temperature applications, but have been observed to catalytically decompose in the presence of metals. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) and temperature programmed desorption (TPD) were used to explore the decomposition of three model fluorinated ethers on clean polycrystalline iron surfaces and iron surfaces chemically modified with oxygen. Low temperature adsorption of the model fluorinated ethers on the clean, oxygen modified and oxidized iron surfaces was molecular. Thermally activated defluorination of the three model compounds was observed on the clean iron surface at remarkably low temperatures, 155 K and below, with formation of iron fluoride. Preferential C-F bond scission occurred at the terminal fluoromethoxy, CF3O, of perfluoro-1-methoxy-2-ethoxy ethane and perfluoro-1-methoxy-2-ethoxy propane and at CF3/CF2O of perfluoro-1,3-diethoxy propane. The reactivity of the clean iron toward perfluoroalkylether decomposition when compared to other metals is due to the strength of the iron fluoride bond and the strong electron donating ability of the metallic iron. Chemisorption of an oxygen overlayer lowered the reactivity of the iron surface to the adsorption and decomposition of the three model fluorinated ethers by blocking active sites on the metal surface. Incomplete coverage of the iron surface with chemisorbed oxygen results in a reaction which resembles the defluorination reaction observed on the clean iron surface. Perfluoro-1-methoxy-2-ethoxy ethane reacts on the oxidized iron surface at 138 K, through a Lewis acid assisted cleavage of the carbon oxygen bond, with preferential attack at the terminal fluoromethoxy, CF3O. The oxidized iron surface did not passivate, but became more reactive with time. Perfluoro-1-methoxy-2-ethoxy propane and perfluoro-1,3-diethoxy propane desorbed prior to the observation of decomposition on the oxidized iron surface.
Predicting Factors of Zone 4 Attack in Volleyball.
Costa, Gustavo C; Castro, Henrique O; Evangelista, Breno F; Malheiros, Laura M; Greco, Pablo J; Ugrinowitsch, Herbert
2017-06-01
This study examined 142 volleyball games of the Men's Super League 2014/2015 seasons in Brazil from which we analyzed 24-26 games of each participating team, identifying 5,267 Zone 4 attacks for further analysis. Within these Zone 4 attacks, we analyzed the association between the effect of the attack carried out and the separate effects of serve reception, tempo and type of attack. We found that the reception, tempo of attack, second tempo of attack, and power of diagonal attack were predictors of the attack effect in Zone 4. Moreover, placed attacks showed a tendency to not yield a score. In conclusion, winning points in high-level men's volleyball requires excellent receptions, a fast attack tempo and powerfully executed of attacks.
Aberer, Werner; Maurer, Marcus; Bouillet, Laurence; Zanichelli, Andrea; Caballero, Teresa; Longhurst, Hilary J; Perrin, Amandine; Andresen, Irmgard
2017-01-01
Patients with hereditary angioedema (HAE) due to C1-inhibitor deficiency (C1-INH-HAE) experience recurrent attacks of cutaneous or submucosal edema that may be frequent and severe; prophylactic treatments can be prescribed to prevent attacks. However, despite the use of long-term prophylaxis (LTP), breakthrough attacks are known to occur. We used data from the Icatibant Outcome Survey (IOS) to evaluate the characteristics of breakthrough attacks and the effectiveness of icatibant as a treatment option. Data on LTP use, attacks, and treatments were recorded. Attack characteristics, treatment characteristics, and outcomes (time to treatment, time to resolution, and duration of attack) were compared for attacks that occurred with versus without LTP. Data on 3228 icatibant-treated attacks from 448 patients with C1-INH-HAE were analyzed; 30.1% of attacks occurred while patients were using LTP. Attack rate, attack severity, and the distribution of attack sites were similar across all types of LTP used, and were comparable to the results found in patients who did not receive LTP. Attacks were successfully treated with icatibant; 82.5% of all breakthrough attacks were treated with a single icatibant injection without C1-INH rescue medication. Treatment outcomes were comparable for breakthrough attacks across all LTP types, and for attacks without LTP. Patients who use LTP should be aware that breakthrough attacks can occur, and such attacks can be severe. Thus, patients with C1-INH-HAE using LTP should have emergency treatment readily available. Data from IOS show that icatibant is effective for the treatment of breakthrough attacks. Trial Registration NCT01034969.
A graph-based network-vulnerability analysis system
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Swiler, L.P.; Phillips, C.; Gaylor, T.
1998-05-03
This paper presents a graph based approach to network vulnerability analysis. The method is flexible, allowing analysis of attacks from both outside and inside the network. It can analyze risks to a specific network asset, or examine the universe of possible consequences following a successful attack. The analysis system requires as input a database of common attacks, broken into atomic steps, specific network configuration and topology information, and an attacker profile. The attack information is matched with the network configuration information and an attacker profile to create a superset attack graph. Nodes identify a stage of attack, for example themore » class of machines the attacker has accessed and the user privilege level he or she has compromised. The arcs in the attack graph represent attacks or stages of attacks. By assigning probabilities of success on the arcs or costs representing level of effort for the attacker, various graph algorithms such as shortest path algorithms can identify the attack paths with the highest probability of success.« less
A graph-based network-vulnerability analysis system
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Swiler, L.P.; Phillips, C.; Gaylor, T.
1998-01-01
This report presents a graph-based approach to network vulnerability analysis. The method is flexible, allowing analysis of attacks from both outside and inside the network. It can analyze risks to a specific network asset, or examine the universe of possible consequences following a successful attack. The analysis system requires as input a database of common attacks, broken into atomic steps, specific network configuration and topology information, and an attacker profile. The attack information is matched with the network configuration information and an attacker profile to create a superset attack graph. Nodes identify a stage of attack, for example the classmore » of machines the attacker has accessed and the user privilege level he or she has compromised. The arcs in the attack graph represent attacks or stages of attacks. By assigning probabilities of success on the arcs or costs representing level-of-effort for the attacker, various graph algorithms such as shortest-path algorithms can identify the attack paths with the highest probability of success.« less
Method and tool for network vulnerability analysis
Swiler, Laura Painton [Albuquerque, NM; Phillips, Cynthia A [Albuquerque, NM
2006-03-14
A computer system analysis tool and method that will allow for qualitative and quantitative assessment of security attributes and vulnerabilities in systems including computer networks. The invention is based on generation of attack graphs wherein each node represents a possible attack state and each edge represents a change in state caused by a single action taken by an attacker or unwitting assistant. Edges are weighted using metrics such as attacker effort, likelihood of attack success, or time to succeed. Generation of an attack graph is accomplished by matching information about attack requirements (specified in "attack templates") to information about computer system configuration (contained in a configuration file that can be updated to reflect system changes occurring during the course of an attack) and assumed attacker capabilities (reflected in "attacker profiles"). High risk attack paths, which correspond to those considered suited to application of attack countermeasures given limited resources for applying countermeasures, are identified by finding "epsilon optimal paths."
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A graph-based system for network-vulnerability analysis
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Swiler, L.P.; Phillips, C.
1998-06-01
This paper presents a graph-based approach to network vulnerability analysis. The method is flexible, allowing analysis of attacks from both outside and inside the network. It can analyze risks to a specific network asset, or examine the universe of possible consequences following a successful attack. The graph-based tool can identify the set of attack paths that have a high probability of success (or a low effort cost) for the attacker. The system could be used to test the effectiveness of making configuration changes, implementing an intrusion detection system, etc. The analysis system requires as input a database of common attacks,more » broken into atomic steps, specific network configuration and topology information, and an attacker profile. The attack information is matched with the network configuration information and an attacker profile to create a superset attack graph. Nodes identify a stage of attack, for example the class of machines the attacker has accessed and the user privilege level he or she has compromised. The arcs in the attack graph represent attacks or stages of attacks. By assigning probabilities of success on the arcs or costs representing level-of-effort for the attacker, various graph algorithms such as shortest-path algorithms can identify the attack paths with the highest probability of success.« less
Application of Cellular Automata to Detection of Malicious Network Packets
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Brown, Robert L.
2014-01-01
A problem in computer security is identification of attack signatures in network packets. An attack signature is a pattern of bits that characterizes a particular attack. Because there are many kinds of attacks, there are potentially many attack signatures. Furthermore, attackers may seek to avoid detection by altering the attack mechanism so that…
Cooperating attackers in neural cryptography.
Shacham, Lanir N; Klein, Einat; Mislovaty, Rachel; Kanter, Ido; Kinzel, Wolfgang
2004-06-01
A successful attack strategy in neural cryptography is presented. The neural cryptosystem, based on synchronization of neural networks by mutual learning, has been recently shown to be secure under different attack strategies. The success of the advanced attacker presented here, called the "majority-flipping attacker," does not decay with the parameters of the model. This attacker's outstanding success is due to its using a group of attackers which cooperate throughout the synchronization process, unlike any other attack strategy known. An analytical description of this attack is also presented, and fits the results of simulations.
SPERMINE OXIDASE: AN AMINE OXIDASE WITH SPECIFICITY FOR SPERMINE AND SPERMIDINE
Hirsch, James G.
1953-01-01
Sheep serum and bovine serum contain an enzyme which brings about a rapid oxidative deamination of certain biological amines. This enzyme differs from previously described amine oxidases in several regards and especially in its substrate specificity. Studies thus far indicate that only spermine and the closely related compound spermidine serve as substrates for the enzyme in sheep serum. For this reason, the enzyme has been named spermine oxidase. Spermine oxidase is active in a variety of fluids of various ionic strength and buffer composition. The reaction takes place between pH 6.0 and pH 8.0 with an optimal rate in the vicinity of neutrality. Under certain conditions, the rate of oxygen consumption during the initial phase of the reaction is independent of the concentration of substrate. The diminution in rate observed during the latter phase of the enzymatic attack appears to be due to an alteration in the kinetics at low concentrations of substrate, or to competitive inhibition by a product of the reaction. Carbonyl reagents almost completely block the action of spermine oxidase, while certain amines and the cyanide ion bring about partial inhibition. Thiol reagents and sequestering compounds do not alter the course of the oxidative process. In the presence of low concentrations of mercuric chloride, the sheep serum-spermine system consumes approximately twice as much oxygen as controls containing no mercuric ion. The mechanism by which the mercuric ion stimulates additional oxygen uptake is obscure. PMID:13052805
Zhang, Yi; Wei, Hanyu; Xin, Qing; Wang, Mingang; Wang, Qi; Wang, Qiang; Cong, Yanqing
2016-12-01
A gas-liquid hybrid discharge system was applied to microcystin-LR (MC-LR) degradation. MC-LR degradation was completed after 1 min under a pulsed high voltage of 16 kV, gas-liquid interface gap of 10 mm and oxygen flow rate of 160 L/h. The Box-Behnken Design was proposed in Response Surface Methodology to evaluate the influence of pulsed high voltage, electrode distance and oxygen flow rate on MC-LR removal efficiency. Multiple regression analysis, focused on multivariable factors, was employed and a reduced cubic model was developed. The ANOVA analysis shows that the model is significant and the model prediction on MC-LR removal was also validated with experimental data. The optimum conditions for the process are obtained at pulsed voltage of 16 kV, gas-liquid interface gap of 10 mm and oxygen flow rate of 120 L/h with ta removal efficiency of MC-LR of 96.6%. The addition of catalysts (TiO 2 or Fe 2+ ) in the gas-liquid hybrid discharge system was found to enhance the removal of MC-LR. The intermediates of MC-LR degradation were analyzed by liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry. The degradation pathway proposed envisaged the oxidation of hydroxyl radicals and ozone, and attack of high-energy electrons on the unsaturated double bonds of Adda and Mdha, with MC-LR finally decomposing into small molecular products. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Terrorist Attacks Escalate in Frequency and Fatalities Preceding Highly Lethal Attacks
Martens, Andy; Sainudiin, Raazesh; Sibley, Chris G.; Schimel, Jeff; Webber, David
2014-01-01
Highly lethal terrorist attacks, which we define as those killing 21 or more people, account for 50% of the total number of people killed in all terrorist attacks combined, yet comprise only 3.5% of terrorist attacks. Given the disproportionate influence of these incidents, uncovering systematic patterns in attacks that precede and anticipate these highly lethal attacks may be of value for understanding attacks that exact a heavy toll on life. Here we examined whether the activity of terrorist groups escalates–both in the number of people killed per attack and in the frequency of attacks–leading up to highly lethal attacks. Analyses of terrorist attacks drawn from a state-of-the-art international terrorism database (The Global Terrorism Database) showed evidence for both types of escalation leading up to highly lethal attacks, though complexities to the patterns emerged as well. These patterns of escalation do not emerge among terrorist groups that never commit a highly lethal attack. PMID:24755753
Male genital tract antioxidant enzymes--their ability to preserve sperm DNA integrity.
O, Wai-Sum; Chen, H; Chow, P H
2006-05-16
Male germ cells are unique because they lose a bulk of their cytoplasm as cytoplasmic droplets when they develop, leading to a decrease in endogenous antioxidant and hence a dependence on extracellular antioxidant system to overcome oxidative stress. Spermatozoa are particularly vulnerable to oxidative stress because their plasma membrane is rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids and membrane-bound NADPH oxidase. To protect spermatozoa from oxidative attack, an optimal amount of reactive oxygen species is maintained by balancing the reactive oxygen species generated during sperm maturation in the epididymidis and antioxidants in secretions of the male reproductive tract. The male accessory sex glands secretions have been shown to be the major source of antioxidant enzymes in the ejaculate and have the important function of preserving sperm DNA integrity from oxidative stress experienced in the uterine environment. In our in vivo golden hamster model, ablation of the five major male accessory sex glands, namely the ampullary glands, coagulating glands, dorsolateral prostate, ventral prostate and seminal vesicle, was found to cause higher incidence and greater degree of DNA damage in spermatozoa. These damaged sperm are able to undergo fertilization at the same rate as intact ones; however, the outcome of embryos sired is seriously affected.
Xia, Xiao-Jian; Zhou, Yan-Hong; Shi, Kai; Zhou, Jie; Foyer, Christine H; Yu, Jing-Quan
2015-05-01
As a consequence of a sessile lifestyle, plants are continuously exposed to changing environmental conditions and often life-threatening stresses caused by exposure to excessive light, extremes of temperature, limiting nutrient or water availability, and pathogen/insect attack. The flexible coordination of plant growth and development is necessary to optimize vigour and fitness in a changing environment through rapid and appropriate responses to such stresses. The concept that reactive oxygen species (ROS) are versatile signalling molecules in plants that contribute to stress acclimation is well established. This review provides an overview of our current knowledge of how ROS production and signalling are integrated with the action of auxin, brassinosteroids, gibberellins, abscisic acid, ethylene, strigolactones, salicylic acid, and jasmonic acid in the coordinate regulation of plant growth and stress tolerance. We consider the local and systemic crosstalk between ROS and hormonal signalling pathways and identify multiple points of reciprocal control, as well as providing insights into the integration nodes that involve Ca(2+)-dependent processes and mitogen-activated protein kinase phosphorylation cascades. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Adam, Waldemar; Bottke, Nils; Krebs, Oliver; Lykakis, Ioannis; Orfanopoulos, Michael; Stratakis, Manolis
2002-12-04
The ene reaction of singlet oxygen ((1)O(2)), triazolinedione (TAD), and nitrosoarene, specifically 4-nitronitrosobenzene (ArNO), with the tetrasubstituted 1,3-allylically strained, chiral allylic alcohol 3,4-dimethylpent-3-en-2-ol (2) leads to the threo-configured ene products in high diastereoselectivity, a consequence of the hydroxy-group directivity. Hydrogen bonding favors formation of the threo-configured encounter complex threo-EC in the early stage of ene reaction. For the analogous twix deuterium-labeled allylic alcohol Z-2-d(3), a hitherto unrecognized dichotomy between (1)O(2) and the ArNO and TAD enophiles is disclosed in the regioselectivity of the tetrasubstituted alcohol: Whereas for ArNO and TAD, hydrogen bonding with the allylic hydroxy group dictates the regioselectivity (twix selectivity), for (1)O(2), the cis effect dominates (twin/trix selectivity). From the interdependence between the twix/twin regioselectivity and the threo/erythro diastereoselectivity, it has been recognized that the enophile also attacks the allylic alcohol from the erythro pi face without assistance by hydrogen bonding with the allylic hydroxy functionality.
H2CO3 forms via HCO3- in water.
Stirling, András; Pápai, Imre
2010-12-23
According to the generally accepted picture of CO(2) dissolution in water, the formation of H(2)CO(3) proceeds in a single step that involves the attack of a water oxygen on the CO(2) carbon in concert with a proton transfer to a CO(2) oxygen. In the present work, a series of ab initio molecular dynamics simulations have been carried out along with the metadynamics technique which reveals a stepwise mechanism: the reaction of a water molecule with CO(2) yields HCO(3)(-) as an intermediate and a hydronium ion, whereas the protonation of the CO(2) moiety occurs in a separate step representing a well-defined activation barrier toward the H(2)CO(3) molecule. This alternative scenario was already taken into consideration decades ago, but subsequent experiments and calculations have given preference to the concerted mechanism. Employing extended periodic models of the CO(2)-water system that mimic the bulk aqueous environment, the present simulations yield the complete free energy profile of the stepwise mechanism and provide a detailed microscopic mechanism of the elementary steps. HCO(3)(-) formation is found to be the rate-determining step of the entire CO(2) hydration process.
Causal Attribution, Perceived Benefits, and Morbidity After a Heart Attack: An 8-Year Study.
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Affleck, Glenn; And Others
1987-01-01
Interviewed heart attack victims (N=287) seven weeks and eight years after their attack. Explored interrelations among causal attributions for the attack, survivor morbidity, and heart attack recurrence. Found that patients who cited benefits from their misfortune seven weeks after the first attack were less likely to have another attack and had…
Acetone Chemistry on Oxidized and Reduced TiO 2(110)
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Henderson, Michael A
2004-12-09
The chemistry of acetone on the oxidized and reduced surfaces of TiO 2(110) was examined using temperature programmed desorption (TPD) and high resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy (HREELS). The reduced surface was prepared with about 7% oxygen vacancy sites by annealing in ultrahigh vacuum (UHV) at 850 K, and the oxidized surface was prepared by exposure of the reduced surface to molecular oxygen at 95 K followed by heating the surface to a variety of temperatures between 200 and 500 K. Acetone adsorbs molecularly on the reduced surface with no evidence for either decomposition or preferential binding at vacancy sites.more » Based on HREELS, the majority of acetone molecules adsorbed in an η¹ configuration at Ti⁴⁺ sites through interaction of lone pair electrons on the carbonyl oxygen atom. Repulsive acetone-acetone interactions shift the desorption peak from 345 K at low coverage to 175 K as the first layer saturates with a coverage of ~ 1 ML. In contrast, about 7% of the acetone adlayer decomposes when the surface is pretreated with molecular oxygen. Acetate is among the detected decomposition products, but only comprises about 1/3rd of the amount of acetone decomposed and its yield depends on the temperature at which the O₂ exposed surface was preheated to prior to acetone adsorption. Aside from the small level of irreversible decomposition, about 0.25 ML of acetone is stabilized to 375 K by coadsorbed oxygen. These acetone species exhibit an HREELS spectrum unlike that of η¹-acetone or of any other species proposed to exist from the interaction of acetone with TiO₂ powders. Based on the presence of extensive ¹⁶O/¹⁸O exchange between acetone and coadsorbed oxygen in the 375 K acetone TPD state, it is proposed that a polymeric form of acetone forms on the TiO₂(110) surface through nucleophilic attack of oxygen on the carbonyl carbon atom of acetone, and is propagated to neighboring η¹-acetone molecules. This process is initiated at temperatures as low as 135 K based on HREELS. Although the dominant thermal pathway of this surface species is to liberate acetone in UHV, it may be a key intermediate in acetone thermal and photolytic chemistry on TiO₂ surfaces.« less
Resuscitation with supplementary oxygen induces oxidative injury in the cerebral cortex.
Solberg, Rønnaug; Longini, Mariangela; Proietti, Fabrizio; Vezzosi, Piero; Saugstad, Ola Didrik; Buonocore, Giuseppe
2012-09-01
Isoprostanes, neuroprostanes, isofurans, and neurofurans have all become attractive biomarkers of oxidative damage and lipid peroxidation in brain tissue. Asphyxia and subsequent reoxygenation cause a burst of oxygen free radicals. Isoprostanes and isofurans are generated by free radical attacks of esterified arachidonic acid. Neuroprostanes and neurofurans are derived from the peroxidation of docosahexanoic acid, which is abundant in neurons and could therefore more selectively represent oxidative brain injury. Newborn piglets (age 12-36 h) underwent hypoxia until the base excess reached -20 mmol/L or the mean arterial blood pressure dropped below 15 mm Hg. They were randomly assigned to receive resuscitation with 21, 40, or 100% oxygen for 30 min and then ventilation with air. The levels of isoprostanes, isofurans, neuroprostanes, and neurofurans were determined in brain tissue (ng/g) isolated from the prefrontal cortex using gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) with negative ion chemical ionization (NICI) techniques. A control group underwent the same procedures and observations but was not submitted to hypoxia or hyperoxia. Hypoxia and reoxygenation significantly increased the levels of isoprostanes, isofurans, neuroprostanes, and neurofurans in the cerebral cortex. Nine hours after resuscitation with 100% oxygen for 30 min, there was nearly a 4-fold increase in the levels of isoprostanes and isofurans compared to the control group (P=0.007 and P=0.001) and more than a 2-fold increase in neuroprostane levels (P=0.002). The levels of neuroprostanes and neurofurans were significantly higher in the piglets that were resuscitated with supplementary oxygen (40 and 100%) compared to the group treated with air (21%). The significance levels of the observed differences in neuroprostanes for the 21% vs 40% comparison and the 21% vs 100% comparison were P<0.001 and P=0.001, respectively. For neurofurans, the P values of the 21% vs 40% comparison and the 21% vs 100% comparison were P=0.036 and P=0.025, respectively. Supplementary oxygen used for the resuscitation of newborns increases lipid peroxidation in brain cortical neurons, a result that is indicative of oxidative brain damage. These novel findings provide new knowledge regarding the relationships between oxidative brain injury and resuscitation with oxygen. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
On Patarin's Attack against the lIC Scheme
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ogura, Naoki; Uchiyama, Shigenori
In 2007, Ding et al. proposed an attractive scheme, which is called the l-Invertible Cycles (lIC) scheme. lIC is one of the most efficient multivariate public-key cryptosystems (MPKC); these schemes would be suitable for using under limited computational resources. In 2008, an efficient attack against lIC using Gröbner basis algorithms was proposed by Fouque et al. However, they only estimated the complexity of their attack based on their experimental results. On the other hand, Patarin had proposed an efficient attack against some multivariate public-key cryptosystems. We call this attack Patarin's attack. The complexity of Patarin's attack can be estimated by finding relations corresponding to each scheme. In this paper, we propose an another practical attack against the lIC encryption/signature scheme. We estimate the complexity of our attack (not experimentally) by adapting Patarin's attack. The attack can be also applied to the lIC- scheme. Moreover, we show some experimental results of a practical attack against the lIC/lIC- schemes. This is the first implementation of both our proposed attack and an attack based on Gröbner basis algorithm for the even case, that is, a parameter l is even.
Machine Learning Methods for Attack Detection in the Smart Grid.
Ozay, Mete; Esnaola, Inaki; Yarman Vural, Fatos Tunay; Kulkarni, Sanjeev R; Poor, H Vincent
2016-08-01
Attack detection problems in the smart grid are posed as statistical learning problems for different attack scenarios in which the measurements are observed in batch or online settings. In this approach, machine learning algorithms are used to classify measurements as being either secure or attacked. An attack detection framework is provided to exploit any available prior knowledge about the system and surmount constraints arising from the sparse structure of the problem in the proposed approach. Well-known batch and online learning algorithms (supervised and semisupervised) are employed with decision- and feature-level fusion to model the attack detection problem. The relationships between statistical and geometric properties of attack vectors employed in the attack scenarios and learning algorithms are analyzed to detect unobservable attacks using statistical learning methods. The proposed algorithms are examined on various IEEE test systems. Experimental analyses show that machine learning algorithms can detect attacks with performances higher than attack detection algorithms that employ state vector estimation methods in the proposed attack detection framework.
Split-second escape decisions in blue tits (Parus caeruleus)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lind, Johan; Kaby, Ulrika; Jakobsson, Sven
2002-07-01
Bird mortality is heavily affected by birds of prey. Under attack, take-off is crucial for survival and even minor mistakes in initial escape response can have devastating consequences. Birds may respond differently depending on the character of the predator's attack and these split-second decisions were studied using a model merlin (Falco columbarius) that attacked feeding blue tits (Parus caeruleus) from two different attack angles in two different speeds. When attacked from a low attack angle they took off more steeply than when attacked from a high angle. This is the first study to show that escape behaviour also depends on predator attack speed. The blue tits responded to a high-speed attack by dodging sideways more often than when attacked at a low speed. Escape speed was not significantly affected by the different treatments. Although they have only a split-second before escaping an attack, blue tits do adjust their escape strategy to the prevailing attack conditions.
Hybrid attacks on model-based social recommender systems
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yu, Junliang; Gao, Min; Rong, Wenge; Li, Wentao; Xiong, Qingyu; Wen, Junhao
2017-10-01
With the growing popularity of the online social platform, the social network based approaches to recommendation emerged. However, because of the open nature of rating systems and social networks, the social recommender systems are susceptible to malicious attacks. In this paper, we present a certain novel attack, which inherits characteristics of the rating attack and the relation attack, and term it hybrid attack. Furtherly, we explore the impact of the hybrid attack on model-based social recommender systems in multiple aspects. The experimental results show that, the hybrid attack is more destructive than the rating attack in most cases. In addition, users and items with fewer ratings will be influenced more when attacked. Last but not the least, the findings suggest that spammers do not depend on the feedback links from normal users to become more powerful, the unilateral links can make the hybrid attack effective enough. Since unilateral links are much cheaper, the hybrid attack will be a great threat to model-based social recommender systems.
Detecting Pulsing Denial-of-Service Attacks with Nondeterministic Attack Intervals
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Luo, Xiapu; Chan, Edmond W. W.; Chang, Rocky K. C.
2009-12-01
This paper addresses the important problem of detecting pulsing denial of service (PDoS) attacks which send a sequence of attack pulses to reduce TCP throughput. Unlike previous works which focused on a restricted form of attacks, we consider a very broad class of attacks. In particular, our attack model admits any attack interval between two adjacent pulses, whether deterministic or not. It also includes the traditional flooding-based attacks as a limiting case (i.e., zero attack interval). Our main contribution is Vanguard, a new anomaly-based detection scheme for this class of PDoS attacks. The Vanguard detection is based on three traffic anomalies induced by the attacks, and it detects them using a CUSUM algorithm. We have prototyped Vanguard and evaluated it on a testbed. The experiment results show that Vanguard is more effective than the previous methods that are based on other traffic anomalies (after a transformation using wavelet transform, Fourier transform, and autocorrelation) and detection algorithms (e.g., dynamic time warping).
Dutta, Saheb; Choudhury, Kaberi; Banik, Sindrila Dutta; Nandi, Nilashis
2014-03-01
The present work is aimed at understanding the origin of the difference in the molecular organization of the active site nanospaces of the class I and class II aminoacyl tRNA synthetases (aaRSs) which are tunnel-like structures. The active site encloses the cognate amino acid (AA) and the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) to carry out aminoacylation reaction. Comparison of the structures of the active site of the class I and class II (aaRSs) shows that the nanodimensional tunnels are curved in opposite directions in the two classes. We investigated the origin of this difference using quantum mechanical computation of electrostatic potential (ESP) of substrates, surrounding residues and ions, using Atoms in Molecule (AIM) Theory and charge population analysis. We show that the difference is principally due to the variation in the spatial charge distribution of ATP in the two classes which correspond to extended and bent conformations of ATP. The present computation shows that the most feasible pathway for nucleophilic attack to alphaP is oppositely directed for class I and class II aaRSs. The available crystal structures show that the cognate AA is indeed located along the channel favorable for nucleophilic attack as predicted by the ESP analysis. It is also shown that the direction of the channel changes its orientation when the orientation of ATP is changed from extended to a bent like structure. We further used the AIM theory to confirm the direction of the approach of AA in each case and the results corroborate the results from the ESP analysis. The opposite curvatures of the active site nanospaces in class I and class II aaRSs are related with the influence of the charge distributions of the extended and bent conformations of ATP, respectively. The results of the computation of electrostatic potential by successive addition of active site residues show that their roles on the reaction are similar in both classes despite the difference in the organization of the active sites of class I and class II aaRSs. The difference in mechanism in two classes as pointed out in recent study (S. Dutta Banik and N. Nandi, J. Biomol. Struct. Dyn. 30, 701 (2012)) is related with the fact that the relative arrangement of the ATP with respect to the AA is opposite in class I and class II aaRSs as explained in the present work. The charge population difference between the reacting centers (which are the alphaP atom of ATP (q(p)) and the attacking oxygen atom of carboxylic acid group (q(o)), respectively) denoted by delta(q), is a measure of the propensity of nucleophilic attack. The population analysis of the substrate AA shows that a non-negligible difference exists between the attacking oxygens of AA in class I (syn) and in class II (anti) which is one reason for the lower value of delta(q) in class II relative to class I. The population analysis of the AA, ATP, Mg+2 ions and active site residues shows that the difference in delta(q) values of the two classes is substantially reduced. When ions and residues are considered. Thus, the bent state of ATP, Mg+2 ions and active site residues complements it cognate AA to carry out the nucleophilic reaction in class I as efficiently as occurs in class I (with the extended state of ATP, single Mg+2 ion and active site residues). This could be one reason for the two different conformations of ATP in the two classes. The mutual arrangements of AA and ATP in each aaRS are guided by the spatial charge distribution of ATP (extended and bent). The present work shows that the construction of nanospace complements the arrangement of the substrate (AA and ATP).
