OPTIMIZING THE STARTING POINT IN A PRECEDENCE CONSTRAINED ROUTING PROBLEM WITH COMPLICATED TRAVEL COST FUNCTIONS

We study the optimization of the initial state, route (a permutation of indices), and track in an extremal problem connected with visiting a finite system of megalopolises subject to precedence constraints where the travel cost functions may depend on the set of (pending) tasks. This problem statement is xemplified by the task to dismantle a system of radiating elements in case of emergency, such as the Chernobyl or Fukushima nuclear disasters. We propose a solution based on a parallel algorithm, which was implemented on the Uran supercomputer. It consists of a two-stage procedure: stage one determines the value (extremum) function over the set of all possible initial states and finds its minimum and also the point where it is achieved. This point is viewed as a base of the optimal process, which is constructed at stage two. Thus, optimization of the starting point for the route through megalopolises, connected with conducting certain internal tasks there, is an important element of the solution. To this end, we employ the apparatus of the broadly understood dynamic programming with elements of parallel structure during the construction of Bellman function layers

A Mouse Amidase Specific for N-terminal Asparagine: the gene, the enzyme, and their function in the N-end rule pathway

The N-end rule relates the in vivo half-life of a protein to the identity of its N-terminal residue. In both fungi and mammals, the tertiary destabilizing N-terminal residues asparagine and glutamine function through their conversion, by enzymatic deamidation, into the secondary destabilizing residues aspartate and glutamate, whose destabilizing activity requires their enzymatic conjugation to arginine, one of the primary destabilizing residues. We report the isolation and analysis of a mouse cDNA and the corresponding gene (termed Ntan1) that encode a 310-residue amidohydrolase (termed NtN-amidase) specific for N-terminal asparagine. The ~17-kilobase pair Ntan1 gene is located in the proximal region of mouse chromosome 16 and contains 10 exons ranging from 54 to 177 base pairs in length. The ~1.4-kilobase pair Ntan1 mRNA is expressed in all of the tested mouse tissues and cell lines and is down-regulated upon the conversion of myoblasts into myotubes. The Ntan1 promoter is located ~500 base pairs upstream of the Ntan1 start codon. The deduced amino acid sequence of mouse NtN-amidase is 88% identical to the sequence of its porcine counterpart, but bears no significant similarity to the sequence of the NTA1-encoded N-terminal amidohydrolase of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which can deamidate either N-terminal asparagine or glutamine. The expression of mouse NtN-amidase in S. cerevisiae nta1Delta was used to verify that NtN-amidase retains its asparagine selectivity in vivo and can implement the asparagine-specific subset of the N-end rule. Further dissection of mouse Ntan1, including its null phenotype analysis, should illuminate the functions of the N-end rule, most of which are still unknown

Hydrogen Spectroscopy with a Lamb-shift Polarimeter - An Alternative Approach Towards Anti-Hydrogen Spectroscopy Experiments

A Lamb-shift polarimeter, which has been built for a fast determination of the polarization of protons and deuterons of an atomic-beam source and which is frequently used in the ANKE experiment at COSY-J\"ulich, is shown to be an excellent device for atomic-spectroscopy measurements of metastable hydrogen isotopes. It is demonstrated that magnetic and electric dipole transitions in hydrogen can be measured as a function of the external magnetic field, giving access to the full Breit-Rabi diagram for the $2^2S_{1/2}$ and the $2^2P_{1/2}$ states. This will allow the study of hyperfine structure, $g$ factors and the classical Lamb shift. Although the data are not yet competitive with state-of-the-art measurements, the potential of the method is enormous, including a possible application to anti-hydrogen spectroscopy.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, accepted by European Physical Journal

