The use of highly enriched uranium (HEU) as fuel in research reactors runs contrary to the concept of proliferation-resistant nuclear technologies. Consequently, for more than two decades, international activities have been undertaken to terminate the use of HEU in research reactors by supporting the conversion of these facilities to low-enriched uranium (LEU). Achievements, setbacks and perspe...

Recent statistics indicate that in 2005 the world consumed about 0.5 ZJ (ZJ = 10 Joules) of energy. If one assumes that the future world population stabilizes at 10 billions, and the people consume a similar amount of energy per capita to that of the people in the presently developed countries, the world will need about 2 ZJ a year. A recent survey of the available future energy resources indic...

One scenario for long-term nitrogen management in landfills is ex situ nitrification followed by denitrification in the landfill. The objective of this research was to measure the denitrification potential of actively decomposing and well decomposed refuse. A series of 10-l reactors that were actively producing methane were fed 400 mg NO3-N /l every 48 h for periods of 19-59 days. Up to 29 nitr...

Signal transducers and activators of transcription (Stats) play central roles in the conversion of extracellular signals, e.g., cytokines, hormones and growth factors, into tissue and cell type specific gene expression patterns. In normal cells, their signaling potential is strictly limited in extent and duration. The persistent activation of Stat3 or Stat5 is found in many human tumor cells an...

Plasma-catalytic ammonia decomposition as a method for producing hydrogen was studied in packed-bed dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) reactor at ambient pressure and fixed plasma power. The influence of packing the zone with various materials, typically used catalyst supports, examined. At conditions (21 W, 75 Nml/min NH 3 ) where an conversion 5% achieved alone, improved found when introducin...

background: dielectric barrier discharge (dbd), a source of non-thermal plasma, is used in surface decontamination. objective: to study the effect of dbd plasma treatment, we evaluated the effect of plasma exposure time on inactivation of bacillus subtilis. results: applying the dbd plasma to the culture of b. subtilis caused complete sterilization of the surface without any thermal effects. in...

The tumor suppressor p53 plays a crucial role in the cell cycle checkpoints, DNA repair, and apoptosis. p53 consists of a natively unfolded N-terminal region (NTR), central DNA binding domain (DBD), C-terminal tetramerization domain, and regulatory region. In this paper, the interactions between the DBD and the NTR, and between the DBD and DNA were investigated by measuring changes in the mecha...