Cyber-Physical Attacks With Control Objectives
Chen, Yuan; Kar, Soummya; Moura, Jose M. F.
2017-08-18
This study studies attackers with control objectives against cyber-physical systems (CPSs). The goal of the attacker is to counteract the CPS's controller and move the system to a target state while evading detection. We formulate a cost function that reflects the attacker's goals, and, using dynamic programming, we show that the optimal attack strategy reduces to a linear feedback of the attacker's state estimate. By changing the parameters of the cost function, we show how an attacker can design optimal attacks to balance the control objective and the detection avoidance objective. In conclusion, we provide a numerical illustration based onmore » a remotely controlled helicopter under attack.« less
Cyber-Physical Attacks With Control Objectives
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Chen, Yuan; Kar, Soummya; Moura, Jose M. F.
This study studies attackers with control objectives against cyber-physical systems (CPSs). The goal of the attacker is to counteract the CPS's controller and move the system to a target state while evading detection. We formulate a cost function that reflects the attacker's goals, and, using dynamic programming, we show that the optimal attack strategy reduces to a linear feedback of the attacker's state estimate. By changing the parameters of the cost function, we show how an attacker can design optimal attacks to balance the control objective and the detection avoidance objective. In conclusion, we provide a numerical illustration based onmore » a remotely controlled helicopter under attack.« less
Performance Improvement of Power Analysis Attacks on AES with Encryption-Related Signals
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lee, You-Seok; Lee, Young-Jun; Han, Dong-Guk; Kim, Ho-Won; Kim, Hyoung-Nam
A power analysis attack is a well-known side-channel attack but the efficiency of the attack is frequently degraded by the existence of power components, irrelative to the encryption included in signals used for the attack. To enhance the performance of the power analysis attack, we propose a preprocessing method based on extracting encryption-related parts from the measured power signals. Experimental results show that the attacks with the preprocessed signals detect correct keys with much fewer signals, compared to the conventional power analysis attacks.
Attacks on public telephone networks: technologies and challenges
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kosloff, T.; Moore, Tyler; Keller, J.; Manes, Gavin W.; Shenoi, Sujeet
2003-09-01
Signaling System 7 (SS7) is vital to signaling and control in America's public telephone networks. This paper describes a class of attacks on SS7 networks involving the insertion of malicious signaling messages via compromised SS7 network components. Three attacks are discussed in detail: IAM flood attacks, redirection attacks and point code spoofing attacks. Depending on their scale of execution, these attacks can produce effects ranging from network congestion to service disruption. Methods for detecting these denial-of-service attacks and mitigating their effects are also presented.
Novel mechanism of network protection against the new generation of cyber attacks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Milovanov, Alexander; Bukshpun, Leonid; Pradhan, Ranjit
2012-06-01
A new intelligent mechanism is presented to protect networks against the new generation of cyber attacks. This mechanism integrates TCP/UDP/IP protocol stack protection and attacker/intruder deception to eliminate existing TCP/UDP/IP protocol stack vulnerabilities. It allows to detect currently undetectable, highly distributed, low-frequency attacks such as distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks, coordinated attacks, botnet, and stealth network reconnaissance. The mechanism also allows insulating attacker/intruder from the network and redirecting the attack to a simulated network acting as a decoy. As a result, network security personnel gain sufficient time to defend the network and collect the attack information. The presented approach can be incorporated into wireless or wired networks that require protection against known and the new generation of cyber attacks.
Fast WEP-Key Recovery Attack Using Only Encrypted IP Packets
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Teramura, Ryoichi; Asakura, Yasuo; Ohigashi, Toshihiro; Kuwakado, Hidenori; Morii, Masakatu
Conventional efficient key recovery attacks against Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) require specific initialization vectors or specific packets. Since it takes much time to collect the packets sufficiently, any active attack should be performed. An Intrusion Detection System (IDS), however, will be able to prevent the attack. Since the attack logs are stored at the servers, it is possible to prevent such an attack. This paper proposes an algorithm for recovering a 104-bit WEP key from any IP packets in a realistic environment. This attack needs about 36, 500 packets with a success probability 0.5, and the complexity of our attack is equivalent to about 220 computations of the RC4 key setups. Since our attack is passive, it is difficult for both WEP users and administrators to detect our attack.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Liu, Penghui; Liu, Jing
2017-08-01
Recently, coevolution between strategy and network structure has been established as a rule to resolve social dilemmas and reach optimal situations for cooperation. Many follow-up researches have focused on studying how coevolution helps networks reorganize to deter the defectors and many coevolution methods have been proposed. However, the robustness of the coevolution rules against attacks have not been studied much. Since attacks may directly influence the original evolutionary process of cooperation, the robustness should be an important index while evaluating the quality of a coevolution method. In this paper, we focus on investigating the robustness of an elementary coevolution method in resolving the prisoner's dilemma game upon the interdependent networks. Three different types of time-independent attacks, named as edge attacks, instigation attacks and node attacks have been employed to test its robustness. Through analyzing the simulation results obtained, we find this coevolution method is relatively robust against the edge attack and the node attack as it successfully maintains cooperation in the population over the entire attack range. However, when the instigation probability of the attacked individuals is large or the attack range of instigation attack is wide enough, coevolutionary rule finally fails in maintaining cooperation in the population.
Wrzaczek, Michael; Brosché, Mikael
2009-01-01
Programmed cell death is a common feature of developmental processes and responses to environmental cues in many multicellular organisms. Examples of programmed cell death in plants are leaf abscission in autumn and the hypersensitive response during pathogen attack. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) have been implicated in the regulation of various types of cell death.1,2 However, the precise mechanics of the involvement of ROS in the processes leading to initiation of cell death and subsequent containment are currently unknown. We recently showed the involvement of an Arabidopsis protein GRIM REAPER in the regulation of ROS-induced cell death under stress conditions.3 Our results indicated that the presence of a truncated protein primes plants for cell death in the presence of ROS leading to ozone sensitivity and increased resistance to hemibiotrophic pathogens. PMID:19820355
Oxidative stress in entomopathogenic fungi grown on insect-like hydrocarbons.
Huarte-Bonnet, Carla; Juárez, M Patricia; Pedrini, Nicolás
2015-08-01
Entomopathogenic fungi mostly attack their insect hosts by penetration through the cuticle. The outermost insect surface is covered by a lipid-rich layer, usually composed of very long chain hydrocarbons. These fungi are apt to grow on straight chain hydrocarbons (alkanes) as the sole carbon source. Insect-like hydrocarbons are first hydroxylated by a microsomal P450 monooxygenase system, and then fully catabolized by peroxisomal β-oxidation reactions in Beauveria bassiana. In this review, we will discuss lipid metabolism adaptations in alkane-grown fungi, and how an oxidative stress scenario is established under these conditions. Fungi have to pay a high cost for hydrocarbon utilization; high levels of reactive oxygen species are produced and a concomitant antioxidant response is triggered in fungal cells to cope with this drawback.
Evaluation of Aerodynamic Drag and Torque for External Tanks in Low Earth Orbit
Stone, William C.; Witzgall, Christoph
2006-01-01
A numerical procedure is described in which the aerodynamic drag and torque in low Earth orbit are calculated for a prototype Space Shuttle external tank and its components, the “LO2” and “LH2” tanks, carrying liquid oxygen and hydrogen, respectively, for any given angle of attack. Calculations assume the hypersonic limit of free molecular flow theory. Each shell of revolution is assumed to be described by a series of parametric equations for their respective contours. It is discretized into circular cross sections perpendicular to the axis of revolution, which yield a series of ellipses when projected according to the given angle of attack. The drag profile, that is, the projection of the entire shell is approximated by the convex envelope of those ellipses. The area of the drag profile, that is, the drag area, and its center of area moment, that is, the drag center, are then calculated and permit determination of the drag vector and the eccentricity vector from the center of gravity of the shell to the drag center. The aerodynamic torque is obtained as the cross product of those vectors. The tanks are assumed to be either evacuated or pressurized with a uniform internal gas distribution: dynamic shifting of the tank center of mass due to residual propellant sloshing is not considered. PMID:27274926
Oxidative and Nitrosative Stress in the Metastatic Microenvironment
Ortega, Ángel L.; Mena, Salvador; Estrela, José M.
2010-01-01
Metastases that are resistant to conventional therapies are the main cause of most cancer-related deaths in humans. Tumor cell heterogeneity, which associates with genomic and phenotypic instability, represents a major problem for cancer therapy. Additional factors, such as the attack of immune cells or organ-specific microenvironments, also influence metastatic cell behavior and the response to therapy. Interaction of cancer and endothelial cells in capillary beds, involving mechanical contact and transient adhesion, is a critical step in the initiation of metastasis. This interaction initiates a cascade of activation pathways that involves cytokines, growth factors, bioactive lipids and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (ROS and RNS) produced by either the cancer cell or the endothelium. Vascular endothelium-derived NO and H2O2 are cytotoxic for the cancer cells, but also help to identify some critical molecular targets that appear essential for survival of invasive metastatic cell subsets. Surviving cancer cells that extravasate and start colonization of an organ or tissue can still be attacked by macrophages and be influenced by specific intraorgan microenvironment conditions. At all steps; from the primary tumor until colonization of a distant organ; metastatic cells undergo a dynamic process of constant adaptations that may lead to the survival of highly resistant malignant cell subsets. In this sequence of molecular events both ROS and RNS play key roles. PMID:24281071
Wang, Zhaohui; Sun, Linyan; Lou, Xiaoyi; Yang, Fei; Feng, Min; Liu, Jianshe
2017-12-01
The rapidly increasing and widespread use of graphene oxide (GO) as catalyst supports, requires further understanding of its chemical stability in advanced oxidation processes (AOPs). In this study, UV/H 2 O 2 and UV/persulfate (UV/PS) processes were selected to test the chemical instability of GO in terms of their performance in producing highly reactive hydroxyl radicals (OH) and sulfate radicals (SO 4 - ), respectively. The degradation intermediates were characterized using UV-visible absorption spectra (UV-vis), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Raman spectroscopy, and matrix-assisted laser desorption and ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS). Experimental data indicate that UV/PS process was more effective in enhancing GO degradation than the UV/H 2 O 2 system. The overall oxygen-containing functionalities (e.g. CO, CO and OCO groups) dramatically declined. After radical attack, sheet-like GO was destructed into lots of flakes and some low-molecular-weight molecules were detected. The results suggest GO is most vulnerable against SO 4 - radical attack, which deserves special attention while GO acts as a catalyst support or even as a catalyst itself. Therefore, stability of GO and its derivatives should be carefully assessed before they are applied to SO 4 - -based AOPs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Lando, Gabriela Albara; Marconatto, Letícia; Kessler, Felipe; Lopes, William; Schrank, Augusto; Vainstein, Marilene Henning; Weibel, Daniel Eduardo
2017-07-18
Synthetic polymers are the cause of some major environmental impacts due to their low degradation rates. Polyurethanes (PU) are widely used synthetic polymers, and their growing use in industry has produced an increase in plastic waste. A commercial polyether-based thermoplastic PU with hydrolytic stability and fungus resistance was only attacked by an entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhiziumanisopliae , when the films were pre-treated with Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in the presence of reactive atmospheres. Water contact angle, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflection mode (FTIR-ATR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and profilometer measurements were mainly used for analysis. Permanent hydrophilic PU films were produced by the UV-assisted treatments. Pristine polyether PU films incubated for 10, 30, and 60 days did not show any indication of fungal growth. On the contrary, when using oxygen in the UV pre-treatment a layer of fungi spores covered the sample, indicating a great adherence of the microorganisms to the polymer. However, if acrylic acid vapors were used during the UV pre-treatment, a visible attack by the entomopathogenic fungi was observed. SEM and FTIR-ATR data showed clear evidence of fungal development: growth and ramifications of hyphae on the polymer surface with the increase in UV pre-treatment time and fungus incubation time. The results indicated that the simple UV surface activation process has proven to be a promising alternative for polyether PU waste management.
The evolution of the moon and the terrestrial planets
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Toksoez, M. N.; Johnston, D. H.
1974-01-01
The thermal evolutions of the Moon, Mars, Venus and Mercury are calculated theoretically starting from cosmochemical condensation models. An assortment of geological, geochemical and geophysical data are used to constrain both the present day temperatures and the thermal histories of the planets' interiors. Such data imply that the planets were heated during or shortly after formation and that all the terrestrial planets started their differentiations early in their history. The moon, smallest in size, is characterized as a differentiated body with a crust, a thick solid mantle and an interior region which may be partially molten. Mars, intermediate in size, is assumed to have differentiated an Fe-FeS core. Venus is characterized as a planet not unlike the earth in many respects. Core formation has occurred probably during the first billion years after the formation. Mercury, which probably has a large core, may have a 500 km thick solid lithosphere and a partially molten core if it is assumed that some heat sources exist in the core.
A continuous system for biocatalytic hydrogenation of CO2 to formate.
Mourato, Cláudia; Martins, Mónica; da Silva, Sofia M; Pereira, Inês A C
2017-07-01
In this work a novel bioprocess for hydrogenation of CO 2 to formate was developed, using whole cell catalysis by a sulfate-reducing bacterium. Three Desulfovibrio species were tested (D. vulgaris Hildenborough, D. alaskensis G20, and D. desulfuricans ATCC 27774), of which D. desulfuricans showed the highest activity, producing 12mM of formate in batch, with a production rate of 0.09mMh -1 . Gene expression analysis indicated that among the three formate dehydrogenases and five hydrogenases, the cytoplasmic FdhAB and the periplasmic [FeFe] HydAB are the main enzymes expressed in D. desulfuricans in these conditions. The new bioprocess for continuous formate production by D. desulfuricans had a maximum specific formate production rate of 14mMg dcw -1 h -1 , and more than 45mM of formate were obtained with a production rate of 0.40mMh -1 . This is the first report of a continuous process for biocatalytic formate production. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Yin, Bing; Xue, GangLin; Li, JianLi; Bai, Lu; Huang, YuanHe; Wen, ZhenYi; Jiang, ZhenYi
2012-05-01
The exchange coupling of a group of three dinuclear sandwich-type polyoxomolybdates [MM'(AsMo7O27)2](12-) with MM' = CrCr, FeFe, FeCr are theoretically predicted from combined DFT and broken-symmetry (BS) approach. Eight different XC functionals are utilized to calculate the exchange-coupling constant J from both the full crystalline structures and model structures of smaller size. The comparison between theoretical values and accurate experimental results supports the applicability of DFT-BS method in this new type of sandwich-type dinuclear polyoxomolybdates. However, a careful choice of functionals is necessary to achieve the desired accuracy. The encouraging results obtained from calculations on model structures highlight the great potential of application of structure modeling in theoretical study of POM. Structural modeling may not only reduce the computational cost of large POM species but also be able to take into account the external field effect arising from solvent molecules in solution or counterions in crystal.
Magnetic moments induce strong phonon renormalization in FeSi.
Krannich, S; Sidis, Y; Lamago, D; Heid, R; Mignot, J-M; Löhneysen, H v; Ivanov, A; Steffens, P; Keller, T; Wang, L; Goering, E; Weber, F
2015-11-27
The interactions of electronic, spin and lattice degrees of freedom in solids result in complex phase diagrams, new emergent phenomena and technical applications. While electron-phonon coupling is well understood, and interactions between spin and electronic excitations are intensely investigated, only little is known about the dynamic interactions between spin and lattice excitations. Noncentrosymmetric FeSi is known to undergo with increasing temperature a crossover from insulating to metallic behaviour with concomitant magnetic fluctuations, and exhibits strongly temperature-dependent phonon energies. Here we show by detailed inelastic neutron-scattering measurements and ab initio calculations that the phonon renormalization in FeSi is linked to its unconventional magnetic properties. Electronic states mediating conventional electron-phonon coupling are only activated in the presence of strong magnetic fluctuations. Furthermore, phonons entailing strongly varying Fe-Fe distances are damped via dynamic coupling to the temperature-induced magnetic moments, highlighting FeSi as a material with direct spin-phonon coupling and multiple interaction paths.
Moisan, Frédéric; Gonzalez, Cleotilde
2017-01-01
Game Theory is a common approach used to understand attacker and defender motives, strategies, and allocation of limited security resources. For example, many defense algorithms are based on game-theoretic solutions that conclude that randomization of defense actions assures unpredictability, creating difficulties for a human attacker. However, many game-theoretic solutions often rely on idealized assumptions of decision making that underplay the role of human cognition and information uncertainty. The consequence is that we know little about how effective these algorithms are against human players. Using a simplified security game, we study the type of attack strategy and the uncertainty about an attacker's strategy in a laboratory experiment where participants play the role of defenders against a simulated attacker. Our goal is to compare a human defender's behavior in three levels of uncertainty (Information Level: Certain, Risky, Uncertain) and three types of attacker's strategy (Attacker's strategy: Minimax, Random, Adaptive) in a between-subjects experimental design. Best defense performance is achieved when defenders play against a minimax and a random attack strategy compared to an adaptive strategy. Furthermore, when payoffs are certain, defenders are as efficient against random attack strategy as they are against an adaptive strategy, but when payoffs are uncertain, defenders have most difficulties defending against an adaptive attacker compared to a random attacker. We conclude that given conditions of uncertainty in many security problems, defense algorithms would be more efficient if they are adaptive to the attacker actions, taking advantage of the attacker's human inefficiencies. PMID:28690557
The Effect of Phytase on the Oxygen Isotope Composition of Phosphate
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
von Sperber, C.; Tamburini, F.; Bernasconi, S. M.; Frossard, E.
2013-12-01
Plants and microorganisms under phosphorus (P) stress release extracellular phosphatases as a strategy to acquire inorganic phosphate (Pi) (1-2). These enzymes catalyze the hydrolysis of phosphoesters leading to a release of Pi. The enzymatic hydrolysis leads, via a nucleophilic attack, to the incorporation of one oxygen atom from the water into the newly formed Pi molecule. During the incorporation, an isotopic fractionation occurs, which might be used to identify the origin of Pi in the environment (3-6). While the effect of phosphomonoesterases and phosphodiesterases on the oxygen isotope composition of phosphate has been examined, there are, so far, no studies dealing with the effect of phytases (4-6). Phytases catalyze the hydrolysis of myo-inositol-hexakis-phosphate (IP6), which is an important component of organic P in many ecosystems (7). Enzymatic assays with phytase from wheat germ and Aspergillus niger were prepared under sterile and temperature controlled conditions in order to determine the effect of phytases on the oxygen isotope composition of phosphate, which has been liberated from IP6 via enzymatic hydrolysis. Assays with phytase from wheat germ lead to a turnover of the substrate close to 100%, while assays with phytase from Aspergillus niger lead to a turnover of the substrate close to 80%. In the case of the assays with phytase from wheat germ, our results indicate that one sixth of the total 24 oxygen which are associated to the phosphates in IP6 are exchanged with oxygen from water. From this we conclude that the incorporation of one oxygen atom from water occurs only at four phosphate molecules of IP6, while two phosphate molecules do not experience an incorporation of oxygen. This suggests that during the enzymatic hydrolysis, four P-O bonds and two C-O bonds are broken. Provided that, the isotopic fractionation can be calculated with an isotopic mass balance resulting in -8.4‰ (×3.6 SD). This is a value very similar to those reported for acid phosphatases (6). In contrast, the results from assays with phytase from Aspergillus niger indicate that the exchange of oxygen occurs at more than one third of the total 24 oxygen which are associated to the phosphates in IP6. In addition, we observe a change in the oxygen isotope composition of Pi when using myo-inositol and potassium-dihydrogen-phosphate as sole substrates in the enzymatic assays with phytase from Aspergillus niger. These observations suggest that the reformation of IP6 from the two products of the reaction (myo-inositol and Pi) is taking place at a rate, which is within the time scale of the experiment. In this case, the isotopic fractionation caused by phytase from Aspergillus niger will be determined by the equilibrium of the reaction. Further experiments are in process to verify these findings.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhang, Yichen; Li, Zhengyu; Zhao, Yijia; Yu, Song; Guo, Hong
2017-02-01
We analyze the security of the two-way continuous-variable quantum key distribution protocol in reverse reconciliation against general two-mode attacks, which represent all accessible attacks at fixed channel parameters. Rather than against one specific attack model, the expression of secret key rates of the two-way protocol are derived against all accessible attack models. It is found that there is an optimal two-mode attack to minimize the performance of the protocol in terms of both secret key rates and maximal transmission distances. We identify the optimal two-mode attack, give the specific attack model of the optimal two-mode attack and show the performance of the two-way protocol against the optimal two-mode attack. Even under the optimal two-mode attack, the performances of two-way protocol are still better than the corresponding one-way protocol, which shows the advantage of making double use of the quantum channel and the potential of long-distance secure communication using a two-way protocol.
Blind Data Attack on BGP Routers
2017-03-01
implement blind attack protection, leaving long -standing connections, such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) sessions, vulnerable to exploitation. This...protection measures should a discovered vulnerability reduce attack complexity. 14. SUBJECT TERMS BGP, TCP, blind attack, blind data attack 15. NUMBER OF...implementations may not properly implement blind attack protection, leaving long -standing connections, such as BorderGateway Protocol (BGP) sessions
Research on high power intra-channel crosstalk attack in optical networks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ren, Shuai; Zhang, Yinfa; Wang, Jingyu; Zhang, Jumei; Rao, Xuejun; Fang, Yuanyuan
2017-02-01
The mechanism of high power intra-channel crosstalk attack is analyzed theoretically and the conclusion that power of attack signal and crosstalk coefficient of optical switch are the main factors for which high power intra-channel have destructive effect on quality of legitimate signals is drawn. Effects of high power intra-channel crosstalk attack on quality of legitimate signals and its capability of attack propagation are investigated quantitatively by building the simulation system in VPI software. The results show that legitimate signals through the first and the second stage optical switch are affected by attack and legitimate signal through the third stage optical switch is almost unaffected by attack when power of original attack signal (OAS) is above 20dB more than that of legitimate signals and crosstalk coefficient of optical switch is -20dB at optical cross connect 1 (OXC1). High power intra-channel crosstalk attack has a certain capability of attack propagation. Attack capability of OAS can be propagated to OXC3 when power of OAS is 27dB more than that of legitimate signals and crosstalk coefficient of optical switch is -20dB. We also find that the secondary attack signal (SAS) does not have capability of attack propagation.
Warning Signs of Heart Attack, Stroke and Cardiac Arrest
... a Heart Attack WARNING SIGNS OF HEART ATTACK, STROKE & CARDIAC ARREST HEART ATTACK WARNING SIGNS CHEST DISCOMFORT ... nausea or lightheadedness. Learn more about heart attack STROKE WARNING SIGNS Spot a stroke F.A.S.T.: - ...
The role of mental disorder in attacks on European politicians 1990-2004.
James, D V; Mullen, P E; Meloy, J R; Pathé, M T; Farnham, F R; Preston, L; Darnley, B
2007-11-01
The only systematic studies of attacks on public figures come from the USA. These studies de-emphasize the role of mental illness and suggest threats are of no predictive value. This study re-examines these questions through a study of attacks on European politicians. All non-terrorist attacks on elected politicians in Western Europe between 1990 and 2004 were analysed. Twenty-four attacks were identified, including five involving fatalities, and eight serious injuries. Ten attackers were psychotic, four drunk, nine politically motivated and one unclassifiable. Eleven attackers evidenced warning behaviours. The mentally disordered, most of whom gave warnings, were responsible for most of the fatal and seriously injurious attacks. A greater awareness of the link between delusional fixations on public figures and subsequent attacks could aid prevention. Equally importantly, recognition would encourage earlier intervention in people who, irrespective of whether they eventually attack, have delusional preoccupations which ruin their lives.
The Neuropharmacology of Cluster Headache and other Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalalgias
Costa, Alfredo; Antonaci, Fabio; Ramusino, Matteo Cotta; Nappi, Giuseppe
2015-01-01
Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs) are a group of primary headaches including cluster headache (CH), paroxysmal hemicrania (PH) and short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache with conjunctival injection and tearing (SUNCT). Another form, hemicrania continua (HC), is also included this group due to its clinical and pathophysiological similarities. CH is the most common of these syndromes, the others being infrequent in the general population. The pathophysiology of the TACs has been partly elucidated by a number of recent neuroimaging studies, which implicate brain regions associated with nociception (pain matrix). In addition, the hypothalamic activation observed in the course of TAC attacks and the observed efficacy of hypothalamic neurostimulation in CH patients suggest that the hypothalamus is another key structure. Hypothalamic activation may indeed be involved in attack initiation, but it may also lead to a condition of central facilitation underlying the recurrence of pain episodes. The TACs share many pathophysiological features, but are characterised by differences in attack duration and frequency, and to some extent treatment response. Although alternative strategies for the TACs, especially CH, are now emerging (such as neurostimulation techniques), this review focuses on the available pharmacological treatments complying with the most recent guidelines. We discuss the clinical efficacy and tolerability of the currently used drugs. Due to the low frequency of most TACs, few randomised controlled trials have been conducted. The therapies of choice in CH continue to be the triptans and oxygen for acute treatment, and verapamil and lithium for prevention, but promising results have recently been obtained with novel modes of administration of the triptans and other agents, and several other treatments are currently under study. Indomethacin is extremely effective in PH and HC, while antiepileptic drugs (especially lamotrigine) appear to be increasingly useful in SUNCT. We highlight the need for appropriate studies investigating treatments for these rare, but lifelong and disabling conditions. PMID:26411963
Space environmental effects on LDEF composites: A leading edge coated graphite epoxy panel
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
George, Pete E.; Dursch, Harry W.; Hill, Sylvester G.
1993-01-01
The electronics module cover for the leading edge (Row D 9) experiment M0003-8 was fabricated from T300 graphite/934 epoxy unidirectional prepreg tape in a (O(sub 2), +/- 45, O(sub 2), +/- 45, 90, 0)(sub s) layup. This 11.75 in x 16.75 in panel was covered with thermal control coatings in three of the four quadrants with the fourth quadrant uncoated. The composite panel experienced different thermal cycling extremes in each quadrant due to the different optical properties of the coatings and bare composite. The panel also experienced ultraviolet (UV) and atomic oxygen (AO) attack as well as micrometeoroid and space debris impacts. An AO reactivity of 0.99 x 10(exp -24) cm(sup 3)/atom was calculated for the bare composite based on thickness loss. The white urethane thermal control coatings (A276 and BMS 1060) prevented AO attack of the composite substrate. However, the black urethane thermal control coating (Z306) was severely eroded by AO, allowing some AO attack of the composite substrate. An interesting banding pattern on the AO eroded bare composite surface was investigated and found to match the dimensions of the graphite fiber tow widths as prepregged. Also, erosion depths were greater in the darker bands. Five micrometeoroid/space debris impacts were cross sectioned to investigate possible structural damage as well as impact/AO interactions. Local crushing and delaminations were found to some extent in all of the impacts. No signs of coating undercutting were observed despite the extensive AO erosion patterns seen in the exposed composite material at the impact sites. An extensive microcrack study was performed on the panel along with modeling of the thermal environment to estimate temperature extremes and thermal shock. The white coated composite substrate displayed almost no microcracking while the black coated and bare composite showed extensive microcracking. Significant AO erosion was seen in many of the cracks in the bare composite.
