Soil development on basic and ultrabasic rocks in cold environments of Russia traced by mineralogical composition and pore space characteristics

Recent soils from basic (amphibolite and meta-gabbro amphibolite) and ultrabasic (serpentinous dunite) rocks formed in cold and humid climates of Northern Eurasia (Russia) were studied to detail the characterization of soils and rocks with special attention to the interdependence of porosity system and rock mineralogy. The study plots were located in taiga and tundra zones of East Fennoscandia and the Polar UralMountainsyesBelgorod State National Research Universit

Data growth and its impact on the SCOP database: new developments

The Structural Classification of Proteins (SCOP) database is a comprehensive ordering of all proteins of known structure, according to their evolutionary and structural relationships. The SCOP hierarchy comprises the following levels: Species, Protein, Family, Superfamily, Fold and Class. While keeping the original classification scheme intact, we have changed the production of SCOP in order to cope with a rapid growth of new structural data and to facilitate the discovery of new protein relationships. We describe ongoing developments and new features implemented in SCOP. A new update protocol supports batch classification of new protein structures by their detected relationships at Family and Superfamily levels in contrast to our previous sequential handling of new structural data by release date. We introduce pre-SCOP, a preview of the SCOP developmental version that enables earlier access to the information on new relationships. We also discuss the impact of worldwide Structural Genomics initiatives, which are producing new protein structures at an increasing rate, on the rates of discovery and growth of protein families and superfamilies. SCOP can be accessed at http://scop.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk/scop

Saturation effects in the sub-Doppler spectroscopy of Cesium vapor confined in an Extremely Thin Cell

Saturation effects affecting absorption and fluorescence spectra of an atomic vapor confined in an Extremely Thin Cell (cell thickness $L < 1 \mu m$) are investigated experimentally and theoretically. The study is performed on the $D_{2}$ line ($\lambda ~= ~852 nm)$ of $Cs$ and concentrates on the two situations $L = \lambda /2$ and $L =\lambda$, the most contrasted ones with respect to the length dependence of the coherent Dicke narrowing. For $L = \lambda /2$, the Dicke-narrowed absorption profile simply broadens and saturates in amplitude when increasing the light intensity, while for $L =\lambda$, sub-Doppler dips of reduced absorption at line-center appear on the broad absorption profile. For a fluorescence detection at $L =\lambda$, saturation induces narrow dips, but only for hyperfine components undergoing a population loss through optical pumping. These experimental results are interpreted with the help of the various existing models, and are compared with numerical calculations based upon a two-level modelling that considers both a closed and an open system.Comment: 11 pages, 12 figure

Clustering in light nuclei in fragmentation above 1 A GeV

The relativistic invariant approach is applied to analyzing the 3.3 A GeV $^{22}$Ne fragmentation in a nuclear track emulsion. New results on few-body dissociations have been obtained from the emulsion exposures to 2.1 A GeV $^{14}$N and 1.2 A GeV $^{9}$Be nuclei. It can be asserted that the use of the invariant approach is an effective means of obtaining conclusions about the behavior of systems involving a few He nuclei at a relative energy close to 1 MeV per nucleon. The first observations of fragmentation of 1.2 A GeV $^{8}$B and $^{9}$C nuclei in emulsion are described. The presented results allow one to justify the development of few-body aspects of nuclear astrophysics.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics-2, 16-20 May, 2005 (ATOMKI), Debrecen, Hungar

Search for a signal on intermediate baryon systems formation in hadron-nuclear and nuclear-nuclear interactions at high energies

We have analyzed the behavior of different characteristics of hadron-nuclear and nuclear-nuclear interactions as a function of centrality to get a signal on the formation of intermediate baryon systems. We observed that the data demonstrate the regime change and saturation. The angular distributions of slow particles exhibit some structure in the above mentioned reactions at low energy. We believe that the structure could be connected with the formation and decay of the percolation cluster. With increasing the mass of colliding nuclei, the structure starts to become weak and almost disappears ultimately. This shows that the number of secondary internuclear interactions increases with increasing the mass of the colliding nuclei. The latter could be a reason of the disintegration of any intermediate formations as well as clusters, which decrease their influence on the angular distribution of the emitted particles.Comment: 2 pages and one figur

Structures and orientational transitions in thin films of tilted hexatic smectics

We present detailed systematic studies of structural transformations in thin liquid crystal films with the smectic-C to hexatic phase transition. For the first time all possible structures reported in the literature are observed for one material (5 O.6) at the variation of temperature and thickness. In unusual modulated structures the equilibrium period of stripes is twice with respect to the domain size. We interpret these patterns in the frame work of phenomenological Landau type theory, as equilibrium phenomena produced by a natural geometric frustration in a system having spontaneous splay distortion.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figure

Periodontitis assessed with a new screening tool and oral health-related quality of life: cross-sectional findings among general-population adults

Introduction: Periodontitis, as a chronic, multifactorial inflammatory disease, has complex relationships with other diseases and ultimately with well-being. The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the association between self-report periodontitis, as measured with the recently developed and validated modified Periodontal Screening Score (mPESS), and oral health-related quality of life (OHRQol) in a large population-based sample derived from the French NutriNet-Santé e-cohort. Methods: The sample was composed of 32,714 adults (75.5% women) with a mean age of 48.8 ± 13.9&nbsp;years. Periodontitis was assessed based on age, smoking, and oral health status data obtained in 2011–2012, which allowed calculating the mPESS. An mPESS ≥ 5 was used to identify individuals at risk of severe periodontitis (main exposure). OHRQoL was measured with the Oral Health Impact Profile (OHIP-14) (main outcome) and the total score was dichotomized for analysis. Multivariable logistic regression analyses, considering physical health status, dietary and lifestyle confounding variables, were performed. Results: Overall, 6407 participants (19.6%) were at a high risk of severe periodontitis. A total of 7383 participants (22.6%) presented a relatively poor OHRQoL (OHIP-14 &gt; 8, highest quartile). In the multivariable model, each of the following variables was independently and significantly associated with lower OHRQoL: older age (50–64&nbsp;years), female sex, obesity, snacking between meals, frequent consumption of soft drinks and sweets/chocolate, risk of severe periodontitis, and having &lt; 20 natural teeth were significantly. An mPESS ≥ 5 showed the highest odds for relatively poor OHRQoL (OR = 3.45; 95% CI 3.21–3.72). Conclusion: The results support the association between periodontitis and OHRQoL in non-clinical samples. The use of mPESS could be tested in future prevention programs aiming at improving OHRQoL