Bright vector solitons in cross-defocusing nonlinear media

We study two-dimensional soliton-soliton vector pairs in media with self-focusing nonlinearities and defocing cross-interactions. The general properties of the stationary states and their stability are investigated. The different scenarios of instability are observed using numerical simulations. The quasi-stable propagation regime of the high-power vector solitons is revealed.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figure

Optical tweezers for vortex rings in Bose-Einstein condensates

We study generation and stabilization of vortex rings in atomic Bose-Einstein condensates. We suggest an approach for generating vortex rings by optical tweezers - two blue-detuned optical beams forming a toroidal void in a magnetically or optically conf

Study of high temperature and high density plasmoids in axially symmetrical magnetic fields

Within the framework of an Institutional Partnership of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Budker Institute of Nuclear Physics Novisibirsk (BINP) and Forschungszentrum Dresden-Rossendorf worked together in a joint project devoted to the research at the coupled GDT-SHIP facility of the BINP with the focus on the study of plasma phenomena within the SHIP mirror section. The project began at July 1st, 2005 and ended on August 30th, 2008. It included work packages of significant theoretical, computational and analyzing investigations. The focus of this final report is on the presentation of results achieved whereas the work that was done is described briefly only. Chapter 2 illustrates the GDT-SHIP facility and describes shortly the planned topics of the SHIP plasma research. Chapter 3 explains the main extensions and modifications of the Integrated Transport Code System (ITCS) which were necessary for the calculations of the fast ion and neutral gas particle fields in SHIP, describes briefly the scheme of computations and presents significant results of pre-calculations from which conclusions were drawn regarding the experimental program of SHIP. In chapter 4, the theoretical and computational investigations of self-organizing processes in two-component plasmas of the GDT-SHIP device are explained and the results hitherto achieved are presented. In chapter 5, significant results of several experiments with moderate and with enhanced plasma parameters are presented and compared with computational results obtained with the ITCS. Preparing neutron measurements which are planned for neutron producing experiments with deuterium injection, Monte Carlo neutron transport calculations with the MCNP code were also carried out. The results are presented. Finally, from the results obtained within the joint research project important conclusions are drawn in chapter 6

Холодовая реактивность дыхательных путей у больных хроническим бронхитом

To investigate cold airway reactivity we observed 88 patients with chronic bronchitis. The cold airway hyperreactivity revealed by cold isocapnic hyperventilation was established to take place in one third of the patients and was represented by a set of clinical symptoms. The severity of subsequent bronchial constriction depended on an initial airway patency, a level of ventilation and the temperature fall during the cold provocation.С целью изучения чувствительности рецепторного аппарата дыхательных путей к холодовому воздействию и разработки на этой основе диагностических критериев обследовано 88 больных хроническим бронхитом. Установлено, что у трети из них имела место холодовая гиперреактивность дыхательных путей, которая проявлялась совокупностью клинических симптомов и была выявлена с помощью изокапнической гипервентиляции холодным воздухом. Степень последующей бронхоконстрикторной реакции зависит от исходной бронхиальной проходимости, уровня вентиляции и снижения температуры при Холодовой провокации

RUSSIAN ENGINEERING TEACHERS AS AN IMPORTANT PART OF IGIP

The paper highlights the milestones of the history of the International Society for Engineering Pedagogy (IGIP) from 1972 until now. Professor A. Melezinek was a founder of the society; he developed its structure that survived to the present time. Now his pedagogical ideas are being developed and revised to reflect the changes in the goals and contents of engineering education, new methods, means of training and control, modern communication capabilities. Global challenges, problems of sustainable development and construction of the so-called “Resilient Society” were the main topics of the last Annual IGIP conferences. Globalization has led to the organization of the International Federation of Engineering Education Societies (IFEES). IGIP was one of its founders in 2006. We discuss different aspects of cooperation between Russian technical universities and IGIP, which began in 1995. Regional IGIP conferences and round tables are one of the aspects of such cooperation. The importance of this interaction for the Russian scientific school of engineering education is emphasized

Burning Oil Layer on the Surface of Water

The results of investigations on combustion of Karazhanbas and Tengiz oil on the surface of water are presented. The minimum thickness of oil layer allowing to initiate and support the process of combustion is stated to be lie in the range of 3–5 mm. For ignition and maintenance of stable combustion of oil on water surface, a synthetic sorbent is proposed. It is found that, the synthetic sorbent accelerates the combustion process of oil on water surface threefold in comparison with the combustion process of oil without a sorbent. It is shown that the remaining mass of oil on water surface after combustion process termination, presents a bituminous substance having a good coalescence and high adhesion that allows to collect it with high efficiency by a mechanical method. The process of ignition and combustion of oil on the water surface is significantly affected by contained in it combustible volatiles. In this paper, on the example of oil from Tengiz field, the regularities of the influence of temperature and salinity on evaporation of light fractions and the burnout process are revealed. It is determined that the degree of water salinity does not affect the process of evaporation of light fractions of oil, this process is significantly affected by temperature water. The research has shown that the important factors that influence the degree of burning of the oil layer on the surface of water is the degree of salinity and the initial temperature of water, while these relationships are complex. Revealed that the salt water burning process more profitable to produce oil at water temperatures above 20 °C. The developed model in has been supplemented with a coefficient of thermal conductivity as a function depending on temperature. Numerical results more accurately predict the experimental observations. The reason is that thermal diffusivity is determined more precisely