Zhu, Feng; Zhou, Yang-Kai; Ji, Zhao-Lin; Chen, Xiao-Ren
2018-01-01
Ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIPs) are toxic N-glycosidases that depurinate eukaryotic and prokaryotic rRNAs, thereby arresting protein synthesis during translation. RIPs are widely found in various plant species and within different tissues. It is demonstrated in vitro and in transgenic plants that RIPs have been connected to defense by antifungal, antibacterial, antiviral, and insecticidal activities. However, the mechanism of these effects is still not completely clear. There are a number of reviews of RIPs. However, there are no reviews on the biological functions of RIPs in defense against pathogens and insect pests. Therefore, in this report, we focused on the effect of RIPs from plants in defense against pathogens and insect pest attacks. First, we summarize the three different types of RIPs based on their physical properties. RIPs are generally distributed in plants. Then, we discuss the distribution of RIPs that are found in various plant species and in fungi, bacteria, algae, and animals. Various RIPs have shown unique bioactive properties including antibacterial, antifungal, antiviral, and insecticidal activity. Finally, we divided the discussion into the biological roles of RIPs in defense against bacteria, fungi, viruses, and insects. This review is focused on the role of plant RIPs in defense against bacteria, fungi, viruses, and insect attacks. The role of plant RIPs in defense against pathogens and insects is being comprehended currently. Future study utilizing transgenic technology approaches to study the mechanisms of RIPs will undoubtedly generate a better comprehending of the role of plant RIPs in defense against pathogens and insects. Discovering additional crosstalk mechanisms between RIPs and phytohormones or reactive oxygen species (ROS) against pathogen and insect infections will be a significant subject in the field of biotic stress study. These studies are helpful in revealing significance of genetic control that can be beneficial to engineer crops tolerance to biotic stress. PMID:29479367
The Neuropharmacology of Cluster Headache and other Trigeminal Autonomic Cephalalgias.
Costa, Alfredo; Antonaci, Fabio; Ramusino, Matteo Cotta; Nappi, Giuseppe
2015-01-01
Trigeminal autonomic cephalalgias (TACs) are a group of primary headaches including cluster headache (CH), paroxysmal hemicrania (PH) and short-lasting unilateral neuralgiform headache with conjunctival injection and tearing (SUNCT). Another form, hemicrania continua (HC), is also included this group due to its clinical and pathophysiological similarities. CH is the most common of these syndromes, the others being infrequent in the general population. The pathophysiology of the TACs has been partly elucidated by a number of recent neuroimaging studies, which implicate brain regions associated with nociception (pain matrix). In addition, the hypothalamic activation observed in the course of TAC attacks and the observed efficacy of hypothalamic neurostimulation in CH patients suggest that the hypothalamus is another key structure. Hypothalamic activation may indeed be involved in attack initiation, but it may also lead to a condition of central facilitation underlying the recurrence of pain episodes. The TACs share many pathophysiological features, but are characterised by differences in attack duration and frequency, and to some extent treatment response. Although alternative strategies for the TACs, especially CH, are now emerging (such as neurostimulation techniques), this review focuses on the available pharmacological treatments complying with the most recent guidelines. We discuss the clinical efficacy and tolerability of the currently used drugs. Due to the low frequency of most TACs, few randomised controlled trials have been conducted. The therapies of choice in CH continue to be the triptans and oxygen for acute treatment, and verapamil and lithium for prevention, but promising results have recently been obtained with novel modes of administration of the triptans and other agents, and several other treatments are currently under study. Indomethacin is extremely effective in PH and HC, while antiepileptic drugs (especially lamotrigine) appear to be increasingly useful in SUNCT. We highlight the need for appropriate studies investigating treatments for these rare, but lifelong and disabling conditions.
Blaisdell, G. Kai; Roy, Bitty A.; Pfeifer-Meister, Laurel; Bridgham, Scott D.
2015-01-01
Many hypotheses address the associations of plant community composition with natural enemies, including: (i) plant species diversity may reduce enemy attack, (ii) attack may increase as host abundance increases, (iii) enemy spillover may lead to increased attack on one host species due to transmission from another host species, or enemy dilution may lead to reduced attack on a host that would otherwise have more attack, (iv) physical characteristics of the plant community may influence attack, and (v) plant vigor may affect attack. Restoration experiments with replicated plant communities provide an exceptional opportunity to explore these hypotheses. To explore the relative predictive strengths of these related hypotheses and to investigate the potential effect of several restoration site preparation techniques, we surveyed arthropod herbivore and fungal pathogen attack on the six most common native plant species in a restoration experiment. Multi-model inference revealed a weak but consistent negative correlation with pathogen attack and host diversity across the plant community, and no correlation between herbivory and host diversity. Our analyses also revealed host species-specific relationships between attack and abundance of the target host species, other native plant species, introduced plant species, and physical community characteristics. We found no relationship between enemy attack and plant vigor. We found minimal differences in plant community composition among several diverse site preparation techniques, and limited effects of site preparation techniques on attack. The strongest associations of community characteristics with attack varied among plant species with no community-wide patterns, suggesting that no single hypothesis successfully predicts the dominant community-wide trends in enemy attack. PMID:25699672
Cyber attack analysis on cyber-physical systems: Detectability, severity, and attenuation strategy
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Kwon, Cheolhyeon
Security of Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) against malicious cyber attacks is an important yet challenging problem. Since most cyber attacks happen in erratic ways, it is usually intractable to describe and diagnose them systematically. Motivated by such difficulties, this thesis presents a set of theories and algorithms for a cyber-secure architecture of the CPS within the control theoretic perspective. Here, instead of identifying a specific cyber attack model, we are focused on analyzing the system's response during cyber attacks. Firstly, we investigate the detectability of the cyber attacks from the system's behavior under cyber attacks. Specifically, we conduct a study on the vulnerabilities in the CPS's monitoring system against the stealthy cyber attack that is carefully designed to avoid being detected by its detection scheme. After classifying three kinds of cyber attacks according to the attacker's ability to compromise the system, we derive the necessary and sufficient conditions under which such stealthy cyber attacks can be designed to cause the unbounded estimation error while not being detected. Then, the analytical design method of the optimal stealthy cyber attack that maximizes the estimation error is developed. The proposed stealthy cyber attack analysis is demonstrated with illustrative examples on Air Traffic Control (ATC) system and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) navigation system applications. Secondly, in an attempt to study the CPSs' vulnerabilities in more detail, we further discuss a methodology to identify potential cyber threats inherent in the given CPSs and quantify the attack severity accordingly. We then develop an analytical algorithm to test the behavior of the CPS under various cyber attack combinations. Compared to a numerical approach, the analytical algorithm enables the prediction of the most effective cyber attack combinations without computing the severity of all possible attack combinations, thereby greatly reducing the computational cost. The proposed algorithm is validated through a linearized longitudinal motion of a UAV example. Finally, we propose an attack attenuation strategy via the controller design for CPSs that are robust to various types of cyber attacks. While the previous studies have investigated a secure control by assuming a specific attack strategy, in this research we propose a hybrid robust control scheme that contains multiple sub-controllers, each matched to a specific type of cyber attacks. Then the system can be adapted to various cyber attacks (including those that are not assumed for sub-controller design) by switching its sub-controllers to achieve the best performance. Then, a method for designing a secure switching logic to counter all possible cyber attacks is proposed and it verifies mathematically the system's performance and stability as well. The performance of the proposed control scheme is demonstrated by an example with the hybrid H2 - H-infinity controller applied to a UAV example.
Method for Integrated Simulation (MINTSIM)
1976-01-01
sorties allocated to attack SAMs. FAPA = fraction of striking aircraft attacking air bases which attack parked aircraft in the open. TAAB...each striking aircraft. FAS = fraction of striking aircraft attacking air bases which attack sheltered aircraft. (NOTE: FAPA + FAS = 1.0
Finite Energy and Bounded Actuator Attacks on Cyber-Physical Systems
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Djouadi, Seddik M; Melin, Alexander M; Ferragut, Erik M
As control system networks are being connected to enterprise level networks for remote monitoring, operation, and system-wide performance optimization, these same connections are providing vulnerabilities that can be exploited by malicious actors for attack, financial gain, and theft of intellectual property. Much effort in cyber-physical system (CPS) protection has focused on protecting the borders of the system through traditional information security techniques. Less effort has been applied to the protection of cyber-physical systems from intelligent attacks launched after an attacker has defeated the information security protections to gain access to the control system. In this paper, attacks on actuator signalsmore » are analyzed from a system theoretic context. The threat surface is classified into finite energy and bounded attacks. These two broad classes encompass a large range of potential attacks. The effect of theses attacks on a linear quadratic (LQ) control are analyzed, and the optimal actuator attacks for both finite and infinite horizon LQ control are derived, therefore the worst case attack signals are obtained. The closed-loop system under the optimal attack signals is given and a numerical example illustrating the effect of an optimal bounded attack is provided.« less
Web Forms and Untraceable DDoS Attacks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Jakobsson, Markus; Menczer, Filippo
We analyze a Web vulnerability that allows an attacker to perform an email-based attack on selected victims, using standard scripts and agents. What differentiates the attack we describe from other, already known forms of distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks is that an attacker does not need to infiltrate the network in any manner - as is normally required to launch a DDoS attack. Thus, we see this type of attack as a poor man's DDoS. Not only is the attack easy to mount, but it is also almost impossible to trace back to the perpetrator. Along with descriptions of our attack, we demonstrate its destructive potential with (limited and contained) experimental results. We illustrate the potential impact of our attack by describing how an attacker can disable an email account by flooding its inbox; block competition during on-line auctions; harm competitors with an on-line presence; disrupt phone service to a given victim; disconnect mobile corporate leaders from their networks; and disrupt electronic elections. Finally, we propose a set of countermeasures that are light-weight, do not require modifications to the infrastructure, and can be deployed in a gradual manner.
Replacement Attack: A New Zero Text Watermarking Attack
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Bashardoost, Morteza; Mohd Rahim, Mohd Shafry; Saba, Tanzila; Rehman, Amjad
2017-03-01
The main objective of zero watermarking methods that are suggested for the authentication of textual properties is to increase the fragility of produced watermarks against tampering attacks. On the other hand, zero watermarking attacks intend to alter the contents of document without changing the watermark. In this paper, the Replacement attack is proposed, which focuses on maintaining the location of the words in the document. The proposed text watermarking attack is specifically effective on watermarking approaches that exploit words' transition in the document. The evaluation outcomes prove that tested word-based method are unable to detect the existence of replacement attack in the document. Moreover, the comparison results show that the size of Replacement attack is estimated less accurate than other common types of zero text watermarking attacks.
Amin, Ruhul; Islam, S K Hafizul; Biswas, G P; Khan, Muhammad Khurram; Obaidat, Mohammad S
2015-11-01
In order to access remote medical server, generally the patients utilize smart card to login to the server. It has been observed that most of the user (patient) authentication protocols suffer from smart card stolen attack that means the attacker can mount several common attacks after extracting smart card information. Recently, Lu et al.'s proposes a session key agreement protocol between the patient and remote medical server and claims that the same protocol is secure against relevant security attacks. However, this paper presents several security attacks on Lu et al.'s protocol such as identity trace attack, new smart card issue attack, patient impersonation attack and medical server impersonation attack. In order to fix the mentioned security pitfalls including smart card stolen attack, this paper proposes an efficient remote mutual authentication protocol using smart card. We have then simulated the proposed protocol using widely-accepted AVISPA simulation tool whose results make certain that the same protocol is secure against active and passive attacks including replay and man-in-the-middle attacks. Moreover, the rigorous security analysis proves that the proposed protocol provides strong security protection on the relevant security attacks including smart card stolen attack. We compare the proposed scheme with several related schemes in terms of computation cost and communication cost as well as security functionalities. It has been observed that the proposed scheme is comparatively better than related existing schemes.
Simulation of Attacks for Security in Wireless Sensor Network.
Diaz, Alvaro; Sanchez, Pablo
2016-11-18
The increasing complexity and low-power constraints of current Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) require efficient methodologies for network simulation and embedded software performance analysis of nodes. In addition, security is also a very important feature that has to be addressed in most WSNs, since they may work with sensitive data and operate in hostile unattended environments. In this paper, a methodology for security analysis of Wireless Sensor Networks is presented. The methodology allows designing attack-aware embedded software/firmware or attack countermeasures to provide security in WSNs. The proposed methodology includes attacker modeling and attack simulation with performance analysis (node's software execution time and power consumption estimation). After an analysis of different WSN attack types, an attacker model is proposed. This model defines three different types of attackers that can emulate most WSN attacks. In addition, this paper presents a virtual platform that is able to model the node hardware, embedded software and basic wireless channel features. This virtual simulation analyzes the embedded software behavior and node power consumption while it takes into account the network deployment and topology. Additionally, this simulator integrates the previously mentioned attacker model. Thus, the impact of attacks on power consumption and software behavior/execution-time can be analyzed. This provides developers with essential information about the effects that one or multiple attacks could have on the network, helping them to develop more secure WSN systems. This WSN attack simulator is an essential element of the attack-aware embedded software development methodology that is also introduced in this work.
Heartburn or Chest Pain: When Is It Heart Attack?
Heartburn or heart attack: When to worry Severe heartburn and heart attack can be hard to tell apart. Understand how they typically ... flow to your heart (angina) or an actual heart attack. Heartburn, angina and heart attack may feel very ...
Know the Warning Signs of a Heart Attack
... No. 22 Know the Warning Signs of a Heart Attack What is a heart attack? Aheart attack happens when the blood vessels that ... hurting your heart muscle. Another name for a heart attack is myocardial infarction, or MI. If you have ...
Percolation of localized attack on isolated and interdependent random networks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Shao, Shuai; Huang, Xuqing; Stanley, H. Eugene; Havlin, Shlomo
2014-03-01
Percolation properties of isolated and interdependent random networks have been investigated extensively. The focus of these studies has been on random attacks where each node in network is attacked with the same probability or targeted attack where each node is attacked with a probability being a function of its centrality, such as degree. Here we discuss a new type of realistic attacks which we call a localized attack where a group of neighboring nodes in the networks are attacked. We attack a randomly chosen node, its neighbors, and its neighbor of neighbors and so on, until removing a fraction (1 - p) of the network. This type of attack reflects damages due to localized disasters, such as earthquakes, floods and war zones in real-world networks. We study, both analytically and by simulations the impact of localized attack on percolation properties of random networks with arbitrary degree distributions and discuss in detail random regular (RR) networks, Erdős-Rényi (ER) networks and scale-free (SF) networks. We extend and generalize our theoretical and simulation results of single isolated networks to networks formed of interdependent networks.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
JiWei, Tian; BuHong, Wang; FuTe, Shang; Shuaiqi, Liu
2017-05-01
Exact state estimation is vital important to maintain common operations of smart grids. Existing researches demonstrate that state estimation output could be compromised by malicious attacks. However, to construct the attack vectors, a usual presumption in most works is that the attacker has perfect information regarding the topology and so on even such information is difficult to acquire in practice. Recent research shows that Independent Component Analysis (ICA) can be used for inferring topology information which can be used to originate undetectable attacks and even to alter the price of electricity for the profits of attackers. However, we found that the above ICA-based blind attack tactics is merely feasible in the environment with Gaussian noises. If there are outliers (device malfunction and communication errors), the Bad Data Detector will easily detect the attack. Hence, we propose a robust ICA based blind attack strategy that one can use matrix recovery to circumvent the outlier problem and construct stealthy attack vectors. The proposed attack strategies are tested with IEEE representative 14-bus system. Simulations verify the feasibility of the proposed method.
Shilling Attacks Detection in Recommender Systems Based on Target Item Analysis
Zhou, Wei; Wen, Junhao; Koh, Yun Sing; Xiong, Qingyu; Gao, Min; Dobbie, Gillian; Alam, Shafiq
2015-01-01
Recommender systems are highly vulnerable to shilling attacks, both by individuals and groups. Attackers who introduce biased ratings in order to affect recommendations, have been shown to negatively affect collaborative filtering (CF) algorithms. Previous research focuses only on the differences between genuine profiles and attack profiles, ignoring the group characteristics in attack profiles. In this paper, we study the use of statistical metrics to detect rating patterns of attackers and group characteristics in attack profiles. Another question is that most existing detecting methods are model specific. Two metrics, Rating Deviation from Mean Agreement (RDMA) and Degree of Similarity with Top Neighbors (DegSim), are used for analyzing rating patterns between malicious profiles and genuine profiles in attack models. Building upon this, we also propose and evaluate a detection structure called RD-TIA for detecting shilling attacks in recommender systems using a statistical approach. In order to detect more complicated attack models, we propose a novel metric called DegSim’ based on DegSim. The experimental results show that our detection model based on target item analysis is an effective approach for detecting shilling attacks. PMID:26222882
TANDI: threat assessment of network data and information
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Holsopple, Jared; Yang, Shanchieh Jay; Sudit, Moises
2006-04-01
Current practice for combating cyber attacks typically use Intrusion Detection Sensors (IDSs) to passively detect and block multi-stage attacks. This work leverages Level-2 fusion that correlates IDS alerts belonging to the same attacker, and proposes a threat assessment algorithm to predict potential future attacker actions. The algorithm, TANDI, reduces the problem complexity by separating the models of the attacker's capability and opportunity, and fuse the two to determine the attacker's intent. Unlike traditional Bayesian-based approaches, which require assigning a large number of edge probabilities, the proposed Level-3 fusion procedure uses only 4 parameters. TANDI has been implemented and tested with randomly created attack sequences. The results demonstrate that TANDI predicts future attack actions accurately as long as the attack is not part of a coordinated attack and contains no insider threats. In the presence of abnormal attack events, TANDI will alarm the network analyst for further analysis. The attempt to evaluate a threat assessment algorithm via simulation is the first in the literature, and shall open up a new avenue in the area of high level fusion.
Triptans for acute cluster headache
Law, Simon; Derry, Sheena; Moore, R Andrew
2014-01-01
Background Cluster headache is an uncommon, but severely painful and disabling condition, with rapid onset. Validated treatment options are limited, and first-line therapy includes inhaled oxygen. Alternative therapies such as intranasal lignocaine and ergotamine are not as commonly used and are less well studied. Triptans are successfully used to treat migraine attacks and, because of this, they may also be useful for cluster headache. Objectives To determine the efficacy and tolerability of triptans for the acute treatment of cluster headaches. Search methods We searched Cochrane CENTRAL, MEDLINE and EMBASE for studies through 22 January 2010. Selection criteria Randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled studies of triptans for acute treatment of cluster headache episodes. Data collection and analysis Two review authors independently assessed study quality and extracted data. Numbers of participants with different levels of pain relief, requiring rescue medication and experiencing adverse events and headache-associated symptoms in treatment and control groups were used to calculate relative risk and numbers needed to treat (NNT) and harm (NNH). Main results All six included studies used a single dose of triptan to treat an attack of moderate to severe pain intensity. In total 231 participants received zolmitriptan 5 mg, 223 received zolmitriptan 10 mg, 131 received sumatriptan 6 mg, 88 received sumatriptan 12 mg, and 326 received placebo. Zolmitriptan was administered either orally or intranasally, and sumatriptan either subcutaneously or intranasally. Overall, the triptans studied were better than placebo for headache relief and pain-free responses, with an NNT of 2.4 for 15 minute pain relief with subcutaneous sumatriptan 6 mg (75% with sumatriptan and 32% with placebo), and 2.8 for 30 minute pain relief with intranasal zolmitriptan 10 mg (62% with zolmitriptan and 26% with placebo). Fewer participants need rescue medication with triptan than with placebo, but more experienced adverse events. Authors’ conclusions Zolmitriptan and sumatriptan are effective in the acute treatment of cluster headaches and may provide a useful treatment option, potentially offering convenience over oxygen therapy and a better safety and tolerability profile than ergotamine. Non-oral routes of administration are likely to provide better and more rapid responses. PMID:20393964
A two-metal ion mechanism operates in the hammerhead ribozyme-mediated cleavage of an RNA substrate
Lott, William B.; Pontius, Brian W.; von Hippel, Peter H.
1998-01-01
Evidence for a two-metal ion mechanism for cleavage of the HH16 hammerhead ribozyme is provided by monitoring the rate of cleavage of the RNA substrate as a function of La3+ concentration in the presence of a constant concentration of Mg2+. We show that a bell-shaped curve of cleavage activation is obtained as La3+ is added in micromolar concentrations in the presence of 8 mM Mg2+, with a maximal rate of cleavage being attained in the presence of 3 μM La3+. These results show that two-metal ion binding sites on the ribozyme regulate the rate of the cleavage reaction and, on the basis of earlier estimates of the Kd values for Mg2+ of 3.5 mM and >50 mM, that these sites bind La3+ with estimated Kd values of 0.9 and >37.5 μM, respectively. Furthermore, given the very different effects of these metal ions at the two binding sites, with displacement of Mg2+ by La3+ at the stronger (relative to Mg2+) binding site activating catalysis and displacement of Mg2+ by La3+ at the weaker (relative to Mg2+) (relative to Mg2+) binding site inhibiting catalysis, we show that the metal ions at these two sites play very different roles. We argue that the metal ion at binding site 1 coordinates the attacking 2′-oxygen species in the reaction and lowers the pKa of the attached proton, thereby increasing the concentration of the attacking alkoxide nucleophile in an equilibrium process. In contrast, the role of the metal ion at binding site 2 is to catalyze the reaction by absorbing the negative charge that accumulates at the leaving 5′-oxygen in the transition state. We suggest structural reasons why the Mg2+–La3+ ion combination is particularly suited to demonstrating these different roles of the two-metal ions in the ribozyme cleavage reaction. PMID:9435228
Identifying and tracking attacks on networks: C3I displays and related technologies
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Manes, Gavin W.; Dawkins, J.; Shenoi, Sujeet; Hale, John C.
2003-09-01
Converged network security is extremely challenging for several reasons; expanded system and technology perimeters, unexpected feature interaction, and complex interfaces all conspire to provide hackers with greater opportunities for compromising large networks. Preventive security services and architectures are essential, but in and of themselves do not eliminate all threat of compromise. Attack management systems mitigate this residual risk by facilitating incident detection, analysis and response. There are a wealth of attack detection and response tools for IP networks, but a dearth of such tools for wireless and public telephone networks. Moreover, methodologies and formalisms have yet to be identified that can yield a common model for vulnerabilities and attacks in converged networks. A comprehensive attack management system must coordinate detection tools for converged networks, derive fully-integrated attack and network models, perform vulnerability and multi-stage attack analysis, support large-scale attack visualization, and orchestrate strategic responses to cyber attacks that cross network boundaries. We present an architecture that embodies these principles for attack management. The attack management system described engages a suite of detection tools for various networking domains, feeding real-time attack data to a comprehensive modeling, analysis and visualization subsystem. The resulting early warning system not only provides network administrators with a heads-up cockpit display of their entire network, it also supports guided response and predictive capabilities for multi-stage attacks in converged networks.
Design of a nanoplatform for treating pancreatic cancer
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Manawadu, Harshi Chathurangi
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the USA. Asymptomatic early cancer stages and late diagnosis leads to very low survival rates of pancreatic cancers, compared to other cancers. Treatment options for advanced pancreatic cancer are limited to chemotherapy and/or radiation therapy, as surgical removal of the cancerous tissue becomes impossible at later stages. Therefore, there's a critical need for innovative and improved chemotherapeutic treatment of (late) pancreatic cancers. It is mandatory for successful treatment strategies to overcome the drug resistance associated with pancreatic cancers. Nanotechnology based drug formulations have been providing promising alternatives in cancer treatment due to their selective targeting and accumulation in tumor vasculature, which can be used for efficient delivery of chemotherapeutic agents to tumors and metastases. The research of my thesis is following the principle approach to high therapeutic efficacy that has been first described by Dr. Helmut Ringsdorf in 1975. However, I have extended the use of the Ringsdorf model from polymeric to nanoparticle-based drug carriers by exploring an iron / iron oxide nanoparticle based drug delivery system. A series of drug delivery systems have been synthesized by varying the total numbers and the ratio of the tumor homing peptide sequence CGKRK and the chemotherapeutic drug doxorubicin at the surfaces of Fe/Fe3O 4-nanoparticles. The cytotoxicity of these nanoformulations was tested against murine pancreatic cancer cell lines (Pan02) to assess their therapeutic capabilities for effective treatments of pancreatic cancers. Healthy mouse fibroblast cells (STO) were also tested for comparison, because an effective chemotherapeutic drug has to be selective towards cancer cells. Optimal Experimental Design methodology was applied to identify the nanoformulation with the highest therapeutic activity. A statistical analysis method known as response surface methodology was carried out to evaluate the in-vitro cytotoxicity data, and to determine whether the chosen experimental parameters truly express the optimized conditions of the nanoparticle based drug delivery system. The overall goal was to optimize the therapeutic efficacy in nanoparticle-based pancreatic cancer treatment. Based on the statistical data, the most effective iron/iron oxide nanoparticle-based drug delivery system has been identified. Its Fe/Fe3O4 core has a diameter of 20 nm. The surface of this nanoparticle is loaded with the homing sequence CGKRK (139-142 peptide molecules per nanoparticle surface) and the chemotherapeutic agent doxorubicin (156-159 molecules per surface), This nanoplatform is a promising candidate for the nanoparticle-based chemotherapy of pancreatic cancer.
A Tale of Two Gases: Isotope Effects Associated with the Enzymatic Production of H2 and N2O
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Yang, H.; Gandhi, H.; Kreuzer, H. W.; Moran, J.; Hill, E. A.; McQuarters, A.; Lehnert, N.; Ostrom, N. E.; Hegg, E. L.
2014-12-01
Stable isotopes can provide considerable insight into enzymatic mechanisms and fluxes in various biological processes. In our studies, we used stable isotopes to characterize both enzyme-catalyzed H2 and N2O production. H2 is a potential alternative clean energy source and also a key metabolite in many microbial communities. Biological H2 production is generally catalyzed by hydrogenases, enzymes that combine protons and electrons to produce H2 under anaerobic conditions. In our study, H isotopes and fractionation factors (α) were used to characterize two types of hydrogenases: [FeFe]- and [NiFe]-hydrogenases. Due to differences in the active site, the α associated with H2 production for [FeFe]- and [NiFe]-hydrogenases separated into two distinct clusters (αFeFe > αNiFe). The calculated kinetic isotope effects indicate that hydrogenase-catalyzed H2 production has a preference for light isotopes, consistent with the relative bond strengths of O-H and H-H bonds. Interestingly, the isotope effects associated with H2 consumption and H2-H2O exchange reactions were also characterized, but in this case no specific difference was observed between the different enzymes. N2O is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 300 times that of CO2, and the concentration of N2O is currently increasing at a rate of ~0.25% per year. Thus far, bacterial and fungal denitrification processes have been identified as two of the major sources of biologically generated N2O. In this study, we measured the δ15N, δ18O, δ15Nα (central N atom in N2O), and δ15Nβ (terminal N atom in N2O) of N2O generated by purified fungal P450 nitric oxide reductase (P450nor) from Histoplasma capsulatum. We observed normal isotope effects for δ18O and δ15Nα, and inverse isotope effects for bulk δ15N (the average of Nα and Nβ) and δ15Nβ. The observed isotope effects have been used in conjunction with DFT calculations to provide important insight into the mechanism of P450nor. Similar experiments were performed with bacterial nitric oxide reductase from Paracoccus denitrificans (cNOR). In this case both Nα and Nβ exhibited inverse isotope effects, while O had a normal isotope effect. Together, these data highlight the utility in using stable isotopes as both tracers and mechanistic probes when studying metabolic processes.
Pre-attack signs and symptoms in cluster headache: Characteristics and time profile.
