ALBERT

Beschreibung: In recent years, multicomponent alloys with shape memory effects (SMEs), based on the ordered intermetallic compounds B2–TiNi, L21–Ni2MnGa, B2– and D03–Cu–Me (Me = Al, Ni, Zn), which represent a special important class of intelligent materials, have been of great interest. However, only a small number of known alloys with SMEs were found to have thermoelastic martensitic transformations (TMTs) at high temperatures. It is also found that most of the materials with TMTs and related SMEs do not have the necessary ductility and this is currently one of the main restrictions of their wide practical application. The aim of the present work is to design and develop multicomponent alloys with TMTs together with ways to improve their strength and ductile properties, using doping and advanced methods of thermal and thermomechanical treatments. The structure, phase composition, and TMTs were investigated by transmission- and scanning electron microscopy, as well as by neutron-, electron- and X-ray diffraction. Temperature measurements of the electrical resistance, magnetic susceptibility, as well as tests of the tensile mechanical properties and special characteristics of SMEs were also used. Temperature–concentration dependences for TMTs in the binary and ternary alloys of a number of quasi-binary systems were determined and discussed. It is shown that the ductility and strength of alloys required for the realization of SMEs can be achieved through optimal alloying, which excludes decomposition in the temperature range of SMEs’ usage, as well as via various treatments that ensure the formation of their fine- (FG) and ultra-fine-grained (UFG) structure.

Beschreibung: The quantized orbital angular momentum (OAM) of photons offers an additional degree of freedom and topological protection from noise. Photonic OAM states have therefore been exploited in various applications ranging from studies of quantum entanglement and quantum information science to imaging. The OAM states of electron beams have been shown to be similarly useful, for example in rotating nanoparticles and determining the chirality of crystals. However, although neutrons--as massive, penetrating and neutral particles--are important in materials characterization, quantum information and studies of the foundations of quantum mechanics, OAM control of neutrons has yet to be achieved. Here, we demonstrate OAM control of neutrons using macroscopic spiral phase plates that apply a 'twist' to an input neutron beam. The twisted neutron beams are analysed with neutron interferometry. Our techniques, applied to spatially incoherent beams, demonstrate both the addition of quantum angular momenta along the direction of propagation, effected by multiple spiral phase plates, and the conservation of topological charge with respect to uniform phase fluctuations. Neutron-based studies of quantum information science, the foundations of quantum mechanics, and scattering and imaging of magnetic, superconducting and chiral materials have until now been limited to three degrees of freedom: spin, path and energy. The optimization of OAM control, leading to well defined values of OAM, would provide an additional quantized degree of freedom for such studies.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Clark, Charles W -- Barankov, Roman -- Huber, Michael G -- Arif, Muhammad -- Cory, David G -- Pushin, Dmitry A -- England -- Nature. 2015 Sep 24;525(7570):504-6. doi: 10.1038/nature15265.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Joint Quantum Institute, National Institute of Standards and Technology and University of Maryland, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA. ; Photonics Center and Department of Biomedical Engineering, Boston University, Massachusetts 02215, USA. ; National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland 20899, USA. ; Department of Chemistry, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada. ; Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 2Y5, Canada. ; Institute for Quantum Computing, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada. ; Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, Ontario M5G 1Z8, Canada. ; Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3G1, Canada.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26399831" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉

Beschreibung: Agronomy, Vol. 8, Pages 2: Generation of Transgenic Rootstock Plum ((Prunus pumila L. × P. salicina Lindl.) × (P. cerasifera Ehrh.)) Using Hairpin-RNA Construct for Resistance to the Plum pox virus Agronomy doi: 10.3390/agronomy8010002 Authors: Tatiana Sidorova Alexander Pushin Dmitry Miroshnichenko Sergey Dolgov The use of Prunus rootstocks that are resistant to plum pox virus (PPV) is an important agronomic strategy to combat the spread of the Sharka disease in nurseries and orchards. Despite remarkable progress in developing stone fruit rootstocks to adapt to various stresses, breeding that ensures durable virus resistance has not yet been achieved. For this reason, the engineering of PPV resistant plants through genetic transformation is a very promising approach to control sharka disease. The aim of the present study is to produce transgenic plants of the clonal rootstock ‘Elita’, which is resistant to PPV using ribonucleic acid interference (RNAi) technology. The genetic construct containing the self-complementary fragments of the plum pox virus coat protein (PPV-CP) gene sequence were used to induce the mechanism of post-transcriptional gene silencing to ensure virus resistance. Transgenic plants have been produced after agrobacterium-mediated transformation of in vitro explanted leaves. The results of polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blotting analyses confirmed the stable genomic integration of the PPV-CP sense and antisense intron-hairpin-RNA sequence. The functionality of the introduced expression cassette was confirmed by the activity of including the uidA gene into the transferring T-DNA. To our knowledge, this is the first interspecific plum rootstock produced by genetic engineering to achieve PPV resistance.

Beschreibung: Agronomy, Vol. 8, Pages 28: Different Approaches to Produce Transgenic Virus B Resistant Chrysanthemum Agronomy doi: 10.3390/agronomy8030028 Authors: Tatiana Mitiouchkina Aleksey Firsov Svetlana Titova Alexander Pushin Olga Shulga Sergey Dolgov Chrysanthemum is a vegetative propagated culture in which viral transmission with planting material is important for its production. Chrysanthemum virus B (CVB) belongs to the viruses that strike this plant culture. Chrysanthemum virus B is found everywhere where chrysanthemum is cultivated. Damage to plants by CVB often leads to a complete loss of floral yield. Chrysanthemum (Chrysanthemum morifolium Ramat cv. White Snowdon) was transformed via Agrobacterium-mediated DNA delivery with the aim of improving resistance to CVB infection. Transformation vectors contain the nucleotide sequence of CVB coat proteins (CP) in sense, antisense, and double sense orientation. The transformative vectors also invert repeats of CVB coat protein gene fragments for the induction of RNA-interference. The transgenic chrysanthemum plants were successfully obtained. The integration of the target sequences in plant genomes was confirmed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and Southern blot analyses. Chrysanthemum lines were transformed with antisense, sense, and double sense CVB CP sequences, as well as with hairpin RNA-interference constructs that were assayed for resistance to CVB. Infection of transgenic plants by CVB through the grafting of infected scions shows resistance only among plants with carried double sense (16.7%) and hairpin (12.5%) constructs. The plants transformed by sense and double sense sequences were observed and classified as tolerant.