The theme of this research work is related to the topics of cars powered by compression ignition (diesel) internal combustion engines, fuel rationing techniques and specialized software application to determine fuel consumption. This research work describes fuel consumption rate calculation procedure according to the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Republic of Lithuania approved by "Motor fuel rate setting methodology", which is recommended for companies, institutions and organizations, determining standards of fuel consumption on cars fitted with special equipment, for fuel accounting of income and expenses. This procedure is governed by a series of directives which, in light of technical progress and increasingly stringent environmental requirements, are reviewed regularly. It also provides an overview of the most widely spread, specifically designed for cars telemetric fuel accounting systems, which are an essential part of traffic management and control systems. This paper describes the system of accounting the fuel consumption of the car using the factory fuel tank level sensor and fuel accounting electromechanical counters, all inextricably in conjunction with a vehicle tracking (locking of workload parameters). After reviewing those systems, operating principles and distinguished advantages and disadvantages are presented.

The anthrax toxin consists of three proteins, protective antigen (PA), lethal factor, and edema factor that are produced by the Gram-positive bacterium, Bacillus anthracis. Current vaccines against anthrax use PA as their primary component. In this study, we developed a scalable process to produce and purify multi-gram quantities of highly pure, recombinant PA (rPA) from Escherichia coli. The rPA protein was produced in a 50-L fermentor and purified to >99% purity using anion-exchange, hydrophobic interaction, and hydroxyapatite chromatography. The final yield of purified rPA from medium cell density fermentations resulted in approximately 2.7 g of rPA per kg of cell paste (∼270 mg/L) of highly pure, biologically active rPA protein. The results presented here exhibit the ability to generate multi-gram quantities of rPA from E. coli that may be used for the development of new anthrax vaccines and anthrax therapeutics.

Intoxication of mammalian cells by Bacillus anthracis requires the coordinate activity of three distinct bacterial proteins: protective antigen (PA), edema factor (EF), and lethal factor (LF). Among these proteins, PA has become the major focus of work on monoclonal antibodies and vaccines designed to treat or prevent anthrax infection since neither EF nor LF is capable of inducing cellular toxicity in its absence. Here, we present the development of a sensitive, precise, and biologically relevant bioassay platform capable of quantifying antibody-mediated PA neutralization. This bioassay is based on the ability of PA to bind and shuttle EF, a bacterial adenylate cyclase, into mammalian cells leading to an increase in cAMP that can be quantified using a sensitive chemiluminescent ELISA. The results of this study indicate that the cAMP-induction assay possesses the necessary performance characteristics for use as both a potency-indicating release assay in a quality control setting and as a surrogate pharmacodynamic marker for ensuring the continued bioactivity of therapeutic antibodies against PA during clinical trials.

Anthrax is caused by the gram-positive, spore-forming bacterium, Bacillus anthracis. The anthrax toxin consists of three proteins, protective antigen (PA), lethal factor, and edema factor. Current vaccines against anthrax use PA as their primary component since it confers protective immunity. In this work, we expressed soluble, recombinant PA in relatively high amounts in the periplasm of E. coli from shake flasks and bioreactors. The PA protein was purified using Q-Sepharose-HP and hydroxyapatite chromatography, and routinely found to be 96–98% pure. Yields of purified PA varied depending on the method of production; however, medium cell density fermentations resulted in approximately 370mg/L of highly pure biologically active PA protein. These results exhibit the ability to generate gram quantities of PA from E. coli.

B lymphocyte stimulator (BLyS) is a member of the tumor necrosis factor superfamily of cytokines. When the 152 amino acids of the C-terminus are associated into a homotrimer, this protein exhibits the ability to stimulate B cell proliferation and differentiation. Since numerous potential therapeutic indications have been identified for BLyS and other BLyS-derived products, large quantities of the protein are needed to further basic research and clinical trials. In this work, we have developed a high yield recombinant expression system that utilizes Escherichia coli as the host organism. Recombinant soluble BLyS (rsBLyS) production was achieved through the use of the phoA promoter system. This expression system, coupled to a semi-defined fermentation process, resulted in final purified yields of 435 mg/L of properly folded, trimeric, biologically active rsBLyS. This level of production is an 11-fold increase in volumetric yields compared to the process currently being used for clinical production. Furthermore, the increased rsBLyS production obtained from this process enabled the development of a conventional purification scheme that eliminated the use of a BLyS-affinity resin.

Myeloid progenitor inhibitory factor (MPIF)-2 is a beta-chemokine with select and potent activities on eosinophils and myeloid progenitors. In the beta-chemokine family, biological activity is modulated by differential processing of the amino-terminus. Here, for MPIF-2, we describe the biological activities of NH(2)-terminal deletion mutants and compare regions necessary for eosinophil and myeloid progenitor activities. Five MPIF-2 proteins with deletions at the amino-terminus were produced in Escherichia coli and assayed for calcium mobilization, chemotaxis and receptor binding activities on eosinophils, and for their ability to inhibit colony formation of human myeloid bone marrow progenitors. For eosinophils, deletion of the first two amino acids did not markedly alter activity, while subsequent truncations result in a complete loss of activity. One of the MPIF-2 mutants, MPIF-2 (P30-R99) was converted from an agonist to an antagonist of eotaxin, MPIF-2 and MCP-4 functional responses in eosinophil calcium flux and chemotaxis assays. Surprisingly, while displaying a complete loss of agonist activity toward eosinophils, MPIF-2 (P30-R99) retains ability to inhibit human bone marrow myeloid progenitor cell colony formation. In addition, processing at the amino terminus of MPIF-2 in vivo, may result in a chemokine with altered biological activities.

Microadhesion and wear behaviour of diamond-like coatings and hydrogenated carbon coatings produced by several different methods was investigated. An atomic force microscope (AFM) was used for microadhesion tests. Adhesion force between AFM cantilever and coating surface was measured. Adhesion force values were obtained from AFM force-displacement curves. Wear of coatings was evaluated using diamond “tip-on-plate” and steel “ball-on-plate” tribotesters. Investigated coatings were grown by graphite electron beam evaporation and ion beam bombardment assisted electron beam evaporation in hydrogenous ionic atmosphere. Quartz, silicon and GaAs wafers were used as substrates for deposition. Adhesion forces evaluated for samples of different microstructure varied in the range 1–100 nN. Different shapes of the force-displacement curve were observed for coatings grown using different methods. Our investigations point to the ion assisted deposition as the preferred fabrication method for hard protective coatings.

From Western scientific publications it seems that many interesting results of the former Soviet Union's research are not known to the Western researchers because of the language barrier. The first experimental prototypes of ultrasonic motors in the former Soviet Union were designed in 1963–64 by M.E. Archangelskij, V.V. Lavrinenko and colleagues. The Research Center ‘Vibrotechnika’ started research and design of ultrasonic motors in 1969 for special applications and mode-coupled motors were designed in 1973. Nanometric resolution computer-controlled positioning systems were developed before 1990. This paper discusses 25 years of ultrasonic motor research and engineering in the former Soviet Union from 1970 to today.

This paper deals with ultrasonic motors based on the bimodal vibrations and their application to the stepper positioning systems. A concept of the linear ultrasonic motor drive capable of nanometric steps, centimetres travel range, reversible controlled motion is presented. The developed motor concept is based on the superposition of a longitudinal and bending vibrations of a rectangular resonator. The ultrasonic motor model based on systems identification with prediction have been developed for control applications, The open two stages positioning system with designed stepper ultrasonic drive have shown 5% trajectory repeatability. The system with close loop position control have shown 0,3 micron positioning accuracy and 50 nm resolution.