Snoer, Agneta; Lund, Nunu; Beske, Rasmus; Jensen, Rigmor; Barloese, Mads
2018-05-01
Introduction In contrast to the premonitory phase of migraine, little is known about the pre-attack (prodromal) phase of a cluster headache. We aimed to describe the nature, prevalence, and duration of pre-attack symptoms in cluster headache. Methods Eighty patients with episodic cluster headache or chronic cluster headache, according to ICHD-3 beta criteria, were invited to participate. In this observational study, patients underwent a semi-structured interview where they were asked about the presence of 31 symptoms/signs in relation to a typical cluster headache attack. Symptoms included previously reported cluster headache pre-attack symptoms, premonitory migraine symptoms and accompanying symptoms of migraine and cluster headache. Results Pre-attack symptoms were reported by 83.3% of patients, with an average of 4.25 (SD 3.9) per patient. Local and painful symptoms, occurring with a median of 10 minutes before attack, were reported by 70%. Local and painless symptoms and signs, occurring with a median of 10 minutes before attack, were reported by 43.8% and general symptoms, occurring with a median of 20 minutes before attack, were reported by 62.5% of patients. Apart from a dull/aching sensation in the attack area being significantly ( p < 0.05) more frequent among men and episodic patients, compared with women and chronic patients respectively, no other differences in the prevalence of pre-attack symptoms were identified between groups. Conclusion Pre-attack symptoms are frequent in cluster headache. Since the origin of cluster headache attacks is still unresolved, studies of pre-attack symptoms could contribute to the understanding of cluster headache pathophysiology. Furthermore, identification and recognition of pre-attack symptoms could potentially allow earlier abortive treatment.
Shark attack-related injuries: Epidemiology and implications for plastic surgeons.
Ricci, Joseph A; Vargas, Christina R; Singhal, Dhruv; Lee, Bernard T
2016-01-01
The increased media attention to shark attacks has led to a heightened fear and public awareness. Although few sharks are considered dangerous, attacks on humans can result in large soft tissue defects necessitating the intervention of reconstructive surgeons. This study aims to evaluate and describe the characteristics of shark-related injuries in order to improve treatment. The Global Shark Accident File, maintained by the Shark Research Institute (Princeton, NJ, USA), is a compilation of all known worldwide shark attacks. Database records since the 1900s were reviewed to identify differences between fatal and nonfatal attacks, including: geography, injury pattern, shark species, and victim activity. Since the 1900s, there have been 5034 reported shark attacks, of which 1205 (22.7%) were fatal. Although the incidence of attacks per decade has increased, the percentage of fatalities has decreased. Characteristics of fatal attacks included swimming (p = 0.001), boating (p = 0.001), three or more bite sites (p = 0.03), limb loss (p = 0.001), or tiger shark attack (p = 0.002). The most common attacks were bites to the legs (41.8%) or arms (18.4%), with limb loss occurring in 7% of attacks. Geographically, the majority of attacks occurred in North America (36.7%) and Australia (26.5%). Most attacks in the USA occurred in Florida (49.1%) and California (13.6%). Although rare, shark attacks result in devastating injuries to patients. As these injuries often involve multiple sites and limb loss, this creates a significant challenge for reconstructive surgeons. Proper identification of the characteristics of the attack can aid in providing optimal care for those affected. Copyright © 2015 British Association of Plastic, Reconstructive and Aesthetic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Hereditary Angioedema Attacks Resolve Faster and Are Shorter after Early Icatibant Treatment
Maurer, Marcus; Kaplan, Allen; Investigators, on behalf of I. O. S.
2013-01-01
Background Attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) are unpredictable and, if affecting the upper airway, can be lethal. Icatibant is used for physician- or patient self-administered symptomatic treatment of HAE attacks in adults. Its mode of action includes disruption of the bradykinin pathway via blockade of the bradykinin B2 receptor. Early treatment is believed to shorten attack duration and prevent severe outcomes; however, evidence to support these benefits is lacking. Objective To examine the impact of timing of icatibant administration on the duration and resolution of HAE type I and II attacks. Methods The Icatibant Outcome Survey is an international, prospective, observational study for patients treated with icatibant. Data on timings and outcomes of icatibant treatment for HAE attacks were collected between July 2009–February 2012. A mixed-model of repeated measures was performed for 426 attacks in 136 HAE type I and II patients. Results Attack duration was significantly shorter in patients treated <1 hour of attack onset compared with those treated ≥1 hour (6.1 hours versus 16.8 hours [p<0.001]). Similar significant effects were observed for <2 hours versus ≥2 hours (7.2 hours versus 20.2 hours [p<0.001]) and <5 hours versus ≥5 hours (8.0 hours versus 23.5 hours [p<0.001]). Treatment within 1 hour of attack onset also significantly reduced time to attack resolution (5.8 hours versus 8.8 hours [p<0.05]). Self-administrators were more likely to treat early and experience shorter attacks than those treated by a healthcare professional. Conclusion Early blockade of the bradykinin B2 receptor with icatibant, particularly within the first hour of attack onset, significantly reduced attack duration and time to attack resolution. PMID:23390491
Adaptive optimisation-offline cyber attack on remote state estimator
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Huang, Xin; Dong, Jiuxiang
2017-10-01
Security issues of cyber-physical systems have received increasing attentions in recent years. In this paper, deception attacks on the remote state estimator equipped with the chi-squared failure detector are considered, and it is assumed that the attacker can monitor and modify all the sensor data. A novel adaptive optimisation-offline cyber attack strategy is proposed, where using the current and previous sensor data, the attack can yield the largest estimation error covariance while ensuring to be undetected by the chi-squared monitor. From the attacker's perspective, the attack is better than the existing linear deception attacks to degrade the system performance. Finally, some numerical examples are provided to demonstrate theoretical results.
Designer interphases for the lithium-oxygen electrochemical cell
Choudhury, Snehashis; Wan, Charles Tai-Chieh; Al Sadat, Wajdi I.; Tu, Zhengyuan; Lau, Sampson; Zachman, Michael J.; Kourkoutis, Lena F.; Archer, Lynden A.
2017-01-01
An electrochemical cell based on the reversible oxygen reduction reaction: 2Li+ + 2e− + O2 ↔ Li2O2, provides among the most energy dense platforms for portable electrical energy storage. Such Lithium-Oxygen (Li-O2) cells offer specific energies competitive with fossil fuels and are considered promising for electrified transportation. Multiple, fundamental challenges with the cathode, anode, and electrolyte have limited practical interest in Li-O2 cells because these problems lead to as many practical shortcomings, including poor rechargeability, high overpotentials, and specific energies well below theoretical expectations. We create and study in-situ formation of solid-electrolyte interphases (SEIs) based on bromide ionomers tethered to a Li anode that take advantage of three powerful processes for overcoming the most stubborn of these challenges. The ionomer SEIs are shown to protect the Li anode against parasitic reactions and also stabilize Li electrodeposition during cell recharge. Bromine species liberated during the anchoring reaction also function as redox mediators at the cathode, reducing the charge overpotential. Finally, the ionomer SEI forms a stable interphase with Li, which protects the metal in high Gutmann donor number liquid electrolytes. Such electrolytes have been reported to exhibit rare stability against nucleophilic attack by Li2O2 and other cathode reaction intermediates, but also react spontaneously with Li metal anodes. We conclude that rationally designed SEIs able to regulate transport of matter and ions at the electrolyte/anode interface provide a promising platform for addressing three major technical barriers to practical Li-O2 cells. PMID:28439557
Public knowledge of heart attack symptoms in Beijing residents.
Zhang, Qing-Tan; Hu, Da-Yi; Yang, Jin-Gang; Zhang, Shou-Yan; Zhang, Xin-Quan; Liu, Shu-Shan
2007-09-20
Definitive treatment for heart attack is early reperfusion with either angioplasty or thrombolytic therapy, and the benefit is strictly time-dependent. Patient outcomes are improved with either therapy when initiated as soon as possible. Recognition of heart attack symptoms is logically tied to taking action to receive prompt emergency care. Inadequate knowledge of heart attack symptoms may prolong delay. The purpose of this study was to document knowledge about heart attack symptoms in Beijing residents and to identify the characteristics associated with increased knowledge of heart attack. A structured survey was conducted in 18 communities in Beijing from March 1 through June 10 in 2006. Addresses and participants were selected randomly following a stratification. The survey was designed to collect knowledge of heart attack symptoms from sampled adults in each community. A total of 4627 respondents completed the questionnaires correctly, and 50.29% of them were female. Totally 64.15% of the respondents reported chest pain or discomfort (common symptoms) as a symptom of heart attack; 75.38% reported at least one of the following eight symptoms as a symptom of heart attack: back pain, shortness of breath, arm pain or numbness, nausea or vomiting, neck, jaw or shoulder pain, epigastric pain, sweating, weakness (less common symptoms); 20.36% correctly reported four or more heart attack symptoms, only 7.4% knew all the correct heart attack symptoms, and 28.94% knew about reperfusion therapy for heart attack; 31.7% reported to call 120 or 999 while having a heart attack themselves; however 89.6% reported to call 120 or 999 when someone else is suffering from a heart attack. Very old persons and those with health insurance coverage, high education level, high household income, longer living in Beijing and previous experience with heart disease had greater knowledge of heart attack symptoms. Public knowledge of common heart attack symptoms as well as less common heart attack symptoms is deficient in Beijing residents. But their knowledge of calling emergency medical services when someone is having a heart attack is relatively adequate. Public health efforts are needed to increase the recognition of the major heart attack symptoms in both the general public and groups at high risk for an acute cardiac event, especially in socioeconomically disadvantaged subgroups, including persons with low education level, low household income, and no health insurance coverage.
Application distribution model and related security attacks in VANET
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Nikaein, Navid; Kanti Datta, Soumya; Marecar, Irshad; Bonnet, Christian
2013-03-01
In this paper, we present a model for application distribution and related security attacks in dense vehicular ad hoc networks (VANET) and sparse VANET which forms a delay tolerant network (DTN). We study the vulnerabilities of VANET to evaluate the attack scenarios and introduce a new attacker`s model as an extension to the work done in [6]. Then a VANET model has been proposed that supports the application distribution through proxy app stores on top of mobile platforms installed in vehicles. The steps of application distribution have been studied in detail. We have identified key attacks (e.g. malware, spamming and phishing, software attack and threat to location privacy) for dense VANET and two attack scenarios for sparse VANET. It has been shown that attacks can be launched by distributing malicious applications and injecting malicious codes to On Board Unit (OBU) by exploiting OBU software security holes. Consequences of such security attacks have been described. Finally, countermeasures including the concepts of sandbox have also been presented in depth.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Chu, Tsong L.
The Stuxnet attack at the Natanz facility is an example of a targeted and successful cyber attack on a nuclear facility. Snowden's release of National Security Agency documents demonstrated the consequences of the insider threat. More recently, the United States tried to attack North Korea but failed, South Korea was attempting to attack North Korea, and both applied Stuxnet-like approaches. These sophisticated targeted attacks differ from web-site hacking events that are reported almost daily in the news mainly because targeted attacks require detailed design and operation information of the systems attacked and/or are often carried out by insiders. For instance,more » in order to minimize disruption of facilities around the world, Stuxnet remained idle until it recognized the specific configuration of the Natanz facility, demonstrating that the attackers possessed extremely detailed information about the facility. Such targeted cyber attacks could become a national-level military weapon and be used in coercion of hostile countries.« less
Improving the Rainbow Attack by Reusing Colours
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ågren, Martin; Johansson, Thomas; Hell, Martin
Hashing or encrypting a key or a password is a vital part in most network security protocols. The most practical generic attack on such schemes is a time memory trade-off attack. Such an attack inverts any one-way function using a trade-off between memory and execution time. Existing techniques include the Hellman attack and the rainbow attack, where the latter uses different reduction functions ("colours") within a table.
Simulation of Attacks for Security in Wireless Sensor Network
Diaz, Alvaro; Sanchez, Pablo
2016-01-01
The increasing complexity and low-power constraints of current Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) require efficient methodologies for network simulation and embedded software performance analysis of nodes. In addition, security is also a very important feature that has to be addressed in most WSNs, since they may work with sensitive data and operate in hostile unattended environments. In this paper, a methodology for security analysis of Wireless Sensor Networks is presented. The methodology allows designing attack-aware embedded software/firmware or attack countermeasures to provide security in WSNs. The proposed methodology includes attacker modeling and attack simulation with performance analysis (node’s software execution time and power consumption estimation). After an analysis of different WSN attack types, an attacker model is proposed. This model defines three different types of attackers that can emulate most WSN attacks. In addition, this paper presents a virtual platform that is able to model the node hardware, embedded software and basic wireless channel features. This virtual simulation analyzes the embedded software behavior and node power consumption while it takes into account the network deployment and topology. Additionally, this simulator integrates the previously mentioned attacker model. Thus, the impact of attacks on power consumption and software behavior/execution-time can be analyzed. This provides developers with essential information about the effects that one or multiple attacks could have on the network, helping them to develop more secure WSN systems. This WSN attack simulator is an essential element of the attack-aware embedded software development methodology that is also introduced in this work. PMID:27869710
Analytical Characterization of Internet Security Attacks
ERIC Educational Resources Information Center
Sellke, Sarah H.
2010-01-01
Internet security attacks have drawn significant attention due to their enormously adverse impact. These attacks includes Malware (Viruses, Worms, Trojan Horse), Denial of Service, Packet Sniffer, and Password Attacks. There is an increasing need to provide adequate defense mechanisms against these attacks. My thesis proposal deals with analytical…
The anatomy of a shark attack: a case report and review of the literature.
Caldicott, D G; Mahajani, R; Kuhn, M
2001-07-01
Shark attacks are rare but are associated with a high morbidity and significant mortality. We report the case of a patient's survival from a shark attack and their subsequent emergency medical and surgical management. Using data from the International Shark Attack File, we review the worldwide distribution and incidence of shark attack. A review of the world literature examines the features which make shark attacks unique pathological processes. We offer suggestions for strategies of management of shark attack, and techniques for avoiding adverse outcomes in human encounters with these endangered creatures.
Distinguishing attack and second-preimage attack on encrypted message authentication codes (EMAC)
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Ariwibowo, Sigit; Windarta, Susila
2016-02-01
In this paper we show that distinguisher on CBC-MAC can be applied to Encrypted Message Authentication Code (EMAC) scheme. EMAC scheme in general is vulnerable to distinguishing attack and second preimage attack. Distinguishing attack simulation on AES-EMAC using 225 message modifications, no collision have been found. According to second preimage attack simulation on AES-EMAC no collision found between EMAC value of S1 and S2, i.e. no second preimage found for messages that have been tested. Based on distinguishing attack simulation on truncated AES-EMAC we found collision in every message therefore we cannot distinguish truncated AES-EMAC with random function. Second-preimage attack is successfully performed on truncated AES-EMAC.
Novel Method For Low-Rate Ddos Attack Detection
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Chistokhodova, A. A.; Sidorov, I. D.
2018-05-01
The relevance of the work is associated with an increasing number of advanced types of DDoS attacks, in particular, low-rate HTTP-flood. Last year, the power and complexity of such attacks increased significantly. The article is devoted to the analysis of DDoS attacks detecting methods and their modifications with the purpose of increasing the accuracy of DDoS attack detection. The article details low-rate attacks features in comparison with conventional DDoS attacks. During the analysis, significant shortcomings of the available method for detecting low-rate DDoS attacks were found. Thus, the result of the study is an informal description of a new method for detecting low-rate denial-of-service attacks. The architecture of the stand for approbation of the method is developed. At the current stage of the study, it is possible to improve the efficiency of an already existing method by using a classifier with memory, as well as additional information.
Heavy-tailed distribution of the SSH Brute-force attack duration in a multi-user environment
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Lee, Jae-Kook; Kim, Sung-Jun; Park, Chan Yeol; Hong, Taeyoung; Chae, Huiseung
2016-07-01
Quite a number of cyber-attacks to be place against supercomputers that provide highperformance computing (HPC) services to public researcher. Particularly, although the secure shell protocol (SSH) brute-force attack is one of the traditional attack methods, it is still being used. Because stealth attacks that feign regular access may occur, they are even harder to detect. In this paper, we introduce methods to detect SSH brute-force attacks by analyzing the server's unsuccessful access logs and the firewall's drop events in a multi-user environment. Then, we analyze the durations of the SSH brute-force attacks that are detected by applying these methods. The results of an analysis of about 10 thousands attack source IP addresses show that the behaviors of abnormal users using SSH brute-force attacks are based on human dynamic characteristics of a typical heavy-tailed distribution.
An entangling-probe attack on Shor's algorithm for factorization
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Azuma, Hiroo
2018-02-01
We investigate how to attack Shor's quantum algorithm for factorization with an entangling probe. We show that an attacker can steal an exact solution of Shor's algorithm outside an institute where the quantum computer is installed if he replaces its initialized quantum register with entangled qubits, namely the entangling probe. He can apply arbitrary local operations to his own probe. Moreover, we assume that there is an unauthorized person who helps the attacker to commit a crime inside the institute. He tells garbage data obtained from measurements of the quantum register to the attacker secretly behind a legitimate user's back. If the attacker succeeds in cracking Shor's algorithm, the legitimate user obtains a random answer and does not notice the attacker's illegal acts. We discuss how to detect the attacker. Finally, we estimate a probability that the quantum algorithm inevitably makes an error, of which the attacker can take advantage.
Norton, Peter J; Zvolensky, Michael J; Bonn-Miller, Marcel O; Cox, Brian J; Norton, G Ron
2008-10-01
Since its development in the mid-1980s, the Panic Attack Questionnaire (PAQ) has been one of the more, if not the most, commonly used self-report tools for assessing panic attacks. The usage of the instrument, however, has come amid potential concerns that instructions and descriptions may lead to an over-estimate of the prevalence of panic attacks. Furthermore, the instrument has not been revised since 1992, despite changes in DSM-IV criteria and more recent developments in the understanding of panic attacks. As a result, this paper describes a revision of the PAQ to improve the instruction and descriptive set, and to fully assess features of panic derived from recent conceptualizations. Students meeting DSM-IV panic attack criteria and those endorsing panic attacks, but not meeting criteria, showed few differences with the exception that those not meeting DSM-IV criteria typically reported a longer onset-to-peak intensity time than did Panickers. Results were cross-validated and extended using an independent Community Sample. A full descriptive phenomenology of panic attacks is described, and future directions for studying panic attacks using the PAQ are presented.
Command Disaggregation Attack and Mitigation in Industrial Internet of Things
Zhu, Pei-Dong; Hu, Yi-Fan; Cui, Peng-Shuai; Zhang, Yan
2017-01-01
A cyber-physical attack in the industrial Internet of Things can cause severe damage to physical system. In this paper, we focus on the command disaggregation attack, wherein attackers modify disaggregated commands by intruding command aggregators like programmable logic controllers, and then maliciously manipulate the physical process. It is necessary to investigate these attacks, analyze their impact on the physical process, and seek effective detection mechanisms. We depict two different types of command disaggregation attack modes: (1) the command sequence is disordered and (2) disaggregated sub-commands are allocated to wrong actuators. We describe three attack models to implement these modes with going undetected by existing detection methods. A novel and effective framework is provided to detect command disaggregation attacks. The framework utilizes the correlations among two-tier command sequences, including commands from the output of central controller and sub-commands from the input of actuators, to detect attacks before disruptions occur. We have designed components of the framework and explain how to mine and use these correlations to detect attacks. We present two case studies to validate different levels of impact from various attack models and the effectiveness of the detection framework. Finally, we discuss how to enhance the detection framework. PMID:29065461
Command Disaggregation Attack and Mitigation in Industrial Internet of Things.
Xun, Peng; Zhu, Pei-Dong; Hu, Yi-Fan; Cui, Peng-Shuai; Zhang, Yan
2017-10-21
A cyber-physical attack in the industrial Internet of Things can cause severe damage to physical system. In this paper, we focus on the command disaggregation attack, wherein attackers modify disaggregated commands by intruding command aggregators like programmable logic controllers, and then maliciously manipulate the physical process. It is necessary to investigate these attacks, analyze their impact on the physical process, and seek effective detection mechanisms. We depict two different types of command disaggregation attack modes: (1) the command sequence is disordered and (2) disaggregated sub-commands are allocated to wrong actuators. We describe three attack models to implement these modes with going undetected by existing detection methods. A novel and effective framework is provided to detect command disaggregation attacks. The framework utilizes the correlations among two-tier command sequences, including commands from the output of central controller and sub-commands from the input of actuators, to detect attacks before disruptions occur. We have designed components of the framework and explain how to mine and use these correlations to detect attacks. We present two case studies to validate different levels of impact from various attack models and the effectiveness of the detection framework. Finally, we discuss how to enhance the detection framework.
Lethality of sea lamprey attacks on lake trout in relation to location on the body surface
Bergstedt, Roger A.; Schneider, Clifford P.; O'Gorman, Robert
2001-01-01
We compared the locations of healed attack marks of the sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus on live lake trout Salvelinus namaycush with those of unhealed attack marks on dead lake trout to determine if the lethality of a sea lamprey attack was related to attack location. Lake trout were collected from Lake Ontario, live fish with gill nets in September 1985 and dead fish with trawls in October 1983−1986. Attack location was characterized by the percent distances from snout to tail and from the ventral to the dorsal midline. Kolmogorov−Smirnov two-sample tests did not detect significant differences in the distribution of attack location along either the anteroposterior axis or the dorsoventral axis. When attack locations were grouped into six anatomical regions historically used to record sea lamprey attacks, dead fish did not exhibit a significantly higher proportion of attacks in the more anterior regions. Even if the differences in attack location on live and dead fish were significant, they were too small to imply substantial spatial differences in attack lethality that should be accounted for when modeling the effects of sea lampreys feeding on lake trout. We suggest that the tendency for sea lamprey attacks to occur on the anterior half of the fish is related to the lower amplitude of lateral body movement there during swimming and thus the lower likelihood of being dislodged.
Serial agonistic attacks by greylag goose families, Anser anser, against the same opponent
Scheiber, Isabella B.R.; Kotrschal, Kurt; Weiß, Brigitte M.
2011-01-01
It is known from primates that alliance partners may support each other’s interests in competition with others, for example, through repeated agonistic attacks against a particular individual. We examined serial aggressive interactions between greylag goose families and other flock members. We found that repeated attacks towards the same individual were common and that up to five serial attacks by family members followed an initial attack. Family size did not affect the frequency of such serial attacks. Juvenile geese evidently benefited most from active social support through serial attacks. About 60% of the juveniles’ lost primary interactions were subsequently reversed by another family member. This may be one of the reasons why juveniles rank higher in the social hierarchy than would be expected from their age and size alone. Losses in serial attacks predominantly occurred against other, presumably higher-ranking, family geese and ganders. We propose three major functions/consequences of serial attacks. Analogous to primates, serial attacks in greylag geese may serve to reinforce a losing experience of an opponent defeated in a preceding attack. On the side of the winning family, serial attacks may reinforce the experience of winning. Both winning and losing experiences are linked with physiological consequences in higher vertebrates, affecting the future social performance of winners or losers. Finally, serial attacks may signal the agonistic potential of a family to other flock members. This is supported by heart rate data, which indicate that greylags are competent to interpret third-party relationships. PMID:21984838
Khyâl attacks: a key idiom of distress among traumatized cambodia refugees.
Hinton, Devon E; Pich, Vuth; Marques, Luana; Nickerson, Angela; Pollack, Mark H
2010-06-01
Traumatized Cambodian refugees with PTSD often complain of khyâl attacks. The current study investigates khyâl attacks from multiple perspectives and examines the validity of a model of how khyâl attacks are generated. The study found that khyâl attacks had commonly been experienced in the previous 4 weeks and that their severity was strongly correlated with the severity of PTSD (PTSD Checklist). It was found that khyâl attacks were triggered by various processes--such as worry, trauma recall, standing up, going to a mall--and that khyâl attacks almost always met panic attack criteria. It was also found that during a khyâl attack there was great fear that death might occur from bodily dysfunction. It was likewise found that a complex nosology of khyâl attacks exists that rates the attacks on a scale of severity, that the severity determines how the khyâl attacks should be treated and that those treatments are often complex. As illustrated by the article, khyâl attacks constitute a key aspect of trauma ontology in this group, a culturally specific experiencing of anxiety and trauma-related disorder. The article also contributes to the study of trauma somatics, that is, to the study of how trauma results in specific symptoms in a specific cultural context, showing that a key part of the trauma-somatic reticulum is often a cultural syndrome.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Liu, Xuan
Power grid is one of the most critical infrastructures in a nation and could suffer a variety of cyber attacks. With the development of Smart Grid, false data injection attack has recently attracted wide research interest. This thesis proposes a false data attack model with incomplete network information and develops optimal attack strategies for attacking load measurements and the real-time topology of a power grid. The impacts of false data on the economic and reliable operations of power systems are quantitatively analyzed in this thesis. To mitigate the risk of cyber attacks, a distributed protection strategies are also developed. It has been shown that an attacker can design false data to avoid being detected by the control center if the network information of a power grid is known to the attacker. In practice, however, it is very hard or even impossible for an attacker to obtain all network information of a power grid. In this thesis, we propose a local load redistribution attacking model based on incomplete network information and show that an attacker only needs to obtain the network information of the local attacking region to inject false data into smart meters in the local region without being detected by the state estimator. A heuristic algorithm is developed to determine a feasible attacking region by obtaining reduced network information. This thesis investigates the impacts of false data on the operations of power systems. It has been shown that false data can be designed by an attacker to: 1) mask the real-time topology of a power grid; 2) overload a transmission line; 3) disturb the line outage detection based on PMU data. To mitigate the risk of cyber attacks, this thesis proposes a new protection strategy, which intends to mitigate the damage effects of false data injection attacks by protecting a small set of critical measurements. To further reduce the computation complexity, a mixed integer linear programming approach is also proposed to separate the power grid into several subnetworks, then distributed protection strategy is applied to each subnetwork.
Public knowledge of heart attack in a Nepalese population survey.
Limbu, Yuba R; Malla, Rabi; Regmi, Shyam R; Dahal, Ramesh; Nakarmi, Hari L; Yonzan, Ganesh; Gartaula, Ritu P
2006-01-01
Limited knowledge of heart attack symptoms may prevent patients from seeking time-dependent thrombolytic therapy, an intervention that offers impressive survival benefit. Previous studies carried out in developed countries demonstrated a deficit of knowledge about a wide range of heart attack symptoms. The aim of this study was to describe knowledge of heart attack, knowledge of heart attack symptoms, and anticipated first response to symptoms among the lay public in Nepal. A total of 1192 participants (657 men and 535 women age 16 to 88 years old) were interviewed in a cross-sectional manner. Those <16 years of age, all health professionals, and individuals with a history of heart attack were excluded. A total of 862 (72.3%) participants had heard of heart attack. Significantly more male than female participants had heard of heart attack (P <.001). Of the respondents, 91.7% with >or=10 years of education (ED-2) had heard of heart of attack, whereas only 54% respondents with <10 years of education or who were illiterate (unable to read and write) (ED-1) had heard of heart attack, and in both the male and female populations, a higher percentage of the ED-2 group had heard of heart attack than the ED-1 group (92.6% vs. 60% and 85.6% vs. 49.6%, respectively). A significantly higher number of respondents from 31 to 50 years of age (AGE-2) had heard of heart attack than those 16 to 30 years of age (AGE-1) and those >50 years of age (AGE-3) (P <.001). Among 862 respondents who had heard of heart attack, 21.3% could not name any heart attack symptoms. A total of 16 different heart attack symptoms were named. Fainting or collapsing (48%), chest pain (22.4%), shortness of breath (9%), dizziness (8.4%), palpitations (7.4%), and sweating (7.4%) were the leading symptoms named by respondents. Fainting or collapsing and chest pain and shortness of breath were named more frequently among the ED-2 group respondents and the AGE-3 group men. Only 3.7% could name >or=2 typical heart attack symptoms. A significantly larger number of the ED-2 group named >or=2 typical symptoms than their counterparts (P <0.001). A large number (77.6%) of respondents preferred immediate hospital referral and/or doctor consultation after a heart attack. In Nepal, better-educated men are more aware of heart attack. Fainting or collapsing and chest pain and shortness of breath were leading heart attack symptoms named by the general population. Public heart attack awareness is not adequate and knowledge of wide range of heart attack symptoms is deficient in the Nepalese general population.
... infarction; Non-ST - elevation myocardial infarction; NSTEMI; CAD - heart attack; Coronary artery disease - heart attack ... made up of cholesterol and other cells. A heart attack may occur when: A tear in the ...
