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In Oliveira et al. (2017), the authors would like to inform readers of the following funding information error on page 5072, under Acknowledgements section: This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) and the Project PTDC/BBB-BSS/6471/2014 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016678). The reference number should have read: Project PTDC/BBB-BSS/6471/2014 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-016643). The authors apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused., info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

This paper considers the structure and physical processes in the transition region at the border between the regions of false and physical vacuums in a cavitation model of the inflationary stage of the Big Bang. It is shown that in the process of the formation of physical vacuum bubbles in a false vacuum, conditions for the formation of a narrow layer filled with matter arise in the transition region, which is the precursor to bridges in the observed large-scale cellular structure of the universe.

In this paper, we propose a model for the initial stage of the development of the Universe, analogous to cavitation in a liquid in a negative pressure field. It is assumed that at the stage of inflation, multiple breaks of the metric occur with the formation of areas of physical vacuum in which the generation of matter occurs. The proposed model explains the large-scale isotropy of the Universe without ultrafast inflationary expansion and the emergence of a large-scale cellular (cluster) structure, as a result of the development of cavitation ruptures of a false vacuum. It is shown that the cavitation model can be considered on par with (or as an alternative to) the generally accepted inflationary multiverse model of the Big Bang.

In the white paper we describe a national program in Low Temperature Plasma (LTP). The program should take advantage of the research opportunities of 3 rapidly growing areas (nanomaterial plasma synthesis, plasma medicine, microelectronics). The main theme is to achieve a fundamental understanding of Low Temperature Plasmas as they are applied to these different applications. This understanding will allow U.S. industry to meet the challenges of international competition., 9 pages, submitted for the Community Planning Process for fusion energy (https://sites.google.com/pppl.gov/dpp-cpp/)

In this paper, on the basis of the model Schr\"odinger equation, we consider the tunneling mechanism of cavitation in liquid helium and obtain threshold values of negative pressure as a function of temperature for 3He and 4He. The results of calculating the surface tension coefficients for flat and curved interfaces, obtained in the approximation of the Lenard-Jones interaction potential, are presented. It is shown that the temperature dependence of the critical pressure at which cavitation begins is stepwise in nature. The obtained critical pressure values are in satisfactory agreement with the experimental data.

This report describes the structure of a putative tail fiber protein of the Acinetobacter baumannii bacteriophage AP22. The target host range of strictly lytic bacteriophage AP22 includes many clinical isolates of A. baumannii from hospitals in Chelyabinsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Moscow and St. Petersburg (Russia), but its host cell binding apparatus remains uncharacterized. Here, we report the crystal structure of the C-terminal fragment of AP22 gene product 53 (gp53) one of its two putative host cell-binding proteins. We show that gp53 forms a trimeric fiber and binds ethylene glycol and glycerol molecules that represent known surrogates of the oligosaccharide backbone. However, despite its structural similarities to other phage/virus host cell-binding fibers and its binding to small sugar-like molecules, gp53 did not inhibit AP22 infection and its role in the infection process remains unclear.

In this paper, using an unified approach, estimates are given of the magnitude of the surface tension of water for planar and curved interfaces in the pairwase interaction approximation based on the Lennard-Jones potential. It is shown that the surface tensions of a bubble and droplet have qualitatively different dependences on the curvature of the surface: for the bubble, as the radius of the surface's curvature decreases, the surface tension decreases, whereas it increases on the droplet. The corresponding values of the Tolman corrections are also determined. In addition, it is shown that the dependence of the surface tension on the surface's curvature is important for evaluating the critical negative pressure for the onset of cavitation.

This work proposes a novel method of Thomson microwave scattering for electron number density measurements of miniature plasmas at pressures < 10 Torr. This method is applied to determine electron number density in a positive column of glow discharge initiated at 5 Torr in air with a plasma column diameter of 3.4 mm. The Thomson Microwave Scattering(TMS) system measured the electron number density to be 3.36*10^10 cm^-3. The result obtained using the TMS system was validated against the measurements made using the well-known technique of microwave quarter-wave hairpin resonator. Measurements with the hairpin resonator yielded an electron number density of 2.07*10^10 cm^-3 providing adequate agreement with the TMS system.

In magnetically-confined plasmas of tokamaks, neutral deuterium/hydrogen (D/H) atoms play a role in energy, momentum, and particle balance, as well as the stabilization of plasma turbulence. One key important fusion performance parameter is the pedestal density. Understanding the pedestal density formation is critical for the development of predictive model of future fusion devices. Typically, measurements of the neutrals are obtained using optical emission spectroscopy of the Lyman alpha lines, which is a line-integrated measurement. The plasma in tokamaks is characterized by a high density of electrons and ions and a relatively low concentration of neutral hydrogen atoms, which could make direct measurement of density seemingly impossible at first. We propose a laser-based method that allows for accurate measurement of both the spatial and absolute magnitude of the neutral D/H with minimal knowledge of the radial profiles of electron temperatures and densities. This relies on the fact that the neutral spectral profile can have a larger peak than the electron spectral profile and thus make the neutral density signal resolvable. In practice, this method can be co-located with Thomson scattering systems and is referred to as laser Rayleigh scattering (LRS). More specifically, we assess and evaluate the LRS method for two test cases: in the midplane radii of the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), and in the small angle slot divertor configuration of DIII-D. Preliminary simulations and calculations will determine the feasibility of LRS in the presence of incoherent Thomson scattering under neutral densities ranging from $ 10^{13} $ to $ 10^{21} \ \text{m}^{-3} $. Wavelength dependence of LRS will be evaluated to determine the boost in the signal and photon generation capability.