NMDB database and global survey method

The method of a global survey developed in the 1970s allows using a world-wide network of neutron monitor stations as a single multidirectional device. Wherein, receiving characteristics of each device, which reflects their geometries and geographical positions, are taken into account. Such an approach makes it possible to define the first two angular moments of the distribution function of cosmic rays in the interplanetary space at each hour of observation. With the creation in 2008/2009 and subsequent development of an international database of neutron monitors NMDB, for the first time it appeared an opportunity to use the global survey method in real-time mode. Such a situation creates a unique possibility to use the results not only for scienti- fic researches but also for space weather forecasting. To use the data of the world-wide network of neutron monitors it is necessary to carry preliminary preparations. Thereby, in the current work, the main attention is attracted to a solution to some practical questions that arise when using the NMDB in real-time

NMDB and space weather forecasting

From the creation of NMDB in 2007 and through the growth in the number of stations and the data accumulation, the ShICRA SB RAS group continuously have used its facilities. For the last years we have created a method for short-term forecasting of intense geomagnetic storms with an advance time 1-2 days. The probability of forecasting is around 80%. We have reported about the method in the previous NMDB: virtual symposium on cosmic ray studies with neutron detectors in 2020. The method is based on the global survey method that was developed in Yakutsk in 1960s and uses the world network of neutron monitors as a single multidirectional device. The method is intended to estimate hourly dynamics of cosmic ray anisotropy in free-space. Note that only with the NMDB creation we managed to implement it in real time mode. Now we started work on creating another method for space weather forecasting by measurements of cosmic ray fluctuations. For this purpose, we use 1-min data of NMDB. In the current report we present the first results of our investigation on forecasting of intense geomagnetic storms with Dst < -50 nT. The results obtained indicate the possibility of developing and implementing in real time a method for predicting strong geophysical manifestations of space weather on the basis of ground-based cosmic ray measurements

Rectal cancer (lecture)

The lecture deals with the issues of classification, etiology, diagnostics and treatment of rectal cancer

On one routing problem modeling movement in radiation fields

We consider a routing problem with constraints and complicated cost functions. The visited objects are assumed to be clusters, or megalopolises (nonempty finite sets), and the visit to each of them entails certain tasks, which we call interior jobs. The order of visits is subject to precedence constraints. The costs of movements depend on the set of pending tasks (not yet complete at the time of the movement), which is also referred to as "sequence dependence", "position dependence", and "state dependence". Such a dependence arises, in particular, in routing problems concerning emergencies at nuclear power plants, similar to the Chernobyl and Fukushima Daiichi incidents. For example, one could consider a disaster recovery problem concerned with sequential dismantlement of radiation sources; in this case, the crew conducting the dismantlement is exposed to radiation from the sources that have not yet been dealt with. This gives rise to dependence on pending tasks in the cost functions that measure the crew's radiation exposure. The latter dependence reflects the "shutdown" operations for the corresponding radiation sources. This paper sets forth an approach to a parallel solution for this problem, which was implemented and run on the URAN supercomputer

Cosmic ray angular distribution dynamics during Forbush decrease in 3-4 November 2021

On November 3-4, 2021, there was a coronal ejection of the solar mass into the interplanetary medium. According to direct observations of the interplanetary magnetic field and the solar wind, the ejection was accompanied by a magnetic cloud. During the event, neutron monitors of the NMDB network registered a two-stage Forbush decrease with a total amplitude of up to 15%. A preliminary analysis of the NMDB data shows that the first step was due to the cosmic ray decrease behind the shock wave front, while the second step was due to the cosmic ray anisotropy formed in the magnetic cloud. This work was undertaken to study the dynamics of the angular distribution of cosmic rays in this event. The cosmic ray distribution was determined using the global survey method developed at the ShICRA in the 1960s. The method makes it possible to use the worldwide network of neutron monitors as a single multidirectional instrument and to determine the hourly dynamics of CR distribution. It is shown that unidirectional and bidirectional anisotropies of significant amplitude are observed inside the magnetic cloud. The results obtained are discussed in the framework of modern theories of the formation of magnetic clouds. The temporal dynamics of the spatial-angular distribution of cosmic rays during the Forbush decrease on November 3–4, 2021 was determined. The presence of cosmic ray anisotropy with an amplitude comparable to the magnitude of the density decrease itself was found