Park, Hyoung Keun; Bae, Sang Rak; Kim, Satbyul E; Choi, Woo Suk; Paick, Sung Hyun; Ho, Kim; Kim, Hyeong Gon; Lho, Yong Soo
2015-02-01
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of seasonal variation and climate parameters on urinary tract stone attack and investigate whether stone attack is increased sharply at a specific point. Nationwide data of total urinary tract stone attack numbers per month between January 2006 and December 2010 were obtained from the Korean Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service. The effects of climatic factors on monthly urinary stone attack were assessed using auto-regressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) regression method. A total of 1,702,913 stone attack cases were identified. Mean monthly and monthly average daily urinary stone attack cases were 28,382 ± 2,760 and 933 ± 85, respectively. The stone attack showed seasonal trends of sharp incline in June, a peak plateau from July to September, and a sharp decline after September. The correlation analysis showed that ambient temperature (r = 0.557, p < 0.001) and relative humidity (r = 0.513, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with urinary stone attack cases. However, after adjustment for trends and seasonality, ambient temperature was the only climate factor associated with the stone attack cases in ARIMA regression test (p = 0.04). Threshold temperature was estimated as 18.4 °C. Risk of urinary stone attack significantly increases 1.71% (1.02-2.41 %, 95% confidence intervals) with a 1 °C increase of ambient temperature above the threshold point. In conclusion, monthly urinary stone attack cases were changed according to seasonal variation. Among the climates variables, only temperature had consistent association with stone attack and when the temperature is over 18.4 °C, urinary stone attack would be increased sharply.
CDC Grand Rounds: Improving the Lives of Persons with Sickle Cell Disease.
Hulihan, Mary; Hassell, Kathryn L; Raphael, Jean L; Smith-Whitley, Kim; Thorpe, Phoebe
2017-11-24
Approximately 100,000 Americans have sickle cell disease (SCD), a group of recessively inherited red blood cell disorders characterized by abnormal hemoglobin, called hemoglobin S or sickle hemoglobin, in the red blood cells. Persons with hemoglobin SS or hemoglobin Sß 0 thalassemia, also known as sickle cell anemia (SCA), have the most severe form of SCD. Hemoglobin SC disease and hemoglobin Sß + thalassemia are other common forms of SCD. Red blood cells that contain sickle hemoglobin are inflexible and can stick to vessel walls, causing a blockage that slows or stops blood flow. When this happens, oxygen cannot reach nearby tissues, leading to attacks of sudden, severe pain, called pain crises, which are the clinical hallmark of SCD. The red cell sickling and poor oxygen delivery can also cause damage to the brain, spleen, eyes, lungs, liver, and multiple other organs and organ systems. These chronic complications can lead to increased morbidity, early mortality, or both. Tremendous strides in treating and preventing the complications of SCD have extended life expectancy. Now, nearly 95% of persons born with SCD in the United States reach age 18 years (1); however, adults with the most severe forms of SCD have a life span that is 20-30 years shorter than that of persons without SCD (2).
Scheckhuber, Christian Q
2015-12-30
In addition to controlled post-translational modifications proteins can be modified with highly reactive compounds. Usually this leads to a compromised functionality of the protein. Methylglyoxal is one of the most common agents that attack arginine residues. Methylglyoxal is also regarded as a pro-oxidant that affects cellular redox homeostasis by contributing to the formation of reactive oxygen species. Antioxidant enzymes like catalase are required to protect the cell from oxidative damage. These enzymes are also targets for methylglyoxal-mediated modification which could severely affect their catalytic activity in breaking down reactive oxygen species to less reactive or inert compounds. Here, bovine liver catalase was incubated with high levels of methylglyoxal to induce its glycation. This treatment did not lead to a pronounced reduction of enzymatic activity. Subsequently methylglyoxal-mediated arginine modifications (hydroimidazolone and dihydroxyimidazolidine) were quantitatively analysed by sensitive nano high performance liquid chromatography/electron spray ionisation/tandem mass spectrometry. Whereas several arginine residues displayed low to moderate levels of glycation (e.g., Arg93, Arg365, Arg444) Arg354 in the active centre of catalase was never found to be modified. Bovine liver catalase is able to tolerate very high levels of the modifying α-oxoaldehyde methylglyoxal so that its essential enzymatic function is not impaired.
Portable obstructive sleep apnea detection and mobile monitoring
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Demirkol ćakmak, Duygu; Eyüboǧlu, B. Murat
2017-05-01
Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is becoming a prevalent disease for both adults and children. It is described as the cessation of breath for at least 10 seconds during sleep. Detecting sleep apnea is considered as a troublesome and timeconsuming method, which requires the patients to stay one or more nights in dedicated sleep disorder rooms with sensors physically attached to their body. Undiagnosed thereby untreated sleep apnea patients are under high risk of hypertension, heart attack, traffic accident through fatigue and sleeplessness. In this project, nasal and oral respiratory information is obtained with utilizing thermocouple and oxygen saturation in the blood is obtained with utilizing pulse oximeter. An analog hardware circuit is designed to readout thermocouple and pulse oximeter signals. According to this respiratory and pulse oximetry signals, obstructive sleep apnea is detected in real time with using a software implemented into an ARM based processor. An Android mobile application is developed to record and display the oxygen saturation, heart rate and respiratory signal data during sleep. ARM based processor and mobile application communication is established via Bluetooth interface to reduce cabling on the patient. In summary, a portable, low cost and user friendly device to detect obstructive sleep apnea which is able to share the necessary information to the patients and doctors for the duration of the whole sleep cycle is developed.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Lee, B.D.; Apel, W.A.; Walton, M.R.
Conceptually, biofilters are vapor phase bioreactors that rely on microorganisms in the bed medium to oxidize contaminants in off-gases flowing through the bed to less hazardous compounds. In the most studied and utilized systems reduced compounds such as fuel hydrocarbons are enzymatically oxidized to compounds such as carbon dioxide and water. In these types of reactions the microorganisms in the bed oxidize the contaminant and transfer the electrons to oxygen which is the terminal electron acceptor in the process. In essence the contaminant is the carbon and energy source for the microorganisms in the bed medium and through this catabolicmore » process oxygen is reduced to water. An example of this oxidation process can be seen during the degradation of benzene and similar aromatic compounds. Aromatics are initially attacked by a dioxygenase enzyme which oxidizes the compounds to a labile dihydrodiole which is spontaneously converted to a catechol. The dihydroxylated aromatic rings is then opened by oxidative {open_quotes}ortho{close_quotes} or {open_quotes}meta{close_quotes} cleavage yielding cis, cis-muconic acid or 2-hydroxy-cis, cis-muconic semialdehyde, respectively. These organic compounds are further oxidized to carbon dioxide or are assimilated for cellular material. This paper describes the conversion of carbon tetrachloride using methanol as the primary carbon and energy source.« less
Juránek, Ivo; Nikitovic, Dragana; Kouretas, Dimitrios; Hayes, A Wallace; Tsatsakis, Aristidis M
2013-11-01
Findings about involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) not only in defense processes, but also in a number of pathologies, stimulated discussion about their role in etiopathogenesis of various diseases. Yet questions regarding the role of ROS in tissue injury, whether ROS may serve as a common cause of different disorders or whether their uncontrolled production is just a manifestation of the processes involved, remain unexplained. Dogmatically, increased ROS formation is considered to be responsible for development of the so-called free-radical diseases. The present review discusses importance of ROS in various biological processes, including origin of life, evolution, genome plasticity, maintaining homeostasis and organism protection. This may be a reason why no significant benefit was found when exogenous antioxidants were used to treat free-radical diseases, even though their causality was primarily attributed to ROS. Here, we postulate that ROS unlikely play a causal role in tissue damage, but may readily be involved in signaling processes and as such in mediating tissue healing rather than injuring. This concept is thus in a contradiction to traditional understanding of ROS as deleterious agents. Nonetheless, under conditions of failing autoregulation, ROS may attack integral cellular components, cause cell death and deteriorate the evolving injury. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Effects of reactive oxygen species on cellular wall disassembly of banana fruit during ripening.
Cheng, Guiping; Duan, Xuewu; Shi, John; Lu, Wangjin; Luo, Yunbo; Jiang, Weibo; Jiang, Yueming
2008-07-15
Fruit softening is generally attributed to cell wall disassembly. Experiments were conducted to investigate effects of various reactive oxygen species (ROS) on in vitro cellular wall disassembly of harvested banana fruit. The alcohol-extracted insoluble residue (AEIR) was obtained from the pulp tissues of banana fruit at various ripening stages and then used to examine the disassembly of cellular wall polysaccharides in the presence of superoxide anion (O2(-)), hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) or hydroxyl radical (OH) and their scavengers. The presence of OH accelerated significantly disassembly of cellular wall polysaccharides in terms of the increase in contents of total sugars released and uronic acid, and the decrease in molecular mass of soluble polysaccharides, using gel permeation chromatography. However, the treatment with H2O2 or O2(-) showed no significant effect on the disassembly of cellular wall polysaccharides. Furthermore, the degradation of the de-esterified AEIR was more susceptible to OH attack than the esterified AEIR. In addition, the effect of OH could be inhibited in the presence of OH scavenger. This study suggests that disassembly of cellular wall polysaccharides could be initiated by OH as the solublisation of the polysaccharides increased, which, in turn, accelerated fruit softening. Copyright © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Hryn, J. N.
1998-11-09
A new concept for a stable anode for aluminum electrowinning is described. The anode consists of a cup-shaped metal alloy container filled with a molten salt that contains dissolved aluminum. The metal alloy can be any of a number of alloys, but it must contain aluminum as a secondary alloying metal. A possible alloy composition is copper with 5 to 15 weight percent aluminum. In the presence of oxygen, aluminum on the metal anode's exterior surface forms a continuous alumina film that is thick enough to protect the anode from chemical attack by cryolite during electrolysis and thin enough tomore » maintain electrical conductivity. However, the alumina film is soluble in cryolite, so it must be regenerated in situ. Film regeneration is achieved by the transport of aluminum metal from the anode's molten salt interior through the metal wall to the anode's exterior surface, where the transported aluminum oxidizes to alumina in the presence of evolving oxygen to maintain the protective alumina film. Periodic addition of aluminum metal to the anode's interior keeps the aluminum activity in the molten salt at the desired level. This concept for an inert anode is viable as long as the amount of aluminum produced at the cathode greatly exceeds the amount of aluminum required to maintain the anode's protective film.« less
Pfaltz, Monique C; Michael, Tanja; Meyer, Andrea H; Wilhelm, Frank H
2013-08-01
Panic attacks are frequently perceived as life threatening. Panic disorder (PD) patients may therefore experience symptoms of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The authors explored this in 28 healthy controls, 17 PTSD patients, and 24 PD patients with agoraphobia who completed electronic diaries 36 times during 1 week. Patient groups frequently reported dissociation as well as thoughts, memories, and reliving of their trauma or panic attacks. PTSD patients reported more trauma/panic attack thoughts (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 2.9) and memories (IRR = 2.8) than PD patients. Patient groups relived their trauma or panic attacks equally frequently, and reported comparable bodily reactions and distress associated with trauma or panic attack memories. Clinical groups avoided trauma or panic attack reminders more often than healthy controls (avoidance of trauma- or panic attack-related thoughts (IRR = 8.0); avoidance of things associated with the trauma or panic attack (IRR = 40.7). PD patients avoided trauma or panic attack reminders less often than PTSD patients (avoidance of trauma- or panic attack-related thoughts [IRR = 2.5]; avoidance of things associated with the trauma or panic attack [IRR = 4.1]), yet these differences were nonsignificant when controlling for functional impairment. In conclusion, trauma-like symptoms are common in PD with agoraphobia and panic attacks may be processed similarly as trauma in PTSD. Copyright © 2013 International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies.
False Positive and False Negative Effects on Network Attacks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Shang, Yilun
2018-01-01
Robustness against attacks serves as evidence for complex network structures and failure mechanisms that lie behind them. Most often, due to detection capability limitation or good disguises, attacks on networks are subject to false positives and false negatives, meaning that functional nodes may be falsely regarded as compromised by the attacker and vice versa. In this work, we initiate a study of false positive/negative effects on network robustness against three fundamental types of attack strategies, namely, random attacks (RA), localized attacks (LA), and targeted attack (TA). By developing a general mathematical framework based upon the percolation model, we investigate analytically and by numerical simulations of attack robustness with false positive/negative rate (FPR/FNR) on three benchmark models including Erdős-Rényi (ER) networks, random regular (RR) networks, and scale-free (SF) networks. We show that ER networks are equivalently robust against RA and LA only when FPR equals zero or the initial network is intact. We find several interesting crossovers in RR and SF networks when FPR is taken into consideration. By defining the cost of attack, we observe diminishing marginal attack efficiency for RA, LA, and TA. Our finding highlights the potential risk of underestimating or ignoring FPR in understanding attack robustness. The results may provide insights into ways of enhancing robustness of network architecture and improve the level of protection of critical infrastructures.
The non-trusty clown attack on model-based speaker recognition systems
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Farrokh Baroughi, Alireza; Craver, Scott
2015-03-01
Biometric detectors for speaker identification commonly employ a statistical model for a subject's voice, such as a Gaussian Mixture Model, that combines multiple means to improve detector performance. This allows a malicious insider to amend or append a component of a subject's statistical model so that a detector behaves normally except under a carefully engineered circumstance. This allows an attacker to force a misclassification of his or her voice only when desired, by smuggling data into a database far in advance of an attack. Note that the attack is possible if attacker has access to database even for a limited time to modify victim's model. We exhibit such an attack on a speaker identification, in which an attacker can force a misclassification by speaking in an unusual voice, and replacing the least weighted component of victim's model by the most weighted competent of the unusual voice of the attacker's model. The reason attacker make his or her voice unusual during the attack is because his or her normal voice model can be in database, and by attacking with unusual voice, the attacker has the option to be recognized as himself or herself when talking normally or as the victim when talking in the unusual manner. By attaching an appropriately weighted vector to a victim's model, we can impersonate all users in our simulations, while avoiding unwanted false rejections.
Code of Federal Regulations, 2014 CFR
2014-10-01
... meaning of the listed terms are as follows: (a) The term attack means any attack or series of attacks by... population caused, or which would be caused, by an attack upon the United States, or by natural disaster, (2) to deal with the immediate emergency conditions which would be created by any such attack, or natural...
Code of Federal Regulations, 2013 CFR
2013-10-01
... meaning of the listed terms are as follows: (a) The term attack means any attack or series of attacks by... population caused, or which would be caused, by an attack upon the United States, or by natural disaster, (2) to deal with the immediate emergency conditions which would be created by any such attack, or natural...
Code of Federal Regulations, 2012 CFR
2012-10-01
... meaning of the listed terms are as follows: (a) The term attack means any attack or series of attacks by... population caused, or which would be caused, by an attack upon the United States, or by natural disaster, (2) to deal with the immediate emergency conditions which would be created by any such attack, or natural...
[Comparative analysis of phenomenology of paroxysms of atrial fibrillation and panic attacks].
San'kova, T A; Solov'eva, A D; Nedostup, A V
2004-01-01
To study phenomenology of attacks of atrial fibrillation (AF) and to compare it with phenomenology of panic attacks for elucidation of pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation and for elaboration of rational therapeutic intervention including those aimed at correction of psychovegetative abnormalities. Patients with nonrheumatic paroxysmal AF (n=105) and 100 patients with panic attacks (n=100). Clinical, cardiological and neurological examination, analysis of patients complaints during attacks of AF, and comparison them with diagnostic criteria for panic attack. It was found that clinical picture of attacks of AF comprised vegetative, emotional and functional neurological phenomena similar to those characteristic for panic attacks. This similarity as well as positive therapeutic effect of clonazepam allowed to propose a novel pathogenic mechanism of AF attacks. Severity of psychovegetative disorders during paroxysm of AF could be evaluated by calculation of psychovegetative iudex: Psychovegetative index should be used for detection of panic attack-like component in clinical picture of AF paroxysm and thus for determination of indications for inclusion of vegetotropic drugs, e. g. clonazepam, in complex preventive therapy.
Security Assessment of Cyberphysical Digital Microfluidic Biochips.
Ali, Sk Subidh; Ibrahim, Mohamed; Sinanoglu, Ozgur; Chakrabarty, Krishnendu; Karri, Ramesh
2016-01-01
A digital microfluidic biochip (DMFB) is an emerging technology that enables miniaturized analysis systems for point-of-care clinical diagnostics, DNA sequencing, and environmental monitoring. A DMFB reduces the rate of sample and reagent consumption, and automates the analysis of assays. In this paper, we provide the first assessment of the security vulnerabilities of DMFBs. We identify result-manipulation attacks on a DMFB that maliciously alter the assay outcomes. Two practical result-manipulation attacks are shown on a DMFB platform performing enzymatic glucose assay on serum. In the first attack, the attacker adjusts the concentration of the glucose sample and thereby modifies the final result. In the second attack, the attacker tampers with the calibration curve of the assay operation. We then identify denial-of-service attacks, where the attacker can disrupt the assay operation by tampering either with the droplet-routing algorithm or with the actuation sequence. We demonstrate these attacks using a digital microfluidic synthesis simulator. The results show that the attacks are easy to implement and hard to detect. Therefore, this work highlights the need for effective protections against malicious modifications in DMFBs.
Molecular water oxidation mechanisms followed by transition metals: state of the art.
Sala, Xavier; Maji, Somnath; Bofill, Roger; García-Antón, Jordi; Escriche, Lluís; Llobet, Antoni
2014-02-18
One clean alternative to fossil fuels would be to split water using sunlight. However, to achieve this goal, researchers still need to fully understand and control several key chemical reactions. One of them is the catalytic oxidation of water to molecular oxygen, which also occurs at the oxygen evolving center of photosystem II in green plants and algae. Despite its importance for biology and renewable energy, the mechanism of this reaction is not fully understood. Transition metal water oxidation catalysts in homogeneous media offer a superb platform for researchers to investigate and extract the crucial information to describe the different steps involved in this complex reaction accurately. The mechanistic information extracted at a molecular level allows researchers to understand both the factors that govern this reaction and the ones that derail the system to cause decomposition. As a result, rugged and efficient water oxidation catalysts with potential technological applications can be developed. In this Account, we discuss the current mechanistic understanding of the water oxidation reaction catalyzed by transition metals in the homogeneous phase, based on work developed in our laboratories and complemented by research from other groups. Rather than reviewing all of the catalysts described to date, we focus systematically on the several key elements and their rationale from molecules studied in homogeneous media. We organize these catalysts based on how the crucial oxygen-oxygen bond step takes place, whether via a water nucleophilic attack or via the interaction of two M-O units, rather than based on the nuclearity of the water oxidation catalysts. Furthermore we have used DFT methodology to characterize key intermediates and transition states. The combination of both theory and experiments has allowed us to get a complete view of the water oxidation cycle for the different catalysts studied. Finally, we also describe the various deactivation pathways for these catalysts.
Reactions of small organic molecules on silver(110)
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Ayre, C.R.
1992-01-01
The interaction of two pairs of molecules (1) acetone (CH[sub 3])[sub 2]C=O and isobutylene (CH[sub 3])[sub 2] C=CH[sub 2] and (2) 1,2-propanediol CH[sub 3] CH (OH)CH[sub 2]OH and 1,3-propanediol HOCH[sub 2]CH[sub 2]CH[sub 2]OH with clean and oxygen-activated Ag(110) has been explored to investigate the effects of molecular structure on reactivity. Experimental techniques employed include temperature programmed reaction spectroscopy, isotopic labelling, surface displacement reactions, and electron energy loss spectroscopy. Acetone and isobutylene were studied to explore the relative importance of C=O and C=C bonds in governing the reactivity of structurally similar compounds. Nucleophilic attack by oxygen at the electron-deficient carbonyl carbonmore » in acetone results in reversible formation of the metallacycle (CH[sub 3])[sub 2]COO[sub (a)] at 110 K. Upon heating C-H bond activation by O[sub (a)] occurs near 215 K to yield acetone enolate CH[sub 2]=C(CH[sub 3])O[sub (a)] and evolve H[sub 2]O[sub (g)]. Atomic oxygen activates methyl C-H bonds in isobutylene via an acid-base mechanism. Although the major products are CO[sub 2(g)] and H[sub 2]O[sub (g)], a small amount of (CH[sub 3])[sub 2]C=CH[sub 2(g)] evolves near 310 K. Evidence for the formation of [pi]-2-methylallyl CH[sub 3]C(CH[sub 2])[sub 2(a)] and trimethylenementhane C(CH[sub 2])[sub 3(a)] is presented. The reaction of 1,2-propanediol CH[sub 3] CH(OH)CH[sub 2] OH with oxygen-activated Ag(110) has been compared with that of 1,3-propanediol HOCH[sub 2]CH[sub 2]CH[sub 2]OH to evaluate the effects of varying the position of O-H bonds in both diols to produce the corresponding dialkoxides.« less
Watkinson, D; Rimmer, M; Kasztovszky, Z; Kis, Z; Maróti, B; Szentmiklósi, L
2014-01-01
Chloride (Cl) ions diffuse into iron objects during burial and drive corrosion after excavation. Located under corrosion layers, Cl is inaccessible to many analytical techniques. Neutron analysis offers non-destructive avenues for determining Cl content and distribution in objects. A pilot study used prompt gamma activation analysis (PGAA) and prompt gamma activation imaging (PGAI) to analyse the bulk concentration and longitudinal distribution of Cl in archaeological iron objects. This correlated with the object corrosion rate measured by oxygen consumption, and compared well with Cl measurement using a specific ion meter. High-Cl areas were linked with visible damage to the corrosion layers and attack of the iron core. Neutron techniques have significant advantages in the analysis of archaeological metals, including penetration depth and low detection limits. PMID:26028670
Clinical use of Heliox in asthma and COPD.
Valli, G; Paoletti, P; Savi, D; Martolini, D; Palange, P
2007-09-01
Heliox is a low density gas mixture of helium and oxygen commonly used in deep diving (> 6 ATM). This mixture has been also used for clinical purposes, particularly in the critical care setting. Due to of its physical proprieties, Heliox breathing reduces air flow resistances within the bronchial tree; in patients with obstructive lung diseases Heliox may also reduce the work of breathing and improve pulmonary gas exchange efficiency. Beneficial effects have been documented in severe asthma attacks and in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. A reduction in WOB during mechanical ventilation and an increase in exercise endurance capacity have also been described in COPD. Heliox has been also used in the treatment of upper airways obstruction, bronchiolitis and bronchopulmonary dysplasia. Despite the encouraging results, Heliox use in routine practice remains controversial because of technical implications and high costs.
Discovery of oxidative burst in the field of plant immunity
Yoshioka, Hirofumi; Bouteau, François
2008-01-01
This article is introductory to the series of works presented in this special issue on the homeostasis and the signaling roles of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in plants. Upper half of this article briefly describes the history of the ROS study in the field of plant immunity research initiated by the observation that the attacks by pathogenic microorganisms possibly stimulate the burst of ROS production in the plant tissues. The topics covered in the series of works presented here include the plants' responses to abiotic oxidative stress (atmospheric ozone), regulation of seed germination, chemical interaction between parasitic and host plants and the draught tolerance, all controlled through homeostasis of ROS at biochemical and molecular biological levels. Lastly a discussion forum was proposed to further deepen our understanding of ROS behaviors in plants. PMID:19513209
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Fossler, I. H.; Cole, P.
1972-01-01
Experimental aerodynamic investigations were conducted on a .006 scale model of the space shuttle 040-A orbiter and its external fuel tank utilizing the NASA/MFSC dual sting support system in the MFSC 14 x 14 inch Trisonic Wind Tunnel. Normal force, pitching moment and axial force components were recorded simultaneously on the orbiter and the tank at selected tank field positions beneath the orbiter as both models were pitched through an angle of attack range of -5 deg to 20 deg. Incidence angles between orbiter and tank of 0 deg, 5 deg, 10 deg and 15 deg were investigated. During these tests Mach number was set at 0.6, 2.0 and 4.0.
Development and evaluation of die and container materials. Low cost silicon solar array project
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Wills, R. R.; Niesx, D. E.
1979-01-01
Specific compositions of high purity silicon aluminum oxynitride (Sialon) and silicon beryllium oxynitride (Sibeon) solid solutions were shown to be promising refractory materials for handling and manipulating solar grade silicon into silicon ribbon. Evaulation of the interaction of these materials in contact with molten silicon indicated that solid solutions based upon beta-Si3N4 were more stable than those based on Si2N2O. Sibeon was more resistant to molten silicon attack than Sialon. Both materials should preferably be used in an inert atmosphere rather than under vacuum conditions because removal of oxygen from the silicon melt occurs as SiO enhances the dissolution of aluminum and beryllium. The wetting angles of these materials were low enough for these materials to be considered as both die and container materials.
Ozone as a laundry agent on orbit and on the ground
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Agosto, William N.
1994-01-01
Ozone (03), is the strongest commercial oxidizing agent for aqueous systems and may be ideal for space station laundering operations. It can be generated electronically from air in situ. It kills virtually all microorganisms, attacks many organics and inorganics, and breaks down stable ring structures of benzene and related oils when coupled with ultra violet radiation. It cleans and disinfects in cold water without the need for detergent. It leaves no residues. Ozone permits up to 90% wash water recycling and it eliminates wash time, water volume, and recycling problems of a detergent rinse. Ozone is self purging and converts spontaneously to oxygen. It can be rapidly purged by well established catalytic and thermal processes. Scaling of an ozone laundering system for space station may have commercial applications in a consumer model for home use.
Nanomaterials for Cardiac Myocyte Tissue Engineering.
Amezcua, Rodolfo; Shirolkar, Ajay; Fraze, Carolyn; Stout, David A
2016-07-19
Since their synthesizing introduction to the research community, nanomaterials have infiltrated almost every corner of science and engineering. Over the last decade, one such field has begun to look at using nanomaterials for beneficial applications in tissue engineering, specifically, cardiac tissue engineering. During a myocardial infarction, part of the cardiac muscle, or myocardium, is deprived of blood. Therefore, the lack of oxygen destroys cardiomyocytes, leaving dead tissue and possibly resulting in the development of arrhythmia, ventricular remodeling, and eventual heart failure. Scarred cardiac muscle results in heart failure for millions of heart attack survivors worldwide. Modern cardiac tissue engineering research has developed nanomaterial applications to combat heart failure, preserve normal heart tissue, and grow healthy myocardium around the infarcted area. This review will discuss the recent progress of nanomaterials for cardiovascular tissue engineering applications through three main nanomaterial approaches: scaffold designs, patches, and injectable materials.
Chim, Harvey; Yew, Woon Si; Song, Colin
2007-01-01
Terror attacks in Southeast Asia were almost nonexistent until the 2002 Bali bomb blast, considered the deadliest attack in Indonesian history. Further attacks in 2003 (Jakarta), 2004 (Jakarta), and 2005 (Bali) have turned terrorist attacks into an ever-present reality. The authors reviewed medical charts of victims evacuated to the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) Burns Centre during three suicide attacks involving Bali (2002 and 2005) and the Jakarta Marriott hotel (2003). Problems faced, lessons learnt, and costs incurred are discussed. A burns disaster plan drawing on lessons learnt from these attacks is presented. Thirty-one patients were treated at the SGH Burns Centre in three attacks (2002 Bali attack [n = 15], 2003 Jakarta attack [n = 14], and 2005 Bali attack [n = 2]). For the 2002 Bali attack, median age was 29 years (range 20 to 50 years), median percentage of total burn surface area (TBSA) was 29% (range 5% to 55%), and median abbreviated burn severity index (ABSI) was 6 (range 3 to 10). Eight of 15 patients were admitted to the intensive care unit. For the 2003 Jakarta attack, median age was 35 years (range 24 to 56 years), median percentage of TBSA was 10% (range 2% to 46%), and median ABSI was 4 (range 3 to 9). A large number of patients had other injuries. Problems faced included manpower issues, lack of bed space, shortage of blood products, and lack of cadaver skin. The changing nature of terror attacks mandates continued vigilance and disaster preparedness. The multidimensional burns patient, complicated by other injuries, is likely to become increasingly common. A burns disaster plan with emphasis on effective command, control, and communication as well as organisation of health care personnel following a 'team concept' will do much to ensure that the sudden onset of a crisis situation at an unexpected time does not overwhelm hospital manpower and resources.