Changes in somatosensory evoked potentials in rats following transient cerebral ischemia

Background. Cerebral ischemia induced by transient middle cerebral artery occlusion is one of the most popular ischemic stroke models used to evaluate drug candidates with neuroprotective properties. The possibilities of combining this model with neurophysiological techniques (e.g., electroencephalography, electrocorticography, evoked potential registration, etc.) to assess the effectiveness of novel pharmacotherapeutic strategies appear to be of great interest to current biomedical research.The aim. Identifying specific changes in somatosensory evoked potentials occurring after cerebral ischemia induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats.Materials and methods. A total number of 18 white outbred male rats were randomized into 3 groups by 6 animals in each: 1) control (presumably healthy animals); 2) ischemia-30 (30-minute middle cerebral artery occlusion); 3) ischemia-45 (45-minute occlusion). At post-surgery day 7, cortical responses to sequential electrical stimulation of left and right n. ischiadicus were registered. N1, P2, N2, P3, and N3 peak latencies and amplitudes, peak-to-peak interval durations and amplitudes were calculated. Spearman’s rank correlation coefficients were used to assess the relationship between ischemia duration and evoked potential parameters, and the Chaddock scale was used to qualitatively evaluate the strength of correlations.Results. The rats subjected to cerebral ischemia demonstrated a decrease in some of the peak amplitudes of the ipsi- and contralateral somatosensory potentials evoked by n. ischiadicus stimulation. In the injured hemisphere, decreased P2 and N3 peak and P3–N3 interval amplitudes were registered ipsilaterally, and decreased P3 peak amplitudes and N2–P3 interval durations were observed contralaterally.Conclusions. The obtained data suggest that somatosensory evoked potential registration and analysis can be used to evaluate the functional state of central nerve tracts in rats subjected to cerebral ischemia

Automatic morphology phenotyping of tetra- and hexaploid wheat spike using computer vision methods

Intraspecific classification of cultivated plants is necessary for the conservation of biological diversity, study of their origin and their phylogeny. The modern cultivated wheat species originated from three wild diploid ancestors as a result of several rounds of genome doubling and are represented by di-, tetra- and hexaploid species. The identification of wheat ploidy level is one of the main stages of their taxonomy. Such classification is possible based on visual analysis of the wheat spike traits. The aim of this study is to investigate the morphological characteristics of spikes for hexa- and tetraploid wheat species based on the method of high-performance phenotyping. Phenotyping of the quantitative characteristics of the spike of 17 wheat species (595 plants, 3348 images), including eight tetraploids (Triticum aethiopicum, T. dicoccoides, T. dicoccum, T. durum, T. militinae, T. polonicum, T. timopheevii, and T. turgidum) and nine hexaploids (T. compactum, T. aestivum, i:ANK-23 (near-isogenic line of T. aestivum cv. Novosibirskaya 67), T. antiquorum, T. spelta (including cv. Rother Sommer Kolben), T. petropavlovskyi, T. yunnanense, T. macha, T. sphaerococcum, and T. vavilovii), was performed. Wheat spike morphology was described on the basis of nine quantitative traits including shape, size and awns area of the spike. The traits were obtained as a result of image analysis using the WERecognizer program. A cluster analysis of plants according to the characteristics of the spike shape and comparison of their distributions in tetraploid and hexaploid species showed a higher variability of traits in hexaploid species compared to tetraploid ones. At the same time, the species themselves form two clusters in the visual characteristics of the spike. One type is predominantly hexaploid species (with the exception of one tetraploid, T. dicoccoides). The other group includes tetraploid ones (with the exception of three hexaploid ones, T. compactum, T. antiquorum, T. sphaerococcum, and i:ANK-23). Thus, it has been shown that the morphological characteristics of spikes for hexaploid and tetraploid wheat species, obtained on the basis of computer analysis of images, include differences, which are further used to develop methods for plant classifications by ploidy level and their species in an automatic mode

Synthetic Analogue of Leu-Enkephalin Prevents Endothelial Dysfunction in vitro

The purpose of the study was to determine the efficacy of a synthetic leu-enkephalin stabilized analogue to prevent damage of endothelial cells monolayer in vitro caused by serum samples from septic shock patients.Materials and methods. The experiments were performed using the EaHy.926 endothelial cells monolayer. We studied the in vitro effect of synthetic leu-enkephalin analogue on the cell damage caused by serum samples from five septic shock patients. The status of endothelial intercellular junctions was estimated by immunofluorescence microscopy and western blot with antibodies against adherens junction protein, VE-cadherin, and against the tight junctions protein, claudin. Cell viability was determined by staining with propidium iodide.Results. Preconditioning with a synthetic leu-enkephalin analogue (10, 50 and 100 μg/ml) of endothelial cells in vitro prevented the destruction of both tight and adherens junction and partially prevented endothelial cell death.Conclusion. Preconditioning with a synthetic leu-enkephalin analogue partially prevents endothelial cell damage caused by exposure to septic patients’ sera in vitro. These data ensure the need for clinical trials on the effectiveness of a synthetic leu-enkephalin analogue for prevention of sepsis-associated endothelial dysfunction in clinics