Viruses of Microbes 2018 (EMBO Workshop) - Abstract Book, [Excerpt] Several virulence factors have been identified in Gram-negative bacilli, among which the capsular structures which are suggested to be involved in the evasion of microbial defences. Although the capsule is commonly associated with bacteriophage resistance, some bacteriophages can recognize this structure as a receptor with the aid of structural polysaccharide depolymerases. Bacteriophages have then evolved along with the bacteria to recognize different types of capsules. This feature is well illustrated in phages infecting Acinetobacter spp. known to display at least 106 capsular types. [...], info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Bacteriophages recognize and bind to their hosts with the help of receptor-binding proteins (RBPs) that emanate from the phage particle in the form of fibers or tailspikes. RBPs show a great variability in their shapes, sizes, and location on the particle. Some RBPs are known to depolymerize surface polysaccharides of the host while others show no enzymatic activity. Here we report that both RBPs of podovirus G7C - tailspikes gp63.1 and gp66 - are essential for infection of its natural host bacterium E. coli 4s that populates the equine intestinal tract. We characterize the structure and function of gp63.1 and show that unlike any previously described RPB, gp63.1 deacetylates surface polysaccharides of E. coli 4s leaving the backbone of the polysaccharide intact. We demonstrate that gp63.1 and gp66 form a stable complex, in which the N-terminal part of gp66 serves as an attachment site for gp63.1 and anchors the gp63.1-gp66 complex to the G7C tail. The esterase domain of gp63.1 as well as domains mediating the gp63.1-gp66 interaction is widespread among all three families of tailed bacteriophages.

平成17年度宇宙輸送シンポジウム（2006年1月12日-13日. 宇宙航空研究開発機構宇宙科学研究本部 (JAXA)(ISAS)）, 相模原市, 神奈川県, Space Transportation Symposium FY2005 (January 12-13, 2006. Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)(ISAS)), Sagamihara, Kanagawa Japan, 資料番号: SA6000002051

We consider the development of pre-breakdown cavitation nanopores appearing in the dielectric fluid under the influence of the electrostrictive stresses in the inhomogeneous pulsed electric field. It is shown that three characteristic regions can be distinguished near the needle electrode. In the first region, where the electric field gradient is greatest, the cavitation nanopores, occurring during the voltage nanosecond pulse, may grow to the size at which an electron accelerated by the field inside the pores can acquire enough energy for excitation and ionization of the liquid on the opposite pore wall, i.e., the breakdown conditions are satisfied. In the second region, the negative pressure caused by the electrostriction is large enough for the cavitation initiation (which can be registered by optical methods), but, during the voltage pulse, the pores do not reach the size at which the potential difference across their borders becomes sufficient for ionization or excitation of water molecules. And, in the third, the development of cavitation is impossible, due to an insufficient level of the negative pressure: in this area, the spontaneously occurring micropores do not grow and collapse under the influence of surface tension forces. This paper discusses the expansion dynamics of the cavitation pores and their most probable shape.

Contractile injection systems (bacteriophage tails, type VI secretions system, R-type pyocins, etc.) utilize a rigid tube/contractile sheath assembly for breaching the envelope of bacterial and eukaryotic cells. Among contractile injection systems, bacteriophages that infect Gram-positive bacteria represent the least understood members. Here, we describe the structure of Listeria bacteriophage A511 tail in its pre- and post-host attachment states (extended and contracted, respectively) using cryo-electron microscopy, cryo-electron tomography, and X-ray crystallography. We show that the structure of the tube-baseplate complex of A511 is similar to that of phage T4, but the A511 baseplate is decorated with different receptor-binding proteins, which undergo a large structural transformation upon host attachment and switch the symmetry of the baseplate-tail fiber assembly from threefold to sixfold. For the first time under native conditions, we show that contraction of the phage tail sheath assembly starts at the baseplate and propagates through the sheath in a domino-like motion.

Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is required for activation of innate immunity upon recognition of lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Gram-negative bacteria. The ability of TLR4 to respond to a particular LPS species is important since insufficient activation may not prevent bacterial growth while excessive immune reaction may lead to immunopathology associated with sepsis. Here we investigated the biological activity of LPS from Burkholderia mallei that causes glanders, and from the two well-known opportunistic pathogens Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (causative agents of nosocomial infections). For each bacterial strain, R-form LPS preparations were purified by hydrophobic chromatography and the chemical structure of lipid A, an LPS structural component, was elucidated by HR-MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry. The biological activity of LPS samples was evaluated by their ability to induce production of proinflammatory cytokines, such as IL-6 and TNF, by bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDM). Our results demonstrate direct correlation between the biological activity of LPS from these pathogenic bacteria and the extent of their lipid A acylation.