Chim, Harvey; Yew, Woon Si; Song, Colin
2007-01-01
Introduction Terror attacks in Southeast Asia were almost nonexistent until the 2002 Bali bomb blast, considered the deadliest attack in Indonesian history. Further attacks in 2003 (Jakarta), 2004 (Jakarta), and 2005 (Bali) have turned terrorist attacks into an ever-present reality. Methods The authors reviewed medical charts of victims evacuated to the Singapore General Hospital (SGH) Burns Centre during three suicide attacks involving Bali (2002 and 2005) and the Jakarta Marriott hotel (2003). Problems faced, lessons learnt, and costs incurred are discussed. A burns disaster plan drawing on lessons learnt from these attacks is presented. Results Thirty-one patients were treated at the SGH Burns Centre in three attacks (2002 Bali attack [n = 15], 2003 Jakarta attack [n = 14], and 2005 Bali attack [n = 2]). For the 2002 Bali attack, median age was 29 years (range 20 to 50 years), median percentage of total burn surface area (TBSA) was 29% (range 5% to 55%), and median abbreviated burn severity index (ABSI) was 6 (range 3 to 10). Eight of 15 patients were admitted to the intensive care unit. For the 2003 Jakarta attack, median age was 35 years (range 24 to 56 years), median percentage of TBSA was 10% (range 2% to 46%), and median ABSI was 4 (range 3 to 9). A large number of patients had other injuries. Problems faced included manpower issues, lack of bed space, shortage of blood products, and lack of cadaver skin. Conclusion The changing nature of terror attacks mandates continued vigilance and disaster preparedness. The multidimensional burns patient, complicated by other injuries, is likely to become increasingly common. A burns disaster plan with emphasis on effective command, control, and communication as well as organisation of health care personnel following a 'team concept' will do much to ensure that the sudden onset of a crisis situation at an unexpected time does not overwhelm hospital manpower and resources. PMID:17274813
Robustness analysis of interdependent networks under multiple-attacking strategies
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gao, Yan-Li; Chen, Shi-Ming; Nie, Sen; Ma, Fei; Guan, Jun-Jie
2018-04-01
The robustness of complex networks under attacks largely depends on the structure of a network and the nature of the attacks. Previous research on interdependent networks has focused on two types of initial attack: random attack and degree-based targeted attack. In this paper, a deliberate attack function is proposed, where six kinds of deliberate attacking strategies can be derived by adjusting the tunable parameters. Moreover, the robustness of four types of interdependent networks (BA-BA, ER-ER, BA-ER and ER-BA) with different coupling modes (random, positive and negative correlation) is evaluated under different attacking strategies. Interesting conclusions could be obtained. It can be found that the positive coupling mode can make the vulnerability of the interdependent network to be absolutely dependent on the most vulnerable sub-network under deliberate attacks, whereas random and negative coupling modes make the vulnerability of interdependent network to be mainly dependent on the being attacked sub-network. The robustness of interdependent network will be enhanced with the degree-degree correlation coefficient varying from positive to negative. Therefore, The negative coupling mode is relatively more optimal than others, which can substantially improve the robustness of the ER-ER network and ER-BA network. In terms of the attacking strategies on interdependent networks, the degree information of node is more valuable than the betweenness. In addition, we found a more efficient attacking strategy for each coupled interdependent network and proposed the corresponding protection strategy for suppressing cascading failure. Our results can be very useful for safety design and protection of interdependent networks.
Continuous-variable quantum cryptography is secure against non-Gaussian attacks.
Grosshans, Frédéric; Cerf, Nicolas J
2004-01-30
A general study of arbitrary finite-size coherent attacks against continuous-variable quantum cryptographic schemes is presented. It is shown that, if the size of the blocks that can be coherently attacked by an eavesdropper is fixed and much smaller than the key size, then the optimal attack for a given signal-to-noise ratio in the transmission line is an individual Gaussian attack. Consequently, non-Gaussian coherent attacks do not need to be considered in the security analysis of such quantum cryptosystems.
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Banks, Bruce A.; deGroh, Kim K.; Demko, Rikako
2003-01-01
Polymers such as polyimide Kapton (DuPont) and Teflon FEP (DuPont, fluorinated ethylene propylene) are commonly used spacecraft materials because of desirable properties such as flexibility, low density, and in the case of FEP, a low solar absorptance and high thermal emittance. Polymers on the exterior of spacecraft in the low-Earth-orbit (LEO) environment are exposed to energetic atomic oxygen. Atomic oxygen reaction with polymers causes erosion, which is a threat to spacecraft performance and durability. It is, therefore, important to understand the atomic oxygen erosion yield E (the volume loss per incident oxygen atom) of polymers being considered in spacecraft design. The most common technique for determining E is a passive technique based on mass-loss measurements of samples exposed to LEO atomic oxygen during a space flight experiment. There are certain disadvantages to this technique. First, because it is passive, data are not obtained until after the flight is completed. Also, obtaining the preflight and postflight mass measurements is complicated by the fact that many polymers absorb water and, therefore, the mass change due to water absorption can affect the E data. This is particularly true for experiments that receive low atomic oxygen exposures or for samples that have a very low E. An active atomic oxygen erosion technique based on optical measurements has been developed that has certain advantages over the mass-loss technique. This in situ technique can simultaneously provide the erosion yield data on orbit and the atomic oxygen exposure fluence, which is needed for erosion yield determination. In the optical technique, either sunlight or artificial light can be used to measure the erosion of semitransparent or opaque polymers as a result of atomic oxygen attack. The technique is simple and adaptable to a rather wide range of polymers, providing that they have a sufficiently high optical absorption coefficient. If one covers a photodiode with a uniformly thick sheet of semitransparent polymer such as Kapton H polyimide, then as atomic oxygen erodes the polymer, the short-circuit current from the photodiode will increase in an exponential manner with fluence. This nonlinear response with fluence results in a lack of sensitivity for measuring low atomic oxygen fluences. However, if one uses a variable-thickness polymer or carbon sample, which is configured as shown in the preceding figure, then a linear response can be achieved for opaque materials using a parabolic well for a circular geometry detector or a V-shaped well for a rectangular-geometry detector. Variable-thickness samples can be fabricated using many thin polymer layers. For semitransparent polymers such as Kapton H polyimide, there is an initial short-circuit current that is greater than zero. This current has a slightly nonlinear dependence on atomic oxygen fluence in comparison to opaque materials such as black Kapton as shown in the graph. For this graph figure, the total thickness of Kapton H was assumed to be 0.03 cm. The photodiode short-circuit current shown in the graph was generated on the basis of preliminary measurements-a total reflectance rho of 0.0424 and an optical absorption coefficient a of 146.5 cm(sup -1). In addition to obtaining on-orbit data, the advantage of this active erosion and erosion yield measurement technique is its simplicity and reliance upon well-characterized fluence witness materials as well as a nearly linear photodiode short-circuit current dependence upon atomic oxygen fluence. The optical technique is useful for measuring either atomic oxygen fluence or erosion, depending on the information desired. To measure the atomic oxygen erosion yield of a test material, one would need to have two photodiode sensors, one for the test material and one that uses a known erosion yield material (such as Kapton) to measure the atomic oxygen fluence.
Brown, Lily A; LeBeau, Richard; Liao, Betty; Niles, Andrea N; Glenn, Daniel; Craske, Michelle G
2016-01-30
Panic attacks occurring outside of Panic Disorder are not well-understood despite their inclusion as a diagnostic specifier in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5). This study compares panic attacks in the context of Panic Disorder compared to social anxiety in terms of their symptom frequency, severity, and clinical correlates. Participants (n=404) were interviewed using the Anxiety Disorders Interview Schedule (ADIS-IV-L; Brown et al., 1994), from which we analyzed interviewer ratings of panic attacks and panic attack symptoms, as well as other demographic and clinical characteristics. Panic attacks in the context of Panic Disorder were characterized by a greater number and severity of symptoms compared to panic attacks in the context of Social Anxiety Disorder, and were associated with a history of traumatization, inpatient psychiatric treatment, and benzodiazepine use. Social anxiety panic attacks were associated with reduced physical health concerns. Cognitive panic attack symptoms were more prevalent in Panic Disorder and were associated with a variety of poor clinical correlates. Panic attacks in the context of Panic Disorder are more severe than those in social anxiety, and this may be driven by cognitive disturbances during those attacks. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Detecting Distributed SQL Injection Attacks in a Eucalyptus Cloud Environment
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Kebert, Alan; Barnejee, Bikramjit; Solano, Juan; Solano, Wanda
2013-01-01
The cloud computing environment offers malicious users the ability to spawn multiple instances of cloud nodes that are similar to virtual machines, except that they can have separate external IP addresses. In this paper we demonstrate how this ability can be exploited by an attacker to distribute his/her attack, in particular SQL injection attacks, in such a way that an intrusion detection system (IDS) could fail to identify this attack. To demonstrate this, we set up a small private cloud, established a vulnerable website in one instance, and placed an IDS within the cloud to monitor the network traffic. We found that an attacker could quite easily defeat the IDS by periodically altering its IP address. To detect such an attacker, we propose to use multi-agent plan recognition, where the multiple source IPs are considered as different agents who are mounting a collaborative attack. We show that such a formulation of this problem yields a more sophisticated approach to detecting SQL injection attacks within a cloud computing environment.
Berzak, Elina; Reznik, Mila; Narsia, Oxana; Benjamin, Jonathan
2004-01-01
There is currently no way of knowing whether a patient who has recently had a single panic attack has incipient panic disorder. Sensitivity to carbon dioxide (CO2) is lower in healthy volunteers than in panic disorder patients. If this is also true of people who experience a single lifetime panic attack, it could be used as a prognostic test. Subjects with a single lifetime panic attack and subjects with panic disorder received an inhalation of 35% CO2. Subjects completed the panic symptoms scale (PSS), and also stated whether they considered that they had experienced an attack. None of 14 subjects with a single lifetime panic attack, compared to 7 of 17 subjects with panic disorder (P=.009), had an attack. The PSS also distinguished between the groups. The 35% CO2 challenge warrants further investigation as a predictive test after a first panic attack.
DeTrano, Alexander; Karimi, Naghmeh; Karri, Ramesh; Guo, Xiaofei; Carlet, Claude; Guilley, Sylvain
2015-01-01
Masking countermeasures, used to thwart side-channel attacks, have been shown to be vulnerable to mask-extraction attacks. State-of-the-art mask-extraction attacks on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm target S-Box recomputation schemes but have not been applied to scenarios where S-Boxes are precomputed offline. We propose an attack targeting precomputed S-Boxes stored in nonvolatile memory. Our attack targets AES implemented in software protected by a low entropy masking scheme and recovers the masks with 91% success rate. Recovering the secret key requires fewer power traces (in fact, by at least two orders of magnitude) compared to a classical second-order attack. Moreover, we show that this attack remains viable in a noisy environment or with a reduced number of leakage points. Eventually, we specify a method to enhance the countermeasure by selecting a suitable coset of the masks set.
Brown, Mark P
2006-01-01
The effect of nursing professionals (i.e., nurse aid/orderly, licensed practical nurse, registered nurse) pay structures and pay levels on hospitals risk-adjusted heart attack outcomes was determined. Operationalizing hospitals' heart attack outcomes as their thirty-day risk-adjusted mortality rates, a positive curvilinear relation is hypothesized between pay dispersion and hospitals' heart attack outcomes, whereas a direct relation is hypothesized between pay level and hospitals' heart attack outcomes. Pay level is also hypothesized as a moderator of the relation between pay dispersion and hospitals' heart attack outcomes. Using a sample of 138 California hospitals, support is not found for either the curvilinear relation between hospitals' nursing professionals pay dispersion and hospitals' heart attack outcomes, or the direct relation between nursing professionals' pay level and hospitals' heart attack outcomes. Support is found for the moderation hypothesis in which nursing professionals' pay level moderates the relation between hospitals' nursing professionals pay dispersion and hospitals' heart attack outcomes. Implications for practice are discussed in light of the study's results.
DeTrano, Alexander; Karimi, Naghmeh; Karri, Ramesh; Guo, Xiaofei; Carlet, Claude; Guilley, Sylvain
2015-01-01
Masking countermeasures, used to thwart side-channel attacks, have been shown to be vulnerable to mask-extraction attacks. State-of-the-art mask-extraction attacks on the Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm target S-Box recomputation schemes but have not been applied to scenarios where S-Boxes are precomputed offline. We propose an attack targeting precomputed S-Boxes stored in nonvolatile memory. Our attack targets AES implemented in software protected by a low entropy masking scheme and recovers the masks with 91% success rate. Recovering the secret key requires fewer power traces (in fact, by at least two orders of magnitude) compared to a classical second-order attack. Moreover, we show that this attack remains viable in a noisy environment or with a reduced number of leakage points. Eventually, we specify a method to enhance the countermeasure by selecting a suitable coset of the masks set. PMID:26491717
The Icatibant Outcome Survey: treatment of laryngeal angioedema attacks
Aberer, Werner; Bouillet, Laurence; Caballero, Teresa; Maurer, Marcus; Fabien, Vincent; Zanichelli, Andrea
2016-01-01
Objective To characterize the management and outcomes of life-threatening laryngeal attacks of hereditary angioedema (HAE) treated with icatibant in the observational Icatibant Outcome Survey (NCT01034969) registry. Methods This retrospective analysis was based on data from patients with HAE type I/II who received healthcare professional-administered or self-administered icatibant to treat laryngeal attacks between September 2008 and May 2013. Results Twenty centers in seven countries contributed data. Overall, 42 patients with HAE experienced 67 icatibant-treated laryngeal attacks. Icatibant was self-administered for 62.3% of attacks (healthcare professional-administered, 37.7%). One icatibant injection was used for 87.9% of attacks, with rescue or concomitant medication used for 9.0%. The median time to treatment was 2.0 h (n=31 attacks) and the median time to resolution was 6.0 h (n=35 attacks). Conclusions This analysis describes successful use of icatibant for the treatment of laryngeal HAE attacks in a real-world setting. PMID:27116379
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Using the Domain Name System to Thwart Automated Client-Based Attacks
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Taylor, Curtis R; Shue, Craig A
2011-09-01
On the Internet, attackers can compromise systems owned by other people and then use these systems to launch attacks automatically. When attacks such as phishing or SQL injections are successful, they can have negative consequences including server downtime and the loss of sensitive information. Current methods to prevent such attacks are limited in that they are application-specific, or fail to block attackers. Phishing attempts can be stopped with email filters, but if the attacker manages to successfully bypass these filters, then the user must determine if the email is legitimate or not. Unfortunately, they often are unable to do so.more » Since attackers have a low success rate, they attempt to compensate for it in volume. In order to have this high throughput, attackers take shortcuts and break protocols. We use this knowledge to address these issues by implementing a system that can detect malicious activity and use it to block attacks. If the client fails to follow proper procedure, they can be classified as an attacker. Once an attacker has been discovered, they will be isolated and monitored. This can be accomplished using existing software in Ubuntu Linux applications, along with our custom wrapper application. After running the system and seeing its performance on three popular Web browsers Chromium, Firefox and Internet Explorer as well as two popular email clients, Thunderbird and Evolution, we found that not only is this system conceivable, it is effective and has low overhead.« less
Incidence and impact of dog attacks on guide dogs in the UK.
Brooks, A; Moxon, R; England, G C W
2010-06-19
In a retrospective survey, researchers identified 100 incidents of attacks on guide dogs by other dogs. These were reviewed in order to determine the number, severity and impact on the handler and dog, and the characteristics of the aggressors and victims. During the study period there were more than three attacks reported each month, with 61 per cent of the attacks being upon dogs that were in harness and working with an owner or trainer. The majority of the dogs that were attacked were male (62 per cent), and the breeds that were over-represented (relative to their prevalence in the general guide dog population) were the labrador and the golden retriever x flat-coated retriever crossbreed. Most of the attacks occurred in public places between 09.00 and 15.00 and the majority (61 per cent) of the attacking dogs were off the lead at the time of the attack. Thirty-eight per cent of the attacking dogs were of bull breeds, which were over-represented among attackers compared with the proportion of this breed type in the general dog population. Veterinary attention was sought after 41 per cent of the attacks, and in 19 per cent of instances there was injury to the handler or to a member of the public. The attacks were reported to have affected the working performance and behaviour of the victim dog in 45 per cent of the instances, and two dogs had to be subsequently withdrawn from working as guide dogs.
Robustness and structure of complex networks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Shao, Shuai
This dissertation covers the two major parts of my PhD research on statistical physics and complex networks: i) modeling a new type of attack -- localized attack, and investigating robustness of complex networks under this type of attack; ii) discovering the clustering structure in complex networks and its influence on the robustness of coupled networks. Complex networks appear in every aspect of our daily life and are widely studied in Physics, Mathematics, Biology, and Computer Science. One important property of complex networks is their robustness under attacks, which depends crucially on the nature of attacks and the structure of the networks themselves. Previous studies have focused on two types of attack: random attack and targeted attack, which, however, are insufficient to describe many real-world damages. Here we propose a new type of attack -- localized attack, and study the robustness of complex networks under this type of attack, both analytically and via simulation. On the other hand, we also study the clustering structure in the network, and its influence on the robustness of a complex network system. In the first part, we propose a theoretical framework to study the robustness of complex networks under localized attack based on percolation theory and generating function method. We investigate the percolation properties, including the critical threshold of the phase transition pc and the size of the giant component Pinfinity. We compare localized attack with random attack and find that while random regular (RR) networks are more robust against localized attack, Erdoḧs-Renyi (ER) networks are equally robust under both types of attacks. As for scale-free (SF) networks, their robustness depends crucially on the degree exponent lambda. The simulation results show perfect agreement with theoretical predictions. We also test our model on two real-world networks: a peer-to-peer computer network and an airline network, and find that the real-world networks are much more vulnerable to localized attack compared with random attack. In the second part, we extend the tree-like generating function method to incorporating clustering structure in complex networks. We study the robustness of a complex network system, especially a network of networks (NON) with clustering structure in each network. We find that the system becomes less robust as we increase the clustering coefficient of each network. For a partially dependent network system, we also find that the influence of the clustering coefficient on network robustness decreases as we decrease the coupling strength, and the critical coupling strength qc, at which the first-order phase transition changes to second-order, increases as we increase the clustering coefficient.
Phenomenology of panic attacks: a descriptive study of panic disorder patients' self-reports.
Aronson, T A; Logue, C M
1988-01-01
The phenomenology of panic disorder and panic attacks was systematically assessed in 46 consecutive patients. The results suggest that DSM-III criteria include several symptoms that are not frequently present during a panic attack and that DSM-III's characterization of a panic attack is imprecise and misleading. Panic attacks were found to vary in intensity, frequency, spontaneity, and associated symptoms. A panic attack typically presents as a unified symptom complex of psychic anxiety and multiple somatic symptoms in multiple body systems. It occurs in a crescendolike pattern, is self-limited, and often leaves the subject weak or shaken. The temporal course as much as the symptomatic presentation defines a panic attack.
Finite Energy and Bounded Attacks on Control System Sensor Signals
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Djouadi, Seddik M; Melin, Alexander M; Ferragut, Erik M
Control system networks are increasingly being connected to enterprise level networks. These connections leave critical industrial controls systems vulnerable to cyber-attacks. Most of the effort in protecting these cyber-physical systems (CPS) has been in securing the networks using information security techniques and protection and reliability concerns at the control system level against random hardware and software failures. However, besides these failures the inability of information security techniques to protect against all intrusions means that the control system must be resilient to various signal attacks for which new analysis and detection methods need to be developed. In this paper, sensor signalmore » attacks are analyzed for observer-based controlled systems. The threat surface for sensor signal attacks is subdivided into denial of service, finite energy, and bounded attacks. In particular, the error signals between states of attack free systems and systems subject to these attacks are quantified. Optimal sensor and actuator signal attacks for the finite and infinite horizon linear quadratic (LQ) control in terms of maximizing the corresponding cost functions are computed. The closed-loop system under optimal signal attacks are provided. Illustrative numerical examples are provided together with an application to a power network with distributed LQ controllers.« less
Multi-Layer Approach for the Detection of Selective Forwarding Attacks
Alajmi, Naser; Elleithy, Khaled
2015-01-01
Security breaches are a major threat in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). WSNs are increasingly used due to their broad range of important applications in both military and civilian domains. WSNs are prone to several types of security attacks. Sensor nodes have limited capacities and are often deployed in dangerous locations; therefore, they are vulnerable to different types of attacks, including wormhole, sinkhole, and selective forwarding attacks. Security attacks are classified as data traffic and routing attacks. These security attacks could affect the most significant applications of WSNs, namely, military surveillance, traffic monitoring, and healthcare. Therefore, there are different approaches to detecting security attacks on the network layer in WSNs. Reliability, energy efficiency, and scalability are strong constraints on sensor nodes that affect the security of WSNs. Because sensor nodes have limited capabilities in most of these areas, selective forwarding attacks cannot be easily detected in networks. In this paper, we propose an approach to selective forwarding detection (SFD). The approach has three layers: MAC pool IDs, rule-based processing, and anomaly detection. It maintains the safety of data transmission between a source node and base station while detecting selective forwarding attacks. Furthermore, the approach is reliable, energy efficient, and scalable. PMID:26610499
Cougar attacks on children: injury patterns and treatment.
Kadesky, K M; Manarey, C; Blair, G K; Murphy, J J; Verchere, C; Atkinson, K
1998-06-01
Cougar attacks on humans appear to be on the rise. A review of all attacks on children was performed to determine the method of attack and injury patterns so that a treatment regimen as well as possible preventative measures could be determined. A review of all attacks, including attacks on children, was performed, including three recent attacks treated at our institution. Situation, adult supervision, patient age, injuries recorded, survival, and mode of attack, if known, were reviewed. There were 50 documented attacks on children with a 25% fatality rate. Most children were not alone at the time of the attack (92%), and in many instances adult supervision was present or nearby. Severe head and neck lacerations along with puncture wounds were the most common injury. Examples of typical cervical injuries include a nonfatal vertebral artery injury, phrenic nerve injury, a fatal internal carotid artery injury, and a fatal cervical spine injury. The cougar was rabid in two cases. Pasteurella resulted in late infections in two patients. Based on the pattern of injuries, the authors recommend aggressive evaluation for occult cervical injuries as well as surgical debridement. Antibiotics should cover oropharyngeal flora including Pasteurella multocida. Rabies prophylaxis is indicated. Adult supervision in wilderness areas is not necessarily protective.
Multi-Layer Approach for the Detection of Selective Forwarding Attacks.
Alajmi, Naser; Elleithy, Khaled
2015-11-19
Security breaches are a major threat in wireless sensor networks (WSNs). WSNs are increasingly used due to their broad range of important applications in both military and civilian domains. WSNs are prone to several types of security attacks. Sensor nodes have limited capacities and are often deployed in dangerous locations; therefore, they are vulnerable to different types of attacks, including wormhole, sinkhole, and selective forwarding attacks. Security attacks are classified as data traffic and routing attacks. These security attacks could affect the most significant applications of WSNs, namely, military surveillance, traffic monitoring, and healthcare. Therefore, there are different approaches to detecting security attacks on the network layer in WSNs. Reliability, energy efficiency, and scalability are strong constraints on sensor nodes that affect the security of WSNs. Because sensor nodes have limited capabilities in most of these areas, selective forwarding attacks cannot be easily detected in networks. In this paper, we propose an approach to selective forwarding detection (SFD). The approach has three layers: MAC pool IDs, rule-based processing, and anomaly detection. It maintains the safety of data transmission between a source node and base station while detecting selective forwarding attacks. Furthermore, the approach is reliable, energy efficient, and scalable.
Incidence and impact of dog attacks on guide dogs in the UK: an update.
Moxon, R; Whiteside, H; England, G C W
2016-04-09
Data on dog attacks on Guide Dogs' stock were reviewed to investigate the characteristics of the attacks. An average of 11.2 attacks occurred each month. Nearly all of the attacks occurred in public areas, 68.4 per cent of victim dogs were qualified guide dogs and 55.5 per cent of victim dogs were working in harness when they were attacked. Guide Dogs' stock were injured in 43.2 per cent of attacks and veterinary costs for attacks were estimated at £34,514.30. Over 40 per cent of qualified guide dogs' working ability was affected and >20 per cent of qualified guide dogs required some time off from working after a dog attack. Twenty dogs were permanently withdrawn from the Guide Dogs' programme as a result of dog attacks, 13 of which were qualified and working with guide dog owners at the time of the withdrawal; this resulted in a financial cost of >£600,000 to the charity. More importantly perhaps, temporary and permanent withdrawals have a significant impact upon the mobility and independence of guide dog owners and in many cases significantly impacted their emotional well-being. British Veterinary Association.
Stenuit, Ben; Lamblin, Guillaume; Cornelis, Pierre; Agathos, Spiros N
2012-10-02
Phenazine-containing spent culture supernatants of Pseudomonas aeruginosa concentrated with a C18 solid-phase extraction cartridge initiate NAD(P)H-dependent denitration of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT). In this study, TNT denitration was investigated under aerobic conditions using two phenazine secondary metabolites excreted by P. aeruginosa, pyocyanin (Py) and its precursor phenazine-1- carboxylic acid (PCA), and two chemically synthesized pyocyanin analogs, phenazine methosulfate (PMS+) and phenazine ethosulfate (PES+). The biomimetic Py/NAD(P)H/O2 system was characterized and found to extensively denitrate TNT in unbuffered aqueous solution with minor production of toxic amino aromatic derivatives. To a much lesser extent, TNT denitration was also observed with PMS+ and PES+ in the presence of NAD(P)H. No TNT denitration was detected with the biomimetic PCA/NAD(P)H/O2 system. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy analysis of the biomimetic Py/NAD(P)H/O2 system revealed the generation of superoxide radical anions (O2 •−). In vitro TNT degradation experiments in the presence of specific inhibitors of reactive oxygen species suggest a nucleophilic attack of superoxide radical anion followed by TNT denitration through an as yet unknown mechanism. The results of this research confirm the high functional versatility of the redox-active metabolite pyocyanin and the susceptibility of aromatic compounds bearing electron withdrawing substituents, such as nitro groups, to superoxide-driven nucleophilic attack.
In vitro study on antioxidant potential of various drugs used in the perioperative period.
Kang, M Y; Tsuchiya, M; Packer, L; Manabe, M
1998-01-01
Since surgical trauma not only intensifies the oxidative stress by generating reactive oxygen species (ROS), but also weakens the biological defense system against ROS attack, the antioxidant activity of drugs used during the perioperative period, which possibly normalizes the impaired redox state in the patient, is of fundamental importance and great clinical interest. We have applied the phycoerythrin fluorescence-based assay, in which 2,2'-azobis (2-amidinopropane) dihydrochloride (AAPH)-generated peroxyl radical attacks B-phycoerythrin (B-PE) to lead to a sensitive decrease in its fluorescence intensity linearly, to evaluate the antioxidant activity of major drugs in anesthetic practice. By the protective effect on B-PE fluorescence decay, the antioxidant activities of the drugs were classified into three groups: Group I drugs, which only slowed B-PE fluorescence decay (nicardipine, verapamil, diltiazem, ephedrine, aminophylline, vecuronium, lidocaine, mepivacaine, midazolam, thiamylal, droperidol, ketamine, hydroxyzine, butorphanol, prednisolone, hydrocortisone, betamethasone, dexamethasone, methylprednisolone, and furosemide); Group II drugs, which protected B-PE oxidation completely and stopped fluorescence decay in a certain duration (dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, dobutamine, isoproterenol, and buprenorphine); and Group III drugs, which had no protective effect on B-PE oxidation (nitroglycerin, prostaglandin E1, neostigmine, pancuronium, suxamethonium, atropine, bupivacaine, pentazocine, and heparin). These results indicate that Group I and II drugs exert some antioxidant activity in vitro, as measured by their protection of fluorescence decay of B-PE. Careful consideration of these properties might, then, serve to facilitate more efficient drug application.
Lando, Gabriela Albara; Marconatto, Letícia; Schrank, Augusto; Vainstein, Marilene Henning
2017-01-01
Synthetic polymers are the cause of some major environmental impacts due to their low degradation rates. Polyurethanes (PU) are widely used synthetic polymers, and their growing use in industry has produced an increase in plastic waste. A commercial polyether-based thermoplastic PU with hydrolytic stability and fungus resistance was only attacked by an entomopathogenic fungus, Metarhiziumanisopliae, when the films were pre-treated with Ultraviolet (UV) irradiation in the presence of reactive atmospheres. Water contact angle, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy in attenuated total reflection mode (FTIR-ATR), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), and profilometer measurements were mainly used for analysis. Permanent hydrophilic PU films were produced by the UV-assisted treatments. Pristine polyether PU films incubated for 10, 30, and 60 days did not show any indication of fungal growth. On the contrary, when using oxygen in the UV pre-treatment a layer of fungi spores covered the sample, indicating a great adherence of the microorganisms to the polymer. However, if acrylic acid vapors were used during the UV pre-treatment, a visible attack by the entomopathogenic fungi was observed. SEM and FTIR-ATR data showed clear evidence of fungal development: growth and ramifications of hyphae on the polymer surface with the increase in UV pre-treatment time and fungus incubation time. The results indicated that the simple UV surface activation process has proven to be a promising alternative for polyether PU waste management. PMID:28718785
Mathyssek, Christina M; Olino, Thomas M; Verhulst, Frank C; van Oort, Floor V A
2012-01-01
Panic attacks are a source of individual suffering and are an independent risk factor for later psychopathology. However, much less is known about risk factors for the development of panic attacks, particularly during adolescence when the incidence of panic attacks increases dramatically. We examined whether internalizing and externalizing problems in childhood predict the onset of panic attacks in adolescence. This study is part of the TRacking Adolescents' Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a Dutch longitudinal population cohort study (N = 1,584). Internalizing and Externalizing Problems were collected using the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and the parent-report Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at baseline (age 10-12). At age 18-20, DSM-IV defined panic attacks since baseline were assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). We investigated whether early adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Problems predicted panic attacks between ages 10-20 years, using survival analysis in univariate and multivariate models. There were N = 314 (19.8%) cases who experienced at least one DSM-IV defined panic attack during adolescence and N = 18 (1.2%) who developed panic disorder during adolescence. In univariate analyses, CBCL Total Problems, Internalizing Problems and three of the eight syndrome scales predicted panic attack onset, while on the YSR all broad-band problem scales and each narrow-band syndrome scale predicted panic attack onset. In multivariate analyses, CBCL Social Problems (HR 1.19, p<.05), and YSR Thought Problems (HR 1.15, p<.05) and Social Problems (HR 1.26, p<.01) predicted panic attack onset. Risk indicators of panic attack include the wide range of internalizing and externalizing problems. Yet, when adjusted for co-occurring problem behaviors, Social Problems were the most consistent risk factor for panic attack onsets in adolescence.
Countermeasures for unintentional and intentional video watermarking attacks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Deguillaume, Frederic; Csurka, Gabriela; Pun, Thierry
2000-05-01
These last years, the rapidly growing digital multimedia market has revealed an urgent need for effective copyright protection mechanisms. Therefore, digital audio, image and video watermarking has recently become a very active area of research, as a solution to this problem. Many important issues have been pointed out, one of them being the robustness to non-intentional and intentional attacks. This paper studies some attacks and proposes countermeasures applied to videos. General attacks are lossy copying/transcoding such as MPEG compression and digital/analog (D/A) conversion, changes of frame-rate, changes of display format, and geometrical distortions. More specific attacks are sequence edition, and statistical attacks such as averaging or collusion. Averaging attack consists of averaging locally consecutive frames to cancel the watermark. This attack works well for schemes which embed random independent marks into frames. In the collusion attack the watermark is estimated from single frames (based on image denoising), and averaged over different scenes for better accuracy. The estimated watermark is then subtracted from each frame. Collusion requires that the same mark is embedded into all frames. The proposed countermeasures first ensures robustness to general attacks by spread spectrum encoding in the frequency domain and by the use of an additional template. Secondly, a Bayesian criterion, evaluating the probability of a correctly decoded watermark, is used for rejection of outliers, and to implement an algorithm against statistical attacks. The idea is to embed randomly chosen marks among a finite set of marks, into subsequences of videos which are long enough to resist averaging attacks, but short enough to avoid collusion attacks. The Bayesian criterion is needed to select the correct mark at the decoding step. Finally, the paper presents experimental results showing the robustness of the proposed method.
... Women This content was last reviewed July 2015. Heart Attack • Home • About Heart Attacks Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) ... Recovery FAQs • Heart Attack Tools & Resources • Support Network Heart Attack Tools & Resources My Cardiac Coach What Is a ...
... angina? This content was last reviewed July 2015. Heart Attack • Home • About Heart Attacks Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) ... Recovery FAQs • Heart Attack Tools & Resources • Support Network Heart Attack Tools & Resources My Cardiac Coach What Is a ...
Longhurst, Hilary J; Aberer, Werner; Bouillet, Laurence; Caballero, Teresa; Fabien, Vincent; Zanichelli, Andrea; Maurer, Marcus
2015-01-01
Phase 3 icatibant trials showed that most hereditary angioedema (HAE) (C1 inhibitor deficiency) acute attacks were treated successfully with one injection of icatibant, a selective bradykinin B2 receptor antagonist. We conducted a post hoc analysis of icatibant reinjection for HAE type I and II attacks in a real-world setting by using data from the Icatibant Outcome Survey, an ongoing observational study that monitors the safety and effectiveness of icatibant treatment. Descriptive retrospective analyses of icatibant reinjection were performed on Icatibant Outcome Survey data (February 2008 to December 2012). New attacks were defined as the onset of new symptoms after full resolution of the previous attack. Potential associations between the patient and attack characteristics and reinjection were explored by using logistic regression analysis. Icatibant was administered for 652 attacks in 170 patients with HAE type I or II. Most attacks (89.1%) were treated with a single icatibant injection. For attacks that required two or three injections, the second injection was given a median of 11.0 hours after the first injection, with 90.4% of second injections administered ≥6 hours after the first injection. Time to resolution and attack duration were significantly longer for two or three injections versus one icatibant injection (p < 0.0001 and p < 0.05, respectively). Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified sex, attack severity, and laryngeal attacks as significantly correlated with reinjection (all p ≤ 0.05). These factors did not remain predictors for reinjection when two outlier patients with distinct patterns of icatibant use were excluded. In this real-world setting, most HAE attacks resolved with one icatibant injection. There was no distinct profile for patients or attacks that required reinjection when outliers with substantially different patterns of use were excluded. Because new attacks were not distinguished from the recurrence of symptoms, reinjection rates may be slightly higher than shown here. Clinical trial identifier: NCT01034969.
Enhanced diffie-hellman algorithm for reliable key exchange
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Aryan; Kumar, Chaithanya; Vincent, P. M. Durai Raj
2017-11-01
The Diffie -Hellman is one of the first public-key procedure and is a certain way of exchanging the cryptographic keys securely. This concept was introduced by Ralph Markel and it is named after Whitfield Diffie and Martin Hellman. Sender and Receiver make a common secret key in Diffie-Hellman algorithm and then they start communicating with each other over the public channel which is known to everyone. A number of internet services are secured by Diffie -Hellman. In Public key cryptosystem, the sender has to trust while receiving the public key of the receiver and vice-versa and this is the challenge of public key cryptosystem. Man-in-the-Middle attack is very much possible on the existing Diffie-Hellman algorithm. In man-in-the-middle attack, the attacker exists in the public channel, the attacker receives the public key of both sender and receiver and sends public keys to sender and receiver which is generated by his own. This is how man-in-the-middle attack is possible on Diffie-Hellman algorithm. Denial of service attack is another attack which is found common on Diffie-Hellman. In this attack, the attacker tries to stop the communication happening between sender and receiver and attacker can do this by deleting messages or by confusing the parties with miscommunication. Some more attacks like Insider attack, Outsider attack, etc are possible on Diffie-Hellman. To reduce the possibility of attacks on Diffie-Hellman algorithm, we have enhanced the Diffie-Hellman algorithm to a next level. In this paper, we are extending the Diffie -Hellman algorithm by using the concept of the Diffie -Hellman algorithm to get a stronger secret key and that secret key is further exchanged between the sender and the receiver so that for each message, a new secret shared key would be generated. The second secret key will be generated by taking primitive root of the first secret key.
Hinton, Devon E; Hofmann, Stefan G; Pitman, Roger K; Pollack, Mark H; Barlow, David H
2008-01-01
This article examines the ability of the panic attack-posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) model to predict how panic attacks are generated and how panic attacks worsen PTSD. The article does so by determining the validity of the panic attack-PTSD model in respect to one type of panic attack among traumatized Cambodian refugees: orthostatic panic (OP) attacks (i.e. panic attacks generated by moving from lying or sitting to standing). Among Cambodian refugees attending a psychiatric clinic, the authors conducted two studies to explore the validity of the panic attack-PTSD model as applied to OP patients (i.e. patients with at least one episode of OP in the previous month). In Study 1, the panic attack-PTSD model accurately indicated how OP is seemingly generated: among OP patients (N = 58), orthostasis-associated flashbacks and catastrophic cognitions predicted OP severity beyond a measure of anxious-depressive distress (Symptom Checklist-90-R subscales), and OP severity significantly mediated the effect of anxious-depressive distress on Clinician-Administered PTSD Scale severity. In Study 2, as predicted by the panic attack-PTSD model, OP had a mediational role in respect to the effect of treatment on PTSD severity: among Cambodian refugees with PTSD and comorbid OP who participated in a cognitive behavioural therapy study (N = 56), improvement in PTSD severity was partially mediated by improvement in OP severity.
Epileptic negative drop attacks in atypical benign partial epilepsy: a neurophysiological study.
Hirano, Yoshiko; Oguni, Hirokazu; Osawa, Makiko
2009-03-01
We conducted a computer-assisted polygraphic analysis of drop attacks in a child with atypical benign partial epilepsy (ABPE) to investigate neurophysiological characteristics. The patient was a six-year two-month-old girl, who had started to have focal motor seizures, later combined with daily epileptic negative myoclonus (ENM) and drop attacks, causing multiple injuries. We studied episodes of ENM and drop attacks using video-polygraphic and computer-assisted back-averaging analysis. A total of 12 ENM episodes, seven involving the left arm (ENMlt) and five involving both arms (ENMbil), and five drop attacks were captured for analysis. All episodes were time-locked to spike-and-wave complexes (SWC) arising from both centro-temporo-parietal (CTP) areas. The latency between the onset of SWC and ENMlt, ENMbil, and drop attacks reached 68 ms, 42 ms, and 8 ms, respectively. The height of the spike as well as the slow-wave component of SWC for drop attacks were significantly larger than that for both ENMlt and ENMbil (p < 0.05). Drop attacks were considered to be epileptic negative myoclonus involving not only upper proximal but also axial muscles, causing the body to fall. Thus, drop attacks in ABPE are considered to be epileptic negative drop attacks arising from bilateral CTP foci and differ from drop attacks of a generalized origin seen in Lennox-Gastaut syndrome and myoclonic-astatic epilepsy.
Seven Deadliest Network Attacks
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Prowell, Stacy J; Borkin, Michael; Kraus, Robert
2010-05-01
Do you need to keep up with the latest hacks, attacks, and exploits effecting networks? Then you need "Seven Deadliest Network Attacks". This book pinpoints the most dangerous hacks and exploits specific to networks, laying out the anatomy of these attacks including how to make your system more secure. You will discover the best ways to defend against these vicious hacks with step-by-step instruction and learn techniques to make your computer and network impenetrable. Attacks detailed in this book include: Denial of Service; War Dialing; Penetration 'Testing'; Protocol Tunneling; Spanning Tree Attacks; Man-in-the-Middle; and, Password Replay. Knowledge is power, findmore » out about the most dominant attacks currently waging war on computers and networks globally. Discover the best ways to defend against these vicious attacks; step-by-step instruction shows you how. Institute countermeasures, don't be caught defenseless again, learn techniques to make your computer and network impenetrable.« less
Dynamic defense and network randomization for computer systems
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
Chavez, Adrian R.; Stout, William M. S.; Hamlet, Jason R.
The various technologies presented herein relate to determining a network attack is taking place, and further to adjust one or more network parameters such that the network becomes dynamically configured. A plurality of machine learning algorithms are configured to recognize an active attack pattern. Notification of the attack can be generated, and knowledge gained from the detected attack pattern can be utilized to improve the knowledge of the algorithms to detect a subsequent attack vector(s). Further, network settings and application communications can be dynamically randomized, wherein artificial diversity converts control systems into moving targets that help mitigate the early reconnaissancemore » stages of an attack. An attack(s) based upon a known static address(es) of a critical infrastructure network device(s) can be mitigated by the dynamic randomization. Network parameters that can be randomized include IP addresses, application port numbers, paths data packets navigate through the network, application randomization, etc.« less
Automatic Inference of Cryptographic Key Length Based on Analysis of Proof Tightness
2016-06-01
within an attack tree structure, then expand attack tree methodology to include cryptographic reductions. We then provide the algorithms for...maintaining and automatically reasoning about these expanded attack trees . We provide a software tool that utilizes machine-readable proof and attack metadata...and the attack tree methodology to provide rapid and precise answers regarding security parameters and effective security. This eliminates the need
Cyber Signal/Noise Characteristics and Sensor Models for Early Cyber Indications and Warning
2005-09-01
investigating and simulating attack scenarios. The sensors are, in effect , mathematical functions. These functions range from simple functions of...172 8.1.2 Examine each attack scenario or case to derive the cause- effect network for the attack scenario...threat profiles............................ 174 8.1.4 Develop attack profiles by enlarging the cause- effect network of each attack scenario with
Attack Coverage in High-Level Men’s Volleyball: Organization on the Edge of Chaos?
Laporta, Lorenzo; Nikolaidis, Pantelis; Thomas, Luke; Afonso, José
2015-01-01
Change is pervasive, but emerging patterns are occasionally detectable through analysis of systemic behaviors. Match analysis uses these patterns in order to reduce the degree of improvisation and to optimize the training process. However, it is possible that certain game phases elude systematic patterning. In this vein, our aim was to analyze the case of attack coverage in men’s volleyball, as we suspected it would elude systematic patterning and has received negligible attention in scientific research. We analyzed the occurrence of attack coverage in 4544 plays of the 2011 Volleyball World League. A Chi-square test with residual adjusted values was applied to explore significant associations between variables. A Monte Carlo correction was applied, as some cells had n<5. Effect sizes were determined using Cramer’s V. Overall, attack coverage occurred in 3.89% of ball possessions, and 23 distinct structures emerged. These structures lacked significant associations with the game complex, setting zone, and effect of attack coverage. Conversely, attack coverage structures showed significant associations with the attack zone and tempo, with very strong effect sizes (V=0.472 and V=0.521, respectively). As certain attack zones are deeply associated with attack tempo, it is apparent that quicker attack plays affect attack coverage structuring, promoting the formation of less complex structures. Ultimately, attack coverage structures seem to depend on momentary constraints, thereby rendering rigid systematization impracticable. Still, we contended that a principle-based approach might be suitable. This invites researchers to rethink how to interpret game regularities. PMID:26557208
Cued Panic Attacks in Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Phillips, Katharine A.; Menard, William; Bjornsson, Andri S.
2013-01-01
Background Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a common and often severe disorder. Clinical observations suggest that panic attacks triggered by BDD symptoms may be common. However, to our knowledge, no study has examined such panic attacks in BDD. We investigated the prevalence, clinical features, and correlates of BDD-triggered panic attacks in individuals with this disorder. Methods Panic attacks and other variables were assessed using reliable and valid measures in 76 individuals with lifetime DSM-IV BDD. Results 28.9% (95% CI, 18.5%–39.4%) of participants reported lifetime panic attacks triggered by BDD symptoms. The most common triggers of such attacks were feeling that others were looking at or scrutinizing the perceived appearance defects (61.9%), looking in the mirror at perceived defects (38.1%), and being in bright light where perceived defects would be more visible (23.8%). The most common panic attack symptoms were palpitations (86.4%), sweating (66.7%), shortness of breath (63.6%), trembling or shaking (63.6%), and fear of losing control or going crazy (63.6%). Compared to participants without such panic attacks, those with BDD-triggered panic attacks had more severe lifetime BDD, social anxiety, and depressive symptoms, as well as poorer functioning and quality of life on a number of measures. They were also less likely to be employed and more likely to have been psychiatrically hospitalized and to have had suicidal ideation due to BDD. Conclusions Panic attacks triggered by BDD-related situations appear common in individuals with this disorder. BDD-triggered panic attacks were associated with greater symptom severity and morbidity. PMID:23653076
Randomness determines practical security of BB84 quantum key distribution.
Li, Hong-Wei; Yin, Zhen-Qiang; Wang, Shuang; Qian, Yong-Jun; Chen, Wei; Guo, Guang-Can; Han, Zheng-Fu
2015-11-10
Unconditional security of the BB84 quantum key distribution protocol has been proved by exploiting the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics, but the practical quantum key distribution system maybe hacked by considering the imperfect state preparation and measurement respectively. Until now, different attacking schemes have been proposed by utilizing imperfect devices, but the general security analysis model against all of the practical attacking schemes has not been proposed. Here, we demonstrate that the general practical attacking schemes can be divided into the Trojan horse attack, strong randomness attack and weak randomness attack respectively. We prove security of BB84 protocol under randomness attacking models, and these results can be applied to guarantee the security of the practical quantum key distribution system.
Neto, Manoel Francisco Campos; Garrone Neto, Domingos; Haddad, Vidal
2011-06-01
Conflicts between humans and big cats have been known for centuries throughout the world, but have intensified in recent decades. Recently, attacks by Panthera onca on humans in Brazil have been brought to the forefront through exposure in the press and because of the severity of the attacks. We report 3 cases of patients attacked by jaguars in provoked and predatory situations. Two patients survived the attacks and one died. Attack mechanisms and lesions in victims are discussed. The attacks demonstrate a real risk of accidents from jaguars in certain regions, such as the Pantanal and the Amazon. Copyright © 2011 Wilderness Medical Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Randomness determines practical security of BB84 quantum key distribution
Li, Hong-Wei; Yin, Zhen-Qiang; Wang, Shuang; Qian, Yong-Jun; Chen, Wei; Guo, Guang-Can; Han, Zheng-Fu
2015-01-01
Unconditional security of the BB84 quantum key distribution protocol has been proved by exploiting the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics, but the practical quantum key distribution system maybe hacked by considering the imperfect state preparation and measurement respectively. Until now, different attacking schemes have been proposed by utilizing imperfect devices, but the general security analysis model against all of the practical attacking schemes has not been proposed. Here, we demonstrate that the general practical attacking schemes can be divided into the Trojan horse attack, strong randomness attack and weak randomness attack respectively. We prove security of BB84 protocol under randomness attacking models, and these results can be applied to guarantee the security of the practical quantum key distribution system. PMID:26552359
Randomness determines practical security of BB84 quantum key distribution
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Li, Hong-Wei; Yin, Zhen-Qiang; Wang, Shuang; Qian, Yong-Jun; Chen, Wei; Guo, Guang-Can; Han, Zheng-Fu
2015-11-01
Unconditional security of the BB84 quantum key distribution protocol has been proved by exploiting the fundamental laws of quantum mechanics, but the practical quantum key distribution system maybe hacked by considering the imperfect state preparation and measurement respectively. Until now, different attacking schemes have been proposed by utilizing imperfect devices, but the general security analysis model against all of the practical attacking schemes has not been proposed. Here, we demonstrate that the general practical attacking schemes can be divided into the Trojan horse attack, strong randomness attack and weak randomness attack respectively. We prove security of BB84 protocol under randomness attacking models, and these results can be applied to guarantee the security of the practical quantum key distribution system.
A Novel Network Attack Audit System based on Multi-Agent Technology
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Jianping, Wang; Min, Chen; Xianwen, Wu
A network attack audit system which includes network attack audit Agent, host audit Agent and management control center audit Agent is proposed. And the improved multi-agent technology is carried out in the network attack audit Agent which has achieved satisfactory audit results. The audit system in terms of network attack is just in-depth, and with the function improvement of network attack audit Agent, different attack will be better analyzed and audit. In addition, the management control center Agent should manage and analyze audit results from AA (or HA) and audit data on time. And the history files of network packets and host log data should also be audit to find deeper violations that cannot be found in real time.
Extended Password Recovery Attacks against APOP, SIP, and Digest Authentication
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Sasaki, Yu; Wang, Lei; Ohta, Kazuo; Kunihiro, Noboru
In this paper, we propose password recovery attacks against challenge-response authentication protocols. Our attacks use a message difference for a MD5 collision attack proposed in IEICE 2008. First, we show how to efficiently find a message pair that collides with the above message difference. Second, we show that a password used in authenticated post office protocol (APOP) can be recovered practically. We also show that the password recovery attack can be applied to a session initiation protocol (SIP) and digest authentication. Our attack can recover up to the first 31 password characters in a short time and up to the first 60 characters faster than the naive search method. We have implemented our attack and confirmed that 31 characters can be successfully recovered.
Percolation of localized attack on complex networks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Shao, Shuai; Huang, Xuqing; Stanley, H. Eugene; Havlin, Shlomo
2015-02-01
The robustness of complex networks against node failure and malicious attack has been of interest for decades, while most of the research has focused on random attack or hub-targeted attack. In many real-world scenarios, however, attacks are neither random nor hub-targeted, but localized, where a group of neighboring nodes in a network are attacked and fail. In this paper we develop a percolation framework to analytically and numerically study the robustness of complex networks against such localized attack. In particular, we investigate this robustness in Erdős-Rényi networks, random-regular networks, and scale-free networks. Our results provide insight into how to better protect networks, enhance cybersecurity, and facilitate the design of more robust infrastructures.
Face liveness detection for face recognition based on cardiac features of skin color image
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Suh, Kun Ha; Lee, Eui Chul
2016-07-01
With the growth of biometric technology, spoofing attacks have been emerged a threat to the security of the system. Main spoofing scenarios in the face recognition system include the printing attack, replay attack, and 3D mask attack. To prevent such attacks, techniques that evaluating liveness of the biometric data can be considered as a solution. In this paper, a novel face liveness detection method based on cardiac signal extracted from face is presented. The key point of proposed method is that the cardiac characteristic is detected in live faces but not detected in non-live faces. Experimental results showed that the proposed method can be effective way for determining printing attack or 3D mask attack.
Hereditary Angioedema Attacks: Local Swelling at Multiple Sites.
Hofman, Zonne L M; Relan, Anurag; Hack, C Erik
2016-02-01
Hereditary angioedema (HAE) patients experience recurrent local swelling in various parts of the body including painful swelling of the intestine and life-threatening laryngeal oedema. Most HAE literature is about attacks located in one anatomical site, though it is mentioned that HAE attacks may also involve multiple anatomical sites simultaneously. A detailed description of such multi-location attacks is currently lacking. This study investigated the occurrence, severity and clinical course of HAE attacks with multiple anatomical locations. HAE patients included in a clinical database of recombinant human C1-inhibitor (rhC1INH) studies were evaluated. Visual analog scale scores filled out by the patients for various symptoms at various locations and investigator symptoms scores during the attack were analysed. Data of 219 eligible attacks in 119 patients was analysed. Thirty-three patients (28%) had symptoms at multiple locations in anatomically unrelated regions at the same time during their first attack. Up to five simultaneously affected locations were reported. The observation that severe HAE attacks often affect multiple sites in the body suggests that HAE symptoms result from a systemic rather than from a local process as is currently believed.
Heart Attack or Sudden Cardiac Arrest: How Are They Different?
... Peripheral Artery Disease Venous Thromboembolism Aortic Aneurysm More Heart Attack or Sudden Cardiac Arrest: How Are They Different? ... and procedures related to heart disease and stroke. Heart Attack • Home • About Heart Attacks Acute Coronary Syndrome (ACS) ...
2011-06-02
actively attack the risks, they will actively attack you.” -Tom Gib Why do Risk Management? 8 “The first step in the risk management process is to...opportunities to manage and improve our chances of success. - Roger Vanscoy “If you do not actively attack the risks, they will actively attack ...our risks provides opportunities to manage and improve our chances of success. - Roger Vanscoy “If you do not actively attack the risks, they will
Lodewyck, Jérôme; Debuisschert, Thierry; García-Patrón, Raúl; Tualle-Brouri, Rosa; Cerf, Nicolas J; Grangier, Philippe
2007-01-19
An intercept-resend attack on a continuous-variable quantum-key-distribution protocol is investigated experimentally. By varying the interception fraction, one can implement a family of attacks where the eavesdropper totally controls the channel parameters. In general, such attacks add excess noise in the channel, and may also result in non-Gaussian output distributions. We implement and characterize the measurements needed to detect these attacks, and evaluate experimentally the information rates available to the legitimate users and the eavesdropper. The results are consistent with the optimality of Gaussian attacks resulting from the security proofs.
DOE Office of Scientific and Technical Information (OSTI.GOV)
John Homer; Ashok Varikuti; Xinming Ou
Various tools exist to analyze enterprise network systems and to produce attack graphs detailing how attackers might penetrate into the system. These attack graphs, however, are often complex and difficult to comprehend fully, and a human user may find it problematic to reach appropriate configuration decisions. This paper presents methodologies that can 1) automatically identify portions of an attack graph that do not help a user to understand the core security problems and so can be trimmed, and 2) automatically group similar attack steps as virtual nodes in a model of the network topology, to immediately increase the understandability ofmore » the data. We believe both methods are important steps toward improving visualization of attack graphs to make them more useful in configuration management for large enterprise networks. We implemented our methods using one of the existing attack-graph toolkits. Initial experimentation shows that the proposed approaches can 1) significantly reduce the complexity of attack graphs by trimming a large portion of the graph that is not needed for a user to understand the security problem, and 2) significantly increase the accessibility and understandability of the data presented in the attack graph by clearly showing, within a generated visualization of the network topology, the number and type of potential attacks to which each host is exposed.« less
On resilience studies of system detection and recovery techniques against stealthy insider attacks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Wei, Sixiao; Zhang, Hanlin; Chen, Genshe; Shen, Dan; Yu, Wei; Pham, Khanh D.; Blasch, Erik P.; Cruz, Jose B.
2016-05-01
With the explosive growth of network technologies, insider attacks have become a major concern to business operations that largely rely on computer networks. To better detect insider attacks that marginally manipulate network traffic over time, and to recover the system from attacks, in this paper we implement a temporal-based detection scheme using the sequential hypothesis testing technique. Two hypothetical states are considered: the null hypothesis that the collected information is from benign historical traffic and the alternative hypothesis that the network is under attack. The objective of such a detection scheme is to recognize the change within the shortest time by comparing the two defined hypotheses. In addition, once the attack is detected, a server migration-based system recovery scheme can be triggered to recover the system to the state prior to the attack. To understand mitigation of insider attacks, a multi-functional web display of the detection analysis was developed for real-time analytic. Experiments using real-world traffic traces evaluate the effectiveness of Detection System and Recovery (DeSyAR) scheme. The evaluation data validates the detection scheme based on sequential hypothesis testing and the server migration-based system recovery scheme can perform well in effectively detecting insider attacks and recovering the system under attack.
Sad, María E; Neurock, Matthew; Iglesia, Enrique
2011-12-21
This study reports evidence for catalytic deoxygenation of alkanols, alkanals, and alkanediols on dispersed Cu clusters with minimal use of external H(2) and with the concurrent formation of new C-C and C-O bonds. These catalysts selectively remove O-atoms from these oxygenates as CO or CO(2) through decarbonylation or decarboxylation routes, respectively, that use C-atoms present within reactants or as H(2)O using H(2) added or formed in situ from CO/H(2)O mixtures via water-gas shift. Cu catalysts fully convert 1,3-propanediol to equilibrated propanol-propanal intermediates that subsequently form larger oxygenates via aldol-type condensation and esterification routes without detectable involvement of the oxide supports. Propanal-propanol-H(2) equilibration is mediated by their chemisorption and interconversion at surfaces via C-H and O-H activation and propoxide intermediates. The kinetic effects of H(2), propanal, and propanol pressures on turnover rates, taken together with measured selectivities and the established chemical events for base-catalyzed condensation and esterification reactions, indicate that both reactions involve kinetically relevant bimolecular steps in which propoxide species, acting as the base, abstract the α-hydrogen in adsorbed propanal (condensation) or attack the electrophilic C-atom at its carbonyl group (esterification). These weakly held basic alkoxides render Cu surfaces able to mediate C-C and C-O formation reactions typically catalyzed by basic sites inherent in the catalyst, instead of provided by coadsorbed organic moieties. Turnover rates for condensation and esterification reactions decrease with increasing Cu dispersion, because low-coordination corner and edge atoms prevalent on small clusters stabilize adsorbed intermediates and increase the activation barriers for the bimolecular kinetically relevant steps required for both reactions. © 2011 American Chemical Society
Natural product-derived small molecule activators of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1).
Nagle, Dale G; Zhou, Yu-Dong
2006-01-01
Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 (HIF-1) is a key mediator of oxygen homeostasis that was first identified as a transcription factor that is induced and activated by decreased oxygen tension. Upon activation, HIF-1 upregulates the transcription of genes that promote adaptation and survival under hypoxic conditions. HIF-1 is a heterodimer composed of an oxygen-regulated subunit known as HIF-1alpha and a constitutively expressed HIF-1beta subunit. In general, the availability and activity of the HIF-1alpha subunit determines the activity of HIF-1. Subsequent studies have revealed that HIF-1 is also activated by environmental and physiological stimuli that range from iron chelators to hormones. Preclinical studies suggest that HIF-1 activation may be a valuable therapeutic approach to treat tissue ischemia and other ischemia/hypoxia-related disorders. The focus of this review is natural product-derived small molecule HIF-1 activators. Natural products, relatively low molecular weight organic compounds produced by plants, animals, and microbes, have been and continue to be a major source of new drugs and molecular probes. The majority of known natural product-derived HIF-1 activators were discovered through the pharmacological evaluation of specifically selected individual compounds. On the other hand, the combination of natural products chemistry with appropriate high-throughput screening bioassays may yield novel natural product-derived HIF-1 activators. Potent natural product-derived HIF-1 activators that exhibit a low level of toxicity and side effects hold promise as new treatment options for diseases such as myocardial and peripheral ischemia, and as chemopreventative agents that could be used to reduce the level of ischemia/reperfusion injury following heart attack and stroke.
Landolph, J R
1994-01-01
Carcinogenic arsenic, nickel, and chromium compounds induced morphological and neoplastic transformation but no mutation to ouabain resistance in 10T1/2 mouse embryo cells; lead chromate also did not induce mutation to ouabain or 6-thioguanine resistance in Chinese hamster ovary cells. The mechanism of metal-induced morphological transformation was likely not due to the specific base substitution mutations measured in ouabain resistance mutation assays, and for lead chromate, likely not due to this type of base substitution mutation or to frameshift mutations. Preliminary data indicate increases in steady-state levels of c-myc RNA in arsenic-, nickel-, and chromium-transformed cell lines. We also showed that carcinogenic nickel, chromium, and arsenic compounds and N-methyl-N-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine (MNNG) induced stable anchorage independence (Al) in diploid human fibroblasts (DHF) but no focus formation or immortality. Nickel subsulfide and lead chromate induced Al but not mutation to 6-thioguanine resistance. The mechanism of induction of Al by metal salts in DHF was likely not by the type of base substitution or frameshift mutations measured in these assays. MNNG induced Al, mutation to 6-thioguanine resistance, and mutation to ouabain resistance, and might induce Al by base substitution or frameshift mutations. Dexamethasone, aspirin, and salicylic acid inhibited nickel subsulfide, MNNG, and 12-O-tetrade-canoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-induced Al in DHF, suggesting that arachidonic acid metabolism and oxygen radical generation play a role in induction of Al. We propose that nickel compounds stimulate arachidonic acid metabolism, consequent oxygen radical generation, and oxygen radical attack upon DNA.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS) Images Figure 1. PMID:7843085
Heat receivers for solar dynamic space power systems
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Perez-Davis, Marla Esther
A review of state-of-the-art technology is presented and discussed for phase change materials. Some of the advanced solar dynamic designs developed as part of the Advanced Heat Receiver Conceptual Design Study performed for LeRC are discussed. The heat receivers are analyzed and several recommendations are proposed, including two new concepts. The first concept evaluated the effect of tube geometries inside the heat receiver. It was found that a triangular configuration would provide better heat transfer to the working fluid, although not necessarily with a reduction in receiver size. A sensible heat receiver considered in this study uses vapor grown graphite fiber-carbon (VGCF/C) composite as the thermal storage media and was designed for a 7 kW Brayton engine. The proposed heat receiver stores the required energy to power the system during eclipse in the VGCF/C composite. The heat receiver analysis was conducted through the Systems Improved Numerical Differencing Analyzer and Fluid Integrator (SINDA) software package. The proposed heat receiver compares well with other latent and advanced sensible heat receivers while avoiding the problems associated with latent heat storage salts and liquid metal heat pipes. The weight and size of the system can be optimized by changes in geometry and technology advances for this new material. In addition to the new concepts, the effect of atomic oxygen on several materials is reviewed. A test was conducted for atomic oxygen attack on boron nitride, which experienced a negligible mass loss when exposed to an atomic oxygen fluence of 5 x 10 exp 21 atoms/sq cm. This material could be used to substitute the graphite aperture plate of the heat receiver.
Kamachi, Takashi; Lee, Yong-Min; Nishimi, Tomonori; Cho, Jaeheung; Yoshizawa, Kazunari; Nam, Wonwoo
2008-12-18
A copper(II) complex bearing a pentadentate ligand, [Cu(II)(N4Py)(CF(3)SO(3))(2)] (1) (N4Py = N,N-bis(2-pyridylmethyl)bis(2-pyridyl)methylamine), was synthesized and characterized with various spectroscopic techniques and X-ray crystallography. A mononuclear Cu(II)-hydroperoxo complex, [Cu(II)(N4Py)(OOH)](+) (2), was then generated in the reaction of 1 and H(2)O(2) in the presence of base, and the reactivity of the intermediate was investigated in the oxidation of various substrates at -40 degrees C. In the reactivity studies, 2 showed a low oxidizing power such that 2 reacted only with triethylphosphine but not with other substrates such as thioanisole, benzyl alcohol, 1,4-cyclohexadiene, cyclohexene, and cyclohexane. In theoretical work, we have conducted density functional theory (DFT) calculations on the epoxidation of ethylene by 2 and a [Cu(III)(N4Py)(O)](+) intermediate (3) at the B3LYP level. The activation barrier is calculated to be 39.7 and 26.3 kcal/mol for distal and proximal oxygen attacks by 2, respectively. This result indicates that the direct ethylene epoxidation by 2 is not a plausible pathway, as we have observed in the experimental work. In contrast, the ethylene epoxidation by 3 is a downhill and low-barrier process. We also found that 2 cannot be a precursor to 3, since the homolytic cleavage of the O-O bond of 2 is very endothermic (i.e., 42 kcal/mol). On the basis of the experimental and theoretical results, we conclude that a mononuclear Cu(II)-hydroperoxo species bearing a pentadentate N5 ligand is a sluggish oxidant in oxygenation reactions.
Impact of Tumarkin attacks on complaints and work ability in Ménière's disease.
Pyykkö, Ilmari; Manchaiah, Vinaya; Zou, Jing; Levo, Hilla; Kentala, Erna
2018-05-22
The purpose of the present study was to characterize the occurrence of Tumarkin attacks in patients with Ménière'sdisease (MD), and to study its association with reported complaints, severity of consequences, and also self-reported work ability. The study used a cross-sectional design. Data obtained from the Finnish Ménière Federation using an electronic survey was analyzed. 602 people with MD responded to the survey (62% response rate) with a mean age of 56.7 years and a mean duration of the disease 12.4 years. 49% of the respondents experienced Tumarkin attacks, which lasted for a few seconds to a few minutes. There were significant differences in complaints reported by MD patients with and without Tumarkin attacks. Respondents with Tumarkin attacks experienced various consequences, including tripping, falls, fear, anxiety, problems in dyadic life, and even transient loss of consciousness. Respondents with Tumarkin attacks had more frequently applied for pension than those not having Tumarkin attacks. On an average, respondents with Tumarkin attacks had less self-reported working ability when compared to those without Tumarkin attacks. The current study results suggest various differences in terms of complaints reported, severity of consequences, and the self-reported working ability in MD patients with and without Tumarkin attacks. Hearing healthcare professionals must examine Tumarkin attacks and their consequences in patients with MD during clinical examinations. In addition, the therapy should focus on alleviating the consequences and improving work ability.
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Keen, Arthur A.
2006-04-01
This paper describes technology being developed at 21st Century Technologies to automate Computer Network Operations (CNO). CNO refers to DoD activities related to Attacking and Defending Computer Networks (CNA & CND). Next generation cyber threats are emerging in the form of powerful Internet services and tools that automate intelligence gathering, planning, testing, and surveillance. We will focus on "Search-Engine Hacks", queries that can retrieve lists of router/switch/server passwords, control panels, accessible cameras, software keys, VPN connection files, and vulnerable web applications. Examples include "Titan Rain" attacks against DoD facilities and the Santy worm, which identifies vulnerable sites by searching Google for URLs containing application-specific strings. This trend will result in increasingly sophisticated and automated intelligence-driven cyber attacks coordinated across multiple domains that are difficult to defeat or even understand with current technology. One traditional method of CNO relies on surveillance detection as an attack predictor. Unfortunately, surveillance detection is difficult because attackers can perform search engine-driven surveillance such as with Google Hacks, and avoid touching the target site. Therefore, attack observables represent only about 5% of the attacker's total attack time, and are inadequate to provide warning. In order to predict attacks and defend against them, CNO must also employ more sophisticated techniques and work to understand the attacker's Motives, Means and Opportunities (MMO). CNO must use automated reconnaissance tools, such as Google, to identify information vulnerabilities, and then utilize Internet tools to observe the intelligence gathering, planning, testing, and collaboration activities that represent 95% of the attacker's effort.
Securing internet by eliminating DDOS attacks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Niranchana, R.; Gayathri Devi, N.; Santhi, H.; Gayathri, P.
2017-11-01
The major threat caused to the authorised usage of Internet is Distributed Denial of Service attack. The mechanisms used to prevent the DDoS attacks are said to overcome the attack’s ability in spoofing the IP packets source addresses. By utilising Internet Protocol spoofing, the attackers cause a consequential load over the networks destination for policing attack packets. To overcome the IP Spoofing level on the Internet, We propose an Inter domain Packet Filter (IPF) architecture. The proposed scheme is not based on global routing information. The packets with reliable source addresses are not rejected, the IPF frame work works in such a manner. The spoofing capability of attackers is confined by IPF, and also the filter identifies the source of an attack packet by minimal number of candidate network.
Cuthbertson, Andrew G. S.; Braham, Mohamed
2018-01-01
The almond bark beetle, Scolytus amygdali Geurin-Meneville, is responsible for significant loss of fruit production in almond orchards throughout the world. Here, we studied the damage and the incidences of S. amygdali attack on two different scales: (1) at the level of a single tree; and (2) in an entire orchard. Our results revealed no differences in attack level among four orientations (east, west, south and north sides) for the whole tree. However, the bark that was facing west side in the direction of the prevailing wind was found to be the most suitable for females to initiate attack in Stratum S2. Attack distribution remains the same among different strata (strata is vertical divisions of the tree from the ground to the uppermost twigs with ~40 cm intervals). More than 50% of attack was observed in the trunk of the tree and upper strata. However, multiplication rate (number of emerged adults/maternal gallery) varies significantly between strata. In addition, we studied attack intensity (holes produced by beetle per tree) comparing it to tree morphology (flowers, leaves and circumferences) and gum deposit. Our results revealed a positive correlation between attack intensity and gum deposits, and a negative correlation between attack intensity and tree morphology. This revealed that gum on the tree was an indicator for attack intensity. A positive correlation between attack intensity and the circumference of the tree revealed that older trees were more susceptible to S. amygdali attack. These results, while preliminary, aim to help in the monitoring of S. amygdali populations before deciding to apply any control measures. PMID:29301271
1977-06-01
defense missions in locations between the FEBA and the attackers’ targets; b) AAA can attack only aircraft attacking the guns them- selves or the targets...the guns are defending; c) SAM weapon systems can attack not only aircraft attack- ing them and the targets they defend but also, although possibly...Corporation), P.E. Louer (Department of the Army) and B.R. McEnany (Joint Chiefs of Staff/Studies, Analysis and Gaming Agency) for their help- ful
Terror attacks influence driving behavior in Israel
Stecklov, Guy; Goldstein, Joshua R.
2004-01-01
Terror attacks in Israel produce a temporary lull in light accidents followed by a 35% spike in fatal accidents on Israeli roads 3 days after the attack. Our results are based on time-series analysis of Israeli traffic flows, accidents, and terror attacks from January 2001 through June 2002. Whereas prior studies have focused on subjective reports of posttraumatic stress, our study shows a population-level behavioral response to violent terror attacks. PMID:15448203
Mathyssek, Christina M.; Olino, Thomas M.; Verhulst, Frank C.; van Oort, Floor V. A.
2012-01-01
Background Panic attacks are a source of individual suffering and are an independent risk factor for later psychopathology. However, much less is known about risk factors for the development of panic attacks, particularly during adolescence when the incidence of panic attacks increases dramatically. We examined whether internalizing and externalizing problems in childhood predict the onset of panic attacks in adolescence. Method This study is part of the TRacking Adolescents’ Individual Lives Survey (TRAILS), a Dutch longitudinal population cohort study (N = 1,584). Internalizing and Externalizing Problems were collected using the Youth Self-Report (YSR) and the parent-report Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) at baseline (age 10–12). At age 18–20, DSM-IV defined panic attacks since baseline were assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI). We investigated whether early adolescent Internalizing and Externalizing Problems predicted panic attacks between ages 10–20 years, using survival analysis in univariate and multivariate models. Results There were N = 314 (19.8%) cases who experienced at least one DSM-IV defined panic attack during adolescence and N = 18 (1.2%) who developed panic disorder during adolescence. In univariate analyses, CBCL Total Problems, Internalizing Problems and three of the eight syndrome scales predicted panic attack onset, while on the YSR all broad-band problem scales and each narrow-band syndrome scale predicted panic attack onset. In multivariate analyses, CBCL Social Problems (HR 1.19, p<.05), and YSR Thought Problems (HR 1.15, p<.05) and Social Problems (HR 1.26, p<.01) predicted panic attack onset. Conclusion Risk indicators of panic attack include the wide range of internalizing and externalizing problems. Yet, when adjusted for co-occurring problem behaviors, Social Problems were the most consistent risk factor for panic attack onsets in adolescence. PMID:23251576
Caballero, Teresa; Zanichelli, Andrea; Aberer, Werner; Maurer, Marcus; Longhurst, Hilary J; Bouillet, Laurence; Andresen, Irmgard
2018-01-01
Icatibant is a bradykinin B2-receptor antagonist used for the treatment of hereditary angioedema attacks resulting from C1-inhibitor deficiency. Treatment is not adjusted by body weight however the impact of body mass index (BMI) on the effectiveness of icatibant is not documented in the literature. We examined disease characteristics and icatibant treatment effectiveness in patients stratified by BMI in the Icatibant Outcome Survey, an ongoing, international, observational study monitoring the real-world safety and effectiveness of icatibant. Attack and treatment characteristics as well as outcomes following treatment with icatibant were compared among patients with underweight, normal, overweight, and obese BMI. Data from 2697 icatibant-treated attacks in 342 patients (3.5, 44.7, 34.8, and 17.0% patients of underweight, normal, overweight, and obese BMI, respectively) were analyzed. There was no significant difference in the frequency and severity of attacks across BMI groups, although obese patients tended to have more attacks of high severity. There was no impact of BMI on the frequency of laryngeal attacks, but patients with normal BMI had fewer cutaneous attacks and more abdominal attacks. Most attacks (71.9-83.8%) were treated with a single icatibant injection without the need for rescue with plasma-derived C1-inhibitor (pdC1-INH), regardless of BMI. Patients with obese BMI used pdC1-INH as rescue treatment more often (P < 0.0001; P = 0.0232 excluding 2 outliers) and treated attacks earlier than patients with normal BMI (P = 0.007). Furthermore, time to resolution and duration of attack were shorter for patients with high BMI (P < 0.001 for overweight and P < 0.05 for obese versus normal). Overall, icatibant was comparatively effective in treating attacks in patients across all BMI groups. Trial registration NCT01034969.
Hagengimana, Athanase; Hinton, Devon; Bird, Bruce; Pollack, Mark; Pitman, Roger K.
2009-01-01
The present study is the first to attempt to determine rates of panic attacks, especially ‘somatically focused’ panic attacks, panic disorder, symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression levels in a population of Rwandans traumatized by the 1994 genocide. The following measures were utilized: the Rwandan Panic-Disorder Survey (RPDS); the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); the Harvard Trauma Questionnaire (HTQ); and the PTSD Checklist (PCL). Forty of 100 Rwandan widows suffered somatically focused panic attacks during the previous 4 weeks. Thirty-five (87%) of those having panic attacks suffered panic disorder, making the rate of panic disorder for the entire sample 35%. Rwandan widows with panic attacks had greater psychopathology on all measures. Somatically focused panic-attack subtypes seem to constitute a key response to trauma in the Rwandan population. Future studies of traumatized non-Western populations should carefully assess not only somatoform disorder but also somatically focused panic attacks. PMID:12581815
Pané-Farré, Christiane A; Fenske, Kristin; Stender, Jan P; Meyer, Christian; John, Ulrich; Rumpf, Hans-Jürgen; Hapke, Ulfert; Hamm, Alfons O
2013-06-01
Full-blown panic attacks are frequently associated with other mental disorders. Most comorbidity analyses did not discriminate between isolated panic attacks vs. panic attacks that occurred in the context of a panic disorder and rarely evaluated the impact of comorbid agoraphobia. Moreover, there are no larger scale epidemiological studies regarding the influence of sub-threshold panic attacks. 4075 German-speaking respondents aged 18-64 were interviewed using the fully structured Munich Composite International Diagnostic Interview. Limited symptom attacks, isolated panic attacks, and panic disorder were associated with other lifetime DSM-IV disorders with monotonically increasing odds and increasing tendency for multiple comorbidities across the three groups. The presence of agoraphobia was associated with more frequent comorbidity in all panic subgroups and also in persons who never experienced panic attacks. The present study suggests that populations with isolated or limited symptom should be carefully attended to in clinical practice, especially if agoraphobia is present. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Rachakatla, Raja Shekar; Balivada, Sivasai; Seo, Gwi-Moon; Myers, Carl B; Wang, Hongwang; Samarakoon, Thilani N.; Dani, Raj; Pyle, Marla; Kroh, Franklin O.; Walker, Brandon; Leaym, Xiaoxuan; Koper, Olga B.; Chikan, Viktor; Bossmann, Stefan H.; Tamura, Masaaki; Troyer, Deryl L.
2010-01-01
Localized magnetic hyperthermia as a treatment modality for cancer has generated renewed interest, particularly if it can be targeted to the tumor site. We examined whether tumor-tropic neural progenitor cells (NPCs) could be utilized as cell delivery vehicles for achieving preferential accumulation of core/shell iron/iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) within a mouse model of melanoma. We developed aminosiloxane-porphyrin functionalized MNPs, evaluated cell viability and loading efficiency, and transplanted neural progenitor cells loaded with this cargo into mice with melanoma. NPCs were efficiently loaded with core/shell Fe/Fe3O4 MNPs with minimal cytotoxicity; the MNPs accumulated as aggregates in the cytosol. The NPCs loaded with MNPs could travel to subcutaneous melanomas, and after A/C (alternating current) magnetic field (AMF) exposure, the targeted delivery of MNPs by the cells resulted in a measurable regression of the tumors. The tumor attenuation was significant (p<0.05) a short time (24 hours) after the last of three AMF exposures. PMID:21058696
Cyanobacterial Hydrogenases and Hydrogen Metabolism Revisited: Recent Progress and Future Prospects
Khanna, Namita; Lindblad, Peter
2015-01-01
Cyanobacteria have garnered interest as potential cell factories for hydrogen production. In conjunction with photosynthesis, these organisms can utilize inexpensive inorganic substrates and solar energy for simultaneous biosynthesis and hydrogen evolution. However, the hydrogen yield associated with these organisms remains far too low to compete with the existing chemical processes. Our limited understanding of the cellular hydrogen production pathway is a primary setback in the potential scale-up of this process. In this regard, the present review discusses the recent insight around ferredoxin/flavodoxin as the likely electron donor to the bidirectional Hox hydrogenase instead of the generally accepted NAD(P)H. This may have far reaching implications in powering solar driven hydrogen production. However, it is evident that a successful hydrogen-producing candidate would likely integrate enzymatic traits from different species. Engineering the [NiFe] hydrogenases for optimal catalytic efficiency or expression of a high turnover [FeFe] hydrogenase in these photo-autotrophs may facilitate the development of strains to reach target levels of biohydrogen production in cyanobacteria. The fundamental advancements achieved in these fields are also summarized in this review. PMID:26006225
Modelling the Thermal History of Asteroid 4 Vesta
NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS)
Solano, James M.; Kiefer, W. S.; Mittlefehldt, D. W.
2012-01-01
The asteroid 4 Vesta is widely thought to be the source of the HED (Howardite, Eucrite and Diogenite) meteorites, with this link supported by spectroscopic and dynamical studies. The availability of the HED meteorites for study and the new data being gained from the Dawn mission provides an excellent opportunity to investigate Vesta s history. In this study, modelling of Vesta has been undertaken to investigate its evolution from an unconsolidated chondritic body to a differentiated body with an iron core. In contrast to previous modelling, both heat and mass transfer are considered as coupled processes. This work draws on models of melt segregation in terrestrial environments to inform the evolution of Vesta into the differentiated body observed today. In order for a core to form in this body, a separation of the metallic iron from the silicates must take place. Temperatures in excess of the solidus temperatures for the Fe-FeS system and the silicates are therefore required. Thermal modelling has shown accretion before 2Myr leads to temperatures in excess of the silicate solidus.
A Game Theoretical Approach to Hacktivism: Is Attack Likelihood a Product of Risks and Payoffs?
Bodford, Jessica E; Kwan, Virginia S Y
2018-02-01
The current study examines hacktivism (i.e., hacking to convey a moral, ethical, or social justice message) through a general game theoretic framework-that is, as a product of costs and benefits. Given the inherent risk of carrying out a hacktivist attack (e.g., legal action, imprisonment), it would be rational for the user to weigh these risks against perceived benefits of carrying out the attack. As such, we examined computer science students' estimations of risks, payoffs, and attack likelihood through a game theoretic design. Furthermore, this study aims at constructing a descriptive profile of potential hacktivists, exploring two predicted covariates of attack decision making, namely, peer prevalence of hacking and sex differences. Contrary to expectations, results suggest that participants' estimations of attack likelihood stemmed solely from expected payoffs, rather than subjective risks. Peer prevalence significantly predicted increased payoffs and attack likelihood, suggesting an underlying descriptive norm in social networks. Notably, we observed no sex differences in the decision to attack, nor in the factors predicting attack likelihood. Implications for policymakers and the understanding and prevention of hacktivism are discussed, as are the possible ramifications of widely communicated payoffs over potential risks in hacking communities.
Sequential defense against random and intentional attacks in complex networks.
Chen, Pin-Yu; Cheng, Shin-Ming
2015-02-01
Network robustness against attacks is one of the most fundamental researches in network science as it is closely associated with the reliability and functionality of various networking paradigms. However, despite the study on intrinsic topological vulnerabilities to node removals, little is known on the network robustness when network defense mechanisms are implemented, especially for networked engineering systems equipped with detection capabilities. In this paper, a sequential defense mechanism is first proposed in complex networks for attack inference and vulnerability assessment, where the data fusion center sequentially infers the presence of an attack based on the binary attack status reported from the nodes in the network. The network robustness is evaluated in terms of the ability to identify the attack prior to network disruption under two major attack schemes, i.e., random and intentional attacks. We provide a parametric plug-in model for performance evaluation on the proposed mechanism and validate its effectiveness and reliability via canonical complex network models and real-world large-scale network topology. The results show that the sequential defense mechanism greatly improves the network robustness and mitigates the possibility of network disruption by acquiring limited attack status information from a small subset of nodes in the network.
Induction of panic attack by stimulation of the ventromedial hypothalamus.
Wilent, W Bryan; Oh, Michael Y; Buetefisch, Cathrin M; Bailes, Julian E; Cantella, Diane; Angle, Cindy; Whiting, Donald M
2010-06-01
Panic attacks are sudden debilitating attacks of intense distress often accompanied by physical symptoms such as shortness of breath and heart palpitations. Numerous brain regions, hormones, and neurotransmitter systems are putatively involved, but the etiology and neurocircuitry of panic attacks is far from established. One particular brain region of interest is the ventromedial hypothalamus (VMH). In cats and rats, electrical stimulation delivered to the VMH has been shown to evoke an emotional "panic attack-like" escape behavior, and in humans, stimulation targeting nuclei just posterior or anterior to the VMH has reportedly induced panic attacks. The authors report findings obtained in an awake patient undergoing bilateral implantation of deep brain stimulation electrodes into the hypothalamus that strongly implicates the VMH as being critically involved in the genesis of panic attacks. First, as the stimulating electrode progressed deeper into the VMH, the intensity of stimulation required to evoke an attack systematically decreased; second, while stimulation of the VMH in either hemisphere evoked panic, stimulation that appeared to be in the center of the VMH was more potent. Thus, this evidence supports the role of the VMH in the induction of panic attacks purported by animal studies.
Random Visitor: Defense against Identity Attacks in P2P Networks
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Gu, Jabeom; Nah, Jaehoon; Kwon, Hyeokchan; Jang, Jonsoo; Park, Sehyun
Various advantages of cooperative peer-to-peer networks are strongly counterbalanced by the open nature of a distributed, serverless network. In such networks, it is relatively easy for an attacker to launch various attacks such as misrouting, corrupting, or dropping messages as a result of a successful identifier forgery. The impact of an identifier forgery is particularly severe because the whole network can be compromised by attacks such as Sybil or Eclipse. In this paper, we present an identifier authentication mechanism called random visitor, which uses one or more randomly selected peers as delegates of identity proof. Our scheme uses identity-based cryptography and identity ownership proof mechanisms collectively to create multiple, cryptographically protected indirect bindings between two peers, instantly when needed, through the delegates. Because of these bindings, an attacker cannot achieve an identifier forgery related attack against interacting peers without breaking the bindings. Therefore, our mechanism limits the possibility of identifier forgery attacks efficiently by disabling an attacker's ability to break the binding. The design rationale and framework details are presented. A security analysis shows that our scheme is strong enough against identifier related attacks and that the strength increases if there are many peers (more than several thousand) in the network.
Dhamodharan, Udaya Suriya Raj Kumar; Vayanaperumal, Rajamani
2015-01-01
Wireless sensor networks are highly indispensable for securing network protection. Highly critical attacks of various kinds have been documented in wireless sensor network till now by many researchers. The Sybil attack is a massive destructive attack against the sensor network where numerous genuine identities with forged identities are used for getting an illegal entry into a network. Discerning the Sybil attack, sinkhole, and wormhole attack while multicasting is a tremendous job in wireless sensor network. Basically a Sybil attack means a node which pretends its identity to other nodes. Communication to an illegal node results in data loss and becomes dangerous in the network. The existing method Random Password Comparison has only a scheme which just verifies the node identities by analyzing the neighbors. A survey was done on a Sybil attack with the objective of resolving this problem. The survey has proposed a combined CAM-PVM (compare and match-position verification method) with MAP (message authentication and passing) for detecting, eliminating, and eventually preventing the entry of Sybil nodes in the network. We propose a scheme of assuring security for wireless sensor network, to deal with attacks of these kinds in unicasting and multicasting.
Dhamodharan, Udaya Suriya Raj Kumar; Vayanaperumal, Rajamani
2015-01-01
Wireless sensor networks are highly indispensable for securing network protection. Highly critical attacks of various kinds have been documented in wireless sensor network till now by many researchers. The Sybil attack is a massive destructive attack against the sensor network where numerous genuine identities with forged identities are used for getting an illegal entry into a network. Discerning the Sybil attack, sinkhole, and wormhole attack while multicasting is a tremendous job in wireless sensor network. Basically a Sybil attack means a node which pretends its identity to other nodes. Communication to an illegal node results in data loss and becomes dangerous in the network. The existing method Random Password Comparison has only a scheme which just verifies the node identities by analyzing the neighbors. A survey was done on a Sybil attack with the objective of resolving this problem. The survey has proposed a combined CAM-PVM (compare and match-position verification method) with MAP (message authentication and passing) for detecting, eliminating, and eventually preventing the entry of Sybil nodes in the network. We propose a scheme of assuring security for wireless sensor network, to deal with attacks of these kinds in unicasting and multicasting. PMID:26236773
Attack Detection in Sensor Network Target Localization Systems With Quantized Data
NASA Astrophysics Data System (ADS)
Zhang, Jiangfan; Wang, Xiaodong; Blum, Rick S.; Kaplan, Lance M.
2018-04-01
We consider a sensor network focused on target localization, where sensors measure the signal strength emitted from the target. Each measurement is quantized to one bit and sent to the fusion center. A general attack is considered at some sensors that attempts to cause the fusion center to produce an inaccurate estimation of the target location with a large mean-square-error. The attack is a combination of man-in-the-middle, hacking, and spoofing attacks that can effectively change both signals going into and coming out of the sensor nodes in a realistic manner. We show that the essential effect of attacks is to alter the estimated distance between the target and each attacked sensor to a different extent, giving rise to a geometric inconsistency among the attacked and unattacked sensors. Hence, with the help of two secure sensors, a class of detectors are proposed to detect the attacked sensors by scrutinizing the existence of the geometric inconsistency. We show that the false alarm and miss probabilities of the proposed detectors decrease exponentially as the number of measurement samples increases, which implies that for sufficiently large number of samples, the proposed detectors can identify the attacked and unattacked sensors with any required accuracy.